Are You Lonely? [Closed]

Willowpaw took a deep breath. The fire had chased SkyClan into the Twolegplace a day ago, and she should probably go check on everyone else. She couldn’t do much with helping herself at the moment, but she could help someone else.

Getting up, she went over to where the makeshift Nursery had been set up. Her eyes turned towards one of the kits, Yarrowkit. “Hey there, how’re you doing?” She mewed in a friendlu manner.

It had not been a very pleasant few days. In fact, Yarrowkit would probably say it was the worst few days of her young life. Just when she thought she might’ve been getting used to clan life, the only home she’d ever know had been cruelly ripped away from her in a blaze of fire.

Yarrowkit tried not to think about it so selfishly. Everyone in SkyClan had lost a home, after all, not just her. But such thoughts did not make her sad feelings go away. Really, it only made her sadder, to think of how much badly everyone felt too.

Also not helping her negative feelings was the fact that she was currently in a very unfamiliar and strangely smelling place. It held none of the warmth of the Nursery she was used to. Trying not to breathe too much of the unpleasant mix of strange smells around her, Yarrowkit tried not to cry.

But the moment a familiar head poked in, and Willowpaw asked her how she was doing, Yarrowkit couldn’t help it. She burst into tears, wailing. “I-I d-don’t… like it h-here!”

Willowpaw jumped slightly, startled by Yarrowkit's loud response, before moving to comfort the poor kit. Her entire life had been uprooted without her ever seeing what it was like outside the camp, and it was possible they would have to move again later on.

"It's fine to feel that way. I don't really like it either, smells too Twoleg-ish here. But hey-once the fire stops, maybe we can move back!" Willowpaw suggested with a grin. It probably wouldn't happen, but Yarrowkit was a kit, after all. "Even if that doesn't happen, we can always find a way to rebuild." She added, this time with more confidence.

Yarrowkit was so immersed in her own sorrow, she didn’t even notice Willowpaw’s sudden jump. She did notice when the older cat started to speak though. Sniffling, she tried to calm herself down enough to hear what she was saying. “O-Oh.. so that’s the w-weird smell. Two-legs stink!”

The kit had never seen or smelled one before. Then again, she hadn’t really seen or smelled much of anything, really. She’d heard about some of the different scary-sounding predators they had to look out for from some of the older cats, but all she had were stories. Finding herself briefly distracted by curiosity, she asked, “Have you seen a two-leg, Willowpaw?”

At the suggestion that they might move back, Yarrowkit perked up. “Really? When do you think we can move back?” Rebuilding sounded like a lot more work, but anything would be better than staying in this stinky place, she thought. “I hope we’ll get to leave soon.”

"Nope, I've never seen a Twoleg either." Willowpaw replied. "I haven't seen much either-but hey, that's probably the only smell this could be. If it was anything else, we'd probably be running by now." She grinned.

Hearing Yarrowkit's next question, Willowpaw smiled. "Yup, I think there's the possibility. Hopefully the fire'll pass without burning down too much of the forest. Then we can go back to our normal lives..." She smiled, green eyes glinting.

“Oh.” Yarrowkit’s head dipped in disappointment. Well, she supposed Willowpaw wasn’t that much older than her, after all. Her next words made the disappointment disappear in a flash of anxiety though. Her big green eyes grew bigger as she asked worriedly, “Y-you’re just k-kidding, right? We’re n-not gonna have to r-run again, are w-we??” 

Yarrowkit had barely survived this journey. She didn’t want to go running anywhere other than back to the familiar Nursery in their old camp. Even then, she’d prefer a nice, safe and slow walk if possible. One far away from any smelly two-legs preferably.

The idea of being able to return to their home was a very nice one. Yarrowkit found herself smiling too, as she pictured it. “T-that would be nice... What would you do first, Willowpaw? I think I’d take a long nap in my favorite sleeping spot in the Nursery.” In her dream, it was still exactly where she’d left it, unburnt by flames.

"Eh, don't worry. I'm sure you won't get hurt. None of us will let you." Willowpaw assured Yarrowkit. She was absolutely certain that many cats in the clan would rather get killed than let a kit get hurt.

"When we get back...I'll go hunting. I like hunting in the woods. Even though the first time I tried I got attacked by an owl." Willowpaw replied to the last question. She said the last part in a whisper-no point scaring Yarrowkit any more.

Yarrowkit calmed down a little at the reassurance though it introduced a new worry to the kit’s mind. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt either though.” Especially not for her. She’d feel terribly guilty if anyone got hurt because of her.

Hunting... Yarrowkit knew that was something she’d eventually have to do too, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about it yet. The thought only made her feel anxious, but Willowpaw sounded like she missed it as much as she missed her naps. “Why do you like hunting so much?” Maybe it was because she was busy thinking but she didn’t quite hear the last part of the cat’s sentence. “Sorry, did you say something about an... owl?”

"Well, I like hunting because it lets me contribute to the clan! I usually like to help chat with people as mental support-not that I don't need any myself-but that's usually less useful than hunting. Eating comes before chatting." Willowpaw responded. She opted to ignore Yarrowkit's previous message-after all, she didn't have a good response for it. She can't exactly guarantee no one will get hurt.

And oops, she definitely couldn't say that out loud... "Oh, you know of owls? They're large birds with round faces that can probably carry off a kit. I doubt any will attack us, though. We can fight them off! My Mentor Swansong chased off the owl that attacked me last time." Willowpaw explained to Yarrowkit. She was probably using very difficult language...Oops.

