Smoke in the Trees [open]

Smokefeather leapt upwards, claws catching and digging into the low-hanging branch as she pulled herself up. Greenleaf was in full swing, the air hot and humid as the newly-named warrior practiced her climbing skills periodically while slipping through Skyclan territory. Leaves floated down to the ground as Smokefeather worked her way up the tree, focused on reaching a solid-looking branch above.

While Smokefeather was no longer an apprentice, it felt good to practice her climbing skills, even in the disgusting greenleaf heat. She might have been imagining it, but high in the trees, the air did feel a bit cooler, and the leaves above provided ample shade. Not that the pale tortoiseshell intended to rest for long. Just enough to catch her breath and take an admiring look out over the forest. Being higher let her spot things that couldn't be spotted from on the ground.

After a few minutes spent in the higher branches, Smokefeather began to carefully make her way down the tree. About halfway down, she eyed the branches of a tree ahead of her thoughtfully. It was close enough, she thought, eyes judging the distance from one branch to the next. Adjusting her footing, Smokefeather bounded lightly across the branch and leapt.

Unsheathed claws sank into the neighboring tree's branch, and Smokefeather moved closer to the trunk of the tree where the branch was wider before continuing her descent, leaping nimbly from branch to branch.

Foxfire was padding along the ground, far more content keeping his paws on the solid surface. Every once in a while, his eyes would drift upwards to see a bird fluttering to a branch or a squirrel making a leap. It was honestly a nice day, even if the humid air was annoying. He was thankful that his fur was so short as he enjoyed the rare batch of wind that managed to work its way through the trees. His ears twitched at the sound of leaves quivering, glancing up to see a large form leaping from branch to branch. The sight caused him to pause, trailing after it before he finally was able to make out the moving form as the newly named Smokefeather. "What are you up to?" he called out, hoping his voice would carry enough for her to hear him. "Going out for a climb?"

Smokefeather had spotted the cat before he'd spotted her, trees really were a great vantage point. "I was thinking of going for a swim, actually." Smokefeather quipped sarcastically. As if she'd get her fur wet, even in this heat. The new warrior glanced down at her clanmate, then dropped down one branch, then another. "I figured practicing my climbing wasn't a bad idea." She said, dropping the sarcasm as she leapt off of the final branch. White paws hit the ground and she turned to face the older warrior. There was no point in staying in the tree if it was going to be harder to hear one another, she reasoned.

"It actually feels a bit cooler up in the trees, thank Starclan for that."

Foxfire rolled his eyes at Smokefeather's quip, shaking his head. "I mean, I couldn't quite tell if you were just hunting or just hanging out in the trees," he meowed as Smokefeather slowly worked her way down to the ground to join him. He dipped his head to her as she landed, glancing up at the branches as she mentioned it being cooler. "Huh, I guess that makes sense...I haven't really bothered to find out - heights and me haven't always agreed. I don't mind going up there for hunting but...Ah, try not to bother if I can help it," he admitted. He had always felt...Strange, being a SkyClan cat who didn't like being in the trees but the simple fact that he didn't have as fine as balance as his long-tailed Clanmates made it a little hard and it was nearly impossible to fully shake his fear of heights.

"Yeah, I get that," Smokefeather responded. Smokefeather enjoyed climbing trees and found it to be good exercise and a decent cure for boredom if there was nothing else to do. But there were a few things she was definitely happier not doing unless she absolutely had to. Like getting more than just her paws wet. Though, she figured that it was a bit different for Foxfire when the main skill attributed to Skyclanners was what he wasn't comfortable with.

"So what are you doing out here on this lovely" hah, yeah right, "greenleaf day? I thought anyone with sense would be staying out of this heat." Clearly, Smokefeather wasn't the most sensible cat either, since she was out in it as well.

"Just taking a walk," Foxfire said, casting a glance around at the forest. "The heat isn't so bad with my warmer colors and short fur. Annoying, sure, but at least survivable. Besides, somebody needs to keep the fresh-kill pile stocked so I figure I could maybe do some hunting along the way," he added. And perhaps...He just wanted to take time to think. As his crush on Flowerthorn continued, he was starting to accept that it wasn't just a crush. He really loved her but he just hadn't figured out how to say it to her yet, if she even felt the same way. It had been a burden he had been dealing with, trying to take whatever time he could to try to find the words to tell her how he felt...Once he actually got the courage to talk to her about it.

"I think I'll be lucky if I don't die of heatstroke before greenleaf is over, I might be okay come leafbare." Smokefeather joked. Her long fur was excellent for trapping heat in, and while her coat was mottled, there was more dark gray than there was white or cream across her back. On the flip side, her fur was definitely suited to colder weather.

"Feel like having a tag-along for hunting?" She asked, already feeling the itch to be doing something that wasn't just talking. It wasn't the talking she minded, but rather it was sitting with her paws idle.

"Yeah, I will admit that is the payoff. You are good for one season, but not the opposite one," he replied, a small smile on his face. "Hopefully this heat doesn't last much longer. I don't know how RiverClan would survive if they didn't have any water to splash around in." He paused as the she-cat asked if she could tag along, the older warrior smiling brightly as he nodded. "Oh sure! Come on, we can walk and talk until we spot something," he said, flickering his tail-nub as he started to trot down the path. "Say, how have you been enjoying being a warrior so far?" he asked, sparing a glance over his shoulder.

"I don't know how they do it. Swimming looks so uncomfortable." Smokefeather figured if she had been raised in Riverclan, she'd feel differently. At Foxfire's next words, the younger warrior nodded and began to follow. Walking was much better than staying still.

