For What You've Taken, We'll Take From You Seventhfold

[MangoBearGoGrr]

Originally Posted by BEAR.

Oh, dung!

The owl seemed smarter than they initially anticipated - after the crew encroaching on the oak to climb it.

"Damn it! Go, go, go!" Wolfhive sprang out from hiding to close some distance between the owl and the nest patrol.

The owl had descended, aiming to latch its talons around Dogchase [ @Bonsai] and lift them. Wolfhive sprang at the bird, aiming to catch its right wing with his claws.

[ @Oliver @Omari @dino. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]

Nightwhisper snarled, racing up a tree once more to try and leap at the owl. Nightwhisper climbed up swiftly as he shot himself forward towards his clanmates and the owl, trying to claw at the bird from decently high on the tree. "Damn you!" Nightwhisper snarled, "Dogchase! Try and twist yourself to the side!" The black and ginger tom yowled, "It'll hurt like hell but it might losen it's talons!" Nightwhisper finished, his brown eyes glittering in worry for his clanmates as he tried to reach them, slashing out long claws every chance he could.

@Idiotic.Bean101
@Omari
@dino.
@Marrigan
@Spider.

[Omari]

━◦○◦━◦○◦━
Drizzlecloud
Thunderclan
She/her
Purrks: Heightened Perception(active), Herbal Knowledge T2 & Monkey’s Paw.

For the first time, the voices were actually quiet. As if they were genuinely allowing her to focus on the task–odd.

No time to really think much about that, though–the owl's attention had shifted elsewhere, which was no good at all. Wolfhive was the first to leave his position, and Drizzlecloud was quick to race after him, darting to position herself near Dogchase, but hypothetically behind the owl as it descended. With her teeth barred in a snarl and her claws unsheathed into the dirt below, she aimed to leap at the owl's back, hoping to bite down hard on it's tail while her other patrol-mates (probably) targeted it's wings.

[ @BEAR. - Wolfhive, @Oliver - Orangeblossom quick post cause im going out of town today]
━◦○◦━◦○◦━

[Bonsai]

[ @BEAR. @Morrigan @dino. - owl mentions
@Omari - Drizzlecloud
@ChromeSilver_Hwaa - Nightwhisper ]
Open to everyone

Dogchase
~*~

As the brown tom watched the other team start to head towards the owl he tensed up. Once they were ready he needed to be able to move, as quickly as possible. There was no way he was going to fumble his one task of climbing up a tree while his classmates were fighting. He didn't have eyes on the owl, but he could tell by the patrol's reaction that their adversary must be close by. He turned his head to the sky, trying to spot the it. He felt a leaf shake slightly. He froze. Mousedung! Surely that little mistake hadn't tipped it off! Green eyes turned back to the patrol, as he watched Wolfhive's jaws open, his attention seemed to be directly on Dogchase. He perked up his ears to try and catch what the warrior was saying.

 

Pain ripped through his sides. He cried out, and tried to jump away, but the grip the owl had on him was too tight. He was jerked upwards. Frantically he tried to sink his claws into the ground, but the dirt gave way. The owl was moving too fast! He heard the beating of wings, and suddenly his paws were no longer touching the ground. Below and around him cats were calling out, but their voices were difficult to focus on as cold shock made him freeze up. His eyes were wide, and for a moment he just stared down at the forest floor. Where had it even come from?

He saw a flash of fur as Drizzlecloud went for an attack. From his position he couldn't see if it landed, but it snapped him back to reality. He shook his head. Focus. This was not the time to freeze up! He heard Nightwhisper tell him to try and wriggle out, but he knew getting out would require more than just shaking. Falling would also be less than ideal, even if the owl wasn't too high up yet. Besides The owl has come straight to him. He was a fully grown warrior not some kit. Even if it ended up killing him, it would feel the pain of attacking him, Springlight, and making his clan live in fear of it. He would seize this opportunity. Landing an attack should be easier from underneath where its soft underbelly and neck were so exposed. He doubted that his claws would be able to reach the owl from below. Instead he lifted his neck up, and tried to sink his teeth into the bird's neck or underbelly. He grunted and grit his teeth as pain again flared up his sides, as his motion allowed the talon's cut into him even deeper. Please Starclan let this work!

[dino.]

[ apologies for the delay!!! been settling into college the last week and a half ]

It was going well until it wasn't. The bird changed direction almost immediately, heading straight for Bumblestar's group and snatching Dogchase up as if he weighed nothing. Wolfhive leaped to intercept, Nightwhisper and Drizzlecloud immediately after, leaving minimal room for Bumblestar to jump in without getting in the way.

