private IT'S OURS THIS TIME... // apprentice hunting

[bunnypaw]

[ catching whitecough, forced encounter, catches something but its stolen </3 ]
[ tagged apprentices: @heatherpaw. @bramblepaw - @SHEEPPAW @Puddlepaw. @THISTLEPAW ! @SPLINTERPAW.
if u have an apprentice and u want them here, feel free to join! ]

Bunnypaw has had enough. The cold swells in their unprotected camp, forcing many of them into the old homes of badgers and hares for protection. Cats brave the new white landscape in order to find scraps of prey and moss, and so many of them (her included) come back empty pawed. She always returns... empty pawed. There's a sliver of self hatred that spurs her, her teeth gnashing like they never should, her broad shoulders pushing away from her siblings and towards the mouth of the cave they reside in. They are WindClan apprentices; they sleep beneath the stars, they brave any weather. They cannot allow this to trample them flat. They cannot allow this blizzard to rend them from their duty when they are fully capable.

They are strong. That's what she rallies, to her fellow apprentices who listen. Tears prick her eyes and something akin to fear swells in her chest - there's a whisper in the wind, a pressure to please, don't. Bunnypaw does not listen.

She... is strong. She can be. She will be.

Beneath the cover of a windswept afternoon, she guides her patrol of apprentices out of camp, pressing them out of the gorse walls before a warrior can catch them. They trudge through snow and more, scenting the air, holding to one another's sides to recapture warmth. Bunnypaw is one of the first to catch scent of something, despite the snowy scape they trot through. And for once - for once - she makes it. A morsel of a thing, a little mouse unable to hide in the paleness of the snow... but she catches it!

And short lived is her victory. As she stands to show off what could feed maybe two kittens, something orange and black barrels into her. Sudden against the snow, the fox cares not how it thrusts her aside - only that she drops her mouse and its free for the taking. The fox scoops up the mouse and it is gone in no more than a few breaths, all before the beast looks at the patrol once more, prowling ever closer to them.

Bunnypaw looks back with fear. Fear, and rage - and she barrels towards the beast once again.
​

 

[THISTLEPAW !]

---

The looming danger of a snowstorm should've made him stop his littermates from daring to step outside the camp's walls, or even the new den they had for themselves. He would risk himself for the Clan's survival, but he didn't want them to face any sort of peril. Was he selfish? Was it so wrong to think of himself as a sacrifice if it meant his family was safe and sound? If he could protect them from harm, he would do just about anything.

And so here he is, out in the midst of a blizzard with his siblings and other apprentices. Snow clings to his pelt and threatens to cover him whole, turning him into an ivory sculpture. With a twitch of his whiskers, Thistlepaw scents something nearby. His ears perk up, and he sees the large ears of a hare peeking through the whiteness of the territory. Without a word uttered, he charges after it; his paws dip into the snow as he pursuits his prey, hot on its heels. The chase has adrenaline rushing through his veins, his body warm despite the temperatures.

He's close. He can already taste the blood in his mouth and is more than happy to know the Clan will feast tonight. With a final leap - but without proper footing - he barrels into the hare. The scuffle is messy, and the prey scores a good few kicks on him before he bites down on its neck.

Tracks are left in the snow as he drags his catch back to the group. His eyes widen when he sees it, orange amidst the alabaster. Fox! The hare is long forgotten, panic surging through him the moment he catches Bunnypaw flinging herself at the beast. Thistlepaw's blood runs cold and in this weather it might as well freeze completely. "BUNNYPAW!" The seal-point yowls, raw and wrathful, as he too throws himself onto the predator.

𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 *:･ﾟ✧ 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

• ooc. —
  
• 
  

  LH Seal-point with low white​

  
• 
  
  
  THISTLEPAW he / him apprentice of windclan
  son of Rattleheart x Venomstrike, brother to Bunnypaw, Crunchykit, Breezepaw and Splinterpaw.
  Lissom seal-point prickly-furred feline with white markings on his face, chest, belly, paws and tail. His tail is long and has a tufted tip.
  "speech" thoughts

​

 

[Puddlepaw.]

