Oceanshine

I've left the Clan with my hatchling sister. I don't know where we're going, but life might be easier if I can just make it to the Highland Scrub and find some empty lair. There's bound to be less competition there than there is here, by the Spire.

My parents, they.. always told me to develop my writing skills, so I'm going to keep this journal and write in it every day, at least.. until we've found a Clan to take care of us.

I managed to make it to the next mesa without anything happening. There's a little hidden cave in the side of it, too. I didn't smell anything dangerous living in it, so I let Sasha climb down from my back and settle into the small nest I managed to scrap together for her.

I'm going out hunting now. I could only take as much food as I could fly with, so we don't have much. I'm leaving half with Sasha and taking the rest with me to keep up my energy. I've... I've never fought before, I'm not sure I can defend myself. But there's no way we can live off of cacti and sand. There's no one to protect me from enemies while I hunt. I'm going to have to fight. I have to be the protector. For my sister.

---

I was trying to keep a low profile in the grass. It wasn't easy, but I was making progress. I raised my head up a bit to see what was ahead of me, and I saw the back of a brown-spotted mith. I thought I could sneak up and pounce on it before it turned and saw me, but I was so excited that I made the classic mistake of not watching where I was stepping. So of course, I stepped on some crunchy dead grass. Idiot. I tried to save myself by dropping to the ground again, but when I peered through the blades of grass, I saw the glow of magical meditation fading from the mith's turquoise eyes. Alarmed, I rushed it, taking a swipe at its wings with my claws as I passed. I hadn't even turned around when I felt a powerful blow of magic at my back, knocking me onto the ground. I scrambled back up as best I could, but I was too winded to attack properly. I desperately ran at it again, stumbling a little, and bit at the arms it had raised in meditation once more. It fell backwards, looking a bit startled, and hissed in anger at the disruption of its spellcasting. The hiss was cut short by my teeth sinking into its neck.

It had a couple blue roses in its hand that it dropped when I attacked. I'll take them to Sasha, she might like them.


I killed two ember mice that were trying to steal from me. They hurt me a bit, but I'll be fine.

I thought I could take down a crimson emperor and a death's-head stag. I was wrong. I'm hurt. I'm resting now, and I had to eat some of my stored meat to keep my strength up.

Webwing alphas are strong. One of them messed me up pretty bad.

A big yellow-green mith decided it wanted to fight me for the roses I was carrying. I tried to push it away gently, but it got mad and slapped me across the face with a big furry paw. Alright, I didn't have the time for that. I ripped its wings off and kept them.

After the emperor and stag incident, I knew I didn't have enough strength for most groups. I began avoiding packs and enemies I knew were too strong or quick for me.

I was resting behind a mossy rock for a moment, waiting for two death's-head stags to leave the area, when a blue chipskink attempted to ambush me. I sprang to my feet and perfectly dodged out of the way, but I had risen so suddenly that I started feeling dizzy and my vision blacked out a bit. The chipskink saw its chance, leaping and tackling me to the ground with a fierce bite to my shoulder. I shrieked in pain, and began clawing at it frantically with my hind legs. It immediately let go, but I held its head to my chest with my arms. The static electricity of its fur crackled through my own as I wrestled with him. The thing tried to wriggle out from my grasp, but I grabbed it by the tail.

The tail came off. I have a tail now, I guess.

While we were fighting, we drew the attention of an amaranth moth. After the chipskink ran off the moth started trying to bother me. I killed it swiftly, but I'm covered in pollen now..

The two death's-head stags noticed us fighting too. Damn it. I raced towards both of them with lightning speed as they stamped their clawed feet on the ground. I managed to shred both of them with my sickle claws, even getting two slashes in on the second one. I whirled around quickly enough to dodge out of the way of a contuse from the first stag. And right into the way of the other stag's contuse. All I could do is stay down where I fell and hope they went away. The smell of my escaped prey's blood dripping from their wounds is infuriating.

I ate the rest of my food. I only had a little longer until sunset, so I started to make my way back to the mesa, empty-handed and discouraged. After a few minutes of travel on foot, I encountered one lone death's-head stag grazing peacefully. I checked the path between us, and found it clear of obstructions. I was downwind. The stag was relaxed. Everything was perfect. Clutching my satchel in my hands to prevent it from rustling, I licked my chops in anticipation. The dash over to the stag was silent. I leapt atop its back, clamping my jaws firmly around its neck as the stag's head shot up in alarm. I felt magic course through its body in preparation for an attack, but with some quick twists I managed to throw off its balance. I pinned it to the ground, suffocating it until it stopped moving.

