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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Nothing spurred Nour on as much as the satisfaction of getting a reaction from someone. In the future, she'd joke about having been born completely and utterly out of spite, as if whatever gods out there had accidentally tipped the whole bowl of it into the substance of herself, but for now, she was content enough to continue teasing her brother. The fact that he had shouted after her made her grin like a giddy child having gotten their sweets.
"Hey guys look, I see the grass and it's almost too tall already!" she giggled, "hey Cordelia, don't you think they're starting to look a little brown? You better hurry Laertes! I think they're trying to win this race!"
She was already bouncing on her paws as she spoke, racing across the dusty carpet, easy enough to run around in with the thick texture she could grip onto with her claws, completely unprepared for the moment the carpet ran out and it was all smooth marble, as she slipped like stones in a curling competition across the floor with a squeak of surprise.
An unearthly chill fell upon the mansion as Matilde made her way into the entrance hall. All voices hushed and movement paused, as if time itself did not dare continue its incessant journey in the presence of such a creature. She sauntered so gracefully and expectantly that she appeared to float right past her parents and down the flight of stairs, seemingly unaware that she was a mere kitten, and she should be finding her first foray into the world difficult. She landed soft as a moth next to Nour, her collapsed sister rendered invisible next to Matilde’s radiance. She turned to smile a queenly smile at her audience, who stood in stunned silence, moments away from breaking into raucous praise of her grace… but then, the boy started talking again. Her own mouth twisted into a bitter scowl and opened, but no words issued forth, as she pinned her brother Laertes to the spot with a single condemning look from her ice blue eyes, wordlessly promising to exact revenge for swiping her limelight with his feeble carps… she was filled with dark delight as she saw him quiver in his bones, his own doom flashing before his eyes…
None of this occurred, of course.
By the time Tilly was finished bumping her way down the stairs, her mother was still fretting, her siblings still arguing, and the only mind anyone paid her was to flash her a doting smile every so often, their eyes round and choked with adoration as always, but too distracted to notice that she’d made it down the stairs! Hello? Where was her praise? Her instant gratification? How infuriating.
Her own eyes were a deep sky blue, cherubically proportioned when measured against the rest of her face. A face that had no linear angles – everything was round and squishy and soft. Even her ears refused to be acute: they rounded at the tips, looking more like a teddy bear’s than a cat’s. She was positively adorable, even by kitten standards.
Still, for those that paid close enough attention, there was something a little… off about Tilly. Just one month old, she was very prone to violence, though her strikes – thrown with earnest sadistic intentions – felt more like love taps on her larger siblings’ pelts. She was often in a petulant mood (not that anyone noticed anything past her cuteness) … but rarely with her father. That was one of her more obvious characteristics: Tilly was a Daddy’s girl.
Despite the dark thoughts that brewed in her mind, the fluffy ashen kitten produced a smile as sweet as honey, and squeaked up at her mother, “Mommy, can you tell Laertes to stop complaining so much? He’s hurting my ears.” And then, already keen to the effect she had on adults, she made her eyes round and stretched her paws up at Bermondsey. “Daddy! I’m tired. Carry me!”
"You put the nour in annour — annour-ing. Annoying!" He spat, tumbled after her, but tripped on his way down the last few steps and landing on his belly, legs failing to catch him. He didn't move for a moment, eyes shut tight as he expected something akin to death, but it didn't come — surprisingly, it hardly hurt at all — so he got up, shook out his tail and his front paw, sending a look after Nour as she continued down the hall, and a similar one to Tilly as she passed as well.
He looked back up at his parents, eyes wandering up the stairs that now seemed so tall. Oh God, they were going to have to climb back up those. Then turned back, set his pace to a march to catch up, soon turning it into a trot until he was just behind them. "No Mother, tell them to stop being mean! Why are you guys so mean?" Especially Tilly, but he didn't say anything about her, yet. Nour was irritating, made fun of him because she thought it was funny but not out of any real spitefulness, but Tilly just seemed callous, abrasive, and Cordelia was confident, the type who, in Laertes' personal opinion, rubbed it in everyone's faces. Laertes wasn't fun, or as adorable, or outspoken.
