October's Gathering 2018

Blue eyes trailed along the ground, refusing to look at the sky. Darkflower didn't want to look, to be reminded of the almost impending doom that loomed closer with every passing day. Despite the gloominess that loomed overhead, Darkflower had awaited this gathering excitedly, since she'd heard of the exiles and Lichenmask. The presence they had, despite no longer being welcome in the forest, was ominous. Her pace quickened as the towering oaks drew nearer, she practically buzzed with excitement.

The scents of all the clans, hit her nose the moment she entered the clearing, it was something Darkflower would never get use to. Her eye, broke away from the ground, gazing up at the leaders. They looked so serious. She didn't blame them. Nobody wanted the exiles and Lichenmask around much longer, the tuxedo warrior among those who wanted them eradicated the most. If any of them laid a single claw on her siblings, she wouldn't hesitate in giving them all th same fate they had given Littlestar. Darkflower's gaze dropped from the leaders, as she settled at the front of the crowd, not wanting to miss anything. She was going to be there for all of it.

Amberpaw padded in, keeping as close to her Clanmates as she could. This was her first gathering ever as a medicine cat apprentice and already it promised to be intense and perhaps terrifying. The young golden tabby shivered. It seemed that everything had aligned to make this night as cold as possiible with the lack of clouds, moon, sun during the day, and with the nearing arrival of leaf-bare. The tensions didn't help her nerves. She had been an apprentice for only a moon and already everything she'd learned about StarClan had toppled. She was just confused.

When the Clan began to disperse, Amberpaw quickly fled to the "safety" of the other medicine cats; though she hadn't met them yet, she knew about them and knew where she was expected to go. She was relieved to see cats her age within the group, and padded up to Fallowpaw and Morningpaw, her dark amber eyes glimmering. "Hi," she murmured, quickly sitting beside them and settling herself as small as she could. She glanced between them and mewed, "I'm Mintwhisker's apprentice, Amberpaw."

Goldeneye looked at the two medicine cat apprentices as she came to her spot, nodding stiffly the she-cat sat. Despite her illness, she was not displaying many visible signs of it, and for that she was grateful as she rested her steely golden gaze upon the apprentices, her gaunt frame making her seem sickly but also all the more fearsome. "Greetings. Tonight will be the most important night of all the clans, so it's best you watch and listen unless you have anything important to say." She rasped her tone evoking no argument as she turned to look for her friend, Mintwhisker.

The patch-furred she-cat watched Firestone with immense interest for a long moment until a voice cut through the rest of the gathering. A growl formed in her throat as her head whipped around to see the insufferable ThunderClan cat she had battled not long ago. The scratches still hurt, but at least they hadn't scarred.
"You didn't tell me your name either." She growled, then turned her head away as Firestone spoke. His words took presidence over that flimsy she-cat's. "Oooo our uncle?" soft delight filled her voice as she looked at Firepaw excitedly, then back to the safe red pelt of her appearant kin. "My name's Blossompaw." She didn't ask why he was in ShadowClan. That was a story Dewshine had already painfully explained to them, even though they didn't really understand it at the time. "Hey Firepaw, when did you two meet?" Her eyes narrowed in playful suspicion.

---

Ridgepaw looked over at Sparkpaw as a she-cat interrupted her.
"Oh hi! What's your name?" She asked curiously. "We're supposed to talk at a gathering. That's what it's for." She insisted confidently though her next words were interrupted as she saw a bit of white not far off. "Those must be all the leaders right?" She asked curiously, though she could only recognise Leopardstar on the rock. The small white tom looked awkward and a bit strange compared to the other cats.
"Is that an apprentice with them?" She mewed curiously. "Luckyyy, I wanna go up there too."

"Oh, I-I'm Lilypaw. A-And that's Scorchstar, the new ShadowClan leader." She mewed, glancing at the other apprentice.

Firepaw put on a playful grin. "I was exploring Fourtrees, and he was there!"

