WHEN THE CONTINENTS GROWL // hunting + event thread

[splashdance]

Splashdance feels soreness in her bones. She wants to blame it on the chill - but in truth she knows its the sparring that's taken it out of her. There's a new level of disappointment beneath her belt, having lost so brutally to her former mentor. She knows that it is because she was distracted, perhaps frustrated by whatever was troubling her and Midnightash that day - but great StarClan, could she not have lost to a peer instead? Lakemoon didn't seem to hold newfound resentment towards her, but the RiverClanner wasn't usually keen on showing her emotions.

She lingers near the chilled river, watching the shadows beyond her flit and flicker with the dying light of the day. There are other cats with her, hunting to their hearts content, and she's attempting patience to the greatest degree. Eventually she sees a flash if silver and launches forth, a black paw snaking its way towards the glimmer of a meal. The hefty body of the fish flails beneath her initial strike and with the precision of a trained hunter - the winner of the tourney, no less - Splashdance heaves herself atop the large fish, crushing her teeth into its gills until it no longer flails.

She drags it ashore again, quickly shaking her paws free of whatever dampness invaded them. "Well -" she starts with a newly made grin, "- that was lucky!"

[ rolled a 20 (no encounter) & a 20 (found prey) & a 16 (large prey. +3 points :) ]​

 

[pebbletail]

(☼) "luck? or skill," the words are mumbled from an intensely focused looking pebbletail as he flashes his best friend a quick grin. "you were the tournament winner after all. that's gotta count for something. awesome catch!" sunspark eyes dart just as fast back to the water, where the silvery substance dapples and flows after splashdance's magnificent catch. it is not a dark day out - contrarily, the sky alights with a pale sun that hangs, sickly, amidst a watery looking blue sky. certainly not a vibrant green-leaf day, but a sunny leaf-fall one nonetheless. the frost scent still hovers in the air, delicate ice crystals still not burned off by the sun, which pebbletail feels a bit apprehensive about. frost lingering so long this early into leaf-fall doesn't bode well for the temperature of the leaf-bare to come.

as the waters calm back to their flowing state, the new warrior focuses even harder, determined to prove his hunting ability (to his clan, or to his friend, he's not sure). a glimmer of something in the water, a shadow beneath the waves, and the white dappled paw lashes out, claws catching on a hefty body. water sprays the bank as the boy pulls the fish to shore, a similarly sized one to the one his friend has caught. "maybe you have some competition in me after all!" he jokes, pride glowing in his gaze.

LET ME BE YOUR OWN ☼ ICARION CARRION

• // rolled an 11 (found prey), rolled a 19 (large prey, +3 points) " #848DAE"
• 
• PEBBLETAIL ☼ HE / HIM, WARRIOR OF RIVERCLAN. 12 MOONS OLD, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a large blue tabby with low white and vitiligo. pale blue fur covers the length of pebbletail's stocky body, sliced through with darker tabby stripes and spots. baleful orange eyes peer out of heavy set sockets, and his muzzle, paws, and tail tip are dashed with white.

​

 

[CRABPAW]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 He'd been warned about the cold weather on the horizon, but wasn't it supposed to only start getting this cold in the next two moons? Or is this not cold at all, and he's just being a wuss about it? Crabpaw pads along with the rest of the patrol without complaint, though, since he doesn't really have any other option—because what's he going to do? Cry because of the cold? Refuse to leave the warmth of his newly-made nest? No. He isn't a kit anymore, and he can't keep acting like one. He'll be a warrior soon enough, so he's got to start acting like one. Even if that means padding across frosted ground, uncomfortably chilly, after Pebbletail and Splashdance.

The river's water is freezing as he dips his paws into it, striking out at the first fish he spots. It looks gigantic! But when he swipes it out of the water, the boy can't help but frown. It's… way smaller than it looked before he captured it. But at least Splashdance managed to catch a big, big fish. "Oh, that's a really good catch," he comments, fluffy tail fluttering back and forth behind him. "I only caught this." His catch isn't bad, he thinks as he presents it to the others. It's larger than his first catch, but nowhere near as large as the fish he'd caught the other day. At least he was able to catch something, though…

give me a chance ˚𓆛˚｡ a single opportunity

• ooc: rolled a 16 (successful catch and then a 3 (small prey)
  mentor tag @CICADAFLIGHT
• 
• CRABPAW 𓆝 he/him, apprentice of riverclan
  𓆟 ginger and cream tabby with rippling white spotting and mossy green eyes. highly emotional and difficult to keep focused on one subject.
  𓆟 mentored by cicadaflight
  𓆟 son of iciclefang ; brother to cragpaw & pinepaw
  𓆟 peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  𓆟 penned by foxlore

​

​

 

[EVENINGPAW]

Eveningpaw had a theory, and she had intended to carry it through... but now that she is crouching over the riverbank, eyes burning with the effort it takes to cease blinking in case she misses a fish in that split second, she is starting to reconsider it.

