April's Gathering 2018

Ashstar came in third, all of WindClan following in behind her. Her Clan certainly looked better than they had last Gathering, immediately after RiverClan's ill-gained victory. Her pelt was beginning to be fluffy and soft again rather than long and ragged, and she shook it out as she jumped onto the Great Rock, nodding to Blizzardstar, who looked far, far better than leaf-bare had left her. Crowstar wasn't there again- not necessarily uncommon. However, there was a tom she didn't recognize in the deputy's spot. Was... was Rippedsky the leader? StarClan forbid. She didn't think she was ready to deal with that.

Graypaw followed her new Clanmates in nervously, feeling as if she was going to the Gathering for the first time again, though the surroundings were familiar. She wished she could run or to all her old friends from SkyClan, but she bet they wouldn't welcome her at all. Even though it had been the right thing.... Instead, the warrior-aged apprentice stayed in the back of the crowds, not sure of who to talk to, wondering why all of her former Clan looked so subdued.

Ashpaw quietly padded into the gathering after his clan, Skyclan, his head hung low and tail dragging across the ground. Even though he hadn't known his leader very well, the loss still sent a pang of pain throughout his heart. He stayed near to Blossomheart, since she was one of the only cats he was comfortable being with.

Badgerthorn padded into the gathering following his clan. He was going to sit more up front with his clan, but when he noticed that Graypaw stayed in the back the tom turned and padded back to her. The charcoal tom sat down by her side, pressing a bit close to her to give her some comfort.

~Rainpaw~

Rainpaw padded after the other WindClan cats. He didn’t come to the last gathering.. or maybe it was the last two... he couldn’t remember. He went and sat down by a brown tabby she-cat, hoping to socialize more.. but he was still nervous as usual that cats would make fun of him. But.. maybe this cat wouldn’t? ”Hi.. m-my I’m-m R-R-Rai-Raipaw- I mean Rainpaw. I’m fr-fr-from WindClan.”

~Hazelpaw~

The tabby she-cat looked over to see a blue-gray tom from WindClan it seemed come towards her. Huh, nice, a cat to boast to. But this cat looked nervous and shy, Hazelpaw didn’t really like cats like that. When the cat spoke to her she looked at him with a confused look. Whats wrong with his voice? she thought. ”Um.. hi. I’m Hazelpaw from SkyClan.”

OOC: Feel free to talk to any of my cats here.

Blackpaw followed dutifully behind the rest of ThunderClan, wrinkling her nose at the smell of all the other Clan cats there. She recognized the dusty smell of WindClan, the scent reminding her of her very brief time in the WindClan camp. The other smells, however, were new to her, and they didn't particularly mix well together. She'd heard stories of Gatherings and was interested to see how her first one would play out.


Elmpaw kept his head low as he limped after the other cats from WindClan, wide green eyes scanning the area. This was his first Gathering and quite frankly, he was nervous. He was hoping he could make a friend or two here, but with his terrible social skills...he only wished StarClan would be on his side today. He recognized no one except cats from his own Clan. He couldn't even tell which Clan was which.

(OOC: My cats are free to talk to!)

Swiftstep followed behind Windclan. He sat down, not wanting to speak to anyone this time.
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Birdflight had arrived with Thunderclan. Her green eyes looked around as she sat their deep in thought.

Crowpaw padded in with WindClan, gazing upon the cats that were already there with an air of self importance. Unsure of where to sit, the tom followed one of the older apprentices, Rainpaw. The little weirdo had decided to approach a ThunderClan cat like that? With who he was? Huffing, he impolitely cut in front of the other WindClan apprentice, give the she-cat a thin smile. "Excuse him. I'm Cranepaw and I can actually hold a conversation." he spoke smugly, giving Rainpaw a burning look from the corner of his eye.

"No, not always," Violetfall responded. "I'm not sure what's wrong with them. But I can say that their usual leader isn't here. I wonder if something happened to him?" Taking a closer look at the SkyClan cats, she could see that Palepaw was right. Most of them looked upset or confused.

She flicked her tail. "I don't think we're going to find out until the rest of the Clans get here." She looked down at her apprentice. "So, what do you think of your first Gathering?" the grey warrior asked, lightening her tone.

Palepaw's muscles twitched nervously as his eyes focused on the black and white cat leading SkyClan. He certainly did not have the air of a leader about him, at least not yet. The tabby sighed, averting his eyes to stop staring. Somewhere inbetween that and Violetfall's question, he found his blue eyes fixing on Blizzardstar for comfort. He could never imagine going into a Gathering without her.

"Hmm? Oh, um..." he paused, realizing he had been spacing out. "It's overwhelming. I never imagined there were so many cats in the forest." the apprentice finally blurted out, lifting his eyes to look up at the sky. He might even return to the next Gathering as a warrior himself. "I can't imagine how nervous a new leader could be...."


((i swear to god that was unintentional at first((

Hardly resembling the battered and bruised shell of a Warrior that had attended the previous Gathering, Brindlewhisker's sleek and unruffled appearance gave evidence to how well WindClan was currently faring. Striding into the Gathering after Ashstar, the Deputy's gaze was pulled away from Graypaw at the sight of the unusually somber crowd. Although her carefully guarded expression gave away next to nothing, she was surprised to find an unfamiliar tom seated among the Deputies while Rippedsky was atop the Great Rock. Could it be...? Ear twitching with slight interest, she quickly strode across the clearing towards, steps unperturbed and smooth. Neatly wrapping her tail around her paws, Brindlewhisker only offered Poplartooth a minutely curious glance before redirecting her attention the sea of cats mingling around them.

