━ ‘✦) i am the plague ━━ o&a!

[broken*]

➳. ── ❝ W A S P F O O T ❞
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
( 28 moons ) ( molly ) ( hillclan deputy ) ( workcount; 716 ) ( tags: orchidstar, sparkjaw ) ( location: ledge, the glade )
➳. ── ❝ do what is right, not what is easy. ❞


these past few days had been such a blur that waspfoot's mind spun thinking about it, and not in a very good way. the loss of a life in any way is a hard thing for any clan cat to go through, but the loss of three lives, unexpectedly, from a vicious fox attack. it just didnt get any harder to deal with than that. the lives of badgerswipe, gorsepelt, and heatherpaw had been taken far too early, their young souls joining the clans ancestors in starclan many moons too soon in her mind. even just thinking about little heatherpaw made her heart ache; the young molly had reminded waspfoot so much of herself when she was young, and she considered her to be the little sister that she didnt have but secretly always wanted. when volestripe had raced back into the camp that day, covered in wounds that were still seeping blood, his words barely coming out he was breathing so hard. blossomfur seemed to have done a good job at healing his external injuries, but every time waspfoot looked at him now, she couldnt help but notice the difference in him. his eyes just seemed so void of emotion/feeling now... shaking her head a bit, she looked up at the sky, realizing now how dark it was, the moon full and surrounded by stars.

her mind began to wander for a minute to her past, and the closest thing to a glimpse of a smile flickered onto her face for a moment as she watched the sky. her parents used to tell her stories about the stars; they would say that the moon was the sky's leader and the stars were the warriors entrusted to protect it. pulling herself to her paws, she began to pad over to the old stump that served as both the clan leader's speaking podium and sleeping place, and bowed her head respectfully in greeting as her amber eyes met orchidstar's green orbs. she said not a word, but glanced up at the night sky as an unspoken question. it seemed her point got across as the tortoiseshell molly stood up, making her call to the clan. as they began the journey, waspfoot remained at orchidstar's side, matching her stride for stride the entire time. she couldnt help but glance back at volestripe, who at his slow pace was near the back of the clan; there was just a bad feeling that she couldnt shake off, a strange aura that wouldnt go away. she opened her mouth to say something to orchidstar, but decided against it; she would simply say blossomfur had cleared him to come with them so he would be attending.

as the clan arrived at the glade, her amber eyes scanned the area quickly, realizing they were the first clan to arrive, not that they were really early or anything, more so on time. she wondered if orchidstar had intended this, to arrive before swampclan as a sign of strength. she was silently pleased by their arrival, as it meant she was able to leave the moist ground that she was not only unfamiliar with but strongly disliked. she allowed orchidstar to go first, but didnt waste any time jumping up onto the second ledge, relieved to once again be on hard, solid ground. her claws rolled out of her paws, scratching into her place on the rock, kneading it the way she did every time she sat in that place since her appointment of deputy. her amber eyes wandered throughout the cats, not really looking for anything in particular, but a strong wet scent crossed her nostrils and she looked up towards the edge of the glade; swampclan had arrived. she bowed her head respectfully at moosestar as he hopped up beside her before continuing up to take his place beside orchidstar, not raising her head until he sat comfortably. her eyes continued to scan the now mingling cats for the swampclan deputy, and they spotted the petite orange tabby. the smallest smile came to her face as she met the other molly's eyes, nodding her silent greeting. she respected the other deputy quite alot, and she'd be lying if she said she wasnt attracted to her, not that she'd ever acted on it.

❈. ── ❝ M A P L E C L A W ❞
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
( 34 moons ) ( molly ) ( swampclan warrior ) ( wordcount; 722 ) ( tags: jaypaw, cherrycloud ) ( location: the glade )
❈. ── ❝ to be the best you must be able to handle the worst. ❞


it was that time again, and while she appeared completely nonchalant and even stoic on the outside, the dark she-cat was bursting at the seems without showing it. it was time for hillclan and swampclan to have their meeting, meaning she would get to see cherrycloud, the handsome clan who, while their romance was forbidden, had stolen her heart in just a few short moons. the dark molly shook her head a bit, trying to clear her thoughts; she'd have plenty of time to think about the orange tom later, while she sat at his side during the meeting. for now, she needed to focus find her apprentice before her leader called them all together to get going; if she didnt find jaypaw before they started the short journey, she would never be able to keep him at her side, and he'd get himself into trouble before they even got ten paces away from camp. her bright green eyes scanned the camp area for her small gray apprentice, and finally landed on him. walking up to him, she drapped her fluffy tail over his back, just as moosestar called for the clan to gather around him. "good evening jaypaw. we will make this journey together, understood? stay by my side. i do not want something happening to you." and with that, she sat beside him, her green eyes looking up to their leader, acting pleasantly surprised when her and jaypaws names were called; the apprentices didnt always get chosen to go, because there were so many of them that watching them to stay out of trouble could be a hassle, but she didnt mind. as their leader and deputy headed out of camp, she stood, nudging her apprentice with her head to follow.

she spotted the dark gray and black form of her brother ashstep as he followed the rest of the clanmembers to the meeting place, but her keen eyes soon lost sight of his form as he so eagerly remained at the front of the group. even as they arrived at the glade and moosestar climbed the ledges to sit beside orchidstar, she struggled to spot him again, but at last she did; he had made a beeline for his best friend volestripe, who he had met as an apprentice at one such clan gathering, and never seemed to care about them being from different clans. the dark molly couldnt help but notice something off about volestripe that evening however, his eyes appearing very dull, his energy much less vibrant than it normally was. she couldnt see what was being said between the tom and her brother, but she noticed the two of them walking off towards the edge of the glade, likely for a more private place to talk, and she couldnt help this odd pang of worry that clenched at her heart. that is, until the all-too-familiar orange tom from hillclan came into view, and all she could think about was being by his side again. looking at her apprentice, her voice was stern but not mean as she spoke. "go and mingle, make friends. but when the meeting starts return to my side. understand?"

she waited for a beat for him to give her a response of some sort, before slowly making her way over to the bold orange tomcat who had stolen her heart recently. she made sure to appear very casual, but it was hard to contain herself. she bumped her head delicately against his forehead, resisting the urge to give him a lick on the forehead or cheek as she had grown accustom to. "good evening cherrycloud. may i say your fur looks very nice tonight. how have you been? it's been a-uh-while since i've seen you." she gave him a playful wink a she thought back to their last late-night escapade. they typically met up here, or somewhere nearby to the glade, as it was a neutral ground for both clans so they were both safe there. although on occasion one of them would sneak into the others territory; thats what cherrycloud had done this last time, a few nights ago, he had crossed the border into swampclan. they stayed very close to the edge, just in case, but their time together was so enjoyable, rolling around under the beauty of the stars.

✭. ── ❝ Q U I V E R P A W ❞
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
( 11 moons ) ( tom ) ( swampclan apprentice ) ( wordcount; 630 ) ( tags: buzzardclaw, pebblepaw ) ( location: the glade )
✭. ── ❝ everything you want is on the other side of fear. ❞


the small apprentice had been to a few clan gatherings before, but he was not chosen to attend all of them in the past, just some. he was an older apprentice so more recently he'd been selected to attend, but because of his timid nature it seemed that his clan leader thought there were better choices most of the time than little old him. thinking about it more, quiverpaw realized that he both loved and hated the clan gathering. he loved it because it gave him a chance to see the few hillclan apprentice friends that he had somehow managed to make. but he hated it because he was not a very social cat, and he would be surrounded by so many strangers, who as soon as they heard his stutter, would judge and/or mock him immediately, so he always felt incredibly self conscious. for example, by the slim chance that he would be chosen to attend the gathering tonight, he had not gone to sleep with the rest of the apprentices, staying up instead for hours to fully groom his coat, to make sure it was nice and clean, with no mats or unruly pieces of fur sticking up anywhere. his little ears perked as he heard the low voice of the clan leader, moosestar, calling for them to gather so that he could announce who would be attending.

