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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She wasn't sure what had exactly spurred her thoughts on the ethereal; it seemed as though a thought had wriggled its way into her brain and had latched on. Bearspirit had only a neutral opinion on StarClan, something that, if she really thought about it, was a bit of an oddity with her. Perhaps that's where her fascination and obsession with this question of whether the spiritual existed or not came from; with everything, everything, Bearspirit was firmly in support or opposition. None of this wishy-washy "well...it could be good or bad." No. It was all or nothing. And the fact that she herself didn't have a clear answer just bothered her. It was like a bug had wormed its way under her fur and no matter what she did, it would not go away. So, she had to find a cure for this nasty itch - who better to ask than a Medicine Cat? They had to know the answer to her question, it was in their description after all to have such a connection to the celestial.
Having made up her mind, Bearspirit padded off towards the den, feeling unnaturally nervous about this. Would she make a fool of herself when she talked to either Mistyveil or Cinnamonpaw? Would they denounce her blood ties to WinterClan if she spoke up about her hesitations towards StarClan? No! She couldn't think like that! She shook her head, a new cold claw clenching her heart at this thought - if her legitimacy was threatened- No need to go down that line of thinking...
She paused outside the medicine den, flexing her claws against the ground, as hesitation reached out to her. She didn't step in, wondering if she had to ask permission to come in before she did, though called out, "Cinnamonpaw? Mistyveil? Er...do one of you have a moment? I have a couple questions about...things. But if you're busy, there's no need. No need to put yourself out for my own sake." Bearspirit let out an uncharacteristic awkward laugh, as she shuffled her paws.
With the recent, sudden, onset snowmelt, Cinnamonpaw has uncovered many large stones to paint. He had been running out, quicker than he had expected, and a lot of his hunts he had turned up nothing. Though, most of the time he didn’t even move the stones, with them being too big and heavy to carry in his small jaws. Sometimes he likes to take them back and decorate the medicine-cat’s den with them. Holding onto a smooth rock, the brown tabby skipped back to camp, hoping to be able to go out and fetch more berries as well.
Padding into camp, he entered the den just before Bearspirit. Placing the stone down near the entrance, he turned to leave and nearly ran into the large feline. “Oh!” He said, slightly surprised as he looked up to the giant. “Uh—hi, Bearspirit. Mistyviel is out right now, but what can I help you with?” Cinnamonpaw purred, a little intimidated by the she-cat’s size.
A wave of relief washed over Bearspirit as Cinnamonpaw was the one to respond - Mistyveil was renowned for her sarcasm and dry humor and Bearspirit was hesitant to ask her questions to someone who might give her a scathing remark, as though she was a little kit. "I've been wrestling with some thoughts - er, regarding StarClan. Do you have a moment to talk? It's just- I thought that I should go to someone who has the most experience in this," she finished, after pausing repeatedly.
For a moment, she felt a wave of embarrassment roll over her; she internally wrestled with herself over the fact that she was stumbling over her words to an apprentice. But, she reasoned to herself, Cinnamonpaw was ranked above her, not only in her mind, but also in the hierarchy of the Clan. Besides, she'd come to respect Cinnamonpaw; she would see him running here and there with a seemingly never-ending list of chores to do and cats to heal. So then, there was no reason to be so embarrassed - even though he was younger than she was, he held more status over her. Yes, she just had to talk to him like he was any other warrior she had talked to.
Feeling more confident now that she had made up her mind, Bearspirit gave him a quiet rumble of a purr, before asking, "Do you mind if I come in? I promise I won't take up too much of your time."
He let out a little purr, stepping aside to allow the molly entrance. “Of course! Come in, come in.” He shuffled backwards, turning away for a quick second to grab the last of his berries. “Now, what’s on your mind?” He asked, a tad bit embarrassed at the thought of him—an apprentice—giving advice to a full grown warrior.
“It’s not like I have much to do today anyway, it’s been slow.” He flashed a smile, dropping the stone at his paws. Twitching his tail, he crushed the berries between his paw and gently began to dab it onto the stone. “Has StarClan said anything to you?”
As she stepped into the den, the smell of herbs washed over her and she turned her head to the side to hide a small sneeze; how did either Cinnamonpaw or Mistyveil survive with so many cloying smells clogging up the den? Wrinkling her nose to fight off another sneeze, she turned towards Cinnamonpaw again and replied, "No, no. Nothing of the sort. I've actually had the opposite, quite frankly." Bearspirit sat down, wrapping her tail around the front of her paws, and tried to find the right words to describe her jumbled thoughts.
