#darkbrindle

-bases by googaoo on deviantart!

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i wanted to share my design ideas for these kitties! cats in order: brindleface, darkstripe, ferncloud, cloudtail, ashfur.

I'll explain the inspiration behind the design at the end!

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!SPOILERS for the Warriors book series!

this is based of a little au of mine in which darkstripe replaces whitestorm as the brindlings' father!

it never really made sense to me when whitestorm was retconned to be their father, i felt like it sorta muddied his character a bit.

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so, the gist of this au is that darkstripe, who is gay and has a thing for tigerclaw, becomes mates with brindleface in order to make him jealous. it obviously doesn't work as tigerclaw has no interest in him.

he proceeds to have ash and fern hoping to gain tigers attention and it just doesn't work.

pretty much nothing changes from canon up until the dog attack, he's just as obsessed with tigerclaw, and just as uninterested in his kits and wife as canon.

at first, brindleface believed that darkstripe genuinely loved her, but she quickly realises otherwise, seeing how little attention he paid her and her kits. she also eventually notices his feelings for tigerclaw.

she loved him though, and continues to play his mate, though taking more of a friendly role.

he's SO pissed when she fosters cloudkit.

tigerstar murdering brindleface really shakes darkstripe up. why her? had tigerclaw targeted her on purpose? it really makes him think about what he'd lost.

but he still finds ways to justify it to himself, convinced that tigerstar had his reasons.

his obsession with tigerstar is still strong, and he continues to serve him.

when he finally joins tigerstar in the dark forest, it really becomes clear to him how much the leader doesn't care for him, which gradually snaps him out of his obsession, a bit late now.

he does feel somewhat guilty for his actions whilst alive, not much though.

his views on kittypets and such haven't changed, he's not a good cat and isn't just going to magically become one now that he knows his idol hates him.

what he does start to actually regret is not knowing his kits better, so he decides to watch over them as they grow and finds that he's genuinely proud of them.

he'd also begrudgingly admit that he's somewhat proud of cloudtail, too.

he misses brindleface, upset that he can't see her in starclan.

this version of darkstripe does not take part in Omen of the Stars or The Broken Code conflicts, having been somewhat redeemed by then.

orr maybe he'd get to see brindleface during the great battle or something. maybe fight alongside cloudtail and ferncloud to show how he's changed as a cat, who knows, i haven't really decided!

i have NO idea how he and ash would interact at that point though..

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aaanyway, about the designs!

Darkstripe:

darkstripe is mostly based of his graphic novel design, exept I'd always imagined him as long-furred, curtesy of SSS Warrior Cats! his heterochromia though, is inspired by the Good in Me holiday au MAP by Narrowsight on youtube! i saw the eyes and was immediately inspired to make a design! darkstripe has yellow and red eyes in the MAP, but I'd changed it to blue and yellow because i used to draw darkstripe with blue eyes as a kid and thought it'd be cute!

Brindleface:

brindleface's design is heavily inspired by moonkitti's ferncloud design! she's got a bit of ginger on her because I'd just always imagined her that way!

Ferncloud:

ferncloud is also super inspired by moonkitti's design, i really like the idea of the female cat being darker than the male. she's fluffier than her mother because i just like the idea of the brindlings being long-furred.

Ashfur:

I used to draw ashfur a lot paler, with a more blue-ish hue to him, but I've really taken to giving him a much warmer grey. his design is mostly just how I've always seen him, but i thought it'd be really cool to give him darkstripes eyes.

things he inherited from his daddy: his eyes, his obsessiveness and the urge to attempt to murder children.

again, he's lighter than fern because i think its cute.

i also like to think he's much smaller than fern and cloud. tiny ashfur goes hard.

somewhat moonkitti inspired, since moons ashfur is what pops into my head when i think of him.

Cloudtail:

literally just his graphic novel design, big and fluffy with pink nose. he's gotta be sOO soft.

i was gonna give him blushy cheeks but i forgot..