She grit her teeth and went for the tree. Her claws hooked into the bark and she began to haul herself up, hoping to make progress in getting to the nest while it was distracted.

[ @Oliver @Omari @BEAR. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]

[Dolomedes]

Orangeblossom

Orangeblossom was only half paying attention. It was likely that this beast would throw them off their plan immediately because it would be the kind of thing to do that. What he hadn't expected to happen so quickly was for it to grab ahold of one of his clan mates right out of the gate. He froze, fright filling his bones and quenching the flickering flames of anger that took over his thoughts and reason, and after a blink of his eyes... it wasn't Dogchase he was staring at and now it was Springlight. Kind of. Her form was fuzzy and it wasn't even like he was there when it happened, otherwise it wouldn't have happened he wouldn't have let it happen. He growled. Though he knew this was his mind playing tricks on him, all it served to do was knock him from his freeze and reignited his mind to light up his goal. Make this owl suffer.

The warrior growled out again and shot a glance towards the cats heading for the nest. Okay. Yeah. What if he were to... Orangeblossom silently apologized for going off the rails ahead of time but it technically was going for the left still so maybe he wouldn't get chewed out if this risky as hell plan worked. Orangeblossom didn't really care about the risk, if he were to miss or something went wrong what did it even matter when everyone he loves is dead or gone. Orangeblossom wasn't a creature built to live alone. He couldn't. So rather than dealing with that emotional epiphany, the warriors set to start his plan. He rushed forward, ignoring his clan mates as he threw himself up a nearby tree as quickly as he possibly could without falling back out in haste.

Then once he was higher up than the owl, the beast focusing on the cats rather than fleeing while it had the chance, though Orangeblossom didn't want it to flee. He wanted its blood spilled under his paws. He turned, and crouched along the branch, and as though hunting, he waited for the owl to fly just close enough and when that happened the ginger didn't waste a breath. He shot forward, throwing himself from the tree, uncaring of the fall that he could face, and rather focused on landing atop the owl and digging his claws and teeth into everything he could. He was going to drag this thing to the floor or he would kill it midair. Orangeblossom wanted it dead. He aimed his teeth to hit the base of the owl's wing.

[ @dino. @Omari @BEAR. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]
[ Orange has officially attempted to curb stomp :thumbsup: ]

[MangoBearGoGrr]

Originally Posted by Oliver

Orangeblossom

Orangeblossom was only half paying attention. It was likely that this beast would throw them off their plan immediately because it would be the kind of thing to do that. What he hadn't expected to happen so quickly was for it to grab ahold of one of his clan mates right out of the gate. He froze, fright filling his bones and quenching the flickering flames of anger that took over his thoughts and reason, and after a blink of his eyes... it wasn't Dogchase he was staring at and now it was Springlight. Kind of. Her form was fuzzy and it wasn't even like he was there when it happened, otherwise it wouldn't have happened he wouldn't have let it happen. He growled. Though he knew this was his mind playing tricks on him, all it served to do was knock him from his freeze and reignited his mind to light up his goal. Make this owl suffer.

The warrior growled out again and shot a glance towards the cats heading for the nest. Okay. Yeah. What if he were to... Orangeblossom silently apologized for going off the rails ahead of time but it technically was going for the left still so maybe he wouldn't get chewed out if this risky as hell plan worked. Orangeblossom didn't really care about the risk, if he were to miss or something went wrong what did it even matter when everyone he loves is dead or gone. Orangeblossom wasn't a creature built to live alone. He couldn't. So rather than dealing with that emotional epiphany, the warriors set to start his plan. He rushed forward, ignoring his clan mates as he threw himself up a nearby tree as quickly as he possibly could without falling back out in haste.

Then once he was higher up than the owl, the beast focusing on the cats rather than fleeing while it had the chance, though Orangeblossom didn't want it to flee. He wanted its blood spilled under his paws. He turned, and crouched along the branch, and as though hunting, he waited for the owl to fly just close enough and when that happened the ginger didn't waste a breath. He shot forward, throwing himself from the tree, uncaring of the fall that he could face, and rather focused on landing atop the owl and digging his claws and teeth into everything he could. He was going to drag this thing to the floor or he would kill it midair. Orangeblossom wanted it dead. He aimed his teeth to hit the base of the owl's wing.