"I really haven't heard anything from them - to be honest, I wasn't raised to be a devout believer in StarClan, it just always came second to everything else." She paused and gave him a sheepish tilt of her head, her ears flattening a bit in a silent apology. "But ever since the snow melting and tensions rising within the Clan..." Bearspirit unconsciously glanced over her shoulder, as though she could already hear the mutters of those dissenters - because really, what else were they? -, before glancing back at the apprentice. "I dunno, I thought it was time for me to make concrete decision about StarClan. So...er, in a way, I'm kind of asking you to convince me? You just seemed like the right cat to talk to about all of this," she hurriedly added, trying to off put some of the weight from Cinnamonpaw. "And I should say I don't expect you to do everything for me, but just kind of nudge me in the right direction."
“Oh, I see.” He said softly, giving another little smile. It still felt a bit awkward, having an older cat confide in him, but he guessed he had to get used to it. After all, it was his job to help others. “Well, I’ve never had any big encounters with them, to be quite honest.” He started, grabbing the few blueberries he had collected near the SpringClan border and crushing them as well. “You see, I can try to convince you all day, but it’s really up to you about what you want to believe. Nobody’s forcing you. After all, I’m sure there are plenty of other WinterClan cats who don’t believe in StarClan.” He hummed softly, mixing the deep indigo with the red already on the rock.
“I believe in StarClan because well—that’s what my parents told me. It’s like I can feel them. Some feel the same way as me, but others, like you, don’t.” Regarding what the she-cat had said about the heat wave, he stopped to examine the stone for a minute. He just wished the colours stood out a little more. “Some would see it as a punishment from StarClan, or maybe anger from SunClan’s Sun God. Others see it as a minor inconvenience.”
Bearspirit felt a shiver run up and down her spine at the mention of the Sun God - maybe it was her upbringing, but she had a visceral reaction to talking about that God, it just sounded off to her. "What do you think?" She asked, "do you think StarClan's angry at us, for not all believing?" She watched Cinnamonpaw closely as he worked with the berry juices, trying to sort out her thoughts about him. She realized that he had gently placed the burden of the decision on her and she almost let out a chuckle - he was a lot more emotionally mature than some of their Clanmates. Because of this sudden revelation, Bearspirit felt herself relax once more - he had definitely been the right choice to talk to about all this tangled mess.
"If StarClan isn't to blame and it's actually the wrath of the SunClan Sun God, why isn't StarClan stepping in to help? Wouldn't they want to show us their strength and cool down the heat wave?"
He didn’t say anything for a few moments, thinking over his next answer and absently continuing his art. “I . . . I’m not sure.” He said at last. “I don’t think so. If they were, they might have punished us already.” Admiring his abstract work, the apprentice gently pushed it out of the way so it could dry. “Maybe they don’t have that power?” He ran his tongue over one of his little white paws, trying to clean the berry juice that clung to the fur. “Or maybe they just don’t care, but I doubt that.”
Bearspirit blinked, once again taken aback by his response. She had always believed that all medicine cats would have a staunch and unbending belief in StarClan. A bit uneasy with this revelation, she shifted her weight from paw to paw, mulling over his words. "I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised at what you said," Bearspirit said, breaking her silence and voicing her thoughts, "I just don't think I understand it. You keep talking about as though we are to be punished by StarClan - but I always heard that they were benevolent. How can something be so benevolent do something so cruel as this?" She gestured towards everything behind them with her tail, as though she was trying to encompass the heat wave and the rising tension within the Clan.
He twitched his ears, tidying up the last of his mess as he listened to Bearspirit. "Oh, yes, they are. Don't get me wrong. I don't think they are punishing us, I just feel they have no power to stop it." Examining the rock for a moment, seeing how it wasn't completely dry yet, he smiled softly up at the big cat. "Hey, let's go for a walk. We can continue our conversation elsewhere, I have a few herbs to collect." Glancing back at the stock, still somewhat full, he gracefully slipped past the large she-cat.
"I like to keep the stocks full whenever I can." He purred.
Bearspirit opened her mouth to say something, but as he slipped past her, she stumbled out of his way. It took her a moment to look over the den quickly to see if she had knocked something over in her haste, before she padded out of the den behind him. "It must be nice, heading out of the camp as often as you do," she said, catching up to him in few strides, "do you have a favorite place to go to when you're done gathering herbs?" She needed a couple moments to process his reply, before she continued the conversation. Besides, a serious conversation needed lulls here and there.
He trotted out of camp, eyeing the melting snow with worry, every now and then looking over his shoulder to see if Bearspirit was following. He rolled her question around in his mind for a moment. “Not really, usually I just go for a walk or collect more berries.” He smiled. “Right now we need more mint.” He commented absently, mostly to himself.
