February Gathering 2020

Streamsong felt strange as he walked into Fourtrees. The last time he was there he was so small and inexperienced, and now he was within the largest cats within ThunderClan…so much had changed, both around him and in him….

In his heart, the pain of the recent losses within his family still kept stinging him left and right…and to top it all off, there was the obvious tension caused by the prophecy delivered to the leaders…it was beyond clear that ThunderClan wasn’t the only one to receive the message.

He picked a rather nice spot between the gathered cats, not really trying to stick with his own clan. Gatherings were the one time all clans came together to chat, and he was going to try and make the most out of this.

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Part of Bonewatcher didn’t want to come to this gathering, but after the prophecy they received…well, this was probably one that would be unwise at best not to attend to…

And so, he followed the rest of the ThunderClan cats into the clearing, ears high and picking up as many noises as they could at once. The tension in the air could be cut with a claw…which confirmed his suspicion of this being a forest-wide warning from their ancestors.

This was going to be one interesting gathering…


(OOC: Both my cats are open for chats)

Nightpaw turned his gaze towards a silver cat. A warrior. Nightpaw ran up to him. "Hiya! I'm Nightpaw. Whats your name?" Asked Nightpaw sitting down happily.

Driftingpaw shuffled his paws and glanced at Olivepaw sheepishly. [color:9a18= #33ccff]"A-a-are you a-alright?" He asked softly, worried he might have careened into her with enough force to cause her harm. He looked her over carefully, but couldn't see anything than a few ruffled hairs. The only thing about him that hurt was his pride, and he ducked his head again as he avoided eye contact. His first Gathering and he already was making a mess of himself, he was sure the other apprentices would make fun of his stutter or his clumsiness.

Olivepaw smiled again and responded, "I'm okay, I promise. Are you? Is this your first Gathering?"
StarClan, let this Gathering go smoother than the last one... I wouldn't wish what I experienced for my first Gathering on anyone else.

ooc: i'm going to put aspenboy in a separate post so i can let my muse for him recover after i spouted all of beepaw's boyish attitude

Beepaw was not completely clear on what had happened on the last Gathering. He had gotten the apprentice-safe version from the warriors and a smattering of rumors and omens of death and destruction from his denmates. From what he could decipher, based on all the commotion and strife in the ThunderClan camp, StarClan wanted the clans to adhere the Warrior Code in places that were going harly unconsidered... or something to that affect. Some cats liked this new approach, some cats didn't, and every cat had a very loud and yowling opinion about which side was in the right. Either way, StarClan's opinion seemed important, especially to his mother and papa, because in that stretch of nighttime sky was the final resting place of his sister and father.  It was also evident from Beepaw's inquiring ShadowClan's leader and RiverClan's leader did something terrible, and that their poor decision posed a grave threat to both of their clans, even when the ancestors were taken out of the equation. No matter how he struggled for a clear yes-or-no, affirmative-or-negative question, he always came up empty. They all treated him like such a kit sometimes!

He already felt like he stuck out like a sore foot, not even moments after he arrived in the grandiose clearing, admiring the four tall, strong trees he had heard about in nursery tales. Speaking of feet... he couldn't hide his own, no matter how he shuffled and waded through a crowd of like-minded and like-clanned pelts, avoiding the strangers that might stare or jeer at him. He scrutinized the six toes on each paw, ghastly and misshapen (as it had been pointed out many times in many varying degrees of politeness). He wished he could tuck them all under the dirt and wade through it like it were a stream. Or his teeth! He shifted his jaw and tried to tuck them into his lip to no avail. His sheer size was an attribute he didn't mind in the slightest. He thought it added irony to his insect-inspired name.

