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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11.06.2022 The site has been transformed into an archive. Thank you for all the memories here!
Here on Classic we understand that sometimes life can get difficult and we struggle. We may need to receive advice, vent, know that we are not alone in our difficult times, or even just have someone listen to what's going on in our lives. In light of these times, we have created the support threads below that are open to all of our members at any time.
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Post by achromatic on Feb 9, 2022 19:12:39 GMT -5
@ian i've been on a tswift mood for the last few days sdlgkjslg
The evening breeze brushed her cheek like a mother, grooming a kitten's fur with warm strokes, still carrying a little bit of the day's warmth. It was true, that Sunpaw should've been in bed by now. All of the herbs had been collected in the morning; it was nearly impossible to see where things were in this darkness after all, and still, she found herself sneaking out of camp, looking at the clouds, reflecting the moon's light like a mirror.
It was strange. Part of Sunpaw wanted to get rid of every bit of evidence that NightClan's rule had ever affected her. She still held an anger, a wariness after what had happened. She had pushed it all away, still finding it hard to reconcile the idea of her loving brother and the reality of the snapping jaws that had threatened to tear her throat out, opting to not thing at all about it instead. Yet, here she was, forever in love with the evenings, seeking the glowing fireflies in the darkness ever since she was forced on an evening patrol that one time, forever marked by those long months.
Hearing a rustle behind her, she turned to the sound, relaxing as she saw a familiar face. "You should be resting you know," she teased, "wouldn't want you to catch a cold in this weather."
Despite everything that had happened to the tom, he still couldn't help but take comfort in the quiet of the night. After being raised in the dark for the first nine months of his life, the moonlight was familiar. Even now, after so much pain had been brought to him under the cover of night, it was still his home. It was his quiet time to think, his moments of peace with the universe that he had yet to find with the sun beating on his shoulders. As such, it wasn't strange for the tom to be out and about at this time. Much to the clan's unease, the tom had adjusted his schedule to meet his own needs. He was always out until nearly dawn, and he finally wandered out of the warriors den most days around sun high. Of course, this had caused the occassional conflict; now that he actually had a job, things were much less flexible. Still, that wasn't enough to get the tom to go to bed earlier; instead, he simply slept less and less each night. Oh well.
He had been wandering through the territory when he caught the scent of Sunpaw, and the tom instinctively moved in her direction. It had been a few days since the two of them had had a chance to interact; now that they both had business to attend to, the time they had together was growing increasingly rare. He'd take whatever chance to spend a moment with her that he could get, even if that meant giving up his nightly quiet.
"If I rested every time I should be resting, Sunny, we both know that I'd never leave the den," he joked, an easy smile on his face. "And plus, with that logic, you should be in bed," he then teased, his whiskers twitching in amusement. "It's just as cold and late for you as it is me."
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Post by achromatic on Feb 12, 2022 19:48:53 GMT -5
She could feel her heart swell at the sight of the other cat, a sort of warmth that spread from her chest to her toes. It was strange how familiar his presence was these days. "Yeah well, if your cough gets worse, don't blame me," she giggled, before gesturing for him to join her. She gave him a similar smirk, though the crinkle of her eyes made it seem more amused than flirtatious. "If I don't know any better, I'd say you were trying to get sick to visit me all the time."
It was kind of cold. She could see her own breath in the air, but Sunpaw was always blessed with long fur that, in the summer was a hindrance, but in the winter, truly made a difference. Her own pelt brushed against Foxfable's as she sat next to him as if checking to make sure he wasn't cold. "Are you out here because you can't sleep?" she asked in a murmur, "or do you usually take night walks without any of us knowing?" She knew he had been used to the way NightClan had worked, but she wondered whether his sleep schedule had yet to adjust.
