While Oriolepaw waited for the Gathering to begin, some sort of commotion broke out. He couldn’t see much from his position at the back of the crowd, but he overheard something about an outsider. Funny how a rogue was able to make it all the way through RiverClan’s territory and to the Seastones.
Oriolepaw turned as a voice piped up beside him. He brightened as the cat introduced herself, confirming that she was here to speak to him. “I’m Oriolepaw!” he replied. Pausing for a moment to analyze her scent, he noted that she was of ShadowClan. “This is my second Gathering. I’m close to becoming a warrior; attending another Gathering is one of the last things have to do.”
He turned his gaze back on the Seastones as Dawnstar called for the Gathering to begin. The older apprentice had heard of his Clanmates crossing the border to hunt, and had been nothing short of ashamed of them. He wondered if Moonpaw thought poorly of him, since he was a ThunderClan cat. Probably not. She wouldn’t be here, talking to me, if she did.
Dawnstar went on to bring up problems with Twolegs, and that ShadowClan had two new apprentices and one new member. Oriolepaw chanted their names, casting a warm look at Moonpaw as he did.
╔═════════*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═════════╗
Moonpaw (she/her)
Shadowclan Black calico with half face ginger and amber eyes
╚═════════*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═════════╝
Moonpaw studied carefully the weird-colored tom, returning a genuine smile as he chanted her new name alongside many other cats at the Gathering. She felt warmth in his voice - nothing like the echoes of her clanmates during her apprentice ceremony in Shadowclan. Except for Nightshiver, of course. And Pinepaw, and Darkfall.
She blinked gratefully at the friendly tom, realizing with pleasure that Thunderclan didn't seem as bad as it was always told to be. "Well, it's great!" She twitched her whiskers to convey the emotion. "So you're at the end of the journey, and I'm just at the beginning." She wasn't actually so enthusiastic at the idea of becoming one of Dawnstar's warriors, but at the same time, she still felt impatient that her path would take so long. She was already 8 moons old, damn!
Batpaw sat down by a shady tree. He was huge compared to most apprentices The black tom’s light yellowish-orange gaze eyes cut across the clearing and fixed on his leader, Dawnstar.
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Wolfpeak [He/Him] || Shadowclan
Wolfpeak’s yellow gaze cut through the crowd like a blade. He was trying to find somewhere to sit in peace.
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Maplepaw [She/Her] || Windclan
Maplepaw bounced around the clearing trying to find a spot with few cats. Her blue eyes found a spot and she sat down.
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Mistycloud [She/her] || Riverclan
Mistycloud listened intently to the leaders whom were speaking, but stayed silent as she found a place to sit. Her icy blue gaze shifted across the clearing.
Twilightstar offered Sparrowstar a friendly, brighter, smile than usual as the younger leader took a seat beside her seemingly offering the scarred, lilac-gray, oriental some heat. Twilightstar appreciated the sentiment immensely, the cold seemed to be getting worst and worst every passing season, and the rain was just blah. Twilightstar parted her maw to offer Sparrowstar a word of gratitude but found herself distracted as Dawnstar launched herself off the stones.
She watched as the Shadow Queen took care of a nearby outsider who seemed to be up to no good. As troublesome as ShadowClan was, Twilightstar could appreciate how aggressive that clan was when it came to outsiders. It was handled quickly and rather quietly, although not without one of her newest warriors being rattled. Fallownose was already darted over to Berryfrost's side to comfort her, and Twilightstar gave a concerned scowl as Dawnstar returned with a surprising proposal.
"I'll speak to my clan about it and get back to you on that, but I don't think that's a bad idea," Twilightstar replied to Dawnstar, whiskers twitching as she commented about Berryfrost and the outsider's threat. That was troubling, why was that outsider interested in Berryfrost of all cats? Twilightstar turned her eye back to Fallownose and Berryfrost with an inquisitive glint. She'll pester Fallownose later about it, perhaps he had an idea about what was going on between his kit and that stranger. All the same, it might be a good idea to remind the clan to be vigilant around the moor from now on.
Dawnstar started her gathering with a warning about crossing her borders, which Twilightstar nearly avoided with a loud sigh. She assumed that had to do with their last meeting, she'll keep that in mind from here on out. The rest of the announcement was the usual stuff, new apprentices, clanmates, new kits, and the loss of one of her queens. Dawnstar didn't look too put off about it. Once the she-cat stepped back, Twilightstar stretched her stiff muscles and padded forward to speak.
