December Gathering 2016

Shadepaw followed Thrushstar with a skip in his step, finally it was time for his first gathering! Stopping beside Smokepaw, he gazed up at the Great Rock and stared with wide eyes at the two other leaders who sat perched on the smooth stone. The massive tom who's long fur looked like the darkest of nights must be Crowstar of Skyclan- Shadepaw had often heard others gossiping about him after Gatherings, and the lithe, grey she-cat was likely Ashstar of Windclan. Shadepaw felt his ears flatten slightly at the tension in the air- his first gathering would not be a friendly one. Nudging Smokepaw, he didn't drag his gaze away from the leaders on the Great Rock, "Why do all the leaders look like they found maggots in their fresh kill?" He hissed to his denmate, ears perking.

Littlebrook padded into the clearing solemnly, not really paying attention to the other gathered cats but still keeping an eye on her son behind her. She padded gracefully through the clearing before finding a spot and sitting down.

Silentpaw padded excitedly behind his mother, eyes flicking around the clearing at all the cats. His excited gaze drifted back to his mother and his eyes softened. He knew she was upset, though he knew she didn't want him to, and he knew why, but he really didn't know what to say. She had told him about his father and that he had his eyes, and he wished he would have gotten to know him. He sighed, shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts before sitting down next to Littlebrook. His paws shifted in the white snow excitedly as he waited for the gathering to start. He looked up at the leaders up on what he assumed to be Great Rock, green eyes shining.

Following Crowstar were his two songs, Antdrop and Tinylegs. Polar opposites of each other, Antdrop went to sit by himself near he edge of the clearing, not in a very social mood, as usual, while Tinylegs made his way over to Rowanberry. "I wonder what will happen tonight," the short tom said cheerfully to the taller tom, sitting next to him. The tension towards WindClan was obvious and although he'd only heard rumors of a battle between RiverClan and WindClan, he wondered what had really happened.

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Walking into the clearing, Mudfoot looked around. The tom didn't feel like it was necessary to talk to WindClan who seemed oddly tense and looking around, he spotted the SkyClan medicine cat apprentice. At first, he was tempted to go say hello but seeing she needed to focus and greet the other medicine cats, he stayed where he was and instead, made it over to his favorite group of apprentices. "First gathering?" Mudfoot chuckled, sitting down next to Larkpaw, Shadepaw, and Smokepaw.

Smokepaw could only shrug at Shadepaw as his fellow apprentice nudged him before whispering his questions. He couldn't say for sure what was wrong with the leaders - both Ashstar and Crowstar seemed to know something that ShadowClan was left unaware of. "I suppose we will find out when this gathering starts," he whispered back before blinking as Mudfoot took a seat on the opposite side of Larkpaw. He nodded hastily at his question as he let out a simple response. "Yup!"

Larkpaw frowned slightly when Smokepaw sat down next to her, followed by Shadepaw. She rolled her eyes as the two whispered back and forth, but was left wondering the same thing as well. She blinked when her brother sat down next to her, giving him a small purr as a welcome. But at his question, she shook her head. "Not for me - I went to one gathering before...Well, I left." Her gaze flickered toward the Great Rock. "Its just so strange to see how much the Clans have changed since I've been gone."

Lightningstrike followed behind SkyClan, large paws scuffing the ground occasionally with his quick pace. He wanted to see what was causing the tension between clans and his banded tail twitched in nervousness. Sitting down among cats, his eyes studied the moon, waiting for clouds to cover when the clans broke into fights.

Webtail followed after his son, trying to keep up with him. He too wanted to find out why the clans were quarreling at the worst of times but more importantly, he needed to keep his son out of trouble. Lightningstrike was quick to respond with sharp comments.

"Well, whatever it is, hopefully they don't drag us into it." Shadepaw mumbled, looking up at the full moon that hung heavily in the clear sky- hopefully the gathering would go well. He nodded vigorously in response to Mudfoot's question as the older tom settled down beside the small group of apprentices, his eyes raking the clearing as more and more cats began to fill the hollow, making the once spacious hollow feel slightly suffocating. "It must be strange," Shadepaw mewed, leaning forward and around Smokepaw to peer at Larkpaw, "Coming back here after all this time and seeing that everything's changed." He flicked his tail as he moved to look up at Crowstar, Ashstar and Thrushstar- they'd all been leaders since he was born, and the thought of facing a rival Clan without the leader he was so accustomed to made him feel slightly uneasy.

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Brindlepaw watched as more and more cats began to crowd the clearing- scents mixing into a great jumble that made her head spin slightly and her chest tighten. Spotting Mottlepaw's familiar pelt a few tail-lengths away, she hurried ducked and wove her way through the crowd towards her denmate- feeling relief well in her chest at the sight of a clanmate. Mind if I stick with you?" She questioned, squeezing up beside the slightly smaller apprentice and looking over at him with wide eyes that reflected the starlight. "Hopefully Riverclan gets here soon so we can get through the worst of their jeering." She murmured, gazing up at the slopes- hopeful for Riverclan to make their appearance before they all froze to death.

Ashstar was miffed by Crowstar's lack of common courtesy, not even acknowledging that she was there. How rude. Well, he had allied with the Dark Forest- it was no surprise that he should be uneasy. Still, given this explanation, it didn't quite fit in her mind. Had Fishstar been talking to the SkyClan leader? Filling his head with lies? She shook it off as her favorite leader, Thrushstar, arrived. She offered him a warm purr as he took his seat. She would have to speak with the ShadowClan leader soon.

