Gathering 6/17 - 6/22

[Whiskers]

Firepaw hissed, his ears pressed firmly against his head, as if a two-leg had come along and swiftly glued them there, for they would not budge until his brother soothed him. Sure, he knew that Frostpaw was full of herself, but he never thought she would sneak to a gathering or anything. If he didn't hate everything about her, Firepaw would actually be impressed by this feat. It must have been hard to get away from the warriors guarding the camp. This thought only irked him more though-- impressed by Frostpaw? What did she have that he didn't? Nothing! He was much better than Frostpaw, certainly smarter, Firepaw told himself. It made him feel much better, especially as Frostpaw sneered in his face. He hated it when cats sneered in his face. And it made it ten times worse that that cat was Frostpaw.

Oh, how she made his blood boil. His claws were slipping in and out, in and out, as she talked. If Finchpaw weren’t directly behind him, he’d do something about that smirk on her face…

“Oh please! You can’t be talking about “making advances” at medicine cat trainees!” he growled and stepped forward, lashing his tail in his brother’s face. “You’re the one following Finchpaw around, messing him up when he’s trying to do his job and calling him “intriguing”—which by the way, is such a lie, my brother is not intriguing. He’s dead boring at times.”

He thought he heard a sarcastic “thanks” from Finchpaw, but he just rolled on, only lashing his tail a couple more times. It's not like that was a secret-- Firepaw told Finchpaw to shut up all the time, since Finchpaw had a habit of talking about things no one cared about.

“Either you’re crushing on my brother or you’re just planning something. And since you’re, you know, incapable of love, I’m going to go for the latter. Whatever it is, it won’t work. Finchpaw had a momentary lapse of judgment when he talked to you and even then, he only did it out of pity,”

Yes, that was right. That was the only way that Finchpaw would ever indulge one of Frostpaw’s stupid conversations. He was always too nice to everyone anyway and so it figured he would pretend to get along with Frostpaw… right? Right. Though he still didn’t understand why Finchpaw was still keeping up the act when Rowanheart totally chewed him out for it back at camp…

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[Rolo]

Frostpaw hid her glee at Firepaw's response. She had inspired everything she wanted to see in him. Annoying him gave her a thrill she adored.

The grey she-cat forced herself to sit still, her body casual. Her tone was low but showed no signs of glee or mockingness, just calm and seriousness;

"I've spoken to Finchpaw once before, Firepaw." She said simply, "And I find him interesting to talk to, genuinely. You should know by now that I only speak the truth anyway."

"And why would I plan anything?" She cocked her head in a very convincing puzzlement, "I like Finchpaw, why would I want to hurt him. And no, I don't love him. Fancying another is a rather trivial way to spend your time."

[Whiskers]

Pfft. Firepaw rolled his eyes as he plopped down in front of her, though his fur was no longer fluffed up in protest, and his claws hid in his paws again. This was probably because she hadn't pushed his buttons this time, though he still found her reply ridiculous and irritating. He would always find any word that came out of her mouth irritating. Why would he believe that she was telling the truth... ever? She claimed that but she preached just utter and obvious falsehoods all the time.

"You've never spoken the truth," he said in reply with another overdramatic eyeroll. "You just hop around and talk about how Starclan isn't real. That's not true. And all you do is twist cat's words around. That's not exactly telling the truth either. So yeah, I know you're up to something because you're always up to something. You have no better way to spend your time."

"And you'd want to hurt him the same reason why you want to hurt my dad, or me: You. Don't. Like. Us. We don't like you. It's mutual. You can keep blabbering on about how you like Finchpaw but there's no reason to. You have nothing in common. And anyway, my dad would never let you be friends with him. You'll reawaken his inner sin or whatever, I dunno." Firepaw flicked his ears, getting bored with the conversation. It always annoyed him how Rowanheart would obsess over Finchpaw like he was made of leaves or something. Could it kill the warrior to talk about something else?

And now he was down right grumpy, and so the cheeky apprentice had to throw out one more rude comment. "As as for loving him, that was a joke. You know, ha ha? Ever done it? You should, it might make you a little less scary looking."

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[Rolo]

No-ears was still waiting for the cat's reply to his last bout of knowledge sharing when he felt a chill wind whip through the air. He blinked against the cold air, which tugged at his old fur. When he opened them, the night was noticably darker.