the little apprentice took a deep, shaky breath as he left the apprentice den, his dull green/brown eyes began to look around for one of his few friends or his mentor; basically just someone he could be comfortable sitting beside for the announcements. but there were so many cats crowded around the weavers perch, that his time body couldnt really see anyone except the cats who were pressed close around him. with a sigh, he gave up and sat down where he was, his eyes looking once more back to their brown leader as he began to speak again. when he heard his mentors name be called, he shivered a bit with excitement, and then his own name added to that! he immediately turned into a bundle of nerves, but before he had a chance to really think much on it, the leader was leading the clan out of camp and towards the glade. he squeaked lightly in surprise as he was pushed around by a few bigger cats, his eyes once more looking for his mentor. once landing on the older tabby tom, he raced over to his side, tripping last minute and stumbling into his flank. "s-sorry buzzardclaw."

he waited for his mentor to begin the journey before he did as well, trying his best to keep up with the much bigger cat. quiverpaw may be one of the older apprentices, but he was barely the size of a newly-made apprentice, so his little legs couldnt move quite as fast as his mentors, but he did his best to keep up, even if it meant exhausting himself and breathing quite raggedly at one point. he didnt mind the trip to the glade, but he always felt inadequate because he had to struggle to keep from being one of the last cats in the clan to arrive, his time frame just not built for the speed of his clanmates. arriving at the glade finally, he felt his nerves be overwhelmed with excitement, and he nearly ran off to find his friends when he realized hillclan had already gotten their first, but remembered his mentor and his manner and pranced in place a bit. "buzzardclaw can i please go find my friend pebblepaw? i told him last time that we could sit together this time if you were okay with it, cause he was all alone last time."

[. blank]

xx c o a l p a w
______________________________________________________________________________________
gender. molly x age. 10 moons x rank. swampclan apprentice x location. camp / the glade x tags. eeltail

xxxbright, yellow eyes stared eagerly toward the entrance of the apprentices' den. how much longer until the moon would come? coalpaw thought silently. she was eager; tonight the gathering between hillclan and swampclan would take place. any cat who wasn't even a tad excited must have no emotions, for coalpaw's fur felt as if she had fleas running about. the young molly had only been to a few gatherings, giving her age. she had yet to see a lot of the world but she understood that many of her experiences would come with age. coalpaw was at the age where she was ready to be a warrior. independent and strong. ready to prove herself as a useful resource for her clan. of course, she did enjoy being an apprentice. it was always fun to learn new things and not be entirely responsible for her actions, but she yearned to be respected as a warrior should be. coalpaw had always been the silent, hard-working type. sometimes she found herself to be quite rigid. she would say something cold or unemotional to her denmates and ponder about it later. the young cat was mostly alone her entire life, so feelings were a bit new to her.

xxxoh how her feelings blossomed as she became an apprentice. being apprenticed to a tom like eeltail was no big deal, until she noticed herself staring or holding eye contact for too long. coalpaw had developed her crush quite early on and it bothered her. she was upset with herself for falling for a tom so easily, especially one who she barely knew. as time went on, things only got worse. the molly found herself searching for eeltail amongst the other warriors or even seeking him out and making something up for them to do. coalpaw often prayed that eeltail only saw her as an eager, young cat, ready to learn. but occasionally, coalpaw hoped he felt the same. it would be nice to have someone close. she had good relationships with her clanmates; but nothing special. quiverpaw was so kind, and coalpaw enjoyed his company, but things never went farther than that. she supposed she was a tad anti-social. coalpaw enjoyed her alone time. she refuels by being alone in the silence, which may be a little odd for such a young cat. coalpaw often found herself wishing to be with the warriors, because many of them were comfortable with silence. her denmates were still a little immature, so silence was always awkward.

xxxsuddenly, moosestar's voice carried out throughout camp, and coalpaw found herself scrambling to her paws. she had allowed a lot of time to pass and she never even rested like she intended to. the molly managed to run out in time to hear the apprentices' who would be traveling called out. coalpaw hoped that eeltail didn't notice her sudden arrival or the fact that she missed the actual announcement from moosestar, but she wouldn't be surprised if she was asked about it later. she turned, padding quickly to catch up with her clanmates who would be making the trip to the glade. following her leader's instructions, coalpaw stuck closely to her mentor. she followed the others easily, her muscles seeming to burst through her sleek pelt. the younger molly had always been quite muscular for a shecat. coalpaw was glad her mentor was eeltail, for he taught her to use her size to her advantage. her broad shoulders and thick frame helped her push enemies over quickly and fighting became her strong suit in a minimal amount of time. but tonight was no time to be thinking about fighting. it was important that hillclan and swampclan got along well tonight. glancing at the sky, coalpaw took notice of the clouds that she had not noticed before. she silently prayed nothing bad would happen tonight.

xxxthe rocky territory of the glade was always annoying for coalpaw. she was used to the wet, murky ground that her clan called home. having so much exposure to the wilderness bothered coalpaw in the slightest manner. she felt exposed. but as her clan found their spots, coalpaw quickly found a spot to sit. her worries faded as the two leaders found their positions at the highest ledge.

[L.I.N.G.E.R]

S O O T F E A T H E R
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Sootfeather || 20 Moons || Warrior || Hillclan || At the gathering || Tags: Open

《 The right thing to guide us is right here, inside us. No one can divide us, 》

With everything that happened recently on the patrol with Volestripe it seemed silly that I would be nervous about going to the gathering. There seemed to be more worrisome things happening within the clan, Volestripe didn't appear to be the same cat he once was, but who would be after something like that? It pulled at my heart to know we lost three cats in the attack from the fox. Volestripe was another cat selected to go to the gathering, and it wasn't my place to question Orchidstar, but I couldn't help wondering if it was a wise choice. The warrior didn't exactly seem stable, it really seemed like he needed more rest, but I supposed he couldn't rest forever. We all had a duty to the clan and we all had our parts to play. With a soft sigh I heaved myself to my paws from where I was lunging, waiting to head out to the gathering. The group should be leaving any moment now as I spotted Orchidstar heading towards the camp entrance, she always looked like she was ready for anything, maybe it was just me who thought that, but it made me admire her. I doubted she was truly fearless, but whenever I looked at her I couldn't spot weakness no matter where I looked. Her eyes gave nothing away, her posture was confident and demanding, and the way she spoke was filled with power, that's why her voice so easily drew me towards her when she announced that it was time to leave. I fell into step beside the others that were venturing to the gathering, side eyeing Whitegust and Goosepaw and giving a small smile at their exchange.

Deciding it would be best not to speak for the time being I kept to myself, wanting to let myself think of all the things that could happen at the gathering. It wasn't my first gathering, but it still managed to make me feel uneasy. I never really talked to any of the Swampclan cats in the past and though I did not see them as enemies, I was unsure of them, but maybe I would find someone to talk to this time. Letting the idea linger I quickly bounded after my clan mates, taking up a position in the middle of the group where I easily kept pace, my paws striding gracefully over the terrain, feather light as the breeze ruffled my fur causing my ears to fall back against my head. I could taste all the scents in the air, prey, my clan mates, the increasing scent of Swampclan as we cleared out territory and made our way towards theirs to where both clans would gather. I was faintly aware of the cats surrounding me, but I didn't look to see the familiar faces, just listening to the pounding of their paws, their breaths mixing into the air. It settled the itch in my fur to know that they were there, that we had each other's backs. I trusted each and every one of them in anything were to go astray, I didn't suspect Swampclan to commit any foul deeds, it was mostly a rogue animal attack that I was worried about. Maybe another fox would show up or something, though I didn't smell any sign of a threat I still couldn't fully relax. As we neared Swampclan and shifted our course to skirt along the edge of the territory to get to the glade I couldn't help the sense of utter dread that settled into the pit of my stomach. Here came my least favorite part of the journey.

