//.Live like Jack and Sally.\\

[cheshy says grace]

<sub>((Can you guess which song that's from? xP))

Otterpaw bounced up the hill. Her nose catching scents of prey once in awhile or her paw getting stuck in some wet mud from the previous rain. By the time she had gotten to top, her paws were coated in dark brown mud and her whiskers twitched wildly. She grinned down at Barrenpaw, "Come on! I think I smell some finches... or are they blue jays? Eh, who cares?" She turned and ran down the other side of the hill. Otterpaw tripped on a root growing out of the ground and fell forwards, head over tail, she tumbled down the Hill. And, of course by the time she got to the bottom, she was covered ear tips to tail tip in mud.

But all she did was grin hugely and climb back up to the hill-top to look back down on Barrenpaw, her gray fur now dark and dirty.

((My silly lil' Otterpaw <3333))</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

[ooc] No, LOL. xD But I don't listed to that much music, anyway... >=D

Unlike Otterpaw, Barrenpaw was very cautious of the muddy ground, and when he reached the top he only had the slightest traces of mud on him. Being the arrogant perfectionist he was, the matted brown tom licked the mud off his claws, screwing up his face at the horrible taste. "They're finches, mousebrain!" he yelled at her as she sniffed the air. Barrenpaw reminded himself that she had just been apprenticed, but still...

Barrenpaw gasped as Otterpaw rolled down the mud-covered hill, but instead of going after her he sat and flicked his tail back and forth. Trying to keep his 'tough-guy' image, he glared down at her, but when she made it back up and looked at him, all wide-eyed innocence, he had to laugh. "Otterpaw..." he laughed as his aquamarine eyes looked over her pelt, soaked in the sticky brown goop. No cat had ever made him laugh like this before, and...

He loved it.

[/color][/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{((Just to be random. It's Blink 182))}

[cheshy says grace]

<sub>((Yup! Good job Aurrers! ... i'd give you a karma point... but I don' have the power... sooo, you can have a cookie! -give choco chip cookie to Aurrers-))

Otterpaw smiled, how come she wasn't attacking him like she usually would do to any cat? Why weren't they play wrestling? She hadn't felt this way before. Something warm and nuggety was growing in the pit of her stomach. And whenever she heard him laugh, or try to act cool, the something grew even bigger. The new apprentice didn't know what it could be, because she was for sure that it couldn't be hatred, or even just 'like'. She felt this way when she fell asleep with her mum. Or when she thought of her dad. All Otterpaw knew was, that it was love... and that it was growing stronger by the second.

And when he said her name it sent warm shudders down her spine and she felt as if she would melt. The nuggety something burst in to life, and she knew right then, that it was love.

Otterpaw looked at Barrenpaw for a minute, just to take in his appearance, before turning her head to sniff the air. She parted her jaws, acting as if she was trying to track down a scent instead of giving way notice that her thoughts surrounded the tomcat that sat in front of her.

((Awwwww -bats eyes- so cute x3 -squee!-))</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

[ooc] Then I'll do it instead! ^_^ -karmas Aurrers-

When the fit of laughter finally subsided, Barrenpaw watched Otterpaw look away and sniff the air. He opened hi nouth and pointed to a small clump of ferns with his tail. "There's a mouse over there," he said coolly. It was amazing how calm this cat could act just after losing himself laughing, but Barrenpaw had always been able to do that. Crounching into his best hunting stalk, he crept closer to the bush until he was able to pounce on the mouse. Biting it dead swiftly, he brought it back to Otterpaw. "W-want to share?!" he blurted out, surprising even himself. "Honestly, those mousebrains back at camp won't be able to tell, anyway." he rolled his eyes, but not even he could withstand the same feeling Otterpaw was - but for him it was different. He had never curled up beside a cat he knew as his mother; only a foster mother. He had never been able to picture his father, each time the picture changed and became more magnificent - besides, all he felt towards his father were pride and maybe even a little bit of hatred for leaving him. The love he shared with Barleypaw or Treepaw was brother-sister love, much different from this. Poor little Barrenpaw was confused out of his wits, and his tail flicked nervously over the ground.

