Are male calico cats valuable?

Are male calico cats valuable?

How rare is a male dilute calico cat?

How much money is a male calico cat worth?

How rare are male calico cats?

What gender is rare for a calico cat?

What happens if a calico cat is male?

How much is a dilute calico cat worth?

Are male calico cats rare?

What is the rarest color of cat?

What causes a dilute calico?

Can boy cats have 3 colors?

How much is a boy calico cat worth?

Can a normal male calico cats exist?

Can a male cat have 3 colors?

Are all 3 colored cats female?

What is the rarest cat?

Why are 99% of calico cats female?

Is it possible to have a male calico cat?

Why is it rare to have a male calico cat?

Can male cats have 3 colors?

How much are male calicos worth?

Are dilute calicos rare?

How much does a dilute calico cat cost?

How big do dilute calicos get?

What makes a cat dilute?

kitty clara pathologic!!! (warrior cats au)

Have a lot to explain for this one. Just like in Pathologic, she showed up in Steppeclan seemingly out of nowhere. All med cats have the -heart suffix there so she called herself Miracleheart. But everyone calls her Ratheart (deliberate insult) instead cause she's weird and lanky. She's a teenage kitty but is really tall. In Pathologic Clara is just a little taller than Dankovsky btw. I tried to lean into that with this drawing. She's a dilute calico thing. The bones are like a part of her body but she covers that up with all these red leaves and flowers around her chest. She has two sparkles in her eyes to represent the two miracles: the polyhedron (moonspire) and the earth/abattoir (bullplace), as well as a star on her forehead. The little scar on her leg is actually a steppe rune. If you look it up on the wiki it says it "denotes a connection with death". Her single yellow leg looks a little like it's made of bone when it's dark. They don't trust her but let her heal cats anyway since no one knows how to deal with sandcough. When the clan splits into three over their disagreement on what to do with moonspire, she becomes the sole healer of Humbleclan. If she gets her way and becomes a mistress (they're called queens in this au) her name is changed to Miraclesight (Ratsight for some). Also I thought I wouldn't name her Ratpaw cause she's already taken the healer/prophet role within the clan and it's not like Bullheart and Snakeheart are mentoring her. Click here for kitty Daniil and Artemy!!!!!

Another rat question, borne of basically no knowledge but curiosity since you mentioned rat genetics…

How does color inheritance in rats work? Are there any sex-specific colors or patterns? (Like how calico cats are overwhelmingly XX)? Can there be a lot of variation in a litter?

I don’t know of any sex specific genes in rats.

You can get a LOT of variation in a litter! I’ll try to track down a litter I had where almost every single baby was different. And it was a large litter lol.

Basically the way coat genetics works is that there are two base colors: Agouti and black. Every other color is built on top of that with modifiers and dilutions.

For example, in the "fuck them kids" rat video, the momma is a hooded (marking) beige (color). Beige is caused by a specific dilution gene on top of a black base. If the base was agouti instead of black, the color would be called Fawn and it would be a lot more yellow and have variations in the hairs.

I'm struggling to remember the exact parentage of these babies... I thought they were from Biter and Havershem but now I think they're from Cricket and Biter and Havershem's baby but I can't remember who that would be. 😭

Either way, one parent was black based and one parent was agouti that carried black. Which resulted in half the litter being black based and the other half being agouti based.

Both parents carried a c locus gene. the c locus can be albino, himalayan, or siamese. This litter has a handful of siamese and I believe a single himalayan (it's in the middle on the right of the one with a black head and black spots down its back). The siamese are born with some coloration, which lightens as they age, and himalayans are born completely white and they darken as they age.

Both parents also carried the mink gene, which is a modifier that turns them brown. Mink on top of agouti makes cinnamon and there are two cinnamons in this litter (far right, you can see just the head of one). Mink on black makes... well. Mink. There's one mink in this litter (the lowest one in the picture, whose whole body you can see).

Two ended up plain black with no modifiers or dilutions. One ended up plain agouti (second from the left).

Hopefully that gives you an idea of what's possible in a single litter!

Featured breed: none

genetics guide

Orange (?): this yet unidentified gene determines the type of the most prominent pigment: eumelanin or pheomelanin.

allele: O - mainly pheomelanin, red-based cat (variant)

allele: o - mainly eumelanin, black-based cat (wild type)

further information in this post

Dilute (melanophilin, MLPH): this gene determines the distribution of the pigments.

dominant allele: D - even pigment distribution, dark cat (wild type)

recessive allele: d - clumped, uneven pigment distribution, diluted cat (variant)

black -> blue

chocolate -> lilac

cinnamon -> fawn

orange -> cream

further description in this post

Bonus: Tortoiseshell patterns

Have you ever noticed that tortoiseshells with no white are much more brindled than tortoiseshell with lots of white?

The first cat has very small, intertwined black and red patches, while the second has well defined, big patches. What could cause this phenomenon?

I have to start the answer from far away. First, let's talk about the melanocytes.

Melanocytes are the cells in the skin that produce pigments. As you can see on this illustration, one melanocyte effects lots of skin cells.

In tortoiseshells, each cell has an X chromosome with the black and one with the red allele, and - because of biological reasons i won't get into here -, they all "turn off" one of their X chromosomes, choosing between them randomly. (This is called X-inactivation.) The melanocytes produce pigments according to their active X chromosome's orange allele. The differently colored patches on the tortoiseshell pelt is the area a single melanocyte, or more precisely, its clones reach.

But why is it different based on the level of the white spotting?

Well, do you remember what the white spotting gene does?

White spotting (receptor tyrosine kinase, KIT): this gene determines the size of the area the pigment producing cells (the melanocytes) reach.

How does this works? During the development of the embryo, at a specific point the ws allele stops the creation of new melanocytes. This means as the embryo grows, the melanocyte coverage breaks up and the uncovered, new body parts become white.

In a full-colored cat, new melanocytes with their newly and randomly inactivated X-chromosomes are created for much longer, so they'll be present in much bigger numbers, therefore every cell will have much less space to further divide. This is why no-white or little white tortoiseshells have small patches.

If the melanocyte creation stops earlier, the single melanocytes have lots of space to divide, and they'll form big clone colonies. You can see them on calicos: at a very early point of the cat's life, every red and black patch was one single melanocyte!

Had some baby rats born from a black hood dad and a cream hood mom that are like a tortoiseshell hooded?? Some had red eyes and some had black. Totally unexpected, but very pretty.

omg what an adorable little face!!! and such pretty fur!!! thank you so much for showing me this (now is a whole ramble about rats and genetics incoming, i'm sorry if you didn't sign up to this)

i'm no expert but these babies look like they might be mink? rats with this dilute have fur that's kind of a mix of different shades of cream, brown, and grey. when they change their coat the color of their fur can change pretty drastically, which is most visible in baby rats switching to their adult fur and can result in extra splotchy looking fur.

it could very well be that both of your rats carried this gene. because you mentioned the red eyes i'm thinking of the mock mink gene specifically, which in some rats causes ruby eyes but is otherwise very similar to "normal" mink.

actually "calico" or tricolor rats are very rare. i think they only happen as a chimera, which doesn't seem to be the case with these babies. they're still very unique though, i don't think i've ever seen rats that look like this before :0

FAMILY TREE, EVERYONE!