Daddy! I’m tired. Carry me! He rolled his eyes, gave a little huff of annoyance, "you just walked down some stairs. Besides, I don't think Father would carry you if you asked him like that. Right, Father?" He called back, a smug smile on his face like he was right, because he always thought he was right. Arrogance must have been a family thing, then. He raised his tail, "I can walk all by myself, look," he sped up, shouldering past his sister and racing after Nour, who had run ahead. Unlike her, he was very smart, had witnessed her slipping as the carpet ran out and slowed to a stop as he watched her, laughing.
Despite his amusement, he still carefully made his way over the marble, stopping just above her with a curious tilt of his head, "Did you die? Are you bleeding out?" Laertes code for 'are you alright?' even though he wouldn't say it out loud. When he was sure she was, he moved past her, now in the lead, looking up at the ceilings and the windows as he walked along, carefully now.
Bermondsey wasn't much of a fatherly figure, that, everyone had realized that by now, but there was undeniably a soft spot within him for these kits. He chuckled at the bickering two; they reminded him too much of his own siblings. They certainly got their fire from their mother, that was for sure. As visible as Eshek's worry for them, his own concerned was masked underneath layers of engineered calm, simply held together by the fact that his mother and father never babied them and they survived all the same, right?
He had immediately opened his mouth the moment Laertes had almost fallen, tripping down the last couple of steps, not in the way Nour did. He was certain she was born with a skull as thick as iron from the absolute madness she constantly seemed to cause, but Laertes...he was softer, not like his two older siblings who seemed to easily take the world in their paws, molding it in whatever shape suited them best. No, he was different, and Bermondsey didn't know whether to toughen the young tom more or to protect him from the world who sought to destroy them.
"Come on you two," he sighed, giving Tilly a stern look, though he could never really be stern with his youngest, "you know your brother's a little...sensitive." He was often the one left with the scolding but frankly, he babied them in a different way than their mother did. His eyes seemed to soften for the tiny kitten. She was the runt of the litter, yes, but also just...adorable. As much as Tilly was just as sheltered and protected as Laertes was, Bermondsey couldn't help but find it amusing, cute, that she was a spoiled princess waiting for the world to work for her properly. One day, perhaps, he'd explain to her that the world didn't revolve around her, but that she had to make it work for her, that she couldn't stay lazy and act as if her mother and father would be there forever.
Today was not the day. With a sigh, he gave her a pointed look. "Are you even going to try?" he frowned, "you know, one day you're going to have to walk these steps on your own, and if I baby you all the time, you'll be behind your siblings one day," he chided, though it was clear that he had given in as he grabbed Tilly by the scruff, setting her down a couple steps below, probably to Laertes' dismay.
Nour, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind Laertes' teasing. A cackle left her mouth, as she stumbled up to her paws, shaking her head as she stood once more, testing the ground she stood on. Huh, she had never felt something like this texture before...it was smooth and cold. She gave her brother a grin, one of electric excitement as she ran once more, using the momentum to slide across the room.
"Whee!!" she screeched with a laugh as she slid across the floor, "look at me! I'm ice skating!!"
Cordelia already seemed to hold herself aloof from her sibling's bickering- maybe it was her personality, and maybe it was simply the eldest child falling into the 'responsible' role. They did seem to amuse her, though- Laertes' tantrum, Nour's teasing, and Tilly's high pitched pleas to be picked up all made her smile grow wider. The long-legged kitten skittered ahead, trying her own version of the ice skating Nour had discovered, and grinned. "Have you ever done this, Mama?" Cordelia asked, marveling at the cold surface and frictionless glide. "Papa?"
All her kits were shouting over each other for her and Ber to praise or scold them, it was overwhelming — and Eshek couldn’t have been happier. This was everything she had ever wanted. An annoying, spoiled, beautiful family that was all hers. A family no one could take from her.
You put the nour in annour — annour-ing. She snorted inadvertently at her son’s insult, immediately covering her nose with her paw; it was clumsy, but it had potential. Oh, her kit could grow up to be a real ass — she was so proud. Tears welled in her eyes and her chin puckered; heart slipping down to her heart, she turned her head to look at Ber just as he picked up Tilly. She padded at his side down the stairs, pulling her daughter to her with one paw to smooth the fur on her forehead when Ber set her down before she let her go again. “You’re looking very pretty today,” she told Tilly with a smile, then pushed her gently away to go off on her adventure.