[ @dino. @Omari @BEAR. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]
[ Orange has officially attempted to curb stomp :thumbsup: ]

Nightwhisper growled. "Idiot" He raced up the side of the tree, as the owl let out horrid screech. Nightwhisper unsheathed his claws, balancing on the sturdy'ish branch, his tail flickng menacingly behind him. Int his moment, he was practically face to face with the bird, his eyes wide and his body tense. Weepingwillow....Emberkit....Cinderkit...Skykit... Snakepelt.. Honey....oh my sweet Cottonpaw... I promise to come back to you, my kits and my mate. I will NOT die today! Not if Starclan wills. . Nightwhisper's yellow eyes turned to slits of fury and rage, snarling he leapt up a bit higher on the tree and leapt onto the Owl's back, holding onto it's feathers with his claws as he raked his forepaw along it's fluffy neck , hoping to do some damage, he caught lots of fluff and snarled in triumph as a bit of blood trickled down, due to the flapping of it's wings he leapt back to the tree. Not noticing until a moment later, his flank had plenty scratches along one side....... dang it. The owl must've niced his side as he was leapt. Probably trying to keep him away. Nightwhisper was trying to keep his cool, but he knew he needed to stay safe as his mate needed him, especially when there kits had Whitecough. Nightwhisper looked like a panther, his body aligned perfectly still on the branch, his yellow eyes narrowed, his size taking up the branch and he let out ferocious snarl. He was determined to kill this owl, defend his family, defend his clanmates. "When you try and cut through it's feathers, the act as a shield.... you have to cut over them, don't try and go under them." Nightwhisper said to his clanmates. He knew some of them if not all of them probably knew that, but he'd just slashed the owl so he hoped it worked for something.

[BEAR.]

[ Bit of a change of plans, this is going slowly and I want to wrap this patrol up lol. Feel free to have the owl damage your cat if you want ; just know as of my post the owl has CRASH LANDED and will not be lifting cats up. Doesn't mean it can't peck and claw a bit, though - just be mindful of what other cat's have done to it. ]

It wasn't that Wolfhive missed catching the owl by the wing; it was that the owl was quick to retaliate, turning its head on him and embedding its beak in his face. "Dung!" Wolfhive recoiled back sharply, losing his grip on the wing near immediately from the shock of the pain. The beak had latched onto skin and tore it, leaving a gash across his face.

In fact, he was having issues seeing from one eye - blinded by blood, though he wouldn't know the difference especially under duress. As far as he knew, the owl got him in the eye. Dung, dung, dung! He didn't even know what to DO about that..

The only bright side to this is that Orangeblossom managed to get in good with the owl. Wolfhive couldn't see his epic squirrel skills, but could see the result: the bird crashed. The half-sight was enough to distract him from his injury. "NIGHTWHISPER! Get your ass back with Bumblestar - we can handle this." Seriously, what was this dude thinking? It was fine when Dogchase was directly in danger but at this point the owl wasn't a direct threat to them - he should be using the opportunity to take the nest as-planned.

While the owl was beneath Orangeblossom and trying to break free and peck him simultaneously, Wolfhive darted and skidded his claws along the underside of one of its flailing wings - more of a distraction than anything so Orangeblossom would have a better opportunity to kill it.

[ @dino. @Omari @Dolomedes @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa let's just go for wrapping this up; orange can kill it in your next post oliver but i would give people a couple days if they want to get an injury from the fiesty feathered fiend ]

[Bonsai]

[ @dino. -Its a long post but the gist is Dogchase has caught up to help! ]


Dogchase
~*~

He felt his jaws lock on, slicing down into the bird's underbelly. Satisfaction spread through him. His attack had landed! He didn't get to dig too deep in, however. Suddenly he found himself falling through he sky. He let out a loud caterwaul as he crashed into the ground alongside the massive bird. His head hit the dirt. Hard. Pain immediately threatened to split his head in two. His mind swam. His thoughts were scattering from him like so many leaves in a hurricane. Distantly, he heard himself groan. His ears were ringing. Dark spots were swirling around in his vision. Out of habit he made himself stand up. I have to move. The thought was quiet. Pain and discomfort throbbed from his head and pelt. It made it difficult for him to process what his own mind was telling him to do. But it seemed important. He tried to grab the thought, before it went away with the others. He took it and held it close. Tossing it from one paw to another, trying to make sense of it.

The realization came to him all at once. They were in the middle of a battle! I have to move! He turned his head, gingerly to try and spot the bird again. After they had crashed it must of let go of him. It seemed to finally have forgotten about him. He didn't blame it. He wouldn't want Wolfhive to attack him like that either. Shakily he stood to his paws, gritting his teeth against the splintering pain in his head. He had been in enough battles to know that in his currently condition, there was nothing he could do to help. His job now was to get his wounded bum off the battle field. He refused to be a useless liability for the rest of the battle.

