June's Gathering 2017

"That's right, Firepaw." He glance up at the rock with a mild interest. However, when he noticed the obvious discomfort on the rock, the warrior was far more interested. Flamestrike guided the apprentice alongside the clan and settled down at the edge of the group. The flame colored warrior had never grown used to padding around and talking to the overwhelming amount of cats. He had a couple of friends in other clans, but did not really go out of his way much. Gatherings were far from his favorite. Typically, he just suffered through them. However, he did not want to ruin Firepaw's excitement. After settling down he meowed to the apprentice, "The gathering is a time of peace. You may speak to any other clan cats you wish. The apprentices tend to do the most talking." He commented with a flick of his tail.

***

Rippedsky was unable to answer Twistedtail. Before he could even acknowledge the Windclan she-cat, there were other leaders jumping to join them. The black and white tom did not acknowledge Ashstar's hostility. There was no reason to get in a quarrel over this. Instead, he then turned to greet Fiststar in a similar fashion to how he had greeted the Shadowclan leader, "Greetings, Fishstar." He nodded respectfully to her. Despite his position on the rock, the deputy still respected their higher position.

***

"Nice to meet you both." Slatethroat shot a grin to both of the young Skyclan she-cats. A Shadowclan apprentice stuttered next to them. His greeting made the newly appointed warrior want to left, but he settled for flashing a grin instead. The fact he had inspired awe in the ginger tom only made his ego swell. If he could leave the kit with the impression that Windclan was not to be messed with, he had done his clan a great service. After they had all introduced themselved, he found himself meowing, "It must be exciting to be at a gathering. You meet all of the great warriors here." There was no secret in the way he spoke that he included himself in the sentiment. His tail waved, still high in the air as he looked down at the smaller cats.

Rowanpaw glanced around, looking for the Thunderclan cats- maybe he could have time to talk to that nice Thunderclan apprentice, Clearpaw. He settled into a clump of grass to wait.

Cloudstone made his way to the base of the Great Rock with the rest of RiverClan, his mind still filled with thoughts of the fire. He couldn't decide which had disadvantaged him and his clan more; the flood during Leaffall had definitely ruined his memories of apprenticeship, especially since he hadn't had a mentor in RiverClan. The black medicine cat found himself near the leader of the Tribe, and he could only look at him with curiosity. "Excuse me, are you Stoneteller? I'm Cloudstone, RiverClan's medicine cat." Thoughts of living in the mountains were surprisingly tempting to the white-tailed tom. His fur and paws weren't efficient for swimming at all.


Spiderfur hadn't been to a Gathering for a few moons now. Her anxiety over her kits kept her mentally confined to the camp. To be truthful, she didn't find the company of her own Clanmates comforting at all, perhaps the opposite. No one could know. However, her desperation to see their father had gotten out of paw. So she was here. And he was not. The older queen felt herself give in to shame. Where had he gone?


ThunderClan, slightly battered as it was, now emerged into the clearing. Sunningrocks was farther from Fourtrees than their camp, and the path was unmarked. Darkstar was the last leader on the Great Rock, giving a respectful nod to each leader there, even Rippedsky. It was nice to see Leopardstar finally among them, although she began to wonder if all five leaders would ever be on the rock at the same time.

Leafpaw padded in close behind Nightstar, stumbling as he craned his neck to get a glance at Bearpaw. Where was he?

Lionspark's steps were slow as she padded into the clearing, her head low as she stared out at the other Clans that had arrived before them. She wanted to be her happy self but it was so hard after all that had happened. She sighed softly, breaking off from the stream of ThunderClan cats and found a soft spot by her lonesome to sit. She was interested in the news that the other Clans had to share but that was about it - there was little interest in speaking to the other cats on her mind.

Shrewpaw padded into fourtrees, not at all overwhelmed by the amount of cats that were there. It was his first gathering, and he just stared out into the clearing, waiting for the leaders to start talking.

Barkpaw followed in near the back of Thunderclan entering, staying off to the side. This was his first gathering after all, and he didn't want to screw anything up. In the crowd of cats, it was easy to get lost among everyone, so he found an empty spot and sat in it quickly.

Specklefang was right behind her grandmother, her first gathering as a warrior! Green eyes immediately searched for the familiar brown pelt of Waspstep, but turning her head to see the grief in her mother's eyes. Deciding against leaving her mothers side she hung by until she sat down, Specklefang joining her solemnly. She hadn't been leaving her mother's side as of late, but she didn't mind.

