Dawning Woods

[alec]

ROOKFIRE
[ he/him | shadowclan medicine cat app | purrks ]
[ #rookMCA24 ]

briarsplashs patrol raced past where rookfire had crouched next to the tree stump, climbing the tree swiftly like he would absolutely never be able to and the hoard of rats following along was to be frank, terrifying. hundreds of little critters racing after the group of cats, squeaking angrily and carrying the foul odour or blood, crowfood and disease over to him despite the amount of distance between him and where the actual fighting would take place. shrill shrieks echoed through the silence hovering thick in the air, none of the cats moving a muscle as snakes turned from passive to attacking the rats. to defend their territory? take up the opportunity of a snack? rookfire didnt know, couldnt guess, too unfamiliar with either species, and didnt really care at this moment in time.

before long, the sharp scent of rat blood almost overpowering their foul scent, dawnstar called for attack, darting out from where she had been hiding and opening this frankly ridiculous situation of a battle..fight?..something like that.. claws extracting and retracting, piercing soft soil and moist, woody smelling bark, itching to participate, rookfire remained hidden from the attention of the vermin.. for now at least.
from where he rested, it was hard to see how well it was going, only vaguely aware of dawnstar moving almost like a blur, tearing rats and snakes away from her limbs and slowly taking on a more blood tinted red around her brown maw. if dawnstar was collecting bites (as he assumed, by the looks of it) he couldnt quite imagine how lesser warriors or the apprentices would handle the threat and suddenly got to his paws.

cool grey eyes scanned his surroundings for a leaf, large and flat, something to prepare the burdock root. stars if it was going as badly as it could, he would be nauseous from chewing the bitter roots by the end of this.. large leaf located, dock probably, without leaving his other herbs unattended for longer than necessary, the medic tore off a single one before returning to his tree stump. placed flat down, its slightly curled edges would assure as little of the liquid would go to waste, soaked up by the moss beneath he could use if need be. oddly enough, that made him pause for a moment, confused how he had completely disregarded moss in his preparation. to be fair, it wasnt super necessary and they could do without, especially given they didnt have a direct and immediate source of water here and most wounds wouldnt be large enough to require the moss to ease the bleeding but it was still sort of an oversight in his books.


[ for my sake: 5x whole burdock root, 5 cobwebs + 3 horsetail ]
[ PLEASE MENTION ME IF YOUR CHARACTER IS INJURED/NEEDS ASSISTANCE ]

[Mica]

Birdpaw
ShadowClan Apprentice
she/her | 10 moons | 103/100
[Grey tabby with a dark overcoat, white underside and amber eyes]
Purrks: Lyrebird's Lullaby [PERMANENTLY ACTIVE], Don't Mind if I Do!
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Fool ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
[Briarsplash - @squidz ] [Sleepysunrise - @Estelle ] [Gutspaw - @wolfie ]
· · ────────────── · ·
White paws thundered over dry ground, whisking pine needles into the air behind her. Birdpaw's breath sawed in and out of her chest as she ran, just behind Gutspaw in between the Enforcers. Every slam of her paws into the ground sent a stab of pain into her chest, but she didn't let that deter her. In fact, the pain helped stabilize her, ground her to the situation at hand. The rancid scent and sound of the rat hoarde behind the patrol threatened to overwhelm her, but she persevered.

The landscape had changed gradually from looming evergreens to thinner deciduous trees and firs. Birdpaw kept her eyes straight ahead, awaiting Briarsplash's signal to climb. As they passed an area with heavy foliage, Briarsplash gave them the order. Birdpaw stared up a tree, remembering her lesson with Hawkbite. Time to see if she retained any of his teaching. She leapt up high, moons of training and bird-catching making her legs powerful. Heart pounding, Birdpaw dug her claws into the bark and began pulling and pushing herself up. She stopped at one of the lower branches, breaths coming out in wheezes. She tried to remain quiet as she watched the direction her patrol had come from, not wanting to alert the rats. She might have to take a moment before fighting--she'd be no use if she couldn't breathe right.

[gs29513]

Shrewstep had been lurking in the undergrowth, not at all unhappy that Foggymask and Shadepaw were assigned to the other side of the clearing. Though, he supposed, once the battle got started they would all be in the thick of it. He could see his clanmates, who had been the bait, scrambling up trees already. Shrewstep tensed a bit, inching forward. And then Dawnstar commanded their attack, leaping forward herself. He was hot in pursuit, pouncing upon one of the more fringe-going rats as its was the first thing to cross his path.

