#yknow the one from crowfeathers trial

[masquerain-with-a-mask]

Ok I'm gonna talk about another one of my aus but this au is like

Complete crack but treated seriously

I call it the Brackenfur is Squirrelflight au

BASICALLY, THIS AU CAME FROM ME AND SOME OF MY FRIENDS RANTING ABOUT LEAFPOOL'S WISH CAUSE THIS BOOK SUCKS AND WE WENT "well thank god firestar agreed for squirrelflight to go with leafpool, imagine if it had been someone else instead." And that's where I came in and said "yeah imagine if like Brackenfur had replaced Squirrelflight."

And there you go.

(this art is old af)

I'll only be going over the events of Leafpool's Wish here cause the au actually goes all the way to the end of Po3.

First of all, BrambleSquirrel and BrackenSorrel are not a thing anymore. It's for the plot I'm not sorry.

So, Leafpool still makes up the "yo starclan told me i need to find a special plant can i go" sign and firestar is like "ok but take brackenfur with you plz" and Leafpool (an empath), sensing she doesn't have much of a choice, agrees.

The two of them leave ThunderClan but to make things more logical they leave way earlier than in canon so that way Leafpool pregnancy is at least less noticeable because I do think that ThunderClan cats do have at least half a brain, at least some of them.

During the trip, Brackenfur doesn't notice it at first and Leafpool spends the entire beginning of the trip being like "when he finds me out me and my kits are dead." She doesn't think he's going to hurt her or the kits cause that's still BRACKENFUR we're talking about but she does think that he will tell the clan when they come back and she really doesn't want that.

Skipping some things but basically Leafpool's pregnancy starts showing more and more but like, Brackenfur still seems completely oblivious to it, until they meet Yew (yes, the loner/kittypet from Crowfeather's Trial, he's there because you have no idea how much I love him)

Brackenfur gets defensive and tells him to get away and Yew is like "bestie I'm not gonna fight either of you also you might wanna be careful cause that mate of yours is kinda pregnant." and Brackenfur goes "this isn't my mate and the fact she's pregnant is literally the reason i wants you to leave" which makes Leafpool go "excuse me what" to which Brackenfur answers "yk it was kinda obvious" and Yew nods in the background

Leafpool goes "hold on i need to sit down a minute" and Yew just go do his own thing meanwhile Brackenfur stays with Leafpool.

While Yew is away, Brackenfur and Leafpool have a conversation after Leafpool pulls herself together and it basically goes "wait so you knew i was pregnant and didn't wish doom upon my entire family?" "yeah lmao" and Yew comes back not long after with something to eat.

After Yew convince them that the food is not poisoned and they're all done eating, when Leafpool and Brackenfur are about to leave, Yew goes "can i come with you, to help you with the labor i mean" which makes both Leafpool and Brackenfur ask him "why tf would you that" to which Yew answers "idk i fed you already and i don't have anything else to do" so they agree and Yew joins them in their traveling.

In this au i cut out entirely the fox sideplot because it was completely unnecessary no i will not take criticism.

At some point Yew leaves to get something to eat and so does Brackenfur as well as getting something for Leafpool, he catches a shrew and they talk. This talk is about what the fuck are they gonna do once they get back to the clans. That's where the crack comes in because they think that pretending that Brackenfur - who is cis in this au just to be clear - gave birth to the kits is the only possibility. Yew comes back and they explain their plan to him. He thinks it's the worst idea they could have possibly come up with but he decides to be supportive of his dumbass clan besties because "clan cats are insane anyways"

Comes the moment where Leafpool gives birth, the small party is caught in a snowstorm and hides in a log. I will not write the actual birth scene because it will suck if I do. And also there is no StarClan showing up after Leafpool gave birth because what the actual fuck was that about lmao.

So after the kits are born they name them. First is lionblaze, which i'm thinking of naming something with a link to fire.

Then there's hollyleaf, which brackenfur and leafpool both agree to call yewkit, after yew. Yew thinks this is cheesy af and is kind of embarrassed but they both insist on naming her that, saying that this is the least they can do to thank him for what they've done for them.

And jayfeather is still named jaykit cause i don't have any other name idea.

Afterwards they need to head back to the clan and so they part ways with yew, thanking him again for all he's done for them, to which he says that he's always glad to be of help. That's around where Leafpool's Wish ends but we're not stopping here.

While they are off traveling, squirrelflight is woken up by ashfur for dawn patrol, they have a civil conversation because ashfur isn't a creep in this au 😳 (this role goes to someone else and i think that ashfur's monologue is way funnier with this character)

The patrol takes off and, surprise surprise, they stumble upon Leafpool and Brackenfur with 3 kits. They're happy to see them but also extremely confused. and take the both of them back to camp. Squirrelflight tries to squeeze info out of them but they say that they'll explain everything when they get to the camp.

They get back, and everyone is happy to see them back but also extremely weirded out by the kits. Firestar goes "where are these kits from? weren't y'all supposed to bring back a plant or something?" To which Leafpool goes "yeah but you see the plant was a metaphor actually and those kits are the plant" which she knows is probably the worst thing she could have said but she panicked and said whatever came to mind.

Firestar goes "oh okay, doesn't answer my first question tho" and Brackenfur steps up saying "yeah so uh the kits are mine. i gave birth to them and am 100% their biological father"

Leafpool and Brackenfur both realize how shitty of an explanation that actually is and that this plan will never work when brackenfur says it aloud in front of the whole clan.

That is until someone in the crowd goes "WAIT YOU WERE PREGNANT AND DIDN'T TELL ME??" and that someone reveals themself to be Brambleclaw because bracken and bramble have been pining on each other for a while and became mates not long before this whole thing because why tf not. So basically Bramble thinks the kits are his and Brackenfur just goes "YEAH. TOTALLY. THEY'RE TOTALLY YOURS." and everyone just buys it.

Leafpool is relieved and thinks i can't believe that actually worked and you know that brackenfur is thinking the exact same thing.

And while the kits are taken away so a queen can nurse them Leafpool and Brackenfur just think this is just the beginning of trouble isn't it

AND THAT'S IT FOR THIS AU WOOHOO

I'VE BEEN WRITING THIS POST FOR OVER A YEAR

[yuridovewing]

12, 21, 23, and 25?

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I don't think I need to say this to you cause I've blabbed about it for a while but Heathertail!! I've always been pretty fond of her, she's a very interesting character and I don't think people give her nearly enough credit for what we've seen of her when you remove her from the Heatherbreeze ship. I think her friendship with Lionpaw before All That Happened was really sweet and I thought it was nice to see an example of a forbidden relationship that was just... two children with a crush on each other that quickly realized it wouldn't work out. But she's also a person who, while she holds personal grudges (for justified reasons imo but-) she will still break the rules for that person to do the right thing. Like, it was against the law to give Lionblaze their medicine, and she justifiably hates this guy and makes sure to point that out... but she's not going to let cats get hurt if she can avoid it. And I haven't read Crowfeather's Trial but that combined with how she acts around Breezepelt is... idk it's interesting! Especially now that she's retconned to be Onestar's kid (which I have conflicting feelings on but yknow still it's interesting)

There's also Dovewing but I feel like more and more people are coming around to her. Thank you Moonkitti. Another I can think of is Onestar, or at least pre AVoS Onestar (which honestly I'm disregarding in my brain cause like... god he was just SUCH a random choice for Darktail's father that I'm halfway convinced that they changed their minds on who it was in between The Apprentice's Quest and Thunder and Shadow) I like a character who gets negative development actually. He starts off as perfectly pleasant and a nice friend for Fireheart in WindClan, but forced leadership and an assassination attempt twisted him to become more bitter and cut Firestar off. And that's just the surface, there's an undercurrent in Winds of Change that Onewhisker is a doormat who is actually being told what to do by Firestar- like it's not something Firestar is deliberately and knowingly exploiting or anything, but what Firestar says, Onewhisker will do because "Well, I DO owe it to him, and it wouldn't KILL me". So seeing his experiences yank him out of that mindset and into someone who becomes more conservative, backfiring on Tallstar cause he changed his deputy in the worst way possible, is actually really compelling to me. I wish they did more with it tbh.

21. Part of canon you think is overhyped

Disclaimer that this bars anything Arc 6 and up cause I haven't read that far.

Mmm tbh... not totally sure what to point at specifically? Cause like, there's a lot I could point to cause like... tbh I think we all collectively remember a lot of WC scenes to be so much cooler than they actually were cause of all the MAPs.

Is it cheating to say most of DOTC? I actually do think the first three books are solid, at least from what I remember of them. But the entire arc is held up as a must read. Which is pretty sad cause I don't see people talk about... actual plot points in DotC all that often. Which I feel is pretty telling.

23. Ship you've unwillingly come around to

Hmmm another hard one cause I don't really have a ton of ships. Or any that I've been "unwilling" on...

I guess Heatherbreeze? I mildly enjoy it in concept but I don't really like how people just reduce Heathertail to "Breezepelt's happy ending". idk.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Oh anytime the fandom complains about characters besides the protagonists being angry at said protagonists for understandable reasons, to the point of calling those characters stupid idiots even when it's literally "the protagonist got this person's friend killed". Like when people literally portrayed ShadowClan in Night Whispers as petty and mean and dumb for.... being mad at Lionblaze for literally murdering their deputy. And saying Russetfur deserved to die anyways cause she was old and fighting Firestar (who led an attack on her camp btw). Or when Dawnpelt was called an overreacting insane bitch when she blamed Jayfeather for Flametail's death (despite Flametail doing the same thing and worse cause he tried to kill Jayfeather in return but yknow. It's only bad if girls do it) Like... yes she was wrong to do that especially when Jayfeather was innocent and he was totally justified to just save himself in the end. but she was grieving and grief can be messy. Y'know? Also when people got mad at Tigerheart when he threatened Ivypool when the Dark Forest tried to make her attack Flametail's spirit. Yes Ivypool was being manipulated but he's allowed to be pissed in the moment dude!