Oh, finally, something we can eat. One single deer.

Ugh.

Somehow, my sister knew I'd be in pain, because I smelled fresh cactus when I approached the secret entrance in the mesa. Sasha had broken off a small leaf from the aloe vera plant just outside and sliced it down the middle, and she was using a sickle claw to slash at the flesh inside of it. She looked up at me as I entered the cave, dragging the stag by its antlers with a weary expression. She stood up, one of the halves of her aloe vera leaf cradled in her hands, and made her way over to me as I slumped to the ground. I murmured a quiet greeting as she applied the cool gel to my wounds.

She liked the roses.


The deer didn't last us very long. We shared it between us at night, and kept some for the morning, but neither meal left us with full bellies.

I'm gonna to try to be quicker on my feet today, and manage my strength better. I need to rest more often between fights - I won't be as warmed up, but I'll survive longer.

---

Here we go again.

A pair of chipskinks greeted me this morning, just outside the cave. It gave me a bit of surprise, but since they were just as surprised, I had time to dart out and scratch the yellow chipskink. I got scratched by the other one, a blue one, in retaliation, but I managed to dodge a swipe of the yellow one's claws. This involved a roll, which left me vulnerable to the blue chipskink, and he gave me a nasty bite. While I was struggling to my feet, the other one managed to get a scratch in, too. Ugh. I whipped around and sank a sickle claw into it, and, seeing that it was reeling from the attack, snaked my head around to bite the blue one. It tackled me, scratching at my fur with its claws, and we dropped to the ground in a tussle. I managed to get a sickle claw through its underside as it bit at my neck, and with my hands I pulled out lumps and lumps of electric fur. It leapt off of me in terror, and yet again I tried to prevent its escape by clamping my jaws down on its tail, but it seems they come off easily. I sighed in frustration, looking around for the yellow chipskink. It was on the ground, dying in a pool of its own blood.

Hey, there's a big silverfish caught in one of the clumps of blue fur. That's strange.
Looking through the yellow chipskink's fur, they seem to like riding on these guys, because I found another one. They're.. kind of cute.
Well, that was painful, I suppose I'll go back in the cave and rest now. Sasha might like seeing these silverfish around the cave.

I've gone back out again. I'm avoiding other creatures for now, they look a bit too strong for me...

I found some good prey! Two birds, one blue-and-white, one white-and-brown. I killed the blue one quickly enough thanks to a particularly well-aimed bite, and in return, the brown one nipped me in a tender spot as well. After a bit of back and forth, in which it met my sickle claw and I met its wing claws, I managed to finish the fight with a powerful strike. Am I getting good at power-moves?

I took both birds for food. Super happy with myself.

I got jumped by two big miths, one blue and red, the other yellow-green. I smacked the yellow one hard in the head as I awkwardly leapt backwards in surprise. I crashed to the ground because I had been so startled, and they swiped their claws across my fur. I reached for the greenish yellow one again, sensing its weakness, but it easily ducked out of the way. Gods damn it. I got messed with a bit more before I finally killed the yellow mith, so I shred the blue one and flew off.

After a bit of searching, I snuck up on a couple of webwings, one ruby and one emerald. I pounced on the ruby one and scratched it hard, but I didn't realize it would have such range with its large beak, and the thing nearly poked me in the eye when it reached out to bite me. I managed to defeat it after that, and turned to the emerald bird, which had gotten a bite in on me. I buried several of my claws into it, but I couldn't quite avoid this one's large beak either. I blindly swiped at it, keeping my head away, but I missed. However, since I was keeping my distance it also missed me, and I got the last say in the matter. More birds for food!

As I was picking the birds up, something glinted in the corner of my eye. A pretty emerald brooch that they had been obsessing over. I cleaned it off a bit and put it in my satchel.

I felt well enough not to rest, so I targeted my next prey: a yellow sparrowmouse. I charged it, silently leaping into the air and catching it off guard with a sickle claw. It squealed in pain, but with a flash of bright plumage it rushed to retaliate. It bit me on the left wing, but I flung it off easily and pounced to deliver the killing bite. Some sort of worms came out of it?? That's... gross, I'm not going to eat them. I'll take them with me, I guess... someone must want them, and I do need the treasure.

