December Gathering 2019

Basilpaw found herself as interested as ever to be at the gathering. Resiliently working through the death of her mother was the only loss she had suffered from the struggle between clans. Unlike many of her clanmates, she had not faced the ferocity first paw. There was an obvious tension in the cats around her but she tried to prevent that feeling from creeping into her own mind. Green eyes peeked over the pelts of gathering cats and she had to rear up into her hindpaws in order to find the pelt she sought. And there he was. With a quick farewell to Foxfire, the apprentice darted in the direction of Flintshard. But her paws slowed slightly as she remembered her friend's words of warning. Instead of running, she picked her way to the place he sat with another Shadowclan cat. With only a slight hesitation, Basilpaw butted her head into the warrior's shoulder gently and dipped it in greeting to the other cat, "I'm so glad to see you, Flintshard... Foxfire said you were hurt pretty bad but I told him you were strong and would heal up quickly. I-I'm sorry that happened to you. Beanheart was a little reckless sometimes."

Dacepaw accepted Honeytongue's physical gesture of reassurance with a light-hearted trill. Hearing the RiverClan cat's thoughts, Dacepaw nodded, replying, "It's a lot different from RiverClan. Not as much sand, no reeds... except by the river." She noticed that Honeytongue was distracted, and Dacepaw's green-hazel gaze followed Honeytongue's to land on Ferretnose. Dacepaw waved her tail in enthusiastic greeting, turning back to Honeytongue as her Clanmate settled a short ways away. The golden tabby had turned back to her and was speaking warmly, expressing her own discomfort at the thought of living in the forest. Dacepaw smiled and mewed in a bit of a softer voice, "I felt that way for a while after my father brought me here."

She looked at Honeytongue and asked, "How are the fish swimming, anyways? I've noticed the edges of the river are starting to get icy. My mom told me they would do that, long ago..." Suddenly Dacepaw perked up, immediately remembering her mother Dappleshine might be here. "I miss fish. I wonder if momma ever gets any fish in WindClan." It was an odd thought, and the answer was likely no.

---

Clovertwist moved with his Clan, his thoughts distracted by his father Barleytuft at home. The tom was unable to settle; the escape of the she-cat who had helped to torment their Clan and threatened their loved ones for moons was too fresh for the senior warrior to feel comfortable leaving their camp without adequate protection, and he insisted that he stay home and protect it. Clovertwist wished he could do something to ease his father's fears, but the truth was that the escape was unnerving for him, too, and probably for everyone. It didn't hurt to let him stay; after all, if the predator-cats didn't return (as they hoped), perhaps he would simply be able to rest. The young WindClan tom tried to hold to those thoughts as the Clan reached Fourtrees and dispersed through the clearing slowly.

A sort of quietness seemed to linger over most of WindClan, understandably. They seemed to stay near each other a bit more than usual. Clovertwist didn't mind, and he intended to do the same. His pale amber eyes landed on Lightfang, seated with his mate Burningwolf beside him. The silver tabby tom's kinked tail twitched ever so slightly, and after a moment he decided where he'd sit. The two former SkyClan cats were so far away from the rest of the Clan, but Clovertwist didn't intend for it to be because they weren't welcomed. He padded up to them, following their path in the snow, and he sat on Lightfang's other side, leaving only as much space as necessary between them - being closer kept them warmer, after all. He dipped his distinctly striped tabby head at them.

"Hey, Lightfang. Burningwolf. It's a little less windy here where you sat, huh?" Clovertwist greeted, suggesting a pretty plausible reason for their distance - though he suspected it wasn't the case. Regardless, he continued, "It's nice back here. I wonder how the sound carries - it's a much nicer view." Even with cats pouring in, it was a bit easier to see all the leaders from the angle Clovertwist and his Clanmates resided.

