#...whoops

Shimmerstar's policy when it comes to outsiders is simply to welcome them without fear. Visitors are not uncommon, allowing the clan more insight into the world beyond their borders than most. Though usually, cats allowed to join Moonclan go through an apprenticeship before being considered full members of the clan, Shimmerstar has never 'failed' any of them and has yet to exile any cat. Thanks to the closeness and loyalty of the group, the clan has little to fear from individual troublemakers and most of those who leave, or change their minds about joining, do so of their own volition.

I'd like to name and talk about all the Moonclan cats here, but for now I'll start by telling you the story of one of this clan's previous leaders. In the meantime, feel free to guess at who the other cats are if you'd like, and when I get to them you can see if you were right or not.

Shimmerstar

(Hanzo Kisaragi)

Until recently, Shimmerstar was the leader of Moonlcan. Under his leadership, the clan has grown into a close-knit group where cats openly express their own views and different ways of doing things. Though Moonclan has always had a reputation for 'taking in strays,' Shimmerstar has allowed far more cats from outside his own clan to join them than any of his predecessors, one of which includes his own daughter, Duskshade. Though some leaders might see these traits as a lack of unity, Shimmerstar was wise enough to understand that it is one of his clan's greatest strengths, and has made sure to encourage it wherever possible.

Shimmershine spent some of his younger years as a medicine cat, has lived in other clans and groups before, and his ex-mate was not a clan cat. All of his experiences must have led him to be as openminded and clever of a leader, and caring of a father, as he would one day be.

He grew up in Sunclan, and was once close with the clan's current leader, Sharpstar, along with another warrior their age named Petaldust, before falling out with the former and leaving the clan he was born into. His former mate was part of a nomadic group of she-cats called The Sisters, and his relationship with her, while it lasted, was warm. He met her while he was still a member of Sunclan and slowly fell in love. Knowing that Sunclan would never approve of one of their warriors having a non clan cat for a mate, the two of them were cautious and clever about their meetings, and eventually, their plans to have kits together. Mist had no intention to leave The Sisters in order to join Sunclan, and her mate knew he would never be able to join her there, even if he wanted to; after all, toms were not allowed among The Sisters. However, she had chosen him as the cat she wanted to father her kits, and she did go against tradition for him, often leaving the group to spend time with him and traveling far to come and see him. After many long talks, Mist still would not leave her family behind. However, out of love for her mate, whom she truly wanted to be the father of her kits, she promised that she would break tradition and allow him to raise their kits instead of herself and The Sisters, if that was what he wanted. In the end, he agreed, wanting to become a father even if he could not remain Mist's mate.

However, before their kit was born, one of his closest friends, Sharpclaw, revealed his secret to the rest of Sunclan. It is hard to say whether this was a forced or free choice, but in the end, it didn't matter. All of their carefully laid plans evaporated, and when Mist came to meet her mate, she found a lone cat who had been exiled from his clan. Meeting his first and only son, whom they named Brightkit, must have been a tiny shred of light in the aftermath of all that. However, Shimmershine no longer had the support of his friends and community, and could no longer rely on Sunclan's queens and nursery to nurse and care for Brightkit as they had hoped. They both knew the path they'd laid out was no longer possible.

Desperate not to lose them forever when The Sisters inevitably continued to roam, Shimmershine begged Mist either to try and plead his case with them, or for her to stay with him. Reluctant but unwilling to let Shimmershine lose their son for good, she agreed to stay with him until Brightkit was weaned and old enough to survive without a mother. Both of them longed for community and safety they had lost, and knew their family would only be safe with it, so Shimmershine went to Moonclan, and told their leader everything, before asking to join. To his surprise, Moonclan had few qualms about inviting a warrior from an enemy clan or even a cat like Mist to join them. Shimmershine never forgot that, or how it allowed him to remain a father.

