Hunting

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather brushed through the tall reeds that gave this place its name. He scented mouse, and saw it a second later. He dropped into a hunters crouch and stalked forward. Belly brushing the ground. He was a rabbit leap away now, when he leapt and took the mouse's life with a swift bite. He scraped some earth over his kill, ready to collect later.

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx was not far behind, her ginger and white shape close to the ground as she stalked a rabbit. She leapt onto its back and killed it with a quick bite, before scraping leaves and moss over it to conceal it from scavengers. She watched with amusement as Halopaw clumselly stalked a pigeon, which flew away with a stuttering alarm call. Halopaw thumped the earth with a paw in frustration, marching over to Eaglefeather, loking sulky. "I can't do it." she moaned.

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather's whiskers twiched at the apprentice. 'You'll get the hang of it, you just have to keep trying. I bet you'll have caught something by the end of the day!' he encouraged the apprentice, then gave her a gentle push back the way she came. 'Now go get those mice!' he chuckled as he said it, remembering that he hadn't been brilliant at hunting when he was an apprentice.

[SHADE. :D]

"Ok," mewed Halopaw, looking up at Eaglefeather, eyes glimmering. She scampered away, then fell into a crouch when she remembered she ws supposed to be hunting. Her eye fell on a scrawny mouse. She crept forwards and leapt. A moment too soon. The mouse sped away, but Halopaw was faster; she seized it with a small ginger paw, pulling it over to herself, and killed it skillfully. Then she threw the body into the air, catching it in her teeth with a grceful twist of her body, before trotting back over to Eaglefeathe and dropping the mouse at his paws.
Sunjinx padded bak to Eaglefeather, dropping a shrew by him and going to retreive her rabbit. She lay her prey next to Halopaw's, then sat down to wait for Cloakedpaw to return.
A foreign scent wafted through the territory as a black she-cat padded through, her amber eyes troubled. She looked up when she scented CloudClan, and muttered behind her, as if some more cats were coming: "CloudClan."
Amethyststar looked at the cats. "We are going to the Moonshard. You have no right to stop us." She continued.

[fernie. (:]

'And we will not. You are free to travel to Moonshard without other clans challenging you. This will be no different.' Eaglefeather looked around for the other cats.

[SHADE. :D]

Amethyststar dipped her head and padded on. Sunjinx watched his curious emerald eyes, before looking up at Eaglefeather. "Shall we hunt some more, or go back with what we have already caught?" she asked. Halopaw stood up, tail waving happily.

[fernie. (:]

'Well we could go back, have a quick rest and come out again if you want. I mean, we've caught about as much as what was on the whole kill pile when we left, so we deserve a break.' Eaglefeather picked up as much freshkill as he could and gestured for the others to do the same.

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx dipped her head. "Your the leader of the patrol." She picked up the rabbit she had caught in her strong jaws. She then flicked the shrew with her tail, and gestured to Cloakedpaw. She wanted him to carry it back to camp.
Halopaw proudly picked up her mouse, tail held high and eyes sparkling. As they began to pad back to camp, the young apprentice stayed close to Eaglefeather, chatting loudly and excitedly to him through the moue in her maw.

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather purred with amusement at the apprentice, not being able to reply through the mouthfull of freshkill. When they got back to camp he put his catch on the pile. It made a lot of difference to it with everyone else's prey on it too. Eaglefeather went over to Halopaw. 'I knew you'd catch something to add to the kill pile! Well done.'

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx padded into the nursery to check on Ribbonkit, wondering where her mate was. Her kit looked up from her slumber and mewed: "Mother, I'm six moons old. Can I be an apprentice?" Her mother smiled at her, licking her kit between the ears. Later, Ribbonkit." she mumbled. She disappeared inside for a few moments, then returned. "It's okay, we can go again now. Silver's not here." She sounded faintly disappointed.
Halopaw grinned at Eaglefeather. "Thanks!" she boasted, doing a little twirl.

[razor]

Silver walked calmly into camp, his movements fluent and his steps graceful. He looked rather dreamy eyed for a bit before he noticed Sunjinx with Eaglefeather. Almost at once did he stiffen up, his eyes dark and large as moons. Shaking his head he walked over, brushing past Eaglefeather to curls around his mates, pupils little slits as he looked at the other tom.

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[fernie. (:]

'Ok. Where shall we head this time?' Eaglefeather asked. He sat down while Halopaw danced around him.

[razor]

_{ooc; Mmpth. >< Thanks for the dose of 'I'll-just-ignore-your-character'}

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx licked her mate's ear, then gently prised him off of her. "Eaglefeather, Halopaw, Cloakedpaw and I are going on hunting pstrol. See you later. Ribbonkit's in the nursery." She affectionately flicked her mate's cheek with her tail and stared at Eaglefeather, waiting for his commnd.
"Dunno," mewed Halopaw. The sweet ginger tabby rolled in the snow, giggling.