Alright, so, we're also gonna talk genetics here. This is gonna get lengthy so buckle up. I posted all the videos on making this darn thing on my TikTok, but one cannot explain genetics enough in five 10 minutes videos. Or at least I can't, and the family tree that shows how the original founders of my five clans get to the point of Floodclan's current leadership was the best (and longest) family tree to show how weird cat genetics can get! Also gonna get into some lore on this that I had no time to add in the videos.

Do note: I will not be talking about fur length.

Starting with Thicketstar, she's a chocolate ticked tabby with no white spotting. Both of her youngest children, Embercloud and Sunnystar, have at most 50% white spotting and are calicos.

Embercloud is a chocolate caliby (a tabby calico) while Sunnystar is a carmelized blue calico (fun fact a carmelized diluted red/cream is an 'apricot' for those who didn't know.)

So, basic cats colors to look at here alone:

Black is most dominant (dilute is blue)

Chocolate is recessive to Black (dilute is lilac)

Cinnamon is recessive to Chocolate (dilute is fawn)

Red is sex-linked (dilute is cream). Red cats pretty much are a 'hey, let's not let the eumelanin(what's responsible for Black, chocolate, and cinnamon) show and let the phaeomelanin (what's responsible for red) shine on through!'

So if a tom inherits the black gene thanks to having a chocolate dad and a black calico mom, but also gets that one X chromosome that's red from mom, that's going to be a red tom than, if they have a calico daughter, could still pass on that black gene and make that daughter a black calico. Probably a better way to explain it, but that's how I'm going to.

So then, starting with Thicketstar, she's a chocolate ticked tabby with no white spotting. Both of her youngest children, Embercloud and Sunnystar, have at most 50% white spotting and are calicos.

Embercloud is a chocolate caliby (a tabby calico) while Sunnystar is a carmelized blue solid calico (fun fact a carmelized diluted red/cream is an 'apricot' for those who didn't know.)

So already, the previous explanation is in play.

Sunnystar being a caramelized blue means both Thicketstar and Sunnystar's father carried both the dilute gene so that Sunnystar could be blue, but also the caramel trait. The caramel trait is also recessive like dilute. In order for Sunny to be blue, means her red tom dad who also has a lot of white spotting would have been a black or blue tom if he didn't have that special red 'X.'

Sunnystar is mates with Moonstar, a seal Bengal spotted lynx colorpoint. This means Moonstar has the colorpoint gene, obviously, but is also genetically a black cat. Since he's a tabby though, which is dominant to Sunnystar's solid, that means if we assume he carries a recessive solid gene, it's a 50-50 chance for their kids to be solids.

Which is true! Their daughter Blueclaw is a solid blue! Moonstar doesn't have the caramel gene, so Blueclaw isn't caramelized like Sunnystar. HOWEVER, because Moonstar has the gene that causes the Bengal pattern and passed that down to his kits, Blueclaw's solid coat does have muted markings regardless. (Bengals are weird and this won't be the first time it messes with this family tree)

Sunnystar's and Moonstar's other daughter Leopardheart isn't dilute and has inherited Sunnystar's whitespotting, though it is a lesser amount. Since Leopardheart is a tabby, she displays the Bengal pattern Moonstar passed on down. Both Blueclaw and Leopardheart are genetically black like both Sunnystar and Moonstar are.

Back to Embercloud.

They have a son, Sleekstride, who is a chocolate mink tabby with a small amount of whitespotting. In order for Sleekstride to be any type of colorpoint, Embercloud has to have a recessive colorpoint gene, along with Sleekstride's father. For future reference, we will assume that Sleekstride's father was either a cinnamon or carried cinnamon.

Sleekstride then has Palestar, a fawn ticked lynx colorpoint with no white. This is why we must assume that Sleekstride's father is either cinnamon or carried it, along with Sleekstride's mate. The cinnamon cannot be from Embercloud, because as we discussed earlier, Embercloud's father would have been a red cat, hiding a black coat, and would have had to carry chocolate in order for her to have chocolate like her mother Ticketstar. We can also assume Sleekstride's mate either was a colorpoint or also carried it.

Palestar's mate is Fallowspark, a black tabby with little white spotting. However, Fallowspark carries chocolate! How do we know this?

Because none of their children are cinnamon/fawn and one of them, Fernrunner, is a chocolate-ticked tabby.

We also know both Palestar and Fallowspark carry solid because of Shadowrapid is a black solid tom with small white spotting and Fallowspark carries dilute, colorpoint and both carry the caramel trait because Creekstar is a caramelized blue lynx colorpoint and their daughter Mothstar is a seal lynx colorpoint.

We good? Good.

Creekstar has a total of six mates, but only had kits with three, so let's just look at those.

He and his first mate Heavyheart, a black twilight charcoal tabby have Doespot, a lilac charcoal tabby. This means, since Creekstar would be carrying cinnamon from Palestar, Heavyheart is carrying chocolate and dilute.

Creekstar's next mate Amberstream is a fawn tortie. They have OWlcry, a solid blue mink, which means Amberstream carries a sort of colorpoint. Since both Creekstar and Amberstream are diluted, this means Owlcry has to be diluted as well. There are no other options.

Creekstar's last mate TImbercall is a black tabby, and they have Lakepaw, who is a blue tabby.

Heavyheart and Shadowrapid hook up after Creekstar dumped her and they have Fernpelt, a black midnight charcoal tabby with a small amount of white.

Fernpelt then fathers Lionstar, who is a solid fawn with the same amount of white spotting. Now, we know that since Shadowrapid is a solid, Fernpelt would be a carrier. We also know that it's a 50-50 chance that Fernpelt would have also been a carrier for both the cinnamon trait and dilute trait, has both would have been inherited from Shadowrapid being a carrier after inheriting those traits from his own mother Palestar.

In case anyone needs a sum up of that:

Palestar( dilute cinnamon) --> Shadowrapid (carriers cinnamon and dilute) --> Fernpelt (could carrier cinnamon and dilute) --> Lionstar (dilute cinnamon)

Good? Good.

Lionstar fathers Marshrunner, who does not have white spotting and is a solid chocolate tom. Since cinnamon is the most recessive of the non-red colors, this makes sense and points to Lioncry's mate being either a carrier of chocolate or chocolate herself.

Marshrunner then fathers Finchstar, who is a solid chocolate tortoiseshell, having no white. Since Finchstar is a tortoiseshell, her mother is either a tortie herself or a red she-cat, in which said the mother could only provide red 'Xs'.

