2.12.10 GATHERING!

[Crowzerplorodon]

The first thing Cloudstar noticed about the clearing – aside from it being empty – was the surprising lack of snow. Yes, there were still spots of it around the outside of the gathering place, and of course a noticeable remainder under the four tall trees. But besides those places, the opening looked relatively snow-free. Perhaps because it was so exposed to the sun? That would make plenty sense. Taking a few steps into the clearing are told him that the ground wasn't even that wet. The snow must have melted a while ago for the grass and dirt to stay dry. Perhaps tonight, unlike the last gathering, would be... Warmer, in both the sense of the weather and cats' hearts.

Cloudstar turned his head, studying the cats he had brought with him tonight. Green eyes lingered on Stormflower and Badgernose a little longer, wondering if the two she-cats had picked up on the warmer temperatures as he had. Most likely, as they were both brilliant cats. They had been picked for their positions for a reason, after all. With a quick nod, Cloudstar flicked his tail, allowing his clan to rush down the slope and into the clearing. He himself hesitated, wanting to take a moment just to watch the familiar pelts of StreamClan flood into the open clearing. It had been how many moons now? Quite a few. The white tom could still recall the first gathering, and how cats seemed so awkward, being divided by strict borders only to suddenly come together. He hadn't been a member of ForestClan, unlike the other three leaders, but somehow he felt as though he was always meant to be a part of a clan, to lead them. It was why clan traditions were never foreign to Cloudstar, never caused a weird ache in his heart as he tried to adjust to them.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then dived down into the clearing, following behind the fading tails of his clanmates. This was no time for soul search, this was the gathering. He needed to be at the top of his game, representing StreamClan as best he could. His paws touching the cold snow that remained under the trees was exactly what he needed to snap him back to reality. With head head held high, Cloudstar gazed out to the top of the clearing, waiting for the other clans to join his own on this full moon night.

ooc;
It's another gathering ~ You know the rules, no posting until all the leaders have posted. And there's no list of who's supposed to come to this one, just keep the cats you bring to a smart number, and try not to have too many of one clan. If we see to many cats of one clan, we'll ask you to remove them.

Of course, Deputies, Medicine Cats, and Medicine Cat apprentices should be present at this. Cedarstar will be making a huge announcement so... yeah.

[Whiskers]

A glance down at the clearing and Gingerstar saw that she had received second place this time.

Not bad. But certainly not the best. One of these days, she was going to have Pineclan arrive first. Not because it was particularly important, but because Gingerstar liked to win, and getting second place was not winning. For now, it didn't bother her too much, as she couldn't turn back time and force her clan to move faster. It was understandable how they had been slower than normal. The snow was piled thick and it was hard to get through. She had some trouble herself.

Gingerstar was therefore relieved to see that the snow was scarce here. It was almost like a sign (though Gingerstar didn't really believe in signs) that maybe the rest of the snow would melt faster than expected. Gingerstar would give her right paw for new-leaf to get here quicker. She was sick of all this cold.

The large ginger she-cat broke away from her clan and trotted toward Cloudstar. The lack of snow was putting her in such a good mood that she gave the Streamclan leader a genuine smile. Then she purred. Positively purred.

"Lovely to see some green about, eh?" She said to the tom and her gaze flicked toward the cats and then back to him. "I almost forgot what the forest looked like with all this snow."

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Cedarstar found that MeadowClan was third as he majestically padded into the warmer clearing. He saw Cloudstar and Gingerstar on the rock, and before going to join them he called back to his Clan. "Disperse yourselves. Enjoy the warmer weather. And be polite to all, no matter their Clan."

He looked for Rabbitstep, making sure the tom was close by. He'd instructed him on where he had to sit, but just wanted to be sure. Assured that the deputy knew he was supposed to follow Cedarstar, the MeadowClan leader padded up to the rock and jumped up.

In gruff tones, he mewed, "I'll begin the Gathering when Owlstar arrives. I have an important announcement." He didn't want to tell them that Bramblefang was dead to their faces, or all his bitterness and grief would come out. He'd had the vigil, and was reassured because he knew that Bramblefang would be happy in StarClan, but he couldn't help continuing to mourn the loss of the deputy. The mottled brown tom felt weak, felt like he should be more confident, more able to shrug it off, but the depressing fact was that leader though he was, he was still just a cat, with feelings and flaws.

How cheerful he was today. But then, what right did he have to be cheerful?

He irritably wished the black-and-white she-cat would hurry up, for some reason. Yet he also didn't want her to...still, in some odd way it would almost free the fact of Bramblefang's death..other cats could share his grief now. Then he snorted at himself. Share his grief? Most of the other Clan cats had probably barely known the deputy. The other Clan leaders would barely care anyway.

