August 2021 Gathering

Three steps into Fourtrees, Emberleap’s pale fur began to rise. If he hadn’t already crossed the clearing’s threshold, he would have walked right back out—no doubt Mistyfalcon and the other camp guards would appreciate an extra set of claws—but deserting a tense (in other words, normal) Gathering wouldn’t be a good look for ShadowClan. Not to mention the risk of getting ambushed on the way back. They’d already lost Moonshine to the rogues, and nearly Murkystrike, too. Emberleap wouldn’t make Rookfire waste herbs on him.

Still… He paused near the edge of the clearing to survey the cats shifting within. Some limped; some carried wounds so new the fur around them hadn’t begun to grow back; some just seemed heavy in how they held themselves, in a way he didn’t want to think too much about. Maybe it would be better to stick with ShadowClan tonight.

Emberleap is open to talk!

---

Flypaw had grown up envisioning his first Gathering as a celebration. Being allowed to attend was a great honor, the first sign of the respect and trust every cat needed to earn if they wanted to become a warrior. He’d never felt less worthy of it. Bitterness bubbled into his throat at the first strains of WindClan scent, and he drew closer to his sister. At least she didn’t think he was a coward.

As they passed beneath the Great Oaks, RiverClan fanned out, finally giving Flypaw a chance to look around. The first cats he caught sight of were too familiar. He turned the opposite way, only to recognize a few more pelts from the battle. SkyClan. Somewhere in that group of cats sat the apprentice he’d beaten—the one thing he could be proud of. Flypaw stuck his tongue out at the faceless crowd. It didn’t feel as good as he’d hoped. When he looked back, Heronpaw had vanished. Huh. It was her first Gathering, too, now that he thought about it; she probably wanted to check out Fourtrees.

…Too bad he really didn’t want to sit alone. Or with some Clan full of drypaws. Or anywhere near WindClan or SkyClan. Flypaw hovered, surrounded by passing Clanmates, until his gaze found a friendly face nearby. Turtlefur…Turtlefur didn’t think he was a coward, either. And apprentices were supposed to sit with their mentors at their first Gathering. Weren’t they? Whatever the reason, Flypaw found himself navigating through stray legs and tails until he reached Turtlefur, stretching to bump his nose to his mentor’s shoulder. For several moments, he merely sat there, trying to figure out if he could talk, if he even wanted to. Then he glanced up at the massive stone at Fourtrees’ center—and for the first time noticed the beast sitting with the leaders on top of it. His ears flicked back. “What’s he doing up there?” Then, softer: “Wait, are we allowed to talk?”

Flypaw is sitting with Turtlefur (but is also open to talk)!

Shimmerdust started, taken aback by the other cat's attitude, before remembering that RiverClan did technically fight against SkyClan in the war...So they probably didn't want to talk to her. And, well, they probably wouldn't want to talk to her in general anyways...

And well, if Willowdance was dead, what could she do about it?

Head low, Shimmerdust padded away, moving back to the RiverClan crowd.

---

Hopepaw nodded. "You're right." She mewed. She would love to mingle, but alas, it didn't seem like the best idea at the moment. With the amount of tension in the air, Hopepaw figured she should try to avoid getting anyone into more trouble. The idea of It's not our problem didn't feel good, but there wasn't much she could do.

"Yeah! Batglow's amazing." Hopepaw beamed. It was still her own problems that stopped her from being a good Apprentice, really.

Shimmerdust is open to talk to!

Beechface's harsh words made Cloverpaw recoil, shrinking into herself as she realized just how much bigger, how much more experienced than her the other medicine cat was. If she wanted to make due on her threat, there would be little to stop her.

Except, maybe, the swarming crowd around her.

Turning her gaze away from Beechface and to the other Clans, she looked through every face she could, wondering if any of them had taken note of her yet. Almost idly, she mewed, "Do you think ThunderClan and ShadowClan know? What Wolfstar did, that is." Tipping her head down, Cloverpaw lifted a leg for emphasis, jaw set tight to keep herself from wincing at the way the limbs still ached. She looked at her wounds through narrowed eyes, at the way the wounds still looked ugly and raw as they tried to heal, the great patches of fur that were missing. "You're not supposed to attack medicine cats, right?" Now her tone was light, her question almost sounding genuine if it weren't for the painfully forced naïvety of the words. "Especially not, let's say... an apprentice barely half your size who can hardly defend herself?"

