no angst ARCTURUS CALLING ˗ˏˋ ☾☼ ˎˊ˗ STUCK



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She had seen it, she knew she had seen it. A flash of brown fur against the snow, quick as lightning, vanishing into the pristine white. A rabbit, tucked away in some hidden burrow just beneath the surface. Halfsun hadn't even thought, just reacted, muscles coiling, claws flexing, and then she had pounced.

And now she was stuck.

The snow had given way the second her paws made contact, swallowing her whole like some cruel, frozen, beast. Now she was chest-deep in the drift, her hind legs scrabbling uselessly against the slippery surface as she tried to haul herself free. Cold seeps through her fur, burrowing into her skin, and her tail lashes behind her in a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. This was exactly why she hated leaf-bare.

"Fox-dung!" she spits, ears flattening as she wiggles again, only to find herself sinking deeper. The snow clung to her fur, soaking her completely and she could already feel the chill stiffening her limbs. perfect. Just perfect. She is vaguely aware of Lavenderpaw's presence nearby, though she cannot see him from her current vantage point. "Well Lavenderpaw, first lesson of the day, don't go jumping into snowdrifts without checking how deep they are first" despite her frustration, she can't help but to laugh at herself. What a site she must be right now. She wiggles her shoulders, only for the snow to shift again and make her sink even further.

Before she could instruct her apprentice on how to get her out of the predicament she had gotten herself into, she hears the sound of paw steps approaching. Her head turns sharply, mismatched eyes locking onto whoever had just arrived. Her expression was an unreadable mask of annoyance and feigned dignity despite the fact that she was, undeniably, wedged into a snowdrift like a complete mouse-brain. "If you laugh," she warns the newcomer "I will make sure you regret it." she meant to sound intimidating, but it was hard to be menacing when the only thing she could move freely was her tail.

// Apprentice tag : @LAVENDERPAW
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    HALFSUNSHADOWCLAN WARRIOR; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO APPLEJAW, ASHENFALL, SWANSONG, GARLICHEART, AND LAURELGRIN ; MENTORING LAVENDERPAW

    A tall and well-toned she cat with a long half-and half pelt, one side being a dark blue tabby and the other a bright cream, split by a pool of white at her center and travelling up her face like flames she is fire and ice simultaneously swirling into one. Her eyes are a mismatched shade of blue, with one being bright like the daytime sky and the other dark like the depths of the river.
    Difficult in battle + a skilled fighter
 

Screechstorm, and the rest of ShadowClan, would be better off if the snow would just go away. The marsh clan already struggles to find enough food to sustain them in leaf-bare, and with the havoc of a reeking kill pile, it would be fox-lengths easier to solve all their problems if the snow would melt already. That, and he's tired of slipping, tired of removing tangled clumps of snow out of his fur, tired of sticking out in stark daylight.

With parted jaws, Screechstorm catches scent of a rabbit, and his paws are swift to shift directions. A rabbit would be a good catch, one that would fill the kill-pile substantially, and one that would buy him a moment's break before he's due to go hunting again.

Though he finds himself disappointed at the lack of rabbit he finds at the end of the trail, a blunder of his own is still fresh in his mind — scrambling paws unable to find a grip against snow-swathed ice. He can't help but snort at the sight he comes across, even if a mismatched gaze glares back at him, even if a hardly intimidating warning is shot towards him.

" Oh, I would never, " Screechstorm declares, attempting to look at Halfsun with a serious face while stifling his laughter. He settles in front of the drift-bound she-cat, as if pondering whether or not he should actually help her. " You know you're supposed to be hunting, right? Not playing in the snow? " Dark claws extend, and a sun-splotched paw reaches forward to scrape at the snow.

[ SCREECHSTORM ]


Named after his birth-given warning cry, Screechstorm appears in shadowed tones — save for splotches of orange that litter his left side. His mismatched green gaze almost always carries a mischievous glint, a crooked grin in tandem. Scars wrack his sides, a harsh reminder of his near-reckless nature.
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He / Him ⋅ Single
Warrior of ShadowClan
Forestshade x ???
Brother to Briarthorn, Sweetpaw †
Mentoring no one ⋅ Mentored by Chilledstar
Penned by Abri ⋅ Message _abri_ on discord for plots!

 
AMBERHAZE
HE/HIM SHADOWCLAN LEAD WARRIOR

Amberhaze hated the cold, but he would never use it as an excuse to neglect his duties. He needed food to survive, as did the rest of the clan- now more than ever, given their endlessly swelling ranks as more and more mysterious kits poured into the nursery- that fact alone beginning to make him question whether or not Ternstar truly knew what she was doing. He trusted her judgement, of course he did...but the recent failings underneath her command paired with the now loosely monitored borders in favor of providing the misfortunate with some kind of safe haven- one that was hardly even safe in the first place- well, it all made a lot of empty space for thought.

