like the cool kids (c)

Technically they were supposed to go out with a warrior... but since they weren't kits anymore, technically no one could stop them. Wolfpaw had convinced her it wouldn't be too hard to slip away from a hunting patrol and simply wander around for a bit on their own, and she couldn't blame him. The territory looked so pretty tonight! Gleaming starlight reflected on the snow, and the pleasant sensation of crunchy frost giving way to squishy mud was something she could walk on all day. It was almost funny how the mud darkened her paws but the snow cleaned them off almost instantly. She could be entertained for hours just walking in a circle. Something in the back of her mind whispered that Mamma Pineblossom probably wouldn't want them sneaking off, but Wolfpaw was just so confident. Besides, he was already great at fighting, and his teaching from Silverhawk would definitely make him one of the strongest cats in the Clan. He would keep her safe. They would be perfectly fine! "So, where are we going?" Hedgepaw asked finally, tilting her head to try and get a look at his face. He was walking in front of her, of course, as usual. But she'd promised him that he could. "Anywhere in particular?"

The forest was pretty silent, except for the crunching of snow beneath feet and the distant hoots of an owl. Hedgepaw amused herself in the meantime by trying to step exactly where Wolfpaw did, in the small divots of snow and frost made by his darker paws--but it was difficult, since he'd already started to grow bigger than her. It took all her concentration to stretch her legs beyond their normal capacity, far enough to reach his footsteps, so she nearly fumbled her next step when he finally spoke. "Something... big?" She repeated his words with trepidation, uncertainty. "Like how big? Bigger than us? I dunno, I'm kinda small... I don't think I could catch anything bigger'n a mouse." It was true though, what he said with a gleam in his amber eyes--Mamma would be proud of them. Hedgepaw frowned thoughtfully. Her small tail still stuck straight up behind her, a bad habit from her recently-departed kithood. "A bad thing? Like... a predator? Like a fox? I dunno, Wolf... I think Mamma might be worried if we went looking for really dangerous stuff." It scared her, specifically, but she wasn't gonna say that. She didn't want Wolfpaw to think she wasn't cool enough to hang out with. "I mean, uh, I could do it! Totally I could. If I was as big and strong as you. But I'm really small, so I just..." Her voice grew quieter and more uncertain as she spoke. "What if something bad happens?"

Practice... was that right? Practice, and she could catch anything she wanted. But that was the problem. She didn't really want to catch big, scary things. But if she said that then Wolfpaw wouldn't want to go on patrol with her anymore. And she liked spending time with him. Hedgepaw steeled herself, taking in a deep breath. "Yeah, I... yeah, okay." He said nothing would happen to her. He promised, and she trusted him. But then he mentioned maybe they didn't have to. They could go for something... smaller. Like... normal prey? She blinked. What on earth was a "stripey one"? Briefly she tilted her head, taking in what he'd said. They could just hunt, and the scary things would come to them, or they could come looking for the scary things. Frankly she didn't like either option. But Wolfpaw was strong, and he'd fight off anything stripey, either way.

"I mean, I'm sure they know where to find us, right?" Hedgepaw said, trying to sound casual and not like she was worried at all about big scary things coming to find them alone in the dark. "So, uh--if we just hunt for like, mice 'n stuff. I'm sure that anything stripey is gonna find us anyway. And... oh, look over there, it's a mouse. How crazy is that? I'm, uh, I'm gonna go catch it real quick." She hadn't actually seen anything, she just padded with purpose over to a slightly different corner of the territory, close to the base of a large conifer. Now that she'd gotten there, though, she actually did see some motion nearby in a pile of pine needles. Hmm. She inspected it for a while before sneaking a little bit closer and pouncing, white paws outstretched.

It actually was a mouse. It squeaked when she landed on it, and then when she hurriedly ended its life with a quick bite. Some pine needles also got in her mouth, and she spat them out before carrying the fresh-kill back to Stagpaw, trotting happily with her tail sticking straight up, stripey things forgotten. "Look! Look, I got one!"

Hedgepaw tries to catch a mouse... Success! -3 SP

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 3