Then Nour’s excited shriek made her snap her head up. At first, Eshek winced and hunched into herself, expecting her kit to slam into a wall and break her ribs. But when she ended up alright, she let out a long, shaky break and forced herself to relax — her kits were having fun; they would be alright; she’d have to learn with the constant fear of them getting hurt, just as Ber had to do with her. Eventually, she wandered back to his side, pressing against it lightly as she watched their kits. She grinned at Cordelia’s question, and it wasn’t as shaky as before. “Y’know, slug,” her pet names for them ranged from the sickly sweet ‘cupcake’ to the teasingly insulting ‘brat’ and ‘muppet’ and ‘dumbass’, “I think it’s just about the one thing your dad and I haven’t done. Look at you, doing somethin’ clever for once.” She grinned down at them, sharp and teasing.
“C’mon, idiot,” she purred to Ber with a smaller, more hooked grin, suddenly shoving him so that he went sliding across the glossy floor as well. Her voice was dry and lazily mocking as she continued. “Oh my gosh, guys, look — your dad’s actually not fallin’ on his ass for once. Amazing.” If there was a rule about not swearing in front of your kids, Eshek clearly hadn’t heard it. She sauntered along behind Bermondsey with hooded, darkly contented eyes, tail-tip flicking from side to side and shoulders rolling under her scarred fur.
Nour giggled as the rest of her siblings found their footing on the slippery floor, and she slid into Cordelia with a sly grin. She and her sister were as tight as thieves, if thieves also spent half their time bickering and making passive aggressive comments about each other as much as they played together. “Come on Cordie,” she grinned batting at the other kit’s ear playfully, “bet you can’t slide faster than I can!” Nour was competitive; it was in her nature, and nothing felt as adrenaline racing as teasing her siblings and waiting for them to react.
Bermondsey of course, didn’t slip at all. He tossed Eshek a look, as if to ask what she expected from a cat like himself, before turning to look at this kids with a ‘gods your mother is insane’ look. Of course he didn’t care about swearing in front of the kits; his own sense of what was appropriate for kits was a bit skewed considering how he saw his mother murdered in front of him as a kit, so to him, all of this was tame and appropriate and enriching.
His own tail hooked behind Eshek’s leg and yanked, dragging her onto the slippery surface all the same as he glided like a prince on ice would, clearly unfazed by it all. “Better practice what you preach,” he snorted at Eshek.
He made a face of indignation as Bermondsey picked up Tilly, muttering something about how unfair and stupid it was, because he knew if it were Laertes who had asked, he would have been met with a no. His claws clacked on the marble as he walked, attempting to grip the floor like it would save him from falling. He didn't try the 'ice-skating' like everyone else, though he considered it — but the thought of sliding into a wall or down a secret set of stairs kept him creeping along it steadily.
"Where are the housekeepers? They should really put a rug here or something," he sniffed, now trailing behind his family. He wasn't even sure if they had proper housekeepers.
He skittered after them all, attempting to catch up despite his terribly slow pace, "be careful," he chided, "I don't think a sliding race is a very good idea." Most things didn't sound like a good idea to him, and he expected nothing less than for his sisters to ignore him, but that didn't stop him. Laertes liked to show off his intelligence, liked to be the foil to all their recklessness, the voice of reason even if it was an incredibly taxing job.
Matilde’s face dripped with satisfaction at her mother’s compliment, content with the attention she’d been lavished, for now. She ran ahead to catch up with her siblings, not permitting them to have too much fun without her. She didn’t dwell on Laertes’ warning – she never did – as she flashed past him towards Cordelia and Nour, with cheeky designs to use her body to bowl them over. But as she slid across the floor, she discovered her little soft paws had less traction than she’d anticipated, and even less control, so there was no way to stop her momentum as she blew right past Nour and Cordelia, passing perfectly between them as her slide transitioned into a tumble across the entrance hall – she resembled a little fluffy cannon ball as she careened into one of the grand mansion walls.
