A Morning Hunt

[♫.Starredmyst]

OOc;{From warriorsxnsd.proboards105.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=camp&thread=1198707963&page=1#1201134926 }

Nightpaw tilted his head at Mothflight's words, then shrugged to himself; he really had no idea who Darksong was anyway, and his mentor didn't seem too concerned. He followed his mentor cheerfully up the path to the forest and sat down when Mothflight spoke to him, thoughtful.

"I scent..." He paused, frowning slightly. The leaves had almost all fallen from the trees and their continual crackling, blowing dust fragments up into the air, was very distracting. He paused. "Not very much. The birds' nests are all empty and there's not much awake. But -- there's a squirrel over there, a real fat one!"

Immediately, automatically, he dropped into a hunting crouch, then paused apologetically and looked up to his mentor for instructions.

[Đarκsong]

Mothflight simply nodded at Nightpaw's reply. He was pleased with his enthusiasm for hunting, and told this apprentice, "Be patient and try to keep your paws as quiet as possible. Crunching leaves can quickly scare away prey."

He sniffed the air briefly, trying to tell if any other prey was nearby. He scented a few things, but instead stay to watch how Nightpaw would do. Mothflight could also tell that Darksong had passed through nearby. He couldn't help but worry about his estranged brother.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightpaw nodded and promptly dropped back into his hunting crouch. A light wind hit his face, rattling those few dead leaves left on tree branches, and he again caught the scent of the squirrel. Slowly, body low to the ground, each paw carefully placed to make the least noise possible, he crept forward.

There it was. It was fat, gorged on nut stores for its long leafbare sleep, and apparently very busy preparing more of the same sort. It played host to several acorn guests by one side and was busily digging a hole in the ground in order to hide its stash.

The calico-tabby tom caught his breath and fell even closer to the ground, stepped even more lightly. Three more steps -- two -- one --

He lunged and pounced before the rodent could do more than freeze in suspicion, catching it between two paws and pinning to the hard cold earth. His jaws opened and snapped down around --

A very, very furry tail.

Somehow at the last second the squirrel had twisted in his grip, presenting its fluffy backside for his enjoyment rather than the neck for a killing bite. Nightpaw stifled a yelp and let go of the tail; in an instant the squirrel had struggled free from his loosened grip and dashed up a nearby tree. Horribly embarrassed and enraged by the stupid thing's antics, Nightpaw chased after --

He was halfway up the tree by the time it occurred to him he didn't know how to get down, and by that point it was better for his dignity just to catch the stupid thing in its hiding-hole and figure it out later than to admit it to his mentor.

[Đarκsong]

Mothflight slowly padded up behind Nightpaw. He heard the light thump of the apprentice landing on his prey, then moments later the quick scurrying of the squirrel running up a tree. He chuckled a bit under his breath. As he stepped forward to look for Nightpaw, he heard the sound of claws scrabbling their way up a tree.

That mouse-brained fool!

Mothflight padded up to the foot of a tree, and glanced up to spot Nightpaw. His apprentice was already half way up the tree. Mothflight reared up onto the trunk and called to the young cat. He started to dig his claws into the trunk, hoping he would not have to climb up there to get the foolish Nightpaw.

[♫.Starredmyst]

There it was, the stupid squirrel, curled up in a hole in the tree trunk and chittering angrily at him. Nightpaw hissed, wishing he knew how to roar and scare the thing out of its wits; he shoved his paw into the hole and was rewarded with an even more furious chatter as he swiped around, trying to catch the thing by the side of its head and stun it. Even if the task was pretty much impossible, it was still very satisfying to scare the thing out of its wits.

Mothflight was calling him. He glanced down and realized for the first time how high up he was; resolutely he focused on the paw that kept him balanced where it was held up against the tree trunk, pretended not to notice the branch swaying under his weight, and called back down, "Don't worry! I'm fine! Just -- gotta catch -- the little bugger..." His tongue was poking out of the side of his mouth as he kept on fishing for the rodent.

[Đarκsong]

"Wow, Mothflight, that's a real genius apprentice you have there."

Darksong's words made Mothflight jump. He turned to see his brother, smirking as he stared up at Nightpaw. Mothflight hissed at him, for he hated it when he would sneak up like that.

"He's just young, Darksong." Mothflight said, "He still has a lot to learn!"

Mothflight then turned back to Nightpaw. His heart was beating fast in his chest, worried that he could fall. "One squirrel is not worth risking your life. There's plently more prey in the forest!" Mothflight said, both anger and fear in his voice.

Darksong stood back and watched, chuckling a bit to himself. His worries now seemed far away.....

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine, this thing's so mean I just wanna -- YEOWCH!"

Spitting a loud word his mother would not have been proud to hear, the young tom snatched his paw away from the hole in the tree; it was bleeding and the squirrel let out a chitter that sounded suspiciously taunting. Nightpaw swore again and stuck his face into the squirrel's, thought better of the idea, and scampered over to a different branch.

"Maybe you're right..."

It was at this point the apprentice realized the ground was very, very far away. He gulped and thought hard about methods of stalling.

[Đarκsong]

Darksong continued to laugh at this situation. He laid down on the ground with his paws tucked underneath him.

