pafp High as hope | learning to climb

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

Snakeblink misses the river like a lost limb. Its absence hurts, yes, but most importantly it cripples him: he is a good hunter on land, but nowhere as good as he is in the water, and his struggle to track prey in the pine forest (something that would be hard enough without the rogues having scared everything to ground in a twenty tree-lengths radius) reminds him uncomfortably of leaf-bare.

It’s too early in the year to be going this hungry.

But if he’s survived this long, it’s because he is first and foremost a problem solver. The rogues may have picked the forest floor clean, but there is one avenue that is out of their (and Riverclan’s) reach: the treetops which Skyclan manoeuvers through so skillfully. River-minded as he is, Snakeblink has seen them hauling their bodies up tree trunks enough times he is reasonably sure he can replicate the movement.

The next time he sees a bird perch up above, by the Stars, he is going to catch it.

Slit eyes stare intensely at the towering pine in front of him, rising up its trunk until his head is craned uncomfortably before trailing back, considering. He crouches, tense with focus, claws flexing in the thick bed of dried pine needles upon the ground. Then he darts off in a burst of energy, rushing at the tree and pouncing; his claws dig into the thick, sharp-smelling bark and he throws himself higher, throwing his paws out again to cling onto the rough surface once more—

And misses, only scratching the bark as he slides back to the ground after only clearing about a rabbit hop’s distance upward.

”Fish-guts,” he mutters under his breath as he shakes himself. It seems it will take more than observation to get the hang of this.

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely
  • @Johnnyflame
  • Snakeblink • he / him. 45 ☾, riverclan warrior
    — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
    — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo