Out and About [closed]

Tail waving frantically in an attempt to keep his balance secure, Elmcloud's claws snagged deeper into the brittle bark as the branch swayed precariously. Straightening up to the point that his neck ached, the tom's ears pricked as he observed Tigerpaw's careful movements. Nape fur prickling with interest, the young tom's heart stalled for a brief moment as he watched the young tabby leap into the neighboring tree in pursuit of the squirrel, although thankfully he was able to exhale a relieved sigh. It was reassuring to think that he hadn't allowed his apprentice to simply hurl herself out of a tree for little reward. At least he was better than most mentors in that regard.

"Well done! I couldn't of done better myself." Elmcloud called, his voice slightly muffled by the swaying of decaying leaves, "Would you like to continue or head back to camp? I don't know how much will still be out, but we can keep searching if you'd like." His amber gaze stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to the drab dull greys and browns that composed the tree he was still seated in.

Tigerpaw glowed at her mentor's praise, obviously pleased. "I wanna see if I can catch one more piece of prey." She mewed. At least, that was what she wanted to say. Her words were muffled by the squirrel in her mouth, so they might have come out sounding slightly different. Nevertheless, the meaning should have gotten across. It was cold out, so Tigerpaw didn't want to stay too long, but she also did not want to return to camp with only a squirrel. She felt that that would be a waste of this patrol. Carefully draping the dead squirrel across a branch, she began to carefully search for other prey. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a flash of black. When she turned her head, she saw a black-feathered bird perched on a branch some distance away, preening itself. It did not seem to be aware that a hungry-looking apprentice was only a few tail lengths away when it had chosen to land in this tree. Tigerpaw began to advance towards it. Fortunately, she did not have to jump to another tree in order to catch the bird this time. Her jaws closed firmly around it. The bird struggled wildly, flailing its wings in Tigerpaw's face, but eventually it went limp. The apprentice headed back to the branch she had put her squirrel on and placed the new addition next to it. "Are you going to catch anything yourself, Elmcloud?" She asked, now that she was done with her own hunting.

The member 'Transient Days' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Head tilting slightly, Elmcloud's ears strained slightly as he struggled to properly retain Tigerpaw's words- the rattling of the branches and undergrowth hardly aided in his attempt. Pupils flaring as he watched the young tabby quietly carrying herself across several tail-lengths of exposed branches in pursuit of the bird, he silently slunk behind her. Wrapping his tail neatly around his forepaws, the ruddy tom remained soundless as he watched Tigerpaw pursue and eventually bring down the bird. Ears pricking at her question, Elmcloud let out a thoughtful hum. "I suppose I can." He answered, giving a slight shrug in response to the apprentice's question. Without waiting to catch sight of Tigerpaw's reaction, he was quickly scaling several more branches, leaving behind slight score-marks in the colorless bark. The higher he delved into the swaying tree, the more prominent the scent of squirrel became.

Neatly pulling himself up onto a particularly branch, Elmcloud paid no mind to the way the branch dipped greatly under his weight. His attention was instead focused on the soft chattering of a nearby squirrel, whose darkly colored tail bobbed and twitched tantalizingly. Dropping into a smooth, neat crouch, which resulted in the branch swaying even more, the young tom took a moment to brace himself before leaping. Ignoring the way that the air whistled softly around him, tugging and buffeting his fur, Elmcloud easily cleared the gap between the branches and finished off the squirrel with a neat snap of his paws.

Grasping the still-warm form of the squirrel, Elmcloud leaned down from his high perch, gaze straining to pick out Tigerpaw's tabby form among the many crisscrossing branches that barred his line of sight. "Satisfied?" He called, his muffled voice soft with faint amusement.

The member 'Seer' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Before her mind could fully register her mentor's actions, he was already gazing down at her, a squirrel hanging from his jaws. Craning her neck to pick out his ruddy form, Tigerpaw suddenly became aware of the painfully obvious difference in abilities. Several different expressions of praise bubbled up within her, but she held herself back from saying them out loud for fear of sounding like an excited kit, which she was not. "Er, yeah. That was amazing." She ended up saying instead. As expected of an experienced SkyClan warrior, Elmcloud was really good at climbing. Watching him in action, it had almost seemed like he had wings on his paws. Would she ever have that kind of skill? Although Elmcloud probably could not tell, his apprentice had just mentally set him as a target to one day overtake. "I guess we should go home now?" She asked.

Taking note of the slightly repressed expression of eagerness upon Tigerpaw's face, Elmcloud's ear twitched slightly. He could still recall feeling a similar way after watching Rippedsky pull off a similar hunting trick whenever they were still training together. Carefully tightening his grasp on the freshly-killed squirrel, he began to ease his way back down toward's Tigerpaw, occasionally dropping from branch to branch to speed the process up. Feeling the branch sway slightly as he landed a few tail-lengths away from his apprentice, Elmcloud's ears pricked at her question.

Hunting had been a nice distraction from his pressing concerns and lingering fears, but it could only last for so long. Although the thought of having to return to camp filled him with a restless apprehension, he knew it was a foolish idea to try and keep himself away from camp constantly. "I suppose we should- we don't want to let these squirrels get too cold." Elmcloud agreed, thankful that the prey muffled his words.