🌊 Virtue [STARS 4300 ENTRY]

[cecro]

[STARS 4300]
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"You must be patient, you must be patient."

♆ Pt 1. - Impatience
♆ Pt 2. - Departure
♆ Pt 3. - Starting Over

VERY WIP

[cecro]

♆ Pt. 1 ♆
Impatience

Whipcoral was always an impatient cat growing up. Ever since he was a kitten, he continuously caused nothing but a ruckus all day. Wanting to do nothing but cause problems, unhelped by the other kittens joining in. And unhelped, by his inability to listen to scoldings from worried parents.

And this remained the same, as he came into his adolescent years. He was the biggest, most selfish kitten in his age group. His parents were never to blame, being so sweet, yet so stern with him, quickly wondering if they were the problem, and not parenting him properly. Even those who he befriended, and had some influence on him, ended up leaving as he only grew worse, even worse than their own behaviours and problems.

”Coral, you can't keep just... pouncing without any warning! I thought I taught you better.“ One of the cats teaching him cried, before continuing with their scolding. “It's like you're trying to maul those fish! You know that you're an inexperienced swimmer, you're going to end up drowning in the ocean one day!”

Scoldings, like that, would only ever get worse.

Scoldings of telling him to wait; telling him to wait for a good moment to pounce on a rabbit, or hook a fish out of the water, grew only more frequent. He began to fight against his peers with claws unsheathed, causing nothing but injury. It wasn't just the older cats who resented him, at this point, it became cats who might've been much, much younger than him!

Friendships with him would never last long, some cats would see him and consider him “cool”, but would leave once learning about how aggressive he was, on top of his impatience and eagerness to cause nothing but problems. He was able to put up a charming front, sure, acting confident and so sure of himself. But, he never really showed kindness to anyone, despite being surrounded by those who only wanted to help him grow as a cat.

Into his adult years, his impatience led to him becoming isolated. He never really valued learning to hunt, or learning to fight—he held little care for his vortex, outside of his own parents, who by this point, were growing old and needed to retire. He leeched off of the prey that the rest of his vortex worked so hard to catch, despite he himself never successfully catching anything that wasn't just a little caterpillar, or otherwise asleep.

Cats continued trying to teach him patience, but Whipcoral continued to ignore it. By that point, he was so sure of himself, that those who wanted to help were the problem. Whipcoral became known as nothing but ignorant, and was deemed useless. He became deemed overly egotistical, with the confidence he never lost, but the arrogance and impatience that only clung to his skull, promising never to let go of him.

And that he would never let go of himself, until he fled from the vortex, tired of all the scoldings he still deemed unwarranted.

[cecro]

♆ Pt. 2 ♆
Departure

There were many moments, that slowly led up to Whipcoral deciding to make his departure. After all, many cats who knew him would likely say it was inevitable—that it would always happen, no matter how much his parents begged. No matter how much he would lose, he was growing more distant with every interaction, even as literal years passed. There was going to be a breaking point eventually, and those who cared about him refused to believe it, filled with dread and sorrow watching someone who used to be so chipper as a kitten, now filled with nothing but rage.

He would never accept help from others. Some would offer new techniques for hunting geckos that he could maybe learn from, but he would only lash out, labeling it as mockery or simply taking out aggression for the sake of taking out aggression, no matter how nice the other cat was. Always yowling to his parents about pestering cats, who needed to leave him alone. Being so impulsive as he is, it was never a surprise that he ended up leaving.

“Coral? What's the matter, you've been acting so distant lately—“ whoever tried to ask, would be cut off by a sharp, violent snarl.

”Quit it with all the pestering, I swear to the stars!“ Whipcoral would always snap, but would never stop there, going off to ramble. “Are you going to just chatter to me about some useless crap? Because, if that's the case, I don't want to hear it!” He would finish, but the cat would already be gone, off to do something else.

And he would feel awful about it, one thing he would admit. But he never even tried to stop lashing out, brewing with nothing but pure anger towards everyone.

Eventually, at some point cats were debating why their vortex just lets him stay. He could only really hunt fish, due to his long sense of impatience towards everyone, and everything. But, that wasn't the main issue, that other cats had with him. It was mainly the aggression, that put other cats off. He refused to join along on patrols around the territory, but always did so with hissing and yelling, out of pure rage. Other cats grew to find him obnoxious, with all the snapping at others.