We know that Finchstar's mate would have to be a red tom since she then has a daughter Fireflight, who is a red colorpoint. Now, regardless if a cat is solid or tabby, red will always display stripes. Genetically, however, Fireflight is a solid.

We do know her mate has to be a tabby with whitespotting because then her son Gorsestar is a red tabby colorpoint with whitespotting. However the color of Gorsestar's father does not matter in this case, as since Fireflight is red, then so too must be Gorsestar.

Gorsestar first is mates with Ravencry, a solid black tuxedo. Since Ravencry is genetically black, their son Tigercall then is also such, but he's a tabby like Gorsestar. He gets whitespotting from either Gorsestar or Ravencry, but not both since he's a tuxedo as well.

Tigercall then mates with non-clan cat Jane, a solid chocolate bicolor. However Tigercall still passes on the black gene onto their daughter Shadowfoot, and this time both parents give a white spotting gene to their child, as Shadowfoot has a massive amount of white on her.

Shadowfoot has a kit with Snowmask, a blue tabby bicolor. They have Junipercloud, who also turns out to be a blue bicolor. This means the dilute trait Shadowfoot is a carrier for is either came from Jane or managed to be passed on secretly through Gorsestar's family since Lionstar. We will see it could be either later.

Now, Snowmask had a previous mate, Riverbelly, who was a seal lynx colorpoint.

Both of their sons Darkpelt and Loonwing are black tabbies, but Loonwing inherits Snowmask's white spotting and neither of them is colorpoints. Loonwing is mates with Hornetsting, a cream tabby she-cat with whitespotting, making any son they have red or cream and all daughter calicos.

Now let's go back to Gorsestar.

Gorsestar later mates with Spottedstream, a gray tortie.We now know that Gorsestar does indeed carry a dilute gene because their Stormfrost is a dilute/blue tortie colorpoint. We already know Gorsestar carries solid from his mother and paired with solid tortie Spottestream, this lets Stormfrost be the solid she is as well.

Stormfrost hooks up with two toms, Riverthorn (a seal point) and Lioncry (a chocolate wideband tabby). Wideband makes a cat's coat, aside from stripes, look golden.

Stormfrost and Riverthorn can only produce more colorpoints. Riverthorn also carried dilute as evidenced by Falconstar being a blue colorpoint. Their daughter Mudmask is a seal colorpoint just like her father.

Stormfrost's son in the same litter. Redwing, could be either Riverthorn's or Lioncry's son. Redwing is a colorpoint, as since he's red, he'd still show having stripes regardless if he was a tabby or a solid. Lioncry's wideband gene is a dominant trait, but it'd also be reasonable that Lioncry could have a recessive gene where a kit of his wouldn't get that trait.

Mudmask is mates with Bluetalon, a blue tabby. Their kits will more than likely be black or blue, it is a 50-50 chance since Mudmask would carry dilute from her mother Stormfrost.

Falconstar is mates with Flyflight, a black smoke. If the two of them could have kits, it'd be a 50-50 chance of their kits being smokes or regular solids. However, both Falconstar and Flyflight are cis toms, so not possible.

So now, there is only one mystery in this whole family tree. Who is Redwing's dad? If you want to make a guess, go on ahead and give a reason.

And if anyone wants me to put down another family tree from my characters on here or the canon warrior cats (I might regret that) the ask box is always open. Also, for those of you who made it this far, thank you. I appreciate you reading through this whole lengthy post.

Alright you said cat genetics, you're getting cat genetics. I will try to keep this interesting, but it is going to get technical at points.

I'm going to assume you know dominant and recessive gene terminology, chromosomes, Punnet squares and the like. I'm not going to take this far past high school biology.

First off, fur colors: there's two genes for this, black and orange. The black fur gene has 3 options: dominant B, which makes a pitch-black cat; recessive b, which is a chocolatey brown color, and even more recessive b', which has a light-brown cinnamon color (B>b>b' with complete dominance, so the higher-ranking ones completely cover the lower ones; a cat with Bb genes will be black, bb' would be chocolate brown, etc.) Chocolate brown and cinnamon coats are rare enough to usually only be seen in purebreds.

On top of that, there's the orange gene O, which is basically an on-off switch for whether the cat will be orange. If you have O you're orange, if you have o you're not orange. The orange gene COVERS the black gene. The trick is, this gene is on the X chromosome, so female cats have 2 copies while male cats only have one. So male cats can only be orange or not-orange, while females can be tortoiseshell if they get one copy of each gene: Oo. (orange genes are co-dominant, so the effects of them blend) This is why 99% of calico and tortoiseshell cats are female; to be genetically calico or tortoiseshell a male must have a mutation where they have XXY chromosomes.

And on top of THAT you have the white-fur gene, which is complete dominant W>Ws>w. White is just a lack of pigment in the hair, so the white-fur gene trumps all other fur colors by simply removing the pigment. A white cat could have literally anything else genetically under the white. W, the dominant gene, is a full-color white cat, often with blue eyes (which comes from losing pigment in the retinas). It also has a chance of making the cat deaf if the lack of pigment reaches the inner ear. Ws is a white-spotting gene; it causes part but not all of the cat to lose pigment, so this is how you get some-color-and-white cats. Funny enough, having two Ws genes (WsWs) as opposed to just one (Wsw) often leads to the cat having more white spotting, but it's a spectrum and not always reliable. w is the recessive and means no white spotting at all, so the orange and black genes show through.

What about gray cats? That's the dilute gene: D/d. Dilute basically fades out the color so black becomes gray, brown becomes light brown, orange becomes cream, etc. D is the dominant one and means no dilution: black stays black, orange stays orange. To get a gray/cream/whatever dilute cat, you have to have double recessive dd.

Now tabby markings. There are a few genes for this. To determine if the cat is tabby at all, you have the agouti gene: A/a. A is dominant and means yes tabby markings. aa is recessive and means no tabby, solid colors. EXCEPT for orange cats, because for some reason we don't yet understand, having the orange gene automatically turns on the pigment structure that causes tabby markings even WITHOUT the agouti gene! So an aa orange cat will still be tabby. (Tortoiseshell cats will have tabby markings on the orange parts only.) The theory is that there is a base tabby pattern encoded somewhere else in the cat's DNA and both the agouti and orange genes function to sort of amplify it so it's visible. In fact, if you look at a solid black or gray cat in the sun, you can sometimes see the tabby markings on the head or legs, colloquially referred to as ghost tabby markings.

Type of tabby markings is another gene: mackeral tabby (stripes) is dominant over classic tabby (cinnamon roll-style swirlies). There's also ticked tabby and spotted tabby, which are two entirely different genes that modify the first one to make very faint markings or spots respectively. Having fun yet?

