Warrior Cat Clans 2 (WCC2 aka Classic) is a roleplay site inspired by the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Whether you are a fan of the books or new to the Warrior cats world, WCC2 offers a diverse environment with over a decade’s worth of lore for you - and your characters - to explore. Join us today and become a part of our ongoing story!
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11.06.2022 The site has been transformed into an archive. Thank you for all the memories here!
Here on Classic we understand that sometimes life can get difficult and we struggle. We may need to receive advice, vent, know that we are not alone in our difficult times, or even just have someone listen to what's going on in our lives. In light of these times, we have created the support threads below that are open to all of our members at any time.
The pale white tom hesitated outside of the Priestess Promised’s den. He felt silly for coming here now, but he was getting desperate, and he had no where else to turn. This wasn’t worth bothering the leader herself; she was so intimidating and busy, but her successor seemed different, gentler, if he was lucky.
“Soaringlight? Can I talk to you?” Dragonfly called, hoping she was inside. He had to adjust his grip on the two mice he carried in the side of his mouth— both skinned. He couldn’t bear to eat prey with its fur still on, but there was nothing else he could eat, so he had to make do with making the prey look less lifelike.
A mouse scampered out of Soaringlights's den, squeaked in terror, then ran back in. It was answered by some more squeaked which was follow by a groan as the dark-furred Promised got to her feet and padded to the entrance of her den.
"Uh, sure, what do you want?" She was absolutely the casual type, her fur ruffled this way and that, her paint applied onto to her face and shoulder, similar to how most kits wore it. Still, there was no denying that she wasn't a beautiful she-cat, her electric blue eyes a stark and stunning contrast to the black fur that framed them.
“I’m sorry about the mice,” he began, laying the prey on the ground before her. “I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten... maybe I should have brought something else.” He felt guilty. She was the one cat who might understand how he felt about prey, though being able to talk to it must make her feelings much stronger then his, and here he was embarrassing himself.
“I won’t waste your time. I just wanted to ask you about something. Um— have you eaten?” Stalling. Nice, Drsgonfly.
"No I haven't eaten. I don't normally eat in my den on account of, well... Hammerpaw already saw the corpses so damage is done. Come on in," Soaringlight gestured for Dragonfly to follow her and turned around back into her den. It looked a lot different than it had for the past two Promiseds. Bloodycrow had kept the place immaculate and minimalistic; Duskslayer had turned it into a family cave of sorts, very much lived in and simple.
Soaringlight's den had all kinds of different rocks and gemstones lining the walls as well as various feathers and other knick-knacks. She was a collector to her core and it didn't help that Darksonata was constantly bringing her little presents as he came across them. Still, it was sort of a funky type of cozy with a surprising amount of luxury: a fancy twoleg rug lined the sandstone floor and she had not only one but two plush cat beds, sitting side by side in the far corner.
"Sorry for the mess, I'm still trying to get this set up the way I want. I haven't been able to quite fulfill my vision yet. Anyway, sit down, relax, and spill your troubles. I assume that's why you are here, right? You've got something on your mind and for lack of better options you chose me to help."
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he murmured. He followed her into the den and his eyes widened in wonder. Her rocks and feathers were everywhere, but they were pretty, so he didn’t mind. The twoleg items made him a little uneasy— they weren’t the twoleg food he had eaten, but they brought back the thought of that terrible day all the same. As he crossed the den he paused, scanning for a sign of the little mouse. His search came up empty, so he murmured lowly, “I’m very sorry, Hammerpaw,” before he hurried after Soaringlight.
He sat on the ground across from her, avoiding the foreign objects. “It’s very nice,” he assured her before he began. “I’ve just been... having a hard time lately. With the fires, and the volcano, my sister’s death... everything is just a lot. It’s overwhelming. I know every cat is suffering right now, I’m not anything special, but... but I was hoping you had some herbs I could take. Something that might help me get better and forget it all.”
Ooooh so that's how it was. Soarlinglight knew exactly what he wanted, but she was a bit torn on the subject. In the past such herbs were precious medicinal supplies that couldn't be spared for trivial pursuits but, with Valleyrose's element, they had a near infinite supply. Sighing, she made her decision.
"Give me a moment."
Soarlinglight exited the den and began to rummage through the wall of herbs that was between High Priestess and Priestess Promised's dens. After a few minutes, she came back with a tiny bundle and placed it in front of Dragonfly carefully.
"I'm have a couple herbs that will help you relax," She explained as she sorted the leaves apart in front of Dragonfly, "The first I'm going to give you is lavender. Just line your nest with it. It has a soothing smell that will help you rest easier. The other herb is chamomile. I'd suggest taking it in morning and at night. It just helps even out your mood - it won't effect the clarity of your mind."
These were probably not what Dragonfly wanted and she could feel his disappointment.
"Forgetting your troubles is never the answer, but I will help you get better. Feel free to come talk to be anytime, OK? Oh, and, if you're in a really dark place, I do have something that can help you in a pinch. But it's not something for every day use."
Dragonfly eyed the herbs eagerly when they first arrived, ignoring the twisting in the pit of his stomach. A part of him was relieved that she didn’t give him anything too strong, he knew this wasn’t the right way to handle his feelings, but he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t have the strength to go on feeling like this forever.
“Thank you,” he murmured as he took the herbs and pulled them closer with one paw. “I don’t want to waste your time, and I don’t want...” he paused, searching for the right words. “I don’t want to unload all of my problems on you. You don’t know me, and unless you can revive the dead, there’s nothing to be fine anyway.” He stood up and looked back at the entrance to the den. “If... if these don’t help, can I come back for something else?”
