December Gathering

[carmen]

@Hanukkah Hawkice

Foxpaw was surprised by his answer. Not the part about him being Shadowclan, or anything, but this cat was nice. It seemed. They were Shadowclan, so anything might happen. But the real shock was his reaction. No one ever reacted kindly towards her. "Well, um, I haven't seen you here before. Are you a new apprentice?" She swallowed hard, trying to bite back her words, but ultimately failed. "Is Shadowclan really as mean as they say?"

[WinterMara]

| Softpaw of Thunderclan |

She hadn't expected anyone to come talk to her, let alone one of her own clanmates, it was a bit, embaressing. Softpaw took a deep breath and sighed, before looking over to Bushpaw with a fake smile, before forcing a laugh herself. ' 'Yep, joyful as ever to be at the gathering with so many cats and, plenty of news to hear.' ' Her mood shifted as of recently, mostly to a lot more faking but also a lot more, honestly she'd call it full on depression, so many things were changing around her and, she herself was changing to the point where it felt like everything was hitting at her like a huge monster, it sucked.

| @error

[poppy]

(for context, Sun and Leaf know her as Hazelkit ^^)

All these cats. It was.. difficult. Rainywind had trailed behind the rest of WindClan, preferring to stay in the shadows, like usual. It was easier to hide in the darkness. It was also hard enough living in a group again, she barely remembered the last couple of times she had been apart of groups. Bone's group. That group that her family was in.

She didn't know... where they were. She missed them a lot, and didn't have anything to remember them by except for faces. The kit-like faces of her littermates, the loving faces of her mother and father. Only their faces, she remembered. Her heart quickened as she slipped sinuously out of her hiding spot, flustered. She looked around at a bunch of the cats. They looked... mean. Her eyes fell to the gruesome scar on her flank, and she shook her fur out to cover the clawmarks on her back. Sapphire blue gaze on the alert, she back away from the cats she saw, terrified of them running at her and adding to her scar-littered skin.

Her paw flew to her throat, where the slight bump of teethmarks remained, just a pale pink scar, but still a horrifying memory. Of Death. And Claw. A small squeak of fear escaped her, and she turned around, ready to run, when someone caught her eye. A pale ginger, russet marbled flash of fur made her freeze. Momentarily forgetting her terror, she approached the tom. He was talking to a tabby she-cat, who's face struck a chord in Rainy's heart. She leaned forward, sniffing the tom experimentally. Coming around to face the two cats, she let out a hoarse, strangled gasp, and stumbled backwards.

''Y-you.'' She choked out, caramel colored fur bristling. ''I... I...'' Tripping over her tail as she backed away slowly, she looked around, natural instinct telling her to flee this uncertain, terrifyingly strange situation.

@Naiad @Dawnfallstar

[Rani]

'Only reliable one' well that was a new attribute and not one commonly commented on, usually his snappish nature was the conversation piece, but as time went on and an endless stream of high ranks came and went it was looking increasingly true. And wasnt that a wonderful thought... ugh. Moving swiftly on so this point didnt end it irritating him to the point of grumpiness Snakeheart shifted focus. "How are your herb stores looking for the winter? Ive tried to fill mine and am going to be trying some methods to extend their lifespan to avoid winter rot but I swear herbs go as fast as they are added too its maddening." Granted some of that was due to him giving herbs to Dogbark after he treated the tom but still he needed to be prepared in case of a greencough outbreak, it was the season for it after all and riverclan cats were especially susceptible. Wet fur in the cold was asking for sickness....


@Fletcher @Nixey

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

~ IVYPAW ~

She had decided to come to this next Gathering. Ivypaw padded alongside the ShadowClan cats, her fur fluffed out against the chill. Even though her pelt was short, it was very thick and dense, so that helped a bit. But it seemed like this "leaf-bare" was upon the Clans. Her breath clouded in front of her, and... what was that? There was a light powdering of dusty white stuff that was very cold when she stuck her paws in it. Was this the "snow" cats were talking about? It made sense. This "snow" made everything colder. The she-cat continued along, feeling the muscles that had begun to develop under her pelt. She was getting stronger. I can't wait to fight the other Clans! I really want to give Dawnstar a pelt that doesn't belong to a mouse, and slice my claws through some cat's fur, and kill! She really couldn't wait. What did another cat's blood taste like? What was a battle like? Ivypaw knew the basics, but not everything. I really want to test out my battle moves.

Well, she was here. Ivypaw looked around. There seemed to be a lot more cats - every Clan was here. She recognized the smells of RiverClan, ThunderClan, and... WindClan, who hadn't been at the last Gathering. They were referred to as "weak bunnies", small and skinny, and ShadowClan loved pushing them around. Ivypaw herself had never met any of them. Now she could smell their scent around the area, and the clearing seemed fuller than it had been before. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Where are the deputies, again? Her sharp amber gaze flashed to the big rock where the leaders sat. She'd seen her father gather at the bottom with cats who she assumed were other deputies. There. She saw Shadestorm's familiar dark gray tabby pelt; his sky-blue eyes were glinting in the moonlight.

He was sitting beside three other cats. One was a small gray tom with a heavily scarred muzzle; she wondered how he'd gotten it. Was he attacked by something? Was it in a valiant fight? She tried to recall his name, but she couldn't remember. Nearby was a long-furred brown-and-white she-cat. She wasn't too remarkable. Then, sitting near them, a large, dappled gray tom - who towered above the others, except for her father - stood out to her. He had nicked ears and a few scars here and there that proved that he was a fighter. There were also strong muscles rippling under his pelt. What Clan was he from? RiverClan? According to Shadestorm, they were strong. The small gray tom was probably WindClan's Wolffang. Right?