As soon as my paws came into contact with the muck an audible growl vibrated my throat. I looked down at my once clean paws that sunk into the earth now, mud clinging to them and staining them an ugly shade of brown. Now, I didn't mind getting my fur dirty with dust and grass and other things that were simple to clean, but this? This is too much. My muzzle peeled back to reveal my fangs as I lifted my paws higher as I walked, probably looking rather ridiculous, but I was trying to save myself from getting completely covered in this muck. It would take forever to wash out my fur, plus the stench that was going to start coming from me if it stayed on for too long. There were few things I hated more than the smell of wet unclean fur. Yuck. Begrudgingly I carried on, trying my very best to ignore the hideous squelching noises coming from beneath me as my paw steps squished down the path I followed. How did the Swampclan cats live here? Well, I supposed if you lived in a place long enough you would hardly notice, if they came to Hillclan territory it no doubt felt completely strange to them. This thought allowed me to calm my irritation as I continued on this short journey. Seeing the cliffs and the sturdy rocks for me to hop along sent a flow of relief through my body. Finally some solid ground for me to enjoy. The first jump I took that let me land along one of the cliffs caused me to instantly relax and the rest of the trek was easy from there for me. Up and up I went until I saw the glade before my eyes, the sight a wonder to me as moonlight poured in, filling the space with its pale beauty. It only took me a moment to note that Swampclan had not yet arrived, that was a relief, it meant I didn't need to worry about trying to find a seat next to one of their warriors.

Skittering slightly off to the side of the glade I found a place to sit and examined the damage done to my paws one by one. Well the good news was that I was going to be able to get the muck off, the bad news was I was pretty sure it would take far longer than I wanted it to, given that I wanted it off now. There would be no point in trying to clean it up now though, my paws would just get dirtied again after clambering back down and making our way back to Hillclan lands. With a soft frustrated huff I succumbed to my fate and averted my gaze trying to find a distraction before the meeting started. When Swampclan cats began to pour in I shuffled my paws slightly, swallowing my nerves and looking down as I didn't really want to make eye contact with anybody. Around cats I knew I tended to talk without stopping to take breaths, but around strange cats I preferred staying quiet unless I needed to say something. I looked up only to track down some familiar faces of my own clan in case I got too uncomfortable so I knew who I could go sit by.

《 When the light is leading on. But just like a heartbeat, the drumbeat carries on. 》




S P I D E R P A W
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Spiderpaw || 8 Moons || Medicine Cat Apprentice of Fallowwish || Swampclan || At the gathering || Tags: Fallowwish, Open

《 I'd like to see the world for once all standing hand in hand. 》

When Moosestar called for a gathering I momentarily paused in the quick inventory I had decided to take of the herbs, mostly to help myself memorize them more. My ears flicked slightly and I looked over my shoulder at the entrance to the medicine cat den knowing that I needed to head out, storing away where I left off into my memory I quickly stood and turned around, carefully making my way out to join the rest of the clan. Pale green gems searched for the familiar appearance of my mentor before Moosestar could start addressing the clan and when I spotted him I padded over to him dipping my head in respect to Fallowwish as I took up a spot next to him. Looking up in admiration at Moosestar I tilted my head to the side as a memory flashed across my mind. It was brief, but it reminded me that there had been a time when I wanted to be just like Moosestar, a time when I had dreamed of becoming a strong and well liked leader of the clan, but that was not my fate. It no longer bothered me, but when I first learned that I would never be able to even be a warrior my heart plummeted straight through the ground, and I was almost afraid it would never return. Things were not all bad though, I discovered when I became Fallowwish's apprentice, I actually enjoyed learning about what it means to be a medicine cat. I didn't have much time to dwell on these past thoughts as the leader's voice cut through the air, calling my full attention back onto him where he sat at the top of weaver's Perch. The warmth he held for his clan was clear in the look on his face and it brought a smile to mine to see that he was so proud of his clan, I was going to do my best to deserve that kind of pride by the time I became a full medicine cat, but I hoped that wouldn't be anytime soon. I wanted to learn a lot from Fallowwish, the more the better before I earned my name.

When he started to announce the cats he sought to take with him it came as no surprise to me that I would be going, it was just how things were now with me being the medicine cat apprentice. The journey made me weary though as it was difficult for me to keep up with the other cats. I always stumbled and there had been plenty of times when I was trying to keep up with other cats where I completely toppled over and ended up with minor injuries. My ears fell flat at the thought, I really didn't want to make a fool of myself, I didn't want my clan mates laughing at me again. It still filled my heart with hurt to think about it, would I have ever belonged if I hadn't been able to be taken on as the medicine cat apprentice, or would I just have gotten in the way? I couldn't allow myself to entertain such thoughts, they had a tendency to drain me of any confidence I had gained in myself recently so I shook them away before they could really bother me and waited for Moosestar to dismiss the gathering. When it was time to head out I took a quick glance over at the awaiting cats and fell behind them at the entrance to make sure I wouldn't get in anybody's way. What if they ran me over? I could be flattened! I almost laughed, but managed to contain it, still the amusement glittered in my eyes and showed in the way my whiskers twitched. My tail wove high into the air, the tip flicking every so often as Moosestar came over, seemingly ready to leave. My eyes followed his movements until he was standing next to Sparkjaw, the deputy, the two of them made a good team I felt and that was important for a leader and deputy. If they didn't get along, imagine what could happened to the rest of the clan. I didn't really want to think about it.

Once everyone was ready to go Moosestar lead the way and I watched the rest of the cats pour out of the camp to be on our way. With one last deep breath I followed, keeping my focus on not letting my paws get too tangled up as I trailed behind the group. I kept them in my sights, never falling too far behind them, but not quite keeping the same pace either, if I tried going that fast consistently I could risk really hurting myself and that just didn't seem like an option. I wanted to prove that I was capable, even if the clan already knew about my weakness I could at least try to control it and hope that one day it wouldn't affect me so heavily. Determination was set ablaze in my eyes as I quickened my stride when we neared the glade so I could arrive with the others and no appear to Hillclan that I had been behind at all. I stumbled a few times, but overall managed to stay upright, not without causing a ruckus of course, but hey I couldn't really help that as much as I wanted to. When we arrived at the glade I puffed out my chest in triumph at my own success in getting here, sometimes it was the little victories that counted. Following behind the others I found my eyes peering back and forth between the two different clans, taking note in our different appearances. Not letting my nerves show I remained close to my mentor, tipping my head in respect to the cats that I passed, but I didn't speak very many words, mostly I just observed so I could satisfy my curiosity. The two clans weren't all that far apart from each other, our territories were neighbors, yet we were very different because of the terrain we grew up on.

"Remarkable." I mused quietly to myself, my eyes landed on the spot where I would sit with Fallowwish through the gathering once it started. The ledge for the medicine cats, my head quirked to the side as I looked at it. It always felt weird sitting up there, I was higher up than most of my clan and I looked down at them. It always made me feel so tall, though I never let it go to my head, it just felt nice to be able to look and see all the faces from a new perspective sometimes, but I also liked being at their level. It was hard to read expressions when I got too far away, I liked knowing what my clan mates were thinking whenever I could, maybe it was because I wanted them all to be able to be happy. Whatever the reason I would have to push it aside during the gathering while I was up there and just enjoy my role in everything. I just hoped that this gathering went well, both clans really deserved good fortune.

《 And hear them echo through the hills for peace throughout the land. 》




W I G H T
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Wight || 51 Moons || Outsider || Swampclan || Along the Swampclan border || Tags: Open

《 Every time we offer mercy. Every time that we show grace. When we give love to the undeserving, like the one who took our place. 》

Not entirely sure what to write for her at this very moment, I'll probably wait until after the gathering to type up a real post for her unless someone wants to tag her. She's just wandering along and briefly sees the Swampclan cats heading towards the gathering, but she doesn't follow them. She doesn't want to invade their privacy so she is staying clear of that and just decides to wander close to the border.