The anger rolled in again alongside another wave of pain as she set her leg back down, screwing her face up at both the feelings. She was only there to help, she wasn't even involved in the fight, and yet Wolfstar had chosen to maul her, of all cats. And she'd been so eager to be a medicine cat to avoid getting caught up in battles like these. No matter what, she would hate him for the rest of her life.

"I've met nicer rogues than him," Cloverpaw muttered, eyes sliding back over to Beechface. Hopefully, she would have the sense to not try and rip her ears off in front of half the forest, though being even slightly civil seemed to be a tall order for SkyClan. Cowards, too, it seemed; Wolfstar couldn't even be bothered to lead his Clan to the Gathering, to face what he– what his whole Clan, really –had done. She knew she wasn't the only one hurt. Dayspring had spent days in Smallbean's den, and it seemed like she was still recovering, just like everybody else. No matter how just they thought they were, SkyClan had acted like a band of savages that night, not a single drop of nobility or honor in any of them.

Timberpaw entered the gathering, his tail and head raises with curiosity. It was his first gathering, a step closer to his dream of becoming a strong Windclan warrior. His head was raised high following Lilacstar and the rest of his clan to the gathering. He found a quiet area to sit alone and stare wide-eyed at all the other cats at the gathering.
Timberpaw is open for interaction
Swanpaw is practising using actions to communicate easier at camp

Dovefrost followed silently behind Minkstar, paying really no mind to the world around him. His eyes on the ground in front of him, as his mind wondered, though it didn't take long for him to notice the scent of herbs and healing wounds in the air. Green eyes turned to Skyclan at his leader's words. Yes.. He remembered speaking to Beechface and seeing the wounds on the one warrior. Whatever it was.. it was worse than he thought at the time.

"Yes.. Skyclan was involved in... something." He didn't really know what else to say. He didn't know the details of it, but it wasn't hard to guess as it seemed the Windclan warriors looked the same way.. Oh stars.. It seemed that both Beechface and Smallbean had their work cut out for them. "It seemed Windclan had something to do with it." He muttered lowly to the two cats. It seemed whatever it was, was causing some major tension. He nodded to Thrushnose before moving to sit in his usual spot, eyes scanning the crowd.

---

Batglow hadn't had the energy to come to the gathering.. After.. after everything.. But he needed to be here to support his kits, despite how low his tail dropped, or how dull his eyes looked. He moved to settle himself in the back where he could keep an eye on all of his kits, while not interfering with what they wanted to do.

---

The first thing yellow eyes did as they reached the clearing was look for the familiar silvery grey pelt of Heronpaw. It had been a while since he had seen her, but he didn't exactly have the chance to look for her due to his own training. He was close to becoming a warrior he could feel it, and once he was a warrior then he didn't have to worry about being followed around all the time by his mentor.

His eyes brightened considerably once he had spotted her. "Heronpaw!" He called as he bounded to her, not caring if he ran into anyone along the way. "How are you this night my little Heron?" He asked with a slight purr in his voice.

Dovefrost is open to talk.
Batglow isn't in the mood to talk but can still be approached.
Starlingpaw is talking to Heronpaw.

"If you are looking for someone to blame, blame your leader for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong and interfering in something that had nothing to do with her or her clan.." Beechface growled, "Lilacstar attacked me as well, but you don't hear me whining about it. Getting hurt should be expected, it was a fight, not some kit games in the nursery." As far as Beechface cared, that part of the code was meaningless and always had been. Going after the enemies' healers was smart. Wolfstar knew that, Lilacstar, whether she'd attacked out of some misguided tit-for-tat with Wolfstar or whatever else, hadn't been wrong to go after a skilled medicine cat.

Beechface continued to shred the grass beneath her paws, fur remaining fluffed up as she stared at the Riverclanner. "Windclan and your excuse of a leader decided to help defend someone who murdered a kit barely two moons old, and who murdered elders in cold blood." She growled, "You could have been a reasonable cat and talked sense into Ivy-- oh, wait. Riverclan. Your clan isn't known for sense any more than Windclan is."

