the north wind ⸸ apprentice gathering

[Magpiepaw]

Starlingheart relented when he asked to come, it had only taken some minor pleading on his part and an assurance that he would not get into mischief and Magpiepaw happily agreed. He only wanted to go to see the other clan apprentices, the ones he met constantly on patrols, to chat in a setting where the thunderpath was not a barrier and he could have the time to question them on their clans out of curiousity. The black and white tom wandered forward, weaving through the longer limbs of the warriors of several clans and earning himself a few sharp looks as he bumped and wobbled his way along with his usual awkward and unsteady gait. His head dipped, bobbed down and up and he finally found himself a place at the edge of the crowd where he could sit and observe without having to strain to look around everyone present. Now he just needed to keep both blue-violet eyes alert and focused to find the apprentices he had met before and maybe even others he didn't know, really, he just wanted to talk to his peers-they understood him better than most of ShadowClan would ever try to. Sometimes he felt a little lost in the marshes, but that was nothing new. Magpiepaw had always felt discarded because that is what he was; discarded.

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[Ooc]
He's looking for @cottonpaw specifically!
Just a seperate thread for apprentices to chat in the gathering!
If a fight breaks out then it can be opened to warriors to step in, but uh...hopefully that doesn't happen!
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[cottonsprig]

[ mobile!! ♡ ]

Cottonpaw's first gathering has thus far not been a bust - at least, by her amazingly low standards. She supposes the only possible thing to ruin the night for her would be if the Clans started fighting. She confidently believes, however, that such would never happen. They're bound by the moonlight and StarClan's laws to not lay a claw on one another tonight, after all. Nonetheless the young grey she-cat spends her time wandering aimlessly through the swaths of cats and greeting just about everyone who gives her a fleeting glance. There is one tom she seeks out, however...

And she spots him - just like that! Granted his black and white pelt doesn't do him justice with the several dozen other, similar looking cats, but his slightly bobbing head and wide eyed stare sure do! "Magpiepaw!" she cheers his name, partially grateful that she's remembered it at all. At most she's excited to mingle with the other apprentice (and perhaps more) without the continued guise of disgust and hate (something she still actively feeds into and, honestly, would dabble in instigated. It's incredibly easy to be biased and hateful as a WindClanner, she knows.) She cares not for how she looks in the moment, picking up her pace to meet him at the outskirts of the gathering.

"Hey - wait a second," she's moments from blathering on about how this is her first gathering, and she's glad to see a familiar face, yadda yadda - when she notices that his tail is oddly shaped in the shadows. She can smell something herbal in the air, too (she's gotten far too used to the scents, helping Vulturemask more often as of late.) "What's happened t'you? You've got sticks in your tail," she asks, curiosity absolutely killing any casual conversation she could've initiated instead.​

 

[LICHENPAW ❁]

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I AM JUST A BROKEN MACHINE

Lichenpaw is admittedly not the most thrilled to be at the gathering, but he's still not going to pass up a chance to get out of camp. They break off from Blizzard Fang quickly, eager to get away from his mentor. So he wanders the gathering awkwardly not so thrilled as he usually might be about talking with the other Clans. And yet — in a way, it's better than talking with his Clanmates. News of his previous mentor's brutal training session has not spread to anyone but ThunderClan, so no one here will be offering the far too common apologies that make discomfort prickle beneath his skin.

After a bit of scanning the crowd, Lichenpaw finds himself drawn to a familiar face: the tiny WindClanner he met on patrol not so long ago, the tiny little apprentice who bragged about exploring tunnels. He trots over, forced grin fixed on his face. He's supposed to be friendly, he can do that. "Oh, hey! I — I recognize you, uh. From — you were — er, I saw you on a patrol? Couple moons ago. Uh, actually you might not remember that, I dunno," he realizes belatedly. Ah well. He doesn't know many of the apprentices here, so he'll take what he can get. He doesn't know the cat she's talking to; they smell of ShadowClan, but that doesn't tell him much.

Start again, maybe. "So, hello stranger! Er, strangers. I'm — uh, I'm Lichenpaw." He eyes the other apprentice, the one with his tail wrapped up. It looks just like when Pebblepaw's tail was injured. "Magpie, right?" He asks them. That's what the WindClanner had said. "I had a — er. A... friend?" He pauses with a little cringe. Are they still friends? He doesn't really know... He's lost most of his friends by now. "Uh, I mean, I know someone who got their tail, y'know, hurt like that. Cobwebs & sticks and everything. He's alright now, though." A pause for breath, and he looks at the apprentice, considering. "So, so you probably will be too." He concludes. A clumsy reassurance, but he finds it a surprisingly genuine one.

AND I DO THINGS THAT I DON'T REALLY MEAN !
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.°❁ info ; visual

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• LICHENPAW named for the lichen on the trees of his home.
  — he/him or they/them. 10 moons.
  — thunderclan apprentice, mentored by blizzard fang.
  — bears a near-permanent nervous grin.
  
  primary character, high activity. penned by saturnid. IC opinions :']​
• "SPEECH"
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• 

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