A fine day for hunting! (Open)

"Honeysong...?" Softkit whispered, gently shaking the she-cat. "I-it's sunrise. Can we... do something?"

Softkit had grown into a soft-spoken kitten, barely able to get through a sentence without stammering... even with those he was closest with (which was just his two mothers, it wasn't like he had ever known anybody else). Despite this, he was like any other kitten in that he woke up way too early just to shake his mothers awake so they could play.

The pale kitten felt his mother's body shift under his paws, so he scrambled off of her so as not to get in the way. He glanced over at his other mother Sparkfire, who was cuddled up next to her mate. Softkit tentatively booped her on the muzzle with his paw. "Sparkfire...? Are you awake yet?"

Sparkfire snorted loudly, having been woken up by the soft touch. She blinked her yellow eyes several times as she struggled to wake up and see clearly. Then, her gaze fell on the little kit beside her. She stared at him, though not unkindly, and yawned. "What's up, squirt? Need somethin'?" She envied Honeysong, who continued to sleep soundly beside her, wishing she could be just as deep a sleeper.

Softkit startled at the she-cat's sudden snort. "O-oh! Good morning Sparkfire." The kit greeted, looking at her warmly. "It's morning! Oh, I-I already said that... um... do you, uh, want to play? With me?" The kitten stuttered, looking up at his mother hopefully. He was an awkward kit, and he knew that, but he also knew that his mothers loved him anyway. Therefore, he didn't feel self-conscious around them.

Sparkfire closed her eyes with a soft sigh. She wasn't really the playful type, that role went to her mate. She was more of a ... mentoring cat. Well, she had had three apprentices at some point during her time back in ShadowClan. ...Even if none of them ever reached warriorhood. Still, she didn't want to disappoint Softkit.

With a great big yawn, Sparkfire rose up to her paws, stretching out each limb to shake out the tension. She glanced down at her adopted son and offered him a smirk. "Hey, how about I teach you somethin' instead? You're growing up, squirt, which means you'll be needing to learn how to fend for yourself. Of course," she added quickly, fearing Softkit would become scared, "that doesn't mean we're just going to leave you. Every cat needs to know how to hunt and fight, just in case. So, how about we do that? It'll be fun, you'll see."

"Erm... okay! We can do that, that does s-sound like fun." Softkit agreed. The idea of learning something new was enticing! "Which are we gonna do first? Hunting or fighting? Uh... let me think. How about we do some hunting first!" Softkit decided, pleased with himself before faltering. "Um... what exactly is hunting? I know you leave to do it all the time, and always come back with food. O-oh, is hunting finding dead animals?"

Sparkfire's whiskers twitched with amusement. She swiped the tip of her tail upward towards her, signaling for Softkit to follow. The two cats padded out of the Twoleg den, taking care not to stray too far from her sleeping mate. She would need to stay within ear shot in case something happened to her. "You're half right, squirt," she began, simultaneously looking around, shifting her ears, and sniffing the air. "Hunting is all about finding animals. However, you don't find dead ones; those are called crowfood, as in food that only crows would eat. If a cat eats crowfood, they would become sick."

The large molly suddenly whipped her head around, staring intensely at a patch of snow-covered shrubs. She was downwind, allowing her to catch a whiff of a mouse scouring for food within the bushes. She slowly lowered herself into a hunter's crouch, resuming her lecture in a much softer voice. "In order to hunt food that is safe to eat, you have to find live prey. Then, you have to stalk up on them without making a sound. Watch and learn." Ever so slowly with moons of practice, Sparkfire stalked towards the bush one paw at a time, her tail sticking out straight like a stick behind her for balance, but taking care that it didn't brush against the snowy ground, nor her belly fur.

Finally, when she was close enough to pinpoint the exact location of the mouse by scent alone, she waited. The mouse was too preoccupied with its hunt to notice it being hunted, so it was only a matter of time before it swerved through the branches and into the open. That was when she pounced. Not even her takeoff from the ground made a sound, so the mouse never knew of its life-threatening predicament until it was far too late. It barely had a chance to squeal before Sparkfire silenced it for good with a sharp nip to the throat.

Pleased with herself to have successfully caught something in front of her son, the molly picked up the mouse by the tail and padded back over to him, placing the fresh-kill down before him. "Just like that. It's much easier to hunt around here as opposed to the Clan territories; there's more food for them, and less competition for us. Do you wanna give it a try?"

