I know you only rewrite complete arcs but listen. Listen. Even if you end up axeing Starlingpaw's POV in the end I think you need to woman beam her out of spite.
Fear not, kittens. The woman beam is aimed at the wretched beast. Watching the Arc play out is just a matter of if the woman beam is going to be set to "gentle spiro shower" or "UTTER ESTRADIOL ERADICATION." Is the result a girl, or a smouldering pile of femme dust? Stay tuned!
Another thing I'm considering is, at some point, giving her the name Shrikepaw. Great Gray Shrikes are small, monochrome birds which have distinctive markings that resemble a badger.
But, more relevantly, they're called Butcherbirds because of their gruesome habit of impaling dead rodents on thorns, the same way leopards "cache" their kills. I think it would be fitting if, after her father's death, Shrikepaw requests for her name to be changed so that she's not always reminded of the fact it was her appearance that got her dad killed.
"Starling" as a prefix being an attempt at comfort, not a straightforward description. Starlings are in an odd space culturally-- both hunted due to their size and abundance, AND considered sacred songbirds which carry the shine of the stars in their feathers.
At the same time, I don't want to leave Robinpaw out in the dust, either. There's actually two kinds of shrikes in the area-- the Great Gray, and the Woodchat.
SO I'm thinking that they might have both changed their names, originally being twins matching their respective shrikes. Now they're gentler songbirds, with Robin swapping hers to consistently match her sister.
I'm thinking Shrikepaw and Fiscalpaw, since Fiscal is another name for certain shrikes (though mostly in Africa), since Butcherpaw is a bit on the nose. In Clanmew, the Great Gray Shrike and the Woodchat Shrike will have two totally different names, so it's going to be a rough translation either way.
I'm still going to leave room to "feel it out," though. We need to see how spiteful this arc makes me. I might fall in love with Robinpaw in blind fury and have a Category 5 Lesbian Moment, with windspeeds so high I obliterate a significant portion of the coastline. So we'll have to account for that
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Heyo all, it's been a while with some radio static and I've got a bundle of bits to reply to here!
If you're wondering where I've been, it's actually that things got MEGA busy on my end. Between the new year, a small promotion at work, getting a license to operate an X-ray machine for extremities (i have no idea how this happened man i have an applied science degree in dead people), learning some Java, and making travel plans to visit my partner overseas, it's been hectic but good.
But I ain't gonna pay it no mind, because every 6 months in queensland a man is torn apart by a crocodile the Warrior Cats never stops. I have also been passively ruminating on the Family Tree and keeping up with checking the inbox. Before I get to ShadowClan and the Glitch Warriors, I'll tackle all the other things.
SO reply time;
Changing Skies Reactions
(On Moonpaw's sister being stillborn, the ShellFern cheating situation, etc)
The Flipclaw/Myrtlebloom Family Tree Fix
plumthrift is soooo back
Other Fun Stuff
(Which character should be allowed to say fuck. Names I'd like to use in other Clans.)
(NOTE; not addressing anything submitted about BB!ASC just yet, I want to put all my plans together first)
CHANGING SKIES REACTIONS
My honest feeling is that they don't know what a chimera is, BUT, I'm actually glad about that.
I would 100% rather they go with having her be possessed by a dead stillborn rather than them making her rare, ultimately harmless genetic quirk "the reason" why she's haunted. The stillborn haunting is the sort of concept I've come to accept in the setting (though I do have my critiques and reservations about another Evil Voice plotline, especially given the shitshow that was Splashstar in the last book of ASC), but there are DEEP layers to how messed up the implication of "zygote souls" would be.
Others have been joining into the convo in the meanwhile, tho. In essence, I agree with @mothdapple's thoughts on the subject. I hope the voice isn't wholly evil, and I hope that the haunting doesn't stem from her chimerism.