Last thing I'll talk about is colorpoint, or the Siamese gene. It's actually a variation of albinism that ties color to heat, so cold areas of the body get darker. This is why Siamese cats have dark tails, paws, and ears, while their main body is light. There are actually a lot of different types of colorpoint, and it can change throughout a cat's life. Here's a diagram:

How do I know all this? I was obsessed with Warrior Cats as a kid, and anybody who's read those books know they are completely inaccurate to actual cat genetics. So I used to make my own little genetic trees with an online family tree maker to see what color the cats would come out if they actually followed real-life rules. The results were often way off from what the books said. I made a whole bunch of these trees with different starting cats, restrictions, and such (like whether or not purebred genes were allowed in wild cats) to see what would happen. I would do this for fun for hours as a kid, because there is nothing abnormal at all going on with my brain. Here's an example of what one looked like; you can see the genetic terms on the left.

That's it, holy crap that was long, if you actually read this far thank you so much. If for some reason you want more cat genetics, I recommend this: http://messybeast.com/catarchive.htm The site can be tough to navigate at times, but it has a lot of good information.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE INFODUMPS IVE EVER READ. thank you for taking the time to tell me about cat genetics 🥺👉👈 I'm fucking obsessed with the ghost tabby markings tidbit because my little grey ghost cat has faint tabby markings!!

they used to be almost invisible but shes 15 now and theyve lightened a lot with age

What's your favorite kind of cat? Pattern or breed. I really like the floofy ragdoll types! They always look like they have nothing but air and love between their ears.

!!! tortoishell and calico are favorite coat, especially diluted. also black cat. have black cat. he very silky and i love him.

ragdoll are one of favorite breed! also like norwegian forest and mainecoon. and siamese pretty. turkish angora pretty. like old persian, before they shorten snout and cause health issue :(

alright now here's an odd hypokit ask for you... firestar x blackstar x mistystar x onestar hypokits :o yes all four of them together... i like the idea of them all being parallels to each other and am toying with an au where they're all the same age and protags/POVs in TPB... so I was just curious to see what you'd come up with LMAOOOOO :p

Warriors Ship Hypokits: FireBlackMistyOne Edition

This is incredibly interesting. Hopefully I can do this idea some justice.The AU part of this post is gonna be LONG because of all the plot changes this causes lol

In this AU, when Rusty joins the Clans he meets and befriends a couple of cats from other Clans as well as Graypaw and Ravenpaw: Mistypaw and Stonepaw of RiverClan, who feel strangely out of place in their Clan, and Blackpaw of ShadowClan, who is doubting his mentor Brokenstar's rightful place as ShadowClan Leader and suspects him of killing his nephew Badgerkit (Fernshade is his older sister here). They all go on adventures together and help overthrow Brokenstar with Blackpaw's help, while helping solve Redtail's death in ThunderClan and trying to find out who Mistypaw and Stonepaw's unknown parent is. They all earn their warrior names around the same time. Onewhisker of WindClan is also added to the friend group when Fireheart, Graystripe, Blackfoot, Stonefur, and Mistycloud are sent to bring WindClan home. When Graystripe moves to RiverClan after Silverstream's death delivering his kits, Graypool pulls Mistycloud and Stonecfur aside and reveals the true identity of their mother: Bluestar of ThunderClan. This news causes Mistycloud and Stonefur to approach Bluestar at a Gathering to discuss things, however it doesn't go well because of Bluestar's worsening mental state and she attacks them. They do reconcile by the time of her death by dog still. While all this drama happens, they all become Leaders of their respective Clans (minus Onewhisker- Tallstar's still kickin', and Stonefur of course) (when Tigerclaw shows up and tries to take over ShadowClan, Blackstar straight up kills him). As time goes by, Onestar becomes Leader of WindClan and they all realize that they've fallen in love. Panic really sets in as Mistystar realizes that she's pregnant and expecting kits, with them being the fathers. While all of them want to keep the kits (and become mates with each other) they agree to give them up and let them be raised as kittypets far away from the Clans in the Clans’ and kits’ best interests. Although they all often wish that they had kept the kits and become mates...

Their four kits are:

Darktail- muscular dark bluish-gray and white tom with amber eyes and a long tail. Cis tom, bisexual. You know who this guy is. He was named Darby by his housefolk. However, they were abusive to him so he left and became a rogue. While he was originally ignorant of his true parentage, once it was revealed to him he was outraged. He could have grown up happy with a family, but his parents chose to separate him and his siblings and give him to abusive humans! He vowed to destroy his parents and the precious clans they held so dear, no matter the cost... He was eventually killed in battle by his one surviving parent, his father Onestar. If he had been raised with his parents, he would have chosen WindClan, still have gotten the name Darktail, and been a Tactician. 

Anastasia- large beautiful chubby black molly with blue eyes. Cis molly, straight. Anastasia is a vain, aloof cat who wouldn't be caught dead outside or ever do something to get her paws dirty. Her housefolk are very rich and spoil her rotten, and she loves them dearly. She never finds out about her siblings or true parents and spends her entire life as a kittypet. She eventually died of old age. If she had been raised with her parents, she would have chosen RiverClan, been named Brightscale and been a Lake-Watcher. 

Maplestar- dilute calico molly with yellow-green eyes. Cis molly, queer polyamorous. This universe's version of Leafstar. She was named Maple by her housefolk and became close with Billy and Echo once her humans moved by the gorge. She began having unusual dreams along with Echo and the two joined the newly-formed SkyClan along with Billy when Firestar and his friend Sandstorm came to set it up in the gorge. Firestar knew with just one look that this was one of Mistystar’s kits and eventually told her everything before he left. She thought well of her father and thought of him and the other three that she’d never met often. Like in canon, she becomes SkyClan’s Leader. Her warrior name before she became Leader was Mapleleaf. She dies peacefully in her sleep. If she had been raised with her parents, she would have chosen ThunderClan, been named Leafheart, and been a Hunter and eventually Leader.

Blister- scarred dark ginger molly with one missing eye and blue-green eyes. She was named Betty by her housefolk, but left at a young age in search of adventure. She found the excitement she was looking for in joining BloodClan. She took on the name of Blister and became one of the best fighters around. She was ambitious but peace-minded, wanting to become Leader to change BloodClan and make it more stable and a place of safety. She eventually becomes the Leader of BloodClan and slowly changes it to be a more peaceful group. Like Anastasia, she never finds out about her true parentage. She dies after passing the torch to a new Leader, happy with her life. If she had been raised with her parents, she would have chosen ShadowClan, been named Flameclaw, and been a Warden and eventually Leader.

