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#thunderclan feels so big when it's names on a page but when you put them together like this the clan feels itty bitty
pigeonclaw · 2 years
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The gang’s all here!
I realized recently that I’d drawn nearly every ThunderClan cat in Po3, so I wanted to draw them all together! It’s like a yearbook photo haha
So here’s ThunderClan, circa Long Shadows! See how many you can recognize!
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cagedcats · 2 years
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Jayfeather and Willowshine for the hypokits?
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A big ol four kit litter for these two~ Two made it to Warriorship, one passed in their apprentice-hood and the one died as a kit. Two molly warriors, the kit is a Tom and the apprentice is a Jack!
Honestly- I’m having a hard time thinking of a story for how Jay and Willow hooked up. A rivalry between the two, with a slight mutual respect (tho the rivalry is very much a big factor). Maybe romance blossoms from their respect to one another- or it was just a one night thing- who knows? I don’t!
But these four were the result, Comfreykit, Thymekit, Juniperkit, aaand Lavenderkit. I gave them herby type names. Since both parents are Medicine Cats. How did Willowshine explain her litter? Maybe she told the Clan she found them, or if they clocked onto her having kits, she was vouched for by Mothwing to keep her position.
She didn’t tell them Jayfeather was the father- which he kind of realizes it when he hears about the litter and how another Medicine Cat had kits/or Mothwing informed him that Willowshine had found a litter of kits- whoopsie he’s just like Mama. Uhh let’s say the litter was born… post OoTS? Either way he doesn’t get… much time to spend with his kits except for Gatherings. Though he still gets updates from Willow (who makes sure he knows how well they’re doing in RicerClan frequently- gosh darn Willow stop being full of yourself I swear to-)
Now Juniperkit doesn’t make it long, I’d say he just had trouble suckling, or was just born weaker then his siblings. Lavenderpaw was a skilled swimmer, but probably not the brightest star in the sky. Dove into flood waters to try and help some elders, and the poor apprentice just never resurfaced after they were taken under a few too many times.
Now Comfreynose is a dry paw- she just can’t stand the water, can’t put her paws in it or anything. Which she gets from Daddy unfortunately. Which is fine, she can navigate the lands far better then her sister who ribs her for the lack of swimming. Heck it’s possible the passing of Lavenderpaw made her more wary to enter the water actually. Pretty good at finding out where land prey is- she had to be to prove she didn’t have to get in the water to be a good RiverClan warrior.
Thyme stripe is your run of the mil RiverClan cat, and probably takes more so after her mother. Though the fact she doesn’t know her dad and the potential fact that she knows Willowshine is her mother does have her… feeling out out? She might’ve wanted to be a Med Cat so she could be closer to Willow- but it was shut down by Mistystar. But she still volunteers to help in the Den, and does try to investigate the mystery of who her dad is. If she finds out it’s Jayfeather I’d kind of be surprised tbh, but Y’know let’s throw her a bone and say maybe she does find out- and is swiftly told to keep that a secret because if that gets out then hoo boy that won’t be a good scene.
Making these four were… difficult because there isn’t that many genetically accurate options other then grey tabbies and just plain grey cats. So I tried to use different shades and stripe length/widths.
- also just a side note I was looking at Willowshine’s page and they killed her off?? That’s kind of upsetting, and I’m guessing they killed her to give Mothwing another apprentice which stinks. Just let RiverClan have three Med Cats, you did it with ThunderClan!
But tbh I’d probably just do it for River and not Thunder because well I wouldn’t make Jay be a Med Cat nor Alder, and give Leafpool Twigbranch who showed genuine interest in it. Stop forcing cats to be Med Cats I hate it so much, let cats want to be Med Cats
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staircasttext · 3 years
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Ep 04 Transcript: Purr-fidy
Episode 4
[intro music]
PAZ: Hello everyone, welcome back to Stairway to Starclan, a Warriors Cat reread pawdcast. I'm Paz.
JULIAN: I'm Julian.
LIZ: I'm Liz.
PAZ: And we're back today to tackle some very action-filled chapters. And because the reading this week, we finally get to go to Moonstone and tangentially get some of that StarClan action, I thought we could all go to the official site where they let you ask the Moonpool a question. "Seek the wisdom of StarClan. Enter a question with a yes or no answer and let them guide your path." And I think we should give StarClan some questions.
JULIAN: Hell yeah.
PAZ: I wonder if they'll let you curse in this. Will warriorcats.com let you say fuck?
LIZ: Wait, wait.
JULIAN: There's a nice little shimmer when you click the Start.
LIZ: "This page is currently not supported on your platform."
JULIAN: Oh no.
LIZ: And I'm getting a little crying cat emoji.
JULIAN: What browser?
PAZ: I'm on Firefox too. It's working fine for me.
LIZ: You'll have to ask Moonpool questions for me.
PAZ: I'll ask you a question for you. Okay. I think the first pressing question is, are these cats gay? [typing] "StarClan lights your path with a yes."
LIZ: [gasps] Get a screencap. Oh my god.
JULIAN: Word of God.
PAZ: Word of God. You heard it here from StarClan. These cats are gay.
LIZ: You know it.
JULIAN: I have a question.
PAZ: Yes.
JULIAN: Will these cats be held accountable for their many crimes? "We have heard your call and answer in turn. StarClan sees a yes in your destiny."
PAZ: Oh.
JULIAN: All right, StarClan, get the tribunal together.
PAZ: Okay. These cats are going on trial for their war crimes. They're gay and they're going on trial. Liz, what's your question?
LIZ: Will warrior cats and kittypets ever reach an accord and maybe be friends?
PAZ: Okay, I'm asking. "The stars shine brightly in favor of yes."
JULIAN: Does this thing ever give you a no?
PAZ: I feel like StarClan might be a bit of a yes man.
JULIAN: I want to ask another question and see if we can get a no. Will it snow tomorrow? "The strength of Starclan is with you." It didn't tell me yes or no.
LIZ: Maybe it's like prophecy. You have to interpret it.
JULIAN: Oh, I see.
LIZ: Like do you need the strength because it'll snow.
JULIAN: Yeah, I think this may just never tell me no.
PAZ: Well, you know what? That means everything we say is right.
JULIAN: There you go.
LIZ: Can you ask it like, does my cat know that I love it? Yes. No. Not me personally because I don't have one.
PAZ: Okay, does my cat know that I love them? If it tells me yes-- "StarClan guides your question with a yes." I was about to say, if it tells me no, that'd be real sad. Well, I'm happy that everything I said now has the support of StarClan. So that was a fruitful visit to the Moonpool. And I think we can go into the summaries now.
LIZ: All right.
PAZ: Okay. So this week we read chapter 15 through 18. Chapter 15 follows Bluestar, Tigerclaw, and Firepaw into the cave as they travel to the Moonstone. It was pitch black and they all have to follow Bluestar by scent who knows the way. Firepaw notices that Tigerclaw seems very scared as they travel inside. When they actually reach the Moonstone, Tigerclaw gets so scared he runs out of the cave. Bluestar then sleeps by the Moonstone while Firepaw watches. When Bluestar wakes up she seems very worried and insists that they return to the ThunderClan camp immediately.
In chapter 16, the cats begin the journey back to camp. The three apprentices have a brief conversation and Graypaw notes that Ravenpaw seems very on edge whenever Tigerclaw is around. On the way back, the group meets a loner named Barley, who lives near a Twoleg farm. Barley warns them to go back a different way because the dogs from earlier are now loose in the field.
