May Gathering 2023

to be edited in with proper reactions later.



Murkyripple's tail flicked with anger at the news that rippled out among the crowd, but her attention was more heavily taken by her sister's outburst. Something told her to follow, and the molly left behind her sister without another word.

---

Egretpaw gave a nod to her mentor, sticking close with her ears pinned against her head. It was so loud. She didn't want to come to another one of these.

---

Mistpaw had arrived late, finding the back of Riverclan - only to listen to her mother call for them to go right back home. Her shoulders slumped with slight disappointment, but at least this time, the she-cat would be at the front of the group.

---

Marigoldmask had been ready to talk to her new friends - only to hear the commotion rise. A look of dissatisfaction riled upon the molly's features, and she gave a sad dip of her head to the cats near her, finding Skyclan to walk home with.

Swiftheart couldnt believe what all she was hearing she sat there stunned as this all played out.

Whitewhisker missed most of what was said and is confused as to what is going on but nothing is new there

Eaglefly stayed close to his siblings throughout it all

Stormwatcher is upset but only because they had just gotten there just to turn around and have to walk all the way back, he could have gotten so much more sleep if he had just been allowed to stay behind.

Sprucebark sat stunned even after Perch said it was time to go he sat there unmoving his mind racing as to what this meant in the code. The code was not to be broken and what about when the leader did it?? He was full on freaking out and frozen unable to move even if he wanted to.
Leaders breaking the code?

OOC: people requested I do a batsong reaction.  I will do my best but there is not a real way I can get to everyones post directly.  Rather I will try and respond to the general points.  Alot also happened quickly so I will do best I can to maintain timeline but yeah there is alot here.)


Batsong was surprised and a bit saddened at how quickly what she had hoped to be an organized discussion about serious accusations against that shadowclan leader turned to complete disarray.

When cats started calling for his death thats when she cut off the discussion of questions.

Bird and Perch had both requested that she not stand on the rock.  Which was fine she just had needed to be seen.  She went to the rock beneath the leaders rock.

"N-no.  No blood will be spilled here tonight.  The entire point of this w-was to try and resolve it as peacefully as possible something that some cats appeared not to have gotten as they called for Nightstars head.  Batsong didnt like what the shadowclan leader had done and didnt think he was a good fit as leader, but she didnt want him dead, she just wanted the tyrant to not be allowed unchecked as he tested how far he could push and push on the rules.  Well she had reached her limit with his foxdung.

"I w-will try and answer to the main things being asked of me.  The biggest one seems to be why.  Why Batsong do you bring this here before us n-now?  Why make a scene h-here? Why ruin a gathering wi-with all this dirt?"

she took a sigh, this was not something she enjoyed at all.

"I d-do it because I k-know what it is like to live under the fear of a tyrant and a dictator.  I know what it is like t-to watch the ones in p-power kill family and clanmates her mind tried to wander to how her mothers had died, how the dark forest cats had killed Swiftspirit and Mistysky right in front of her.  How the forgotten order had slain many as well all thanks to the rise of dawnhawk in his rise to dictatorship.  She had to push those thoughts aside for now.

"I know the darkness the clans c-can be put into if we l-let leaders and cats in high positions of power go unchecked and unchallenged. Its how we had m-moons of living in d-darkness and no stars.  M-moons of fearing the forgotten order and their r-raids"

She took a shaky breath with everyone yelling at her it was difficult at best yet along never having had a love for speaking so much at all.

"S-so when I l-learned that two of arguably the most powerful c-cats in the forest were breaking the code I wanted... I needed to make sure that the clans they were leading were not being forced to l-living in such a s-state."

She had been yelled at almost all night and she knew that was fair.  But she would rather take that all again than to let another version of Dawnhawk be reborn right from under her nose.

She turned to where most of thunderclan was
"I understand your anger at me.  But to answer the q-question of why I did what I did is that: I wouldn't w-wish on anyone to have to live under something even similar to the d-dark forest or the f-forgotten order.  Before now I only k-knew vague bits and pieces of your leader and all of what I had h-heard was good.  B-but if I did not make sure t-that no further evil was occurring t-then that means I would have failed each and every one of you. The reason w-why was to make sure of this.  To ensure that no f-further code breaking was occuring and that no new evil was growing.  And it is why I called so many forward."