I WANT TO BELONG
LIKE THE BIRDS IN THE TREES ​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

puddlepaw & 09 moons & demi-girl & she/they & windclan apprentice ​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Puddlepaws motivations are nowhere near as noble as some of her fellow apprentices - mind focused not on duty but adventure. Puddlepaw had never seen snow before - had never seen a storm so thick that it rivals her memories of the flames, of smoke and ash burning her lungs. The bitting cold is not much better, except at least thisk coat offers some form of protection against the chill that had been opposite during the wave of heat.

Paws trudge along through thickening sludge - ocassionally stepping into others pawsteps for a breif moment of repreive from the toe-tingling ground l - and mismatched eyes squint against the gale. She's a tunneler through and through - not as well-equiped for abive ground hunting, but smart enough to use her skulills to her advantage. Amidst the drifts she spots a gap - wiggling nose twitching cautiously, and she takes her chance to pounce - falling through snow and squarely onto unsuspecting rabbit.

Success is short lived however - Thistlepaws warnin lg xoming only after orange furred menace is snarling and snapping in her face. In that moment, Puddlepaw deicses that surely the rabbit isn't worth her life - scrambling back with prey discarded. Eyes watch as Bunnypaw tears towards it, fur fluffed up - surely, she doesnt have to do that too?

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

B L U E B I R D S ━ F O R E V E R ━ C O L O U R ━ T H E ━ S K Y

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
// 18 - no health effects
14 - catches and loses prey to predator
Points: 0

 

[heatherpaw.]

( ⊱✿⊰ ) this patrol being solely made up of apprentices has heatherpaw worried. she has never disobeyed her mentor before, always seeking downyfur's approval. she knows the older she-cat speaks to sootspot often, and cannot bear her father thinking she may not be ready for whatever mission he might be preparing for. so, when bunnypaw proposes the hunting patrol, heatherpaw is hesitant to say yes. still, downyfur had not specifically asked her to stay in camp, and with numbers, perhaps the apprentices will be victorious and bring back piles of prey for their clan. it's a chance the young point is willing to take. with bramblepaw at her side and nightpaw reluctantly following along, thea pushes out into the cold and wind.

the blizzard buffets her carefully groomed fur, disturbing the untangled knots and dulling the smooth shine of it. heatherpaw doesn't notice. her body trembles with the cold, something akin to fear beginning to take hold. her chest feels weak, breaths coming in sharp gasps. the girl can no longer feel her paws, their delicate pink skin tinged white and freezing. still, she presses on, because bunnypaw cannot be the bravest, and there is no way heatherpaw will turn back while thistlepaw and puddlepaw continue.

bunnypaw darts off, out into the whitewashed world, and a spark of worry lights in thea's belly. she cannot bear to let any of her fellows out of her sight, even if they might be competition. they are still all windclan, and despite her misgivings, she is loyal. "bunnypaw!" she calls after the fleet-footed girl, and receives nothing in response. stumbling forward on numb paws, she watches as thistlepaw. too, dashes off. "starclan," the girl mutters, scenting the air and still finding nothing but the clean, cold smell of snow.

all of a sudden, a larger shape looms out of the blizzard, and for a moment, she wonders if it is a warrior, come to fetch them all home. it isn't - the rank smell of fox floods heatherpaw's senses. she gasps, watches as it snatches bunnypaw's prey from her, as puddlepaw's prey is snatched from her grasp, and the fox looms over the young apprentice. jaws clenched, the point watches her fellows swarm the creature. she is no muscular fighter, no trained warrior, but she will be damned if she watches her denmates die. a war cry leaves the girl's maw and she surges forth, darting into the fight on numb paws to dig thorn-sharp claws into the russet beast's side. it swings a paw around, whacking her in the chest, knocking the wind from her lungs. she stumbles back, gritting her teeth before diving back in.