[razor]

_{Silver rose his hackles and glared daggers at Eaglefeather before pushing himself forward and pressing his muzzle to the toms ear. "Don't even think about it" he growled before turning on his tail and moving into the Nursery to wrap himself rather tightly round his daughter. "Is it bad that I'm not from CloudClan.. do you think she wants that, does she want a big tough handsome warrior like Eaglefeather instead of me, the silver loner rat" he complained, spilling out his thoughts to his daughter.}

[fernie. (:]

ooc: Sorry! I didn't see your post, I'm a bit blind sometimes.

Bic: Eaglefeather backed off a few paces as the tom said that. 'What?' He said, confusion in his eyes. He turned and walked off with the rest of the patrol.

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx gave Silver a furious look, then flounced out of camp after Eaglefeather. Halopaw gave a nervous giggle and scampered after them. Ribbonkut wriggled way from her father, looking at him with exasperated eyes. "Father, she was going on patrol. Don't be so suspicscious."

[FIREH!!]

Cloakedpaw picked up the shrew and carried it back. When he got back, he dropped it on the pile and laid down. "I'll never be a warrior!" he sobbed.

[SHADE. :D]

Halopaw darted over to her brother and licked his face frantically. "What's the matter? Tell me! Why won't you be a warrior? Your a better hunter than I am!" the she-cat begged, soothing her brother with strokes on the head.

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather saw Cloakedpaw getting upset. 'What's wrong?' he asked.

[razor]

_{Silver grunted and lay down, curled by himself with out even the comfort of his own kitten to help him. Maybe his life had been a mistake, why hadn't he just let Twistedheart take over his body and kill him off. Considering letting her back in and out into the open he twitched his tail in thought before his daughter spoke. "Hm.." was all he mumbled looking at his paws.}

[SHADE. :D]

Ribbonkit sighed. She had hoped her father would t least notice she was old enouh to be an apprentice. Maybe take her to see Cormorantstar. She grumbled to herself, letting her head fall on her paws, wondering what it would be like to never be apprenticed. To stay Ribbonkit: six moons, twelve, fifty... Even as an elder all the other elders: Halopaw, Cloakedpaw... They'd mock her for never getting her apprentice name. Letting out a small sob of distress, the kit curled up tighter.

[razor]

_{"Come on you, were going to see Cormorantstar, I've had enough of watching you being pushed aside from getting to be an apprentice" Silver suddenly meowed, getting to his paws he walked over to her and nudge her in the side. His eyes soft and loving as he looked at her. He couldn't give up life now, he had to many things to worry about, to many people he loved.}

[SHADE. :D]

Ribbonkit smiled at her father, and mewed quietly. "Thankyou Father." She licked the tom's cheek, then bounced on her paws, looking excited.
Ooc; Can you make a board in Cormie's den?

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather lead the way through the forest again until an unpleasant smell seeped through his nostrils. Badger! He stopped dead and turned to face Sunjinx. 'Do you smell that too? We'd better go and warn Cormoranstar that there's a badge in our territory.'

[SHADE. :D]

unjinx stiffened, bristling. "Wait," she hissed, prowling closer to the stentch. It emitted from a small-ish cave. She sniffed, the pungent scent making her eyes stream. She spat as a large black and white face appeared, and the she-badger let out a roar which shook the trees. Sunjinx leapt backward as a huge paw lunged for her; the talon scored down her side, but she was prevented from fatal damage. "Eaglegeather!" Sunjinx screeched.

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather leapt into battle mode. He sprinted in front of Sunjinx to prevent the badger attacking her again. He squared his shoulders and lashed out with unsheathed claws. He got the badger on the nose. He then jumped on its back and started raking at it until it was bleeding badly. He was not quick enough though, and it shook him off with incredible force. It got Eaglefeather with a blow to his side which left him winded. He sprang back up knowing he was useless on the ground. Eaglefeather fought madly to drive the badger away and they both injured each other pretty badly. However, Eaglefeather suddenly grabbed it by the throat and bit hard. He let go when he tasted blood and it scampered off in the other direction. Eaglefeather limped over to Sunjinx. 'Are you ok?'

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx shook herself. "Yes." She glanced arond. She was not too badly injured. "WE better get back to camp," she rasped.

[fernie. (:]

Eaglefeather helped Sunjinx to her feet, dreading the thought of what Silver would say when he saw his mate like this. He made sure the apprentices were okay, then the patrol started back to camp. Eaglefeather's side was bleeding heavily from a deep gash, and he could feel blood dripping above his eye.

[SHADE. :D]

Sunjinx limped behind Eaglefeather, leaving a heavy trail of blood behind her as she walked. The ginger and white she-cat glanced around, hoping Halopaw and Cloakedpaw had got to safety in time. She padded into he sheltered reaches if the camp, and looked about, hoping Cormorantstar was in camp. She swayed on her paws.
Halopaw looked up at the warriors with wide eyes. The ginger tabby looked concerned. "Why didn't I help?" she cried in dismay.