Willow's Rise - Page 83

***Alchemist Kitsune*** · #**821** August 23rd, 2024, 09:50 PM

Sprucejumper was used to it. To have his remarks responded to. The star worshipers were fond of talking. A lot. Wouldn't shut up for the most part. Which is why it took him by surprise when the previously mocking deputy decided to accept his thanks with a simple, concise, efficient response. It was... odd. Or rather would have been odd from most other cats, but Pokey barely spoke to his - admittedly incredibly limited - knowledge. So perhaps it was the mockery that had been out of place? Perhaps this competence was his more usual way of being? It would make sense. He doubted Angry liked ineptitude among the cats that served her closer than anyone.

A mild snort escaped him as he paused, turning around to stare at the calico tom only to notice he was gone. Probably off hunting. Good. Maybe a branch would fall on him and make him faceplant against the dirt for his troubles. Not that he was still bitter about the mockery. He was above such petty things. Hmph!

With ease, the tom kept his sprint, climbing up to willow with a burst of speed as he reached the lower branches, swiftly assessing his situation as he focused, keeping all senses alert for any signs of prey. It was admittedly difficult to keep his ears open to any slight sound, any rustle of feathers or pitter patter of tiny paws on leaves, due to the remarkably loud tapping that had suddenly started taking place nearby, making the very branch he was on vibrate. Emerald hues narrowing, Sprucejumper made his way through the branches of the old tree, living up to his name as he made himself at home up on its limbs, the clumsiness he normally displayed on the ground gone. This wasn't the forest floor, after all. Utmost attention was needed. All it took was one bad step and he could plummet to his death.

Bushy tail flared up behind him as he kept his balance, the young warrior took pause, his eyes widening at the strange sight. Beneath him there was a bird nestled upon the trunk of the tree, a strange looking crow with a white face and bright red crest repeatedly slamming its face against the tree, each strike making the wood tremble. Was this strange thing what was making that ruckus?! It was huge! Bigger than him, in any case. Maybe even bigger than The Boulder! No no. Let's not be hasty. It just looked that big because it was up on the tree fighting it with its face and evidently winning.

A quick assessment of his surroundings gave him a battle plan. The bird was not really paying attention to him. To anything, really. It wasn't exactly as though it was being sneaky with that racket. Perhaps the other predators of the forest knew more than him not to mess with this face bashing, red crested, hellishly loud bird, but honestly, all Sprucejumper saw was an impressive meal that would definitely give him back at least some dignity after that failure on the ground.

With silent paws, he slipped into the shadows, looming on the branches above the feathery creature as it remained hard at work, its beak evidently creating a hole in the wood as it went along. Oh well... better avoid that beak. Heavens knew what it would do to his face if it made contact with it. Gratefully, he had spotted an opening. Not even this bizarrely strong creature could keep its pace up forever. It slammed its head against the trunk in bursts before stopping. Catching its breath, he supposed, before it got back to work showing the old willow who was boss. He just had to wait for the right. Moment. To. There!

The instant it paused, Sprucejumper leaped, fangs bared as he landed expertly on the bird's back, the massive, booming thunder that erupted from it almost being enough to distract him. But the tom was a cat on a mission. One mistake and he would be this bird's dinner. Now that he was clinging to its back, he was definitely reconsidering his original assessment... maybe it really was bigger than his former mentor... No time to think on this, however, instead having his fangs sink into the creature's neck, death being swift as it went limp.

He had accounted for this. It wasn't the Havana Brown's mix first time hunting in the canopy. Eyes returning to their usual, deadpanned stare, he used the falling body as a platform to aim himself, jumping towards the nearest branch beneath him as he let his prey plummet to the ground with a heavy thud. There was absolutely no way in hell he was hauling that in his mouth all the way down, thank you very much. He worked smarter, not harder. At least if he could help it.

Heading down to look at his conquest - there was absolutely zero chance of him finding anything else to eat up in the tree after the ruckus that thing was making - he allowed a small, smug smirk to tug at his whiskers for a second before he sobered up. Because yeah, sure. It was impressive. It was a big meal fit for a fair number of cats. But who had to haul this thing back to camp? This tom right here. Ugh. The things he did for this clan. Honestly, if only he wasn't so successful at hunting, maybe he would have a better time of things. Alas, he could only accept to carry his burdens and move along. His very heavy, very feathery burdens. This thing was going to be hell to drag back!

Padding back towards where he had last left off the deputy, he blinked, noticing he was the last cat back. Ew. Well... Whatever. At least he was here, which was more than he could say for that apprentice whom he still hadn't seen show up. With a snort, he blinked, silently letting them know he was done. There was no way he could carry anything more than this back to camp, in any case. Without waiting for another word, he started to march back. They were waiting for him in the first place, might as well get this trek back over and done with. Especially considering he was probably going to be slower than the two of them combined dragging this crested, head banging crow to camp.

| +1 Pileated Woodpecker |
@Starfall [Spiderthroat] | @Luminous [Hawkcatcher] | @Blaaze [Asterpaw]

***Beaan*** · #**822** September 1st, 2024, 08:48 AM

Wolfpaw
He/Him - 7 Moons - ThunderClan Medicine Cat

Once Flamesurge finally showed up, Wolfpaw quickly headed out, hoping mudhound and Flame were close behind. Soon, they arrived to willow's rise. "Alright, find whatever you can," he muttered, looking around.

