WakingxUp [Gingerpaw/open]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

"Oh, you're awake, Nightstreak!" Dashing quite swiftly, with a couple of mice held by the tails in her jowls, she reached the tom in almost no time flat. Placing the prey down, she glanced up at him and cast him a friendly smile.

Flicking her tail and lobes, her expression remaining quite cheerful, Gingerpaw settled herself down and wrapped her tail around her paws. "You wanna go out into the forest? Maybe kinda patrol, and just go see what we can do?" She hadn't gotten much done while he was asleep; just her apprentice tasks within the Camp, so she was anticipating going outside.

So, yeah, she was hunting when he woke up - but that was only because Snowsong had invited her for a little bit; she had to go back to Camp after she caught some prey, while the pallid warrior went on her own solo patrol.

Now, she was just itching to go out there again. And, for some reason, going alone with Nightstreak didn't cause her any feeling of oddity deep down. Then again, she was so social. It may have even gotten annoying at some points, but, frankly, she didn't mind.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightstreak glanced up as Gingerpaw came over, swallowing the last of his furry meal. Now that he was awake, he was very excited about this hunting trip. My first experience as a warrior! he told himself, hopping to his paws.

"Sounds good to me!" he meowed in answer. "There should be plenty of prey, this time of year. So we can catch all kinds of stuff.

"Hey," he added, boasting, "maybe I can teach you a trick or two! C'mon, let's go!" He trotted off in the direction of the forest.

OOc;{Short. Meh.}

[.&&. Snowsong.]

"Sure! I mean, Darksong's been teaching me a lot, but, it'll be nice to do things when I'm free." God, her smiles could have annoyed the Hell out of everyone. I mean, she was still smiling; then again, it was a cute, kind smile. Not to mention, it was inviting for anyone.

Giddily, Gingerpaw pranced around Nightstreak, before launching herself at his back. However, she only lightly pushed on his back, making certain he could only feel slight pressure for a split second. Grinning sweetly, she glanced up at him. "Teach me to do better at everything." Of course, she was slightly joking, but she wanted to see him try to teach her, after boasting; playful 'revenge,' indeed.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Any sensible cat would, at this point, have realized that they were being set up for trouble, or at least caught the hint of teasing in Gingerpaw's words. Nightstreak was just happy that the she-cat thought he was capable of teaching her, and gave an enthusiastic "Sure!" as they climbed up into the forest. It was nice to be with someone who wasn't depressed all the time.

"All right," he said, lowering his voice and treading more carefully as the underbrush thickened. "You can go first. I'll see if I've got any advice for you after you try to catch something."

Yes, he taking the half-joke in earnest. Being the one speaking, he wouldn't have been able to fathom the idea that his attempts at maturity were actually making him look more childish; he was actually entirely serious, as though he believed a moon or two of extra training and a new name qualified him as a teacher.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

There was definitely a grin on her lips. "Will do!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice, before she made her way carefully forward; her grin disappeared due to concentration. A couple of small twigs snapped, but she eventually got the hang of it once again. Now, more carefully, she glanced around for prey, sniffing.

Soon enough, she spotted a squirrel on the ground, and her lips formed a smile. Readying herself for a pounce, she coiled her muscles. Then, swiftly, she propelled herself at the squirrel.

Too early. The squirrel dashed off. She leaped after it.

Too slow. The squirrel got to the tree. She bolted for it, carefully as she could.

Too fast. Her claw snatched the squirrel's tail, but her momentum through her forward to far to grab it.

Recovering herself, she ran up the tree. Perfect; her claws had snatched the squirrel.

But now, as she held firmly onto the squirrel, she glanced down and realized that she didn't know how to climb backwards. It was the only way to get down, and she couldn't. Now, she was a bit frightened, and as she attempted to climb down, she yelped; and the squirrel got away. "Uhmmmm, little help?" The fear wasn't easily kept from her tone.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightstreak felt a little trepidation when Gingerpaw set eyes on the squirrel. He and tree rats didn't get along very well; he wasn't adept at hunting them, but took a positive delight in devouring them (despite the face that they were a little hairy for his taste). It all stemmed from a certain episode on his first attempt to hunt a squirrel...