The theory is this: if she tags along with Splashdance's hunting patrol, maybe she will pass on some of her prowess onto Eveningpaw. It is an idea with little foundation. The concept sounds similar to that of a mentor and their apprentice, but Splashdance is no mentor, and definitely not Eveningpaw's. Still; she, herself, had started off on a good note during the hunting tourney, and she had only faltered near the finish line — arguably the worst time to do so, but there is little she can do about it now.

Well, except for honing her skills.

But even as Splashdance remains victorious and Pebbletail follows suit, Eveningpaw gets no luck.

"That she does," she says, giving up on the waiting game. Humor sparkles in her eyes as she looks at her Clanmates. "You better watch out, Splashdance! Pebble's gonna steal your thunder!"

Her attention is grabbed by Crabpaw, with his ginger paw dipping into the clear surface, and Eveningpaw awaits the result with bated breath. A series of purrs celebrate his success. "Hey, that's still a nice one!" While the compliment is genuine, Eveningpaw means it in dual ways; at least Crabpaw has something to present.

Rolled 7; failure.

​

 

[lichenstar]

✦˚.✦˚✦˚✦˚ ✧ ˚✧˚✦˚✦.˚✧

CLAIM THE BURIAL I SEEK IN DREAMS FLOWING RIVER CEMETARY ✧

• Splashdance fares much better this go around than she had when collecting den materials... and it seems many of her clan-mates too are not phased by the chill of the river's touch. They reel up fish after fish, varying in size and impressiveness and even young Crabpaw (who, she realizes, is not so young anymore) has managed to fight against the early winter's disadvantages to bring something to shore. The leader's brooked tail curls in relief and approval, fixating her attention on the rippling waters with hopes to join them in their successes.
  
  "Perhaps... it is an apology," she says, flittering back to a moment when the river had once held an identity of its own in her eyes. "For over-flowing." She swears she catches the glimmer of scales just under the surface, flashing out a paw to try to retrieve her prize but all that comes up is water...
  
  "Maybe... only an apology... to you young ones..." she adds with a small, embarrassed laugh.
• about
  
  speech hex code ✧ #6368A5
  
  ooc notes ✦ rolled a 2
  tagging ✶
  penned by tieirlys
• ˚ ★⋆. ࿐࿔ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ .
  
  . ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦ . . ˚ . ✦ . . ˚ ੈ✧˳·˖✶ ✦ ˚ ✦ . . ˚ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
  
  . ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦ . . ˚ . ✦ ​

 

[BLACKFISH]

Anger coursed through his veins as he approached the hunting party, the blacks of his muzzle drenched and clinging to his jawline from an unsuccessful search further downstream. When sapphire eyes glossed over the prey of the others, the lump in his throat became too thick to swallow and the desire to reclaim his strength in the eyes of the leadership became too much to bear. "Yes... yes... it's all very grand and lucky, stealing kills from actual warriors and all. With how much you talk, it must've just plopped into your mouth itself." His whiplike tail lashed scornfully as he glared down Splashdance, unhappy that she had got credit something that he could've easily done.

His look turned gentle as he eyed Lichenstar, pitiful, apologetic, that it had not been a proper RiverClanner that had provided the clan with much-needed sustenance. Within his stare, as confident as his remorse was, was a promise that he would do better next time... that he would do better if he didn't have so many clanmates around. Tufted ears twitching, Blackfish moved away from the patrol, the stench of his namesake provided too much envy. "I'm going to go upstream, see what else I can find." A silent invitation for some to follow him, but he would neither be surprised nor offended to walk alone.

/ rolled a 1 rip bozo
​

 

[iciclefang]

The bulk of the patrol hauls their catches onto the shore, silvery and sleek in the pale sun. Iciclefang sits by the water's edge, her mind whirling. The battle with Sunningrocks approaches — should she be engaging Pinepaw in fighting, rather than splashing about in the river? Feeding the Clan is paramount, and she knows this, but her muscles itch like she's wasting her time.

