lilac slumber ☣︎ snake killing

[Mintshade]

She'd heard some of the apprentices had stumbled across a serpent and was surprised. It normally took those things a lot longer to start coming out of their burrows but maybe it was getting a lot warmer than she thought; again they would need to content with the slippery devils all around the moorland now, a danger to any cat not careful with their paws. It occurred to Mintshade that snakes were not a prey animal they dealt with often and many cats, from what she heard, had struggled with hunting them. Teaching the skill was hard, you needed a snake and you needed the cats to teach and getting them conveniently into the same spot was a task in itself, so while dragging Azaleapaw out on their second hunting patrol that day she heard the hiss and immediately formulated an idea. Mintshade did not drop to a crouch, looking around for the reptile in question with narrowed green eyes. Crouching was a quick way to get struck in the face so the further away her eyes were from any poisonous fangs the btter. It did not take a lot of hunting to locate the coil of dark brown, almost black, scales shimmering in direct light, but when she did she lunged forward with a paw to slam down on the outstretched head and pin it in place. "Ah ha! Got ya, ya little spitter you. Hey Azalaeapaw, go see if any of your apprentice pals want to learn the fun way of dealing with these little biters." Her free paw rose up in a dismissive wave. "Hop to it, kittypet!" The snake muffled hisses beneath her pressed paw and writhed, the long slender body rising up to try and entangle around her but she only stepped back to place a back paw firmly on its midsection to prevent it.

---

[Ooc]
Prompt: Your characters are out on a hunting patrol when they hear a hiss! That's no cat, it's a snake! Can your characters identify it? What do they do? How do they react?
Apprentice tag - @Azaleapaw
Requested tags - @GRAVELSNAP
​

 

[Azaleafrost]

Oh joy, Mintshade has finally taken her out to do something. Hunting, sure, but still. Her mentor forgets she exists most of the time and to be fair, Azaleapaw doesn't usually seek her out. Why should she? It's Mintshade's responsibility to train her. She followed her quietly, only speaking whan she had to. The hiss was certainly something to talk about.

"Snake..."

She watched Mintshade search for the creature, wondering if she'd get bit. She wasn't sure how to feel about Mintshade just yet, but as Sootstar's sister, she was probably not one to get under the skin of. To her minor disappointment, Mintshade caught the snake and turned to her to fetch her fellow apprentices to teach them how to properly handle these things.

"Okay. I'll be right back." She said, and darted off.

Once at camp, she shouted out. "Mintshade wants to show some apprentices how to kill snakes. Follow me and I'll take you to her." She said.

They better not take too long.
​

 

[GRAVELSNAP]

Gravelsnap is not an apprentice. They are a warrior—and a good one, at that. They haven’t let their clan down. But their recent encounter with an adder—an adder that Firefang ended up having to kill—has reminded them that they don’t, in fact, know everything. And they want to know everything that they can.

White paws tread quickly across the moorland, not following Azaleapaw so much as moving alongside her. They feel a bit childish, responsing to an invitation for apprentices, but if a more experienced warrior is holding an actual demonstration, then it will be worth it. Gravelsnap wants to be a snake-killer. They want to be the best warrior that they can be. For their father. For Sootstar. For WindClan.

They slow when they spot Mintshade holding down a snake, a breathy laugh leaving his maw as he takes it in. Is it really that easy, to render such a creature helpless? "I hope you don’t mind my watching," they say to the pitch black she-cat, though their gaze doesn’t drift from the snake. They wonder what it would taste like, if the scales were removed. Probably not good, but food is food.
​

[ DEATH OF A DREAM ]​

​

 

[LAMBCURL.]

Though he may not bear the title, in many ways, he was apprenticed. Not to a mortal mentor, bound by paws and body, but rather by the sky and the stars themselves, always, always smiling down upon his progress. Semantics of tunneling was not all he ever wished to know. Every inch of the moor was to be known, above and below ground. Each of this world's nuisances, the cats and the prey they sunk their teeth into. A snake is something he'd been blessed enough to never meet, but something he knew to fear regardless. Fearsome thing, he can only assume by the name beared by many a clan cat.

