April's Gathering 2018

"Me? Oh, uh.. I'm Elmpaw. From WindClan. It's nice to meet you." He managed a small smile, relaxing a little. This wasn't so bad, he could do this. He made a mental note that her scent was ThunderClan.


(OOC: Blackpaw of TC is wandering around, if anyone wants to strike up a conversation with her. :) )

"It gets less intimidating with time, I promise," Emberheart laughed. She was reminded just a little bit of herself as an apprentice at her first Gathering, struggling to differentiate between the other Clans, surrounded by cats from all of them. Over the moons, however, she had come to appreciate the crowded conversation - if for nothing else, then for the full moon truce. "It's nice to meet you, Elmpaw."

HONEYPAW

Honeypaw flicked her tail, taken out of her brooding by Elmcloud's response. "Life moves on." She'd heard that before.

"I guess so," Honeypaw said with a shrug, still watching her clanmate from the corner of her eye. Honeypaw's mother died and Honeypaw couldn't have just given her life up, in spite of the hole it seemed to hollow in her. The she-cat squared her shoulders, however; his last words not sitting right with her. Just... 'keeping up?'

"But we can do something," Honeypaw argued, flexing her claws as her amber eyes flicked to scan the crowd -- watching the powerfully built Shadowclan cats enter the clearing. She raised her head, ears flying forward. "We can train and become stronger, so that this won't happen. So that we don't have to move on from anything!"

Honeypaw was only a kit when her mother died; too helpless to have seen the signs of illness sooner -- to have brought her prey that might have made her strong enough to fight it. And Honeypaw -- as much as it rankled her, made her eyes sting -- was only an apprentice now, too small and weak defend anything. That much... that much, this past battle had shown her.

Real battle was so different than what she practiced.

Her failure from the previous fight still clawed at her bones. She'd been knocked out -- was lucky to be alive! She couldn’t have saved a leaf that night if she’d wanted to! But she would get stronger -- much stronger!

"Next time, I'll be ready for it," she promised -- to herself or Elmcloud, she wasn't sure. But the young apprentice said it with confidence, fully believing that when the time came, she would be strong enough to defend her clan. To fight for it!

RATPAW

Ratpaw wasn't sure about these "gatherings," yet.

The Shadowclan warriors had described them as a time of peace, where the clans gathered to exchange news. Ratpaw only saw a large gathering of diverse, colorful cats, with the sound of mews echoing in his ears even from fox-lengths and fox-lengths away. They were all gathered quite close to each other.

Without meaning to, Ratpaw found himself growing tense. He disliked being overly close to other cats. But it seemed it would be hard to walk through Fourtrees without brushing pelts, or talking to one, from what he saw. Flattening his ears, the dark apprentice sighed, his pawsteps hesitant as he followed his clanmates.

It wasn't that he was opposed to other clans. It was just... cats. In general.

Hoping he might find an interesting stone or leaf at Fourtrees, Ratpaw shifted to the side of the gathering of cats, settling a good distance from the group.

(Edit -- Just added Ratpaw, lol. cx My antisocial Shadowclan boy is free to talk to, if anyone's interested! <3)

Featherlight spotted an apprentice-aged cat hovering around herself and her fellow medicine cats, and was about to gesture for her to come closer - this must be a new medicine cat apprentice - when another apprentice verbally assaulted the poor thing. While she wasn't good at confrontation, Featherlight tried her best to be a comforting presence, and walked over with the intent to do just that. "...Hi," she offered quietly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem like a new medicine cat apprentice. Are you going to come sit with the rest of us?"

Rainpaw~

Rainpaw glanced at the other WindClan tom coming there way. Was he gonna mess things up too? He just wanted to talk to another cat and now Cranepaw was ruining it all. Rainpaw then smiled though when Deerpaw came along, though he kept staring at the ground. ”Th-thanks Deerpaw... s-s-ssoo.. w-wh-what’s bee-been go-goin-going on-n?” He asked Hazelpaw.

~Hazelpaw~

Hazelpaw glanced at Deerpaw as he approached. ”Um-“ there has been a lot going on. But she thought she’d let Rippedsky be the one to tell. ”I’ll let Rippedsky tell everyone that when this all starts.. but hey did you know that I’m considered one of- if not the best- fighters of the apprentices? When I’m a warrior I bet I’ll be the best in the clan!” she boasted out of nowhere.

Muscles jolting warily beneath his abnormally ruffled fur, Elmcloud's gaze narrowed a fraction of an inch as he was greeted with the sight of Darkflight. Terribly engrossed with the sight of the three-legged she-cat, the gentle and rather patronizing words seemingly went in one ear and right out the other. Vaguely, he could recall Poppysong recounting tales of Blizzardstar's predecessor, but he had no idea what had become of the older Leader. Could he even fully recall her name? Briefly snatching a glance at Honeypaw, his mouth twisted into a slightly surprised grimace as he tried to fully divert his attention away from the missing limb and to the question. How did she know? Were they all really that obvious?