《ooc;》 i love hound ahhh, yes! hillfire was the one that brought trauma to featherpaw's life, basically the whole reason why her entire development arc started, haha,, once upon a time featherpaw would have loved spark for killing him

---

She had not failed to recognise the morphing of his features, however indistinct the flattened ears or irked sigh may have been. Featherpaw's neck fur had gingerly fell back down, distinguishing what she believed to have been, if even remotely possible, guilt. Head tilted faintly, she had searched his face, trying to understand what he was feeling. However, all was made very clear when a snort escaped from the tom, his whiskers tingling with amusement. Instantaneously, she tensed again, her prediction seemingly accurate. Maw twisted in a strained grimace, Featherpaw reluctantly let a stuttering string of words flow out. She wanted to keep her explanation as prompt as possible, purposefully omitting certain details, "N-no.. I-I, uhm, I k-kind of, left..? I m-mean, I left RiverClan... f-for... a long time. I found my place again l-last moon... so I've s-stayed an apprentice. B-but I'm t-training again... so... u-uh..." StarClan, this was so awkward. She was so awkward. Already, her gaze started to wander swiftly around the clearing, scanning across scarred pelts of other Clan cats. Mostly, though, her eyes were trying to find a place of escape. She was going to try to escape this conversation.

Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to attend Gatherings.

”Hey, you’re stressing her out. Give her some space, okay?”

Salamander found himself coming between two cats- one a grey she-cat, the other a light brown tom. He didn’t know why, but he simply disliked the brown one. The way he lowered her guard before insulting her (at least in his eyes), the way he talked, everything. The fact he reeked of Thunderclan didn’t help his case either. Granted, he had also been quite... rowdy, back in the day, but at least he had a reason. This cat was being rude to a complete stranger.

It was only after he invited himself into the conversation that he realized he had little idea to hold a good conversation, let alone a tense one. Most of the talks Salamander had ended in argument or estrangement, so he had little experience outside of yowling.

He needed to change the subject. But casually, so it didn’t look weird. How was he supposed to do that? The calico lowered himself into a lying position as “casually” as he could, which ended up with him looking like a stiff-jointed elder. That was a bad idea- his bare scars from the recent war did not mix well with freezing cold snow. He tried to mask his discomfort, though. ”So... how was your day?” he meowed in the most “casual” tone he could muster. ”Last night I found this massive frog hopping around in the snow and I loved it- I mean, I didn’t love love it, I loved finding it, but I mean I don’t have a romantic attraction to finding things I just— you know what I mean, right?”

Great Burnt, he should not be allowed to socialize ever again.

Honeytongue gave a slight shrug at the ask of how the fish were doing. "They've been running fine. We've been working as hard as we can to fill out the fresh-kill pile before it freezes over but things have been plentiful for us." She paused as Dacepaw spoke up again, musing something about WindClan getting fish. Honeytongue gave her a look, shaking her head. "I doubt it, WindClan is built for speed, not for fish..." she suddenly drifted off, a key word that she had glossed over suddenly hitting her. 'Momma.' She blinked, her breath catching in her throat. Dappleshine. She was...She was still with the Clans? Suddenly she sat up slightly, gaze flickering around the Gathering for any sight of that familiar pelt with the WindClan cats that were slowly coming in. "Dappleshine...Sh-She is in WindClan?" she murmured, her voice soft as she swallowed.

"I...I was so worried when I heard what had happened - Torrentstar didn't..." she found herself drifting off again, suddenly remembering that Stormbringer had been Dappleshine's apprentice and her anger at her mentor's 'betrayal.' A soft sigh escaped her, relief flooding through her. "I'm happy that she is happy," she murmured, trying to think back if any mention of it had been at the last Gathering but...No, not that she could remember. Stars, Dappleshine was safe. She had only felt pity for the she-cat who had wanted to chase her heart, wondering if that meant whoever she had 'betrayed' RiverClan for was in WindClan. Perhaps she would run into Dappleshine one day at the border and perhaps get answers there... She shook her head, a soft nervous laugh escaping her as she looked at Dacepaw. "Sorry, I just...Its good to know that Dappleshine is okay."

-------

There! Flintshard's whiskers twitched at the sight of a familiar pelt weaving through the cats, Basilpaw darting toward him before she suddenly slowed and approached almost carefully. He blinked as she bumped her head against his shoulder, before giving a slight shrug with his non-injured shoulder. "I'm not bothered by it," he meowed, before his expression darkened ever so much. "I'm sorry as well, for what happened. I was not there but...Nobody should have died. Not even...Ah, Beanheart. My injuries were not sufficient reason for him to be killed..." he retorted, before glancing at Daisyflame. "...Daisyflame, this is my....Friend, Basilpaw," he meowed, the word 'friend' coming a little awkwardly from his mouth. "Basilpaw, this is Daisyflame."