He would shake his worries away- at least, as much as someone like him could- the only thing that needed his undivided attention right now being the search for sustenance. Thankfully, he wasn't in this alone, and with any luck the joint effort between himself and his clanmates would speed up the process...though he knew it wouldn't necessarily make it any easier. For a split second, his heartrate would elevate with a mixture of adrenaline and hope as the scent of rabbit permeated the air- only to be crushed by thinly veiled disappointment as he realized someone had already beat them to it. And failed to catch it. In fact, she looked like the one who had been caught.

Screechstorm found the sight of an upturned Jayfeather much more comedic than Amberhaze did- the oriental unable to hide a frown which only seemed to deepen the closer he and his companion approached. He wasn't necessarily upset at her...but if she hadn't been so careless, they'd have been able to feed the whole nursery with that catch. Nevertheless, there was only really one option left- their commotion surely having scared off any prey in the area that may have remained. "Um...A-Are you okay? Here, h-hold still." The tom would wait for Screechstorm to pull away the majority of the snow which had encased the poor molly, his teeth gently securing themselves into her scruff before attempting to pull her out from the newly loosened blanket of powder which had weighed her down. "Y-You're not hurt anywhere, are you? ...B-Besides your pride, I mean." His tone was lighthearted, but his concern for her wellbeing was very much present in his gaze.

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Amberhaze is a black oriental shorthair crossed with a cornish rex. He has a sickly looking build with a rat-like tail and unnaturally wide ocher eyes.

npc x npc / sibling to wormwatcher / other kin unknown
mentored by wormwatcher / mentoring lostpaw
20 moons old as of 02/21/2025
penned by sloane

 
There's nothing that he would exchange for Leaf-bare prey. That didn't change now; it probably never would... But this is maybe the closest anything could ever come to being that fair exchange. Yeah, this sure wouldn't fill his stomach... he was undoubtedly due to freeze his paws off, if they hoped to come home anything but empty-jawed... But he's not even mad. He definitely will be later, but now...

Sharpshadow snorts. Like, an actual kind-of-laugh. Yeah, they were starving, but Halfsun looks like a seedling right now. Not great, but it's as close as they were gonna get to it. Sharpshadow takes the threat about as seriously as Screechstorm does. "I'm actually shaking right now." To note: this is a lie. Were she the more theatrical sort, she'd really play it up... but she's not. Wormwatcher could come do it for her, or something.

Amberhaze apparently doesn't find this funny. Maybe he thought it was a sign from StarClan, or something. As opposed to her Clanmates, Sharpshadow makes no move to help. Uh, they had it covered, definitely... Or maybe she just thinks its funny, actually. "I dunno. Maybe you guys should give her some time to think about what she's done."
 
barely a moon into her apprenticeship and lostpaw felt as if she had had more than her fair share of hunting woes already, and when prey was as scarce as it was in leafbare, each failure brought a particularly brutal sting with it. she knew it was one of the unfortunate hardships of the season, and that she'd ultimately turn up a better hunter for it, but right now...she just wanted the leaves to turn again.

the she-cat had a bit more amusement for the situation than her mentor did, biting back a full laugh as she trotted up behind amberhaze and took in the scene. like sharpshadow, she didn't make any attempt to approach, not wanting to crowd the stuck she-cat's space any more unless amberhaze told her to. halfsun looked more embarrassed than anything, so she wasn't too worried.

"so...is that the proper technique for rabbit hunting?" she joked, though she soon added with a genuine note of concern, "let me know if you want me to grab marbleleaf -- it wouldn't do to catch a cold right now."

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  • LOSTPAW (she/her) is a six moon old shadowclan apprentice with shorthair cream tabby fur with low white and blue-green eyes. she is the gen1 daughter of two rogue npc's and is being mentored by amberhaze.

    TAGS. penned by riyue. dm me on discord (xriyue) for plots.

 
"Oh, poor thing," Shalestorm sympathizes with a gentle frown. Hunting in leafbare seemed its own impossible challenge as of late, though at least more prey was poking their noses out of their dens with the weather warming up somewhat. Even if they were as slippery as ever. Still, enough snow remained that Halfsun manages to get herself stuck - a fate Shalestorm cannot find that she envies. She might easily be able to laugh off any bruised pride, but the cold she doesn't think she could stand.

"Are you alright? The snow didn't, uhhh, break anything? Did it?" Could snow even do that? Was it heavy enough to break bones? ...had something like that already happened and she was just too out of it to notice? She clears her throat, shoving away the thought. She hates not knowing what's going on. Still, it wouldn't do to sulk about it, so Shalestorm shakes off the frown and replaces it with her characteristic grin, even if it doesn't quite feel as natural as it might have a moon or two ago. "We can get revenge on that rabbit later - come new-leaf there'll be so many baby ones that you might as well call us WindClan with all the rabbit we're gonna be eating!" A jest, not completely serious, but if Halfsun did want to go rabbiting as revenge, Shalestorm wouldn't turn her down.


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  • #e36f90

  • (img) Shalestorm * she/her* 30 moons
    blue point/blue chimera w/ low white; blue eyes
    Peaceful & healing powerplay allowed || underline for attack
    penned by Neptune. || Neptune on disc, dm me for plots