Saturday, July 23, 2011

Oops! Double Blog Update~

Gah, I forgot about the blog last update and then I remembered but kept forgetting to actually start updating it and stuff. Sooooo, we'll handle both of the last two chapters here. Sorry! D:

@CrystalSakura: Moonpaw is Sootpaw's /imaginary/ friend. She's completely imaginary, she never existed or will exist. She does seem to have an odd connection to the afterlife, but that could just be part of Soot's subconscious creating somenoe to help her move between life and the Dark Forest to hepl her move through it.

@Nightkill: It's weird that several of my stories deal with reincarnation, since I really really /really/ hate using it in role-play; it cheapens the death of characters, when they can just be brought back to life. Of course, the cases I've used it in are sort of weird ones, soooo. Chilly might be lying, that's always a possibility, but we'll just have to see.

@Shimmertail: You get all the cookies in the internets. They won't do you much good, but you can have them. I think you're the only one who guessed, tho, so. xD Shrew's a pretty sweet guy, you're correct about that; he's sort of like Death, in a way. I'm curious as how to chose your three picks for the moss-stealer; Storm would probably think it was a bit beneath him, I'm puzzled as to why Bluepaw would steal from him and then be his friend, and aside from the obvious Moonpaw problems, I like that theory the best. Maybe Soot's stealing it in her sleep on Moonpaw's orders? xD

@VeniVidiVici: Did you mean Darkstripe or Dustpelt? I don't know why kitties wouldn't say 'pal' (I suppose that would depend on the origin of the word, but I don't know how to figure that out). I like sillypaws too, I will admit. xD

@Silverblossom: Hmm...maybe I brought Dapplefern back specifically from how much hate she received...I wonder if I might really be that cruel? ^^ Interesting pairings you've got lined up there, ha. xD

@lynxeye: It sure is! I don't know what Forest would do if Silver died...fall into an immense depression, probably, poor boy. Tiggy managed to regain his memories because of Tigerstar's Dark Forest ceremony (with his first life), so that situation wouldn't work out with Chill and company, since they don't have the same extra lives thing. Still, there's no way to know for sure about the memories.

@CrystalSakura: Yeppers! I think that some diseases would be too hard for them to completely take away (especially since this one requires three different ingredients for the cure, so it's not all that simple to make). I'm not sure how StarClan really fits in; if they had all sorts of awesome powers, they would sort of be 'story breakers' since they could just solve and problem with ease and the living cats wouldn't be able to do anything. I think they might get glimpses of the future, and try to help living cats as best they can, but I'm sure there are rules as to how much they can intervene. Maybe there's a certain cat that makes prophecies and sends them to the rest of StarClan to give? I don't know...that's actually quite intriguing. Tiggy definitely wouldn't be in this story, since I'm not sure sure if he's been born yet (I'll admit, I never read BP :P).

@Shimmertail: I've been hearing about DH all week, so no worries. I'm an HP fan, but I never watch the movies. My imaginary movies are so much better! I really hate forbidden love too, so it almost never works out for me (case in point: SnowxFrost) unless the rules have sort of changed (for WhitexBat in TR it was less 'forbidden love' and more 'somewhat frowned upon love'. I don't think poor Birch is ever getting her memories back, poor dear. Glad you noticed Jag's helpless movement; it's the little details that make me smile. And hellz yeah, UST-filled training. It's on. >:D

@Artemis: Indeed! Soot and Spider are there to illustrate the difference between the original series (believable, realistic) compared to these more spiritual later arcs (which I hate, hmm). I'm not sure what you mean by switching up words, though.

@CrystalSakura: Glad you think so; I like rating names and the like. :p

@Ravenshade: Even I'm not sure how the pairings will line up right now...or am I? I don't mind rambling, I'm the queen of it myself. Thanks. :D


I think that's it...also, there's a new poll, just because I can. Feel free to vote for your favorite two pairings~

Monday, July 11, 2011

WHAM Chapter!

I think this chappy was pretty whammy. We got Chilly's motives and the quest for the sickness and everything all in one chapter! Yaaay. <3

That wasn't my original intention, though, I was going to drag on the introductions of our seven ebil kitties for awhile longer, but Dapplefern kind of got away from me and started picking fights and then Chilly was issuing orders and there was nothing I could do to stop him. It's kind of nice when the characters take charge on their own like that, but also a little hard to keep up with.

