Open Territory THE TEETH THAT GNASH AND GNASH + fox

[OWLBARK]

Leafbare was so close. The mist that left his mouth in the morning and the grass crunching with ice told Owlbark this. It was close enough that worry was a constant knot in his belly. They had kits on the way and elders to feed. They had herbs to collect and patients to heal quickly before it became near impossible to keep them comfortably warm. Every night the deputy racked his head with worries and possibilities of preparation. He was tired. He craved the ease of greenleaf.

Owlbark knew he was not the only one in the forest craving warmth and also food. He had scented the fox two days ago. It crept close to camp, undoubtedly attracted to their freshkill pile. It had been dutifully stocked by his warriors and he planned to keep it that way.

The fox would not reap their rewards. So, he gathered a patrol to find where the fox was hiding. His goal was intel, but he had prepped his followers for a possible fight against hungry teeth. He wasn't naive enough to not know it would probably go that way.

The tabby tom pushed through ferns with his mouth drinking in the scents of the woods. It wasn't long before the musk of fox caught his tongue. "Quiet," he warned and sunk low on his haunches. It was close and had probably already noted their presence. It could be any-

White teeth flashed through the ferns in front of his face and nearly caught his muzzle. Owlbark hissed and slashed out with claws, missing stark orange fur. The fox jumped through underbrush and out of sight, but was clearly still stalking the patrol. "ThunderClan get ready!"

ooc: fox attack!! roll a d20 and see how you do!
1-10: he gets you!
11-20: you get him!
i'll be secretly keeping track of the fox's health for this thread and feel free to roleplay its actions!

 

[Boarthorn Boarthorn]

Boarthorn had volunteered to join the patrol, dutiful as ever. He had been absolved of all other patrols for the moon on account of his graduation, but the young tom couldn't sit idle, not when the whispers of foxes on the territory. Not when his baby siblings were soon to join the clan, when leafbare whispered in the winds. He had been raised strong to defend his clan, and that is what he sought to do.

But, even so, the young warrior found himself distracted. The last few days or so, all following his warrior ceremony, it had been.... Awful. It was impossible to ignore the crawling sensation down his back as his father was labelled a murderer. The sight impossible to blink away of the two slaughter mates side by side as Daisynose and Pineconekit's lives were torn apart at the seams. There had not been a moment of respite, but he could not lie dormant. Even if his mind seemed to be in as many places as the present.

Creeping alongside the patrol, Owlbark was quiet yet commanding, for a cat he once quietly feared, he could see why the other had been tasked as Loonstar's right hand, strong in the face of strife. The deputy barked something, and the young warrior held his tongue, crawling with his belly low to the ground but still managing to tower above everyone else. It was an unsettling feeling, but he pushed it away. He was there to protect his clan.

After Cedarsnap and Sweetpetal, he needed to take more action. Maybe if he had been faster, braver even. Then maybe Sweetpetal could have had a fighting chance. Maybe he could have protected him, and the young mollys back in camp wouldn't be beside themselves in grief. Maybe he could...

"ThunderClan get ready!"

Boarthorn's eyes shot wide, the whole patrol suddenly on edge. Swallowing hard, he swivelled his head about, suddenly hypervigilant. Had Owlbark seen the fox? The tabby cursed himself silently; he had been too in his own mind to pay attention... He tried to level his breathing, not panic; he was amidst clanmates, and everything would be-

The young warrior could not react in time as, to his side, the blur of orange fur burst from the underbrush, maw snapping wildly towards him. All he could muster was a frightened call for "HELP-" as jaws clamped at the side of his throat, knocking him over with a hard thud as the snarling thing latched onto flesh and fur. Even as he desperately swiped at the thing with enormous paws, his heart thrummed in his ears as that awfully familiar sensation of blood trickling down his throat. There, pinned to the ground with teeth snared into his flesh, all Boarthorn could pray was that a clanmate could knock the thing off.

---

OOC - boar rolled a 1........ uhh... help :( (Copper is gonna help him regardless but HEEEEELP)

​

BOARTHORN He/They, Thunderclan Ranger, 12 moons.
A long-haired, blue ticked tabby tom with a prominent underbite, blue eyes and growing vitiligo.
mentored by Loonstar // mentoring no one
littermate to Saltpaw // sibling to Leveretkit
Copperstorm x Dewshine // parent to none // mated to no one
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTEMPTED ACTION
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Copperstorm]

You walk along the edge of danger
AND IT WILL CHANGE YOU

.

