#sparkstrike

i really like the idea that firestar and his descendants have a mutation that makes red fur way more saturated. it's really obvious when you compare a ginger firekin to a random ginger clan cat

possible sparkneedle family

needletail takes over the roles of larksong + juniperclaw. yeah they don't exist anymore, rip. also she lives longer and only dies at the end of avos, bc she died too soon, and her death in shattered sky made more sense at the end than in the middle of avos

the sparkneedle romance was brief and sour-sweet and ended w/ needle sacrificing herself to save violetshine from darktail.

there's a prophecy surrounding sparkstrike and skyclan but for most of the series she's very reluctant to fulfill the role; it's needletail who becomes more supportive of keeping skyclan in the lake territories, likely to atone for her previously supporting darktail's kin and manipulating violetpaw. she slowly convinces spark to agree w/ her, but it's after her death when spark decides to lead skyclan back to the lake to honor needle's last wish

i like to think that needle's mom named her after seeing an exotic vagrant bird of the same name. maybe it's an omen for something important

flickerkit still dies, jury's still out on nightheart but he's... less important to my au either way. their parents had planned to give flickerkit the suffix -bright had he lived

finchlight changes her name to finchspark (support her moms? to claim a fire-related name for legacy reasons? it's a little unclear)

sometime after finch gets her suffix, perhaps sparkstrike gets a rebound w/ stormcloud?

bonus genetics nerdery

needletail is a shorthaired black smoke solid w/ low white spotting (LL Xo BB Ii Wbwb aa bmbm Mcmc Spsp Wsws), carrying non-silver, non-wide band, classic tabby, and spotted. she has prominent ghost tabby marks that reveal a mackerel tabby pattern and have a strong bluish tint

sparkpelt is a shorthaired midnight charcoal red marbled tabby w/ low white spotting (Ll XOXO Bb ii wbwb Apba Bmbm mcmc Spsp Wsws), carrying longhair, solid, chocolate, non-Bengal mod, and spotted. normally charcoal isn't expressed in red cats, but a brightening mutation in her lineage makes the pattern more visible, though i'm not adding it bc i made it up

finchspark is a shorthaired midnight charcoal black tortie silver marbled tabby w/ low white spotting (LL XOXo BB Ii Wbwb Apba Bmbm mcmc Spsp Wsws), carrying non-silver, non-wide band, non-Bengal mod, and spotted. the silver gene makes her ginger patches more high contrast, and the black parts also have a bluish tint

nightheart is a shorthaired midnight charcoal red golden marbled tabby w/ low white spotting (Ll XO Bb ii Wbwb Apba Bmbm mcmc spsp Wsws), carrying longhair, non-wide band, solid, non-Bengal mod, and chocolate. he actually has a somatic mutation that deactivates phaeomelanin (red pigment) over most of his pelt

Sparkstrike again!

She's one of the biggest cats in the Clans, literally the size of and can 1v1 a large dog

She's a little darker and redder than Firestar thanks to Kestrelscorch (Squilf)

Wing ears can also be interpreted as flames

Looks vaguely like Thunderstar & Lightningstar (Lightning Stripe) in addition to Firestar

This ref predates SqH