"It'll sink in, eventually." Though it was clear from her voice that Smokefeather was happy. It was easier to avoid Sunflower and not feel guilty about it, if she was being honest with herself. And there was Bloodstrike and the warm feeling in her chest when she thought of the large tom. If their relationship hadn't already been obvious it probably would be sooner rather than later. Not that Smokefeather could complain. But she doubted that was what the older tom meant with his question, so she wasn't about to volunteer that information.

"That's nice! It can be weird at first, that is for certain," he acknowledged, before a soft laugh escaped him. At least you hopefully won't have to deal with being named deputy not long after you got your warrior name. Stars, I'm not sure what Spottedstar was thinking..." he drifted off there, his expression falling a little. He...He honestly wasn't sure what Spottedstar had been thinking, he had been such a failure. He hadn't been able to handle the pressure and had backed out, leaving his apprentice to take the spot. Wolfcall was a much better deputy then he ever was - he just wished that he hadn't needed to fail to get him to that position...

There was a soft scuffling sound that caught his ear, glancing off to the side to see a squirrel hopping down from a nearby trunk. "Oh, squirrel!" he meowed softly, eyes fixed on it as he dropped into a crouch. He drew forward as silently as he could before he paused, corrected his footing with a shake of his flank before he leapt. With skill that came with being an experience warrior, he easily landed on the squirrel and ended its life. "Well, this is a good start," he purred, picking it up gently as he turned back to Smokefeather with a glimmer in his eyes.

OOC: Just as a note, I'm not going to be rolling any dice cause Fox doesn't need the requirement and I would rather not risk summoning a predator.

((That's fine, not really looking to rush the rankings and I have time, so I'm fine with not using the hunting system. Mistpelt has been... oddly nice to me and it makes me nervous.))

"I couldn't imagine dealing with that sort of responsibility." Smokefeather admitted. Wolfcall made it look easy, and she was fairly sure that being in charge of organizing patrols, assigning mentors and everything else took far more effort than the current deputy let on.

"Nice catch!" She mewed. Smokefeather's head turned at a faint rustling noise, and she slid into a crouch, stalking carefully towards the bird pecking at something. She leapt, claws connecting with the sparrow as it attempted to make an escape. Smokefeather ended the bird quickly, turning back to Foxfire as she did so.

Foxfire purred as Smokefeather praised him, turning to go find a place to store the prey as Smokefeather's attention was grabbed by her own prey. Finding a nice hole beneath a root, he dropped the squirrel inside and glanced up just in time to see Smokefeather holding her own prey. "Very good! At this rate, we will have quite the pile to bring back," he said with a smirk as he turned, tasting the air as he tried to pin-point his next catch. Finally he managed to locate a lizard, dropping into a crouch as he drew forward. Lizard wasn't his first choice of prey - but it also wasn't the last and they needed all the prey they could in this hot weather. Finally he was content with his distance and made a leap - only for the lizard to scurry underneath a root before he could land. He huffed as he shook his head, a small laugh escaping him. "...Alright, I might have spoken too soon."

The she-cat cheerfully set her sparrow next to the squirrel and turned at Foxfire's hiss. A lizard definitely wouldn't have been her first choice of prey either. "There's more to catch, we aren't empty-pawed at least." Smokefeather replied, though her lips did quirk a bit. She let her gaze roam, in hopes of spotting more prey.

Her face lit up as she spotted another bird in the distance, and Smokefeather began to slowly make her way toward the feathery creature. When she was close enough, she leapt, claws just managing to snag the bird by a wing as it fluttered into the air in an attempt to escape. The bird struggled under her grasp and Smokefeather quickly snapped it's neck, cutting off panicked squawking.

"Heh, I suppose. Guess I can't be lucky enough to catch everything that I come across," he replied, giving his head a shake. He wasn't to embarrassed about his failure, his luck was always bound to run out at least once. Besides, they weren't even a proper hunting patrol - the fact that they were bringing prey back in general was going to be a nice surprise and addition to the prey pile. As he tasted the air, a soft fluttering noise caught his attention...And his gaze lifted to see a bird, a robin, settling into a branch above him. For a few heartbeats he stood there, trying to decide if it was worth it...

But he suppose it was better to at least try. With a soft grunt, he threw himself at the closest tree and scrambled up the trunk. Once he got to a branch he felt large enough for his comfort, he climbed on and started to bounce from branch to branch to get closer to the robin, eyes remaining fixed on it lest it flew away. But it seemed to be blissfully unaware of him as he finally got onto a branch close enough for his taste. His claws dug into the bark as he fell into a leaping crouch and made the jump at it. One paw pinned it down as he landed on the branch which shook from the sudden weigh, claws digging in to help him keep his balance as he made a swipe to end its life. As the branch slowly grew still, he sighed in relief as he picked up the robin and slowly started to work his way down - pointedly trying to ignore how high he actually was from the ground as he did so.

Smokefeather stashed the bird, then looked around in search of more prey. A mouse caught her attention, and she moved carefully towards it. She leapt, and the mouse vanished under the roots of a tree. Smokefeather's tail lashed in frustration. Mouse-hearted... Well, mouse, Smokefeather supposed. She gave a soft huff, half amusement at the silliness of the thought, half annoyance at failing to catch the critter. Such an easy piece of prey, and she'd missed. Ugh.

She looked up in time to see Foxfire make a leap for the robin. "Great catch!" Smokefeather called up to the older tom, watching him make his descent from the branches. When he was on the ground again, she'd turn her gaze to finding another piece of prey, though she figured they'd be fine to bring what they'd already caught back to camp, either way.