Gathering [ 8/25 ]

[Rolo]

Frostpaw

Frostpaw bounded joyously into the clearing, her eyes sparkling with a clear happiness. Despite her somewhat cynical heart and mindset, she could not help but be happy to come to her first gathering... at long last! Yes, she had been before (in fact, she'd never not come), but that had been under purely secretive circumstances, and she had had to stay mute and passive. She had had to watch quietly, distanced from every cat, boredly awaiting the time she could actually say something. Now it was her time, she could finally meet all those cats she had yearned to meet. Finally, she was being given the chance to talk to cats that may, potentially, not hate her upon sight!
She grinned to herself as she wandered into the clearing, forcing herself to remain calm. Her happiness gave her a look of kittish innocence, contrasting with the usual look of maturity she typically held. For once, she looked like a young adult and not a well-weathered she-cat.

Frostpaw scanned the clearing for a pineclanner, desperately hoping that a few talkative ones would be here tonight. She drew in a breath, tasting the air to pinpoint where a possible pineclanner could be.

To Frostpaw’s distinct disappointment, the mess of smells in the clearing fooled her adverage tracking skills and she couldn’t seem to find any. She growled in frustration.

Then she noticed a cat near to the centre of the clearing, seemingly alone and, from the smell of it, a Pineclanner. She didn’t think for more than a split second before calmly moving up towards Shrikewhisker.

She sat down beside him, shooting him a cool smile, “Hello there. I am Frostpaw of Fo-“ She stopped herself, chucking slightly. She didn’t want this cat thinking she was an idiotic Starclan follower.

“No, I am Frostpaw the non-believer, the sole member of Fogclan whom everyone wishes wasn’t there.” She grinned.

-----

No-ears

No-ears slowly made his way towards the gathering place, not able to make out his leaders words as he followed the clan to the gathering. Tonight he seemed to be trailing behind much more than usual, and he was quite, quite sure he would be the last one to enter the clearing.

He smiled to himself, not at all bothered by his sluggishness. Though his body was old, his mind was as fresh and new as a warriors. He wasn't disheartened, he was cheered by the prospect of another gathering.

Finally, he reached the fringe of the trees, panting breathlessly from the walk. He paused for a moment, surveying the clearing as he tried vainly to get his breath back.

He was cheered to see that there was more than one elder here tonight. He slowly began to make his way down towards them.

"Hello Patchfur, Tawnyheart." He mewed croakily, nodding to each. "Jaggedclaw. How are you each keeping?"

[Kelly]

Patchfur
--
Quite used to the bi-colored elder’s preferred method of greeting, Patchfur took the grunt and nod Jaggedclaw gave him as a warm ‘hello’ before continuing his wash, getting the grime from the journey out from his toes. He nodded happily at the PineClanner’s comment, glad that he wasn’t alone in noticing the gorgeous moon that danced light happily over their heads. His flanks rose softly as he breathed, grateful to finally be here at the Gathering and chatting with other elders. It was lonely being the only elder in StreamClan sometimes. Attending the Gathering and seeing the familiar faces of his fellow elders of separate clans was a breath of fresh air after a mucky moon.

He smiled kindly at Tawnyheart before speaking. “I’m fantastic Tawnyheart, lovely of you to ask. And I hope you are the same?” For a moment Patchfur let his mind jump back to the moon and he gazed up at it once more. How was Jaggedclaw taking it, he wondered. In his mind (and he was sure the minds of many other cats) the moon was a sign, StarClan’s way of shining down on them in joy for the Gathering. But Jaggedclaw, without belief in the ancestors, saw it as… nothing? Just the moon, brighter than usual but holding no meaning?

But he let the thought drop, turning to Tawnyheart as once again the she-cat spoke, amber eyes focusing intently on the she-cat. Shaking his head, Patchfur realized that there was nothing ‘humorous’ he could share with his friends. The only real eventful thing to happen was Dappledflower stopping by for a fish, but Patchfur was sure that Tawnyheart already knew of that. “Please share, Tawnyheart. I’d love to hear this story of yours.”

His head swiveled as No-ears approached. With a smile, he greeted the PineClan elder, glad for another companion in their circle. "Greetings, No-ears."

