The Dark Arts (and crafts)

Crunch. Crunch. Slough.

Through high snowdrifts marched a little trail of cats, towards a place hardly touched by their kind due to its relative distance from home. Leading the way was Harebounce. Here, as Duran had mentioned the other day, Twoleg activity supposedly attracted many, many songbirds. Delicious! Maybe they hadn't been affected by what had happened elsewhere in the forest. The snowfall had stopped by the time they left the shelter of the trees, with the bright sun peeking through the clouds like a nosy kit, before sneaking back behind a thick layer of clouds. The young she-cat glanced backwards at those in the hunting patrol with her, quickly noticing how cold they all looked. She was the only one wearing a pelt, though it was getting a little worn out from constant use. She needed to make a new one yesterday. They should stop and warm up. "I think it was... here!" She stopped in an area with more frost than snow - pausing her train of thought for a moment to watch how her breath condensed in the freezing air - and turned to the rest of her party: Hollyleaf, Tinypool, Otterpaw, and Petalpaw. They were all younger than her, which honestly felt a bit weird. "D-Ashflight said this place was good for birds, but there might be some very big animals wandering around too. He said they were as big as monsters. Don't let them sneak up on you!" Were they actually a type of monster? She'd never seen them for herself, but she would never doubt what Duran had to say. Were they also loud and fast and shiny? Harebounce stared off into space for a heartbeat as her brain drifted off on some unexplainable tangent. She could imagine many glittery monsters wandering in the field, perhaps with a few baby monsters in tow. What did baby monsters look like, anyway?

Lost in thought, she absentmindedly motioned for the others to look around, she herself sniffing along a line of odd, vertical, dead saplings all only a few cats tall. They smelled faintly like Twoleg, but not enough to be alarming.

It was her first time meeting Harebounce. Shyly, blue eyes kept glaring at the older warrior's back, questioning her use of animal fur to cover herself. It was something the young Tinypool had never seen before.

She was almost trotting to follow the pace of the patrol when they finally arrived at their destination. It wasn't her first time being here but she certainly didn't visit often this part of the territory. Her mentor had warned her that kittypets or even rogues may pass by. Tinypool sniffed the air and felt a little more relaxed when she only found the faint scent of strange cats. If they ever were here, they have left long ago. The young warrior fixed her eyes on Harebounce as she spoke. Despite how she talked about monsters, the she-cat didn't seem scared at all. Instead, Tinypool wondered if Harebounce was actually hoping to find a "monster". The memory of the fox clamping its jaws around her back made her shiver but the young warrior remained mostly calm. She had managed to fend off against both a fox and a racoon dispute her small size. With a patrol as big as they were, the dark molly had no doubt they would be safe enough.

Hollyleaf followed the patrol, occasionally stopping for a brief moment to make sure that they didn't mistake this place for somewhere else. This was.. strange, and unfamiliar. She hadn't been here before, though she trusted the more experienced warrior to lead them to the correct place.

"I think it was... here!"

At Harebounce's exclaim, she stopped. Her eyes scanned the area, realizing how much snow have thickened up towards their direction of the territory. As beautiful as it was, she felt the cold was rather... unnecessary. The molly stood near Tinypool, a younger molly, though one she was the most familiar with amongst the patrol. There had also been Otterpaw, one whom she recognized as Beaverpaw's brother— though she'd never talked to him before, and so decided to keep a distance. For now, at least. The only member left, Petalpaw, she hadn't talked to the young she-cat before, either.. Though she was certainly curious about what the two were like.

As the older warrior moved on, Hollyleaf nodded, as if noting it down in her head. So far, her encounters with predators had been mostly weasels— if not, a snake. The molly had heard of countless stories with large so-called 'monsters' before despite not yet ever seeing one herself. She knew better than to let her guard down, though. However, as Harebounce motioned for them to start looking around, she too began to separate from the patrol, yet still making sure she wasn't too far ahead.

Near the front of the patrol, Otterpaw bounded forward with his jaw parted to pick up on any nearby scents. There was a pretty large patrol gathered today, but he supposed that’d be good if they were attacked. Not that Otterpaw wouldn’t be able to handle it himself! But… The others would be better off with a whole patrol to help defend themselves. Plus, it meant more people would be there to watch him show off his skills. He’d be a warrior soon, and he was going to make sure everyone knew it.

Turning to face Harebounce as she exclaimed that they were near where his mentor had spoken about songbirds, Otterpaw simply nodded his head and parted ways slightly with the patrol, off to look for prey. That was, after all, the purpose of this patrol! He’d surely be able to find something to bring back to camp. Maybe, if he tried hard enough, he’d bring back enough to feed the entire nursery!

ooc- sweats note that this topic will still use the leafbare harsh season roll table

Harebounce continued to follow her trail of stakes. Plenty of tall, frost-broken grasses grew here, as well as young trees. Quite a few had begun to absorb the strange, hard bracken strung between the little spears, swelling in the places they touched, looking not unlike the rolls of fat her clanmates got during the particularly productive days of Greenleaf. Oh, the pangs of hunger got a little worse when she thought about that. Her nose and toes felt a little colder too.

Well, the birds didn't seem to care what season it was one way or the other. Up on the metallic bracken sat a little blackbird, too busy ruffling her feathers against the chill to fully pay attention to her surroundings. Without much thought, the pelted warrior sat back on her haunches and bounced upwards, intent on smacking the poor bird down with a paw before killing it. She wasn't very smart, but she was smart enough to not leap face-first into something with such huge thorns! Indeed, many sported long hairs with a scent she couldn't recognize, proof of their defensive capabilities. Though she did manage to swat her target down, it fell too far on the opposite side, and quickly flew off before she could pick her way through. Oh well.

Harebounce
HP: 30/30
SP:73/80^-7SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Oddly enough, amongst the snow and grass, Hollyleaf managed to spot a frog not too far by. Cats began to head in directions of their own, and she'd flick her ear, making sure to keep caution... well, just in case something happened. Lowering herself down, she dropped herself into a crouch, paws silent as she approached the creature. With a leap, the molly reached for the prey with outstretched paws. However, it seemed to have noticed her— and she landed with empty paws as the creature leaped away, scattering to a few bushes. She sighed, attempting to search for another again.

Hollyleaf attempted to catch Frog! It was Unsuccessful!

Hollyleaf
40/40 HP
93/100 SP (-7)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6