《 One spark can start a fire. One drop begins a flood. Whoa, as small as they may seem these are the greater things. 》

[pecos]

i c a r u s ! !
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
gender. tom rank. hillclan outsider age. twenty-nine moons where. twoleg place → hillclan territory tagged. none words. 0743

the tom wove silently between the walls of brick, careful to avoid striking any loose pebbles that lay scattered across the asphalt. he had no wish to give away his location, as the local cats weren't keen on allowing strangers to cross their territory without a fight. his eyes visibly narrowed at the thought, nose wrinkling in distaste. these alleys belonged to no cat, and certainly did not belong to the posse of cats that roamed the area. the tom was engulfed in shadow as he approached one of the houses that market the edge of the twoleg place. he nimbly leapt on top of the small wooden fence that surrounded the perimeter of the yard, gripping the material tightly as the old wood rattled beneath his weight. a housecat, who had been soaking in the gentle glow of the moon, sprang up in surprise and let out a startled mrow before bolting into the den as he spotted icarus. amusement flashed across the tom's features for a brief moment before disappearing altogether, replaced by a jaunty grin.

icarus crossed the yard gracefully, aware of the housecat watching him from the safety of the twoleg den. he flashed the cat a smile before disappearing over the opposite fence. from there on, the grassy slope stretched downward until it met the canyon, where it then broke away altogether. the tom approached the drop-off, his strides displaying his confidence. he had done this many times, and had no doubt that he would be able to cross the canyon again. the soil underfoot grew dryer and took on a red hue the closer the canyon drew. soon, icarus was standing only tail lengths away from the edge. he peered into the abyss cautiously, eyes curious, despite the fact that they had seen the canyon too many times to count.

the wind whistled through the chasm, creating a sort of harmony as it bounced back and forth across the stone. the drop seemed endless to the outsider. the tom's eyes searched the canyon wall intently, resting on a small outcropping of rock that would lead down to the canyon floor. he trotted over, hesitantly placing a paw on the stone before resting his full weight on it. small forms of shrubbery sprouted from cracks in the formation, providing icarus' paws a decent grip on the stone. as he made his way deeper into the canyon, the rock broke away in areas, forcing him to spring across the small gaps in the pathway in order to avoid death's cold fingers.

eventually, the ground was in his sights, and he sprang gracefully down the last few tail-lengths. icarus paused, amber eyes shifting from place to place. the canyon floor was engulfed in darkness. it showed no mercy, seeping into the crevices in the walls in order to fill in every space, bringing a chill with it. icarus wasn't one who feared the dark, but something about the eerie black that surrounded him caused him to shiver. the wind continued to howl far above him, its scream filling his ears, urging him to stay a while longer. but he was no fool, he knew that the canyon was a dangerous place. cats not nearly as friendly as he roamed about in the dark, their only company the dangers that lurked deeper in the canyon.

figuring he had stayed longer than necessary, icarus scurried over to the opposite side of the canyon. it was a lengthy feat, for the canyon was almost as wide as it was deep, but with the speed the tom had put into his pace, he arrived sooner than he thought he would have. the path back up was similar to the one that led down, although the stone seemed sturdier and there were far less trees in his way. to icarus' relief, he noticed that the top of the canyon was approaching quickly. as he peered over the apex, he felt his breathing stop. the open fields of grass that seemed to roll endlessly into the distance were bathed in a magnificent light. the moon's luster turned every blade of grass to a brilliant shade of polished silver. each individual strand seemed to dance in the light breeze, almost as if they were showing off the beauty the moon had given them. icarus felt himself smile softly, taking in the sight before him. the scenery here was incredibly better than that of the twoleg place.

c o t t o n b i r d ! !
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
gender. she-cat rank. hillclan warrior age. thirty-eight moons where. hillclan camp tagged. none words. 0560

the silence of the open meadows soothed cottonbird's jittery senses. it had been very difficult for her to get ahold of her emotions ever since volestripe had burst into camp in a wild panic, bringing the terrible news that had so horribly affected the clan. it seemed she wasn't the only cat who was worried of what was to come, though. she would often emerge from the warriors den only to find half of her clanmates staring at objects around them, a faraway look in their eyes. she so desperately wanted to discuss the situation with some cat, but she was unsure if the topic would be welcomed. cats had died, after all, and death was a very serious thing.cottonbird sighed, staring down at her paws, which were tearing at the grass beneath her anxiously. she hadn't even realized she had been doing so, and quickly stopped, getting to her paws quickly.

the moon was rising higher still, which meant orchidstar and her chosen cats would set off for the gathering soon. she quietly wondered to herself what news swampclan would bring. had any new kits been born? had they been struggling with anything specific lately? she didn't know, but she would certainly get a clanmate to tell her later, for she wasn't attending the gathering. cottonbird wasn't disappointed, though. she'd much rather stay in the confined space of her nest than sit out in the cold of the night, anyway. she enjoyed the peaceful walk back to camp. the grass tickled at her fur, tugging on the long, white strands, as if inviting her to play. she smiled, shaking her coat lightly before taking on a faster pace. although it was very nice out in the open meadow, she didn't want to miss her clanmates departure.

the small grouping of heather and thickets that marked hillclan's camp came into view, and cottonbird bounded the last few steps, eager to see the familiar faces of her clanmates once again. as she pushed her way through the heather and emerged inside the camp, cottonbird noticed that she had arrived just in time. orchidstar was surrounded by the group of cats she was to bring to the gathering, and upon further inspection, cottonbird noticed that volestripe was a part of the group. her brow knitted together in one quick motion, and her eyes shone with worry. she wasn't sure if bringing volestripe to the gathering was a . . . wise idea. after all, it wasn't too long ago that he had survived the fox attack, surely he would still be a bit jumpy after such an awful event? and she was positive that he wasn't the same volestripe he had once been. ever since he burst into camp, he had seemed, well, a bit odd. his movements seemed shaky and weaker than they had been, and his emotional state had been altered.

she wasn't sure if it was because of what he had gone through or something else entirely, so she didn't question it. cottonbird would never want to upset anyone. the she-cat forced her expression to go blank. despite the fact that she believed that volestripe should stay behind, she wouldn't question her leader's actions. starclan had approved of orchidstar when they granted her her nine lives, so cottonbird should at least show some decency and agree with her choices.

[Birchii]

♠ ＦＯＸＷＨＩＳＫＥＲ ;

{twenty-three moons}▸{tom}▸{hillclan warrior}▸{camp}▸{open}
▸▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔◂

xXxXxFoxwhisker sat quietly within the dark camp, the round moon slowly rising as it cast its pale glow across the clearing HillClan called home. It was uncharacteristic for the slick-tongued tom to be so silent, but even he knew that the recent events meant it wasn't time for his witticisms. The thought of the attack put a bitter taste in his mouth and an uneasy sinking flooded his stomach, causing him to shuffle on his paws awkwardly. The sound of Volestripe's shrieks for help which had awoken them, the sight of his ruffled and battle-covered fur, the stench of death, fear, and blood... 'Stop it Foxwhisker, you're already tense as it is,' he silently reprimanded himself, scrunching up his nose as he shook his head. Several grief-ridden days had trudged by since the incident, the aftermath still shrouding the clan like a deep fog. Foxwhisker had been in that group of cats to rush to the scene, and knew the images would haunt his memory for a long time. The loss of any life was a hard blow, but for three to be taken in such a violent manner... He knew the clan wouldn't soon forget it, especially given how small and close HillClan were with one another.

xXxXxThe call from Orchidstar pulled the tom from his thoughts. He turned his head to listen to the leader as the Gathering attendees joined with her and Waspfoot. Of course, his ears had flickered with minor annoyance when he found out he wasn't selected to go to the Gathering, but it soon washed over him - protecting the camp, even if it was just to provide those remaining at home with a sense of relief, was a worthy and vital use of his evening. Foxwhisker nodded slowly as Orchidstar expressed her wishes for the warriors staying within the camp; he'd already decided he would be staying awake all night to sit guard. Though he didn't want to think about it, Foxwhisker also knew he was to stay awake to ensure his clanmates came back safely and swiftly. Wishing a safe journey to those leaving, he too rose to his paws and slowly padded towards the edge of the camp and seated himself comfortably, particularly nodding towards Waspfoot as the slightly-older molly

xXxXxHis gaze lingered on Volestripe as the tom trailed after the group, and an unsettling sensation stirred in Foxwhisker's stomach once more. The warrior was still visibly shaken from the fox attack; his eyes were glazes whenever Foxwhisker had spoken to him, and there was still something... off... with his scent. 'He just witnessed something horrible, stop being such foxdung,' he angrily scolded himself. A gentle wince gripped him. 'StarClan curse my name. No wonder he's seemed so distant from me, I'm named after the crowfood creature that just attacked our clan.' He lifted his gaze to the sky. The moon was steadily traversing across the sky, the distant stars shining gently around it. Foxwhisker couldn't help but frown at the clouds sneaking their way through the sky. He was no medicine cat or leader, but it was common knowledge that clouds covering the moon was no blessing. 'Perhaps SwampClan have had a rough moon, too...' The chilling breeze startled the ginger tom, a shiver rushing across his fuzzy pelt as it brushed up and around his feet and ears. "This'll probably be a long, long night," he sighed, speaking mostly to himself.