I'm betting that she gets a weird shipping moment with one of her cousins tbh. Especially if she survives this arc and doesn't become a medcat. You just know they'll open up the next arc with her and Sunkit being mates with 400 babies if you ship her with a girl too hard lmaooo
@dawn-sunlight
MANNNNN. You CANNOT convince me that I'm not correct about this at this point. The first 4 times it might have been coincidence, but they seem to have pinpoint accuracy for sinking popular LGBT headcanons and hetconning straight romance into old material.
That's Riverstar, Blossomfall, Ivypool, Leopardstar, Onestar (they replaced a firestar scene man), and now Thriftear and Flipclaw in one fell swoop?
Not to mention how everyone was joking around about "Old Woman Yuri" with Tawnypelt and Leafstar and then BAM, Sudden Crowfeather.
Like idk. Watch Barley get a super edition called Barley's Boo where it's revealed he once fell in love with a beautiful BloodClan she-cat who he had to leave behind, until it's revealed she's in WarriorClan now, so he leaves the barn to get her pregnant before dying. And also she's his first cousin.
That's a joke but if Apollo hits me with the dodgeball I hope he kills me in 1 hit
THE FLIPCLAW/MYRTLEBLOOM FAMILY TREE FIX
thank god. This is actually an extremely easy fix for me, now. All the pre-emptive cleaning I've done for the BB!ThunderClan family tree has paid off.
I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until They're Done, BUT, I have discussed the previous options at length before and how I intend to fix it. If you're reading along but need to catch up on the convo and context, follow these links in order,
Summary and Intro: BB!ThunderClan and the Propositions
(ShellFern, StormCherry, FlipBay, or PlumThrift)
Anon ShellFern argument
Anon StormCherry argument
Hypokit Moonpaw Designs for All Four Options
Phantom of the Opera FlipBay Moonpaw
StormCherry Voter who changed their mind for FlipBay or PlumThrift
All caught up? Nice.
PlumThrift is sooooo back. It's basically what they've shown in the first book of CS. Soccer moms and their weird ass kid who they're desperately pushing to be an overachiever LET'S GOO. The most likely thing that will happen is that Moonpaw is a PlumThrift kitten-- unless something big changes.
(Though I am a little bit saddened that I can't do the cool Phantom of the Opera mask thing which came from Bayshine... unless Moon was honor sired, of course. Or maybe adopted. Hmm...)
For Oakkit, Sunkit, and Hazelkit though, I'm leaning towards what anon mentioned. Their canon parents are Myrtlebloom/Flipclaw, so it would be very easy for me to change to FlipBay because of my pre-emptive fixes. It'll match canon, and I have also grown fond of the idea of the two silly dads.
(plus then it's extra easy to have Moonpaw come from the first surrogated litter which was for PlumThrift to raise, and the second litter is for FlipBay. Biologically full siblings, socially cousins.)
That said, there's still a small chance they get shuffled over to ShellFern. Or, more radically, I might end up sending them over to StormCherry. If that doesn't happen though, don't worry, I'm still keeping Honeyfur and Leafshade in my back pocket in case there's no other opportunities to give them kids.
I will say this for certain though-- PlumThrift BB!Moonpaw would never have full siblings. She will be the only child they ever raise. If the canon parents ever have another litter, they would immediately get shuffled to FlipBay or someone else.
Sunbeam's kittens are, of course, Finchlight's. im punting that other thing into RiverClan. GIT.
OTHER FUN STUFF
I do actually want more mushroom names broadly, because sapient cats would actually be REALLY interested in fungi. I'd even say they'd be more interested in them than flowers. A lot of edible fungi have a chemical compound that makes them smell and taste like meat, so imo, they should be kind of like natural snacks or treats you can find while out and about.
Kinda like how humans have fruit, a culture of cats would have mushrooms. I plan on researching and writing a VERY elaborate mushroom guide at some point explaining this all in-depth (which I will be going thru my little "rolladex" of artists to illustrate it, when it's time), so I don't want to dive into the details just yet.
But in terms of names...
Something I wish I'd been able to do more of is weird, hard-to-translate prefixes. Scents that humans overlook, more time-related names about seasons or crepuscular events, categories of birds and invertebrates, etc.
