September's Gathering 2017

Ashstar was the first to lead her Clan into the newest Gathering. As she strode into the clearing, her soft paws making barely any noise on the carpet of crunchy orange leaves below, WindClan flooded in behind her. Though none of them had truly recovered from the effects of Smokefang and the Mist, their Clan was still strong- and stronger, she would like to think, from the trials they'd had to face. Hopefully, the Dark Forest fox-heart and her accomplices were gone for good. The only issue that she knew to still exist was that of the Tribe. What would they do now? One of their own members had caused the nearly-deadly issue in the first place, causing lasting enmity in the forest, no doubt. She was having difficulty thinking any good of them herself. And now that the major threat back at their old home was gone, would they remain or go back to their previous camp? She honestly had no idea. Mustering her strength, the wiry leader leapt onto the Great Rock, stone cool beneath her paws, ready for the other leaders to arrive.

Slatethroat followed behind Ashstar with his tail lashing. He noted that Windclan was the first group there. At least they had one good thing going for them. The warrior took a place in the center of the clearing. He was ready to mingle with their enemies, always searching for secrets and stories. Even if he was not a fan of the other clans, he was more indifferent than anything. His green eyes scanned the edges of the clearing as he waited for more cats to join them.

The medicine cat was the first of her group to arrive. None of the other clans were here yet. Her chest tightened at the thought of being back here once more. Last moon's had been bad enough. Sageleaf wrapped her tail lightly over her paws while she waited.

Nectar leap trotted into the clearing with the rest of his clan, feeling slight chills, from more than just the weather. The the stars and moon shone warmly, memories of the last gathering still filled his mind. It had been traumatizing, to say the least. And since then Heathershade had died. He didn't push those thoughts away, but didn't focus on them either. He wouldn't again become the depressed cat he had been for a nearly a moon. Now he had another daughter who was an apprentice, and his friends were supporting him. Even with the death of a loved one, he was still fine. He waited for some other clans to arrive, so that he could speak with them.

Dawnlight trotted into the clearing with the rest of WindClan, still solemnly mourning the loss of his brother, Goldenflame, from a little while before. Although, he did put on a confident facade.

Following Ashstar at about a tail length came Brindlewhisker, hardly making a sound as she dutifully followed suit after her Clan leader. After the misadventures of the last gathering and the death of Goldenflame, she would of much preferred to simply stay in camp with Dewtuft and spent the night relaxing, but she knew better than to wistfully think of such a thing. After what had transpired during last moon's gathering, she knew that she needed to attend- just in case the unthinkable happened. Again.

Quietly padding into the hollow with her head held high, Brindlewhisker watched from the corner of her eye as Dawnlight slipped into the small crowd of WindClan warriors who mingled in the clearing. Perhaps she should talk to him sometime after the Gathering and see how he was. Making a mental note of what to do, the Deputy quickly took her place beneath the Great Rock and wrapped her tail tightly around her paws as she impatiently waited for the other Clans to arrive.

Blizzardstar’s paws carried her through the leaves and grass with the color of the fire. The first chills made themselves evident and it caused deep worry on the newest leader’s mind. The forest was far from full recovery and Leafbare was near to arrive to the territories. Options rushed through her head, but the most convincing ones, the ones that could guarantee the survival of her clan the best, were not exactly the ones that gave greater comfort to the white fluffy she-cat.

With a deep breath, she finally stepped into Fourtrees, her clan behind her. She just hoped StarClan would be merciful and have prey return to the territory in time.

Her strong legs helped her climb on top of the Great Rock, a small shiver going down her spine as the memories of the past gathering made themselves present in her head. And with them the figure of Shadowleaf. While she considered the tribe cat a friend and a loyal clan member, and after her talk with him Stoneteller to be a kind hearted leader…or healer…that truly cared for the wellbeing of his tribe and meant no harm towards the clans, but after the events of the past full moon she had noticed such opinion to not be as popular as she wished it to be, and was sincerely worried on what the other leaders could say now. She was willing to stand up for the tribe cats if needed, knowing that the actions of one shouldn’t be reason to judge the whole group, but one clan against four wouldn’t have much of a chance…especially if within that clan there would be some tensions between members for that same fact.