He grinned at her. "Alright, I'll just blame Howlingheart," he teased, his gaze warm. No matter the inner turmoil the tom faced, Sunpaw felt like home, as if they'd known each other forever, not just a few moons. As she continued, he let out a bell-toned laugh, his shoulders shaking with each chuckle. "Oh yeah? Is that what you think?" he meowed with a wink. "If that was true, and I'm not saying it is, could you blame me? You're, like, the coolest cat here."
He then tilted his head, feeling a soft breeze ruffle his fur. "Well, a bit of both," he admitted with a shrug. "I haven't been able to quite shake the whole nocturnal thing, if I'm being honest. Old habits die hard, I guess." By this time, he'd been in the clan for months, so it seemed like it should be something he would have adjusted to more, but to adjust, he would have needed to give up his night time, and he wasn't sure he could quite part with that. "I walk around almost every night. It's better than bothering the cats who... realize that when the moon's up, we should not be." He let out an awkward laugh, before shaking his head. "Plus, it's a good time to think."
"What about you? What on earth has you out at this time?"
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Post by achromatic on Feb 19, 2022 17:01:28 GMT -5
She laughed at that, before swatting him with her tail. "Oi, don't bully my dad," she snorted, though a chuckle left her mouth too as she felt her cheeks redden at his words. "Okay mister smooth talker," she teased, though it was clear that his words at least left a pink impression on her face, "but yeah, I'm glad you know I'm the coolest cat here. A lot of others probably haven't recognized that yet, but you know, I always thought you had good taste in other cats, mister Foxfable."
Her smile softened as he spoke. Adjusting to SummerClan's schedule must've been rough; she had found it hard to stay awake in the night when NightClan had taken over. He did have a point; the cool breezes and the rustle of grass in the night and that vast loneliness of the universe had been nice to sit with. "I can see it," she replied thoughtfully, "how this could be really relaxing."
When he asked about her, she could only blush. "I couldn't sleep either," she admitted, "still thinking about...you know." It was clear she meant that night, the night they finally escaped NightClan's reign. She turned to him, blinking, before realizing that he probably didn't know yet. Only Sagebristle and Crowflight had known.
"Did I tell you?" her voice was quiet, "that I finally found my brother?"
He grinned at his friend's words. "What can I say, I learned my taste from the best," he purred, although that was ... objectively not true. He'd learned his taste from his mother who had been married to his father, which meant that maybe his taste wasn't going to shape out to be all that good. He wouldn't tell her that, though. "The rest of 'um will catch on soon enough, though," he then added.
When she said "you know," the tom's ear flicked. Ah, yes, everyone was still thinking about what had happened, and he assumed that she was just talking about the war in general. When she continued, though, surprise washed through his eyes. "You did?" he meowed, shifting slightly. "That's good, right? I know that you missed him, so it's good to know that he's out in this great big world somewhere." Foxfable had no idea about how Sunpaw had met her brother again. Perhaps if he did, he wouldn't be so quick to be excited for her. "Is he doing okay? Is he safe somewhere? If he misses you, too, then I'm sure we can make room for him here!" he continued, not realizing just how far he was putting his foot in his mouth.
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Post by achromatic on Feb 24, 2022 16:05:52 GMT -5
She snorted at Foxfable's words, though the amusement was clear in the crinkling of her eyes, her hazel ones fixed on him with a soft amusement reserved for only the closest cats she held next to her heart. "Sure," she teased, only to freeze slightly as Foxfable continued on brightly. She tried to hold the smile on her face as he spoke excitedly, though her heart sank at the realization that she'd have to break the news to him, that their meeting had been anything but pleasant.
"He's...he's..." she stammered at first, her happy facade cracking just a little, a grimace on her face, "to be honest...I think you might've known him once. You know, back in...NightClan. You know that cat you were friends with...Sagebristle right?" She paused, looking at him, letting out a nervous laugh. "So uh...her mate or boyfriend or whatever...yeah. He's my brother and...we met when he kind of...almost...." her voice had gone up in pitch, as she tried to give him that awkward smile again, her brow furrowing.
