"Cold." It might have been funny, in another life - to see lovely little Vi so standoffish and unwelcoming. "Not even a hello? I'm just wounded." The extent he'd never show.
Sedgeflake considered making things work, getting cozy up to her - push her buttons and remind her that fish-scent belonged on her. But nooo, he had to refrain. Behave. As if he'd ever stepped out of line! Psssh. "It was great - and we're stronger than ever from it." He eyed her frame, mostly just to be judgemental but there was always that inkling.. she did leave for a tom after all. "Shame the same can't be said for you, the squirrels are just making you fat."
Cold? The tabby she-cat snorted. "You're one to talk about cold." Another flick of the tail, another effort not to turn around. "You poor kit."
As he kept yapping, Violetfreckle found herself rolling her eyes more than once. Stronger than ever, huh? Just as she was about to make a snide remark, Sedgeflake spoke up again. This time, Violetfreckle truly couldn't stop herself from whirling around and hissing as softly and as controlled as she could. Which, honestly, wasn't a whole lot different than her normal hissing, but still. The effort was made.
"Maybe you only think so because I'm not constantly hungry like I was in RiverClan." Something clicked in her head, and olive eyes narrowed. "Or are you implying something else here?" Violetfreckle fully turned away from the Seastones and sat down, facing Sedgeflake. "Go on, please, enlighten me, brother."
"You poor deserter. Did you expect a warm reception to your betrayal?" Really, she could call him a kit all she wanted - he knew her true stripes.
Sedgeflake raised a brow at her defense. "You're not a child, are you? Our river has always teemed with fish and catching them has always been easy... I can tell the tree rats have made you lazy," another hint she was on the larger side, "but surely you haven't forgotten how to hunt for yourself?" Ah, given how brain dead one would need to be to hop the river as she did, he wouldn't be horribly surprised. Just more disappointed in her.
A smirk. Oh, so maybe she wasn't that dumbified. "Don't worry, sister. I know you haven't gone so low as to have that worm's kittens. You're just preparing for hibernation, hmm?"
But surprising that he hadn't quite found any cats to settle down with in his clan yet, but maybe she was just surprised because of his charm.
Speaking of charm, Scorpionsight absolutely froze up when he got close and complimented her again.
And still has a chance?
What's that mean?
She cleared her throat before loosening up again, though eye contact was a thing she was unable to manage now "You are too sweet, you know that?" She managed nervously.
Thing is, the nervousness only came from her freezing up before. Other than that, she was oddly comfortable around Raggedear.
"I try my best." He mewed cheerily, leaning in close to Scorpionsight's face. Almost close enough that their noses were touching- but not quite as he narrowed his deep yellow eyes. "Just don't go fallin' for me now, doll." This time, he didn't laugh. He just pulled back and smirked, turning his gaze back to the leaders and wrapping his plumy tail neatly around his paws. Oh, how he loved this game. Of course...that's all it was. A game. And she knew how to play...right?
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pixelgifs by @/SnowheartTC
Brokenstream is one of RiverClan's Lionhearts! He is OPEN to any RP; if you need him, mention me !
Brokenstream shot one last glance at Riftpaw and Snakefang with a disconcerted face, but continued to pad away with Ravenpaw. Riftpaw would be fine. Turning his attention back to the young she-cat, Brokenstream fixed a warm green gaze on her. "Besides beings stuck with me and...that debacle...how are you enjoying your first Gathering so far?" He asked, clearly trying to make conversation. As they walked around the clearing, the Lionheart kept his ears perked, not only listening for Ravenpaw's answers, but to make sure RiverClan wasn't sharing any...fruitful gossip.
He cast a glance towards the leaders and deputies once again. "You know, one day that could be you up there. A Gathering is one of the most important events you can attend- plenty to learn and plenty to observe." He continued on as they casually strolled along. "But you're smart, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that. Oh! That reminds me- how's your training with Redmire going?" He asked with a friendly blink.
-‘๑’- RIFTPAW | 6 MOONS | HE/HIM -‘๑’- split half solid black, half brown tabby with icy blue eyes
header by @/dino.
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Riftpaw nodded at Snakefang's explanation. "So...do you still eat fish?" He asked curiously, head tilted as he gaze at the ThunderClanner. "Duskleaf hasn't taught me how to fish yet, but it's no wonder..." He trailed off, ears flattening in embarrassment. "I'm not very good at pouncing..." He admitted. The normally incredibly quiet felt himself opening up to this she-cat for some reason. Maybe she reminded him more of Duskleaf than he really understood. "Do you miss Duskleaf?"
Fadingstar bit back a sharp retort as Dusklion criticized him for bringing execution up again. If she had a problem with the way he was speaking to the Clan, now was not the time nor the place for that. The last thing they needed was the other Clans arriving and seeing them bickering. He made a mental note to speak to her later.