Sparkpaw huffed. "True, but you sound like you know each other." She pointed out. "You haven't been having forbidden romances without me, have you?" She asked her friends playfully. She glanced at the new cat and shook her head. "He's not Scorchstar yet. He told us to call him Scorchfang. It- It's too dangerous for him to leave to get his nine lives." She looked up at the rock, then narrowed her eyes in concentration. "...That doesn't look like an apprentice. It looks like... like a cat that has like super short legs. Can't be Riverclan, that's Jaystar," She nodded her head towards the blue-grey leader, "That she-cat has long legs and things like a Windclan cat, so she must be the Windclan leader," She pointed her ears toward her, the only she-cat on the Great Rock, "And Scorchfang is the big fluffy black one, of course, so it's either Thunderclan or Skyclan." She reasoned, and then added, "But you are Thunderclan and don't seem to know him so it must be the Skyclan leader. That, or a really weird cat from a different clan, but that's unlikely."

Nutfur is there and sits down next to Spotfur.

Swoopnnose is there tries to find Pigeonstorm or Oakberry.

Nectarleap is there and cries in the corner.

Clearpaw looks for Littlepaw, noting a sense of foreboding he is getting.

Bushpaw forgets that most apprentices would be excited at their first gathering and just sits and looks blankly at the leaders.

Squirrel is too tired for detail.

Foxspirit padded up to sit down next to Swiftstep.

Meadowpaw walked cautiously into fourtrees, more tense than usual. So many things had been happening. Shade, Lichenmask... It was all so frightening! She sat down on the edge, too shy to speak to anyone.

OOC: Fox and Meadow are open to talk!

Morningpaw dipped her head to return the greeting Goldeneye gave her and a young medicine cat apprentice. The she-cat then looked over to greet Amberpaw. "Hi-i. I'm Shadowclan's medicine cat. I don't really have a mentor but I'm trying to learn as much as I can from anyone and I also teach myself." Finally she nodded a quick hello to Fallowpaw before she turned to look back at the incoming cats. She nervously clawed the ground, anxiously awaiting how this gathering would play out. She hoped that everything would be alright in the end.

Slatepaw slowly made her way to the gathering, this was her first ever one and she wasn’t really sure what to expect. The grassy ground ruffled benith her fluffy paws, her head hang low trying her best not to talk to anyone. She was to nervous to talk to anyone from the other clans, even her own clan mates. Slatepaw sat as far away from the large crowd of meowing cats. She looked up at the darkness swallowed sky that was full of a unsettling darkness. The crimson red light pierced Slatepaws seafoam green eyes and made is way through her weak body. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head low, clawing the sharp grass around her...somethings not right...

As Sparkpaw spoke Ridgepaw laughed at her accusation. She paid close attention as the sandy she-cat explained who was who. Eyes widening at the large fluffy tom. His looming shape was definitely formidable, but recognisable. Instead, she turned her head and smiled at Sparkpaw.
"Our leader is Leopardstar, he's the large golden tom up there." She explained cheerfully. "Ah! They all look so serious up there, I hope they can solve the issue with the moon. Not that red's a bad colour, but I'd love to see the clear skies again." Her tail twitched as she stood and poked at a leaf that drifted over curiously. "OOoooh! A fourtrees leaf! Ah, It's so cool, I guess these are oak trees then." She poked at the shape of the leaf.

---

Sparrowpaw slipped into the gathering in silence. The scars on her forehead felt fresh as she stared down at the front. Where her father had once made a scene. Now she sat in the back, her tail tucked around her paws.

