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.
The days and weeks had passed too quickly for Orchidpaw to keep track of, speeding by in a whirlwind of training and emotion and secrecy. She had met Crow at the beginning of her accelerated warrior training, and now she was on the eve of her warrior ceremony and the world was on the brink of leaf-bare. Things were better, and worse, than they had been at the first meeting.
Orchidpaw was more comfortable with clan tradition and customs now, and had grown immensely in her warrior training. They didn't want to keep her with the younger apprentices forever, so they had sped up her training, praising her propensity for combat. The white-she cat had passed on her knowledge to Crow, and they were both better now- though undeniably Orchidpaw was the better of the two.
However, she was still struggling to make friends. Her spare moments were spent out of camp with Crow, practicing fighting or traipsing around the forest and sight-seeing. She had a hard time overcoming her reputation as a solitary she-cat, and she still struggled to open up to the light-hearted cats around her. Honestly, she preferred listening to Crow speak about The Syndicate and its new members, but that came at the cost of awkward and half-hearted relationships with her clan mates.
An idea had been growing in her mind for some time now. She knew she was a good fighter, even if she doubted herself. The edge of her trauma had been dulled from her blossoming friendship with Crow, who was equally burdened, but she still didn't have closure. Rosepaw was a little nicer now, but still held her at a leg's distance. Underneath all her frustration, the idea of vengeance had been simmering, and it was close to boiling over. No matter how much she tried to forget it, there was a gnawing urge to avenge her parent's deaths. Now she was fully decided, and she only needed to see if Crow would come with her.
She waited for him at their usual meeting place, her slender, long-legged form wrapped in golden sunset light. As usual, she perked up when she saw Crow, and she gave him a bright smile. The scar on her face was fully healed now, a pale line across her snowy features. "Hey, you. How's the gang today?"
Once upon a time, he would chase the days into night. Safety never came in the form of sunlight and puffy clouds, in the form of sharing tongues and being among clanmates; rather, it manifested in the cover of darkness, where he was but a void against the starry night sky. He could move in secrecy and shadow, and he could choose his own solitude instead of be relegated to it. Lately, he found the opposite to be true, wanting to sink his claws into the last reaches of disappearing light and hold it in place. He didn't want the solitude anymore.
He didn't want to walk away, invite in the cold of night. He wanted his afternoons and the sunshine and his time with Orchidpaw.
Orchidpaw helped him in more ways than he thought she realized. It went deeper than just a mentorship, than simply her passing along the tactics passed to her, and he hadn't figured out a way to repay her in kind. They would talk throughout their evenings-- at first, she would fill the intermittent lapses in conversation, but lately it has been Crow taking over more of that-- and he would describe the places he discovered in his wanderings when they were too far to take her with him. But as surely as her scar had visibly healed, his own wounds that had splintered his heart had begun to heal themselves, anger replaced by hope and optimism. He still exuded that familiar warmth, but it was different now. Healing instead of destructive. Inviting rather than caustic. He owed that to Orchidpaw.
He basked in the brightness of her smile. "Hey," purred Crow, "They're doing well. Yumemi has been showing me a little about herbs lately, but she was being bratty today-- her words, not mine-- so Hawthorne sat on her. Legend has it he's still there to this day. How's SummerClan?" He knew enough about the way her eyes twinkled to know when there was something veiled that she intended to bring up, but he'd also learned that she would broach those subjects when she was ready to discuss them.
The waning light didn't frame him the same way it did her, but it did enhance the luminosity of his burning eyes. It lanced off Crow's signature sable fur, highlighted the places where his pelt was parted by fresh cuts, but there was also a maturity developing in the way his chin was held and his limp became less noticeable. He resonated a new confidence that the scrawny, tussled cat she'd met at the border that fateful day never had.
Orchidpaw sat listening to him, enjoying the little stories he told her about his growing group. She had declined to meet them yet- she doubted she could get away with smelling like an entirely different group, since Crow's scent on her was already difficult enough to mask. One day she hoped to be able to meet them, though.
"Summerclan's fine," she responded after she finished laughing at his quip. "We're preparing for leaf-bare. We'll have lots of mouths to feed during the cold months." Orchidpaw didn't mind the cold, thanks to her longer fur, but it did mean going hungry more often than usual. For a bit, she chattered on about the developments going on- that she and her sister would be promoted soon. Crow knew by now that Rosepaw was still pushing Orchidpaw away, but like Orchidpaw, he had no idea why. It was one of the things that plagued Orchidpaw the most, the emotional distance from her littermate.
After a bit, she looked away, something she often did before bringing up something she was unsure of. "I had an idea- well, I've been thinking about it for a while. I was hoping you might help me." She took a moment to build up her confidence, trying to find a way to phrase her thoughts. "I wanted... well, I want closure. I want to track down the rogues that killed my parents. I know... well, I know that I could take them down now." Saying "kill" aloud felt wrong, but it was what she was implying.
As usual, he was delighted to let Orchidpaw take the reigns in the conversation, interested in her clan life but also.. he just enjoyed hearing her talk. When she really got going, her voice would inflect her serenity, and when it dropped low with those details that stripped some of her happiness, he would steal opportunities to lay his tail across her back. He was just being a comforting friend, that was all.
