February’s Gathering 2018

Scorchfang's ears grew hot with embarrassment at the unexpected compliment from a rival warrior. He dipped his head, avoiding Nectarleap's gaze. "The warrior code is meant to be broken, or at least some of the less important rules. You have lots of your own to care for, surely. But..." He looked up at the WindClan warrior again. "No, hunting isn't too great. But then again, where isn't that the case during leaf-bare? And with this whole fiasco between ThunderClan and RiverClan going on... I hope there won't be any war, or if there is I hope ShadowClan won't get dragged into it. We can't focus on fighting right now while food and herbs are scarce; none of us should be!"

OOC: I have written this post so many times and it just kept deleting! UGGGHHH!!

IC: Cedarstorm entered the Gathering behind her mate and she sat down next to him, waiting. However, she didn't stay for too long because she soon noticed that her sister was speaking to a Thunderclan cat. "I'll be back in a sec. I must do something before this starts." She mewed to Crowfur before standing up.

The ShadowClanner approached Curlyfeather and this Thunderclan apprentice which she deliberately ignored. Instead, the she-cat nudged the grey tabby warrior to catch her attention. With the moves of paws and tail they had been practising, she barely managed to communicate her one question: "Was he the one who did this to you?" She said without any word or noise.

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Firestone moved slowly through the snow, his paws heavier and useless as he made his way to the meeting place. He sat down alone, too saddened to start any interaction. He was so broken... betrayal, lies, pain... why did his life was so filled with all that? His parent's lies and betrayal, Buttercup's death and uncertain past, Specklefang's sorrow and depression, and... the truth about Honeydrop's death. Did Starclan curse him and his family just because he and Gingerstripe were the medicine cat's kits? The experienced tom didn't want to believe. He never did anything wrong but yet there he was, barely standing alone in life, his hopes shattered. He followed the Code... he fed his clan... he always respected his elders and leader, even if sometimes he disliked his decisions. Why then was he suffering so much?

And Heatherpetal's appearance only made his mood even worse. A soft hiss escaped from his throat and lashed his tail angrily, even if he wasn't actually mad at her. The tom was just... heart-broken. "What in the name of Starclan do you want?" He spat, his green eyes narrowed as he glanced at the sandy coloured she-cat.

Spottedpelt looked at him. "uh hem I'm Spottedpelt now wolfsong." she said smiling. DaisyHeart nodded. "and I'm DaisyHeart and a proud queen at that." she said thinking about her five kits. FrostFeather smiled. "im a mother too." she said smiling. All of them looked at each other happily. Rosepaw just looked at them. .im close to becoming a warrior just you wait."she said smiling. Swirlpaw looked at them and got nervous. FrostFeather looked at echopaw and gave a little nod. "hes just worried about my kits don't worry about it." she said lying a bit.

Heatherpetal narrowed her eyes at the tom who was so foolish as to befriend and trust her mother. Her hackles were beginning to rise, but she forced her fur to lie flat. She spoke calmly, obviously trying to control her anger. "I just wanted to make sure that Clanmate of yours -- Newtface, was it? -- passed on my message to you. I don't really care what you and Buttercup have been through as 'friends', but she was not a trustworthy cat. She was using you to get to me. She was going to kill me. It was still an accident that I killed her, but I don't regret it. If I hear one more word out of you about that dung-eating excuse for a mother and a cat, I will rip you to shreds and leave you out on the Thunderpath for the crows." She wasn't usually this violent or threatening, but she wasn't going to tolerate being falsely accused for intending to kill someone, nor would she tolerate anything this ShadowClanner said to her or about her.

Dappledpaw winced at the words, but had no clue how to respond. How does one talk to a deaf cat? He looked her in the eyes. She had no reason to be so rude to him. "I don't know. She's here somewhere, anyway." He replied, until he realised she couldn't hear him. He looked back at the tabby with uncertainty, shrugging. Maybe that would get his message through? The tabby tom then saw another she-cat approach, and do some strange tail signals. Oh, so that was how they communicated. The problem was, he didn't know how to do that. His ear flicked as he doubtfully looked back to the deaf cat. "I. Don't. Know." He mewed, trying to move his mouth in a way that would hopefully make it easier to lip-read. He didn't know how rude he was being. He just wanted this cat to know what he was saying.

