RiverClan Meetings (August 20, 2024 & August 31, 2024)

[Dark]

Fishfreckle

Go With the Flow | Silver Tongue (T1) [Perm] | Mind Reader [Perm]
___________

Of course things devolved into chaos. What would a RiverClan meeting be without something going to absolute hell. He didn’t understand it. Why did Fadingbutt have to make a big show of everything? If it were up to him, he’d have just killed Duskleaf and been done with it. After all, it made no sense to keep someone who couldn’t keep their mouth shut not only in a position of power but in the clan as well. They were a liability, and there was nothing Fishfreckle loathed more than uncertainties and traitors.

He of course didn’t get around to moving for the vote before Fadingsun called it off. Whatever, this is what happened when you made things so public. That was a decision he should have made in private before telling the clan of the details — though there was no need to elaborate to a bunch of randoms anyways. Gosh all this noise made his head pound. There were cats calling for Duskleaf to get his tongue removed, which while valid, wasn’t enough in his eyes. The former head Lionheart should be slain in public view in order to dissuade other cats from making that same mistake.

What a shame. Eyes scanning the clan, he noticed he wasn’t alone in the back. Dusklion was here. Hmmm… Dusklion… Duskleaf…

Fishfreckle blinked. Twice. Connections were being made in his swimming pool of a brain as he began piecing together the bigger picture. Before he knew it, the small framed tom made his way over to the deputy and wordlessly plopped himself right next to her. He didn’t say anything, not at first. He didn’t need to. There was something about just his presence that seemed to put other cats on edge, especially those in power. He was a calculating little cat, observing in silence before exploding like the calm before the storm.

”I reckon it’s something about the name.” He said in a hushed whisper, not looking away from the clan’s leader ”Perhaps we’ll see a decrease in the name Dusk- for incoming kits. What do you think hmmm? Two cats who bare the name have put their clan in a precarious position.”

Bright green eyes turned to give Dusklion a disinterested glance. ”I like you, y’know. Or I tolerate you at the very least. I favor you more than… some others.” His gaze flicked towards Fadingleader for a second before returning to his sister. ”Odd, isn’t it? You were once in a similar position — arguably doing something worse, yet here you stand casting your vote against someone despite keeping your own position. A bit hypocritical, no? It’s almost as if there’s some kind of… hmm perhaps I shouldn’t say it.” He said as if mulling it over. She’d get what he was implying even if he didn’t say it. Plus, no one was back here to hear their discussion anyway, it was fine.

Keeping that same hushed tone, his eyes narrowed a bit. ”This is the same thing Larkwing had to deal with while she was leader. Keep this in mind, Little Lion: The actions of the few dictate the consequences for the many. I advise you to remember that going forward, I’d not like a repeat of the last few moons. You and your brother must reign in our dreadful clanmates, but that doesn’t mean you must rule with no compassion. I prefer your style when it comes to that regard, but more careless mistakes from you or those that the two of you put in power may have a negative effect on the rest of us.”

Scrutinizingly, he scanned her for any kind of reaction before continuing with his monologue. ”You cast your vote for demotion, yet you yourself are still deputy. The others will take note of this and it’s up to you to weather that storm. At the end of the day, everyone has their own value. Your brother for whatever reason decided that you were valuable and still held use, whereas he decided the opposite for Duskleaf. I advise that if your position comes into question that you remind the others of your loyalty and devotion for RiverClan. I advise that you show that you are worthy of not just your position, but our respect. Don’t be a failure, I grow tired of seeing our leaders crumble under pressure.”

Though his words were mixed with both criticism and advice, his tone remained flat and silent enough that anyone not in their direct vicinity wouldn’t hear. He’d once told Larkwing something similar, same with Birdsnow and Fadingbutt. It was Dusklion’s turn. As removed from the clan as he had been in recent moons, he was aware that many of his clanmates weren’t happy with the siblings for one reason or another. He was also well aware that Dusklion was the more popular of the duo. If she were to one day be leader, she would have to decide how she would lead this ragtag group of gremlins. That would have to start now. Would she be a hypocrite? Or would she follow in her brother’s paw steps and leave little leeway for dissent? Perhaps she’d grow to be compassionate for others and treat the clan as a family. Regardless, he was interested in both her reaction, and how she would act going forward.

