Territory sometimes i look back and find myself bolder .ᐟ.ᐟ RANGER PATROL

[Magnoliapeak]

I SIP A TOAST TO NORMALCY

Under the direction of both Owlbark and Loonstar (though it had mostly been Owlbark if she were more honest), she had rounded up a patrol of rangers to take into ThunderClan's territory in search of some of the larger and more difficult pieces of prey. An effort of sorts to prepare them for hunting in the more difficult moons ahead, and one that Magnoliapeak felt she could handle with ease. Despite all of the... Drama, for lack of a better term... Magnoliapeak finds herself more confident than ever. Especially now that she feels she has Thunderflash's legacy as a storm guard to live up to.

Magnoliapeak's strides are quick and assured. Her mind is clear. It had not taken them long before she had scented an unusual quarry moving through their territory, and once they had been set on the trail she had been quick to signal to her patrol. "Hare," she declares lowly, picking up the pace but ensuring that her steps are light. The changing leaves overhead have added an additionally challenging layer to hunting, as their falling makes the ground crackle underfoot for even the most skilled warrior. Still, she moves with speed and treads lightly with the rest of her patrol, leading them over roots and through undergrowth stealthily.

"There," she hisses, stopping suddenly and crouching low in some thick bracken and being careful to push her way through it without rustling the fronds too much. She knows that she alone cannot take down this prey, and she twitches her tail for her patrol to fan out around her. Magnoliapeak waits quietly, watching the rather large hare pick at some grass, none the wiser. After a few long moments, she springs outward, a calculated pounce that overshoots and misses the hare, sending it scampering back toward the rest of the waiting patrol. Magnoliapeak pushes off the ground, hot on its trail and ready for the pursuit it will provide.

/ ranger patrol timeee... @FLICKERDANCE @Seafoambelly @Boarpaw @Graybird (apprentice tag @sandpiperpaw)
this will require them to all work together! roll a 1d20, once we reach a total of 50 the hare will be caught :D
i rolled a 4. TOTAL: 4

— ⋆˙⟡

✿ magnoliapeak is a thunderclan storm guard with sharp resolve and strict standards.
✿ 30 moons old, ages on the 11th of each month.
✿ currently mentoring flickerpaw and sandpiperpaw
✿ in battle, physically difficult and psychologically difficult
✿ her parents are hazelheart x bracken. she is littermate to honeysucklecry and hyacinthrain. she is gen 2 on the junipersable tree.
✿ penned by carat, see her tags here.

 

[Seafoambelly]

SEAFOAMBELLY

, 83 moons / THUNDERCLAN RANGER
A long-furred blue-gray she-cat with blue-green eyes.
Sister to URCHINSPINE
Solemn and distant. She doesn't talk much.
SPEECH || THOUGHTS
Tagging none

---

Seafoambelly padded quietly next to Magnoliapeak. In the wake of Serpentberry's death and the skirmish with SkyClan, the now-named Storm Guard seemed to have a different air about her. Assured. Authoritative. Seafoambelly did not concern herself much with the drama between her Clanmates - she'd had enough of her own - but it was clear enough that Magnoliapeak and the late medicine cat had... a complicated relationship. It was reassuring that she hadn't fallen into a similar grief as Loonstar, and instead seemed to be more focused than ever.

The scent of hare hit her nose, and immediately she dropped into a hunting crouch, all thoughts of their patrol leader becoming naught but smoke. Her sleek fur brushes against the grasses, her belly low to the ground and paws light over the dirt. Forward, she moves, taking up a position to the left side of Magnoliapeak. She watches as Magnoliapeak moves forward and leaps, wincing as the pounce goes long. Without another moment of hesitation, she tears off towards the prey, running towards it as Magnoliapeak chases from behind.

Rolled an 11. Total is now 15/50.

 

[FLICKERDANCE]

Flickerdance has followed Magnoliapeak as her mentor through the forest about a hundred times, but never as her superior. The title of storm guard suits her—she is more sensible than most, and should provide sensible intel to Loonstar. StarClan knows they need it. At least they're on the right path; it's unfortunate that it had to come at the cost of a medicine cat's life, but with any luck, the Clan will not need another vigil anytime soon.

There is a sense of pride warming her chest. It feels amazing to pad amongst warriors while being one herself, instead of a 'paw that everyone worries over. Her gaze momentarily slips over to Boarpaw and Sandpiperpaw; not even that long ago, she had been taking care of apprentice duties right alongside them. They will likely join her in the new den sometime soon... but she had been the first out of that bunch, and it takes all of her willpower to not let a self-satisfied smile plaster itself across her face. There are more important things to care about.

Namely, that rabbit. Flickerdance follows Magnoliapeak's order with a moment of hesitation, positioning herself somewhere on the far right side. Magnoliapeak lunges first, and then Seafoambelly—it's Flickerdance's turn now. She lunges forward, breaking free from the undergrowth that had given her perfect cover up until now. Her sudden appearance makes the rabbit flail for its limbs, clumsily changing direction to avoid her jaws.

Rolled a 17. Total is now 32/50.

 

[sandpiperpaw's iconsandpiperpaw]

sandpiperpaw ── • * ✿

a

she could have been a poet

As she fell behind Magnoliapeak with careful strides—not too fast to earn a snide comment from one of the other faceless patrol members, not slow enough to look stupid—Sandpiperpaw allowed herself a small satisfaction at the title her mentor held, and her position as her apprentice. Deluded, to anyone that might've been privy to her thoughts, though Sandpiperpaw lacked the self-awareness to even broach the subject, she opted to believe her name had come up in discussions of her promotion. A perfect apprentice, the shining pupil that earned Magnoliapeak a fast-pass to Storm Guard. She half-heartedly acknowledged the other reasons, but they didn't do anything to stamp down the pep in her step on this particular patrol.