Glad to hear that the younger tom was recovering fairly quickly, Daisyflame gave Flintshard a nod. "I'm glad to hear that," he purred, but before he could say anything more, a she-cat from another clan approached, her pelt smelling of SkyClan. Such an exchange should've been awkward, seeing as though his clan was ultimately the one to blame for so much loss that fateful day, but the warrior wasn't going to let such a trivial thing such as clan rivalries stop him from getting to know the other inhabitants of the forest.

"It's nice to meet you Basilpaw," the large tom mewed with a dip of his head and a smile on his muzzle. The tensions between clans was undoubtedly high, but that didn't mean he couldn't try and help simmer them down a bit.

Cardinalcry and Lightpaw quietly followed with their clan. Lightpaw was seething as per usual, Cardinalcry simply quiet and reserved.

ooc: both are open to talk toooooo and so is mist

Dacepaw nodded along a little, pleased beyond reason to know that RiverClan still had ample prey as the weather had begun to shift with the changing seasons. Whether Torrentstar wanted it or not, RiverClan was important to the apprentice; it would always hold a place in her heart, and she would always want the best for it. Honeytongue gave Dacepaw a strange look at the comment about WindClan, and she said it seemed unlikely. Assuming that the odd look was merely because of the lack of fishing skill in WindClan, Dacepaw shrugged and replied breezily, "I guess fishing's not all about speed, but I can't imagine that would hurt! I wonder if they even have any spots where they could--"

"Dappleshine...Sh-She is in WindClan?" Honeytongue interrupted, though it could hardly be called an interruption when the golden cat's voice had been so quiet. The RiverClan cat had sat up and begun to gaze around before she spoke. Dacepaw blinked as she forcibly stopped her train of thought to catch back up to her RiverClan friend. "Dappleshine's in WindClan...? Oh! Oh, yes, my momma's in WindClan!" the pretty tortoiseshell cat confirmed, her thick tail flicking in the snow as a small purr started. Honeytongue continued, her voice still soft, and the words surprised and hurt Dacepaw: Torrentstar hadn't said where Dappleshine went. Dacepaw missed the way that Honeytongue glanced uncertainly at Stormbringer beside them, and the young ThunderClan cat didn't know the nature of their relationship.

Dacepaw was quiet for a moment as Honeytongue seemed to recover from her discovery, and the ThunderClan cat leaned in slightly to rub her shoulder reassuringly against the golden she-cat's side. "She's okay. She seemed happy last Gathering, except... Well, she told me pawpaw was mad," Dacepaw said, her own voice a little softer than usual. She took in a deep breath, and she added, "I didn't think he'd be so mad he wouldn't tell the cats who care about her." But then, she thought sadly of her mother's revelation: that Torrentstar had known Dacepaw was in ThunderClan, all those moons ago, and he had failed to inform RiverClan of her whereabouts. If Dappleshine had come to see that she was okay, would Dacepaw be a ThunderClan apprentice this night?

Deerpaw looked around for a cat to talk to. His eyes then landed on a dark ginger tom. He padded up to to the tom. He didn't smell like pine trees. The tom wasn't Shadowclan. "Hey! Want somebody to talk to?" Asked Deerpaw to the tom. "I'm Deerpaw by the way."
OOC: Deerpaw is talking to Addershade. Also Kade if you didn't catch it Spotpaw is talking to Mistwalker!

Aspenheart's old energy had returned, if not with a minor flesh wound parting the fur on his chest. His fur was still dull, dirty, and pieced together not unlike the beasts they had just finished off. He looked like he had been trodden on by six monsters, to be true, but he beamed like a newly appointed warrior. He wobbled towards a black she-cat and mewed to alert her to his approach. Mothglow seemed on edge... more than she usually did, at least. He touched his nose to her in greeting and flopped over on his side near her. "I am pleased to announce that the Aspenheart you know and love has returned!" he purred. "WindClan is back to its former glory... Well, mostly. I look like dung, but I feel great. How are you doing, Mothy?"