Of course, he bore no 'paw' on his name, but the curiosity ached and reached deep. A rabbit or a mouse would be made morsel in but a few moments. But a snake – Oh, would he find himself helpless? Bound only to be saved by a warm, imposing figure. Lambcurl looks own with eyes slightly blown, eyeing Mintshade with a clear curiosity. " ... I would like to see, " he tells her. He ends up in a similar position to Gravelsnap, though, perhaps lacking leeway in the fact that his age was much more.

〖 OOC 𓆩ꕥ𓆪 NOTES 〗

• —
  
•  
• 
  LAMBCURL: HE / HIM , CISGENDER MALE ; GAY & SINGLE, IN LOVE WITH EVERYBODY TBH ; TUNNELER OF WINDCLAN ; 41 MOONS
  
  tiny, curly - furred albino tom with teary pink eyes. ; dreamy – eyed and dreamy – minded, Lambcurl drags himself across the land with an ever-present smile and glassy bug eyes. Deeply honored to hold his position as a tunneler and whisperingly reverent with everything he does. Somewhat unnerving in ideals and the way he speaks, but he means well.
  — tentative voice claim: fox mulder
  

​

 

[WEASELCLAW]

Weaselclaw finds he gets along fine with Bluepool, but something in him is wary of Mintshade. She is a frantic kind of she-cat, her manic energy pent-up and causing her to seem jagged and abrasive. The tabby had not intended to follow her and her kittypet apprentice to the snake killing demonstration, but he and @sparkpaw. might as well watch, anyway.

"This might be worth something," he mutters to the bright-eyed tom at his side. "Though I don't know if it'll be something useful."​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

​

 

[Badgermoon]

Badgermoon was not a fan of snakes. In his estimation, they were worthless creatures - neither tasty (like rabbits) nor amusing to look at (like frogs), they made a terrible dry rustling sound when they moved, and had a bite that could kill even the biggest cat. Therefore he ambled over towards Mintshade and company not necessarily because he felt he needed to learn how to kill a snake, but because he wanted to watch one die. That was cruel of him, perhaps, but he didn't care: if the snake had its way, it'd probably watch one of them die, too. "Here, let's watch - pay attention. No hard feelings, though, right?" he settled down to watch, casting his apprentice a grin - hopefully he wouldn't mind being around while his namesake was killed. It was important to learn regardless of one's name...though he had to admit it was a little funny, and when Snakepaw's attitude was especially sour, he could fairly contentedly imagine stepping on his head like Mintshade was so kindly displaying for them.

@SNAKEPAW​

 

[SNAKEHISS]

❪ TAGS ❫ — To say that Snakepaw wasn't entirely thrilled to be following Azaleapaw out of camp was an understatement. One, Snakepaw didn't want anything to do with that kittypet-born apprentice if he could help it. Secondly, Snakepaw didn't desire to be within reach of one of those slimy reptiles! What if it lashed out and bite him right on the nose?

The apprentice's nerves sizzled along his spine, his fur tingling at the very sight of the snake that Mintshade had subdued. Gravelsnap was here too, which prompted a brief glare from Snakepaw. He'd be sure to sit the furthest he could from them. "I suppose not." The dark-furred tom mutters, taking a seat near Badgermoon and staring the squirming reptile down through narrowed eyes.​

 

[Mintshade]

An audience slowly gathered, she could not help the cackle of a laugh that rose up to Badgermoon's joke about his own apprentice, "Fraid you couldn't kill Snakepaw this way if you tried, got too much meat on those bones. Snakes are easy to break normally, you just need to..." She paused, head lowered and her teeth clamped around the back of the neck she had pinned beneath her paws. Mintshade made sure her grip was sure, a slip up meant fangs in her face but once she had herself a fine hold of the writhing serpent she raised her paw and lifted her head up with a swift jerk; her head thrashed and she cracked the snake like a whip, slinging it from one side to the other before flinging it down forward onto the ground where it ceased its twisting about after her flailing display and now lay limp. Its mouth still moved, faintly, jaws opening and closing with faint twitching motions before she stomped a paw down on its head once more to crush the last lingering traces of life.
"Snakes are just a big cat's tail, all brittle bones. Sling'em enough and they break into pieces! Imagine being nothing but a spine that crawls on its belly! Sounds like a RiverClanner if you ask me! Gyeh heh heh!"
​