[Word Count; 572]

◖ ＭＯＴＴＬＥＰＡＷ ;

{ten moons}▸{tom}▸{hillclan apprentice}▸{camp}▸{open; (mention goosepaw)}
▸▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔◂

xXxXxMottlepaw hadn't been able to sleep properly since... Then. He was already a worrier by nature, but his anxieties had only increased in the past few days. 'Ever since the...' He gulped, chasing away the images of Volestripe and the scent of destruction and grief as best as he could. It had been a struggle for the panicky tom to even leave the camp. He knew he was a weak fighter, and despite being the oldest apprentice, Loudpaw was much stronger in battle than he was, and the two youngest apprentices would soon surpass him, he suspected. A pang of pain hit him as he remembered Heatherpaw was gone. She'd always been a bright feline, easy to get along with, if a bit loud for him on occasion. Mottlepaw had struggled to truly understand what Goosepaw was going through; his family had passed when he was a mere kit, leaving his memories of them as distant, hazy and sporadic.

xXxXxHe'd been mildly pleased with his progress for that day; Cherrycloud had taken him out to train. Mottlepaw truly appreciated his mentor, and looked up to him as a father figure. The warrior was very protective of him and always helped the apprentice to feel better about anything he was doing wrong or not quite able to perfect. He also knew that his flighty nature caused his mentor concern, and though he hated the extra work he caused for Cherrycloud, he was silently grateful for having a cat he could trust to look out for him fully. The black bicolour's attention flickered towards the centre of the camp, where Orchidstar had called the group for the gathering. Mottlepaw had sighed with relief when he'd found out that he wasn't attending, despite his usual enjoyment of gatherings. The thought of travelling at night, even with a group of ten HillClanners, brought a sickening feeling to his stomach and a throbbing pain to his head. The idea of the clan being more exposed due to low numbers had crossed his mind as it always would, given his frustrating tendency to overthink and constantly assess anything and everything. He'd finally - after a long mental battle over the pros and cons between staying at home and travelling out - settled on remaining within camp as the best idea. It was a defensible location, with warriors who would remain alert all night. More than anything, it was where he felt safe, or as safe as the unusual apprentice could feel.

xXxXxMottlepaw watched as Orchidstar led the gathering party out of camp, silently wishing them a safe journey. He knew they would remain alert and unified, but the flame of fear and doubt would flicker within the back of his mind until they returned, free of harm. With a heavy sigh, he decided to take advantage of the quiet camp. After all, he could see there were warriors already standing guard. He was a light sleeper, and since the past few days had made him particularly sensitive to any small changes, he could at least trust himself to awaken rapidly at the mere suggestion of attack. Heavy paws traipsed towards his welcoming nest, and the patch-pelted apprentice soon flopped down, the exhaustion his mind caused him finally catching up with him. He pulled himself into a tight ball, tail wrapped around him, providing a barrier of safety that had no effect on neither his mind nor body. The frosty edge to the wind that occasionally whipped across the clearing kept him from falling into a slumber. 'Not that I can sleep anyway...' He thought to himself, his green gaze instead staring up at the moon. The night often spooked him, but he appreciated its beauty in his own way. The stars littered the sky with clouds weaving over them, not too dissimilar to water flowing across pebbles in the bank of a river.

[Word Count; 647]

༺ ＬＡＲＫＨＥＡＲＴ ;

{twenty-nine moons}▸{molly}▸{swampclan warrior}▸{camp -> glade}▸{open; (mention moosestar)}
▸▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔◂

xXxXxLarkheart sighed with anticipation, shuffling her paws beneath her. She'd spent most of the day slowly hunting, adding prey to the fresh-kill pile to distract her from her excitement. The molly was fond of gatherings; she enjoyed the short time it allowed the clans to mix and converse, to share news and stories from the moon. Despite being a proudly loyal warrior of SwampClan, she saw no harm in befriending the HillClanners, and even let her mind occasionally swirl with ideas of what living amongst the neighbouring clan would be like. The moon was peeking through the trees and over the ravine that formed the familiar home for Larkheart, and she found herself flicking her amber eyes across the camp as she readjusted her paws once more. She acted like this each moon - paws itching to move, tail flicking with patience, whiskers quivering gently with excitement. Seeing Moosestar make his way through the camp caused the molly to raise to her paws, fixing her gaze on him with a smile. Not wanting to seem too eager, she waited for the call from the brown-furred leader. As he spoke the usual words to gather the clan, her smile widened as she thought, ‘finally!'

xXxXxWith a gentle bound over to the weaver's perch, Larkheart sat down swiftly and wrapped her tail around her neatly. She watched with an energetic spark in her eyes as the rest of her clanmates filed towards the clan's meeting place, smiling in greeting to those she hadn't yet spoken to that day. Her attention returned to Moosestar as he spoke out once more, nodding gently to show acknowledgement. An amused huff of air escaped her at the mention of the chill in the air. She could feel the wind's icy bite every now and then, grateful for her soft, thick fur to keep her warm, and offered a small, pitiful glance at the short-haired leader. Her ears swivelled forwards as he began to list the attendees for the gathering, holding her breath as the list continued on, though she exhaled with soft relief as her name was mentioned at last. Larkheart couldn't help but have a quick peek at the apprentices; several of them hadn't yet attended a gathering, and there were few things more satisfying than seeing the excitement glisten in their eyes and the energy build in their bodies. She began nodding again as Moosestar continued. Larkheart was a stickler for rules and unafraid to call out a misbehaving apprentice, though gatherings always let her soften up just a touch. 'Those kitten-fluffy faces are hard to scold too harshly on gathering nights,' she silently laughed to herself.

xXxXxShe began moving towards the camp entrance as soon as the meeting was dismissed, eager to be moving along towards the gathering. The hum of excited apprentices amongst the group kept the smile on her face as she travelled throughout the territory. Though the air was cool and the wind crisp, the hurried pace kept her warm enough to enjoy the night-time atmosphere. Some mud and dirt began to line her paws as it often did when she left the camp, but the molly didn't mind too much - it reminded her of home, and was thoroughly used to it by now. Her mind flitted from thought to thought as they made their way along, and soon the glade fell into view. Moosestar led the group further on, taking his place on the ledge upon arrival. Larkheart paused to rapidly groom her muddied fur; she felt her pelt and appearance remaining clean and proud would portray a strong and capable clanmate. 'Now the fun can begin!'

[Word Count; 606]

[DefendeD]