---

Honeypaw's words were lost on Elmcloud, although he was unsure if it was due to his lack of attention or the rapidly gathering distance between the pair. Feeling the leaf-litter groan and crackle beneath his weight, the tom began to absently toy with a particularly brittle leaf as he continued to observe the Gathering with blatant disinterest. A maelstrom of thoughts battered his mind, weighting him down with countless different emotions, each of which varying in intensity. Why couldn't he have just been allowed to stay home and sleep?

Ear twitching at Honeypaw's quiet approach, Elmcloud only gazed at the young she-cat through the corners of his vision, "Shouldn't you be off enjoying your first Gathering?"

Dovepaw padded into the clearing silently, but her yellow gaze was still glowing with excitement and anticipation. She had expected to see everyone happily mingling, as usual, but as soon as she stepped into Fourtrees, she noticed how grim the atmosphere was. It made a chill go down her spine, and she glanced around slowly at the SkyClan cats and how different they were acting. Something had obviously happened. The tabby instantly looked up at the High Rock and noticed the source of the problem. SkyClan's previous deputy, Rippedsky, was seated upon the rock, and there was another cat, a fluffy brown-and-white tom, seated in the deputy spot. Had Crowstar died? Well, that was a stupid question, of course, the former SkyClan leader had passed away if there were two new cats in his place.

Now, something else caught her eye. Well, more like someone else. Dovepaw padded over towards where ThunderClan was sitting, but she didn't make any signs that showed she was uncomfortable. Her eyes were set on one specific cat. Once she was close enough to Eaglepaw, the she-cat made sure that her voice could be heard by the large tom as she coughed.
"Ahem, ThunderClanner."
It was practically her way of shaming him for what he had done to her at the last Gathering.

Leafstorm could hardly believe how lucky his clan was becoming; their territory, once gray and barren, had regrown even stronger than before. There was more than enough prey for both Thunderclan and Windclan alike, and even the skinniest warriors were once again growing strong. Leafstorm's own health had returned tenfold- his brown fur was sleek and well-groomed once more, his ribs no longer jutted out of his pelt, and there was a faint glimmer of the old Leafstorm behind the warrior's tired expression. Although he could not forget his mate, his daughters, and his grandchildren, he knew that he had to move on. Much like his territory, Leafstorm was slowly putting himself back together.
The tall warrior's notched ears twitched as he looked for a place to sit, green eyes flashing as Windclan poured into the clearing. Perhaps now he'd be able to get to know his allies a little better.


Sharptooth was there are drippy was lazy

Oceanlight and Echo came, Winter's just lazy

Enjoying the gathering?

Honeypaw scoffed a bit before she could stop herself, flicking her ear as she sat stiffly several mouse-lengths from the Skyclan warrior. Her body ached with the movement -- a bit more than usual, anyway. Sedgestrike routinely left her muscles feeling like they'd been burned.

The apprentice's eyes couldn't help but glance to the side, however -- as much as she tried not to. Elmcloud looked... honestly, worse than anycat she'd seen, for all of their solemn, grieving faces. Elmcloud was worse, somehow. He wasn't angry, like Sedgestrike, or hysterical with grief. It just felt like he'd... given up.

Like Father.

Maybe that was why it struck a chord in Honeypaw, making her feel unusually... not irritated, even after the tom made her wounds ache. The sharp response to his question -- that Honeypaw would die before sharing tongues with a kittypet -- seemed to crumble and die on her lips.

"Sedgestrike wouldn't approve of mingling with them," Honeypaw said after a moment, tail flicking towards the kittypet clan, as her mentor called it. Honeypaw resisted the urge to curl her lips, repeating her mentor's words. "Skyclan can't show weakness. Especially after Rippedsky came alone, and everyone knows Crowst--"

Honeypaw felt a tightness wrap around her chest, cutting off her words. She saw Elmcloud again, over Crowstar's still form -- feels the pang in her again. It didn't make sense! Honeypaw didn't know Crowstar -- she didn't... But the grief seemed everywhere, seeping into the tired, achy apprentice's bones.

She'd always wanted to come to a gathering -- to be a proud representative of her clan; to show that Skyclan were capable and strong. But now that she was here Honeypaw just felt cold, and tired, and very tense -- her wary eyes fixed upon the growing number of unknown, potentially hostile warriors; far bigger than Honeypaw herself.

"Why did we have to come here now?" she hissed, more to herself than anything; her aches and frustration bubbling over. She knew why -- because if they didn't, it would show more weakness than not. Sedgestrike said so. But -- it just -- "I hate this."

She glowered at the rest of the cats with simple, kit-minded frustration, wishing they would all go away -- so they wouldn't see Honeypaw in such a state. So they wouldn't see any of her clan.

Flamepaw went to the gathering with Thunderclan. She was excited to be there. The she-cat was sitting, waiting to be approached by somebody.
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Clovepaw had arrived with Thunderclan. Her green eyes scanned the area as she was sitting down. She really wasn't in any mood to talk.