[a rosy] flame and [an icy] fire

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{He nearly tripped again, over his big paws as he hunted. Crestedfire's muscles tensed and rippled over his silky ginger fur. His spiky crest stood on end as he blinked...and tripped over his feet, landing in a pile of soft grass. He grumbled at himself, hoping the others didn't see. However...there was a new scent His eyes flashed hungrily, swimming in their green orbs. He dropped down into a hunter's position and followed his nose towards it, lowering his tail. He paused, sniffing and hearing for the delectable creature, but then he finally pounced, his claws clutching at the brown fur and slender ivories yanking down on the neck. He slowly lifted his massive shoulders, glancing around for Icepaw to see if she had been paying attention. Not to the tripping part but to the catching part, of course.}

[Ice]

Icepaw followed her mentor. All of her senses open. She hadn't been out since........before the attack from the rogues. Icepaw looked up at her mentor, she hled back a laugh when Crestedfire fell. When Crestedfire dropped into the hunters position she watched closely. Her body didn't move only her tail swung side to side. She looked up at the animal in his mouth. A small smiled appeared on her face. She took in all the scents around her, carefully trying to point out the scent of anything animal wise. Icepaw couldn't smell anything, so she tried to listen for the leaves ruffling. Finally she heard somthing. She got down low on the ground to stalk the prey. Icepaw looked around to find a mouse looking for food. She stuck her butt in the air and got ready to pounce. She droped her tail and dug her claws deep in the ground. She jumped, but she missed by a centimeter. "Piece of fox-dug!" She mumbled under her breath, and stood back up. "I guess my hunting is a little rusty," Icepaw said looking up at Crestedfire.

[SHADE. :D]

A white she-cat followed Icepaw and Crestedfire through the undergrowth. The warrior's light blue eyes were fixed on the large ginger tom as he stalked the mouse. Spectreflame crouched, pricking up her ears. She twitched her tail at Icepaw's words - the apprentice had not been out training for a whilse due to the recent devestation in the MoonClan camp. Spectreflame scented the air. The white she-cat tasted a soft breeze as it rushed between her jaws, and smiled. The large she-cat straightened up, peering around. And then she spotted it. A crow, pecking at the grass in a clearing not too far off. Spectreflame dropped back into a perfectly balanced crouch, before stalking the coal coloured bird. The lithe she-cat halted, before pouncing. The bird looked up, startled, and tried to lift off. But Spectreflame's large paws caught it before it could dart away. The warrior killed it with a quick bite, before padding back to join Crestedfire and Icepaw. The she-cat then dropped her catch, peering around. Had Rosepaw caught up yet?

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw followed along at the back, walking a bit slowly. She was just loving taking in all the sights and smells around her. The forest was so bog, but Rosepaw being Rosepaw she wasnt frightened, she was entrigued. Her ginger pelt rippled as she walked in wonder through the trees. Her eyes snapped to attention as she saw the other cats moving up ahead. She kept her eyes on Spectreflame, after all she was her mentor and she would be the one she would need to learn from. She watched how Spectreflame dropped into a crouch and immediately did so herself. She watched carefully as Spectreflame caught the bird and then stalked over to her, still in the hunters crouch with her bum wiggling comically. "Is this right?" she asked her mentor and demonstrated her wiggly stalking.}[/color]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"It's okay, Icepaw," Crestedfire said kindly. "The battle took everyone's mind off training and hunting, but it was good experience for fighting." And seeing death, he was going to add, but swallowed the rather tactless comment since it was Highfrost who had been strangled by Lotus. He wondered what caused the lithe assassin to kill a rogue and save Jasminestar's life, like Saintcalling had said. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he returned his gentle gaze to his older apprentice. "Just keep your eyes on the prey and its surroundings. Relax and make sure nothing shifts as you land!" he said. When he said land, he had leapt. He now held a frantic field mouse in his broad paws up for Icepaw to see. His index claw, still a bit bloody from the fight with Chaosfire, ejected and silently impaled the scrawny animal through the neck. "Hunting's going to be rough. There's barely any prey as it is," he commented to Spectreflame offhandedly, trying to sound braver than he felt around her. She was strong all the time, but not him. He was just strong when they needed him to be and even that was a variable!}

[Ice]

