November's Gathering 2017

Following closely behind Ashstar as per usual, Brindlewhisker slowly made her way into the sacred Gathering place with little emotion displayed on her face. The past few days had still been somewhat troublesome and the last thing she really wanted to do was go make nice with the other Clans, but she knew better to leave Ashstar to attend by her lonesome. She was a bit surprised to see two new cats seated where the Deputies typically sat, but her cool mask of politeness did not reflect the initial shock. What happened to Rippedsky? And who was this RiverClan cat? Her gaze settled on the two new toms with a hint of sharp interest, but all Brindlewhisker offered was a civil trill of greeting as she took her place.

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Close behind Otterleap, Minnowpaw, and Snowpaw came Splashwillow, the white patches in her calico fur gleaming brightly in the moonlight. Her gaze attentively alternated between following the familiar pelts of her two daughters and the ginger pelt of Sweetpaw. It felt a bit strange attending the Gathering after several moons in the nursery, but it was nice nonetheless- even if she would likely spend the entire night looking after her kits and apprentice.

Now for all new apprentices, the first Gathering was either a living dream or a living nightmare. Duckpaw was ready to find out whether she could look back on this Gathering sometime in the future and think fondly of it. The RiverClan apprentice padded in with her Clan, keeping her ears erect so that she could experience every sound as it flooded towards her. The smells that drifted into her nostrils were almost overwhelming. Of course there was the fresh scent of her own Clan amongst the rest of the smells. There was old smells too... what did the older apprentices call it? Stale, that's right. Duckpaw wanted to jump out and talk to some of the other apprentices, but a tugging at her gut told her it was a better idea to just... not. If an apprentice approached her than so be it. Shaking her fur once, the RiverClan apprentice sat down with her Clan, glancing briefly at her paws, before looking around at the clearing.

Fourtrees, the open clearing with four large trees that surrounded it, was full of history and lore. Despite the peace that was supposed to occur during Gatherings, blood had been spilt on the ground more than once. There were many stories that focused on this one specific place... and while some may have been stretched a bit for drama, Duckpaw still knew that things happened here.

Sandpaw followed beside her mother Ivystar. She then took a seat somewhere near all the other Riverclanners.
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Silverpaw walked behind the rest of Winclan. He padded up to his mother Brindlewhisker. "Mother, where is Skyclan's deputy?"

Jaystream looked around a bit uncomfortable until his gaze found the white tom with short legs approaching the deputy spot. He wrapped his tail wound his paws so the Skyclan warrior couldn't see his paws shaking slightly. However, he felt a little better with him there. He was a new one too, even if he was older than him, he was taking the place of a new deputy or maybe he was just a temporary deputy. However, no matter which of those alternatives, the gray tabby cat wasn't alone anymore. He was not the only one being there as a new deputy.

Looking down at the short tom, the Riverclan managed to find his voice and speak to the other cat with a normal voice, smiling friendly but shyly. "Hello..." He mewed in a quiet and shy voice as he turned his sight back at Ivystar, doubtful about it wasn't correct if he said what happened to Fishstar before Ivystar did. "I... I'm not sure if I should be the one to tell what's going on... Sorry." He muttered turning his green gaze back to the Skyclan warrior. But before he could answer, Brindlewhisker appeared. Jaystream knew her name and position from other Gatherings but he never actually talked to her so he just nodded quietly at her as a short and polite greeting. She didn't seem so interested in talking and neither he was.

Emberpaw nudged Heatherpaw. "It's not so bad," she told her fellow apprentice. It was true, but Emberpaw was still happy to have someone she knew at the Gathering - someone she could even call a friend.
~
Featherpaw followed Ashstar into the Gathering, but waited for another medicine cat to arrive, unsure of the proper protocol. She wondered if perhaps her mother knew (there was a part of her that still believed her mother knew everything there was to know), but didn't want to draw attention to herself for the moment - still, when her brother approached her, she followed, hoping to convey her question without needing to speak.
~
Swanpaw, meanwhile, stuck close to her Clanmates - though she was trying to make friends, she didn't need to accidentally make enemies.

FrostFether came to the gathering with her clan. This was her first gathering as a warrior and it seemed different. She saw her friends and ran up to them. "hi guys." she said to them

Spottedpaw and Daisypaw walked in with there clan. Spottedpaw was with crowpaw and Daisypaw was with foxpaw. They smiled when they saw darkpaw and went over when they got there frostpaw ran to them. "hey frostpaw." they both said at the same time.

Darkpaw laughed at her friends. She also said hi to frostpaw then looked at crowpaw. "hi I'm darkpaw what's your name?" she asked him.

Rosepaw smiled as she saw that she was the last of her friends to arrive. She went over to the group and also noticed the starnger."hi I'm Rosepaw." she said smiling.

FrostFeather didn't mind but she quickly filled them in. "my name is FrostFeather now." she said.

Lilypaw entered with the rest of Riverclan. She sat down and waited for the rest of the clans.
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Swiftstep quickly arrived with Windclan. He noticed that Rippedsky was nowhere to be seen. It got him curious.
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Birdflight entered the area with Thunderclan. She sat by a couple of Warriors.
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Silentpaw didn't want to be here since Rippedsky was ill but his mood returned to joyous once he remembered that this was his first gathering as a Skyclan apprentice. He sat by some thunderclan apprentices.