"Yes I was, he was my father. Did," Elmcloud tried to keep the wariness out of his voice as he spoke to Darklight, "Did you..know him?"

Mintpaw (who was there the entire time fight me) trailed behind her friend, standing a few paces back while she spoke to what Mintpaw assumed was the latest Medicine Cat apprentice. She smiled lightly as the Shadowclan medicine cat apprentice introduced herself, stepping forward. "Hi, S-Silentpaw." She mewed, jumping in, her excitement to get to know the newest member of their small group was obvious, although she was trying hard to seem calmer. She could recall how nervous she had felt when she first sat with the medicine cats. "My name's Mintpaw- Skyclan Medicine Cat. W-well, Medicine Cat apprentice, really, but I don't have a mentor." The taupe apprentice flicked her tail, gesturing towards the others with a friendly expression. "C-come sit with us. You'll get to meet all the o-other Medicine cats. Don't worry," She offered the shy newcomer a cheerful grin, seeking to help her relax. Finally, a new cat! The small tabby she-cat wanted to jump with excitement but managed to contain herself, her murky green eyes shining as she studied the white apprentice. "We d-don't bite, although I wouldn't put it past your mentor, Nettlesting. H-he can be a tad... grumpy. B-but he's a great M-medicine Cat. O-one of the best." She stumbled over her words in her haste to reassure the Shadowclanner. Although she really wanted to talk with Silentpaw one-on-one, she was suddenly aware of how annoying she sounded. Oops... she didn't want to scare Silentpaw off, after all! Looking embarrassed Mintpaw stepped back and dipped her head, letting her Windclan friend speak. She hadn't had a group of friends like this before, and she was still working out how to conduct herself. She hoped someday she'd make them proud.

"ShadowClan? That would make you... Nettlesting's apprentice, wouldn't it? It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Featherlight, Mottleheart's apprentice." The medicine cat slowly went to lead the ShadowClan medicine cat's apprentice to her peers, and only then realized that Mintpaw was there - and that she was speaking. "Don't scare her, Nettlesting isn't that intimidating." Pausing, Featherlight remembered something from the last Gathering. "At the last Gathering, Mintpaw mentioned something to me about a found kit. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

Goldenpaw walked into the clearing with the rest of the Shadowclan group. She was, as usual, overly excited to be somewhere new. She declared to herself, "I'm going to find more friends! I hope someone from another clan talks to me!" Golden noticed Silentpaw wandering over to a group of cats she didn't know and decided this was where she should start too.

She bounced up to the group announcing, "Hi I'm Goldenpaw. Silentpaw and I are from the same clan. This is my first Gathering, and my first time meeting other clans! Tonight is just so amazing, isn't it?!!!"

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Brokenpaw felt a rush of excitement run through him as Tinypaw laid her tail across his back. He was thankful for how close they had become, and was so glad she didn't hold it against him for not being at camp during the attack. Although he still felt ashamed for his actions, and so when he returned her affection with a nuzzle it was quick and a little timid. The warmth in his body spread and he found himself, as usual, in peace at Tinypaw's side.

Cherrypaw had been wandering around Fourtrees when she heard a commotion going on between a few of her denmates. Padding over to the group, Cherrypaw only had to listen in to the conversation for a moment to understand what was going on. Stepping into the group, making sure to push her way between Dovepaw and Eaglepaw, Cherrypaw settled herself down next to Ryecloud. Speaking in a calm and soft tone the peachy-furred she-cat dipped her head in a respectful greeting once the tom had looked at her. "Hi, you don't mind if I lay here with you during the gathering, do you? Since the gathering is the one time all the clans are at peace I like to take advantage of it and meet new cats." As she mentioned the peace treaty Cherrypaw sent a pointed look at Sparkpaw and Eaglepaw but otherwise ignored them in favor of giving a warm, friendly smile to Ryecloud. "Oh, and I'm Cherrypaw by the way. What's your name?"

Lionstorm followed close behind Sweetpaw, he couldn't explain the new protectiveness he felt for the young apprentice, but he wrote it off pretty simply, she was close with his sister Acornpaw and as such was a friend in turn. "Excited for the gathering?" He mewed as he came up beside the younger cat, doing his best to seem nonchalant.

Smokepaw

Smokepaw walked into the gathering. This was his first one and he was scared at how many cats where there. It was hard to see his scars but if you looked close enough on his back legs you could see them. He walked around trying to see who he should talk to.

Mudpaw

Mudpaw walked around fourtrees. He never been to a gathering before and hoped no one knew about his fear. He walked around hoping to see someone's he knew.