But, he wasn't entirely useless and lazy. He was willing to try to hunt, and tried his best each and every time, but consistently refused help from those who were more experienced, and genuinely wanted to see him improve. Whipcoral had always been kinder to those who offered help, but his tone was always laced with hints of aggression, leading to him becoming increasingly offputting.

”I noticed that your posture is... a little off...“ a cat would start, ”could I help you fix it a little? There's a few issues I noticed.“ They would finish, in such a kind tone. But Whipcoral never accepted the extra help.

”No, I think I should be alright, but thank you.“ Whipcoral would respond, though even if the words he used were deemed ”kind“, his tone was always laced with hints of aggression, as if he was about to blow up on the other cat.

However, his lack of willingness to accept help, turned into him ignoring those who spoke to him completely. Then, he stopped joining other cats who went out to hunt in the hopes of bringing back food. Instead, simply choosing to go on his own, despite his lack of skill, that could benefit from having at least someone to watch. Very rarely succeeding in bringing back anything, of which only soured his mood, and made him act out even more.

Eventually, though, Whipcoral got to a point where he was tired of cats asking to help him, or have him accompany them. Trying his best to act kind in his refusal, but lashing out, with little outlet to take out his frustration; frustration that was practically spilling out of him. Frustration that only ever lead to more isolation, to the point of avoiding his own parents, despite them trying so hard to treat him with kindness. Despite trying so hard to get through to him, and convince him to let others teach him what he was too impatient to learn when he was younger.

So, he made plans to leave the vortex, that he had once referred to as his home.

Whipcoral tried his hardest to keep these plans secret—truth be told, he didn't want to hurt his parents more than he already had, something he knew very well, and felt guilt, and anger towards himself for. That was why he hid them so cautiously. That was why he lied about “hunting”, to explore places to go off and run. That was why he would stay up until midnight, trying to find a cover-up by hunting and lying about him simply spending the entire day looking for prey.

Whipcoral's secret could not stay hidden forever. Some other cats followed him as he lingered along the outskirts of the rocky shore, and figured out what he had been plotting, for so long. And, word spread like wildfire, reaching his parents in not even a day of being found out.

They begged and begged for him to stay, so distraught at the knowledge that he wanted to flee from the vortex, but yet...

He simply could not listen.

[cecro]

♆ Pt. 3 ♆
Starting Over

After Whipcoral's brilliant idea, that he would run from his vortex, tired of all the scoldings he faced, he became filled with regret. Finally learning that he should have been more patient, now barely able to hunt, as a result of him never listening to what he was taught. Never even trying to learn from just observing his peers, who swiftly became such skilled cats compared to him, who never valued much of anything aside from himself. Who never valued maturing as a cat and growing more knowledgable, rather being so self-absorbed, making his parents wonder why their son was behaving in such a manner, even into his adulthood.

He wished that he could go back, and started over again. Yet, he was struck with the realization that he likely would not be accepted back, into what he used to call home. Maybe his parents would have welcomed him with open arms, if they were in charge. But that simply was not the case, and at this point, it never would be. They were never a high enough rank to become part of the vortex's council, and being so old, they likely would not suddenly climb the ranks high enough, to decide that all the cats he hurt should give him a second chance.

Whipcoral wished that he never befriended those cats when he was younger. He wished that he stuck around his parents and mentors more, to learn from them, and grow a better cat. But instead, he clung to the past, and stuck to the behaviours he learned from past friends for far too long, despite those friends having quickly come and gone. Despite those friends growing into better cats themselves, while Whipcoral was arrogant, rude, and too impatient to even try to learn from anyone, even his own parents at times.

Eventually, however, he found someone. A skilled cat, who had been exploring on their own as a loner, for most of their life. Someone who helped teach him everything, all over again, even after learning about what idiotic decisions lead up to his current predicament. Even after he sometimes lashed out, or said toxic things he immediately regretted afterwards, and came crawling to beg for forgiveness, alongside repeated apologies.

And he grew better, over time. After beginning to learn everything he should have, from when he was far younger, all over again, he proved himself to actually enjoy himself, when doing those things. Especially when trying to fight, with self defense mechanisms that he learned, or simply just tackling his new mentor, claws sheathed this time, and demonstrating all that he learned.

The two eventually had to part ways. Whipcoral needed to find a new place to seek refuge, and his mentor really just preferred living on their own, following wherever their heart took them. On the other paw, Whipcoral simply missed company, more than he expected. So, he set off to start anew, with new cats to call his family.

And a new group, to call home.