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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Aspenstar hadn't exactly meant to walk all this way when she set out for her evening stroll. However, when her feet left the NightClan camp, she found herself lost in thought. This wasn't necessarily unexpected; the feline had a lot on her plate. The tensions in her life were only amplifying by the day. Larkspur was doing an excellent job at being a mother, but the deputy knew that Aspenstar's heart would never truly be hers. No matter how closely the two slept, furs intertwined, no matter the fact that there was a part of the leader who loved her, Larkspur was a way to pass the time. Her heart belonged, no, it ached for someone else. She'd sent him on mission several weeks ago. She had to; she was falling too far for the married tom. The distance, she hoped, would destroy the longing. It hadn't, though. Instead, the longing consumed her, made her angry, chipped away at the remaining parts of Aspendust that still lived within her. The further he was the hotter her desire for him to be close. It was stupid; how could she do that? It had started so innocently, what had made her fall in love? She had to snap out of it, but how ? get a new girlfriend that's how aspen
She had been lost in thought for hours, apparently, as the sun was starting to rise over the horizon. Snapping into focus, the leader's eyes widened; where was she? She blinked a few times, before slowly recognizing the territory around her. Was this... SummerClan? How in the hell had she ended up in... SummerClan? Confusion washed across her half-blind gaze... It was then that she heard footsteps behind her.
Oh, for God's sake, she thought to herself. This could easily be very bad. She had no reason to be tresspassing on the SummerClan territory, but it seemed like she'd have to think fast... With a sigh, the small leader stopped and turned around to face the feline who had been following her. "Hi there...." she meowed sheepishly with a wave of her tail.
Post by goldcrest on Sept 18, 2021 20:37:34 GMT -5
Sunfreckle had always been one for early morning walks. She enjoyed watching the sunrise, hearing the birds sing to each other in the distance, feeling the occasional morning dew between her toes. She liked being one of the first to wake, it always felt like she had the whole territory all to herself. The optimism, the energy, it was always short lived, but she liked to enjoy it while she could. The gloom would set in later, the skipping heartbeats and the out of control thoughts. They could wait.
After a quick drink from the nearby river, taking a moment to watch the way the water tumbled past before moving along. There was probably watermint around, something she'd remind herself to collect later as a little extra help for Vulturemalice. Sometimes she wished it were her in that spot instead, but moments later she'd remember she had only herself to blame. That life could have been hers, it was for a while. But she had been too unsure, too overwhelmed even though she'd just started.
A voice startled her. Usually, nobody was out at this time. Nobody that she'd run into, at least. She crouched, weary yet curious. A she-cat stood before her, dusty pale fur, and as she turned around to face Sunfreckle, she was met with mismatched eyes. This was not a Summerclan cat, she knew, but she couldn't bring herself to be upset about the very obvious trespassing. She'd never been one for border disputes.
"I love your eyes," she'd said these words before, at a different place and a different time. But she wasn't there anymore, and she wasn't the sparkled eyed apprentice either. "I mean--what are you doing here? I don't think I've seen you before." With a shake of her head, taller now, she approached. Sunfreckle wasn't threatening, couldn't be even if she tried, but there was still a demand in her voice that couldn't quite be ignored.
She was stunned at first by the compliment, her eyes widening even further. Then, a half-smile settled on her face. "Thank you," she meowed with a flick of her tail. "No one's said anything nice about them since the one stopped working." She let out an awkward laugh, an easy charm about the way she spoke. The story of the thin line that disrupted her green eye was a story for another day.
When the she-cat approached, Aspenstar had to look up to meet her gaze. The leader was tiny, and mostly non-intimidating herself. It was part of her whole thing; she didn't look like a threat, so you'd never know she was until it was too late. It was all part of her strategy, the strategy that had gotten her this far in life. She let out another awkward laugh.
"Well, about that..." she started, sheepishly glancing at the ground. "I didn't exactly mean to be here." Aspenstar could have lied, said she was coming to see Ratstar, but then she would have had to come up with a reason to visit the SummerClan leader. She didn't really have one; in fact, she really wanted as little to do with SummerClan as possible right now. Things were so complicated, especially now that Rosethorn had presumably returned to the clan. God, did she hope she didn't run into Rosethorn. She needed to get out of SummerClan territory, which left her with one option. Honesty it was.
"I've been a little... distracted. When I started this walk, it was last night and I was in my own camp. It seems I wasn't quite paying attention. If you want, you could escort me back to the border?" She tipped her head, her gaze once again focusing on the she-cat's as she offered another half-smile. "After all, I'd love the company of a pretty girl like yourself." The leader winked with a chuckle, before twitching the tip of her tail. "My name's Aspenstar, by the way."