He longed to join the many clans' worth of apprentices that were acclimating in little cliches around him, but it was like his paws rooted him to the packed dirt. It was possible, Beepaw decided, that he was wildly overthinking the idea of being polite and cordial. Near him stood a white apprentice, a grey tabby one, and Daisypaw, who he was already plenty acquainted with. He made a wild chase for the group and came to a screeching halt right beside them. He tried to ignore the fact that he towered over half of them. "Hi, Daisypaw!" he squeaked, voice teeming with prepubescence. He turned to the strangers. "Let's play a game! I'm gonna guess your clans!"

He chose the white, timid-seeming cat to start. He took a long glance at the apprentice's glossy fur, full belly (in Leafbare, no less!) and webbed paws. "Definitely RiverClan!" he announced with a note of boyish pride. The grey tabby, however....

"Awe, you're a hard one. I can't tell. SkyClan?" he asked invitingly, bouncing up and down on his enormous and misshapen front paws.

ooc: beepaw is talking to olivepaw, daisypaw, and driftingpaw! sorry for the long post, i got excited :D

Driftingpaw nodded sheepishly at Olivepaw's question. "I've n-n-never seen s-s-so many cats b-b-before," He said rather nervously as he looked at the cats gathered around them anxiously. He glanced back at the silver tabby she-cat, still feeling his pelt hot with embarrassment. He opened his mouth to apologize again when another form came barreling over. The young white top jumped and made an alarmed sound, close to a squeak, and practically hid behind Olivepaw has he looked up at Beepaw with wide eyes. As the other apprentice correctly guessed his Clan he bobbed his head in a nervous nod. "I-I-I'm D-D-Drifintpaw,"" He mewed softly, twitching his whiskers as his nerves made him shiver.

Olivepaw nodded at Driftingpaw, and understood how easily one could get overwhelmed. "I got quite overwhelmed at my first Gathering, too. I ended up sticking with my brother for most of it." Though, to be fair, StarClan had demonstrated their wrath, and that was terrifying enough...
She perked up as Beepaw barreled over, and tilted her head as he guessed that she was a SkyClanner. With a small shake of her head, she chirped, "I'm from WindClan! My name's Olivepaw, by the way. You're from ThunderClan, right?"

Applepaw looked at Puddlepaw. “Well, at the last gathering, my leader, Torrentstar revealed that he had kits with Thornstar, from Thunderclan. We eat mostl6 fish, and swim a lot. It’s pretty wet. We do hunt some land prey though. What do you eat?” Thunderclan seemed like an interesting clan. And the she-cat was nice. 

Puddlepaw smirked at his response. "Thornstar wishes they were leader of Thunderclan. You're wrong, though. They are leader of Shadowclan. But wow..." thoughts of disgust went through her mind but her face didn't change expression from it's cheerful look. No wonder Starclan isn't exactly happy with the clans. She gazed down at her own white-toed paws and sighed as Applepaw spoke. She switched subjects, considering after what Oakstar had admitted it probably wasn't the best to assume that Thunderclan would be exempt from Starclan's wrath. "You eat Fish? What the heck is that? Sounds like something you made up." Puddlepaw looked at him with a now baffled expression. She swished her fluffy tail to cover her paws as the wind picked up the cold of leaf-bare and made it's way through the clearing. How long will the gathering last? She wondered, not necessarily appreciating how cold the night had become. "We eat the best prey! Like mice and birds and stuff!" She boasted, though she barely had even experienced the prey that Thunderclan had to offer- nor had she even hunted anything yet. Still, she stood by her clan being the best.

"Is your clan doing okay in the cold? Seems like lots of cats are getting sick overall." She was in perfect health as per but she worried about the other clans, especially when it seemed like so many cats were getting sick- was it wrong of her to worry about the health of other clans when she had her own to worry about? Well, she figured, if cat's in the other clans get sick they can totally spread to Thunderclan territory, so it makes sense for me to worry.

