December's Gathering 2017

Leopardclaw padded beside Blizzardstar as ThunderClan flooded down into the snowy clearing, his golden pelt flecked with the white of fallen snowflakes.  The tom was not in the best mood; even though his pelt was thick enough to protect him from the worst effects of the cold, he hated snow with a passion due to...other reasons.  Along with that, the clan's lack of prey had gravely frayed his nerves, especially since he noticed how his leader hadn't been taking much from the fresh-kill pile.  He too had been choosing his meals after the rest of the cats, and the effects of that were showing by his much thinner form this moon.  The edges of his ribs showed slightly under his golden pelt, and he was not able to hide that fact as well as Blizzardstar, with her long, thick coat.  This was only the beginning of leaf-bare, if ThunderClan went on like this for much longer...he didn't want to think of the consequences.  Breaking away from the group, the golden spotted tom approched the other deputies that were seated under the Great Rock.  Brindlewhisker and the new RiverClan deputy Jaystream were there, along with that short-legged tom from SkyClan again.  Once again, he wondered what had become of Rippedsky; had the tom died?  Crowstar had not supplied that information at the last Gathering, but maybe he would elaborate at this one.  Sitting down at the edge of the group, he spared them a single polite, but curt, nod before sinking away into his own thoughts.  The snow holds bad memories, and bad luck.  StarClan, Grasswhisker...have mercy on us.

Hollowbranch padded in behind his apprentice, Badgerpaw.

Raggedpaw sat next to Specklefang, with his mind truly on Shadowleaf.

Echopaw walked in and sat next to her brother. By this time next moon she'd be a warrior.

When Wolfpaw had gotten to the Fourtrees started to groom his pelt to get the snow clumps out of his long fur. When he's done he looks around the Fourtrees for a rock to lay on, when he sees one he quickly gets to it and lays down looking towards the leaders waiting for them to start.

Echopaw looks around a little before starting to walk around listning to the cats chatting with each other.

Minnowpaw shyly sits quietly, looking around.

Crowpaw looked around for Spottedpaw, he sighed when he couldn't found her and sits down looking around for her.

Duckpaw slightly and discreetly nodded her head as an act of appreciation towards Stormpaw for lowering his voice. Maybe choosing to talk to another cat this time actually wasn't a horrible decision after all. The RiverClan apprentice shook her head in response to Stormpaw's question, "It's nice to meet you, too. This is actually my second time. Although I'm acting as if it's my first time, even though it's not. Wait, I already said that, didn't I? I-"
The she-cat inhaled, shaking her head as a sign of disappointment in herself. Why was she rambling? She knew how to talk, right?
Just because this is your first time talking to a cat from a different Clan doesn't mean that you should act like a mousebrain!

Russetpaw and Patchpaw arrived and sat down. They began to chat with each other.
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Silverpaw walked behind Windclan and went to random apprentices to chat.
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Sandpaw went with Riverclan and sat alone, waiting for the gathering to begin.

Littlebrook padded into Fourtrees with her head held high and her face kind, but revealing nothing, as she lead her clanmates into the gathering. On the outside she was calm and collected, but on the inside she was a mess. She was nervous beyond anything she'd ever felt before, and she was terrified she would screw up somehow. She wasn't a leader. She had barely been a deputy for very long, but Magpiestar was stuck in camp with an awful cough, so here she was. She was worried about her leader and how the stress of being leader was affecting him. It couldn't be easy for him. She knew if being deputy was even a little bit stressful sometimes, she couldn't imagine how much stress it was being leader.

Littlebrook pressed into Mudfoot comfortingly as she meowed a quick goodbye to him and made her way swiftly through the snow covered ground and to the Great Rock. She took a deep breath before bunching her hind-quarters and leaping gracefully to the top of where the other leaders stood. She nodded politely in greeting to the four cats before sitting her self down with her tail wrapped neatly around her paws. She was quite small compared to the other leaders, but she sat with poise and acted like she wasn't at all freaking out. The gathering would begin soon now that she was here, so she went over what all she would say quickly in her head several times.

Frost, Lakepaw, and Olivelily come in behind their leaders as well.

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For the very first time in his whole life, Sootwhisper didn’t entered in the clearing a couple tail-lengths behind the rest of RiverClan nor took his favorite spot. He was uncomfortable walking alongside so many cats and even more sitting with the crowd, more than once the thought of retreating from such unusual behavior crossed his mind, but one glance as his daughter was more than enough to make him shake off the temptation with a deep sigh. He didn’t want to leave his kit alone, and knowing he didn’t get to be her mentor still bugged him a bit as he wouldn’t be able to be at her side at all times to protect her from danger…but at least he still could do it at this gathering.

His eyes left Viperpaw for a couple heartbeats to look at the cats of WindClan, looking for Thistleblaze’s sister and maybe Badgerkit between them. Well…if the kit was coming he probably would need to call him Badgerpaw from then on.

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Nightheart entered in the clearing alongside her clan, a motherly smile on her muzzle as Badgerpaw moved forwards, bouncing on the cold snow. While he probably lost sight of her between all the cats gathered around the Great Rock she never lost him. She waited until the time when he stopped moving and sat with the rest of the clan that she allowed herself to rise her gaze and look at the cats of RiverClan, it took her some effort but sooner than later she spotted the black and white tom with different colored eyes between them.

When their gazes met there was no need for words, they both knew that Thistleblaze’s kits were there, alive and healthy. It was more than enough for Nightheart to find some relief before finally walking towards Badgerpaw and sat at his side “Everything’s fine, sweetie?”.