Icepaw nodded as Crestedfire spoke, she looked at the ground. The death of Highfrost played in her head again, and again. Icepaw knew if she kept thinking about the death of her mentor, she would start crying. Icepaw shook the thoughts away. She looked over qt Rosepaw and Spectreflame. When Crestedfire finished what he said Icepaw just looked at the ground. She tried to hide her sadness, and anger. Icepaw never knew why Starclan made him die, or why Lotus had to kill him and not her. That night after the battle Icepaw promised herself that when she became a warrior, and got strong enough she would hunt down Lotus. She wouldn't show that wretched rogue any Mercy. Icepaw stood up and just waited to see what Crestedfire would do now.Icepaw wanted to try and catch another mouse, but she couldn't hear, or smell anything.

[SHADE. :D]

Spectreflame smiled in amusement as Rosepaw attempted a wobbly hunter's crouch towards her. It reminded the longhaired white warrior irresistibly of herself as an apprentice, and her twin brother, Chaosdance. They had been so eager to learn and prove themselves. A shadow of sadness winged through Spectreflame's mind as she remembered Chaosdance, but she pushed it away. She should not worry about that now. Her brother had died a noble death, and besides, she had a training session to concentrate on. Spectreflame felt pride well up inside her as she turned her light blue gaze back onto Rosepaw. She had an apprentice! Yes. One you're supposed to be training. Spectreflame cleared her mind by shaking her head, and focused properly on the young cat. "You've nearly got it right," she told Rosepaw, twitching her whiskers in humour. Spectreflame dropped into a perfectly balanced hunter's crouch, her eyes still on Rosepaw. "Try to balance your weight equally, and keep your steps nice and light. Keep your rear down and your tail straight up, for balance. Don't look at me, look straight ahead." Spectreflame sat, curling her feathery tail around her forepaws, to watch her apprentice.

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw saw Spectreflames smile but didnt get embarassed. She had felt pretty silly with her bum wiggling in the air so she let out a small giggle too. As soon as Spectreflame started talking again she was serious though. She crouched down again, keeping her rear low and her tail up and straight. She took a step forwards and stumbled but tried again and surprised herself so much with a good hunters crouch and prowl that she nearly fell over. She turned her leaf green eyes on Spectreflame. "Was that better?" she asked, attempting the hunters position again.}[/color]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{Crestedfire stood in front of Icepaw, lowering his face down to her. "You're distracted," he said softly, speaking much more confidently to an apprentice than he would to another warrior. "You should clear your thoughts. Focus only on the task at hand." He backed up and let Icepaw try again.}

[Ice]

Icepaw nodded, she cleared her thoughts, only thinking about catching prey. She lifted her head to breath in the scents. She scented a bird in the distance. Icepaw looked around and spotted it, The bird was about 4 tail lengths away. She got down into the hunters crouch that Highfrost taught her, than she stalked her prey. She got a tail length away and got lower to the ground, making sure the bird couldn't hear her. Once again she cleared her thoughts, dropped her tail and dug her claws deep into the ground. She pushed off the ground with her hind legs, her claws digging into the birds side. Icepaw broke the birds neck, and carried it back to the group. "Crestedfire your a genius!" Icepaw said, as she sat her prey in between her fore paws. She smiled as she looked down at her catch.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{Crestedfire's cheeks reddened under his ginger fur and he glanced away modestly. "I don't know about all that," he blushed and glanced at Spectreflame for a moment to try and distract himself from Icepaw's compliment, to which he had never received in his life. The only compliments he ever received was from Mistheart, his mother, and from Firestar. At that moment, he grew flustered and then stared at his broad paws, swallowing heavy lumps in his throat. "Just...um...just keep working on...it, okay?" He trailed a claw in the dust.}

[SHADE. :D]

Spectreflame lifted her tail as Rosepaw attempted the hunter's crouch again. The white she-cat got to her paws, mewing out in triumpth. "You've got it," she mewed. "Well done." The big white warrior glanced in Crestedfire's direction, and saw him scoring his claws in the dust. He looked embarrased and awkward. Spectreflame turned her light blue gaze back onto Rosepaw. "Try that out," she mewed. "Go into the bushes and scent for prey. Just try your best. You'll learn better from experience than me showing you." Spectreflame padded towards Crestedfire. "I've set Rosepaw hunting," she mewed, hoping that she had done the right thing. Rosepaw was still so young.

