Look what I caught! [open]

Ooc: directly follows this topic

By the time Astraeus neared home, day was breaking, and he was utterly exhausted. His paws felt numb. His jaws felt numb. His ears felt numb- but that was probably from the cold, not from lugging around a hawk and a hare. They’d better be thankful, he thought crankily. I worked my tail off and they’re probably all sleeping. Gah- wish I was sleeping-

Finally, finally, he staggered into camp, dragging the hawk by its wing and shrugging the hare off his back and onto the snowy ground. The hawk’s feathers were ragged and dirty by now, and smelt faintly of mint, but it was still meat. Food. The hare had a few bite-marks in it, from Astraeus’s hungry jaws. Right now, though, he wanted to sleep more than he wanted to eat, and the only thing keeping him from collapsing into a nest was the thought of how proud everyone would be. He had provided for every possible bad-thingy.

Collapsing onto his haunches, he raised his voice slightly. It was time for everyone to be getting up, anyways, if they weren’t already. “Da! Ma! Aoife, Atalante, Ares, everyone! Come see what I did! All by myself!” Maybe he sounded a bit more like an excited kit than he’d like, but he’d done something awesome, and quite impressive for a tom scarcely older than a new apprentice.

He sat in the middle of camp, tail eagerly twitching, next to a bloodied hawk and a fat hare. He had done it all by himself.

Ares dangled from a high-up rock, gangly limbs splayed awkwardly across it, the issues of growing reared their ugly head with him. He had been up already, simply watching the sunrise, for a time, before he was going to train. With what, he was unsure, but he knew he needed to train. Always needed to train, or he would never be strong. Acute ears perked up as a dragging noise could be heard from outside the camp, and Ares scented the air. Thankfully it was blowing his way, and he could tell it was Astraeus coming back. When he had awoken, he wondered where his brother had run off to, but decided to wait and see if he would come home before the sun was fully in the sky before looking for him.

So his golden eyes watched carefully as his sibling dragged in a hawk, which was crazy. Impressive indeed. "Astraeus, there you are! I was wondering where you had run off to. That," He meowed, gesturing with his paw to the bloodied hawk on the ground, "is impressive. Maybe dad will make you a hunter for us if you can catch things like this on your own! You've got skill brother!" Ares leaped down from his perch, inspecting the kill. There was a hare he hadn't noticed before, too caught up in the amazement of the hawk. "And a hare! Wow at this rate, you'll be feeding all of us with no trouble at all." Ares gave his brother a smirk, bumping him with his shoulder. He was proud of him, he did great! Better than he could've done probably, and he was okay with that. He should be proud of the accomplishments of his siblings, and they were still young! Who knew what they could accomplish when they were older and properly trained.

Aphrodite scowled at the cold. No matter how tight she curled up it persisted. "This is miserable," she grumbled, "I haven't been able to sleep all night!" The angry she-cat waved her tail, flicking the frosty leaves off of her small self.

Huh? Someone was yelling, it sounded like Astraeus. Lifting her head she then saw her brother carrying something in his mouth. It smelled delicious. As Ares pointed out his catch she realized it was a hawk. A whole hawk!? And a hare! I've never eaten a hawk before..

"When did you leave?" she asked, padding closer. Aphrodite licked her lips, the scent only making her hungrier. "Oh I'm starving! Can I have some? I'd probably die at this point!" she begged, making sure she was heard loud and clear. With this many siblings, food went quick. The she-cat figured that if she made a fuss then she had a better chance at eating.

Tarot, dozing yet ever-alert, smelt the scent of one of the Klaus-clones before he heard them call out in triumph upon arriving into camp. Cracking one lazy iris orb open he watched mutely as two other Klaus-clones greeted the first, fawning over something. Faint smells on the breeze told him that one was a hare carcass and the other was an unknown smell to him.

Standing up on the branch he had perched in (more for the wide field of view he had to watch over the camp rather than comfort) he stretched, then lept down gracefully. Honestly, he was starting to miss the landscape of the twolegplace, at least everywhere he looked there was different and had something going on for him to observe. Here it was usually always the same scenery, rock, rocks, more rocks, some trees, and little spawns of his friend running about everywhere.

To be clear, no matter how much his internal monologues said differently, he didn't dislike the Klaus-clones, and he did still feel some iota of protectiveness over them, probably from their link to his friend and watching the balls of fur grow into capable cats that could take care of themselves. Still, though, when they were kits they were a bit bothersome. Luckily that was fading out of them now.

Anyhow, he still needed to foster some proper bond with them for the future's sake, and he had been trying to despite how little he knew of taking care of younger generations. Klaus had more experience in that field with how many she-cats he seemed to have created offspring with.

Walking over to the trio he peered at the prey curiously, a slight warm smile on his face, it was a good catch, very good, in fact. In no time Astraeus would likely be able to take down other cats as well if he had accomplished this feat so young.

Tail curling and hooking above him, the angular tom purred, obviously pleased with the younger feline. "You've done a marvellous job, Astraeus. Even with how long I've been hunting on my own I've never managed to catch a hawk!" Usually because his preferred prey was other cats, of course, but still he was, indeed, impressed. "At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you started dragging back sheep." He joked, chuckling. He bet down, sniffing over the prey, mostly checking to make sure it hadn't been dragged through anything poisonous during its ragged journey to the camp. Sensing nothing off with the food he nodded, "Yes, I'm sure your father will be proud once he hears how well you've been pulling your weight. I'm sure you'll grow into a fine cat if you keep this up."

Perhaps he could teach him how to take down other cats sooner rather than later if he continued showing such results. With a slightly teasing smile, he continued, "Perhaps next time you should bring one of your siblings to help carry them back though, must've been rather tiring to drag such heavy prey here. After doing all the work of hunting them it's only fair that someone else should be parading it back to camp for you, no?"

Of course, that was largely a jest, soon the young tom would probably be able to carry prey as large as this back to camp with little issue. On to more serious matters though.

He glanced him over, checking for any wounds or injuries that could risk infection. "Did you get hurt at all during the hunt though?" The dark-furred tom inquired. If he had trekked all the way back to camp with injuries it could pose an immediate problem. From the looks of it, hawk talons and beaks were not weapons to be scoffed at. Even hares could cause serious damage if they landed a kick on a cat.