The Riverclanner kept running her mouth, and Beechface's claws continued to flex. She was very quickly starting to lose patience with her antics. Again she mentioned Wolfstar, and Beechface rose into a half-crouch, a threatening growl issuing from her chest. The Riverclanner was probably being antagonistic on purpose, and engaging with her certainly wasn't helping Beechface's temper. At the moment however, she was beyond caring as she took a slow, deliberate step towards the scrawny, still-healing apprentice. "Rich coming from an attention-seeking hypocrite such as yourself." If Cloverpaw didn't shut up soon, Beechface had very few qualms with making her shut up, gathering and full-moon truce be foxed.

“Yes, Gatherings are times for the Clans to meet in peace. There’s no rule about not talking, but generally we should be respectful and listen quietly when the leaders start their announcements. You’ll definitely know when they start.” Turtlefur meowed to his apprentice, his half-tail brushing affectionately against Flypaw’s side. “However, we should both be careful what we say. We shouldn’t talk about helping WindClan, hunting on their land, or the dogs. It’s not anyone else’s business.” He pointed out. He supposed Flypaw probably confused don’t talk about private information with don’t talk at all. Well, at least he asked.

“Bloodstrike has been SkyClan’s deputy for moons. He has the right to represent them for Wolfstar. Although… I hope that’s all it is. I haven’t heard anything good about him. Maybe StarClan will help temper him when he gets his lives? I don’t think they’d just let him be a cruel leader.” Turtlefur wasn’t sure about that. He didn’t know how the leader ceremonies went, nor did he know how StarClan interacted with the forest. But there had to be some kind of justice from them, right?

Jasminepaw watched as her Clanmate all but screamed at some poor RiverClan cat, who was only asking if her friend in SkyClan was okay. The brown and white tabby flinched at the hostility. "U-um, excuse me..." She mumbled, walking up to Shimmerdust. "You erm.. You were asking about Willowdance? She is.. Uhm, she is okay. A bit hurt after the battle but nothing serious." She mumbled, the apprentice looking anxious. Oh, boy, her Clanmates probably hated her for talking to a RiverClan warrior.. but it's not like she had any SkyClan friends anyway.

Brookthistle looked sideways at Henpaw as the apprentice spoke. "I know your name." She mumbled, giving the apprentice a half amused look. "Let's hope StarClan realizes what a mistake Bloodstrike would be as leader. With any hope he'd lose his nine lives quickly." The newly named warrior snorted, rolling her eyes. Bloodstrike and Wolfstar deserved no respect. "They condemn Dawnhawk for killing a kit, yet when their precious deputy threatens to maim innocent kits its perfectly fine?"

jas is speaking to shimmerdust
brook is talking to henpaw

“I agree. They’re hypocrites.” Henpaw sat down, pleased to have found a Clanmate who seemed to have the right ideas. “If that’s Bloodstar up there, StarClan preserve us all. He should have been named Bloodseeker or Stoneheart. I hope I run into him someday and kick his tail. I’m young enough to wait, anyways.” Henpaw might have been rather impulsive in day to day life, but for something important enough, she was willing to wait. And kicking his tail was the end goal. What a goal it was, too. With a start, she recalled the cat next to her. “Erm… do you think SkyClan will do something hare-brained?”  A part of her rather hoped so. She could see it now- proving herself at the Gathering after SkyClan broke the sacred truce, becoming a warrior, Fawnstep proud of her. A slight shiver went down her spine at the happy thought. She almost hoped SkyClan tried something- almost.

Henpaw is talking to Brookthistle but is open to talk!

Beechface went on and on about how Wolfstar had done nothing wrong, and Cloverpaw just huffed, shifting herself as the larger cat rambled. Battle this, we were right that... no matter how she spun it, they were all a bunch of dirty fox-hearts.

The jab at RiverClan made Cloverpaw bristle, and she turned herself fully towards Beechface with a look of indignation. The smallest of growls was just starting to rise in her throat, and she was going to pop off with something even snarkier when Beechface got to her paws. Her massive paws that could easily rip Cloverpaw to shreds.

"I'm not a hypocrite," she snapped, but her voice had picked up a noticeable tremble as she flattened herself to the ground. Beechface wouldn't actually attack her... right? Nearly the whole forest was here, not to mention StarClan watching them. There was a truce.

But she took a step forward, and Cloverpaw staggered to back up, ears flattening against her head. Pain shot through her legs as she all but tripped over herself, pupils blown wide and fur puffing out as Beechface got closer. "You wouldn't dare attack me here." She hissed, but again, the sound was entirely non-threatening. She took another hurried step backwards and felt herself bump into another cat, and without even looking to see who was behind her, she curled into herself, feeling perfectly caught.