SAY WHAT YOU WANT ⊱✿⊰ BUT SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT

• // rolled a 7 and contracted frostbite, rolled a 3 and found no prey. briefly hits fox and is hit across the chest by it. "#b2a0bc"
• 
• HEATHERPAW ⊱✿⊰ SHE / HER, WINDCLAN TUNNELER. MENTORED BY DOWNYFUR. 6 MOONS, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  
  a longhaired blue lynx point with blue eyes. her body is cloaked in pale snow-white fur, a storm of blue flooding her face, tail, and paws. stripes of darker blue accentuate her eyes nose, and band around her legs. shining eyes stare out from the angular shaped face, a deep, faded blue color.

​

 

[SPLINTERPAW.]

BUT MAYBE THAT'S A LIE​

---

splinterpaw is trying to be focused. he is trying, at least. and he isn't very good at that these days. a lot happening, especially with the bone chilling cold that bites at the air, threatening to freeze him right down to his core. he twitches his ears as he picks up a few scents that aren't familiar– or rather common enough to be familiar. first is a mouse, a mouse is nearby and he very well knows it but soon after... a fox. a fox. his fur perks up as he finds himself closer and closer to the scent, and he catches the mouse, fairly easy. it's just trying to escape the cold, as most of them are, but he isn't paying enough attention to know the fox is nearby. he grabs the mouse quickly, scrambling back and away as jaws snap towards him, and then spin to snap toward–

"b...bunbypaw!?!"

his catch means nothing to him. the damned fox can have it, all it wants, but he cannot let it get his sister. his sister, who was the kindest most loving of them all. his sister who should have been safe, and away from this all. he cannot let anything happen to her. whatever fears he may have, he has to turn them to anger. anger is the only thing that gets him through– anger is the only thing that can safe them.

"d-damn it! get back! get away from us!"

his throat feels raw from screaming already– it's no surprise given he is not much of a talker anyways but he will not back down. he attempts to leap onto the fox, hoping to latch on and give it something to run off for. this has to work– starclan, please, don't let anything happen to them.

// rolled 16 for no sickness, 15 for catching prey with struggle, and 5 for prey size. he has no desire to keep his catch but it's around. attempting to latch onto the fox to scare it off
​

 

[SHEEPPAW]

The harsh cold swells in Windclan's unprotected camp, the knotted heather and gorse not offering enough protection. Many cats wonder the frosted wasteland in order to find any scraps of materials or prey... But they always come back empty - pawed (him included). The looming danger of a snowstorm should've made him think and stop, dragging the younger apprentice's back inside the camp walls. But no, he had to be here to... he guesses supervise the younger felines. Even then, when Bunnypaw proposed a hunting patrol made up of apprentice, he just agreed to come. Perhaps they would be victorious if they find something of use!

Trudging through the windswept moorland, the wind brushing against her once well - groomed coat. She tilts her nose upwards, scenting the air for anything until her ears perk up at the wayward scent of rabbit. Finally! She spots the rabbit, it's coat bare to the world above the white landscape unable to hide. With a twitch of her whiskers, as snow covers her figure she splits from the group– running after the rabbit. She catches the panicking rabbit in her jaws, her dark plumed tail lifted up, and she starts to trotting toward the clustered group. The clan will feast tonight, for sure with his catch.

Tracks are left in the snow as he carries his catch to the group. Then he hears it– Thistlepaw's yowl for Bunnypaw, then catching the seal - point dash off from the group. He sees it... The large shape against the powdery snow, then Bunnypaw flinging herself at it. Hare-dung! The blizzard buffets his coat, teeth clunching on the rabbit he caught. His throat rumbles with a growl, as he drops the prey at his paws. He is not going to let any of his denmates die, not on his watch. Spotting Heatherpaw get knocked back by a paw from the fox, the apprentice just dives back into fighting it. The runs through the blizzard, legs burning, white fog spilling from his maw in front of him with his muzzle wrinkled in a snarl.