Petricorfur, Prey-scent-tail, Arionbelly (a particularly large slug for eating), Rascalheart (a particularly feisty bit of prey that gives you a good chase), Thermalhawk (a thermal is a rising wind that allows birds of prey to soar more easily) etc.
If I was going back and scrounging up Glitch Warriors for other Clans, or just generally shaking up the prefixes, I would add names with these "themes" into each Clan;
Thunder: Sweet things and more wood-related terms
Nectar, Drupe, Sap, Pith, Grain, bark textures like Fissure, Scale, Tessel.
River: More aquatic animal terms, poetic imagery, and "beautiful" things
Caddis, Cray, Salmon, Roe, Mussel, Pearl, Dazzle, Twirl, Dance, Sway, Mirror (for the state of water when it's absolutely calm).
Wind: Sounds, events around the time of birth
Bellow, Hiss, Roar, Crackle, Swale (if born around the time of a muirburn), Journey (if born out of camp), Drowsy (for a long birth)
Shadow: Mushrooms, wetland terms, fermentation effects, names that might otherwise sound like insults to other Clans
Cake, Candle, Jelly, Parasol, Elf, Sphagnum, Gas, Drake (male duck), Muck, Peat, Bog, Fizzle, Bubble, Rot, Blight, Gnat, etc.
Sky: Cars and Suburban Terms
Truck, Bike, Cycle, Wheel, Asphalt, Lawn, Fence, Board, Shingle, etc.
I also really want to put Vetch in someplace. It's a pretty normal and common kind of flower, I just think the name is neat.
@angelinelitalady
Firestar's Quest Chapter 5: "ARE YOU TELLING ME SKYCLAN HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE THERE WEREN'T ENOUGH FUCKING TREES????"
Canon? I will never not answer Bumble, you're going to have to give me two guns to ask this kind of question because there isn't a version of me in any nearby timelines that would say anyone except Bumble. It should be a rocket launcher, actually. We need to give her the nuclear codes.
In BB I'd give it to Spotty. It would be REALLY funny. 25% of the story is preventing the rise of TigerClan and the other 75% of the story is taking the gun away from her.
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ALSO! IT'S SNAKE TIME BABEYYYY
@magewolf-the-artist
Do it! Go ahead! I can put it over in the Fan-Fanart post if you'd like. I should really make a section there for written art, too.
Everything about BB and everything WC-related I put on this blog is open source, from Clanmew, to plot threads, to Clan Culture, etc. PLEASE reference what you'd like if you're inspired by anything you see here!
The only thing I ask is that you keep that spirit of mutual collaboration alive. If you add onto Clanmew, allow others to reference it too. Talk about your thought processes. Encourage people to be inspired by what you did and make versions of their own. That's the beauty of fandom.
My end-game goal is for BB to result in a "skeleton" of chapter-by-chapter notes, the sort of thing you would hand to a ghost writer, so that it's essentially bones that anyone could take and write out themselves. This will take a looooong time because it's more about me having fun along the way, so if you want to write something, go ahead!
Never, never worry about "getting something wrong." You can change things, you can grow as a writer with time, wisdom, and practice. The worst piece of art is a piece that is never made.
bones. bones they made moonpaw a schizophrenia and plurality stereotype. bones. bones help us
OH NO IS THAT WHY THERE'S 16 MESSAGES
I TURNED MY BACK FOR 5 MINUTES GREAT GOOGLY FUCKELING MOOGELY
I still have to finish reading Star (you have to forgive me for being a capital G Gamer who's been uber distracted) to gather together my final fair assessment, so I can start putting down the fragments for BB!ASC. But I WILL tell you this;
The whole Moonpaw Discourse from a couple of months ago really opened my eyes to just how pervasive intersexism and plurality stereotyping is, even in this space.
Not all of it is malice-- like many other cultural biases, people often just pick up negative stereotypes passively and don't realize they reflect poorly on real people. "Scary evil head voice" is one of them. Yes, intrusive thoughts exist (they are something I deal with), but it's about the snap, subconscious association between "voice in head" and "mental torment."