Cloverpaw bumped into Fangsnap.

Bloodstrike listened to the gathering around him, making no change to his expression the entire time. He gave Flintstar a glance, and a small twitch of the corner of his mouth suggested that he was going to smile, but thought better of it. Flintstar was someone that he liked, and had liked for quite awhile. But he was representing Wolfstar today. He listened to the shocked words, and certainly quite a few insults that were thrown his way, but he made no indication that he was aware. Still... he struggled to not chuckle at the names "Bloodseeker" or "Stoneheart". Now you're getting it! He thought to himself, amused. His eyes did however, slide down to where Beechface and the idiot of a Riverclan Medicine Cat Apprentice were having a spitting contest.

"Beechface," Bloodstrike spoke, his voice calm and his tone suggesting something along the lines of boredom. "Lions do not lose sleep over the opinions of sheep." And he would leave it at that. It was his own way of telling her that he wanted no fighting at this gathering. He had a plan. Fighting and acting like mouse-brains would only ruin it. He gave the formal greeting nod to all of the leaders that had arrived, even those that thought they were going to ignore him. They didn't have to reciprocate his greeting. He didn't want them to.

Nothing he was doing was for them.

---

Bearspirit made his way to the gathering and was, for the most part, going to keep to himself. He wasn't going to seek Swiftspirit out this time, though he wouldn't stop her from coming to him. He was still less than pleased with himself for how he acted at that battle. He should have been focused on helping his clan, rather than guarding one single Windclan she-cat. However, hearing Cloverpaw trying to get into it with the Skyclan Medicine Cat had him sigh and stomp over there.

"Cloverpaw quit. I don't want to have to fight them again because you were being a pest." He stood behind the apprentice, and if Cloverpaw argued, he was going to scruff the little weasel and carry her back over to the Riverclan side of the gathering. This was just as much political as it was actual fighting. Bearspirit made no acknowledgement to the Skyclan medicine cat, as he didn't think very highly of anyone in Skyclan right now. He wasn't going to start trouble that Ivystar was going to have to deal with.

Bearspirit is talking to Cloverpaw.

---

Burningpaw stepped into the clearing. He was the unholy union of shadow and fire made flesh. While the cats were busy hissing and spitting at eachother over some battle... he was busy with far more important work. His burning, sulfur yellow eyes scanned the ever-growing crowd of felines. His mind went to work, remembering the names and faces of those here that were mentioned.... and trying to match them up with things that his parents and the elders had told him about each cat.

Unclean... Unclean... Unclean... Windclan seemed to be the worst. Impure, vile things that did not deserve the breath in their bodies that only fouled his own air with every one of their exhales. A lot of these cats he did not know, but the few that he did, he wasn't pleased. This will take a lot of time... but it will be worth it in the end.

Burningpaw is open to talk to.

Heronpaw smiled embarrassedly when she saw Starlingpaw. "Oh, me? I'm doing... alright. Better with you around." The silver-and-white she-cat wasn't lying when she said that, even though RiverClan was struggling to feed themselves. And despite the fact that my clan is suffering from starvation due to the Twolegs near the river taking prey, I can't stop thinking about you. Of course, that last thought was something that she would keep to herself. "How have you been doing?" she asked, trying to shift the conversation towards him and away from her turbulent feelings about herself.

Murkystrike padded into the Gathering, feeling exhausted. Her kits and new apprentice kept her on her paws, especially now that she was trying to return to her daily duties as deputy. She blinked as she looked around the clearing, noting the clear tension between SkyClan and WindClan particularly, but also RiverClan to some degree. She blinked as she noticed Bloodstrike atop the Greatrock - had something happened to Wolfstar? She bit her tongue at the thought of Bloodstar and continued towards her place at the base of the Greatrock, nodding to the other attending deputies. Dayspring looked pretty bad... But it wasn't really her place to make judgements. Hopefully more would be explained in the announcements the leaders, and Bloodstrike, made.

---

Sunnyskip smiled a little as Hayglow joined her, pressing her head to her mother's shoulder briefly. The tension between SkyClan and her clan was thick and choking, but she tried to ignore it. The battle was over, and they had been victorious - it didn't really matter what SkyClan had to say now.

