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Description
"I don't want milk!"
"Tigerkit, please-"
"I want prey, Leopardfoot!"
The mottled black she-cat groaned as she tried to get into a comfortable position in her temporary nesting spot. She drew her tail around her small tabby son to bring him closer for his feed, but Tigerkit swatted her away, scowling disdainfully at her. "I don't want to nurse!" he growled. "I don't want Lionpaw and Goldenpaw to see me suckling! Then they'll think I'm too much of a baby to be a warrior!"
Leopardfoot sighed heavily once again as she rested her chin on the bracken. The snow lay thick in the ThunderClan camp, trails of pawprints threading here and there into the dens. It was much too cold out to be patrolling or hunting as other cats had proved earlier; the dawn patrol had come home with numb paws and frozen whiskers, while the hunting patrol came back with nothing more than a pitifully scrawny vole and the salvaged remains of a half-eaten rabbit. Both morsels of food went to Rosepaw and Sweetpaw, as they were dreadfully sick from a mouse they had shared with Bluefur the previous day. As of now, most cats were in the dens, snuggling together and trying to keep warm.
"I want a big, fat wood pigeon," Tigerkit requested, his tiny claws piercing the straw. He puffed out his chest and his tail stuck right up as though he were about to leap up and gather a patrol. "The biggest one in the forest! I'll wolf it right down, every bite of it. I bet if one of the warriors took me outside camp, I'd be able to find one and kill it."
"You'll do no such thing," Leopardfoot gave up on trying to get Tigerkit to come closer to her belly. "You saw what little bit the hunting patrol brought back, I highly doubt we'll find anything more than what we got right now, so-"
"But I want one!" Tigerkit wailed. "I'm big enough to be eating fresh-kill, you said so yourself! I don't want your milk, I'm almost an apprentice, and apprentices don't suckle from their mothers! It's uncool!"
"You're only two and a half moons old," Leopardfoot corrected. She shot an apologetic glance in Poppydawn's direction, who poked her head out of the apprentices' den to see what the commotion was about. When the older queen disappeared again, Leopardfoot flattened her ears and growled. "Keep your voice down, cats are trying to rest."
Tigerkit flopped down onto his flank from his stiffened standing position, glaring at her. "They should be out looking for prey if you ask me," he grumbled. "All everyone wants to do is sleep when there's tons of hunting to be done. I'm telling you, if I could just go out, I bet I could bring back enough prey to feed every cat for a moon, easy!"
"Perhaps once you're a warrior," Leopardfoot chided. "But it's far too cold to be out in the forest running after prey that isn't even there, so you should be grateful you're in camp right now."
"I'm not afraid of cold weather or the snow," Tigerkit retorted harshly. "You just think I'm a baby, that's all."
"I think you're growing into a brave, handsome young tom," Leopardfoot promised. Tigerkit resettled himself at her belly, contradicting his previous statement about not minding the cold. "You'll be a very great warrior once you're grown, just like your father was before he left the Clan."
Tigerkit let out an agitated huff. "I'm not a stinky, old, lazy kittypet like him."
Leopardfoot stared aghast at her son. Where had he heard the truth about Pinestar? "Who told you that?"
"Thistleclaw said that Pinestar ran away to live in Twolegplace with the other kittypets," Tigerkit mewed. "Twolegs take care of him now. He doesn't hunt or fight or anything; he just lays around and plumps himself up with gross mushy stuff." For a moment, the little tom's eyes flashed with hate. "I don't ever want to be like him. I'm gonna be a real warrior, not some dumb slug of a cat who depends on Twolegs of all things to do stuff for him. I bet Pinestar never turns a paw for himself anymore."
Leopardfoot didn't need to hear anymore. Honestly, she didn't want to. "I think Thistleclaw needs to learn to keep his jaws clamped sometimes," she firmly picked Tigerkit up by the scruff of the neck and brought him to her belly. "Now nurse, Tigerkit. I won't have you going to sleep hungry tonight solely because you were too stubborn for milk."
"But Leopardfoot," Tigerkit began to whine.
"Now, Tigerkit," Leopardfoot spat. "I mean it. I don't want to hear anymore."
The little brown kit merely spat but didn't complain any further. Begrudgingly, he brought his muzzle forward and began to down his share of milk.
At last, Leopardfoot allowed herself to relax and rested again. However, she didn't go off to sleep like she originally planned. Her mind drifted to her mate - her former mate, her former leader - who was probably safe and cozy and warm in a Twoleg den somewhere, being pampered and fussed over like a newborn kit. Pinestar, what have you done?

