Tooth and Claw (Main RP)

Fang ~ Silent Lamb
Packy ~ The Stuff
Tinyblackstripe ~ Becky
Dotty ~ Captain Haddock
Scrawn ~ Moby Dick, The Whale

Tree-Scratch ~ Saradamon
Leafdappler ~ Aristokat
Whitepaw ~ SheSheSan
Jibber Jabber ~ Rextiberius


Up high, in the Great Tree, the young squirrels were playing. The day was wearing thing, and the sky was of auburn shade, soon to grow black. The bats would come out to feast, and these young, lively animals would return to their santcum for a short-lived slumber. In the mean time, though, they would live out every last minute of this day, by playing their favorite games.

Flicker, the almost golden squirrel, was perched above the others. He wasn't an Elder, by any means, but he had seniority none-the-less over them. "As Head of the Catch-Me races," Flicker said, head held up high, "I officially declare today's competition the semi-final round of the season. The last one remaining in this competion will move on to face me for the season title."

There were ten squirrels in this competition, total, four of which were Fang, Scrawn, Dotty, and Tinyblackstripe. "I will be the Predator," Flicker went on to say, "And you will all be the prey. It's every squirrel for themself in 3, 2, 1--" Flicker paused, savoring the nervousness of the others. Oh, how he enjoyed making them squirm like this!

"Go!"

Flicker made a lunge from the branch and launced himself at the branch where Dotty could be found.

((OOC: This is a little short competition to start the RP off. Any new peoples who join will either be the remaining six players or audience members, for now. The Catch-Me game is the squirrel version of tag, through the forest canopy. "Predator" means "It". When one is "tagged", they are the new "It" and are thus out of the game once they've tagged someone else.))

Dotty sprang up immediately like a little mad thing with legs and tail flailing in the air in the madness to get away. Who said life wasn't stressful - ? Ears back and eyes as large as saucers he streaked immediately up his branch and bounded up the tree in nutty little hops that were half causing him to loose what he'd gained on Flicker because in his panic he was losing his grip and slipping back down the tree-trunk again. At one point he fell and rolled nearly right into Flickers path but managed to leap up and fly away again up the tree before Flicker could catch him. This possibly wasn't a clever thing to do because should he get himself trapped at the very top of the tree or cornered he wouldn't be able to get away from Flickers grasp. He wasn't however, above turning around and poking his tongue out at his quick pursuer when at one point he was momentarily out-of-reach before bounding off again with a delighted little laugh at his own cheekiness.

There were furry little bodies running in all directions around him to get away as well and once or twice he almost collided with them. He hoped that Flicker would get bored and go for someone else who was closer to him so that he had a fair enough chance to hide himself away.

From the call of "GO" Scrawn made a leap for the nearest branch landing comfortably to bound again. Changing direction and heading for the trunk was his plan. He held no intention of mocking the predator or giving the predator any reason to go after him, simply avoid and watch. As he reached the trunk he turned his head to watch where each other squirrel had chosen to rest and possibly hide. The actual pursuit was going up the trunk, towards the canopy, away from his location. Scrawn gave out a sigh and tried to control his fluttered breathing. The next step in the plan was to wait.
He lost sight of the chase as it entered the canopy, but the shaking of the braches and ruffling of leaves was enough to give away locations. Sensing the chase entering a location that could put him in threat he jumped to another brach and ran along it a little ways and looked up. Safe again, although his old spot would have been fine too. Scrawn knew his chances of escaping Flicker were slim, but he didn't get to the semifinals playing fair and just running when it came to him, he knew how to play dirty and was willing to do it at any point in the game.
Noticing Flicker lose intrest in Dotty he swung to the bottom side of the branch and listened. If he heard anything moving towards his direction, Dotty would find the pursit in front of his hiding place before he could catch his breath.

Tiny was not that far away from Scrawn, just the branch below him. Now all she had to do was wait, just sit and wait. As she waited she was nattering, like she always did, mostly to herself more then any others around her. Her eyes looked around as she continued to chatter, even though it was not loud it could be hurd at the top of the tree if it was silent.
She lay at at ready just incase he found her but she would not stop her chattering.

Whitepaw had taken off at the sound of go. Her little heart pounded as she ran through the twigs and leaves. She ducked down as she spotted Scrawn and Tiny scampering in the twigs above her. Without much thought she started in the opposite direction and stopped as she looked over the branches. Her eyes took in the sight of squirrels running every which way as her mouth chirped with enjoyment as she waited for the chasing to get faster.

Her back paws thumped as she waited for Flicker and Dotty to get within a ten branches from her.

So many options- Flicker was trying to weed out the weak ones, first. He wanted a real show, and his role in this was round just to be the first Predator. Afterword, he'd be a spectator, destined to go against whoever won. If he wanted an easy victory, he would've tried to take out the one he deemed the most skilled among them- Either Fang or Scrawn.

