January Gathering 2017

"Mossfoot, hello." the chocolate ThunderClan warrior greeted uis former clanmate wuietly, flicking his ears back and forth to catch the news from SkyClan. Behind him, he spotted Dtiftpaw, his newly returned daughter, and he flicked his tail over her shoulders. "This is my eldest daughter, Driftpaw. She went missing after the deaths of her sisters... but now she's back." he smiled as he motioned her to settle down. "Driftpaw, this used to be Mosswing, warrior of ThunderClan. Now she is Mossfoot of WindClan." he introduced the she-cat he had shared his apprentice ceremony with. "I've see Blacktwig 'round here, with some RiverClan she-cat. Weird, huh? You'd guess he's more mature now. What about Twistedpaw?" he asked in the end after he had stopped looking for the jet black speckled coat of his best friend.

~

Smokeface laughed, but his voice died down as he spotted Sauirelltuft avoiding him. His eyes darkened a bit, but he blinked away his sadness as he and Tawnystorm settled down just in time to catch Crowstar's speech. "Poor Antdrop." the RiverClanner murmured, even tho he'd never met the warrior. He enchanged glances with his former mentor, wondering when would their deputy speak.

~

Cherrymist's stomach lurched as she listened to her father and how he did not mention the death of her mate. Tigerblaze... she whispered to herself quietly before returning to her statue-like stance.

~

"Greetings. I am Beetlepaw, medicine cat apprentice of WindClan." he emowed, eyeing the flustered she-cat with surprise. So he was right, medicine cat apprentices could just pop out of the ground! He chuclked inwardly before giving Sparkpaw a greeting nod.

Driftpaw nodded to Mossfoot, bowing her head respectfully. "I'm only the eldest since all my sisters are dead." she reflected sorrowfully. Why did Pinewhisker have to introduce me, he knows how insecure I am. Now I'm going to have to talk these moor runners. Wow, thanks Pinewhisker. The dusty grey She-cat rapped her tail nervously around her cream paws.

"Oh, how wonderful! Nice to meet you, love!" Mossfoot exclamined, flicking an ear towards Crowstar's words. Poor Antdrop!
"Twistedpaw's been doing excellently, thank you. She's close to earning her warrior name, I know it." The warrior caught sight of Blacktwig out of the corner of her eye. "Hey there!"

--

Tawnystorm listened carefully to Crowstar's words. "Huh. I've never met Antdrop, but I've heard stories. He'll be going to StarClan, that one." Though she didn't know much of his life or his clan, she knew Antdrop was strong. Maybe there was something else going on in SkyClan, something they weren't letting on. It was unlikely, but the RiverClan warrior had to wonder.

Owlpaw trotted in close behind Lightningstrike, eyes widening in awe as he glimpsed the clearing.

It's even better than I thought!


Though he stuck close by to his mentor, an apprentice group had already formed and, glancing uncertainly back and forth between the large tom and the young cats, he finally chose the -paws, padding towards them nervously.

"Hey," the tom began, glancing up at one she-cat, a tail kinked strangely over her back. He squinted, trying to see closer, and then with a rush realized that would be rude. He coughed, shuffling his black-gold paws.