I think I'm on a roll now.
One of those luna miths saw me, so I rushed it and shredded it. It meditated quickly, but before I could get more than one scratch in it contused me. I still managed to kill it, but I'm gonna rest now.

A frosted pocketmouse this time. I scratched it badly, dodged its attack, and killed it.
I saw some blue flowers near it, so I picked them. I mean, hey. It's free real estate.

There's two of those brown/white birds this time! I fiercely shredded one, and it bit me hard in the leg with the last of its strength. The other one pecked at me, too, so I scratched it once, then a second time, harder. first one bled out. crit scratched the last bird. I took them for food, and I saved some of their feathers from getting blood-stained. They're in good condition, hopefully I can get a few treasure for them.

I did great today. I feel strong.

stag, emperor. scratch stag, both meditate, stag dodges scratch, emperor meditates, stag contuses, crit scratch stag, scratch emperor, get contused, crit shred emperor, dead. two deer, an emperor antler

two ember mice. shred one, both meditate. scratched again, got dodged, scratched again, crit, dead. other meditated. crit scratched, then scratched it, dead. one fish, firestarter.

ember mouse, amaranth moth. shred moth, mouse meditated, moth did nothing. scratched moth, dead. scratched mouse, it meditated, scratched it again, went for another scratch, got dodged. got contused. scratched it, dead. firestarter.

two coral carpenters. shred one, both meditated. scratched it, dead. scratched the other one, it meditated. scratched it again, dead. carpenter wax, blue honeycomb.

mith bruiser. shred it, it scratched me. scratched it, dead. moth, filament.

bumble. scratched it twice, dead. honeybee, honeycomb.

primrose mith, stag. scratched stag, it meditated. scratched it again, dead. mith meditated. scratched it, it contused me. scratched it, went for another, it dodged and meditated. scratched it again, dead. deer, rose, fragile antler. rest.

primrose mith, stag. crit scratch stag, dead. mith meditates. scratch mith twice, it meditates, crit scratched it, dead. deer, rose.

dark and yellow sparrowmice. shred dark, got scratched by both. scratched dark, dead. scratched by yellow. scratched, crit shred yellow. dead. two featherdusters, bird toy.

glowing pocketmouse, primrose mith. scratched mith, both meditated. crit shred mith, dead. scratched mouse, got contused. crit shred, dead. fish, satchel, bauble.

chipskink. crit scratched, got scratched. crit scratched again, dead. tail, silverfish.

low health. mith bruiser, bumble. crit shred bruiser, dead. bumble dodged shred, meditated. scratched it twice, dead. wax, filament, moth.

emperor. shredded it, it meditated. scratched it, it bled out.

feel stronger, going to be quicker.

webwing alpha, webwing. scratched webwing twice, dead. alpha scratched me. scratched it once, it dodged the second, scratched me. crit scratched it, dead. plumes from both, fish.

brown, luna, and brawler miths. crit shred brawler, dead. scratched brown, both meditated. brown dodged scratch, luna contused me. crit scratched brown, dead. scratched luna, luna meditated. luna dodged scratch, shred it, it meditated. scratched, dead. moth, moth wings, silk, blue rose.

leafy and amaranth moth. crit shred amaranth, dead. scratched leafy, did nothing. repeat. scratched it a final time, dead. two moths, pollen.

carpenter, luna mith. scratched carpenter, mith meditated. crit scratched carpenter, dead. scratched mith, it meditated. scratched it twice, dead. meal moth, moth legs, carpenter wax, blue honeycomb.

carpenter, mith bruiser. crit shred bruiser, dead. scratched carpenter, it meditated. scratched it again, dead. carpenter wax, blue honeycomb, filament, moth.

blue chipskink. crit shred, dead. silverfish.

leafy moth. crit scratch, it scratched me. crit scratch, dead. pollen.

two luna miths. shred one, both meditated. scratched it, dead. shred the other, got contused. scratched it, dead. moth wings.

low health. brown and rose miths. crit shred brown, dead. crit shred rose, dead. two roses.

sweetpuff, frosted pocketmouse. crit shred sweetpuff, dead. shred pocketmouse, it scratched me. scratched it, dead. bird, flowers. rest.

carpenter, bumble. scratched bumble twice, dead. carpenter meditated. scratched it, crit scratched it, dead. honeycomb, carpenter wax.

brown mith. crit scratched it, dead. blue roses.

