August Gathering 2020

Clearstone's mild expression shifted to more of a scowl, his ears swiveling back and threatening to pin against his head. The black cat's words were harsh and angry; although the tom was too young to be involved much with the Righteous Few, he still had an opinion on them and on  what had happened. He also had his opinions on the Warrior Code, and hearing her speak out against it like that made his fur prickle uncomfortably.

His tail gave a lash of irritation now. "Are you suggesting that every leader is a mouse-brain? I am not naïve enough to think that leaders can't have their flaws, as we all have flaws. I...also understand that the Code can be flawed. However, in the way we live, there must be some sense of order, and something is foxlengths better than nothing." Clearstone's eyes narrowed to slits, deep blue gaze boring into the older warrior before him. "And, what has SkyClan done to you to make you hate them so much? Surely not every SkyClan cat is bad. It is cruel and judgemental to think otherwise."

Spotlake jumped back as Clearstone came in the conversation and the two cat's tone of voice. "Woah uh please don't engage in an arguement. Clearstone I think what Batbite means is that some leaders can make mousebrained decisions. I don't think she means all leaders are mousebrains." She turned her head towards Batbite. "I understand that you don't like Skyclan. My mother doesn't like Skyclan either and she has a good reason for hating Skyclan and I know you do too."

"The clans would have fallen apart long ago, if that were the case. My father certainly wasn't an idiot, I trust that Oakstar usually knows what he's doing - at the very least, he taught me well enough - and Ravenstar has a good head on his shoulders, for all that I never got the chance to know him very well." As a passing thought, she reminded herself that if she ever came across him outside of a Gathering she wanted to ask how he was doing. He'd gone home long before she had, after all, and she hoped WindClan life suited him well - it certainly seemed to, from where she stood. "I don't know enough of Ivystar or Flintstar to judge them. And perhaps you're right. Maybe not every SkyClan cat is a dishonorable coward. But almost every SkyClan cat I've ever met has fit that description, so until they prove me wrong I'll stand by it."

He asked what they'd ever done to her, and her fur bristled. What to share? The apprentices that didn't know the locations of their own borders, trespassing just to attack? Everything to do with their former leader, including her first Gathering and how those SkyClan cats had harassed a newly-named apprentice?

As Foxfire spoke, Olivestone nodded along with him, she hadn't experienced anything like what he had, but she could understand where he was coming from.
"Of course. I'm sure that Spottedstar got the Clan out safely. They're probably hanging out somewhere safe until the fire burns out. WindClan hasn't seen them, but if any of the other Clans have seen them, I'm sure they'll say something."

Streamtail's head whipped around and she saw Snowflight. Her heart immediately sank even more and she forced herself to smile. "Hi...Snowflight. I don't mind. I've been doing...fine. I think. How's...everything going?" The blue grey she-cat looked much skinnier. She hadn't been eating a lot. Sometimes she would even not eat for two whole days. Applefang's death had affected her a lot. "Im sorry if I haven't been talking to a lot of people lately. Its been hard..."

OOC: Got the font colours wrong but it won't let me switch it back.

Rosepaw nodded at Quailpaw in thanks. "Thank you. How has training been? Batbite is a really good mentor. Who was yours again?"

"Ah my mentor is Cedarheart. Yea and I bet my mom is a good mentor." He turned his head over to where his mother was sitting. Looked like she was talking, argueing?, with two cats. He turned his head back to Rosepaw. "So how are you enjoying the gathering so far?" He asked, blushing slightly.

Ashflame trudged through the shadows, her paws dragging on the ground. She felt oddly empty; it wasn't long after her birth of three kittens, all of which who had died. After a glance up at the full moon, she let her head drop and sighed. She wondered why she even came to this gathering. Ashflame was definitely not in the mood, but she came anyway. She had taken a seat at the very edge of the clearing and was waiting for the leaders to speak so she could go back to her nest.

Open to talk to!

The silvery she-cat soon answered Pinepaw's question, stating that she hadn't been able to see any of the smoke from SkyClan's fire, even up on WindClan's higher plains. The apprentice nodded when she pointed out at ThunderClan should have more knowledge of the flames, given their proximity. "We couldn't see much, 'cause of the trees, yeah. But Foxfire's been staying with us, a SkyClan warrior. Although..." Pinepaw cast a glance to the poor tom huddled by Oakstar's side, looking solemn. "...he hasn't really been one for talking." The apprentice cocked his head and gave the she-cat a grin, shrugging.

She seemed to drift off into thought, but apologized a moment later and gave Pinepaw her name - Zinnia. "So it's true then?" The tom pried shamelessly. "WindClan really does have a warrior who kept their loner name? You must be the only cat in the whole forest to do something like that. Certainly makes you stand out huh?" Pinepaw sat and mused over Zinnia's face, tongue tracing the back of his teeth as he contemplated her road to fame. "Oh sorry." He broke off, realizing that he'd have to share his name as well. "I'm Pinepaw, although I'll be a warrior soon, I just know it."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, soon to be warrior Pinepaw," Zinnia nodded politely. "Yes, I've kept the named I carried for all of my life - no reason ever came to change it, so why would I shed all I have left of my birthplace? Names have meaning, that much is certainly true... But mine holds as much meaning as I'm sure any warrior's does to them. My name, my words, my stories... So long as I am here, they are all that remains of that distant place for me."