So caught up in her reverie, Sandpiperpaw was the last to assume a crouch at the announcement of a hare. She drops to the ground with a movement so fluidly mechanical. Practiced, yet passed off as natural. She leaps forward after Flickerdance, following the chain of lunges carefully by leaping to the side, hoping to cut it off as the prey stumbled. Claws first, because rabbit was one of her least-favourite tastes and she refused to spit out fur caught beneath her tongue for an entire moon.

Rolled a 5. Total is now 37/50

or, she could have been a fool

 

[Boarthorn Boarthorn]

————————————— The melody sings what the words can't say. ✦

Stalking quietly as the shadow of a tom loomed behind the rest of his clanmates, they had been given the task of stalking and capturing a hare, one that the oversized apprentice breathed the rich scent of. It seemed like the plan was for them to stretch out, pin the thing between bodies until one of them could snap the thing up.

It was an interesting strategy, one unique to the rangers of the clan. Working in tandem with their skills they had acquired, and for a tom so close to his graduation, Boarpaw wanted to prove his worth to his clanmates.

First, Magnoliapeak lurched too far, missing the hare by a whisker's length. The first to lunge for prey often finds themself overestimating what they need to do in a pinch. But, considering her promotion, he couldn't help but commend the attempt. Even so, he still crouched low, watching the hare dart about with narrowed eyes.

Next, Seafoambelly took initiative to take chase of the thing, trying to corral it towards the rest of them, where Flickerdance missed the thing by the fur of its back. Boarpaw hadn't taken the time to watch his clanmates, how they tackled their hunting differently, or together even. As a group, beginning to wear down the thing.

The other apprentice on the patrol, Sandpiperpaw, lunged for the thing, trying to cut it off from the relentless strikes of the cats. It settled in his mind why this worked so well. Hares were agile and fast, careening from snapping jaws and outstretched claws with ease. With more cats trying for the thing one after another, rather than waste all their energy, they use a burst for their own tries.

Boarpaw nodded to himself, just as the clan was to stick together in culture and fights, even in hunting, keeping cats close made the task easier. Which was why, from his shaded position, he had crouched beneath, served him to be the final snare for the terrified beast.

As it tried to dart away, the enormous tom lunged forward, large paws slamming at either side of the hare as tusked jaws opened wide and clamped down on the shrieking creature. Even as it scrambled in his maw for the second it had alive, the thing fell limp as his teeth pierced its throat with no resistance.

He couldn't believe it for a moment before he sat back on his haunches and smiled around the now captured prey, eyes glittering. Boarpaw couldn't speak around the prey, but his tail thudding against the ground made it all the more evident the pride that welled for the success of the hunt.

He placed the thing at his paws, licking the blood away that trailed down his lips from piercing the thing. "That was incredible! I don't think I've ever seen anything being caught that fast!" Boarpaw beamed. He had killed the thing, but it never would have been possible without the rest of his clanmates dazing the thing and driving it right towards him. "If I tried to chasthe that, I woulda fallen over my pawths." He chuckled, warmly.

——— You keep on grinnin'

and this world keeps nagging. ———

• Rolled a 14!
  Total is now 51/50, Boarpaw caught the hare!
• 
  Boarpaw
  ✦—Thunderclan apprentice | 11 moons
  ✦—He/They
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A long-haired, blue ticked tabby tom with a prominent underbite, blue eyes and growing vitiligo.
  #91989b

 

[Magnoliapeak]

I SIP A TOAST TO NORMALCY

Magnoliapeak's circumvention of the rabbit had been intentional, yet unplanned. There had been no telling how her impromptu chase would go, but it seems that the rangers she had gathered seem confident and competent. They immediately snap into action after she begins the chase. Seafoambelly, the ranger that had helped her and Rowanpaw carry the kits' body back to camp dutifully, is quick to dart after the long-legged hare once Magnoliapeak has sent it back in the patrol's direction. Though the hare proves too fast to be quickly cut off. Magnoliapeak digs her paws into the forest floor to run after Seafoambelly, quick on her heels.

Her former apprentice, Flickerdance, darts ahead of them in an attempt to catch up to the hare. She is nimble, jaws snapping on empty air but seeming to frighten the hare and disorient it. Pride surges within her to see tact within the young warrior. Shaped no doubt by the intensity of Magnoliapeak's training. The hare is coming closer within reach now, but it's certainly making them work for such a large kill. Sandpiperpaw is next to lunge; Magnoliapeak's remaining student after Flickerdance's graduation. A promising young cat. She is sharp and has high standards. By the time she graduates Magnoliapeak is sure that she'll be as fine of a warrior as Flickerdance had turned out. Claws barely bat the hare, but Magnoliapeak is not perturbed. It still slows.

The large form of Boarpaw comes flying from the undergrowth and swiftly snatches the hare in his tusked jaws. It barely makes a shriek before it falls limp. She skids to a stop, breathing heavily after the long-lived chase. Excitement and pride shone in her eyes. This hare would feed at least three cats. Maybe even four. "Excellent work," she compliments the apprentice with a nod. She would have to remember to tell her aunt of her apprentice's good work today. "We should head back," she glances to the rest of the patrol "Between this and the prey we've already caught we will keep ThunderClan thriving."

— ⋆˙⟡

✿ magnoliapeak is a thunderclan storm guard with sharp resolve and strict standards.
✿ 30 moons old, ages on the 11th of each month.
✿ currently mentoring flickerpaw and sandpiperpaw
✿ in battle, physically difficult and psychologically difficult
✿ her parents are hazelheart x bracken. she is littermate to honeysucklecry and hyacinthrain. she is gen 2 on the junipersable tree.
✿ penned by carat, see her tags here.