May's Gathering 2017

Sagepaw padded in behind Crowstar, Staying close to his brothers and mentor. Personally, he only liked Riverclan out of the other clans. He looked around hoping Gentlepaw had come.

Gentlepaw had been looking for Sagepaw as she had noticed Skyclan enter the clearing. She looked around for a moment before her eyes spotted his familiar pelt and she moved a bit so he could spot her not wanting to have any of her flatmates get suspicious thoughts about her and the tom seeing as it was only her first gathering. She shifted her twisted paw quietly her gentle green eyes looking to Sagepaw.

Duskpaw went off on her own for a moment deciding to talk to some apprentices from another clan.

Gorsepaw felt his fur shiver at the screeching between the two she-cats before they split apart. He saw Jazz tear away from them and storm off toward the edge of the clearing. He glanced around. No one seemed to be willing to console the upset SkyClan cat. The tabby tom slowly began to make his way toward her. Tail dragging, he found himself creeping slower and slower toward her. I hope she doesn't snap at me, he thought. As he grew closer so that he could see the detail in her whiskers and her pelt, he spoke gently. "Jazz...?" came the tom's low voice. "It- It's me, Gorsepaw. Do... Do you want to join the Gathering? It's supposed to be fun." The apprentice passed her shoulder slowly, trying to catch a glimpse of her face.

Laurel of Paws?  Laurelpaw tilted her head slightly, a confused look on her angled face; but as the Tribe cat introduced himself she began to understand.  Oh!  The Tribe and the Clans have very different naming customs...maybe we could teach each other!  With a polite smile, the white and ticked she-cat dipped her head in a return greeting, and flicked her tail towards Necterpaw.  "It's nice to meet you Screech, but like Necterpaw said my name is Laurelpaw, not Laurel of Paws.  In the clans, our names only have two parts to them; our parents choose the first part, and we receive the second part when we reach a certain rank.  For example, 'paw' means that we are apprentices, and 'kit' means that well, you're a kit!"  With a purr, Laurelpaw continued; "Your full name is really cool though!  'Screech of the Startled Eagle'....I wish I had a name like that!"

Sagepaw met his gaze with Gentlepaw, a soft look in his eyes, but that quickly turned sharp again as he turned to make sure there was no suspicion from Windclan or Skyclan

Jazz looked away as she noticed someone trying to comfort her. Choking on a sob, she said, "You should go back to your friends or something. H-honeydrop's right. I'll never be a Clan cat. I'm just going to be a-alone forever-" she broke down in sobs, tears streaming down her long dark gray fur and splattering on the ground. She gave a small whimper, shuddering slightly. "I'll just ever be a rogue. A darn old rogue. A darn old rogue with a past no one will forget."

Storm ears folded back as he spotted a familiar pelt weaving its way toward him - one of his now 'Clanmates.' He held back a slight sneer, having preferred to have been left alone to watch this gathering play out but there wasn't much helping it he supposed. He curled his tail around his paws as he twitched an ear in return as greeting as he stared at the splotched tabby that settled down next to him. Truth be told, he didn't recall her name as he found it difficult to recall all the new names. He had at least grasped that the cats had a different naming system - having names made of two parts that seemed to change with age and rank unlike the tribe but that small bit of knowledge made it no less easy to remember all the names of the SkyClan cats.

He allowed his blue eyes to trail the she-cat that had decided to sit next to him for a reason only the Tribe of Endless Stars knew, noting that she would have been a cave-guard like himself if she had been born in the tribe. Her tall, muscular built would have served her well in the mountains that they had called home all but a moon ago but yet there was no sense of cave-guard or prey-hunter here. No, there was only a single rank to replace the void that those two filled - warrior. It was a curious thing to be sure, the fact that the Clans didn't split up the responsibilities based on who we better for what job...But the time of musing over such details wasn't for this moment.

He gave a small shake of his head, pushing back those thoughts for a better fitting time as he threw a strange glance around the clearing. There was only three cats on the rock, three familiar shapes that he recalled from the gathering a moon prior. But there was two missing still were there not? "How long does it normally take for these other...Clans to arrive?" he questioned to the queen next to him, his gaze even as he met her amber eyes.

Rippedsky followed behind Crowstar. He trailed at little further than usual, looking for some space. Like usual, he expected the couple of disgusted glances from his former Windclan clanmates. The last gathering had been interesting to say the least. Among his clan now walked the tribe cats. It was strange having Skyclan cats whose lives were so much different from their own. However, both parts of Skyclan had much to learn from each other. As the group began to spread out underneath the moonlight, the black and white tom simply nodded to his mate before going to settle under the highrock. Starclan willing, this gathering would be short.