When she reached the top of the rock, she smiled at the grey leader that had arrived before her and gave a respectful nod in her direction “Greetings, Ashstar” She purred softly. She had been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed WindClan in the clearing until now, but she was definitely glad they were the first ones to arrive and not RiverClan or ShadowClan, as she sincerely expected her opinion to clash with Fishstar’s and Leopardstar’s the most and didn’t want tensions to arise even before the gathering had formally started.

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Nightheart added in after Ashstar, smiling with pride when she realized they were the first ones to arrive before taking her spot in the clearing to wait for the other clans.

Ravenpaw and CreampawxStick followed behind Blizzardstar. They sat down next to a group of apprentices.

Leafstorm padded into Fourtrees warily, staying close to Specklefang. Echos of the battle that occurred still rang through the trees, and it was unsettling to be back here. So much had changed- Sunpaw was back, the mist was gone and a great battle had been fought.
He sat beside a Windclan warrior, mewing a friendly greeting and keeping an eye on his two apprentices.

Sunpaw padded in the back of the group, beside Blazingwing. Her green eyes widened as she looked around. So much had changed while she was in the Mistwalker's lair... The warrior-aged apprentice tilted her head, looking for cats she recognized.
Eventually she sighed and sat down next to her brother with a small huff.


Sharppaw skipped into the gathering beside her mentor, her eyes wide. "Shrewpaw! C'mon let's go!"
The fluffy she-cat began to look for a place to sit eagerly. Only the best place would do- somewhere she could see both the leaders and the crowd. And then drippy ran out of energy and decided to do this stuff later.

Reedpaw padded behind Blizzardstar following the scent of his fellow clanmates into the clearing where cats were gathering. His big green eyes widened as he saw the majestic Fourtrees and two of the leaders talking together. He already had the age of a warrior but because the Mist took him away too young he never got the chance to be in a Gathering until now. It was all so new for him and his nose couldn't stop working as he scented all the smells of the other clans. The golden apprentice sat down close to his clan, searching for Shrewpaw or Sharppaw to come too. He was so excited about seeing his father sitting close to the leaders of the clans!

Umberflame, Coldbreeze, Badgerstrike, and Rainwhisper padded in after Blizzardstar.

Stoneheart followed his leader Ashstar into the grounds of fourtress, the chilly air gently ruffling his light gray fur. Towering over his clanmates in height, the warrior's light yellow eyes were unrestricted by the crowd as he looked around the area. Seeing cats swarm in, Stoneheart felt a twinge of excitement.

Back in his apprentice days, Stoneheart had been filled with fear and insecurity. But growing up had lessened that burden. Being around his adopted kits and apprentice him grow stronger as a cat. But the best part about their influence was that their curiosity about the world inspired his. Another gathering was about to begin. Maybe this time, he would meet someone new.

Laurelsong followed her clan down into the Fourtrees clearing, head held high and eyes glowing proudly, eager to show off her new title.  This being her first Gathering as a proper warrior of WindClan, she was eager to meet someone new, get to know the enemy a bit better.  With a quick glance towards where Stoneheart had trotted off to, she felt the familiar disgusted bile rise up in her throat, like always when she saw the idiotic tom.  Ever since her warrior ceremony though, when she had reluctantly 'made peace' with the dark gray warrior, she had tried to keep her true emotions under wraps.  If she kept showing such utter disdain towards a clanmate, it would be hard to earn the trust of her fellow warriors.  Thus making it harder to gain Ashstar and Brindlewhisker's respect, thus making it harder for her to rise in rank!  Taking a deep, restraining breath, Laurelsong shot the tom a convincingly friendly smile before turning away, eager to find someone new to talk to.  Catching sight of a young tom, who looked remarkably like the new deputy of ThunderClan, she trotted up to him and dipped her head in greeting, purring.  "Hi there!  I'm Laurelsong of WindClan, what's your name?"

