December's Gathering [2020]

Padding into the gathering area with his clanmates close behind, Lightningstar gave a nod to Cloudbreeze, and made his way to the top of Great Rock with a couple agile leaps, making sure not to slip on any ice that might have been hiding under the snow that blanketed everything. Sitting down, he wrapped his fluffy tail neatly over his large white paws and watched as cats began gathering bellow as he waited for the other leaders to arrive.

Jaggedpaw strode into the snowy clearing, eyes bright and fur bushed against the bitter cold. The full moon made the falling snow shine like stars against the pitch black night. A truly astonishing sight, it was.

The young tom opened his jaws to taste the air. It was almost overwhelming; So many distinguished scents came at once. Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Riverclan, Skyclan. Even some faint scents of rabbit, which he ignored. He was not going to make Starclan angry, especially during a gathering, breaking the code.

Once he got into a comfortable spot in the crowd of murmuring cats, He caught a glimpse of his leader, Heronstar, clawing her way up onto the rock with the other clan leaders, most he had only heard stories about. He closed his eyes and imagined himself among those strong cats. Jaggedstar, Leader of Windclan. He let out a long sigh.

Positioning himself next to his mentor and friends, he sat back and waited for this moon's annual Gathering to begin.

Splashpaw padded into the gathering behind maplestar. She didn't know anyone so wished she could have stayed with the leader. As everyone went their seperate ways, she started to get scared. She couldn't help it, everytime she was alone she was afraid something would happen.

Splashpaw is scared and open to talk to

Blazepaw walked into the gathering with Thunderclan and looked around before sitting with oakleap. If he sat with someone he trusted, he wouldn't make things worse for himself.

Blazepaw is with oakleap


(white isn't coming cause don't wanna paradox so let's say he in med den getting his scars healed)

Beetlepaw followed in after her mentor Maplestar, and her sister Splashpaw. Beetlepaw was extremely excited to be at the gathering, her first-ever after being made an apprentice just a few moons ago. Beetlepaw surveyed her surroundings, and before any cat could pre-emptively try to tell her off for stirring up trouble, she dived down straight towards an apprentice, next to a couple of clan-mates but she could see in his general disposition that perhaps she'd be able to pressure him into telling her stuff.

On the way over she thought about how she could possibly get him talking, perhaps she could ask him a bunch of questions and in the barrage, she'd slip in questions about clan secrets! Perhaps that would work just fine? Beetlepaw came to a stop close to her victim, "Hello," she greets, giving a nod, "I'm Beetlepaw of Shadowclan, who are you?"


Beetlepaw is harassing Jaggedpaw

Brightpaw trotted through the snow, carefully following in the pawsteps of her larger clanmates. She fluffed up her short, pale calico coat against the cold. Despite the chilly night, Brightpaw couldn't help but admire how the white drifts glittered in the moonlight. The undisturbed piles just looked so.... pretty! Sure, she'd prefer the lush warmth of greenleaf over the barren cold of the coming leaf-bare but... The crisp air carried its own refreshing charm. Finally breaking off from her clanmates, she settled herself on the outskirts of the clearing, ears pricked. She flicked her tail around her paws, though it was too short to cover both of them, contenting herself with allowing the chatter of cats to flow over her in the quiet night.

---

Mothheart plowed through the snow, his bulk allowing him to move with as much ease as though he were swimming. The cold certainly didn't bother him, the thick, water resistant pelt keeping the wet chill at bay. He wandered into Fourtrees with no specific goal in mind, but a distinctive and peculiar black and white marbled coat caught his attention. He padded over to the, clearly terrified, apprentice. "Hey," he mewed pleasantly, head tipping slightly to the side, "what's got you so worked up? There's nothing to be scared of here, Gatherings are entirely peaceful."

---

Willowblossom stalked into the clearing, tailtip flicking irritably. He hated the snow. His long legs provided him with easy passage but his fine, short coat gave little protection from the elements. Padding to an already well-tread area, he clawed away the remaining snow to reach a small patch of ground. Flanks involuntarily shivering, he settled himself into the space. Moonlight casting its cold light over him.