The RiverClan apprentice whirled around almost immediately, and Hailpaw knew that she had successfully caught the other cat's attention. As was to be expected, Blossompaw did not look happy in the least to see her. Hailpaw wasn't calling out to her in an attempt to be friendly, either. The expression of disdain painting the calico's face sent a thrill of malevolent glee up the white she-cat's spine. Such hostility did not bother her; rather, she found it rather pleasant, seeing as she felt precisely the same way about Blossompaw. Her bright yellow eyes narrowed when the other apprentice then proceeded to ignore her presence. Turning her back to Hailpaw, Blossompaw resumed her conversation with what appeared to be her family. At such treatment, the ThunderClanner twitched one nonexistent eyebrow. Her sharp gaze swung to the large, flame-furred tom standing by. While she had not paid him much attention initially, she was now able to detect the faint scent of pines wafting from him. If she remembered right, that was the scent of ShadowClan. She was quite familiar with what RiverClan smelled like by now, and he was definitely not a RiverClan cat. Blossompaw's words inevitably reached her ears. Uncle? Oh, so she had family in ShadowClan. Hailpaw noted the fact impassively. As a cat whose father was a rogue, blood purity meant less to her than it might to others. Rather, there were more important things at this moment.

"Don't ignore me." She snarled. Unsheathed claws sunk into the grassy ground. She showed no hesitation at all. As a kit, she had been told plenty of stories in the elder's den. In one of those stories, a battle had broken out during a gathering. When such incidents came to pass, StarClan would display their wrath by shrouding the moon in shadowy clouds. Well, the moon wasn't shining right now. StarClan seemed to have already abandoned them. There was nothing stopping her from starting a fight at any moment, except for maybe Blizzardshine's wrath. "I'm Hailpaw of ThunderClan." She was tempted to give a false name just for the sake of spiting the RiverClanner, but changed her mind at the last moment. "It's nice to meet you, Blossompaw." Venom dripped from every word, especially prominent in the calico apprentice's name.

Firepaw turned his head to the she-cat, eyes narrowed, then slipped around behind Blossompaw to face her. "Leave my sister alone." He growled. "If you haven't got something nice to say, try bothering one of your own Clanmates." A low hiss concluded his accusation as he leaned in close. "No real warrior would try breaking the truce. Keep that in mind."

Mistyrain entered the Gathering at Tinystar's heels, noting with a sigh that they were the last to arrive. She parted ways with her leader and made her way to the base of the Great Rock where the other Deputies were already situated. Not unusually, the four toms seated beside her were quiet, seeming to be once again lost in thought. Her pale yellow eyes lingered on the new ShadowClan deputy for a moment longer than the rest - she thought knew his name, but had never spoken with him. "Er... Froststone?" she tentatively identified the fluffy tom. "I'm Mistyrain, Deputy of SkyClan," she informed him with a bright smile. "I hope ShadowClan is faring well." She settled herself comfortably, draping her tail over her paws, to wait for the Gathering to begin.

On silent paws, Tigerleaf followed SkyClan into Fourtrees. As usual, the young she-cat stood apart from the rest of her clanmates. While the others melted away into the crowd, she padded to a quiet corner of the clearing and sat down. Wrapping her striped tail neatly around her paws, she waited. Snippets of conversations were flung back and forth in the air, some making their way to her ears. Her yellow gaze that swept the gathered cats held an unreadable emotion. Tinystar had joined the other leaders atop the Great Rock; this time, fortunately, without incident. The familiar form of Littlestar was nowhere to be seen. In her place was the large, fluffy deputy Scorchfang. It was just as Tinystar that had said--the ShadowClan leader was really dead. Could the clans really defeat Lichenmask? Surely WindClan and RiverClan had not forgotten their hatred for one another. While the war had occurred in the previous generation of leaders, that had not been too many moons ago. ThunderClan had chosen to stand by WindClan, ShadowClan's current stand was unknown, and SkyClan held to neutrality. The cynical little voice within the striped warrior doubted that the five clans would really be able to put aside their differences, even in the face of a common enemy. Have you seen the animosity between Brindlestar and Jaystar? It whispered, Do you really think those two can work together? It'll fall apart. You'll see. And with a leader like Tiny-- The corner of her maw quirking into a frown, she muttered, "Shut up." She pushed the little voice to the furthest corner of her mind.

The gathering would surely begin before long. Until then, she would wait and watch.