January Gathering 2017

Honeydrop listened to the leaders attentively, but her attention was diverted as she noticed a young tom among the other medicine cats that she hadn't seen before. He was so quiet she hadn't noticed he was there. The tom smelled of RiverClan, and he looked very shy and a little lonely. "Hello," she greeted him kindly, "I'm Honeydrop, medicine cat of ShadowClan. Who are you?"

Quailpaw's chest inflated with pride as Ashstar mentioned her name. She shrank back as ThunderClan cats approached her mentor, ignoring her. "Wh-Who are these cats, Mossfoot?" she inquired bravely.

Feeling a burst of hope, the shy young tomcat looked at Honeydrop. "I'm Bouncepaw!" he chirped, tail waving. He was glad to be accepted... he guessed. "Medicine cat apprentice of RiverClan," he added proudly.

------

Blacktwig looked down at Quailpaw, seeing her shrink back. His gaze softened. "Oh, sorry!" he apologized. "I'm Blacktwig, Mossfoot's friend." The tall warrior grinned kindly, hoping that Quailpaw wouldn't be too taciturn towards him.

As Ashstar stepped down, Thrushstar stepped up. "Shadowclan continues to grow stronger. We have... four new apprentices this leafbare including Rosepaw, Swiftpaw, Frostpaw, and Emberpaw. We also... have six new warriors including Hazeflight, Larksong, Smokestripe, Shadewillow... Ravenclaw, and Silentstorm." He said as clearly as he could with his broken voice. "Prey has been better in the past, but Shadowclan is doing everything we can to keep moving... forward and thriving. Unfortunately, we also have bad news of our own. Over this past moon we... lost one of our beloved warriors Finchpelt to the Thunderpath. He hunts with Starclan now." It was a solemn moment, but he stepped back anyway, waiting for the other leaders.

Rabbitpaw listened to the leaders intently, her heart dropping as Crowstar mentioned Antdrop's death. At first, she tried to keep quiet about it to Honeydrop before she put two and two together. Eyes dropping to the ground, she nodded, trying to keep herself together. "It's okay Honeydrop. I've been... trying," she muttered. "Congratulations on your name though! That's so exciting! I hope to get mine soon too!" Trying to switch the subject, she looked up with a forced smile before her attention was turned to Bouncepaw. "That's so cool! I'm Rabbitpaw, medicine cat of Skyclan!" she purred.

"Feels like so long ago," Rippedsky sighed in response to Twistedpaw's words. It really felt like another life time. When Pansypaw brought up their scuffle with Mudfoot, he shifted uncomfortably. That wasn't something he enjoyed talking about. He had only acted in the moment.

"I just did what needed to be done," He muttered, looking up at the leaders.

Larksong listened to the news with a flickering ear, blinking however when the voice of Emberpaw spoke up. She turned to look at her apprentice and the other cat, recognizing the scent as RiverClan. Studying the two, she soon dipped her head to the RiverClan apprentice. "Hello there," she purred, not wanting to be rude. Her gaze snapped back up to the great rock when Thrushstar started to speak, smiling softly at the mention of her name but it quickly turned into a soft frown at the mention of Finchpelt's death. She had never met the tom but knew he was family of hers - her nephew but was mostly scared for by her father. It pained her that she never got to know him.

Smokestripe had been slightly scooting toward Ravenclaw without much of a thought, listening to the news. He was happy that the WindClan and SkyClan were doing well, but when Emberpaw spoke he blinked in surprise as he turned to look at the two. "This is Ravenclaw," he said with a flicker of his tail toward the mostly black she-cat. "Its nice to meet you, what is your name?" he asked the RiverClan apprentice, not even really taking the time to figure out what Clan they were from. Smokestripe also let his gaze flicker back to the great rock as Thrushstar's voice rang across the clearing. At the mention of Finchpelt, his ears fell flat. He had been the one to find the body and the image of the tom bleeding onto the black path still haunted him. He shook his head as he turned his gaze back to the two apprentices, trying to push away his sorrow.

Twistedpaw's gaze went distant as Rippedsky spoke. "I still miss you, you know. Every time I wake up, I expect to see you outside talking to one of the other clan cats, or dragging prey ainto the camp, or right next to me in the den. Then I realized that you're gone," she sighed, remembering the day he left the clan and shortly after joined Skyclan, "I worry that one day Skyclan and Windclan would have a war and I would have to fight the cat I knew all my life. If I could I would join you in Skyclan, but I have Sprucethorn and Duskstorm and all my other friends in Windclan who I'll have to leave. Plus, Mossfoot escaped her twolegs when they captured her and didn't go back to Thunderclan, travelling all the way here just to be with me. I don't want to leave her alone."

Ospreypaw, hearing the warrior's voices, rushed back over. " I'm Ospreypaw of RiverClan. It's nice to meet you." he purred.