two ruby webwings. shred and crit scratched one, dead. other scratched me. shred and scratched it, dead. hummingbird, tiny feathers, beak.

ruby webwing, webwing alpha. shred and scratched ruby, dead. alpha scratched me. shred and scratched it, dead. tiny feathers, plumes, beak, ruby brooch, fish.

two ember mice. crit scratched one, dead. other dodged scratch and meditated. scratched it twice, dead. fish and firestarters from both.

ruby and emerald webwings. crit shred ruby, dead. shred webwing, dodged its scratch. scratched it, dead. tiny feathers and beaks from both.

two bumbles. scratched one twice, dead. crit scratched the other, dead. honeycomb from both, beeswax.

ruby, silky, and emerald webwings. shred and scratched ruby, dead. dodged silky's scratch, got scratched by emerald. shred and scratched silky, dead. emerald scratched me. shred and scratched emerald, it bled out. two beaks, silk feathers, fish.

two emperors. scratched one twice, both meditated. scratched again, dead. shred one, it contused me. scratched again, dead. deer and horns from both.

webwing alpha, chipskink. shred and scratched alpha, dead. chipskink crit scratched me. shred it twice for good measure, dead. silverfish. rest.

bumble. scratched it twice, dead.

yellow sparrowmouse. crit shred, dead. bird toy.

emerald webwing. scratched it twice, it scratched me. scratched it, dead. beak, emerald brooch.

emerald webwing, carpenter. shred and scratched webwing, it bled out. carpenter meditated. scratched carpenter twice, dead. bee, carpenter wax, blue honeycomb, beak, emerald brooch, broken flower pot (70t).

mith bruiser. crit shred, dead. filament, moth.

emerald webwing. crit shred, dead. hummingbird, beak.

two carpenters. scratched one twice, dead. other meditated. scratched it twice, dead. two carpenter wax, blue honeycomb.

brawler, ember mouse. shred and scratched brawler, dead. mouse meditated. scratched it twice, dead. silk, moth.

dark and yellow sparrowmice. shred and crit scratched dark, dead. yellow scratched me. did same to yellow, dead.

worms from both, bird toy.

mith bruiser and brawler. crit shred brawler, dead. shred bruiser, it scratched me. scratched it, dead. filament and two moths.

emperor, silky webwing. shred and scratched webwing, dead. emperor meditated. scratched and shred it, it bled out. deer, antler, fish.

primrose mith, stag. crit scratched stag and mith, both dead. deer, satchel, rose.

dark sparrowmouse, emperor. shred and scratched sparrowmouse, dead. emperor meditated. scratched it twice, it meditated again. scratched it again, dead. worm, deer, antler.

two luna miths. crit shred one, dead. other meditated. scratched and shred it, it bled out. moth legs from both, meal moth.

blue and yellow chipskinks. shred and crit scratched blue, yellow scratched me. crit shred yellow, dead. silverfish.

yellow sparrowmouse. crit scratched, dead. bird toy.

silky and alpha webwings. crit shred silky, dead. scratched alpha, it scratched me. scratched again, dead. fish from both.

frosted, ember, satin pocketmice. crit shred frosted, dead. crit scratch satin, dead. ember meditated. crit scratched it, dead. fish, flowers.

two chipskinks. shred and scratched one, dead. other scratched me. did same to it, dead. silverfish.

satin and frosted pocketmice. shred and scratched satin, dead. frosted crit scratched me, fell. rest.

glowing, ember pocketmice. scratched and crit scratched glowing, dead. ember meditated. scratched ember twice, dead. firestarter, fish.

primrose, brown mith. shred and crit scratched primrose, dead. brown meditated. crit scratched brown, dead. two roses.

ruby and emerald webwings. shred ruby, it dodged scratch. emerald scratched me. scratched ruby, dead. shred emerald, it scratched me. crit scratched, dead. beaks and brooches from both.

carpenter and luna mith. shred mith, it meditated, scratched it, dead. scratched carpenter, it meditated, scratched again, dead. carpenter wax, blue honeycomb.

brawler, ember mouse. shred and scratched brawler, dead. mouse meditated. scratched mouse twice, dead. fish, moth.

glowing pocketmouse, primrose mith. shred and crit scratched mith, dead. mouse meditated. crit scratched mouse, dead. bauble, rose.

long day, feel like i've learned much more. can hit much harder now. very good at crits.