He lost himself in his bitter thoughts as the mottled brown tom waited for the FogClan leader.

[[ hardyrex ]]

Rabbitstep

- coz' every girl's crazy...

Fourtrees shined like StarClan itself as the full moon's light brighten the area. Not a single cloud was in the sky tonight, and the clearing in the gathering was snow-less; a blessing from StarClan, perhaps?

Regardless, large tan paws moved forward, matching Cedarstar's steady pace toward the sacred land. Before MeadowClan's chosen cats had taken their leave, the MeadowClan leader had spoken to Rabbitstep of what to do, where to sit, act, and say. Honestly, Rabbitstep was having a hard time remembering the conversation as his mind buzzed with excitement. He felt like it was his first Gathering all over again, but his strict professional nature kept him from acting on such emotion. He kept his tail and head high as MeadowClan entered the clearing, third to arrive.

As he was told, the tan tabby padded to where the deputies met, nodding a greeting to a cat every now and again. His yellow-green eyes tried to spot Swanpaw, but the gingers, whites, blues, browns, and blacks of pelts made it impossible to search. Sitting down, hew wondered where the rest of the deputies were. He was curious to see how Mistpelt was; after all, they did both grow up in ForestClan. Rabbitstep never understood why the she-cat hadn't stayed with MeadowClan. Maybe we just didn't believe in StarClan enough. He chuckled to himself.

... 'bout a sharp dressed man -

Beaverstripe

- counting bodies like sheep...

Another gathering.

Beaverstripe could hardly contain his excitement.

He didn't understand on thing about these Clan cats: Why are you meeting once a moon to chat it up only to claw each other the next day? It just didn't make sense to his mind, but who understood them. The tabby was just going to have to get over it and go freeze his tail off, make some small talk, and listen to some news he won't remember. At least the clearing was snow-less tonight, so none of them would get their tail and paws wet. But the clearing was packed due to the fact FogClan were the last ones there, so finding a lone stop to sit would be even harder.

Sighing, Beaverstripe picked his way through the crowd, bumping into a cat every now and again. There was a small bush near the edge of the clearing and not many cats were around. Perfect. The tom padded quickly to the spot, settling down and closing his eyes.

... to the rhythm of the war drums -

[Crowzerplorodon]

Cloudstar

[/color][/font]

[/b] He smiled politely, pleased that he wasn't the only one enjoying the grass.

“Important, Cedarstar?” The tom asked quietly, quirking a brow at the brown leader. So important that the tom felt the need to rush this gathering? It was the first bearable one in moons, surely Cedarstar realized that. The cats deserved sometime to chat before they had to listen to their leaders talk about the going-ons. “I think it would be best you waited. Allow the cats here to mingle, gather your own thoughts.” Whatever it was, it had obviously rattled the MeadowClan leader. He wouldn't be so quick to announcing his clan's status for any other reason.

Cloudstar turned away from the other two leaders, catching sight of FogClan pouring down from their side. “Just wait, alright?” He requested once more, putting on a smile to greet the black and white leader as she joined their group.[/ul]

Otterfur

[/color][/font]

[/b] He asked, attempting to slide in smoothly with idle pratter. Mission: unaccomplished. Otterfur wondered if he had ever felt so awkward. “The snow's all melting...” Speaking more wasn't helping, either.


ooc;
fer the sake of things, Cedarstar should agree with Cloudstar, and y'all can pretend Owlstar is here. P:[/ul][/blockquote][/size]

[glowlynose]

Crowpaw tried to seem nonchalant as he walked into the gathering-place with the rest of his clanmates. After all, he was a medicine cat's apprentice. Everything with medicine cats was very serious business and all that. As a new apprentice, he felt that he could scarcely breathe, let alone allow his facial muscles to relax from their forced stern expression into the warm smile that came so naturally.

This job was turning out to be a lot less fun than he'd thought it would be. Perhaps he should have taken Lynxpelt's word for it when he said it would be hard, but he hadn't been thinking clearly. So far all his training had been was looking at piles of leaves and trying to name them- and the leaves weren't even alive! He couldn't believe that the big mystery of being a medicine cat was using a bunch of dead leaves to fix things. There had to be more than that, right?

The night-pelted tom forced himself away from such cynical thoughts with a shake of his head. It didn't matter what he was doing now, or how boring it was, it would help him help others later. That was all that mattered. And who said that he couldn't smile or be happy? If he wanted to smile, he'd smile, and nobody could stop him! It felt so good to let himself relax that he nearly let out a cry of joy.

Now it was time to survey his surroundings. There were so many cats in this place, and for once they were all at peace with one another. Tonight there would be no spilling of blood, not even thoughts of spilling blood. The rest of the clans seemed to think that a clan that lived in the stars would be angry with them and punish them for breaking a truce. StarClan... it was a topic that troubled the young tom's mind. How could an entire clan of cats not believe in them when three others did? What caused them to be faithless while others were willing to give their lives for this group of star-studded cats? What was the harm in believing in StarClan anyway? Crowpaw cast his gaze to the sky yet again; the glimmering specks in the distance seemed to be shrouded with mystery.

Ah, but no matter. Who should he talk to? There were groups of cats congregating everywhere. Maybe he should go find Finchpaw. He got along with Finchpaw great. For a cat so eager to make new friends, Crowpaw found himself paralyzed with fear, quite literally. No matter how hard he tried, his paws would not move forward. Why was he so scared to walk down there? They were only cats, and nobody would hurt him. They had their truce to uphold. From this distance, Crowpaw could not even hope to spot his ginger medicine cat friend, so he was forced to go down and search. He only hoped that it wouldn't take him long to find him.

In the meantime, he could marvel at his surroundings. It was so strange how there was hardly any snow here. A few patched glimmered underneath the trees that circled the clearing, but for the most part the gathering-place was unscathed by the bitterness of leaf-bare precipitation. Of course, the leaves were all scattered about on the ground and the grass was pretty effectively frozen, but there was no snow obscuring the reality of winter's chill. Crowpaw decided that he liked the snow better. It was glittery, it was pretty, and it was white. Best of all, the snow totally masked the death that leaf-bare brought to the forest. Yes, thought Crowpaw with a smile, snow is awesome. I wonder what Redclaw would do if I blew some at her... I better not. I like my ears where they are.

[/center]

[Whiskers]

The sky was clear, the stars were especially bright, and the snow on the ground was scarce. It was an odd feeling, the grass against the pads of Finchpaw's feet, as he shuffled his way across the clearing. He had gotten used to the snow these past weeks and the feel of it in between his toes. Finchpaw didn't exactly miss the chill that the snow had brought to his paws, but the ground was so much harder than he had remembered.

Unfortunately, despite the pretty night and the lack of snow, Finchpaw wasn't in the best of moods. He was still obsessing over his recent failure in the medicine den, and his father had been invited to the Gathering. Hopefully Rowanheart would keep himself occupied enough, so Finchpaw could have a decent conversation. Of course, even if he did manage to break away from his father, Finchpaw knew that Rowanheart would keep one eye on him throughout the night. So it was best to choose a safe cat...one that wouldn't get him in trouble...

His eyes landed on the black, fluffy fur of his new friend Crowpaw. Without even thinking, Finchpaw's feet began to move toward the Pineclan medicine cat apprentice and he didn't bother to stop himself. After all, Finchpaw liked Crowpaw. Found him kind, intriguing, good for conversation. While the tom wasn't the perfect choice, Finchpaw decided it was worth the risk--

"Ah, Finchpaw, going to go catch up with friends?" Rowanheart asked and he stepped in front of Finchpaw.

"Yup. I'll see you back in--"

"Care to introduce us?"

Lovely, just lovely. Finchpaw considered choosing a random cat instead of Crowpaw, but he realized that Rowanheart wouldn't dare be rude to a Pineclan cat at a gathering. He would just talk to him later about it. Finchpaw was safe to do what he wished to. With a broadening smile, Finchpaw nodded his agreement (to Rowanheart's great surprise) and then the two ginger toms continued across the clearing toward the unsuspecting Crowpaw.

Finchpaw flashed Crowpaw a quick and subtle warning smile before he launched right into the introduction. "Hey Crowpaw! Dad, this is my new friend, Crowpaw. He's Pineclan's newest medicine cat apprentice. I met him at the last half-moon." Finchpaw said. His eyes focused on his father's face and he detected that flash of fear he was so accustomed to seeing. Yes, his father didn't want him talking to Crowpaw. But he wasn't going to do anything about it here, now was he?

"Crowpaw, this is my father, Rowanheart."

Rowanheart's eyebrows raised slightly and his ears flicked back. And that was all. No growling. No snarling. He didn't even allow his claws to slip out of their sheaths. He spoke quietly and respectfully, "It's very nice to meet you, Crowpaw. I'm happy to see my son has found a friend... that being said, I hardly want to intrude on your night. Have fun, Finchpaw. Stay out of trouble."

And he was gone. Finchpaw let out a sigh of relief and turned to Crowpaw. A night without Rowanheart, a conversation with Crowpaw. If Frostpaw was here, Finchpaw would say the night couldn't get any better. But at least he was going to have some actual fun.

[/size]

[Slug]

Sandpaw

He moved easily through in-between cats, his strides lazy, yet still graceful as he wandered aimlessly through the furry crowd. The handsome ginger tabby didn't really feel like speaking to anyone tonight, but he knew if he wanted to stay on his toes, he would have to talk to someone. So, with that in mind, Sandpaw scanned the gathered felines, his orange eyes dull as he searched for a fellow Clanner to talk to.