Foxes are big up close. Void - black eyes against the orange fiery blaze of the wraith - like creature.

Pupils pinpricks against the pale cerulean swimming in his eyes. The older apprentice watches as Splinterpaw engages with the fox, she clicks her tongue as she leaps– finding purchase on it's back. The fox snaps to attention to her, head whirling around to snap it's jaws at her clinging to it's back. She ducks her head against the prickly fur of the fox, it's breath was warm against her ear that was rushed away in a near miss. A charcoal paw bursts forward, swiping fiercely against the fox's face. A loud bark sounded from the creature in surprise at her attack. Go for the eyes! Sheeppaw was foolish to feel a glimmer of hope, that they could win this.

He was so wrong. He gets tossed from the beast's back with a surprised yell leaving his mouth. Powdered snow lifts up from his weight, he scrambles up onto his paws, trying to create some distance between himself and his denmates. Plumed tail lashing, as he lets out a hiss at the fox swinging a paw out in an attempt to claw at its muzzle. The creature is swift, with dark jaws full of snapping teeth it then grasps at Sheeppaw's neck. Crap! Anger simmers in his chest as he lets out a frustrated yell, limbs flinging themselves to wherever he can claw at. Half - blind from where he can't see, teeth punctured tender flesh of his neck. He was clawing a the fox's muzzle, the next— fangs split from him. The apprentice is sent flying through the air, shoved away with a force that makes him call out. "G-guys!" Before he is roughly spiraling in the snow.

The ichor on his claws was the fox's, not his. The blood splattered haphazardly across his neck was his own, unmistakable against the white snow clinging to his coat. Dangerously to his throat... he was about to die. Everything was, he squints against the dark creeping up in his vision. Sheeppaw takes, took a shaky inhale while he lay in the snow. It hurts...! With a wheeze, and the growing darkness in his vision he didn't think as he closes his eyes. Just a moment, to catch my breath...

⊹ ⏜ ۫ . 𝙎𝙉𝙊𝙊𝙕𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙇𝙊𝙐𝘿𝙎 ᶻ 𝘾𝘼𝙉 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙐𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙐𝙄𝙇𝘿

• ooc. rolled a 13 and contracted whitecough & 13 caught a rabbit.
  — engaged with the fox and hurt one of its eyes. but got injured as a result.
  POINTS: 2
• no ref yet </3
• ( WHAT? THE FACE? ) ꕤ ‧₊˚. SHEEPPAW. ╱ windclan apprentice.
  ⤷ CLOSETED GENDERFLUID ; HE / SHE
  ✶ CURRENTLY 12 MOONS OLD. AGES EVERY 29TH.
  ✶ undecided / not actively looking — mentoring none.
  ✶ a lanky, longhaired black smoke with high white and pale blue eyes
  ✶ thoughts ; "Speech, B9D6F2" ; attacks only
  ✶ may powerplay minor harm ╱ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ✶ smells like night air & windblown heather
  — all opinions are ic
  
  → biography / @ on discord for plots
  — penned by calzone

​

 

[bramblepaw -]

✦ There was every chance that Bramblepaw would have stayed inside rather than brave the blizzard, if only the previous weeks and moons had gone completely different. Confidence too big for her chest, yet small enough to run through her veins, had seen her to success in every other venture she's faced this chill, her paws always full of prey and bedding and herbs. She'd prospered in the face of the coldest weather; what harm could a blizzard do? The prior weeks answered nothing, it can do nothing, and the young tabby had to agree. The prior moons told her that even if the blizzard could harm her, she could still help her family in the process, wind-sliced and cold-bitten paws still being functional paws. She had to go out there.

And Bunnypaw had called her strong, and Heatherpaw had given her assent, and Nightpaw followed like a shadow, and Bramblepaw couldn't leave them alone, could she. It wasn't even a question. Even if she hadn't been made confident, which she had, she had been born brave and that was what the apprentices needed from her. Bunnypaw called to the strong and she headed it. Her siblings needed defending and she would protect them. The latter was especially clear, even as the wind whipped the snow into a frenzy around the young patrol.