And Bluestar takes his advice and the different way leads them to be attacked by a bunch of rats. Everyone gets really battered, but Barley comes in to help them. Tigerclaw says Barley sent them into a trap, and Barley was like, No I did not. Then everyone realizes Bluestar is gravely injured, possibly dead, but she soon revives. Bluestar says she lost a life. When they finally began to move again, Tigerclaw very nonchalantly asks how many lives Bluestar has lost and she says this is her fifth.
In chapter 17, which is a hefty chapter, the cats finally arrive back to the ThunderClan camp, only to see it under attack by ShadowClan warriors as Bluestar saw in her vision. There is a huge cat battle happening in the camp, and everyone joins in. There are some action scenes, and then Firepaw is the shadow plan deputy kill an elder who is guarding the kits. Firepaw is unable to get there to rescue them because he's fighting another cat. And by the time he rushes to the nursery, the ShadowClan deputy is gone.
Yellowfang, who is inside, reveals that she fought him off to protect the kits. The battle soon dies down, and one of the queens publicly declares that Yellowfang saved the kits. Then Bluestar delivers the news that Lionheart, the ThunderClan deputy is dead. Graypaw is devastated. Firepaw realizes that the whole situation is exactly like a dream he had before. There are some scenes of various cuts morning and being looked at after the battle.
Bluestar then announces she has to declare a new deputy before moonhigh, and uh-oh, it's Tigerclaw. Next to Firepaw, Ravenpaw reacts in dismay and lets it slip that Tigerclaw took care of Redtail because he wanted to be deputy.
JULIAN: Duh-duh-duh.
PAZ: Chapter 18 opens with Tigerclaw overhearing the conversation and menacing Ravenpaw. Firepaw quickly salvages the situation by saying Ravenpaw was wishing Tigerclaw was there to take care of Lionheart as well. Ravenpaw refuses to speak to anyone after this interaction. Firepaw then goes to sleep and is woken up when Bluestar calls another meeting.
Tigerclaw speaks at the meeting, declaring that he has decided Bluestar must be guarded at all times by his lackeys, Darkstripe and Longtail. He says that no cat is allowed to approach Bluestar otherwise. Bluestar then asks Yellowfang to officially join ThunderClan, which Yellowfang accepts. Tigerclaw then insinuates that there is a traitor in the camp who must have fed ShadowClan information, and looks at Ravenpaw. Both Firepaw and Graypaw are worried for their friend.
Firepaw goes check on Yellowfang first, and they have a brief conversation about how Yellowfang misses the old ShadowClan, before Brokenstar became leader. She then tells him to roll around in garlic to help heal his rat bites. Firepaw tries to leave camp to get to the garlic patch, but Darkstripe refuses to let him out. So he sneaks out instead.
And on the way to the garlic, he overhears a conversation between Tigerclaw, Darkstripe, and Longtail. Tigerclaw lies to the two cats and says Ravenpaw left the group and must have gone to ShadowClan during the journey. He implies they need to kill Ravenpaw. The chapter ends with Firepaw racing back to camp in the hopes of convincing Bluestar of Tigerclaw's danger and Ravenpaw's innocence. And that ends that set of chapters.
JULIAN: Lot of intrigue.
PAZ: Yeah. We're getting to that murder plot mystery. Who could have seen this coming?
LIZ: Yeah, you know that Tigerclaw is so subtle. I never would have expected it.
PAZ: I'm shocked. I put down the book. I was so shocked. I also put down the book because that was the end of our reading.
JULIAN: I was trying to remember like, what my reaction was to this when I first read it as, you know, a fourth grader or whatever, but I could not remember. I think that I saw it coming. But I was still like upset.
PAZ: Yeah, because I read A New Prophecy first, I knew that Tigerclaw was evil like, because I mean, it's all in the past at that point. So I certainly was not surprised when I read the first book and the first book only.
LIZ: Well, I have never read these before. And you can definitely see it coming. And I think that's like good. Because it's like, yeah, this is your first big series as a kid. Author is laying down clues to lead to like a conclusion that makes sense, which is that Fire-- sorry, not Firepaw. Tigerclaw is a shady little bitch.
PAZ: Yeah, and I mean, I think there's nothing wrong with a mystery being obvious or predictable, especially not in kids media. Like, that whole shit with like Game of Thrones, where they changed the ending or whatever because someone predicted what would happen, and they were like... and it's like, that's just good storytelling if people can predict what's happening based on clues you've put in the text.
JULIAN: Congratulations, you've successfully deployed foreshadowing.
PAZ: Yeah, exactly.
JULIAN: I was into like Tigerclaw being like afraid of StarClan in the Moonstone. I thought that was neat. Some sort of like, yeah, he's shady. Also. The ancestors fucking hate him.
PAZ: Yeah. That was very funny and very like, evil cats go to hell. Good cats go to heaven. You can't enter our good vibes cave, you little piece of shit.
LIZ: Yeah, um, I would like to draw some comparisons between two great pieces of literature: the first Warrior Cats book and Hamlet.
PAZ: They're on the same level, I think.
LIZ: I mean, listen, there's the dude who commits a terrible secret murder and is shown to be super shady, and then he shows fear at the first mention of any sort of, like, mystic or religious kind of influence. Like, oh, I've sinned against StarClan. The parallels between Tigerclaw going into the cave and what's his name's, Hamlet's dad.
PAZ: Hamlet's dad?
JULIAN: Claudius?
LIZ: Hamlet's stepdad.
JULIAN: His uncle?
LIZ: Hamlet's uncle. I read Hamlet many times.
PAZ: C-something.
LIZ: Yeah. Claudius being like, praying because he did a bad murder and knows he's going to hell. It's the same thing. It's the same.
PAZ: It's the same.
LIZ: Can't believe Shakespeare totally just like cribbed the style from Warrior Cats.
PAZ: And Graypaw is Horatio. It's all there.
LIZ: He is Horatio, right down to the people shipping him with Firepaw.
PAZ: Yeah, exactly. Um, I mean, I guess I can kind of go in chronological order now that we've gone back to Moonstone cave.
JULIAN: I have an important question about Barley. But if we're still-- if we have more on the Moonstone.
PAZ: I guess the one other thing was like Alix's question from last week about Bluestar like planning this was on my mind, when she like, decides to take Firepaw into the cave. I wonder if she was like, hey, Starclan is this who you mean? If she was hoping to get some answers there?
JULIAN: Yeah, he did have like a prophetic dream. So that was cool.
PAZ: Yeah. But yeah, that's the only other thing I had to say about the cave chapter.
JULIAN: My Barley question was just um, does he got balls? What's his soul doing?
PAZ: That's a great question. I wonder if my Cats of the Clan book will give me insight. I don't have it on hand. Um.
JULIAN: Let me pull up the trusty wiki.
PAZ: I feel like barn cats in real life aren't often like neutered or spayed.
LIZ: I guess only if like people do a lot of catch and release, right? Like they do that.
PAZ: Yeah, which obviously they're not doing in the Warriors universe, or all these cats would be fucking snip snip.
JULIAN: [muffled shriek]
LIZ: That would be so terrifying as a warrior cat.
PAZ: I think warrior cats--
JULIAN: I found some very tasty information about Barley on the the wiki.
PAZ: I like Barley.
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: So I couldn't find a way to see if maybe he had had any kits to see if that would tell us his ball status. No kits, um, is gay.
