Gathering - #1

With the full moon high in the sky - the night of truce has come once again. It is time for the monthly Gathering, a  time in which all four clans meet at FourTrees. During this time, they must peacefully meet and leaders must deliver information pertaining to their clans to all the gathered cats. It is a time in which fighting is absolutely not tolerated, for fear of angering StarClan and losing their favor.

As of yet, no clan has arrived. But with the light of the full moon above to guide their paws, they will soon begin to fill the area. Before the Gathering begins with the call of the leaders from the Great Rock, cats from different clans are allowed to mingle with one another to speak and share tales from the last time they had met. It is a time to for warriors and apprentices to meet other cats and for elders to share "juicy" gossip. It is a time of friendship and rivalry, peace and tension.

While StarClan allows the moon to continue to shine overhead, the Gathering shall go on.

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The season is green-leaf, the weather is comfortable if a bit warm. There is a soft breeze rustling through the leaves. It may get a bit warm with so many cats gathered together, but those at the edges should be comfortable enough.

Onyxstar was silent. All around him, life announced itself. Crickets chirped where they hid, an owl called from far off as it hunted, and behind him he could hear his clan. They were experts at sneaking around. Masters of silence and darkness. To any other clan they would be nearly invisible, even the stench of the ThunderPath close behind them covering their natural scent. To anyone else they could go on unperceived, not a single cat betraying their position as they waited. But OnyxStar could hear them, their soft muted sounds, their paws on the ground, their tails swishing in anticipation for his command to move into the clearing of FourTrees. It was years of living as quietly as they, years of experience being a ShadowClan cat that allowed him to sense his clan as they hid in the shadows.

It made his whiskers twitch as he crouched low at the front of the group. He was waiting, his eyes glimmering in the low light as he focused on FourTrees. So far, no one had arrived. The clearing was still and silent. OnyxStar approved of this, arriving first made him feel as though he had claimed the area first for his clan. Slowly rising, he flicked his tail shortly, his silent command to move forward. He did not run, but strode towards FourTrees with a calm, and purposeful gait for he was one never to be rushed.

Upon arrival, and as soon as his clan had spread out claiming their spots, he moved closer to the Great Rock. He sat with his tail curled over his paws as he waited and watched for the arrival of the other three clans.

Fadedlight lingered at the backmost part of the clearing, waiting for her clanmates to settle. Some stragglers swerved around her, picking out the best place to sit and quietly chatting about who they hoped would show, and other matters of the sorts. A shiver ran up Fadedlight's spine as she heard the word 'RiverClan'. She wasn't particularly fond of the other clans; she would visit with the other deputies and she did have some friends that would come and talk to her. RiverClan was a different matter though. She had a strong distaste for the swimmers ever since her sister left to join those no good fish breaths. Fadedlight hoped Dapplesplash would stay in her soggy nest this Gathering, as she did not want another awkward confrontation where she would have to act polite. Once satisfied all of her clan was settled, she made her way over to the base of Great Rock, where she would be seated for the duration of the Gathering. Seating herself beside Onyxstar, she offered a supportive smile to the older tom.

"Do you have a plan on what to mention?" she asked, attempting to make idle chatter while the pair gazed over their clanmates.

Fadedlight felt her muscles stiffen at the mention of her sister. |Dapplesplash? Sends her regards? The thought made Fadedlight's blood run cold. She wanted to spin around and snap something like 'oh? Well tell her I send wishes of fleas' or 'my regards left when she did', but the silver she-cat swallowed her pride, and forced a smile on her face. "Thank you for passing along the message. I wonder, why did she not send the message herself? Is she not at this Gathering?" Fadedlight willed the answer to be 'no'. As a deputy, it would be respectful to send well wishes to Dapplesplash in person, and she had no wishes to see a hair on that she-cat's pelt. Why did she have to make this so hard for me? If she'd have been more open to me about what was going on, maybe I would've been able to understand! Now not only am I an orphan, but I am siblingless as well. Her eyes sunk to the ground.

As he stared off into the distance, awaiting the arrival of the other clans, OnyxStar allowed himself a moment to listen to his clan as they settled. Already there was a soft hum of chatter and a certain liveliness to the clearing as they began to speak among themselves. By the stories the other clans told of ShadowClan, any cat would believe them to be dark, serious and mysterious all the time, even with among each other. OnyxStar's ears twitched at the thought of how the other clans must think of them. Shadowy figures in the night. Violent monsters that were the worst things in kits nightmares. Cold and unforgiving. They may as well accuse them of not believing in StarClan too. But the thought of frightening the young of the other clans, of being the reason kits listened to their mothers and the warriors every young apprentice wished to defeat in battle, did not bother him. Quite the opposite. The thought greatly amused him. ShadowClan were strengthened by the caution such stories created in the other clans. They were usually given a wide berth, left alone, conflict with them avoided as much as possible. And this gave his clan, his cats, his family; peace. They grew, they survived, they lived, and they thrived. ShadowClan were strong - and as he sensed FadedLight sit next to him, ask him what he was going to say, he knew that was it. OnyxStar would never make his clan seem weak, but he didn't have to lie. Not tonight. With a soft hum and rearranging his paws,
he answered softly, 'Of course-"

But the words died upon his tongue. There was a sound from ahead and a scent carried on the wind. His nose turned up as it assaulted his senses. RiverClan. Peering out he could see their sleek, dripping pelts as they raced towards the clearing. Finally the second clan had arrived.

