Event [#event]

**occultation** · #1 September 19th, 2024, 06:06 PM

DO NOT MENTION OCCULTATION!!
AFTER THIS POST FADING LEFT.

Event [#event]

Where was the point when it had all gone wrong? Was it Fogmuzzle's death, or something before that?

That had been the question burning in his mind for some time now. The more he thought about it all, the more guilty he felt. It was like discovering the new camp and going to the Gathering had been a switch for him; something that had jerked him out of the weird, foggy, darkened state of mind he'd been in ever since becoming leader.

"Start by actually havin' faith in them."

Dusklion's words rang in his mind as he went to sit in the middle of the clearing. Once, a long time ago, protecting cats had meant something different. It had meant holding those around him accountable, but it hadn't meant acting callous. Once, he'd dreamed of creating a RiverClan where the rhetoric was stable, loyal, and community-focused.

That wasn't where things were. Maybe they could get there; hopefully this could be the start.

"RiverClan!" he called. His tone lacked its usual punchy confidence, only instead ringing of regret and exhaustion. "There have been some... conversations happening behind the scenes that have made me wake up to the fact that the rhetoric around here has gotten, to be blunt, absurd and extreme. I've allowed myself to stay caught in a cycle of fostering misery and infighting instead of prosperity and glory.

"It's become clear to me that many things need to change. What I'm focusing on, how I'm handling authority and discipline, it needs to shift. I've spent so much time focusing on the bad that I've allowed myself to lose faith in cats who don't deserve to be cast aside and disregarded. I've spent so much time insisting on going my own way that others' opinions have fallen too much to the wayside."

This was probably one of the hardest speeches he'd ever had to give, but it had to be done. "I know some of you don't believe that I'm genuine in what I'm saying, but I will prove to you that I mean what I say. That's why I'm taking these first steps.

"For starters, there will be no more restrictions on warriors going to the Clan borders alone. This Clan has more than earned that right back, and I appreciate everyone refraining from getting themselves into trouble with the other Clans. I still want apprentices staying in camp unless they're with a warrior, for their own safety. Second, there will be no further threats of execution for revealing information about our new camp or about Mistyshard. Threatening execution for that was... a severe error on my part. Instead of trying to keep cats down with threats, I should be leading efforts to be ready for if information ends up getting leaked. If someone does end up leaking sensitive information, I will work with Dusklion and the Lionhearts to determine an appropriate course of action."

Curling his tail around his paws, he finished, "Now I want to hear from the cats in this Clan. What other aspects of RiverClan, of my leadership, do you want to see change? I want to have a constructive conversation here, so please, any and all points of criticism are welcome. I know some of you don't trust that I won't get angry, or that I won't threaten to throw you out, but please, if you feel that way, stick around and at least see how this goes."

[ Any and all RiverClan cats are free to offer their two cents! No punishments will be given; this is an open forum, so cats are encouraged and welcome to speak their mind. I'll allow for a few days for people to post before posting again ]

**paedyn** · #2 September 19th, 2024, 06:11 PM

Primrosepaw - RiverClan Apprentice
Ultimate Predator
Trick of the Eye
Go with the Flow
102 / 100
______________________

Primrosepaw´s ears perked up at the sound of Fadingstar´s speech to the Clan. Emerald eyes flicked over to the tortoiseshell leader to meet his own green hues. ´´Fadingstar,´´ She called up to him. ´´I believe that you could tone it down a little bit on the ferocity of your voice sometimes,´´ The apprentice admitted. ´´It scares some cats.´´

[ @occultation ]

**Fish** · #3 September 19th, 2024, 06:20 PM

Adderstrike

Determined ⋆ Loyal ⋆ Lawful Good ⋆ She/Her ⋆ Killer Aptitude T3
“I can fix her!”

Adderstrike was grooming herself and making sure her fur was nice and neat. She only ever made sure it was clean, but not styled in a tame manner... Ever. Before she could make any headway in making her fur not look like she was the wild chat she was, a shout rang out and Adderstrike felt dread. Meeting seemed to always bring that to her nowadays and she wasn't ready for this one either.

Fearful Adderstrike listened to what Fadingstar was saying. Listening to his words and the sincerity in them made her feel a little at ease but she had all but lost faith in Fadingstar to be someone to be trusted. Respect either. Only someone to be fear for execution from saying the wrong words. Had he fully gone that far? No, but she wasn't going to put her life on the line to test his patience. She didn't want to become the example of how far his bloodthrist went. But despite all of that Adderstrike pushed herself forwards while her heart pounded in her throat, fearing she was facing the reaper despite what he said.

