Addressing the Clan [Open, Clan Meeting]

His mind was worried with things more than it had in the past few days. Since the dogs had attacked, and he had lost both his mentor and mate, the territory had been rather calm. It had allowed him time to grieve. Albeit poorly, but nonetheless, Rippedstar had grown used to the monotonous tasks of the job. It was the interruption of more bad news that seemed to force him to be more involved. By no means would this change what he had become in an evening of loss, but rather it gave him something to do other than sit and stare at the wall. There were rogues on the territory and the deeply rooted part of him that needed to protect others was out almost immediately. He would not let any of his clan be torn into by the vicious monsters that supposedly lurked out there. In fact, he was planning out to head on of the search patrols himself. Anything to make sure they were truly safe.

Letting his claws dig into the soft bark of the tallbranch, currently not concerned with how many marks had been left by the previous leader, he let out the familiar yowl to the clan, "Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather beneath the tallbranch for a clan meeting!" Rippedstar had said the words so many times recently but with little fire behind them. Today there was more purpose than there had been in a while. His eyes were still true to the bright-blue turned dull with time, yet there was now a soft fire alight behind them. He scanned the clearing looking over kits, queens, apprentices, warriors, and elders alike... all cats he had taken a sacred vow to protect. And damned if he wouldn't do everything in his power to make that happen. His tail lashed tensely behind him as he waited a few moments to allow them all to gather. Poplartooth had already done his duty in making sure patrols and any cats outside the camp were retrieved, so they should have all been there. He still wanted to make sure each one was accounted for tonight. No cat was allowed to die under his watch.

Blossomheart was happy to hear that her leader was not being so dull. Recently he seemed as if he had given up. She wondered what was happening.

Having been sitting near the freshkill pile, enjoying the day per usual, the little while and grey tom's ears perked up when he heard Rippedsky's call. Wondering what the leader was calling the clan together for, Tinylegs made his way to the front of the slowly gathering crowd and sat down, not moving his gaze from the younger tom.

Wolfpaw appeared in his usual spot under tallbranch, half in shade half out. Partially blending in, watching and waiting to hear what would be announced. Wolfpaw felt an energy in the air around them. This clan meeting had more purpose than his own apprentice ceremony. He could see it in the way Rippedstar was carrying himself and how his eyes were alight. The energy that was in their leader seeped into Wolfpaw, his body felt lighter and stronger.

Falcon, a rogue, climbed up a tree clumsily. She had rolled in mushrooms a little while ago to mask her scent. She knew that even if she was spotted, she could jump into the river and swim away. And she doubted any of these Clan cats who considered themselves honorable would kill a she-cat in late pregnancy. She settled down, watching the Clan's leader address his subjects.

Gillpaw heard Ripped Star calling a clan meeting, yet he did not get up from his nest. He no longer cared. Everything seemed broken to him. He stayed were he was, unable to feel any emotion except anger. Anger towards Ripped Star. He did not know why, yet he felt intense hatred for Ripped Star. Perhaps this would bite Gillpaw later on, but Gilpaw did not care...

OOC:
Gillpaw went insane just before this.

Swift who was in the trees on guard saw a fa cat and screeched

[21:17:52 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : Malpe play swift
[21:19:52 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : malpe go screech
[21:20:17 16/04/2018] @ Maple : wait what
[21:20:25 16/04/2018] @ Maple : who am i screeching at
[21:21:26 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : literally just post a post that says, 'Swift who was in the trees on guard saw a fa cat and screeched'
[21:22:08 16/04/2018] @ Maple : where
[21:22:26 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : in skyclan camp. clan meeting
[21:22:47 16/04/2018] @ Maple : now?
[21:22:56 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : y e s
[21:23:20 16/04/2018] @ Maple : done
[21:24:19 16/04/2018] Saint Ripped : AHHH MALPE

Wolfpaw heard a screech! He immediately turned his attention to it and noticed one of the patrolling cats for their clan in the trees. Following their vision he saw a cat that he didn't recognize up in the trees. He had to act quickly!

Wolfpaw found a tree next to the one that the strange cat was in. He started climbing remembering his lesson from two apprentices when he was a kit. He had been practicing so he was much faster now. He soon reached equal footing with said strange cat and was near enough to leap at them. "What are you doing in Skyclan territory!?" His question was a hiss of words spat at the cat. He rested an uneven gaze on them with fire burning in his eyes. If the cat was welcome the patrol wouldn't be so alarmed, but he would still wait at least a moment for a response from this cat. After all, he didn't believe that cats outside the clan were inherently evil, but they must be welcome first.

OOC: there is no river nearby Skyclan camp

Drizzlepaw was in a rather typical daydream when out of nowhere a piercing shriek startled her from her thoughts. She blinked up in time to see a black furred apprentice that she only vaguely recognized scaling a tree and perching on a branch level with another, totally alien cat. In typical Drizzlepaw nature, she smiled widely and skipped over to scale the tree as well "Are we playing tag? I wanna play too!" And with that, the silver tabby apprentice pounced on top of the rogue playfully and unintentionally succeeded rather well in pinning the strange she-cat and preventing her escape. "Tag, you're it!"