As the case and point; Look at how FAST the fandom conversation changed when the team first teased it. What was a fantastical, equal parts sincere love and horror exploration of shipping a cat with a magic pool morphed. Overnight, The Voice was an abusive thing, an expression of a dead baby who wanted to live, or a reincarnated monster, or another evil Ashfur-esque posession spirit.
Something bad, malicious, unwanted. By contrast, the voice of the moonpool was mostly portrayed as a supernatural yet good thing. Genuinely asking her for help.
(Part of me also ponders the religious angle of it. "Voices in my head" that come from God are generally much more socially acceptable than "Voices in my head" that come from the self. Regardless,)
So, as always, I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until They Are Done (I DRAU TAD, if you will), BUT... I know for certain that I will want to subvert this.
If Canon!Moonpaw must be a system, and we're all ready to buckle up and bunker down through how the Erins handle this one, then for BB!Moonpaw I'll try to do the same. But for my portrayal, I want to write her relationship with her headmate to be generally positive. Or at least more complicated and multifaceted.
One idea in particular I like is the thought that she absorbed a twin... but writing it as a chance the twin GETS to live, NOT a life denied. Death would have claimed them if they didn't become part of her. So, they love her-- of course they do. They're two souls with one heart.
The specifics will have to come with time. I need to see how her plurality impacts the plot, the overall story being told, plus wait to assess the criticisms that real systems and fusion chimeras in our fandom will have. But I can say with certainty that I would like to attempt my redux with the sad truth in mind that headmates in media are almost never approached as non-malicious. I'd like to do what I can to make a difference.
Do you have any ideas for who you'll be picking as the povs for bb!changing skies? I know the arc is still super new, but since I know leafstar kicks it in bb!avos, i'm super curious as to if you have any early thoughts as to who might replace her (since someone HAS to - although something tells me that tawny's pov may also be on the chopping block, regardless of her still being alive by that point in better bones (i think? lol))
Leafstar's replacement is VERY easy! Waspstar will almost certainly be taking her roles, and I can already see how perfectly it will work out.
Xey remember her as being fair, above all. Committed to peace, to negotiation, to the ideals of justice and rationality winning out through unwavering generosity. Her first reward was to see SkyClan was driven from their home by Darktail and Sharpclaw's coup. Her second was to eat Juniperclaw's poisoned food.
Leafstar was fatally wrong. And Waspstar adored her.
How can you not? She lived by her ideals and died by them. Principles of modern SkyClan itself; to consider new ways of life, extend hospitality to strangers, and to keep the family together. In a good world, a better world, we could all live by these ideals.
...but Waspstar can see that the lake is not that world. So, xey lead ruthlessly.
As xeir mind starts to slip and the past becomes the present, xey'd see a lot of her. Consequences of xeir leadership catching up to them, it would be impossible to not ask what xey could have done different. If anything could have been different.
Plenty of interesting people for Wasp to remember, too, even beside Leafstar;
Sharpclaw, who betrayed SkyClan with the Kin.
Creekfeather, one of Waspstar's children, who xey had to kill to defend the Clan.
One of Rabbitleap's kittens who died very young.
The daylight warriors who stayed behind, or any cats trapped by humans.
People from xeir life as a kittypet, before xey were rescued from wandering the gorge that cold winter morning. Perhaps even xeir humans.
Again, say it with me; I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until Theyre Done. But. I've got a LOT to work with thanks to Waspy.
(And as for Tawny-- she gets a POV in BB!TNP already, even though she's still alive to the current day. So she's a lot more up in the air... especially considering there's now the possibility the girl POVs get sidelined in canon anyway :/ So I'll have to feel it out.)
So like I got carried away when I got to FlipBay Moonpaw in my little hypokit sketches, because I realized that BB!Bayshine's family trait could resemble a phantom of the opera mask.
And then it hit me harder. BB!Flipclaw's great x3 grandfather is Redtail, who was the brother of Spottedleaf. I can bring her bones and blight theme back.