And, indeed, she is — she swears, as Lichenstar does, that she glimpses some movement right below her paws. She swipes, but her claws catch nothing but murky water. The tortoiseshell's brow furrows in frustration. Perhaps too many fishers had invaded the spot for the prey's liking.

Iciclefang withdraws, her ears flicking ice-cold droplets from their tips. "Well done to the rest of you. At least some cats will be fed tonight." Her gaze rests on Splashdance only briefly, before flicking to first Pebbletail and then her son. Crabpaw's catch is small, but pride glimmers in her blue eyes regardless. To him, she says, "Claythorn's kits will appreciate that."

She turns her attention to an irate Blackfish, who, like Eveningpaw, Lichenstar, and herself, has come up empty-pawed. He moves upstream, hoping bad-temperedly to have better luck. Her tail flicks against Pinepaw's identically marbled flank. "We should probably go downstream, then. Maybe all this commotion has chased the fish that direction."

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: apprentice tag @Pinepaw ⭒ ; rolled a 7, she ain't finding nothin
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 29 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Pinepaw ; previously mentored Cicadaflight
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.

​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- Pinepaw is quiet from where she sits close to her mother, sunflower optics glued to the churning current below. While it was true the apprentice was genuinely quite focused on bringing something home today, it was also true that Pinepaw believed if she focused hard enough, she might be able to generate more heat to warm herself up.

So far, her close eye was doing the girl no favors in either mission. Crabpaw showing off his meager catch snags in Pinepaw's peripheral, finally dragging her attention away from the water. It was small, but at least it was something. Pebbletail and Splashdance both dragged impressive catches from the river, but it seemed the successful hunts were in the minority.

Iciclefang's suggestion has Pinepaw standing immediately, already giving her mentor a curt nod. "Okay," the tortoiseshell has no issue with moving away from the commotion.

Moving in sync with her mother, Pinepaw was relieved to get away from everyone else, situating herself on the rivers bank with the same straight posture Iciclefang taught her to use. From the near distance, a shadow zips down just below the current, the sight of it pushing a pump of adrenaline through Pinepaw's heart. Readying herself, the apprentices movements are akin to lightning as a forepaw strikes the water, claws sinking satisfyingly into silvered scales before she flicks upward, securing her catch in her jaws and delivering the killing bite.

While not as large as Splashdances or Pebbletails catch, the fish's size is still nothing to be ashamed of. "Did you see how fast I was that time?" Pinepaw's naturally hefty paws had been known to cost her a fish or two in the past, making every successful catch that much more meaningful for the tortoiseshell. Plus, this fish would be grouping her in with the winners today.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── AND I BEG TO BE TESTED ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ BY GODDESSES RESTING ──┐‎

• rolled a 17 for prey encounter and 8 (medium prey) for size - 2 points >:)
  

• 

• 
  PINEPAW ✩ she/her, apprentice of riverclan, 6 moons.
  ⭃ stocky, coarse-furred tortoiseshell she-cat with large, white dipped forepaws, a white tail tip and muzzle. Honey hued optics take the shape of almonds.
  ⭃ apprenticed to Iciclefang.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragpaw && Crabpaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

​

 

[Warblerpaw.]

UH OH, UH OH, UH OH,
YOU MADE A MISTAKE ​

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

warblerpaw & 07 moons & demi-boy & he/they & riverclan apprentice ​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━​

Though Warblerpaw follows his patrol mates, he can't quite shake the fear that clings to him, wide eyes darting anxious glances towards the rushing river. Paws stay rooted firmly upon dry ground - not because he's lazy, or because he doesn't want to try, but because it seems unfathomably impossible to do so. Instead, splotched figure slowly traces his way across the shoreline, looking for anything that might move amongst the reeds and roots, ears twitching at the ongoing conversation. He can't help but to wince and Blackfish's words - even if not directed at him, he can't help but to feel they are, his own mentors words ringing in his ears. When he finds nothing on land, mismatched gaze at last turns to @BRONZESHINE once more with drooping head and hunched shoulders - uncertain whether they are to follow the others further from here for another attempt.

— uh oh, you better run away now

• Actions && " Speech, " && ' Thoughts/Quotes '
  
  ooc: rolled a 4 (no prey)
  tw/cw: —
  
• ♩​♬♪♫​ — Warblerpaw suffers from multiple speech impediments, including selective mutism. He is more often then not non-verbal, and will react in visual ways such as body language or gestures to compensate for this. Situations which induce anxiety are more likely to cause a shut-down for him, and even when verbal he deals with a stutter and aphasia. ​