His gaze landed on a lone tom settled near a bush. He definitely wasn't a talkative type from the look of him. He obviously wanted to be left alone by the way he looked like he was trying to sleep. However, Sandpaw felt no guilt as he strode toward the-- sniffing the air, the MeadowClanner noted it was a FogClanner, and to be wary of his choice of words if StarClan came up as a topic.-- tabby, smoothly resting himself on his haunches beside the FogClanner.

He was silent for a few moments, studying the other tom. His mind raced, and then stopped, then repeated the process as he decided on what to say. Quickly, he came to a decision and droned: "You do not like gatherings. Why?". Perhaps he came off as demanding, but Sandpaw couldn't help but ask. The FogClanner was not talking to others, which led to the conclusion that either A. He didn't like talking, or B. He didn't like gatherings.

Sandpaw went with answer B.

Willowpaw

The apprentice scampered among the cats, ears back and silver fur mused. He looked like he had walked out of a tornado, the poor FogClanner, but he didn't mind. Right now he was busy trying not to get ran over by others, which was difficult enough as it was. What he needed to do was find a good, less active place to stay. Maybe stutter a conversation or few with some apprentices.

Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

The green-eyed tom gave a one look at two medicine cats-- judging from their herb-y scent-- and scrambled over to them, wheezing a weak "F-Finchpaw!" as he approached the duo without-- thankfully-- getting trampled. "F-F-Finchpaw!" He stuttered again as he fell to his rump with a tired gasp, curling his fluffy tail quickly around his cold paws. "A-and... h-hello?" Willowpaw asked the other medicine cat nervously, looking almost obediently at the ground as he realized from the black tom's scent that the smaller-- finally!-- feline was a PineClanner.

"I-I... I'm W-Willowpaw..."

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Cedarstar

He reluctantly admitted to himself that Cloudstar was right, after all...and newleaf was on its way. Bramblefang would have liked to see it...collecting himself, the brown tom growled, "Very well. I suppose you're right, after all."

"Owlstar." He meowed cordially enough, as she joined them. He'd just have to wait, he guessed. The MeadowClan leader sighed. Gatherings, good as they were, could be so trying...but he stood up straight and corrected his bearing, trying to keep up his leader image.

Swallowpelt

Ugh. Why did she of all cats have to be chosen for the stupid fox dung Gathering. It was barely tolerable at the best of times, and at the worst it was torture to match grappling with a fox.

Cats. Cats she didn't know, didn't care about, and some hated her just for her Clan allegiance. Whoo! Not. Gatherings were a waste of time in the gray she-cat's opinion. The only good thing about this one was that as medicine cat apprentice, Crowpaw had gotten to go, and Otterfur was here somewhere. Yet she wanted to talk to someone else...even if she was really bad at it.
How much sense she did not make was astounding.

Plunking herself down on the ground at the edge of the clearing, Swallowpelt wondered what misfortunes would come her way this time.

[[ hardyrex ]]

Rabbitstep

- coz' every girl's crazy ...

Rabbitstep flexed his claws, glancing around the clearing. All the Clans had arrived, but the deputies were not here with him. Not that he was complaining. This was a good chance to see who was who. Now, if only the cats would stop moving so much. The swirl of brown, silver, white, ginger, and blue mixed with the stripes of the tabbies was enough to make his head start spinning.

Deciding that his metal state was more important than learning a few names, the tan tabby looked away and straight into the face of a brown tom, meowing about warm weather. Ah. Small talk. The base of all awkward conversations that you wouldn't remember in a few minutes.

"Very warm compared to the rest of the nights we have had. I can't wait until all the snow is gone. Maybe Newleaf is finally showing itself?" Rabbitstep meowed, half to himself.

... 'bout a sharp dressed man -

Beaverstripe

- then love until we bleed ...

The tabby tom was very much enjoying himself. He knew he wasn't going to get any sleep due to the many meows of the Clans, but it's not like resting his eyes wasn't nice. His ears picked up some cats talking about other cats, others talking about the weather, and the stutter of Willowpaw. All was well.

At least until he got a whiff of a MeadowClanner.

Beaverstripe's tail tip twitched as he hear the beat of paws coming toward him, then the thump of a cat sitting down next to him. He cracked open a eye, seeing a ginger tabby next to him. Young, so he was an apprentice who was about to lose his ears. Maybe he just wanted to sit under this nice little bush with him.

"You do not like gatherings. Why?"

Or maybe he didn't.

"Pointless." He replied simply, moving to a sitting position. Might as well act like he cared.

... then fall apart in parts -