September's Gathering 2017

Dewtuft followed behind his leader, the warrior looking rather tense as he brushed by the different clan cats. His eyes naturally wandered to the tribe cats that remained, mouth curling with distaste at their presence. But he didn't reveal any more of his feelings, choosing to quietly be seated next to his mate.

Coyotepaw followed Blizzardstar into the clearing with heavy paws. He had not wanted to come back to this place after what he had witness last time. Every instinct in him screamed to bolt from the now filling clearing and hide in his den. But, more and more, the decision to not be weak was creeping into his heart. Reno had mocked him for being pathetic and stupid for far to many moons. It had turned the young tabby rather defiant. Most of these feelings simply lay in his heart. He would never share them out loud, not even with the Thunderclan leader who tried to act as his surrogate mother. Part of him appreciated the kind gesture, but the other and more bitter half constantly pushed him to the desire to want to yowl at her to leave him alone. Wolffang was his only true mother. Wherever she was, that fact would always remain.

The tabby apprentice sat down with his back straight and head high in the air. His tail wrapped neatly over his paws. This would be his second gathering as an apprentice. Even if the first had been an event that would forever be ingrained in his worst nightmares, Coyotepaw strove to push away his internal anxieties. No cat could not how terrified he was on the inside; no cat could of his weakness. Even from his undoubted place in Hell, the apprentice could not refute the fact that his father probably still spewed insults at him from the grave. In Thunderclan, he had also met the aggressive tom's live, she-cat counterpart. Specklefang was an unwelcome reminder of Reno. Most of these thoughts were pushed away as he fixed his gaze on the great rock. From the corner of his eyes, the young tom watched everything, just in case.

***
Rippedsky stared straight ahead as he padded into the clearing. If there were any judgmental glares sent their way as they entered, he planned to ignore them. The remaining tribe cats had come with them to the gathering. They could not be left in camp alone. He was horrified that he could not longer trust them all. Most seemed to be good-hearted cats that disagreed with Swoop's treachery, but there was no doubt the rest of the forest still saw them as the cause of the problem. His head swam with a conflict of ideas, but the black and white tom simply maintained a neutral expression.

As he neared the other deputies, a soft-smile appeared on his maw at the sight of Brindlewhisker. However, he quickly tossed it away and returned to something far more subtle. The attempts at cheer that were usually written over the Skyclan warrior's face had disappeared in the wake of everything that had happened. In a more serious way than normal, he sat alongside his counterparts from the other represented clans. Between Cherrymist's death and all of the recent events, Rippedsky was struggling. He had no idea how to handle it all. So, he dipped his head and meowed, "Greetings." The words were devoid of the usual joy the lined his tone. For now, that was gone.

Magpiewing led ShadowClan into the clearing and jumped on the Great Rock. He nodded to the other leaders and glanced down at his paws awkwardly.

Copperfang followed after Magpiewing and sat down with the Shadowclan warriors.

Weedblaze padded into the clearing with ThunderClan, appearing proud of his new warrior name.

---

Snailbelly entered the Fourtrees clearing. He was nervous beyond belief after the previous Gathering and the way Fishstar held herself.

---

Dandeliondapple marched into the area with SkyClan, determined to make herself look strong after her blunder at the last Gathering.

---

Lizardtail slunk in with ShadowClan, upset that his father was not up on the rock, but relieved that Olivepaw was back and that she had finally been able to become a warrior.

Crowpaw had walked in with Shadowclan, he quickly sat alone. He made sure not to meet eyes with any other cat. Although he lost most of his shyness, he wasn't fully ready to start to converse with any other cat. He was also a little saddened that the leader of Shadowclan could not come. He knew that Magpiewing could handle anything.
-------------------
Lilypaw had come with Riverclan, excitement evident in her ocean blue eyes. It was her first gathering so she wanted to learn as much as she could about the other clans. She went on her own way to a group of apprentices.
-----------------
Birdpaw had walked in with Thunderclan and now she sat listening to some windclan apprentices speak. She shivered as she remembered the last gathering, where she recieved wounds from the mist. She sat alone so she could think about things that bothered her lately.
------------------------
Swiftstep held his head high as he was now a Windclan warrior. The last time he was here, he was a young apprentice and he witnessed the mist attack many cats. Now it seemed like everything had calmed down a tiny bit. He looked up to not see the Shadowclan leader. He gave a sigh and walked over to a couple of Thunderclan warriors, hoping to get into a conversation.

Rowantalon sauntered into Fourtrees, his head held high and his chest puffed out. Shadowclan's strongest warriors had all attended the gathering, and he did his best to look as imposing as possible. They had to show that Shadowclan was still strong.
The spotted warrior kept an eye on his children, watching them as they each found a place to settle down.
He quietly found a place in the heart of the crowd, giving Magpiewing a small nod before turning to talk to the cat beside him.
"Hello there." He mewed awkwardly, his hazel eyes focusing on the cat next to him. "How are you?"


