#bsmfh

“So be it,” Breezepelt mutters, and suddenly Mousewhisker can understand why Heathertail might struggle with Breezepelt. Mousewhisker has spent his entire life trying to make cats forget about where he comes from; so that when they gaze upon him they find him perfectly acceptable. So when they compare him to Foxleap or Poppyfrost or Lioblaze they can’t find the differences. The faults.

Breezepelt is the son of a Clan hero, he’s the friend of Onestar’s daughter, he was mentored by Onestar’s mate. Breezepelt was born with It, born with whatever Mousewhisker lacks. It should be so easy for Breezepelt to be accepted, to be loved, to climb the ranks even despite his father’s affair, and yet here he is so bitter at one cat that he would burn his own birthright to ashes.

The silence prompts Breezepelt to tilt his head back, and now Mousewhisker can clearly see his mocking expression. “What?” He asks. “Can’t relate to that, can you?”

“Not really, no.”

I have a Be Still My Foolish Heart playlist. It's mainly about Amane's experience of the story rather than Nene's, but there's aspects of both of them. Anyways here are the songs that are on it:

Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier (obviously)

Nobody by Hozier

All to Myself by Mariana's Trench

Violent by carolesdaughter

Valentine by Laufey

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

enough for you by Olivia Rodrigo

Lonely by Noah Cyrus

It's Alright by Mother Mother

When He Sees Me by Sara Bareilles

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)

traitor by Olivia Rodrigo

Unknown/Nth by Hozier

Because Dovewing is Clan-borne, and Firestar would never embarrass a Clan-borne apprentice by failing their assessment, whispers a voice in the back of his head. The voice used to sound like Hawkfrost and Mapleshade and Brokenstar, but these days, it sounds more and more like his own voice. If I were Dovewing, I would be forced to endure another moon of training before retaking my assessment.

It just isn’t fair. 

Strangely, as Mousewhisker’s attention shifts from Dovewing to Ivypool, he gets the feeling that her sister is thinking the same thing. 

“I don’t,” Breezepelt sneers.

Mousewhisker shuffles his paws against the wet dirt. “I didn’t call us friends.”

A mischievous light flickers inside Mapleshade’s amber eyes. “No, you didn’t, did you?” She looks back at Breezepelt. “How very interesting, Breezepelt. You never mentioned this.”

“Mousewhisker isn’t interesting enough to warrant a mention,” retorts Breezepelt, callous and cruel.

It strikes a nerve. Irritated, Mousewhisker responds, “Interesting enough to dream about though, right?”

Hazeltail stiffens.

Keeping his voice low, he goes on. “He’s never going to get past the fact that you aren’t Clan-borne. No matter how hard you work to prove him wrong, he’s always going to look down on you - down on us. You should stop wasting your time on him.”

“You would know all about wasting your time on someone,” Hazeltail retorts.

“Yeah, I would,” Mousewhisker agrees. “It’s pathetic. And maybe I’m fine with looking pathetic, but you’re better than me, Hazeltail. You shouldn’t moon over dusty toms who can’t stop talking about how great the old forest was.”

Is she attracted to old guys who sit and just complain a lot? Which I mean.. fair enough lol, but Thornclaw as a whole just doesn't seem like the kind of cat who returns those feelings a lot. Or at all

It will be funny for him and Mouse to just see each other in the df

Mouse like "Yeah, I am pretty angry, at all these cats. Like Thornclaw who constantly- oh hey, what are you doing here."

The legitimate awsner is that Thorn/Hazel gained popularity yearss ago before Thornclaw became such a massive jerkface and before Hazeltail died and so that is unfortunately the ship I immediately associate Hazeltail with.

The in-story awsner is that Thornclaw and Foxleap are the only single toms in ThunderClan that Hazeltail could be paired with (she's related to Toadstep, Spiderleg is her ex-step dad, and Bumblestripe is too young) and at this point in the fic Thornclaw is a respected senior warrior and a strong fighter and fiercely loyal to ThunderClan, and I've always assumed all of the Frostfur kits are attractive, so. I think a serious lady like Hazeltail would be attracted moreso to him verses somebody younger and carefree like Foxleap.

If I wanted to make Hazeltail happy then I would actually pair her with a she-cat (Icecloud, probably! But also Cinder/Honey/Poppy would work great too!). But I do need her to have her pitiful crush on Thornclaw because. Well. Hopefully I've done a good job of showing that Mousewhisker has a habit of putting cats on pedestals and then struggling when they fall. He really does respect his sister so to see her fall in the same trap as him (pining over a cat who will never return their feelings) really bothers him.

“To see if Rosepetal and Toadstep want to hunt with me instead!”

“The halfs?” Berrynose cries, offended. “You would rather hang with the halfs?”

“You’re one to talk about being a half,” Mousewhisker mumbles. “You only have half of a tail.”

This time Berrynose launches himself at Mousewhisker and their petty sparring continues.