"WindClan is faring well enough. Littlepaw had reached the appropriate age and has begun her apprentice training." Twilightstar started, pausing here and there to shake the water from her face and wrap her tail tightly around her paws. It was so cold.
"Two of our apprentices, Badgerpaw and Berrypaw, have finished their warrior training and earned their warrior names. Badgerfoot and Berryfrost." Twilightstar hoped that despite Berryfrost's fright, the young she-cat could be proud of her accomplishments. And where was her son? Twilightstar glanced around causally in search of the black and white tom that had been her former apprentice. Sadly, she couldn't go down there like Fallownose and sit beside Badgerfoot, but she felt that he knew that she was proud of him regardless.
"I am delighted to announce that after many moons of hard work and training, StarClan has finally given our medicine cat, Cowpaw, his full name, Cowtuft."Twilightstar glanced down at the group of medicine cats, ignoring the odd additions of the few cats that were not medicine cats, and the new youngster, to catch Cowtuft's eye. She hoped he didn't feel inadequate among the others.
"We have suffered a tragic loss, one of our kits, Squirrelkit, snuck out of camp and was attacked by a predator. Sadly, she joins our ancestors within StarClan at far too young an age." Twilightstar left the announcements on that somber note and took a step back to seat herself beside Sparrowstar, allowing the two remaining leaders to bring up their announcements.
With these Gatherings always came drama, and thus presented itself in a timely manner in the form of an outsider just looking to get the crap beat out of them. Dawnstar, of course, made no hesitation to launch herself off the Seastones and deal with the matter personally. Once it was taken care of, the bold ShadowClan leader returned to them, speaking up and immediately calling for their attention, along with Twilightstar and Sparrowstar. She offered up the idea of sending out some warriors to act as perimeter sweeps of this beach to maintain it’s standing as for the clans and only the clans. Pikestar hummed with approval and nodded to the Queen of Shadows. It seemed Twilightstar also agreed. “I shall see what the rest of RiverClan thinks of the idea at our next meeting, but you have no complaints from me.” The Lord of the Waters remarked, “It’s becoming more and more irritating with each Gathering, so it’s about time we all start doing something about these trespassers.” Anything that could make these events less stressful was more than welcome in his book, and RiverClan had many who he knew would help.
Once that was said and done, the Gathering officially started with Dawnstar taking the lead, to which Pikestar didn’t mind whatsoever. He would listen to the massive molly’s announcements in a respectful silence, his left ear twitching to her warning about trespassers on ShadowClan land, being reminded of his own daughter’s death due to wandering into the marshy territory. The large dark-furred oriental tomcat was prompted to comment on that, wishing to say something along the lines of―trespassing does not always warren killing―but he held his tongue. They were quick, however, to make a strong mental note that RiverClan could kill any ShadowClan cats that wandered onto their land, but he wished to think upon it more and if he truly wanted his clan to sink to that level of viciousness. Next up was new apprentices being named, an outsider that had joined their ranks, an apprentice being taken swiftly by twolegs, and the death of a queen that left behind a full litter of kittens. The tall RiverClan leader dipped his head, taking a moment to pray to the moon for the apprentice’s safety and the kittens who have to grow up without a mother. With that, Dawnstar opened the spotlight to another clan leader, which would become Twilightstar, to say their announcements. He perked his long tufted ears to listen along.
A new apprentice named Littlepaw, two new warriors named Badgerfoot and Berryfrost, and their medicine cat finally earning his full name, the WindClan leader and her clanmates seemed to be doing rather well for themselves. However, with gain must come loss, and Pikestar dipped his head once more to honor a kitten who was named Squirrelkit, who had gotten killed by a predator. Out of everything that they had witnessed in their forty-three moons of life, the death of kittens always struck the oriental longhair particular deep. Soon enough, however, the spotlight was opened once again and Pikestar rose to his paws, deciding it was finally time to say his clan’s announcements and tell everyone what happened.
