#Quailclan

[nettleclanstale]

Moon 94.5

Moon 94.5- Gathering

Spiderstar swished his tail along the wood of the High Oak, watching intently as Birchstar, along with a sizable amount of OakClan cats, made their way into the Gathering Space. The crunching of snow beneath the cats' paws was one of the only sounds heard as they took their seats in the darkened hollow, Birchstar hopping onto the low branch the others sat upon with a sheepish look on his face.

"It's about time you all got here!" Spiderstar joked, smiling. 

"We got lost," The young tom explained, giving his chest fur a few licks of embarrassment. Leaning forward slightly to look just beyond Spiderstar, Birchstar's eyes narrowed. "Sappatch? What are you doing up here? Where's Brokenstar?"

"He's expecting. He's not doing well, and he didn't want to come." Sappatch, QuailClan's medicine cat, meowed in reply. The white tom turned his head towards Birchstar's voice, and Spiderstar felt himself shift back slightly. Although Sappatch couldn't see him, he still didn't wish to feel his gaze.

"And what about Cleardawn?" Birchstar questioned, tilting his head slightly.

"Mangled tail."

"Oh."

"Anyway!" Spiderstar cut the two off, chuckling nervously. "I believe it's time to begin. Would either of you like to begin?" 

Silence. A gentle yet cold breeze blew through the air, making Spiderstar and a few other cats shiver. 

"Very well," The brown tabby meowed, letting out a heavy exhale before speaking again. "NettleClan has had...Rough times lately. We're still recovering from the flood that took away so many of our clanmates. While prey has been easier to find, we're still working on rebuilding our camp."

For a moment, Spiderstar paused, taking a moment to look at the gathered cats. Beneath him, an OakClan apprentice looked visibly distraught by the mention of the flood. After a few seconds passed, he continued to speak. "Additionally, we've lost a couple of clanmates this moon. Our beloved Sandystream, along with her son Willowkit, passed away from kitting complications and passed on to StarClan. We will miss them dearly, and we hope they're able to find easy hunting and rest in peace."

Cats lowered their heads, ears flattened as they silently paid tribute to the fallen cats. Sappatch let out a soft hum, shaking his head.

"It's always sad when cats pass on from these things, especially when it takes the lives of kits as well." He murmured. "QuailClan offers condolences."

"And so does OakClan." Birchstar stated, nervously shifting his paws.

Spiderstar nodded. "I thank you both," He meowed. "Now...As for some good news. Our lovely apprentice, Hoppaw, has earned her warrior name. I ask that we give our congratulations to Hopstreak!"

"Hopstreak! Hopstreak! Hopstreak!" Cats chanted, while the golden and brown tortoiseshell puffed out her chest, an expression of pride on her face. 

"One final thing." Spiderstar's whiskers twitched. "Despite the loss of Willowkit I am happy to announce that his littermate, his sister Baykit, is thriving and doing just fine. I am also happy to announce that Crowheart is our deputy."

Murmurs of relief spread through the crowd, smiles forming on the faces of the cats. Spiderstar dipped his head.

"That is all." He said, casting glances at both Sappatch and Birchstar. "Go on."

Birchstar cast his gaze to the ground, wrapping his tail around his paws. Sappatch stepped forward, his blind yellow gaze fixed on the crowd.

"I suppose I'll go next. I can tell we're all getting cold and I don't want our whiskers and tails falling off on the way back home!" He joked, earning chuckles and amused purrs from the clan members below.

"Anyway...Other than Cleardawn's mangled tail, our clan is thriving!" Sappatch purred, beaming. "Our beloved leader Brokenstar is expecting his first litter with his mate Auburnstripe. We're hoping that the pregnancy goes smoothly."

Spiderstar watched as Sappatch paused, watching the way his ears perked. Despite not being a leader, the tom's handsome, authoritative demeanor made all cats fall silent and Spiderstar's own pelt flush with warmth, only for a moment before he shook it away with a shiver. 

