“I will never ever be a ThunderClan cat. BloodClan is my home, and that won’t ever change.”
— Rusty
Blood! Rusty AU
is a Warrior Cats AU series by Pondwhisker where Rusty joins BloodClan, not ThunderClan. Currently it consists of the incomplete (now discontinued) Into the Jungle
Rusty is a young cat who lives with his owners near a forest. He frequently has dreams about hunting in the woods, so one night he ventures past his backyard and into the forest. Rusty meets a nice feral kitten around his age named "Greypaw", as well as Greypaw's not-so-nice Clanmate Tigerclaw. When Tigerclaw beats Rusty up, he returns back home with a new view on life.
Afraid that his owners will stop him from having kittens and keep him indoors after seeing his injuries, Rusty runs away from home. There, Rusty meets a new group of cats, a Clan that lives on the city streets called "BloodClan". Enticed by them, Rusty joins BloodClan.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Nationality: The wildlife described implies a North American setting, not a British setting like the first arc was set in.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Most of the cat terminology has been removed and replaced with human terminology. For example, the seasons go by their standard names, twolegs are just "Humans", and cars are no longer "monsters". Forest cats still use the original terminology due to living secluded for generations.
- Rusty doesn't get a name change. He's always "Rusty".
- The cat that replaced Rusty is Honey, not Hattie.
- Adaptation Dye-Job:
- Princess is changed from a brown tabby to a ginger and white.
- Hattie is a short-haired brown tabby in canon, but Honey is a long-haired cream solid.
- Aerith and Bob: Consisting pre-dominantly of abandoned and runaway kittypets, BloodClan has a lot of this. You have Ash, William, Ruth, Lilian, Primrose, and Maverick against Ice, Oreo, Otter, Cocoa, Domino, and Minty. Some cats have naturalistic names, some have "cat names", some have "human names", and some just have oddball names. Rusty lampshades this when he calls their names "ridiculous".
- Alternate Universe Fic: Rusty joins BloodClan instead of ThunderClan.
- Animal Gender-Bender:
- Discussed when Rusty finds it odd that a Redtail is a male tortie.
- Blackberry is a male tortoiseshell.
- Animals Fear Neutering: A major factor in Rusty running away is that he's afraid to visit the "Cutter" because he's heard that cats change after visiting them.
- Broken Pedestal: Rusty admired the forest cats until he was ostracized and beaten up by them. After joining BloodClan, he begins viewing them as elitist.
- Covered with Scars: Many BloodClan cats are covered in scars due to Dark And Troubled Pasts and city life being difficult.
- Rusty gets beaten up by Tigerclaw. His wounds get infected and turn into scars.
- Ice is covered with scars alongside her back and shoulders.
- Ruth is covered in scars.
- Dead Fic: In 2019, the fic was cancelled, with plans of it being rewritten.
- Disappeared Dad: Rusty and Scourge's father Jake abandoned his two mates and his kits for Talltail.
- Edible Theme Naming:
- To Rusty's confusion, "Strawberry" is a cat. More specifically, she's a tortoiseshell.
- There's also a tortie tom named Blackberry. He's not related to Strawberry.
- Rusty's mother is named Nutmeg.
- Family Theme Naming: Leopard has a kit named Lynx.
- For Want Of A Nail: Bluestar isn't there to meet Rusty, so Tigerclaw chases him off.
- From Stray to Pet: Rusty's mother Nutmeg was a stray for a period of her life, but she was adopted by humans before Rusty's birth.
- Give Him a Normal Life: Strawberry and Orchid's mother was a rogue who gave them up to BloodClan for a better life.
- Long-Lost Relative: Rusty is Scourge's half-brother. Rusty's mother was a stray who was taken in after having kits with their shared father Jake.
- Mature Animal Story: The AU is a dark story about gangs, bloodshed, and a harsh life on the streets. The protagonists just so happen to be cats.
- A Pet into the Wild: Rusty is a curious pet kitten who goes into the forest, gets kicked out by the feral forest cats, and is taken in by a group of city strays.
- Pets Versus Strays:
- Due to the focus on BloodClan, this element is more pronounced. It's also more justified as the kittypets are plump and well-fed but still like taking food from the starving city cats. Kittypets and strays don't get along in the city.
- Despite growing up a kittypet, Rusty soon grows disgusted by them. He can't believe he lived with twolegs once.
- Replacement Goldfish: Rusty has some reservations about running away from home. However when he learns, after only a few days missing, his owners are already replacing him, that's his last straw.
- Vocal Dissonance: Honey has a raspy voice because her throat was slit when she was younger.