Its stupid, sharp little rat teeth snapped at his front paws, but he was able to bit through it's neck with little trouble. One rat was fine. Two rats, which had now headed in his direction seeing their fellow's fall, were also....doable. Shrewstep battered one away, rising onto his hind paws and bringing his weight down on the other. This did take care of it pretty efficiently, but the other rat was now latching onto his side. And a snake seemed to have noticed all the bleeding and dying rats (and the none-too-large cat) and decided that this was the place to be.

Yanking the third rat (he suspected he would soon lose count) from his leg along with an unfortunate chunk of fur, Shrewstep turned to confront the serpent. This was something he had far less experience fighting. Rats were standard, snakes were rarely seen. Seeing as the rat was scratching at his face he did his best to toss it to the side, away from his clanmates, to focus on the serpent. It coiled to strike, and Shrewstep hissed, dancing backwards. He ventured a paw forwards, striking its head. It struck his paw, fangs piercing far deeper than any rat he'd met.

Alarmed by the gush of blood and now rather angry, Shrewstep pulled his paw and the snake back towards him. Biting at it he didn't quite managed to seize a vital portion of its sinuous length, but it was sufficiently inconvenienced that it released his paw. Unfortunately, this meant that its fangs were now piercing his cheek, just below his eye. A paw between it and his face put it back on the ground, and he finally managed to get a firm hold on its body nearer its head, crushing enough internal structure that the snake was toast. Dropping it and shaking his head to throw off a bit of the blood, Shrewstep sucked in a breath and surveyed the scene.

[Daragca]

​​​​
Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 41 moons
Killer Aptitude T3 - Just A Scratch - Silver Tongue T2
The Dancing Bird

TW: Detailed Blood Descriptions

They were upon them, Scales and fur. It quickly became a manic frenzy, the rats he had experience with but the snakes were a new kind of enemy. He lurched forward and bit down hard into the spine of a particularly plump rat, only to feel the piercing of a snake biting down into his hind leg. Tossing the rat to the side he whipped his head around, ripping the wriggling creature away. It wasn’t a particularly fearsome creature, its only real weapon being its mouth.

He hissed and clenched his teeth as another troublesome grey mound hurled itself at him. They had courage for their size for they knew their own numbers. But they didn’t stand much of a chance against the dancing bird. Owlthroat managed to catch this one by its tail bringing forth a jagged black claw. He carved it open precisely, tail to throat. Its life essence bubbling and oozing out staining his white paws. Wasn’t often he got the chance to bring about so much death, but it was something welcome.

He felt another set of rat’s teeth jab into his flank, he couldn’t quite reach it. It scrabbled and gnashed away at his side, his thick fur thankfully providing some protection.

Now to rid himself of it.

[ OPEN ]

[Madelaine]

Marigoldpaw
[ She/Her - Shadowclan App -
Purrks: The Collector and Go with the flow ]

Standing there the large adult apprentice waited for her cousins call to attack. When it finally did she didn't hesitate to run at the nearest creature she saw. A rat ran towards her and she used her left paw to slam its body into the ground, hearing a snap of its bones break. Before she had a time to react to anything she felt rat teeth bite into her shoulder. A rat had jumped at her and latched onto her. It wouldn't let go. She howled and grabbed it in her teeth. As she yanked it from her skin she felt blood ooze out of the wound.

Marigoldpaw winced, but she didn't stop. She ran at a snake slithering towards her. This wasn't her first run in with one of these before, so she avoided its nasty fangs, smashing its skulls and making it eat the dirt underneath her. Another rat took a lunge at her and managed to sink its fangs right close to the other rat wound. It hurt like crazy, but she proceeded on. Now slightly limping she grabbed the rat and flung it across the area, but it came right back.

She bit into its neck, killing it in an instant. Marigoldpaw then found herself these long with another snake.

[ open ]

[Myling]

〚~Willow'Paw~〛
| 10 Moons | ShadowClan Apprentice | Female, She/Her | Purrks:
Kitty Soft Paws, Heightened Perception [smell]
[a small, fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes and an atrociously fluffy tail, a small tick in her right ear, and a scar on her cheek]

Suddenly, everything seemed horribly impossible. Willowpaw's heart was already trying to leap out of her mouth before the bait patrol came, leaping up to the trees. The sight of the creatures she was going to be fighting was so frightening that she nearly shut her eyes. There were so many of them. Shallow breath after shallow breath tried to calm Willowpaw down as she stared, petrified, at the mass off writhing scales and fur and splattered blood. She used to have somewhat of a fear of blood, but she'd thought she'd gotten over that. Maybe it was the snakes and rats, but now, her entire being seemed to be stabbed by a fierce, horrible longing to stay away as far away from the critters as possible. But she couldn't do that. ShadowClan didn't back down; they were supposed to be wily and aggressive. So she couldn't allow thoughts like 'Nobody will miss a mere apprentice, would they?' to be swarming her little head. It probably wouldn't even work, quietly slipping away. Somebody would notice her, whether it was the Medicine Apprentice she'd just handed her load of herbs to, or a warrior or apprentice.

