#bb!squirrelflight

I'm still a bit concerned that the writers will pull something with her 9 lives, but I've got so many good choices for BB!Squilf that it's not an issue to start considering who's gonna turn up for her.

Plus, honestly, NOT totally interested in abiding by canon if they commit the dumbshit we're suspecting they might. Pre-emptively biting and killing it.

Here's the list of candidates so far. Everyone with a * is a definite yes;

Goldenflower Her mentor in BB, replacing Dustpelt! After everything Squilf has gone through with Bramblestar, and after Golfy took her son's side after the big reveal, it feels good for her to show up with a life for Judgement. To decide when to listen to her heart, but also, when to realize when it is leading her astray.

Sandstorm Mother choice is a solid one, though I'm leaning towards giving this life to Ferncloud for variety. Squilf's got 5 immediate relatives here to give her a life.

Hollylark* Her grandkit, and Sparkpelt's mate who sacrificed xeir life to take her illness away. Xey'd give her a life for Interdependence, for all of the connections that bind a Clan together. Love, friendship, convenience, family. Squilf is familiar with sacrifice in service of it... but it's more than that. To love is to BE loved-- she must accept reciprocity. And... xey'd make some kind of loaded comment about Nightheart, knowing that neither one of them want to talk badly about him. I might end up changing xeir life to something like "letting go," as foreshadowing for how I'm absolutely planning for Nightheart to NOT return to ThunderClan after his road trip with Frostpaw. BUT I don't decide arcs until they're done so we'll have to seeeeee

Firestar* Basically required. Squirrelstar is his daughter, the successor of his ideology, and the follow-up to a leader that Firestar considers a mistake. His chats at these sorts of ceremonies often get wistful, so I feel like they'd talk about second chances, wanting people to be better than they are, how to fix things that are broken and when they aren't worth the effort. He says it explicitly, "You're just like me. A spark of my flames, burning bright, long after I've become starlight..." His life would be for Progress. To continue to evolve and grow, to never be so stuck in the past that she can't see the future, to know when things can be fixed and when they must be broken.

Rosepetal I want to save her on one hand, but on the other, having her go out in a blaze of glory at some point in ASC or TBC is a good reason why Squilf didn't make her deputy. Rose was her first apprentice and has always been a dedicated, passionate warrior who would deeply want that spot. If she's here for the 9 lives ceremony, she'd give Squilf a life for Ferocity. "Give them twice the Hell you always do, so that it's like I'm right there next to you."

Shrewface* (Shrewpaw in life.) Her guardian angel. He helped her hide the secret of Leafpool's pregnancy, and has always stood over her, providing help secretly. Now he can finally stand before her and give her a life. He would actually stumble and chuckle, because he's wanted to do it for so long he's blanking on the life he wants to give her. On one paw, Squilf is a little annoyed. It's a super serious leader ceremony, holy moment in her life, but on the other... Shrewface is so HAPPY! His joy is infectious. He's standing before her as the adult he would have been, but under that, she sees the funny teenage best friend that she lost so long ago. It feels almost like being a kid again. So she picks her own life by saying, "How about one for Joy?" And he says, "Hey that's a great idea!"

Rainwhisker A ThunderClan cat who died in the WindClan Civil War, and someone she remembers fondly. The life he gives is a life for Collateral. He has no shame in how he died, and he believes Firestar's call was the right one. But he needs to remind Squirrelflight that beliefs are backed with blood. Every time she brings her Clan into war, there is a chance that someone will die because of her choice. He restates that he believes his death was noble; but his life will remind her of the cost that someone else might pay.

Sootfur If it's not Rainwhisker, I'd like his brother Soot to be here. I think his death was haunting, with how Squilf couldn't save him, watching him tumble down a rockface because of his broken leg and being brutally murdered by what-is-now a boar. She's carried guilt from how she couldn't save him her whole life, so in contrast to Rainwhisker, his life is for Acceptance. To remember that not everything is her fault, and she could NEVER be so perfect as to avoid all of life's misfortunes. Even if others pin blame onto her for something she couldn't control; no leader is powerful enough to save everyone. Thinking about it though, I might really try to slot BOTH of these guys in. I think the contrast of the two back to back is powerful; that actions have consequences, but not every tragedy is a consequence.