Automatically, he raised his gaze to the sky. The moon, previously a beacon of light, had completely disappeared. It had been blotted out by dark clouds...

From the feel of it, there was a storm coming on. It had been hot the past few days so he wasn't surprised. However, the covering of the moon also meant that the gathering was over, despite his wish to continue it. He knew that he, despite his beliefs, had to respect the beliefs of the other 3 clans.

"The gathering must end now," He said croakily, turning to face the leaders "The moon has been covered and the gathering has gone on long enough."
---
Frostpaw was not in the mood to be prejudiced against for her beliefs. The wounds Rowanheart had opened within her still hurt too much for her to want to bother bringing up Firepaw's faith in counter. She was not one to be snide about cats beliefs anyway, contrary to popular belief. She enjoyed debates and opening cat's eyes but she did not enjoy twisting people's ideals against them (unless their name was Rowanheart). So, she'd be the better cat, for once. Maybe that would shut the idiot up.

"I speak my truth." Said Frostpaw, her tone bored, "It may differ from yours but it is my own. And if you believe I'm always up to something, you must be very paranoid."

Her voice sounded monotonous, and it wasn't from fake boredom. Her lack of enthusiasm surprised even herself. She supposed she was tired, as she had been with Rowanheart, of being told the same thing over and over. Being told she lied and was things she wasn't. It got quite boring fighting against it, especially when she knew it wouldn't make any difference.

However, the next suggestion, that she 'wouldn't' like Finchpaw surprised her. It also struck her how Firepaw was being so judgemental of his brother... wouldn't it kill him to let him be a bit more independant? Nethertheless, Frostpaw had the perfect counter for this set of lies.

"And who said I hated you?" She looked Firepaw plainly in the eye "I may not agree with your beliefs or like your father but I respect your courage and fire. It's not often a cat is so independant and openly opinionated."

She was sincere, there were no bones about it.

"And, as for Finchpaw, we may have little in common," She stretched the truth for Finchpaw's sake, "But I still like him. Now, if you're done being overprotective over Finchpaw like he's someone who can't take care of himself, I'd like to talk to him."

Frostpaw then heard the Pineclan elder speak, and she sighed. Over already? Because of the clouds? Starclan believers were ridiculous sometimes.

She flicked her hear, "I'd like to talk to him on the way back."

[glowlynose]

Briartail's gaze followed No-ears's to the sky. A thick bank of clouds was rolling in on the unusually chilly wind to cover the moon. StarClan was signalling for the end to this Gathering. Briartail sighed and his overall demeanor dimmed a bit from its usual sunnyness. He'd been having such a good time, and he'd learned a lot about the way that PineClan managed to exist without StarClan. Perhaps they could talk more at the next Gathering?

"No-ears, will ya' be at the next Gathering?" Briartail asked with a smile; "I hope to be able to speak to you more about PineClan. I mean, not in a nosy way, because I would never want to seem nosy, and not like I would want to learn, like, everything about you clan, but..." his mew trailed off awkwardly. The small tom grinned uncomfortably and scuffled his paws. That wind seemed all the more apparant now that the awkward silence had ensued.

"Anyway, I enjoyed learning about PineClan. It's very intersting." Briartail started to walk away toward where the rest of his clan were gathering. Of course No-ears was going to be at the next Gathering! He was the head elder, for cripes sake! He had to come, just like the leaders and deputies all had to come. What a stupid question! He smiled at his clanmates and twitched his tail a few times. At least now he was with a group of cats who would understand if he embarrassed himself infront of them.

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[Whiskers]

Gingerstar felt irritable immediately when No-ears announced they had to leave. Oh yes, he was right. It looked like the other leaders were looking around warily and whispering "starclan" and whatnot. Fine. Though Gingerstar hated rushing, she figured she might as well get her clan out of there before anything happened. If anything, at least she could avoid the rain. And the sky definitely looked like rain.

"My head elder is right. All has been said, no need to stick around. Pineclan, follow me." she announced in an annoyed tone. And since she was feeling so agitated, she acted rather rudely as she turned and jumped off the rock without saying goodbye to the other leaders.

She rounded up her cats like sheep, her eyes counting heads. The last thing she wanted was to leave someone behind.
---
Now Firepaw just felt... awkward. Why? Because... she said... she said...