She followed Pinepaw's gaze to the Great Rock, noting a cat she recognized as SkyClan at Oakstar's side. So one of them, at least, had escaped and sought refuge. That was something, she supposed.

"...Perhaps it does make me stand out," she admitted. "I don't really think about it... Not often, at least."

Fogpaw kept herself cool, at the very least joyful she was getting to talk to a ShadowClan cat. An apprentice just like herself, every other gathering she'd had the nerve walking up to older warriors it didn't garner a reaction. "Fire? In WindClan?" The apprentice smile faltered when the fires were brought into the conversation. Ah, yes, that bitter matter. "Nope, I can't imagine what its like to be near the heart of the fire though." Moors were lucky not to get a hint of the disaster tearing through the clans so violently. WindClan had proven itself to be too far away from its initial spot for the pale she-cat wasn't covered head to toe in ash. "Everyone keeps mumbling about Skyclan getting the end of the stick when it comes down to it. Still, not even having a belly full of frog sounds gloomy." There wasn't a trace of pity if anything concerning. On a bad day she'd have to split a slim rabbit between herself and a clanmate. To think those living in another clan had it worse made a shiver run throughout Fogpaw's thin pelt.

There are too many cats here! Sablepaw felt like shrinking back from it all, her throat tight as she tried to keep her ears from flattening. It was so... so big. She couldn't shake the thought out of her head, flicking a quick look up at the open sky and then down at the open clearing, feeling a ripple of fur rise on the back of her neck. At least the rest of her Clan was there, even if her mother looked like she was having an argument about something to do with SkyClan. They're those cats over the border, where the smoke is, aren't they? She'd heard Batbite talk about them, and from what she'd said, they weren't very good cats, but Sablepaw didn't know anything personally.

She looked around for someone to talk to, or anything to do, knowing even as she looked that she'd probably just croak something out and then sit there with her ears flaming for the rest of the night. Why can't I talk?? And then her eyes caught a big tabby, sitting mostly by himself, and not talking to anybody. Beecloud! The lump in her throat eased a little, and she felt her ears relax slightly as she padded over. He was usually quiet, and maybe no one would approach her because he was so big. Bonus, right?

So she sat down next to him, shuffling her paws just a little as she looked out over the crowd. There were cats on top of the rock, but she'd never seen them before, and the scents mingling around the clearing were so tied together she couldn't hope to figure out what Clan they were from this far away. She glanced sideways at Beecloud, wondering whether to speak up and break him out of his thoughts. "Beecloud... who are those cats on the rock?"

Sablepaw is talking to Beecloud.
Minkstream is back at home to make sure nothing bad happens again and because he's paranoid.
Swansong is a member of SkyClan.

Rosepaw nodded towards Quailpaw, missing his blush."The Gathering seems quite...peaceful, I guess." Her tail tip flicked softly as her thoughts went back to SkyClan again. The border is so...close...what if the fire did reach ThunderClan territory? There was only one SkyClan cat she saw, and that was an elder warrior with a pelt that looked like one of a fox's. "Do you...do you think we could ask him about the fire, Quailpaw?

Quailpaw hid his blush with his tail thankful that Rosepaw didn't see it. When Rosepaw turned her head towards a tom a said him, Quailpaw quickly realized that Rosepaw was talking about the Skyclan cat that came. "Yeah thats a good idea Rose!" Quailpaw perked up.

OOC: Nightwolf is open to talk to!

Fernpaw seemed sad. Did any-cat want to talk to her? She looked around. All the cats she saw were already talking to somebody.
[Fernpaw is free to talk!]

Vinetail whipped his tail around, annoyed by all the talking. He wished he could just go back home!
[Vinetail is free to talk, but will be rather hard to talk to.]

Beecloud was brought back to reality by the sound of a little voice and a quiet thud as someone sat beside him. His head swiveled a little too fast, thinking it may be Snowflight, and only felt his heart crumble a little when he realized it was Sablepaw. Though it wasn't his friend from across the water, he was still happy to be Lirista's safe place in the swarm of commotion and excitement. He leaned down to meet Sablepaw's head. "They're the leaders of the other clans," he explained. "They'll give the news about their clans from the past moon from the Great Rock. They'll tell about births, deaths, ceremonies, and anything else that they need the whole forest to know. The silver she-cat is Ivystar. She's RiverClan. The black tom is Ravenstar, who leads WindClan. The grey tom is Flintstar, and he's the leader of ShadowClan."

The young tom peered around, an anxious feeling biting his throat, sinking its teeth into him as he furrowed his brow. "SkyClan's leader... his name is Spottedstar, he's this gold tom, but he's not here. None of SkyClan is. Well, except Foxfire, the tom that stayed in our camp today. I hope he's doing alright... I don't think anybody knows where SkyClan is. Maybe we'll be able to find out tonight."

With a short sigh, he pointed to the cats just below the Great Rock. "Those are the deputies. And then, in that corner, those are the medicine cats. WindClan's is missing today, though. He might be sick. That scraggly old tom kind of gives me the creeps."

"There's going to be a lot of talk about the fire," he said, even quieter than before. "It's not good. Just a few deep breaths of smoke can kill a cat. Now, their entire territory has been stripped of plants and life. And, knowing SkyClan, they're not going to accept our help." He thought briefly of Bloodstrike. Maybe he had succeeded in convincing Spottedstar, as was his goal. Time would only tell.