High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

**leopardheart00** · #**13351** May 17th, 2024, 07:03 PM

Brokenstream | 20 MOONS | HE/HIM
sleek golden bengal tom with light green eyes, jet black ears & back legs

Brokenstream slipped into the crowd of his clanmates, ears swiveling as he listened to them argue. 'Driven from our home?' The tom flattened his ears in disgust at the suggestion that it could even happen. However, he couldn't ignore the doubt in his clanmates eyes, which echoed his own underlying uneasiness about the entire situation. "We can't allow ourselves to be driven out!" He declared, though the restlessness of his twitching tail betrayed his fear. Brokenstream glanced over to Cherryswirl, nodding approvingly at her words.

"Cherryswirl is right, Fadingsun. Dusklion can be held accountable for actions later, but we need to get ahead of the other Clans." He lashed his tail, swiveling his head around to take in the cats around him. He tilted his head as he listened to Pebblesplash speak. "An insider? But how? The Clans don't even want to sniff in our direction!"

***occultation*** · #**13352** May 18th, 2024, 12:40 AM

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Plenty of cats stepped up to offer their opinions. Initially, several cats questioned his readiness to believe Twilightstar's words. Can't they see that she has no reason to lie? WindClan had plenty of reasons to be furious with RiverClan; they didn't need to lie about who murdered Fallownose to justify a war. Their deputy being killed by a RiverClan cat was justification enough.

He chose to ignore the attempts of a few to argue against his decision to blame the entire Clan for their predicament; if they weren't willing to take accountability for their part in the deterioration of RiverClan, he wasn't going to waste his breath trying to convince them. They had more important things to be concerned with.

Fadingsun wasn't entirely sure what to expect; Dusklion's popularity had ebbed and flowed since her outburst at the meeting a couple of moons ago. A couple of cats began calling for her exile, while a few others called for her to remain. Many chose to remain silent or to outright leave the meeting.

Eventually, his sister decided to speak. As she admitted to her crimes, Fadingsun had to resist the urge to give a pointed "I told you so" look towards those who had questioned his choice to believe Twilightstar. Honestly, did some cats in this Clan really think he of all cats would want to pin such a crime on his own sister without good reason?

Based on her account, it seemed like Fallownose's paws weren't entirely clean. He certainly didn't deserve death, and his actions on the border weren't a justification for Dusklion's decisions. But she didn't seem to see it that way. She, too, expressed a desire for the Clan's opinions.

There were still some calls for her demotion, but the majority opinion was in favor of his decision to maintain her rank. Slowly, the issue at paw began drifting towards fears of war; seeing this as a good opportunity to wrap this meeting up, Fadingsun signaled for the discussion to end.

"I think the Clan has made it quite clear where the majority opinion stands. Dusklion will remain as RiverClan's deputy. However, I do feel that it's fair and reasonable for certain repercussions to come from her decision. Fallownose may have been making an ass of himself, but that doesn't mean he deserved death. Until further notice, Dusklion, you're forbidden from going anywhere near the WindClan border. In addition, if anything like this ever happens again, or if I find out you're keeping secrets that threaten the Clan's safety again, you will be demoted."

Shifting his gaze from Dusklion to the wider Clan, he continued, [B]"I know some of you are not happy with the decision to keep Dusklion as our deputy. But the decision has been made; if you don't want to serve in a Clan with her as deputy, then you're more than welcome to leave. If you stay, however, I expect that this decision will be respected. We've said what needs to be said; now we need to move on and focus on what lies ahead. As for the warriors who tortured a WindClan apprentice, I will begin looking into that immediately; when they are found, they will be handled."

"We are past a point of no return with WindClan. Twilightstar has made it clear that war is coming.

"I'm not going to honey-coat it. These next few moons will more than likely be very, very difficult. Now more than ever, we need to stick together and put our differences aside. Differing opinions don't mean dung if we're all dead. This is RiverClan's final test; if we fail, we will lose this Clan." There was a grave seriousness to his tone, more so than ever before.

[B]"Preparations need to begin immediately. Bumblestar has allowed RiverClan the opportunity to take Cattail Pond back, if we can handle the badgers supposedly residing there. I've decided to allow the territory to return to the outskirts; I'm not going to waste lives and herbs on territory we don't need when we have a war coming. For all we know, it might be a trap anyways. I do want patrols sent to the area regularly to ensure the badgers haven't moved into our own territory.

Looking down at his sister, he continued, "Dusklion, I want to speak to you out in the territory." To the rest of the Clan, he said, "And I don't want to catch anyone following us and eavesdropping. You have much more important things to be doing right now."