***

It was her first official gathering as a medicine cat. Sagepaw's ears flattened slightly and uncomfortably at the fact that she would no longer be welcome among the warrior apprentices like she once had been before. Within moments, her brother had split off without a word. A soft frown crossed her maw. It was strange that two cats who grew up as close as moss on a stone were now worlds apart. Her shoulders slumped defeated. Since news of her medicine cat apprentice ceremony had reached the clan, Slatepaw had stopped speaking to her as much. Despite his flat reassurance that nothing was wrong, his indifference and snide remarks told a different story. No matter what he thinks, this is the path I am destined for, The young cat reminded herself for the hundredth time.

Sagepaw dragged herself over to where the other medicine cats stood. Due to the fact they had their own scared meetings, Sagepaw already knew their names. She dipped her head in a polite greeting to each of them in turn. Honeydrop and Roaringpaw both looked off. Roaringpaw's expression was of discomfort; Honeydrop seemed frustrated. Her head cocked in interest at the Shadowclan cats. She wondered silently if it was her place to say anything. For a couple moons now, she had longed to speak with Honeydrop. The she-cat's former apprentice had become Sagepaw's Starclan guide. All of her fought the urge to share this information with Honeydrop, to let her know of Puddlepaw's fate, but she was unsure of whether or not it was allowed. She held her tongue on that.

"How are things in Shadowclan?" Sagepaw meowed kindly, pushing away the curious edge that threatened to line her words.

When Honeydrop asked Roaringpaw to promise to not assossiate himself with Jazz, Roaringpaw didn't know what to say. He didn't have the chance with Jazz speaking up in retaliation so quickly, but his mentor's request still rung true in his ears. The tom was desperate to learn of her past, but only Honeydrop should tell him, not a stranger from another clan. So he inwardly agreed, planning to make that sentiment clear to her when they got back home.

After Sagepaw approached them, Roaringpaw perked at the medicine cat apprentice's appearance. The tiny tom needed a break from the heavy argument between the former rogue and his mentor. "Hi Sagepaw!" He greeted cheerfully, the happiness in his tone honest. He really wanted to befriend this cat. "They're alright, though sometimes I feel like my head's spinning with all the herbs we're supposed to memorize," he joked.

Darkstar was mentally exhausted even before she entered Fourtrees. So many things were buzzing about in her brain that she might as well have a wasp's nest for a head. She padded down the slope, still wheezing slightly from her illness. Her leap onto the Great Rock was as daunting as ever, with her missing limb, but she made it up without trouble. 'Leopardstar still isn't here?' Even if she didn't know the ShadowClan leader on a personal level, she was still too concerned for other cat's safety. Even if they weren't from her own Clan.

Clearpaw was following close behind the leader as the entered the clearing--his eyes grew wide as he looked around. There were so many cats... More than he had ever seen in one place, by a wide margin. And the scents of every clan mingled together, and he watched cats from his own clan greeting cats he had never seen before, from other clans. Eager to begin making friends (the advice he had been given about being careful not to get close with cats from other clans long forgotten), he rushed forward into the clearing. He spotted a tom not too far away, but he couldn't tell what clan he was from, only that he seemed to be close in age. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, but this didn't stop Clearpaw from bounding right up to him, slightly stumbling as he came to a halt. "Hello!' He meowed cheerfully, "What clan are you from? Kind of smells like ShadowClan, but I can't really tell." He flattened his ears, a bit embarrassed by how hard it was for him to tell all these scents apart. He was a bit behind other apprentices in training, but he was trying his hardest, nonetheless. "I'm from ThunderClan." He added quickly, "My name is Clearpaw. Used to be something else before I joined, but I don't really remember what. What about you, what's your name?"

Cloudstorm waddled im behind Darkstar. Her belly only a little bit swollen.

Sandblaze padded after his leader. He sat down by hinself and glared at anybody from another clan who tried to talk to him.

Stonestrike followed his sister and kept pace with her waddling.

Owlpaw padded behind her leader her paws pouncing following her excitement. She always wanted to go to these gatherings since she was a small kit. As they got closer the scents bombarded her she had to winkle her nose at all the different scents that drifted from the Fourtrees. But that did not stop her excitement in the slightest she rushed forward behind of Clearpaw smiling brightly. Gasping as she saw all the cats before her, there was so many! Who knew all the clans would result in all of these cats. But she overhead Clearpaw her ears perked, there was still another clan to come? There's no way. But as she looked at all the different cats she got shy suddenly she had no idea who to talk to. So she decided to follow Clearpaw, hopping over to him and the other tom she said really fast, "I'm Owlpaw from Thunderclan! What's your name? Of course Clearpaw already asked that sorry.."

Smokepaw strode in behind Darkstar. Huh! Those puny-fish faces aren't even here yet! I guess they finally realized they STINK!

Gentlepaw was quiet before she stood slowly and padded over acting as if she were going to make friends with an apprentice. She smiled some as she came over to Sagepaw"hey"she mewed 

Honeypaw followed Darkstar into the clearing not too far behind her mentor. The medicine cat apprentice stopped briefly looking around for a moment.