"I think he was almost about to kill me when we...realized," she mumbled, looking at her paws now, "–and now I have no idea what to do with that information."
His eyes widened slightly. "Yeah, we basically grew up together. My parents took a liking to her, something about how much of a spitfire she was," he admitted with a blink. Slowly, the realization set in. If her brother was Sagebristle's boyfriend... His eyes, already wide, became saucers. "Moonblight?" he meowed incrediously. That couldn't be right, right? Not that there was anything overtly wrong with the cat, but he couldn't help but be stunned at the dramatic difference between how the two ended up. Perhaps, though, that had more to do with how they grew up than anything. Where Sunpaw had been left with Howlingheart, a doting father, Moonblight had been left to be molded into Aspenstar's super soldier. Could he be faulted for that?
When her voice changed, Foxfable pressed his shoulder against hers gently in support. As she continued, the shock wore into anger, into sadness. All he had wanted during the battle was to find her, to make sure she was safe. He'd failed, been caught up by the claws of a NightClan cat who was murderous despite direct orders that he wasn't to be killed. A pang of guilt shot through his body; he should have been there for her.
He paused for a moment, the silence hanging in the air as he tried to figure out what to say. Was there anything he could say? He was sure comments about Moonblight's exceptional performance, how he was a fighter like her, were inappropriate, given the circumstances. SO what did that leave him? How could he comfort her?
The moment passed, and the tom once again opened his maw to speak. "I'm sorry," he started, knowing that there wasn't going to be much that could come out of empty platitudes like that. But, he was sorry. After all of the wondering, for this to have been how she found her brother, he was sorry. She deserved better than that. "For what it's worth, I don't think you have to know, at least not now," he then murmured, his silver gaze not leaving her frame. "At least not yet. Finding out in that way was traumatic, and it's okay to not know what to do with that. Hell, I still don't know what to do about the information that Phantomfox had been cheating on my mom, and that pre-dates all of this mess." He wasn't sure if he was being helpful, but he recognized he probably wasn't. "Ma told me it just takes time, though. Our heart has to be ready to process stuff like that, and sometimes, it isn't ready right away." Now, he was rambling. Making a note of that, his whiskers twitched and he blinked twice. "Can I help?"
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Post by achromatic on Mar 1, 2022 21:17:35 GMT -5
She didn't really know what to expect from Foxfable's reaction, but his incredulous surprise made her all the more curious about him. She didn't mean to be curious; part of her knew that she should've been angry. How could the cat she had dreamed about meeting for years be the same cat who had attacked her so viciously like a dog? There were so many things running through her mind, but anger seemed to be the farthest away, still held back by the confusion and how overwhelming this was to find out.
In a way, it was nice that she wasn't the only one so completely overwhelmed by all of this, by every new development that had happened in the past few months. Surely the others were recovering too, but no one else had to deal with as heavy a boulder as Foxfable seemed to be carrying, with the realization that his picture-perfect family had been a lie. In a way, that was the exact same thing she was feeling. Her own glass frame and happy photo was shattered on the ground.
She only shuffled closer, resting her chin on the other tom's shoulder, a gentle sign that she understood in her own strange way. With a quiet sigh, she plopped onto the grass, rolling onto her back and staring up at the stars. "I know I probably shouldn't expect anything, and I know I probably should hate him or something, you know? For being one of our colonizers?" she murmured, before gesturing to her side, "but...the only thing I want to know is...more about him, you know? It's like, there was this big gap and now that I know he's out there, all I want to do is find him...even though I know that maybe he wouldn't want to see me, or that...you know...."
A weak laugh left her mouth. "Maybe he's evil and I wouldn't even know."
When she pressed her chin against his shoulder, he felt a soft warmth spread through his body as his tail instinctively wrapped around her. For a moment, they sat in silence, their breaths matching each others in the extended moment that he left between them. Soon enough, though, the moment passed, and the tom blinked twice.