"F-from what you have all answered thankfully only confirms what limited things I knew of her.  T-that she is a g-great leader. That this was indeed only a one time code break and that n-no further abuse of power was occurring."


Secondly, the next most common theme seemed to be calling for Nightstars death which made Batsong upset and sick.  She did not want any further death.

Birdstar had pressed Batsong and had essentially asked Batsong that IF Nightstar were so bad why not kill him herself?

Batsong knew Bird was not happy with her and rightfully so, a gathering wasnt exactly meant for this but she hoped the answer given to the reason why was enough to at least make them consider such things.  She answered respectfully after some thought to Birdsongs question the following:

"Enough b-blood has already b-been spilt especially n-not now on a holy place or t-time.  T-the reason f-for the trial was to try and d-discuss how things should b-be resolved and to t-try and have a peaceful solution. And because... I believe that cats can change.  I believe they can do better.  As a m-medicine cat I have seen some pretty nasty injuries and deaths sadly.  L-life is short enough as it is.  I d-do not want to be the one to end anyone's s-sooner than n-needed."


Then, the major question / theme of questions was the "how are we involved / why should we care" most of which from riverclan and skyclan

"Alright. h-how does this involve you is a f-fair enough question.  I t-think that all c-clans are effected by one another especially on something as b-big as this." she tilted her head trying to think of a good way to put it...

"L-let me phrase it this way... Let's say: hypothetically you had n-not been included in this discussion.  F-for one that gives no neutral voice in t-things which I w-wanted to keep as much as possible the p-peace I described earlier.  

S-secondly, if I had chosen to c-cut you out of the talks, t-then I as one c-cat have preemptively determined that all of  your voices do not deserve to be heard at all.  W-which doesn't sound f-fair to y-you at all."


She sighed looking down at her paws.  "This got further out of control than I ever w-wanted or had originally planned.  S-so... the last thing I ask of you... a-and this time I am not demanding it of you and am s-sorry for c-coming off as demanding earlier...

What I ask of you all is to p-please consider w-when you go home tonight how y-you want us medicine c-cats to d-deal with such prophecies in the future.  C-currently there is no guidance around such things."


someone earlier had accused Batsong even of breaking the code by doing all this.  There was no such thing in any code about that at all.  Batsong hadnt broken any code in doing this. There simply was no guidance around what was expected of them. And while Batsong didnt remember who had said it:  It was an important thing to try and address.

The clans expected the med cats to decipher dreams that alot of the time made no sense and when they did make sense they were usually about something bad coming fast like the flood or the earthquake.  The earthquake one was something the med cats discussed after it all happened... starclan had told them exactly what was going to happen and they had still not been able to answer it quickly enough.  There needed to be a better system in place for how the clans expected to resolve these dreams.


"As m-medicine cats w-we are g-given dreams and are supposed to act as the speakers for the stars.  B-but we are g-given no d-direction at all of h-how the clans want us to deal w-with them.  So, what I ask is that you c-consider what in the future you w-would like medicine c-cats to do then.  C-clearly alot of you are n-not happy w-with h-how I d-did it.  And I w-wont repeat from earlier why I did what I d-did.  But the medicine c-cats at least d-deserve an answer from you all as t-to how you would w-want this handled in the f-future. I request, that at least you consider that s-some form of checks and balances need to exist if l-leaders break the code."


Alot of insults were hurled at her and she did her best to drown most of the ones that were not actively contributing anything useful to the conversation.  However the words spoken by her friend Burdockroot caught her off guard.

Her tail flicked lowering. "I k-know you are angry.  and understandable so: but I w-would never wish that on you.  I would never wish ill will to y-you or your h-herbs."  Batsongs anger and frustration was not towards Shadowclan as a whole or towards Burdockroot at all.  It was purely towards their leader who had a clear tendency to disregard the value of life and the code.