X

━ ━━ ━━━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━━ ━━ ━
━ Ａｐｐｌｅｐａｔｃｈ ━
ᴀɢᴇ; 16ᴍXXʀᴀɴᴋ; ʜɪʟʟᴄʟᴀɴ ᴡᴀʀʀɪᴏʀXXᴡʜᴇʀᴇ; ᴄᴀᴍᴘ, ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴀᴅᴇXXᴛᴀɢꜱ; ᴏᴘᴇɴXX
━ ━━ ━━━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━━ ━━ ━
Applepatch let out a loud chuckle, “No way!”. The calico molly had taken a place on a flat rock just at the edge of the camp, whereas her three friends, Smoketalon, Dandelionfur and Brightbrook, were gathered around her. Smoketalon had just told the group how a tom of a tom had tried to court her earlier in the morning, failing miserably by trembling on his own feet. The laughter and snide comments of the poor tom were sure to attract attention to the mollies. Many gave the she-cats side eyed glares for being so noisy at such a time of grief, but none deemed it wort of time to approach them. Most were too tired to bother going into a word match with Applepatch and her posse. For the past few days ever Applepatch had strictly kept her company with her friends only. She made the quick decision to pretend that nothing serious ever happened and did her best to downplay the situation as best as she could. Things were much easier for her as she had no connection to the cats that happened to be in the patrol. This disconnection made her denial much easier for her to upkeep. Of course she would come to terms to what happened at some point, but she just couldn’t take how gloomy most cats were and how the atmosphere of the lively clan had turned more dark than usually. In Applepatch's mind it seemed like the whole clan was holding a vigil for the victims of violence. And that was especially something that she couldn’t take. Not that she really could care for the fallen. After all she could barely feel an attachment to her “friends” let alone those she barely had interacted with. She just mostly felt worried about her own precious skin, and of course that of her kin. The sharp voice of Orchidstar interrupted the molly group as they all shot their gazes towards the stump rather than the leader now sat upon. Applepatch’s eyes rounded in anticipation and when her name was called amongst the cats who would be joining the gathering. Learning this she could barely silence her shout of victory. It had been moons when the molly had been able to join a gathering. A few times she had even tried to beg Orchidstar for permission to join a few times, but without the success she had hoped for. She said quick farewells to her friends before pulling herself after a party of cats that would be attending the gathering. The calico took note of Volepelt, but kept her distance from the tom. Even if it seemed otherwise sometimes the molly was very keen on keeping track of her clan mates. This is why it hadn’t gone unnoticed by her that ever since the incident Volepelt has been somewhat weird. Though because of her naive mind she thought it was because he had caught some kind of a flu or was still down from the aftermaths of grief. Whatever. Applepatch was sure to keep her distance from the tom. She really didn’t want to be in any contact with him. Especially when looking at him longer than was necessary only brought the chaos of the incident closer into her mind. Made it more real and something that she couldn’t just shrug away like she had past these few days. With the mark from Orchidstar, Applepatch followed the flow of the party of cats as they set foot into the fields.

Applepatch took a deep inhale of the fresh air that has now filled her lungs with thrill. Nothing bet the thumps of pawsteps against the soft ground, or how the wind pushed the fur even the most coarsest of pelts when a cat ran against the winds, or even how the field grass tickled the whisker when they swayed under the weight of a push. But what always took the molly's breath away every time was the vastness of the territory. And oh how beautiful it had been painted under the light of the moonlight. If Applepatch was conserating enough, she even could see the silhouette of single blades for a second when they passed by. She fully took took in everything that the fields of her home had to offer to her. But when the edges of the marsh forest hit her vision the molly’s pleased mind took a turn. Even though she knew from the start that they would have to go through the marshes to get to the glade -this wasn’t her first gathering, after all - she never remembered how unpleasant it would be until she would have to go through it again. However, she took some reassurance from her companions as it was clear that she wasn’t the only Hillclaner unhappy with the change of scenery. Applepatch wanted to scream for the first time as her paw touched what she could only imagine to be a filthy liquid, hopefully only water. The calico made a quick prayer for Starclan that at least they could spare most of her fur from the damnation of the marshlands. ‘Finally. The glade’. The journey through the marshy clan’s territory had been one of the most unpleasant experiences she had to endure but she was glad that it was now over and done with. She ruffled her fur calico pelt that was not stained with clear dirt from the mud and other particles that might have latched on. Applepatch could still feel the muddy water tingle between her toes as she ascended from rock to rock alongside her clanmates. At the glade she took somewhat of a backstage seat. No way she wanted to be presented at the front before she was able to clean her fur back to the condition that she had left the camp in. She hadn’t taken really notice of the Marshclan cat's absence as she had been far too absorbed cleaning every inch of her fur, especially the parts between her toes, to really notice anything happening around her. Only when the stench of the mudcats hit her nose did she bother to give a glance only to return back to her initial task, now more hurried as the arrival of the other clan only meant that the meeting would start soon and she didn’t want to miss most of it. “Where did I get tangles?!” appalled meow let out of the molly’s maw as her coarse tongue went over a too familiar feeling lump of fur, “if I miss the gathering speech because of this Starclan better cover…”. The end of her lament quieted down into tangible whispers.

Words; 1108

━ ━━ ━━━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━━ ━━ ━
━ Ｂｌａｃｋｎｉｇｈｔ ━
ᴀɢᴇ; 35ᴍXXʀᴀɴᴋ; ꜱᴡᴀᴍᴘᴄʟᴀɴ ᴡᴀʀʀɪᴏʀXXᴡʜᴇʀᴇ; ᴄᴀᴍᴘ, ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴀᴅᴇXXᴛᴀɢꜱ; ᴏᴘᴇɴ
━ ━━ ━━━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━━ ━━ ━
Blacknight slipped through the underbrush, his focus steady and paws sure. His sleek black pelt reflected the narrow shimmers of light that the moon was able to cast. The tom’s green eyes flicked with every move his target made. The rodent found a nice little puddle to use as an opportunity to relax and gain some energy after a night of -assuming- skittering through the forest. But unknown to it, this would be the last drink of it’s life as the ever looming danger crept closer and closer with every daring moment it took sipping from a puddle of water. Halt. The rodent suddenly raised it’s head from it’s reflection. Its tiny head turning around for any trouble. Blacknight had stopped his body in the middle of stepping, his raised paw itching to sink his claws into the prey. But he had to be patient and, more importantly, careful. For a moment longer, the rodent watched the surroundings. It’s tiny ears twitched in different directions as it tried to hear everything happening around it. To Blacknight’s luck, however, it seemed to come to the conclusion that nothing dangerous was around as it lowered it’s head once again above the waters. The black tom took this as the blessed opportunity that it was and launched himself on top of the small creature, killing it with a swift bite to the neck. The tom lifted his head as the small rodent neatly dangled between his maw, now having the time to give his mind a small break. He cast his pupils in the skies above. Even though the trees were able to block most of the sky he was still able to see most of it if he looked closely enough. The clouds had started to slowly take over the shimmering form of the moon, but that was not what the tom was now more concerned about. After all, the whims of the weather were not for him to control. ‘I’m late’. The tom gathered all the rest of the small prey he had managed to catch. With a quiet huff of annoyance, he took off to gather for the rest of his catch of the evening before taking his course back to camp. Knowing the Marshclan forests as his own pelt, the tom’s travel was a steady one. He happened to slip to camp just when Moosestar started the start of his announcement. Blacknight brought his prey to the prey pile but looking at it he wasn’t pleased. In his mind the prey pile could have been bigger, but before he could make further plans of taking another hunting trip the tom heard his name be mentioned by his leader. Turning around and listening further it cleared to him that he would be one of the cats chosen to attend this moon’s gathering. Though his stoic face showed no outward emotion, he was annoyed. But as a loyal cat of the clan he wouldn’t doubt the judgment of his leader. Sure, the older tom knew best. Blacknight followed the party of the cats, keeping his distance in the rear.

Blacknight traveled at a steady pace at the back of the group. Never fall too far behind while making sure not to run too fast either. The journey to the tom was as smooth as it could be. His muscle memory of the territory’s terrain doing bulk of the work. Nearing the rocky ascension place to the glade made the tom somewhat excited under his skin. Even though he had never become a good swimmer, the dark pelted tom was an excellent climber. This also included jumping that he also seemed to enjoy. Even though he isn’t one to wish attention to himself, the thought that someone could admire him brought a small shard of delight - though he would never admit it, let alone show it. Like the rest of the journey, jumping from rock to rock was a kit’s play for him and it didn’t take long for him to reach the glade. The first thing he took note of was of course the Hillclan cats that were already scattered around the glade rocks. It was known that Hillclan wasn’t that numerous in it’s numbers so it didn’t take him by surprise to notice that not many cats from their side had been taken to attend. At the mark of his leader Blacknight proceed to blend into the group, staying close to the other members of his clan. Due to his tendency for solidarity, Blacknight barely had any cats that he could even remotely call acquaintances in his own clan and even less so from Hillclan. Nevertheless, he had always found the other clan to be somewhat intriguing to look at. The way they acted, smelled, and even looked was so different from what he was used to seeing around him back at home that it involuntarily brought his interest every time he had come to enough distance to the cats of the rival clan. After finding a nice spot at the back of the row, Blacknight let his gaze linger over the Hillclan dominated side of the gathering. Even though his stoic expression would never let his thoughts slip the way his eyes moved with every movement and tail that flicked every so often gave the signs that he was concentrated into whatever he was seeing.