Hollowpaw grunted as the two cats he had been speaking to spoke to some others, and the tom turned his head to listen to the Skyclan leader's words.

~~~~~~

Dawnpaw saw her father, Smokeface, and padded up to him. "Hey," she said, touching her nose to his shoulder in greeting. She was going to sit with him, Tawnystorm and Aspentail, but she saw her brother - newly named Poplarstripe - sitting on his own and she trotted over, sitting next to him. "Poplarstripe! You beat me, I'm still an apprentice!" she meowed, a playful tone in her voice. "I'm having my assessment after the gathering."

Then she turned and flicked an ear at the Skyclan leader, Crowstar, and grimaced. A cat from their clan has joined Starclan, she thought, sad for them. Though the cat was not from Riverclan, they were still a cat and must've had a family and friends that would miss him.

Willowwhisker sat in dismay, poor Antdrop. Skyclan was at least seeming to cope well with his death. Turning around, she realized that she was not talking to anyone, but sitting and watching the leaders. Looking over the land that was adorned with snow, she spotted Thistlefall. Brindlewhisker? I didn't know they were friends. Jumping to her feet, belly swaying slightly, but only a little noticeable, she padded over to the two, hoping to talk to Thistlefall. Sitting beside him, she wrapped her tail around him protectively, in hopes that he was not falling for her friend Brindlewhisker. "Hello, Thistlefall, Brindlewhisker. How are you today?" In a low, slow voice, she narrowed her eyes for a split second at Brindlewhisker, not wanting to pick a fight, but wanting to protect her mate with what little power she had.


****

Blazepaw saw Mudfoot padding in, and she padded up beside him."Hey, Mudfoot!" Excited as ever, she sat beside her mentor and wrapped her tail around her paws neatly, showing respect for the older cat.


****


Maplepaw walked in slowly behind her Thunderclan, and sat down beside another apprentice from a different clan, not knowing who it was. (Dawnpaw) "Hi! I'm Maplepaw. Who are you?"


****


Gustpaw sat silently in the corner and watched all the cats walk into the clearing. She heard many stories about past gatherings, and she wanted nothing to do with it. Making sure that she didn't lose sight of her father, she watched the leaders assemble on the rock. Seeing her adoptive sister and brother and mentor, she decided to sit with them indtead of being alone and not socializing. She sat beside Brindlewhisker, not saying a word.


****


Silentpaw padded into the clearing, lagging behind a bit because he had stayed in camp a little longer to eat some frsh-kill.

OOC: Sorry that I'm a little late

Twistedpaw meowed a greeting when Rippedsky introduced Pansypaw and Viperpaw. "You know, I was in the nursery with Rippedsky when he was a kit," she told the younger apprentices.

Graypaw padded around, half-listening. Cinderpaw was right beside him.

Icepaw saw two grey apprentices heading her way. She almost hissed at them, scenting their Windclan smell.

Ashstar barely flicked an ear at Crowstar's news, but listened attentively nonetheless. After he finished, she stepped up. "WindClan has been doing well this leaf-bare," she announced, holding the cats' attention. "We have had many new apprentices: Crowpaw, Redpaw, Jaypaw, Hollowpaw, Kindlepaw, Furzepaw, Silentpaw, Quailpaw, Gustpaw, Vulturepaw, Cinderpaw, and Graypaw. We also have some new warriors- Sprucethorn, Brindlewhisker, and Mottleheart. The nursery is full to bursting with kits. We have been recovering well from RiverClan's vicious invasion, and we are still perfectly capable of defending our territory. We hope for peace in the moons to come, however." She stepped back, still refusing to acknowledge Crowstar. If he had something against her for whatever reason, he would be wise to try and address it one of these days instead of holding a ridiculous and unjustified grudge.

Honeydrop grinned at her best friend. "Actually, the name's Honeydrop now," she purred. "You ought to be getting your name soon though, right?" Her eyes changed from joyful to worried as she noticed how deflated Rabbitpaw was. "You sure you're okay? I know grief when I see it." She gasped at Crowstar's news. "Antdrop- wasn't he your father? Oh StarClan, I am so sorry!"

Shimmerheart nodded at Webtail's words. "Well, every Clan does have its problems now and then, from ShadowClan to WindClan," she reasoned, hiving her son a friendly nudge. "Did you know this Antdrop?" she asked him curiously after giving Littlebrook a nod.

Breezewhisker winced as his brother's name was shouted out for every Clan to hear. StarClan, Crowstar, since when did you think your son was one if your finest warriors? Maybe if you had actually acted like it, you fox-heart, he'd still be alive today. Bitter thoughts coursed through his head as his yellow eyes glared up at his pathetic excuse for a father, then found Rippedpaw where he sat laughing with a couple WindClan cats. I thought the traitor hated his birth Clan? No, he was just too much of a coward to follow his leader, the SkyClan warrior thought mockingly.

Emberpaw was feeling very lost. All this cats and different smells from all this big territories. How can she found someone to talk and to share her experiences. She didn´t want to interrupted warriors from other clans, because she was to scared. "Is this experience, that all apprentices experince on their first gathering? Maybe I could find some apprentices and talk with them."