Post by goldcrest on Sept 18, 2021 21:46:26 GMT -5
An accidental charmer, one could say. She threw the best compliments when it was unnecessary and floundered when she tried. Maybe it was the way they were almost torn from her throat, the way they weren't meant to be said in the first place, how they came suddenly and honestly. Sunfreckle didn't get too close, tried to relax her frame just a bit, even if she wasn't that wound up. The change in schedule was unexpected, but she couldn't say she minded. She enjoyed the freshness of it. After all, I'd love the company of a pretty girl like yourself. She could feel her ears heat up slightly, gradually. She'd always flailed under compliments, never quite knowing how to take them without some sort of deflection. She fell silent this time, the words disappearing before she could even think to say them. A silence followed, lasting only as long as it took Sunfreckle to find her words again.
"Right—of course, I can. Aspen. . . Star." Oh. She was a leader. That made everything so much worse. Better? Worse. "I can do that." She beckoned Aspenstar along, taking the lead.
"So. . . where do you come from? Sorry I'm not—I'm not too caught up on everything." The name was a little familiar, of course, but it had been so long since she'd payed mind about the activities of the other clans. She'd also been skipping Gatherings altogether. "Oh, I forgot to tell you my name! It's Sunfreckle," she pushed aside the branch of a bush, making way for her.
Sunfreckle wasn't the first cat to not know how to react to her flattery. In fact, she liked it when the object of her feigned affection blushed and looked away. It made her feel powerful to watch cats squirm; it meant that she was in control. She had an affinity for control.
"Sunfreckle," she meowed with a smile, avoiding the rest of her questions at first. "That's fitting," she meowed with an easy-going smile. She matched her stride, although she let the other cat stay half of a pace in front of her. "I'm from NightClan," she meowed after a moment. "It's quite a walk from here. It's a wonder I made it this far without realizing that this was absolutely not where I was supposed to be." She let out a soft laugh. "Fate must have wanted me here."
Post by goldcrest on Sept 18, 2021 22:53:57 GMT -5
That's fitting. She didn't think so, not really, but Sunfreckle didn't have the heart to disagree.
"Oh, yeah, that is a long way from here. It's fine, though, really," her voice was a little strained, uneven almost. She wasn't the biggest believer in fate, not anymore, not after everything she'd thought was meant to be sort of crashed and burned. Still, she didn't bother to disagree, instead letting them fall into silence. It was only filled by the approaching of the river, the one that stretched it's way around Summerclan's camp and formed a natural barrier. If she wasn't sitting by the seas, she was usually sitting there, watching the water rush past. She liked to think of the sea as its home.
"There's a crossing over here," she gave a half-mumble, words quiet and soft, "not too far, don't worry." She was torn between rambling Aspenstar's ears off, talking about random things like the weather or herbs or funny childhood stories, but she was respectful enough to keep quiet. As a young child, before she thought she wanted to become a medicine-cat, she'd wanted to be leader. Someone great, someone respected. She had always admired them, even when she figured out that the job simply wasn't for her.
She smiled at her, the charming little half-smile that was never too far from the leader's face when she was in public. In private, Aspenstar was significantly less cheerful; instead of a smile, the leader often carried a grimace. Such was life, though, when you lived in daily scorn of the stars. That side of her, though, was closed off to most. Part of her skill was that other's bent to her will; she was a queen whose royal subjects never turned away from her beck and call. Such a skill would have been challenged, if Aspenstar admitted that she really wasn't as friendly as she seemed. Being friendly didn't bother her, though; it was just another means to satisfy an ends. What her ends were in this circumstance, though, were unclear.
"I appreciate your kindness. SummerClan has always been warm and welcoming to me," she meowed with a flick of her tail. This time, there was no deception, no false truth intertwined in the false prophet's words. She was genuine; SummerClan was her first ally. Ratstar had been the tom who had walked her through her first major decision about Phantomfox and Rosethorn. Sure, that had backfired, but the tom's warmth towards her had been unending. At least she hadn't wandered into the middle of an enemy clan.
She blinked a few times, following in tow. Her head tilted in curiosity as she followed. She had no way to know that Sunfreckle was debating whether or not to talk her ear off, but she was going to decide for her, I think. "While we walk, why don't we get to know each other a little better?" she asked with a twitch of her tail. "Rules of the game are simple: for every question you answer, you get to ask another. They don't have to be related. It's just a fun way to pass the time. They can be as deep or as shallow as you want." Her tail twitched; she'd played this game for a long time in multiple ways. It was one of her favorites, and NightClan cats were intimately aware of it. "I'll start. Have you been in SummerClan your whole life?"