"Okay guys sorry and congrats to the kits!" purred. He looked at Frostfeather and realized she where lying but decided not to say anything.

Wildpaw looked at the cats and then back at his sister "Don't worry you'll not do anything wrong" he meowed and nudged her gently.

"Well..." Nectarleap quickly shut his mouth, about to argue the part about the warrior code. He didn't agree with Scorchfang, but he didn't feel like getting into an argument about it. The warrior listened respectfully to the ShadowClanner's words, realizing that WindClan was in a similar situation. They were getting noticeably skinnier, and though they weren't in war, Ashstar had agreed to help ThunderClan if more fighting occurred. Nodding, he responded. "WindClan as well. I've started to not eat some days so that the kits can survive. And fighting predators is bad enough, I'd hate for cats to fight each other more. Even the ThunderClan and RiverClan feud could effect my clan, we agreed to help-" Realizing that he was giving top secret information to a warrior in a different clan, he quickly changed the subject. "Nevermind. Do you have any apprentices? I have three, it's one of the things that comes with being an experienced warrior."
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"Not him, but a cat that looks just like him, other than the fact that it was a she-cat and not a tom," Curlyfeather replied to Cedarstorm's question, not caring to take the time to use the language that they had come up with. Right now she was glad that they had, so she understand at least on of the cats she was talking with. All she wanted to do now was to find Sharpwhatever and yell at her, and this ThunderClan tom wasn't helping her to do that. She was about to tell him to lead her to her, when she saw his exaggerated mouth movements and slow words. It took all her will power not to rake her claws across his nose. The nerve he must have to mock her like that! "No matter how you move your mouth, I still can't hear you, and I don't appreciate you reminding me! Now lead me to her, or I might forget about the truce!"

Dappledpaw's eyes widened further. But he didn't KNOW where she was! His heart quickened as he looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of his mother. He didn't want the truce to be broken. StarClan already seemed angry enough. "I- I..." He stammered, his head held higher to try and locate Sharptooth. "I don't know where she is!" He wailed, frantically glancing back at her. Oh, she couldn't hear him! This was infuriating! How else could he communicate that he didn't know? Again, he shrugged, exaggerating his movements in the hope she might be able to understand.

Scorchfang seemed to flinch a little at the mention of apprentices. "I-I have one, my little brother. I had another one before, but... sh-she was k-killed by a badger..." He probably shouldn't have given that away, that ShadowClan had one less cat in their midst, but it just... slipped out. Even after moons since the death of Brownpaw, the she-cat he played with as an apprentice when she was just merely a kit, it was never easy to think about her.

Spottedpelt and daisyheart agreed on one thing. "I hope this war ends quick cause I don't like being your enemy." spottedpelt said for the both of them. Swirlpaw looked at them. "what war?" she asked confused forgetting to be shy. Rosepaw sighed and noticed newtface. She wanted to have her first gathering be with him special but so far they where just doing their own things. Frostfeather hoped nobody thought she was lying.

Jaystream blinked a bit surprised when the other deputy talked at him. But it was a pleasant surprise. His unusual hard and serious expression softened when his eyes met the black and white tom and a shy smile reappeared on his face. He was more than grateful for having at least a decent relationship with the Skyclan deputy. Until now, he and Tinylegs were the only ones that showed and kept the same sympathy for him... unlike Leopardclaw.

He waited patiently for his conversation with the Windclan she-cat to end before answering. The grey tabby tom flattened his ears against his skull as he looked down, sadly. "I-I would like to say that's everything is fine but that would be a lie. E-E-Everything is really bad. An apprentice got sick and we didn't have enough herbs. I-I t-tried to gather more but... It was h-hard without Goldeneye around... Even though she got her medicine cat name, when she was still an apprentice, a Windclan cat... wounded her so badly..." He quieted his voice, unable to continue thinking about the poor Tigerpaw and the she-cat's horrible open wounds.

"And that's not the worst. We lost... two young cats, an apprentice and a newly appointed warrior... and it was all because of..." His green glanced at the Thunderclan deputy briefly, not even daring to say his clan's name. "And of course, that issue c-couldn't be left u-unpunished..." Jaystream didn't want to speak about the details of the Thunderclan issue. He wrapped his tail nervously and saddened around his paws. He looked more tired than ever. So much death... so much pain. But he had to be strong like the other deputies. For his clan's sake, he had to be like Ivystar.