PAZ: What?
LIZ: Wait, what?
JULIAN: He's gay.
PAZ: Wow. Barley, gay king.
JULIAN: His partner is kind of a spoiler, I guess.
PAZ: Oh, I think I remember. I think I remember that.
JULIAN: Yeah.
LIZ: Wow, good for him.
PAZ: I didn't know they were officially partners.
JULIAN: Yeah, no, officially listed as a partner.
PAZ: Oh, fuck yes.
JULIAN: Barley's a gay.
PAZ: StarClan was right.
JULIAN: Gay ally and a gay.
LIZ: And Tigerclaw is homophobic. Of course.
JULIAN: You know what?
PAZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: This whole story is about homophobia.
PAZ: Tigerclaw's like, that little fruit told us to come this way. He's betrayed us.
LIZ: Barley is a type of wheat, or grain.
JULIAN: And that's why Tigerclaw hates--
PAZ: Ravenpaw.
JULIAN: Right.
PAZ: My god, it's all coming together.
LIZ: I knew it.
PAZ: I do remember liking Barley because I think he shows back up in A New Prophecy because they, you know, go places. And he's like, chilling. And I was like, that's a cool cat. And now I know it's because I sensed a fellow in him.
LIZ: I just like his name a lot. That's a good name to have for a cat.
PAZ: It's a great barn cat name.
JULIAN: Oh, great news. Vicki believes that Barley will not go to StarClan when he dies as he lacks the necessary faith. No word about his balls, though. So he might still have them.
LIZ: He's an atheist.
PAZ: Does he go to that--
JULIAN: Kate however, believe that he'll live just on the outskirts of StarClan.
LIZ: Oh, there's some contention.
PAZ: What was that-- I was on the wiki looking at where like cats who don't go to StarClan and don't go to the Place of No Stars go. It was called like the something residence. Let me see if I pasted it.
LIZ: Just another neighborhood? Because that's what it sounds like. Yeah, it's like StarClan is like Los Angeles and the whatever residence is just the outer LA County.
PAZ: It's the ghost residence.
LIZ: Yeah, that's where I live.
JULIAN: Incredible.
PAZ: "The unnamed residence serves as a place for ghost cats, acting as a purgatory of sorts."
LIZ: That's still where I live.
PAZ: The ghost-- no, okay there's another residence. Unnamed residence. "This is a list of cats that currently reside or have resided in an unnamed residence. Cats in this category our cats that have died and been seen as spirits but do not reside in StarClan, The Place of No Stars, the Tribe of Endless Hunting, or as ghost cats."
JULIAN: I love that there are ghost cats.
PAZ: Me too. What?
LIZ: What?
PAZ: There's another gay cat in this place.
LIZ: Oh my god.
PAZ: The gay cat that Liz doesn't know about yet. Unnamed residence is the gay commune of Warriors.
LIZ: You know what, good for them.
JULIAN: Stray cats go to heaven. Gay cats go to unnamed ghost residence.
PAZ: The homophobic cats do go to hell.
LIZ: Confirmed.
JULIAN: Yes.
PAZ: Yeah. Um, well, yeah, I love Barley. Um, it does lead to an extremely funny scene of rats attacking these cats and like, absolutely wrecking them. Like, they killed Bluestar. I was like, what the hell are these rats?
JULIAN: Maybe the rat situation is like, you know, these are like concerted rats. These are like, a lot of rats working in concert for a shared goal, which is to beat the fuck out of the cats.
PAZ: Oh my god, okay.
JULIAN: Like rats will like kill a baby.
PAZ: Will they? What?
LIZ: Probably.
JULIAN: I'm actually basing this off of the plot of the dog movie? Lady and the Tramp, which may not be accurate, now that I think about it.
PAZ: I think maybe that might be inaccurate. Um.
LIZ: Well, I've got a very reliable source and it is Dishonored. And rats will totally eat a cat and a baby. Like all the way to the bones right in front of you. Definitely.
PAZ: "Cats or rats? Rats win in New York hands down." I'm clicking. I want to learn.
JULIAN: This is an educational podcast.
PAZ: This is like Goku vs. Darth Vader. Who will win?
LIZ: Why do we have to pit two queens against each other?
JULIAN: Yeah, this study says that cats are not good predators of rats. The rats actively avoid the cats and the cats only recorded two rat kills in 79 days. That's not a good record.
PAZ: Damn. These cats really need to step it up. Well I guess-- this doesn't say anything about the rats killing the cats. But it does say that cats suck at fighting rats, I guess.
JULIAN: Yeah, I guess that's why we have like terriers for rats.
PAZ: Yeah. This article says that people see fewer rats and assume it's behavior-- it's because the cats have killed them, whereas it's actually due to the rats changing their behavior so the rats will just like leave.
JULIAN: I mean, that's not-- that's like, fine.
PAZ: Yeah, it achieves the same result.
JULIAN: I don't mind if the rats live in the sewers. They're allowed. I don't go down there.
LIZ: This is their city.
PAZ: It is their city. Well, I still think it's very funny that all these rats fuck them up.
JULIAN: It is. it's very good. Bluestar loses a life.
PAZ: She loses a life to these rats.
LIZ: Yeah, just like in Dishonored.
PAZ: Should have just gone on with dogs.
JULIAN: God. I also like, if I were Bluestar, I would not have told Tigerclaw my life count.
PAZ: No. Once again, she's--
JULIAN: I realize that she's very trusting but like, you can't tell him you only have four left. He's counting.
PAZ: That was so suspicious.
LIZ: He's just gonna bring some more rats.
PAZ: Like who is like, hey, like, how like-- what are your weaknesses? Can you tell me them? Can you make a list of them? Not for suspicious reasons. Thanks.
JULIAN: Yeah, deeply sus.
PAZ: Yes. I do also gotta shout out Barley for saving them and being the only one who knows how to kill rats apparently. He jumps in and fucking owns these rats.
LIZ: Yeah, he has--
JULIAN: He does a great job.
LIZ: --the rat eating term?
PAZ: In Dishonored? Yeah.
LIZ: He gets HP from it. Crunch.
PAZ: Oh, I looked down at my notes. I did indeed write "died to rats, dot dot dot... just like Dishonored."
LIZ: It's like in the same brain here. Okay, hold on, speaking of Barley, I googled him and there's on his Facebook page or something, there's just a picture of a regular black and white cat.
PAZ: Oh my gosh. That's his face cast.
LIZ: I love it.
JULIAN: That's him.
LIZ: Perfect part nose.
JULIAN: Are Barley and Chloe related?
PAZ: We have no choice but to stan Barley.
JULIAN: And they have this like horrible, brutal rat fight. And then they go straight to like, fucking horrible, brutal ShadowClan fight.
PAZ: I know.
JULIAN: It's just, it's out of the frying pan that's full of rats into the fire full of cats.
PAZ: That's what they always say.
JULIAN: That's how the saying goes.
PAZ: Yeah, shout out to the action sequences. They are fun. But--
JULIAN: They are fun. They're good to read.
LIZ: Yeah.
PAZ: Yeah, so the next next bit is the fight at ThunderClan cat camp. And it's kind of a bloodbath, huh.
JULIAN: Is it time to talk about war crimes?
PAZ: War crimes and murder. Uh-huh.
JULIAN: Yeah. Like, they go after the kits.