"There is no should when it comes to feelings, Sunpaw," he meowed, his head tilted to the side ever so slightly. "It doesn't matter if you think you should or should not feel a certain way. What matters is what you feel, no matter if you think it's the right thing to feel." For a moment, Foxfable sounded a whole lot like Ian's therapist. "If you want to know more about him, I can help you do that as much as you want me to, whether that means telling you about him or going back home." He winced slightly at the mention of home - did he really think that NightClan was his home? There was a small part of him that did, and he did his best not to judge that part of him. "Whatever you need we can figure out together, alright?" There was a soft tenacity in his voice, a promise. Whatever Sun needed, whatever she wanted, the young tom would do his best to secure.
He then paused again, before sighing. "He's not evil, though," he meowed quietly, his voice a little more tenative than it had been a moment before. "Misguided is the better word for it. You got Howlingheart to look after you, Moonblight got Aspenstar. For a long time, he ... he wasn't like the tom that you met. The tom you met was perfectly crafted by one of the biggest criminal mastermind's I've had the displeasure to meet." At one point, he had loved Aspenstar the same way that he had loved his father, but that time had passed. "I know that probably doesn't mean much, but I promise you, the cat you met was groomed to be that way. He wouldn't have naturally come up like that." How could Foxfable be so sure? Perhaps because he'd watched Sagepaw and Moonpaw, knew of him before his time as Loyal Guard. Aspenstar had preyed upon him, he wouldn't have ended up like that without her, right?
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Post by achromatic on Mar 30, 2022 16:25:44 GMT -5
She felt her heart ache at the thought of her brother, having been raised by Aspenstar. What must that be like? She had always known SummerClan to be full of life; even without Howlingheart at her side, she had met so many friends. Crowflight, Vulturemalice, Sunstar, even Rosethorn and Foxfable had been such warm presences in her life. She had never been without the loving presence of her friends and family, always there to support her whenever she fell. Sunveins must've known that the rest of the world wasn't like that, but her experience had always affirmed it, that there were cats out there that cared for her, even after her father had left.
"That must've been hard," she murmured, thinking of the emotionless pale she-cat and thinking of how she lacked even the most basic empathy for anyone other than herself, "growing up like that." In fact, she couldn't quite imagine it. Thinking back, even Sagebristle had been...bristly the first time they had met. In fact, most of the NightClan cats had seemed a bit hostile, she could imagine why.
"To be honest, I do want to know more about him, you know, what was he like? When we weren't fighting a war? Was he nice? Or was he always a total know-it-all ass who you'd rather kick off a cliff?" A quiet giggle left her mouth, though the humour was barely in it. "I guess it's weird to know someone and not know them at the same time you know?" She was certain they were friends or something once; Foxfable was friendly with Sagebristle after all.
She sighed again, before plopping down on the grass, belly up as she stared up into the skies. "I know that medicine cats are supposed to believe in StarClan and all and I do...sort of, but if they're really out there, I think they have it out for me."
"Yeah," he meowed, looking off into the distance for a moment. "Growing up in NightClan is ... certainly something." A soft laugh, although it was devoid of all humor. He had been the prince of the group, guarded by the three fiercest members of the clan. No one touched him, and when they even dared to look in his direction the wrong way... Well, things didn't tend to go well for them (maybe his first memory being his father breaking the legs of Pinesimmer for being mean to him was a sign that Phantomfox had some... issues). But, not everyone had the luck he did. Not everyone was the prince at the top of the tower. Life for the others was hard, grueling perhaps. He hadn't seen it then - it was hard to see the reality of the situation while deeply emmeshed in it - but he saw it now. The NightClan cats weren't... evil, or at least they hadn't been when he lived there. They were all just misguided, led by a sychophant who craved nothing short of the divine. It was no big surprise they turned out the way that they did. Of course, the SummerClan deputy had no idea that things had gotten worse since the disappearance of Aspenstar. He had hoped the opposite was true; when he had heard of her disappearance, Foxfable had felt an ounce of hope for the cats who he had once lived along side. He carried that hope with him, completely unaware that if he knew the reality, his hope would be dashed.