Following his glances, Bearspirit's ears twitched - it just looked odd to see all this snow melting. She hated it, everything part of her was screaming that this was unnatural. But what could she do? Rolling her shoulders to push those thoughts away, she turned her attention to Cinnamonpaw paw. "That sounds nice," she purred, her whiskers twitching ever so slightly, "I'll probably just be a tag-along on this trip. I'm not the best when it comes to herbs and identifying them." Although there was a tinge of self-deprecation in her voice, she tried to cover it up with another rumble of a purr. "But it'll be nice to stretch my legs - I don't really leave the camp, if I'm being honest."
“That’s fine, I can use the company.” He purred, flicking the tip of his tail as they continued on their way. He said nothing—still a bit worried he would say something idiotic—and enjoyed the distant sounds of the earth. This is what he loved about the world. The beauty of it all. He was filled with a light happiness that not even the melting snow could diminish. WinterClan would get through this, no doubt, they were a strong Clan. He still worried of course, but he had his distractions.
After a few minutes of walking, he caught scent of mint. It was powerful yet oddly mouthwatering. Sitting next to the plant, he plucked a few of the delicate leaves, sticking on in his mouth to let the flavour sink in. “You want one? They’re really good, just don’t eat too many.” He impaled a leaf on his claw and held it out to Bearspirit with a large smile.
Bearspirit took the leaf and sucked on it, letting out a purr as the taste filled her senses. It seemed a bit silly now, but she had always believed that medicine cats used herbs for treating others, not for just the enjoyment of the taste. But she wasn't going to complain. "It's refreshing," she said, her tail sweeping around her paws, as she sat, "I have to ask, though, how do you remember all there is to herbs? Like mint, for example. How do you remember the properties and whether to avoid eating too much?" She was sure that there were even more herbs that had yet to be identified, but even so, it was staggering amount to remember at this time. "When you were a kit, did you ever show any signs of being a medicine cat? Did it come naturally to you, the herbs and the healing?"
After wearing out the taste, he swallowed the lead and licked his lips. “Well, eating too much of everything isn’t good to begin with. You eat too much prey, your stomach will hurt, you eat too much mint, you might also get a stomach ache. Though, they aren’t too bad. As for the properties, at first I just repeated them until they stuck into my brain. Now it kinda comes naturally, but I still struggle sometimes.” He mulled over her next question as he picked up the leaves, trying to hold them between his teeth so they wouldn’t touch his tongue.
”I’ve always been drawn to it, really. I always found the life of a soldier unappealing. I hung out around the medicine-cat’s den a lot . I’m sure Mistyviel was always somewhat annoyed at my lingering.” He chuckled.
For a moment, Bearspirit felt a small prickling of feeling defensive for the "soldier life," but her ears flicked and she forced the feeling away, as she swallowed the leaf. Cinnamonpaw wasn't ragging on her or that kind of life - there was no need for that kind of reaction. "Are you happy with your choice?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she watched him work. Paying close attention to what he was doing, she stood up and copied his movements, wanting to be at least a bit useful. Bearspirit didn't want to hurt any of the mint leaves - who knew what special properties it held or how important it was. "I don't mean to get too deep all of a sudden and make you consider everything you've done up until this point, but I'm always curious to see the differences between separate life paths."
Without any hesitation, he responded, so sure of himself. “Yes, I love it. I don’t regret it one bit.” He purred, speech a bit muffled from the mint leaves in his mouth. Padding softly, not enjoying the feeling of half melted snow and mushy dirt underneath his paws, he made his way back towards WinterClan. “Do you want to collect berries with me after I put these back.” He asked cheerfully. “I—I mean, you don’t have too, just thought I’d ask.”
“I would love too!” Bearspirit replied, a bit too enthusiastically, as she roused herself from her thoughts. “Sorry I’ve been so quiet, I feel as though I’ve forced you to take over the conversation,” she continued, falling into step with him. “But yes, I would be more than happy to help, I’m at your service,” Bearspirit purred.
“And..um… thanks, for answering my questions. I think I understand a bit more, even if I am still on the fence,” she said, smiling, a bit embarrassed, through the mint leaves.
He flicked his tail happily as he padded passed Bearspirit, a little spring in his step. “Great!” He purred, slowly skipping towards camp. “Well, that’s good. Just give yourself some time to figure it out, is all.” Cinnamonpaw glanced back at the she-cat, giving her a warm smile as they neared the heart of WinterClan. “Oh, and it was no problem at all! Nobody really approaches me much nowadays anyway. Unless it’s for medicine-cat stuff, of course.” He let out a soft laugh, “I don’t mind too much, though. Gives me more time for other things.”
