Dawning Woods

[squidz]

~ BRIARSPLASH ~
very large & fluffy dilute gray tortie she-cat with goldish-green eyes
[ shadowclan warrior | she-cat | 26 moons | abrasive, standoffish, loyal ]

~

Briarsplash heard Hillstrider and Wispypaw talking as she moved away, her whiskers twitching in muted amusement. That Hillstrider was... an excited guy, huh? She glanced back once or twice, noting the large tom's shining pelt and the way he stood out like the sun itself in the middle of the greenish-brown woods. As much as part of her wanted to be annoyed by his exuberance, the other part of her was... intrigued, if she were honest.

Shaking off her curiosity for now, Briar returned to hunting. It wasn't long before she scented some more creatures in the undergrowth, making her tail twitch with anticipation. Dropping into a hunter's crouch, the fluffy she-cat stalked forward, her eyes on the prize ahead — a juicy-looking vole.

[ Roll: 9 | Fail ]

But in her clumsiness, her big paws snapped a twig, making the vole shoot off into the bushes. Spitting out a quiet curse, Briarsplash shook out her pelt, continuing to grumble even as she scented the air again. Ah, another creature... a bird, this time. Smells like a robin?

[ Roll: 14 | Success ]

Trying to keep her tail from twitching in excitement, Briarsplash kept herself low, dragging herself along slowly as she approached her prey. Wiggling her haunches, the she-cat built up power and launched herself at the robin. It started to fly off right as she was midair, but she quickly lashed out a large paw, slamming it down to the forest floor. Letting out a satisfied grunt, the warrior quickly bit its neck, killing it.

It wasn't long on her trek when she scented another critter — a frog, its pungent scent familiar by now to her nose. Doing her best to be subtle, she slunk through the trees and came up behind the thing, getting ready to strike.

[ Roll: 16 | Success]

And thankfully, it landed. She snagged the frog by its legs as it tried to hop away, quickly delivering a killing bite. She had never been too fond of the taste of frogs and toads, but hey, prey was prey. The camp needed all the help it could get.

After that, it had been some time, and she hadn't scented anything else in awhile. Making sure to brush her pelt along everything she could, she eventually made her way back to the meeting place, gathering her catches together. She sat with her bushy tail curled over her paws, waiting for her patrolmates to arrive with her golden-green eyes curiously narrowed. She mused on how well Hillstrider and Wispypaw must be getting on — did they stick together? Would Hill's racket or his pelt scare off the prey sooner? The thought amused her as she waited.

[ +1 robin, +1 frog ]

[ @Mica - Hillstrider @Kix - Wispypaw ]

[Kix]

Wispypaw
I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere
But you can't catch me now
+ she/her + No purrks

Wispypaw had half a mind to snap at this warrior for calling her little dude, she wasn't a dude. As far as she knew she was a girl and had been so since birth, nothing changed since then. She could deal with that later on for now she had a job to do and she wanted to get it over with. She listened to the other explain marking the border since she couldn't watch him. She could faintly hear something brushing against another something but she couldn't be sure if that was Hillstrider or just some poor animal nearby. The apprentice gave a nod as she showed she understood his words, she wasn't sure why she didn't think of that. Yet the more thought she put into it she hadn't been out of camp that much since she was made an apprentice. With what she was told she moved towards the nearest tree she could smell and brushed herself against the bark of said tree. She briefly looked in the warrior's direction before she moved on knowing she did herself right.

Since they seemed to have gotten the marking part of their patrol done she guess hunting was now her main goal. With ease, she turned away from Hillstrider, who most likely already started to hunt on his own. Wispypaw raised her head a bit to get a whiff of the air, something would show up. Indeed as she suspected, she caught the scent of a mouse something small but it would be something rather than nothing. Unlike others, she very much would rather bring the smallest prey possible back than come back empty-pawed. Wispypaw wanted to prove that she was just as good as those around her despite being blind. She knew her mom was blind and she was also aware that she hadn't always been like that so it was different for her. Remembering Fenneldrops teachings she brought herself to a hunter's crouch easily and slowly inched herself closer in the mouse's direction.

