ShadowClan 'Gathering' April 2022

Webwhisper sat among others, quietly watching the camp around her. She was ecstatic to be back, to dig her claws into the muddy ground of the marsh. How she had missed the constant noise, of small wings flapping, of heartbeats, of words. Scandals and relationships and duties that rang in the hearts of the living that held no power over her, but oh how they intrigued her.... So she sat, quietly listening, watching and waiting... What a beautiful night.

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Murkystar gazed around the edges of the camp as she returned from her hunt, resisting a shudder as the fur along her spine prickled. Why were they so present? Had she missed something? She frowned as she placed down the prey she had caught before turning her gaze skyward briefly, eyes widening when she realized the moon stood full against a starless sky. She blinked, her heart feeling like it had stopped. With everything that had happened, she had completely lost track of time, and she had been too nervous to look at the sky to see it dark and empty after the first half moon to notice it growing big once more. So it seemed there would be no Gathering between the clans tonight.. even still, perhaps they could have one of their own. Taking a deep breath, Murkystar moved to the base of Jaggedrock. "ShadowClan! While we are not making th journey to Fourtrees, we will still honor the intention of the full moon. There will be no patrols tonight, instead, tonight we will share tongues and eat our fill. Prey has been plenty, and we have much to celebrate with the end of leaf-bare... And hopefully more to celebrate soon." She announced, keeping her announcement rather informal before turning to search for her mates and kits.

Leopardpaw had never known the world in starlight, only the pleasant warmth of sunshine and the cool embrace of the moon. As the dark strangers that lived alongside them were a constant presence in her memory, they weren't that much stranger to her than the rest of her clanmates, aside from how most cats made an effort to avoid their company, unless she made the mistake of looking a little too closely - something she made an effort not to do. Partly because she was afraid of what she would see, but partly because she felt it would be rude to stare.

Tonight, as Murkystar declared the evening a time of celebration, she stretched out a short distance from the fresh-kill pile. Head resting on her paws, she watched the actions of her clanmates with interest.

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The moon grew full, but the stars didn't return. Thalia didn't know what to do with that, or with the strangers that occupied the place that had become her home, so she had settled for continuing to act as if nothing was truly wrong. It was easy to pretend, usually, under the sun on slow-warming newleaf days; and far harder on cool, starless nights. At least there shouldn't have been any new tragedies tonight - and beyond that, time among clanmates was something to be cherished, because it could always be cut short; something which still felt fresh in their minds, she was sure. She simply hoped that Murkystar was right, and they would have something more to celebrate sooner rather than later.

Sootwhisker had been half expecting to see a sky full of stars beaming along with the moon, but as always, he was disappointed. It was a forlorn feeling, knowing that his warrior ancestors couldn't see him. He'd relied on their faraway support to get him through many a tough time, but now they were just... gone. At Murkystar's words, he gave a sigh of resignation. At times it felt like things would never get back to normal, now with the addition of in-camp gatherings. Maybe he'd have liked it in a different setting, even preferring a quiet night in camp to the loud gatherings he was used to, but under these circumstances, it was just a painful reminder of everything that had gone wrong. At least he had his clanmates. He crouched just outside the warrior's den, watching his surroundings with a wary eye.

Duskflight sat amongst his clanmates, his head hung low as the memory of loosing his dear friends constantly keep coming back to mind— despite his many attempts to avoid them. There was a temporary, small sense of comfort in seeing his kits grow, though Ivycreek… she hasn’t returned from the last patrol. The tom was growing restless, afraid of what might’ve been— but he’d assured Snakekit and Fuzzykit that their mother was fine. She.. she had to be, right?

Nonetheless, the dark-furred warrior pushed his thoughts aside, brushing them away for now as he came back to reality. Dark Forest, ghoulish cats still loomed over their camp, and though Newleaf has come— he wasn’t sure what to feel. He longed for conversations, but it was so weirdly, oddly difficult with the heavy atmosphere weighing around. They weren’t going to Fourtrees this moon, either.

Deerleap listened to Murkystar silently. she was too busy looking at the sky, as if a wisp of cloud might be blown away to reveal a silver to starlight. but there was none. with a sign, she dropped her head and padded next to Sootwhisker, where she curled up with her tail wrapped around her legs. she watched Duskflight's worried look, Icepaw's sunken eyes and Sootwhisker's wary gaze. looks like even her clanmate's fur had been ruffled by the starless sky.

Swiftheart glanced up at the sky at the announcment... wow had it really been a full moon since that terrible night?? That seemed to go by so slowly and also somehow at the same time it fealt like just yesterday that she and Ratrunner were together... he had been taken from her without mercy and it hurt alot. She had watched her brother and crush die on that terrible night and now these dark forest cats would not even let them honor tradition of going to see the other clans... Maybe her brother Nigthstalker had a point. Lving under these dark forest cats was aweful and maybe they should fight... but at the same time she ahd seen what they were cabible of and she was not about to elect any more bloodshed if it could at all be avoided.

Sighing she shrugged they would just have to do what they could and make the most of this time now. She could still talk with any of her clanmates and that was a comforting idea. Everyone looked kinda down which was understandable.

she slowly walked over to Duskflight and sat next to him. He had also been a good frined of Ratrunner and Loudnose. Glancing at him she gave him a soft smile.

"hey you" she greeted "whats on your mind?" she inquired quietly not wanting the dark forest cats to be overhearing every little thing said.

