Mouths To Feed [Open]

Ebonypaw walked out from the nursery while humming. Now, chanhing the bedding of the queens and kits was not exactly one of her favorite apprentice duties, but she wasn’t about to let that bring her mood down or discourage her. Plus, she wanted to get it done quickly and well instead of procrastinating or having to redo it, so she could do something more interesting once she was done instead of wasting her whole day in that one task.

She grabbed some more fresh moss from the prepared pile she had placed outside of the nursery before starting, walked in and quickly added it to the last nest in which she had been working on. She looked it over, a couple steps to one side, a couple to the other…perfect!

Her eyes raised from the nest to the rest of the nursery…yep! Everything done.

As she started to wonder what to do next, her stomach started to rumble, demanding some food. That gave her the idea. What better way to spend her time and then reward herself for a good day of work than with some fresh tasty treat?

Licking her lips in anticipation, she quickly walked out of the nursery after politely saying bye to queens and kits, returning the moss she didn’t use and making her way to the entrance of camp, half daydreaming about what she was going to catch that day and snack on upon returning. She turned around…maybe…. “Anyone wants to go out hunting?” She almost yowled, a bit too excited and impatient to regulate her voice’s volume. Oh well, at least now she knew someone free and willing to go would’ve heard her for sure.

Fernstep was laying in the sunlight as she was relaxing when she heard her friend’s call. She got up with a yawn and big stretch before looking over at ebonypaw. “I can come.” she mewed padding up to her friend with a smile.

Thrushpaw, retreating quickly from the unkempt elders den of which she despised, moss in mouth, dropped it immediately at the promise of hunting. She ran over, panting and excited. "Yes! Finally, thank Starclan, Ebonypaw I'm dying here," the apprentice whined. She turned to the newly appointed warrior and her friend, Fernstep. "Perfect! Let's see if anyone else can come too". The air in the camp, despite being rather open, at once felt suffocating. The snowmelt below her paws was sure to be thinner out on the moors.

Ebonypaw smiled as Fernstep and Thrushpaw approached her. Calling for help wasn’t such a ad idea after all, and with them at her side, she was certain they would be able to not only bring back plenty of prey to camp, but maybe they would be able to share tongues for a bit before the sun settled on the horizon, signaling the time for them to head off to their nests and rest for the duties of tomorrow.

“Oh, come on, changing the elder’s bedding isn’t that bad! You could be removing ticks off the pelt of the cats sick in the Medicine Cat’s den” She jokingly pawed at Thrushpaw’s face. Honestly, that specific duty was her most loathed one, not only because of the ticks themselves, or having to handle mouse bile, but because there was always the risk of falling ill whenever around sick cats, and to prevent that, the medicine cat stuffed her mouth full of bitter herbs she was honestly growing to hate.

She looked around, trying to be patient and see if anyone else wanted to join in, but none else seemed to be interested or were too busy on their own tasks to even look at them. With a quick twitch of her ear and a huff, she finally turned to look at the two cats “I guess it will be just us three. Let’s get going, or else we won’t be able to catch anything before it gets dark!”.

She basically bounced out of camp backwards, trying to get the other two to follow.

Fernstep padded after her friend in excitement. She was a warrior now so had to show her two friends how she could hunt.

Thrushpaw paused, contemplating the thought. "Yeah, you're right- there really isn't anything worse than that". She willingly accepted the tap on the nose from her friend, and smiled. She let her tail wind around the two cats as they bumbled along to the moors. She shook out her pelt, noticing that the air today was warmer than usual. Nothing, even in Starclan, could be better than today, with two of her closest friends.

As the three cats stepped out onto the moors, she noticed that all the snowmelt was practically gone. In comparison to the past few sunrises, this was rather nice. Her first hunting session with Brindleface had proven quite difficult with the horrible wind and snow. None of that would hurt her progress today. She couldn't wait to hunt.

Ebonypaw had to force her excitement down as they approached the good hunting spots of the moors just to keep herself from scaring off the prey while jumping all excitedly all over the place.

With a quick twitch of her whiskers, the fluffy ball of never-ending energy half opened her mouth and started smelling the air carefully to try and find any scent of prey, trying her absolute best to remember the little bits of advice and short training she had with Spiderspark not long ago. She didn’t want to screw this up and potentially lose what could be a good meal, especially given the scarce prey that Leafbare brought with it.

Her nose was quick to catch a scent she knew way too well…Hare.

The large rodents were usually fast and hard to catch, but that only made everything the better in the apprentice’s eyes. This meant a worthy challenge, and a plentiful meal that wouldn’t only fill her right up, but a meal she could also share with her friends once they returned to camp. She was sure they would also appreciate a still warm fresh meal with her, over the half-frozen prey of the pile any day.

She dropped into a crouch, her paws moving silently and skillfully on the frozen terrain as she approached the fluffy white creature that tried and failed at blending in with its surroundings through its pretty winter coat. Her heart was pounding quickly in her chest and she had to force herself to regulate her breathing to not give the creature any clues as to her increasing proximity.

Only once she was close enough, she allowed her distinctive energy, which she had been suppressing during the approach, to return with the speed of lighting as her tense muscles reacted like well-oiled springs.

The chase was short as the agile apprentice closed the gap between the terrified animal, her energy playing in her favor by giving her an invaluable boost of speed that would eventually allow her claws to hook to its skin and her jaws to clamp around the creature’s neck, snapping it and giving it a quick end. Only once she was sure the hare was dead, she raised her head with a bit of difficulty from the frozen grass blades that covered the moor to look at her companions.