Calico cats

#Calico cats Patch#

The red (actually known as orange and abbreviated to O) gene is only carried on the X chromosome, which makes it sex-linked. To understand why calicos are so rare in male cats, we need a basic understanding of genetics. Only 1/3,000 calico or tortoiseshell cats are male. Learn more in our article: Calico cat colors Male calico cats The chart below shows the effects of the dilution and the dilute modifier genes on the coat colours. Some cats carrying the dilution gene display clumping and an uneven distribution of the pigment granules in the hair shaft, producing a dilution of the coat colors which changes black to grey (blue), chocolate to lilac, and orange to cream. The colour density gene, or dilute modifier gene, caramelises the coat colour of dilute cats who carry the gene. Just like dilution genes can cause coat colors to change from black to gray, it can also cause changes from chocolate to lilac and and orange to cream. The gray and cream coloration of a calico cat is due to the dilution of the black and orange genes. This concept can be applied to all calicos with dilute coloration. The amount of pigment determines if coloration will be dense or dilute. The colour density gene controls the amount of pigment in each hair. Both chocolate and cinnamon are recessive to black (B) and therefore will only show if the cat inherits two copies of the gene. One produces chocolate (b), and the other produces cinnamon (b l ). Scientists at the Veterinary Genetics Lab at The University of California at Davis discovered two mutations. Cinnamon with red (orange) and white calico catsĬinnamon is a warm brown and is produced by a second recessive allele of B, denoted with the symbol (b l ). Brown and red calico Brown with red and white Calico cat (DepositPhotos) 3. Brown with red (orange) and white calico catsīrown with red and white patches is second of the two most common calico cat colorations. Black and red calico cat Black calico cat 2. This concept can be applied to all color patterns of calico cats.

#Calico cats Patch#

Similarly, a red patch of fur is created when the X chromosome carrying the gene for black fur is inactivated. A black patch of fur is created when the X chromosome carrying the gene for red fur is inactivated. Black with red (orange) and white calico catsīlack with red and white patches is one of the two most common calico cat colorations. Calico cat coat colorsĭue to the genetics behind the calico coloration, no two calico cats have the same patterns - including twins. This means a bi-color or calico cat is genetically a colored cat, but the S gene has switched off the color in certain areas. The gene responsible is known as piebald or spotting gene (abbreviated to S) and is dominant, as signified by the uppercase S. Why not white? Because a cat with a colored and white coat (calico or bi-color) has a gene that switches off color in some parts. There are four base (solid) colors in cats: Related: What’s the difference between a calico and a tortie cat How does the calico coat pattern occur? Calico cat peeking through tree trunks (DepositPhotos) Calicos are not a cat breed, the word calico refers to the coat colour only, and occurs in both random-bred and some purebred cats. A calico is a domestic cat with a coat pattern that consists of a white base (25-70%) with patches of red and black, red and grey or red and brown.

Calico tabby kittens

CALICO TABBY KITTENS CODE

In the rare instance of a male calico kitten being born, there is a 1 in 3,000 chance of it being sterile due to an abnormality in a male calico’s genes, which causes him to have an extra X chromosome. With just 1 X chromosome, a male cat only has the chance of displaying the black or orange gene, not both.

CALICO TABBY KITTENS CODE

What most people don’t know is that the genetic code for having either orange or black fur is only found in the X chromosome. Females have 2 X chromosomes, whereas males have 1 X chromosome and 1 Y chromosome. In fact, the calico coloring happens only by accident due to genetics.Ĭoat color is a sex-linked trait and occurs because of dominant and recessive genes that interact with X chromosomes. While calico coloring seems to be more common these days, it’s impossible to purposely breed a calico-colored cat. The calibby has the same color variations as calicos, with the addition of the signature tabby stripes. Lastly, a calibby is a mix of a calico and tabby cat.A dilute calico has the same white base, but their patches are softened to charcoal gray, cream and light orange.A standard calico has a primarily white coat with patches of orange and black.There are 3 variations of calico coloring: To be considered a calico, the colors black, orange and white (or variations of these colors) must be present. You might have heard people refer to calicos like they’re a breed, but calico is a color or pattern of fur rather than a breed.

Are male calico cats valuable?

Are male calico cats valuable?

How rare is a male dilute calico cat?

How much money is a male calico cat worth?

How rare are male calico cats?

What gender is rare for a calico cat?

What happens if a calico cat is male?

How much is a dilute calico cat worth?

Are male calico cats rare?

What is the rarest color of cat?

What causes a dilute calico?

Can boy cats have 3 colors?

How much is a boy calico cat worth?

Can a normal male calico cats exist?

Can a male cat have 3 colors?

Are all 3 colored cats female?

What is the rarest cat?

Why are 99% of calico cats female?

Is it possible to have a male calico cat?

Why is it rare to have a male calico cat?

Can male cats have 3 colors?

How much are male calicos worth?

Are dilute calicos rare?

How much does a dilute calico cat cost?

How big do dilute calicos get?

What makes a cat dilute?

In terms of delivering website visitors to your blog, there's no strategy as productive as search engines. But how can you increase your internet search engine traffic? By improving your blog for search engine listings! This information will provde the ideas you need to put your blog towards the top of any search engine.

Make several mini-sites that lead to your main web site. Using this method, each and every web site can give attention to one or two keywords and phrases and have a fully functional internet site you could maximize and obtain targeted traffic for, but assists a twin purposes as it will website link returning to your primary web site. The greater number of mini-sites you might have, the more point to your authentic site, and that will cause it to surge in the major search engines web page ratings. To find generator enhance your web site, don't include a lot more than 150 internal linking links on your home page. Too many inside hyperlinks on one web page can dilute an online page's online search engine rank. Large quantities of backlinks also ensure it is difficult for website visitors to obtain the information and facts which they require quickly. Use alt labels for images and span factor titles to your benefit. Search engines like yahoo take a look at a site's code, not precisely what is in fact visible to a end user, therefore if your key word is "kitty" and there exists a snapshot of a calico feline on your site, having an alt tag of "a calico feline" for that appearance will show the search engine to the key word even if your user never recognizes it. The title of the period element performs in the same manner. Increase the use of photographs and pictures on the site to enhance your search engine optimisation. Give each visual a quick interesting caption made up of your important keywords. A technique that search engine listings position photos is actually by the written text that encompasses them, so ensure that this information is rich in search phrases, including any titles or headings you could use. Make an effort to get the internet site pointed out on Facebook or twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Search engines As well as and preferred blog sites. Social websites can be quite a fantastic search engine marketing instrument as networking sites of folks can produce a site extremely popular, in a short time. Whenever somebody backlinks for your web site over a social websites site, the possibilities of your website appearing on page one of search engine results raise. Discover ways to advertise utilizing social networking. Simply publishing links for your organization site is not advertising - it is spam. Providing content material as a reason to check out your website is far more successful, and it also permits customers to feel just like you are considering their private wants and needs. Publish fresh information in your web site up to you are able to. Give Car tinting writing deadlines and desired goals and don't bust them. Web sites that report the capability to generate an possibly shifting source of original content receive greater spots from search engine listings than web sites with fixed materials. Sites that continually upgrade their articles will make a higher rank. To produce your content on-line a lot more apparent, article new information and facts throughout off of-maximum hours. Because of this if other bloggers or webmasters are common submitting their new stuff every morning and nights after work, you then ought to achieve the afternoons. Putting up at these periods indicates there is certainly less competitors for peoples focus and a increased possibility they are going to watch your things. Thinning lower your search term terms will go a long way to optimizing your blog for search engines like google. Keywords which are also broad have the chance of obtaining lost between other competing web sites that happen to be utilizing the same expression. Take into consideration methods to make the conditions continue to relevant to your site, but in a fashion that means they are much more certain and unique. To obtain much better website traffic from the site's RSS feed, use keywords and phrases there exactly like you would all by yourself page. This will aid end users to find your feed by means of search engine, which can result in more traffic for your web site. The best places to put key phrases are your feed's title and description. You need to maintain the Website url construction of your web site as very clear as you can. This may cause your web site easy to browse through, and also, simple to crawl for far better standing searching results. You are able to classify your website in several types or by chronological purchase. Determine what works the best for the kind of website you have. Your primary goal should be to accomplish high placement on the major search engines, nevertheless, you are unable to travel blindly and wish that your internet site is by some means plucked from obscurity. You have to stick to great assistance similar to this, so that you can formulate an appropriate strategy which means that your website makes wonderful positioning.