[/blockquote]

[Whiskers]

Shrikewhisker's eyes hopped from cat to cat. There was a mob of apprentices at one end (a mob? They were hardly a mob, Shrikewhisker thought to himself, more like a growing cult of gray, which meant he would fit right in if only he was a bit shorter and less experienced.) and then a group of elders at another. What was with the clump of cats? Usually cats just stuck with one other and chatted about their latest and greatest catch-- that's what he did. He could go on and on, elaborating the tale of Shrikewhisker and the Squirrel.

Oh wait, was someone actually talking to him? The smell of Fogclan wafted up to his quivering, gray nose and his eyes darted down to a little thing, quite pretty but obviously much younger than him so he wouldn't even think about flirting with the silver-hued she-cat with lively green eyes. When she spoke her name, however, his tail curled up at the end. He had heard tales about Frostpaw and oh ho ho, lucky him, he was meeting her!

On second thought this could be very bad because all the stories about her weren't exactly pleasant. Immediately, Shrikewhisker shunned these thoughts and felt appalled at himself for making such a quick assumption.Don't judge her before you even say a word to her, Shrikey. I mean... she's nice enough. Look at that smile! She doesn't seem like a nasty cat at all.

"Hullo there, Frostpaw the nonbeliever of Fogclan. I'm Shrikewhisker and I am glad you're here, or else I would be all by my lonesome all night. Interesting, how you introduced herself," he tilted his head and smiled. "Though I wonder... if you don't believe in Starclan, then egad, why aren't you in Pineclan? Why choose Fogclan of all places?"

[/size]

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose wasn't VERY excited about the Gathering, but then, she didn't really dislike it either. The socialism part wasn't of any large interest to her, but it was good to see the other medicine cats and exchange news. Bored, she padded around, her black-and-orange tail swishing with a mind of its own. And what oppertunites to wonder about StarClan! Her mind was abuzz instantly as she contemplated various questions about the Gathering. Who had thought of it in the first place? And why? Jolted out of her reverie for a moment, she spotted her apprentice sitting by himself, seemingly alone. It might be nice to talk to him. At least he was someone she actually knew and was interested in, and Brightnose was curious to hear HIS opinions on the Gathering, and perhaps talk about the other Clans. The calico FogClanner smoothly padded over to the ginger-and-white tom, and wrapped her tail contentedly around her paws as she sat beside him. She said. "So, Finchpaw, what do you think of the Gathering?"

[Crowzerplorodon]

Jaypaw turned to face his clan mate as Cloudpaw wandered over to them, giving the white tom a friendly nod. Now the group was evened out, clan wise. Two FogClanners and two MeadowClanners. However, if Jaypaw was going to consider the personalities of the cats around, he’d have to say it was a three on one battle, Sootpaw having all the odds against him. If only the gray apprentice had been friendlier. Or at least tried to be decent toward his own clan mate, not just give some… show for the cats he wanted to impress.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Jaypaw of MeadowClan…”

Yeah. He really doubted that. Sootpaw seemed not the type for pleasantries and such words from the gray apprentice were obviously false. Unless, of course, Sootpaw was just the type to be angered at his fellow clan mate for a silly thing like stuttering and he negative first impression he had left on Jaypaw was just caused by that. Perhaps Sootpaw wasn’t as horrid as he seemed at the moment. Further conversation with the young tom could confirm his suspicions, Jaypaw supposed.

"He's Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw of MeadowClan."

Jaypaw turned back to look at Willowpaw, not bothering to hide his pleasant surprise that the silver apprentice knew Cloudpaw’s name. ”Yes, that is Cloudpaw,” he confirmed with a smile, giving Willowpaw a “thumbs up” look before maneuvering so he could face all three of the other tom apprentices easily. ”So,” he continued, wanting to snap the tension he felt between all of them. ”Who are your mentors? Mine’s Mistystream, she isn’t attending tonight…”

--

”Humorous stories? Naw, nothing comes to mind. The apprentices are all too set on becoming warriors rather than blundering about and making fools of themselves. All acting much more mature than they really are—they need to learn to live before they all get too old for it.” His ears flick in slight annoyance. It was true, of course. It seemed like there were no younglings whatsoever in the camp. With no kits to pester the elders and all the apprentices training hard, a source of amusement was tough to find. There was, however, Shrikewhisker… odd cat, Jaggedclaw though.