Willowpaw forced her muscles into moving, at Dawnstar's call to attack. She'd barely entered the densest part of the fighting when a rat began crawling up her foreleg. The apprentice held back a shriek of terror, and dropped to the ground. The rat was flung off as she began rolling viciously, and before either Willowpaw or it could recover properly, she lunged. Her aim was a bit astray with dizziness, but her blow still landed. It was weird to feel guilt and sorrow as she bit into the neck of the rat. Why did she care about some random pest? Why not spare her empathy for someone else? The only reason she could come up with was that she thought the rat she'd just killed might have had a family. Which, first of all, were rats even intelligent enough to grieve? Willowpaw guessed not. And then she realized she'd missed the rat's spine and it was still alive, and watched as it scurried off. That didn't stay on her mind long though. Another rat accidentally stepped on her tail. She jumped, startled. They stared and each other for a few moments. Then it bit down on her tail, which it was currently sitting on. She yowled as fiery pain flared on her brush, and tried to claw at the rat. She missed pathetically, instead stabbing into the already bleeding wound on her tail. Willowpaw was able to hold back her cry of pain this time, instead gritting her teeth. The rat had fled, probably to bite someone else's tail. The apprentice sighed. She wanted to fight alongside Turtlepaw; she was pitiful right now.

And she hadn't even fought a snake; rats weren't venomous, and rats weren't exactly nimble either. Worry stirred in her stomach, begging that the tail-nibbling rat would be the last thing she had to fight today.

[ open!! ]

[alec]

ROOKFIRE
[ he/him | shadowclan medicine cat app | purrks ]
[ #rookMCA24 ]

rookfire watched more and more cats join into the fighting as the initial bate group remained holed up on the tree and he shuffled around nervously where he was positioned, willing to fight but unable to unless necessary. he wouldnt make a fool of himself again. dawnstar could use this as the sign that he could do what he was told so he would stay put unless one of his clanmates was in actual dire trouble and needed saving quickly. burdock root pushed against the wall of the hollow of the trunk, rookfire bit off a chunk to chew in preperation, sickly bitter taste coating his tongue and the faint feeling of it running down the back of his throat causing his whisker brows to draw together into a frown. marigoldpaw joined the battle and rookfire couldnt say he was surprised to know she was still stuck in the apprentice position, had half expected her to go missing as soon as dawnstar wasnt on her ass anymore. whatever, the adult aged apprentice joined the battle, well enough, her presence was actually a surprise funnily enough but he could suppose this should make him see her in a slightly better light. she was...trying?? probably. to be there for shadowclan after abandoning them for riverclan and then coming crawling back. honestly, he still didnt like her, call him childish but way back in riverclan, during the weird time in medicine cat limbo, after tansypaw left and far before mistyshard was chosen, the old medicine cat had pretty much taken all the credit for his work and well! he was a jealous little guy and had always been sort of selfish so who knows, perhaps it was justified, maybe not.
spit merged into a homogenous mass with the burdock root juices in his maw and when it got very cold and numb around his teeth he decided it was enough for now, spitting out as much of the paste onto his prepared leaf as was possible, in an effort to avoid swallowing any more of the liquid than necessary. man he'd be so mad if none of the cats wanted to be treated here and he had chewed this up with no possibility to rinse his mouth for no reason..

[MangofDoom]

⟡ starlingcall ⟡
• shadowclan - XX moons •
⟡ dilute tortoiseshell, white chest and face spot, green eyes ⟡
• they/them - it/its •
⟡ #StarlingcallSHC2024 ⟡
• ⟡ •

Starlingcall glances down at Pondpaw, distracted for a moment from its search of rats and snakes. They hadn't noticed blue apprentice, were they really that distracted? It wonders if its nerves are getting to them already. They look up from Pondpaw, only barely registering her nervousness.

The cream and blue warrior jumps at Dawnstar's call for battle, momentarily lost in the onslaught of the piercing cries of rats and rush of pelts past them. Once it regains its mind, Starlingcall darts into the fray, slamming their paw down on a rat to snap its neck, and biting down on another before it runs past them.

While distracted making sure its first two kills are truly dead, Starlingcall yowls at a sharp pain coming from their bag leg, and whip around to see a rat trying to climb up its leg to get away from a hissing snake. Stars above. Starlingcall bites at it to get it off while keeping their distance from the snake, their breathing quickly becoming more shallow and fast as the snake gets closer and closer to sinking its fangs into their flesh.

Just as Starlingcall manages to get the rat off its leg, they see another snake slithering towards Willowpaw, fangs poised to bite down on the apprentice. Stars above, Starlingcall thinks to itself.