“Ig gaughf igh!” She tried to meow with pride as she showed off her catch, but the fluffy creature in her jaws made her words next to impossible to understand.

The member 'Silver Ink' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

#1 'Prey Dice' : 2

--------------------------------

#2 'Hunting Dice' : 1

Fernstep came up to ebonypaw who was still holding the rabbit. “Good job ebonypaw, don’t forget to bury it for us to grab later.” she mewed before looking at thrushpaw. “Let’s see what you can do, then I will show you guys how bad I still am at hunting.” she mewed with a slight laughter.

"Nice one Ebonypaw! That was just luck though," Thrushpaw replied, smirking a bit as she readied herself, her distinctive playfulness cockiness always at the ready. That was not true though- Ebonypaw was definitely a skilled hunter, what with her speed and all. Thrushpaw bumbling body left her to use minimal speed and mostly claws and teeth, a method which was not particularly becoming of a Windclan cat. Nevertheless, she heeded Fernsteps words, laughing at her joke, and stepped up on top of a small rock to get a better view of the moors. She opened her mouth to find the scent. The stench of a squirrel came, and she looked over to see one hiding behind a patch of dead grass. Slowly, she approached, keep herself down and silent. No snow meant more silence to her heavy pawsteps, and as she neared the squirrel, she knew it had spotted her. With a small roar of energy, she pounced, just as it made a break for it. The shaking head and a few struggling limbs proved no challenge for the cat, and she subdued her prey in no time. Smiling triumphantly, she brought it back and tossed it in the pile with the hare. "Let's see you, then, Fernstep."

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

#1 'Prey Dice' : 4

--------------------------------

#2 'Hunting Dice' : 7

Ebonypaw chuckled to herself as she held her prey proudfully, whiskers twitching and tail moving like a ribbon behind her as she puffed up her chest with pride at the praise her older friend gave to her.

With a soft chuckle she took a bit of distance between her and her other two friends while looking for the perfect spot to bury her prey, which soon came in the form of a nicely sized rock, that would definitely work to help her remember where it was! As she dug on one of the borders of said rock quickly, making sure the hole would be deep enough to not let any opportunistic predator or rogue just snatch it up while they were distracted, she heard Thrushpaw’s words, causing her to chuckle.

“Luck, uh? Well, lets see how lucky you are compared to me!” She yowled back, caught in a half-laugh that she kept needing to force down to be able to speak clearly.

She quickly left the little patch of dirt she had used to bury the hare in, returning to her friends. Yet, she didn’t manage to make it full way there, as when she was only midway there she felt a sudden jolt of pain on her side and she could swear her paws left the ground. Ebonypaw’s smirk turned into a mix of a confused and panicked expression. She started trashing and squirming around in a completely instinctive way.

This probably was the only thing that saved the smaller than usual she-cat from be carried away by the eagle that had just managed to swoop down on her while she was distracted. Her combined weight and the constant moving causing the eagle to lose its stability and be unable to take altitude, almost crashing.



Eagle used Iron Grasp on Ebonypaw, causing 4 damage. Ebonypaw has been caught by the eagle!

Ebonypaw
26/30 HP

Eagle
40/40 HP

The member 'Silver Ink' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Predator Dice' :

Fernstep noticed ebonypaw getting picked up by an eagle and freaked. He launched herself at the eagle and clawed it making it let go of her friend.

Fern has used Claw dealing 8 damage and losing 0 health

Eagle:
40 Hp
- 8
32

Fern:
40 Hp

The member 'FireDaisy' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Battle Dice' : 4

Thrushpaw watched her friend bury her prey gleefully, before it all turned sour. She noticed a shadow on the ground quickly approaching, and before she could yowl out a warning, it's claws dug their way into her. "Ebonypaw-- foxdung, I-" she ran quickly over as Fernstep clawed at the eagle. She used her weight to shove the eagle a bit before striking it, with powerful blows, claws out, twice in succession.

Thrushpaw used Swift Strike, causing 4 damage.

Thrushpaw
30/30 HP

Eagle
28/40 HP

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Battle Dice' : 1

Stoneteller wrote:

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Battle Dice' : 1

Forgot to roll twice, so sorry

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Battle Dice' : 5

The Eagle's Iron Grasp is still active, causing a total of 7(4+3) damage

Ebonypaw
19/30 HP

Eagle
28/40 HP




Ebonypaw took the chance as the eagle struggled in an attempt to take flight yet again, while her friends fought to free her from its talons. With a loud hiss, she forced herself to twist around, ignoring the burning pain of the talons of the great bird sinking into her deeper and cutting flesh as she did so. Better to carry the scars than give up her life.

She used her native agility as a WindClan cat to hit the eagle relentlessly, trying to somehow overwhelm it and make it let go of her already. Her first hit managed to land, but the second one barely touched the eagle’s feathers due to her position, leaving it unharmed.


Ebonypaw used Claws & Teeth (6-2) and Swift Strike (4-2-2), causing a total of 4 damage

Eagle
24/40 HP

Ebonypaw
19/30 HP


Ebonypaw tries to struggle free from the Eagle's grasp...roll unsuccessful

The member 'Silver Ink' has done the following action : Roll Dice

---

'Battle Dice' : 6, 4, 2