January Gathering 2014

Wind howled through the trees, making the skeletal branches of the Great Oaks rattle eerily and shake their coating of snow to the ground. The clearing was blanketed with the stuff already, and the Great Rock looked dangerously slick and icy.

Despite it all, the sky was clear, and the full moon shone bright and huge in the night, yet something was wrong, as some of the Clans were about to find out.

ShadowClan was the first to arrive. Nightstar didn't hesitate to sprint down into the clearing. Her blue eyes fixed on the great rock. Somehow, the leader knew that this was going to be an interesting gathering. It had been a long moon to her. So she was sure that much had happened within the other clans.

As Nightstar found her spot on top of the giant rock, she glanced down to watch the last few cats of her large party swoop down into the grassy clearing. It was obviously cold on top of the great rock, having no one to press up against to share the heat. I suppose that is what I will have to deal with. It would be weird and unprofessional if I pressed up against Reedstar or Racconstar. I'd bet my own den that I would lose a piece of my tail!' Another cold wind caused Nightstar to wrap her tail around her paws, in attempt to keep warm.

Nightstar's pelt was actually very helpful in the winter. But, this winter was extremely cold and dangerous. Just climbing onto the Great rock was a perilous journey.

Spottedfeather glanced down the slope, glancing at the Shadowclan cats. Dewstar's injury kept her from coming, so she had to take her place for this gathering. She looked back at her clan before flicking her tail and charging down the slope, Thunderclan streaming behind her.

She slowed to a walk, pausing to look up at the Great Rock. It looked slippery, so she looked to the less icy places, spotting paw holds in some places. She leaped most of the distance before digging her claws in and hauling herself on top of the rock. She looked down, noticing that it was a great view from up this high. She looked to Nightstar, who was looking quite cold, and it was indeed that. She sat next to her, nodding to her in greeting.

Maplepaw followed Nightstar into the clearing, looking around the place. Her first gathering, and it was big here. She looked around before sitting and waiting for her brother or someone to talk to her.

Spottedflight followed Spottedfeather into the clearing, her strides matching the Deputy's length for length. "You'll do fine," she mewed to her friend as they arrived. Then she turned and trotted away, hoping to find a group of warriors to converse with.

Flamepaw charged into the clearing with the rest of ThunderClan, just barely halting himself when he arrived in the moonlit clearing. His whole body quivered in excitement. "Come'on Adderpaw, let's go meet some cats" he mewed, assuming his brother was right behind him.

Silverpaw padded into camp with the rest of ShadowClan. This was her first Gathering, and she was really excited. Doing her best to contain her excitement, she ran over to a ThunderClan apprentice. "Hi, I'm Silverpaw. What's your name?" she asked.

Flowerpaw blinked as a ShadowClan apprentice ran over to her. "Hello, I'm Flowerpaw," she told Silverpaw. "Nice to meet you."

Rookpaw followed Spttedfeather and Spottedflight closely. She looked around at all the cats. She saw Flowerpaw and a Shadowclan cat. She went over. "Hello Flowerpaw." she said as she approached. She looked at the Shadowclan cat. "Hello. I'm Rookpaw." she said.

Shadeflame and Lionstrike followed the ShadowClan cats in before Lionstrike ran off to find Silverpaw. He finally found her, talking to two ThunderClan apprentices. "Sup lades," he mewed. "I'm Lionstrike. Who're you two?" he directed to the ThunderClan cats.

Shadeflame followed behind his brother, with a bored expression in his face. He stopped in front of the apprentices and mewed a greeting. "I'm Shadeflame, Lionstrike's older brother." He promptly sat down, his eyes basically slits, before yawning loudly.

Swiftpaw bounced around excitedly. "My first gathering!" he mewed happily, before he went over to a large group of cats, consisting of two ThunderClan Apprentices, a ShadowClan Apprentice, and two ShadowClan Warriors. "Yo dudes. I'm Swiftpaw."

Rookpaw turned to the warriors. "I am Rookpaw." she meowed. She silver eyes stared at them curiously.