Whitepaw was also lost. She didn´t found her mentor and other cats from her clan. She figured out, that gathering is also divided on different parts, on which were more cats from one clan than other. Where she was now, was therefore "territory" of ShadowClan cats. Where could she found her RiverClan cats? She steped forward, when she bumbed into small grey cat, from ShadowClan. She quickly appologize, but then she realized, that cat is only apprentice as she is. And she was also very lost. "I´m Whitepaw."


Emberpaw was shocked. First some stranger bumbed into her. Then stranger greeted her. But she exected, that things like this were happening on the gatherings, so she said: "Hello! I´m looking for my mentor. Would you come with me and meet her?" She said this only because stranger looked scared as she was.

Whitepaw and ShadowClan cat walked together looking for her mentor. Whitepaw wanted to met other clans cats, so she was happy and she immediately accepted ShadowClan cat offer. After few minutes of looking, they finally found her mentor talking with two strangers.

"This is Larksong. My mentor. And this is Smokestripe and..." said Emberpaw.

"Really? Thats cool." Pansypaw purred a half-hearted response to Twistedpaw. Flicking her tail in a distracted greeting to Owlpaw as he approched, she snuck another glance over at the golden medicine apprentice before turning back. Trying to look invested in the conversation, she meowed "Has Rippedsky told you guys about how he saved me from Mudfoot?"
She glanced over at the patched tom, giving him the chance to tell the story.

Dawnpaw turned to say a Thunderclan apprentice approach her. She gave her a curious look, but the cat introduced herself and Dawnpaw smiled at her. "Hey. I'm Dawnpaw," she meowed and shot a glance at her brother beside her. "This is Poplarstripe, my brother." she introduced the tom and flicked her tail.

Viperfang was just scanning the crowd, observing who was still in the clans since she left. She noticed a few people, mostly from fights she has been in throughout her life, but someone was was poking out of the crowd and Viperfang couldn't quite tell who it was. She stood up on her front legs but tried to look still contained. The cat was clearly a tom, and Viperfang knew that she recognized him. His fur was a dark silvery-grey with patches of white on his muzzle and chest. He had a minuscule scar along the side of his muzzle, and all the memories came flooding back to Viperfang's mind. "Webtail......" she mewed quietly. I thought he was exiled.... she thought with confusion and anger. She unsheathed her claws and continued to stare at her traitor of a littermate, anger and betrayal churning in her stomach.

Sprucethorn puffed out his chest in pride as his name was mentioned. " Yeah, I'd love to hear the story. C'mon, Rippedsky, tell us what happened!" he purred before glancing apolagetcly at Twistedpaw that the other cats had dismissed her conversation very quickly.

~

Ospreypaw jumped up in shock as Emberpaw bumped into him. " Hey wa- Oh, hi Emberpaw. I'm Ospreypaw of RiverClan. You look a little lost, would you like to walk around or talk or do you want me to show you around?" he asked . The tom listened close to what she said then nodded his head and followed her to her mentor, Larksong and his friend Smokestripe. Respectfully, he dipped his head to them, before leaving Emberpaw with her mentor and surrying back to where RiverClan sat.

OOC: Overlord, don't control other people's characters, please.

Blacktwig sat down by Pinewhisker and Mossfoot, not hearing the other tom's comment. "Oh," he purred, "I'm so happy you're here! How's WindClan, Mossfoot?" he asked, smiling. He couldn't imagine the open moors, for the assuaging, enclosed canopies of ThunderClan's territory had always been his home. A plethora of euphoria washed over him, simply seeing his former ally's face again. "How's Twistedpaw...?" Blacktwig added nervously. He never thought he'd be asking about the crippled she-cat, but here he was. She was his bairn, after all. His eyes drifted over to the color-point apprentice, sitting by a group of cats that were wildly unknown to him. He then swiftly and anxiously looked back at Mossfoot, feeling sweat bead his brow.

------

Viperpaw's tail swished as Pansypaw introduced her benevolently to the foreign she-cat, named Twistedpaw. "Hello," she said discernibly, reluctance evident in her tone. Rippedsky, she knew from her own clan, but this other feline, she didn't. She suspected that Twistedpaw was a jinxed lover of Rippedsky's, until she realized that WindClan considered him a renegade, and they were probably only friends. She dipped her head curtly, sitting down uneasily beside the duo.

------

Bouncepaw had begun to feel unwelcome, and he noticed Honeydrop come over. She swept past him, her sweet scent filling his nostrils. He felt an invisible ambit between them as she stretched over to Rabbitpaw, greeting the opposite she-cat with a kind nod. They seemed to be well familiarized wit each other, which made a loneliness expand in his heart. He barely even took note of her new title due to this. He opened his mouth to speak again, but only a monotonous silence was omitted. He whimpered, almost giving up.