Mothflight growled a bit, both at Darksong and Nightpaw. He reared up onto the tree and began digging his claws in. He had climbed trees a few times before, but this time he was very nervous.

Darksong got up and padded over beside his brother. "You aren't seriously going to go up there?" He mewed, "Then they'll be two cats in the stupid tree." Darksong the sighed, and began walking away.

Mothflight had just gotten his back paws dug into the bark when he turned to see Darksong walk away, "Where are you going?" He asked quickly.

"I'm hungry!"

"Well stay here and spot me. I might need your help!" Mothflight growled at him.

"....Fine......."

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Look -- you, uh -- really don't have to help -- I can, uh, get down myself..."

The idea was seeming less and less likely by the moment, however, and Nightpaw was secretly relieved to see Mothflight coming up to his rescue. Even if it was a bit nauseating to look at them, all the way down there.

Them?

"Who's that?" he added rather sharply, leaning over his branch to study the other cat. It wasn't one he knew well, though now that he thought of it the tom and his mentor spent a lot of time together. "Is that Darksong? He's not helping, is he!" The alarm wasn't so much personal annoyance with the tom as further embarrassment that more than one cat were there to see.

[Đarκsong]

Mothflight carefully climbed his way up the tree, ignoring Nightpaw's protests. He reached his paw up to to dig into another piece of bark, when it suddenly ripped off the tree. Mothflight fumbled for a higher up spot for his paw. Once he had a good hold, he went as fast as he could up to where Nightpaw was.

Darksong just barely dodged the falling bark. He quickly glanced up the tree, seeing if Mothflight was going to fall. He was relieved to see that he was instead quite close to Nightpaw.

Mothflight's paw grasped the branch Nightpaw stood on. He decided not to climb onto the branch, for it could possibly break under the weight of two cats. "Can you get yourself back onto the tree trunk and climb down after me?" Mothflight suggested. This way, he could keep Nightpaw from falling.

He turned to see if Darksong was still there, "Don't take off on me just because your belly is growling." He hissed.

"You better hurry up then."

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightpaw's eyes narrowed at the other tom's acid comment, but then Mothflight's words hit him and he glanced down with a gulp.

"I -- um --" --can't climb backwards! he thought weakly, but it would've sounded so stupid to say aloud. He could've sworn he heard the squirrel's chittering laughter from the next branch over, and he lashed his tail.

"All -- right. Yeah. I'm coming."

Carefully, carefully, the young tom stood on his hind paws and clung to the bark of the tree, and began lowering himself down to the next level of branches where his mentor waited.

[Đarκsong]

Mothflight kept his eyes nervously fixed on Nightpaw. Every second felt like an hour.

"Just take your time." Mothflight told him gently, "There's no rush." Mothflight climbed down backwards as well, being sure to keep the same pace as Nightpaw.

Darksong sighed heavily as he waited impatiently for them. He tried his best to ignore his growling belly, knowing that he couldn't possibly leave.

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Coming...coming..." the young tom mumbled, carefully not looking down to see where he was going. Cat claws were not meant to climb trees this way...

He got to Mothflight, hesitated, and kept inching down; the ground grew closer and closer. At last, he was only a fox-length or so above the ground --

And, predictably, the stupid squirrel chose that moment to reappear, high in the tree above.

It was laughing at him. Nightpaw bared his teeth in a silent snarl and lifted a paw to race back up the tree for it -- remembered what a horrible time it was getting down -- faltered and tried to do both at once --

The problem was neatly solved for him as he lost his purchase and dropped the last few feet into a thornbush.

[Đarκsong]

Mothflight inched his way down the tree trunk slowly, constantly watching Nightpaw.

Please don't fall...

He then heard the chattering of the squirrel. He saw Nightpaw's body tense up, and his paw reach forward. Mothflight was about to tell him to stop when he fell.

Mothflight quickly climbed down a few more pawsteps, then leapt off the tree. He raced over to the thorn bush that Nightpaw had fallen in. "Are you alright?" He called nervously.

Darksong padded over beside Mothflight to see what had happened. He wasn't nearly as worried about Nightpaw as his brother was. "He's probably fine.....and well learned his lesson!"

[♫.Starredmyst]

Nightpaw managed to get his paws under him just in time and land with some grace in the bush, after the manner of cats everywhere; however, he let out a yelp as the thick bed of thorns tore his skin, and by the time he'd dragged himself out of the bush his orange-brown-white pelt was liberally spotted with the sharp little things. With a disgusted sigh the young tom sat down, stuck his head around and began the frustrating process of pulling them out one by one, beginning with those that hadn't made their way through his fur to the skin.

"Are you alright?" Mothflight had come down out of the tree and was standing nearby, looking worried. Nightpaw nodded distractedly, ears flattening as a particularly stubborn thorn dragged against his skin. Darksong's scoff, however, caught a good bit more of his attention.

"He's probably fine.....and well learned his lesson!"

The youngest tom gave a small start at the words, then slowly looked up at the unfamiliar cat, who'd clearly been watching the entire performance with something like amusement or disgust. Nightpaw's eyes narrowed and he stood, meeting Darksong's gaze coolly. His ears were back and his tail twitching.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" he questioned coldly.