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 the middle of the night when Doestar made his decision.
He’d fretted over it for more than a week — and, really, fretted was putting it kindly. He was exhausted from his sleepless nights filled with panic and nausea and all the most awful scenarios flitting through his head and making him sick to his stomach with worry and insecurity and self-doubt, till the scenarios became ridiculous and hysterical. He imagined the Clan — his Clan — simply trinkling out of the camp following his announcement and never coming home, leaving him the leader of nothing but a cold, empty territory. He imagined them rising up and mounting his head on a spike. Imagined them calling him a coward, or accusing him of favouritism, or of siding with outsiders over SummerClan-born cats. He still didn’t feel like he belonged, and he imagined them saying just as much as they drove him across the border and through the mountains on raw paw-pads and torn skin. He could almost hear their yowling. He imagined all sorts of terrible things, till he was buzzing with anxiety and close to either laughter or tears. He still wasn’t sure which it would end up being.
And so, near moonhigh, he slunk out of his den and passed the sentry at the entrance to the camp, and crept over to the warrior den, his shadow long and dark in front of him and the rest of the world washed pale and stark by the moonlight. “Od,” he whispered, bowing his head to peer into the dark warmth of the den. The sound of gentle snoring greeted him and he felt a sudden pang of loneliness; he missed the closeness that he’d taken for granted as a warrior, missed being able to curl up next to someone and feel their body heat and their purr and each of their breaths. He missed it all the time. Every second of the day, really. So far, being leader was the loneliest he’d ever been. Sometimes, it was almost too much, and there were nights he lay awake calculating the chances of being able to make it to the WaterClan border in time to convince Chim to come back and cuddle with him. This long-distance thing wasn’t working for him; all he did was want him. “Odysseyfright,” he whispered again, for good measure, and, with a self-conscious glance around, shuffled back to sit in the shadows.
Maybe it really was a coward’s choice — it was easy, and he was a friend, and he wouldn’t judge him too harshly if and when he failed. He was another outsider, and he treated him normally, and he was kind, and fun, and open-minded, and undaunted by rank and societal conventions. He would support Doestar, and defy and question him when he needed to, and help him give SummerClan the peace and warmth they deserved. Sitting there, then, in the pale, cool light of the moon and the quiet of the night-time woods, he realised it wasn’t the coward’s choice — it was simply the right one. He was supposed to be his deputy. Now it was just a question of whether or not he would accept.
"Believe it or not, I can hear." He had waited until he was outside of the den to make his retort, although the kindness in his eyes proved that it was little more than a joke. Had he been sleeping, the leader would have had to come into the den and drag him out. He was a heavy sleeper, and nothing was going to get in his way of a good night's rest. However, those good nights' rests were few and far between, and most times he lazed the nights away not by sleeping, but by curling into himself and thinking. This had been one of those nights, one where his thoughts had drifted. His workout of his memory had started small, thinking about his day and how he would make the next day better. It had spiraled into considering how to make each day better than the one before. Was that even possible? Sometimes, he doubted it. After all, he had his moments where he was little more than a lump on a log, and some days he felt stuck in those moments. Other days, he was ready to take on the world, and most days, he did.
He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and re-focused from his wandering thoughts to his friend. This was odd, for Doestar to come grab him in the middle of the night. He wasn't un-used to being summoned by the leader, nor was he un-used to bothering him of his own volition. That's what friends did, pester each other, and Odysseyfright had learned that Doestar had become one of his better friends. What he was un-used to, though, was being summoned in the middle of the night.
"Most cats are sleepin' at this time, you know that, right Mr. Doestar?" He teased the tom again, his whiskers twitching. His voice sounded the way voices did when a cat just woke up, scratchy and soft, despite the fact that he hadn't actually been slumbering. "You're lucky you're cute; I don't take lightly to cats wakin' me up." That was a bold-faced lie. Odysseyfright honestly couldn't care less what time cats decided to bother him. If they needed something, or even if they just needed someone to listen, he expected to be summoned, no matter the time. Of course, few took him up on this, though, but perhaps this was simply because he didn't shout the offer from the rooftops.
