On These Hills I Am Free | Hunting Injury

[Sedgerunner]

"BUT I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR"​

Snow continues to melt as the temperatures rises above freezing, the sun's warmth rising against the frigid temperatures that had plagued the clans for so long. It was still chilly, but it was a promise that New-Leaf would be on it's way soon. Today the sun has been blotted out with heavy clouds, though, with a similar chill than before but not as violent. Sedgerunner is out among the rolling hills, her face to the direction of the breeze as she stands there with a certain alertness about her. A day like today where the weather brought promises of prosperity, there were sure to be a few stray hares that took advantage of it just as she was doing.
She's been out since the early morning, where the dawn patrols have left not too long before she did. Her paws ached to get out and run, to let loose and leave looming thoughts in the back of her mind. Virdian eyes vibrant like summer leaves along the trees scanned about the area, elongated ears from Oriental heritage pulled forward and then to the side. She was waiting, listening for any type of movement. Nothing yet. The moor runner prowls through spindly grass on light paws with a lowered head, her russet fur providing the perfect coverage as she submerged herself within it's familiar tickle along her belly. A rustle is heard to her right, her stride halting immediately as she tried to focus in. It's large, clearly a hare. Similar ticked markings like her own come into her peripheral as it foraged in search of soft heather to nibble on.
Her heart does a dance within her chest, finally finding something. A mature hare it was. While it wasn't as plump as she wanted, it would make a sizeable meal. Sedgerunner steps lightly, shifting her weight as she rocked on her heels in case it started to sprint. A head pops up with large ears swiveling, pausing. Time feels as if it slows to a crawl, and in what was a matter was seconds felt like ages. It sprang then, kicking soil from beneath powerful hind limbs. She'd been spotted, and with a light curse under her breath she's off to the races of survival. Long limbs sprinted forth with a tail streaming behind her, a slender muscles rippling with anticipation as she ran. Hares were notorious for being erratic little creatures, suddenly jerking to the left and she pivots on point like so many times before. This was the only time she felt truly like herself, chasing down her prey with the wind at her back on these open hills. No thoughts, just action.
Suddenly the hare pivots again to the right, and she tries to maneuver in the same way but her front paw twists ever so slightly the wrong way. Sedgerunner hisses at the pain that jolts up her limb. No! Don't give up. She pushes harder, jaws gritting with every stride. The moor runner edges closer to her prey, closing in and taking her leap. Her claws find fur as she digs into it's shoulders, anchoring herself while they go tumbling. Powerful limbs kick back at her wildly, pummeling her throat and she gasps at the force. One more kick lands squarely on her jaw as it's own claws slash across her cheek. Sedgerunner hisses wildly, grasping the hare harder while her teeth find it's throat and pressing down hard till it's thrashing finally ceases. Crimson drips down her cheek and maw, staining her lightened features on her chest. She's won again, but this particular hare had some spirit to it. The laceration stung immediately as it blotted her face. "Damn—you really put up a fight. Heh." She looks to her prey, panting laboriously while still trying to find her breath. Her chest and throat throbbed from the force of the kick she endured, hitting an already bruised spot from Coalfoot a day before. It was a messy hunt, but still successful in her eyes.

TLDR;; Sedge is out hunting to clearher head and chases down a spunky hare that kicks at her and gives her a cut on her cheek, also skme bruising in her chest :-)
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✦ ★ ✦​

 

[MALLOWLARK]

The moors were thankfully not as frosty as they used to be, but covered in the slush of snow-melt they ended up a little more slippery than usual. Still, Mallowlark appeared near-careless of the thought as he took to running across the territory, trailing after the twinge of hare-blood he had caught on the wind. Tracking was his strong suit- he was never usually one to go after the prey he scented, but if it was already bleeding it should be an easy target! Hares... stupid enough to get themselves hurt like this, dragging their blood about in the breeze for drooling jaws to taste.

Peering over the top of a knoll, he saw no injured hare dragging a scarlet ribbon behind it- rather, a Clanmate leant over the form of one, feling blood soon weaving itself into the flow of the wind as well. Trotting over gleefully, the grinning ghost of a tom exclaimed his approval, a shining "Good job!" that leapt from his maw in discordant song. Giggling followed his words, the laughter blooming tenfold as peering silver eyes befell the small wound across Sedgerunner's face.

