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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If there was ever a time for the leader to need to have a full guard, it was now. With Phantomfox gone on mission, Violetglass gone, Dawnbringer still actively against her, and Z... wherever her head was these days, her reinforcements were thin. She knew that the apprentices would soon be promoted, and a guard could easily be selected among the newest warrior ranks, and indeed, there would be, but Aspenstar needed a cat with a little more ground experience than a child who had been particularly good in training. The leader sighed slightly, considering this before glancing to the waterfall. At any moment now, the tom she had selected to take her mentor's place on the guard would appear. She wasn't sure how it was going to go. If nothing else, she expected him to be surprised. After all, the two hadn't been particularly close; their interactions had perhaps been few and far between. But, anyone who looked at the composition of her guard knew that she didn't really care about how the cats on her guard felt about her. Their own interpersonal relationships did not matter. What mattered was that she trusted them to, when push came to shove, do their jobs. If things came down to it, no matter their stand on her, she was confident that each one of the guards would follow her order. They understood their mission, and they understood what was at stake.
This didn't mean that she didn't hope that she admitted a guard onto the team that she'd get along with. Right now, the guard was split evenly on who liked or disliked Aspenstar. It would be nice to have a tie breaking vote that didn't rely on the tom she was having an emotional affair with. But, if it didn't happen, it didn't happen. As long as he could get over himself enough to do as she told him to, opinions really didn't matter at all.
The fawn colored leader sighed before flicking her tail. Any moment now, Stormreign would be there...
Stormreign had not taken the time to get to known Aspenstar; leaders came and went, and he did not expect this one to last very long. Her endurance so far was admirable, but the clan's allegiance to her was far from certain. When the opportunity came, they would turn against her, just like his clan had turned against him. Maybe then Stormreign would have something to discuss with Aspenstar, but tonight her summons was the last he had expected.
"Aspenstar?" he inquired as he stepped around the corner to meet her. He was smiling, but it did not reach his eyes. Stormreign was not nervous to see her -- well, not unreasonable nervous; she likely had some quiet, mundane task she wanted him to take care of --- a troublesome apprentice, perhaps? He had always been skilled at recruiting the younger cats to do his bidding, and they were often pleased to have his attention. After he sat down and curled his tail neatly over his paws, he looked her up and down, drawing slowly upward until his gaze met hers.
"Whatever you heard about me, it's blasphemy and I deny everything," he offered, accompanied by a sharper smile.
"What an interesting way to start a conversation," she meowed with a faint mrrow of amusement. Her tail flicked back and forth; it was humorous to her that most of the cats that she summoned thought that her summoning was inherently a bad thing. Perhaps that was because in the last few moons, she'd felt herself becoming more and more distant from her clanmates. She had tried so hard at the beginning to ensure that everyone loved her; by now, though, she'd outgrown the usefulness of such pleasantries. This wasn't to say she didn't love her clan, didn't wish they were more familial than they had become. No, no, the opposite was true; she longed for connection with her group, she just no longer saw it important enough to befriend everyone. Cats either loved her or hated her, in the end, it didn't matter.
"I assume that means you think you're in trouble, which, surprisingly enough, I didn't bring you here to lecture you." Turbulentsea had thought the same thing during their first meeting together. "Actually, quite the opposite. I brought you here because I think you'd be perfect for a reassignment. But, before we get bogged down by logistics, I wanted to ask: how are you, Stormreign?"
The small amusement he earned was enough to set Stormreign at ease. As she assured him there would be no lecture, Stormreign leaned back and let his tense shoulders loosen. This was not the first time a leader had summoned him to their den, but usually, they had intentions with him that he suspected Aspenstar did not. They did not know each other well, but she did not seem keen on flirting, and she already had a deputy, so this would not be another instance of someone handing him a clan.
A reassignment? Stormreign's brow raised. Maybe she was offering him the job after all. A pity that Larkspur had not lasted long.
"I'm doing very well, Aspenstar. I had the most lovely swim a few nights ago." His grin reached his eyes this time. Hakoda's dip in the water had been terrifying at the moment, but it was easy to smile now that the danger was past. "Has something happened, Aspenstar?"
"I do remember that," she meowed with a flick of her ear and a shake of her head. She had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to witness the events of that evening unfurl, which meant that she too had taken a swim. Her's was a little less lovely, though, than he seemed to remember it being. She smirked; it was unclear if she was smirking at the tom or herself. Both probably deserved a good smirk; the tom for the grin in his eyes, and the leader, for the stupidity of promoting a cat who was compromised to a position. She was growing acutely aware of all of the ways she was a fool, the most important of them being the ways in which she failed to learn from history. History would have suggested that what she was going to do was a bad idea; after all, the last time she promoted a cat whose partner was in another clan, it had pretty much fundamentally changed the shape of her life for the worse. But, perhaps it wasn't a surprise that she was making the decision she was making; Aspenstar had become slightly infamous for the ways in which her decision-making processes were... significantly different than an average cat's.
"Yes and no," she meowed with a shrug. Yes, things had happened. So many things had happened that it was enough to give the leader whiplash. At the same time, no, they hadn't. Larkspur and the guard were fine, Phantomfox was still on mission, Pinesimmer was being less of a pain in the ass lately... "Violetglass stepped down a moon ago, and the guard is looking a little flimsy, especially while Phantomfox is away," she then meowed, curious to see if the tom caught the implication.