PAZ: Yeah. Julian, I did think about you saying, like, are they stealing the kits, which I still don't remember, cause it was described as Blackfoot, the ShadowClan deputy was like picking them up. I was like, oh, is he gonna whisk them away? But I don't know. We never find out.
We never find out.
LIZ: Also, that's an unfortunate name for a cat to have.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: Yeah, that is-- that already belongs to something. And you should not be using it.
JULIAN: Yeah...
PAZ: British authors not doing their research, I guess. Or...
LIZ: Yeah. Hey, there's eight of you. I know you're all very old, but come on.
JULIAN: Also, I feel like you know, Harper Collins is... I'm sure they have a UK imprint. But like there are also editors in the US. Surely someone should have, uh.
LIZ: Someone out there must know what Google is.
PAZ: Yeah. Hopefully that character dies soon. We don't have to see the name anymore.
LIZ: They use that name so much in this chapter.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: But yeah, back to the kittens, right?
PAZ: Yes.
JULIAN: Yep.
PAZ: A cat does just die also. He kills one of the old cats, cold blood.
JULIAN: Yeah, I'm looking at the Wikipedia page for war crimes.
LIZ: Like in general?
PAZ: Yeah? Do you have a list? Do you have a list of what constitutes a war crime?
JULIAN: Well, so there's a lot of them. But intentionally killing civilians or prisoners is definitely one of them. So I think killing an elder kind of counts.
PAZ: Check that off.
JULIAN: Yep. Destroying civilian property. They did destroy the camp. So that's one. They did not take any hostages. So that doesn't count. I don't know what performing a perfidy is.
PAZ: Me neither.
JULIAN: Oh, it's when you like, lie about... Basically, you're like, oh, I'll make a peace treaty and then you don't.
LIZ: So is that spelled--
PAZ: Mm, I don't think they did that.
JULIAN: P-e-r-f-i-d-y. Perfidy.
LIZ: Not p-u-r-r-f-i-d-y?
JULIAN: [cackles] Damn. We don't see any child soldiers onscreen. At least I don't think so.
PAZ: Are the apprentices child soldiers, though?
JULIAN: Are the apprentices here?
PAZ: They're not...
JULIAN: How old are they?
PAZ: The book says apprentices are more than six moons old.
JULIAN: I mean, you're basically an adult cat.
PAZ: So most of them are probably under a year. Yeah, I guess they're like adolescent, I don't know. Yeah.
LIZ: Teen?
JULIAN: Like, it's not great, but.
PAZ: Yeah, they get away. They get away with that. Not a war crime.
JULIAN: Pillaging? Oh, looting. Um, I mean, they don't take anything. So I don't think they pillage.
LIZ: No. There's not really anything to take this except like food and maybe medicine. There's not a lot of like, property.
PAZ: Yeah, unless they take those kits.
LIZ: Well, that's a person.
JULIAN: Well, that would be-- that would be taking a hostage.
PAZ: Okay, yeah.
JULIAN: Declaring that no quarter will be given, which they did at the gathering. So that was sort of a pre-war war crime.
PAZ: Really talented.
JULIAN: And then it just says "seriously violating the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity." And I don't know what the fuck that means, but I think we can check it off.
PAZ: Yeah, I think they do that.
LIZ: It's quite a count already.
JULIAN: Yeah, they're not doing great.
LIZ: No.
PAZ: Yeah, this book also absolutely does not shy away from like death.
LIZ: Nuh-uh.
PAZ: Like on screen death too.
JULIAN: Onscreen death. Like very brutal onscreen death of like the elderly.
PAZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Right off the jump.
PAZ: Yeah, it's like, very soon after the chapter starts.
LIZ: Yeah, and the part where that one cat is trying to get at the the kits. That's very distressing. Like there is--
PAZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Yeah.
LIZ: Like, whether it's for a hostage or just, you know, straight up child murder. There is definitely like the threat implied in a very effective way.
PAZ: Yeah, I mean, like, good job to the book for making like, a distressing battle scene. Like, because it did. It did. It was like, intense.
JULIAN: Yeah, yeah, I was watching a lot of Warrior Cats AMVs this afternoon. And a lot of the many great animators in the Warriors AMV community have really picked up on the style of the books, which is very bloody.
PAZ: Great, because that's important, essential aspect of the book. It's in the name.
JULIAN: Yep.
LIZ: Yeah, these are not peacetime cats.
JULIAN: No. These are... I am really glad that Yellowfang got to save the kits and redeem herself.
LIZ: Yay.
JULIAN: Good for her.
PAZ: She's so cool.
LIZ: She's the best.
JULIAN: She's so cool.
PAZ: Old, like badass lady. And then Bluestar is like, you're so cool, Yellowfang, haha, will you join my clan?
LIZ: What if we were both old lady cats and I asked you to join my clan? Haha, just kidding, unless.
PAZ: You should make an edit for that. Post to Twitter. I'm sad we don't get to see her fight on screen.
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Yeah, I would have liked that.
LIZ: It's a good moment to have it. We're almost at the end of-- we're like at the last quarter of the book?
PAZ: We're very-- more than a quarter.
LIZ: I don't know, I switch between like--
PAZ: I think we're about like 70% done, 75% done.
JULIAN: Let me see. We're 69.3% done.
PAZ: Oh nice, nice.
LIZ: Nice, nice.
PAZ: I did write down, "all these cats are dying. Just go live inside, idiots." Which, I'm like reading these horrible battle scenes. And I'm like, if you were just kittypets, you wouldn't have to deal with any of this shit. No rats. No cat murder.
JULIAN: It's true. No one is gonna tear your throat out if you just live here.
LIZ: Just Temptations and cushions.
JULIAN: If you live in my house on the heated bed I bought.
PAZ: I was absolutely right about the Lionheart death flag.
LIZ: Uh-huh.
PAZ: Fucking typed it. I was like, wow, I called it.
LIZ: What was it that Graypaw said before they left, like I will always remember what you taught me.
PAZ: Yeah, it's like, exactly. I was like, this is a little...
JULIAN: Like, oh, good job, Graypaw. You doomed him.
LIZ: Just start--
PAZ: I wonder-- Oh, go ahead.
LIZ: No, just start saying shit like that every time you say bye to anyone. Like I will always [dissolving into laughter] remember you.
PAZ: Oh no.
JULIAN: You just never thank your mentor. That way he'll never die.
PAZ: Yeah, I do wonder if Tigerclaw-- I assume Tigerclaw murdered him as well. Or rather than it being a happy accident, but I don't know.
JULIAN: I also assume that. I don't think there's any way that, given Tigerclaw's significant looks at Ravenpaw, that Lionhart died of ShadowClan-related causes.
PAZ: Well, I assume that significant looks are just still like Redtail-related like, don't give out my secret, but it would really suck for Tavenpaw if he had to watch this, like, shitty guy kill another person.
JULIAN: He has so many traumas.
PAZ: Poor Ravenpaw.
LIZ: Ravenpaw's just Hamlet but like without any... He's not angry. He's just sad.
JULIAN: Well, he's like, he's Hamlet. But he also like he doesn't have any of the doubt.
LIZ: No.
PAZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: He just saw it happen.
PAZ: You know that video of the guy yelling at the cat in the store, like I'm gonna get you out of there? That's me with Ravenpaw.
LIZ: Ravenpaw, come into my house. [everyone laughing]
JULIAN: Yeah.