As the tripod medic looked around, he soon spotted a clump of tansy. Quickly, Wolfpaw grabbed some before looking for some more herbs [+3 tansy]

It wasn't long before the tabby found some cobwebs. The young cat grabbed some before heading back to his patrolmates. [+2 cobwebs]

"Found some tansy n cobwebs," he muttered, dropping his findings

[ @Dolomedes @Rani - procrassination is my worst enemy, giving us to the 3rd, and I'll add the patrol to the patrol menu. So so so sorry for the delay !! School decided to give me a butt ton of homework and quizzes last week]
[+3 tansy +2 cobwebs]

***Rani*** · #**823** September 1st, 2024, 06:37 PM

This felt kinda awkward and Mudhound had no clue how to fix! Like the tripod was aware there were issues between the siblings right now but it'd been very... silent on the walk over and they werent sure what to do about it. It was just.... A really hard situation really and honestly no one was wrong or right but there was hurt instead.

Lost for a solution Mudhound instead just quietly collected herbs, fleecing a marigold bush and sticking paws into several fallen logs for cobwebs, an eye on the two cats.

@oliver @Bean (+3 marigold +2 cobwebs)

**Spider.** · #**824** September 20th, 2024, 08:00 PM

@RavensCall

#Tcechopawtraining - tracker tag feel free to use it so its easy to keep track of stuff]

[Risingstorm| thunderclan hornet|Purrks: just a scratch-Killer Aptitude 3-shadow fiend ]

the hornet brought echopaw to willows rise the air held a slight chill probably cause it was where they buried the dead, where his mother laid rising scowled at the thought of his mother before turning his gaze to echopaw " This is willows rise if you know, we bury our fallen classmates her...this place is also good for hunting so after climbing that's next" he meowed padding up to the willow tree that held markings of the ones lost in a fire many moons back. He placed his pink pads against the tree taking a beep breath " okay lets get started So, when climbing a tree, you want to hook the bark with your claws, then push yourself off the ground, pulling your weight up." the hornet showed how out reaching his for arms as his white claws snagged the groves of the willow trees slightly brown bark pushing himself up with his hind legs.

The hornet moved up the tree hitting a low sitting brach before landing jumping and landing on it "Once you get high enough, move to a branch. But you need to balance yourself so you don't fall. Use your tail to help with that and find a good branch that won't snap out from under you. Now you try he meowed jumping down from the branch, but his scarred back leg nearly gave out as it sent a ripple of pain through his body he winced slightly before it quickly faded away.

**RavensCall** · #**825** September 21st, 2024, 05:44 PM

#Tcechopawtraining

Echopaw followed her mentor to Willow's Rise. She never really went here before, since nobody she knew had passed away. To her knowledge at the very least. OOOH, I cannot wait 'till I can hunt properly. That's gonna be fun. But let's be respectful of our surroundings. This is, a burial site, after all. Upon hearing Risingstorm's instructions, she dug her claws into the tree bark, and hoisted her way up. How the heck am I gonna use my tail if I no longer got one o' those?

Roll for climbing the tree:

Echopaw rolled a 5! She falls off of the tree half-way to the nearest branch.

Echopaw thought she was getting a hold of it. That was, until she fell off of the tree. She landed on her paws completely safe. (Echo rolled a 19 on whether she got injuries or not.) "Oooh... 'kay..." The silver tabby muttered, "We are trying this again." She once more embedded her claws into the peeling bark, and hoisted her way up.

Rolling for Echopaw's second attempt...

Echopaw rolled a 20! She successfully climbs up the tree to a high enough point for a branch.

This time, Echopaw actually did it properly. Hoisting herself upwards, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw a branch. Reaching her paw out, she managed to grab the branch, using it to see if the branch was thin enough. She sighed, watching the branch snap off. Echopaw climbed a bit further up, once again checking with her paw if the branch would be thick enough. This branch didn't snap off, but it was terribly thin. She kept climbing, when, in the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a branch a few tail-lengths upwards from Echopaw's current position. She grumbled, noticing that it was still too thin. She also noticed she was running out of branches. There was, however, a branch to Echopaw's left. Would that work? This one broke when Echopaw lightly brushed her paw against it. There were two more branches she could try, and they had better be thick enough. The leftmost branch wasn't thick enough, Echopaw realised, once she had reached high enough to touch it. The right-side branch wasn't thick enough either. Echopaw was starting to panic, she'd never climbed this high before. She climbed down the tree, trying to not get injured.

Rolling for safely getting off the tree...

Echopaw rolled a 13! She's safe.

Echopaw climbed down the tree, relieved to finally be on solid ground. Though for the many minutes she spent up in that tree, she felt a bit disoriented on the ground, but got used to it after pacing around a little. "Was that good? I had to make do with what I've got, maybe if I climbed a different tree I'd be able to sit on a branch?"

edit: forgot to ping lmao

@Spider.