BASIC Catgirl information!

Hi, a catgirl expert here! I’m SO tired of misinformation on catgirls. The clown husbandry community has really taken off in the past few years, and I’m so happy they have gotten their word out, but catgirls are SO violently mistreated by the public! 

FIRST THINGS FIRST: 

CAT GIRL ANATOMY.

I’m so so SO tired of people supporting breeding farms that breed mutated catgirls! THIS: 

IS NOT A PROPER CATGIRL! Do you see her human ears? She is a GENETICALLY MUTATED catgirl to APPEASE absolutely DIABOLICAL rich people who think their lack of “human” ears are disgusting! These are nothing but TUMORS coming out of the side of their poor heads! 

THIS: 

This is a proper catgirl! Given JUST the right amount of accessories, and no tumor ears in sight! 

GENDER AMONGST CATGIRLS

By far, the most INFURIATING misconception about catgirls! CATGIRLS! DONT! HAVE! GENDER! Some MAY go by the term “catboy”, THIS DOESNT CHANGE THE FACT THAT GENDER DOESNT EXIST AMONGST THEIR SPECIES! It’s not at all a construct, and one day your catgirl may announce they are a catboy! This will change nothing on how they act, dress, or nya! Gender simply does NOT exist amongst catgirls, please do NOT put gender on them! 

THIS CAN BE A CATGIRL: 

AND THIS CAN BE A CATBOY!: 

PLEASE DONT FORCE GENDER ON THEM! It’s abusive, and the concept of gender being forced on a species like this will make their organs deteriorate! It’s dangerous! I knew a poor  dilute tortie down the street who’s lungs collapsed because his owner forced the concept of gender onto him! 

PROPER ENCLOSURES 

This absolutely gets me PEEVED. Large special areas for catgirls are important, however, you NEED to give them places to hide, and they should be able to roam around your house with ease! If you do not let them roam, they will feel you do not trust them and gain seasonal depression! 

this is a proper enclosure for your catgirl to hide when she feels overwhelmed! 

DIET

How many times do I have to say this, do NOT buy from Nyamix or Uwukibble! These brands are TERRIBLE for your Catgirls and give them liver cancer! Please, please buy from proper brands like Munchies n Bits or Kittyparty! 

Treats like entire fish are good once in awhile, my calico LOVES to swallow his whole! However, too many can hurt your cat, as the spines going through their intestines can cause tearing! 

ENRICHMENT 

Does your catgirl knock over glasses of water on your desk? GOOD! Do they walk on your keyboards? GOOD! This is what having a catgirl will DO. They are creatures that thrive for attention, no toys will substitute a feeling like this! If you can’t make your catgirl the center of your life, DO NOT BUY ONE! Your catgirl will destroy everything you own, and you HAVE to be okay with this!

As always my little kitties, stay safe and buy wisely!

She (Asparagus Jr x Jellylorum)

(A/N) Based off the song ‘She’ by dodie

Asparagus crept into the main clearing, settling to hide amidst a pile of junk where he couldn't be seen by anyone. The young tom had a reputation to flirt with anyone and everyone, tom or queen, single or taken, kit or grown. He didn't particularly want anyone seeing him moon over someone. He didn't moon. He flirted, he messed about, he played with everyone. He didn't moon. And yet here he was, gaping at a queen a few years younger than him.

Am I allowed... am I allowed to look at her like that? Asparagus thought as he eyed the queen from across the junkyard. The beautiful, perfect queen that meant more to him than anything else in his life. The queen that meant everything to him. He sighed, a small lovestruck smile appearing on his face as he watched the queen dancing around with her friends. Oh... he lowered himself down to the ground, pawing at the small pile of dirt in front of him once he was in a laying position, his eyes not leaving the queen. How could it be wrong when she's just... so nice to look at?

His eyes widened slightly as she jumped into the air, her legs flawlessly straight, the joy evident on her face. He felt something nudge against his left shoulder and glanced that way. A ginger tom, a few years older than Asparagus himself, was laying down beside him.

"Staring at Jelly again, are we?" Skimbleshanks said quietly, his Scottish lilt pleasant and soft.

Asparagus slowly nodded, a tiny blush on his cheeks. He looked back at the queen. Her fur was as white as snow and as golden as the sun rising on an autumn morning.

"Do you want to tell the lass how you feel?"

For a second, Asparagus glanced down at the little dirt mound he had made in front of him, before nodding. He lifted his head to see Jelly, his Jelly, his wonderful Jelly, twirling at a speed which seemed impossible to reach, and yet, she kept her balance as she spun and spun and spun.

"Tell me about her. Tell me what you see in the bonnie thing, pal,"

"W-Well... she smells like lemongrass and sleep. She... tastes like... apple juice and peach," Asparagus said softly, his gaze never leaving the queen his heart had pledged to.

"A-And you could find her in one of those... polaroid pictures. The ones humans take..."

Skimbleshanks said nothing, merely listened to the younger tom. Being nearly seven years older than the tom, he treated Asparagus as a younger brother.

"And she... means everything to me..."

Asparagus looked at Skimbleshanks again, his eyes wider than normal because of the slightly-too-big gold rimmed glasses Asparagus was wearing. It was common knowledge the tom didn't have perfect eyesight, but the glasses somehow enhanced his good looks even more.

"Y-You won't tell her? Or anyone... right Skimble?"

"I'd never tell. I won't say a word," Skimble promised the brown tom.

Asparagus weakly smiled. The ginger tom grinned and winked, before slipping away, leaving the young flirter alone.

-----------------TIME SKIP OF TWO YEARS :) ------------------

Asparagus took a deep breath as he glanced quickly down at his notebook, the notes and lyrics scribbled down on the pages. He adjusted his grip on the guitar in his paws and pushed his glasses back up his nose since they had fallen down again.