The dark tom watched as they filtered into the clearing, a disinterested look to him as they did so. He had no particular vendetta against any clan, he had his opinion about all of them, sure, but not one did he hold a particular hatred for. WindClan were weak and rabbit-brained. ThunderClan were soft and cowards. RiverClan were weird-smelling and fish-brained. And one such weird-smelling cat made her way over, presumptuously settling herself before himself and FadedLight. RobinFlight, his mind supplied quickly.

OnyxStar remained quiet, allowing his silent musings to run rampant in his head. He was not overly fond of the RiverClan deputy, she was far too brazen for his tastes and held little respect for authority. The tom was not unaware that he was not her leader, but the least she could have done was extend him some sort of greeting, acknowledging him for who he was. But no. She came. She sat. She spoke. And ignored him wonderfully! OnyxStar wasn't too keen on finding out what she would be like as a leader - if her current traits were anything to go by she would be quite a pest. Not that it mattered, such an occurrence surely was a long way off. So he listened to the two deputies as they spoke in a not very friendly manner. Not that he would expect them to, being the situation as it were. He just wished FadedLight would keep her head up and not allow RobinFlight to get under her fur like some tick.

"How considerate of you, RobinFlight," he interjected softly, "To worry so about FadedLight and DappleSplash's relationship despite the circumstance. But then again, I suppose, your own relationship with your sister, Icepaw, was it?... is what inspires you to do so." He narrowed his eyes as though in thought, but he clearly remembered the other she-cats name: IvyPaw. He shook his head briefly, remembering the announcement of IvyPaw's death. It was a most unfortunate circumstance... for RiverClan. But his intention was hardly to speak well of the dead. He knew RiverClan cats were as slippery as the fish they caught and handled improperly they could slip away.

OAKCLAW of THUNDERCLAN
Oakclaw didn't seem to have any clan members ready to go to the gathering. So, she went alone. She did not want to miss out! Sitting by a tree, she contemplated on how to get the other cats’ attention. They looked busy.
This was her first gathering, and she was sure it was everyone else's too.

Rabbittail, Deputy of Windclan | 39 Moons | Shecat | Feeling; At Peace | Tagged; Oakclaw

The brown and white manx may not have been the quickest of Windclan cats, but that didn't stop her from leaving camp early to arrive at the gathering on time. She blamed her lack of speed on the fact that her tail could not extend as long as her clanmates to provide adequate balance, but the real reason was that she was a tad stockier than most. It wasn't that she was overweight, persay, just that she wasn't the thinnest of cats. Her talents were more focused on hitting hard and powerfully. Although she couldn't chase down a healthy rabbit on her own, she was fully capable of stunning one with a swing of her paw.

But those were her own skills, and this was not the place to show them. Not now at least. Her yellow eyes swept through the clearing, and with a jolt of guilt Rabbittail noticed that even though she had gotten there before the rest of her clan, she was still the last deputy to arrive. Hurriedly, she streaked towards the Fourtrees, settling beneath it in the comfortable divet between two roots that she had discovered five moons prior, when she had been promoted to deputy. It had been a bit of a surprise to her when Swoopingstar had called her name to replace the previous one. Rabbittail wasn't the most gritty of cats--some would even go as far as to say she was too nice. But that was just the way she was raised; the short-tailed feline was capable of being harsh if needed, she just greatly disliked it.

Rabbittail flicked her ears in greeting to the deputies and leaders around her, noticing that most of them were already in conversation. That's what you get for being late, Rab, she chuckled mentally. But Oakclaw seemed like she wasn't doing anything in particular. "Greetings, Oakclaw! she purred in a friendly manner. "I trust that prey is running well in Thunderclan?" It wasn't exactly the most interesting topic of conversation, but Rabbittail hoped that perhaps smalltalk would evolve into something more interesting over time. Either that or the gathering would start.

SwoopingStar slowly made his way over to the gathering with his head hung low. He was incredibly tired from the day and had nearly forgot the gathering entirely. Luckly, his deputy had remembered. The young silver cat's intial thoughts were to turn around and greet those he came contact with, however, he decided against it. He was now the leader of windclan. The leader. He still hadn't begun to associated himself with the position. To the eyes of his clanmates and other clans, he was still viewed as being naive and unable to lead effective due to his age.

Shaking the thought from his head, he began to move quickly through the crowds and attempted to have minimum comunitcation with those around him. As he approached the great rock he gazed over OnyxStar and Fadedlight, The leader and deputy of ShadowClan. In an attempt to look more mature, the youngster resisted the temptation to jump over and push his way into the conversation. Instead, he sat himself down and waited for the meeting to offically begin.

//Sorry I wrote this about 4 differnt times and the page kept refreshing -.-