Frostpaw complimented him. What? Had the world gone completely mousebrained? Everything was out of order and Firepaw had never felt more downright confused in his entire life. And Firepaw hated being confused. That was Finchpaw's job, to be confused and to ask questions and wonder what was up. Firepaw, on the other paw, was just supposed to know. He knew that Starclan existed. He knew that Frostpaw hated him. He knew that she was mean. But now, he wasn't so sure.

Wait! I GOT it! Trying to trick us again. Man, she is so good at this. No wonder Finchpaw fell prey to her devices. Good thing I'm so smart and caught that... and though he reassured himself, it still didn't feel right. Firepaw shuffled his feet around and blinked at Frostpaw a few times. He had no idea what to say to her now. She had given his ego a major boost. She had called him independent. And opinionated. He had courage... he had fire! Thinking those few words over put him over the moon-- though it was currently disappearing behind some very dark, ominous clouds.

Anyway, wait, what was he even supposed to be doing again?

Right, hating Frostpaw. He salvaged some bits of his "fire" and remembered that, unlike Finchpaw, he wasn't going to let Rowanheart down just because Frostpaw had said some pretty words! (She had been right about every single one of them though) "For your information, I'm his brother. I'm supposed to protect him. That's what brothers do. They stick together if one brother thinks the other brother is in trouble or if their father has ordered that brother to keep an eye on the other one."

Finchpaw's ears suddenly perked and he spoke for the first time since Firepaw had pushed him to the side like he wasn't even there. "Rowanheart told you to keep an eye on me?"

Firepaw blinked. "Yeah. Since you were being really argumentative over the whole talking to Frostpaw thing, he thought it was best. I'll supposedly be going with you to collect herbs now." He shrugged a little. "But that'll be fun, as we hardly ever get time together..." Firepaw trailed off and stared at his brother in surprise.

Finchpaw looked... angry. In fact, his eyes were swimming with more emotions than Firepaw had seen in his entire life. The doors were flung open and Firepaw caught a glimpse into his head. It looked like he was trying to fight off something and his muzzle opened once, but then the tom clamped it fiercely shut only a second later. In that second, he also shut the doors. He looked as calm as ever before.

"How... kind of him. And I appreciate how much you care, Firepaw," the words were murmured, "and I feel the same way. I'd do anything for you, you know that right? So... just do this for me. I just want to say hello. That's not bad."

Firepaw looked at his brother, then back at Frostpaw and he gave up with a short, angry growl. "Oh fine! But this is just going to make everything worse and you know it! And don't you dare tell Rowanheart I let you do this, he'll kill me!" Firepaw gave one last hiss before he sped away toward the crowd, where cats were departing left and right. Oh, he knew he was going to regret this, leaving his brother with Frostpaw. He just knew it.

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[laur]

As Cedarstar gazed lazily around at the gathered cats, a shadow crossed his face. He looked up -- a cloud had crossed the moon, hiding it completely from sight. Not a good sign. He stood, shaking out his long, earth-colored pelt, nodded in a friendly way to the other leaders, and hopped of the rock as he heard the PineClan elder speak.

"You are quite right," Cedarstar boomed, turning briefly to acknowledge the respected elder and flick his tail, "this Gathering is over." He trotted closer to the end of the clearing. "MEADOWCLAN! Over here!" He roared as those in his clan detached themselves from others and ran to join him. He flicked his ears lazily, counting every head that showed up. Two short. He stared around, but noticed the last two sprinting in his direction.

Taking in a deep breath, Cedarstar yelled over the sound of the other clans, "MeadowClan, we're off!" and began to pad briskly from the area in which he will not see for another moon.

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[» s a b ø r ]]

Owlstar had noticed the moon just after No-ears had pointed it out. She sighed, obviously her earlier hope was wrong. StarClan was not happy with how long the gathering had taken. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed then stood and meowed loudly, "FogClan! It is time we departed! Follow me!" She walked quickly over to where her clan had entered the Fourtrees and waited for a feint second of the FogClanners to notice where she stood.

When her clan started to move towards her she continued up the hill to their territory. It seemed like the right thing t do now was leave a quickly as possible and make sure the next gathering was not nearly as long as this one. Owlstar just hoped that StarClan would be forgiving this time around.