Flicker, however, wanted a challenge. He stopped pursuing Dotty abruptly and leapt to a lower branch, before standing up on his hind legs, rock-still. His furry ears perked up, and he listened. Chattering could be heard everywhere; automatically he placed the chirping squirrels in the "weak" category. Making so much noise was bound to draw attention to oneself. He picked up on chatter that sounded more full of fright than of excitement, and his body sprung into action.

He landed softly on one of the lowest branches of the trees, where he saw Tinyblackstripe laying, a sitting duck. She had been waiting for him, it would seem, and he was happy to end her waiting. Flicker charged and, once he was close to Tiny, pounced!

Tiny seen Flicker and dashed beneath him just as he pounced at her. She looked behind her, looking at him with a grin before poking her little pink toung out at him, and prancing off in the oposit direction and climbing higher into the tree, as she went still chattering away, she was being anoying by pointing everyone who she seen hiding on the way. With a grin she jumped into a hole in the tree and hid there, deadly silent... For once.

Scrawn was caught completely off guard by the events that had just happened. For reasons beyond what Scrawn could divulge Flicker had ignored him completely and jumped to the branch below the resting point Scrawn had claimed. Scrawn would have preferred to stay and watch the acrobatics show without worrying about the Predator so he only caught the beginning of the humorous act. About the time pink showed from the mouth of Tiny he lost sight of the chase for his heroic leap over a whopping three branches. The feat surprised even Scrawn himself; he had never gone so far from his comfort zone of movement during a sanctioned game. From that point he leapt again, towards the thinner branches, an area where he specializes. He may have been of average size, but his lack of body mass made for light movement among thin twigs; thin twigs most Squirrels his age would snap or bend over the enormous drop to the ground, and quite likely death. But fro Scrawn this area was only slightly more difficult than the sturdier branches, thanks to practice in addiction to weight. The foliage was also denser than the rest of the tree. He turned around at this point, the sun beating on his exposed back sticking out of a tuft of leaves. He had not looked in the direction of the predator until now, but all he could see through the leaves was tiny dart into a hole in the trunk. 'Perfect' the thought, 'now she's cornered herself.' From what he could see the situation had turned in his favor again.

Dotty pranced along on his branch playing with himself while he waited for something to happen. He was good at entertaining himself and enjoyed himself when he was alone immensely. But now, partly because he was bored, partly because he was now waaay up the tree from where the Predator was and so he was no longer panicking he began to act a bit of the goat. He had seen Scrawn sailing along in the air jumping from branches to more branches and he found it looked so fascinating he thought he would try it himself. Giggling like a little idiot he fell in behind Scrawn as Scrawn came nearer but rather than run behind him he skipped along daintily and when Scrawn jumped into the thinner branches without thinking he too made a humongous leap and sailed high into the air behind him - and very nearly fell. Clinging onto the tiniest branch for a very split second he panicked but soon quickly hauled himself up and bounced along though quickly made for the thicker branches that would carry him better. He stared down at the ground and realized that he had very nearly killed himself. Oh well, so long as an adult hadn't seen him he didn't mind. He would be more careful next time, is all. So he watched Scrawn who was now standing above him in the thinner branches and then glanced down at the Predator as Scrawn did so as well. Curling up, he rested his head on his front paws and again, waited for something to happen.

Flicker was fast- Tiny wasn't the slowest squirrel around, but she wasn't about to out-run him any time soon. When she jumped into a hole in the tree, she made the dumbest move yet. Flicker darted into the hole and lightly hit her with his paw, saying quickly, in a hushed manner, "You're Predator now, Tiny. Do give me a good show, alright? Tag another!"

Fang watched from where he was perched as Flicker emerged from the hole in the tree, where he had seen Tiny go. There was a smug grin on that squirrel's face- Realization struck Fang like a brick, and he took to a higher elevation. Fang wasn't very fast (He was about average speed), but he knew what was coming, so he had time to prepare. There was a new Predator, who would likely pursue the first squirrel she could get her sights on. Fang made sure that it wouldn't be him; he was considerably higher up. He would be able to see Tiny from where he was perched, but she would not be able to see him very well at all.

Tiny had not exspected Flicker to jump into the small hole and tag her. she frowned and as he left out the hole Tiny bit him on the tail before poking her small pink tounge out at him.
Tiny, being the smallest amung them climbed up higher into the hole and came out not far above fang. She crouched down and was about to pounce at him when something startled her and she lost her footing and fell, her tail brushing close to fang but not tutching him. Tiny fell past a few more branches before she was able to dig her little paws into the bark and grab hold. Panting she sat there disorientated, spooked and confused at where she was.

Scrawn glared at Dotty who had chosen to "share" a hiding place. A single target is bad, but now there were two in the same area doubled his chances of having a predator come close. After Tiny's last close encounter Scrawn didn't trust the new Predator to go for whoever was closest. Scrawn wasn't about to climb closer to the center of the tree, the action, either. At that point oportunity knocked and Tiny went plummeting farther down the tree. Before TIny could get back up Scrawn had dashed toward the center of the tree. Once at the trunk he darted up, away from Tiny, away from Dotty, away from Fang, away from the spectators. He reached the canopy, a similar place to the edge, and headed way from dead center. He peered through the leaves and just barely made out what was happening. Once again he could tell where everyone was but this time was a little different. The foliage was denser, he couldn't be seen well, but he could be snuck up on. This didn't make Scrawn comfortable at all.