Silently, Thrushstripe padded into the clearing behind Nightstar, not making contact with too many other cats on his way in. Granted, he felt the need to try to find someone to talk to, but he didn't want to start a conversation with the outside clan cats. That was just weird. After all, who knew what kinds of secrets they would try to get out of him. He wasn't going to let them do that. Taking his place underneath the Great rock, he simply waited for the Gathering to begin, for this freezing weather was chilling him to the bone. If they did leave soon, he was sure he was going to be a cat-sicle.

Gingerheart followed behind the rest of Shadowclan with a little bit of dread in her step. As she padded into the clearing between the four trees, she couldn't help but feel a little off. Well at least more off than she had been feeling as of late. But as she looked around, everything seemed normal.. except the snow on the ground. She couldn't wait for the cold to blow over. She was tired of the snow getting stuck to her pelt and almost freezing. Then she saw the two new warriors Lionstrike and Shadeflame and rolled her eyes. "Mousebrains..." she muttered. They were warriors now. They shouldn't be talking to other apprentices anymore.

Following behind the other Thunderclan cats was Mousepaw who was trying her best not to jump around in excitement. This was her very first Gathering and she was going to meet so many new cats!! Hopefully she would make some new friends too. She could always use more friends.

Dawnpaw padded behind Spottedfeather and into the clearing. Her paws pricked with excitement at the sight of all the different cats in the hollow. Dawnpaw walked over to a group of apprentices and Mewed, " hi! I'm Dawnpaw!"

"I'm Silverpaw!" Silverpaw announced to Dawnpaw, Rookpaw, and Swiftpaw. Flowerpaw added to Shadeflame, Lionstrike, and Swiftpaw, "I'm Flowerpaw."

Specklefur padded into the clearing, her head raised high as she walked in, her large form making her a lot taller than the rest of her clan mates, her posture was quite intimidating as well. "Mousepaw, don't you go and tell any cats what goes on in our clan, got it?" She spat before quietly she padded down towards a group of Shadowclan cats, giving a breif flick of her tail towards a ginger she-cat. "Hello there, Shadowclan cat, may I introduce myself, Specklefur" She greeted, rather blandly with a monotonous glare at the she-cat, maybe make some ties with Shadowclan and get some information out of them at these gatherings.

There was a soft silence as Mapleclaw stood ontop of the hill that led to Fourtrees, her eyes narrowed as she flickered her tail. Sadly she had yet to get her name, but she planned to fix that soon. She glanced behind her at her Clan, before flicking her tail and led RiverClan into the gathering. As she walked though the crowded clearing, she glanced at the spot where the deputies sat with a worried look. What would the other Clans say about her not having a deputy yet, or not even having her name.

She didn't want the other Clans to ask questions about Reedstar's death, but there was nothing she could do. With a huff, she reached the base of the rock and jumped onto it, not saying a word to the other leaders as she sat down and stared out at the cats gathered. She could do this...


Following after Nightstar was Nightcloud, who stuck to the back of her Clan. She sat down on the borders of the clearing, her tail wrapped around her paws as she waited to watch the other Clans come. She was a bit surprised by the fact that Spottedfeather was leading ThunderClan tonight, but her surprise was completely taken when she saw Mapleclaw doing the same for RiverClan.  Had something happen to the two leaders? She said nothing however, waiting for Raccoonstar to come so she could figure out for herself what had happened.

Cormorantpaw took a seat beside Shadeflame, her mouth gaping open in a ginormous yawn. Attending this gathering would get her one step closer to being a warrior, but she really couldn't care less at the moment. All she was focused on right now was trying not to close her golden eyes and take a big fat nap right then and there.

Streampaw bounced down the slopes running just a tad bit behind Mapleclaw.I'm so excited!She squealed in her mind.Remember this is a truce.She mewed to herself.Don't get in any other cat's paws.She paced down the rest of the slope and then sat in a lone circle with some ferns.I can't wait to see all the new cats and smells.She thought looking up at the leaders.