Addershade noticed out of the corner of his eye a young tom approaching him. He let out a small sigh. He had managed to make it through his last few gatherings without having to make small talk with a stranger, but he knew that streak wasn't going to last forever. But it was fine; he could handle it. He tried to look friendly as the other cat approached.

"It's nice to meet you, Deerpaw. I'm Addershade, of RiverClan," the warrior searched for something more to say. "Is this your first gathering, or have you been to one before?"

Deerpaw jumped up excitedly. "Nice to meet you too Addershade!" Deerpaw mewed. So that was what riverclan smelled like. "Oh this is my first gathering!" Deerpaw chirped up. "So how long have you been a warrior?" Asked Deerpaw trying to keep the conversation going.

As Spottedstar and Thornstar joined him next to Torrentstar, his amber eyes turned to them. His ears flattened as he turned to directly face Thornstar with a clear disapproval on his face. The scars on her throat drew his attention as he glanced at them, eyes softening in sympathy.

"Did you find your justice as satisfying as your clan hoped?" His tone was hard. Like petrified wood as he gazed at the younger leader with a hard look. "I don’t think I need to tell you, but I should hope you plan on replacing that wreckless deputy of yours." His voice lowered, his eyes glinting in the low light. "Make no mistake, Thornstar. Lynxscar will lead your clan to disaster. I don’t need a prophecy to see that. They followed him blindly into a war that was senseless against your orders."

His head turned to Spottedstar. His chest felt heavy with sympathy for the lives that had been lost, and his gaze softened towards both of them as he heard Finchstar pad up to them on the rock.
"Good warriors were lost this moon." He glanced towards the orange and white tom. Relief filled him to see that despite his injuries, he looked well. Once more leading his clan. His head turned to Spottedstar "Too much blood was shed. We should honour each life that was lost with the respect they all deserve." His gaze returned to Thornstar. "All of them. Your warriors may have charged in without thinking… however, each of your warriors lives is important as well. I’m sure they are watching us from StarClan this gathering."

Mothglow blinked in acknowledgement, though she didn't move at first. "Where is he, then? I don't see him," she teased, though her heart wasn't quite in it. "Well, I'm glad you're at least feeling better," she said, and the hint of cheer in her tone was genuine. If it let her deflect his question, if only for a moment, well... That was just a little bonus, wasn't it? "So WindClan's doing better now? That's good to hear." Though she'd noticed Finchstar's return, it was hard to tell how a Clan was doing just by whether their leader was there. Though she had certainly found herself missing Aspenheart in the time she hadn't seen him. As he called her Mothy she snorted a laugh. It came a little more easily now, she noticed. "Better now than I was before, that's for sure... Let's just say there was a lot to deal with, and that I'm lucky to be here tonight."

Not least among them the loss of more kin, she thought as she followed Aspenheart's lead, lying on the snow. The cold was familiar and almost comforting, like a memory of her kithood that she could still feel on her fur.

It was true, though, that she'd been particularly lucky to attend the Gathering. Flintshard was doing better, but there were still all the injured cats from the battle with SkyClan and ThunderClan to care for, and she'd been thrilled at the prospect of the Gathering as a bit of a break. Well, as much of a break as a Gathering ever managed to be.

Honeytongue let out a shaky sigh of relief as Dacepaw confirmed that Dappleshine was in WindClan, closing her eyes as she let the true relief flood through her. She was okay. Stars, she was okay, she was alive, she was happy. Honeytongue didn't care what Torrentstar had said about her betraying them, to chase her love - if Dappleshine was happy, then that was all that mattered. She blinked open her eyes however at Dacepaw's quiet meow about pawpaw being mad. Paw...Paw? Oh! Right, that was what she called Torrentstar, didn't she? "He told us that she had left, that she had fallen in love with somebody but...He never mentioned anything about WindClan. Just that she had fallen for an outsider. Maybe Dappleshine didn't tell him everything, maybe he left that part out but...He's hurt. We've lost so many cats recently....And we were all hurt that she had left but...As long as she is happy, then I can recover." She sighed softly, before she shook her head. "We...We should change topics. How have things been with you? How is your friend? Uh..." she paused, trying to think back on their name. "...Houndpaw, was it?"