camp lose the blues .. gathering recap

[hazecloud]

She must have looked like an anxious hen wandering about the clearing. While her Clanmates parted for the Gathering, her kits among them, she waited for their return. It had been Riverpaw and Pebblepaw's first Gathering of all things, and all too quickly she was running out of 'firsts' to share with them!

With the stars still hung high in the clouds and the moonlight shining through the reeds, the Clan had at last made their return. It didn't take very long before she spotted them, tabby pelts wading through the shallows back onto the island.

"How was it? Tell me all about it!" Hazecloud's excitement was clear with a wide smile and expectant gaze. She didn't care much for Gathering's she didn't attend, as details she cared for were often missed when she asked anyone who did attend. But through the eyes of these new apprentices she wanted to make up for not being there with them.

// @RIVERPAW @PEBBLEPAW , but no need to wait for them! any apprentices can join in on the conversation :)​

 

[RIVERPAW]

༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝   As if the queen had never been there herself, Riverpaw bursts out in what may as well be song. "The trees were so big, Hazecloud!" He shakes out his pelt the way he'd practiced since the two of them first taught him to wade into the water. For a moment he's the comically-poofed kitten he'd been so long ago, and then it settles back down to its new sleekness. But his eyes are still kitten-bright and tinged with starlight.

"The other clans smell weird up close like that, and Salmonshade introduced me to Raccoonstripe! He's the deputy like Lichentail, at least for a bit. The real deputy has kits but why does that even matter? Lichentail has kits and she's still doing a good job." His youth betrays him all too easily: he doesn't understand that birthing the kits takes a whole different toll on a cat.

"And Smokestar said our names!" He turns to look for shared excitement in his brother's gaze, and quickly gets caught there. Surely there were other things that he would want to share.

𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 𓇼 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐀

• ooc: —
• "speech"
• 𓆟. ° .• .𓆝 .• ° . 𓆟  𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐀𝐖. HE ╱ THEY. APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN, MENTORED BY SALMONSHADE. KINDLING x ﹖ NEPHEW TO SMOKESTAR. —
  
  
  ——  a messy blue tabby with low white. his fur thick and lush with a steady diet of fish and milk, riverpaw is healthy and well-prepared to take on life as an apprentice of his clan. he's dutiful and quick to learn, but rarely pushes himself past that initial level of acceptable. part of him is truly feeling a bit. . . sulky.

​

 

[iciclefang]

She remembers her first Gathering well—she had been three moons old, tiny but confident as she’d padded beside Smokestar into the immense clearing between the Fourtrees. Hazecloud sits before her oldest kits, excitement creasing her muzzle into a bright smile, as she asks them about their first outing to see the other Clans. Iciclefang’s heart pounds just a little too hard when she imagines her own children leaving RiverClan’s territory and going into that same crowded clearing—and she vows to ask Smokestar to be there, at least for the first outing. She is sure they’ll come across Stormywing at some point, and she wants to be there to moderate whatever conversation may result from that…

Riverpaw’s pelt bristles with excitement. He claims he’d met the ThunderClan deputy—or temporary one—and questions why a queen with kits could not maintain her position. Iciclefang drapes her tail over her paws, a thin smile gracing her white-streaked muzzle. “A queen’s job is to take care of their kits, and it’s hard to do that when you’re expected to do deputy duties full time,” she explains. “Howlingstar will have Flamewhisker back on her council once her kits become apprentices.” She can’t imagine being expected to organize patrols and keep on top of the Clan’s daily affairs in addition to wrangling a nursery full of kits… it would be madness, concentrated.