“RiverClan has been doing well overall. Our rivers are lush with fish, and various new litters of kittens have been born.” Pikestar stated once he stepped forward, “However, with the good will be bad. Due to strange hot black stones out in RiverClan’s territory, our medicine cat, Fawnlight, has been injured gravely, her front paws burned and scarred, which has left her unable to continue healing our clan. However, StarClan has heard her pleas, and send her the promise of a new cat to take her place. Stonepaw-” He made a small pause. “-is RiverClan’s new medicine cat. Allow this serve as yet another warning and reminder of the cruelty that twolegs have bestowed upon us again, because I have no doubt that my little sister’s injuries were due to them, and them alone.” A bold claim, perhaps, but Pikestar would stand by that. They swiftly then moved on, not wishing to dwell on it any longer. “RiverClan have welcomed three new apprentices to our ranks, Codpaw and Icepaw, as well as a kittypet named Sun who has recently joined our clan.” He was unaware if any of those apprentices were present here tonight. “We have also named three new full warriors this moon: Nightfall, Cloudjumper, and Silversnow.” Other than that, it was personal innerclan stuff that the other clans really had no business of hearing. Yes, he could’ve told them about Raccoonpelt, or Ospreykit, or even Lilycreek becoming their forever queen, but he decided against it. “That is all from RiverClan.” And once again, the Lord of the Waters stepped back and sat down, wrapping his bushy tail around himself and allowing Sparrowstar to speak finally.
Well, it seemed like her offer of residual warmth was welcomed by the older she-cat. Scooching half a whisker-length closer, the tan molly squinted down to the sands as Dawnstar leapt down and dealt with an intruder to the evening. How on earth did rouges even find this place so deep into clan territory??? Thankfully no blood was spilt as the issue was dealt with, but Sparrowstar's brow creased in consideration as the hulking Shadowclan leader returned and offered a suggestion that peaked her interest.
"Thunderclan would be happy to appoint a few guards next Gathering. This is starting to become ridiculous in it's frequency..."
Apparently her peers shared her sentiments and announcements proceeded as normal, however Dawnstars casual comment about border enforcement rubbed her fur slightly the wrong way. Certainly, leaders were permitted to enact any policies they liked, but that was too far outside the code for her liking... And Pikestar's sudden mention of new and horrendous two-leg contraptions was worrying... However, she wasn't about to make a hypocrite out of herself considering how last moon's Gathering went, so as Pikestar stepped back Sparrowstar gave her fur a quick shake and padded up to the edge of the rocks.
"Thunderclan is doing well. The beginnings of Newleaf are starting to show in the abundance of prey, and several new litters of kits are strengthening our ranks this moon. We have welcomed a few new faces to Thunderclan this moon, Wolfpaw, Petalflight, and Snakepaw have officially joined Thunderclan."
"Unfortunately, just as Starclan has gifted us with new lives they have ushered a few up to the stars. Cloudyflight, Quietpaw, and Weaselpaw have all passed in the last moon. We wish them peace, rest, and good hunting in Silverpelt."
"That is all from Thunderclan."
Stepping back, the tan molly sat back down next to Twilightstar. She would be courteous and wait for the older leader to leave before leading her own clan home. She could stand the cold and rain for a few extra moments.
Beastwatcher blinked and hide in a small corner of the gathering place, recalling the time Duskwatcher had Yeeted theirselves across the space multiple times to spite the others...
Oriolepaw gave a soft, friendly laugh at Moonpaw's note of where each of them were at in their respective journeys. He wondered if she would lose her friendliness as she aged. He'd heard so many stories of ShadowClan's ruthlessness and vicious fighting techniques, yet Moonpaw seemed to differ from that.
The other three leaders came forward, one by one, to give their announcements. Twilightstar reported a new apprentice, two new warriors, and a lost kit. Oriolepaw bowed his head respectfully as he thought of the poor kit, lost to the stars at too young of an age. Why couldn't StarClan let all cats live until they were adults?
Cowpaw had also received their full name: Cowtuft. Oriolepaw cheered for the medicine cat, happy that WindClan was experiencing so many positive things despite their difficult loss.
Pikestar reported shocking news: their medicine cat, Fawnlight, had suffered terrible wounds and had stepped down from her position as medicine cat. A sharp intake of breath involuntary stirred the apprentice's body. The last time he'd been to a Gathering, Fawnlight had still been Fawnpaw- that meant she had to be quite young. Poor cat!
Finally, Sparrowstar stepped forward. Pride for his leader glowed in Oriolepaw's eyes. She looked so big and strong up there, sending a message to all the other Clans that ThunderClan was the greatest!
His jovial thoughts were soon dashed as Sparrowstar reported the deaths of three of their Clanmates. He dipped his head as Quietpaw's death was announced, his mind momentarily flashing back to her still, bloody body in the clearing. If only she was here, sitting beside him and chatting with Moonpaw. Oriolepaw figured they would've gotten along well. He didn't know Moonpaw all too well, but he had a feeling.
Once Sparrowstar had finished, Oriolepaw looked over at Moonpaw. "What did you think of your first Gathering? I think they're interesting, but somewhat overwhelming with all the cats!"
