July Gathering 2023

Sunfire trailed along behind the rest of SkyClan, and found a place to sit by himself. His day had been full of patrols and one very long hunt, and he'd been unable to nap before they left for the Gathering, so he was tired, too tired to even be grumpy at the other clans, tonight.

He curled up near the fringes of the clearing and settled in for the meeting. Hopefully it would be a boring one.

"Yes, it is our first gathering," Amberpaw replied to Crowspirit. With a glance around at all the other cats, he added, "I never knew the clans contained so many cats." Truly, Fourtrees seemed packed.

Another apprentice joined the growing group - Violetpaw. Then, Alderpaw. Siblings from Skyclan. Amberpaw nodded a greeting to both, but didn't offer his name again. He figured the two newcomers had overheard him say it already. He listened as the others spoke of the meanings behind their names, and noticed as Peonypaw grew anxious. Almost protectively, the long-furred tom scootched closer to his friend and sat up straighter, making himself appear large and tall. Perhaps his looming demeaner would make Peonypaw feel safe and protected at his side, as if Amberpaw could scare away any threats. He rested his bushy tail close to her's, and took control of the conversation to steer any attention away from Peonypaw.


"What is Skyclan like? Do you spend a lot of time in trees?" he asked the siblings, not particularly caring which one answered. Amberpaw couldn't imagine moving through the trees without his large body breaking a branch and falling to the ground.

Amberpaw responded to Crowspirit, comforted Peonypaw, and asked Violetpaw & Alderpaw a question.

Shrikestar listened to each leader's announcements with growing discontent. His claws sheathed and unsheathed, particularly when RiverClan made their announcement proclaiming ownership of the Gorge. Then came ShadowClan, and that was beyond discontent: this was pure, unfettered rage. His pelt grew hot and his tail lashed against the rock as the hypocritical lies spewed forth from Nightstar's mouth. Then he was given an ultimatum: their herb stock for Owlshade. What gall! Normally, Shrikestar was able to keep his cool, bar a few outward instances. This was going to be one of those instances.

"You lying, traitorous worm!" Shrikestar yowled, claws out despite the area of peace they were supposed to be in. Since when had they had a peaceful Gathering, though? "Two of my warriors are dead by your clan's filthy paws! Adderdawn and Flutterpetal defended their clan at the cost of their lives, lives that your war patrol stole! You have kidnapped my warrior, and now you barter with his life? You disgust me." Were herbs worth a warrior's life? Yes, but this was for pride, for honor. His own clan already disrespected him enough. He would not allow another clan to hold paw over him. He stalked up to Nightstar, standing paw to paw with the ShadowClan leader. "We will give you nothing but contempt, Nightstar. The Dark Forest is too good for you." Then, consequences be darned, he shoved Nightstar off of the Great Rock.

Leopardsun felt like she was halfway dissociated from the Gathering itself, lost in her own thoughts and grief, and had contented herself with the fact that she would remain in this on-and-off haze for the foreseeable future-

Until Nightstar began to speak.

Tearing into Shrikestar for his Clan's actions, dragging Moondancer and Batswarm's deaths back to the front of her mind. Publicly announcing their prisoner and making his demands (which pushed past all reason and into senseless cruelty), backed by threats; in any other situation, this was where Leopardsun would speak, to at least apologize for his lack of tact.

Her insistence that ShadowClan remain united in the eyes of outsiders wasn't worth this.

(Was she doomed to only make mistakes?)

"Nightstar, this is ridiculous!" Leopardsun turned, lifting her head to face the Great Rock, tail lashing furiously. "My kits are dead. My best friend is dead. Are the losses of our own warriors so meaningless to you, that you would sacrifice the rest just to satisfy your own ego? That you would intentionally antagonize cats who have shown their willingness to kill in cold blood? How many lives will we have to have lost before you're finally satisfied?"

She didn't mention that Moondancer, Batswarm, and Honeylight weren't the only deaths ShadowClan had recently experienced; Tigershriek's fate was unrelated to their war. Honeylight's, though... She still blamed herself for not focusing on keeping ShadowClan's own land safe and secure.

