Brunch Hunt [C]

Woolywing woke up relatively late; half the warriors he shared a den with had already gone out patrolling. Yarrowblossom included, he realised with a bit of a sinking of his heart. He didn't want to bother the tom, of course, but ever since that spar he found himself wanting to spend more and more time with him. After allowing himself a few more seconds of wistful staring at his best friend's empty nest, the small white tom shook himself out of it and stretched slowly. He winced slightly as his scars, tighter than the rest of his skin, were pulled taut. They'd healed, mostly, but some movements were still painful. Part of him doubted the pain would ever go away.

Stretching and yawning himself awake, he looked around the den. His friends, it seemed, were all awake and out already. He'd have to make it up to them later, maybe go fishing with the group again? [i]I'll plan that later, he thought. Casting his mind away from them, he continued his glance around the den and stopped when he spotted a very familiar face. Breaking out into a smile, he walked softly over to his former mentor. "Stormdance, good morning! You're not busy, are you? I was hoping we could go hunting."

It had been painfully long since they last spoke properly. He'd meant to catch up with him after his ceremony, but then the eagle happened and... Well. He had lost time to make up for with his mentor, in any case.

Woolywing smiled excitedly at the older tom, delighted that he'd agreed. "Brilliant, thank you! It'll be good to catch up." He padded out of the den and towards the edge of camp, staying on the right side of Stormdance to cover his blind spot. He had to admit, he was calmed a lot by his former mentor's presence. His idolisation of Stormdance had never really gone away even as a warrior, so as they walked Woolywing felt comforted by the fact that, should a fox or eagle or whatever else appear, Stormdance had his back. "I'm glad you weren't busy. Things have been chaotic, right? Between the fox, the eagle and my warriorhood I was starting to worry I'd never get the chance to talk to you." He chuckled.

The two of them padded through the territory until they came across a somewhat open area, dotted with flowers and bushes and covered in tall grass that was sure to harbour prey. Woolywimg turned to his mentor with a playful grin. "Come on, let's see who catches something first. I've gotten better since I was Woolypaw!" His whiskers twitched. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't gotten to do much hunting as an apprentice. It seemed be spent more time being hunted.

He gave the sky a glance, checking thoroughly for any signs of predators. He was relieved to find none. The look he gave the greenery around him was more cursory; he was certain that if there was a ground predator here he'd smell it. "Coast is clear! Good thing too, I only have the one eye left." He laughed brightly before disappearing into the long grass. When he crouched it came up way past his ears, instilling some confidence. He'd hardly be found by anything down here. He could see why rabbits and such loved the tall grass so much.

He crept forward, following the weak scent of mouse. He'd hoped to catch something bigger to impress Stormdance, but a mouse would do. It was much harder to navigate the grass with only one eye; he couldn't see past it and essentially had to rely on his nose and ears. That suited him fine, though, as he soon found the mouse stuffing what looked like berries into its mouth. He smiled, wiggled in preparation for his attack, and leapt onto the small creature. It had no chance, he ended its life swiftly and cleanly before grabbing it in his mouth.

Before he could stand up straight and announce his catch to Stormdance, he noticed a sharp movement out of the corner of its eye. His muscles tensed and he slowly turned his head around, then yelped loudly as he saw what it was. A snake. An adder, to be precise, an unhelpful voice in Woolywings head said. It reared up, clearly agitated by the loss of prey. Woolywing shot into a defensive stance, paw up and ready to strike the angered serpent. "Stormdance, there's a snake." He said quietly, not even knowing if his mentor heard him. He didn't want to agitate the snake further by yelling, and he wasn't a kit anymore. He didn't want to put Stormdance in danger by calling him for help.

In fact, maybe he wouldn't need him at all. Perhaps if he backed away... He took a step back, then another. All seemed well. The snake stayed where it was, hissing indignantly. Woolywing allowed himself a soft sigh of relief, though his eye was trained on the snake for any sign of movement. He was almost in the clear now, just one more step... Then, his paw met a branch.

Snap!

Woolywing froze at the noise. The snake did the opposite. In a blur, it shot forwards, fangs out. The warrior hardly had time to yell out in shock before the horrible creature latched itself onto his face. No, not his face- his eye.

Woolywing yowled out in agony as his vision went dark, his entire body flaring up with pain. He swatted wildly at the snake, missing each time in his blindness. Woolywing had no words, nothing but screams of pain and fear. Stormdance has experience with snakes, that unhelpful voice said. Maybe he'll help.


A wild Snake appeared! The snake used Serpent Strike on Woolywing, dealing 6HP and costing 10SP. Woolywing's attack missed.

Snake
HP: 15
SP: 65(-10)

Woolywing
HP: 19 (-6)
SP: 50

The member 'Snickerdoodle' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

Roll

The member 'Snickerdoodle' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 4

The member 'lostfanboy' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 1

Woolywing could've cried with relief as Stormdance came to his rescue. Perhaps he was crying. The hot liquid dripping down his face was indistinct, his nostrils too full of his own fear-scent to identify it. The snake was gone from his eye, but to his horror the vision in it was near non-existent. It was dark and cloudy, he could just about see a big blob attacking a smaller blob in an otherwise dark and indistinct world. His chest heaved with panic and he blinked rapidly, ignoring the pain it brought. No, come on. It had to be blood clouding his vision. It had to. But, to his horror, if he really focused it seemed like his vision was getting worse by the second. Panic coursed through his body and he approached Stormdance at a speed far slower than he normally would've moved in this situation.

He couldn't see the snake, he couldn't see anything. But it lay prone on the ground, judging by the vague black blob that was rapidly fading from view. He reached down with his head, again at an unnervingly slow pace. Opening his jaws and praying he wouldn't miss, he bit down on its scaly neck and felt an odd sense of justice as it snapped and the adder's blood dripped from his jaws. He stood there, in too much shock to think or speak, before eventually dropping the snake and slumping against Stormdance with a sudden sob. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Why did this always happen to him? Was he cursed or something?

He leaned heavily against his mentor, the older tom's presence being his only comfort through his fear. "Stormdance. I can't... I can't..." He couldn't speak past the lump in his throat. It was okay, it was okay, this was treatable. He'd been able to see for a moment there, before the injury truly took effect. Dovesight and Sandypaw could fix this. They had to. "I need Dovesight," he whispered softly, both to himself and his mentor.


Woolywing used Snap on the snake, dealing 7HP. The snake is dead.