[ rolled a 20 ]

With luck and her noting how stronger the creature's scent got as she closed in on the thing, she stopped before she got too close. Not once did she step on any stick or leave or anything to make a sound, she wasn't going to make a single mistake. All it took was a moment of her launching herself forward with her claws out before her to snag a hold of the mouse and a quick bite to the head. Now she stood up with the limp body of the mouse in her jaws as she puffed out her chest fur in pride. Hah, she caught her first prey on a patrol and not during a lesson! Now she had to go see if she could have another go at catching something else. A soft song of an annoying tune alerted her to what she assumed was some kind of bird, one she couldn't tell. Wispypaw wasn't entirely sure if she was capable of going for a bird yet since she had only dealt with land vermin before. She was going to go have a try at it anyway and see how it went, maybe luck was still on her side for the moment. Quickly she placed the mouse in a safe spot where it wouldn't get stepped on or lost so she could get it later.

[ rolled a 12 ]

The dark feline went back into a hunter crouch as she tracked down where the annoying screeching was coming from, she could just barely catch its scent. Yet she realized it got a bit closer so that told her it must have landed on the ground somewhere, hopefully close by. Luck wasn't on her side as she had accidentally brushed against a bush she hadn't realized she had been too close to. With the sound alerting the bird to her presence, she acted desperately and went in for the kill before the damned thing could fly away. Her speedy movement although messy had managed to help her snag the nuisance but she didn't stop her momentum and she went tumbling into a tree in her haste to grab the bird. It left her feeling dizzy as she lay somewhat upside down against the tree but she had the bird clutched in her deadly claws.

Now this was just embarrassing, she wasn't supposed to be a mess like this, she was meant to be graceful. Something was telling her that Hillstrider hadn't wandered far from her so obviously the loudmouth saw the mess she just caused. Wispypaw huffed as she bit ahold of the bird as she moved to be upright, leaving her fur in somewhat of a ruffled manner. If the tom said anything about her mistake then she wouldn't say anything about it, she wouldn't admit it even happened. She traced her scent back to her original kill and picked it up before she made her move to the area she was last in with Hillstrider.

[ 1 mouse, 1 crow ]

@Mica @squidz

Header made by Marigold

[Mica]

Hillstrider
ShadowClan
he/him | 21 moons
[Big fluffy orange tabby with yellow eyes]
· · ────────────── · ·
[Briarsplash - @squidz ] [Wispypaw - @Kix ]
· · ────────────── · ·
The scent of a mouse caught Hillstrider's attention, and the orange tom left his prey behind to track it. It was easy enough, something he had done dozens of times before. A scuffle from nearby had the mouse squeaking in suspicion, darting off into the ferns before Hillstrider could get the jump on it. He growled, flashing forward in a blur of orange to chase it. He was by no means fast, but his strides were long, allowing him to catch up and slam his paw down on the mouse, killing it instantly. Phew, that was close!

[Hillstrider gained +1 mouse!]

The warrior was too distracted by his own prey to notice Wispypaw's fumble. Even if he had seen it, he wouldn't have said anything other than a friendly encouragement. Hillstrider picked up his other prey, heading back to the apprentice and making an impressed noise through his prey.

Meeting up with Briarsplash again, Hillstrider gave her a smile to indicate they were ready.

[Hillstrider has 1 finch, 1 vole, 1 mouse]

[squidz]

~ BRIARSPLASH ~
very large & fluffy dilute gray tortie she-cat with goldish-green eyes
[ shadowclan warrior | she-cat | 26 moons | abrasive, standoffish, loyal ]

~

Briarsplash's tail tip twitched in a muted greeting as Hillstrider and Wispypaw returned, satisfied to see a few pieces of prey each in their jaws. Nodding once as wordless approval, she gestured with her fluffy plume of a tail towards ShadowClan's new camp.

"C'mon... let's head back before we're late. The sun's gettin' lower,"she meowed in her soft, raspy voice.

With that she picked up her three pieces of prey, only slightly grossed out by the taste of frog on her tongue — but someone would like it, or someone would eat it. Prey was prey. Then she led the trio back, proudly taking up the front.

[ @Mica - Hillstrider | @Kix - Wispypaw ]

[will post + tag in patrol place next, no need to respond here unless ya want <3 ]

[Samantha]

Fire tail was padding through the woods, he was on his way to meet his friend.But his thoughts wondered else where so much that he walked into a tree.

@Tallstar