He moved again, this time towards the action. He had to control every muscle in his body not to jump back to the top. He moved toward the opposite edge from dotty but didn't enter the leaves. Now he could see everything clearly. Of course this would come at a cost, but he felt he was close enough to the edge he could jump into the leaves an extremely thin branches incase the chase came here.

Dotty watched, nose twitching, tail flicking as he observed Scrawn dance about the place trying to find a good spot in which to watch the dreaded predator and to hide at the same time. Dotty had repented if ever so little for his silly actions when Scrawn had turned his glare upon him, but really, it was boring waiting sometimes! He wasn't too fond of the game actually. He didn't want to be caught, but of course not! Who did? But then he didn't like being left alone in a very good hiding place with nothing to do either, because pretty soon he didn't even feel like he was playing the game anymore, and would start playing with himself, such as he had done when he had danced along after Scrawn and almost killed himself - not that he had made almost killing himself into a habit, otherwise he would have been dead long before now!
He hopped around on his branch and wondered what to do. He was so bored he almost wished he would get tagged but he didn't wish to get tagged in all reality and he would never ever be bored enough to ever wish that upon himself. So he continued hopping around on his branch, and amused himself keeping a look-out for the new predator, watching her every move to make sure he wasn't paying so little attention as to let her find him an easy target. It excited him whenever she came nearer and he'd think she was after him and get all hiked up ready for the chase - and then she'd move further away again. It was almost a let-down to his pent-up nerves. But it was a relief, really, to see her go away or chase after someone else. He glanced over at Scrawn. Scrawn hadn't shifted from his position but he could any moment now and maybe if Dotty felt reeeally bored he could dance after him at a safe distance just for the pure fun of it. Maybe, anyway. He would have to see what happened next

"What an idiot." Fang shook his head as the little squirrel tumbled down, further and further away from him. He wasn't shy,and he perceived no reason not to be vocal about his thoughts about Tiny. She was, in his eyes, an idiot. Fang was here to win- Apparently she was here to play games. Clearly she could not tag him. He was faster than her, smarter than her; he was better than her.

He wasn't about to get too cocky, though. "Woohoo!" Fang cried out, waving a paw in the air, "Over here! C'monn! Aren't you gonna even try to get me?" Fang had strategically placed himself where he knew Dotty was. Likely she had not seen him nearby, until he had shouted to get Tiny's attention. However, now he had to rush, to make sure his trap didn't backfire. Fang darted past Dotty, muttering slyly, "Watch your back." He then darted up two more branches and positioned himself amidst the leaves, which he behind, peaking now and then to see if Tiny was nearby. He was relying more on sense of hearing, though; he'd hear Tiny approach before she would have time to actually reach him. This was a creaky branch, a dying one that amazingly managed to hold up his weight. Any more than that, though, and it'd likely snap off. If Tiny tried to creep up on him, he'd hear the branch moan, and know to jump to a nearby branch quickly.

Scrawn remembered several years back, to a similar experience. A young squirrel by the name of Mud Bug. Scrawn had been a branch above the little moron and had jumped on to the flimsy branch she was running upon knocking her down to an injury that lead to her removal from the game. Scrawn had been ridiculed because she was a girl one, and two, she was smaller than him. Scrawn peered over to Fang and noticed that his new opponent was neither. Scrawn also noted that Fang was skilled enough to stop himself from falling to the bottom, but could toss things up a bit. It was not at all beyond Scrawn to sabotage any and all other players. The only difference is he too would be falling this time. Scrawn thought about the pros and cons and made his decision. He silently leapt back over to the other squirrels and positioned himself directly over Fang. Silence was key here as Fang was making a point to pick out unexpected sounds. With a single silent movement Scrawn propelled himself from above onto Fang himself. The force snapped the spindly branch and sent the two squirrels falling through the braches.
Scrawn was hit by a branch almost immediately but was unprepared to catch it. Turning around in air he reached out and grabbed a larger branch just barely nabbing it with his front paws and swinging his body around it. Getting back on the branch he darted towards the edge and leapt into the edge. He didn't see the outcome for Fang, only remembered being next to him when Scrawn hit the first branch. Scrawn figured that Fang must have fallen just a little bit farther, but it was still possible the greatest contender to Scrawn had plummeted to his death. Scrawn didn't really dwell on this too much, if he was dead, he was dead, if he was alive, there was a game to be played. Scrawn felt his bruised side, that was gona last a while. With his back paw he scratched behind his ear to remove a flea. Looking about he decided to head back to higher ground and traveled with the sun to his back along the edge all the way to a remote location in the canopy. Here he resumed scratching before peering into the tree again. He noted the locations of Tiny and Dotty but could not make out Fang. Scrawn looked around half expecting the victim to be standing right next to him.


(ooc:you dont have to be next to me... )