When she laid down, he found himself doing the same, his tail sweeping across the ground. She wanted to know more about him, which mean that he'd have to go back in time for a moment, let his thoughts drift to the past. Over the last moon, he had almost been able to shove the part of him that remembered NightClan into a box deep within his brain. But, Sunny's request meant that he had to remember, had to think back to the place where things had been so picture perfect until they weren't. He was quiet for a moment as he let the soft memories of his youth pass behind his eyes, a soft sadness settling in his chest. He mourned for that time, for NightClan, for himself. After a moment, he spoke again. "When he first came to NightClan, he was boyish and charming," he meowed, a soft crease nestled across his forehead. "Your normal kid, and when he was around Sagebristle, the two of them seemed legitimately happy. It took them a while to figure out that they both liked each other, but we all knew," he meowed with a soft chuckle. The rumors had swirled about the duo far before they confirmed it - which ironically, was probably the same for he and Sunpaw. "I never wanted to kick him off the cliff, although, in all fairness, I don't think I have it in me to kick someone off a cliff. I mean, look at me." This time, there was a hint of humor in his laugh as he poked fun at himself. "Things changed when he was promoted to the Loyal Guard and began regularly interacting with Aspenstar, but before that, he was just a kid bumbling through this weird life like the rest of us." When she said the last part, about knowing and not knowing someone, the little tom winced slightly. "Yeah, it is," he responded, once again moving his gaze off to the sky. He knew a little too well how much that was true.
Foxfable then let his gaze drift back to Sunpaw, curiosity in his gaze. "I think that's true for a lot of us, honestly," he meowed with a shrug. "They've sort of turned their back on us for a while. But, hey. Things'll get better from here on out, right? It's blue skies from here, baybee," he meowed with some amusement in his tone, before seriousness passed in his gaze again. "StarClan's kind of bad at making us feel like they're out there and care, but I'd like to think that they are and they do."
It was then that he saw a flash of light streak across the sky out of the corner of his eye. His gaze immediately snapped to it. "See," he meowed, pointing with his paw at the first shooting star he had seen in a long time. "They're making themselves known right now."
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Post by achromatic on Apr 9, 2022 19:35:54 GMT -5
As Foxfable flopped down alongside her, she couldn't help but smile, the soft breezes swaying with the long grasses that nestled the two of them within its grasp. There was a wistfulness in her eyes, a softness in her smile, as she listened to him speak. Boyish and charming, she couldn't imagine that, at least not in the way Foxfable was talking about. He was her brother, and to her, he'd always be that shy little tom who always waited for her to go first before daring to try anything. She could, however, imagine him happy. He always had questions, if she could remember correctly, always asking about everything, and at the end of the day, she liked Sagebristle too. Behind all of her nasty comments and snarky retorts, she was the kind of cat who cared, perhaps a little too much.
Sunveins could understand the need to put on a mask, to pretend to be someone else. She had never been forced into that space, but she could imagine what it must've been like. As Foxfable's words shifted, to a sentiment that was meant to comfort her, she smiled and nuzzled his shoulder for a brief moment and inhaled his scent, breaking the facade of friendship and hinting at something else, briefly something much more comfortable than the easy companionship they presented to the world.
"Thank you," she murmured, as she turned to him with her wide hazel eyes, "it's nice to know that at least he had someone with him, and I guess...yeah, things are looking up now." She had found her brother and SummerClan was free once more, that could only be a good thing, right?
She turned to the sky in time to see the first streak, a gasp escaping her mouth. "What was that?" she exclaimed brightly, as another streak came flashing through the sky. Sunveins had never seen a meteor shower before.