Nettlefire took a deep breath as she entered the gathering, stepping in to the crowd as the newly-minted deputy of ThunderClan. It would’ve been thrilling, if the circumstances of getting the title had been a little better and if she had received it in a slightly less...worrying time. But it was what it was. Part of doing her job— as a warrior, and now even more so as the deputy— was helping to bear the hardships faced by her clan.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel even more inexperienced and intimidated than she had at her first gathering as an apprentice. She straightened her posture as she walked in with her clanmates, hoping that if she held herself with confidence, it would become real.

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With everything going on, there was plenty of material for a cat as perpetually worried as Addershade to focus on.

But he didn’t care about any of it, at least not in the grand scheme of things. What he cared about-- what he was deeply worried about, to the point that it was the only thing on his mind-- were his three kits, now apprentices. He tried desperately to keep watch on them, his heart skipping a beat every time he lost sight of one of them. Tensions were high, and everywhere Addershade looked, all he saw was a sea of strange faces. Who knew what dangers lurked behind them?

He noticed Applepaw talking with another apprentice, and Nightpaw approaching a warrior. He kept a suspicious gaze on these unknown cats. He wasn’t going to allow a single chance of harm coming to his family.

Soon enough, ThunderClan and WindClan had arrived. He dipped his head to the two leaders as they took their spot, noting that at least it didn't seem that all the leaders would be missing this Gathering. His ear twitched at Oakstar's question, raising his head to meet his gaze. "Thornstar is fine, she is simply in no shape to come to the Gathering," he said evenly, tilting his head slightly. "I'm sure it comes to no surprise with her condition last moon - she just didn't have the energy to fight us on making her stay behind this time. With any luck, she will be back at the next Gathering." He drifted off as his gaze fell onto the cats below, blinking as he realized how...Nice, it was up here. He could hear the sound of conversations below but it sounded fainter than ever - mostly with no rock behind him to bounce it back. It would be a shame to return to the base next moon, not that he had an idea of how nice it was...

His ear twitched as it turned in the direction of Finchstar, catching the tom's quiet question to the ThunderClan leader. It wasn't hard to guess what the tom was speaking of, the prophecy that all of the medicine cats had apparently shared. He thought back on the conversation with Mothglow, of his...Uncertainly on how to feel. Thornstar was strict through in her stances and he had to respect that. If she was unmoving, then he would have to follow her lead. He didn't bother to speak up, not wanting to waste words on a question that wasn't even directed on himself and, truth be told, he was a bit curious to see what the others had to say - where they stood with StarClan's demands. He wondered when Spottedstar would arrive so that they could get things moving, wanting to see if the Clans would stand together or be bitterly divided. He...He didn't care much, with Cardinalcry gone there wasn't anybody who was threatened by StarClan's demands as far as he knew unless they went for the kits. But he had doubts that they would go so low... But the other Clans would not be so lucky, he imagined.

Driftingpaw wondered how nice it must be to have siblings, he was the only one from his litter and had hovering parents for most of his kithood. Right now he wished he had littermates, or someone he was close enough to like Honeytongue to stay near. His mentor understood his anxieties and worried better than anyone, and her presence would have been very welcoming at that moment. As he heard Olivepaw his ears pricked forward and he looked at her with curiosity glittering in his blue eyes. He always thought the moors looked beautiful, like peaceful waves of grass instead of water. Though, he admitted he was much more comfortable in the cover of the trees and near the water. The constant sound of it rushing nearby was a constant, soothing sound that lulled him to sleep every night. "T-T-ThunderClan? W-W-What is i-i-it like in y-y-you forest?" The white tom mewed, eyes wide.

"My name is Beepaw!" the enormous apprentice mewed, wincing as one of his protruding bottom teeth nipped his lip. "You guys have cool names!" Beepaw, with relief that he was not completely socially ostracized yet, thumped down into a sitting position and dusted the ground with his bushy tail. Though most cats had their fur fluffed up against the cold breeze, Beepaw had no need for such a practice. His own pelt nearly suffocated him in its thickness.

