[Captain]

Originally Posted by CandyFlossCat

Ebonypaw swept his tongue through his fur, making it glisten as he smoothed it. Maybe a bit too much, as he had a habit of doing that sometimes. Realizing it'd been a few minutes, he stopped his grooming. He didn't want to see lashing claws or teeth tonight. The glow of the moon was ocassionally dulled by drifty thin clouds. He shivered. Clouds lazily flew threw the sky, their presence more ominous than ever at a Gathering, a place of truce. The Angora swallowed, only to find himself glancing anywhere..except the leaders. He glanced at RiverClan, WindClan (with distain and caution), ShadowClan, SkyClan, he couldn't bring himself to look at his mentor or the leaders. Ebonypaw was unnerved by his mentor's reply, but he gave a tiny nod. He trusted the tom to keep him relatively safe just in case. "I'll stick close, Flintheart." He mewed, dipping his head with respect as his mentor finished speaking. The tom finally drew his eyes to his mentor. That was a good place to rest his gaze. He kneaded the ground below him, trying to take tension off his shoulders. The thought of battle made him flex his claws. Fighting someone he knew, even beside his mentor, at a Gathering was his worst fear recently. This was supposed to be a time of peace. He swallowed and stared down at his paws. He chewed his lip, eyes glowing with nervousness. Ivorypaw would be fine. She would either avoid fighting or give it her all and risk injury. He could feel in his veins she'd be okay. Maybe a little banged up, but...she was Ivorypaw, she'd bounce back. Ivorypaw, sweet as she was, was dedicated, loyal, and brave when she wanted to be. Ebonypaw smiled at the thought. He nodded with agreement. "Yeah, even if they are loud..and very, very hyper, they're important." He mewed, nodding slightly as he thought about if he would ever want to have a kit or two. "Those are nice names." He mewed. Pitchkit and Jaguarkit sounded creative. Beechkit, Wavekit, and Spottedkit were also nice. "Heh, we'll sure have his paws full," Ebonypaw replied. The tom glanced up at the new ShadowClan leader, interested in what happened to Halestar and who that was. "Oh." He mewed, nodding. Goldenstar, he assumed, was the new leader. That'd take some getting used to, but it wasn't that interesting in the long run. New leaders came around every few moons when the current one lost their 9 lives. It was nothing new to him. He saw Caracalspirit smile at them, flicking his tail in reply as he kept his gaze off of WindClan, just in case.

Flintheart peered down at his apprentice, who sat beside him right now, for a moment in silence for replying. “Thank you, Ebonypaw, I appreciate that.” He said, returning the gesture of dipping his head to the younger male before turning his quiet, observant gaze back to the Seastones, where the tension and hostility between the Windclan and Thunderclan leaders was becoming thicker, making everyone, even in the other clans, uncomfortable and on edge to what would happen next. Some cats treated this like it was normal, continuing on with their conversations like nothing like going on, but then, he would notice, some wore expressions of fear and then hostility - just like the leaders. It unnerved him every so slightly and his claws unsheathed, digging into the loose dirt that was underneath him. Being fifty moons old, the male was not new to hostility and anger just as this, he had seen battle and war, cats dying right before his eyes in the grass by the claws of bloodthirsty enemies. The thought was one that did not help him sleep at night and just by glancing at Ebonypaw, he could tell that he wasn’t ready for this - he didn’t want this, despite knowing deep down this was what he was being trained for. Thankfully, the odd and scary tension that was consuming them began to fade when they went back to talking about other things. “Heh, I won’t argue there.” He murmured, “You always have to be on your toes when kittens are around.” Even though it was a common fact that the Burmilla did not like the younger generation, having only gained tolerance for Ebonypaw and his sister, Ivorypaw, through the moons, he did have a soft spot in his heart for tiny kittens - which not many cats knew since he almost never had any interactions with cats that young. “Indeed, it must’ve taken some thought to name all five of them.” Flintheart said with a lighthearted chuckle stirring from him, “Thankfully he was his mate, Talonfang, to help him - she’s a very nice shecat and Sproutwhisker seemed happier than ever after they met.” He remembered when Sproutwhisker would tell him about his beloved significant other, expressing how he was simply in love. Flintheart could, of course, not relate, but nonetheless, the tomcat liked to see the black-furred Riverclan male happy instead of brought down constantly because he was not clanborn. He drew away from his thoughts when Ebonypaw mewed and nodded beside him, acknowledging his words about Shadowclan’s new leader, which made the grey-furred male focus back on the Seastones before them, looking at the young new blood that Shadowclan had as their lead - he silently wished Goldenstar the best in the future moons. However, the calmed state that seemed to fall over the two abruptly snapped when Blazingstar, the Windclan leader, turned towards the crowd with his tail lashing furiously behind him. Anyone who follows Thunderclan are our enemies! The male leader’s words rang through the clearing, sending a wave of different emotions through everyone, from gasps to yowls of approval. Flintheart dipped his head to look at the ground as war was declared under the full moon between Thunderclan and Windclan, but Starclan did nothing - nothing at all. That just meant it was fate, destined for them to be enemies now. The Burmilla’s heart and soul laid with Thunderclan, despite having friends in other clans, so what he did now was what was best. He lifted his head, seeing Windclan an Thunderclan looking at each other with fury and death in each other’s eyes. His lips peeled back into a snarl as he glared at Windclan, even Hawkfeather, his own friend, as his tail lashed behind him now. “See you on the battlefield.” He muttered under his breath to no cat in particular, mostly being a threat to all of Windclan. “Your training will be solely battle training once we return to camp, Ebonypaw.” He declared to the younger tomcat beside him. Deep down, he hated that this had happened, but he was a warrior of Thunderclan and that came first now, always did. No matter the circumstances whenever.

