Rabbit leaps towards Heather [For Icee]

It was early morning, and the bird songs had yet to start when the first hunting patrol left camp. In that patrol were apprentices, Heatherpaw and Rabbitpaw, who were ordered to fan out to try find prey in the burnt remains of the pine forest. With a few moons having passed, the task wasn't nearly as impossible as before.

There was some re-growth in the forest, and with that came prey trickling in from where they'd scurried away.

So Rabbitpaw was out, looking for these elusive scents that would hopefully guide him to prey.

He followed the scent of a mouse, tracking over pine needles and ash. His nose was almost black with soot from how close he held it to the ground in his eagerness. The brown tabby racing carefully and steadily through the forest, but it was a dead end. The mouse had already been caught by something else, most likely a crow, and it was pecked to pieces. Only it's skeleton remaining, picked clean.

"Gah! Can't believe that I'm losing to a crow!" He meowed in frustration, probably a little too loud considering it was a hunting patrol. Only after he spoke did he flinch, and prayed to Starclan no one nearby lost their quarry because of him. Skyclan needed fresh-kill more than ever.

Heatherpaw was as happy as ever to leave camp and explore the territory more. She was even happier to hear she would get to hunt for the first time. Though she regretted not being with her brother, he did complain about a tiny tummy ache and insisted she go without him. He needs to be tougher to survive out here. Our enemies won't stop attacking you just because of a tummy ache.

Despite the dead trees and the black ash covering the ground, she still found the forest quite invigorating. Prancing around blindly, the tabby she-cat gladly went to find prey on her own.

After some time with no results, the bob-tailed cat started becoming aggravated. Her first hunt and here she was, preyless. Heatherpaw kicked the ground in frustration. Just then, she heard a small rustling in the bushes ahead and instinctively crouched down, keeping her head low. Opening her mouth slightly, she could nearly taste the fat squirrel in the undergrowth. Approaching slowly, she kept her tread light, which was easy with her large but soft paws. Just as she was about to pounce, the sound of Rabbitpaw's voice errupted loud and scared off the squirrel. "Mouse-dung!" she hissed. Standing up straight and once again kicking the ground, she headed straight for the source.

""I almost had a squirrel there, Rabbitpaw! You own me big time." she spat, angry he ruined her almost-first catch.

The moment he heard the curse, Rabbitpaw froze in place, inwardly cringing at his rookie mistake. His fur fell flat against his body, embarassed quite a bit considering he was her senior by  quite a few moons. He was supposed to know more than this, but in his annoyance, had apparently lost all common sense.

When the fellow apprentice came to where he was, standing over a mouse carcass, he looked over guiltily. Ears bent forward, pawed at the ground trying formulate something to say that didn't sound too trite. He really was having trouble thinking about what could make up for this blunder, and it didn't help he knew this was her first hunt. The brown tabby felt like an fox for screwing up, but his feelings weren't going to make up for it. So he offered the only thing he possibly could. "I'm sorry. The next one we come across is yours?"

The she-cat's fur stood on end with frustration. This tom's lack of consideration cost her the first live squirrel she had seen. And even worse, he was standing in front of a almost bare mouse carcass. What was that about?

Not caring if any other cat's hunt would be ruined, she turned to him and straightened her back.

"How about the next two?" she meowed with a snarky tone. She would teach Rabbitpaw a thing or two about manners, even if he was older. She knew toms, having dealt with one for over six moons, so playing with this one wouldn't be too tough. His fear-ridden reaction showed her that much. "And what's with that?" she questioned, her eyes slits as she gestured to the mouse body with her paw.

"You can have the next three if it'll keep you from clawing my ear off." Rabbitpaw muttered under his breath quietly, pawing at the mouse carcass. He didn't really blame her for her reaction, he couldn't imagine he'd be too pleased either if the same had happened to him. Prey was scarce.

When she asked about the mouse, he was glad to have a change of topic. And quickly replied, taking advantage of this moment to distract. "Have a sniff, you'll see. It's hardly a mystery."

To give her room, he took a step back, giving her space to scent the crow. It probably was a useful scent to know, given some crows were large enough to carry away kits and small apprentices. He'd never seen it happen, but he'd heard stories.

"Deal," she said with a smirk. Now, to find out what this mouse business is about. Bending down, she tentatively sniffed the carcass. Reeling back in disgust, she placed her paw over her nose. "What is that horrible smell?!" she growled, her pupils shrinking to slits. Gagging a little, she backed away from the dead mouse. How had she not smelled that before? She wiped her nose, trying to rid her senses of the scent. It was disgusting, smelling like rotten prey, carnage and other unpleasant smells.

"I think you need a bath," she joked, placing her paw back on the ground.

Though her reaction was expected, the tom had to purr in amusement at how she physically leapt away from the piece of crowfood. He didn't blame her though, the bones and what little flesh remained had decayed into a sickly scent that would have been stomach churning, if he had been so caught up in frustration. With much of the canopy broken, it seemed the fox-hearted crows had the advantage when hunting.

"And a new nose, I don't think I'll be able to smell anything after this." Rabbitpaw responded in turn, batting the corpse away to mix with the pine needles that made up most of the forest floor. Rabbitpaw would have said something else, but his ears caught a sound a little off from where they were. High upwind. His ears twitched at the little scuffles, and his eyes took on a feral gleam. "Do you hear that? That's one third of my debt paid. Don't mess it up."

The pixiebob smirked at Rabbitpaw's addition. So he does have a sense of humor. She purred in return, but stopped shortly after seeing the tom's ears twitch. Her own ears up in alert, she was pleased to hear the soft scuttling. "Like I could mess it up," she chuckled and crouched low to the ground like before. Her light-brown belly fur grazed the pine covered dirt as she inched closer and closer to the source of the sound. After passing a dead bush, she was surprised to see the same fat squirrel she almost caught nibbling on a small acorn. Barring her fangs and licking her lips, she approached it once more, this time intent on catching the creature.

Within seconds of pouncing, the squirrel was dead under paws and Heatherpaw was licking blood off of them. Picking up the fat bugger in her maw she returned to Rabbitpaw with a smug expression. Dropping the kill at his paws, she smiled a wide toothy smile. "I guess things have ways of working themselves out," she commented and held her head high.

Rabbitpaw purred amused at how smug Heatherpaw looked, lording over her now dead prey with pride. And she deserved to, that had been a particularly quick and silent kill. The sort you needed to do if you wanted to catch something afterwards in the area. He'd learnt that one the hard way, there was no use in catching a mouse if you've scared off everything else in the vicinity. Though he was going to just hand Heatherpaw compliments, he had his pride as an older apprentice. He could totally do that. Totally. "Beginners luck, catch the next two and I'll be impressed."

The tom begun to dig a hole to place the squirrel, they didn't need another crow making off with their prey. The airy canopy made them a big enough pain in the rump, picking off all of their prey. No need to give the scavenging foxes with wings anything else. "Here, bury it so we can go catch the next two. I mean, you can go catch the next two."