Not Used to It [Open-hunting]

Flowerthorn still had some things she hadn't fully recovered from with the Fire but she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing while Riverclan tried to take care of them. She didn't want to feel useless. She could deal with being a little slower, and not being able to speak fully if that meant she could get out of this weird camp and hunt. So she waited by the entrance for either her own clan or some Riverclan warriors to join her for a hunting patrol.

The SkyClanner had been lingering near the camp’s entrance for a while. Snowflight’s instincts insisted she was up to something—and a few moons ago, he would’ve been right. No SkyClan cat had business this deep in RiverClan territory. But the fire had changed things, even beyond the Clan it’d uprooted. Until Ivystar said otherwise, this was SkyClan’s camp, SkyClan’s land, as much as it was RiverClan’s; therefore, he had to be civil. Helpful, even. And the SkyClanner was almost certainly waiting for help of some sort, a patrol partner, a tour guide; anyone who sat near the camp’s entrance for that long usually was. Letting out a soft huff, Snowflight padded over, tail flicking back and forth in an uneven rhythm. ”Waiting for someone?”

Bloodstrike had just dropped off a thrush into the fresh-kill pile and was planning on heading out for more. He had been awfully quiet lately and his eyes were cold and distant. His leader showing back up after all of this time still did not sit well with him, but he wasn't about to make it obvious to any other clan's members about Skyclan's internal struggles. The clan was divided, more than those in charge of the clan knew, but only Bloodstrike had been honest and recently, very forthcoming about it. He was done keeping silent. He would deal with the foolish loyalists to Spottedstar if he needed to, but not in front of any Riverclan cat or any cat outside of Skyclan.

Upon seeing a Riverclan warrior that he didn't know the name of approach Flowerthorn, he stopped in his tracks for a moment and waited. As compensating and kind as Riverclan had been, Bloodstrike's old cautions weren't about to die any time soon. He knew that his clan was not well liked thanks to Spottedstar, and he had fought many cats over it, some of which had decided to like and respect Bloodstrike when just moments before, they had hated all of Skyclan and thought them all cowards. If he needed to fight again, he would do so at the drop of a leaf.

Once it was clear that the Riverclan warrior meant no harm, though he might not have been thrilled that Skyclan was on his clan's territory (understandably so!), Bloodstrike relaxed. He approached, as it definitely looked like Flowerthorn was waiting for someone. Still, Bloodstrike hardly spoke much anymore, and merely remained two cat lengths away from the Riverclan warrior and waited for Flowerthorn to answer. Maybe it was something he could help with as well.

Flowerthorn couldn't help but tense up at the approach of the Riverclan warrior. She still wasn't used to it. She felt like she was more of an outcast than usual here. Her eyes glanced over to Bloodstrike as soon as she saw him approached but returned to Snowflight. "Oh.. Uh.. Well I was wanting to hunt.. I was just waiting on someone to go with me." She responded. It was in her nature to be independent to be cold, but she couldn't be her considering Riverclan's hospitality. "I don't suppose you would want to go?" She said, her dull blue eyes looking over to Bloodstrike again seeing what he was doing.

The SkyClanner’s focus slid away from his face to something past him. Snowflight turned, equal parts suspicious and curious, and promptly went rigid to the tip of his tail. He was tall for a RiverClanner—thank his father for that—but the cat who’d joined them was massive. Dark stripes, muscle built on muscle. Like Beecloud, but with striking green eyes instead of amber and little of Beecloud’s warmth. Snowflight’s gaze skipped down the other tom’s front. He’d been caught off-guard, sure, but he couldn’t assume it was intentional; he wasn’t exactly hard to sneak up on. Besides, the larger cat had stopped a reasonable distance away. Snowflight was just on edge. They all were.

Exhaling slowly as he forced the tension out of his legs, he turned to face the SkyClan she-cat again. ”I can, if you want,” he said. ”It’d probably be better to have someone who knows the territory with you.” Once again, the she-cat looked toward her Clanmate, asking if he might want to come along. Snowflight followed suit. He shrugged and shifted his weight to one side, searching the larger tom’s face. Three cats on a patrol would be safer than two; if this cat was as strong as he looked, he’d be useful in a pinch, SkyClan or not.