He rolled a bit, favoring his left side tonight and watching Tawnyheart and Patchfur lazily. Hey, he deserved the rest. ”Tell us a story, Tawnyheart,” he said with a tilt of sarcasm to his voice. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to hear, because he darn well did. Tawnyheart’s stories always amused him. It just seemed fitting to use a bit of sarcasm, considering how kit-like his position was at the moment. Not that it mattered to Jaggedclaw.

”No-ears,” he grunted in greeting. He saw the tom everyday though; it wasn’t like the guy needed some extravagant welcome into their little chatting elder pile. Plus it was more of a greeting he had given to Patchfur. His ears flicked once more, though this time more to shake off a piece of grass than to express an emotion. Tail twitching in the grass, Jaggedclaw barely scented the arrival of another StreamClanner. His pale eyes rolled to the side so he could get a look at the brown tabby tom, pegging him as a warrior immediately. Shame he didn’t know the younger cat’s name. Might’ve gone smoother if he had.

”Right here, lad,” Jaggedclaw mumbled, jerking his head awkwardly toward No-ears. Was the tom blind or was he just looking for a way into their conversation. If he wanted to get chatty with the elders all he had to do was sit around with them and laugh when they laughed, snort when they snort, etc. He would’ve found a golden ticket straight into their little party. Agreeing with elders was always (and he really did mean always) the smart choice.

[prowler.]

Minnowpaw
--
As the words escaped Minnowpaw's lips she heard another voice override hers as another cat padded over to the apprentice she was trying to bring up a conversation with. Apparently not noticing her, the cat spoke to the tom so, finchpaw, what do you think of the gathering? So he was the Medicine Cat Apprentice! And that meant this must be... Minnowpaw gulped a little - it had to be Brightnose, a real Medicine Cat! Minnowpaw stared in fascination for a moment at the larger she-cat as the calico Medicine Cat padded over. Minnowpaw shrunk back for a moment, wondering if she should casually walk away before the FogClan Medicine Cat noticed her. Well, she'd just said something to this... Finchpaw. She'd look like a wierdo if she was the sort of cat to walk over, say something and walk away before she got a reply.

Sucking up her gut she looked at the Medicine Cat that had just joined them, her fur fluffed out a little again in selfconciousness. 'H-hello, I-I'm... Minnowpaw, o-of, um, StreamClan.' She stumbled falteringly to the older, wiser cat. This cat had connections to StarClan she thought wonderingly and the other apprentice soon would she thought, turning to stare at him equally, swapping her gaze between the two in excited shock. Before she could find worry again, she blurted out a question that bugged her in exhileration, 'what's it like to be a medicine cat?!' She regretted the hurried words the moment they left her lips. Foolhardily thrown in and without thought, how on earth could she expect them to reply to that?

-----------------

Hailstorm

[/color]
--
Hailstorm listened attentively as Stonetail spoke of his own apprentice's little escapade, a grin crawling over his maw as the other warrior told the story. He gave a sudden, hearty chuckle at it, his own eyes twinkling in return to the other warrior's. 'Oh really? Quite the spectacle to watch, I'm sure, though I didn't have Willowpaw pegged for the stealthy type.' He said, raising his eyes a little in silent intrigue, before carrying on hastily, 'we all had our troubles learning to... hunt squirrels, if you could call some of the attempts that.' Hailstorm commented, grimacing a little as he remembered himself facing off against his own squirrel foe as an apprentice and getting a nasty bonk on the nose in return. Hey, he'd been young, it was acceptable at the time.

