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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It was early. The sun had just dipped behind the horizon line and darknes had swallowed up the world, and while most diaurnal creatures were going to sleep, the earliest risers of Nightclan were getting to their paws and pulling themselves out of their nests to meet a new night. Bumblebeepaw was one of them, the apprentice always eager to rise with the moon, to do something, anything, that might work in the long run to fuel the ambitions that the apprentice held. Whether it was being the first to join a class, to go hunting, or their personal favorite of doing more fighting practice, Bumblebeepaw was always more than eager to be out and active.
The only problem was the rain that had decided to pour down, with every once and a while a flash of light followed by up by the dull roar of thunder. The sight couldn't have disapointed the apprentice more. It revealed perhaps the opposite problem with them that rarely came up -- they could barely sit still. Doing nothing was essentially a non-option.
For a while the apprentice debated just putting a brace face on and going out in the storm. Sure they would get soaking wet and probably find nothing and get nothing done in the proccess, but at least they could say they had attempted something of purpose. But it was really raining heavily, and the new spring weather meant that it would be undoubtably freezing, which was enough to give Bumblebeepaw some pause. For a while they were having their own minor debate in their head as they stared out into the pouring rain, almost completely focused on their own enternal struggle. It was really only by chance that the apprentice was snapped out of it by noticing of one of the other apprentices who they had seen in passing before.
They'd heard of Ratpaw, at least on occasion. Most recently it had come through the rumor mill he'd been forced to spend a day with Lilacpaw, although from how it sounded the other apprentice had even less choice in the matter than they had over the situation. That was enough to pique Bumblebeepaw's curiosity, and at the moment there was nothing better to do than strike a conversation and see if the storm would stop.
" 'Evening." They called out the greeting to Ratpaw from where they were sat. "You have any plans to go outside in that?" The tone was half teasing and half curious as Bumblebeepaw gestured towards the freezing rain, then turned their attention back to the other apprentice.
Ratpaw himself was quite put off by the chilling wetness that had fallen on them. Like them he was eager to be out doing anything rather than stuck in camp and it had left him with a sour expression on his face, though that was quite common for him. Admittedly though the tom was not that clever and he was stumped as to what he was supposed to do now. He found himself on the verge of deciding on taking a nap when his thoughts were interrupted by Bumblebeepaw's voice. It was odd to him that he had found himself having conversations with so many other apprentices lately, though he supposed it was to be expected. Usually, however, others were quite dissuaded by his general negative behavior and hateful appearance and steered clear of him.
A mere grunt of greeting is all he produced as he pondered over their question. Ratpaw thought back to his rather unenjoyable trek out to the abandoned den with Lilacpaw lately. "Not really." He decided not to mention it as that would require stepping into the water and that was not on his list of to dos. Suddenly he realized there were quite a few tunnels around camp and wondered if that was a viable option. "Tunnels?" The tom grumbled halfheartedly, not really sure that he fancied being stuck in damp and possibly dangerous tunnels with them, but voiced it nonetheless.
Ratpaw's suggestion of the tunnels gave the apprentice a moment of realization. It had never occured to Bumblebeepaw that they could go into the tunnel system, the idea of it was somewhat foreign to them. They had always considered anything but the tunnels nearest to camp something of a death trap, and that had normally only been confirmed to them with the occasional stories of cats trapped in collapsed tunnels, or cats getting lost in the system only to never find their way back out.
Not that those sorts of tales were enough to really scare off Bumblebeepaw, if anything something about the danger only excited them. But normally they had more important things to do than go on tunnel explorations, and so in day to day life, the thought of them pretty much had slipped from ther mind. However at Ratpaw's mention, their ears visibly perked; nothing could have possibly sounded better at the moment. Something to do, a chance to maybe be somewhat useful on a rainy day, and a small adrenaline rush? You could count them as good as in.
"Yeah, that works." Bumblebeepaw responded, trying to keep their voice cool and casual, though a small gleam of eagnerness in their eyes betrayed them.
A small feeling of doubt crept into his belly as Bumblebeepaw agreed with the tunnels. He wasn't one to fear much but, admittedly, the idea of cramped, dark, unreliable tunnels put anxiety in his bones. Not to mention he didn't really hold any trust in the apprentice before him; he really knew nothing about them besides the couple times they had been tasked together. Ratpaw supposed they held similar viewpoints as he, though they were different in many ways. In the end they were competing with each other. Truly, could either of them trust one another in such a testy situation?
His anxiety began to couple with intrigue and finally, he nodded his head with a smirk. "Right, then," Ratpaw stood and stretched, eyes trained on Bumblebeepaw. "I'll follow behind you."