I don't know if it will be final or not, BUT, I ended up sketching a couple of Moonpaws with Spotty's old death theme. They look RAD in any case, so I HAVE to share them even if I don't use them
My first take make half of her face orange, that one right in the center there. I like it a lot, but decided to try and stick to canon by making sure half of her face is black.
The blight spots actually came from me realizing that she has some Ferncloud in her thanks to the BB Family Tree rework (great grandmother), so I tried to put some rosettes on her. Then realized that it looked like good ol' Spotty so I leaned into it.
If I do take another stab at this one, I might try to not do the blight-thing and instead try to channel more Phantom of the Opera. For some reason that just stuck to my brain REALLY hard.
I know general fandom consensus is hoping she's kind of distant and strange, but honestly I'm really hoping she's a bit of a brat who insists upon her destiny.
Manifesting Villain Moonpaw. I want her to insist the moonpool must be saved, and then when there's an inevitable multi-chapter argument about making the plot move she just completely snaps and drowns their ass in the once sacred sludgewater.
If these demands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur!
If Moonpaw ends up as Firekin in BB because of my family tree reworks, it would be SICK AS HELL for her to be the first straightup VILLAINOUS member of her bloodline.
AND to bring back sweet Spotty's theme for such a character? Man. It would be so cooool
But, hey, even if she's not a villain, it would be nice to see such a metal theme come back. A cat born so special that she is both reviled and revered, death and decay expressed on both halves of her body.
I'll probably try making the spots easier to draw with a second pass. I just slapped them around randomly because these are sketches.
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So, I don't rewrite arcs until they're done BUT!! HAVE NO FEAR IM HERE TO FIX IT.
You may have heard that Moonpaw's canonical family has been confirmed, Thriftear x Bayshine, and that it makes her a real doozy of inbreeding. The most important thing being that she is the product of a first cousin pair because Thriftear's father Fernsong and Bayshine's mother Sorrelstripe are full siblings.
But I am the family tree trimmer and I'm here to do a little pruning!
First of all, I've already done significant work in overhauling the ThunderClan Family Tree. Today I've made a more lightweight chart for showing off the options better, but please do go and check out the full version if you'd like to see the generations further back. It also has a link to my "diagnosis," which is handy for comparing my fixes to the problems with the canon tree.
So just to nip this in the bud; Thriftear and Bayshine are no longer first cousins in BB.
That's already fixed! I'm going to change it anyway but I just want that to be like, the first thing you know going in.
Second of all, now's a good time for a little refresher on my Three Strict Rules. These are the rules I use for overhauling the family trees; determining when cats are far enough apart, preventing one bloodline from getting too prolific, and when a fix is required.
Like before, click the link to see the rules more in-depth. Put simply, these rules are;
Three Generation Separation
Cats must be three or more generations removed in order to be eligible as partners. That means they cannot share a simple grandparent, banning 1st cousin pairings. Further than that is typically allowed-- Clan sizes are too small to be more restrictive.
ADDENDUM: Onestar's Exception.
This rule applies to an extra generation, the great-grandparent, if one or more simple grandparents are alive to connect them all. This bans 1st cousins once removed (FCOR), like what Breezepelt and Heathertail are in-canon, and usually second cousins if I can help it.
Two Kit Max
Any given pairing may only have two kittens who have successful grandchildren. If three or more kids have grandkids, one of the bloodlines will have to be pruned in some way. This is to prevent "superparents" who decimate the diversity.
ADDENDUM: This applies per-Clan.
Cats can leave their birth Clan and not contribute to their parents' "limit." Dovewing is now in ShadowClan and does not count towards the rule.
One Parent Litters
Invoking the Queen's Rights allows for a cat to have kittens without a second parent. Sometimes these kittens are fully adopted.
ADDENDUM: This is an in-universe rule.
Ergo, other cats can and will have feelings on a cat who invokes this. That said, I don't always decide who that secret parent is beforehand!
With all that said, let's talk about the relevant differences in BB vs Canon, and the three options for who Moonpaw's parents are going to be...
Relevant Differences
So that we can narrow in on the ancestors that are relevant, I've gone and made a little version of my bigger tree.
