@Luna16 (this is the starter for a Fleet/Tangle interaction)
The air was thick with tension, and cross-clan commotion, but Tanglespring had no interest in any of it. The handsome warrior's ears swiveled lazily, as he picked up sparse segments of conversation, nothing in particular piquing his interest. At his last Gathering, he had been an apprentice, taller than some of his warrior companions.
For whatever reason, WindClan cats always seemed to fascinate him. He inwardly remarked on how they looked more like him than some of his clanmates, with their long, lean frames. I just know they're hiding some kind of first class agility training on those moors, he thought to himself wondering just how many mice it would take to bribe a WindClan cat into sharing those secrets.
The Code. The Clan, he reminded himself, as his gaze fell upon a WindClan apprentice he didn't immediately recognize, I shouldn't be sitting here wondering if a WindClan cat could teach me secret battle tactics. StarClan is probably listening to my thoughts right now, and putting me one pawstep away from the Dark Forest, I reckon. Well, I'll just refuse to die, that'll teach 'em.
He huffed softly to himself, and tilted his head in the apprentice's direction, "Well, this Gathering might be a little more excitement than it's worth, don't you think?" he called affably.
(feel free to let me know if this needs any edits/adjustments for Fleet!)
Fleetpaw flinched sharply at the new voice, a shudder moving up his spine and making his fur stand on end. He leapt to his paws, whirling around to face his potential adversary- wait no that wasn't right... The dark blue-gray tom felt his heart pushing against his chest, ready to burst. A crowd like this was terrifying! Why would Twilightstar and Fadingdawn think this was a good idea?! And by "this" he meant only his attendance at this...this Gathering. More like hell...
Oh. But wait he never actually responded to this cat. He ducked his head, meaning to dip his head respectfully but it looked more like cowering in fear. "E-...Excitement is a w-word for it..." He stuttered. "M-More like...terrifying honestly..." He admitted. Fleetpaw was already away that he was a cowardly mess, he didn't mind owning his own fear. Even to a stranger. There was no point after all, he was bound to have seen what a coward Fleetpaw was already.
Fleetpaw flinched sharply at the new voice, a shudder moving up his spine and making his fur stand on end. He leapt to his paws, whirling around to face his potential adversary- wait no that wasn't right... The dark blue-gray tom felt his heart pushing against his chest, ready to burst. A crowd like this was terrifying! Why would Twilightstar and Fadingdawn think this was a good idea?! And by "this" he meant only his attendance at this...this Gathering. More like hell...
Oh. But wait he never actually responded to this cat. He ducked his head, meaning to dip his head respectfully but it looked more like cowering in fear. "E-...Excitement is a w-word for it..." He stuttered. "M-More like...terrifying honestly..." He admitted. Fleetpaw was already away that he was a cowardly mess, he didn't mind owning his own fear. Even to a stranger. There was no point after all, he was bound to have seen what a coward Fleetpaw was already.
Immediately recognizing the mounting panic in the young cat's tone, Tanglespring softened a bit. He recalled his time in Twolegplace, and the fear those memories still imparted. This apprentice has seen things, and I don't wager many of them were good, he mused inwardly.
He lowered his head and softened his posture, suddenly aware that he was in fact the archetype of big, scary ShadowClan warrior, "Oh, it's no stroll through the pines, that's for sure," he offered, with an airy chuckle, "But I don't know if I'd call these cats terrifying. Attention hungry, and a little distractible, maybe...most of 'em just want to show off and show out in front of the other Clans."
"Can't be bothered, myself," The black furred warrior continued, "And you're wise to stay out of it." There was something about this young cat that seemed vaguely familiar to Tanglespring, but he withheld his observations, trying to place exactly what memory was being sparked in the back of his mind.
Burnedpaw elaborated on why he acted as he did and Cricketpaw couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I find the world over-complicates the simplest things, as a kit you are taught that you must forgive when so done wrongs you, yet when you grow up, the clans prove it was a lie? The dynamic of it all is confusing to a sorts" Not that she never even dug for answers but it would be nice to have some clarity.
