[oh.the.excitement] -- {the.gathering}

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

((Gathering Cats--
Iceheart, Mistheart, Lilypaw, Inkpaw, Azalealeaf, Onespot, Flamefoot, Crystalrose, Ivorywing, Battooth, Hailwind, and Twistedpaw.

Choices were made by Agii/Northstar & Battie/Maplestar.
Go yell at them.
Not at me. ))


Hailwind padded easily onto the land of the island. Grains of sand flew in the air, landing in the water and floating to the bottom. He purred as the sand ran over his paws; it was still warm even though the sky was darkening quickly.

He gazed up at the sky. A full, bright moon shone like a single jewel in the sky, lighting up the expanse of land and water underneath it all. He admired the beauty of the reflection on the clear lake water, its reflection rippling lightly as she wind crossed the body of water.

The elegant figure of Ivorywing appeared next to him, following his gaze with her bright emerald green eyes. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked in a melodic voice, gesturing towards the lake and the reflection of the moon with a slight flick of her rather long tail. Her pure white pelt seemed to nearly glow underneath the bright moonlight that glimmered and never unwavered. It was a clear night with no clouds to cover the many twinkling stars. With no clouds in the sky, Ivorywing felt more relaxed.

Hailwind padded forward and at once searched around for a cat to speak to - preferably SkyClan, since he was rather interested in catching up on the news about the two SkyClan apprentices - Dreampaw and Inkpaw. He was interested in learning about their current relationship. Tilting his head to the side, he examined through the many cats to see which one he could speak to.

Crystalrose blinked, her fur dripping slightly with the amount of water she had picked up. Her cream colored pelt took a while to dry off, but it usually dried off before she felt too much of a chill from the winds that passed through. Her tail twitched with anticipation at being able to communicate with other Clan cats without any fighting or anything going on. Gazing up at the sky through her warm chocolate brown gaze, she saw the stars flickering, their light shining lightly.

-x-

Azalealeaf seemed to dance onto shore, her paws moving quickly underneath her as she brought herself onto the sandy shores of the island. Shaking her pelt and letting water droplets fly from it and into the air, she saw the drops of moisture fall into the ground. Padding forward, she sniffed and smelled the scent of EarthClan cats. They were probably already here. Hopefully Northstar and Maplestar would give the two Clans time to socialize before they began the Gathering. After all, there wasn't really much news to share aloud between leader to leader, was there?

Inkpaw ambled onto shore, still furious at Northstar for not choosing Dreampaw to go with the group of Gathering cats. He could imagine her right now: her silver tabby coat gleaming beautifully in the moonlight, her luminous eyes dancing around, drinking in the sight of the moon. What a romantic view that would've made. /Would/ have made. Again, the frustration and anger he felt towards Northstar flared up within him. Why couldn't she have come?

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

As her elegant figure reached the two other apprentices, Lilypaw sat down next to Inkpaw and Dreampaw, her pearly pelt. gleaming in the moonlight. Lilypaw scooted over to Inkpaw, so she could whisper something to him.
"Inkpaw, do you like Dreampaw?"

Lilypaw already knew the answer, but wanted to know if he would tell her, for that might be a sign that he liked her at least as a good friend.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Of course I do!" Inkpaw snapped in response to Lilypaw's question. He wasn't at all angry at her - just Northstar for not choosing Dreampaw to come along with their group. Staring into the water that lapped the sides of the sandy island, he imagined her yet again.

He could've sworn that he nearly could smell her sweet scent next to him as well as her pelt brushing against his. Sadly, he was broken from his reverie by the chatter of the cats arriving on the island. Frustration grew within him again and he fixed his glare at Northstar - for the millionth time.

Although he himself was glad that he was going to the Gathering, he wished with all his heart that Dreampaw could be there. Why couldn't she come? Why not? Did she do something wrong? He could almost picture Dreampaw's sharp retort at him questioning his leader's authority. An inaudible purr rumbled in his chest with amusement at thinking about Dreampaw's scolding face when she got angry at him.

For a while, that helped him, but sooner or later, he slipped back into his depressed and angry state, continuing to glare at Northstar, his ears tilted back and almost being pinned against his head with sheer irritation and annoyance he wanted to drive into Northstar's head.

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"Oh-Okay" Lilypaw said, taken aback by his snappiness. "
'Should I tell him now? He might get mad at me', Lilypaw thought, but she couldn't hold it in. "Ilikeyou" Lilypaw stumbled out to Inkpaw, her words jumbled together.
"I like you as much as you like Dreampaw." She added, not looking into his eyes. She scuffed her paws in the sand, wondering what he would say.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Yeah, well, whatever," Inkpaw muttered, obviously not processing what Lilypaw had said to him. He padded away in search for company to speak to that wasn't in his Clan. He glanced around, wanting to speak to an apprentice of EarthClan to catch up on news. He could see some EarthClan cats wanting to speak to him to learn of his current relationship with Dreampaw, but he didn't want to say anything about it now. Head drooping and his tail dragging along the ground and picking up sand, he went to go sit at the edge of the island, settling down and letting the cool water wash over his paws.