Her whiskers quiver as she listens to the apprentice gush about his experience. “So, which Clan smelled the weirdest?” Her smile is touched with mischief.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 22 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior & queen. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[PEBBLEPAW]

( ☼ ) pebblepaw taps his paws excitedly on the ground as he does a little spin, waiting for his brother to finish before bursting into more excited news. “the big rock is where the leaders stand and they were all there and smokestar was the most impressive, obviously,” he pauses for breath before continuing as if he has his speech memorized. “riverpaw’s right it smelled sooo weird, and i think windclan smelled the weirdest but foxtail says that’s only because they smell like smoke, but i dunno,” he shrugs his shoulders, gaze flicking to iciclefang to answer the woman’s question.

the white muzzle crinkles as jaws stretch in a yawn he tries to muffle. if hazecloud sees him sleepy, she’ll send him off to bed, and that’s the last place he wants to be right now. “uhmmm, skyclan has new warriors and kits, and so do thunderclan,” he notes. copper eyes turn slightly sorrowful as he breathes again. “but howlingstar said that a queen died giving birth. she’s named leopardtongue, and howlingstar said that now she’s with her mate batwing.” the striped head shakes, tail lowering. “i think her kits are alright but i feel bad for them. flamewhisker, the deputy, also gave birth but her mate died too, flycatcher.”


“windclan are having trouble because their territory is on fire which does not sound good, but they do have new warriors and apprentices. um and shadowclan has a warrior missing but also has new apprentices.”

pebblepaw snaps his jaw shut finally and finds his brother’s eyes, quizzical and wondering if he’s missed anything “there was kind of a lot going on, but i met a thunderclan apprentice and a skyclan one who was wearing some weird second pelt.”

I DO NOT HAVE WINGS, LOVE ☼ I NEVER WILL

• // " #848DAE"
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  
• 
  PEBBLEPAW ☼ HE / HIM, KITTEN OF RIVERCLAN. KINDLING x UNKNOWN, NEPHEW TO SMOKESTAR. 6 MOONS OLD, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a large blue tabby with low white. pale blue fur covers the length of pebblekit's stocky body, sliced through with darker tabby stripes and spots. baleful orange eyes peer out of heavy set sockets, and his muzzle, paws, and tail tip are dashed with white.
  
  
  
  

​

 

[salmonshade]

In all honesty, Salmonshade is exhausted. As she trails behind Riverpaw like a phantom, her paws sore, her back sore, she just wants to go and sleep. Curl up in her nest and rise early again tomorrow, though... Hopefully not a late night like tonight. Hazecloud stops her apprentice and his brother and she offers Hazecloud a friendly blink.

Iciclefang is quick to explain to Riverpaw why Flamewhisker wasn't fully deputy. All in all, she doesn't have a big opinion on the inferno-licked she-cat that had stood on Howlingstars council since the beginning of time, practically. She had a much more pleasant opinion of Raccoonstripe, maybe thats saying something..

"Many new kittens..." she reiterates after Pebblepaw, her voice a fatigued mutter. Thunderclan certainly had the baby boom, this newleaf... What was it, twelve new kits? And possibly counting? It's not like Riverclan hadn't had a baby boom, either, but Stars... She's glad she's not in Thunderclan... Or Skyclan, where... thirteen? New warriors were named, with more apprentices named as well, or Shadowclan, where no litters were given out, but four new warriors joined the ranks... Windclan had... Stars know how many, but only two new apprentices... Perhaps they had not had the baby boom as other clans had... "Too many to count... Or name." she twitches her whiskers, trying to provide a little bit of insight before she ultimately decides she's contributing very little to the conversation and steps back.

She'll go to bed after Riverpaw and Pebblepaw share the news, finding slight joy in the starlit eyes that follow each piece of information. It's hard not to be fond of them.

𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙸𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 ଳ⋆｡˚ 𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝚁

• 
  ❥ salmon ,, salmonshade
  ❥ cis female ,, she/her ,, 38 months
  ❥ warrior of riverclan ,, mentoring riverpaw
  ❥ fluffy & dainty chocolate tortie smoke with white, blue eyes
  ❥ "speech, fd9367" ,, thoughts
  ❥ lesbian ,, single
  ❥ smells like warm flowers & freshly cut grass
  ❥ chibi by pin ,, penned by chuff

​

 

[hazecloud]

Riverpaw jumped into her invitation with splashing reports. The great Oaks were tall, reaching heights uncommon with to the trees in RiverClans meadows and streams. Their roots often gnarled and twisted just beneath the earth, she recalled herself how often she had to evade tripping over them.

