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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Post by ashestoashes on Jun 15, 2021 1:05:50 GMT -5
Echo was shocked to hear that they were doing a buddy buddy system but even more shocked that she had been paired up with none other than Grumpypaw, her nephew. To be honest they didn't know one another real well since she still wasn't too close to Firetooth, his father. Although the siblings relationship was getting somewhat better....a bit anyway. So this was going to be something that's for sure. Echo stretched from her spot as she got up and went to find the young apprentice. Maybe she could give him some tips and trick to help him. Maybe just maybe they could have a good relationship. Cleaver
Edited Jun 15, 2021 1:07:20 GMT -5 By ashestoashes
Grumpypaw didn't want to deal with making new friends and he certainly did not want to be paired up with his aunt. Most of the cats he spent time with now were adults - his mentor, his mother, the medicine cat - and he was tired of them crowding him. Firetooth was always worrying about how bad his eyes were getting, always trying to help, and he hated the attention, he hated that his family now babied him just like they did his siblings. So the last thing he wanted was to spend more time with someone like Echo.
The small gray tabby stalked out of the apprentice's den and turned his head, straining to interpret the shapes before him as he headed toward Echo and stopped a foot in front of her, taking a deep breath to confirm he had found the right cat. "I'm going out," he told her bluntly, "bye."
And he turned and made his way toward the exit, his steps becoming more slow and uncertain as he approached the edge of the camp.
Post by ashestoashes on Jun 22, 2021 22:07:41 GMT -5
Echo sighed but didn't stop him...if anything she followed him. It made sense he was stubborn just like a certain someone she knew but that wasn't going to stop her from doing this. Instead she would have to take a different approach to this. She would just merely be there for Grumpypaw but not push him. Maybe that would work? The she cat stood near by and watched her nephew make his way slowly around the edge of the camp.
His ear twitched back as he heard her follow him, but he said nothing, focusing on his task. His dark and blurry gaze swept back and forth, picking up on the lines that made up their world until he could slip out of the exit. He started to stumble the further he got from it, but he just clenched his jaw and forged on. Grumpypaw didn't want to be helpless. He wanted to do everything on his own, he had to prove he could, that even if his eyes were failing him, even if they stung like hell all the time, he wasn't going to give up.
But she was still behind him, wasn't she? He stopped and glared back over his shoulder with squinted eyes. "Echo?"
Post by ashestoashes on Jun 30, 2021 0:32:51 GMT -5
"Yes?" Replied the warrior back to her nephew. Echo watched him struggle and although she wanted to help him dealry she knew from experience with some other cats trying to help him would make things worse. He was stubborn, oh so stubborn and didn't wish to push him further away from her. She couldn't exactly just leave him either as she was supposed to get to know him and truthfully she was concerned he might hurt himself bumbling around like this. So she just stood a ways back giving him his space while refusing to walk away and leave him. He wasn't the only stubborn one here.
"Leave me alone," he growled, sounding frustrated. "Stop following me. I can't focus with you there." Navigating the territory and hunting took a lot out of him, and he couldn't afford to waste energy looking after his aunt. Having another cat at his side made his coat prickle, he couldn't do anything with her watching, he just felt even more helpless and useless under a prying, judgemental gaze.
Post by ashestoashes on Jul 28, 2021 20:58:28 GMT -5
The she cat sighed and shook her head. "I can't kid. I have to be here...look I am sorry I am bothering you. I don't like being a burr in your fur but we have to do this "buddy system." If you want the best I can do is just not talk to you but I simply can't leave....I can ignore you if you feel under pressure with me near by." Echo gave a small shrug but that was all. She knew her nephew's reputation but now understood just how fickle this situation would be.
His ears flattened, and for a second, his expression was torn. There was hurt there, he looked like he'd been slapped when he realized she knew how much pressure he felt, but there was anger too that she dared to think he couldn't work while she was watching. She was right and that just pushed him further toward anger, so he bared his teeth and took a menacing step toward her.
"No, we don't have to do this buddy system," Grumpypaw hissed. "They're not going to punish you if you walk away now and go hunt. Nobody will care or chase you from the clan. You can leave me alone, you just choose not to. But I don't need you to protect me."
Post by ashestoashes on Aug 23, 2021 22:40:08 GMT -5
"Who said you needed protecting? I never did." She blinked looking at her nephew with a curious expression on her face. Echo understood just how complex his mindset and emotions were and it didn't help he was getting closer to that age where stuff like this could be made even worse. Not that she was dumb enough to ever bring that up to him. "I'm still staying so suck it up buttercup but I am not going anywhere. I'm going to do what was asked of me. However as I also said before I won't watch you and you are more than capable taking care of yourself. I know that's what you are trying to prove to everyone." Now that she knew from experience. Always trying to show everyone she can do whatever, pushing herself as hard as she could to show everyone she was better than her two brothers...that she was the perfect warrior. That she didn't need help.