"Sagebristle certainly was with him," he meowed with a soft laugh. "At first, I thought they hated each other, but then I remembered that she acts like she hates pretty much everyone. She got her name for a reason," he meowed, for a moment letting his thoughts drift to his adopted sister. They had reconciled during the time of the NightClan invasion, the two of them crossing the chasm that had opened when he and Rosethorn left the clan. He couldn't help but wonder where she was now, just the same way as he figured Sunveins wondered about Moonblight. "They were the best training pair, the two of them. Top of their class, excelled well, kicked my ass at the apprentice trials," he then continued, offering a bashful laugh, before blinking a few times.
"And they'll stay looking up," he then decided, a hint of determination in his voice. He'd do whatever he could to ensure that, even though he wasn't sure he could really do much of anything to help the clan. It wasn't an unreasonable amount of self doubt - he was a wheezy little thing with precisely three skills. But, he'd grown to love this place, more than NightClan. It was strange to think about, really. When he had first gotten to the clan, he had felt so detached from everyone. Sure, he had been reunited with Rosethorn's family, and that had been nice, but he was finally beginning to feel like he had a family of his own. Sunveins, Sunstar, insert other cat names here, they made this place feel like home, and he would be damned if anything like the last few moons happened again.
When he saw the second flash of light, the tom was distracted by his determination to the clan, and a purr sounded from deep in his chest. Unlike Sunveins, the tom had seen shooting stars before. He could remember the evening, Phantomfox had taken him to the highest point of the NightClan territory and told him stories about how the stars came to cross the sky. It was one of his last happy memories with his father.
"Technically, I think they're some sort of rock flying through the sky. But, I like to think they're more than that. Phantomfox once told me that they were a symbol of change, a sign of good luck. If you make a wish on them, it's supposed to come true," he meowed, glancing over at Sunveins. Curiosity piqued his gaze; if his friend could wish for one thing, what would it be? "You should try it if another one comes across," he prompted, a small smile on his face.
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Post by achromatic on Apr 20, 2022 18:22:38 GMT -5
Sunveins giggled at that. "Oh, I had first-hand experience," she mused. She wasn't surprised by anything Foxfable said; she always knew that Sagebristle must've been a tough cookie, and of course, she had faith in her brother, that he knew how to fend for himself and to grow into his own pelt. As much as she found NightClan distasteful, she was proud of him. Proud of what he had accomplished, and proud of what he had proven he could do. Had they been in the same clan, perhaps she'd be able to show that more warmly, love him in a way siblings would, with banter and friendly rivalry. Her smile was both proud and wistful.
A low purr rumbled in her chest as his words. Foxfable was as brave as they came, even with all of his obstacles and struggles. She leaned closer towards him, as the sky was scattered with flashes of light, soaring through the darkness as if they were racing to get to somewhere. His question made her ponder. What would she wish for? Even though there were plenty of things she wanted, right now, in this very moment, everything seemed perfect, as they cuddled together watching the miracle of the night sky open up to them. Oh, she could stay in this very moment forever, milk it for every last droplet.
"I guess I'd wish that all my friends and family were safe and together and we could all enjoy a night like this together," she whispered, "stretch a moment like this as long as we can."
She turned towards him, their faces only inches apart. "How about you?"
He found himself purring with her, their bodies rising and falling together as he instinctively matched their breathing together. He wasn't going to lie, there was a part of him who had always been deeply lonely in SummerClan. He had been uprooted, moved about, right as he was catching his stride in life. He thought that he'd never feel the same closeness with another cat as he had Rosy. He had grown quietly accepting of that, that no matter how many friends he had, his heart would still ache for the cat who had quite literally once been his other half. But, the longer he spent with Sunveins, the more he realized he had been wrong. It wasn't necessarily that Sunveins made that hole gone; he was sure that he was going to take the loss of his training partner to his grave. Instead, Sunveins just helped him feel... alive, truly connected with another cat, for the first time in a long time. He still wasn't sure how it had happened, how she had snuck into his life, how he'd grown to search for her in every crowd, but he was so grateful that she had. Becoming her friend reminded him that he wasn't the only cat who still had hope, who had faced calamity and still remain good. She was good. She reminded him that there was still good, even when things felt so bad.