He's met Raccoonstripe, and she understood she has missed out on a few changes recently. Flamewhisker had kittens then, she wondered if her daughter had fully recovered. But Riverpaw's question doesn't let her linger on the thought for very long, as a surprised laugh burst from his naivety. "Iciclefang's right, she'll have to nurse them like I did. It's very difficult to focus on kittens and the entire Clan at once." Even Smokestar wasn't able to do everything, as she recalled the lead warriors taking on organizing patrols for him in his absence. "On the journey a lot of us agreed ShadowClan was hard to miss, but smoke and ash sound plenty awful, too."

Pebblepaw continued on with his detailed retrospection of the evening and her expression subtly changed from its soft smile to one that no longer met her eyes. The edges of her maw fell but she did not frown, though the sparkle of excitement in her eyes dulled.

"They... died." Pebblepaw continued his babble but it's grown distant, her eyes search to the stars for just a moment before falling back to the two apprentices. He had returned from the journey a father, and lead warrior as well. Now his kittens, from the plight of yellowcough and these new kits, would endure a life without them.

Hazecloud appeared much more taken back by this news than she even expected. She hadn't imagined a cat like Batwing would join StarClan any time soon with so much on his shoulders. She imagined seeing him at another Gathering, once all her kittens were apprentices and introducing every one of them to the tom that had protected her. Now he was another speckle in the night, beside his mate.

"So her mate died.. before? Did Howlingstar say when, how?" She looked to Salmonshade as if the molly could answer for them, feeling lost in what else to say or feel.​

 

[salmonshade]

She watches as Hazecloud indulges in their inesscant rambling, explaining, asking questions... She seems to turn a little shocked at the news that Batwing and Leopardtongue died. Salmon tilts her head, turning so she can leave.

And then Hazecloud turns her eyes on her. She freezes under the attention before she spills everything.

"Wolves... One of many deaths, if I remember correctly." her voice is hushed, suddenly finding that her voice is caught in her throat. "Last gathering, he passed last gathering-" her ears flatten just slightly. It had been nothing really out of the ordinary at the last gathering, she would have assumed news had gotten around by a gossiping apprentice... Uh oh, "... Did you know him?" it's probably a sore subject, but Hazecloud had asked, and looks a little... off. She can only assume they had known each other.

I'm tired. She wants to go to bed. Perhaps after her question is answered...

𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙸𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 ଳ⋆｡˚ 𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝚁

• 
  ❥ salmon ,, salmonshade
  ❥ cis female ,, she/her ,, 38 months
  ❥ warrior of riverclan ,, mentoring riverpaw
  ❥ fluffy & dainty chocolate tortie smoke with white, blue eyes
  ❥ "speech, fd9367" ,, thoughts
  ❥ lesbian ,, single
  ❥ smells like warm flowers & freshly cut grass
  ❥ chibi by pin ,, penned by chuff

​

 

[EVENINGPAW]

She awaits the contents of the Gathering from her brothers' maws like it's the biggest, most important thing in the world — and because she has yet to ever attend one, it certainly feels that way. It's shrouded in mystery, only uncovered by her imagination. Sometimes, even RiverClan camp can feel so crowded. How amazing must it be to be amongst all the other Clans? To see all of the five leaders glance down at you? They even got their names called this time.

Eveningkit imagines it all. Being in their stead, puffing their chests in pride, wrinkling their nose at the weird smells, gazing at the trees growing so impossibly tall. She even imagines Lichentail being temporarily replaced by someone else, and she finds she doesn't like the idea. Smokestar let her continue, so that must mean they're better than Flamewhisker.