Lilyheart padded along after Skyclan, her tail high and her strides long as she exuded confidence.

The youngest tribe cat walked into the gathering far behind the SkyClan cats. The newly-named Lionpaw wanted to get a very good look at the territory while they passed through it, and it was damningly confined compared to the mountains he left behind. The moment of release and relief came when the trees stopped and the space opened up into a wide clearing which many cats were beginning to gather in. Lionpaw vaguely remembered the night the Tribe of Endless Skies first arrived and hoped things wouldn't be so hostile. The new apprentice hurried off to where his friend, Dandelionpaw, was speaking to a few other cats with strange scents. "Hello, I'm Eye... I mean, I'm Lionpaw. Of... SkyClan." He meowed, correcting himself on his name and hesitating on the clan name. It was a rather bitter moment for the young tom. Clan names were interesting but he rather liked his old name very much. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be immediately identified as a tribe cat.

Shrikepaw padded down the hill and into the clearing with enthusiasm, ready to see what the forest had to offer. He had had enough of ThunderClan's burnt trees and looked eagerly around Fourtrees for signs of life and growth. Too shy to actually interact, the silver tabby stuck around outside the outskirts of a gathering group of apprentices to hear the latest gossip and learn about the other clans from the inside. When he saw his own clanmate, Barkpaw, sitting off by himself, Shrikepaw sauntered over and sat with him and gave a friendly greeting. "Hey, Barkpaw. I'm pretty ready to see what this gathering has to offer." Truthfully, his own clanmates were far less intimidating than strangers from other clans.

Dandelionpaw turned to see Lionpaw arriving beside her. Her face lit up, relieved that she wasn't alone among strangers. "Yep! This is Lionpaw. This is his first Gathering," she mewed.

Gingerpaw stifled a small snort at the WindClan warrior. He was tall and buff and awe-inspiring, but obviously full of himself. "You're pretty cool," the apprentice admitted, "but my mentor Swiftclaw is cooler. He's the best ever! I was really lucky to get him for a mentor!" He watched with interest as Dandelionpaw welcomed over another SkyClan apprentice, one who smelled even... weirder than the other Clan cats here. When he stumbled over his name and Clan, the tabby tom realized he must have been one of those Tribe cats he'd heard from Swiftclaw about. But he decided not to talk about it, since the tom obviously didn't want to. "Lionpaw, huh? Nice to meet you!"

Blizzardshine padded into the clearing with ThunderClan, her long white fur as clean as possible after she had spent quite some time getting rid of all the soot stuck in it. Her paws, however, were still grey from all the ash and soot she had to walk over during the clan’s trip from Sunningrocks to Fourtrees. She wasn’t surprised when she discovered that they were the last ones to arrive, but couldn’t really care less at the time. With a respectful nod, she took her spot between the deputies, noticing Rippedsky wasn’t between them and instead on top of the Great Rock. Was Crowstar sick?

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Nightheart padded in after WindClan, glad to be able to finally walk comfortably instead of having to watch her every step so her burnt pawpads wouldn’t send bolts of white hot pain through her body, as well as being able to speak normally instead of having the raspy voice of an elder.

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Sootwhisper padded in silently after RiverClan, taking his usual spot on the shade surrounding the Great Rock, far enough to not be bothered yet close enough to hear everything the leaders had to say.

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Moonlight padded in after Rippedsky, feeling slightly nervous as the clan arrived to Fourtrees. She wasn’t used to have secrets to hold back from other cats, but now she was supposed to stay quiet about Crowstar’s disappearance and act like everything was going fine…and she was not a good actor at all. She just hoped none noticed her nervousness or wouldn’t ask about it.

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Hawkstrike padded into Fourtrees alongside SkyClan, completely calm and collected with his tail held high. Unlike many of his clanmates he had a lot of experience acting and lying, making it easy for him to keep up with the instructions given by Rippedsky regarding their missing leader. However, deep inside he was still nervous about this fact and acting like everything was fine didn’t feel right.

Falconpaw trotted around, a few cats, his eyes keen to find Emberpaw, wherever he was. He hoped the fire hadn't harmed the tom. The shortage of food had hit him hard. He had trouble eating already, he didn't need this bothersome obstacle. He nearly followed Blizzardshine to the deputy spot, halting a few foxlengths before Stretching, he sat down, his paws covered by his skinny tail as he did so, a yawn leaving the tired tom.

