On My Own - Solo

Anastasia panted as she hopped through the snow drifts, growling as she seemed to go from one to the next with no reprieve. She was hungry, and she knew her siblings were too, but she hadn't yet been able to catch a rabbit. Her paw slipped on ice that was hiding under the snow, and she let out a gasp as she found herself suddenly buried in the snow bank she had been trying to hop over. Frantic, she squirmed and rolled, tears forming in her eyes as she blindly flailed before suddenly light reached her once more. Scrambling towards it, she broke through the snow that was almost as tall as she was, sides heaving as she tried to compose herself. This was stupid. Snow was stupid. She stomped her paw into the freezing, fluffy powder angrily before swiping it over her ears a couple times. Fine, if the snow was going to hinder her path... She would climb a tree. It couldn't be that hard, right? Stepping closer to one of the nearby ones, she looked up it. The only branches were pretty high up, she'd have a long way to go... And there probably weren't rabbits all the way up there... But maybe she could spot one! Yeah, she would definitely be able to see one from all the way up there!

Extending her claws, she reared onto her hind legs and latched on to the tree's trunk, her hind paws still firmly on the ground as she stared blankly at the tree. How was she supposed to do this? How did one climb a tree? Tentatively, she loosened her hold with one forepaw and stretched it further up the tree, then did the same with the other. Her hind end dangled loosely beneath her, her long and fluffy tail still dragging across the ground. Now what? If she tried to do the same thing, she would surely fall. Her tail lashed angrily, frustration making a growl rumble in her throat. Why were trees so hard to climb? She narrowed her eyes, glaring at the trunk of the tree just past her nose. "I don't like you." She grumbled, digging her claws into the bark. The sound of wings over head made her lift her gaze, and her eyes landed on a very shiny black bird. It's feathers seemed to glitter in the sunlight, and her stomach rumbled involuntarily. Imagine if she caught it.... What would her mother think? Would her father be proud?

Her determination renewed, she scrabbled against the trunk of the tree with her hind paws, hooking those claws into the truck. Painstakingly slowly, one paw after the other, she made her way higher and higher, losing her grip and sliding a tail length or so down the tree only a couple times. Her eyes watered from a recent slip, one where her chin had caught painfully against a knob in the tree as she clambered atop the lowest hanging branch, looking around before making the mistake of looking down. "Oh no." She whispered, realizing with sudden horror that while she had managed to somehow get up... She had no clue how to get down.

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

---

'Invasion Dice' :

Suddenly distraught, what little euphoria the young she-cat had felt at her accomplishment dissipated immediately. The ground seemed so terribly far away.... She had never seen any cat climb a tree, let alone get down. She swallowed hard, blue eyes searched the trunk she had just scaled for a way down, a potential solution to her suddenly realized issue. "What would dad do?..." She asked herself softly, only to find herself lost. "Dad wouldn't have gotten himself into this predicament in the first place." She growled, tail lashing back and forth and startling the forgotten bird that had been watching the cat's plight.

The sudden squawk and rustling of feathers behind her pulled her attention away from the forest floor, and her gaze landed back on the bird with mesmerizing feathers. There were even more pretty up close, reflecting the sunlight with colorful sheens. The bird tilted its head at her, hopping closer on the branch it was perched on. Tilting her head in turn, Anastasia realized the bird seemed to know that she didn't know what she was doing. Frowning, she bared her teeth at the bird, who blinked and shook out it's tail feathers before beginning to groom one of the wings on its side. Huffing at the confidence of the bird she fully intended to bring home to her mother and father, Anastasia lowered herself into a lopsided crouch, trying not to allow her paws to slip off of the edge of the branch she stood on.

Each step was slow, paws placed carefully as she crept along the branch, just trying to avoid looking down and making too much noise. She had made it this far, what was just a little farther? Besides, mom and dad would be thrilled with her catch. Right? The bird had been casually eyeing her with the small black beads that blinked every heartbeat or so, but it seemed content with it's safety, eventually turning it's back on her and seeming to settle in a particularly bright ray of sunshine. "I'll show you." She breathed to herself, launching herself towards the bird with her hind paws.

Anastasia was as surprised as the bird was as her teeth pierced the flesh around it's fragile neck, snapping it and cutting off it's shrill shriek. Falling limply in her jaws, the young cat's paws hit the limb.... And slid. Her eyes widened as she said across the branch, flailing her front paws wildly as she tried to gain any kind of traction, anything to stop her momentum and keep her from sliding right off of the branch, but nothing was working. As the last feelings of support under her belly disappeared, leaving nothing but countless tail lengths of open air between her and the forest floor, Anastasia only squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as she plummeted towards the snow-covered ground.

Catch was successful. -7 SP.

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 1

She closed her eyes, not able to bear seeing the swiftly approaching ground anymore. The breath left her lungs as she landed, cradled by the snow. For several heartbeats she was stunned, but suddenly her chest screamed for air. Her legs thrashed, front paws searching for an opening. She had done it once, barely, but this time she didn't even know which way was up and which was done. The snow was packing up under her as she moved, and she attempted to use the slightly hardened surface to push up, hoping desperately that it would work. Her head broke the surface of the snow, the hole from where she had broken through it and been buried by it a mess of chaos. She finally released the bird she had clung to and gulped in breath after breath, calming her heart before looking around. There, just a few tail lengths away, was the path from where she had walked in to the territory. That way was home. Collecting her catch (and taking a moment to groom the ruffled feathers back into shining glory) she set back off towards her home to show off her catch to her parents and siblings, and share her tale of climbing a tree for the first time... They wouldn't have to know about nearly drowning in the snow not once but twice though.