Whatever It Takes [solo]

Birchheart padded out into the territory, shaking snowflakes from her ears. The she-cat felt wonderful out in the weather where fat snowflakes fell yet no wind forced them around. Trotting along the scent trail she'd been following, she was determined to find a great catch out here. She wasn't coming back to camp for a long while now. Tired from the restless night after Specklefang's death, she didn't trust herself to be out here alone. That's why she'd brought Newttongue along. The dark tom was covered in snowflakes now, much to her amusement. She heard something crunching in the snow and began stalking the ferns that were shaking from the disruption. The scent was of a hare.

Newttongue idled for a bit before getting into his own hunting, finding a skinny sparrow in a pile of branches.

hunting diiice

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8, 4

Birchheart launched forward, leaping above the hare and then down to it. However, she had offset her balance in mid-air without much tail to help and landed awkwardly in the snow near it. It sprayed her with snow as it ran away. "Mousedung!" She mewed, spitting snow out her mouth.

Newttongue pounced on the sparrow, it slipped from his grip but, with quick jaws, he snapped onto a wing and pulled it back down to kill it. Padding over to Birchheart, he chuckled. "Next time you'll catch it. It's probably scared to death anyways."

Birchheart felt her ears burn for a moment but, Newttongue's laid back response helped her feel a little better about it. Looking around, she peered into the dead grass. There were tunnels! Grinning, she scooped up snow and threw it onto the grass. A vole shot out of it and she acted quickly.

Newttongue watched as he searched for a place to store their prey.

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Birchheart was stunned as she missed just barely with her claws. She saw a blur as the creature left in some of it's other tunnels. With a hiss of frustration, she shook her head. She needed to focus! She traveled a little farther ahead, finding a squirrel that was digging up it's stash. Please, let me catch this.

Newttongue had found a small chunk of hollow log and hid his sparrow there, packing snow over the opening. He began hunting again, finding that he was going for a lizard sunning itself. Sneaking up on the rock it sat on, he swiped his paws forward in a rush to catch the slender creature.

Birchheart felt the furry tail pinned beneath her claws and she stared in disbelief. Finally! Giving it a swift bite to the spine, she carried the squirrel back to a perplexed Newttongue.

Newttongue held a lizard tail under his paw. The lizard was long gone but somehow it's tail had just dropped off! "I...
What?" He stared at it. Oh well. Maybe he'd just eat it now. Seeing Birchheart, his plan was foiled. The look dropped from his face at the sight of the squirrel. "You caught something! Nice one."

"Your catch looks pretty good as well, Newttongue. You could fill up a beetle with that."

The two stored the squirrel and went back to hunting, each searching everywhere for their next catch. They had been lucky at first. Now things were rarely moving. The tom nosed her shoulder and pointed to a cardinal on the ground pecking at something. He stood back as she advanced on it.

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 6, 9

Birchheart pounced on the bird quickly, breaking it's spine. She purred and carried the red bird to their spot before searching out another kill. Finding a mouse near a tree, she stalked it, waiting for a good time to strike.

Newttongue was excited about the brightly colored bird, ready to take all the feathers for his collection. Maybe he'd put them in his nest too! Smiling, he sniffed out a rabbit. Creeping forward, he let it come closer to him as well, tense and ready to grab it.

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Newttongue rushed forward, causing the rabbit to turn the other way and run off. Giving chase, he ran straight into Birchheart as she tried to pounce on a mouse. Both of them tumbled in the snow in a blur of fur. Standing, Newttongue shook his fur out and watched the rabbit run away.

Birchheart laid in the snow, shocked from the collision. She stood shakily and the two both stared at each other for a moment. Birchheart tried to hold in her laughter for a moment before dissolving into fits of it. Shaking her head, she started to look around. They'd missed those catches, what else was left in the forest? She sniffed out a shrew near some roots, planning to corner it, the snow covering her kept her hidden.

Newttongue tried to climb up a tree, sitting on a branch that drooped from heavy snow over the season. He saw a bird pecking at some holly berries on the ground and was about to try and catch it from the branch.

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8, 9

Birchheart's plan worked, she pinned the shrew against the tree root and killed it swiftly. Carrying it by it's tail, her fur fluffed up as she saw Newttongue in a tree, suddenly dropping from it.

Newttongue dropped from the branch, landing directly on the chaffinch. Purring with pride, he looked to Birchheart. He'd done it! He always wondered if he could do it.
A shadow swept over him soon, looking up, he was met with the talons of an eagle. Yelping, he felt himself being lifted up off the ground, pain filling his back from the grip of the eagle. Frantically, he struggled, squirming to escape. No, no, no! Not like this! As it rose, he clung to the tree branch he'd dropped from just moments ago. Furious flapping wings deafened him as he clawed desperately at the bark.

Birchheart leaped onto the branch, scrambling up in and clawing at the eagle's head, blinding an eye.

It dropped Newttongue and screeched in pain. Flying up, it swooped down to clash it's claws down on the she-cat's face with an outstretched foot. It landed behind her, massive wings raised

Newttongue hit the branch harshly and fell in the snow. Dazed, he watched Birchheart being attacked and tried to clear his aching head.

The eagle dropped again, this time, pinning Newttongue's neck down with it's talons. It raised it's head to strike the tom and kill him. Only to have Birchheart land on it, grasping a wing and thrashing her head until the bone broke. It's cry made them both cringe away and it started to bite her mercilessly. It moved the mighty talons to gain the balance it needed with her weight on it.

Seeing his opportunity, Newttongue clamped his jaws on it's neck and chomped down.

It flailed about, trying to dislodge the tom and only causing further damage to it's own throat. Weak from blood loss, it fell over and the two warriors stared at it as it died.

Newttongue was shaky as he stood, backing away from the devilish creature that had almost taken his life twice.
"Sh-should we go home now?"

Birchheart nodded wordlessly. You carry the smaller prey, I'll drag this back."

With that, they got to work. Finding some bindweed, they tied the wings to the body and Newttongue gathered the other prey. Birchheart went at a slower pace, dragging the eagle along. Newttongue wasn't too fast himself, shaken up from the event.

The member 'Kent Mansley' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4, 1