Can we please talk about Leopardfoot for a second?
Seriously, she’s such an underrated character that nobody seems to notice, and yet she’s gone through some rough shit, like:

She was injured in her first battle as an apprentice.
Her labor was described as long and excruciating, and she nearly died during the birthing process from all the strain and blood loss.
Her mate left her and her young, deathly ill kits on a whim to be a kittypet. Sure, Pinestar thought they’d be better off without him, but Leopardfoot definitely felt betrayed and heartbroken. Not to mention he left her to tend to three sickly kittens on her own.
She had to endure the losses of Mistkit and Nightkit.
Then she had to raise Tigerkit through that grief. She indulged her boy because he was the one everyone expected to die first, and she probably devoted all her time and energy into ensuring he was going to thrive. Not to mention, Tigerkit was described as being more than a pawful alone.
How do you guys think she felt about Thistleclaw training her son? Of course she probably wanted him to have a strong mentor that would train him vigourously to further validate his chances of survival, but Thisteclaw was repeatedly harsh on Tigerpaw, and keep in mind that Tigerpaw developed violent tendancies while he was still a pretty new apprentice.
You know she kept on eye on Tigerclaw / Tigerstar after she died. Imagine how she felt when she saw that he killed Redtail, made Ravenpaw fear for his life, tricked Cinderpaw into getting hit by the car that crippled her, led the rogues to attack ThunderClan, attempted to assassinate Bluestar, and all the other things he did? How could her precious baby that she fought so hard to save and loved so much become such a monster that she could barely recognize?
She didn’t get to give him a life at his leader ceremony!
And the final battle in The Last Hope. No doubt he saw Tigerstar at the head of the Dark Forest cats, his main goal to destroy the living and StarClan. Leopardfoot saw her son set out on a quest of death and destruction, how could she try to fight him?
Leopardfoot needs the recognition she deserves. She was a struggling mother who suffered through abandonment by her mate, the deaths of her two frail daughters, and had to endure the torture of watching her only survivng child whom she loved so dearly become a tyrannical monster.

Leopardfoot is a strong character.