Crowpaw looked at Spottedpaws and Daisypaws friends "Hi, Im Crowpaw and well this is my first gathering" he said and smiled at them. He glanced towards the leaders.

Echopaw came as one of the last windclan cats. He looked around for Frostfeather, when he saw her he started to walk over to her. When she got to her he sat down by her side with his fur puffed up. "H-hey guys Im Echopaw, nice to meet you" he said quietly and looked at each of the cats.

OOC: no double posting

OOC; FrostFeather smiled when she saw him.

Daisypaw and spottedpaw welcomed him.

Darkpaw said hi to him then waited for the gathering to start.

Rosepaw said hi then stopped talking.

OOC: Oopss.. Hehe

Echopaw turnd towards the leaders and waited for the gathering to begin.

Crowpaw moved a little closer to Spottedpaw hoping that no one would notice it. He looked towards the leaders.

Ravenpaw followed her Clanmates into her first Gathering. There were so many cats there! She was excited, and quite nervous, to meet cats from other Clans. She waited until a few other apprentices had seated themselves, and then went to sit among them, trying to look like she knew what to do. She looked around, realizing that she had a vague memory of being here before.

Violetpaw trotted into the gathering after Blizzardstar, buzzing with anticipation. She didn't exactly know what to expect from her first Gathering and she had no idea what to do, but she copied the cats around her and found a place near some of the other ThunderClan apprentices.

Flowerpaw said nothing, she just shifted uneasily as she waited for the leaders to speak.

Tilting his head ever so slightly to the side, Tinylegs listened to the deputy and was a bit bummed to hear that he'd have to wait and see if the leader would answer his question. "O-oh, alright," he mewed a bit disappointed, though he perked back up once Brindlewhisker arrived.

Giving a nod and smile to the she-cat, he looked to what seemed to be her kit who'd asked a question about what happened to their deputy. Opening his jaw to speak, he quickly shut it, realizing that he probably shouldn't say anything either. Sitting in silence next to the two cats, the atmosphere grew a bit too awkward for him, and he decided to at least attempt to make small talk with the other two deputies.

"You look well Brindlewhisker. I'm assuming WindClan is having good hunting this Leaffall?" he inquired, hoping that he wasn't being nosy, but simply wanting to chat with the deputies around him. Besides, he wasn't going to be deputy forever, so might as well get to know Brindlewhisker and Jayfall while he was here, seeing that it was always good to have acquaintances in other clans.

(occ: no one talk to Laurel, I have plot plans pls thx)

Leopardclaw trotted into the Gathering only a few paces behind Blizzardstar, the usual serious expression he held at Gatherings adorning his face until he noticed that the placement of cats upon and below the Highrock seemed off.  The RiverClan deputy Ivyfall was sitting alongside the other leaders, while a younger tom had taken her place among the second-in-commands.  Had Fishstar passed on?  He also noticed that Rippedsky wasn't sitting with them as well; in the patched tom's place was a stumpy-legged white warrior.  For a moment his eyes sparkled with concerned curiosity, but it didn't last long; if there was any news to share, all the clans would know soon enough.  Joining the other deputies, the golden spotted tom nodded a polite but friendly greeting to Brindlewhisker, before turning his gaze onto the two newcomers.  He nodded in greeting, the edges of his mouth twisting upward in a slight smile as he meowed; "Hello, I don't think I've met you two before?"

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Finchstream followed Ivystar down into the Fourtrees, clearing, her golden eyes downcast and unenthusiastic.  She hadn't wanted to come to this Gathering tonight, yet here she was.  The silver and white tabby she-cat sat down near the edge of the crowd, her shoulders slumped and tufted ears drooping from exhaustion.  Her endless stress as of late had worn away at the molly's usually amiable demeanor, leaving in it's place a tired and sad shell of a cat.  Guilt weighing heavy in her heart, the young warrior tried her best to block out the crowd around her, and prayed that tonight's event wouldn't go on for too long.

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Laurelsong entered with the rest of WindClan, and settled down nearby the Highrock to observe the crowd.  The outgoing young warrior didn't like to stick with her own friends at Gatherings; she preferred to find new cats to talk to each time, and tonight was no different.  Her yellowish-green eyes flashing back and forth over the bustling crowd, she waiting for someone to catch her interest.  

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If there was one cat that night who was excited to be attending the Gathering, it was Fernpaw!  The brown tabby and white apprentice jogged alongside her clanmates as they descended the slope, her murky green eyes taking in everything and everyone with energetic interest.  This was her first Gathering, but she wasn't intimidated in the slightest!  Mingling and pushing her way through the growing crowd of pelts, she looked for someone to talk to.  She could've stuck with her sister Mintpaw...but there were so many new scents to explore, and stories to be heard!  Finally, she caught sight of two apprentices who looked about the same age as her; a silver tabby tom, and a fluffy white she-cat Lakepaw & Snowpaw.  Waving her tail in a friendly greeting, she walked up to join the two cats, who she could now distinguish as RiverClan by their scents.  "Hi there, I'm Fernpaw of SkyClan, nice to meet you!"  Probably interrupting their conversation, Fernpaw sat down and purred; "Is this your guys's first Gathering as well?"