The scent of several somethings with a pulse weaves its way through the cold as easily as through tall grass, catching her interest and lifting her chin with the promise of a meal, but not before the others surge forward. Cries (and her sister's muttered exasperation) quickly follow. The scuffle holds the fox's attention long enough for Bramblepaw to silence the frantic squeaking of a fleeing mouse, but the fight's gravity expands to Heatherpaw, and suddenly the mouse doesn't matter one bit.

"Thea!" She hollered as a paw collided with pale, windswept fur. "Thea, get back!"

Everyone was rushing to Bunnypaw's aid - she'd be fine. Sheeppaw was covered in the fox's blood, she'd seen that attack land on the beast's muzzle - he was fine, and away enough from the fight that he had to stay that way. But her sister, her sister, was right there in the thick of it and no one was watching out for her but Bramblepaw. The tabby forced her way between the fox and Heatherpaw, taking whatever hits from whatever dark paws she had to in order to protect her sibling, though who knew how long she'd be able to get between the lynx point and her goal.

//rolled an 18 for prey with encounter, and 1 for size; 1 point && 18 for health; no health consequences!​

​

 

[bunnypaw]

She sees none of it.

Blinded by pure will, Bunnypaw cannot see if her fellow apprentices charge alongside her, determined to succeed in the face of unavoidable failure. The whiteness of the landscape obscures her peripherals and the aching in her paws and chest soothe to a numb thrum. Paws scatter powder snow as she throws herself against the fox, claws scoring down thin, splindly legs - and the beast flings her away with the same motion, causing her to slump in the snow like no more than a pathetic, useless ball of fur.

She stands again, a new pain flaring in her chest. The air itself hurts, but Bunnypaw presses beyond the pain, beyond the fear. She trembles with the cold but no longer does she let it leash her. The blizzard makes everything blurry. She runs again, she strikes again, she is thrown, again. And again, discouraged by nothing, tredding the ground with the fury of a hungry dog, again.

Blood spills and clogs the air of all scents; any catches the apprentices have made are muddied to the chaos. Bunnypaw trips over her paws in her final race for a triumphant win, ignoring how she launches over the fallen form of a friend, striking to the side to avoid the staggering shape of another. She vaults, and like a hare, she kicks, thrashing her weight into her hindlegs to the chest of the beast.

And like a bunny, she is caught.

Between yellowed teeth, her spine is cracked. Her skin is split and her wails are nothing more than rabbitlike in nature. She bleeds like a river unfrozen, and for the brief, broken moment, she fears she may be eaten. Prey, even as she fought with the ferocity of a predator.

She is dropped unceremoniously. The snow billows beneath her as she collides with the ground, splashing red into the wintery white. The want to escape pushes her to her forepaws but - her hindlegs, her salvation, they no longer obey her. Her hind end lays broken behind her, separated by a river of red and torn fur. Bunnypaw blinks rapidly, and the adrenaline from the fight fades with the pain of reality. She slumps once again, numb in the cold.

She was always meant to die this way, she realizes in the chaos. A meal to a greater creature, not a savior to her peers.

She was foolish for even trying.
​

 

[SPLINTERPAW.]

BUT MAYBE THAT'S A LIE​

---

sometimes, when bad things happen, people claim that it seems to happen so fast. like it just happened in a blink of an eye and before they knew it, whatever happened had happened. this was not like that. not for splinterpaw. as he got thrown off the fox, the wind being knocked out of his poor little lungs, he is stuck. frozen. he can't move and everything around him is in slow motion. he will never get that out of his brain. never, not once. even now, he can see it slowly repeating itself, the sharpest of teeth snapping right into his sister's flesh, making her go completely limp in her hind end before she just collapses completely. he can't even be sure if she's moving as he lets out a blood curling screaming.

