Brain Games; open

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    Cypresspaw looked to the freshkill pile, a feeling twisted inside him, and he wasn't sure if it was just the hunger. It looked pratically barren; he's seen the exact same picture in his head except there wasn't any snow. The tom got up from his nest and walked out of camp to go hunt, which was becoming a routine for him. He'd look to the pile, as if some miracle would suddenly grant the clan some food, get angry, and then leave to go capture some prey. Get frustrated when he doesn't scent any or fail to catch anything, rinse and repeat. His clanmates suggested that they should learn new ways to hunt so they could increase the amount of prey caught, but nothing was being done about it either. So by the end of the day, the seal point tom would be frustrated with everything; Starclan, Thunderclan, himself and the list went on. The only thing that kept him from going insane was the fact that it wasn't just their clan suffering from this, that everyone was going through the same thing.


    After trudging through the forest for what seemed like eternity, Cypresspaw catches a whiff of a bird. He immediately went to a crouching position and stalked towards the smell. It was the average magpie, pecking at the ground looking as desperate as he was. He didn't dare breathe, approaching as close as the foliage reached, and pounced once it was about to fly away. He missed it by centimetres, snarling and cursing a string of colourful words as it flew away. No longer able to hold back his anger, he chased the bird. By the time it landed, he was out of breath. Looking up to it, he noticed that it had come back to it's nest. He eyed it's home and thought, 'Nests have eggs in them right?'


    Not even thinking it through a second time, the apprentice leaped at the trunk of the tree and began climbing. Unknownst to the cat, magpies were very willing to attack back when intruded upon, especially to protect their young. The male bird swooped near his head, Cypresspaw hissing back in retaliation. He was far enough along the tree to latch onto a branch, which he does. He continued the battle with the father, swiping at it when it swooped to peck him. After a few more dive-bombs, the tom knew he wouldn't be able to kill it from where he was at. So he continued up the tree, dodging the attacks thrown at him, though not always succeeding. By the time he reached the targeted branch, he striked at the nesting bird on top of the eggs and grabbed the nest with his maw. But because he was so fixated on the potential food he could have caught, the magpie swooped at his face. He reacted by moving to the side, forgetting that he was still on a branch and gravity would eventually pull him and the nest down to the ground.


    He flipped around and managed to land on his feet, but that didn't stop the pain that flowed through him once he hit the floor. He heard some of the eggs break, but he couldn't really bother with it since he just fell from a tree. The magpie continued to dive, so he hid his face against his paws to protect them. At that point, he didn't know what to do but wait.


    // I know magpies don't lay eggs in summer, but gimme some artistic license here xD

    wolfcall / tc warrior / ♂ / tags & information[/color]

    *:･ﾟ✦ It wasn't every day you saw a fellow clanmate being attacked by well... Their prey; and poor Cypresspaw had done just that. Early that morning he found himself out on a solo border patrol, wandering the Shadowclan border in which he still smelled like his previous clan. He couldn't help but feel divided. Unlike many Shadowclanners, he had a heart and plenty good morals and certainly didn't agree with the Bloodclan alliance that had formed between them. That was why he left for Thunderclan but now that he was here, he was too heartless and cold-blooded for their otherwise selfless, caring, personalities.


    The commotion of leaves and ferns rustling in the distance caused the militant's spectacles to narrow out of calculation, gnarled claws to unsheath and a growl to radiate through a massive frame. Drawing near with heavy paw steps and shoulder blades cutting through his hide, silver eyes widened at the sight. Cypresspaw being attacked by a... Magpie. Otherwise deeply amused by the scene, his hind legs pushed him forward, springing into the air as the magpie dived down once more, this time burying its beak into Wolfcall's back as he stood over Cypresspaw, allowing for the bird to dive into him instead. A hiss of pain slipping from his throat as the smell of iron and metallic blood laced the air. The magpie flew up once then plummeted back down like a cannon ball ready to burrow it's talons and beak within his spine. However, he was prepared for the bird's attack, allowing for the Thunderclan warrior to spring up, a huge paw beating the bird from the atmosphere overhead and pinned it to the ground between large talons, then delivering a quick bite to the neck.


    Sharp features fell upon Cypresspaw as the Siberian glanced over a broad shoulder blade, body following suit. "Get up," he commanded firmly, vocals firm as silver spectacles looked the apprentice up and down. Jaws slightly a gap as he calculated the scene. "Obviously you're injured, anything serious? You protected your eyes, correct?" He questioned out of urgency, ignoring the eggs for the time being as Cypress was more important, he could have been blinded. "How the hell did you manage to get attacked by a bird?" He questioned, a crooked smile lightening the situation as the tom wasn't particularily concerned for the apprentice. he was fine. He had to be.


    "speech."

    The Tom may have intended his border patrol to be solo but a certain leaf footed softly treading mostly silent she cat had followed him out when she realized the male had left camp. Unluckily the patchy female had left some time after the other warrior so it was no quick sprint to catch up, she had to Pace herself and take short cuts in the territory via predicting where he may be heading on his lonely walk. Thus it was highly likely wolf call did not even know pumpkin was following him, she was good at things like ambush after all since she could never run fast enough to catch something in a straight run, through if she could corner something her smaller size helped.


    Patch chose to run when she smelled blood from his direction, panting as she was much better at things like rock climbing or pushing branches than she was at running. While she caught up? It took most of her wind, breaths panting as she walked over laughing softly when she saw everything was alright and her worry had been for nothing, he was unharmed, it was just a bird. Wait a bird?! "So you want to tell me how the mighty wolf call got a peck wound from a simple magpie and why Cypress paw looks like he was mobbed by birds?" she purred it out, walking over to the taller Tom and strain to lick the wound he'd gotten briefly, trailing her nose down to touch his shoulder after she had double checked the wound was not serious.

    Falling from that height and getting attacked by a bird really humbled a tom. Or at least, calmed the apprentice long enough to admit what he did was kind of stupid. His body disagreeing; that it was than a little mouse brained. He knew nothing was broken because he could still move, but also felt that walking, even standing, was going to hurt. But otherwise, he was just winded, catching his breath kind of difficult with the bird constantly at his neck.


    Then, everything stopped. He didn't look up because he didn't want to risk endangering his eyesight, but the rush of wind and bits of pain that appeared every other moment stopped. It was then Cypresspaw heard a hiss of pain, 'That obviously didn't come from me...' He heard a noise that seemed like a paw hitting something and a sickly crunch. For a moment he wondered if he actually just died and never realized it, but then a familiar voice told him to get up. He raised his head from his paws to see Wolfcall. Then everything caught up to him, flushing at the thought of a warrior saw him attacked by birds. Stuttering, but managing to answer the tom, "I'm okay, just a rough landing, sir!" Leaving the next on the ground to sit upwards. "I, uh, wanted to get some eggs..." Eventually laughing with the much larger cat.


    It was then Pumpkinpatch appeared, also laughing at the sight before her. "Magpies are scary." He joked, something that felt almost foreign at this point and this relieved him.