__________________
Fadingsun is currently RiverClan's leader. He has an open den policy. If you have any questions or concerns about RiverClan, or any plots to propose, feel free to leave me a VM or DM! Please do not take my characters' IC opinions as reflective of my own.
Sundust padded into the gathering with a quick step. He wasn’t what it was exactly, perhaps the weather, but he was exhausted. Words felt inaccessible and so he fell silent on the whole trek to the Seastones, and likely would keep things minimal when socializing with the other medicine cats - thankfully, they didn’t seem much for small talk.
He swiftly found his place at the base of the stones, and was quite surprised to see a new face, which seemed to be taking Fawnlight’s place. Forgoing his planned silence for a more welcoming greeting to the young tom, Sundust offered a friendly flick of his ear. “Good evening,” he mewed, “You must be Stonepaw.” This he gleaned from Pikestar’s announcements. It was unfortunate to hear of Fawnlight’s injury - she seemed to be such a talented medicine cat. This newcomer seemed bright-eyed though, and Sundust had confidence that he could grow to be an excellent healer for RiverClan.
“and the human race is filled with passion. and medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. but poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
— john keating (robin williams), dead poets society
profile image credits:
background image credits found in albums | pfp - wallace and gromit
//Can't remember who was all involved, apologies for no mentions aside from the cats she is directly interacting with\\
Everything seemed to go wrong the moment Shadowfur's former apprentice and Dawnstar stepped forward to confront the rogue. Flameheart swallowed a growl of contentment and kept silent, waiting for any sign of impending death. In no way would she want to watch some random cat die, even if said the cat wasn't even familiar to her, but the large brute of a ShadowClan leader did not seem to think when it came to getting information.
And even if the rogue was killed, Flameheart didn't know. Before the situation escalated further, Flameheart turned around and swiped her tail along Sootfur's flank to get the pair back to relaxing atop the stone the gray tabby ( @Wingnettle ) found to listen to the announcements. And just like that, things went back to normal and all the leaders dove into their announcements.
First to talk, unsurprisingly, was ShadowClan's own brute, then Twilightstar, then after Twilightstar was Pikestar. Dawnstar had suggested guards from each Clan, which wasn't necessarily a bad idea. In fact, Flameheart couldn't necessarily find a flaw in it. But... knowing Dawnstar, she'd appoint violent cats for guards who act without thinking. That is probably the only flaw on Dawnstar's part of this whole 'guard' thing. They attempt to kill without questioning a trespasser's motives. As per usual, all the Clans were doing well despite the harsh weather that leaf-bare offered on a yearly basis. And at this point, Flameheart was beginning to think that the starvation factor is just not something leaders mention, although it's a thing that happens to just about everyone in the forest.
Twilightstar's announcements, as per what seemed to be the usual, were bountiful. WindClan had new warriors, Cowpaw was now Cowtuft, though Squirrelkit had died. It was an unfortunate event to have a Clan's young die so soon, but she supposed it would happen every so often despite the shared dislikeness of it. May you find peace in StarClan, little one. Flameheart respectfully dipped her head to commemorate the small fuzzball.
Due to an accident that probably could've been prevented if twolegs weren't so careless, Fawnlight had to be replaced as RiverClan's medicine cat. And in Fawnlight's place, a young apprentice who went by the name Stonepaw. Well, I do hope Fawnlight's injury hadn't affected her too bad... she seems nice. Sparrowstar went next in her announcements, but they were much shorter than what she had expected out of the tan and brown she-cat. No matter, at least there were announcements being made. Not one bit was the Keeper surprised in Sparrowstar's agreement to Dawnstar's proposal, which was fine as long as it didn't cause too much trouble such as arguments amongst the guards due to differing opinions. Along with the announcements of more abundant prey due to the coming new leaf, the ThunderClan leader also mentioned the new Clanmates: Petalflight, Wolfpaw, and Snakepaw along with the deaths of Cloudyflight, Weaselpaw, and Quietpaw. I suppose it could be worse...
__________________
ThunderClan: None
WindClan: None
ShadowClan: Lightningkit
RiverClan: None
Outsiders: Crow (Purrks: Heightened Perception (hearing), Agatha Kitty (clue and inconsistency finder), and Hulk SMASH (strength boost when angry)
Bumping Policy: After ONE week!
Last edited by SpiritedWarrior; February 24th, 2023 at 04:28 PM.
The feline yawned still tired from the recent patrol, They began grooming their fur as they hummed a cheerful tune... (This is very short im so sorry ;-
Re: February Gathering
Re: February Gathering