He turned his head slightly to peer over at her. The wonder in her gaze as she watched the lights flash across the sky left butterflies in his stomach - wait, were those really butterflies? He blinked a few times - No, Foxfable, don't be dumb. He unwittingly looked away, a hint of heat in his ears. Hopefully, she hadn't noticed him look, hadn't noticed the way that his eyes danced slightly more than normal when he gazed at her. It would be embarrassing if she had.
When she spoke again, his whiskers twitched. He had expected she'd say something like that, hadn't he? "Mmm, that would be nice," he murmured, letting his eyes move back to the sky. He should have expected that she'd return the question, shouldn't he have? And probably should have prepared something that ... didn't sound like he was just copying her. After a moment, he let out a sigh. "I think my wish is that when we're old and grey and stuck in the elder's den barking at apprentices to change our nests, we can look back and know that things all worked out okay," he meowed finally. "And that you never realize that I'm not as cool as I like to pretend I am and find a fresh new best friend to watch the stars with," he then meowed with a wink, nudging her with his shoulder gently.
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Post by achromatic on Apr 23, 2022 20:44:20 GMT -5
MY HEART IS UGGA UGGA!!!!
Her chest seemed to swell at his words, and suddenly her face was flushed pink. She had acknowledged that Foxfable was one of her best friends–no, perhaps the best friend–for a while now. There was a part of her chest that felt warm whenever they hung out together. She loved all of her friends equally, she'd usually say, even if her group of friends had dwindled slightly since she had grown up with them. Sunveins always had a soft spot for other cats, especially her clanmates, and she knew it was her duty to love them all equally, but there was a part of her that held certain cats to a different sort of love. Howlingheart with reverence, Sunstar with admiration, and Foxfable with...with...
She couldn't describe it. He just felt like home. A similar way Moonblight felt like home except stronger, more of a yearning for something new than to return to what used to be. He was her best friend, that must be why she felt this way. A giggle left her mouth, though she wasn't sure what she was laughing at. The absurdity of how indescribable her feelings were? The warmth in her chest? The absolute comfort she felt in the moment? His jokes about them being elders, or barking at apprentices like bickering old husbands and wives?
She turned around, now facing him with her chin resting on his chest as she playfully batted him on the nose. "You'll always be cool to me, idiot," she teased with a laugh, before rolling back to her back again, her eyes soft, closed for a moment. "You know, the apprentices are going to be so miserable trying to keep us happy as elders," she joked, "they'll have to stuff your nest full of moss instead of feathers and they're going to have to pick pollen out of everything just to make sure you don't have allergies, and I'll be such a stickler about not having wet moss anywhere too, and they'll have to listen to us argue like an old married couple." A laugh left her mouth at the thought of it; growing old didn't sound so bad after all.
When she let out a giggle, the tom nudged her with his nose. "Hey, what's so funny?" he meowed in mock offense, the sparkle in his eye giving away that he wasn't serious. He was pretty sure there was nothing that she could say or do that would really offend him, but he wouldn't admit that to her. There was a growing list of things that he wouldn't admit to her. Hell, he wouldn't even admit them to himself. Like the way that he found himself instinctively heading towards her voice if he wasn't busy doing something else, or the way that she was the only cat who could make his cheeks flush in awkward, boyish embarrassment. "You better not be laughin' at me, or I'll have to show you whose boss." This time, he couldn't help but let out an amused purr.
And then she spoke again, and Foxfable felt his heart leap slightly. "Aww, shucks, really?" he meowed with a grin, trying his best to play off the slight giddiness that he felt at her words by sounding bashful. Whether she meant it to or not, it felt like a promise, that no matter what happened, she'd stick by him. It was comforting to him, especially as things would continue to change in his life even more rapidly than before. He settled in that comfort during the moment that she closed his eyes, filling the silence before she spoke again with the sounds of his soft, airy purrs. They rattled through his chest, uneven in the same way every breath of his was.
