October Gathering

[Badwolf]

[Bouncepaw]
Apprentice|8 moons|Windclan

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Bouncepaw glances at his sister as she drifts off to see other cats. By the looks and smell of them, they must be Riverclan warriors. Bouncepaw didn't know Daffodilpaw had Riverclan friends. That was new. He puts his mind off her business for now.

Who should he talk to now? Should he just stand alone?

"Cricketpaw?" Bouncepaw meows as he sees the apprentice. They'd talked last Gathering, and although he didn't yet know her all that well, she was at least more familiar than the other cats. He dips his head in greeting.

Tags:
@Silvershadow13 /Cricketpaw
(Hello!)

[Silvershadow13]

•| Cricket'Paw |•

She turned at the sound of her name, fur laying flat when she recognized the face.

"Bouncepaw! Hello!" it was nice to have made friends at the last gathering, at least she had cats to talk to.

@Luna16
@Splitmoon
@Badwolf

[taillow]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Stormstar - RiverClan Leader

One ear remained focused on the medicine cats seated below them as she heard the other ShadowClan healer speak up - Mossfreckle, was it? The warning in his tone irritated her, but as much as it did she knew it was something she'd do if she could right now to Cobs; a warning to not let Rookfire rile her up. Her gaze flickered briefly over towards Cobs and Berries, wondering if she needed to talk with the two after this gathering was over. She hadn't realized what an anxious mess the medicine cat apprentice would be - and that would need to be fixed at least for gatherings.

Bumblestar's quip had her glancing towards the leader. Right, the otters. "That's bein' handled, just so you know," Stormstar offered, brows furrowing. "Ran into a slight... issue, but they shouldn't be a problem much longer." She had already talked to the elders and had a game plan in mind, at leasy. Hopefully the next time she took a patrol out it would be to rid the waters of those vile creatures.

...And bring closure to Mudsmoke and Jayfrost...

The scent of WindClan turned Stormstar's attention towards the beach and she watched as Twilightstar hurried across the sand to the stones. She didn't go further than the stones where the deputies sat however, and the gray furred leader blinked. But when the single-eyed leader glanced at her, and spoke words she never thought she'd hear, the RiverClan leader's gaze widened a bit. Short-circuiting and blinking once, then twice, she tried to regain her composer and stop the gratitude from filling her eyes by clearing her throat.

They were rival Clans. Twilightstar and WindClan had driven them out! So why did her heart flutter with admiration at being recognized by the older leader? She was sure it was only said to remain civil. It wasn't because the WindClan leader was actually proud of her, or wanted to congratulate her. "Thank you," the gray-furred leader finally managed with a quick dip of her head, then because she wasn't entirely sure what else to do she averted her gaze back out towards the crowd. Well, if she wasn't nervous before, she certainly was a bit now. Her paws kneaded the stone as Twilightstar continued speaking with her deputy, and the medicine cats continued below, and the chatter of the crowds.

Before she knew it, Stormstar was striding forward onto the rock until her paws crested the edge and she could see out into the crowd. Her heart beat heavily in her chest as she paused, letting her gaze sweep over every cat there. It was... terrifying in a sense to be right where she had wanted to be for so many moons. Times spent sitting on the sandy shoreline looking up at the cats that stepped onto this stone, that gave announcements. Her paws tingled and the feeling spread up her legs, to her whiskers, and finally up through the tips of her ears and tail.

...But she was ready. The nerves died down and she rolled her shoulders back, standing taller and appearing much more confident than she had a couple seconds ago.

"RiverClan has been through a few challenges lately, but it's been nothin' we haven't been able to handle," Stormstar began, her voice clear and bold as it rang across the gathering space. "As you can tell, Fadin'star is no longer with us. Disppeared without a lot to go on. I traveled to the Starcave 'n was made RiverClan's leader under my new name - Stormstar." A brief glance up towards the stars, wondering if Goosefury was watching her right now. "Our medicine cat traveled with me, 'n StarClan saw fit to also grant her full medicine cat name of Berryshine."

A wide grin spread across her maw as she looked to her medicine cat, pride shimmering in her gaze. Sure, she had a deputy now and Berries an apprentice - but that Starcave journey was something the leader would treasure between just the two of them. "I've named Owltalon as my deputy, 'n Berryshine has taken on Cobwebfern as her apprentice." Full ranks. Perhaps the quickest she had seen them done, but she wouldn't boast about that now - she'd let that action speak for itself.

"We've had some new apprentices start their warrior trainin'; Featherpaw, Starrypaw, Shorepaw, Rosemarypaw, 'n Drizzlepaw. Some new outsiders joinin' out ranks as well - Soarin'paw, Fireglow, 'n Bravekit." She didn't currently see any of the outsiders here, which was probably for the best since they could be rather overwhelming. "One of our queens, Swanberry, has also welcomed a litter of kits; Turlekit, Ripplekit, Bubblekit, 'n Whisperin'kit." Her throat tightened at the thought of Streamkit, debating on if she should mention the young kit... "Streamkit, unfortunately, was stillborn, 'n we hope StarClan has welcomed them with open paws." It hurt to think of the kit, but it was the right thing to do to honor their name here.