Ferncloud She just died very recently, taking both Graystripe's super edition AND his sacrifice in the Dark Forest. Graystripe is still alive, living at the tribe with his son Stormfur. She confronted Ashfur for Squilf, so it feels right that she also comes to support her here. Ferncloud, for the first time in so many years, looks at peace. She isn't gray and grizzled anymore, but sleek and vibrant. Her family surrounds her, Dustpelt, Elderberry, Brindleface, her many lost kits. So, the life that she gives Squilf is for Faith. In StarClan that she will always have Clanmates in the skies to watch out for her, in her Clan that there will always be future angels fighting by her side.

Longtail Her uncle, and Jayfeather's mentor who trained him into the full angel-punching cat he became. During the big trial she has in Squirrelflight's Horror, Longtail was one of her loudest supporters, and eventually nudged her backwards so her son could grab her ankle and drag her back down to the mortal plane. He's always been her wonderful uncle, so, he might end up taking that life for Faith from Ferncloud. Just depending.

Feathertail* I want her to show up in the ceremonies of every patrol cat who achieves power, as a given. If we get Crowstar, I also want her to be there. I just think it's nice that if Crow, Bramble, and Squilf ever did end up able to chat about this together, in spite of the TANGIBLE awkwardness of the three of them being in the same room, they'd be able to make a joke about Feathertail Gives You A Life and it would land a little TOO hard, be a little TOO funny, because they were hoping that SOMETHING would lighten the air and it did. But anyway, this incredibly specific desire aside, Feathertail Gives You A doobie life for Tranquility. That the once-impulsive Squirrelstar will be able to slow down and consider every action, to take a deep breath in stressful times and think about what she's about to do. That as leader she will be under immense pressure, yeah, but also immense power. She can always afford to take a moment before making a big decision.

Leafpool* MANDATORY. There's NO reality where I do not end off this ceremony with Leafpool. When she steps up, they can't look at each other without crying. It overwhelms them, to the point where Squilf can't even choke out her sister's name. Leafpool, meanwhile, has gotten used to controlling her body while her heart breaks into billions of little pieces. She'd done it for her whole life, and now, she does it again in death. "this life is for love," she touches her night-cold nose to Squirrelstar's, and the new leader's vision begins to fade into black, "you know why." From the darkness, memories burst forth. Of them as kits, their silly games and dreams, how they planned to one day be the cleric and leader of ThunderClan together. The terrible loneliness of being separated while Squirrelpaw was on the Sundrown Patrol. The ache in Leafpool's heart whenever she saw her sister mistreated; how she gave up on relationships with Crowfeather and, to some extent, with Mothwing as well so she could serve her Clan and stay with her family. The three kits, the anxiety as Squirrelflight took them, the way it felt like Leafpool was being flayed to give them up. Parenting, loyalty, betrayal as Hollyleaf snapped and revealed the secret Squirrelflight desperately didn't want to keep, the guilt that Leafpool felt watching her suffer for helping her. The way they always felt like, on some level, it was them against the world.

And then she wakes up, back on the shore of the Moonpool, with her Clerics beside her. Leafpool is gone. StarClan is, once again, very far away, and she's left with nothing but the cold feeling on her nose and the looming specter of war ahead of her.

So to begin with, Squirrelflight is in an odd place, generation-wise. She is born while Firestar is on his quest with Brokenstar, and grows up in a period of peace and prosperity.

Unfortunately she keeps failing her goddamn assessments

So while Leafstripe is a fully trained Cleric, Sorreltail recovered from being hit by a car and graduated, and Ashfur tried to hold out for her for a while before moving up, Squirrelpaw is here absolutely eating leaf litter with her wrecklessness

Goldenflower, her mentor, even tries to tell Firestar that she's not being vindictive, just in case he got the wrong idea. He assures her that, no. No he understands <:/

So Spider, Shrew, and Squirrel end up as apprentices together. There was a time where they were really close, getting in trouble in spite of their three strict mentors. Bad influence trio, all of them coming from respected parents and doing their best to embarass them.

