mr bones! what are your plans for Mousewhisker, Berrynose and Hazeltail in your AU, since they're some of the very few genetically pure lines in ThunderClan? I always thought it was such a waste to kill Hazeltail off and then to have Mousewhisker alive and kicking, but, like, never father kits or even take a mate?
If the Frostfour haunt my dreams (derogatory), the Daisychain haunts my dreams (affectionate)
They were done MEGA dirty by the narrative and I plan to shake them up massively, but because they have so many things going on, it's really hard to commit.
I'll go in order of MOST SOLID reworks, and finish off with the Daisykin I'm still waffling about
Virtually unchanged. He's great as-is. He will be the mate of Poppyfrost and have two kits with her; the only thing different about Berrynose is that he's getting a fiercer rivalry with Lionblaze.
I will tell you that I briefly considered having them be enemies-to-lovers because I have brainrot. But I ruled on the side of preserving canon and drawing out drama between Lion and Cinder, lmao
Is going to be a relatively tame background warrior like in canon, up to The Broken Code. We're following up on his secret relationship with Minnowtail, possibly even giving him RiverClan kits.
He gets targeted in the codebreaker saga, and is going to receive a punishment of some sort. He will probably take the place of Rosepetal in this arc, being Bristlefrost's mentor, and dying in that skirmish. Berrynose and Mousewhisker are both going to die in TBC; but when is undecided because of Cherryfall, see below
I'm annoyed by her unceremonious greencough death, but I'm not completely against her dying in an epidemic. She may also die in the Great Battle.
If she lives, she will be taking the place of Mousewhisker after his death in TBC, ESPECIALLY if the Erins get some sense and give him a canon litter.
She is also a transwoman; an identical twin of Mousewhisker. Start praying that Mousewhisker gets that canonical litter because whoever the mate is WILL get lesbian'd by this.
Daisy deserves a much better treatment from the narrative. She saves her kittens from being taken by a twoleg who took Floss' litter before they were old enough to open their eyes, helps to raise every litter post-TNP, and makes a statement that there's more to a clan than just fighting
She's staying in my arsenal as a level head who the more reactionary cats of the clan shout over when conflicts are spiralling out of control. A shorthand for "ThunderClan is no longer being rational."
She's also a really close ally of Squirrelflight, and becomes a very good builder along with Spiderleg and Jessy. If Squilf gets another mate, it'll be around the Daisy's Kin era, after they both help each other realize they don't need to keep crawling back to mates that aren't good for them
(It's still a maybe though! But it does parallel something I went through, so I would really want to get it right for them <3)
Also side note Smoky can go weave a basket, absolute loser
I care immensely about Rosepetal.
She CANNOT have that unceremonious death in TBC it was an absolute waste. One of the worst in the series. I refuse.
I am considering giving her most of Cherryfall's screentime, since they both have overlap as a set of overlooked Daisykin twins with no offspring. Rose will be going on Alderpaw's journey, however it ends up being reworked.
Molewhisker & Cherryfall/Toadstep
I want to keep at least one of Berry/Poppyfrost's kids around, and I'm leaning towards Molewhisker. He's named after his uncle who didn't survive apprenticeship, and the 'competent respected warrior' role is already filled by Rosepetal.
So Cherryfall will probably get killed as background fodder (possibly in the imposter skirmish to infuriate Berrynose like in canon), and Toadstep is dying of greencough while Spiderleg/thorn survives. I want Spider to feel the pain of burying a child to regret his absence in his son's life.
It's a bit of a shame because I quite like Toadstep, and I love Cherryfall's name, but everything about them is covered better by their siblings. They're better off as kills.