"Good, they better be," he then replied, his eyes dancing. "If you think they'll be miserable just fluffing my nest, imagine how miserable my other demands will make them. The day that I retire, I expect nothing less than a silver platter and I expect them to find big plant leaves from the garden to fan me with. Our golden years will be nothing but blue skies and hand-fed berries." His lips formed a grin as he spoke. "I see you don't intend to fret about my health any less in your old age," he then teased with another nudge. Sunveins' dedication to ensuring that he was okay was one of the reasons he cared about her so much. Even though he complained any time she tried to get him to take his herbal treatments on the days his chest wasn't so tight, it made him feel important. Even though he was just a coast guard, and not even the lead one, and even now that his concerned mother was no longer here to harp about his health, the medicine cat cared enough about him to make sure he was always as okay and as comfortable as he could be. "A tom like me should be honored by that. Not everyone can say they've got an old lady who will bark at the apprentices any time the den gets too humid," he continued, his teasing grin never leaving his face.
dm me if you want to listen to me ramble about the interstellar soundtrack
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Post by achromatic on May 29, 2022 11:52:24 GMT -5
"Isn't it a dad job to tell the apprentices to turn down the thermostat grab whatever we need them to get?" she teased, before chuckling again, "I'm pretty sure eventually Cypresspaw's going to get annoyed at me for always forgetting this or that and having him grab whatever I need in the forest...again, especially after we almost got stuck in the witch's hut last time..."
She snorted to herself in amusement. "Maybe he'll have me involuntarily committed to the elders den one day," she joked, as she snuggled closer to him, listening to his heartbeat and every breath that rattled through his chest. It wasn't out of worry as much as the strange sound also gave her a sort of comfort; she could identify him from any crowd from the sound of his wheezing, which was exactly comforting but it amused her enough, that she'd never really get sick of the sound despite her hardest efforts in trying to rid the cause of it.
"Promise me you'll live old enough to be a dumb elder with me," she gave him a soft smile, "so we can torture apprentices together?"
Foxfable raised his brow at her. "Almost got stuck in the witch's hut?" He could barely hold in a laugh. "Didn't anyone tell you to avoid that place? When I first came here, that was the first thing that my cousins harked into me. You see that hut right there? Rumor has it there's an apprentice eating monster who lives there!" His impression of Eveninglily was lack luster, but he was never good at impressions anyways. "At least he can't say his medicine apprenticeship is boring," he then added, before nosing her shoulder.
When she spoke again, the tom did laugh. "The day you involuntarily commit me to the elder's den will be the day he gets that idea," he meowed with a grin. "So you best not do that anytime soon, hmm?"
Promise me you'll live old enough to be a dumb elder with me. There was a small part of him that was made slightly saddened by the words. After all, what kind of best friend had to make her best friend promise that? Most of the time, he could put his own mortality away, lock up the awareness that his life was always... delicate. But when she said that, the tom couldn't help but be reminded of it. He had only been warrior aged for a few moons, he shouldn't have to promise this to her. But, he did, and he had to promise her it even though he knew that he couldn't. All it would take was one bad case of a cough to grow into pneumonia... He blinked the thoughts away, recentering himself slightly.
"I promise," he assured her quietly before giving her ear a soft lick. "I wouldn't wanna miss a minute with you." He'd probably never said anything so true. He didn't want to miss a minute with Sunveins. He wanted to cross every milestone with her, take on the world with her, do anything with her. There was a part of him that was afraid of how truthful his words were, afraid because it made him confront the fact that he wasn't sure he could see a future without her in some way, afraid because it just reinforced how much she meant to him. It scared him how much he cared for her, not that he'd ever show her that. "Plus, I couldn't let you get rid of me that easily, right?" he meowed, his voice catching into a slight cough.