LIZ: Get a Temptations every other day. I think that's-- I don't know what's healthy to give cats. Like what's the rate of Temptations?
PAZ: Probably not too many.
JULIAN: I feel like you can get them like a treat a day.
LIZ: Yeah.
PAZ: One treat.
LIZ: You'll get a Temptations every day.
JULIAN: I don't know, though, cause last time we went to the vet, the vet said we had to feed Chickpea less, so my calibration may be off.
PAZ: Tigerclaw's really setting Ravenpaw up to take the fall.
LIZ: Mm-hmm.
PAZ: And I don't know why anyone would believe him because that's like a young adult. That's like a-- that's like if you were pointing at like a high school senior and being like, they committed these war crimes, not me.
LIZ: They killed the vice president and the other vice president.
PAZ: And now that I'm vice president, that means nothing. It was this teenager.
JULIAN: Well, it's also a teen that he's responsible for. Like if your apprentice grows up and becomes like a conniving little shit, isn't that partly your fault? Like, if you're so mean to your apprentice that he runs into the welcoming arms of ShadowClan, which he didn't, but like if he had.
PAZ: Yeah, I wouldn't blame him.
JULIAN: You know, I think I think it's a little bit on you.
PAZ: Yeah. Where is the accountability in like this mentorship program?
LIZ: He's not even--
JULIAN: The unpaid internship.
LIZ: Ravenpaw's not even that conn-- he's just like, terrified so he doesn't talk to anybody.
JULIAN: Yeah. But like, Tigerclaw is making him out to be this like, big sneaky, you know,basically being like, all these things that I did, this person that I am, that's Ravenpaw.
PAZ: The fact that he already has like lackeys, is like so much. Tigerclaw does. But it seems like he's like lying to them versus them knowing he's trying to do a weird takeover.
JULIAN: Yeah, I mean, I think Longtail at least, it was like, easily persuaded to to believe in like, this secret outside conspiracy because he was the one who attacked Firepaw at the beginning.
PAZ: Yeah. Didn't we read the other day that Longtail is Ravenpaw's like, sibling?
JULIAN: Oh, you're right.
LIZ: That sucks.
JULIAN: I think he's his half-sibling. That sucks.
LIZ: Aww, Ravenpaw.
PAZ: Man.
LIZ: He's getting like a really raw deal.
PAZ: He really is. If the book was from his perspective, it would be so sad.
LIZ: My sibling hates me enough to conspire against me. Or at least believe that I'm a terrible murderer.
JULIAN: Poor little guy.
LIZ: My mentor hates my guts and also is trying to frame me for murder.
PAZ: Yeah, and it takes Firepaw so long to figure out what's happening.
LIZ: Oh my god.
JULIAN: It has to be explicitly spelled out for him.
PAZ: Yeah, literally.
JULIAN: Like, he doesn't figure shit out.
PAZ: Yeah, Ravenpaw just says something and then he overhears it.
LIZ: Firepaw is so very dumb.
PAZ: It's so funny too, because Yellowfang has like a section where she's praising him for being clever. And I'm like, Yellowfang, he's so stupid. There's nothing going on upstairs.
LIZ: It's air. It's just fluff.
JULIAN: Is Firepaw a himbo? The greatest thread.
LIZ: Since we're talking about Ravenpaw too, the part where later on Bluestar asks him to go train with her alone, where no one's gonna bother them. And he's like, I should tell her about Ravenpaw and Tigerclaw. And he's like I should tell her. I should tell her, and he just forgets.
JULIAN: He was too overwhelmed by her girl boss, uh. Her girlboss nature.
LIZ: It's very overwhelming, true.
JULIAN: I do think like Tigerclaw appointing bodyguards to-- "bodyguards," quote unquote, to like, prevent anyone from ratting on him, was a very savvy move, even though it's like patently evil. It was smart.
PAZ: He's a decent conniving villain for a kids' book in which the protagonist is very stupid and doesn't realize what's going on.
LIZ: And just forgets key points.
PAZ: He has a little cat brain. How's he supposed to remember all that?
LIZ: His friend's gonna die! Okay, but yeah, the guard thing is like very smart. Feels really ominous too because like there's an extra layer of removal of Bluestar from like everyone else.
PAZ: Yeah, he's like already like, taking over like public power by, like putting her behind a wall, essentially.
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Security theater baby.
PAZ: Yeah, there's also like another like thread of-- I mean, like the continuing thread of intrigue with like what happened with Yellowfang and ShadowClan because she kind of drops more like, oh, everything was fine till Brokenstar was leader. So that's also a mystery we have going on.
LIZ: Um, yeah, there's a cute section when she's talking about like what ShadowClan used to be like. And I think she and Firepaw are like joking about like, who replaced her as the medicine cat, and she's like, oh, not Runningnose.
PAZ: Yeah, like, he can't even cure his own cold. It's cute.
LIZ: Hey, maybe it's allergies. Don't be mean. Cats get allergies.
PAZ: Cats also get chronic infections.
LIZ: That's what Oliver has, right?
JULIAN: Especially if they live in the outdoors and won't visit the vet.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: Like, wow, a whole bunch of nonvaccinated, fighting cats on the brink of starvation all the time feel sick. No shit.
JULIAN: It's okay though. They have berries.
PAZ: Why are they doing that? Go inside.
JULIAN: I do have a-- when Darkstripe tells Firepaw that he can't go roll in the garlic, which is just really funny as a premise. But also, Firepaw like mutters under his breath, "Dirtstripe," which is such a teen thing to do.
PAZ: Got them.
LIZ: Owned, wow.
JULIAN: It's such like a shitty little teen move. It's really fun.
PAZ: It's very funny.
LIZ: You're not my real dad, Darkstripe. I will roll in the garlic if I want to. God.
PAZ: Do we think rolling in garlic has any medical backing, or?
LIZ: Smelly.
PAZ: Cause it's very funny.
LIZ: Smelly cat.
JULIAN: So garlic is-- like I don't know about the greens of it, but like garlic bulbs are antibacterial, like slightly.
PAZ: Oh, okay.
JULIAN: Which is why, like if you have a throat infection, sometimes like doing like a garlic rinse can be sort of helpful.
PAZ: Good to know.
JULIAN: Not a doctor, not a doctor. But yeah, I think that's where they're getting that.
LIZ: Just like the picture of like this. Like Firepaw at this point is like, not an adult but like the kind of teen cat that's all like gangly, I bet.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: And just picturing that like having a fun time in some garlic is so good to me.
PAZ: I do love it. [inaudible] a good picture of these little cats doing stuff.
LIZ: He's a garlic boy.
JULIAN: And then he overhears a conspiracy.
PAZ: Yeah, very very classic of the villains to just openly talk about their evil moves.
JULIAN: Well, they said no one could leave so I'm sure it'll be fine.
PAZ: Yeah. I mean, I don't-- I think, I mean that covers everything.
JULIAN: I have just, uh, "that'll go well" about him going to talk to Bluestar.
PAZ: Yeah, Firepaw, I think you might also get blamed.
LIZ: God.
JULIAN: Yeah, all is not well in the kingdom of ThunderClan.
PAZ: No.
LIZ: I'm still just a little like, aghast that he does, he just forgets. I know she's the most amazing girl boss you've ever seen. But oh my god.
PAZ: It's fine. He's--
JULIAN: He's just a stupid little boy.
LIZ: I know. He's orange too. He's a little orange cat, you know.