"You said you wanted to meet me?" A voice came from behind him. He jumped and stood up, spinning quickly to see the small dilute calico he had asked to meet in a private clearing standing on top of what seemed to be an old desk or table. The queen raised an eyebrow and jumped down, walking towards him. Her arms were folded across her front.

"Never seen you this jumpy. Usually you're preening and showing off,"

"Well- I-I...um..." he looked at the floor and bit his lip.

"I-I... wanted to- um, well... you know-"

The Lillie Cat snorted, and Asparagus' ears flattened against his head.

"Take your time, I won't bite,"

Asparagus took a deep breath before looking back at Jelly.

"I-I've... written a song. A-About...you-".

The tom winced, waiting for her reaction.

To his vast surprise, Jelly's arms dropped to her sides.

"Y-You... wrote a song... about m-me?"

Asparagus could only nod.

She glanced down behind him and saw the open notebook and his guitar which he left on the floor when he hastily stood up. To her surprise as well, she smiled shyly and sat down.

Asparagus sat down opposite her and picked up his guitar, slipping the shoulder strap over his slim shoulders.

He looked once again at the notes and lyrics before glancing at Jelly. He smiled and a light blush came onto his cheeks as he started the song.

When he started singing the first few lyrics of the song and the chorus, Jelly couldn't help herself. She moved closer to him and rested her chin in her paw, smiling.

She didn't like his showing off. She didn't like his preening. She didn't like his smirks and remarks that made every cat fall at his feet.

But she did like this.

She liked this soft Asparagus. She liked this nervous Asparagus. She liked this eager to please Asparagus.

"She smells like lemongrass and sleep. She tastes like apple juice and peach,"

A greater smile came into Jelly's face as she blushed as well as Asparagus.

"You would find her in a Polariod picture. And she... means everything to me."

"And I'll be okay, admiring from afar. Cause even when she's next to me, we could not be more far apart. Cause she tastes like birthday cake and story time and fall...".

Asparagus glanced up from the guitar to look at Jelly's face. The two had subconsiously moved closer and their noses were only centrimetres apart.

"But to her...I taste of nothing at all,"

Jelly's face fell slightly at the last lyric and her tail gently curled around Asparagus' own. He smiled weakly and quietly sang the last few lyrics of the song.

"...Cause she smells like lemongrass and sleep...She tastes like apple juice and peach... You would find her in a Polaroid picture...".

The two were practically touching now. His forehead grazed Jelly's as he finished the song.

"And she means everything to me..."

He slowly looked deep into her eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked softly.

She simply closed the gap between them, one paw on the ground to stabalise her, the other resting on his thigh.

When they eventually pulled apart, Jelly looked up at him.

"Hey Asparagus?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"... You taste like coffee,"

Arc Three: Chapter One

(AO3 counterpart here.)

Everything was quiet. Even the rain, heavy as it was, seemed to mute itself, tiptoeing to the ground instead of boldly splashing as it had moments before. The makeshift den, a rare dry spot in the thick hedge, did not rustle its leaves as raindrops hit them. The thunder paused to listen in as Redheart, Greyleaf and Mistface stood in a triangle, equally in power, equally cornered.

“You’d better sit down,” Redheart said. “We have a lot to explain to you.”

Mistface did not sit down, but, after a long moment, he slowly and warily nodded once. “Go on, then.”

Redheart took in a slow breath and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, they were dull with weariness. “StarClan as we know it – as we think we know it – is a lie. And it’s a very successful lie that’s been going on since before the Union. It’s why I’m trying to get everyone away from the Territory.”

Something in Mistface’s mind clawed at anywhere in his thoughts it could reach, like a trapped mouse violently scrambling for freedom as a hawk approached it. “…What kinda lie?”

Greyleaf and Redheart looked at each other, wordlessly exchanging some thought. Greyleaf turned back to his brother, ears back. “A kind of lie that I don’t think you’re going to believe. StarCla-“

“Mistface!”

All three cats jumped. The rest of the world came rushing back – the rain drummed the earth again, thunder rolled overhead, and someone was rustling the hedge’s branches and leaves. Mistface turned around to be greeted with a slightly battered Laurelclaw. His white fur had patches of mud all over it, especially on his feet and belly, and he was squinting one eye a little like he’d scratched it on a branch.

“You found her,” he said. “Good. Listen, we have a serious problem. One of the patrollers is out here, and…”

He trailed off, looking back from where he’d come and shuffling his front feet nervously.

Redheart took a few steps forward, still weary, but unafraid. “What’s going on?”

Laurelclaw turned to her, mouth twitching. “Um. Someone got hurt.”

Mistface was a heartbeat from responding that they had just left the Clast settlement in the middle of a battle, and of course someone was going to be hurt, but Laurelclaw’s anxious expression silenced him. There was more to it than this.

Greyleaf suddenly jolted to life and hurried past Mistface, almost bumping into him. “How bad is it? Where are they?”

Laurelclaw didn’t answer. He just backed up through the hedge, giving the other three space to follow him. Mistface waited until Redheart and Greyleaf went after Laurelclaw before ending the train, just in case Redheart decided to run at the last moment.

They struggled through the thick brush before emerging into the open, where a golden tom was waiting for them. He was soaked through and his fur stuck in clumps of wet hair, but his back-fur managed to bristle just fine as he glared at Redheart and Greyleaf.

“I hope you’re happy,” he growled.

“I’m not.” Redheart took a step forward, clearing herself of the small party. “What happened?”

The tom’s claws dug into the mud and his tail lashed. “That fight you started got one of my friends killed.”

Mistface expected Redheart and Greyleaf to be upset and shocked. He did not expect them both to freeze in complete horror and drop their mouths open, eyes wide enough to pop out of their sockets.

“I don’t care if I have to fight all four of you,” the tom said. “You’re coming back with me whether you-“

Redheart shoved past him and broke into a sprint, Greyleaf close behind her. The tom’s anger was momentarily displaced by confusion, but he shook it off and followed the pair. Mistface and Laurelclaw took up the rear, all cats running as fast as they could.

They reached the Clast settlement, it felt, far too slowly for their speed. The yowls and screeches of battle had ceased entirely, leaving the rain and hisses of pain to occupy the tense air. Clusters of cats spotted the stone ground, some cleaning their wounds, others talking to each other worriedly under their breath. Everyone paused what they were doing to watch Redheart lead the four toms in and skid to a stop, sending ripples through the puddle she halted in.

Redheart looked around wildly. “Where’s-“

“Over here,” someone said glumly.

Mistface turned to the source of the voice. It was a large grey molly with a heavily scarred nose, bowing her head over a black cat stretched out on the stone. A red-and-white tom that Mistface remembered was called Brightblaze was pacing behind her, looking terrified.