Bloodstrike silently listened to them talk, noting that he had spooked the Riverclan warrior. Bloodstrike offered a small half-smile and dipped his ears forward in a silent apology. He stepped around to the Riverclan warrior's right side to put himself in better view and to not seem as threatening when standing behind him. His clan had gotten used to him being the size and weight of a bobcat, but other clans haven't. He needed to remember not to creep up on them so much, lest he be mistaken for a predator at first glance and end up with more clawmark scars on his face. The ones he had now were from his own father. It had been a heat of the moment claw to the face, which Bloodstrike returned a hard bite to his father's scruff in return, but that was a thing of the past now and Bloodstrike held absolutely no grudge to his father at all, considering the situation they were both in at the time of the incident.

The burns on Bloodstrike's paw was nearly unnoticeable now, with much of the fur around his toes grown back... but the lightning-shaped burn scar on his back was there to stay. He hadn't exactly seen himself in a mirror lately, but he could imagine just how feral and unapproachable he looked now.

"I'll go with you. The Riverclanner is right though, I think taking someone with us who knows the territory would be best." Bloodstrike then looked down at the fluffy white cat. "I'm Bloodstrike. I'm sorry I snuck up on you, it wasn't intentional." He dipped his ears forward in apology again. He'd offered his name and hoped that the white tom would give them his as well.

"I have a friend here in Riverclan... Streamtail. I haven't seen her yet, is she... well?" Given all that had happened to him lately, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know if something bad had happened to her too, but the question had already been asked. He spared another look at Flowerthorn and nodded at her once, letting her know to lead the way and he would follow.

Flowerthorn nodded at both of the warriors. She wouldn't mind having the Riverclanner around so it would make it easier to hunt though.. She didn't know how well it would go considering she was so used to hunting in the trees, her ground hunting wasn't exactly up to par. She stood up her small form becoming apparent more than ever beside the tall warrior that was Bloodstrike. Though just because she was the size of an older apprentice didn't mean she wasn't a capable warrior.

"I'm Flowerthorn." She told the Riverclan warrior before turning to lead the two out of the camp, but once she stepped out of the camp she gestured for Snowflight to take the lead since he knew the territory.

Evidently, his response hadn’t gone unnoticed. With an apologetic look, the larger tom moved into Snowflight’s field of vision (on his right side; Snowflight chose not to think about whether that could be intentional). That, combined with the tom’s easy answer, helped Snowflight relax further, though his reservations lingered. Neither of the SkyClan warriors seemed offended by his offer, thank the stars. However much he resented sharing his home with a Clan he knew solely through border skirmishes, they were RiverClan’s responsibility now, in a way; the least he could do was make sure they didn’t get too lost.

The larger SkyClanner spoke again, giving his name—Bloodstrike, which seemed a little too fitting—and a proper apology; the smaller one stood up and introduced herself as Flowerthorn. At least he knew what to shout if trouble popped up during their hunt. ”Don’t worry about it,” Snowflight said with a flick of an ear. ”I’m Snowflight.” The last thing Bloodstrike had mentioned stuck in his head. How in StarClan’s name had he gotten to know Streamtail? Logically, it wasn’t unusual—Snowflight knew from experience that not every cross-Clan interaction had to involve bloodshed—but somehow, it’d never occurred to him that he might not be the only cat with friends across RiverClan’s borders. Maybe he could afford to tell Streamtail about Beecloud, then. Shaking off that thought, Snowflight said, ”Yeah, she’s been all right. Busy, though.”

Before he could say anything else on the topic (stars knew he had a whole pawful of questions), Flowerthorn stepped forward. Snowflight hurried after, then past her once they’d left the camp behind. SkyClanners liked hunting in trees, didn’t they? Though the Beech Copse had never been his favorite hunting spot, maybe that was where they needed to go. Turning his paws northward, he padded on.

After several minutes of walking, a muddy scent reached his nose; he strayed away from the group, toward the riverbank. Sure enough, there was a small frog lurking in the grass. Wondering where the river had gone, Snowflight guessed. He flattened himself down until his fur just barely brushed the earth. Fortunately, his blinding white pelt didn’t give him away for once. He crept closer, sliding his paws carefully over grass and dirt, then launched himself at the frog. One bite later, it was dead. Holding it tightly in his mouth, he returned to the pair of SkyClanners. Perhaps it was a sign of good hunting to come. He hoped it was, anyway. He'd never been a skilled land hunter, but he couldn't afford to slip up here.

Snowflight attempted to catch Frog, using 3 stamina. The attempt was successful!