Also, on a side note, the seven kitties of ebil (mmm, they need a nickname, that's a bit of a mouthful) were formed on a certain ideological construct. I did this because I knew I needed a good-sized cast of baddies, but choosing their appearances and backstory was a little difficult...and then I thought of this really obvious one that's been used a bazillion times and I figured that I would too, just as an experiment (because, really all these stories are experiments for me...plus some of the characters fit into the slots so nicely that it was hard to pass up). So. Cookies if you guess what ideological thingamajig I based them around. :D

Anyway. Questions and all that~

@Shimmertail: Ooh, that is a delicious title for the moss-theft mystery. Lovely. As for who is doing it (or why) you might be surprised (who doesn't love surprises?). Kudos for thinking of Dapplefern, you were nearly right. ^^

@warriorcrazy: Fireblaze would prolly back off once his sister became a warrior...unless something else happened to tick him off....*mysterious laugh*

@Silverblossom: Lollipops and rainbows? I know not of what you speak! Still no Northy yet, but he's coming, I promise you. Eventually.

@VeniVidiVeci: You're right, I do tend to go for expected pairings, sigh. But, as I mentioned before, most if not all of these stories are just huge experiments for me; perhaps someday I'll surprise you. Especially with some of those you mentioned....And you're right about the kit thing, I never really paid attention to that; I suppose I like it because it helps the siblings be foils for one another, I guess? And it would be my dream to have boy-girl twins myself (as if xD). Technically some of those you mentioned had another sibling, but they died at birth or something...eh. After you mentioned that, I tried thinking of exceptions, but I could only find a few (Frost/Cricket/Rain was a litter of three, Silver and Cinder were both females, Reed and Toxin were both females, Sorrel and Willow were both girls) and some others I don't remember now) but you're right. I should prolly work on that, I s'pose. I don't think I've ever done one with two male kits. @.@

@QueenofthePens: Yay, more pairing theories! One of my favorite things about apprentices is how many theories everyone churns out about who is pairing up with who. I love it. We'll have to see who (if anyone :p) Leopard curls up with. <3

@Ravenshade: Indeed, just think of the UST! Ah, fond memories....Shimmer's still all shook up over Chilly, you're right (you would be too if your brother killed your aunt and StarClan didn't warn you about it!). Maybe she'll get better...maybe not.

@CrystalSakura: *pats* I don't hold it against you. And thank you! I think apprentice shenanigans are tons of fun and under-used in the series. Moonpaw's not a real cat, she's Sootpaw's imaginary friend (which Sootpaw is completely aware of). Moonpaw might be more than she appears...or she could just be a red herring that I'm throwing at you guys because I'm trolling you. Either is possible. :D As for Jaggedclaw, Soot and Spider aren't technically obligated to look after him, but as the youngest apprentices they're sort of forced to, since the older ones won't do it (Leopard got off easy, since when she joined Soot and Spider were being punished and had to take care of Jaggedclaw, then they become the youngest apprentices so they still had to). Bluepaw mentions in one of the chapters that Redpaw is glad Soot and Spider have to do it, because as the youngest apprentice it used to be his duty. Also, Spider kind of likes Jaggedclaw, so he doesn't mind as much, and Sootpaw feels sorry for him.

I think that's everything...until next time, darlings. <3

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Fireblaze! Fireblaze! Fireblaze!

Yay, chanting title~!

Again (in case you didn't see this in my AN) I'm going to be gone on Saturday to visit family, and my parents might just decide to drop my brother and I off for the week. If so, I won't be able to update for some time. They haven't decided yet, so that might change, but I decided to say so just in case~

@Shimmertail: But of course we get more Northy! I didn't kill him off in Shattered for a reason (although I briefly considered it xD). I'm pretty sure you don't know who the wailer is, since we haven't met her yet, but there's another kitty in Chill's group that you probably do~

@TheVioletGleek: Thanks! Nice to see you again. I do enjoy being cruel to my characters (although, oddly, I really hate reading stories where characters die and stuff...go figure!). The forest-sickness isn't really any disease in particular, although I remember drawing from a few of them during the planning stages (same for this new chilling disease). They're both combinations of different illnesses, although I couldn't for the life of me remember which ones. As for Blackpaw, it was probably a 70/30 split between not wanting to be humiliated/doing what's right for the Clan. He's selfish that way. Shimmerfrost puts up with her...mostly because she has to, since her getting another apprentice that could stand her iciness probably isn't going to happen, ha. The other older warriors make sure Shimmer's not too hard on the poor ditz.