With that, he leapt off the Floodstone and headed out of camp, expecting Dusklion to follow.

**SeonghwasBunnyEars** · #**13353** May 18th, 2024, 07:23 AM

Willowpaw mewed. "Oh! Fadingsun can I help Stagheart!?" Eagerly the little apprentice wanted to help her mentor.

Weepingpaw gave a small nod to the words.

Hawksun's eyes lit up in panic. "Fadingsun! Brightnight can't move! Shes bound to kit anyday now!" Hawksun mewed, licking his sisters ear gently. Brightnight looked up to there leader with gentle calmness which was reassuring after her brothers panicked state.
@occultation

**Tiabirb** · #**13354** May 18th, 2024, 09:02 AM

Starlingflight
-----------------

The decision was very much the one she knew was coming; Dusklion would not be demoted. Her eyes narrowed, and she gave the deputy a cold look. A distrustful look.

She waited for the long speeches to finish, and orders to prepare and evacuate were issued. She was on the nursery detail, and her tail lashed. Innocent kits were going to be put at risk because of these selfish fools in RiverClan. Dusklion did not think about them when she killed WindClan's deputy. The warriors who savaged a WindClan apprentice were not thinking about the Clan's innocent and helpless. No one was thinking beyond themselves with every instance and act of violence and discord, both in and out of RiverClan.

And yet, not one cat has tried to swallow their pride and admit something has been wrong in RiverClan for moons.

"Scouts should be sent out to find a safe place for evacuations, and to establish clear routes. Why wait til the Clans are upon us? We should be move the queens, kits and elders out of camp as soon as we can." The older warrior spoke up, "Keep them close to camp, but not inside, with guards that rotate in shifts to keep away threats. It'd be wiser to keep them out of harm's way entirely than to risk them being attacked or trampled in the chaos."

She thought about what she would say next, and she decided....yeah she didn't care if it wasn't well-received. She wasn't going to beat around a bush or pretend she's happy to be forced into a potential full-Clan exile. "Frankly, we do deserve it." Starlingflight said flatly, "Maybe being reduced to a pack of rogues may give us some clearer insight to what a real Clan is and acts like, and what it really means, as time and again, we as a Clan, not even individuals, have shown our counterparts we don't care about the Clan way of life. Not within our own Clan, or the other Clans. RiverClan is in much need of some deserved humility and consequence. The mistakes of RiverClan go back for moons, and we have made no effort to truly repent and change as a Clan. From one leader to another, we continued on this path of selfish destruction. And the pride we have had? Misplaced. There is nothing to be proud of as a Clan. We are all going to suffer. We should all be ashamed, even those who sit there and call their own Clan lazy and disorganized." Her final words were meant for Fadingsun, accompanied with a long, unreadable look.
@occultation

**constellation** · #**13355** May 18th, 2024, 09:12 AM

Tideheart
He/him/they { RiverClan } Warrior
36 moons ll cream and brown with blue eyes ll thoughtful and brave.
[OPEN]

Tideheart felt woozy. He’d stayed behind from the Gathering, as he didn’t much like the loud noises and stressful vibes, but Tide definitely didn’t expect these vibes to come home. Tide pondered this news for a moment. He had really never been a quick, angry cat like his daughter Redwater, or some of his other Clanmates. If his Clanmate, oh revered Dusklion had actually murdered… was he supposed to feel sad? Or angry? Dusk had always been there for him… even when Tide was a wee kit. Tideheart figured that Twilightstar hadn’t taken any of this well… after all they were a quickly maddened cat. Maybe even a little bit mental. Tide looked at his paws, tuning out the other cats. He felt a bit elderly, as he wasn’t screaming his head off. Some cats can be exceptionally loud sometimes. Tideheart felt ready. He stood, ready to speak his part.

“Fadingsun, I do not believe that Redwater is right.” he took a breath. His daughter stiffened at his side. Heh. That was probably the longest sentence he had ever said in front of every cat. “Dusklion has done much for us. But I do not believe she should go unpunished. Murder is an Unforgivable Act.” Tideheart straightened. He was really getting into this now. “Dusk confessed, and apologized. I may be wrong about her actions and if they should be forgiven, but let us leave this behind us. There are other things we need to focus on. War.” Tideheart swallowed. “Do you want RiverClan to fall?Do you want for your kits to be driven out or even killed?” He hissed.”I certainly don’t! We need to train for the coming storm. or we are all going to die. Twilightstar will lead every other Clan against us! We need to fight.” Tide sighed. He never thought he would say that. “I will give my life, my soul for RiverClan.” He sat back down.