He looked around again, eyes raised and looking a little hurt when he turned back to Stonetail and remarked in mock woe, 'hey, since when did we become so unpopular? They must think we'll eat them or something. Hm, how about we go over to Mistpelt and Bramblefang? It'll be a little outnumbering but hey, it looks like FogClan cats are in full tide this Gathering.' He suggested, it did indeed seem like the FogClanners were being the most socially active this gathering, not to mention grey cats, the Gathering seemed full of them; particularly that little grey batch of apprentices, Hailstorm was prepared to look a little affronted, back in his day it'd been almost all black and white cats, what'd happened to them? Someone mixed the paint...[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Rolo]

Frostpaw

Frostpaw smiled pleasantly, exceedingly pleased that this cat seemed friendly and almost curious about her. It was as much as she could hope for. It seemed her rather radical way of introducing herself had made an impression. That or this cat had heard of her. She wouldn't be surprised... she made an impression on every cat she met (she knew she did, because she made a point to do so) so she was spoken about alot.

"I know what you mean about being on your own." She said with a chuckle, casting her eyes deliberately around the clearing, "It seems that everyone has a group they belong with now... or friends from other clans they wish to speak to. If you don't know anyone" Or get on with anyone, in my case, she mumbled to herself "you're likely to spend the gathering alone."

She looked down at the ground as she spoke, seemingly telling these things more to herself than to Shrikewhisker. The lack of friendships didn't bother her, of course, but she did like to have someone to talk to. Unfortunately, if she were to pull her usual stunt of gaining everyone's attention or starting a fight, she'd probably never get to come to another gathering. It was a pain, it seemed the only way to have a decent conversation was to make friends... and what chance of that did she have?

"Heh, and as for me being in Fogclan..." She laughed openly, "You can blame my..." She stopped herself spirting out insults, "mother for that."

Please do. I myself will surely curse her forever for it, she smirked to herself.

She smiled coldly, her joy muted as she remembered the cat she hated most. "I was just a kit when my mother joined the clan. She brought into those... stupid tales of Starclan and wanted me to do the same. Unfortunately for her, I didn't..."

She trailed off, frowning. She had been about to tell this cat her only reason she was staying in Fogclan. She had only just stopped herself revealing her plans... her true intentions. What an unwise thing that would be to do.

"And I haven't ever since, to my mentor's dismay." She covered the few seconds hesitation well with a cheerful grin. However, she knew it would be very very apparant to this cat that there had been some hesitation... but she'd just have to regain herself in some other way.

---

No-ears

No-ears joined the circle, pleased to be able to rest his feet. It seemed all the elders were as happy as he to meet people their own age. Their conversations were relaxed and calm.

He chuckled along with Jaggedclaw, "Yes... very right, Jaggedclaw. Warriors are much too serious these days. There is a balance needed. A cat needs to act maturely for the sake of the clan, of course, but if you act too maturely you never do anything fun, and if you don't do anything enjoyable, life isn't worth living."

His eyes glittered as he travelled back to his kithood and apprenticehood. How fun those times had been! The rules had meant nothing to him, he had gotten into so much mischief he was practically scolded and punished every night. Yet, he wouldn't exchange those times for the world for that was a time when he had truely lived. Nothing came of being too serious, he knew that better than anyone.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose switched her gaze from her own apprentice to the tiny, stuttering gray one in front of her. She studied Minnowpaw with a blend of curiosity and amusement. "What is is like to be a medicine cat?" She mused. Hmm, how to answer such a question? "Well, we have a great responsibility, of course. We are the ones who must guard against illness and make sure that every battle doesn't have fatalites. We must know the ways of healing herbs, and how and when to use them. And some of us commune with StarClan, of course, though that isn't neccesary. I must admit that I quite admire PineClan for their fierce loyalty to one another and their different take on life. We have a difficult role, Minnowpaw of StreamClan, but is rewarded by the fact of knowing we have served our Clan to the utmost." The calico medicine cat nodded, satisfied with herself and her explanation.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw

Finchpaw looked up immediately as his mentor approached him, and he was disappointed. He did like his mentor, it wasn't that-- it was more the fact that he should be talking to cats from other clans at this meeting, not a cat he could see every day whenever he wanted to. But he wasn't about to shy away from Brightnose (again) so he welcomed her with twitching whiskers on a lifted muzzle, uttering a quiet hello as she sat her tri-colored self down beside him.