Post by goldcrest on Sept 20, 2021 20:38:24 GMT -5
Sunfreckle offered a smile back, effortless and natural yet still tinged with nervousness. It had become increasingly hard to do that, to smile with her eyes, and that much easier to give a thin-lipped one, all forced and false. Aspenstar's voice was sweet, not quite soft, but friendly and warm--different than the Summerclan type of warm, which was all pretty flowers and sunlight and a warm breeze. She smelled a hint of pine.
"Yeah," she chuckled, "we do have a reputation to uphold." A lighthearted nod of her head, half-way the space between a giggle and a smile. Sunfreckle led them to a few stepping stones, slippery with water and algae but big enough that it was difficult to fall off. They were similar to the ones in the west river except the water was faster and deeper, and the stones were wider. When the river was calm, with hardly a tremor on its surface, it was a good place to sit and fish, or watch the marine life below. She let Aspenstar go first. While we walk, why don't we get to know each other a little better? Her ears twitched in acknowledgement. Strange question for a cat she was supposed to be escorting to the border, but she supposed it was just simple small talk. It could have been something more, and Sunfreckle would be lying if she said she minded.
"Oh--well, uhm, yeah! Born and raised, I haven't really been anywhere else." She would shrug if she could, so instead she settled with a half-smile and a flick of her tail. "It's lovely, really, it is! But I've always wondered what life in other clans is like." They were side-by-side now, with Sunfreckle determined to keep the pace. Absently, she matched their pawsteps--something she always tended to do no matter who she was with.
"I guess my question would be," she paused, giving an uhmm of thought, "favourite way to pass time? I really like visiting the gardens--so many pretty flowers, and I like to see if I can name them all."
Aspenstar noticed the anxiousness of the she-cat, and there was a part of her that was made very sad by it. She understood, yes, why a warrior may be weary of her, but she was trying her best to be as non-threatening as possible. For once, she was mostly innocent, if she had malicious intentions, they were as yet unclear even to her. Yet, the other was still wary. She wasn't sure why there was a small part of her that was disheartened by this, but perhaps it was because there was a small part of her that wished she was just Aspendust again, a normal cat. Even then, though, wouldn't there still be cause for the other to be wary? After all, no matter what status she held, she was still an outsider, an intruder, a potential threat. No white flag or vow of cautious innocence could change that. It was a conundrum, and she didn't know quite what to do about it. So, she did nothing, instead compartmentalizing the entire train of thought with a single blink.
"I think we all have a bit of wanderlust," the leader admitted after a moment with a nod. "I'm lucky in that way. All I have to do is make up a reason and I can travel wherever I needed to go. I remember, though, how small the world felt when I'd never seen life outside." Her tone was sympathetic and honest; she did remember when her world had walls she couldn't climb. No matter how happy she was, she had still been stifled by the fact that NightClan was the only thing she knew.
"What an interesting question," she meowed, her tail tip twitching back and forth. "Well, if you ask my clanmates, they'd say this game is my favorite way to kill an evening." She offered a slight chuckle, then sighed. "But, really, my favorite way to spend the night is watching the stars. There's something so fascinating about them, the way they shift through the sky. There's a million stories in those stars, and, not to brag, but NightClan has some of the best spots to see them. There's something particularly magical about watching the stars from the top of the waterfall, a sea of pine trees below you, the sound of water moving... It's lovely. Peaceful."
Aspenstar's ears pricked at the mention of the gardens. "I've heard such good things about the gardens here, but Ratstar's never had the chance to show me them." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice, but it was quickly neutralized. Now, it was her turn to ask a question....
"What's your least favorite chore?" she then asked with a tip of her head. "Between you and I, mine is patrolling the SunClan border. Sure, Littlestar and I are friends, but there's something so unnerving about looking over at all of the ash."
Post by goldcrest on Sept 22, 2021 19:01:29 GMT -5
She sighed, quiet and almost dreamy. She would love to do that, but she loved her clan too much to just up and leave. She could imagine, briefly, a time in the far future where it's just her and the world ahead, where she's made peace with herself and has crossed the border and didn't look back. There was nothing stopping her but herself.
There's something particularly magical about watching the stars from the top of the waterfall, a sea of pine trees below you, the sound of water moving... It's lovely. Peaceful. She blinked, awe in her eyes as curiosity grew. Summerclan had a good view of the stars, but she had no doubt that Nightclan was even better. Sunfreckle purred. She was not so much an evening fan than a morning fan, but if she could sit and watch the stars all day, she didn't think she'd complain too much. When she was a bit younger, her dad would try to teach them to her, tell the stories of the constellations and their ancestors among them, and she'd always forget. Which star was which, what they meant, she couldn't tell you. But they were pretty to look at, so far from the troubles of the ground.