Yarrowkit wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that Willowpaw seemingly ignored her comment, but she was soon distracted by the hunting topic. The older cat’s explanation made her nod, but only made her worry grow. It was something she’d heard before. Contributing to the Clan was something everyone knew to do, even kits like her. Though there wasn’t exactly much she could do right now. Yarrowkit’s fear was that she wouldn’t be able to do much even in the future. 

As she found herself voicing it out loud, she couldn’t quite look Willowpaw in the eye as she asked, “B-but what if y-you’re terrible at hunting? What can I do t-then?” Yarrowkit didn’t seem to realize the slip in her question, too consumed by the worry that she’d be forever useless to her clan. 

Yarrowkit tried to picture what Willowpaw was describing, but as the description sounded rather scary, she decided to give up on that with a slight shudder. “T-they sound s-scary.” It was amazing how her ClanMates could fight against something like that. Eyes wide in amazement, she said, “Wow, Swansong must be super strong!”

Ah. So that was what's happening here. Willowpaw prayed she was doing the right thing as she looked Yarrowkit in the eye in return. "Even if you can't hunt, you can contribute in some other way. Maybe you'll learn to use herbs and become a Medicine Cat, or an assistant to the Medicine Cat! Yarrow is a type of herb, I think, so maybe you'll become a good Medicine Cat assistant! Or maybe you'll find yourself to be talented at fighting and learn to defend yourself, and clanmates, from owls and other cats! Or maybe you'll become someone who helps with emotional support, like comforting cats when they're upset!"

"There's endless possibilities. Even if you can't hunt, there's many things you can do!"

Willowpaw finished up her long speech and sat back, watching Yarrowkit anxiously.

Yarrowkit held her breath for a long moment after her question, wondering what Willowpaw would day. Though she knew her friend was not a mean cat, she somehow still half-expected that her question would result in the older cat saying there was nothing to do then, and that she’d be useless if she couldn’t hunt right. But Willowpaw’s answer what nothing like she’d expected. Her friend seemed to have realized the truth of her question (Yarrowkit still didn’t realize she let it slip herself) and comforted her fears. “Wow, really? A medicine cat? You think I could do that?” 

Yarrowkit hadn’t had much experience with the Medicine Cat of her clan, but she knew when someone got hurt or sick, that was who they went to. “Isn’t that for r-really important c-cats?” Certainly not for someone like her, who got scared about every little thing and tripped over her own paws a lot. 

“I never knew Yarrow was an herb..” But maybe she had a chance? She did like the dies of healing cats better than fighting scary owls or two-legs. Yarrowkit wasn’t sure she’d ever be any good at that, despite Willowpaw’s words saying so.

“Yeah, helping other cats by comforting them sounds nice.” Yarrowkit smiled. “I’d be just like you, Willowpaw!” Even Yarrowkit could do something like that. Probably. She worried a little that she might say the wrong thing.... 
Well, maybe she’d get better at choosing words later on. Willowpaw could help, maybe.

"Of course you can become a Medicine Cat if you have the determination! You just need to learn about the herbs and their uses. I think they're pretty easy to remember. Some are for the cat to chew, some are for you to chew and put on the other cat...Uh, something like that. As you can see, I won't be becoming a Medicine Cat anytime soon." Willowpaw admitted awkwardly.

"It's not for very important cats, it's the title that makes cats important." Willowpaw explained to Yarrowkit. "You certainly have the potential to do so. From my knowledge, if you're more careless you tend to become more careful about not being careless, thus becoming less careless." The sentence probably didn't make much sense to Yarrowkit-it barely even did to Willowpaw-but she didn't have a better way to phrase it.

"Yup! Being able to help others instead of harming them is an amazing thing!" Willowpaw added. She grinned, happy that Yarrowkit seemed to be more confident now.

The confidence in Willowpaw’s words blew Yarrowkit away. Though part of her knew it was probably just the older cat comforting her by saying nice things, it was still, well, nice to hear it. Willowpaw didn’t even know Yarrowkit all that well, considering the older cat was usually pretty busy with her training to be hanging around the Nursery too much. ...actually, maybe that was why she was saying all these nice things in the first place. She didn’t know Yarrowkit well enough to know how badly she’d likely mess up. 

Starting to deflate, she said, “Those m-must be hard to remember, if you can’t do it, Willowpaw. I d-don’t think I could do it, if you c-can’t.” It made perfect sense in Yarrowkit’s mind now. How could Yarrowkit possibly do something that stronger, smarter and generally more capable Willowpaw couldn’t? 

Willowpaw’s further explanations didn’t make thing better. They only made her more confused, and thus, even more worried about her ever possibly being capable of the title. “I... I’m sorry, I d-don’t get it. I’m n-not cut out f-for this, after a-all!” 

Confidence never lasted for Yarrowkit, unfortunately. Her default state was being anxious, so any confidence was very much temporary. Still, in the face of Willowpaw’s encouragement, she tried to think positive. “R-right. E-even if I can’t be a medicine cat, I can still h-help!” Probably. Hopefully.

"I'm sure you'll manage! I can't remember it because I haven't had the time to extensively study about herbs. What with Apprentice training and all that. I may actually try to learn more about herbs later on." Willowpaw assured Yarrowkit. Yarrowkit wasn't exactly a confident kit, from what Willowpaw knew of her. Willowpaw had to be careful what she said.

"I guess that sentence might have been too confusing...I was thinking along the lines of 'if you're aware you are usually careless, you will consciously try to not be careless, thus you are less likely to be careless'." Willowpaw explained her previous statement to the best of her ability. "So, even if you're careless you can still become a Medicine Cat."

Willowpaw nodded in approval as Yarrowkit made her last remark. "That's right, you can always help in your own way!" She exclaimed, encouraged by Yarrowkit's words.