Words; 897

X

[xx.]

||cherrycloud||hillclan warrior|| who ;; mottlepaw, mapleclaw|| where ;; camp, gathering|| wc;; 940||

block
block

gathering night.
cherrycloud would be lying if he said that tonight wasn't more of a relief than an excitement. he always enjoyed gatherings, of course, but with the recent loss of his clanmates to the fox - well, any sort of distraction was welcome. he'd known gorsepelt well, and though hadn't been friends with badgerswipe had known him well enough as a clanmate for his death to be a shock. young heatherpaw too, with so much potential, so ready to learn and just so young... losing her to starclan before she could really experience life as a warrior, it'd devastated him.
volestripe had survived though, and that was something he had to hold onto. one of his clanmates had survived. that was what mattered.
yes - the positives were important. starclan had taken them accordingly for purposes out of his paws and he had to respect that. and besides, the gathering meant a chance to bring the clans together again, for friends to see friends, and for him to see mapleclaw.
his heart gave an involuntary flutter of happiness as he thought about the she-cat, unable and unwilling to fight off the smile that came to his muzzle at the realisation that he would likely see her tonight. it would depend on whether moosestar brought her, of course, but the chance to see her before their next agreed meeting was so exciting that it helped wash the grief away just a little.
he'd been startled at first with how fast she could cheer him up, how fast she'd grown on him, but he'd decided by now that fighting it wasn't worth it. wherever his heart took him, he'd just have to follow. the last meeting had only been a few nights ago, and he'd been stricken thinking about his dead clanmates, but she'd made it easier. he'd avoided telling her of course, albeit a little guiltily, but hadn't wanted to bring the mood down by ranting about the fox attack- he just hoped she wouldn't be upset for withholding it if she found out at the gathering tonight.
orchidstar called for her clan then, and he startled from his thoughts, finding that he'd been standing like a mousebrain and smiling to himself by the warriors den. he hurridly tried to amend himself and headed over to the rest of the gathering cats preparing to leave, though paused before abandoning that to try and pick out his apprentice. it wasn't hard to find mottlepaw and so hoping he didn't hold anyone up he padded over, giving his apprentice a quick nudge.
"i'm sorry you can't attend tonight," he said, trying his best not to glance back, to give the cat the attention he deserved. "i'm counting on you to watch over the camp with the rest of your clan tonight, alright? we'll be back soon. stay out of trouble.".
he couldn't see mottlepaw getting into trouble of course, seeing as the tom was so panicky, but best say it just in case. a final smile and goodbye and then he turned to leap after the cats already beginning to swarm out of camp.
he found his place in the middle of the crowd, relaxing as they began to move as one, confident in stride as they ran across the familiar and stretching territory. cherrycloud would never grow tired of this - this openness, the cool breeze that brushed along his fur as familiar as the pelts of his clanmates so close. he never wanted to give this up, and getting to grow up here and knowing he would someday die here in the moors that he so loved - it was comforting to him. this was home.
so he bound along with everyone else, carefully dodging paws, sweeping throughout gaps to always find his place, to stay in the middle, letting himself enjoy the journey onwards.
the sudden change to swampclan territory had him reacting the same as the rest, though not as badly this time - he'd grown somewhat used to the terrible soil here after his many visits to mapleclaw, and though he'd never understand how cats could live in such a terrible place, he was no longer as bad as it'd been the first time he'd had to travel across these lands many, many moons ago.
and then they were in the glade.
cherrycloud veered off from the rest of his clan, watching orchidstar leap up onto her ledge, waspfoot following, blossomfur and her frustrating apprentice who followed her looking rather mopey taking their lower ledge. then he turned to look eagerly for the other clan, sank a little as he realised swampclan wasn't here yet, and tried not to let his steps be discouraged as he found a place to sit.
thank starclan it didn't take long for the others to arrive, and when they did his heart leaped at the sight of the familiar black molly who'd become so important to him. he stood, waited for her to reach him, and butted his head just as happily against her when she did the same. "hello to you too," he said, fighting to keep the laugh from his voice. "thank you. your fur- well, it looks as matted as always. though i suppose i don't see it often enough to really know, do i?"
all tease, a light jab at how he'd attempted to let her agree to him helping her groom it out their last meeting, and he sat back down. "so - how have you been since the last time i saw you, so long ago, a whole moon ago, a whole gathering ago?"

block
block

||cranepaw||swampclan apprentice|| who ;; moosestar, mumbleshade|| where ;; camp, gathering|| wc;; 625||

block

cranepaw wasn't expecting much from tonight. only being a young apprentice, for this gathering - some cats had told her that she would definitely go, that she had to go, while others had persistantly told her not to be hopeful, that there was no chance a cat as young as herself would be allowed to attend a gathering of two clans.
she'd huffed, tried not to let them get to her, but as the sun began to dip that night she found herself somewhat believing them and so didn't allow herself to believe anymore than she had as a kit that she would be travelling with her clan tonight. much more useful at camp, she tried to convince herself - safer, more useful, and being left behind meant she was trusted to protect her clanmates!
thanks to her very self-convincing spiel, when moosestar called for cats to gather and her name was called - well, it would be an understatement to say that her excitement was beyond brimming.
she almost leaped to her paws there and then, absolutely buzzing, but restrained herself until he dismissed the cats to prepare to leave.
and then she was on her paws, practically dancing as she hurried around wondering whether to walk with her mentor or the other apprentices,whether she'd be allowed to choose, whether she'd be at the front or back of the patrol.
she found herself with very little time to decide however, and so planted herself instead somewhat close to mumbleshade but also distanced from him just enough to feel proudly independent as they left camp. the territory close to camp was familiar under her paws, spongey and wet, enjoying the fun squelching it made under her paws. she couldn't imagine anything better tonight than racing alongside the cats she'd grown up admiring through the dense swamplands, giddy and absolutely ready to see a gathering for the first time ever - and know what it would be like the next time she went, if she was so lucky.
because of her excitement it took a while to notice moosestar watching her, but as soon as she did she just lit up, giving her leader the biggest smile she could as a way to thank him for giving her this chance, for honouring her so much. she wanted him to know how proud she was, how much she appreciated it, and though would never dream of intruding on his place with the senior ranks, tried her best to convey it through extra-invigorated actions whenever he looked at her.
soon enough the wet soil beneath her paws gave way to rockier terrain however, and the surprise of it was enough to wipe just a little of her confidence, though she tried to pick it up quickly, to keep up with everyone else as she tried to not let the hard and sharp ground deter her.
when they finally burst into the glade she was vaguely relieved, and then went wide-eyed at the area around her - by starclan if this wouldn't make a wonderful place to practise climbing. she moved down towards the large group of cats, stopped to look up at the three ledges for the high-ranks, briefly entertained the idea of someday scrambling to the highest ledge before she shoved the thought away to watch the admired moosestar climb up there instead.
once he was seated she snuck a glance to hillclan's cats - the stern-looking orchidstar, the deputy she thought might be waspfoot, and the two medicine cats she didn't know the names of - and then to the general cats gathered. she needed to make some friends.
with that determined thought in mind, she began to move through the mingling crowd to find some cats who looked about her age.

block
block

||mintpaw||hillclan med-apprentice|| who ;; blossomfur|| where ;; camp, gathering|| wc;; 429||

block

there was only one thing that mintpaw wanted less than to be sorting these herbs right now, and that something was go to the gathering. honestly mintpaw thought he'd rather spend all night seperating poppy seeds and borage and burdock and parsley and-
he stopped there, frowing down at the leaf he'd dropped besides his paw, trying to remember the name of it. cured coughs. maybe. tansy? he wasn't sure.
mintpaw huffed, raising a paw to stamp on the stupid yellow flower, and then thought better of it and instead ducked his head to pick it up and dump it in its place with the rest of the tansy he'd had to collect earlier.
he'd gone to blossomfur to complain, ask her if he could stay behind 'in case someone got hurt', but she'd refused the request and sent him scowling back to the medicine den to finish his work before they left. he knew it was silly, but he really didn't want to go and have to sit on a ledge above everyone else and pretend to be a happy and wise medicine cat apprentice with cats looking at him with appreciation, counting on his to convery starclans will and keep them all alive.
his leaders voice shook him from his pity-party and so turning his head so he could properly see and check everything in the den was in order, mintpaw got to his paws and went to find his mentor so they could leave.
then came the run. as soon as they began to move he went even more tense, keeping his eye on the ground under his paws, strugglinf to calculate each step so he didn't send himself flying like a fool. it made it harder to keep up with blossomfur but he knew he couldn't lag behind, so he put up with it, stumbling and bumping into the cats around him a few times on the journey.
swampclan ground only made it harder, but soon they reached their destination, and with relief mintpae slowed down and more carefully picked his way over to the ledge he was supposed to sit on.
a moment to scramble up it and he composed himself, taking his seat rather unwillingly besides blossomfur and wishing he were with the other apprentices instead.
this time the dream made him sigh, so he shoved it away to glance up, though stopped at the sky.
"hey, look, blossomfur," he said, nudging her for her attention. "it's really clear out tonight. just that one cloud near the moon. it's so pretty."