Softkit watched Sparkfire in awe as she crept forward silently as a shadow, and it was only when she was nearly upon the mouse that he caught sight of it. How could she tell it was there? Wait, what was she-

She leapt on the mouse and it made a tiny squeak before she... killed it?! No!

"Sparkfire! What have you done?!" Softkit cried, darting forward to peer down at the mouse. Yep, it was definitely dead. Choking back tears, Softkit prodded at the mouse with a needle-like claw. He sniffled. "It didn't even stand a chance..."

Sparkfire winced, completely taken aback by the sudden outburst of emotion. She had been expecting awe and wonder from the little kit, not mortification and sorrow. And now, with him looking up at her with the saddest little kitten eyes she had ever seen, she suddenly realized why she had never thought of having kits of her own one day. She had no idea how to comfort them whenever they got upset, let alone if they got upset because of her. "Uhhhh...." She looked away, struggling hard to find the right words to say that would comfort him. Stars, how she wished Honeysong were here.

It was then that her prayers had been answered. Scenting her arrival before seeing her, Sparkfire turned her head to Honeysong as she padded out of the Twoleg den and towards her and Softkit. It seemed like she had overheard what had happened, as she was looking down at Softkit with a gentle, if somber, expression. "It's not a very pleasant thing to witness, is it?" she mewed sympathetically. "Knowing that the only way that you can survive is by taking the life of another little animal weaker that yourself."

Sparkfire felt her own sympathy for the both of them rising up in her. She knew everything about Honeysong that she had been willing to share, including why she had decided to become a medicine cat in the first place. Hunting prey had been one of the main reasons. She was more of a lover than a fighter, preferring to hunt herbs rather than prey, and wishing to make peace between enemies rather than fight them.

Honeysong continued with a bit more conviction in her voice. "It may be awful, but that is unfortunately how the life works. Cats have to eat the littler animals in order to survive. However, that is exactly the reason why we must be responsible with our food. We always give our thanks to StarClan, our warrior ancestors, for the life of the prey we have hunted so that it may feed us and our loved ones. We make sure that we eat every last scrap of food that we can safely digest. But most importantly, we make sure that the prey has not died in vain. Out here in the unknown, you must hunt to survive, but only hunt as much as you need to, never more. That would be a dishonor to both StarClan and the prey itself. Do you understand, little one?"

Softkit listened intently to Honeysong, absorbing every word thoughtfully despite his sadness. It was awful that they had to kill to survive, it just didn't seem right... but if his mother said it was okay, then it must be. And she was right, it would be disrespectful to the mouse not to eat it now that it had been killed for that purpose. It would be a waste of a life.

"O-okay..." He sniffled, turning back to Sparkfire. "I understand now. And I'm sure the mouse would forgive you. It had to eat, just l-like we had to eat. Sure, it didn't eat other animals like us, but it ate plants... and those are alive too."

Softkit felt much better, but then a thought struck him. "W-wait! Do mice go to Starclan too? Do you think he understands why we killed him? Will he haunt us?!" He asked urgently, turning back to Honeysong. She seemed to know more about spiritual stuff than Sparkfire did.

"Don't worry, Softkit. Cats have been hunting prey for many generations, and not a single one has come back to haunt anyone." Honeysong purred gently as she rasped her tongue between the kit's ears. "You have nothing to worry about, I promise. Now, would you like to have the first bite of mouse?" She nudged the fresh-kill a little closer to him.

Sparkfire sat with her tail wrapped around her paws, pleased that Honeysong had been able to quell Softkit's anxieties. However, she also felt disappointed in herself. Why did she have to freeze up like that? Why couldn't she have thought of what to say to him to comfort him? Even Thornstar was better at comforting her lumps than she was, and that was Thornstar! Hopefully, with time, she'd be able to learn how to be more sensitive towards him.

Softkit nodded, relieved, and sniffed at the fresh-kill hesitantly. Well, it smelled like any other mouse Sparkfire had brought home...

He took a bite, humming at the taste. It was so good! He began to purr, taking another bite. Sure, he still felt bad about it, but he knew now that there was no preventing it. He could only hope that mice had a Starclan to go to as well. Licking his mouth, Softkit turned to Sparkfire with stars in his eyes. "T-thank you Sparkfire, this is really good!" He said, nudging the mouse towards her. "I think it's o-only fair that you get the next bite. You caught it after all... and it was so c-cool how you did it! If I had been that mouse, there is no way I would've seen you..." Softkit mewed.