[Mentioned @taillow because she was mentioned in @occultation’s speech.]

**Ragwort** · #**13356** May 18th, 2024, 09:22 AM

Martenburr Didn't like the idea of leaving the territory but witha sigh he called out to Fadingsun. "if we are going to be practicing fleeing, then shall we look for a safe spot out in the outskirts to use as a temperary camp? i for one would think perhaps a temperary camp prechosen would be a great idea, that way we could move the elders and queens and kits before anything starts as well as some of the herbs. and of coarse have some of the warriors defending them staay with them" @occultation ,

**IDIOTICBEAN101** · #**13357** May 18th, 2024, 10:03 AM

Caveclaw-She/They

——————

Leaving the territory? That caused Caveclaw’s usual dull expression to waver for once with surprise. She would never speak against a leader’s word out loud, but she didn’t fully agree with it. they would keep that to themself.

——————

**Luminous** · #**13358** May 18th, 2024, 10:33 AM

Springkit

As voices continued to rise from the crowd and opinions continued to be tossed back and forth, the young kit tried to listen to what was being said. One cat said that their clan was full of idiots; another called for a clean slate (was that possible now that everyone already hated them?); then one said that what was important was that Dusklion took accountability; one screamed for her to get to stay; one said that she wasn't a killer 'in the true sense' (but... it was still killing in Springkit's mind) while one claimed that she could kill again; one said that Dusklion couldn't be blamed at all and that faidingsun would be the one in the wrong if Dusklion was demoted (everything about that made Springkit's stomach turn); one apprentice pointed out that everyone was focusing on the wrong thing and the mention of having tortured an apprentice genuinely made Springkit almost throw up; one said that everyone had blood on their paws and another mentioned what had happened during the last meeting - and that was when Springkit couldn't handle hearing any more and all of the voices around him merged into a buzzing chacophiony.

He removed his paws from his ears as Faidingsun spoke. Ok so Dusklion would remain as deputy. Springkit didn't agree with the cats claiming that Dusklion had done nothing wrong, but what right now concerned him more... was how the other clans would react to her not being demoted. "...if they already hate us... what will Windclan do if she isn't demoted?"

But it seemed to be too late now if everyone was already planning to drive out Riverclan. Springkit, with a dead expression and sunken heart, listened half-heartedly to the assigned cats' names being called, before he slowly walked back yo the nursery. He needed to sleep.

**Neptune.** · #**13359** May 18th, 2024, 10:52 AM

Wrenpaw
~<>~
68/100
10 moons || she/her || RiverClan Apprentice || Silver Tongue
medium furred silver smoke she-cat; blue eyes

She wasn't... she wasn't given a job? What the hell? Had Wren not proven herself driven and loyal enough to at least have some task? Something specific to accomplish instead of just... a vague guide to help the weak?? Why would she help those who cannot help themselves? If they're too injured or sick or old, what use would it be keeping cats like that around anyway in the event that they loose their home?

She's annoyed and frustrated. She's trained so hard!! Why doesn't she get something important to do? it's not fair. Scowling, Wrenpaw slinks off to the apprentice's den, determined to get at least a little nap in before getting back out there. She should request an assessment soon... really show Fadingsun how wrong he was not to trust her with something important.

**Bean** · #**13360** May 18th, 2024, 11:58 AM

Rainpaw
He/They - 15 Moons

Oh come on! Couldn't they get a break? He damn deserved one after a season-cycle of chaos. And war with WindClan. Of course "Go to hell, Twilightstar," Rainpaw muttered under their breath. Wait, fades was trusting him with something? That was new. Nobody ever trusted the one-eyed tabby with anything, so it would be a nice change. Helping to get the herbs. Rainpaw remembered how he used to be interested in those things, but they could save lives of his clan, so it was importaint that they were to be saved. An evacuation drill was also a good thing, makes sure that no cat goes wild when WindClan does attack RiverClan. And then came the meetup spot. He wasn't allowed to partake in the Lionheart event due to being an apprentice [despite being well over the age of some of the clans younger warriors], so that was sooooo helpful. He didn't even know where to go! As soon as his mentor leaped down the floodstone, Rainpaw glanced around for the medicine cats. But he was too tired to talk now, so he would converse with them later. With that, the one-eyed tabby stalked back to their nest in the Apprentice's den.

[CLOSED - RAINPAW HAS LEFT THE MEETING]