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

_{Otterpaw nodded and watched him catch the mouse quickly. Then her mouth fell slightly open when he asked her to share. She closed it quickly so it would go unnoticed. "Uhh, oh, yeah! Sure! I mean..." she looked down at her paws which were digging in to the earth, "I'll share it with you if you want to share it with me." Otterpaw looked back up at Barrenpaw, then down at the mouse, then back up again. "I... uh..." she knew he was confused at this 'love' thing. She knew he had never had a real mum, and that he never knew his dad. And of course the fact that his brother and sister were just 'friends' if you'd like to call it that. But she never had any live siblings, being the only one of the litter that wasn't stillborn. "It's okay," she whispered.}[/color]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

"You don't wanna share?" Barrenpaw asked, taken slightly aback at how shy and quiet Otterpaw was acting. "Um, that's okay. I'll just bring it back to camp, then." He absentmindedly began scratching out a shallow hole to store the fresh-kill in. "Well, are we hunting or n-not?" he asked, once again trying to act like he didn't care about anyone or anything, and failing miserably. "We'll need to get more fresh-kill before leaf-bare comes, anyway, so l-let's g-go." while he was standing up, something completely intentional happened - Barrenpaw ran his long tail over Otterpaw's sleek flank, as if he were comforting her. Of course, it wasn't meant to happen, an 'accident' if you might say, but Barrenpaw froze up as soon as it happened. He stared ahead, ears burning with embarassement. "U-um..." he stuttered, shifting his weight from paw to paw. "S-s-sorry."

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

_{Otterpaw looked up as he said that she didn't want to share, "No, n-no, I-I do want to share." Then when he touched her she melted inside again. She shuddered absentmindedly. "I-It's okay, y-you don't have to apologize," she answered, the skin under her gray fur turning red. "I mean... ya, let's go hunting." She stood up, and, in a matter of trying to be her hyper self again, grinned hugely and bounced on her paws. Then Otterpaw sniffed the air, and vole came to her nose, "Is that vole? Or mouse?" she asked, perking her ears.}[/color]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Sighing inside when Otterpaw dismissed it so quickly, he rolled his eyes at her. "It's a vole. Go catch it." Licking his paw he set his eyes on a quivering patch of bracken, not wanting to point to it in case he offended Otterpaw.

[/blockquote]

[ooc] WRITER'S BLOCK! I'm writing 3 bios at once [Maplepaw; Cascadekit and my kittypet / loner Bianca], so pwease forgive me. =[[/size]

[cheshy says grace]

<sub>((Dun worry, I have WB too ^^)

Otterpaw nodded and looked around for any sign of movement. Then she spotted the quivering patch of bracken. She got down in a hunter's crouch, and padded slowly and quietly over to the bracken. Then when it stopped moving she pounced quickly, and had some trouble killing the vole. At first it had run off, and Otterpaw had gone to chase after it. Then when she had finally caught it, it gave struggle and kept moving it's head and neck out of range of her bite. She growled in anger, "Come on, you stupid piece of prey!" Finally it ran out of energy and she killed it with a swift bite. otterpaw picked it up happily and trotted over to Barrenpaw. She dropped it at his paws and grinned hugely at her first catch, "Yay!"

((uhm.. never mind ^^)</sub>[/color]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Barrenpaw blinked, confused for a second. She's never been out hunting before! This only made him feel even warmer inside, that he would be the one sharing this time with her. "Oh. Um, if it's your first catch you'd better bring it back." he sighed quietly - a part of him wanted to share with Otterpaw. Where had his rebellious side gone off to? He dug his claws into the soft, peaty earth. "Nice catch, anyway," he meowed with a suprisingly kind tone in his voice. He angled his ears towards the other side of the hill and heard a faint scruffling. A mouse! He knew this was likely the last peice of prey they found, but he stalked towards it anyway. He pounced, but the sly mouse ran away quickly. Unlike Otterpaw he didn't give chase, for she probably scared off half the prey in the forest with that noise, but it was a good catch nevertheless.

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

<sub>Otterpaw grinned at his compliment. "Thanks!" she bounced around and buried her catch roughly. "Whee!" she jumped up high and ran around in circles. She laid down on her ack and sighed, "I'm booo-o-o-ored!" she whined, rolling aroun don the ground and coating her fur with mud again.

((writer's block Dx))</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Barrenpaw sighed, knowing that their little hunting trip was over. As he watched Otterpaw act like a total mousebrain - which he now realized was perfectly normal for her, and to his surprise he kind of liked that - he dug up his mouse and sniffed the air one last time. "Come on, Otterp-" he stopped short, afraid that he sounded like a mentor talking to his apprentice, but his stubborn attitude took over, anyway. "Come on, Otterpaw," he repeated as she rolled on the ground. He could see her mother now: How on earth did you get so muddy? Yes,Otterpaw had a great mother who cared for her more than anything. Bushing those thoughts out of his mind, he began to walk away before stopping and looking back at her expectantly.

