September Gathering 2013

OOC: I had been waiting to make Reed's ceremony before starting, but I fear it might be too late by the time I'm done, so I'll just make it right now. If I take too long, RC will just not attend and you can start without us.

IC: Fog clung close to the ground, clouding the clearing with mist, and one could see a brown crinkled leaf slowly drift down into the ghostly sea. The full moon shone bright among a sea of stars, yet something felt... off, in the air. Leaf-fall had come at last, but was it something else?

Raccoonstar looked around the clearing before leading her clan down the hill into the fourtress area. It seems like Windclan was the first one here. The Windclan leader gave a sigh before jumping onto the rock, oh how she didn't like gatherings..

Ivyfur was behind the Deputy and Leader, a quiet smile on her face. She would get to encounter the other clans, and speak to them. The small silver tabby was disguised under the moonlight, but her white underbelly stuck out; which was the con of it.

Nightstar followed with her clan shortly after the WindClan leader. With her head held high, she bounded down the slope. Slowing to a stop next to the rock. Glancing at the spot she would have usually sat, and tilted her head to view the place she would be standing during the gathering. Nightstar smiled to her self, and half leaped, half scrambled to the top of the rock. The new leader nodded to Raccoonstar in greeting.

"Leaf-fall is arrived." Nightstar commented, as a colder breeze swept through the clearing. The leader couldn't help but feel worried. This was going to be the first Leafbare as a leader. Her blue eyes narrowed, She would try to make the best decisions for the good of her clan.

Falconfang followed close behind Raccoonstar, scanning the clearing. Yup, they were the first one there. That was a rare occurrence. While his leader hopped onto the rock, he took his spot below said rock and gazed out upon his fellow Windclanners. Here, with all of them gathered together, they looked strong, as if no other clan could defeat them.

It wasn't long, though, until the deputy noticed slippery shadows advancing into the clearing, and he knew that Shadowclan had arrived. Nightwing led them forward, but he was surprised when she moved past the spot where the deputies normally sat and hopped up onto the rock next to Raccoonstar. Confusion surfaced in his mind for a moment, until he realized... Wait, is Nightwing the leader? Was it possible? The clans were admittedly more secretive now after the great battle, so it was possible, but he felt like he should've known... Did Sagestar die?

Shadeheart padded into FourTrees. It was just another gathering for her, nothing paticularily extraordinary about it. She took her place below the highrock and waited for the other Medicine cats and their apprentices.

Owlpaw arrived after some other warriors. He didn't like how many strange cats there were there, cats that would kill him if there was a battle. He sat down by himself by one of the tall oaks. What else was there for him to do? He couldn't speak, let alone hold a conversation. He wondered if Hawkpaw was coming...

He didn't look forward to the day of the gathering, surely it'd be strange sitting amongst the crowd after so many moons on top of the Great Rock, but in his mind, to miss out on this and seeing his deputy in his place was both disrespectful to the newly named Nightstar and a show of weakness on his own behalf. So, along with the rest of the clan, he padded out after the she-cats signal and walked slickly into the clearing, his chin held high in stubborn pride as he walked through the crowd, avoiding everyone else's gaze.
Sagest- no, Sagewhisker now couldn't help but wonder of RiverClan, and Froststar in particular. The kits... she hadn't met them where they'd agreed, but instead the two were left on the clan's doorstep (because sage totally understands two-leg things like doorsteps, yo.). It had him a bit un-nerved, to say the least. Still, he took his spot in the clearing and kept his gaze locked on the Great Rock expectantly, tuning out the murmurings and chit-chat around him.

Oh, and Daisypaw was there yo. I might post with him later but serugserg. Falcon's post made me wanna post for some reason with Sagey.

"Come on, Badgerpaw, stick close." Twistedfoot glanced at his son as he padded into the clearing after his Clanmates, trying to keep an eye on the young apprentice. Most of the time, apprentices would try to stick close with their mentors but with Badgerpaw's mentor being Raccoonstar, it seemed the young apprentice had ended up sticking close with his father...Which wasn't going to well as Badgerpaw kept being distracted by almost every little thing.

Badgerpaw looked away from the butterfly with a small frown, turning and padding after the large grey warrior. "Alright father..." he said with a huff. Then he saw the clearing. The sheer amount of cats made him want to freeze right than and there, swallowing as his tail flickered. He forced himself to creep forward, scooting toward his father until he was right next to him; much like he had done when he had first left the nursery. Never before had he seen so many cats...Never before had he pictured so many cats in one place! His gaze flickered toward the Highrock, taking note of the fact that there was only two of four leaders on there. This was only half of the Clans? As he sat down next to his father, he curled his tail tightly against his paws. This place would be crowded once the other two joins...His gaze turn hard as he attempted to figure out what Clans were missing. After a few moments he finally settled his choices on ThunderClan and RiverClan. RiverClan would have sleeker pelts then the other cats, and they were all dark colors; which made sense if they were ShadowClan.