"None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you. All this and more, to pay for your mistakes! Your lack of judgment, your lack of discretion, lies you told to all of us time and again! I'm ashamed that I ever thought you were worth defending!"

A deep breath.

"Echomist was right."

She felt the chill of ice in her veins and burning fury of white-hot anger at the same time, resisting the urge to cause far more of a scene; the temptation was there, to leap to the top of the rock and knock him to the ground, but Leopardsun had retained some of her common sense.

Unlike Nightstar himself, it would seem.

Shrikestar himself had also had enough, apparently; sending Nightstar careening to the ground only moments after she had spoken.

Her own anger intensified, though not on her leader's behalf. She would not stand with Nightstar any longer, and she most certainly would not side with the disgrace that was WindClan.

"And you, the pathetic rat that somehow calls himself a leader! Your warriors killed my kits in cold blood. I was there, I saw it! I saw their bodies bleeding out on the ground, the life that left their eyes. I don't speak for Nightstar any longer, only for ShadowClan, but I believe in a warrior's honor; in abiding by the warrior code. Do you think I want to see the face that killed my daughter before my own eyes? Do you think that anything other than the code itself is keeping him alive? No. Only honor and mercy, things I'm more than certain you do not understand. If he had any honor- or any common sense whatsoever- he wouldn't have killed my daughter; and he could have gone running back to you with your spineless coward of a deputy- the one who simply left him there! I suppose that not one of you has any sense of loyalty, either to the code or to yourselves."

---

Mistflower had followed her Clan to the Gathering, hoping against all odds that the night would be peaceful, but no such luck had reached her; the only saving grace was that the drama wasn't centered on SkyClan. She simply leaned into her sister, closing her eyes and willing the rest of the world to disappear; it was important to branch out and experience new things, yes, but maybe she could find some way that didn't involve things like this?

Mistflower is sitting with Stoneheart.

Owlcall looked up at the rock, blue eyes flicking to the leaders. "The black one is Nightstar, leader of Shadowclan. The other tom is Shrikestar leader of Windclan. The ones closer to Perchstar is Mottlestar, the spotted one, leader of Thunderclan. The last is Wolfblossom, deputy of Skyclan. I'm guessing Birdstar is sick." He hoped anyway. He would feel terrible if something happened to the leader.

Of course things had to take a turn for the worse. The gathering started off normal, but then of course Nightstar and Shrikestar had to open their mouths.. The large brown tom sighed. "Windclan and Shadowclan have had some issues for the past while.. Just ignore it."

--

Tigerdance growled as things slowly fell apart at the gathering. Time and time again Shrikestar proved he valued himself and his supposed ego than his own clan. Everything was a matter of pride to their farce of a leader. "Are you a foxheart Shrikestar? Or are you just stupid? You would rather put your whole clan at risk again just because you can't put your ego aside for one second!" Tigerdance wanted his clanmate back but not with a massive fight. The tall striped tom growled in frustration. "Some herbs are more than enough for the life of a murderer, but you want to risk more death just for a cat that killed someone else?"

Both clans were being unreasonable, both clans were in the wrong. Death happened on both sides and instead of trying to work out something more reasonable, both leaders wanted to go to the extreme. He wanted to turn to Nightstar, to yell at him as well, but it seemed his deputy had already had it handled.

Acornstem perked up as the other Clans arrived. While she knew very few would be happy to see ShadowClan and WindClan with...Uh, everything that was transpiring - it was still best to try to be on some sort of good terms with their deputies. As Leopardsun approached, she opened her mouth to speak before she stopped herself at seeing the distant expression on her face. She could taste the tension in the air between the two new arriving Clans and she knew better than to be a bother. She settled back, dipping her head in greeting to the deputies before the Gathering started.

At the mention of her name, she straightened up as best as she could - both surprised and...Well, not, that Mottlestar chose to refrain from explaining the full details on what had transpired with Darkspirit. She doubt they would be able to hide it forever - the two ShadowClan cats had been there for it, weren't they? But...Maybe it was best not to explain it nonetheless, surely if it did come to light, the other Clans would understand their hesitation in sharing it. She had hope things would go well from there - but then Nightstar opened his mouth. It didn't take long for him to apparently spin to spit venomous words at Shrikestar, claiming that his warrior has... A startled gasp escaped her - two ShadowClan cats had been killed in a battle between the Clans.