His thoughts were swiftly redirected from this, however, as she voiced what she really wanted to discuss. Crow remained quiet for a few moments, mulling over what she presented, though he couldn't say he was surprised by this information. Finally, he spoke. "I told you whatever you needed, I'm here. I meant that, and that also encompasses The Syndicate. We're ready when you are." He didn't feel the need to introduce the prospect to the other members of the gang; something told him they would readily agree, if they knew the circumstances like he did. He couldn't disguise the excitement that thrilled through him. After so long of offering chances for Orchidpaw to come and meet his ragtag family, at last she would be able to-- and this meant less goodbyes shared between them.
Orchidpaw was relieved that her proposition hadn't scared Crow off. She didn't want to seem like a bloodthirsty, raging vigilante, but there was that deep burning need for closure that simmered below her calm exterior. "Thank you," she said, a bright smile crossing her face. Impulsively, she pressed her nose to Crow's cheek in a quick, heartfelt gesture.
Then, flushing slightly, she pulled back, whiskers twitching. "We should probably get to training," she said. And they did. After they had finished, it was decided that Orchidpaw would come back tomorrow with her sister, who would obviously want to know who Orchidpaw would be traveling with if she was going to cover for her absence.
The following evening, at sunset, the sisters wound their way through the forest in silence. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Rosepaw to cover for her, but Orchidpaw had wheedled a promise out of her to do so. They appeared in front of Crow, similar in size and build and fur length, but that was it.
It was immediately apparent that the two littermates were entirely different cats. Orchidpaw was steady, with a serene blue gaze and a calm demeanor. Crow knew that well enough by now. Her sister was surprisingly beautiful, with a soft pelt of cream and gray, unmarred by the scar that crossed Orchidpaw's face. Where Orchidpaw was solid and meditative, Rosepaw was quick and perceptive, with her intelligent, flashing amber eyes.
"You're Crow?" She asked, in a slightly higher lilted tone than her sister. Obviously Rosepaw lacked the shyness that often overtook her sister. "You're the one who convinced my sister to go on this death trip?"
"He didn't convince me, Rosepaw," Orchidpaw protested, nose twitching. "I told you, it was my idea."
"Hmph." Rosepaw cast a guarded, but still faintly protective glance at Orchidpaw. Then she turned back to Crow. "Well, how are you going to guarantee her safety?"
In the same manner it did when she so much as glanced his way, his skin blushed a bright pink, thankfully hidden by his dark fur. He scrambled to regain his bearings for a few agonizing moments, but, with a meow of agreement, dove straight back into their daily training regimen.
He arrived at their rendezvous point earlier than normal, his heart a flutter for more reasons than one on this cloud-streaked evening. Dusk was beginning to settle around the time Orchidpaw appeared, her sister in tow, and immediately Crow could discern the obvious but also less so differences between them. Where Orchidpaw resonated her signature serenity, there was more defiance rolling off Rosepaw, a sharper wit and intellect barely concealed. She regarded him the way he'd first expected Orchidpaw to.
And she was quick to jump straight past the pleasantries. "I, uhhh.. Yes, I'm Crow, the one and only, except I'm sure there are a ton more out there named Crow or Crowkit or Crowpaw or whatever variation of warrior names get attached to it." It felt like he was speaking a hundred miles a minute, feeling as if Rosepae held him under a microscope. "Like Orchidpaw said," at her name his eyes darted to her, and Crow felt himself relax marginally, "this was her idea. I'm just the muscle. I, uh, I have my own group and there's quite a few of us. They'll be accompanying us the way there so no harm will come to Orchidpaw. I-- We will make sure of that. I promise you that, Rosepaw." Her gaze could have been a reflection of his own; amber locked upon amber, through which the gravity of Crow's promise shine bright and true.
Rosepaw relaxed slightly, letting out a melodramatic sigh. "Well, that makes me feel a little better," she said, her usual friendliness returning faintly to her tone. "And not that I'm any help, but I'm glad there will be others there to protect us."
"Us?" Orchidpaw turned to her sister, confusion coloring her tone as she looked between her and Crow.
"Yes, us. I'm going too. I decided on the way here."
The white she-cat twitched her whiskers, tail drifting back and forth as she cleared her throat. "Rosepaw, I don't think-"
Rosepaw shook her head, cutting her sister off. "They were my parents too, Orchid. Look, I know... I know I can't fight. But I deserve to see this through to the end."
Orchidpaw and Rosepaw locked eyes for a long, quiet moment before Orchidpaw finally nodded, turning to Crow with an apologetic look. "Is that okay?" She asked. "Rose won't be any trouble. I can make up for the extra food we'll need."
He was quiet during their exchange, though surprise glinted in his gaze, and then a slightly amused smile pulled across his muzzle at Orchidpaw's bashful offer. "You don't need to worry about that. There's enough of us that we shouldn't be short on prey, and it doesn't look like Rosepaw eats that much anyway." His whiskers gave a good-humored twitch as he addressed Rosepaw now, "You and Orchidpaw are welcome with us any time. I'm happy that the two of you will be able to make this trip together." And he was, genuinely, despite the underlying circumstances.
Crow knew the worries that plagued his friend, and he had sat with Orchidpaw and listened to her wondering if Rosepaw's frostiness would ever thaw. He also knew enough to see that underneath Orchidpaw's calm facade, she would be brimmed with the same hope that he held close to his own heart.
"Meet me at the shoreline tomorrow. I'll round up my members and we can all leave together as a unit," he instructed. Crow cast a last glance between the pairs, gaze hovering on the familiar blue of Orchidpaw's, before he turned to leave. He didn't know what types of dangers he was signing himself, or his group members, up for, but he couldn't deny the electric excitement surging through him.
we can end here and I'll make the group thread today!