Hawkpaw scanned the clearing, briefly remembering when he had lounged on the Great Rock with Falconpaw. He chuckled at the memory. He spotted Barkpaw sitting down, nodding to himself when he decided that trailing around Barkpaw would just annoy the younger. He instead followed Specklefang, spotting the solemn look on her face. His jab at the constant incomplete roster of leaders vanished from his mind as he kneaded his paws. He looked up at the leaders, wondering if they had an answer to the burnt forest.

Waspstep followed behind Leopardstar. He wasn't really interested in being here. There wasn't anything that interested him. He would rather be back at camp doing things but yet he was here. He stuck closer to the back of the gathered cats, preferring not to be bothered.

Mottleclaw decided it was time to go to his first gathering in a long time. Of course he was just an elder, but it was still nice to see one of these events in a long time. The black and white flecked tom sat next to Thrushstripe, enjoying the other elder's company, even if he was a grump sometimes.

--

Raccoonfang padded close to her father as Windclan entered the gathering. She kept close to her dad. After the event with Rockthorn a while back she couldn't find it in herself to leave his side. She didn't want to lose him any time soon so she was being rather protective of her father.

--

Thistleblaze padded into the gathering, walking side by side with her mate. Gatherings made her uncomfortable. While she had been to one all the time, she never really missed one, it still concerned her that a windclan cat would recognize her and out her. While as time went on less and less chances of that happening decreased, it still made her tense. So she sat with her mate away from the crowds but close enough to hear.

Lightdrop nodded to her mother as they separated from each other as they approached the clearing. Unlike her mother she was born in Riverclan. So she didn't hold her mother's concerns. The white she-cat padded up to interact with the different clan cats. Even with some tension cause of the tribe the warrior didn't mind talking to others, even if she was quiet like her father sometimes.

--

Shadowleaf's eyes sparkled as she padded into the gather with Thunderclan. This was her first gathering as a Thunderclan cat and she was so excited. Despite what happened with the fire and her clan being weary she was still excited. She could introduce herself as Shadowleaf, not Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, and call herself a Thunderclan warrior. She was so happy, though she still had to be careful not to give any information on Thunderclan's weakness away. She over heard that other clans liked to take advantage of weakness so she would stay quiet most of the time.

Pansyface followed her clanmates into the moonlit clearing, grateful to see that the sacred meeting ground had been spared from the flames. The gray-and-white she-cat gazed up at the four tall oaks, and felt a twinge of sadness strike her heart. For a moment she flashed back to when she was a carefree apprentice, climbing up the thick boughs of the trees with Bouncepaw by her side.... The memory of the RiverClan tom's happily smiling face was almost too much for her, and she turned her gaze away and trotted off, eyes downcast and inattentive. Suddenly, she realized she had bumped into someone; Hawkstrike. "Oh, sorry about that!" With an embarrassed chuckle, the young warrior stood beside her friend and purred.

~

Leopardclaw followed Darkstar into the clearing and sat down in the shade of a bush near the edge of the clearing; he had never been much for small talk or gossip. If it was an option he would skip Gatherings entirely.

~

Finchpaw trotted in along with the rest of RiverClan, and seeing that Nutpaw had trotted off to talk to other clan cats, the silver and white tabby was confused on what to do with herself. Opting to take a seat near the back, she watched the leaders - and Rippedsky - interact near the Great Rock.

~

Ryepaw was on a mission as soon as he entered the clearing. Head swiveling around and icy eyes narrowed as he searched the area for a white pelt, the fluffy ginger tom made his way through the thick crowd. Finally, he caught sight of the warrior he was looking for; Lightdrop. He raised his tail to wave a greeting, but he could feel a certain black pelt and green eyes staring a hole in his fur. Making eye contact with Darkpaw, he only flicked his tail dismissively before dashing up to the RiverClan she-cat. A friendly smile on his face, the fully-grown tom purred; "Hey Lightdrop! Remember me? Ryepaw?"

~

Laurelpaw walked in beside Necterpaw and glanced around at all the clans with an excited smile. This wasn't her first Gathering but the sight of so many cats gathered in one place never failed to amaze her.

~

Night of Stormy Gales walked in and settled down near the edge of the clearing, watching as his Tribemates began to mingle among the other clans. Not feeling much for chatting, the jet black tom seemed to fade into the shadows the nearby bushes cast over him until only his vivid green eyes were visible.