keeping pace (c)

Fur glimmering gold in the early morning light, Goldenpaw followed along behind the rest of her hunting patrol, still stifling a yawn. It was wayyyy too early to be out hunting, but the fresh-kill pile was low again, and so it was without too much muttering that she had trotted out of camp, pelt horrifically mussed. The only other apprentice on this specific patrol was Pantherpaw, someone she kinda knew but not really all that well. Huh. Time to change that, she guessed.

Bumping her shoulder against the other apprentice with a bright grin, Goldenpaw fell into pace beside him, oversized paws nearly tripping. “Heya, Pantherpaw! I betcha the best sunning spot in camp that I can catch more prey than you can! Wanna bet?”

They were almost at the flower fields and already the patrol leader was giving the order to fan out. The bet was a tempting one (to her at least); Goldenpaw’s fluffy bulk had already claimed the best sunning spot in camp multiple times now, to the mild irritation of most of her fellows.

(Tallpaw had dragged her forcibly away once, but she’d merely returned to flop on him, and so she kinda counted that a victory.)

Much younger than her fellow apprentice and yet already quite his height, Goldenpaw flicked her tail against his flank with excitement. “Or elder duties for- for a whole moon! C’mon, it’d be fun!” She wasn’t the best of hunters, admittedly, not having filled out yet despite her height, but the thrill of competition lured her onwards nonetheless.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

Goldenpaw snorted, flicking her tail at the other apprentice’s comment. It wasn’t like Pantherpaw could talk, anyways; not everybody wanted to be all- all stoic and stony and grumpy all the time! At least he agreed, although admittedly without, y’know, any enthusiasm. If you weren’t excited about hunting and bets and running across the moor in the dawn light, well. What could you be excited about? Maybe he was excited on the inside; at any rate, he better be, or else Goldenpaw was gonna do all she could to get some sort of excitement outta Mr stoneface.

The large apprentice turned aside, opening her mouth to taste the moor-wind in her maw. The scent of the season’s last wilting flowers, the smell of the last patrol to come this way, the- rabbit. Goldenpaw’s eyes blazed as she stalked through the flowers, fur turned to gold in the sunlight. Just the thought of clamping her jaws around a hare’s neck and crunching the small delicate bones under her teeth… oh, she was hungry. Licking her chops, she slunk through the wilting flowers, tracking the rabbit by scent alone, nose suddenly filled with the metallic tang of blood. What?

There- a half-eaten rabbit, blood staining the grass crimson, and a weasel crouched over it, tearing away at the carcass hungrily. Goldenpaw let out a low growl. That was her prey, and that little wretched creature had no right to it! With an angry yowl, she sprung forwards, claws unsheathed, but the lithe beast was too fast, darting away. How dare it.

To an outsider, it might’ve seemed a funny spectacle; an oversized young apprentice chasing a weasel with angry snarls, always just too slow to rip its head off, infuriated by the way it would nip at her paws before darting off again, taunting her. Goldenpaw, however, was boiling over with anger, hissing with frustration as her claws dug into the grass once more.

Weasel used War Dance, dealing 6 damage and costing 15 stamina. Weasel cannot be hit until its next turn! Goldenpaw used Front Paw Strike, dealing no damage and costing 7 stamina.

Goldenpaw
14/20 HP (-6)
53/60 (-7)

Weasel invulnerable until next turn
20/20 HP
120/135 SP (-15)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

“I,” Goldenpaw hissed, sides heaving, panting for breath, “am going to tear your spine from your foxing flesh!”

Of course, the weasel chose this moment to jump forwards and sink its sharp teeth into her paw.

Goldenpaw shrieked.

The pain vanished, swept away in an overwhelming flood of sheer rage as she snarled, nearly frothing at the mouth as she tore into the sinuous creature, uncaring as it sunk its fangs deeper into her flesh. As long as she could get at it, as long as she could tear fur from flesh and rend flesh from bone, as long as she could hurt it, it didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered, apart from herself and the thing she would kill. Her world narrowed to herself and the wretched creature, viewed through a blood-red haze, and yet she could feel every inch of her pelt like never before. Lightning ran through her veins, adrenaline and battle-fury singing along to her pounding heart and the sound of blood rushing in her ears as she unbalanced, landing on her back with the creature atop her. This, the taste of blood in her maw and the feeling of bones cracking under her teeth; this was life.

Totally unnoticing of her fellow apprentice, Goldenpaw tore madly into the weasel, uncaring of the blood that stained her fur crimson.

weasel used Gripping Bite, dealing 6 (7-1 MR) damage and costing 15 stamina! Goldenpaw used Play Dead, dealing 8 damage and costing 5 stamina! (don’t mind me flavouring play dead)

pantherpaw
hp - 20/20
sp - 53/60

goldenpaw
hp - 9/20 (-6 HP, +1 b/c I forgot about MR last turn my bad)
sp - 48/60 (-5)

weasel
hp - 12/20 (-8)
sp - 120/135