Bright is open
Moth is talking to Splash
Willow is grumpy but open

Stormpaw entered the clearing following his mother. The snow was truly beautiful at Fourtrees, and he became a little lost in thoughts...
"Hey, watch out!"
It was a ShadowClan she-cat. Were it not for the reminder, he would run straight into her. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"That's okay." The she-cat smiled and tilted her head, "The name's Sootheart, by the way." Seeing the warrior was not mad at him, Stormpaw felt so much relieved. "I am Stormpaw, from ThunderClan, but I think I'm getting my warrior name very soon." He had a feeling he had heard of this name before, but he could not remember when exactly.

(OOC: Stormpaw and Sootheart are talking to each other, and feel free to join their conversation or talk individually to one of them!)

Wolfstar had been busy lately, and had nearly forgotten about the Gathering. A little bit late, he lead his clan through the snow and into Fourtrees, praying that it wouldn’t have already started. Luckily, it had not. After a moment, he leapt up, joining Lightningstar on the Great Rock. He gave a polite nod to the leader, intimidated by his size and formal manner.

sorry this is so late and short lol

Violetbriar neatly sat down, tail over her paws. Her belly was swollen with her newest litter of unborn kits. It had been a hassle coming here; not the journey, oh no, that was the easy part. It was her mate who'd been so difficult. For every star in the sky and then some, Wolfstar had asked her if she was alright or if she needed an escort back to camp. Each tome, she'd dismissed him with the shake of her head, amused at first but slowly getting annoyed by it. She had to admit, it was charming.

---

Breezebranch hummed as she accompanied Mudpaw into the Gathering, the ladder branching off to find a cat to chat with. Sitting down, she stared up at the highrock, waiting for the meeting to start.

---

Mudpaw bounced along beside her mother, bumping into a gray she-cat who hissed at her, before spotting two cats talking together. "Hiya! I'm Mudpaw from SkyClan!"

---

Sweetpaw hissed as a dumb tree smelling cat bumped into her, before carrying on and sitting beside Marshmallow, one of her less annoying Clanmates.

---

Violetbriar is heavily pregnant OPEN
Breezebranch is OPEN
Mudpaw is speaking with Jagged and Beetle
Marshmallow and Sweetpaw are sitting together and both OPEN

Hollypaw slowly trotted into the clearing. He'd been off since his mother died. And it seemed no one cared about her. Letting out a sad sigh, he sat off in the back of the clearing, wrapping his tail sadly around his paws.

Silkpaw peered in, a cheeky smile on his face. He trotted in and sat down near the front, observing all the cats. They'd be perfect for pranking one day.

Oakleap padded into the clearing and sat down besides Blazepaw. She softly smiled at him, before turning her gaze towards the Great Rock.

OOC: Silkpaw and Oakleap are open to talk to! Feel free to try to talk to a depresso expresso Hollypaw! (lots of to's)

Making his way into the gathering area with the rest of his clanmates, Bigfoot looked around, quickly spotting the she-cat he'd chatted with last time. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't quite remember name...Lightpaw maybe? Well it was something like that and he didn't really care.

Giving his pelt a shake, the big footed warrior stomped over to the apprentice and gave her a playful nudge on the shoulder upon his arrival. "Hey there!" he purred with a big grin covering his maw.

Te full moon shined down from above, seemingly illuminating the snow as it's light reflected off of it's frozen surface. Despite the cold, Maplestar felt a sense of warmth surge through her. She had a good feeling about this gathering- not that the gatherings were usually bad or anything, she just felt much better about this one than she had the last. Pushing into the clearing, her gaze quickly met those of the other leaders'. Within a few moments she had climbed up the rock to meet them, and as she had before, she bowed her head to them in greeting. "Hello guys! How are you all doing this fine evening?"

---

Gingerpaw looked around the clearing, uncertainty clouding his gaze. He was quite unsure of how to feel of the many cats that surrounded him. A part of him was more excited than he had ever been in his life, but another part of him was afraid. Afraid because this was something so new to him. This was his very first gathering, as he was too busy to attend the last one. Letting out a sigh, he sat on a flat stone in the center of the clearing, and looked around, wondering who he may meet.

Gingerpaw is open for conversion!

Grasssnake padded behind Maplestar. He walked up to the other deputies and waved his tail in hello to them, albeit a bit nervously.

OOC: Grasssnake is sitting with the other deputies! Silkpaw and Hollypaw are open to talk to along with Oakleap!

Blazepaw smiled at oakleap and waited for the gathering to start.