~

Sprucethorn nodded as Rippedsky spoke. It wouldn't be the easiest topic to talk about, but the chocolate tom was glad that his friend's new friend hadn't been hurt. "At least you were there when it happened, it could of ended up a lot worse . I've never liked ShadowClan since they attacked Squirrelpaw and that patrol I was in. They fight dirty and are always itching to as well. Don't worry though they're nothing I can't handle." he meowed casually flicking his ear's backwards.

~

Hazeflight straightened up at the mention of her name, despite the fact this was her second gathering as a warrior. The silver she-cat purred with pride as her daughter's name was mentioned.

Bouncepaw flushed with embarrassment. He hadn't always been good with interaction, let alone she-cats. His ears drooped, and he looked around. They seemed so much more mature than him. Whimpering, he stepped up. "N-Nice name..." he said, trying to form a little more than a compliment without coming off as weird.

Looking to the other leaders, Darkstar then stepped forward. "Thunderclan is also faring well, with several new warriors: Lionspark, Mottledwing, Blazestrike, Grasswhisker, and Halfdawn; and just as many new apprentices: Dustpaw, Umberpaw, Sandpaw, Stonepaw, and Cloudpaw." She dipped her head slightly. "We have also lost one of our warriors to the season, Mothstrike. Thunderclan will miss her dearly." The thick-furred she-cat then backed away from the edge.


Cloudstone looked to Beetlepaw, crossing his paws. "I don't promise that I'll be able to find any, we don't have much of anything due to the circumstances that happened in Leaffall." His mind flashed back to the flood that had swept away his herbs, along with the rest of the clan, while he was still an apprentice. His saddened gaze softened when Bouncepaw arrived. "This one here is my new apprentice, Bouncepaw. He's been a great help." He gave the gold tom an encouraging smile.

Bouncepaw purred with pleasure, nodding to Beetlepaw. He may be quiet, and at times feisty and rather beastly; but inside he was a good-mannered tom with commendable intents. He curled his tail up to his body like a rope. He wanted to talk, but he recollected his stutter and stopped.

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Blacktwig smiled when his daughter's name was mentioned, yet that soon faltered when the passing of Mothstrike was announced. He looked down at his paws, a lump forming in his throat. His head swam and his memories were darkened with her corpse laying, frozen on the path, that woeful day.

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Mottledwing glowed as her name was announced, but memories her sister's death made her slither away ominously. Her gaze was obscured by sadness, and the mottled red-and-white she-cat hid away. She hadn't been talking to any other cats this Gathering, anyways.

Driftpaw dropped her head as her cousin's name was mentioned, but that was soon replaced with anger. They really did forget me! I returned and not a single mention. Of course they did and what is worse I wasn't even mention me becoming an apprentice. Maybe I'd of been noticed if I went around causing fights like the others. Driftpaw sighed maybe she would of been better off staying missing and forgotten in time looking for Littlepaw. Maybe everything would of been better and she would of never know Sedgepaw was dead or Pinewhisker and Sheepnose were no longer mates. Maybe she would never feel a certain hatrid towards Emberheart or her half brothers.
Why was she being punished? Forgotten and lonely Driftpaw sat beside her father. The only movement was a flick of her tail as Blacktwig arrived.

Frostpaw sat at the edge of the crowd, unsure of who to talk to, and simply settled down to listen to the leaders. His eyes glistened with pride as Thrushstar named him as one of the new apprentices.

Emberpaw first paid attention to her mentor and her companions, but then she heard something. Her name was mentioned by Thrushstar. It was obvious that most of the cats from other clans didn´t know who is Emberpaw and other mentioned apprentices, but they could guessed and some curios looks stoped also on Emberpaw. She felt a small amount of shame and fear, but then she quickly turned to Whitepaw, because she was asked by Smokestripe.


Whitepaw wasn´t scared of older tom, who asked her about her name. It was just friendly gesture, but many apprentices still don´t want to talk with other clan cats. She said with proud voice: "I´m Whitepaw and my mentor is Amberpelt." It was in habit that younger cats also tell name of their mentor, because someone can recognize them only on this way. Then she noded also to she-cat Larksong, Emberpaw mentor and Rabitclaw.

"Ah yes, this is just an old friend of mine. I left a lot behind, but I guess Blacktwig wasn't one of them," Mossfoot explained, laughing a little. She listened to the other clan leaders speak, and wondered if Darkstar had seen her, or even recognised her.
"Poor Mothstrike. She was lovely."

---

Tawnystorm listened intently the the clan leaders, focused on every word. It seemed everyone had been faring reasonably well, despite a few deaths. She waited far Ivyfall to give the final report on RiverClan.

---

Sparkpaw smiled at RiverClan's medicine cats. "Hello, Cloudstone! I've heard so much about you. Hey, nice to meet you, Bouncepaw. I'm Sparkpaw, medicine cat apprentice of ThunderClan.

all of icee's cats were there

she had forgotten gatherings existed so that's why they only get a a smol two sentence post