The Thunder-rats were quick to arrive afterwards. Fadingstar took note that neither of their medicine cats seemed to be with them any longer; instead, a young cat was taking the place of ThunderClan's healers. Although he kept his expression neutral, inwardly he felt nothing but satisfaction at this change. After what they did, ThunderClan deserved to suffer the consequences; maybe now they wouldn't be so quick to comment on RiverClan's own problems.
That hope proved to be short-lived, since Bumblebrat and Spidertwat wasted no time in trying to rile the RiverClan high ranks up. Keeping a protective eye on Berrypaw, Fadingstar chose not to respond to their attempts.
He was a little disappointed that Dusklion chose to answer them back, but he couldn't get too upset at her for it. After all, had he not been trying to put on a strong and stable showing for RiverClan, he might have joined in. But he at least wouldn't be giving either of them any indication that he cared at all about what they had to say.
What interested the RiverClan leader more was how he could potentially influence their new medicine cat. If he could make a positive impression, it could very well throw a stone in any future ideas ThunderClan had to stick their holier-than-thou noses into RiverClan's business once again.
"Congratulations on receiving a high rank," he said, directing it at Wolfpaw. He wasn't certain of the cat's name. "It's always nice to see young cats achieve something significant like that, regardless of their Clan."
Shortly after that, WindClan and ShadowClan arrived. Twilightstar was accompanied by Crowtooth, Lightningstorm, and an apprentice he didn't recognize. It seemed they'd finally gotten their high rank situation sorted out.
To say that Fadingstar was disappointed that the two fox-hearted leaders hadn't keeled over and died during RiverClan's absence was an understatement, but he kept a genuine smile on his face as he gave Rabbitpaw a nod of acknowledgement as well.
He was certain that the leaders had continued to delude themselves into thinking they were in the right for what they did, but at least Twilightstar and Dawnstar had enough decency and sense left to act decent, unlike Bumblestar. He'd keep that in mind.
After some time had passed, he stepped forward to begin the Gathering. "RiverClan has returned to our normal territory," he began, his voice ringing out across the gathered cats. "We have a number of new warriors in our ranks: Adderstrike, Sunsetgleam, Willowtail, and Cobwebfern received their warrior names. Wrenseeker also attained warrior status, but was unfortunately killed by a predator while hunting for the Clan.
"We also have a number of new apprentices. Aspenpaw, Smolderpaw, Baneberrypaw, Emberpaw, Lionpaw, Shellpaw, Salamanderpaw, Beaverpaw, Softpaw, and Fishpaw are all making good progress in their warrior training."
He paused in case any of his Clan wanted to cheer for the warriors and apprentices. He doubted he'd hear any voices from the other Clans, but maybe he'd be wrong.
"We also have several new Lionhearts on our team. Brokenstream, Heroneye, Caveclaw, and Goldfish have attained Lionheart status. They've been offering great help in keeping our Clan in line."
Fadingstar decided not to mention Duskleaf's demotion; it would only make them look unstable and weak. "Mistyshard remained behind at camp to tend to a warrior who was severely injured earlier today; Berrypaw is representing RiverClan's healers in her absence."
The leader shifted his weight around a little, growing stiff. "Skyfall, or Skypaw at the time, was permanently exiled from RiverClan for threatening Dusklion and repeatedly failing to do his duties as a warrior. If you see him around your territory, I suggest you chase him off. He's nothing but trouble.
"On the topic of trouble, I've made it extremely clear with my Clan that I expect them to respect the integrity of the Clan borders. Any warriors or older apprentices who cross the borders for any reason, or who decide to attack or explicitly threaten the other Clans without provocation, will be permanently exiled. If you catch any RiverClan warriors or older apprentices on your territory, you are free to treat them as you would any rogue. By trespassing, they revoke their place in RiverClan.
"That said, RiverClan expects that respect for the borders will go both ways. Any trespassers on our land will be challenged and handled accordingly. We also expect that the Clans will honor their promise to leave us alone and stay out of our territory in exchange for the time we spent away from our land, and for our continued efforts to keep RiverClan's cats under control."
He wanted to be sure it was clear that RiverClan's leadership was taking responsibility (although they were already doing that prior to the big battle, but that was that), but at the same time he felt it appropriate to make it clear he expected the other Clans' leadership to keep control of their own cats.
With that, Fadingstar stepped back and sat down, allowing one of the other leaders to step forward and offer their announcements.
[ If I made any mistakes or forgot anything, please VM me and give me a chance to correct it before bringing it up IC, as it would be OOC for Fading to forget things. There was a lot to try to condense into this announcement so I may have forgotten a thing or two ]
Fadingstar is currently RiverClan's leader. He has an open den policy; please post at the abandoned den and tag me! If you have any questions or concerns about RiverClan, or any plots to propose, feel free to leave me a VM or DM! Please do not take my characters' IC opinions as reflective of my own.
Re: September Gathering
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