[ @taillow @finley !! ]

[Wingnettle]

Starrykit
Riverclan | 3 moons
Mind Reader

Starrykit was crouched in her nest, which unfortunately found itself near the nursery entrance. She could never get enough silence.
Her ears twitched. Fadingstar's words were rough and high-pitched. Was he angry?
She kept hearing the same name in many cats' mouths. Duskleaf. Duskleaf. Duskleaf. Who was this Duskleaf?
She didn't care.
Nothing mattered anymore.

She closed her clouded eyes again, ignoring her stomach rumbling, and fell into a dreamless, long sleep.

[squidz]

— STAGHEART —

very large, muscular, & scarred light brown tabby tom with stark blue eyes and a torn ear; killer aptitude 3 | just a scratch

[ riverclan warrior | tomcat | 53 moons | gruff & battle-hardened, yet thoughtful; loyal to a fault ]

—

Stagheart's eyes had narrowed as he listened, and while the entire Clan had been shifting around, he found himself stuck in place for awhile. No, it wasn't like the tom to be indecisive; quite the opposite, in fact. But he was torn between his loyalty (to a fault) and the logical sense that predominated his warrior mind: the cat had put them in danger. He should be punished. Yet Duskleaf was also a respectable, honorable warrior whom Stagheart had gladly been following, especially when he'd stepped up during Fadingstar's illness... there weren't too many other cats that the scarred tom would consider worthy enough for the position. And then he remembered Dusklion's trial, how he'd loyally stood at her side, promoting her to stay as deputy. So... wouldn't it only make sense to do the same now?

The tom was just starting to put a paw down to head towards the right... maybe the left... when Fadingstar's voice rang out again. So there was no more trial, nor choice... just demotion. Stagheart glanced at Duskleaf and saw the immense relief in the tom, his whiskers twitching. Seemed that the ex-Head Lionheart just wanted to be spared from all this division and trouble on his behalf.. Stagheart settled back down, watching in silence, his mind buzzing as he considered the implications of their location being revealed and Fadingstar's words as he continued.

| BERRYPAW |

small & nimble dark brown she-cat with darker flecks and light, leafy-green eyes | the collector

[ riverclan mc apprentice | she-cat | 11 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

Oh, dear... Berrypaw had no clue what to do at first, simply hovering there and looking rather confused... what should she do? It felt rather mean and wrong to demote a cat for a mistake, but at the same time, she understood what they were saying... and the thought of WindClan knowing where they were, that they now had information that could potentially launch another attack on them... it made the medicine cat apprentice shiver. But just like Stagheart, she had hesitated a bit too long, her head flicking between the cats that were shouting at each other. Oh, and Cobwebfern had gone left... should she have gone too..?

Paralyzed by indecision, Berrypaw was standing there almost awkwardly until Fadingstar continued — and her shoulders practically sagged with relief. Okay, good... she didn't want to have to choose. She settled back down on her haunches, leaning against Stagheart for comfort and silently watched the rest of the meeting, still trembling a bit as the weight of the situation descended on her head...

[snowflake.]

Mintkit
small; gray fur; lighter gray flecks; green eyes
She/her || 1 moon || Riverclan Kit
The Collector

---

Mintkit relaxed, she had started to get agitated by all the arguments by the big cats. She was glad it was over now.

---

Softkit
Longhaired; Soft fur; Cream-colored pelt with darker cream splotches; Brown eyes
She/her || 1 moon || RiverClan

---

Softkit was still watching from the den entrance, close enough to hear the gist of the meeting. She didn't understand the whole lionheart thing, she hadn't been paying attention at that point, but she did hear what Fadingstar had said about the territories. Ugh. Why couldn't they just stay here?