Shrikestar took a place next to her and that offered some amount of comfort.  Had she made a mistake in doing all this?  Yes it appeared so, but knowing that he was not going to publicly chew her out for it was a testimony more to his leadership than her own.  She didn't deserve such a good leader as him.  And at the same time she felt that he didnt deserve a med cat as bad as herself.  She had done what she could to try and do this as orderly as possible and prevent another Dawnhawk type incident.  But it had not gone at all the way she had hoped.  She knew that unfairly, he was being accused of all this just because he was with her.  And he didn't deserve any of that, he had stood next to her even when this was all unraveling apart.

[A nice side comment I suppose for Shrikestar.  Having made mistakes in different jobs: the bosses that have your back when the customer yells at you for mistakes are the best ones.
(ok that analogy isn't exactly the same here but is close)  

Did Batsong go about this in a messy way? Yes, and although her points were all valid she could have done the formalities better and such.  But shrikestar not just immediately throwing her under the bus the second things went south is a big part of why I like Shrike as a leader.]

That seemed to answer most of the questions that were directed at her at least.  She couldnt get to everything but most of them seemed to fall into one of those categories of what she had talked to.  She stayed close to Shrike as the gathering went on.


(alright I did the best I could to answer the ones that seemed to be most commonly themed question.
I also wrote this at like 2 AM ... so uhh if parts of it dont make sense or are bad that is probably why lols)

Sunflare’s tail thrashed harder with every word that reached his ears. The very first rule of Warrior Code demanded absolute loyalty to one’s own clan, and of all cats he had trusted Nightstar as a shining example of that loyalty. And now, after a lifetime of following him like a mousebrain, Sunflare learned that Nightstar had broken the code. And with another leader, no less! Sunflare was sure now that the black tom was no longer fit to lead. Before he could speak, though, the clearing erupted in a cacophony of voices. Everyone spoke a different opinion and yet somehow none were completely well-received. Sunflare didn’t want to be remembered for a single foolish moment at a Gathering, so he held his tongue. His words could wait until they returned home.

Sunflare is surprisingly quiet!


Sagepaw’s head buzzed as every cat spoke at once. “No. No. Stop. Please. Mottlestar’s fine. No wait, she’s not! Aaugh, I can’t take this!” The fawn tabby’s ears rang with every sound imaginable. Finally, she got up and ran as fast as she could back to camp.
Sagepaw is going home.

Leopardsun was, at least, somewhat vindicated by the cats around her: most of the Gathering seemed to agree that this was not the time or place, and offered her thanks to Wolfblossom before the SkyClan deputy set about following her leader's wishes. It seemed that her effort to try and keep some positive relations, at least, had paid off.

She was kept from offering similar condolences to Darkspirit, who was in the same situation to some extent, by the tom's outburst and swift ascension of the rock. He had said what she was thinking, in far harsher words than she would have allowed herself to use. It would have been nice, the freedom to speak her mind and tear the medicine cat to shreds with her words, but she had a role to play and an example to set for ShadowClan.

As most of her Clanmates either kept quiet or leapt to Nightstar's defense, she made a note- they would need to discuss this in camp. Later, and away from the prying eyes of WindClan busybodies. Pineblossom, Rookfire, Harriertalon, Burdockroot... Even Nightstar himself spoke in his defense, and Leopardsun sighed, preparing to do damage control- but his words were far better thought out than most of his gathering statements had been.

Snowfoot, she noted, spoke in mild agreement with Batsong- Leopardsun made a note to speak with her aunt later, in part to ensure her concerns were heard.

The most notable cat to speak in Batsong's defense was Shrikestar himself. It was a shame: the leader had seemed somewhat sensible at one point in time.

Leopardsun was just slightly startled as Batsong leapt from the rock, though she tried to hide her surprise. Close company with Nightstar, if nothing else, offered a decent example for how to mask her own emotions; and even if she still felt that bitter rage from before, it would be helpful to at least appear level-headed.