Firestone entered the Gathering quietly, keeping his eyes on the ground as he walked. He was still angry to Littlebrook after pretending she was his mother when she wasn't. She lied to him and his brother, just like Flamestrike and Honeydrop. How Magpiestar left her go without punishment when Gingerstripe had one? The she-cat also lied to all the clan, to her leader and there she was, standing on the Great Rock like nothing had happened, all because she was the so-called deputy.

The flame-furred sat alone, digging his claws into the ground frustrated. She didn't deserve to be up there... not after all the pain she caused to him and Gingerstripe.

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Cedarstorm walked behind the deputy happy to see all the snow. It was her first seeing it and she loved it. Almost playing like a kit, the beautiful she-cat sat down with her clanmates, waiting for her sons and mate to join her.

Newtpaw padded into Fourtrees after Littlebrook and with ShadowClan. His head was held high, his tail was erect, and he puffed out his chest to make himself seem bigger than he truly was. This was his first Gathering as an apprentice, and he saw this as a way to prove himself to anyone else that saw him. What was he trying to prove? Newtpaw was trying to prove that he wasn't a kit anymore. His yellow gaze scanned the crowd of cats, and he slightly wrinkled his nose as the mixed smells of both stale and fresh Clan scent streamed into his nostrils and confused his senses. The ShadowClan apprentice branched away from his Clan, curiously looking to and fro for anything interesting. The first cat he saw that looked like she was around his age was a cat who seemed to be with ThunderClan (Dovepaw). The tom didn't even care if she was from another Clan, he just padded straight up to her with a neutral expression on his speckled face.
"Hm," Newtpaw began as he inhaled the fresh ThunderClan scent that was rolling off of Dovepaw, "You smell strange."

Stormpaw grinned as Duckpaw messed up with her words. "Hey , I know what you mean. This is your second time to a Gathering. Anyway, how's your clan doing this leafbare?" the young WindClan apprentice asked.

Heatherpetal padded after her Clan, unable to quell the bubbling excitement in her belly. Her first Gathering as a warrior! She was looking forward to this sacred meeting of the Clans, especially since she wasn't nearly as shy and timid as she used to be.

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Fernpaw bounded excitedly after her Clan, purring loudly. It was very cold tonight, but she barely cared. She was back at Fourtrees with the other Clans, and she was excited to meet more cats.

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Sweetpaw looked around as RiverClan filed into the area, clearly looking for someone. She spotted Littlebrook leading ShadowClan into the clearing shortly after, and she speed-walked over to them, searching for a specific dark tabby.

She found Scorchpaw rather quickly, and she purred happily in greeting. "Scorchpaw! I haven't seen you since-"

"Hush!" Scorchpaw hissed, quickly looking over his shoulder at his Clanmates he left behind to approach the RiverClan she-cat. "We don't need everyone here knowing."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Sweetpaw's whiskers twitched, lowering her voice. "I haven't seen you since the time you hunted by Fourtrees. I... I really wanted to see you again after that."

Scorchpaw's ear twitched in embarrassment, and he slowly blinked. "I... I wanted to, too. But... we can't talk right now. Other cats might hear us."

"Then... can we see each other again?" Sweetpaw meowed softly. "How does right here tomorrow night sound?"

Scorchpaw let out a little purr. "Alright, sounds like a plan. I've gotta get back to my Clan, so I'll see you later."

With a friendly twitch of his whiskers, Scorchpaw padded back to the ShadowClan cats, and Sweetpaw retreated to her own Clanmates as well.

Sootpaw had been dreading this. It was his first Gathering. Not neccesarily his first time in fourtrees, though. He turned his green gaze to where RiverClan was sitting and held back a hiss.

Duckpaw inhaled slowly, taking a couple of heartbeats to let herself relax and calm down. She wrapped her brown tail around her brown paws as she silently sat down. Of course, she was the one acting like the lost and confused kit in this situation. The RiverClan apprentice mentally scolded herself, but tried to keep a calm expression on the outside.
At least try and act like this is your second Gathering, Duckpaw. Stop being such a mousebrain and do something right for a change.
She snapped out of her thoughts once Stormpaw launched another question at her.
"Oh, uh, RiverClan's doing well," The apprentice paused for a short amount of time to process what she was saying. Even though the WindClan tom seemed kind, it would be unresponsible and foolish to share every single bit of RiverClan news with him, "Well, I mean, it's cold... and there's a lot of snow, but all of the other Clans are experiencing prey shortage because of leafbare, too. So, that's not very special. Yeah, nothing huge is happening, but that's a good thing I suppose. What about WindClan? How's it going over there?"

Pantherpaw entered the Gathering quietly, not looking too much at his clanmates but at Riverclan: the clan where his father lived. If it wasn’t forbidden, he would run to him and kill him slowly, avenging his siblings but that would be stupid. He would only get himself killed and he did want to live to see his suffering.
Instead, he just glanced at the new partner of his father, a little black and white she-cat. One day, he would make sure to destroy everyone he loved...

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Batfang followed Ivystar and walked toward his mate. With a happy smile, he licked her cheek and nuzzled her lovingly. Everything was fine because Tinytip, his true and only love was there by his side and that was enough to calm his wounded heart. ”How are you feeling, my love? I don’t want you to get too many work or you might caught a disease.”

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Reedheart joined his clan, hoping that this time Firestone wouldn’t bother him with nice words. However, he looked quite depressed today... Good, at least he won’t bug me anymore for this Gathering...

Lizardtail followed ShadowClan to the Gathering, settling down with the rest of his Clan.