He was just so sick and fed up with this all. EarthClan cats just /always/ had to get into his business, didn't they? He didn't mind answering a few questions, but when they wanted him to recite a whole story? Nonesense!

Inkpaw let out a hiss of frustration, his claws unsheathing and sheathing as they worked at the sandy land underfoot. If he had been facing inward, he would've glared at Northstar again, but he stared out into the lake. Darkness had already dusted the whole entire land and he could barely see the faint outline of the SkyClan ridge.

"One day Dreampaw's going to fall in love with me and that's that," Inkpaw meowed to himself, a gleam of determination sparkling in his hazelnut eyes. He felt his spirits rise, but wasn't yet ready to speak to other Clan cats yet. He rather enjoyed the peace he felt gazing out across the lake, with all the chatter of the Clan cats together behind him.

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Lilypaw grew frustrated at Inkpaw, that he didn't even care that she loved her. she stalked up to Inkpaw.

" Inkpaw, its really nice that all you care about is Dreampaw when she doesn't even like you!" she hissed at him, not realizing how hurtful her words probably were "Snd you don't even care that I just told you I loved you as much if not more than you love Dreampaw!" She added, stomping angrily and gracefully away from him.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

ooc::
Oops, its supposed to be And, not Snd.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"So I should care only about /you/, is that right? I don't really need you to tell me that Dreampaw doesn't like me! How about if I say that I don't like you? Which I don't!" Inkpaw hissed at Lilypaw. Northstar was probably going to start the Gathering, but he didn't care. He just wanted to go back to Camp and to be with Dreampaw.

Anger continued to grow within him until he was nearly just a blaze of fury. He attempted to calm himself by listening to the waves lapping at the shore of the island, but found that he couldn't. His tail lashed out at the ground as he reheard the words about Dreampaw not liking him replayed in his mind over and over again.

"Why can't they just leave me alone?" he muttered darkly. For a fleeting instant, he thought of leaping into the water and just leaving SkyClan and never returning to either Clan, but he knew that he would eventually die from misery at not being with Dreampaw. Dreampaw.

Picturing her face and attempting to smell her sweet scent calmed him down. His hot head soon cleared as he thought about her and everything she did - her way of moving, the way she looked, the way she spoke, the way she ate, everything.

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"Okay" Lilypaw mewed. " I knoaw you don't like me, I didn't mean to get angry, but I really like you and wanted you to know that. I know, you are mad that everyone is trying to know about you an Drempaw." Lilypaw moved closer to Inkpaw, hoping he wouldn't lash out at her. "I....I just...I don't know. I...guess, I just...love you so much." Lilypaw mewed, and gave his ear a quick lick. She continued to sit, her paws not allowing her to move.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Inkpaw, after mass amounts of thinking about Dreampaw, managed to remain calm. He gave himself a mental reprimand to not cry out with frustration again. "I'm sorry Lilypaw, but I love Dreampaw," he meowed truthfully. Inkpaw was not the type of cat to lie about emotions when they crossed the path of the fickle thing known as 'love'.

"But maybe we can be friends," he suggested, attempting to make his tone cheerful. Perhaps it could still go on like that, perhaps he could finally become Dreampaw's mate and then he could still remain friends with Lilypaw. Although he didn't like the she-cat, he did enjoy her company sometimes when he wasn't around Dreampaw - like now.

He heaved a mental sigh as if he were already many moons old instead of being nine moons old. His tail lay within a furrow that it had embedded earlier within the wet sandy part of the island - the part that was being washed slightly with the water. The water itself wasn't icy cold, although it felt cool to the touch.

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Lilypaw looked into hiss hazelnut eyes, her turquise ones meeting his. "I-I...I don't think I can go on being your friend Inkpaw. I mean, how would you like it if Drempaw just wanted to be your friend forever? I know how you feel about her, and I feel the same way about you, and...and...I just...I don't know." Lilypaw hung her head. "What does Dreampaw have that I dont?" She whispered to him.

ooc:: I know, Lilypaw sounds really dreamatic. xP

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"I can love her if I want to!" Inkpaw exclaimed, although it was more of a statement than an angry retort. "Why can't I love her?" he asked, narrowing his eyes although he scolded himself in his mind to not let his temper get the best of him again. His tail twitched back and forth within its furrow. He silently willed either Northstar or Maplestar to call out the beginning of the Gathering, not liking how uncomfortable it was around here. He had thought that on his first Gathering, he would be with Dreampaw and they would be speaking with other apprentices that were from EarthClan. Glancing around, he saw that there weren't many apprentices that had come from EarthClan.