"Fadingstar..." She stared before looking back to the others to see if they were going to speak up their grievances as well. Then she slowly looked back to her leader with her head held low and her tail curling underneath her. "I stopped trying to talk to you, basically I wanted to keep quiet to how I was feeling in fear that you would kill me just for saying the wrong words. Even now I'm a bit scared to admit to anything to you, but it made me question clan life if even in our own home we couldn't be safe and I couldn't say anything to you to change how you were acting. I could never bear to go to another clan so I would have gone off to the unknown myself."

"Honestly, starting to feel like I was disillusion thinking I could do anything to change the path of this river."

**Desert Rain Frog** · #4 September 19th, 2024, 06:22 PM

TINYTOAD

The Dark Calico Rose To Her Short Paws When FadingStars Voice Rang Out. She Walked Over Sitting A Bit Away From FadingStar. The Callicos Spotted Muzzle Patted, Giving Her Word To Thd Leader. I Want You To Know, My Respect Is So Very High For You. But The Whole Voting Thing? That Wasnt A Very Good Idea. She Spoke Loudly, Keeping A Straight, Serious Face. I Hate To Bring It Up, But Retreating And Being Forced Into Land That Wasnt Ours? Where The Air Was Thin, Rivers Too Strong, And Prey We Dont Know How To Hunt As Well Was... Not The Best Choice You've Ever Made. Her Tail Flicked. She Felt Serious Guilt For Not Being There For Her Own Kids' Cerimonies. I Dont Give A Trout's Droppings About What You're Gonna Say To Me. You Asked Us To Speak Our Minds, And Ive Spoken. Tinytoad Flicked A Rounded Ear, Tail Swaying. She Respected And Would Fight For Her Leaders Til It Was Her Time To Be A Star. But Sometimes, Minds Had To Be Spoken.

**taillow** · #5 September 19th, 2024, 06:25 PM

Dusklion - RiverClan Deputy

She was tired. It showed in the way her eyes were half-lidded as she approached Fadingstar and his call to summon the Clan. She stayed on the outskirts of the Clan, simply taking a seat and settling her blue gaze on him. As far as she was concerned, Dusklion had said all she needed to. Now, all she wanted to see was change. Actual, real, tangible change. If not, she would be taking matters into her own paws.

...Stars, it hurt to even consider that, so the gray-furred she-cat ducked her head to hide the pain in her eyes as she gave her chest fur a few swift licks. Still though she kept her ears perked for others that would come to share their thoughts. Adds, of course, was among the first, and she lifted her head to look at her. Tinytoad was a bit more... hmm... She didn't necessarily agree with the retreating being a bad idea (considering they would've been slaughtered if they hadn't)...

...Still, she remained silent.

[ dusklion's opinions and thoughts do not reflect my own, please do not take them as such ]

**fade** · #6 September 19th, 2024, 06:46 PM

FLOWERHUNTER
He/Him | Longhaired white and cream cat, blue eyes and belly scarring.

Flowerhunter was lingering in the area. Sticking to his own activities such as bug hunting and resting around camp. Normally he was chipper! One of the happier cats in the clan, but recently it had been a struggle, alas…that was an issue for future Flower. The tom remains quiet as the Leader speaks words of improvement. Those very words were the ones Flowerhunter doubted. He sighs to himself, nodding slowly as the black and ginger cat finishes up his speech of sorts and calls for suggestions.

Stars, it killed Flower that the first ones that filled his mind were to tell the cat to step down. Flowerhunter is still quiet, others speaking before he got the chance. But that gave him the opportunity to think it over…no punishment seemed very off coming from the cat who threatened death to anyone who even seemed to breathe at him incorrectly. Dusklion…she was here. The Warrior flicks his tail towards her as a very distant greeting. [ @taillow - quick thing to dusk ]

Ah. It was his chance to speak, no going back now was there, eh?

“Mate. I think you’re done… You’ve been the…cause-…the reason behind so many deaths. Our home was destroyed by three clans because you couldn’t get yourself together. You don’t have much support here, your deputy on the other paw? She gets things done, she’s changing this clan in ways that I had hope that you would do. Instead you spark outrage, causin’ trouble wherever you tread. To put it simply, you rely so much on your wits and yet we are the ones who die for it. Step down , Fadingstar. That’s my call you, mate…that’s my honest suggestion. If you really want to see improvements around this place….if you care about the rest of us….then resign.”

Flowerhunter’s tone is far from cheery, it’s frustrated and strained at points. Longhaired tom ending his statement with another sigh. One of relief. He didn’t regret it, no. He wouldn’t regret placing them before his own ideas of purity. The Warrior stares at Fadingstar, waiting to hear any sort of rebuttal to his words. Class digging into the earth where he stood among the crowd, expression a weary one.