"Nah, you are fine, no one wastes my time near as much as the Sun God himself," Soarlinglight purred, wrapping the herbs up in a bundle and nosing them over the Dragonfly, "If you are still having a hard time then, yes, there are always other options, but they are... addictive. Dangerous. I don't think they will help you in the way you really need to be helped. I think you just need time and someone to talk to. I'm not very good about the talking part, of course, but I can, uh, try?"
She reached for one of the skinned mice and drew it between her paws. Despite her affinity with animals, specifically prey animals, she demonstrated no qualms in tearing right into the piece of fresh-kill, "I didn't know about my element until I moved to SunClan. I cornered a mouse on my very first hunting patrol and it begged and pleaded for its life... Told me that she had kits in a hollow nearby and that if I killed her they'd all starve to death... So I let her go."
She took another bite of the prey, blood splattering against her muzzle, "After that, I stopped eating prey. I stuck to herbs. Some of them can make your feel full even though you really aren't, but they didn't really help me. I was wasting away with a disease that had no miracle cure: A wounded soul. So I was faced with two options. I could let it consume me, or I could consume it, and, well I think you could guess which option I picked. It seems obvious but it was the hardest decision I'd ever made in my entire life."
Dragonfly hesitated; then he returned to listen. He knew she was right. He needed to talk to someone, and wasting her time was just an excuse. Dragonfly was a happy cat, a good warrior, and a grateful son, he didn't want his clanmates to see him in a bad light, especially not the Priestess Promised. But no one else wanted to listen.
He nodded a little. "I didn't like prey at first either. I couldn't hear it like you could, but it always felt wrong to eat something that was once alive. I tried eating plants, and bugs, and even a rock, but it never ended well." If he opened his mouth wide enough, you could see the chip in one of his back teeth from the stone he'd tried to swallow. "Skinning prey was the only way I could get around it. After the fire, it was.... more difficult." He could smell it still, the tender taste of his clanmates burning in the fire. It was awful, that was his family, and yet he couldn't stop imagining how tasty they smelled.
He moved on quickly. "And when Dad showed us the twoleg food, I-I thought maybe that was the solution. But that was when... when my sister died. I can't think of going back without thinking of Ladybug." His voice cracked when he said her name. Her loss was so fresh. They weren't close but he had loved her so much.
Soaringlight had known Ladybug died, but she hadn't taken the time to understand her cause of death, nor did she think it was appropriate to ask now. It just made things... harder for her, since she didn't know the full scope of Dragonfly's troubles. Wait, why was she trying so hard anyway!? She wasn't a therapist, her brand was to be abrasive, not friendly! But she couldn't leave things here, she started this and would finish it, especially since she learned the root of his struggles weren't that different from her own.
"Dragonfly..." She started, choosing her words wisely, "... I'm so sorry for your loss. It must have been very difficult to lose a littermate so suddenly like that... But... She wouldn't want you to live the rest of your life in mourning, would she? I know it hurts and I'm sorry if I'm being blunt, but perhaps doing some of the things she loved to do will help bring you some closure. I can go with you if you'd like."
The things she loved? What did Ladybug love? What did anyone?
Dragonfly studied the den behind her, taking it all in more slowly this time. The small stones lined against the wall, the feathers from various birds only half of which he could name, her den looked so cluttered with insignificant objects taking up all the space. All this stuff must be important to her. He half-remembered that she wasn’t born here, these rocks must have come from the tunnels, or her family that lived there.
The realization was a sucker punch. He had nothing, nothing at all, to remember his sister by. He wasn’t much of a collector, Ladybug want either, but now he found himself wishing there was something, anything, he could hold on to. Even her nest was gone. Honeysplash had been unconsolable, the memory was only making him worse, so Dragonfly had pulled out her nest in the middle of the night and scattered it.
He closed his eyes and forced his breathing even. There had to be something he could do in her memory. When it finally occurred to him, he could have laughed, could have cried.
“Ladybug really liked looking after herself, grooming and sharpening her claws,” he told Soaringlight, glancing up at her. “I-I don’t mean that in a judgmental way, she was a good whereior, and feeling pretty just made her... really happy. But she really loved the hot springs. Laying in the water, she said it made her fur nice and soft after, and when we were younger we used to swim around and play there.” The hot springs were where he’d first really started to accept who his father was... but that was a discussion for another day. “Maybe going there would help.”
It was a long way. He felt guilty again for dragging Soaringlight along, but she had offered, and he didn’t want to do this alone.
"Ummm..." This wasn't exactly how Soaringlight wanted to spend her day. For one, she wasn't the biggest fan of the hot springs, after hearing horror stories of flooded tunnels as a kit she had a healthy distaste of water. For another, Dragonfly was mostly a stranger to her, and her parents had told her time and time again never to go anywhere alone with someone you didn't know. One glance at Dragonfly, however, affirmed the fact that she knew if it came down to it, she'd win the fight. She didn't expect one anyway.
So, sighing a bit more dramatically then she intended to, the dark-furred Promised stretched to her paws and let out a yawn, "I guess a trip to the springs won't hurt. Sure, I'll go with you. Let's clean up the fresh-kill and get going."
~*~
Soaringlight could have said no, she was busy, or perhaps assign someone else better to the task. She wasn't exactly known for being good at soothing stormy hearts or conversation in general, but she could make decisions, that was her strong suit. Yet, she felt sort of... obligated to help Dragonfly, in a way? He struggled with many of the very same issues that she herself had faced at a much younger age. Some allegory about shadows in a cave came to mind.
"Water's high today," She commented as the pools came into sight. Actually they were pretty close to their normal fullness, but she'd only ever known them as they were during the drought, which was much more shallow and more hot, "Is there a particular one Ladybug liked the best?"
