|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 4:45 pm
 DawnBreak had been given her name nights ago now. And what a warrior she was turning out to be?! She struggled against the thorns that held her captive. So, because she was a warrior now, she was allowed to go out alone, probably a bad choice, as she had been stuck for the better part of an hour now. She scrabbled helplessly at the rocky terrain and hissed angrily at the thorns as they pressed deeper into her fur to scrape the flesh below.... and to top it all off... she had been hunting, on a ledge, out of the way of the patrols.... She gave a pathetic whimper and flopped, resigning to her fate of being known as the warrior who died of starvation gripped by thorns.
Her blue eyes glanced around trying to find something to help her, her tail was flicking angrily and as she was fluffed up it got caught too. Good and stuck.... on a ledge in the middle of no where.... she scuffled a bit more, only to watch a mouse run by just out of reach. "Sunclan... even the mice are laughing at me...."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:27 pm
 The sun beat down on the sparse mountain earth, gritty and rocky, where only the hardiest of vegetation stood its ground. Past sunhigh and well into the hottest stint of the day, shadows stretched silently, bereft of breeze to shake them. Occasional bird calls rung out from hunting hawks who quickly found the ground lacking in prey and took their hunts elsewhere.
Unlike beasts of feather and flight, MountainClan was grounded, as hardy and gritty as the plants and dirt they lived among. And utterly unable to take wing and search elsewhere as the hawk. Instead they made do, checking and rechecking their generations old stomping grounds, picking it clean and then picking some more. So little was left these days, and it was important to leave prey alive so that more might come next season, but times were hard and they could barely afford to let a single scrap slip through their paws.
That in mind, when Thornoat had caught scent of a mouse off the beaten trail, he'd picked his way off the path and begun tracking it down. Perhaps the mouse would be foolish enough to be found out in the open? Nothing wrong with trying, at least. So Thorncoat had followed from rocky outcroppings around the denser foliage, almost losing the trail, before being led to the stony ledges. There, across the way, he caught sight of it, the scent fresh and the small creature darted past a thicket of thorns, unawares-
Thorncoat pause in his descent to the ledge, blinking twice.
Now, Thorncoat didn't land the name Thorncoat for no reason. He knew thorns. And those? Those weren't thorns-er, well, just thorns. Those weren't just thorns. There was a cat tangled up inn that thicket, paws off the ground, absolutely caught and waiting to be picked off. If only that mouse had been caught similarly.
Ahhh, darn. The mouse was gone.
Maybe another time.
In lieu of pursuign the prey, Thorncoat picked his way over to the poor trapped soul, observing the predicament. How curious, how on earth did they mange that? Blinking a few more times, ah, he recognized those patches of dark and light fur.
"Dawnbreak?" Now it should be noted that Thorncoat was notoriously light of step, even amongst his clanmates. Quieter than a mouse that one, and liable to turn up at the most unexpected moments. So having done nothing to announce himself, it's not until he's less than a tail-length from his clanmate tangled in a thicket that he speaks up, posing the name as both an affirmation of identity and a question of what happened here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:03 pm
She stared after the mouse. "YOU COULD HAVE HELPED!!! IF YOU HAD I WOULDNT HAVE EATEN YOU!!!!" Ok... that was a lie...She was next to nothing but skin and bones, had she caught that mouse... she would have eaten it in a heartbeat, she had given up her dinner, all two bites of mouse, last night to the starving little kits, but she was hawk food anyway and so Sunclan would forgive her. She hung her head. "And.... Die...."She waited, nope.... not yet.... but she was sure the end would be upon her soon.
"AH!" She jumped, well, sorta, it was more of a scramble to try and get free and see who was talking. She hadnt heard anyone come close, hadnt scented anyone. She sniffed but she could only smell the mouse that had scampered by. "Come out! Ill Fight you with all my paws tied up! Ill make crowfood out of.... " Wait.... think... they had said her name, they knew her. She whipped to try and see the cat talking. She hissed as the thorns sliced easily through her coat. "ThornCoat!!! Dont just stand there!!! Get me out of here!" While her tone was bossy it would be clear there was relief in her voice. She tried to flick her tail impatiently but hissed as it caught more. She blinked. "I thought i could fit through this little passage way... I used to do it all the time... and then i got stuck... and trying to get out... and now im destined for SunClan... or i was until you showed up... " She thought about it... he was always turning up random places. "How did you find me?!" She frowned. "I was sure i would be here till Sunclan came to get me..... And the mice are laughing at me.... One walked right infront of my paws...."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:12 pm
Thorncoat pulled his head back when the thoroughly trapped she-cat began the thrash about, the thicket shaking and shaking but relinquish it's prize, it would not.