Nightcloud was silent as she strolled into the clearing, her gaze flickering around. Of course, only ShadowClan and WindClan were here...She glanced toward Nightstar, wondering how she was taking all this. Becoming leader couldn't be easy; having to watch the one that you respected the most died, or in Sagest-Sagewhisker's case, step down. Also, the idea of talking infront of all of the Clans just didn't seem like something Nightcloud would enjoy, but she had a feeling that Nightstar would do just fine. The warrior sat down as she glanced around the clearing, wondering where the other two Clans were. They wouldn't be late, would they?

Glittering eyes that reflected the full moon's light looked over the clearing from the thick forests of ThunderClan. With an unseen flick of a tail, Dewclaw led the Clan into the clearing, the light of the moon turning her pale gray coat into a bright white. Her muscles rippled clearly under her short pelt, and with them the marks of battle that would soon fade; all but the old shoulder scar from the Deomilites war, that is. Clinging close to her side was a small black and white apprentice, whom she scolded with a low growl.
"Get off me, kit. I'm not your mother." She peeled away from him and leapt onto the Great Rock, ignoring the inquiring looks from the other Clans.

The little tom, though having been scolded, cheerfully nodded to his leader and trotted away with a contented smile on his face. He looked around until he spotted the gathering medicine cats and took up a spot by them, looking around for his mentor.

Hawkpaw slid into the the clearing after her brother and looked around. This place was big! She saw the Big Rock in the middle of all the cats and her gaze raked through the cats. She saw her father and Badgerpaw, she was about to bound after them when she noticed Owlpaw. She stopped midstep and felt another cat bump into her. She flung her head around and saw a beautiful she cat. She looked like a calico or tortoiseshell with long sleek. But had white on most of her body. She looked at her with amber eyes and muttered a 'sorry' and continued through the crowd. She shook her head slightly and looked back to Owlpaw. She bounded through all the other crowding cats and finally squeezed in next to him. Sitting down, she nosed his shoulder. "Hi Owlpaw"

Spottedfeather slid through the crowd, dodging past other cats. Many cats looked at her and started, she wondered why. She kept eyes a little too long with one cat and felt herself hit a smaller body. She looked and saw it was a mud brown cat with white on her paws, the tips of her ears and three sections of her tail. She had amber eyes like hers except this cats was brighter. She herself had soft amber eyes. "Sorry" she muttered and continued through the crowd. She looked up to Dewclaw, who quickly got on the Great Rock. She really admired him since he did help her with her training. She looked away when he looked her way and worked her way through to some other clan cats.

As soon as Nightstar gave the signal, Gingerheart followed her into the clearing, looking around at the clans who arrived before they had. Not many, actually. It seemed as if Windclan was the only clan that beat them to it, but no matter. Without saying a word, the senior warrior sat down in her usual spot while casting small glances at Sagest- Sagewhisker. She had never known what his warrior name was until he had announced his retirement which still shocked her. Never in her life would she have believed that he would have stepped down from leadership, yet there he was sitting with the elders. But she also took the time to think about how much the older tom had been through during his time as leader. It must have been a lot to think about and do. The pressure would be stressful. In some ways, she really didn't blame him for retiring. Now he just got to enjoy the life of luxury.

Thrushstripe entered the clearing as he looked around at the huge oak trees. He hadn't been to many gatherings, and with each one, he became more surprised at its appearance. Of course, all of the other clans were a little unnerving, but he never really talked to many of the other clan cats. Actually, he didn't think he had talked to any of them which was probably a good idea. If he ended up making friends and there came a battle, he would have to fight them one day. That was something he didn't think he could do if he had to. With a small sigh, the young tom found a spot to sit and sat down, watching the two leaders that were now on the rock carefully. Raccoonstar always looked so strange. She looked... paranoid... or at least like she couldn't trust anyone. He wondered what ran through the she-cat's mind.

Mossfur walked in and looked around. She didn't see anyone she knew so she decided to meet some new cats. "Hi!" she said turning around to face a cat.
Berrypaw milled around with a bunch of other cats he didn't know. His first gathering! How exciting! He padded to look for his siblings. Nudging Hawkkpaw and Owlpaw to get there attention he said "Isn't this exciting? Our first gathering!"

So Sagestar isn't dead after all, Falconfang mused to himself as he caught a glimpse of the former leader among the thronged masses of Shadowclan cats. A slight frown crossed the deputy's face: from his admittedly limited knowledge of him, it didn't seem like Sagestar to voluntarily retire from such a position. It wasn't unprecedented, it was just... odd, that's all.

That wasn't the only surprising happening at tonight's Gathering, though. It was Dewclaw, and not Mossstar, that hopped up onto the Great Rock. Now where was the Thunderclan leader? And the Shadowclan deputy? And the entirety of Riverclan? Perhaps they were only running late, but everything seemed a bit off tonight. At the very least, he might feel a tad awkward being the only deputy sitting there.

Owlpaw smiled as Hawkpaw greeted him. She was his best friend, after all. And very pretty...
Berrypaw interrupted his thoughts. He nodded in answer to the question, not seeming as excited as Berrypaw.

Snowpaw padded wearily out of the cover of trees into the wide clearing known as Fourtrees. She looked around at the unfamiliar space and at the unfamiliar cats. She stared up at the vast night sky, and was amazed at how clear it was. She then started to walk alongside other Thunderclan cats, too shy to talk to the other clans.