Everyone in YELLOW is active in ThunderClan. PINK indicates that they may or may not remain there past ASC, either because they'll move or because they'll die. The ORANGE line tracks cats that are counted as Firekin.
(Note: Sunbeam, Twigbranch, and Finleap were left off this list since they're not relevant atm)
Spiderleg, Toadstep, Hazeltail, Sorreltail are still alive in BB.
However, in exchange, Molewhisker, Brackenfur, and Thornclaw are dead.
Cinderheart is off on adventures with Fallenleaf, who went through a whole thing
Mousewhisker and Nightheart will probably end up in RiverClan by the end of ASC.
Rosepetal will probably end up dying somewhere near the end of ASC OR in the BB overhaul of Ivypool's Heart. She will likely be Squirrelstar's first deputy.
Fernsong is an ex-kittypet. His name was Fiddles.
Because of a change in who dies in The Battle of the True Eclipse, Sorrelstripe is named Duststripe.
Because Ferncloud is the one to confront Ashfur in the Dark Forest instead of Graystripe, Graypaw is named Fernpaw.
Squirrelflight is infertile and unable to have bio-kits. Bramblestar disowned his children with her when the secret was revealed, and had a litter with Jessy. Sparkpelt is not Firekin-- her mate was.
Ivypool and Dovewing were swapped for Spotfur and Duststripe to keep the Firekin family consistent.
Larksong and Hollytuft have been fused into the same cat; Hollylark.
Hollylark was a poorly understood magical being. Xeir death prompted xeir parents, Cinderheart and Fallenleaf, to go on their journey.
Eaglewing, Honeyfur, and Leafshade are in my back pocket in case I need them elsewhere.
Snowbush, Dewnose, and Ambermoon were surrogated for cats in other Clans, but I still haven't placed them yet. Icecloud, now born AFTER the Battle of the True Eclipse, is taking any relevant roles for them.
Duststripe had kittens with an unknown sire, invoking the Queen's Rights to do so. I haven't thought about who this secret father is.
SO, as you can see, this tree is already significantly less tangled than canon's. If I just went with Thriftear x Bayshine, their last common ancestor was a great-great-grandmother (Frostfur), making them third cousins. On the other side, they share a great-great-great-grandmother (Nutmeg), making them fourth cousins.
These are both so far removed that most people don't even actually know their 3rd and 4th cousins. This is more than distant enough to not trip Rule 1.
That said... no 💕I don't care for this coupling 💕They haven't even talked in canon I am simply going to veto it 💕
Personally I've always seen Bayshine and Thriftear as being gay, so I'm going to move ahead with that in mind because it's MY AU and I get to homo the sexuals.
OPTION 1: BAYSHINE REMAINS
I simply swap out Thriftear for her brother, Flipclaw, making Moonpaw into a FlipBay kitten.
This is the most canon compliant fix I can make. This is probably what I'm going to settle on as a default, unless and until we learn more about Changing Skies. OR, of course, someone makes a convincing and juicy argument.
Thoughts;
This closely matches canon. They can't possibly throw a curveball at me that I can't fix with Thriftear lesbianism. YOUR MOVE, WORKING PARTNERS.
I need more MLM ships, I'm actually really lacking those, so this would be a good opportunity.
BB!Bayshine and BB!Flipclaw will actually have really nice chemistry. Flipclaw's a silly boy who's known as the one example of a Firekin cat who can't live up to the legacy (something that likely used to cause him to quibble with Nightheart, back in the day). Bayshine is kind of a worrywart who actually appreciates Flipclaw's sense of humor and prefers a mate who doesn't give him heart attacks via heroics.
I feel like that'll bounce nicely off Moonpaw as well, since she's probably going to have a very serious story attached. It'll be nice to just write her having very supportive parents who listen and care.
Plus with her parents being Mr. "Always Worried" and Mr. "Fire Failure," I don't have to worry too much about legacy or status while still keeping her a Firekin. These two guys don't have a lot of power to leverage to help her get the Clan to believe her, if I need to keep a plot point.