Originally Posted by CandyFlossCat

"And my job is to keep you from over-worrying." She retorted, smirking slightly. She found it cute he worried so much about her, but she didn't like how much he seemed to be stressing over the gathering. "I know I will." She purred with fake pride, but she automatically began to snicker. The feeling there would be drama was strong in her gut, sitting there like a stone. Caracalspirit wouldn't know what was to come until the actual gathering, so she mustered up all the courage she could and continued on, her eyes shining. "Why thank you. You look quite handsome." She returned the compliment, not wanting to just take it without thanking her mate. That was just rude. She chuckled. "How romantic, Hawky." She said with a bit of teasing sarcasm. She nuzzled him with a purr. When her mate agreed to her area, she nodded and trotted to the area she'd chosen, sitting and gazing up at the leaders. She grinned. "ShadowClan got a new leader!" She told him with excitement, gesturing towards Goldenstar.

Hawkfeather smiled at his mate when she continued to reassure his worries as they continued talking. “It is certain that if you weren’t here, all my fur would fall out from stress.” He joked with his whiskers twitching in amusement, but in all seriousness, Carcalspirit was his rock - the one who calmed him when he was scared or on edge. The chuckles and snickers between them made all the tension of the clans seem to fade away and he couldn’t help but feel happy being here with his beloved under the full moon. The shecats eyes shined in the moonlight, making his whole body feel all warm and bubbly with love and affection for her, but he only shown a smile, knowing that the compliments from him were a bit much more and then. “I am glad you think so, my dear, I always try to look my best for the Gathering..” He said and casted a wink at the female, “..and for you too, of course.” The tan-furred male always felt proud of himself when he got praise from his mate, feeling like he had done just the right thing. Hawkfeather always did try his best to make her feel like a princess and adored when she saw him as romantic and not corny in any way, though he could tell that she was showing a bit of teasing sarcasm this time around, which made him roll his eyes and lightly nudge her jokingly. “You know you love me,” He teased, ears flicking as they found a spot amongst the crowd with Windclan. The young male sat down, resting his tail over his mates as he gave a softened yawn and closed his eyes for a moment in silence rest. He was tired, after training Harepaw all the day before, so he tended to doze off now and then. Hawkfeather was soon brought out of his small nap-like state when Carcalspirit exclaimed about something along the lines of Shadowclan having a new leader, which made his eyes flicker open and look up to the Seastones where all the clan leaders sat and she was correct - it wasn’t Halestar, but a tomcat that was originally the deputy. “Well, isn’t that something?” He said with a smile, “I wish Goldenstar the best.” The thin warrior smiled at his mate, feeling okay for the time-being, although this feeling was quickly drowned when their own leader, Blazingstar, turned abruptly to them with clear fury in his expression. Consider Windclan your enemy, Snowstar. The tomcat’s declaration of war rang through the area with such spitted hatred and disgust. Everything around Hawkfeather turned to chaos as cats uttered gasps of surprise and then there were growls and even yowls of agreement. He looked to Thunderclan, eyes widening in horror as his own friend, Flintheart, was glaring directly at him with his teeth bared, looking as fierce as the rest of Thunderclan, who glared and snarled along with Windclan back at them. His ears flattened against his head and despite all of this, he could not return the look of such hatred towards his own close friend. His tail wrapped around his mate protectively as he held her close to him, though his form was slightly shaking from nerves and fear. His eyes closed as he rested his chin on Carcalspirit’s head, trying to drown out this clearing that was so close to becoming a war zone scattered with blood.