March Gathering

[Rose]

Larkfire
She/Her

Sometimes days just whizzed by, and these past few ones after the skirmish and the meeting felt like them. Larkfire kept to herself, took apprentices out for training, wandered the territory alone. Anything, she did anything, to distance herself from the cats that tugged on her heart. They held her back. They posed a threat, hovering over her and holding the strings to her heartbreak. One pull, one measly tug, and she would crumble. Lark could not take it anymore. Better safe than sorry, even if that safety came with solitude.

The embers of tamped down savage cruelty glowed behind Larkfire's amber hues of fire, hidden in the depths of her mind. It threatened, day after day, to emerge with the vicious monster lurking beside. The shadow she could not escape, the monster she could not outrun.

Mind buzzing with the awareness of her surroundings, Larkfire slunk after her Clan and into the gathering, weaving easily through the crowd of cats to take her place in one of the furthest back corners. All the other Enforcers had taken a corner, surrounding the other Clans when they arrived, so Lark supposed she'd have to maintain hers too. After all, Dawnstar had told them to watch the gatherings for outsiders, had she not?

[serendipity.]

SWANPAW
she/her | 7 Moon

Swanpaw entered the gathering behind the Shadow queen, bright blue eyes blinked as she slithered out of the concealing darkness there was the loss of the usual bounce in her step, although she kept a kind approachable face perhaps she hoped that someone interesting would come to talk with her. The air was crisp, her paws could feel the chill leaking from the icy ground, what a nice day hopefully someone to talk to would make it even better! She was good at talking to people but not so good at making them stay. Everyone seemed on edge after the recent border skirmish and to be honest she wanted to know how many people had died on Thunderclans side, not enough.

Was she too mean? They had lost cats too, clanmates, siblings, and some may have even lost parents. She bit her tongue and her gaze fell upon Riverpaw who was sitting close to Walnutpaw. Good, she would be safe from the eventual mess that would occur. The small molly took a comfortable seat near the duo not wanting to interrupt anything that the two were doing. Gatherings were times to make new friends from all kinds of clans! Let's just hope they're nice.

[ open ]

- #52

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

~ IVYSNAKE OF SHADOWCLAN ~

Tall, angular, dark brown she-cat with distinctive ivy-like black stripes and piercing amber eyes.

The air was oppressive, pressing down onto Ivysnake's sleek pelt with the weight of ancient stones. Her paws crunched through the dense layer of snow as she walked with her head and tail held high, not bowing to the pressure. Shadows swamped the land; the full moon and the fitful light of the stars were blotted out. Not even the bone-white snow shone in this darkness. The freezing frost was nothing more than a glimmer in a world of shadows. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Ivysnake's pointed ears hardly twitched as she continued on her way, her dark, slender shape sliding across the landscape. She, too, was nothing more than a shadow, her piercing amber eyes, crunching pawsteps, and strong ShadowClan scent the only indicators that something was there. Someone. Not just a medicine cat from another Clan: a fighter who wasn't afraid to rip out the throat and steal the skin of anyone who dared to provoke her.

A chill wind rushed toward Ivysnake, carrying the heavy odors of the storm and the other Clans. Her face remained an impassive mask, her gaze deadly but unchallenging, as she moved with her Clan and reached the area where, beneath the snow, soil became sand. The beach wasn't free of the darkness; she could barely make out the shapes sitting on or around the rocks. But her nose worked just fine. ThunderClan is here. The medicine cat apprentice's eyes narrowed to slits, and the stoic facade briefly dropped as hostility crept into her face. She remembered that day when Dawnstar came into camp with four dead warriors, sending a barrage of injured cats to the medicine cats' den. Claws slid out of their dark sheaths, and even in the shadows, they flashed threateningly. I wouldn't mind sinking them into one of their pelts. But not here, not now. The frog-brained Gathering truce had to be upheld. And Sparrowstar had promised repentance. Speaking of which...

Ivysnake cast her gaze up toward the Seastones as she walked toward them. Dawnstar was already making her way up the jagged rocks, a dark, hulking, menacing shape. There was another rumble of thunder, but she thought her glorious leader had opened her mouth. Was she talking to Sparrowstar? The tall tabby she-cat swung her head toward the ThunderClan leader, but... Her eyes narrowed, and her steps slowed, though they didn't stop. That's not Sparrowstar. Sitting atop the rocks, not looking very pleased, was a pale, feathery-furred tom. Thrushfur. So, ThunderClan had lost another leader, had they? Or was Sparrowstar simply sick? Ivysnake's lip curled with scorn. ThunderClan might have become some semblance of a Clan again - thanks to Dawnstar's great mercy; they should be appreciative, but the Clans were destined to be rivals - but they were still weak. And they went through leaders like a starving hawk through fish.