[wildsight]

✦ ──── 𝘍𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘖𝘞𝘞𝘐𝘚𝘏!! ────✦
(Male) ─ (Thirty-eight moons) ─ (Medicine Cat) ─ (Apprentice: Spiderpaw) ─ (No romantic intrest) ─ (Location: Glade) ─ (Tags: Spiderpaw) ─ (WC: 682)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Fallowwish sat in the medicine cat den sorting through herbs. Tonight was the night of the gathering. And even though, he knew that it was very unlikely to returned injured he wanted to make sure that he had the herbs just in case something happened. Of course, it wasn't really about a cat getting injured at the gathering. That wasn't the real reason he was sorting through herbs. The real reason was about what season it was. It was leaf-fall and the next season was leaf-bare. Truthfully Fallowwish love leaf-fall. It was his favorite season. However, he always got worried about herbs during leaf-fall. It would be harder to find herbs during the leaf-fall season, and even more so during leaf-bare. Finally, he finished sorting through them satisfied, and padded out of the den. He made his way up toward the where the leader announced news to the clan. He scanned the camp, and before long he watched as his leader Moosestar padded toward weaver's edge. He sat down, knowing that it was time for the leader to pick the cats that we're going to the gathering. He dipped his head respectfully, and watched his leader. His eyes caught movement, and he turned to see his apprentice Spiderpaw joining him. He smiled warmly at the young tom, before turning his gaze back to his leader. His tail swayed slowly, as he listened to his leader call the names of some of his clanmates. Of course, as usual he, his apprentice, and the deputy we're going. He wasn't surprised at this, but nevertheless he always felt a sense of gratitude toward his leader for calling his name. Then, his leader called the names of other cats. Eeltail, Mapleclaw, Ivythorn, Buzzardclaw, Mumbleshade, Blacknight, and Larkheart. And of course, the rest of the apprentices.

Once Moosestar, signaled that the meeting was dismissed Fallowwish rose to his paws. With a quick detour to the medicine cat den, he soon followed the cats that we're going to the gathering. His tail swayed slowly, as he followed his clanmates. This was one of the best feelings any cat could ever have. Being a part of this special night. The medicine cat padded kept looking back slightly worried about his apprentice. The young tom wasn't as steady on his paws as the rest of them. He kept glancing back over his shoulder hoping that the tom wouldn't hurt himself. 'Now you've really messed up.' he said to himself wishing he had brought more herbs with him. Of course, he didn't think he would have been able to carry all of the herbs he thought he needed. Once the cats, reached the glade Fallowwish was pleased that his apprentice did well on the trip. He gazed his apprentice a warm smile, and turned his gaze away as he watched as the leaders took their spots at the highest ledge, and the deputies at the second. His gaze then lowered to the ledge we're the medicine cats would sit. He turned to his apprentice tilting his head slightly toward the ledge. He then began to make his way toward the ledge. As he made, it to the slabs of stone which would allow them to reach the higher ledge he glanced back at his apprentice. He was always nervous about his apprentice falling off on the way up. He sighed shaking his head slightly. He then began the assent, glancing over his shoulder at his apprentice all the while. Once they finally, made it up he sat down motioning with his tail for Spiderpaw to sit beside them. He then turned his gaze, back down. He watched as some of the cats interacted with each other. This was always a sight to see for the tom. Both clans interacting with each other. Hillclan, and Swampclan alike seemed to merge together to make one large clan for one night. He then turned his gaze to the sky noticing a single lone cloud. Strange he thought, but it was just a cloud. Now all there was, to do was wait.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

✦ ──── 𝘐𝘝𝘠𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙𝘕!! ────✦
(Female) ─ (Thirty-six moons) ─ (Warrior) ─ (No romantic intrest) ─ (Location: Glade) ─ (Tags: Open) ─ (WC: 791)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Ivythorn stalked through the marsh heading back toward the ravine in which their camp was set into. Her ears twitched as she stalked through one of the few patches of light. She glanced up at the thick canopy that hanged over their territory. She pricked her ears listening to her surrounding sounds. The sounds of buzzing insects, and birds chattering amongst themselves made her feel right at home. She stopped to listen to these sounds for a moment, before continuing onward. The springy, wet earth underpaw often made a quiet slop when an unsuspecting turtle walked on it. Sometimes if you listened hard enough you could even hear a mouse darting over it. Just then, a slight breeze swept through her pelt. She lifted her head slightly, and noticed a slight scent of frost on the air promising of colder weather. Leaf-bare was sure to come soon. She was still walking, and so focused on the frosty air she stepped into one of the many scattered mucky puddles, around their territory. The sound made a loud splash, which then set off the birds to sqawking even louder. She hissed shaking her paw, but suddenly snapped her head toward a scent that she had caught. Just as expected, a mouse darted out of a patch of dense undergrowth. She shot after it her ears flat against her head, her tail thrashing behind her, her paws pounding on the ground, and splashing through puddles, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She soon closed in on her target, and like a black blur pounced on it, and killed it with quick use of her fangs. She swiped her tongue over her muzzle, and picked up the mouse. She then continued on her way back toward the camp, her tail swaying slowly in satisfaction.

Ivythorn had noticed that the few patches of light had been steadily growing darker. She soon noticed that she was nearing the entrance to her home. Weaving her way through the roots of the tree, and through the bramble she made it into the camp. Her tail swayed as she turned her gaze skyward. The sky was already dark now, and she could see a few stars. She then noticed a few of the cats beginning to gather around weaver's perch. Setting her mouse with the rest of the prey she padded over to join them. Suddenly her nose twitched, as she caught a strange scent. She whipped her head toward one of the warriors, Volestripe. She narrowed her green gaze on the warrior, noticing that the warrior carried a strange scent. She then turned away, and trained her gaze on Moosestar. However, even as she continued to gaze at their leader her gaze kept moving toward the warrior with the strange scent. Maybe, he had accidentally rolled into some carcasses. But that smell, didn't smell like carcass. When her named, was mentioned she turned her attention back toward Moosestar. She was going to attend the gathering. She flicked her tail. It wasn't that she didn't like gatherings. She just didn't like interacting with other cats all that much. Even so she, was glad that she was chosen to go. Once the meeting, was dismissed, she soon followed the rest of the cats toward the glade.

Once the cats, had made it to the glade her gaze was met by the appearance of Hillclan. They we're the first of the two clans to arrive. Mildly annoyed by this, she soon padded through small groups of cats. Some of the groups we're just of Hillclan, some just of Swampclan, and some we're both clans alike. She sat down by herself wrapping her tail around her paws neatly. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was join one of those many conversations. Some cats joked around with others, some gossiped about their clanmates, and spread rumors. She wasn't able to believe many things cats said here. Unlike some of the other, warriors she didn't have her own apprentice, and much less wanted one. Who needs a young cat always bothering, you about things you don't have time for? She then watched as Moosestar, and Orchidstar took their places at the highest ledge, and the deputies Waspfoot, and Sparkjaw at the next one down. The third ledge was for the medicine cats. Fallowwish, Blossomfur, and their apprentices would sit there. She then turned her gaze to the sky, and noticed the sky was clear except for a lone cloud. She then sighed, turning her gaze to the many cats in the glade. Tonight was going to be a long night.