Ivypaw padded over to them. She wanted to talk to the deputies. She stopped nearby and slightly tipped her head to one side, her sharp amber gaze fixing on them. "Hello," she meowed to them. "I'm Ivypaw. Shadestorm's daughter. I know that you three are deputies so I wanted to ask you all some stuff, I guess." Sure, they were from other Clans, but it wouldn't hurt. But now that she was closer, she could smell their scents. The small gray tom wasn't WindClan, he was ThunderClan. The brown-and-white she-cat was RiverClan. And the large, dappled gray tom was WindClan. He must be Wolffang. He wasn't small like she'd been told WindClan cats were. Well, surely not all of them could be small.

"What's it like being deputy? And what are your names?" Her gaze landed on the small gray tom. "What happened to your muzzle? Was it
a really fierce fight? I want to get into some fierce fights, and show how great ShadowClan is. I've learned a bunch of fighting skills, too. And I thought WindClan cats were small, not big." She glanced at Wolffang - Shadestorm had told her about him. "Oh, and I suppose you're in RiverClan. What's it like there?" she questioned the long-furred she-cat. "I know that we're enemies and all, but I'm just curious."

@Singing Jay @gs29513 @Willowfern

[Shade.]

Sharppaw did not particularly hate gatherings. In fact, she somewhat enjoyed listening in on everything happening. She preferred not participating, however. Sharppaw's most comfortable place was amongst the shadows. Didn't mean she couldn't listen, however. The lithe cat made her way around the edges, likely unnoticed. Whi would bother with her anyway. Dawnstar likely didn't cars who was or wasn't here. She wanted to listen in on sone interesting conversations. The high ranks were hard to hear as they were closer to the middle. Bit all the really important conversations probably happened hidden around the edges.

[Mistletoe]

Originally Posted by CroissantKitty

@Mistletoe
(Heh heh heh. I’m sure it’ll be alright.)
Aspenleaf huffed. So much for trying to be polite. On the other paw… perhaps she could smack a little sense into this Thunderclanner. The silver she-cat smiled. “Well, excuse me for checking on an obviously tired cat at the gathering. StarClan, are you storm cats so stuck up you try to act brave over taking a little rest?” She asked calmly.

~Mallardstep~

How dare she mix up laziness with tiredness! Were there no lazy cats in Riverclan? How dull! The absolute disrespect! He wanted to snarl, but suspected that would only cause more work for himself. Instead he lashed his tail with annoyance.

“I’ll have you know that I am not in the least but tired! I just don’t like gatherings!” That would show her!

[Captain]

After a bit of time passed, Snowleap broke away from his clan and sat towards the back of the large group of cats that gathered within the Seastones. The tall warrior’s ears flattened against his head as he looked down at his paws. All the loud noises of his clanmates and other cats around him started becoming nothing more than muffled nonsense in the background. He felt weird, like he didn’t belong here. It all felt like too much all of a sudden and the tomcat wanted to run back to Riverclan territory, but how would that make his clan look to others if he ran from a gathering? Lynxfall agreed that they would meet again at this moon’s gathering, but where was he? Snowleap wrapped his tail around himself, feeling so frustrated internally. Being rather tall compared to his clanmates, it was quite hard for the Riverclan warrior to make himself small and not attract attention, but he was starting to lose his friendly, open demeanor as he sat by himself. Maybe it was for the best that nobody talked to him, maybe all those cats that he talked to these last couple of days thought he was strange. He didn’t know. The dark-furred feline just wanted to go home and go to bed. This was a mistake. He shouldn’t have come to this gathering. It was all too much. It had been so long since he had genuinely wanted to cry, but he refused to - not here, anywhere but here.

[ Snowleap: *starts to become overwhelmed and overstimulated in an overly crowded area where he proceeds to have a panic attack and overthink and start to isolate himself again*][ OPEN to anyone who wishes to console the poor man, this is his first gathering since he first became a warrior and he forgot how bad his anxiety can get. ]

[JackHunt_17]

Originally Posted by Pheasantflight

@Hanukkah Hawkice

Foxpaw was surprised by his answer. Not the part about him being Shadowclan, or anything, but this cat was nice. It seemed. They were Shadowclan, so anything might happen. But the real shock was his reaction. No one ever reacted kindly towards her. "Well, um, I haven't seen you here before. Are you a new apprentice?" She swallowed hard, trying to bite back her words, but ultimately failed. "Is Shadowclan really as mean as they say?"

"I am a new apprentice. And we're not mean, just strong. People get the wrong idea of us." Lynxpaw sighed. "Sure Dawnstar is really strong and scary looking to some, but she's only doing what she believes is right for the clan, like any leader would." Lynxpaw mewed.

[carmen]

@Hanukkah Hawkice
She didn't managed to cover her laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just..." She paused. "I'm pretty sure Dawnmstar purposely acts mean in front of the other clan leaders to sound scary. You're a complete change of pace." The russet molly snorted. "Do you like being an apprentice? Did you get a good mentor? Who are your parents?" She liked this cat, his seemingly innocent nature. She wasn't used to anyone acting like that.