"Well it's a gathering isn't it," he said briskly, hardly giving it much thought like he usually did, since the question was so simple. "And it has the same format as the last one, and it will have the same format of the next one. I do enjoy them, though," he added, almost like an afterthought though it was very true and the only statement that held any sort of positive emotion in it.

The very boring conversation of a gathering was thankfully dropped when Minnowpaw came stumbling over. Finchpaw was not surprised by her question and he wasn't surprised by Brightnose's answer. The response to the question was an automatic reflex, so hard wired into the brains of medicine cats that usually they spoke with feigned excitement. It was herbs and stars, honor and hard work. Difficult, yet rewarding. Little Minnowpaw, while she might be satisfied with Brightnose's answer, wouldn't know that it was just a recording, replayed every so often, and usually during the gathering.

Finchpaw felt the impulse to say something else to Minnowpaw. He wanted to open his mouth and tell Minnowpaw about how the herbs stained your fur with their smell, how you always smelled like mouse bile, and tasted it in your mouth. How the den was so cramped and the air so thick, that breathing became a challenge-- add Brightnose and a patient or two and moving about became a challenge as well. He wanted to tell the Streamclan apprentice how Starclan wasn't pure at all. Starclan was a joke, a cruel one to play on cats who were gullible and fragile. Wouldn't Minnowpaw be surprised to hear all that?

He almost opened his mouth. But he knew better to do that.
--
Shrikewhisker

Shrikewhisker sat very obediently, his tail curling at the end as he listened to the intelligent Frostpaw speak. She's so much like my own apprentice. Both act so old, like they're already full-grown, senior warriors in charge of their lives and y'know, I can't do anything about that. But they're really not. They're young, and fresh and I wonder why they can't just act like an apprentice for once,/i] Shrikewhisker thought with a smile and a hidden chuckle. It really was a mystery, on why some cats decided to grow up so fast. Man, even the birdbrains knew that he would give anything to be a stupid, reckless apprentice again.

"Oh, I see. Well I suppose she was just tryin' to do what was right for you, even if she hurt you in the end. Shame though-- you probably aren't surprised Frostpaw, but I've heard plenty of stories about you. Course they aren't all good, but they're all interesting. I think Pineclan would benefit with a cat like you... so I mean, Shrikewhisker paused, reminding himself to breathe. Harepaw could put up with his ramblings but he didn't know if Frostpaw could.

"Why don't you just come to Pineclan anyway?" he asked. "Gingerstar would love a cat like you; she's all about females who are strong and independent and all that."

Huh. That was a curious thought. If Frostpaw was so against believers, then what Shrikewhisker couldn't get is why she wouldn't high tail it out of there and head to the strong and mighty Pineclan. He searched his brain for any sort of reason, but only came up with one.

"Though I suppose you don't want to leave your friends behind," Shrikewhisker said, simply assuming that Frostpaw must have a few in her clan, though he should have thought differently from the rumors that he did hear. "It is hard to say good-bye and only see cats at gatherings. I'd never want to leave my own clan just for that reason. Starting over in a new clan is also so hard and quite intimidating, I think."

[/size]

[Rolo]

Frostpaw

Frostpaw's nose crinkled in amusement, her eyes taking on a certain warmth as she chuckled evilly. Her eyes took on a hint of playfulness and it was quite noticable that she was pleased with herself.

"Ah," She said loudly, her eyes glittering. "You have, have you?"

Frostpaw chuckled openly, "I'm not surprised, I'm talked about alot in Fogclan anyway."

She giggled. Though Shrikewhisker had posed her a serious question, she didn't intend to answer him. No, she wouldn't reveal her plans for the future... she wouldn't talk about whether she was staying or going, although she knew quite clearly what was going to happen when. However, she found his assumption that she wasn't going to leave the clan laughable... she almost wished she could speak of how awful her clan was to wipe that idea from his head.

"Nah," She said simply, "I have things to do before I can go anywhere, becoming a warrior, for example."

Her words were deliberately ones you could analyse for moons. In reality, she really meant; I need to get revenge on Rowanheart and show him he's wrong.

"Besides," Her eyes glinted evilly, "Debating with and annoying my clan is what I do... it wouldn't be half as fun if the clan actually liked me."