"We've had a few issues with predators lately - a pack of dogs in our territory that we had to fend off, foxes roamin' about, 'n otters in the rivers at our borders with ThunderClan and WindClan. While tryin' to deal with the otters, RiverClan has also lost Jayfrost 'n Mudsmoke." Two more losses to add on. "We lost Crowglow while clearin' out the dogs in the territory, 'n Catfishwhisker was taken from us by the foxes in our territory. I took a patrol to handle 'em 'n hearded 'em towards the outskirts. All of these cats were good 'n loyal warriors, 'n we honor them here tonight." Stars, that was a lot of deaths, wasn't it?

Looking at the other leaders now to make sure she had their attention, then back out at the crowd, Stormstar added, "Another ex-warrior of mine, Strongstorm, threatened the life of a 'paw 'n had no regard for the Clan he supposedly vowed to protect, so he's been exiled 'n renamed Weakkit. He's a big fluffy gray tom with green eyes, will probably be whinin' 'bout how he doesn't care about anythin'. He's not worth your time to take in." She made sure to let her gaze linger on each leader before continuing.

Looking back out to the crowd once more, Stormstar flicked her tail. "This wasn't acknowledged at the last gatherin', 'n I know it's long since past. But you all got to honor those who fell for your Clan in the battle," the leader stated, glancing to either side at the leaders, "so I hope you'll extend RiverClan 'n I the same courtesy." It was about time the cats who had been killed were given their rightful honor. "Mistclaw, Sedgetwist, Sandygust, Waterworm, Riverwhisper, Mudstone, Splashgaze, Carrotdash, Poppytail, Cricklecrash, Honeypaw, Alpinepaw, and Stickpaw all fought valiantly. They lost their lives in battle, 'n they are honored 'n remembered by their Clan." A brief dip of her head and closing of her eyes. She hoped they had all found peace among the stars...

After a moment, Stormstar re-opened her eyes. There was one more issue she wanted to address. Taking a step back from the rock just a bit, she rolled her shoulders back and looked towards ThunderClan's leader. "Bumblestar - at the last gatherin' before we were driven out, you gave RiverClan back Cattail Pond - however when I went to scout the area when we returned, there's still ThunderClan scent as heavy as ever. I want to know if you plan on keepin that word in givin' Cattail Pond back to RiverClan?" It was mostly to Bumblestar, but she didn't exactly keep her voice down. Mostly because she knew what the answer was going to be - and she wanted every single cat here to hear it, too.

Bumblestar would never give the pond up, despite having promised to return it to RiverClan. Of course, once they had left, she had swooped in and stolen it again. As much as Stormstar respected the leader beside her for what she had done to lift her own Clan out of despair, this would be the true test to see if she could ever fully work with the leader.

[ @Undertaker @Moonraven @dino. @Marigoldwhisper @squidz @finley !! ]

[Rani]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Crowtooth
Windclan Deputy | He/him | 51 Moons
Power Card: Cold Gust

In the open moor, warmed during the day by the sun with no trees to indicate the change in season it was often easy to miss the slow change of seasons. At night however without the shine of sun however the difference was obvious. Leaf-fall was here, and things would only get colder.

With that Crowtooth was not shocked or even protesting of his new role as a deputy/space heater, and had happily kept by Twilightstar as she took things slow.
He wasnt gonna bolt even without her anyways, it'd ruin his nice clean fur he'd (once again) subjected himself to being groomed for. It'd ruin all of the kits and Hawkfurs hard work after all (mostly Hawkfurs though) and its not like his brother was there to fix it. That fact made him kinda sad thinking about the reason to be honest....


The old leader settling in the deputy spot was a bit of a surprise however, though made sense when he realized why. Lower down the rock on their ledge pressed up against the seastone there was a sort of buffer from the wind off of the waves, a buffer the leaders at the tom lacked. Plus she had Crowtooths large and fluffy form settling against her, venting heat, here too.
"Ah so long as I aint put on the spot to give announcements while ya stick down here all sheltered, yer not gonna hear no protest from me (even if yer stealin' all my warm!). Aint no one here ready fer me runnin' my mouth after all~"

Neither was Crowtooth really, the idea of talking before the gathering was a terrifying task he'd need time to mentally prepare for. Honestly he didnt even wanna think about it, distraction distraction- ooh new fish!


Hetrochromatic eyes bouncing from the old fox-fish who was apparently now in charge (remained to be seen if that blew up on windclan) to the new-fish in the deputy slot with them Crowtooth.... Well Crowtooth judged. Not meanly! He just needed to know what he was working with. She was far older then the leader on the rock, around his age really, some gnarly scars. Eh he could take her, but hopefully wouldnt need to she seemed decent for a fish.
"Howdy there newby. Welcome ta the rock an' word o' warnin'. Dont pull yer bosses antics 'cuz she got real lucky gettin' out alive an' ya might not. Aint a threat, just dont want another war ta ruin the calm."
Crowtooth couldnt believe he was tired of war given how he used to be but even the thrill of a fight could get boring after a time. So yeah, Owltalon lady, no pulling a Dusklion.