Like some kind of trap, the thorns seemed to consume Dawnbreak more and more each time she struggled and fussed. Already her tail was disappearing, the brambles wrapping around her and digging in. How morbid.
"How much more do you think you'd have to struggle for the thorns to swallow you whole?" Whether Thorncoat was joking or genuinely curious was unknown, his tone waffled somewhere in between at ponderous and a little wistful.
Unseen to Dawnbreak, Thorncoat seemed to catch himself, flicking his ears and shaking his head lightly. Of course, she couldn't see him as she was. While her head hadn't been covered and taken into the bush in full, she still couldn't turn to see him. He padded around in front of the she-cat before leisurely resting on his haunches. What a predicament indeed. She'd tangled with the wrong thorn bush.
"Hm? I was actually tracking that mouse," he answered, not quite making eye contact as he surveyed the trouble Dawnbreak had landed herself in. "A shame it didn't stop to gnaw you out, I could have gotten dinner out of the deal."
Hmmm. Unhurriedly, Thorncoat came to stand again, stepping closer to peer at the damage. He breathed in, tasting the lightest tang of blood in the air. Good and caught, wasn't she? The key to thorn bushes was to never get caught at all. Alas, it would seem Dawnbreak didn't know this. Well, alright then.
"Well, there's not much to be done for you now."
A cat would think that Thorncoat had to sound so morbid on purpose. Unmindful of the news he'd just delivered, he padded out of sight once more. Contrary to what it might have seemed, he was stepping to stand side by said with Dawnbreak, getting the best angle he could before delicately raching a foreleg into the thick of the bush.
"Hold still, if you would," Thorncoat instructed from near Dawnbreak's head before he leaned in to bite off some of the branches wrapped on her own forelegs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:46 pm
Yes, the bush was devouring her bit by bit. he would have found it interesting had it been positions reversed. But at the moment... it wasnt even a little bit painful. And Littlepaw would claw her ears off for using all her supplies... she was gonna be ribbons of a cat by the time she was out.... But at least she knew now not to get into the thorns.... Well.... she was bound to do it again... but she would be careful not to get stuck. She thrashed at that statement, "You mousebrain... if you dont help me out we are sure to find out!" Her tail was swallowed up more wrapping into a particularly stubbon knot of thorns as she twitched it annoyed to be kept waiting. Another cat wouldnt be staring at her while she was in pain.... well... she wouldnt have watched a clanmate in pain.... Then again... she proved she could get stuck in the brambles.
She flicked her ear. "It is a shame... id be out and have already eaten that mouse..." She laughed only the smallest amount at that but then tried to pull herself out again. "Though, iif you get me out of this... ill make sure to catch you something for the trouble..." Not that she had been very successful lately.
She jerked only to have the thorns bite. "What?! You wouldnt leave me here!?" This was ThornCoat though.... She tried to turn to watch him, to call him back something. She didnt want to die... and now that there was hope... she couldnt let it get away.
His words stopped her though. She froze. "You are gonna help?" She went limp. She wasnt gonna die!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:56 pm
It would seem Dawnbreak was not interested in keeping still. Well, it was her blood she was choosing to sacrifice to the victor of the match.
Thorncoat pulled his face away, narrowly avoiding a thorn slicing through his nose, and waited for Dawnbreak to settle down.
He flicked an ear, tilting his head as he considered her.
"That would depends on how you define help," Thorncoat offered before leaning back in to finish biting off the branches holding one of her forepaw's captive. Was it help to Dawnbreak her of her conflict and lesson? To release her before she had earned that freedom with her own paws?