The tom lifted up his head, proudly and looking stronger than he truly was. Then, he returned his gaze to Rippedsky, giving him a tired half smile. "I really hope your clan is going better than mine."

Birchheart looked down at the apprentice and nodded. "So it seems. You don't either.
I hope it's not for the same reason as mine." Her voice was raspy and rough but things would be fine. She could speak. Birchheart cleared her throat and her voice sounded much more like the smooth tone it usually was. Just not nearly as happy. "I'm Birchheart of ThunderClan." She managed a faint smile. He seemed shy and didn't deserve to be caught in her problems. "It's nice to meet you, Mumblepaw." The she-cat looked up at the moon. "It's awfully cold tonight, I hope it doesn't get any colder." Her voice was solemn. She used to like winter but, not with these new memories to taint the season she enjoyed. No longer would the challenge and increased feeling of pride after just a few catches be what she thought of.

Tigerpaw warily eyed Rosepaw, trying to detect which clan the other apprentice was from. The whole clearing was a mess of different scents, however, and it was a little difficult for the inexperienced Tigerpaw to tell which scent was Rosepaw's exactly. WindClan... perhaps? Not wanting to state her guess in case she was wrong, the young cat asked, "Which clan are you from? I'm from SkyClan." Rosepaw seemed genuinely friendly and easy-going, and that made it easier for the striped apprentice to speak to her. She couldn't help but feel slightly envious, as the other apprentice was much better at socializing than she was.

Firestone hissed angrily as he stood up, his long lashing violently as he stepped closer to the young Thunderclan cat. "Are you threatening me, little scum?" He snarled as he looked down at the she-cat, intimidating. The flame-furred tom was way bigger and stronger than her thanks to his muscular and stocky body. The tom knew that she wouldn't be able to beat him in battle. "I've been trying to be nice and patient with you all this time but I'm done with this stupid nonsense! Whatever you say, you're still a murderer. You killed a cat, your mother and MY friend. You won't stop me from talking about her. Unlike you, I spent more time with her than you ever did and I perfectly know that she was manipulative. But she still... changed. It broke my heart hearing you talk about how she used to be... It's hard for me to believe your words. However, I will always remember her as a dear friend and truly worried mother for her kit, no matter how much you cry and whine about it! I'm done with your "Oh no, she was the bad one here! She wanted to murder me so I had to kill her first!" I bet that she didn't even try to kill you during that battle." Because of his anger, the tom unsheathed his claws.

Because of his anger, the tom unsheathed his claws but he had no intentions of starting a fight in the middle of the Gathering.

"I won't hold any longer. If I see you on my territory or threatening me again for just speaking of the Buttercup I knew, then you will be the one that is going to regret being in my claws. You don't deserve the promise I made to Buttercup. You're worst than crowfood... So piss off and just leave alone!" He spat. Firestone just wanted to end this and be alone in his own anger, sadness and pain. The fire dappled warrior didn't need Heatherpetal around yelling how "horrible" her mother was.

Heatherpetal's heart lurched when Firestone stood up to her. He really was bigger than she had originally thought up close. But she still stood her ground, forcing herself to meet his gaze and not look away. A sly thought crept in her thoughts, and she sneered. "Oh, am I not worth keep your promise to her? If all of what you had said was true about her, and that I truly didn't know how much she had really changed, I wonder what she would say -- what she would think of you -- if she heard that. You say you were her friend, you by breaking the promise you made to her, you've already failed her. Some friend you are." She glared at him for several long moments, feeling like an eternity, her fur bristling despite her best efforts to flatten it.

Finally, she was the first to break away, stalking back towards her Clanmates. Even if she hated that stupid foolish tom, she wasn't about to stand around for the chance that he would break the warrior code of peace during a Gathering and lash out at her. No cat, no matter how terrible, deserved to face StarClan's wrath. Well, except maybe Buttercup... It was a shame she hadn't believed in StarClan, otherwise she'd be in the Dark Forest. That was where awful scum like her belonged.