OPTION 2: THRIFTEAR REMAINS
I do some tweaks to put her with Plumstone, making Moonpaw a PlumThrift kitten.
More of a tinker than a tweak, but something I'm at least considering. I've been outspoken about how much I like PlumThrift, so I absolutely want to make it canon to BB. That said, I do like the idea that the two of them just don't have kids. Not all mates HAVE to have kittens.
Plus, it would come with restrictions anyway becaauuuuseeeeee,
It trips Rule 2, the Two Kit Max.
If Shellfur and Fernstripe have kittens, which I HOPE they do because good lord Canon!TC needs it, I couldn't let PlumThrift Moonpaw go on to have successful kittens of her own. Blossomfall's kittens would start to take over ThunderClan.
This is especially strict in BB because there's no way in hell I'm not going to have Shellfur and Fernstripe have some kittens. So help me god, I will pull Leafshade, Honeyfur, and Eaglewing out of my back pocket.
Moonpaw not having kittens isn't a bad thing, though. I'd happily do it, it's just that I'm trying to anticipate canon throwing a curveball at me.
BB!Plumstone and BB!Thriftear would probably have a more strained dynamic to their daughter, which might match canon very well if the team goes for the angle of having Moonpaw resent how she's seen as very special.
Both moms are overachievers, and very ambitious warriors. Thriftear is Firekin and living up to that legacy, and Plumstone is probably gunning for one of the head positions in the Clan.
It's not that they're mean or bad to her, it's that they'd have high expectations which might cause friction. Again; depends on where canon goes with Moonpaw's story.
Honestly, knowing them and what they want out of their lives, I can kinda see Moonpaw being something they didn't plan. Like she was an abandoned kitten they found and felt like it was a sign from StarClan, or somehow one of them accidentally got pregnant.
Which could be super interesting, honestly.
Option 2 might end up revealing itself to fit better than Option 1, but I need to see what the arc has in store first.
OPTION 3: TOTAL PARENT CHANGE
Moonpaw is given to a non-Firekin couple that could have kits
This is the biggest change, but one I'll do if it's an important plot point that she's NOT Firekin by canon's wahoo logic. I already killed the inconsistency with MY family tree fixes, but the writing team seems to only count Firekin down from Squirrelflight's biokids.
So if I have to comply with that for some reason, I'll shuffle her over to one of these two couples;
She could either become the daughter of Stormcloud and Cherryfall, OR Shellfur and Fernstripe.
StormCherry:
Stormcloud actually got a massive glowup in BB lmao
Cherryfall and Stormcloud were previously sort-of-courting, probably-dating, in a weird situationship sort of thing. Unofficial only because they never made it official.
If Moonpaw is their kid, she'd definitely be what makes it official.
I feel like Stormcloud is better suited to being the Mi, but Cherryfall would insist that she acts as it instead. And Stormcloud knows better than to argue with her, she's the most stubborn thing you've ever met.
She's a knucklehead. He's a gentle giant. I feel like they'd be fun as parents.
But also a bit more absent compared to the other options, which could be good if that's a plot point... but seems unlikely, considering Moonpaw was apparently named because her parents believe she's special.
This one's the MOST clean of any bloodline Moonpaw could be wriggled into. It would actually be super useful going forward honestly. StormCherry kits are compatible with all of the cats of the next generation except Firekin.
If Moonpaw has a ton of siblings I might put them all here just for that... but something tells me she's going to be a singlet tbh.
ShellFern:
I have a weird fondness for these two tbh. Can't explain it. I like grumpy assholes and their sweethearts.
It's super unlikely that these two don't get kittens of their own at some point, but it wouldn't be too big of a problem if I did shuffle Moonpaw in as their first child.
I would enjoy having a little window into their relationship, I used ShellFern for an example of what a post-Lake Aftergathering looks like once just because I like writing about them.
They wouldn't "get in the way" of the plot, either. Shellfur and Fernstripe are both pretty standard warriors, not super ambitious, they have hobbies but they're not reaching for a high status or anything.