Blaze is with oak

Splashpaw looked at the warrior who spoke to her. "I just don't like being alone, I know I'm weird." she said slightly calming down as the warrior was with her.

splash is with moth

The molly was late, there was no doubt about it. The smell of the already gathered clans greeted her nose and she sighed lightly, hoping that no eyes would be cast upon her slightly dishevelled pelt or her interesting deputy with disgust. Heronstar was getting into her own head no doubt, but how could she not? Softcloud choosing to become an elder after spending moons in RiverClan was but another blow to her already unsteady leadership, not to mention the general attitude and bad behaviours of her son that would appear to reflect WindClan. A deep sigh left her maw as she trudged onward through the snow, remembering how she struggled her first time out of camp with Brindlestar-- Brindleface at the time, and forced herself to focus on the happiness she felt rather than the crushing sadness and feeling of unknown.

She gathered her lean muscles beneath her, springing upwards and landing next to the other leaders, dipping her head in quiet acknowledgement, an apology bubbling on her lips. Despite her need to say something about her tardiness Heronstar remained silent, waiting for the gathering to begin, feeling the cold from the stone beneath seep through her pawpads.

---

Applestem let out a purr of delight as she followed closely behind her family, the white patches of her pelt becoming a ghostly white as the moon caught sight of it. The great oaks creaked overhead as she padded in, carefully placing her paws in each of her elder brother's pawsteps as they were much larger and cleared more space for her to walk in. She smiled warmly at Bigfoot as he split from the group of their family, and she sat in the designated medicine cat's spot, waiting for someone to arrive to speak to.

Leopardspot padded up to the deputies and meowed hello to them.

"Nice to meet you, Stormpaw." The she-cat softly meowed. Stormpaw smiled back, still being a little nervous.

(OOC: Leopardspot is with the deputies, Sootheart and Stormpaw are talking to each other but are still open to talk to!)

Brightpaw's jolted, startled at the sudden nudge, letting out a squeak that she cut off as soon as she realized she uttered it. It wasn't that she hadn't heard someone approaching, given the noisy stomping, she had just assumed them to be going somewhere else. Her whiskers rippled in embarrassment as her eyes shot open, she hadn't realized they'd closed as she'd let the gathering wash over her, and darted over to the looming golden figure. It took her a moment to place the familiar face as the wooded-scent flooded her nose. Brightpaw let out a breathy giggle to herself, calming herself to smooth down her alarm-fluffed coat. "Uh, oh! Hey-" Her eyes flicked down to his enormous paws for a split second, "-Bigfoot! How's everything over in Thunderclan?"

---

Mothheart blinked at the small apprentice, "Well, I don't think it's that weird." His fluffy tail swished through the snow casually, flicking up a small, powdery cloud that blew into the lanky, blue-grey pelt of a hunched Windclan cat. They whirled at him, spitting angrily but Mothheart continued, obliviously, "Though, you're never really alone since you'll always have your clan even when they aren't there at all times."
When he was entirely ignored, the grey tom kicked a clump of snow in Mothheart's direction before storming off, thin tail lashing furiously.
"Being on your own is certainly different without having clanmates around but it can be nice in it's own way. He purred.

---

Willowblossom snarled as a cloud of snow blew into him, coating his pelt with a dusting of white. He whirled around to glare at the huge, fluffy tom from where the snow had undoubtedly originated given the swishing tail. He caught the distinctive fishy scent of Riverclan off the tom and his lip curled in disgust, the thick coat and short muzzle reminded him of a golden version of Featherstep, "Watch what you're doing fishface." He spat, fur bristling as his pelt shuddered to knock the snow loose. "Or is your head just so waterlogged you're incapable of doing so." When the tom didn't even deign to acknowledge him, Willowblossom growled furiously, shooting a glance back to where Heronstar was perched on Highrock, before hooking his claws into some packed snow to kick it at the tom before storming away, stick-thin tail lashing as he abandoned his spot.

Enough cats had filled in the gathering at this point he had to weave his way through, shooting another pointed glare back at the Riverclan warrior before sitting, finding himself near a pair of Thunderclan cats, one a brown tabby she-cat and the other a mostly white apprentice. His whiskers flared in a terse greeting as his pelt shivered again, snow still clinging to the fine hairs.

((Bright is talking to Big
Moth is talking with Splash
Willow has stormed off and is sitting by Oak and Blaze))