He let out a yawn, before focusing his gaze on the shadow pool that Doestar had decided to sit in. Sometimes, Odysseyfright wished his friend was a little more confident in himself, confident enough to proudly proclaim what he needed to right in the front and center of camp, but he had learned within their first interaction that such actions probably would continue to be difficult for him. One day, Odysseyfright hoped to help him change that, but that day probably wouldn't come tonight. So, instead of making a passing comment about shadows and how they didn't compliment his frame, he blinked and padded over.
"Are we robbin' a bank?" This wasn't the first strange citydweller question he had asked Doestar, and he knew what a bank was just about as much as he knew what a garage band was. Still, it seemed like the right thing to ask, because honestly, Odysseyfright could only imagine what the leader needed at this time. Concern flashed in his gaze. Was he hurt? Was there something that he needed Od to do? The options were endless.
Doestar let out a nervous, distracted laugh at Od’s jokes, not really listening — something about sleeping and cute and light cats — “a-ha, yeah.”. And then something about a bank. He smiled at that, really smiled, through the haze of anxiety, and huffed a soft laugh; he was sure even Odysseyfright didn’t know what he was saying half the time, and he honestly adored that about him. He let out a breath, drawn out of the fog by the joke; he felt like he was back in his own body, like the world around him was once again a calm, quiet night, crickets chirping in the grass beyond the camp and the stars shining down above them.
“Yes, we’re robbing a bank,” he replied, voice soft and quiet and dryly amused, and shouldered Od on his way towards the camp entrance; he didn’t have to tell him to follow, he knew he would. That was what he loved most about his friend, he thought, vague and sentimental and too soft-hearted for his own good: he would always be there when he needed him. The thought made him feel like crying. He swallowed back a sob and it made his nose burn and his eyes sting.
Sniffing back tears, he suddenly whirled around when they were barely more than a few steps into the darkness outside of camp and blurted out, “will you be my deputy?” He fell into stunned silence for a moment, staring in wide-eyed, frozen alarm at Od just like he had the first time they’d spoken, before letting out a huge breath, taking a small step closer, and continuing more softly, “I’ve agonised over it for days and days and... you’re the only one I want up there with me.” He gazed at him, soft and scared and sad and desperate and more than a little sleep-deprived, and murmured, “please. Only if you want to, but please. I will grovel if I have to. I’m so tired, I swear I will, don’t try me. You don’t want to see me beg. Please.” He exhaled a soft, mirthless laugh, smiling lop-sidedly for a moment, before his expression fell back into borderline despair. “Be my deputy.” His voice was so quiet, so vulnerable.
Doestar's assumption that Od only knew what he was talking about was probably more true than otherwise. Sometimes, the tom just liked to talk, and using the phrases that he picked up along the road always felt right, even if the phrases were, in fact, probably completely wrong for the sceneario at hand. It was one of his charms, his eccentricity, and cats either took to it kindly or not so kindly. There were more that fell in the former category than the later, which was always a good thing. It was a good thing that Doestar seemed to be one of the cats who found the charm in the... odd way he spoke and the light that perpetually shone in his eyes.
"Are we really? Why, I've waited my whole life to rob a bank," he called after the leader, falling a few steps behind. "I was told once that it's kind of hard, that the guards at these banks aren't the most kind to outsiders tryna rob them, but, apparently there's some treasure inside of them that will make it all worth it. Do you think the treasure is a bunch of rabbits. Mmm, mm, I love me a good-....."
The tom had been chattering on mostly to himself when Doestar's question registered in his ears. Will you be my deputy? His eyes became even larger than normal, and he let out a faint, "excuse me, what?" It was the only reaction that he could have it seemed. What on earth could the leader be on about? Odysseyfright? Deputy? Most cats would laugh at such a preposterous idea. Yet, when he looked at Doestar, he realized that it didn't look like the leader was joking.