Naturally. They're not like us.

And then Pebblepaw says something that makes Hazecloud's eyes change. She looks like she's far away, and Eveningkit's ears press against the top of her skull in anticipation. Did Pebblepaw say something wrong? Is it just because of that bad word again- died?

"Were we not supposed to know?" she asks, more quiet than usual, unaware of the real implications that's getting right under Hazecloud's fur.
​

 

[hazecloud]

—————————————————————⊰✿⊱————————————————————
A hard swallow slid down her throat like dry petals and bits of shell. Wolves, she heard from last moon they had certainly spread across ThunderClan's ranks worse than a plague. No ThunderClanners were really names, though, only some ranks. Mostly warriors, someone had risked their life to save the queens- could that have been him? He would have been a savior just as he was in those mountains, he could have been the cat that led them afar...

"We were on the journey together. We survived so much during that time it's just... hard to believe." Her voice is like a wisp of air as she forced herself to remain steady. She hadn't even the proper moment to grieve, she felt too late to feel the grief.

"What- no, no Eveningkit. It's okay." The sadness in Hazecloud's eyes remained, glossy and green-lilied. A deep breath, a calm sniffle and the queen returned to normal everywhere else but where emotion stirred in her gaze. "Mama's friend was a really good cat, when we met. It's just a little sad." An entire moon before... an entire moon and Lichentail didn't think to say a word. The only other journey cat she felt worthy for her mate to meet, and she was spared scraps from their own son to discover this.

Soon anger would push aside the sadness, but for now it is a calm wave of sorrow. Soundless as it rolled through her like a rising tide. She would endure, as she did.

"Thank you, Salmonshade. Pebblepaw, Riverpaw, I'm sure you honored RiverClan this evening. I'm starting to feel tired... I think it's time for bed." She turned with a gentle nudge with her paw for Eveningkit to join her toward the nursery, ready to join her littermates for the night.

✿ ———— I'll be your regular mama ✿ ————— And I'll put that gun away

•  
• 
  
  
  Hazecloud
  —⊰⋅ Queen of RiverClan
  —⊰⋅ She/Her
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  —⊰⋅ LH blue smoke with green eyes.
  

​

 

[bubbleburst]

"GOT A LITTLE CASH NOW SO THAT SKIRT IS DIOR"​

Bubblepaw still holds a sense of kit-like wonder in regards to gatherings. She remembers fondly when Smokestar had chosen her to attend for her sheer enthusiasm and excitement regarding the gathering. The apprentice has only been to one or two since then, but every month she happily awaits the return of her clanmates to enjoy the news and gossip shared at each full moon meeting. She listens happily as Pebblepaw and Riverpaw give longwinded recaps.

The news is always so fascinating. So strange to think about how so much can be happening apart from RiverClan. There is much to be shared from ThunderClan in particular. Though her loyalty is to ThunderClan, she thinks fondly of the forest-dwelling clan. In particular, she thinks that Howlingstar and many of her ranked cats are good natured. Perhaps it is naïvety on her part. Salmonshade mentions something about wolves, and Bubblepaw gets a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Bubblepaw has been fortunate enough to have not lost friends and companions. She isn't sure what she would do if something happened to Swanpaw or Cricketpaw. Her mouth twitches downward for a brief moment at the thought, but she quickly corrects herself. It isn't her friend to grieve. Flycatcher was nothing more than a name to the apprentice. To Hazecloud, this is a friend. She wordlessly reaches to touch the queen's shoulder with her tail, and offers her a gaze that says 'I'm sorry' without any pity.

She doesn't wish to linger on the topic though. Bubblepaw looks to Eveningkit with a cheery smile and says "Goodnight Eveningkit!" Then, to her mother "Goodnight Hazecloud!" The silver molly then turns back to the kit and says "Enjoy a good bedtime story for me, mmkay? And dream of good things like fishies and shells."
​

✦ ★ ✦​