They have a conflict with us, too. Ivysnake paused for a moment to flex her claws. I wonder how Thrushfur will handle it if his leader isn't able to help - or if she's dead. She looked back at Dawnstar. What did her glorious leader think? She got her answer swiftly. Even from here, in the darkness, Ivysnake couldn't miss the pure glee that gleamed in the ShadowClan leader's golden-amber eyes. It would've been surprising, considering how angry Dawnstar had been lately, especially at ThunderClan, but... This is a perfect opportunity. Some of the old feelings, those she'd felt as a kit, apprentice, and young warrior, returned. Conflict. Bloodshed. It's been far too long. Ivysnake might be less involved now that she was training to be a medicine cat, but that didn't mean she couldn't fight. Her paws itched with the urge to feel warm, freshly-spilled blood.

But this was a Gathering, and she wouldn't make a move here unless Dawnstar did first. So, Ivysnake tore her gaze - an odd mix of excited and scornful - from Thrushfur, or Thrushstar, whoever he was, and made her way to the area where the medicine cats sat. Elmshadow had just arrived there; his primarily dark-gray-and-black fur was difficult to see in the darkness, especially with the shadow of the Seastones falling over him, but the gleam of his emerald-green eyes gave him away. That was something Ivysnake had to be mindful of when it came to stealth: her sharp, piercing gaze, which cleaved through the darkness like an eagle talon through kit fluff. She reached him and dipped her head - she wasn't late this time, despite the injured cats back home, though they would heal soon enough.

The familiar scent washed over her right as she spotted the massive shape. Ivysnake's head snapped to the side to rest on... Cinderpaw. The name was mentally spoken with mixed hatred and scorn. Or whatever her name is. Her tail-tip twitched. If only this wasn't a Gathering. If Cinderpaw had been intruding on ShadowClan territory... Ivysnake would've loved to rip into her. She wouldn't make a bad pelt, either. But why was she sitting with the medicine cats, of all things, especially after ripping up the crystal in the Starcave? Not that Ivysnake cared for it, but surely that held some weight, considering how important most medicine cats found it. Surely she isn't the next medicine cat. If so, she was a horrible choice, and it was embarrassing and pathetic how quickly ThunderClan burned through its high ranks.

"Are you ThunderClan's new medicine cat?" the dark brown tabby asked. Her tone was formal, but she didn't bother to keep her scorn and dislike out of it. She hated Cinderpaw, but ThunderClan had also done a great misdeed to ShadowClan. They would pay with many lives and battlefields stained with red. "I don't see why StarClan would choose you after what you did to the Starcave. Unless Thrushfur made the decision, if that's still his name." She jerked her pointed chin toward the pale, feathery-furred tom. "If so, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bad one. ThunderClan's high ranks have been nothing short of pathetic for the last several seasons. Expendable." Her tail-tip twitched. She wanted to add something about Sparrowstar, asking if the yellow, brown, and cream she-cat was really dead, but she'd find out soon enough.

@littlelove - Cinderpaw @Ravensong - Elmshadow

[Willie Warf]

Originally Posted by serendipity.

SWANPAW
she/her | 7 Moon

Swanpaw entered the gathering behind the Shadow queen, bright blue eyes blinked as she slithered out of the concealing darkness there was the loss of the usual bounce in her step, although she kept a kind approachable face perhaps she hoped that someone interesting would come to talk with her. The air was crisp, her paws could feel the chill leaking from the icy ground, what a nice day hopefully someone to talk to would make it even better! She was good at talking to people but not so good at making them stay. Everyone seemed on edge after the recent border skirmish and to be honest she wanted to know how many people had died on Thunderclans side, not enough.

Was she too mean? They had lost cats too, clanmates, siblings, and some may have even lost parents. She bit her tongue and her gaze fell upon Riverpaw who was sitting close to Walnutpaw. Good, she would be safe from the eventual mess that would occur. The small molly took a comfortable seat near the duo not wanting to interrupt anything that the two were doing. Gatherings were times to make new friends from all kinds of clans! Let's just hope they're nice.

[ open ]

- #52

Sharppaw post 17

Sharppaw, who clung to the shadows well, seemingly appeared next to a fellow apprentice of the same clan, giving her a "Hi!"

[Moonraven]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

This feels strange, it sent uncomfortable chills down her spine and cause her muscles to stiffen, and her legs dragging. It's been a long long while since she's been the solo high rank among WindClan to come to the gathering. She led what members of the clan she had allowed to join her through RiverClan's territory, inching her way closer to the beach at a snail's pace. Today, the reluctance to come to the gathering was not due to the weather or even the cold, but her thoughts and concerns were back home with those suffering due to some unknown illness. Twilightstar had paced in her den and contemplated whether she should bring her clan to the gathering at all this moon.