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw purred happily as Spectreflame said she had got it. She nodded and gulped nervously. Now it was time to put the hunters crouch into practice. She slipped ino the bushes, her ginger pelt prickling with excitement and nerves. She dropped into the hunters crouch and scented for some prey. There. She smelt something. But what? Mouse! she remembered the scent with a jolt. She tried to pinpoint it with scent but she was new to this. She suddenly spotted it, scrambling about in the leaves. She crept fowards in her crouch, sidling up to the mouse on soundless pawsteps. She leapt and missed, by a few centimetres and the mouse began to run away, but she recovered quickly and with a hiss of annoyance she bit down hard on the mouses neck. She licked the blood from around her lips and trotted back to Spectreflame. She dropped her kill by her paws and began to bury it, as she had seen the mounds of earth where the kill was buried. She looked up at her mentor. "I got the mouse, but only just. I misjudged the distance and nearly missed it" she said, sounding far more serious than normal. She finished burying her kill to collect later and looked back up at Spectreflame.}[/color]

[Ice]

Icepaw nodded whe Crestedfire told her to keep working on it. Then she noticed him blushing, so she looked at her paws. Icepaw looked over at Rosepaw. "Nice catch Rosepaw, you did way better than me on my first experiance..." Icepaw remebered her first hunting experiance, she missed the mouse 4 times in a row. She looked back up to her mentor, who was draging his claw in the dirt. Icepaw sat there waiting for Crestedfire to tell her to go catch something else or do somthing...

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{Crestedfire coughed sheepishly at she-cats around him. "Er...Icepaw, how about you and Rosepaw go hunting together, just to get the feel for tracking and what not," he told his apprentice with a lopsided handsome smile. At Spectreflame's comment, he nodded, broad shoulders supporting his gentle head. "Rosepaw's a good learner and you're a good teacher. I doubt you'll have much of a problem," he complimented the she-cat shyly.}

[Ice]

Icepaw nodded at her mentor, "Ok Crestedfire," Icepaw turned to where the other apprentice stood. "Come on Rosepaw, lets go track down and kill mice, and maybe even some birds." With that Icepaw turned and started walking deeper into the forest. She turned around to see if Rosepaw had heard her.

[SHADE. :D]

Spectreflame watched Icepaw for a while, admiring how the older apprentice had grown. Her legs were long and supple, and her shoulders muscled. The longhaired she-cat marvelled at how well Crestedfire had trained the young she-cat. She then turned, distracted, and the scent of fresh kill drifted towards her. Spectreflame turned, blinking her light blue eyes, spotting Rosepaw. The light ginger apprentice was carrying a mouse in her small jaws. A bite to its neck confirmed that it was the source of the scent. Purring, Spectreflame lifted her tail. "Well done," she praised Rosepaw, nodding at her apprentice. "That was brilliant. Not many apprentices catch prey on their first try." At Rosepaw's modest comment, Spectreflame swept her tail from side to side as if to brush the worries away. "But you caught it, that's what matters." Spectreflame gave a brisk nod at Crestedfire's suggestion, before turning to the big ginger tom. She stood at his height, ears pricked. "Thanks," she mewed, unusaul shyness creeping into her tone.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{Crestedfire had not expected Spectreflame to reply because he typically was ignored or his comments were responded to with a flick of the tail or roll of the eyes. The massive tom blushed shyly and closed his gentle eyes in a supremely happy, though off-center, smile. "You're the only one who has said that in a long time!" Crestedfire said cheerily, forever the blunt one in a relationship if he ever would know the word. He lifted up his massive paw and unsheathed his claws, most content with picking a clingy leaf out of Spectreflame's luscious pelt. She was rather pretty, after all, and a great warrior; he couldn't have her all dirty and stuff. That's all he seemed to be good for, cleaning up after everyone. He kind of liked that actually, having gotten used to being ignored and all. No one really liked the momma's boy shy cry-baby that wouldn't hit back if someone hit him. He was too gentle for a real warrior to even think about liking him. Maybe not in battle, perhaps, but that was a different story. Battle was a variable.}