Her gaze turned to WindClan's medicine cat, who began to speak again. As if she hadn't done enough damage once.

StarClan.

Dark Forest, why did it seem that more than half of her problems always revolved around StarClan? The dead were dead, and they ought to keep to themselves- a lesson WindClan, too, could clearly stand to learn.

"You may be a medicine cat, Batsong, but you hold no power over ShadowClan. We can deal with matters that concern us ourselves, as a Clan, without your personal grudges being dragged into things. Tonight you have shown a shocking lack of professionalism, one that has cost you the respect due your position; respect and trust I doubt you will ever truly rebuild. I do not, for a moment, believe that you came to the Gathering tonight and made such a fuss about matters in which you are not involved, and expected it to progress without causing such a scene- and if you really didn't expect this to happen, then you've shown a truly baffling lack of foresight."

She shook her head, lowering her voice just enough that WindClan's deputy could hear as well as Batsong.

"WindClan would do best to mind themselves, rather than the business of the other Clans. Use the stars as an excuse if you wish, but keep your personal grudges out of Fourtrees."

The ShadowClan deputy took care not to voice her actual thoughts.

If what you say were true, and Nightstar was really a cruel and remorseless murderer and some sort of tyrant, I could think of nothing stupider than making such a scene at a public gathering.

Instead, she turned her attention to planning how to proceed when they returned to ShadowClan camp; and waiting patiently for Nightstar's signal to leave.

"I've enough listening to Batsong slander me because she refuses to let sleeping dogs lie. She calls for action out of anger, the very sin she accuses me of. Shadowclan! We're leaving!" Nightstar yowled, moving to drop from the rock, but he stalled and looked towards Shrikestar. "Control your dogs, before I control them for you." Nightstar snarled under his breath to the Windclan leader, low enough and the loud clamor of the gathering making it impossible to hear. Nightstar leaped from the rock, struggling to continue to ignore Mottlestar as she collapsed on the rock, and was guided down. Any weakness towards the Thunderclan leader would put Nightstar in a vulnerable position, and thus he steadfastly ignored the mottled she-cat. Nightstar was quick to lead his clanmates out of the clearing, his tail high as he refused to falter.

Three ShadowClan warriors padded after Nightstar as he left. Three faces displayed varying emotions, from the doubt of Snowfoot to the blank stare of Lighttail to the barely concealed fury of Sunflare. All three tails bristled and their muscles tensed as they walked. Each was alone in their own thoughts, but suffice it to say whatever was to happen when they got home would be interesting.

Snowfoot, Lighttail, and Sunflare are leaving.

Shrikestar stood tall throughout the entire proceedings, refusing to bow down or show any weakness. The other clans weren't about to show any either: it was clear from their responses. Especially Nightstar's, a quiet threat that he heard loud and clear. He just stared Nightstar down, until the ShadowClan leader jumped down from the Great Rock and led his clan away. "WindClan, it appears that the other clans cannot handle any truths that have been handed down tonight. It appears we shall be taking our leave as well." He jumped down from the Great Rock, putting himself near Batsong just in case anyone decided to try something they shouldn't. WindClan had done enough bowing to other cats. They would not bow this time.

Rosepaw padded up to Batsong’s side as soon as she could.

After her friend got down from the rock to speak to the Gathering once more, and ShadowClan streamed out of the clearing, Rosepaw pressed against Batsong in a hug. A steady deep purr came from her throat. “You did your best,” she whispered with pride and love. The medicine-cat had taken care of Rosepaw as a kitten, and of Whisperear too, and now Batsong was taking care not only of all of WindClan but, bravely, all of the Forest. Batsong was no longer her mentor on the path of a warrior but she was still a mentor to Rosepaw in every way that mattered. What Batsong tried to do had been messy but, Rosepaw understood what Batsong had told her before, that it was important even if there was no clear way yet how to do better. The young rosy-furred she-cat followed her leader's example, and stayed firmly by Batsong's side. She only had one objection for her friend, one thought on how to do better; “Just- don’t you try to change the world alone ever again.”