"b-bunny!"

he wheezes as he gets up, body throbbing from the ache of being tossed, but he doesn't care. he cares even less when he feels claws dig so deeply into him, in an attempt to knock him out of the way– trailing from his shoulder down his back. he can't think about this right now. he has to get to his sister. she's the only thing that mattered. if he dies here, so be it. but not a moment before he gets his sister to safety.

"t...tiss...twislepaw! w...we need t-to get bunny back, now!"

he's dizzy, his throat burns, his body is sore and he's bleeding. but adrenaline keeps him upright and adrenaline would make sure he gets home. he secures his teeth around bunnypaw's scruff, looking over at the fox who snaps it's jaws elsewhere. he doesn't truly know what it's doing but he doesn't care. they cannot kill that thing. it would kill them all if they didn't get the hell out of here... their dad was so going to kill them.

"it's gonna be okay, sis. w-we will get you home."

// interacting with @bunnypaw and @THISTLEPAW – getting the heck outta here !

​

 

[THISTLEPAW !]

---

There is too much happening all at once. Blood roars in his ears as he thrashes wildly against the fox, trying to scare it away before too much damage is done. Sheep-paw is flung elsewhere, and the seal-point cannot find it in him to check on his fellow trainee at this moment. The show of concern would be a liablity, a window of an opening for the beast to grab him. His eyes glint furiously, his claws rake the flank of the fox, orange fur darkening from all the blood. Bunnypaw is in its grasp, now, too quick and too soon.

It bites down, and he hears the crack of bone.

The apprentice's mouth is open, but nothing comes out; his voice is gone. There is so much he wants to say, to scream, and nothing he can. His littermate is dropped unceremoniously on the snow, like she matters little to the creature. She is nothing but food to it, but to Thistlepaw she is everything. His vision flashes, and instead of Bunnypaw's bloodied form on the ground, he sees the unmoving body of Rattleheart.

His breath hitches in his throat, his eyes widen in panic and anxiety - . . .your fault. . . Periwinklebreeze's voice rings in his head, reminding him, mocking him. My fault. Because he hadn't stopped Bunnypaw from leaving in the midst of a blizzard, because he'd failed to scent the fox, because he didn't protect her, like he didn't protect their mother.

This moment of dread is all it takes for the predator to finally grasp him in its jaws.

Its teeth puncture his shoulder - his foreleg, whatever, and Thistlepaw finally manages to let out a yowl of pain. He flails, trying to break free before he loses a limb or worse. Go for its eyes! He recalls the voice of Sheep-paw, and he tries. With his free paw he swipes
recklessly, disorderly. He's desperate. He needs to take his sister back to camp before they all die in this blizzard, before they become food for this stupid fox.

Somehow his claws strike its muzzle, and it yelps before letting him go. Blood trails down the wound and it hurts. Adrenaline keeps him going, he can't give up now. Drop, drop, drop; it leaves a trail in the snow as he rushes toward Bunnypaw and Splinterpaw, caring not for the pain he feels and the way he might collapse at any moment. He franctically searches his sister for any sign of life, and for terrifyingly slow seconds he doesn't see her flank moving in ragged breaths. They needed Cottonsprig, or Celandinepaw - anyone to save her!

"Get her on my back and help me carry her," His voice cracks as he speaks to Splinterpaw. I can't do this alone.

𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 *:･ﾟ✧ 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

• ooc. speaking to @SPLINTERPAW. and trying to carry @bunnypaw :-)
  
• 
  

  LH Seal-point with low white​

  
• 
  
  
  THISTLEPAW he / him apprentice of windclan
  son of Rattleheart x Venomstrike, brother to Bunnypaw, Crunchykit, Breezepaw and Splinterpaw.
  Lissom seal-point prickly-furred feline with white markings on his face, chest, belly, paws and tail. His tail is long and has a tufted tip.
  "speech" thoughts

​