Post by Fireflake on Sept 19, 2020 9:21:38 GMT
Last moon, even StarClan had seemed to decide a Gathering wasn't worth it, sending clouds to blot out the moon before the clan had even started toward Moon's Maw. There hadn't been any meaningful ceremonies in MothClan for moons, and Mantisstar had noticed a distinct lack of bragging from the other clans over their own new youngsters. Sometimes the tabby leader felt like the floor was slipping out from under her. Oddly, right now was not one of those times. She stood on top of the dead long-monster, staring out over the moonlit faces of warriors from the four clans looking up at her, and she was in her element.
Down below, Buckleap of MistClan was slowly growing tired of the tall RootClan cat blocking his view. Usually such little annoyances didn't matter to him, but recently he'd been on edge. Numbers were declining. Gatherings were being cancelled. He'd missed it the first time he saw those signs, in clans far away that no longer existed, but Buckleap wasn't the kind of cat prone to repeating his mistakes. A bit more forcefully than he should have, the tom stepped into the place beside him, not realizing until his shoulder connected with another's that it was already occupied.
Vultureswoop had come along far behind Mantisstar and now lurked near the back of the crowd. His eyesight was sharp enough to see farther than most, so this was the perfect position. At the present moment, though, his eyes weren't focused on the four cats at the front. He was staring in a random direction, zoned out and thinking of other things. His pelt was groomed better than usual, still scruffy but no longer coated in grime. His claws, small but covered with bird beaks, gently pricked the ground. Clearly he couldn't care less what the leaders had to say tonight.
Peppertwist gently pricked her ears to listen to the chatter filling the space. It wasn't as loud as she remembered, but she still couldn't help feeling a sense of real unity when IvyClan and the rest of the clans came together like this for the night. The she-cat shook out her ginger fur and began to weave through the crowd. Her eyes skipped from cat to cat, in search of a friendly face, or maybe a troubled one that she could turn friendly. After a few pauses to look closer at the flashes of cats she caught moving around, the she-cat's eyes settled on someone she was determined to strike up a conversation with. Her paws quickly followed.