And he watched, disbelieving, as Gingerpaw reenacted that particular episode. Well, except for attempting to chase the squirrel around in the tree like he'd done.

Well, at least he'd be able to teach her about this! The young warrior stifled a laugh and raced up to the tree. Looking closer at Gingerpaw's predicament, he was a little less amused; the tree didn't have many branches close to the ground, and he doubted the she-cat would be able to jump from lowest without hurting herself. Stopping at the base of the tree, almost directly underneath Gingerpaw, he called up anxiously, "You're gonna have to edge down it backwards. Dig your claws into the trunk and move down one paw at a time."

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Gulping somewhat, she nodded. It was amazing that, once she slowly inched her way down, her smile began to return to her lips. So, claws into the trunk and paw by paw as instructed, she began to get the hang of it. She wasn't going to fall off and break her back after all.

Soon enough, she managed to get down. Landing almost heavily, she straightened up and grinned. "Well, that's one thing I learned today!"

It wasn't difficult to hide her embarrassment, especially as she turned around, sniffing the air once again. "I hope I didn't scare all the prey away." Flicking her lobes, her gaze scanned the area.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightstreak watched with a touch of envy as the ginger she-cat inched her way down the tree. He acutely remembered his attempt to get out of the tree -- Mothflight had to come up before he'd left the stupid squirrel alone, and then he'd fallen the last foxlength into a thornbush.

He'd never noticed it before, but Gingerpaw was awfully graceful; it made him feel awkward, like he'd lost a few moons and his paws were still too big for him. He grinned as she leapt the last short distance from the ground, still smiling, and almost immediately started sniffing for prey.

"I hope I didn't scare all the prey away."

"I doubt it," the tom answered, speaking quietly again, adding his own eyes and nose to the hunt. "We weren't making that much noise..."

Sure enough, he caught scent of a vole; it was on alert from all the crashing and yowling, but hadn't run yet. Nightstreak dropped into a hunting crouch.

"A heroic attempt like that deserves a break," he whispered, eyes darting through the underbrush til he caught sight of the rodent, "so let a pro show you how it's done."

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Her smile grew, somewhat. She suppressed a giggle at his comment of that attempt being heroic; how.. odd. It seemed ironic in her eyes, but it also seemed kind. To be heroic after only one training lesson, and two very minor patrols and such... That was quite new, unexpected - and humorous.

At his last comment, she suppressed a chuckle. She was getting to watch a warrior, one of her friends at that, hunt; she could learn much more. Tail held quite high, she took a silent step back, watching eagerly.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightstreak focused in on his prey. Seven moons of training had done their work on the earnest apprentice, making him into a focused, if inexperienced, warrior; now he crouched and began to creep forward, one pawstep at a time, holding his breath.

The vole was alert, mouselike nose up in the air, ears casting this way and that. Nightstreak moved closer, oh-so-careful, belly brushing the ground, paws careful and silent. He stopped, holding his breath, every time the vole tensed up. Inching closer, closer, closer...

Slowly the vole relaxed. It went back down into a comfortable crouch, nibbling at a seed. Nightstreak kept tense; slow...just a few more steps.

Suddenly the vole looked up again. Nightstreak froze, but the wind had shifted; alarmed, the vole shot off. Cursing under his breath, Nightstreak chased after it. It was running at an angle to him; he could catch up if it didn't reach its hole first...

Almost there! Nightstreak leaped the last foot between himself and the rodent, and felt the fur of it brush against his claws. He reached out -- dug in -- caught it by a hair and drew it close -- the vole shrieked and he swore even as he delicately snapped its neck.

He returned to Gingerpaw, vole in his mouth, head low with amused chagrin. "Not such a good catch," he admitted to her, returning to the squirrel tree and digging a hole to bury his prey. His attempt had sobered him a little, let off a little of his odd, giddy excitement, and he'd dropped the boastful attitude. "I've probably scared off anything you didn't. We should probably move a bit."

[.&&. Snowsong.]

With a slight nod, Gingerpaw leaped over to beside Nightstreak. A soft smile stretched across her lips, "Well, you still got a kill, even if you did scare a few things away." Her optimism and cheeriness seemed able to taint many, especially as she seemed to frolic around her companion, flicking her tail in directions to suggest where they should go.