@VeniVidiVeci: Yuppers, we'll most definitely see Minnow and the little Blight/Nightshade 2.0's eventually. Rather soon, actually, I think.

@Smokefrost: Chilly feeding off of Spiderpaw would be ridiculously cool, but I think all of Spider's anger would probably melt poor Chilly. xD

@Silverblossom: Moonpaw's eyes have always been blue, like the sky or the flowers or whatever else Soot likes to compare them to, ha. Sorry you're confused about the relationships thing, I'll get to that here in a minute for you! And of course Blight had to come back. Some of you felt sorry for him in the end, and he definitely hates to be pitied. xD

@Crowstorm: Unfortunately, Toxin died in Shattered's epilogue so we won't see her again, sadly. ;^;

Everyone seems to be shipping BlizzxRobin. I wonder why. *shifty eyes*

Anyway, Silverblossom was confused about some of the relationships, so I figured I should brush up on that a bit, for the apprentices at least.

SOOTPAW is the sister to SPIDERPAW. SOOTPAW and SPIDERPAW are cousins to ROBINPAW and JAYPAW, who are siblings. BLIZZARDPAW is unrelated to any of the other apprentices. REDPAW and BLUEPAW are brother and sister, parents unknown. FIREPAW is REDPAW'S idol. FIREPAW and BLACKPAW are brother and sister. Their biological parents are unknown, but they were raised by PETALCLOUD and SWANSONG. LEOPARDPAW'S heritage is unknown.

Blizzardpaw's a weird case because of Silverstar's crazy legacy. He is Silverstar's grand-nephew, and Shimmerfrost's nephew (or like half-nephew or something, since Reed and Shimmer had different dads. I have no idea; of course, that makes him Chillpaw's half-nephew or whatever too.)

Hope that helped Silverblossom and anyone else who was confused. :)

Also, poor Silver has had a bit of back-lash because of her becoming a bit of a recluse and her sickness; I was talking to Queen of the Pens about it, and I wrote something extremely long and explaination-y. Here it is if anyone wants to take a look:

Ah, I see. Actually, the illness has nothing to do with her personal beliefs, she's just sick, because she's been more exposed to the disease than the other cats. That, coupled with the fact that she hadn't been taking care of herself (which is because of the betrayal, I'll acknowledge that, but I'll address that in a moment) left her susceptible to the sickness. In other words, she is honestly ill with some sort of virus/bacteria thingamajig. I assure you, she won't be the only one to get sick -- or die. (Spoilers, oops! Not really, I always kill someone off, so it's not that big a surprise xD).

Anyway, as for the handling, you're right. She handled it badly, but keep in mind that her entire belief system was based on two things:


1. Everyone deserves a second chance. More importantly, if you give them that second chance and show that you think they're worthy of it, then they will turn themselves around; all you have to do is prove to them that you believe in them. This has always held true with her, as illustrated by Doveflight (the apprentice who was a trouble-maker that Silverstar helped mentor back in BirchClan, if you don't remember). The one time it was broken before was with Snake, when he turned on her to help Toxin, but Silverstar never knew about that because she never saw him or the body after Toxin killed him.


2. StarClan will always provide/look after those they care about, when possible. Again, this has always held true for her; it could be argued that even the whole Northstar-FrozenClan fiasco eventually resulted in something good, because she built AshClan/found Forest/sort of allied with Northstar, etc.


However, with his betrayal, Chilly shattered both of those notions completely. He destroyed her belief of second chances because he used his second chance to attempt to kill her. He destroyed the second because StarClan didn't try to warn Silverstar, or alert anyone to what Chilly was planning. As far as she could tell, absolutely nothing good came from his actions; she lost a life, AshClan lost an apprentice, and their sense of security and trust in one another was broken.