Echo was quiet for a moment before she spoke very quietly. "I was somewhat like you when I was your age. Proving to everyone I can do things. That I was able to be whatever everyone else could but better...be better than anyone. Better than my own brothers who were promoted early, leaving me all alone in the nursery. Not by their choice but...I was angry. I held a grudge and I pushed all those emotions towards proving to everyone what I could do. Look Grumpypaw there is a lot I did and regretted when I was younger and if I could give you even a shred of advice it would be this: don't make the same mistakes I did. My choices left me alone and bitter...it's not a life worth living. It leaves you torn open like an infected wound only getting worse and worse the longer its left untreated. I'm older now wasting so much of my youth on those regrets. By all means you don't have to even listen to what I have to say but you are smart...and I know you can handle yourself. That I don't underestimate about you. Just don't become what I had been. That is my only thing I wish for you." The she cat went quiet. She didn't speak about these things freely. No Grumpypaw was the first to hear her true confession like this, if only for the sake of saving himself from what she had been. She could see the two paths in front of him hoping he would choose the right one for himself.
Grumpypaw wanted to scream in frustration. She was still trying to manipulate him, still trying to get in his head, just like all the others. Did they think he couldn't see through their tricks? Did they think he was dumb as well as blind? She claimed he could take care of himself, but she was still here, hovering over him. Making excuses.
"I've got nothing to prove to you," he spat defiantly, craning his neck to glare in her direction. He listened to her story with mounting anger, his claws digging into the soil beneath him. "I'm not you." I know you can handle yourself. That I don't underestimate about you. Who did she think she was?!
"I'M. NOT. YOU," Grumpypaw snarled, the words tearing themselves violently from his throat. "What a sad, sad story. Your family was special and you weren't, you were cursed with being normal. My siblings were all born broken. They were all sick for all of our kittenhood and everyone looked at me and waited for me to be the same. Everyone was just waiting for me to break, and then I did, and I WISH I could have been normal like you were, but I'm not. My stupid broken siblings are all getting better, they're overcoming their flaws or whatever, and I'm falling apart. I'm never going to be a warrior, I'm going to become a stupid useless elder and I'm going to die young from falling down a stupid hill and everyone's going to forget about me and move on but I'm so, so sorry that you weren't born special."
The silence roared in his ears; he was shaking and the world was shaking around him. He was starting to cry, but the tears in his eyes burned like hell, so he sniffed them away. This was-- this was stupid. Grumpypaw spun around and sprinted away from her, stumbling over his own paws in his desperation to escape.
Post by ashestoashes on Sept 6, 2021 0:05:47 GMT -5
That...was not at all what Echo expected. She had wanted him to know that he wasn't alone...would never be lone as his fears now showed. He was sprinting away from her with so much rage and sadness in his eyes...in his heart. Part of her wanted to leave him be, let him deal with his emotions and calm down but she couldn't. The she cat couldn't leave him alone, not because of any illness or weaknesses he had but purely out of the fact that he was allowing his emotions get the best of him and running headlong into who knew where he was going. She took a deep sigh and started going after him but trying to keep space between them.
Truthfully he was partially right: she had been so mad she had been normal...or well had been seen as weaker than her siblings. Echo didn't want his pity when she told him her story but to understand that he didn't have to be alone. Didn't need to push others away like she had. Grumpypaw was doing just that but he was still young enough to change...to not follow in her stupid angry steps. She wanted to help and she would in anyway she could. She just...didn't know how she could help him. Have him realize he would never be abandoned or forgotten. Never be left alone and was only surrounded by love.
So she followed him the best she could, but tried to not be noticed. Try to give him the space he needed but be there if Starclan above something tried to come running out at him.
The world was a blur around him as he stumbled on through the forest, and the entire memory was falling to pieces around him. He couldn't remember when he made the decision to come to the city, or when he arrived there, but half an hour later when his trembling subsided, he found himself alone and crammed underneath the seat of the lowest car in the ferris wheel. He stretched out his toes, the cold from the metal of the car seeping into his fur, but he was too exhausted to move, and at last, he dipped into an uneasy sleep.
Grumpypaw woke several hours later. There was still a heaviness to his head, exhaustion that was not so easy to escape, but there was more clarity in his mind too. Like the sun burning away a morning fog, his thoughts could move freely again, the pressure gone away for now. He rose, wincing as he hit his head on the bottom of the seat, and stretched on the floor of the car before he hopped off the wheel. His grey coat was a scraggly, crumbled mess, his eyes puffy with tear tracks beneath. Grumpypaw did not make it far, walking only a few paces from the machine before he sighed and sat heavily on his haunches, not bothering to use his eyes as he relied on his ears to navigate.