A plume of dust rained down from the ornate wall, bespeckling Tilly’s white fur as she lay prone on the marble floor. But quicker than Eshek could descend into a breakdown, she popped right back to her paws, a smile on her face. “That was fun!” she enthused, working her legs into a slide back in the direction of her family. She’d considered remaining prostrate on the floor just to milk more attention from her parents, but she couldn’t resist getting up and doing it all again; hopefully this time she could snag one of her siblings into her kamikaze roll.
"I bet I can!" Cordelia chirped back good-naturedly, starting off a sprint to see how much momentum she could build up across the floor. "Don't be jealous that you can't go as fast, Laertes." The lanky kitten giggled as she careened past her brother, lifting a paw and giving him a whack across the ears. Her path was interrupted by her tumble over Tilly's back, but she wasn't deterred by it for long, hopping back up on her feet and streaking after Nour once more. "Let's see who can get back to Daddy first!"
Post by achromatic on Dec 13, 2021 17:41:43 GMT -5
Nour laughed. "You might be able to catch up to us if you weren't a scaredy-cat," she teased her brother playfully, sliding past him in the same way Cordelia did, another swipe against his tail this time with that wicked grin of hers, twisted backwards to give him a wave of goodbye as she laughed at Cordelia and Tilly's little tumble, leaping over her youngest sister with a giggle, her paws sliding slowly to a stop before she scrambled once more to build up some sort of momentum.
Still, she didn't want to slide back to daddy at all. She saw the big old doors and she immediately scrambled towards it with those determined movements. "Let's just go outside instead!" she piped up. She was ready to see the great outdoors.
"Oi, the two of you behave," Bermondsey chided the kits, "don't tease your brother too much, and be careful with your sister!" Gods, he was starting to sound like a mother bird, he thought dryly as he followed after them lest they get too far into the wilderness without them.
After regaining her footing and doing a few quick, clumsy, off-balance stumbles and slips from being pulled by him across the marble, Eshek had been padding along languidly at Ber’s side, their pelts brushing, flashing him frequent grins when their kits said something cute or dumb or mean. But the second Nour insisted on going outside, her grin fell again and she raced forward ahead of them to block the doorway, long limbs outstretched. “Waitwaitwait, nonono, outside wasn’t part of the goddamn deal you little tyrants.” But she knew it was a futile effort — they’d just barrel into her and swarm over her like ants over a corpse or give her kit eyes.
So, reluctantly, she peeled herself away and stepped to the side, wincing with worry. “You go near the water, I’ll hold your pipsqueak heads under and drown you myself,” she threatened, raising her voice to an angry shout after them. Turning back to Ber, she muttered just for him, “I’ve done it before.” She circled around him, too unsettled to keep still, and briefly wound and unwound their tails together. “I think I know what drove your family insane,” she growled, looking after their scampering kits with her shoulders hunched and her top lip curled in an ugly sneer. But it was said with nothing but complete love in her heart; she wouldn’t trade any of this for the world — it was all she’d ever wanted.
Just as he reached up to rub the spot where Cordelia hit his head, he tried to move before Nour got his tail, making him stumble unceremoniously forward. He didn’t fall, slammed his paw to the ground to catch himself, though he growled in frustration, “you’re going to ruin my fur if you keep this up! Tell them to stop!” He looked towards his parents like they had betrayed him personally by letting them continue. A haughty smile crept onto his face when they were scolded.
“And I am not slow,” he continued, “I’m just not bug-brained like you two.” This time, he didn’t bother trying to catch up, stopped before the big doors and didn’t think twice about them. Let's just go outside instead! He stared at Nour like she was insane, and really, to Laertes, she was. He would have said something had Eshek not gotten there first, so he moved to stand beside her, looked down at his sisters and nodded along. When she moved, he followed, fully expecting them to turn back, but then she was allowing it. It was certainly a bad idea, but obviously they wouldn’t listen to reason, so he followed them out reluctantly, hesitating at the door for a moment.
“Yes, stay away from the water or Mother will drown you!” He chided. “And I would say to not go far, nobody wants to put in the effort of finding you.” He added, standing in front of the doors, staring forward towards the trees that seemed to never end no matter how much he craned his neck.