That doesn't sound like much, I know, but she believed those two things with her whole being; her faith in StarClan and others was what helped her through the loss of her Clan and all that. It's like if you were religious (I obviously have no idea if you are, and it doesn't matter much to me, but for the sake of an analogy) and you devoted your life to your chosen god/religion/church, and then somehow science managed to prove that your god(s) didn't exist and that all of your beliefs were a lie. Naturally, you would experience a horrible emotional crash that would take months, if not years to deal with.


It also impacted a more personal aspect of her life, which I've alluded to (and I'm sure you figured it out, most people did, but in case you didn't then I won't say anything) which took another emotional toll.


Does that make sense? Please don't think that I'm attacking your opinion, or anything, you're completely entitled to it. I just want to make sure you see all sides of the issue, because there's obviously a lot of stuff that I know that the readers do not, which puts you guys at a bit of a disadvantage when you draw conclusions.



Hope she doesn't mind me posting that. xD


Anyway, I think that's all for this chapter. Stay tuned. <3

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Whoops!

Sorry about the lateness of this blog update, it was late last night so I didn't have time to update then, and I forgot about it when I woke up. xD

Anyway, I sort of realized that I've been a little...chatty (?) when it comes to this blog, reply to every individual review. Normally that would be good, but doing so takes a ridiculous amount of time (because I get so many reviews, which is amazing :D), so I'm going to try and ease back into the answering questions thingy, which was what this was for in the first place. xD

@Shimmertail: Spiderpaw doesn't need friends! Only losers have friends! All he needs is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T! And yes, Spiderpaw makes Darkstorm nervous because he's still all teeny tiny and whiny, like a kit. Darky doesn't like him very much (who does?). Blizz is a pretty chill guy (ohgawdapun), much like Jay. Normally Jay wouldn't be a jerk at all, but he's uber-protective of his sister; Blizz is kind of the same way when it comes to Robin, but at the same time he doesn't really let anger cloud his decisions, which is why he is, indeed, Switzerland.

@Veni0Vidi0Vici0: I'm confused; you don't like goodie-goodies like Silver, but you also don't like breakin-all-da-rulez kitties like Spider? Just kidding, I understand (although I feel like Soot is more of a g-g than Silver, oddly enough). xD

@Ravenshade: BlizzxRobin? I don't know what you're talking about. *innocent face of complete innocence* That does sound like a good motive for Robin, but it would kind of be a pain for her to dispose of his moss, with her limp and all. Still, don't rule anyone out~!

@QueenOfThePens: We'll see why Silver is much sicker than anyone else (ohgawdaspoiler) soon, no worries! But she's had more, ah exposure to the disease than most of the other warriors.

@Anonymous: I can never smell Anonymous right, sigh. It always comes out Anaymous, or something like that. Anyway, I do enjoy cliffhangers (which is obvious by now xD). Keeps everyone on their toes (including me, because if the cliffie isn't resolved by the next chapter, you guys get snippy :D). That's a cute idea for a pairing, but as usual my lips are sealed~

@PokemonWarriorSwellowfeather: CinderClan/CascadeClan wasn't really based off of a role-play, really; I took the basic "mountain Clan vs forest Clan" structure that was present in the role-play upon which I based Shattered, and then added a few characters from role-play (Nettlepaw, for one), but the plot itself was just sort of cobbled together. The CC/CC story is on my dART, if that's what you're asking? I'm not quite sure. xD

Any role-play that I've done has been lost to the sands of time, I'm afraid. None of the places where I used to role-play exist anymore. :P

@Warriorcrazy: I think you lived up to your username in this review, I'm actually a little frightened. *slides hammer forward with foot*

@Anonymous-hope you don't mind: Your Firepaw/Pyro-anger-issues is actually a very good point; he's always been a very protective, violent furball. Kudos for connecting those dots. :D

It's hard not replying to everyone anymore, but it does go a lot faster now. Sorry, everyone-that-I-didn't-reply-to! I don't treasure your reviews any less, it's just that I want to focus more on answering questions now. xD

Also, just a side note, but you guys really don't have to take the time to write out S H A T T E R E D and C H I L L E D when you're talking about them. You can just call 'em Shattered and Chilled, like I do; that format is mostly for aesthetics, and shortening it is no different than calling Tigerstar's Redemption as TR, or Snatched: The Story of Snowkit as Snatched. Just a thought, since a lot of you do it and I just wanted you all to know that I won't be offended or anything if you abbreviate the name. xD

Anyway, until next time, my ducklings. <3