PAZ: Yeah, he's gonna go work on it now. It'll be fine.
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Bless him.
PAZ: Should we move on?
LIZ: Yes.
PAZ: Maybe get some levity after the war crimes chapter.
LIZ: So we've returned to wikiHow, a wonderful font of knowledge and activity. And this article is called "How to host a Warrior Cats themed birthday party." Who's birthday is coming up in June so, a little...
PAZ: Mine's in August.
JULIAN: Mine's in July. Lotta summer babies here.
LIZ: Well, we got time to prep then.
JULIAN: Yeah.
PAZ: Yeah. I want to note that this was last updated June 20, 2020. There are 26 co-authors.
LIZ: Oh my god.
PAZ: And 42,000 views. So you know this is a good, good peer-reviewed article.
LIZ: Yeah, let me give you the blurb that will entice everyone in. "Do you sleep, dream, smell, and eat Warriors? Do you want to have a party sleepover for your birthday based on the books? Well, this guide to a snappy party is a great idea." It's also available to download as a PDF just so you know, in case you need it.
JULIAN: Oh good, so you can print it out.
PAZ: Yeah, and check it off.
LIZ: And you know, in the wikiHow to set up their beautiful, beautiful illustrations that-- I don't know, is it legal for us to post wikiHow images?
PAZ: I don't know.
JULIAN: Yeah, they're public domain.
PAZ: I mean, they're all traced, so really, how can they get on our case?
JULIAN: I'm really pretty sure they're Creative Commons. I think we're good.
LIZ: Yeah. Okay, so let's plan. "One, make sure your parents agree." So, let's go check.
[laughter]
PAZ: Uh....
JULIAN: Wait, I need to call my dad. Why does-- I just want to describe to our listeners, um, the parent in this image has the largest nose I have ever seen.
PAZ: You could land the plane on that.
JULIAN: It's like, you know the phrase, a ski jump nose. This is a ski jump.
LIZ: Because we're seeing the back of his head so it's the perspective, that's all. This is a front nose on--
JULIAN: It looks like a Hershey's Kiss is stuck on his face.
LIZ: This young man asking his parent for permission looks very smug, too, so I think he got a yes on that. "Step two, start planning early."
JULIAN: Oh, we're doing step two.
PAZ: Well, we are, because we're all summer birthdays.
LIZ: There's a picture of a person looking very determined, with a little three mouth. And that's because this is about cats. "Invite a couple of people to the party. See if they like the idea of having a Warrior Cats theme." Okay, well, I don't know whose birthday we're actually celebrating, so we're all invited in a circle.
JULIAN: There we go.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: You guys okay with the theme?
PAZ: I love it.
JULIAN: Yes.
LIZ: Wonderful, wonderful. Okay, we're getting to the meaty part of things. "Part two: decorations." Now to just give you a word picture of what's going on, there's a sort of cushion bench chair thing, covered in sticks and leaves. The floor is also covered in leaves. The wallpaper has grass on it. There are paw prints on the wallpaper and the floor. There is a separate panel of just a spider web, with a spider in it. And there's another panel of some-- seaweed?
PAZ: It's vines.
LIZ: Vines.
JULIAN: The green silk or fabric.
LIZ: Does anyone else want to have a have a stab at reading this? It's very good.
JULIAN: Sure. "First, decorate. Before your guests arrive, decorate your houses with posters, paw prints, and anything else that will complement the theme. If you have any party games, make sure you have anything you need for those games. Instead of decorating the whole room, make a fort and say it's the den, and fill the blanket draped chairs with the items suggested. To make it even more forest like, you could use camouflage blankets and cover them with sticks and leaves, if strong enough."
I'm not sure if that's the sticks, or the blanket. "Take out spider webs from Halloween and decorate a few corners with the spider webs. Cover doorways with green silk or fabric, and cut some of the fabric into slivers, making a vine-themed door entranceway."
LIZ: Finally a use for my green silk.
JULIAN: I'm just, if I were an adult and my kid is like, I want to have a Warriors-themed birthday party, I'd be like, Oh, sweet. That sounds fun. And then they brought a bunch of sticks and leaves into my house, I would not be thrilled.
PAZ: Yeah, it doesn't specify like fake sticks and leaves. I think it just means you're, like, go out into your garden.
LIZ: That's authentic to the books. You have to.
JULIAN: It is.
LIZ: This also sounds like something a kid would absolutely do.
PAZ: Absolutely.
JULIAN: Oh, step two. "Make each room a den." They have suggestions for each of the rooms. How many rooms do they think your house has, cause this is a lot. They have a kit's room with pillows and stuffed animals, and spiderwebs scrunched into soft play balls, which apparently is a thing that kits play with.
LIZ: Aw.
JULIAN: A warriors den, a leaders den for the largest, least occupied room. An apprentice den, "which can be made just like the warriors den, but larger, and less comfortable." [laughter]
"Make the medicine cat's den. Outside, in the kitchen, or by a window would be the best place, because there are plants you can use to heal. For the comfort of the person who volunteers to be the medicine cat, place down multiple blankets on top of one another, to get that carpet effect, just like inside. Use a brown or blue tarp to make a ceiling, and add cozy green spiderweb beds, and the best pillows you got. Offer spoons, forks, sticks, and ground-like bowls to be able to make the treatments. To ensure your medicine cat is comfy and not lonely, ask a friend to be the apprentice of the medicine cat." Yeah, it would suck to be the medicine cat.
PAZ: So is everyone separating into their room and not interacting? Is this how the birthday party goes?
JULIAN: They have instructions for making the High Rock, and a fresh kill pile. Um.
LIZ: We should--
JULIAN: And then we get to games.
LIZ: We should describe the fresh kill pile.
PAZ: It's very good.
JULIAN: Oh yeah, you're right, I'm sorry.
LIZ: It is a cardboard tree stump drawn pretty well and also shaded, and some green pillows surrounding it, and a bunch of stuffed animals. There is a panda, a teddy bear, a lion, some sort of pink horse thing, and a monkey. You know, regular parts of a cat diet.
PAZ: And the final step in the decoration part is, "decorate the forest, or, quote, 'forest'. Your outside or quote, 'forest' can be a room decorated with cardboard cutouts of trees, spiderwebs, and badger holes. Under furniture you can place a skunk, or borrowed stuffed animal, green moss, or a fake river." I think you should just use the actual forest.
JULIAN: Yeah.
LIZ: What if we don't have a forest? What if you live in, say, just shot in the dark here, LA County, where--
PAZ: Don't.
LIZ: Okay.
PAZ: Problem solved.
LIZ: Everyone's telling me that lately.
JULIAN: Just move.
LIZ: [claps] All right, part three.
JULIAN: Part three is games, which is really important.
LIZ: One for the gamers here.
PAZ: Okay, "step one, welcome each guest, maybe with a dip of your head or a whisper of 'Welcome to the home of the clans.'"
JULIAN: The next picture. [dissolving into shriek-laughter]
PAZ: The art for this is extremely good as well. So we have-- it's featuring that beautiful green silk vine curtain from before. And in front of it is a girl, in like-- doing that like butler pose, where it's like, come in, sir. Except she's wearing a black t-shirt, and nothing else except a black bow tie and a cat ears headband with cat face paint.
LIZ: She also has these um, these side bangs that are very like 2010-specific. Maybe earlier.
JULIAN: I was specifically losing my shit over the next picture, for "start with some roleplay."
LIZ: This is our new header image.