---

Dewlight sat at the edge of the clearing, listening in on the conversations around her. Hopefully nothing too crazy would happen this time... There was certainly tension, but she knew the cause of it... For now. Hopefully no cat would overstep.

✘ Fangsnap's eyes stared straight ahead, glazed over in the most unreadable expression. He looked unapproachable, unpleasant to be around, and both of those things were true in a sense. Smokepelt's disappearance had been a heavy blow. Perhaps he'd been too harsh on her, or not cared enough, but it had all been for good reason - to make here strong. But what point was there in that now? She was gone without a trace. It seemed that any young cat whose paths crossed his were condemned to a horrible fate. Surely, Webshadow was next; he would do whatever it took to make sure that was not the case, even if the new warrior was a pain in the tail at times.

This sour mood caused him to halt the normal raking of his gaze across the clearing. What matters afflicted the other clans mattered nothing to him. Fangsnap settled back onto his hindquarters, not far from Shadowclan and with his glossed over eyes settled on the leaders up at the highrock. He would play the role of dutiful warrior as he watched along with interest, just like any other normal clan-born warrior. It was just as he had managed to tame some of the swirling frustration that something abruptly slammed into his shoulder. The wound on his shoulder was still mildly sore.

Whipping his head around, Fangsnap was true to his name, snapping his teeth with an unholy clang in the air. There seemed to be some sort of confrontation between cats. Fresh marks crossed their pelts. A hulking she-cat, reeking of Skyclan was facing this much smaller cat, one whose pelt had a soft undertone of herbs. Had he scented for more than a second, or even paid much attention to his surroundings in this state, the warrior would have realized that both were medicine cats. But that fact mattered little to him as he fixed them both with a stare and ground out his displeasure.

"Watch where you're going!" The fury was obvious in his gaze and it softened only slightly as he looked at the smaller of the two strangers. Fangsnap dug his claws into the ground and shook away the rising feelings to finish berating the pair. Deaf ears ignored the chiming input of their clanmates along the way, none of it mattered to him, "In case you lot have forgotten, this is a gathering. You can tear each other to shreds at the border for all I care but not here when you're bumbling around into other cats." Just when it seemed he would return to the seething in silence, the russet warrior fixed Beechface with an unyielding look.

"Whatever satisfaction you're looking for, you won't find it battering around an injured apprentice." ✘

⌘ Stoatfur followed along after the rest of Thunderclan, a usual restlessness about his paws. Trotting along, the little tom cat kept his head high and his ears pricked higher. There was an obvious lingering tension. He picked up on such things quickly and there came a curiosity. Knowing the cause of such things was of upmost importance now. For a short while, he'd managed to trail at the tail of his mother before she split away for the deputies. It occurred to the little warrior that perhaps a younger cat would be more eager to share on the happenings of their clan.

A wide-eyed little tabby stared at the on-goings of the writhing mass of cats. That would be who he sought out. Stoatfur come up to his side, flicking the apprentice with his tail to catch the other tom's attentions before starting to speak, "I'm Stoatfur of Thunderclan. Who are you, kit? You know what happened to make everyone so tense? Almost forgot this was a gathering with the tension in the air." His whiskers twitched as he settled back on his haunches and waited for a reply. ⌘

Timberpaw felt the tension in the air, it was mostly between Skyclan and Windclan but Riverclan had some of it too. Most cats didn't seen to want to interact between clans, and Timberpaw didn't quite understand. Warriors were strong, Warriors fought. Timberpaw wanted to fight in many wars when he becomes a warrior. At least, he thought he did.

Timberpaw blinked when a tail tip touched him, he turned his head back and spotted a brown and white cat staring back at him. He tilted his head and turned to face the warrior properly. When asked about the tension, Timberpaw just shrugged. "Maybe it's because of the big fight with Windclan and Skyclan! I'm Timberpaw of Windclan, by the way. I'm a little confused, though, because  warriors are supposed to fight all the time in big, great battles! I think I heard some cats say that... Maybe it's because mother is missing, but she'll turn up!" Even if it's been several sunrises. Timberpaw thought, but shook his head to clear the thought. "I hope..." Timberpaw didn't quite get the concept of 'oversharing', he probably never even heard about it before.

Timberpaw is speaking to Stoatfur