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw felt her heart swell with joy at Spectreflames comments, she admired the white she-cat a lot and praise from her was something to feel happy about, in Rosepaws opinion. She nodded at Crestedfires suggestion and ambled off happily after Icepaw. Her shorter legs had to move fast to keep up with the slender Icepaw but the fiery apprentice didnt mind. "So whats it really like being an apprentice?" she asked the older apprentice, her green eyes shining. She didnt have nearly enough experience to know what being an apprentice was really like and who better to ask than Icepaw?}[/color]

[Ice]

Icepaw slowed down just a little bit, she forgot Rosepaw was smaller than her. "Being an apprentice has its ups and downs, like the up side is that we hunt, go to gatherings if we are lucky, and we get to train." Icepaw looked at Rosepaw, and tried to listen for prey, "the down sides are we have to stay in camp and do things well we could be training, or hunting." Icepaw looked at the ground now, watching for things she could trip on. She hoped that would anwser Rosepaw's question, cause personaly Highfrost rarely took her to hunt, or train. Icepaw stopped when she smelt a bird, "can you smell anything?" She said looking at Rosepaw to see if she smelt the bird, and would be able to try and kill it.

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw nodded, bouncing happily along beside the older apprentice. "Sounds good! I hope Spectreflame will take me out training lots!" she said, smiling. She looked up at the silver and white apprentice happily. She hoped they could be friends, she liked Icepaw a lot. Rosepaw stopped as Icepaw spoke and tensed as she drew in the smells around her. She paused as she drew in a scent that she knew well. "Thats bird" she said, knowing this as she and Cardinalpaw had chased birds a lot as kits. She looked up at Icepaw and saw the older apprentice looking at her expectantly. She crouched down and silently padded along the ground to where the bird was. She pinpointed the bird, a robin, and continued to pad towards it. She tensed to pounce and a twig snaped under her paws. She lunged for the bird anyway but missed it by a whisker as it flew off twittering with fright into the trees. She crept dejectedly back over to Icepaw, looking sheepish. "I missed" she said, stating the obvious.}[/color]

[SHADE. :D]

Spectreflame smirked at Crestedfire's sudden joyous smile. But the smile was not cruel; it was amused, but not in a malicious way. An almost gentle expression covered Spectreflame's face breifly, before her usaul guarded smile rose again. The white she-cat instively drew back as Crestedfire leant forward, her lips parting to show her very sharp teeth. The warrior relaxed as the ginger tom plucked a dried leaf from her chest. Spectreflame let out a sigh. She knew that she was too tense. Warriors wern't supposed to be tense. The white she-cat looked at Crestedfire. They made a pretty odd pair really, though they were alike in one way. Neither of them had ever really fit in. As a kit and a apprentice, Spectreflame had stuck with her beloved twin brother Chaosdance; but now he was dead. As a warrior, she had had to make new friends. Spectreflame glanced up at Crestedfire. She had Wovenknot, a childhood friend, and her sisters Ravenpaw, Frostpaw, Hopeheart and Streamrunner, not forgetting her old mother, Pearlblade... But not many new friends. Maybe.. Maybe she and Crestedfire could be proper friends? One day?

[Ice]

Icepaw looked happy, but she didn't know why. "Hey I hope you get in way more training than I got." Icepaw smiled, but suddenly the smile disappeared. She got a serious look on her face as Rosepaw stalked the Robbin. "Nice try, just try to be a little lighter on your paws. Also try to watch out for twigs and leaves..." Icepaw looked down at the younger apprentice. Rosepaw reminded Icepaw so much of herself when she was little. Just looking at Rosepaw made her mind think of the past, which Icepaw tried so hard to fight out of her head. Icepaw never liked her past.

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw nodded, listening to Icepaw. She smiled and looked up. "I would of caught it if it hadnt flown away! Its just cos it had wings" she said, pouting and pretending to be in the huff. She paused as another scent entered her nostrils. She dropped down and crept fowards, scenting to pinpoint where the animal was. She was surprised at how she found out where it was more easily this time. She soon spotted the prey, another mouse. She crept forwards, remembering to be light on her feet. She sprang in the air and ended the little mouse's life with a swift bite to the neck. She smiled happily and trotted back over to Icepaw. "Its easier when they dont have wings" she said, scratching at the ground to bury her kill.}[/color]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{Crestedfire blushed heatedly at her gaze, all the way down to his paws. Leaves crunched as he shifted his weight from right to left to look at Spectreflame. He smiled faintly. "I saw your mom fight a bit in the battle. No old age for her. She should still be a warrior by the ferocity in her eyes," he praised Spectreflame's mother, Pearlblade, who had always been kind to him when he was an apprentice and she a queen. He usually tripped over his large paws bringing her a thrush or something, but she always smiled at him when he came to see her. Feeling awkward and out of place for speaking so boldly, Crestedfire shut his mouth and stared at the sky, watching the leaves blow overhead.}