It was not the first time such an incident had occurred, and it was nowhere near the last. But it was always interesting to see how one cat could navigate the thorns and another, well, could not. It was like the young warrior was being lost before his very eyes, consumed by her hubris.
One did not trifle with thorns when they suffered from hubris. Thorns must be met in combat on equal footing, with a healthy respect of your opponent, for a cat never knew who might come out on top. But the prize could be worth it. Not that that was what Dawnbreak was after. No, she had simply attempted to brush by the thorns with nary a "how do you do," and see where that got her.
And if one suffered from hubris, they were unlikely to listen, but must learn from their own experience.
Ahh, there is was. Thorncoat spit out the bits of fiber his mouth had collected as he'd worked on biting Dawnbreak's left side free.
"Which would you prefer, your head or your limbs?" he meowed as he carefully extricated himself to move around to the next vantage point depending on her answer. "Mmm, I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep the tail."
The unscathed was unspoken, dropped as he trailed off in through, giving a survey of the rather impressive knot she'd managed to twist it into.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:09 pm
Nope, still was never part of Dawnbreak's character... it was almost... directly against it actually. But she was trying to not die and that was making her... a little less squirmy.... than if she was totally free. When she felt that he was waiting she sagged a bit.
"What do you mean? Help is help!" Paw free she set it on the ground and moved to try and help but then tried to remember to hold still. "Uh, Both... But head first." She flashed him a hard look. "We will keep the tail... the tail is very important.... " She flicked her ear and then sighed. "Alright well... " She stretched a bit and heard the thorns shift with her. "I guess im completely at your mercy... "
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:38 pm
"Mmm, help is a matter of perspective, isn't it? It certainly doesn't help prey when we eat it," Thorncoat meowed, maw curling good naturedly at the thought. Ha, imagine if hunting the prey helped them somehow. How silly. Perhaps prey having their own rites of passage, facing the deadly predators that were cats, helping weed out the weak. A breath of laughter came unbidden.
Silly.
"If I don't get your head first you'll surely bait the bush to tear it to ribbons, won't you." Whether it was friendly ribbing or a statement was lost with his distant tone, catching somewhere in between. As it was though, Dawnbreak did not seem to be doing the best at holding still. It took patience to face down a thorn bush, you couldn't just rush in. "Oh, but you could survive without a tail quite alright. Maybe it could replace the kill we both lost?"
Thorncaot drew away from Dawnbreak's side to inspect her head before she got it more tangled with her twisting it around to look at him. Free her side may be, but thorns were still tangled and stuck to her, the brambles wrapped to her limbs. If she'd managed to get out on her own, it would have been a set of truly impressive armor. He hadn't been able to remove the thorns right now, simply chew away the pieces that suspended her. the job of clearing her coat would come later.
"I think you'll make a perfect example," he mewed, sounding complimentary, but without disclosing what went on in his brain it was hard to tell why. But look at that coat of thorns, she would look fearsome when she was free. He's never seen another cat make a bid at his tactic before, not to the true extent, but Dawnbreak would be a picture perfect example when she got free. "When you walk into camp, they'll be the ones at your mercy," He continued, sounding rather pleased about it too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:14 pm
"Well no... you arent helping the mouse... I mean... What is normal for a spider is chaos for a fly...But... but that doesnt mean you arent helping the original cat that you were supposed to be!!!" Though truly if those thoughts were made known and Dawnbreak had to think about mice not as food but as small mammals that may very well have kits and mates and such....She would be a sobbing mess, And feel guilty every time she caught a little mouse.
"My tongue is sharp Thorncoat, but i think ill keep that firmly in my mouth till im well away from this bush." She gave him a semi amused look, but she was still stuck she could only be... so amused before the reality sunk in again. "I could not! I would die... surely... I am clumsy enough with my tail... now take away my balance and you may as well leave me here for sunclan!" She gave a dramatic huff and went as limp as the thorns would allow.
She watched him and as he spoke she shook her head. "Nope... No one should ever do this!" This wasnt the first time that the tom had tried to sell them on wearing thorns... But then she blinked. "Thorncoat.... we arent going to be staging a revolt... right?" Afterall... she owed him a favor now... and following him into battle... was not going to be it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