“I didn’t mean to,” he was saying. “I really didn’t. I’m sorry, I-“

Redheart shouted wordlessly, making everyone flinch, and charged over to the body. Greyleaf stumbled to a halt beside her and began sniffing and nudging the head, almost hyperventilating.

“What have you done?!”  Redheart screamed at Brightblaze.

Brightblaze cowered, trembling. “I- it was an accident, I swear-“

Greyleaf drew a paw over the cat’s head, bristling. “Trauma-“ He sharply looked up at Brightblaze. “What did you do to her?”

A patched molly stepped forward and said quietly, “I saw it. She tackled him and he jumped backwards into a house’s wall. She hit her head and just…slumped.”

There was a strangled cry of alarm. Mistface turned to his right to see Darkpelt and Beetlefoot coming around the corner. They had been instructed to keep away from the fight, but Redheart’s return must have alerted them.

Beetlefoot looked furious, his paws slightly spread out like he was about to attack. “That’s Striderfoot!”

“Dead cat?” Darkpelt asked, and thank the stars above that she did not sound casual and snarky like she usually did.

“One of the Fleet!” Beetlefoot started forward, teeth bared, but Mistface lifted a paw, pads outward, and he stopped.

Someone whimpered behind him. He twisted his head back to see the familiar calico apprentice, Littlepaw, huddled beside her pseudo-mentor, Flyfang. Flyfang was scratched up, but she looked ready to fight again, and she stood protecting Littlepaw from the view of the body.

Laurelclaw approached them and sniffed Littlepaw over, murmuring, “Are you okay?”

Littlepaw nodded unsteadily and shivered.

Mistface faced frontwards again and watched his brother. Greyleaf had steadied his breath a little, but he was still in the midst of panic. He kept shaking Striderfoot’s shoulder and turning his head so his ear was at her mouth, searching for an exhale.

Redheart was not quite shaking with rage, but her aura emanated it enough to make everyone draw back. She had her head low as she glared at Brightblaze, and her sentence was ground out through her teeth. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to her?”

“I-“ Brightblaze swallowed thickly. “I killed her, and I’m sorry, but it was an accident-“

“You just sent her soul to StarClan!” Redheart straightened up, looming over the patched tom, hair all over her body sticking straight out. “You doomed her!”

“I…” Brightblaze faltered, still afraid but now confused. “How is…?”

Greyleaf looked up from Striderfoot and turned a furious eye on Brightblaze as well. “You don’t understand. None of you understand. That is the last place you want her to go.”

“So she got to you, too!”

Everyone’s gaze went to a small white molly – the Clast’s seer, Snowshine - pushing her way out of a clump of cats. She was less pretty than before, with her fur sagging with rain and mud, but she was still radiating outrage.

“I knew it!” she shouted. “You’ve been trying to turn everyone away from StarClan this whole time!”

Redheart met Snowshine’s stare with narrowed eyes. Her voice was steady, though not quite as calm as she probably wanted it to be. “I have. And you should have been, too.”

Snowshine made a noise like an outraged cough. Around them, cats who weren’t already watching the commotion lifted their heads and trailed off their sentences. The rain pounded away, diluting the thin blood already washing out in puddles, the only sound in the clearing.

Greyleaf’s ears were pinned to his head as his wide eyes roamed over the scattered crowd. He inhaled slowly, wobblingly, and turned his gaze to Redheart. “Now or never.”

Redheart didn’t look at him, but she nodded and slowly went around the body of Striderfoot and Greyleaf, walking until she was in the center of the clearing and easy to see. She didn’t need to make sure cats were looking at her; everyone was, and with increasing confusion and tension.

“The reason I’ve tried to take cats with me out of the Territory,” she said, “is that what we’ve been told is StarClan is nothing more than a monster. It’s been lying to us this entire time so that we stay here thinking we’re safe and have a pleasant life and afterlife ahead of us. The truth is that it aims to take us, one by one, and-“

A cry of outrage rang through the camp, coming from all sides. Cats jumped to their feet and exchanged dumbfounded stares before shouting at Redheart.

“Are you kidding?!”

“You’ve gone insane!”

“What are you talking about?! You’re not making sense!”

Redheart closed her mouth and shut her eyes, head lowered, as the shock and incredulity pummeled her words down. Greyleaf immediately stood up and went to her side, glaring balefully at everyone around them.

“You think she’s stupid enough to make this up out of nowhere?!” he barked. “She’s telling the truth!”

“Greyleaf!” Snowshine’s voice cut through the onslaught and the rest of the cats’ cries stuttered and trailed off. “How can you support this? You’re supposed to be sensible!”

Greyleaf’s back started arching and he bared his teeth at Snowshine. “Because I’ve seen it too!”

This caused the lowering volume to almost completely mute itself. Everyone looked at each other, baffled and a little troubled. Mistface felt himself almost completely freeze over as he stared at his brother. He managed to slide his eyes to the right and see Beetlefoot’s scowl twist in alarm and Darkpelt’s blind eyes narrow with focus.

Redheart lifted her head again and spoke as she slowly began to walk out of the center of camp. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but… if you want to know more…” Her tired eyes pierced through the growing dark, seeming to land on every cat at once. “If you want to know the truth, I suggest you follow me.”

Greyleaf cast a glare around, daring anyone to argue back, before catching up to Redheart, tail switching.

Mistface heard paws splashing through the water and turned to discover Darkpelt following them.

“You’re goin’?” he asked, unable to make his voice go beyond a whisper.

“We have a job to do,” Darkpelt said simply, “and I intend to see it through. I know you’re not staying.”

“I’m not,” Mistface agreed. He stepped in beside Darkpelt, silently guiding her after Redheart and Greyleaf.

Behind them, Flyfang hissed, “What are you doing?”

To Mistface’s surprise, Littlepaw hissed back, “I had a dream the other night, and it was wrong. I need answers.”

“Well, you’re not going alone,” Flyfang said firmly, and wet pawsteps were behind Mistface and Darkpelt.

“Someone stop them!” Snowshine shrieked. “You! Catch Redheart, at least!”

Laurelclaw was the one to respond sheepishly. “I- sorry, but I have to go with my crew. Beetlefoot?”

Beetlefoot’s words were delayed and strained. “If I must. We can arrest her on the way.”

Mistface looked back to see a spluttering Snowshine, claws scraping at the ground and her tail lashing. She whirled to the patrollers, who were all huddled around Striderfoot. “Someone do something!”

None of the patrollers responded. No one did, in fact. The cats backed away a little to let Redheart and the rest through.

“You-“ Snowshine spluttered before shouting at Redheart, “You wait until the leaders hear about this! Someone will catch you!”

Redheart paused and calmly turned her head just enough to meet Snowshine’s eyes. “Good luck to them.”

With that, she continued walking. Mistface didn’t bother checking Snowshine’s reaction. Instead, he and the seven other cats silently stepped into the growing night, the eyes of the Clast and their visitors on their backs.