---

again, both are open

[anika]

[ 91 / 100 ]

Primrosepaw, Pristinerose, Rosehawk, Poppyburst, and Moonpaw stayed in the middle.

Carpthroat and Blossomstride headed to the left.

[BEAR.]

Sedgeflake was glad to have Redmire at his side - it seemed so little cats actually recognize what was at stake! "I'd rather our Clan be alive!" He was doing his best to not hiss, but he was just upset by what he saw as foolishness. Yes; he too had been swayed into thinking this was a minor mistake - but it felt like Seabreeze's words wiped the veil from his mind. All that uptalking... A little whine escapes his throat as he fidgeted, flexing claws against the wood to help steady himself. "You... are clearly unfamiliar with this." It's to Spiraltail, tight, reserved as he tried to keep his voice leveled. Normalized, in comparison to his outburst moments ago. "Loose lips will undermine us faster than ensuring those jaws won't utter more words. You're from WindClan - you ought to know the power dung like this can hold when in the paws of the wrong cats."

He shrank back at Dusklion's words, a bit ashamed as of all the cats, he figured she might recognize the need for equality here. But no... no. "It's not a threat." he wasn't going to do it unless they told him too, and only because he believed it was in the Clan's best interest. Redmire understood, right? He glanced at her for assurance.

And then Fadingstar spoke. A complete disregard for the brutality against Fogmuzzle and the entirety of Clan voting, and Duskleaf was demoted. It felt wrong, in every sense - because most of the cats had voted instead of just told Fadingstar to do it. Only a few had questioned that choice - the uncertainty had been why only cats close to Fadingstar? The deputy; his sister. Duskleaf; a Head Lionheart, a dear friend. But not.. warriors. It did make him wonder, wonder, wonder - how many cats died over something minor that the Clan just didn't know? Did this apparent favoritism go deeper? There certainly was no end to the missing, for one example.

It didn't matter in the end. The decision was dictated. Sedgeflake was silent, tucking into himself as a loaf as he stared at a lonesome beam along the wall. He was distantly aware of the landmark changes, but didn't have anything to note regarding them. He was just... defeated, and didn't want to end up missing too.

[ Not mentioning anyone as most of this is based pre-announcement, and is just a reaction. ]

[wasp]

Waspmeadow
꒰ she-cat | warrior | 23 moons ꒱

Waspmeadow was completely conflicted. Yes, Duskleaf had made a mistake, an innocent accident... an innocent accident that had put the clan at risk. No, it wasn't an accident, it was incompitence. She didn't know him personally, but he had definitely seemed reliable and trustworthy; Despite this, his slip up was a major issue for the whole clan.

Waspmeadow kept to herself as Fadingstar explained the news and when Dusklion expressed her opinion on the matter, when Seabreeze had spoken and when her clanmates began to pick sides. She simply looked down at her paws, her face scrunched up with confusion and conflict. Then, she had slowly stepped to the left,  the clan had to come first. Dusklion was right— maybe Duskleaf wasn't fit to be a lionheart. This was a huge mistake, especially during this time for the clan. She felt torn, to say the least– demotion should be the worst punishment he should recieve, should it come to it. She certainly didn't want him to be exiled.

Then Fadingstar began to announce the punishment. She looked over at him, listening intently. Demotion. She sighed out of relief– glad that Fadingstar hadn't chosen a worse punishment. All her clanmates had reacted differently, but she felt that this was justified, and was content that Fadingstar had taken Seabreeze's words in consideration and ended the vote.