JULIAN: Which features some incredibly drawn visitors who have attended this party, all wearing all black, all wearing those same drawn on whiskers. There's some really interesting things happening with their faces. And the girl in the back is on all fours.
LIZ: She's doing it right.
JULIAN: She is, she's--
PAZ: Dedicated to her role.
JULIAN: "Once everyone has arrived, why not pretend to be warrior cats?"
Why not?
"Everyone could be one RP character-- roleplay-- and one real warrior. If you have the time, you could make name badges." So you have the time to spray paint spider webs green to make moss, but you couldn't make name badges? So everyone can remember who Pinestar is?
PAZ: You hit the deadline.
LIZ: Is that a soap? It sounds like soap.
PAZ: It really does. Moving on to step three of games, "have a hunting party. People can hide stuffed animals while others try to find a stuffed animal with a number they were assigned to written on a card around their neck."
JULIAN: I like the next one a lot.
PAZ: Yeah, we can just move on to four.
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Sorry, the art for number three for having a hunting party is very good. It's a child with a cat hat, just really smirking.
LIZ: At a little giraffe stuffed animal.
JULIAN: But game number four, "have a twisted version of egg toss."
PAZ: Welcome to my twisted mind.
JULIAN: "Have everyone pair up and give each pair a spoon. Fill water balloons up with dyed water." Nothing to do with cats.
PAZ: That's so twisted.
LIZ: What's the catness?
PAZ: Uh, you know. Self-explanatory.
JULIAN: You know, cats.
PAZ: Number five, "come up with a collect a resource game. In this game, each den will be removed of its items and hidden among the forest. Teams assigned to each den must collect the items and amount wanted. Give them a checklist to cross off items safely brought back to the den. The first to bring back and arrange the interior like before everything was pooled will get prized with an extra piece of fresh kill and a new piece of bedding from leftover pieces not collected."
LIZ: The image for this is--
JULIAN: My favorite part of a birthday party, resource management.
PAZ: Yeah.
LIZ: Can we--
JULIAN: Sorry Liz, please describe the image.
LIZ: Yeah, it is a picture of four people. There is a just a camping tent and two of the black jumpsuited cat headband ear wearing people are sneaking into it, while two other people in just shorts and shirts, holding a giant caterpillar and different colored hats of of cat like description are walking away totally unaware. I think this is a war crime. This is looting, I think.
JULIAN: Oh, you're right, this is looting. This is pillaging.
LIZ: War crime. Number five, commit some war crimes.
PAZ: Yeah. Gotta be accurate. Number six, "play pin the tail on the warrior. Select a cat from one of the books and make a large cardboard cutout of this cat, and make its tail separately. Put a pin or tack on it to make it stick to the back of the cat." Now which cat do we want to do this to?
LIZ: Longtail. Obviously.
PAZ: Haha, No-tail. [laughter] Got 'em.
JULIAN: How long until Firestar-- sorry, Firepaw does that?
LIZ: In the heat of battle, haha, No-tail.
PAZ: Number seven, "do some more evening activities. Once you've eaten, maybe you could play some Warrior Cat games with your friends on the Internet. In the evening, have a mini battle– doesn't have to last long– and then a gathering, if your party is on a full moon. Lucky you. Otherwise, make an exception just for the party." Well, there are many Warrior Cats games to play with your friends on the internet. So great suggestion.
LIZ: Start a podcast. That's a game, basically.
JULIAN: There you go. That's a game. That's a game that keeps on giving.
PAZ: Number eight, "sleep over, if that's part of the plan. Not all birthday parties need to be sleepovers, but they can be lots of fun. In the morning, depending on the time you wake up, you could play some party games or read books and have breakfast." This does picture people sleeping outside in a tent. Should we move on to part four?
LIZ: Yeah.
JULIAN: Yes.
PAZ: Food.
LIZ: Okay, so step one of food is "make dinner Warrior Cats themed too. When it's time for dinner, call it fresh kill instead, and ask everyone what they would like. Obviously don't really serve mice at the table. Think of something everyone would enjoy, maybe something fresh, like a pizza you can have delivered to your house." So, this is the--
PAZ: Same thing.
LIZ: The image is the previous fresh kill image from before, with all the stuffed animals, but, um, the children are sitting and having a great time with pizza, just chomping down. Makes me, you know, makes me think we should do this.
PAZ: They have more suggestions for food in step two.
LIZ: Okay, "provide lots of meaty foods. Food is fresh kill warriors, so you must get something close to meats, Think, think, think. Have meat skewers, steak, meatballs, pepperoni, salami, and hamburgers. Anything with tasty meat will do. If you have a vegetarian, then offer veggie patties, cheese, and anything that sticks to the theme."
PAZ: Wait, why does cheese stick to the theme?
JULIAN: How does cheese...
LIZ: Wait.
JULIAN: You know. Fresh killed cheese.
PAZ: I mean my cat right now is extremely into eating cheese, so I guess...
LIZ: Yeah, see, it's accurate. The image for this is just some food. There are kebabs. You know, like cats enjoy. Just like a whole steak, you know, like children should have. A very smooth sliced hot dog, and just a burger. Just a burger with the cheese on entirely different levels of the burger, which is new to me. Like there's multiple cheese. Okay.
JULIAN: My favorite image is--
LIZ: In three.
JULIAN: Step 3, the birthday cake.
LIZ: Yes. "Get a birthday cake. The best birthday cake can have something printed on it, such as the cover of your favorite book from the Warriors series, or a map of the territory. Some local businesses in your city may offer custom cakes. Even better as some may even be able to design a 3D landscape." That is not what's on this cake that they've shown us and--
PAZ: It's a beautiful cake. It's so good.
LIZ: It's so much better. Yeah, it's a round yellow cake with just a little-- like just a huge cat face on top of it, and a candle. It's very happy looking. And then there's like little black and white cat silhouettes like around it.
PAZ: I want this to be my cake.
LIZ: It could be.
PAZ: It's so good.
JULIAN: It's so good.
PAZ: The face on top is so good.
LIZ: Beautiful. What flavor do you think it is?
PAZ: Um, red velvet because it's red inside like fresh kill.
LIZ: Got it.
JULIAN: Oh, we don't have to go through the whole Q&A but the first one is I think very important. Um, "what do I have for food if I have a vegan friend?" And the answer is, "provide berries and greens for them to eat. Warrior cats use them for medicinal purposes, but you can pretend they are an elder or a sick cat."
PAZ: Oh my god.
JULIAN: If you're vegan, you're old or sick. "You can also just ask your vegan friend what they like to eat and provide that." Yeah, I would go with that one, animebread.
LIZ: That's exactly the answer you'd--
JULIAN: wikiHow user anime bread.
PAZ: Here's another question, "how do I not be embarrassed about my Warrior Cat party?"
LIZ: Aw.
JULIAN: Aw.
PAZ: "It's a decision you make just not to care what others think. Of course, if you're selective about who you invite, you'll be less embarrassed. Invite friends who will enjoy this kind of party." If your friends have a problem with your Warrior Cat party, then they're fake. They're fake friends.
LIZ: Okay, these questions are really good. I have one more. "What if my friends make up unreal Warrior Cat names such as Fluffyhead?" This is a community answer. "Just tell them that it makes no sense, or provide everyone with a name badge at the start of the party using names you've chosen. Of course it's important that everyone have a good time, so it's fine to loosen the rules a little bit for your friends."