He was just as genial and pleasant turning back to Twilightstar again as he was talking to the newcomer however so it seemed he'd held no grudges.


"It always slips my mind ya didnt spend a whole lotta time as deputy but yeah. Great for eavesdroppin' here as Ive learned so far, 'suppose its officially supposed to help us keep everyone in line while the leader talks.

Warmer then up there though heh!"


God the fish really were in your face tonight, there went miss full of glares yapping already not even giving most of windclan a chance to arrive. It was a better speech then the last fish though, so Crowtooth gave that credit even if this Stormstars personality was grating.

@Moonraven @Marigoldwhisper

[Minkuu]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty
"Buried past, a tale forgotten by it's own teller"

[ @ ]
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She had observed how the high rankers are positioned on the stones. Leader, deputy, medicine cats. They're all seperated by their respective ranks, which made sense. And the cats below them are an odd mix of warriors and apprentices of all the clans. The mix of scents was less desirable. She turned towards another clan that joined in the gathering. It didn't smell like Windclan, so that's Thunderclan. She felt her fur rise up slightly and her ears was more pinned back than it already was at such realization. Though the apprentice tried her best to keep it down like normal. Not..as bad as she thought. Which in turn gave her some ease; she was tense but she had always been tense from the beginning. Shadowclan's leader seemed a lot more terrifying. And the thunder leader started talking to Stormstar but she doesn't seem mean. Maybe today was an exception. Maybe she was different anywhere else. Soaringpaw still stuck towards there being a reason for everything, so maybe if there wasn't a reason for the leader to attack she wouldn't attack anyone. Which also makes sense. But what was the reason Larkwing got attack by Thunderclan until she got an injury that'll take time to heal? Not to mention Thunderclan's scent smells exactly like how one would imagine a foresty clan to smell like. Trees. And Windclan wasn't even there yet.

Ah..nevermind. Here they come. This clan that was supposed to be someone completely untrustable. Her eyebrows raised once she say 2 cats sitting at where the deputies were (she figured it was the deputy's spot since Owltalon was there and the other one was for medicine cats since Berryshine and Cobwebfern was there. So it the deductions were easy). No way Windclan had 2 deputies, so she guessed on of them was their leader judging by...the amount of space on that leader stone. And the fact there's only 3 cats there. Why sit near the deputies if you're a leader? The leader seemed rather calm, so why was she so untrusted by riverclan? With her having just joined, she'd have the chance to be more unbiased. She's not calling anyone a liar or wrong. She already kind of deducted that Windclan may be the reason for the clan moving camps so to see a calm, mature looking cat being imagined as a bringer of death and destruction was..an interesting one. Then again all the clans go to a neutral location every moon even though some absolutely hate each other and she figured most leaders have a limit just like any normal cat...wait..no, it's not weird anymore, that's pretty normal albeit...kind of extreme

So..that could mean the windclan leader was pushed to her limit at some point and that's what made her snap, and because of whatever she did Riverclan started hating windclan for it. For now she'd interpret it as that. That made the most sense for now. But Windclan..the high ranks at least..seemed to have forgiven Riverclan's actions that had put her to her limit at least somewhat so why does some of Soaringpaw's clanmates still hold such a grudge? She wanted to know why, she wanted to dive deeper into this whole thing.

Oh..announcements? So she presumed that was the main point in this gathering. Starting with Riverclan. Most of which she either knew already or wasn't something she could use. Starcave though? That must be some magical mythical cave for starclan or something. Starclan deemed it fitting for Berryshine to beomg a full medicine cat, and that's why the medicine cat..well..became one..so clearly Starclan held some sort of power of the clans. She didn't really like Stormstar saying her name among the other joining outsiders in front of everyone in the clans..but it wasn't like that announcement was dragged out for too long and it's not unreasonable for other cats to just ignore it and her especially since this is apparently normal to announce in gatherings, she supposes.

Although, that wasn't what caught her attention her the most. Battle. She was right. There was a battle. And apparently one where all 4 clans was partaking. Now..thank god she wasn't here yet when that happened. She could only have imagined how much the battle costed the clan; with all those deaths. She probably would've been dead as much as she'd hate that seeing as there was a dead apprentice thrown in the mix. 3 There had to be at least more than 10 deaths in total. Though..another part was that they didn't get the chance to be honored last gathering then? It seemed..odd..especially if other leaders were honoring their cats as well. So it was just this Fades (who she finally knew the real name of; Fadingstar) not saying nothing about the amount of death? Was he worried the clan would look weak? She could definitely relate to not wanting to seem weak so she can't blame him too harm if that's the reason, though when you're a leader that just seem..it just makes him seem less..respectful towards the dead compared towards the other leaders. Just her thought

[Daragca]

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Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 41 moons
Killer Aptitude T3 - Just A Scratch - Silver Tongue T2
The Dancing Bird

Owlthroat idly twitched an ear. He wasn’t in the mood for too much idle chatter but he hadn’t attended last moons gathering. Perhaps a time now to catch up on how the others had been faring.

[​​ OPEN]