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Re: September Gathering
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyme
WE'LL BUILD A FIRE IN YOUR EYES
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ! ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
SALAMANDERPAW . 6 MOONS . SHE/HER . RIVERCLAN
Salamanderpaw works very hard on breathing all the way in (deep!) and all the way out (noisy!). This, she's heard, is supposed to help somehow--but she's not really buying it, because she just feels like a big, winded badger, forcing the air around like she's trying to hack a storm out of her chest. It's almost funny; for once she had the sense to know she shouldn't be here, that it was a no good, very bad, terrible idea, and she had committed to it anyway. So maybe being smart and thinking ahead doesn't matter, Salamanderpaw decides, paw at her mouth so she can pick at her claws with her teeth. Not if my paws know where they're going no matter what my mind says. But, it's fine. It is. Yes, she'd given Slugpaw a tongue-lashing, but nobody was bleeding. Shellpaw's fine, which is especially good. They have a strong sister here to keep the bad guys away, and a sweet friend to make the trip worthwhile. And...and Salamanderpaw would never say this aloud, but Slugpaw's pretty alright, for a Thunderclan monsterling. One can almost tell she didn't do anything wrong, which is nice. Almost makes up for the fact that all of the cats she's being raised and trained by certainly did do things wrong.
Though Salamanderpaw's moved herself to a safer distance, she can't resist shooting another withering look at the other young calico, and--PSSSSST! Oop!! Salamanderpaw twitches, eyes going round, fur going floofed. Oh. Oh, it's just Shellpaw. She'd been so deep in her own nonsense that she hadn't noticed the pale cat scurrying back a few paces to meet her in the Brooding Zone. A spy? Oh, scuff. Salamanderpaw hadn't even considered that. Here she'd just been hating on principle, but now that Shellpaw's mentioned it, it would be clever of the older Thunderclanners to train up their littler ones to be all...all conniving and uh...spy-ly. Eyes still stuck wide like discs, she nods gravely. This makes...so much sense...
"Be careful," she whisper-hisses back to her sibling. "I gotta stay right here so I don't act stupid but if anything gets weird, all bets are off." Salamanderpaw doesn't want her paws to move without permission from her sense again, but she can't trust that that won't happen if she remains within swinging distance of Slugpaw. It's not worth the punishment!!! She thinks as loudly as she can, nipping the paw at her mouth firmly. Starclan only knows if the message has been received.
"But I think it's okay," Salamanderpaw speaks up softly again, nodding toward Slugpaw and Rainpaw. "I think we have a cat who can be anti-spy." Rainpaw's talking, and although Salamanderpaw doesn't catch much of it (not because she's not hearing it but because she's having a hard time listening; it's a very crowded place, and she is very riled up), the side-view she's getting from the black-and-white cat's face looks very...sincere? Like she's working through something with Slugpaw, who even giggles, at one point. Whatever sparks of conflict had been ignited by Salamanderpaw and her big mouth were...were rained on, just like that. And maybe it's a little irksome that Rainpaw--Salamanderpaw's starting to process what she'd said, now--is apologizing (you have nothing to be sorry for, and I'm sure not sorry!), but having someone to soothe the situation is probably a good thing. Because if Slugpaw's willing to move past it all, that's...that means Shellpaw and Rainpaw, at least, can have a good long chat with her and really work on uncovering what kind of spy stuff she may or may not be up to. Salamanderpaw, for her part, will have to keep back, still. She fears no amount of rain or talk will keep her paws still if her own mind can't.
Still. "Thank you, Rainpaw." It's awkward, stilted, but genuine. She turns to meet Shellpaw's gaze briefly, jerking her head toward the other two. She doesn't want to keep him. He'd be better at sussing out a spy than she would, and anyway, she's suddenly too busy beaming ear-to-ear and puffing up proudly as hers and Shellpaw's recent promotions are mentioned overhead by Fadingstar.
"That's us, you know!" She chirps over at Slugpaw, finally feeling able to address the she-cat without snapping. "Shellpaw's going to be the fastest swimmer ever. And I'm going to be a better fighter than you could ever dream of. Alright?"