"Willowpaw! Behind you!" Starlingcall hisses as it pounces for the snake. With a quick bite, Starlingcall stops it in its tracks, and it begins to bleed out onto the grass.

Unfortunately, the snake that was chasing after the rat on Starlingcall's now bleeding leg decides to get revenge for its fallen comrade, and bites down onto Starlingcall's side. They hiss in pain and try to bite at it to rip it off, but it manages to stay coiled around it, just out of their reach.
• ⟡ •

[ @anika - Pondpaw Mention, @Myling - Willowpaw ]

[squidz]

~ BRIARSPLASH ~
stocky, large, & fluffy dilute gray tortie she-cat with goldish-green eyes; just a scratch
[ shadowclan enforcer | she-cat | 28 moons | abrasive, standoffish, loyal ]

~

Briarsplash had been watching the snakes and rats go at it for a bit when Dawnstar's call came sooner than anticipated. For a split second she was confused, wondering why they didn't just let the ravenous creatures devour each other for a little longer while they kept their paws clean, but no matter. It was a command, and by the looks of it, the massive leader had just been impatient or bored... or just wanting to get it over with. Which was a sentiment that Briar could certainly share.

There wasn't another hesitation before she'd wriggled her haunches, eyes narrowing as she picked out the best spot to drop below. And in a flash, she was sailing from the branch, the flimsy thing boggling back and forth from the now-absence of her weight. The stocky she-cat hurtled towards the ground and landed squarely on a larger rat, practically crushing it beneath her paws right away. She rolled with her momentum, sinking her claws into the nasty thing and delivering a bite to its neck when she came to a stop on her back. Not wanting to be vulnerable even as the wind had been knocked from her, the Enforcer did her best to quickly hop onto her paws — which quickly turned into a low hiss of pain.

Fangs of a snake had sunk right into her front left paw, earning a steady dribble of blood. She roughly shook it, doing her best to get it off while its tail rapidly whisked around, making it nearly impossible to get a good grip. "Starsdangit... hold still, you vermin," she snarled, finally managing to slam her paws down on its head, stunning it. She didn't hesitate to snap its neck — er... was it really a neck? Snakes are weird. Either way, it fell limp, and she let out an annoyed hiss as she wrenched its wretched fangs from her paw pad. Stars, was she bleeding this bad already? Stupid thing had gone and lodged a jagged gash, especially in its convenient spot. But that could wait till later.

Ignoring the burning pain, the large she-cat let out a battle snarl and lunged further into the fray. As she clawed through some rats and snakes, wrinkling her nose against the stench of rotten crowfood mixing in with blood, she spotted a particularly irritating rat digging its jagged teeth into the flank of a fellow warrior who couldn't quite reach it. Normally she was a fight-on-her-own kind of gal, but especially in this overwhelming mess of claws and fangs and nasty vermin, she decided taking the extra moment to dive towards Owlthroat was worth it.

In one deft swipe, Briarsplash's large paws knocked the rat off and she quickly pounced, crushing its neck beneath her clawed grasp. The Enforcer looked up with a huff, her golden-green eyes gleaming with adrenaline as she met Owlthroat's gaze and gave a firm nod of acknowledgement. Her thick pelt was dribbling blood here or there, and her paw was being annoying with how much it'd already soaked the fluff that stuck out between her toes, but she looked as alive as ever. If not more, with the thrill of battle raging through her veins.

[ @Daragca - owlthroat interaction! ]

[Estelle]

Sleepysunrise
[ 13 moons | She / Her | Shc Enforcer ]

Miss Grandmama called the alarm. She had been painfully aware of her sister's wheezing breaths and cast her gaze on the younger molly, momentary gentleness in her gaze as though she wanted to tell Birdpaw it was okay to wait in joining the fray. Or not joining at all. The only reason Sleepysunrise was not at her sister's side this very moment was that Birdpaw seemed to at least be breathing, handling it, not in direct panic and if she had to fight twice as hard just to ensure Birdpaw wouldn't have to strain herself more, then she would. Blinking a slow, single time, the enforcer then tore away her gaze and jumped from one tree branch to another, circling the ground from above until she spotted an adequate opening where she launched down and landed square on a rat struggling in a snake's fangs, killing them both on impact. Almost instantly she felt a pair of sharp teeth bite down into her paw and Sleepysunrise flung away the rat against the lower bark of tree, its back cracking with sickening crack that the young feline hardly heard over the cacophony of squeaks and hisses that overwhelmed her ears in a way she hoped never to hear again. Biting and squishing and flinging rats and snakes alike as sharp bites from too many sides dug into her skin, much to her dismay, and she killed them in turn, some before they could even reach her.


[ @Mica ]