Backwritten double check for double meaning // moth

[sassafras]

SASSAFRAS, 25 moons / barncat mouser
a pale blue tabby with scraggly fur and a large shoulder scar
sister to honey, mate and parent to none
a scrappy cowboy who feels he has something to prove. stupidly stubborn but gentle and kind
Tagging @Moth

---

The grasses here were cut shorter than the wheat fields he was used to. The tides of fescue and needlegrass ruled these lands, and truthfully Sassafras felt like a sore tail out here without the cover of haybales and cornstalks. The mice around the barn had been gradually declining, though, and he knew it would only be a matter of time before the snow would scare them further underground.

Some days the upwalkers were kind enough to leave some kittypet food out when the air turned frosty enough that his pawpads stuck to the ground, but those days weren't here yet. He would make it back home with a good meal between his jaws, he could feel it!

The tough scar tissue wrapped around his shoulder and leg made his crouch a bit awkward, but if he kept himself moving it did good to ease the stiffness stuck in his muscles. Motivated by the scent of prey (and cat, but where weren't there cats around these days?) he crawled across the brittle grass, pausing to flatten himself periodically as he got closer and closer. Sassafras could see it now, a vole, trying to dig underneath a rock to safety. No use with him ready to pounce!

Sassafras bunched up his hind legs and pushed off, unsheathing his claws as his paws found success in holding his prey down and quickly killing it. "Heh, no escaping there." Maybe hunting in these parts would do him some good, if the prey was out and about this much!

 

[Mothbite]

-

indentMoth had been drawn out of the forest by his empty stomach, and the scent of prey wafting on the chilled air. The forest has run completely dry, as far as he can tell. It was no use trying to find anything there. And besides, there was... other reasons, too, for him to avoid the forest.

indent He caught the scent of a vole, and his fur stood on end with electric excitement. His pupils expanded, nearly eclipsing his irises, as he fell into a crawl and made his way for the source of the smell. The needlegrass here was short, but Moth was small enough to slip beneath it's tips, leaving himself as only a dark shadow in the grasses. In his haste, he had ignored another smell mingling with that of the vole - the unmistakable scent of an unfamiliar cat. He had been spending so much time in camp, recently, that the smell of other cats had begun to blend into the background, filtered out as unnecessary noise. This was not camp, however, and the smell was not that of the familiar cats that inhabited the forest. As he zeroes in on his next meal, he hears a squak that, while small, rings in his ears like thunder. The death knell of a vole caught and crushed in sharp teeth.

indent Moth darts forward, out of the grass, to confront the one who had taken his kill. A scruffy-furred tabby, with nasty scarring along one of his shoulders. He is, as most cats are, a bit bigger than Moth himself. Despite the size advantage, he squares up against the stranger, puffing out his dark fur in an attempt to make himself look bigger, and disguise the outlined ribs showing beneath his coat. "You!" he yowls. "You've got some nerve, coming into the colony's turf and stealing food." He prays, to whomever is watching on, that the stranger doesn't see through his bluff. "You'd better explain yourself, before I call up everyone else to chase you out."

-

 

[sassafras]

SASSAFRAS, 25 moons / barncat mouser
a pale blue tabby with scraggly fur and a large shoulder scar
sister to honey, mate and parent to none
a scrappy cowboy who feels he has something to prove. stupidly stubborn but gentle and kind
Tagging @Mothbite

---

The tabby hardly had a moment to celebrate his success before some sorry sprout comes around! Sassafras tilted his chin up as he looked at Moth with a half-lidded stare. His paw kept firmly in place over the vole, claws slowly sliding forward to keep it in his grasp. He wouldn't let this cat just take what he was too slow to catch! Not when he was just as deserving of it, not when he finished the job.

"Eh, could hardly count it as stealing when y'almost let it escape." Sassafras drawled dismissively. "I don't do charity, whatever food your colony loses out on is your fault. Not mine." The threat of backup doesn't sound too good of odds for him, though, he does wonder why they haven't shown up already if they are around. "Mhmm. So go get'em then! You'll give me a head start back home. Or are you gonna do somethin' 'bout this y'self?" His maw split into a cocky grin now, tail lashing behind him in anticipation for a fight.

 

[Mothbite]

Still so young, Desperate for attention!

indenttt Dammit! The sleek blue tom isn't backing down easily. If figures - he, like most cats, is bigger than Moth, and he's far better fed. It wouldn't be hard for him to just knock Moth aside and take the prey for himself. 'What a jerk! He could go back to his cushy barn and eat all the food he has there! Why's he gotta come all the way out here to take what we have!'

indentttHe sees through Moth's lie, too. Even if he could run and get backup, the adversary would be long gone, taking his meal with him. Moth didn't have much chance of overpowering him either, so fighting over the vole wouldn't gain him anything.

indentttIf he was lucky, though, he could convince the other tom to leave, letting Moth have free rein to look for something else to eat. 'There's no way I'm walking all the way home without catching something'

indenttt"Maybe I will do something about it, huh?" Moth spits, squaring up with the stranger. After a pregnant pause, he runs forward, attempting to latch onto a shoulder.

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Mothbite | 19 moons | Warrior of Shadowclan bababbnihfibnfdifdhfhabbabab