It was not just the hare that was foolish! Injured by prey- well, he supposed those things could kick, couldn't they? Rather than foolish, she was probably lucky she hadn't broken a jaw. "Oooh, get that looked at. I've heard your face could fall off if it gets too infected." Such a thing was true for limbs, anyhow...​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[WINDSTRIDER]

Windstrider bounded, teeth gritting as they kept their paws landing straight-down, not wanting to risk skidding in the slush and showering themself with any more of the freezing stuff. They were on the hunt, as well, looking for something to land on the prey pile -- more than that, for someone to see them deposit it, a mouse kept fed in leafbare, or a big, fulfilling... hare.

Maybe it wasn't worth all of that. Fiery eyes burn up the cut on Sedgerunner's face, a sign of the clean kicks the hare had managed. Windstrider thought, for a second, maybe they could've done it better, but then their own cheek ached in sympathy. There was always that danger, sometimes prey struck back. And hare kicks were dangeous, maybe even deadly for a young, inexperienced cat. Rolling their jaw side-to-side, their vision flicked to Mallowlark, murmuring a simple: "Wait, really?" Skeptical, but not denying it.

"I can help you carry it back to the camp," the smoke offered as an afterthought. They looked like twins, Sedgerunner and her catch, almost.​

 

[rainpaw]

Rainpaw spent most of her time in the tunnels, but now that her paws were healed, she wanted to get usage out of them wherever she could. Thus she ended up tagging along with a hunting patrol on the moor, snow-melt and open skies and all. She regretted it, just a bit. The slush was soaking the fur of her legs, worse than any regular snow could. A flurry of motion distracted her from it, though- first a hare tearing across the moor, then Sedgerunner bolting after it. Rainpaw paused and then, curious, dashed after her. By the time she reached Sedgerunner, the hare was dead, with evidence of its final act torn across the warrior's face. She slipped over to stand near Mallowlark and Windstrider, eyes round with concern. "Are you okay? Did it get you anywhere other than your face?" She could only see the wound on Sedgerunner's cheek, but she was lucky if that was the only damage it had done. When Rainpaw had gained her scar, the rabbit hadn't kicked her, but it had battered her face until a well-aimed but panicked swipe of her claws had hit its throat.

Only after her hurried question did she process what Mallowlark had said. She shot a confused look at him, and one ear twitched as Windstrider seemed to consider it. "Um, yeah, you should get that looked at, but I don't think that's true..." She said, brow furrowing slightly. Her facial wound hadn't gotten infected, so she couldn't speak with certainty, but certainly she would have been warned about that danger if it was real. Rainpaw considered the hare that was dead at Sedgerunner's paws. She didn't know much about the she-cat, hadn't been around to hear her speak often. All Rainpaw knew about her was that she had quite the outburst when Dandelionwish, Yewberry, and Galeforce had been exiled- and now she knew that she was a good hunter, too, at least judging by what she had brought down. The hare looked like it was at least Sedgerunner's size, probably bigger than Rainpaw.​

 

[VULTUREMASK]

" Mallowlark is right." The medicine cat would add in as he was slowly walking over to the group with some herbs put in the ivy leaf he had so kindly been gifted from Starlingheart which he forever would be grateful for. Of course what he just had said was sorta a lie....it was possible for a face to fall off just not by a rabbit scratch that was but he couldn't help himself. With his clanmates faces looking so unsure like there was a slight chance it might be true...and himself being on a such awful mood today. The idea of giving his clanmates a bit of a fright it could maybe brighten his mood up a bit. Since he couldn't exactly snap at them this would have to do, join in with the weirdo in the clan to actually make them say something 'smart' for once. He stopt beside the tom who never could stop smiling.

" But it's up to you if you wanna visit me later or not just don't come complaining to me if you start to burn up like fire is burning you alive. Your wounds hurting so much you might actually wanna claw your own skin off. It might be too late to save you by then." and it would make my resource wasteful. he stated matter in factly as he blinked his eyes looking unbothered with whatever she decided to do. He was not gonna chase his clanmates down to babysit them. If they wanted his help they knew where to find him and if not?. Well it was on them. He wouldn't lose any sleep anyhow because one of his clanmates not could make a rational decision.



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