The Loyal Guard, then. He looked at her with renewed interest.
Stormreign had heard a few nasty rumors here and there about the quality of their leader's choices, and he was glad to see she was back to making good ones. A team of elite warriors dedicated to protecting their clan and guiding their impressional young apprentices? The position was built for Stormreign; he must have the most impressive resume here, and even if Aspenstar didn't know the details, she must be able to see his aptitude in the glint of his eyes. If she needed someone to stabilize her guard, there was no better choice.
"You're looking to add someone new to your guard," he concluded. "Aspenstar, I can assure you that you've made the right choice."
"I always do," she meowed with a flick of her tail. Well, that wasn't exactly true. In fact, it was probably the antithesis of the truth; at best, she sometimes made the right choice. Most of her life had been a series of... mediocre at best choices, but so far, she'd always come out on top, right? With only minimal damage? Even the world minimal was frought, though. Was her partially blinded eye really minimal damage? She supposed it didn't matter.
Instead, what mattered was the tom had accepted her proposition. She flicked her tail. Of course, bringing a tom in Stormreign's position was ... complicated. "We will need to discuss your fractured loyalties before I can begin the work to officially promote you. I think you are qualified to take my guard, but I need to ensure that you are fully dedicated to the cause, no matter what. The cause, your duty, will be the only thing that matters. You will not always agree with my orders, but by becoming a loyal guard, you are accepting that you will follow them no matter the cost, no matter how you feel about it. Are you in a position where you can accept this, or are you too compromised?" She didn't really care about the whole dating outside the clan, but the Loyal Guard's well... loyalty was important, and she wanted to ensure that he knew exactly what he was signing up for.
Stormreign answered without hesitation. "My loyalty won't be a problem."
There was no doubt in his voice, no trace of conflict. If it was a lie, it was a smooth one. He might play around outside of the clan, but he was smart enough to keep his affairs separate from the rest of his life. His ambitions were more important, and the gift of status Aspenstar was offering him; the lover from a few nights before took a distant place in his mind, unlikely to ever pose a risk to his loyalty. He was confident he could juggle both tasks without any compromising. Certainly, he'd do a better job of it than Aspenstar.
Following her word without question - that was a risker commitment to make, but it was a problem for another day. When the tides turned against her he would determine if she deserved his continued loyalty, but as long as she favored him, he would keep her best interests close behind his.
"Just what I hoped to hear. You will be rewarded for that," she meowed with a nod. The way he said the words made her believe him, although she had before been deceived by promises that loyalty wouldn't be tested and things wouldn't be complicated. Perhaps she was bound to make the same mistakes over and over again, putting faith in cats she shouldn't and hoping for once her intuition was right. This time was different, though, she told herself. Stormreign would be one of her first decisions completely unbound by favor. Most cats that she equipped on her team were members of the perverse game of house that she played: her deputy, her girfriend; her guard littered with cats that fawned over her; her god foresaken medicine cat her brother; the leader of her guard the tom she desired to call her own. She felt no similar conflicts of interest with the tom. She had not been drawn to him by a spark of desire. No, she had made a rational decision, hadn't she?
"As it turns out, I have quite a kicker for you," she meowed after a moment of consideration. A chuckle escaped her fawn lips; ah, yes, this was a kicker. She offered a half smile, but her eyes were sharp and cold. Although her tone was amused, her eyes suggested something else: if you repeat this conversation to anyone, she would dispose of him. "You see, I've come up with a great plan to bring glory to NightClan and alleviate any and all of our needs. It is a risky plan, and I'm sure that there will be ... complications." The way she said the word was jarring- almost as if she craved whatever complications that she spoke of.
"But, once the complications are dealt with properly, NightClan will prosper in a way it never has before." She looked a little dreamy at the idea. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time that NightClan had been caught up in a grand conspiracy of takeover, although Aspenstar couldn't remember if they had been on the conquered or conqueror side of things - not that it particularly mattered anymore. This was different than the time of the Pride. Instead of acting as part of a team, NightClan would act alone. The world would fear them, and it would pave the way for the clan to get everything they could ever ask for and more. You see, Aspenstar's plan gave the clan power, unmeasured power. It was a first step to the rest of their lives, gods among the silly clans. Her lips twitched.
"However, I've been struggling to find a cat I believe to be suitable to lead the efforts. Mantisopera is too soft and gentle still to be able to handle the stress of what I will ask on her own. Dawnbringer has questionable loyalty. Wolfriot is attached to Moonpaw, and I need him to guide the tom when he enters the guard when he gets his warrior name. Larkspur would be crushed if I even asked her." She prattled off the inefficiencies of her staff with little more than faint displeasure.
"Which brings me to Phantomfox. Although he will be accompanying on the mission, he is volatile. The situation we are entering will need to be handled with tact. The cat at the lead of the charge will be a name NightClan never forgets, but it comes with a certain... responsibility. A gentle hand will manage that responsibility far better than Phantomfox will be able to."
She met his gaze, her head tilting to the side slightly as she studied his reactions to her words. "Which leads me to you. I keep my eye on all of NightClan warriors, and you've stood out as someone who is capable for the task. I've heard rumors that you have leadership experience - although there will be no games played with this situation," she purred as a quick aside, "and I think that you and I would work well together."