In the end, she made the bold decision to come. WindClan has triumphed over outbreaks in the past, and after reminding herself that she has walked the path of a sole leader before, she settled on the fact that stewing within the camp would do no cat any good. So though it feels as if her bones have no more strength and her muscles are all out of power, as if someone poured gasoline onto the spark of fear in her belly, and through the constant concerns and worries that buzzed around her wondering who passed while she was away, she pushed onwards. She jammed all her doubts and guilt deep down within her and raised her head high and iced her gaze as the mingled scents wafted through her nostrils.

Twilightstar found ThunderClan and ShadowClan already on the beach. What tension she might have caught between the two clans was overlooked as her mind was rather preoccupied. She didn't even notice that there was an entirely different cat in the ThunderClan's leader's place until she leaped and took a seat in between the tom and the Shadow Queen. Thrushfur? Twilightstar blinked her single green orb while glancing at him. Where was Sparrowstar? Twilightstar was somewhat hoping that the other leader was merely sick, like Fallownose, but that spiteful little voice in the back of her head said otherwise. She hoped that Cowtuft was doing alright with everyone back home.

Twilightstar shot a quick glance at Dawnstar who appeared less angry this moon, there was pure glee in her gleaming amber eyes. Though it appeared directed at ThunderClan, Twilightstar naturally remained on guard. She hadn't a clue about who did what, or why, but when Dawnstar was happy about something that always meant trouble, mixed with a lot of bloodshed and death. Dawnstar had quite the sadist streak when it came to violence with the other clans, Twilightstar knew firstpaw how volatile and unpredictable the enormous death incarnate could be when it came to 'retribution' as she called it. The eldest leader inched a little closer to Thrushfur and frowned lightly at Dawnstar before returning her thoughts to her clan.

WindClan was clearly not in a position to get on any of the clans bad side but wasn't completely certain how tight-lipped she'd be able to keep herself if found that ShadowClan was targeting ThunderClan due to the potential change in leadership or over something petty. Twilightstar was doing her best to act and appear as unaffected and untroubled as she regularly was, but it was hard to still her lashing tail and twitching whiskers. Sighing softly, she refocused her attention on the cat below the Seastones.

[Any WindClan cats participating or aiding in the Snow-Fever Event are not allowed at this Gathering]

WindClan's Arrived

[MockingRabbit]

Originally Posted by Guardian Fox

"uh-huh, well speak of the Ice Queen herself" He Chuffed with an eye-role in the Shadowclan leaers direction... "urgh... i hate her, such a disgusting furball... *Sigh* at least they can't fight at a gathering" he murmured as he loafed

Harefire looked uncomftable as he watched Dawnstar's expression as she seated herself.

[iliri]

{Springpaw}

Everything felt uncomfortable. Almost every segment of her sitting here in this very gathering felt uncomfortable. The ThunderClan apprentice whipped her head around to look at the sudden clans strolling in. Springpaw felt her anxieties slowly raise from the initial sight of a large brown tabby molly strolling her way in. That must’ve been Dawnstar, and Springpaw felt her legs almost buckle beneath her. She tried to swallow the sudden anxieties away, but all it did was slowly crawl itself back up into her throat and hang around like the green cough. Springpaw desperately tried to inhale gasps of air, trying to ease her now pounding heart. Her muscles were suddenly stiffening along her back, her pastel calico fur raising up along her back. She couldn’t control her sudden anxieties and she absolutely hated it. Her claws were suddenly unsheathed and began to helplessly dig into the snow below, sending a cold chill up her body. Desperately, she tried to suppress the sudden feeling away, but all it did was keep hitting at her like a plague.

The corners of her mind remembered faintly about what tensions were like between ThunderClan and ShadowClan, and her heart only began to throb faster against her chest when realization came to her like a speeding car. There could be a possible fight at the gathering, and this was only her first. Whisking her tail, Springpaw desperately tried to ignore the negative thoughts attacking at her brain. She just needed to calm herself down. No one should know how she’s currently feeling about the sudden situation. That’s all that needed to know. Her panicked gaze did make contact with the welcoming WindClan. Or at least, what she assumed was WindClan. She had known briefly about the other clans, and judging from the weird, rabbit-like scent that the sleek warriors carried, her assumption must’ve been correct. Springpaw hadn’t bothered to budge from her single spot, being too engulfed by her own fear and anxieties itself.

[OPEN, this poor girl needs help and this is rather short, but I’ll make my next posts longer!]