Perhaps that was because both Clans were small. The stories of the four Clans he had heard long ago - ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan - had been rather big forests, but they had had a lot of land. ErathClan and SkyClan both had a lot of land, but both lived in rather rough conditions - especially SkyClan. They had to live in the rugged mountains known as ridges while the EarthClan cats suffered through having Twolegs close to where they lived.

He heaved himself to his paws easily, this time thinking for real about leaping into the water, letting its unknown depths swallow him up. It would beat having to live through this situation. Indeed it would.

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"Y-y-you can love her, no one is stopping you." Lilypaw mewed, wishing she could be Dreampaw instead of herself. "Maybe someday she will take you as her mate, and...and..." Lilypaw couldn't finish, because if she said it it might come true, and she couldn't bear it. "I just wish I could've been the cat that you loved, Inkpaw." Lilypaw said to him, then scooted away from him, as if his fur wasn't comforting anymore.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"She /will/ take me as a mate one day, I swear on it," Inkpaw meowed firmly, more to himself than to anybody else. His spirit had somewhat returned to his eyes as he continued to dream about Dreampaw (no pun intended). He padded away in search of an EarthClan cat - preferably an apprentice - to talk to.

Not looking where he was going caused Inkpaw to bump into Hailwind and Ivorywing, both who were admiring the view of the moon reflection on the almost still water. "Hey!" he chirruped cheerfully, looking at the two EarthClan cats. Hopefully his hunger for news of the other Clan would be satisfied. "How's the prey running in EarthClan?" he asked, his tail-tip twitching with anticipation of finally learning more about EarthClan.

Ivorywing traded an amused glance with Hailwind at the tomcat apprentice's hyperness and his curiousness. "You were like that too when you were an apprentice," she murmured to Hailwind, laughter gleaming in her radiant bright green eyes.

Hailwind shook his head, obviously enjoying the joke. Inkpaw didn't quite understand and didn't like it when cats were amused and he didn't know why. "How do I get Dreampaw to like me?" he blurted out, forgetting his earlier question about how EarthClan was doing. "I've almost got her absolutely charmed! I was working it out with Mistheart and Flamefoot when we were on patrol a few days ago," he meowed quickly, looking up at the two cats for answers.

"Well, I can't truly advise you since I'm a medicine cat," Ivorywing reminded him, flicking his ears with her rather long tail. "But I'm sure Hailwind can give you a pointer or two. Even though he's no loner interested in she-cats, he was one of the tomcat apprentices that hankered after the she-cat apprentice a lot. Before I became the medicine cat apprentice, he used to chase after me a lot."

Inkpaw looked at Hailwind wonderingly, not able to imagine the deputy of EarthClan being just an apprentice - like he was. Perhaps one day Inkpaw himself would be something like Inkstorm or Inkstain and he would be speaking with a tomcat apprentice who was in the same scenario who had needed advice. Hailwind himself gave a slight purr of amusement at Ivorywing's words.

"Is that true?" Inkpaw asked incredelously, staring at the deputy of EarthClan. He got an even more surprised feeling when Hailwind gave a nod. Hailpaw. That just sounded so weird... He himself would probably feel the same way once he got his warrior name.

"Well, for starters," Hailwind began. "To adress your earlier question, EarthClan is doing just fine." He paused, looking into Inkpaw's impatient face. "And to your second question, most she-cats like flattery. Give Dreampaw a few compliments, but don't entirely overflatter her - or else she'll know what you're trying to do and then all hope will be lost. Try not to show-off too much in front of her, although you can do something like bring down a rabbit during hunting and instead of eating it yourself, you put it in the fresh-kill pile or give it to the elders."

Inkpaw, if he could write, would've taken notes in the exact same words that Hailwind dictated them. Instead, he looked intently at the tomcat, trying to memorize each and every single word of advice he gave him. It was as if his mind were a wide open chest and that he wanted to fill it with as much knowledge as he could.

Ivorywing, meanwhile, was looking at the two tomcats with laughter glinting in her eyes. She listened to what Hailwind told Inkpaw. Hailwind's advice were all the exact same things that Hailpaw had done to Ivorypaw so long ago, before Ivorypaw became the medicine cat apprentice and then Ivorywing and when Hailpaw had become Hailwind.

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[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Lilypaw caught sight of Inkpaw and heard thier conversation. Not being able to belive that Inkpaw was doing this to her, she buried her face in her paws and began to sob, her heart aching. 'I can't belive Inkpaw doesn't even care about me!' She thought to herself.

She soon went over to Ivorywing and Hailwing. "H-Hi, Ivorywing, Hailwind. Hi Inkpaw, she said curtly to Inkpaw, more sad than angry. But anger overwhelmed her. "I bet she doesn't like you." Lilypaw hissed ever so quietly to Inkpaw that he probably could hardly hear.