Unexpectedly, Mist stayed with them even when she didn't need to; the clan had another queen in the nursery to nurse Brightkit, and even once he was weaned, she didn't leave. It seemed that she too, didn't want to lose the new family she had made. However, Shimmershine's growing hope that she would stay for good eventually faded as it became more and more clear that the life of a clan cat was one Mist did not want. Though she tried, her heart was still with the family she'd grown up with, and even if she was a fine hunter, the life of a clan cat seemed to weigh on her more and more as time passed. In the end, she chose to say farewell to her mate and son, and left Moonclan to seek The Sisters, never to return.

Shimmershine had known it was coming, but the loss still hit him hard. Thankfully, he had support and a home. This too was something he never forgot, leading him to become an incredibly loyal warrior in order to repay what he considered a debt to the clan that took in himself and his son. He filled whatever role was needed in the small clan, whether it was training under their healer, helping with apprentice duties, or even helping to fend off attacks from the clan he had once belonged to. The clan was quickly endeared to him. That warmth extended to his precocious son, and, eventually, the kit he returned to camp with one day and promptly adopted with the support of his clan.

Over the seasons, he was promoted to deputy, and one day, became Shimmerstar. Known for his wit, charm, willingness to accept input from any member of his clan, and a fierce loyalty to the clan he owed so much to, Shimmerstar was a strong, well loved, and respected leader. He vowed to serve the clan that had taken him in when he needed it most, even if it meant leading them into battle against Sunclan, or giving up his lives.

Though the territories were far from peaceful, Shimmerstar did his best to protect his clan, willingly risking his lives in order to spare his clanmates from dying. During his leadership, he accepted many cats into his clan, strangers, friends, kittypets, and even those most leaders would consider 'enemies.' He helped Duskpaw become a healer, and trained multiple apprentices himself.

His leadership should have lasted many more seasons, but unfortunately, it was shorter than it ought to have been. Moonclan was hit by a terrible illness. Duskshade should never have had to face this alone; but with the last healer having passed and Shimmerstar falling fast into a state where he could not help, she had no choice. She, her brother, and the cats around them did everything they could, but many cats lost their lives. This included many of the clan's warriors and their deputy.

Duskshade stayed awake for days trying to keep her father alive. She knew he had lost all of his other lives thanks to the conflicts Sunclan continued to fuel. Despite her desperate efforts, his condition only grew worse, this, along with the underlying illness he had long carried, most likely made it impossible for any cat to have saved his life.

With only a handful of senior warriors left alive, and the deputy and leader lost in one fell swoop, the clan was uncertain and beginning to lose hope.

Shimmerstar would never have wanted his children to face such a thing, but when his son and daughter came to the Moonwell, he gave Moonclan's new leader, Brightstar, one of his nine lives, and told them he was, and would always be, proud of them both, even if he could only watch over them from Starclan now.

I'm not ready for Monday. I don't wanna do a drawing for the finale :[

Although Domi's crush on Noé is often played for fluffy comedy, it's also clearly tied into a lot of the less than healthy aspects of her character. She tried to completely rewrite herself and transform into her brother to make him happy. She tried to kill herself because she thought it would save him, and the only thing that could snap her out of her suicidal mindset was the fact that her death would make Noé sad. It is incredibly unhealthy to tie your self worth so deeply to another person like that.

Domi's had a crush on Noé since before things got so unhealthy, and she'd probably still have these problems to some degree even if she weren't in love with him, but the fact remains that the two issues are inextricably linked right now. And going further with DomiNoé would mean either leaving Domi's issues about Noé worsening/unresolved (which I doubt will happen), or writing her working through her baggage and learning to value herself outside him, then coming back to her crush with a new, healthier viewpoint. And that could technically happen!

However, I think we would make a much cleaner narrative break if Domi's learning to live for and value herself coincides with her finally moving past her feelings for Noé. Her moving on romantically would be a really good way to symbolize her moving on from her unhealthy dependence on him, and I don't want to pass that up. She needs to have something in her life that isn't connected to all her baggage about Louis.

Also, from the Noé side, I just don't see much practical evidence of him having feelings for Dominique. Chapter 12's romantic foreshadowing coincides with Noé's obvious jealousy over the whole Vanijeanne situation, so I'm pretty sure his eventual crush is going to be on one of them. And that brings me to the issue of NoéJeanne.