"Oh!" Her ears perked up a little, "They're wonderful!" Her steps turned into bounces, "Maybe you'll see them one day!" Sunfreckle would love to show her, to drag her around and point out every favourite spot and pretty thing she could see—but she'd always been a stickler for the rules, and she was pretty sure showing another clan's leader around their territory wasn't the best option. Or, well, what was the harm, really? They were at peace with Nightclan, and Aspenstar seemed fairly nice. Easy-going, friendly. She didn't bring it up.
"Least favourite chore? Well—I've always hated hunting," her voice grew softer, almost a whisper as if it were some terrible secret. "They always just seem so sad, and in pain! Besides, I'm awful at it, I really don't know how I passed apprenticeship." She purred.
Aspenstar watched the she-cat with interest. There was something... charming? about her. No, that wasn't the right word. She couldn't quite articulate the right word, not really, but Sunfreckle had her undivided attention. She watched her consider her answer to the question, a certain curiosity hinting at the corners of the leader's mind. The look in Sunfreckle's eye was cute, but the attention she commanded of the leader wasn't simply attraction. No, it was something more than that. There was something in Aspenstar that wanted to keep her talking, wanted to know more about her. This was odd; Aspenstar was known for her casual indifference towards most, so why was there a part of her that Sunfreckle was ... important? She blinked away the thoughts, but the looming feeling carved at the corners of her mind.
"I hope so," she meowed in response, her tail flicking across the ground. "I think I'd find them magical, the same way I found the sky magical the first night I was promoted to apprentice." She offered a smile at the fleeting memory; that night, she had felt StarClan so strongly. It had been moons since Aspenstar had felt the prescence of her ancestors at all. She almost missed the faint comfort that was brought by knowing that someone out there, somewhere in the great beyond, had your back. Aspenstar had learned the hard way that the stars didn't care, but there was a part of her that longed for those simpler times.
Amusement flicked in her gaze when Sunfreckle spoke to her about hunting. There was something sweet about her concern for the pain of prey; it suggested a certain goodness that Aspenstar had long lost. She couldn't say she'd ever felt bad about hunting, but these days, she didn't feel bad about much of anything. There was quite literally a growing pile of skeletons in her closet, and she had no problem with it. Yet, this delicate creature in front of her was concerned about something so silly as how dinner feels before it is eaten. Peculiar.
"Between you and I, hunting isn't my strong suit either. Certainly not fishing, at least. I tried once, and let's just say, the water was awfully cold that night." At one point, she had been embarrased by the memory of being dragged into the water, of losing her first life. Now, she treated it with the same longing as she treated the stars; she wanted to go back to the days where her biggest problem was a giant fish. "I'm sure you're not as bad as you think, though," she then added, offering her a nod.
"You didn't ask me a question," she then meowed with a slight tease. Not that she particularly minded; the she-cat was entertaining enough to Aspenstar that she didn't really need the distraction of a question to answer, but she almost felt bad if she hounded Sunfreckle with no opportunity for the other to hound her right back.
Post by goldcrest on Sept 29, 2021 21:03:51 GMT -5
Most wouldn't give Sunfreckle a passing glance—she was someone to be in the background of movies, a one-off side character and, if she were lucky, maybe the moral support of something. She never made it past the polite small-talk phase with most people. Maybe that was why Summerclan hadn't quite felt the same since she came back, wasn't quite the home she remembered. It could be the greyness of adulthood. Colours weren't as bright as they used to be. But she liked the way Aspenstar looked at her like she was the most interesting thing in the world, like she was someone worth getting to know.
"Oh, my first day out was like that. I never realized Summerclan territory was so big, and I was so worried I would never explore it all." She ended with a laugh, a light and bubbly sound. I'm sure you're not as bad as you think, though. She gave an uneven smile. It was strange, that hearing those words from her made Sunfreckle a little more confident, like she could actually do it, and do it well.
"I'm not to keen on the taste of fish, but I do like to watch them instead. I've always wondered what it's like to be one, as silly as it sounds. I like sitting by the water—you should see our Seas, seems like they go on forever and the sunsets are just wonderful." Her sentences could never stay short, always had to evolve into some sort of anecdote or story. She remembered giving her mother so many headaches as a kit, rambling on for hours about anything she found even the slightest bit interesting. She liked sharing a part of herself with others, as dangerous as it was, didn't mind the vulnerability or the way her heart was always on her sleeve. There was always the naivety that nothing would ever go wrong with it, and to be fair, she hadn't yet been proven wrong. Hadn't had the chance.
"Whoops! Alright, let's see," she let out a slight hum of thought, "if you could live anywhere else, in the entire world even, where would you go? I've always wondered what's beyond Summerclan's south sea."
