[Captain]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Gritting together his teeth rather irritably, the tall dark-furred oriental lead his clanmates throughout their territory to the familiar sandy beach, where ShadowClan was already awaiting them. It was raining again, and anyone who had any common sense would be able to see that the RiverClan leader was not in a good mood tonight. He didn’t want to be here. He hated these gatherings with a passion, although he’d never say it out loud. Truthfully, Pikestar had previously planned on skipping this time around, putting forth the excuse of wishing not to stress out young Stonepaw so very soon after becoming the RiverClan's next medicine cat. But of course, he wasn’t that stupid. Any cat would see that as an idiotic reason to avoid a gathering, but in truth, they just wanted one less thing to worry about in this timeframe.

Someone would surely call him out on 'avoiding his responsibilities' though, and here he was, dragging a group of cats through the dead of night in the pouring rain. StarClan truly must've had it out for him. Hmph. At the divide between the dirt and the sand, Pikestar drew to a sudden stop, long bushy tail swishing behind him as he stared off at the Seastones that mocked him silently. "Behave yourselves." He warned RiverClan with a growl evident in his tone, refusing to put up with any kind of idiocy tonight. He exhaled a brisk sigh through his nose before continuing forward. Pikestar was so very tired, and his lower stomach churned painfully for some unknown reason. The lanky tomcat made not a single sound of complaint, and simply did as he was expected. Nobody could force him to fake a smile anymore though.

Knowing Gingerfrost and Stonepaw were most likely somewhere towards the back of the pack together, Pikestar continued down the beach without sparing even a simple glance back. Once he eventually made it to the base of the stones, the Lord of the Waters swiftly leapt up onto the perch where the four clan leaders had always been positioned. Unlike last time, they did not slip on the smooth stone surface and simply turned to face the crowd before sitting down, resting his tail over his front paws. His single blue eye slid over to Dawnstar, who sat here with him alone for the time-being. He only looked at her for a few brief seconds before returning his partial gaze ahead. A single glance of acknowledgement was all the Queen of Shadows was getting this time around. His long tufted ears twitched, shaking stray cold raindrops from his head as he then allowed his eye to close. The silent RiverClan leader allowed himself to now drift into a momentary state of tranquility until the inevitable chaos began, mentally preparing himself.

RiverClan has arrived.