Driftingpaw's bashful curiosity was just enough to push the tom to talk about himself. He usually hated it. He much preferred learning and being spoken to than to blabber about his own life. Beepaw felt he was generally not that interesting enough for a story anyway, but ThunderClan as a whole was an apt subject. "ThunderClan is awesome! There are places in the woods where the treeline is so thick and dense that you can't see the sun. Not even at sunhigh! You have to walk by your whiskers and nose everywhere you go! I'm not good at it yet, but my mentor is a really good teacher." Beepaw bit his tongue a little, heat warming his muzzle with embarrassment. He wasn't really sure what WindClan did... or RiverClan, for that matter. "What do you folks do? Other than... swim and run?"

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Aspenheart gave Finchstar a quick, yet supportive, nod as WindClan branched out into the Gathering. He felt like the matter of StarClan's message had officially left his paws. He stood, undecided, on the line between a maker and a watcher, as every metaphorical tree in the forest came down. It was a truly unfortunate middle ground to be in, since the anxiety of the average cat who was entirely lost to a discussion had mixed with the guilt of having vital information that nothing could be done with. It made a terrible elixir of sensory overload and brainfog that made Aspenheart more irritable, faultless, and bitter than he generally was by disposition. Softpaw still did not meet his eye. He did not attempt to meet it in return.

The medicine cat staggered towards the medicine cats absentmindedly before discovering a weakness in his legs. It was not caused by the illness that invaded his mind, but a sudden paint in his heart. It may have started as guilt and shame, but in a few meager seconds it was warping into some misplaced suspicion that they were all gossiping about him and his mentorship tactics. Aspenheart turned his cheek to them, unready and unwilling to apologize to even himself (much less his friends, the medicine cats), and found a spot teetering the outskirts of the clearing where the grass became taller. The frost was thick and damp underpaw as he lowered himself to sit on his own.

OOC: I pity whoever takes this offer, but Aspenheart is open ;)

Cherrypaw listened to the conversation for a while, and quickly grew bored of the teasing about who liked whom. With a stretch, she politely excused herself and looked around for other apprentices to talk to, quickly finding Beepaw talking to a pretty gray tabby and a white tom. She caught the tail end of Olivepaw's spiel about the flower fields, and sat down beside her Clanmate.
"Hey, Beepaw!" she greeted him, before turning her attention to the other two.
"I'm Cherrypaw of ThunderClan! Nice to meet you..."
She trailed off to let the pair offer their own names.

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Olivepaw listened as Beepaw talked excitedly about ThunderClan, smiling at his enthusiasm and love for his home. She nodded along, genuinely interested, though suppressing a shiver at the knowledge of trees so thick that one couldn't see the sun.
"That's so cool, though I prefer the sun on my back and the wind through my fur, and the endless sky all around me. Sometimes I run so fast that I can imagine that I'm flying! It's one of the best feelings in the world." She paused to draw a paw over her ears, and continued, "One of my favorite spots is this field of flowers, of all sizes and colors. It's a great place to take a nap, or to sit and watch the sun set."
When a small tan tabby approached and introduced herself as a ThunderClanner and asked her name, she chirped happily, "I'm Olivepaw! I'm from WindClan! Nice to meet you, Cherrypaw!" She paused and licked her paw. "Now that I think about it, my warrior ceremony should be any day now..."
She trailed off, having lost her train of thought.

Merely flicking her tail when Oakstar leaped up onto the rock, Ivybrook wanted to shout that no, things were certainly not alright, to go off on a tangent about each little thing that was wrong in the world... But she kept her anger contained, whiskers twitching as she refrained from any hurtful remarks. "RiverClan is under my leadership for the time being." Her answer was short and curt, not giving away any unnecessary details while also giving nothing but the truth. None of the other leaders nor deputies needed to know RiverClan's situation at the time; it would portray a sense of weakness, the last thing that they needed at the time. Once again flicking her tail as a half-hearted greeting to Finchstar, she sat and waited for the final leader to arrive so that they could finally get this over with.