Shellpaw
he/they - 6 moons - Go with the flow [inactive]
Act stupid? Why would Salamanderpaw act stupid? She wasn't stupid! Still, she definitely wanted to stay over here. He could tell that much.
But it's okay? He gazed on over at the other two, mid-conversation. Rainpaw was apologising? His fur prickled, worried about her, but he flashed her a kind smile to make sure she knew he wasn't upset. Anti spy, huh? Could Slugpaw really be that nice, all by herself, without special training, in ThunderClan? They really weren't certain, but Slamanderpaw had been far more upset than them, so, if she said it's okay, they'd believe her. Hmm. "Mm. If you say so."
He tucked his fluffy tail round his paws, noticing how it repelled that sandy gravels beneath it. Were ThunderClan tails like that? Probably not, right? They live in the forest, so they don't deal with gravels or sand. They wanted to go and ask Slugpaw about it, but, they couldn't bring themself to. Politeness was fine, but they couldn't begin to consider a proper conversation with her, like Rainpaw.
But then, Slamanderpaw signalled for him to go and join the other two? Well, if it was for the sake of figuring out spy stuff, it was certainly worth it. He gave a little head dip in return, wishing she could come with him, then padded on over.
Racing thoughts about spies, and what Slugpaw might say - or try to uncover - next, were soon interrupted by Salamnderpaw's comment. Oh! Was Fadingstar talking? Gazing up, they soon realised that he certainly was. They found themselves so wrapped up in this spy operation, that they hadn't even noticed the literal gathering begin. They'd guessed right - this place was too big and loud for them to follow everything. "Oh yeah!" They chimed, "Slamanderpaw's the bestest fighter ever!" they grinned at her whilst they bragged. Swimming was cool, but they doubted it'd be impressive to a ThunderClan cat, right?
Alpinepaw got up and walked slowly in the gap between Shadowclan and Thunderclan. She looked around as she was getting closer to the High Ranks. Alpinepaw stopped suddenly and looked to her left. There was a cat who was not talking to anyone. The apprentice thought, "Should I talk to them even though they are from a different clan? They are alone, just like me. I would like to converse with them but I'm too scared."
It seemed the fury's worry had been for naught. No sooner had the apprentice approached her than she spotted the clan's medicine cat apprentice scurrying towards the medicine cat's perch, and a sigh of relief escaped her. She had heard the gossip. Over how dear Rabbitpaw had been hit hard by his mother's death. And could she blame the lad? Not in the slightest, truly. But still... it was prudent to ask a friend in the slightest chance she could offer some assistance... if perhaps in a more private fashion than the gathering offered.
"Oh, you know what, darling? I plum forgot what I meant to ask of you. I'm afraid this old molly just has too many thoughts running through her head sometimes. Go right ahead and enjoy yourself, my dear. Just because we must mind ourselves around the other clans it doesn't mean we aren't allowed to have a good time, isn't that right?" Dapplebreeze purred amicably, allowing her tail to gently rest on the tom's flank before giving him a nod of dismissal. No reason to keep him stuck to her side and deprive him of the potential to enjoy his youthful gatherings as long as he wasn't being careless, after all.
@Tallstar [Vinepaw]
| I thought I had responded to this already. So sorry for the delay. I tend to put a speedier priority on gathering posts, this one got away from me. |
__________________
Lightningstorm is WindClan's current medicine cat.
She has a semi-closed den policy.
Her mind whirled with thoughts and decisions as her eyes remained locked on one of the two shes whose pawsteps she sought to follow; Dawnstar, and her mama’s within the crowd. Her gaze had always been intense, watching with little blinking and with such focus you’d think was in charge of an operation far beyond her station; but Sleepysunrise hardly realised as much, eyes locked on Miss Grandmama, ears lifted to listen to the various announcements each leader gave.