Willowpaw trotted happily into the gathering, her ears up as she looked for any familiar faces. Ryeheart was somewhere in the crowd of Shadowclanners behind her...
The black-and-white apprentice found a seat next to a Riverclan warrior, her amber eyes as bright as her mother's had been.
"Hi!" She chirped happily. "Who are you? I'm Willowpaw!"


Sharppaw huffed and padded up to Reedpaw, Shrewpaw and... whoever that was. "Excuse me." She mewed loudly, giving her fluffy fur a few licks. "Who are you?"
This ratty-looking Windclan cat could be up to anything. Sharppaw didn't like the look in her eye, or her demeanor.

Lilacpaw followed her father into the Gathering, and made her way towards a small gathering of apprentices. The older apprentice wondered what other Clans' apprentices were like as she did so, excited to finally find out, despite being somewhat intimidated. There was a peace treaty, right? ...But the last Gathering hadn't honored it, or so she had heard.

Firestone padded into the Gathering with his usual proud and over-confident personality. The young warrior sat down close to his clanmates when a sudden remember came to his mind when he saw the Fourtrees standing right in front of him. The warrior remembered his talk as an apprentice with his father and mentor, when he confessed him about his kin and how he was related to Bear, the rogue, and his son, Barkpaw.

Guided by those thoughts, the stocky tom glanced at the place where Thunderclan was, wondering which of those cats could be Barkpaw, his cousin. This one his chance to finally meet him, to know a part of his family that he never saw before. Maybe... they could be friends but first, he had to identify him and that was hard, considering that he never met Bear and didn't know how he looked like.

--------

Cedarstorm entered into the clearing behind the deputy with a proud smile. This was her first Gathering as a warrior and she wanted to make sure that everybody in this place would notice that change.

Her blue eyes gazed a dark fur that she knew and trotted to the black tom, smiling. "Hi, Crowpaw! Mind if I join you tonight?" She purred, sitting rich next to the apprentice that had her age. She liked the tom and enjoyed his company as much as she enjoyed to spend time with her sister. Curlypaw hadn't arrived yet so she can wait for her while she talked to Crowpaw.

Larksong followed after her father, her head raised proudly although she kept glancing at Magpiewing with a nervous look. It couldn't be easy for him, being forced to keep leading the Clan like this as if he was the leader. He hadn't even been deputy for very long but fate kept dictating that for one reason or another, Leopardstar wasn't able to lead them. She sighed as she drifted away from the ShadowClan group to find her own spot, only wishing that Leopardstar would recover soon so that Magpiewing could go back to acting like the deputy he was suppose to be instead of the make-shift leader he was forced to be.

Smokestripe padded behind Larksong, a pleasant grin on his face as he tagged after his best friend. However a bit of that light darken when he spotted the nervous look that the tortoiseshell kept flashing toward her father. He picked up the pace until he was walking next to her, giving her a soft smile as he rested his tail on her side. "Don't worry about him, Magpiewing is doing great and before we know it Leopardstar will be back to leading again!" He frowned softly when Larksong gave out a small mumble of agreement as it was clear that she didn't exactly believe him but neither say anything more as they both took their seats and waited for the gathering to start.

Mottleheart loyalty followed in Ashstar and Brindlewhisker, his expression neutral as he broke away from the pack to locate his own locate to sit. As he sat down, he straighten up to stare over the head of the gathered cats as he shifted, trying to get a good view of where Brindlewhisker was sitting at the base of the rock. His eyes narrowed sightly as his ears fell back on his head as he spotted her chatting with the deputy of ThunderClan, a soft sigh escaping him as his natural mask crumbled ever-so slightly. It was...hard. Ever since Brindlewhisker had become deputy, it was easy to feel that the two friends were drifting apart due to the fact that she was always so busy with her duties and they could never sit together at Gatherings. His gaze fell down to his paws as he perked his ears, waiting for the familiar call of the gathering starting so that they could get this over with.

Amberpelt practically pranced into the clearing with the flock of RiverClan cats, her pelt groomed to perfection as she proudly held up her head as she slid between her Clanmates in hopes of getting one of the best spots in the Gathering. She wasn't phased all that much by how Fishstar had been acting ever since the previous Gathering, having faith in her leader but as she started to weave between the sitting cats, she paused as she caught the sight of a familiar pelt. Her ears twitched as she spotted her son looking rather nervous, a conflicted expression passing over her faith as she glanced toward the spot she was heading for...Then she shook her head as she turned, making her way over to her son as she sat down next to him without a word and wrapped her tail around him as she gave him a soft smile before she turned her attention onto the rocks as the Gathering was no doubt going to start soon.