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

_{Otterpaw grinned and sat up. She shook off as much mud as she could before digging up her own vole and trotting after him. "I had lots of fun! We should do this again!" she started to bounce around Barrenpaw, "Did you have fun? I had fun? But you already know tha- agh!" She had tripped on a root that was growing out of the ground and was now stumbling down the hill, once more, head over tail. She crash landed in a large blueberry bush at the bottom of the hill. "Oomph!" Otterpaw grunted as she hit the bush. The apprentice stuck her head out of it, the vole, now muddied and covered with leaves, was still clutched tight between her teeth. Leaves and squashed berries' were stuck to the newly coated mud on her pelt. And all she did was grin cheesily and rush back up to keep pace with her friend. "Wow! That was fun!" she cried, exasperated.}[/color]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Barrenpaw tried hard not to grit his teeth as Otterpaw shot question after question at him, even though he found it quite amusing and warm. As his companion cut off abruptly, the pale brown tom blinked. Was he dreaming? Nope. Otterpaw was already at the bottom of the hill, bright fallen leaves stuck to her pelt. And, what surprised him even more was that she still had the now-dirty vole clutched inbetween her jaws. He smiled at her as she made her way back up. "Maybe," he replied, but his wide grin betrayed his amusement.

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

<sub>Otterpaw smiled, melting inside once more as he grinned. "Cool!" she cried as she jumped up into the air. Then she remembered the vole, she set it down and looked at it. "My, I sure did get it dirty. Do you think it's safe to bring it back to the clan? They might think I'm trying to kill them," Otterpaw looked up at him and smiled cheesily.

((a bit of Writer's block, hope you don't mind ^^)</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

"Well, I wouldn't eat it, but maybe they won't mind." he rolled his eyes for effect. "Anyway, let's get back to camp." Barrenpaw tried to make that barrier again, the barrier that had kept everyone else's feelings out and his feelings in. Otterpaw seemed to know how to completely crush that barrier, and at first it had annoyed him. Not even Barleypaw and Treepaw had gotten him to act as warmly as he had now. Why could Otterpaw see into everyone and see not only their bad sides, but their good sides, too? She wasn't stupid, if she saw a cat doing something wrong she'd speak up, but most other cats dismissed Barrenpaw like he wasn't worth talking to. Not Otterpaw, though. Instead, she looked deeper and managed to get Barrenpaw to open up to her.

Maybe he wasn't named 'barren' just for his rough and messy pelt. Maybe it was also because of his cold and rocky insecurity inside. He twitched his ear as all these crazy thoughts swarmed into his mind. "Lest'sf gfo," he meowed curtly to Otterpaw, his mew slightly muffled by the prey in his mouth.

[/color][/blockquote]

[cheshy says grace]

Otterpaw grinned, "Kay!" she ran ahead a bit, then turned to look at Barrenpaw. She flicked her ears for a second and examined him once more. He was a handsome cat, she knew that, and she could tell that he needed more attention. She would give him that attention of course, and she would help him feel better and let him know that every cat has a place in this world, even him.

Then Otterpaw grinned, dropped her vole, feeling that there was no use for it anymore, and called out, "Whoever gets to camp last is a piece of mousedung!" She turned and ran off into the forest. First at a slow pace, waiting for Barrenpaw top catch up.

[/blockquote][/sub]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Barrenpaw always jumped at a challenge. He felt the adrenaline flow through his legs and surge him forward as he dug his claws into the ground for speed. He smiled at Otterpaw when he realized she was waiting for him, but then he focused his energy back on the race.

[ooc] Writer's bloooooock. Should we post back in camp now?

[cheshy says grace]

Otterpaw grinned and shot forwards into the forest as Barrenpaw caught up with her. She smiled, and as the energy from her last meal pulsed through her legs, helping her run, she thought, I'm never going to forget today. Never, ever, ever.

((sure, end of thread? And can you make the post in Camp?))

[/blockquote]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

[ooc] I posted in Flaring Annoyance, hope that's okay.

[cheshy says grace]

((ya, s' okay))

[/blockquote]