With a WindClan cat as a hostage, she listened to Nightstar's demands - and then Shrikestar retorted, revealing even more deaths had transpired - two from WindClan as well. During all of this, Leopardsun started to shout at her own leader. It was her kits who had died - she was tired of the fighting for the sake of Nightstar's ego. Acornstem's ears slicked back - before a flash of movement above caught her attention causing her to look up just in time to see a black shape blot out a bit of the night sky as Nightstar was shoved from the rock. Her eyes widen as she was on her paws in an instant, scampering away from the base of the Great Rock to be well out of the impact zone as the leader fell.

Her gaze swung around to try to gauge the reaction of the crowd - a few voices were rising up in protest. Unhappy with either Nightstar or Shrikestar but it seemed to be from their own Clanmates at least. Her tail stood straight up as she spared a glance towards the sky - it was still clear but who knew how long that would remain if Nightstar and Shrikestar continued to bicker like kits - before she spared an uncertain glance at Mottlestar. Her tail quivered - ready to make the motion for all of her Clan to follow the moment it was clear that Mottlestar didn't think it was worth having ThunderClan stay her...But she would wait for her leader's signal. She only hoped with their new alliance, they would still manage to stay out of this...Mess.

-----------------

Creamsky groaned as Nightstar started to speak and promptly launched into an argument with Shrikestar. One moon, could they have one moon of a Gathering going normally? Or perhaps this was the new normal - the two Clans being petty. Honestly, it wasn't worth his time as he started to strongly consider not even coming in the future moons. They would need camp guards anyways and this was a thorn in his side more than any sort of amusement. He had no care for the drama between the Clans - thought his ears did perk at the fact that their fight had resulted in multiple deaths on both sides. What happened to the Warrior Code of no honorable warriors kill to win their battles...? However as Nightstar was shoved from the rock - causing the new ThunderClan deputy to scramble away with puffed fur, he just sighed as he looked up at Wolfblossom to see if there was any chance of SkyClan taking a swift exit. He hoped so, he had no interest in this...

((Fal twisted my arm into having Bracken attend, this is his fault. Wolf's [and my other characters] reaction will come after Grey has had a chance to post.))

For lack of anything better to do but sit around complain, Brackenwing had reluctantly decided to make the trek to fourtrees with Windclan tonight. Maybe the gathering would be pea-- oh who was she kidding. It was a gathering, so it was bound to be a chaotic mess sooner or later. Or the second Nightstar and Shrikestorm opened their mouths, apparently. Still, she had not expected Shrikestorm to actually try and shove the Shadowclan leader off the rock. Bracken, sitting at the back of the crowd, stared in wide-eyed disbelief. The Shadowclan deputy - she had met her before, hadn't she? Leopard... Something - rose and called out to her leader, openly defiant of what was said by both of them. To hear that Owlshade had killed... Brackenwing closed her eyes. War made monsters, she knew that. But to hear that it wasn't self-defense... The marbled she-cat shivered. She didn't know what side of the story to believe. Both sides had lost cats and her brother was Shadowclan's prisoner, that was all she knew. Gritting her teeth, the elder stalked forward, tail lashing as she came to stand beside Tigerdance.

"You are nothing but an arrogant, petulant kit, Shrikestorm. Smallbean is a coward, but at least he can admit to his faults. You never have, you just dig your heels in beyond all reason. Nightstar is no better. Neither of you are in the right here!" Bracken had refused to call him Shrikestar ever since that morning when Adderdawn and Flutterpetal had been brought back to camp. "If either of you could see ahead of your precious ego for two seconds, the rest of your clanmates do not have the lives to spare for your foxdung like you do! Herbs are nothing, Shrikestorm, it's greenleaf, they can be found again. Or would you sacrifice the rest of your clan to bloodshed for this? Is it not enough that you both disgrace us at gatherings time and time again?"