"Did you get hopped up on something with Greythorn today," he asked, which, probably wasn't something you should ask your superior. But, that seemed to be the only reason that made sense as to why Doestar would want him, youthful, adventerous Odysseyfright, to be junior captain of the ship that was SummerClan. He let out a nervous laugh, before going quiet for a second. There were two things that Odysseyfright seldom was, and they were quiet and nervous. Yet, here he was. There was a part of him that wanted to take off into the hills at the very idea of being asked to be deputy. Maybe he should have left as soon as Agora died. Maybe this was not his place. He shook that thought away. This had become his place, and the part of him that wanted to run was the part of him that was scared. The very idea of being deputy was scary, no one could admit, but was Odysseyfright, whose courage seemed to move mountains, going to let himself be a slave to fear?
"Are you... are you sure that I'm your man?" he asked quietly. Doestar seemed to sound sure, but Odysseyfright needed to be one hundred percent confident. "And, by the way, bold of you to think I don't want to see you beg, Mr. Doestar," he then mewed with an unsure laugh, hoping that that comment wouldn't distract too much from the question he had posed the moment before.
Did you get hopped up on something with Greythorn today? Doestar hummed a soft laugh, not taking his gentle, pleading gaze from Odysseyfright. "I'm sure," he replied quietly, ducking his head and breathing out another little laugh at the warrior - the deputy's - joke about wanting to see him beg. "Plenty of time for that," he murmured, raising his eyes again to meet his gaze and offer a small smile; after a moment, it faded back into a sombre expression that was helpless enough to be pitiful.
"Is that a yes, then? Are you saying yes? If you do, I-I promise to bring you the best fresh-kill for a week, and pick pretty flowers for you every day, and call you m'lord, and-- and you can have my den, if you like! It's brand new and it always smells like citrus, so that's... nice!" He laughed, eyes bright as he momentarily lost himself in the buzz of silliness, before remembering what he was truly asking and settling back once more into an anxiety. His chest felt cold with anticipation and fear; if he said no, who else was there? Who else would put up with him - who else could stand him as leader long enough to support him without working behind his back to steal his crown? "Whaddaya say?" he asked in a soft, quiet whisper, gazing into Odysseyfright's eyes with that terrible sort of hopeful that came with the half-certainty that he was about to be rejected and refused and left broken and bleeding amidst the flowers and the tall, golden grass.
He panned his head so that he could look just past Doestar, as if towards an imaginary audience. "Did I say yes? I don't remember saying yes," he meowed to this make-believe third party, before glancing back to Doestar. Honestly, the tom could probably ask him to swim to the bottom of the ocean and Odysseyfright would probably say yes, but he was still in the part of his life where it didn't seem like he wanted to admit that, at least not out loud.
"I'm not going to take your den, weirdo," he then meowed with a raised eyebrow. "Although, it might be fun to watch you sleep in the middle of camp for a few days, repay your debt you'll owe me for saying yes." He shifted his weight. "And, Mr. Doestar, I swear, if you call me m'lord once, I will walk out of this territory so fast." Even his grumblings sounded good natured, although there was some anxiety that laced in his voice. Was he really saying yes to becoming a deputy? This was strange behavior, even for him. He was reckless, but had he ever been so reckless as to accept a large amount of power he knew he didn't know what to do with? He blinked twice, trying to pretend that that wasn't exactly what he was doing.
He looked at Doestar again. He felt a twinge of something when he saw the look in his friend's eyes. He hadn't- no. This was not the time to even acknowledge that feeling, he decided. So, instead, he gave a lopsided smile. "You better find me the biggest rabbit that has ever lived in the whole history of SummerClan tomorrow," he said finally, his head tilted slightly. Oh, StarClan, Od, what are you doing?