After clearing his throat, Sappatch continued. "We have a few ceremonies to celebrate as well! Thymepetal has happily retired to the elder's den, and Saplingthicket has settled into her duties as our third full-time mediator."

"THREE mediators!?" A voice from the crowd exclaimed. Spiderstar wanted to melt into the ground when he realized it was one of his own warriors. 

Of course, it was Hickory. The brown and white she-cat's tail twitched as multiple cats turned their heads to glare at her.

"What!? What kinds of problems is QuailClan having for them to need THREE mediators??" She huffed, stomping a front paw. 

"That's enough, Hickory." Spiderstar said, teeth gritted and fur bristled. His body burned with embarrassment. 

Hickory fell silent, and Sappatch rolled his eyes before continuing.

"Thank you for your imput, NettleClan cat. I don't know what I would do without your words." He grumbled. "Anyway. We also have three new warriors. Fernspeck, Turtlehoney, and Bushclover."

The cats began to chant for the newly named cats, and Spiderstar suppressed a chuckle as one of the younger cats, a brown and white tom, nervously averted his gaze. 

"Anyway. With great news comes great loss as well. Most of you know of our former deputy, Vinetuft." Sappatch sighed, lowering his head as his ears pinned against his head. "I regret to inform you all that Vinetuft has passed on after a horrible case of greencough took his life. We mourn him, and can only hope that he crossed over to StarClan's hunting grounds easily."

Shocked gasps, followed by saddened murmuring swept across the cats. Sappatch remained quiet for a moment, listening, before lifting his tail to demand attention. Once it was silent again, he dipped his head and turned to join the other medicine cats at the bottom of the High Oak. 

"That is all. Now Birchstar will speak, and after a moment to speak with your friends, we will conclude this gathering." He said, before jumping down to the base of the tree and taking a seat beside Shimmerflare, OakClan's medicine cat. Spiderstar noticed that the gray tom looked more frail than usual, age starting to catch up with him.

An awkward, tense silence filled the air as Birchstar stood there, as if not entirely sure what he was supposed to say despite all these moons of attending Gatherings. Somewhere in the crowd, someone sneezed, and a couple of cats said "bless you" before going silent again.

"Um...Hi." The golden-brown tom finally meowed. "Okay, let's see...So far, OakClan is thriving. We have a new warrior! Lightwhistle has earned his warrior name! We also have a few new apprentices. Boragepaw, Valleypaw, Marshpaw, and Bristlepaw are warrior apprentices, while Marigoldpaw decided that he would like to be a medicine cat!"

Spiderstar's gaze swept over the hollow as cats began to cheer. His eyes finally settled on Sunsong, who he noticed had visibly tensed when the name Valleypaw was mentioned. 

Fox-dung, He thought to himself, curling his tail around his paws and sitting up straighter. I had hoped that bringing her to the gathering would make her feel a little better...

"Anyway, not much else has happened. I guess that's it-"

"Wait." 

A white she-cat with a dark ginger tail stalked to the front of the crowd. Judging by her stocky body, she was a QuailClan cat. She glared up at Birchstar, her silver eyes narrowed.

Another QuailClan cat, this one a white she-cat with light brown patches, groaned. "Oh, Auburnstripe, don't start-"

"No. No, Heronheart, I have to 'start'." Auburnstripe growled, her expression challenging as she turned her attention back to Birchstar. "Birchstar, with all the respect you deserve, I caught one of your apprentices hunting on our territory. Do you realize it's the middle of Leaf-bare!? Prey is scarce and you're so lucky we didn't kill your mouse-brained apprentice for trespassing."

Birchstar stuttered in reply, while Spiderstar stepped forward in his defense. "Auburnstripe, it's bad enough that you were disrespectful enough to speak out of turn, but please have some respect when speaking to a clan leader."

"What did you expect?" Morningsong strode forward, raising his tail and smirking at Auburnstripe. "It's QuailClan. They're just as disrespectful and awful as ever!"