Her near-reverie was interrupted by the arrival of one whose presence she did not mind; she startled, eyes snapping down, only to soften at the sight of Birdpaw snuggling close and nosing her shoulder. A twitch of her ear gave away the silent affection the stoic feline felt towards her younger sister, greeting her with a slow blink of her eyes. You’d think, the voice Birdpaw used, was much alike her own. She had noticed, frankly, that her younger sister’s voice often changed - varied in tones, took on those of the cats around her or similar to them, never quite the same. ‘’..How.. Do you do. That?’’
She wondered quietly, breaking her ever lasting silence with a gentle murmur between a pause of announcements.
IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE
AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❊ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
GOLDENPAW . 7 MOONS . HE/SHE/THEY . THUNDERCLAN
Goldenpaw pushes out a short laugh, something that sounds a little more like a hack-y clearing of the throat. "Guess it's alright if we're both too much, then, long as its pointed at each other." Goldenpaw reasons. Perhaps they're both a pair of dual pawfuls in their own way, but neither one seems bothered by the other's muchness, so, all is well. And, indeed, Goldenpaw doesn't really care too much for whether someone's all tousled-looking or not (beyond how she can use that information to relate to someone but that's neither here nor there), but she still listens attentively, nods along, chokes back another tender cough. Daffodilpaw's interesting, worth listening to.
"Race wit' the wind sounds good. Kinda thing they'd tell real good stories about in the elders' den. Would be a real honor t'get my tail handed ta me." He bobs his head. Goldenpaw's not a particularly fast cat, anyhow—not too slow, either, but not the sort of beast you'd look at and expect any kind of speediness from. Certainly not the kind a smart cat would bet on being a race-winner. It isn't about competition, though, to Goldenpaw. Other cats like to win. Goldenpaw likes other cats.
It's about that.
Never mind that it might not be practical to hope for a day that they could really do this with Daffodilpaw, considering how rare it is to meet outside of Gatherings even when ones camp isn't locked down. Somethin' to inspire me ta wiggle my way onto more border patrols then. Something to hope for. If Starclan's willed this meeting to happen then they'd arrange another one, right? Goldenpaw twitches a wry look skyward. Right?
"Y'all don't get squirrels, much?" Eyes drop back down, blink. "Awh, right, I guess that makes sense. We got 'em comin' out our ears in Thunderclan, but then, we also got trees all over. Trees for daaays. I uh. Haven't worked my way up to any branch-jumps...the thing about flyin' is that it feels a lot like plummeting t'your death 'til you get good at it, an' that's a little scary." They confess. Then, worried they might be putting Daffodilpaw off the notion of climbing, Goldenpaw adds: "But it's like. Y'know, a normal kinda fear. A learning-fear. If we could all just do cool stuff no problem then it wouldn't be cool anymore. I tell ya what: we ever get around to racin' each other, I'll make sure I've gotten the hang a' flying by then. Maybe give you a pointer or two, if you haven't figured it out yourself."
There. Even if it's improbable that they'd ever meet again, that was still another thing to motivate Goldenpaw to get over the fear of falling on their head.
Crowtooth arrived and immediately started chatting with the ShadowClan deputy and complaining about his bath. She doubted this would be a usual thing with a tunneler, however, she was impressed that Hawkfur and Lightningstorm had managed to wrangle Crowtooth and groom him. She was even more impressed that he hadn't rolled around the sand or dirt before they reached the gathering.
The leader's tail twitched lazily while listening to the pair of deputies chatted about killing each other. Twilightstar tensed uncomfortably at the mention of Crowtooth losing a life. Even though she was glad the two were getting along, she wasn't fond of their banter topic. Before her thoughts could drift down that dark path of self-loath and uncertainty, her gaze drifted towards the gathering clans.
She noticed some drama with a few different groups, of course, all involving RiverClan, but as she didn't see any of her cats involved she didn't pay much attention to any of it. She turned her ear to Dawnstar at her question, and let her tail lash when she followed her gaze to Crowtooth. She didn't know what he had done, but something about him was getting on Dawnstar's nerves.