Frostgaze lingered quietly near the Medicine Cat's Den, ear flattening as he passed by a moment later. He wanted to see if Webshadow was still within, but he had duties to attend to. Patrols to plan. Ideas of possible revolution against their dark oppressors to ponder. The deputy was a logical cat, and a fight against the Dark Forest was a fight Shadowclan could not win. At least, not alone. Perhaps the clans, if they banded together, could win. However, it seemed like the Dark Forest would not be allowing that this night. As he looked at the night sky, he realized the moon was full. Yet there was no gathering.  Shortly after this thought popped into his head, Murkystar was announcing it as a night of celebration. Frostgaze hardly felt like there was anything worth celebrating, except the fact that they all still had their lives.

His face a normal, stone-cold neutral, Frostgaze plucked a small piece of prey from the fresh-kill pile. He wasn't entirely sure if he would eat it yet, but he was the deputy. He had to, at the very least, appear like there was some worth to the farce of a celebration. Morale had to be raised somehow. Tonight would just bring back thoughts and memories of the massacre of the last gathering. His clanmates, at the very least, would not be remembering alone.

Basilbloom peeked out of her den at the sound of Murkystar's voice, amber eyes darting around nervously at the many shadowy figures that haunted their once-peaceful camp.  The full moon glowed above, but with the sky devoid of stars its presence was more ominous than comforting.  She knew she should listen to her mother's call to gather, to commune with her clanmates, but she just felt so tired.  She'd been working hard, healing injuries, providing herbs to calm nerves as well as collecting the new sprouts that came with new-leaf, and she'd been tending diligently to the coneflower shoots that had begun to emerge.  However, she knew her exhaustion came from something deeper, the grief she never thought she'd know.  Her heart ached for her brother, missing his witty words and kind smile even more now that they were trapped in this dour state.  Still, though, she was the medicine cat of ShadowClan, and it was with a deep breath that she padded over to the fresh-kill pile to grab a starling.  Glancing nervously at the Dark Forest cats, she found herself beside Frostgaze.  Offering the deputy a half-smile, she sat down next to the white-furred tom and began pulling feathers off of her meal.  "It doesn't feel much like a celebration.  Nice weather and prey don't outweigh scars and tears.  I feel like I have to at least try to be happy though, you know?  For the others."

Grasspaw could be found lounging near the Apprentices' den, flopped over on her side with one paw draped over her face, half-asleep. She'd never been to an actual Gathering, and to tell the truth, they sounded pretty neat, but apparently that wasn't the way things were done anymore, and so though Murkystar's speech was admirable it didn't inspire the apprentice to do anything other than snooze. Why go out of her way to socialize with cats she literally shared a camp with?

Frostgaze's ear swiveled to the paw steps of Basilbloom, who had approached with her own meal. He took a moment before responding, continuing to look at his own prey for just a few heartbeats longer. "Indeed. Morale is poor... especially with these undead guards of ours that enjoy the terror they bring." Pale eyes looked around the camp, mentally noting the amount of undead that remained within. There was no way for him to remove them, no. However, perhaps there was something else to raise morale. Something that involved a bit of risk, though it would, with any luck, help his clanmates keep faith in Starclan, in their ancestors. He didn't understand how they worked, and the deputy wished he did, but he did know that they worked. No claim otherwise would stop him.

"Basilbloom, I am about to do something that could be seen as... idiotic. This clan's morale must be raised somehow, and I hope that perhaps a small act of rebellion will help." Frostgaze rose to his paws abruptly, leaving his would-be meal where it lay. He strode through the camp, leaping up onto the Jaggedrock when he arrived at it. He looked down on the clan for a moment, eyes sharp as ever, though colder than usual. "Shadowclan! I would like to add something to this 'gathering' of ours! A prayer. A prayer to our ancestors, for their safe return to our night skies, and that their light may drive out the darkness that wanders this forest." Gazing directly at a small contingent of Dark Forest members, Frostgaze leaped down, landing with a soft thud.

He bowed his head then, finally doing his own prayer. A prayer that his clan would be safe, and that Starclan would return soon. He would not believe that they were truly dead, after all, the dead could not truly die.

Swiftheart blinked a couple of times in disbelief at what Frostgaze had just done... she had not expected that from him at all!

He was usually so calculated and calm and doing something this instinctive off of pure emotions... well it sounded like something she would have done rather than the cool calm collected and rational deputy...

She agreed with every word he said for sure but... was this a good idea? She wondered, surely the dark forest cats would not take kindly to this?

She glanced around noticing that alot of the dark forest cats were defenetly staring at him. She was nervous but she also followed his lead and very quietly she also bowed her head in a quiet prayer to starclan.

Of all my cats, Swiftheart is by far the most religious to starclan and she hoped so much that they could hear her tonight. She did not make a big deal over it for fear of the dark cats but she appreciated Frostgaze alot for doing that. ... she was however nervous for him ...

She did feel better after she did so though... perhaps Frostgaze was right in all this... she hoped so. "Starclan please free us from this mess" she said in a hushed whisper of a prayer glancing up at the still starless sky she sighed... Morale was still at an all time low indeed and even she felt a bit distraught during all this hostile invasion of sorts. These dark forest cats were really gloomy honestly.

Snowfoot sat aside from the others. She did not speak loudly like Frostgaze, but softly, almost in a whisper. “Mother, you’re a loner. You might not be gone like StarClan. Please help us!”

Deerleap twitched an ear at what Frostgaze said. that was an unusual choice of words, but she could guess why he did such a reckless act. she raised her head to the starless sky, and softly whispered, "Brighteye, Mistlebright, Burningwing, Amberdawn, Ratrunner, Loudnose, Shymoon... if any of you can hear me, please listen to my words. guide my paws in all ways i can help my clan from this mess, the future of the clans need you."