Rookfire almost didn't go to this Gathering.

Honestly, the only reason he went was to keep an eye on Nightpaw, since Echomist didn't really want to attend. Rookfire couldn't really blame him, honestly.

Sighing, the black tuxedo sat unnaturally quietly in the Gathering, watching each cat go by. Each leader said their piece, and it seemed like this was at least going to be a peaceful night.

And then Nightpaw spoke.

This was not what Rookfire wanted. He did not want to escalate this war further. Shrikestar, in response to Nightpaw's words, slammed his paws into the acting ShadowClan leader, sending him tumbling down the Great Rock.

Leopardsun then spoke, denouncing both Nightpaw and WindClan.

The cobweb was ripped off. ShadowClan's guise of being united was done.

"Don't you dare get back on that rock, Nightpaw," Rookfire hissed.

Hearing a WindClan cat's voice call out Shrikestar himself, Rookfire realized he wasn't the only one upset about this situation. Perhaps, if he could rally everyone who wanted to find peace...

The black tuxedo turned to the crowd. He could barely hear Batsong from the Gathering floor before she screamed at everyone to shut up. Perhaps... perhaps that meant...

Stepping to the Great Rock, the black tuxedo eyed it. It was risky, being on this rock as a non-leader, but it was the best way he could get his message across. Taking a deep breath, the black tuxedo bounced onto an empty spot on the rock, before stepping towards the edge of it. "Cats of ShadowClan and WindClan!" he yowled. "I, Rookfire of ShadowClan, want peace between our clans! No more bloodshed, no more wars, and no more fighting!" Perhaps that was a lot to ask for, but he was sure that he wasn't the only cat who wanted this.

"Perhaps this doesn't seem like an option to you, since you want to avenge your clanmates' deaths, and you don't think that this is what's right. But nothing you can do will bring them back, and all we can do is protect those around you, your families, your friends, that one cat you like but could never bring yourself to interact with. We are trying to protect them from being a victim in this war!"

"All we need is to stand up, together."

Rookfire took a deep breath in. "Together, we can do something amazing. Together, we can protect our clanmates from being crippled or killed in this stupid conflict! Together, we can make a change! But we have to stand up together! ShadowClan and WindClan! We have to call for peace!"

He didn't care he was breaking the code. He had to, if he wanted to fight for what was right.

The black tuxedo hoped that other cats would join him, to help pressure both leaderships to begin negotiations with each other. Nightpaw would never negotiate, but Leopardsun... Leopardsun would be willing. And if Shrikestar wasn't willing to accept peace, Smallbean would. There was a world where ShadowClan and WindClan could find themselves back in a state of peace, without any more loss of life.

It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth it.

The gathering exploded and Shrikestar spat his vehement denial. Leopardsun was yelling at him, cursing his name and what not for using her children - did she forget that he had blood ties? -. They screamed that he thought of his clan as disposable, and that would have been untrue until they had all turned on him since his fling had been revealed by Batsong. To the dark forest with them, he'd throw them to the dogs if it meant weeding out those that went against him. But he put up the facade, he had too.

Shrikestar advanced, Leopardsun kept screaming, and then suddenly he was sent over the great rock, narrowly missing Thunderclans deputy, and colliding violently with Smallbean, sending them both sprawling. He landed against the ground with a heavy whump, the screaming and yelling of the clearing sending his ears ringing. Raging anger thrummed energy into his veins, Rookfire's faint yowl to stay off the rock, but the blood in his ears and his bloodlust made him deaf.

"You risk the lives of your clan over herbs! Brackenwing is right- we DO have lives to spare." And with that, Nightstar soared back onto the rock with a single bound, claws unsheathed as he secured his jaws around the Windclan leader's throat, fastening his claws into his lean shoulders. In the scuffle, Nightstar sent them both tumbling back down the rock, claws flashing and teeth snapping.

Nightstar's fur prickled, his hackles raised and his tail bushed to its fullest extent. Doing his best to batter the Windclan leader. "Starclan can strike us both down if they don't think us worthy of those extra lives." he snarled, spittle coating his chin.