Tigerpaw had been staring at the fresh-kill pile for quite a while internally debating whether to eat squirrel or sparrow that day. Won't it look kinda weird if there are too many squirrels in the fresh-kill pile? Ahhh, but I've been eating squirrel for the past few days-- For your information, the striped apprentice did not have a few screws loose in her head to be seriously considering such an absurd question. Tigerpaw had a strangely whimsical side to her where she occasionally liked to do random things for no good reason. It didn't help that she was rather bored at the moment, with nothing to do. Her surrounding clanmates shot her curious stares, but after a while they just ignored her. It wasn't as if they could see the conversation she was currently having with herself. Guess I'll go with sparrow. Tigerpaw had finally made up her mind and was reaching out a paw to get her meal when Rippedstar's call rang through the air.

There was more fire in the black and white leader's voice than there had been in a while. Curiously, she gazed up. Eating could come later, she supposed. Already, cats were beginning to form a small crowd beneath the Tallbranch. Tigerpaw quickly padded over and found an inconspicuous spot to sit at the back of the group. What had Rippedstar called this gathering for, she wondered. A ceremony of some sort? At that moment, it happened. Tigerpaw heard a sharp screech coming from the trees above. Following the sound, the apprentice caught sight of Swiftpaw. She had not yet registered what had happened when Wolfpaw suddenly scaled a nearby tree and entered her vision. With a start, her yellow eyes picked out a she-cat she had never seen before perched in the branches close to the other two apprentices. Tigerpaw was on all fours in an instant, but she did not approach the intruder. It seemed the other apprentices had it for now. Not to her surprise, Drizzlepaw managed to successfully keep the intruder from escaping while cheerfully saying something about tag.

OOC: That was hilarious, Maple XD

Falcon sighed, and swore as much as a cat could. She used her extra weight to force the apprentice off of her. "I've seen all I need to see fools." and with that, she quickly jumped down and scurried away heading for twolegplace, knowing that the other cats wouldn't dare follow her there. At a certain point, she paused and met with a slim grey cat. The cat yelled at her, before borderline dragging her to twolegplace.

OOC: friggin Maple...

Blossomheart watched, shocked. What was going on!?

OOC: what even
what the actual heck

ooc: so... for future reference, there is absolutely no way a very pregnant cat could outrun some pretty healthy skyclan cats, especially since the whole clan is there. but, we are just going to run with that some npc warriors chased her to border... which is a ways off.

He was prepared to talk to them about the rogue issue, but that problem found its way right outside of camp. At Swiftpaw's screech, his head snapped up to scan the trees. There was a fat she-cat there. Without hesitation, the leader instructed some of the fastest warriors to chase her away from camp and watched as she disappeared with cats on her heels. Unfortunately, they were quickly out of his sight line. The black and white tom bristled in a clear frustration. Although, he trusted that those cats would take care of their problem. After allowing the moment to die down, Rippedstar continued on.

"As you are all aware now, " he found himself growling in frustration and was rather surprised with the sound, "rogues have been spotted on the territory and now as close as camp. Until the problem is dealt with and we figure out why they are here, we need to be on alert. Apprentices must have a warrior with them when they go out of camp. Any apprentice found breaking this rule will not see their ceremony for an extra moon. Extra patrols will be sent out to make sure we can deal with things swiftly. Any findings are to be reported directly to me. These cats have proven to be vicious and without remorse."

Rippedstar's gaze flickered towards the medicine cat's den where the injured loner rested. His decision in that regard hadn't taken long at all, "There is a cat, a loner, who is being healed by Mintpaw at this point in time. She was torn to shreds by this threat that faces us now. I will allow her to stay until she has recovered and this blows over and then she will be sent on her way. That is all." He leaped gracefully down from the tallbranch and went to speak with Poplartooth and the senior warriors. This threat would not be allowed to harm his clan. He would take them all down with his own claws if it was what would keep them safe. For now, the shell of who he was seemed to be forgotten.

Sunpaw had been out exploring from the lower branches of the trees, and gracefully leapt down to join her Clanmates in what appeared to be a Clan meeting, depositing the squirrel she had caught in the fresh-kill pile as she did so. She heard Rippedstar speaking, and settled in to listen, catching only the tail end of his speech. A loner, being tended to by Mintpaw? Well, that certainly piqued her curiosity, even if the outsider would be sent on their way once they were healed. It seemed she had picked the perfect time to make her way back to camp after all.

Brokenpaw sighed. Surely the rogues simply were fighting with one another and Skyclan happened to end up harboring one of the hurt cats from their feud. Why did everything have to seem like such a conspiracy? Clans fought one another over dumb things all the time, why should they be surprised the rogues fought among themselves as well.