That only started to change when Squirrelpaw went on the Great Journey, but then returned just in time to see Shrewpaw die. A lot of things were different, now. Squirrelpaw came back exalted for being on a holy quest. Spiderpaw had watched a lot of his clanmates die. She was spending more time with Brambleclaw; he had become very protective of his little brother, Birchkit.

They had both grown in a flash. Hard times will do that to you.

During the Great Journey, Spiderpaw was really close to the other Clan apprentices while Squirrelpaw hung out with the Sundrown Patrol. Spider looks back at this time in his life with a lurch in his stomach that he can't put into words.

He was there when Paw Soup was made. Talonclaw and Smokefall were friends of his even more than they were friends of little Birchkit. Spiderleg just left it behind when they got to the Lake, where his little brother never could. Clan loyalty, strength, honor... all that. He felt like he had to make a choice.

As a person, Spiderleg is torn in many directions by all of the things that happened to him. His head-of-construction father, his educator mother, his friend who won status by breaking the rules, three dead siblings before his warriorhood, the destruction of his ancestral home, the journey that challenged everything, his mentor Thornclaw, the backfired meeting, ardor for Daisy, crashing down with unwanted kits...

His consistent trait is that he's easily swept up in whatever fills him with the most passion, tossing himself into things until a bubbling sense of disgust makes him break it off. Regardless of if it was the good thing to do or not.

Religious euphoria and self-flagellation just seems to stabilize that impulse, for him.

The last time he was friends with Squilf was during their vigil upon reaching the Lake. They did it together, because they were both long overdue. He thought about Shrewpaw, and wondered if she did too.

So, have Pishee:

Leaving who she's spraying up to you <3

took a shot at Squilf Patron!!! fire is because of Firestar, the salt white paw is there and now it extends to the scar on her flank, freckles and end of her tail, and her bigass squirrel tail has seawater in it because of the Sundrown place (I think all the Sundrown Squad should have a bit of water on them, as a treat lol)

!!!!! Man you're all taking the assignment and KILLING it out here

I especially love the glowing eyes there, it reminds me of a jack-o-lantern. It's almost too bad their eyes are too good to keep anything to light their way at night, it would be awesome to carry around a little clay lantern in that shape and call it a Squirrel-Flight's-Light. Pishkafsheek-en-Shayu. Pishee'enshayu.

Maybe that can be their term for a campfire! Especially ironic since the Sundrown Patrol made fun of her for eating raw food the whole time!

[ID: BB!Squirrelflight. She is a dark ginger cat with a white paw, and a bushy striped tail. Her ears have heart-shaped tufts, once of which is broken.]

I'm in love with her, she's one of my favorites. Girls who are small and consumed by their passions hold this world up on its axis

Her Clanmew name is Pishkafsheek, "Red Squirrel Soaring (like a bird of prey)," shortened to "Pishee" by Clanmates.

She is well known and regarded as a fantastic deputy in-universe. She was Bramblestar's first, taking power after the death of her father in BB!Cruel Season.

Though she wasn't deputy for long, the sudden public demotion at the secret reveal and replacement with Thornclaw was controversial.

Her relationship with Bramble is intentionally toxic. This time, she does not get back with him after he disowns the Three at that gathering.

Her ear and heart tuft is "broken" in OotS.

However, she does return to deputyship after Thornclaw is revealed to be working with the Dark Forest in the Great Battle.

Sparkpelt is her apprentice, not child. Spark and Alder are Jessy's kittens.

Her reworked super edition is called Squirrelflight's Horror. She considers getting back with Bramblestar just before the Sister Situation happens.

The Trial, that time around, is regarding Fire Alone as her ideology more than any one thing she has done. She has kept her father's legacy alive and close to her heart.

Her favorite food is RAW MEAT. She ignores ALL WARNINGS ABOUT WORMS.

[ID: BB!Sorreltail clutches her chest in offense. A worm on a string is in her speech bubble. The text says, "LIVE SORREL REACTION"]

it's fanart time so heres a quick doodle of fallen leaves and squilf

I guess it is! Fan Fanart time lmao. New tag.

It would be a faux pas! Calling a mentor "mom" is like calling your high school tutor "mom." If Spark did it, it would be embarassing for both of them.

In Clanmew though, Sparkpelt exclusively uses the closest possible pronouns for Squilf. Nyam/nyams. That isn't an honor all mentors get!