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Leopardclaw padded into the clearing a little bit behind Blizzardstar, his face twisted in it's usual serious expression, but on the inside he could feel his stomach churning nervously.  The last time the clans had been here was the battle with Smokefang and Swoop, where he had been brutally struck to the ground and knocked out.  If it hadn't been for that young ShadowClan warrior the clan cats would've been doomed; and that was why he had made an effort before they had left to groom his fur in a way that slightly covered up the quickly-healing scar that would forever mar his shoulder.  It was a sign of weakness; his weakness.  He knew that no cat had truly stood a chance against that hell-spawn that called herself a cat, but the thought that a younger - not to mention rival - warrior had seen the obvious solution had begun to make him question himself.  Am I really good enough to be deputy?  What if Blizzardstar made the wrong choice...  The sound of his apprentice dashing off was able to snap him out of his insecure thoughts, and he glared sternly after Sharppaw as she ran off into the crowd.  He could only hope and pray that she would follow the rules.  He turned his attention towards the deputy's place under the Great Rock, where Brindlewhisker was already sitting.  Even though he wasn't the biggest fan of Ashstar, her deputy seemed to be an honorable, respectable warrior, with a bit of an attitude that he wasn't willing to provoke.  Dipping his head in a friendly greeting between equals, Leopardclaw sat down beside the pale tabby she-cat and allowed a faint smile to appear on his spotted face.  "Greetings Brindlewhisker, how have you been?  Is WindClan faring well?"

Shrewpaw followed ThunderClan into Fourtrees, memories of the last gathering flooding his mind. The gathering where he had faced the Mist head on, though unfortunately he had missed most of the action. It had also been the night, well, really early morning, that Reedpaw had returned. Because though he acted tough and did genuinely feel no fear at anything, he still needed friends. But that didn't mean that he shouldn't tease them. When Sharppaw called to him, he eagerly trotted over to her. He knew it was her first gathering, but then he realized it was his other friend's first gathering too. He had so much more experiaence than them! 
"Sharppaw, let's go sit next to Reedpaw! I can brag to him about being younger than him and having been to more gatherings than he has, and you can come do whatever!" he exclaimed, nudging her before searching the crowd for the golden apprentice in question. Soon he had located Reedpaw, and starting trotting towards him, until he stopped and looked curiously. "Uh, who is that WindClan warrior going up to him?" After a brief moment of consideration, he shrugged. "Let's go confront him anyway!"

Brindlewhisker watched with cool eyes as ThunderClan came stomping into the hollow next, her ears swiveling forwards to listen intently as the forest-dwelling warriors began to mingle with her own Clanmates. She could feel her nape fur wanting to prickle slightly as the sacred hollow became more and more crowded, but she resisted the urge to allow her fur to full on bristle in distress. There was no need to get worked up over another Clan simply arriving, right? Right. Not all Gatherings could end up resorting to the chaos like the previous one. Swallowing away her misgivings, the Deputy simply forced herself to relax once more as she watched Blizzardstar and Leopardclaw make their way over to their respective positions.

"Leopardclaw." Brindlewhisker murmured before offering a polite dip of her head towards the spotted tom, her tail instinctively tightening around her forepaws as she spoke. She was rather grateful that they were able to interact in a more...peaceful environment this time, instead of the chaos and bloodshed of the last Gathering. "Everything is well enough, I suppose. Several new warriors and a few late broods of kits- all we could really ask for at this point." She admitted finally, a slight undertone of content evident in her words as she spoke, feeling more relaxed as she spoke. "I hope ThunderClan is doing equally as well?"