***squidz*** · #7 September 19th, 2024, 06:53 PM

— 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 arrived promptly for the meeting's call. He settled himself down towards the outskirts of it, his piercing blue eyes scanning the assembled cats. Fadingstar was seeming reasonable and approachable about the situation, apologizing where it was due and now offering comments.

The large warrior settled on his haunches, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Did he have any thoughts about this...? Honestly, not really anything worth saying that others wouldn't likely say right away. At least, not yet. He was more of a listener and observer than a commenter. He'd tune his ears to hear what others had to say first; there were always cats who'd jumped at the first opportunity to yowl their opinions.

Besides that, Stag had faith in his leadership. Maybe to a fault. Between Dusklion and Fadingstar's heads — although they'd seemed to butt heads — he thought RiverClan was rebuilding after all they'd been through. And he just did as he was told in helping with that.

That Flowerhunter... talking about resigning? That seemed extreme. And it wasn't exactly like the raid had been Fadingstar's fault; the culmination of fish-brained actions of their Clanmates sort of kickstarted that. He narrowed his eyes a bit but didn't speak, not now. He took awhile to think before he spoke, and some other cat would be interjecting by the time he'd compiled his thoughts together.

Deciding to keep quiet for now (unless he thought of something new to add), the older warrior sniffed, eyes flicking between the speakers. He noted the deputy hanging off to the side, looking tired and... quiet. Simply listening, like him, though she had a whole other weight about it. He wondered what was going through her head... and Fadingstar's, as the voices and comments started to roll in like waves crashing along the Seastones.

| 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... thoughts? Criticisms? Berrypaw didn't really have a lot of those about the situation... both Fadingstar and Dusklion had been really nice to her, making her feel welcomed and held afloat as she had entered this new realm of responsibility. Besides, even if she did have a strong opinion... the nimble, dark-brown feline would likely be way too intimidated to squeak out a word. And to be honest, a lot of this went over her head (in the innocent sort of way, not that she didn't understand what was going on).

Instead of speaking anything, she simply settled next to Stagheart, her ears flattened a bit. It didn't take a genius to see the tension in the Clan; a pure fish-brain could've detected it. But it didn't make it easy to deal with, especially after all that had happened. Keeping her eyes on the grass, Berrypaw's ears were perked up, listening along, her paws shuffling a bit nervously.

***Neptune.*** · #8 September 19th, 2024, 06:59 PM

Larkwing
~<>~
26 moons || she/her || RC Warrior || Kitty Softpaws, Mind Reader, Killer Aptitude T2
scarred, scrawny dilute tortoiseshell; green eyes

This... announcement... was anything but expected to say the least. Quite frankly, Larkwing never thought she'd see the day where Fadingstar was asking for feedback in a way that made her think he was being genuine. Was he? Hard to say. Normally Larkwing could tell when someone was talking out of their ass, but with Fadingstar? Well... maybe it was less that she wasn't able to and more that she didn't want to think him capable of just spewing hot air.

There were... several things she could say. But did she want to say them? She'd kept to herself about her thoughts on Fadingstar's leadership, only too aware of her place in this clan, his subordinate, a mere warrior who once had the world. A reversal of roles. She knew what it looked like to crack under the strain of it all. She'd been there before. But she could not bring herself to speak now, even when invited to do so under the guise of open ears, of no questions asked nor any punishments. She just didn't believe that to be true.

**BEAR.** · #9 September 19th, 2024, 07:07 PM

Skeptical was the only term to describe Sedgeflake as Fadingstar spoke. It reminded him of that meeting - how convincing and charismatic their dear leader was, until one looked beneath the surface.

Given the past - the several threats - the actual deaths from words alone, and the favoritism they witnessed during the Dusk Trials, he was not about to bring attention to himself by speaking. Let the others cast their stones and see what befell them; only then would it determine where he set his. For his worry, something that no words could assuage, was those who spoke would end up in a pool of blood as shown before.

**Rose** · #10 September 19th, 2024, 07:26 PM

She/Her | Purrk(s): Just A Scratch

What more was there to say? Cats were speaking out, they had opinions long buried for Fadingstar to hear. Wisteriawren simply appeared to view the proceedings. She'd rather sit silently in a corner of the clearing alone and listen to the discussion. There was not much she had to pitch right now anyway. She'd only barely begun to live in RiverClan when everything had gone awry again and again and again. The question was, how did RiverClan intend to fix that?