"I suppose you're still out there, Echo?" he asked quietly. It had been so long, surely she had left by now, but a part of him had to wonder.
Post by ashestoashes on Oct 2, 2021 21:46:07 GMT -5
Echo had been patient and watchful but gave a respectful space towards her young nephew. He needed this and she needed to be mindful of what he wanted within reason. When she heard his reply faintly she followed his voice to where she was but she didn't get too close to him. She sat only within eye distance of him. "I am or well I have been around. I....I didn't want you to be totally alone but I also know you needed space. May still need it. I can leave you alone some more if you needed. I just...I want you to be happy. I know your situation sucks and I only want to do what's right. Which...its hard to know what's right. I don't know if what I am doing is the right thing or not. I'm...I'm sorry if I made you mad or felt like I disrespected you." The she cat felt a sadness in her heart like she had once again caused more damage to a family member. She didn't want to do that to anyone anymore but here she was.
Edited Oct 3, 2021 18:36:29 GMT -5 By ashestoashes
"Thanks." Grumpypaw was quiet as he absorbed her words. He was used to empty claims that other cats wanted him to be happy. They never wanted him to be happy with his own life, though. They knew what he needed and he should just sit and listen to them and take his treatment and be grateful. He was full of bitterness and hatred because of how his family made him feel. It wasn't fair. He hated feeling like this, but it was impossible to escape. Everyone wanted to help him or pity him and he was sick of it.
"I don't want you to do anything. The right thing is to just leave me alone. I know my eyes aren't going to get better." He had never said the words out loud, but he had accepted it moons ago; before he had any formal diagnosis, he felt the agony of his scratched lids and he knew it was never going to stop. He still pretended it was fine. Firetooth and his sister knew that his eyesight was bad, but he refused to let them know just how far gone.
"Everyone keeps telling me I can still be a good warrior, that some blind cats can still fight, that I'll be able to handle myself." His ears flicked in her direction. "But I know they're wrong. I'm sure some cats figure it out," he sneered, "but they're different. They live in one territory their whole lives and to be honest they probably suck at everything. I can barely see the trees in front of my whiskers. How will I ever catch a mouse?"
Post by ashestoashes on Oct 10, 2021 15:53:34 GMT -5
"You aren't wrong. We are constantly on the move while the other cats remain in one spot at all times, so that alone is a strike against you. And you are right in the fact it makes things like hunting more of a challenge for you....," the she cat paused for a moment before going on. "However you are smart. You are clever, creative, and when you really want something you push to achieve that. Like getting away from me. Let's be honest: you are also right in that your eyes won't get better. But you can overcome this...this isn't some sweet talk to make you feel better. You put your mind to whatever it is you do or don't want and you can accomplish it. Like right now. You want me to let you do you...I can do that. From here on out you do what you need to and I will do my thing respectively. Of course I am around if you need me but I won't chase after you. I'll give you space. As for hunting and such....I don't have an easy answer. I know you can do it but I don't have a way to teach you how to overcome that. That...that'll be something for you to have to figure out unfortunately. If I had the answer I would share it with you."
His ears turned back as she spoke. Her compliments felt flat; she might believe them, she might be right, but he felt helpless in the face of his future. Being smart wasn't going to fix his vision, being creative wasn't going to take away his pain, and he didn't know if he had the strength to take everyone on. There were no easy answers but he desperately wanted one.
"Thanks," Grumpypaw said finally. He had dumped a lot on her, but he needed to get it out; even if she didn't have a solution, he did feel a little relieved there was someone out there he could talk to if he ever felt the need. His other siblings confided in Firetooth, but he had never been close to the healer.
"I'll let you know if I find the answer, I guess."
Post by ashestoashes on Oct 23, 2021 17:40:21 GMT -5
(Poor sweet bean, I love Grumpypaw <3)
"Thank you." There wasn't much more she could say but felt her heart be a little lighter after all of this. Grumpypaw always seemed to be facing the world alone it felt and she didn't want him to feel that way. She was at least at peace with the thought that he knew he didn't have to be alone in all of this. He had someone he could talk to without repeating what he said to his parents. Firetooth didn't need to know any of this from Echo. If Grumpypaw wanted to share that information with his father well that was his choice.
Grumpypaw shrugged, looking down at his paws. It was then that he noticed he was still wearing the bracelet he'd been given. Honeysplash's strange bonding ritual had worked after all, and everyone would know it. He paused then, his coat prickling as he came to the same realization as Echo: she was his aunt, Firetooth was her brother, and he had just spilled his heart to her.
"Uh... Echo?" he tilted his head up at her; the actions irritated his eyes further and he let them close, not bothering to fight for his own vision or to appear okay. "If you tell my parents about this, no amount of blindness will stop me from clawing out your eyes and your tongue."