Snowflight
55/55 HP
167/170 SP (-3)

The member 'rhindon' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Bloodstrike silently followed after the white cat and his mind began to wander. Thoughts and emotions straight from the Dark Forest swam in his head and enclosed something icy and sharp around his throat. His shimmering green eyes stared ahead, but they were far away... in another time and another place. Thoughts of a coup ran rampant inside his head, though his face remained as neutral as it ever had been. Kill Spottedstar. Eight times. An overdose of poppy seeds and a short trip to the thunderpath... that would obliterate any body that Starclan could ever hope to return him to. If Bloodstrike had to, he would drag his broken carcass again and again and again out into the thunderpath for the monsters to crush repeatedly until all of his lives ran out. Once Beechpaw received full medicine cat status, Bloodstrike considered doing the same to Sagelight, but a medicine cat would be much harder to drug than anyone else...

Suddenly reality snapped him back to what was going on in front of him when Snowflight landed on something. Bloodstrike leaned forward to see what it was, noting some kind of squishy creature that... honestly reminded Bloodstrike of snot. Uh.... no thanks, Snowflight... That could be Riverclan food if that's what they wanted, but Bloodstrike set his eyes on a proper Skyclan cat meal.

A bird.

He slunk into a low crouch and began to stalk silently forward. The bird flitted along a branch, focused on something else completely. That worked out just fine for Bloodstrike. Even as he jumped and velcro'd onto the tree bark, his massive, heavy body made no noise and hardly even shook the skinny tree. He clawed his way up in complete silence and closed in on the oblivious robin. With a single, effortless leap, Bloodstrike sailed through the air, caught the bird's head in his jaws, and was back on the ground without even so much as a squeak from his terrified prey. Once crunch down and the bird's skull collapsed in his mouth.

Bloodstrike caught a bird! -3SP

((I will add the stats later, sorry but I gotta be quick today and I don't remember them off the top of my head!))

The member 'Tara' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

Cold blue eyes watched the others as they stepped away to do their own things. Catching a frog... which Flowerthorn wasn't super fond of.. but food was food considering how cramped the Riverclan camp had become due to the current circumstances. Dull eyes flicked over to Bloodstrike, easily seeing the far away look in his eyes that had vanished the second Snowflight had caught something. What was the large tom thinking about? It had a pang of curiosity sitting in her chest but she shook it away realizing it was her turn to catch something.

The small she-cat stepped away from the other two catching what she assumed to be a rare scent of squirrel in Riverclan territory. Hopefully she would be able to track it and catch it. Carefully Flowerthorn followed the scent until she spotted the squirrel rummaging on the ground in front of a tree. She crouched low, not liking that she had to be on the ground, and moved forward. Once she was close enough she leapt. She felt the creature trapped under her paws, squirming to get free but she wasn't going to let it. Quickly she killed it, nodding to the others that they could continue on.

Flowerthorn:
80/80 HP
237/240 SP

The member 'Reaper King' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Though he could see flickers of disgust in the SkyClanners’ eyes, Snowflight lifted his muzzle in not-quite-defiance as their small patrol continued on. Frog was less than ideal, even for water-dwellers, but at least it wasn’t fur. As the hunt began in earnest, any hints of their previous conversation (if it could be called that) died away. Bloodstrike was the first to part from their group, eyes fixed on one of the few nearby trees. He scaled it easily, silent as a RiverClanner waiting on the riverbank; then, with a mighty leap, he snagged a bird right off its branch, crushing its head between his teeth once he’d landed. Flowerthorn drifted off toward her own tree a few moments later. After a lightning-quick pounce, she brought back a squirrel. As he’d expected, the SkyClanners preferred to hunt what little of their usual fare they could find. That only made Snowflight miss the river more. Flowerthorn nodded, signaling they could continue; he shoved aside a stab of envy and took the lead once again.

Before long, the Beech Copse’s cluster of trunks rose into view. The white-furred warrior opened his mouth to announce they’d almost reached their destination when something caught his attention—not a scent this time, but a flurry of motion in the grass not too far ahead. Mouth snapping shut, he threw himself into a crouch. After some shuffling, careful to keep himself downwind, he caught a hint of what he was hunting: Lizard. I guess it’s better than frog… Unfortunately, it was too good to be true. His pounce landed a whisker short, and though he took one last swipe at it, the lizard skittered out of reach. Snowflight bit his tongue. Frog-dung. Maybe he’d find another closer to the trees.

Snowflight attempted to catch Lizard, using 3 stamina. The attempt was a failure…

Snowflight
55/55 HP
164/170 SP (-3)

The member 'rhindon' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4