A loud growl came from Auburnstripe as she unsheathed her claws and lunged herself at Morningsong. The light brown tabby tom, still very young, was too slow to react. Exclamations and wails came from every clan member as Auburnstripe bit down hard on Morningsong's throat, a horrid crunch heard as his eyes glazed over. Somewhere in the crowd, Spiderstar would hear Badgerfall wail in despair as her son slumped onto the ground, still. Blood pooled from the bite wound in his throat. 

Heronheart shot forward, pushing Auburnstripe out of the way and holding her clanmate down as the medicine cats rushed forward to tend to Morningsong. Auburnstripe's white fur now had crimson running down her muzzle and chest, her eyes filled with pure fury and satisfaction as she stared down at Morningsong. 

"This gathering is OVER." Shimmerflare yowled, turning his head to Bitter and Twigsplash. "He's still breathing- Hurry up and take him back to camp!"

As cats began to retreat as fast as they could, Spiderstar watched as Minnowleap approached Sappatch with a hiss. 

"Don't think what your warrior did will be forgiven!!" The young tom exclaimed, lashing his tail. "You're lucky we haven't called for war because of that!"

Sappatch lashed his tail, and Spiderstar's heart sank as what he said next made all of The Gathering go silent, cats freezing in their tracks.

"Very well," Sappatch hissed, his voice horrifyingly calm as he spoke. "When we get back, I'll let Brokenstar know that we have officially declared war on NettleClan. This gathering is now officially dismissed."

End.

QuailClan and NettleClan are now at war.

[nettleclanstale]

Meet QuailClan

...Sort of. I decided to draw QuailClan's high-rank cats because...Reasons.

Those who were here from older moon updates may remember Vinetuft, QuailClan's previous deputy...Don't worry, he's still alive! Just old and retired to the elder's den <3

[nettleclanstale]

just thought of some silly questions ❤️

Is anyone in the clan scared of spiders? Like do they just avoid Spiderstar? Or does he leave Redflower in his den when he's out? Did he ever take her to a gathering to see if anyone would want to be friends? I feel like the clans woulda thought of it as an intimidation tactic while Spiderstar is just sad because no one likes his spider :( (we love her tho <3)

Does he ever walk into her webs lol

Ooh I wonder if Redflower gives the medicine cats cobwebs to help the clan, that could be interesting

ahhh these are so silly i love them!!!

I can't really draw anything for it atm so I hope my rambles are enough <3

Nobody in NettleClan is really afraid of spiders except for young kits. Even if someone were a little nervous with them, everyone knows how much Redflower means to Spiderstar and just silently avoids the spider. Keeping their distance while he has her and such.

Spiderstar doesn't want anyone to accidentally step on Redflower or for her to accidentally bite someone, so he usually leaves her on his den wall in her web. At the end of the day he gets all comfortable in his nest and talks to her about his day and pretends she's telling him about her day.

He took her to a gathering once, but it didn't go very well. Brokenstar (QuailClan's leader), is afraid of spiders. He assumed Spiderstar knew this and was trying to subtly threaten him, when all Spiderstar wanted to do was see if he could find some spider enthusiasts like him. It was soon decided that spiders are not allowed at gatherings anymore, and Redflower needs to stay home. (Don't worry! A few QuailClan and OakClan cats approached him after the gathering to ramble about spiders and snakes with him!)

He has walked into her webs MANY TIMES and every single time he feels hella guilty about it and apologizes for the rest of the day.

Also that thing about Redflower helping medicine cats....I love that. I love that so much that's canon now.

[nettleclanstale]

rambling

I'm thinking about writing a gathering scene. Just for fun. And also so you guys can really meet QuailClan <3

[nettleclanstale]

theory for the twigsnow kit(s) (i forgot how many there were, but i think it was just petalkit? idk): they had the same cat sire both litters as a surrogate. Who? Idk, a quailclan cat who was buddies with Snowypoppy maybe?

We're back and answering asks!!!

That's a good theory....Maybe it's canon.... 👀👀