development WE ARE ETERNAL — first catch

[DOEBLAZE]

✿—— the pines cluster densely about her, her paws light against the floor carpeted by their needles. dawn rays brush their edges, lining each needle in molten gold and soft pink, clouds streaking the sky like kitten-fluff and half-concealing the gilded sun's light. deep green is all around her, the trees flush with greenleaf health and spreading dark green wings of needles out towards the sky, making up for the lack of undergrowth. this is nothing like the lush greenery thunderclan stalks through, nor the rattling grass-stalks of windclan; this is skyclan, and the barren earth reminds her of that, fills her with happiness rather than frustration. she is low, sleek to the ground as she's been practicing, nothing more than another puddle of shadow beneath the pines; her nose is filled not only with the clean smell of sap and needles but the warm smell of living prey, of flesh and blood, green eyes fixed on its source ahead.

she creeps closer on paws that are silent against the floor of old needles and earth, paw-pads slipping silently against it, towards the clueless vole. it's plump, fattened by greenleaf's bounty no doubt, sniffling unaware at some seed or another. her legs push off, ignorant of the muscle ache that plagues them, a pale tabby body arcing high towards it without the barest trace of a sound; she feels as high up as the tallest pines, dawn light shining over the forest. she feels as though she flies higher than any bird, leaps faster than any rabbit. she feels free. paws dipped in white come down on the vole, pinning it beneath unsheathed claws, her hind legs following with barely a scuffle against the dirt as she seizes the prey in her jaws, delivers the killing bite without a thought.

she straightens up, prey-blood running down her chin in a single thin line, its taste in her mouth. the tabby stands still, vole clasped in her jaws, startled by herself.

NO LOVE, HOWEVER BRIEF (✿) 𝑰𝑺 𝑾𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑫

• ooc: just a little moment to celebrate her 150th post milestone :-)
  rolled a nat 10 on a d10 so she caught it flawlessly!
  
• nothing here, have a nice day :-)
• 
  — bobbie
  — she/her ; warrior of skyclan ; 40 ☾s
  — "speech" ; thoughts ; attacks
  — chibi by its_oliverr
  — penned by dejavu
  

​

 

[Howlfire]

Compared to Bobbie, Howlfire's attempts at hunting were not going that well. She had begun this patrol, scouting for prey amongst the branches, finding that the birds did not land long enough for her to pounce, and that the one squirrel she set her eyes on had promptly darted further up the tree out of her reach.

Howflire had eventually given up hunting in the trees and had landed on the ground, quickly rejoining her clanmates. Although Howlfire considered herself a decent hunter, she much preferred to hunt in the trees. At the very least on the ground she could use some of the hunting skills she picked up from her mother long ago - the slow, precise way of hunting that reduced her sound and made her walk through the undergrowth almost completely silent. The way she sometimes bunched up before pouncing on a kill. SkyClan did not really use these skills in the same way as ThunderClan did, and it had been a long time since she practised them with her mother, so she wasn't overly proficient with them.

Despite Howlfire's hope for a more successful hunt on the ground, she proved unable to catch anything, huffing loudly when a wily shrew squirmed out of her paws. It was frustrating when she couldn't catch anything or made silly mistakes that allowed the prey to slip away. Howlfire always found it annoying in the moment but didn't harbour those feelings for long. She knew deep down that not every hunt would be perfect. Besides, even if she failed one day, she could always try again another day.

Regardless of her own failings, it seemed her clanmates were having better success - Bobbies especially. Howlfire was not far away when she saw Bobbie catch the vole, eyes widening in surprise at the older she-cat's impressive kill. "Wow, Bobbie!" Howlfire meowed, padding closer. Her amber eyes gave the lilac tabby an appraising glance before smiling warmly. "That was a great catch! You've been practising haven't you?"​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

“She has,” Blazestar answers his daughter, laying the tip of his tail lightly on her shoulder as he passes. Blue eyes burn with pride, lingering on Bobbie’s near-astonished expression. “She has been training hard since her kits left the nursery.” His gaze lingers on the single streak of vole blood decorating her chin. “I was watching from over there,” he tells her, purring and jerking his head to another section of forest. He approaches his protégé, leaning to give her tawny ear a brush with his nose. A gesture of appreciation, of congratulations—he’d do the same to Howlfire, to any friend who’d just made their first catch.

“Ground prey is much different from the squirrels and birds we’ll catch up high.” He tilts his face skyward, to the pines whose branches interlope to create bridges for their hunters. “But what do you think is the biggest difference?” He prompts her the way he would an actual apprentice, though she is not really that.

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — blaise . blazestar
  — he/him ; leader of skyclan
  — pansexual ; divorced ; single
  — longhaired flame point Ragdoll with blue eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Mercibun

​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Seeing the way Bobbies eyes widened a little, seemingly startled at herself... Twitchbolt felt a sting of familiarity. When he'd first sunk his teeth around a bird or scaled to the highest point of one of the pines, he'd been shocked at himself- all his life he'd been made to feel like such accomplishments were fundamentally un-doable. But with Daisyflight's guidance and Quillstrike's support, he'd gotten there. Still did he often hesitate to call himself a good warrior, but... well, he'd lived this long. He was doing something right.

His smile, though close-lipped and quivering, was entirely genuine as he approached the lilac tabby. "That was amazing," he said, unapologetically impressed. Blazestar asserted Howlfire's assumption that she'd been practicing, and Twitchbolt nodded, eyes flicking toward the vole. It took great skill to remain that silent- and only so much of it could be luck. The bicolour tom tilted his head toward Blazestar, eyes on Bobbie. "I- I told you he'd be a good- a good teacher." Falling silent, he waited trembling and watchful as Blazestar posed his question.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

✿—— howlfire is one of the first to pad over as she stands with her vole, breaking her startled stillness and smiling warmly at her, congratulating her in a way that's unfamiliar but not unwelcome. she shuffles her paws, unused to the praise, but nods and sets the vole just before white-tipped paws so she can speak. the tabby nods in reply, mews, "as much a-as i can, honestly. "

she smiles unabashedly at blazestar when he pads over, looking rather proud, gaze lingering on her chin and making her reach to wipe the thin streak of blood away with one snowy paw. pale eyes flick to the trees he'd indicated, widening a bit in surprise—she must have really been focusing, not to notice his heavy flame-point form. that, or he's very stealthy, she thinks with some amusement, a feeling that dissipates like smoke when he leans over and brushes one rounded ear with his nose. bobbie blinks, startled, warmth brushing her muzzle as she shuffles her paws.

focus, she thinks, nodding over-energetically as blazestar indicates the trees she'll supposedly climb as easy as she clambers into her nest one day (though privately, she doubts that). twitchbolt arrives as well, offering a shaky smile as he approaches and glances towards the vole, and she nods and returns the smile at his assertion that blazestar would be a good teacher. the tabby pauses, considers the leader's question; it's an important thought. bobbie replies, "uhm, sneaking up on it, maybe? i mean, i imagine it's m-much harder to do up there." she glances up as he does at this last, thinking of trying to creep silently through those interlaced branches. she nearly shudders at the idea.

NO LOVE, HOWEVER BRIEF (✿) 𝑰𝑺 𝑾𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑫

• ooc: ——
  
• nothing here, have a nice day :-)
• 
  — bobbie
  — she/her ; warrior of skyclan ; 40 ☾s
  — "speech" ; thoughts ; attacks
  — chibi by its_oliverr
  — penned by dejavu
  

​