Description
"I don't want milk!"
"Tigerkit, please-"
"I want prey, Leopardfoot!"
The mottled black she-cat groaned as she tried to get into a comfortable position in her temporary nesting spot. She drew her tail around her small tabby son to bring him closer for his feed, but Tigerkit swatted her away, scowling disdainfully at her. "I don't want to nurse!" he growled. "I don't want Lionpaw and Goldenpaw to see me suckling! Then they'll think I'm too much of a baby to be a warrior!"
Leopardfoot sighed heavily once again as she rested her chin on the bracken. The snow lay thick in the ThunderClan camp, trails of pawprints threading here and there into the dens. It was much too cold out to be patrolling or hunting as other cats had proved earlier; the dawn patrol had come home with numb paws and frozen whiskers, while the hunting patrol came back with nothing more than a pitifully scrawny vole and the salvaged remains of a half-eaten rabbit. Both morsels of food went to Rosepaw and Sweetpaw, as they were dreadfully sick from a mouse they had shared with Bluefur the previous day. As of now, most cats were in the dens, snuggling together and trying to keep warm.
"I want a big, fat wood pigeon," Tigerkit requested, his tiny claws piercing the straw. He puffed out his chest and his tail stuck right up as though he were about to leap up and gather a patrol. "The biggest one in the forest! I'll wolf it right down, every bite of it. I bet if one of the warriors took me outside camp, I'd be able to find one and kill it."
"You'll do no such thing," Leopardfoot gave up on trying to get Tigerkit to come closer to her belly. "You saw what little bit the hunting patrol brought back, I highly doubt we'll find anything more than what we got right now, so-"
"But I want one!" Tigerkit wailed. "I'm big enough to be eating fresh-kill, you said so yourself! I don't want your milk, I'm almost an apprentice, and apprentices don't suckle from their mothers! It's uncool!"
"You're only two and a half moons old," Leopardfoot corrected. She shot an apologetic glance in Poppydawn's direction, who poked her head out of the apprentices' den to see what the commotion was about. When the older queen disappeared again, Leopardfoot flattened her ears and growled. "Keep your voice down, cats are trying to rest."
Tigerkit flopped down onto his flank from his stiffened standing position, glaring at her. "They should be out looking for prey if you ask me," he grumbled. "All everyone wants to do is sleep when there's tons of hunting to be done. I'm telling you, if I could just go out, I bet I could bring back enough prey to feed every cat for a moon, easy!"
"Perhaps once you're a warrior," Leopardfoot chided. "But it's far too cold to be out in the forest running after prey that isn't even there, so you should be grateful you're in camp right now."
"I'm not afraid of cold weather or the snow," Tigerkit retorted harshly. "You just think I'm a baby, that's all."
"I think you're growing into a brave, handsome young tom," Leopardfoot promised. Tigerkit resettled himself at her belly, contradicting his previous statement about not minding the cold. "You'll be a very great warrior once you're grown, just like your father was before he left the Clan."
Tigerkit let out an agitated huff. "I'm not a stinky, old, lazy kittypet like him."
Leopardfoot stared aghast at her son. Where had he heard the truth about Pinestar? "Who told you that?"
"Thistleclaw said that Pinestar ran away to live in Twolegplace with the other kittypets," Tigerkit mewed. "Twolegs take care of him now. He doesn't hunt or fight or anything; he just lays around and plumps himself up with gross mushy stuff." For a moment, the little tom's eyes flashed with hate. "I don't ever want to be like him. I'm gonna be a real warrior, not some dumb slug of a cat who depends on Twolegs of all things to do stuff for him. I bet Pinestar never turns a paw for himself anymore."
Leopardfoot didn't need to hear anymore. Honestly, she didn't want to. "I think Thistleclaw needs to learn to keep his jaws clamped sometimes," she firmly picked Tigerkit up by the scruff of the neck and brought him to her belly. "Now nurse, Tigerkit. I won't have you going to sleep hungry tonight solely because you were too stubborn for milk."
"But Leopardfoot," Tigerkit began to whine.
"Now, Tigerkit," Leopardfoot spat. "I mean it. I don't want to hear anymore."
The little brown kit merely spat but didn't complain any further. Begrudgingly, he brought his muzzle forward and began to down his share of milk.
At last, Leopardfoot allowed herself to relax and rested again. However, she didn't go off to sleep like she originally planned. Her mind drifted to her mate - her former mate, her former leader - who was probably safe and cozy and warm in a Twoleg den somewhere, being pampered and fussed over like a newborn kit. Pinestar, what have you done?

Can we please talk about Leopardfoot for a second?
Seriously, she’s such an underrated character that nobody seems to notice, and yet she’s gone through some rough shit, like:

She was injured in her first battle as an apprentice.
Her labor was described as long and excruciating, and she nearly died during the birthing process from all the strain and blood loss.
Her mate left her and her young, deathly ill kits on a whim to be a kittypet. Sure, Pinestar thought they’d be better off without him, but Leopardfoot definitely felt betrayed and heartbroken. Not to mention he left her to tend to three sickly kittens on her own.
She had to endure the losses of Mistkit and Nightkit.
Then she had to raise Tigerkit through that grief. She indulged her boy because he was the one everyone expected to die first, and she probably devoted all her time and energy into ensuring he was going to thrive. Not to mention, Tigerkit was described as being more than a pawful alone.
How do you guys think she felt about Thistleclaw training her son? Of course she probably wanted him to have a strong mentor that would train him vigourously to further validate his chances of survival, but Thisteclaw was repeatedly harsh on Tigerpaw, and keep in mind that Tigerpaw developed violent tendancies while he was still a pretty new apprentice.
You know she kept on eye on Tigerclaw / Tigerstar after she died. Imagine how she felt when she saw that he killed Redtail, made Ravenpaw fear for his life, tricked Cinderpaw into getting hit by the car that crippled her, led the rogues to attack ThunderClan, attempted to assassinate Bluestar, and all the other things he did? How could her precious baby that she fought so hard to save and loved so much become such a monster that she could barely recognize?
She didn’t get to give him a life at his leader ceremony!
And the final battle in The Last Hope. No doubt he saw Tigerstar at the head of the Dark Forest cats, his main goal to destroy the living and StarClan. Leopardfoot saw her son set out on a quest of death and destruction, how could she try to fight him?
Leopardfoot needs the recognition she deserves. She was a struggling mother who suffered through abandonment by her mate, the deaths of her two frail daughters, and had to endure the torture of watching her only survivng child whom she loved so dearly become a tyrannical monster.

Leopardfoot is a strong character.