[carmen]

Beastpaw

The tom was fairly certain that he wasn't that late, for once. Rather, as he strolled in behind his leader, he realized that they were, in fact, here before Riverclan. To many, that wouldn't have been too big an accomplishment, but to Beastpaw, himself arriving before half of the drama that seemed to occur at a gathering was an achievement. Though, as he looked around at the gathered cats, he was yet to find one to approach. Eyes narrowed in on a grey figure in the corner, one of Dawnstar's cats, it seemed. And while it wasn't in his nature to be spiteful, the grudge that he held against the massive leader extended to most of her clanmates. Except this one in the corner seemed rather young, young enough to not even know the battle that had occurred so many moons before. Perhaps, yeah, perhaps he could go talk to her.

Trotting over to Larkfire, he blinked. Once, slightly confused. Wasn't she that enforcer? The itty bitty one who became so as an apprentice? This was, er, Pigeonflame? Warblerspark? Regardless, he sat down beside her, nodding his head. "I'm Beastpaw. And you?" It felt weird to talk to someone who wasn't part of his family. Heck, it felt weird to talk to anyone at this point. Of course, chatting with a Shadowclanner wasn't the perfect option, but he was yet to hear of this feline committing murder, so that was at least one thing in her favor.

Of course, she could always be a secretive murderous monster, but he found that as mysterious as they pretended to be, they didn't seem to be able to keep their mouth shut when it came to bloodshed. Kind of revolting if you asked him, but he was working on being less judgemental. Yeah, he wouldn't judge her for being Shadowclan, not yet at least.

@Rose

[Dark]

Originally Posted by Rose

Larkfire
She/Her

Sometimes days just whizzed by, and these past few ones after the skirmish and the meeting felt like them. Larkfire kept to herself, took apprentices out for training, wandered the territory alone. Anything, she did anything, to distance herself from the cats that tugged on her heart. They held her back. They posed a threat, hovering over her and holding the strings to her heartbreak. One pull, one measly tug, and she would crumble. Lark could not take it anymore. Better safe than sorry, even if that safety came with solitude.

The embers of tamped down savage cruelty glowed behind Larkfire's amber hues of fire, hidden in the depths of her mind. It threatened, day after day, to emerge with the vicious monster lurking beside. The shadow she could not escape, the monster she could not outrun.

Mind buzzing with the awareness of her surroundings, Larkfire slunk after her Clan and into the gathering, weaving easily through the crowd of cats to take her place in one of the furthest back corners. All the other Enforcers had taken a corner, surrounding the other Clans when they arrived, so Lark supposed she'd have to maintain hers too. After all, Dawnstar had told them to watch the gatherings for outsiders, had she not?

Darkfall
___________

This was the first gathering that the tom had attended since he and Larkfire had spent that one beautiful night talking under the stars almost 6 moons ago now. The tom had grown considerably since that night and despite the season, muscles rippled underneath his black-striped pelt. He was here on a mission, or at least that was the original idea anyways. He was here to collect intel on ThunderClan but as he looked around it seemed that many of the other cats were already doing that, so it appeared as though he wouldn’t have to take the direct approach of actually talking to any of the squirrels and could listen from a distance.

That was good. He still felt anger over the border battle that he had witnessed and wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to fully restrain himself should his buttons be pushed too much and he wasn’t particularly inclined to get on Dawnstar’s bad side at this gathering.

Ushering Moonpaw forward with a flick of his tail, Darkfall scanned the beach to find a good spot to observe the proceedings of the events and noticed a familiar grey face in a back corner alone. Unwittingly, his feet began moving before he could even think about what he was doing. ”Follow me,” He told his young apprentice as he made his way towards the familiar she-cat, weaving in between the crowd of cats.

Knowing how jumpy she could be, Darkfall didn’t bother masking his presence as he approached Larkfire. When he got closer he gave the she-cat a sly grin ”Good evening my lovely friend, what has you out here in the cold all on your lonesome?” He asked smoothly. He knew that the young enforcer was probably just doing what she felt was her duty, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t susceptible to being cold just like the rest of them. He took up a spot next to her ”C’mon now, I’m sure you’ve got to be cold over here. How about the two of us keep you company?” he offered, gesturing toward Moonpaw.

[ @Wingnettle ]

[MockingRabbit]

{OPEN}

Swiftheat was glad of the change in weather. The last two times, it had been raining badly. It had been horrible for him the first time, though thankfully the second time he had not come. Now there was snow. Not half as bad as rain, though still cold. Being careful where he placed his paws, the sandy tabby did not realise that ThunderClan and ShadowClan had already come, nor that there was another cat in front of him.



"Hey, watch it!" Froststorm snapped after a bumbling WindClan warrior walked into him. He almost lashed out at him, but the truce held his paw firm. Now he had lost her. Froststorm had tried standing higher. Willowlight's white pelt was hard to spot in this snow, and he had just spotted her, now he couldn't. He headed off in her general direction. @~*Hope*~