Leafbare was upon them. he felt it in the very first breath he'd drawn that morning. Cold, sharp, biting. It had made his ears flick back and worry twist hard in his chest. But patrols continued, and Dewshine was safe at camp... Where she needed to remain until the kits were born. Longer, if leafbare had anything to say about it. Warmth mattered. Safety mattered. They could alternate in and out of the nursery once the kits were here, but for now, he needed to keep her still, protected, sheltered.

And then there was the fox.

The blasted creature had become a problem the moment Owlbark reported it. A fox in leafbare was a desperate fox. Dangerous. Hungry. When Owlbark prepared to lead the patrol, Copperstorm had insisted he come and so had Boarthorn. Now they were all weaving through the frosted undergrowth, quiet, tense, alert. Every noise mattered. Every scent. Copperstorm halted at Owlbark's signal, muscles coiled, breath low. He opened his mouth to ask what the deputy had caught wind of but didn't have the chance. A streak of orange tore through the underbrush. Owlbark's battle cry split the air.

Copperstorm reacted on instinct, fur bristling, claws sliding free. But the breath punched out of him the moment he saw it, the fox's jaws clamped around his son's throat. A sound left Copperstorm, raw, ragged, enraged... Nothing like a warrior's controlled cry. More like a father's terror. He launched himself forward, slamming onto the fox's back with every ounce of strength in his body. His jaws found flesh near the creature's eye, his claws raking wildly for purchase.

The fox shrieked, pain lancing through its wail and it let go of Boarthorn. It released him, snapping its head upward in fury, twisting its whole body to shake Copperstorm off before he could blind it. The shift nearly threw Copperstorm, but he clung on hard, teeth sinking deeper, hind paws kicking viciously against the fox's ribs to keep it focused on him and not his son.

Speech, thoughts/emphasis

36 MOONS

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THUNDERCLAN

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SONG

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bio

 

[Briarpaw. Briarpaw.]

TRIGGER WARNING

Wounds, Blood, Eye Injury, Enjoyment of Violence

BRIARPAW, 11 moons / THUNDERCLAN APPRENTICE
A long-furred chocolate tortie with white tail tip.
Brother to Brick, Gracepaw, Echokit, Frecklekit, Victorykit
SPEECH || THOUGHTS
OOC Rolled a nat 20 to attack the fox! Took out one of its eyes.

---

Briarpaw sprang to attention at the alarm call, his claws unsheathed. He watched as Boarthorn took a nasty hit, with Copperstorm following after his son to defend him. For what wasn't the first time, Briarpaw considered what it would be like to have a parent like Copperstorm, a cat willing to throw themselves into danger in order to protect their kin. He reasoned, however, that he wouldn't be the cat he is now if he'd had a father like Copperstorm. He wouldn't have trained as hard as he had, knowing he wouldn't be responsible for looking out for his own hide.

Briarpaw had no time to dwell on the past. When he saw and opportunity, he rushed forward to the fox, racing past Boarthorn in a blue of brown and ginger. Long fur fluffed as he skid to a stop before the beast.

"Get out of ThunderClan territory!" he snarled, even though he was aware the fox could not understand him. He hoped the snarling teeth and outstretched claws would be enough. With a leap, he joined Copperstorm in the assault, raking his claws down the face of the fox and feeling soft flesh tear beneath his onslaught. Blood soaked his paws and splattered his chest fur as the eye of the fox was mauled. The fox screeched in pain and shook, but Briarpaw managed to land without harm, fluffed and furious, ready to attack again when the opportunity arose.

 

[tenebrouspaw]

[ rolled a 5 :( ]

Tenebrouspaw insisted on this patrol. Trembletuft was wary, given their struggling dynamic, but the molly convinced him that if she could handle herself on a scouting patrol, then it'd be worth something. He still set rules too strict for the young molly, but she pressed on in spite of them. Perhaps when all is said and done, the tortoiseshell molly will have wished she listened.

The fox rushes out. Owlbark calls for them to ready themselves, but it's too late for some - Boarthorn is scooped up and narrowly saved by Copperstorm, and Briarpaw gets (what the molly would call) a lucky shot in, blood spraying forth from the fox's expression. It whips around in pain, making nonsensical noises in its rampage, and Tenebrouspaw darts forth next, considering this the best chance she has to prove herself. She launches towards its face, paw outstretched and claws unsheathed -

And it immediately snaps its yellow-and-red teeth down on her wrist. Her adrenaline blocks her from hearing any sort of true crack, but Tenebrouspaw still cries out in pain regardless. Her claws score the side of the fox's throat in a feeble effort to be let loose, and the beast thrashes her to the side, tossing her away.