Fawnpaw had gone with Windclan. She had been super excited to go to the gathering since it was her first. She looked around and joined a couple of apprentices with their conversations.
----------------
Owlpaw had arrived late with the rest of Shadowclan. It was his first gathering and like every other apprentice, he was super excited. Him being a talkative tom, went to tell different clan apprentices how amazing his hunting skills were getting. He wondered where the Shadowclan leader was but didn't mind Magpiewing being up with the rest of the leaders.
----------------
Mallowpaw was now sitting alone, after coming to the gathering with Skyclan. The blind she-cat was excited but saddened she couldn't really see anything. She prefered to keep to herself so she waited patiently for the gathering to start.

Boulderfoot and Starlingpaw were padding inside ShadowClan group. Their eyes were fixed on each other, altough Starlingpaw was younger and still apprentice. Emotions were bursting between them.

"I am glad to hear so." Brindlewhisker mewed softly in response, finding her head gently nodding in agreement to her somewhat friendly words, "Kits truly are a blessing in this season." A part of her was surprised to hear that ThunderClan had plentiful prey, especially after the brutal fires that had ravaged their territories, but she said nothing as the arrival of a Clan quickly deterred her attention. As SkyClan slowly began to trickle into the already crowded clearing, she couldn't help but feel her muscles tense beneath her well-groomed fur as her gaze locked onto the few Tribe cats that had chosen to attend. Did those outsiders really believe that they were welcome here after everything they had caused? Her throat in anger so intensely for that for several heartbeats she thought she simply would not be able to ever breathe properly once more. How audacious could these cats possibly be? "It's nice to have moments of peace like this- especially after the past few moons." Brindlewhisker finally managed to politely respond with a touch of warmth, her kind words doing nothing to reflect the brewing anger within her tense form.

A soft chirp of content escaped Brindlewhisker's mouth as she noticed Dewtuft settling down nearby her, although it did little to quell the storm of mixed emotions that were tearing at her seems. Resisting the urge to hiss at the Tribe cats, she wrapped her tail more tightly around her flexing forepaws and instead focused her gaze on the clearing of cats that surrounded them. After a few moments of idle scanning, she was pleased that she was able to spot at least a portion of the top of Mottleheart's head. Perhaps she could find time to talk more closely with Mottleheart after the Gathering- they still needed to have a more civil conversation about what had transpired during last moon's sacred meeting. Likely due to her wistful staring over at her close friend, she failed to notice Rippedsky's approach until he spoke to small party settled below the ancient stone. "Rippedsky." Brindlewhisker simply mewed, her words rather cold as she turned her attention towards the leaders who sat upon the Great Rock.

-

Splashwillow came rolling in with the rest of RiverClan in a good mood because of the fact that her papa has come back and her life is currently alright for the first time in forever.

-

Screech of the Startled Eagle nervously strode after the rest of the SkyClan and Tribe cats that had chosen to attend the Gathering, his narrow face rife with discomfort and paranoia as he stepped back into the site of the battle ground. Why he had allowed himself to come back to this wretched bloody little clearing, he didn't know but he was here now. Swallowing tightly, the darkly colored To-Be skittered the majority of the crowds as he found a relatively empty place close to the edge of the clearing that would allow a comfortable distance between himself and the Clan cats.

-

Addergaze came rolling in with SkyClan too since I'm lazy and don't wanna write a full post

Reluctantly, Falconpaw trudged into the Fourtrees clearing, swerving around strange-scented cats from other Clans. The cinnamon tom hated being in this close proximity to non-ThunderClan cats, so he desperately searched for an empty spot near some bearable warriors. "At least they're not as bad as rogues." He grumbled to himself.

Foxpaw strutted into the gathering of cats, her olive eyes flitting back and forth as she studied the scene. After little contemplation, the WindClan apprentice took a seat near her mentor, Slatethroat, who she found at the centre of the bustling clearing.

Violetpaw stumbled along behind her deputy, tripping over a stray branch to collide into a RiverClan warrior (Splashwillow). She was not that big, about her size but slightly larger. A calico, all slick and smelt of fish. "Um, sorry." The apprentice said rather stoically, hoping a ShadowcCan warrior would bail her out.

-

Dewtuft barely managed to hide his snarl when Rippedsky came over to his mate. He didn't speak, not trusting himself to spit at the deputy some choice words about traitors and codelessness. Instead he pressed himself against Brindlewhisker, tight enough that it was hard to figure out where he ended and she began. His tail swished warningly, as he sat there silently, just observing.

ooc: Ivy/Otter/Frog aren't here. Otter is recuperating. Frog is recovering. Ivy is watching the camp like a hawk.