"Let's not try and say we did." Twilightstar meowed while rolling her single eye. "I would love it if you left him alone for at least a few moons, I just got him." The fur along her back bristled lightly but that was about all the displeasure visible shown at the topic of murdering her deputy. "I don't know what he's done to annoy you, but I'll give him a good scold back at camp. So let's leave him be, I'd hate to put yours in the ground in retaliation, she seems like a good deputy."
The ShadowClan leader and deputy duo were stressing poor Twilightstar. She had half a mind to demote Crowtooth just to get them to stop threatening his life. Twilightstar felt like she painted a big target on the tom's back. Bumblestar thankfully drew Dawnstar's attention away not long after Crowtooth comment to the ShadowClan leader. He was getting cuffed later.
The Cowardlylion spoke up catching her cold stare. Otters? She'd never seen an otter before, she heard them mention but they were more of a RiverClan exclusive predator. So that's what killed Tallgrass. Twilightstar offered Dusklion a stiff nod for the information and caught Crowtooth's eye. She'd admit that she hadn't been certain if it was RiverClan ploy or not, it was hard to put it past them with everything they'd done, but now they knew it was otters, WindClan have to be extra careful around RiverClan's border, certainly no apprentices there until the otters were gone.
ThunderClan's deputy left the gathering after collecting his kits? Twilightstar was seriously wondering what Spiderthroat brought to ThunderClan that made Bumblestar want to keep him as her deputy. He sounded like quite the lousy father, but it's not like Twilightstar could say much about that considering her own family. Spiderthroat managed to keep his rank moon after moon so he must do something right in his clan.
As Fadingstar started the gathering, Twilightstar listened and couldn't help but be a bit curious as to why the news of the otters had come from Dusklion and not his maw instead. Warriors, apprentices, he spoke of the usual announcements, yet said nothing about the otters, perhaps because Dusklion already spoke of them? Regardless of who talked about otters she would very much like a know how soon they'd be dealt with, as RiverClan's problem was a danger to WindClan. The comment about keeping out of RiverClan's territory irked her a tad. It hadn't been WindClan repeatedly trespassing in RiverClan territory!
No need to be petty about it because she was tired and irritable. She got to her sore paws and stepped up to claim the spotlight.
"WindClan brings to this Gathering our new deputy, Crowtooth, and our new medicine cat apprentice, Rabbitpaw." Twilightstar introduced the newest addition to the WindClan high ranks.
"We have two new apprentices, Owlpaw and Maggotpaw," the latter was the most reluctant apprentice she'd seen in all her seasons as WindClan's leader, "and two former outsiders who've joined our ranks, Cottonkit and Ashkit."
"One of our apprentices, Quickpaw, was executed for attacking his clanmates. Three of our clanmates passed away, Bravebird who fell ill not long after having her kits, Tallgrass was killed by otters at Sedgewater Valley, and Sunpaw who had eaten something he should not." Aside from Bravebird, she didn't feel too bad about the paws, nor Tallgrass who failed to heed her orders.
She took a paw step back signaling that was the end to WindClan's announcement, but before she fully ceded her place, she turned her head to peer at both the RiverClan leader and deputy. "I can not speak for everyone, but WindClan welcomes you back to the forest. I'm sure your time in exile wasn't easy. WindClan has agreed to leave your clan in peace while you're recovering." Twilightstar wouldn't speak for Dawnstar or Bumblestar, they had working mouths of their own.
"You need not worry about defending your territory from us so long as RiverClan isn't scented in our territory nor harming my cats unprovoked. I hope we can let bygones be bygones and at least be civil with each other from here on out. I've no intentions of stirring up any trouble with you nor will I allow my clanmates to go unpunished should they try." Twilightstar sat back down, inviting ThunderClan or ShadowClan to speak. As it seemed like RiverClan wanted to brush over their exile completely, she thought it was a good idea to at least talk a little about it. She was willing to let sleeping cats lie but wasn't expecting RiverClan to if ever.
@dino. @Undertaker @occultation @taillow @Rani
Re: September Gathering
So sorry for the delay. I tend to put a speedier priority on gathering posts, this one got away from me. |