If Moonpaw ends up being a little bit of a snarky character, it would be fun if she got that from papa Shellfur lmao.
Aaaand that's it! I don't rewrite arcs until they are done, and as of writing this, even ASC isn't totally completed yet! But there's the pre-emptive options for a fix that is definitely going to happen.
This poll isn't binding because I really need to see which of these options will FIT the best, but I'm curious,
Which option do you like best for BB!Moonpaw's parents?
Option 1: FlipBay
Option 2: PlumThrift
Option 3a: StormCherry
Option 3b: ShellFern
I Don't Know/I'm Bald/Vanilla Extract/Show Results
I propose ShellFern propaganda for being Moonpaw's new parents: imagine how the clans would take the first "half clan" kit being born since the new rule being instilled being this really special kid with a really unique appearance. Some would absolutely take it as a sign for this being good, others it being a sign of the devil Dark Forest and both sides would be using her as "proof that the new law is good/bad". A whole ass other storyline for others going on that Moonpaw is unaware of while the main story is unfolding.
Hmmm.... This is a good point. I will consider this.
They DID tease in the article that she could be a force for good or for evil. If they actually do something with that, I could have the cats in other Clans have opinions about this, be passively speculating about what Moonpaw will turn out to be. We will also be having insight with Tawnypelt and Waspstar (replacing Leafstar in BB) into the goings-on outside of ThunderClan as well...
Perhaps. Let's see if she has any siblings, or if the writers immediately toss ShellFern a litter of babies.
I originally voted for StormCherry for Moonpaw, but I think I love the idea of Honeyfur for them instead - being named after her aunt is such a cute idea. Which led me to the next potential idea - Moonpaw as a FlipBay kitten (or PlumThrift), with any canonical siblings being for the other. Perhaps, just maybe, they end up with their kits at the same time - first time parents trying to figure out how to do everything, who end up relying on each other for advice for better or worse. If you do this, I'm not sure what kind of relationship they would have, but I imagine it would be fun to play with the dynamic of Moon and the other kit(s). Or like a sort of story of their parents struggles to be well... parents, told through the kit's perspectives of themselves/each other? I don't know if any of that made sense haha
It's a lovely idea, but I think I will try to avoid giving PlumThrift kittens unless it fits Moonpaw specifically the best. If I do end up doing it and Moonpaw comes with living siblings, I might go with the thought and give the extras to FlipBay though!
It would be useful genetically, for "futureproofing" the litter. PlumThrift can't have successful grandkids without tripping Rule 2, so if the writers grab a Moon sibling to have kits in the future I'd already be covered.
In a nutshell: PlumThrift Moonpaw, with siblings given to FlipBay.
That said, I'd love to explore the dynamic of "new parents helping each other out" with StormCherry and FlipBay instead, possibly with ShellFern in there if they have their litter around the same time. Then they'd be more like friends than family.
Plus, Stormcloud and Cherryfall are senior warriors while FlipBay and ShellFern are quite young in comparison. Something about that seems cute. Cherryfall would probably be stubbornly insisting she's got it all figured out and trying to pull rank, while Bayshine and Fernstripe conspire ways to get Stormcloud in the nursery more since he's obviously a better fit as a Mi.
Shellfur barges in whenever his love, Fernstripe, seems like she has a problem. Stormcloud takes any excuse to come and take care of everyone in there, probably becoming an assistant to Daisy for a while. Flipclaw has a surprising wave of maturity wash over him, finding out he's really good at weaving wicker bases for mossballs. Lots of little things like this.
I'll see what litters canon tosses at us in the next few books. I'm hoping Changing Skies opens up with a FernShell set to play with, or if we're REALLY lucky some kind of pregnancy announcement in the last book of ASC. Who knows. We might get a NightSun litter, which I'd IMMEDIATELY zap into SunFinch kittens.
If the nursery has less than 3 queens I'll deploy Leafshade and Honeyfur as StormCherry kits, who can grow up as Moonpaw's childhood friends.
(Provided Moonpaw doesn't become a StormCherry kitten herself, of course)