[SHADE. :D]

Spectreflame smiled her usual fierce smile at Crestedfire's words. "Yes," she mewed, waving her long, plumy white tail. "She would still be a warrior, had Selenekit not disappeared. That broke her spirit. Only anger fixed it again, in the battle." Spectreflame imagined her mother's poor, broken body lying in Minnowmask's den. She drew in a shaky breath. The last time she had seen Pearlblade, she had seemed so small, so fragile. Spectreflame remembered her kit days, batting at her mother's sleek tail with fat, fluffy forepaws. Then she had looked up to her mother - she had had to. But now... Spectreflame shuddered as an unwanted thought crossed her mind. What would happen when Pearlblade died? She was a grown warrior now, but what about Ravenpaw, Frostpaw and Shardpaw? The truth was, though she hated to admit it to herself, that she still took comfort from the fact that her mother was there for her. I'm not a kit anymore, she told herself fiercely, but still she hid the thought in her mind, glad that Pearlblade still lived and breathed and comforted her when she needed it.
But who will comfort me when she's gone?

[Ice]

Icepaw looked at Rosepaw. "Yes I know that its hard to catch something with wings," Icepaw's tail wrapped around her paw as she sat. She smelt a mouse wandering around, but she sat there not even moving. She was going to let Rosepaw get this one. Icepaw stood up as the other apprentice came back with the mouse. Icepaw giggled when Rosepaw made her comment. "You will get used to catching things with wings." Icepaw smiled slightly, scenting the air for prey. Finally she smelt a bird, she got down in a slightly balanced hunters crouch. She got low to the ground letting her tail touch the ground. She cleared her mind of everything, and leaped on the robin, ending its life with a sickening crack to the neck. Icepaw walked over to Rosepaw, "see, you just need a little more practice. Also even warriors think it is hard to catch these." Icepaw said as she started burying her kill.

[Spice..xx]

_{Rosepaw nodded and then watched Icepaw carefully as she hunted a bird. She stalked away quickly herself and after a few moments of search found a starling. She crept up on it, trying so hard she was almost trembling. Finally, at the last moment she leapt, sharp claws stretched out in front of her and with a loud squawk the bird was dead. Her face lit up in a triumphant smile and she raced back to Icepaw. "Look! A bird! I caught a bird!" she cried, hopping around with excitement. She suddenly stopped and sat down, looking sheepish. "I probably scared away the rest of the prey in the forest making that much noise" she said, her tail twitching with amusement. She looked at their stash of prey and looked towards Crestedfire and Spectreflame. "Shall we take our loot back to our mentors?" she asked, springing to her paws again.}[/color]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>"You did well too," the ginger male blurted out. "I mean, nothing stopped you and you fought well and you... Sorry, I'm...er...rambling a bit." The MoonClanner inhaled deeply, trying to calm his beating heart. "Spectreflame, I think...I think..."

I think I love you...

"I think Selenekit is still alive," Crestedfire mumbled, staring at the ground now as he trailed intricately into the ground. He was unable to say what he wanted to say, the bumpkin that he was. He glanced up, hesitantly looking up at the white warrior with his gentle eyes. "I have a feeling she is, but I don't want to raise your mom's hopes down with my nonsensical talk that might not come true anyway." He smiled a small smile, lopsided as usually.</sub>

[Ice]

Icepaw looked at Rosepaw in confusion when she dropped into a hunters crouch, but than she smelt the bird. Icepaw watched as the young apprentice caught the starling. "Good catch!" Icepaw praised Rosepaw. A smile formed on Icepaw's face when Rosepaw got overly excited, but she didn't blame the apprentice. It was her first bird she every caught, and on her first trip wow... "OK lets," Icepaw started digging up her robin. she was kind of sad that Rosepaw caught more, but Icepaw didn't let that show. She sat there with her kill dangling from her jaws, waiting for the younger one to get her things so they could go show their mentors.