"Afraid of being the one to dive in head first into the dark, or are you just scared of me being behind at your back?" Bumblebeepaw said with a small laugh, picking up on the other apprentice's incredulousness about them. Could he blame him? No, probably not. But Bumblebeepaw was of the opinion that there wouldn't be much benefit in doing what clearly Ratpaw was concerned about. Why bother killing a clan-mate at random in the tunnels, especially another cat of the same rank? Of course one less head to compete against was a lovely thing, Bumblebeepaw had been rooting for such an outcome not too long ago at the last trial, but in their opinion, one would have to be really stupid trying to kill another clan-mate who did nothing to put themselves on Kier's execution list. Even if they did plan on killing the other in the tunnels, even if they did want to try and take a cheap kill on one of their clan-mates, there was no way they were going to get out of a combat with another cat of similar rank -- of executioner rank no less -- without the scars that would make it glaringly clear the reason why one of them had come back out of the tunnels and the other hadn't. And besides, Bumblebeepaw figured a much better way to get anyone killed was to spread lies about them being a traitor or dissenter. They were pretty sure that if you made them convincing enough, Nightclan's blood thirst would be just as happy to be quenched with a very good substitute for a traitor instead of a real one. It had happened once, why wouldn't it happen again?
"But sure, I can take the lead. I don't mind." Bumblebeepaw said, a teasing chivalry to their voice as they got their feet, and started padding towards the inner depths of the cavern, towards the tunnels. It wasn't too long before they could already sense the ceiling slopping down, and the darkness started to consume all with a certain swiftness the apprentice hadn't quite been expecting. On another night, it might have been a bit brighter down only that deep into the cave, but with all form of light being swallowed by the heavy rain and gray clouds outside, even the part of the caverns preceeding the tunnels were held in shadows. Still, it didn't deter Bumblebeepaw. They were Nighclan cats after all, and the black of night was already their cover most of the time. And besides, there was no way that the apprentice was backing out with a witness around to label them a coward.
Ratpaw felt a growl bubble in his chest as contempt shone in his eyes. He chose to ignore Bumblebeepaw's teasing - his temper tends to keep better if he lets them lose interest in the game, and often times on cold, wet days like this he felt far too drained to squabble with the other apprentices. Instead Ratpaw simply followed after them with anxiety prickling at his paws as the descended into the yawning darkness.
It wasn't the darkness that bothered him, but rather the musty air and slanting walls that made it feel like they would cease to exist at any moment. Somewhere he could hear an echoed slaughter of raindrops probing them forward, daring them to lose themselves in the damp tunnels that could so quickly turn into a grave. Ratpaw shook himself and focused on Bumblebeepaw's aura, wondering if they felt the same way, or if they walked along without a fear in their bones.
Bumblebeepaw always walked without fear. Whether they were terrified, whether they wanted to run, whether they were staring death in the face, one might assume it was all the same to the apprentice. They walked with confidence, with conviction. If they couldn't even muster a voice, they learned early on they could at least muster an appearance; and Bumblebeepaw had mastered the art of appearances.
Even now they walked with that sort of cocksure bravado they always did, and it was impossible to tell from just looking at Bumblebeepaw if they felt any different than they always felt. But of course they did. Of course walking into the dark gaping maw of the tunnels felt different, of course the cold, smooth rock that rolled cold and uneven under their paws brought a prickeling of unease and excitement at the very sense of different texture of them. The closed in spaces, the tightening area, the way the air seemed to grow still. It was terrifying, heartpounding. But even as they dipped into one of the first tunnels -- a wider one, albiet still, of course, a tunnel -- there was no change to their pace.
"So, wanna' place bets for the 'how many times we mildly injure ourselves in the dark to anything interesting actually found' ratio? My bet is 1 interesting thing to 50 times we somehow manage to slip, fall, or bump into something." The joke was warm, meant to fill up the silence in the chilling darkness of the tunnels, which at this point was devoid of light; the sound of rain consumed by the loud nothingness of the subteranean abyss they were journeying farther into. They had no way of knowing how uneasy Ratpaw was, they couldn't turn to see their expression even if they wanted to, but they took the silence as something of a "bad vibe" and decided that wanted that gone. The tunnels were dreary enough without the two of them letting the heavy quiet lay all-supreme, as if they had accepted this was some sort of death march.
In fact it almost felt like a death march to Ratpaw, anxieties swirling within him as his thoughts raced to what could happen. What if they got lost and couldn't find their way out, and the last cat he ever saw was Bumblebeepaw? A shiver ran down his spine for a moment before he begrudgingly admitted to himself, it could be worse. Despite the fear that was raising his hairs he attempted to force it down and was for once a bit grateful for the words that filled the air.
Ratpaw contemplated their joke, actually releasing a short, rough chuckle, as if he rarely made a noise of that sort and didn't hardly know how. The tunnels really were throwing him for a loop. "For once I think I actually agree with you on something."