[Spider]

plumshade shifted her head towards duskleaf the now warrior...it must have felt so bad to lose such a great achievement in ones life, she felt sorry for him truly anycat could have done the same thing, But others till had the point lose lips would kill them. Even if the den was temporary or not Plumshade sighed flicking her amber eyes at dusk leaf as he asked his question ... his sister? why would his sister not be her in riverclan unless she ran away like Appleheart or unless... no,lets not go there she sighed to herself

Plum dipped her head down looking at her paws for a moment rising before speaking "...No I'm not alright with what you did, but I wont let that cloud my judgement " she paused "Yeah I can uhh what's her name, and clan assuming shes from another clan and what not" she meowed keeping her face neutral along with her opinions

[Whitestarliner]

Duskleaf

22 Moons | He/Him | Agatha Kitty

RiverClan Warrior

So yeah, as expected Plumshade wasn’t very happy with him. Duskleaf knew earning the clan's trust back would take time, and it wouldn't be easy. Perhaps some cats would never trust him again, and he'd just have to live with that, but he was going to do everything he could to show that he was worthy of being forgiven.

Then Plumshade said that she was willing to deliver the message for him. "Thank you, I really do appreciate it…" He began, "Her name's Snakefang, and she's in ThunderClan. She's a brown tabby with bright green eyes."

Remembering the last time he'd seen Snakefang, it was at the last gathering before RiverClan's exile. Back then, Duskleaf hadn’t seen his father, Reedclaw, for days and was starting to get very worried, so when Snakefang outright revealed that they were siblings…well, at that point he just wasn’t ready to accept that. Sure they talked at gatherings, but it didn’t seem real at all. How could his sister be a ThunderClan cat? It was the way she revealed it too, seemed like she was accusing his father of being a traitor by saying he used to sneak out to Smallpines to meet with his love in ThunderClan. But Duskleaf had been raised in RiverClan, he never knew any different, and found it hard to believe. Until a few days later when Reedclaw was found dead having tried to cross the border at Smallpines, then he realised Snakefang had been telling the truth the whole time.

"Oh, and if you do see her there…could you tell her I'm sorry? For the way I shouted at her at the last meeting?" He did feel genuinely quite bad about that now, at the time he didn’t know but now that he was aware Snakefang had been telling the truth, he did feel bad for the way he reacted before.

@Spider. [Duskleaf doesn’t know, but Snakefang was actually temporarily demoted so she’s called Snakepaw at the moment!]

[anika]

Poppyburst - RiverClan Warrior
The Collector
Chill of Death
Kitty Softpaws Tier 1
________________________

A shudder ran down Poppyburst´s spine as she listened to Fadingstar. Why was she in the middle? Duskleaf had given away sensitive information to WindClan of all Clans. At the moment, WindClan was the worst Clan to be saying anything to! Twilightstar was likely still angry about Fallownose´s murder, and she had been able to drive RiverClan out of their territory with the help of ShadowClan and ThunderClan.

Green eyes narrowing, Poppyburst changed her mind. She found her paws taking her toward the left side of the clearing, her tail tip twitching irritably behind her. Her gaze found Redmire and Sedgefleck, narrowing down to slits. They were good warriors, but the first thing they thought about was fighting and death - and now they want Duskleaf´s tongue ripped out. Personally, the tortoiseshell agreed with Dusklion. Whenever Fogmuzzle had been killed, her tongue had been ripped out. That had been cruel, and most cats - unless you´re Redmire, for some reason - hadn´t agreed with it. Dusklion had agreed, too, at that moment. But now that the Deputy had gotten some common sense in her brain and realized her mistake of letting Talonpaw rip out the poor cat´s tongue, Poppyburst knew that Dusklion would most likely live to regret that mistake.

The small-framed RiverClanner sat back on her haunches as she took a seat on the left side of the clearing, lifting a paw to swipe her tongue across it and run it over her maw. Duskleaf had been an amazing Head Lionheart, but if he was going to give away information to the other Clans - especially the Clan that had organized the attack to exile RiverClan in the first place - then he couldn´t be trusted. Well, not by Poppyburst. It would take the gray tom a while to earn the tortoiseshell´s trust - and respect - back.

[ Poppyburst is open for interactions. ]