JULIAN: God.
PAZ: Isn't there a canonical cat Fuzzy-- like Fuzzypelt?
LIZ: Yeah, that's--
JULIAN: There is, yeah.
PAZ: I would say Fluffyhead is accurate.
LIZ: Yeah, he's like Ravenpaw's dad. That's like an immediate connection.
PAZ: I think Fluffyhead is a perfect name, and if you come to my Warrior Cat party, you can have that name.
LIZ: Oh, there's some tips and warnings.
JULIAN: Oh good.
LIZ: The best one from tips to me is "ask older siblings to be rouges." Not rogues, rouges, "who hate the Clans. Maybe they could get their friends to help making a rouge group."
JULIAN: You know what I love about a birthday party, built in bullying.
LIZ: For your older siblings specifically.
JULIAN: The warning about, "make sure everyone is comfortable with the battles, or anything else you may be doing," and then "make sure nobody gets hurt."
LIZ: Very important.
PAZ: That's good advice all around.
LIZ: Yeah, So we've got three months till any birthdays happen. Better get planning. I wanna see those cardboard cutouts.
JULIAN: We got time to plan.
LIZ: Just ready.
PAZ: I'm going to give this five stars.
JULIAN: Do we each have to provide our own?
LIZ: Communal effort, you know. They have the fresh kill pile, we have the freshly made and painted cardboard scenery pile. This made me want pizza. That one person in the corner on the right, eating that pizza at the Warrior Cats party is just having the best time I think.
PAZ: Yeah, I could go for some pizza too.
JULIAN: Well, is that it for us?
PAZ: Yeah, I mean, we covered the war crimes and we covered the party, and I think that's all. So, thanks everyone for joining us again this week. May StarClan light your path. [outro music begins] Bye.
LIZ: Bye.
JULIAN: Bye.
[outro music ends]
PAZ: I'm gonna post some little Barley art. Very handsome.
LIZ: Love to see some Barley. Oh, he's a little cow.
PAZ: Black and white cat.
JULIAN: Aw, he's just a little guy.
PAZ: He is a little cow.
LIZ: I love that. Is this official?
PAZ: Uh, no, this is Warrior-- he has official art but it's the weird manga art style that I--
LIZ: He deserves better than that.
PAZ: His pants.
LIZ: Oh my god, pants.
PAZ: Anyway, back to the rats.
JULIAN: Um, yeah, the rats, I guess it's like a sort of...
LIZ: Wait, I'm listening and I can't. It's gone. Sorry, Julian, Julian.
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brambledpelt · 3 years
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Reading “Rising Storm” for the first time as an adult
This post was brought to you by: the knowledge that another library trip will be needed soon
How many books until I stop reading through the entirety of the clan list section? 4 in and I’m still reading this entire section. Is this similar to someone reading the star wars scrolling text every time?
It hits hard, seeing Graystripe in the riverclan list. I knew I would, but ouch.
Another prologue, let’s see if I can figure this one out faster than the last
I want to guess that this is...shadowclan??? it could be any of them but that sounds right I think
Fireheart always seems to get the rowdy apprentices, I don’t look forward to whatever bullshit cloudpaw is going to get into, he’s gonna get attacked by tigerclaw isn’t he
all these recaps. it was helpful to an extent when it had been a few months between books but oof, a little more grating reading back to back.
Lots of new apprentices lately, I wonder if these kittens will be named this book or the next one
It’s nice to see Fireheart get some support, Whitestorm hasn’t had much page time until now but he seems like a good cat
Poor Fireheart, I know it’s protagonist reasons but he shouldn’t be having to deal with this, all the elders talking shit when he’s trying so hard
oooh Bramblekit......
It feels like something is not going to go great when Fireheart visits Bluestar, either this will go badly, or, more recaps
Yep. This isn’t going great. I vaguely get why she’s putting all of this on Fireheart but oof. No punches are being pulled she is going through it.
“For the 30th time, because you probably forgot, Fireheart feels guilty for Cinderpaw’s injuury”
oh how did it take me this long to realize her name was Cinderpelt now? I must have missed that
I know it probably won’t because drama, but it sure would be nice if these mentor decisions just went well.
Getting more and more worried about Cloudpaw though he’s probably just visiting his mom
yaaay he’s safe, but big f for Bluestar
I do love the dream sequences of this series
Yellowfang I love you please don’t be mean to Cinderpelt
Awww reminiscing about his days in training <3
Okay now it makes more sense why she chose him as deputy but it was still a wild choice, especially with whitestorm Right There
Bluestar if you could put as much trust into Fireheart’s attempts at reasoning with you as you put in him for stuff he is barely equipped for.
Cloudpaw  p l e a s e
Bluestar not trusting these warriors is like, fair enough, but you’d think that’d give her more reason not to let them fester at the camp alone while those she is the closest to trusting are where she can see them
Furball season
Also Graystripe is okay! but mostly. Furball season.
So the prologue was definitely ShadowClan and something is going to go horribly wrong with the other clans not being warned about Tigerclaw, cool
“recoiling from him as if he were an owl of ill omen flying through a forest of shadows.” YEAH THAT PROLOGUE SURE WAS SHADOWCLAN AND ERIN REALLY WANTS YOU TO KNOW IT WITHOUT JUST OUTRIGHT SAYING IT.
Are they trying to make thunderclan sick or are they seeking asylum, I could see it going either way but I can’t see it going well
“Thunderclan would be left without a leader” Fireheart are you not grasping the order of events that would take place or are you too overwhelmed by the prospect to acknowledge it because thunderclan sure as hell would not be without a leader for long
Did they go down a storm drain? these books are confusing, that had to be it right?
I don’t know what Fireheart hopes to accomplish by making the tunnel known
Cloudpaw is being fed by people isn’t he
Cloudpaw is not particularly smart
Sandstorm arriving right as Fireheart is longing for Graystripe to confide in, these books and the subtleties of the narrative
Kittens!
tigerclaw jr im sorry buddy
Fireheart  know you miss Graystripe but you’re being as smart as Cloudpaw
I was really expecting that to be Graystripe, but Cinderpelt does make more sense there huh
ah big f for Cloudpaw
Is he like, ever coming back? big f
It’s protagonist syndrome I’m sure but like can Fireheart get a solid apprentice that dosent get a tragic exit from warriorhood big fucking f
Fireheart have you completely forgotten Tigerclaw
They’ve called this kitten Bramblekit and given him pronouns already why is this book using ‘It’ now?????
Graystripe!
Runningwind :(
Tigerclaw >:(
Fireheart shouldn’t be deputy but like at least he’s doing well,
You’d think they’d want cats to be solidly rested in case of another Tigerclaw attack
Ravenpaw my beloved
They know what a window is but not a house
Bluestar will rely on Fireheart’s judgement for so much until it comes to the stuff he’s actually qualified to handle
I should not be surprised by fire, but here i am, surprised by fire
Gotta love that calm that comes with managing a crisis
Yes its obvious yes its corny yes i love the moment that is Fireheart without hesitation risking his life for the one kitten he’s been most weary of, sidenote we’re back to he/him for Bramblekit
nooo Patchpelt :(
If Yellowfang is dead I’m suing
Yellowfang!
Yellowfang :(
poor Graystripe
I did not go into this series expecting it to hurt like this, It is genuinely hard watching Bluestar go through these things
Oh God Tell me this isn’t Tigerstar’s introduction tell me it isn’t please
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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