As I've said before, I do think there's a small amount of evidence that could support Noé's eventual crush being Jeanne, so it wouldn't be completely out of left field. However, I'm personally hoping this isn't the route Mochijun takes, and the biggest thing that turns me away from this idea is what it would mean for Dominique.

When Misha manipulates Domi during the Amusement Park arc, he uses not just her crush on Noé, but specifically her jealousy over Jeanne as ammunition against her. Because Dominique has noticed Noé's jealousy over VaniJeanne, and she fully believes that Noé has feelings for Jeanne. But the thing is, the Amusement Park arc is almost entirely a story about the destruction and pain that comes from falsely assuming that you understand a loved one. Dominique almost dies because she mistakenly thinks it's what Noé would want. Misha's whole motivation as an antagonist is trying to bring Vanitas back to a family dynamic that Vani no longer wants or believes in. And Noé's big turning point is the realization that he has to look at Vanitas clearly and think about how he actually feels, rather than judging based on his personal feelings.

So with all that said, Mochijun turning around and saying "Domi's right about Noé's feelings for Jeanne, actually" would be really weird and out of place. I'm fairly sure that, although it's implied earlier, the first time "Domi thinks Noé has a crush on Jeanne" is called out explicitly is when Domi and Jeanne talk in chapter 45. This comes immediately before the start of the Amusement Park arc, and that scene in particular serves as the buildup to Domi's imminent breakdown, so her jealousy and the themes of the Amusement Park are pretty inextricably tied.

"Domi makes a false assumption about Noé's feelings, and it leads to her fighting with her dear friend Jeanne for no good reason" would fit very well with the rest of the arc. "Domi is right about the jealousy, but wrong to fight with Jeanne anyway" would be a much clumsier from a thematic and storytelling perspective, and I'm inclined to think Mochijun knows better than that.

In short, Noé having feelings for Jeanne is possible, but it would make Domi and Jeanne's part of the amusement park arc a lot worse.

So would Noé having feelings for Vanitas be better?

For starters, Noé having feelings for Vani would make Dominique's jealousy of Jeanne incorrect, which solves the thematic problem outlined above. Beyond that, though, Noé having feelings for Vanitas would also allow for the most interesting interpretation of the original "Noé is jealous" scene from chapter 12.

In that scene, it's obvious that Noé is jealous over Vanitas and Jeanne's new romantically/sexually charged blood drinking situation. Noé thinks it's because he's jealous that Jeanne gets to drink Vanitas's blood, and Domi thinks it's because he's jealous that Vanitas is getting close to Jeanne sexually/romantically. Noé being correct is frankly not worth considering, and we just addressed why Domi being correct creates problems. However! If Noé is jealous that Jeanne is getting close to Vanitas in the romantic sense, then Domi and Noé are each half right in a way that I find both logical and compelling.

Noé struggles to understand his own feelings on a deeper level, but he can understand his own physical cravings for blood, so it makes sense that, even when feeling other types of attraction, blood is the one thing that gets through to him. Meanwhile, Dominique dislikes Vanitas and is pretty obviously attracted to Jeanne, so it follows that she'd assume Noé thinks the same way. They each have an insight into Noé that the other doesn't, and they're both also a little bit misguided, which seems pretty in keeping with their characters and VnC as a whole.

Then, on a wider scale, a "Noé's in love with Vanitas" angle would also do some really interesting things for Dominique. My best guess right now is that Domi's arc will eventually end with her finding some self worth/reason to live beyond Noé, but she'll have a long and painful process getting there. And Noé liking Vanitas would help facilitate exactly that! It could force her to accept that she's not going to get with him, which could in turn help her move on and find her self worth elsewhere, but it would also put her through. just. so much suffering. On the pettier level, she'd have to watch her dear friend and crush fall in love with someone she finds rather despicable (and for the second time!!). And on the more serious level, she'd have to watch Noé once again link his heart to a doomed man and have to reckon with the aftermath of his death.

That sounds about like the kind of growth to angst ratio that Mochijun likes to go for.