Honeypaw padded into Fourtrees, weighed down slightly by the knowledge of all the sick cats left back at camp without her care. A couple, like Shimmerheart and Mudfoot, had been well enough to come, but what about the kits? The death of Darkpaw was also a heavy presence on the young ShadowClanner's mind. She relaxed slightly when she saw her good friend Rabbitpaw. The golden dappled she-cat nudged her fellow medicine cat apprentice with a good-natured purr. "What's up, Rabbitpaw? How is SkyClan doing? Great StarClan, but it's good to see you again!"

Shimmerheart made her way into the clearing, looking around for any familiar faces. The lithe black she-cat was extremely thin due to her recent sickness combined with leaf-bare's hardships, but she didn't want to miss this Gathering. Anything to keep her mind off of what Thrushstar had done to her son. Webtail... Was he okay? Was he even alive? There was no way she could know for sure, but by StarClan, she could hope. The grief-stricken old elder saw a tall brown tabby tom who looked about her age. He bore a strange resemblance to the tom who had gotten her out of the gorge when she was a kit- was Icestorm his name? She went down and sat by the other elder. He smelled of WindClan, unsurprisingly. "Hello. My name is Shimmerheart," she meowed kindly.

Breezewhisker followed SkyClan into the Gathering, a bit apprehensive. Would last Gathering's tension between WindClan and RiverClan return? How did SkyClan, ShadowClan and ThunderClan fall into this? Where did the other Clans' loyalties lie? He sat down by his Fawnsplash, his mate, hoping that if the worst did happen, he could protect her and his kits.

Sunblaze went over to Lightningstrike and Webtail and sat down feeling happy today. "Wonder whats going to happen. Heard WindClan and RiverClan have some tension." Her amber eyes glinted with amusement and suspicion as she whispered to them. She searched through the sea of cats to spot Sleetfang. She was especially excited for this Gathering her first one as warrior and Batpaw her daughter was already Crowstar's apprentice she was proud of her kin.

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Leafpaw sat down beside Sunblaze and agreed with her by nuding her on the shoulder. He looked around for Magpieclaw.

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Duskstorm sat down proudly with his clan all kept together. His first Gathering as a warrior! It was exciting. He sat down beside his mate Pantherlily.

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Icepaw quickly followed his mentor, Willowwhisker, over the frozen ground. He was amazed at the number of cats there were in the gathering, but she didn't dare look at RiverClan. Fox-hearts!

Moonlight followed her clan silently into Fourtrees, looking at the cats surrounding her with clear curiosity. Some of them were known faces, others were faces that she never had seen around before, however, most of the WindClan cats were acting a bit…weird…Like if they were tired, and angry. Yes, Leafbare was taking its toll on most clans, but that wasn’t just enough to make cat look so beaten down…did something happen between this gathering and the last one?

Quietly, Magpieclaw followed Crowstar into Fourtrees. The last time she was here, she was only an apprentice. Now she was here, stronger and wittier than before. Hmph. She was well aware of the sky-high tensions between RiverClan and WindClan, and was curious as to how it would play out tonight. In fact...
The newly appointed warrior shifted her cold green gaze to a WindClan cat. Insider knowledge. She stalked across to the cat in question and sat down, plastering a faux smile across her face. "Hi!" she mewed casually, trying her best to not let them see through her mask.
And knowledge is power.

(anyone with a WC cat, feel free to jump into this)

It took her by surprise when Honeypaw bound towards her, nudging her with excitement but Rabbitpaw quickly returned the happiness. Almost instantly, all of the stress she felt melted away. "Honeypaw!" she squealed. "Skyclan's been good! We've recently--" she paused, wondering if she should actually tell the Shadowclan apprentice that Skyclan had accepted in two former Shadowclan warriors. Would that go over well? "Recently, uh... We recently found a lot of prey! There were a lot of birds that hadn't flown away yet for leafbare and we were able to catch a lot of them, so Skyclan is doing well! How about Shadowclan?" The anxiousness quickly returned but the she-cat was desperately hoping that she played it off well. The prey thing was only slightly true and she felt horrible for lying to her friend but she really didn't want to get Skyclan in anymore trouble.

Honeypaw stopped short at Rabbitpaw's hesitancy. Was there something her friend wasn't telling her? No. No, she trusted the SkyClan medicine cat apprentice; her friend wouldn't lie to her. The ShadowClan she-cat shook out her golden dappled fur, a smile forcefully returned to her face as Rabbitpaw glanced around anxiously as though afraid. "ShadowClan is doing well," she purred. "However, several of our cats are sick. The medicine den is busy." She didn't hesitate to tell her friend anything- all medicine cats were impartial. She could trust her friend. "Thrushstar exiled a couple of our warriors," she admitted confidentially, "Webtail and Lightningstrike. I don't know what's happened to them, but I hope for Shimmerheart's sake that they're okay." I trust Rabbitpaw. I trust Rabbitpaw. I do!

Duskstorm nodded to Magpieclaw for her to sit down. "How's it going in SkyClan?" he asked flicking his ear in curiousity. "I heard Webtail and Lightningstrike came over." he chuckled as if it was a joke.

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Sunblaze's gaze went to Crowstar and the three other leaders waiting for their announcements.

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Leafpaw's gaze stayed on Magpieclaw as she chatted with a WindClan warrior. Lucky him! he envied wishing that he was the one sitting next to her.

Webtail searched the crowd for anyone familiar, finding the silhouette of his mother, he rushed through the mass of cats, pushing past them in a hurry until he stood before her. A gasp left him when he noticed how thin and sickly she looked, her eyes were tired and she seemed defeated as a whole. He immediately looked worried, stepping closer. "Mother.. What happened to you?"

Lightningstrike was thankful for his father suddenly leaving, he had been eyeing Littlebrook and needed to see her. She had been on his mind, wondering if she had moved on yet, if she felt alone, if others looked down on her. He would tear them apart if they did. He slipped through the cats until her form was directly in front of him. A sad smile breaking along his muzzle. "I've missed you so much..."