He made slow, unsteady progress towards the underbrush that the owl had so unceremoniously snatched him away from. He even fell a few times in the process. His sides burned, but he didn't want to waste time looking down to assess the damage. If the owl turned to him now it would see an easy target, all of his energy had to be focused on not becoming another hostage. Useless cat! How could you get captured at a time like this!

If that doesn't happen he does eventually make it to the brush. He laid low, letting his dark brown coat do the hard work of camouflaging for him. Here he spared a moment to assess the damage done to his sides. He was bleeding, but it wasn't too much. He was no medicine cat, but experience in battle told him he would be able to survive this wound. He just needed to make sure he treated it well. The injury that worried him was the one in his head. It was still pounding even after all this time. He would just have to deal with that later.

Slowly he risked looked around. He needed to get eyes on his team so that he could know what he was supposed to do next. He spotted Bumblestar already climbing the tree. She's alone? Frantically he searched the area for Nightwhisper. Don't be dead, don't be dead, don't be dead! It was with a slight sigh of relief that his eyes finally landed on the warrior. But what was he doing fighting the owl instead of breaking the nest apart? He didn't have time to think about that. He pushed his questions aside. He couldn't let Bumblestar do this alone. He couldn't just sit around and be useless. He dropped down and began to make his way towards the tree.

Dogchase flexed his claws, before beginning to climb. Immediately it felt like the whole world was trying to drag him down. He had no help from his stumpy tail with balance and his head and sides were stinging like a whole nest of hornets were on him, but he didn't stop. This was his job, his duty to his clan. He had to climb. It was just that simple.

[+ One shallow bite to the owl's belly]

[Dolomedes]

Orangeblossom

Tw: Violence, animal death, decapitation, blood

Sure enough, the creature went fluttering harshly down into the ground. Luckily, the creature took most of the blow from the fall and Orangeblossom wasn’t roughed up from the risky maneuver. Though it still did wind him a bit. His claws dug into the fathers beneath him to scramble for a hold as the bird started to thrash and try and peck at him. It wasn’t too successful considering what it’s capable of. Other cats moved in to attack while it was down and soon enough Orangeblossom saw an opening as the bird turned to try and bite and peck at one of his clan mates.

His eyes narrowed and he shot forward, teeth flashing with the motion. With speed he usually doesn’t have, perhaps fueled by hatred and anger, Orangeblossom landed a bite on the creature’s neck. His jaw snapped shut as tightly as possible and he started to tug backwards and shook and all the things to rip out the owl’s throat from the back. He wanted it dead. He ripped out feathers. The creature screeching and trying to turn around to get him off but failed to do so.

Orangeblossom went in again and again and again. He kept going after the thrashing underneath him stopped and the creature fell silent. And he didn’t stop until finally he was able to take the bird’s head and effectively rip it from its body. He tossed it away. He wanted to keep the skull. A memoir, perhaps? Whatever. With the adrenaline from the battle slowly seeping out of his body with nothing to direct his anger at, everything just faded. He wasn’t angry but he didn’t feel… really anything. He thought this would make the hurt dull, that this would help him feel better. That the creature that took his friend from him was dead, but staring down at the mutilated corpse and he couldn’t… feel much of anything.

He frowned and climbed off the bird to inspect the memoir he had thrown off earlier.

[ @dino. @Omari @BEAR. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]

[dino.]

With everything on the ground handled, it was time to take care of the rest.

Bumblestar pulled herself up the trunk, her eyes on the prize: an owl-sized hollow in the higher up branches. She hooked her claws around the rim and hauled herself inside.

She was met with the sight of three unmatched eggs and two rather freaky looking owl babies. Their tried to burrow their fuzzy bodies deeper into the nest before she could see them, though by that point it was already two late.

Crack, crack, crack! The eggs were shoved out of the opening and shattered as soon as they hit the ground, yolk splattering the pelts of unlucky standbys. Second were the younglings, their necks broken by a swift paw and their abhorrent screeching silenced. Then came the nest itself, shredded into scraps and chucked out of the hollow.

Bumblestar descend with the bodies in tow. She dropped them by the roots so she could survey the damage. One owl down, hopefully no more to come. "How's everyone holding up?"

[ @Dolomedes @Omari @BEAR. @Morrigan @Spider. @Idiotic.Bean101 @ChromeSilver_Hwaa ]