Midnight Stroll [C]

The night was dry, as dry as it got these days anyway. Only wisps of dark clouds overhead remained as a reminder of the terrible weather they'd been having all too often. A steady breeze billowed through Blackbear's thick fur, earning a small shiver as the tall she-cat crept out of camp under the pale moonlight. Her claws flexed as she walked, catching slightly on the moss beneath her paws. She looked around, sniffing. It was harder to spot prey at night, obviously. It made sense, but it still brought a scowl to her face and a growl from her throat. Her ears were pricked up so much that her ear muscles were sore, working double time to catch any sign of life. Surely something had to be alive at this time of night? She roamed for a few minutes, tail lashing with impatience more and more by the second. Was there seriously nothing to catch? Giving an angry growl, she turned to the nearest tree and slashed at it with her left paw. She alternated her left and right, attacking it until there was a deep 'X' engraved in it. She raised her paw to deliver another blow before hearing a rustle behind her.

Eyes gleaming, she whipped around and spotted the source. A rabbit! A big one, too. She gave chase, an excited half-grin replacing the scowl she'd had just moments earlier. The rabbit was fast but she was persistent, matching its evasive maneuvers with zigzags of her own. She chased it for so long her legs burned and her lungs were fit to burst, but she didn't let up. Finally they reached a creek, shimmering with moonlight. The rabbit tried to dodge it, slipping on the pebbly shore- and it was over. Blackbear sprang, biting hard on the rabbit's neck until it fell limp. She dropped it and sat heavily, panting. Instinctively, she turned to the creek. Stars, she was thirsty. She got up again and waded into the water until it was at her ankles, enjoying the cooling effect. All that running made her so hot. She drank from the creek, lapping at the surface for so long one would think it'd dry up.

Then, another rustle. Despite her tiredness, the she-cat turned around relatively quick and noticed with a rush of adrenaline that it was a cat. Ignoring the fact that it was probably a Clanmate, she sprang at the stranger and pinned him to the ground. Wide yellow eyes gleaming in the dark, she bared her teeth. "Who are you? Why were you following me?" she growled, then paused. She leaned down, sniffing his fur. Her anger died down to a sort of wary embarrassment, though she kept her expression angry. Just in case. "Oh. SkyClan?"

As if he were living up to his name, Nightbird found himself walking the forest, moon high overhead. He’d found it rather difficult to coexist with ShadowClan- they were always up and about when he was trying to sleep, making it difficult the longer he lay with shut eyes. Tonight was one of those nights he found it absolutely impossible to sleep, and equally as hard to keep his itching paws still. So, he ventured out into the forest, perhaps hoping to burn off some extra energy, or at least provide for the Clan (and their visitors) in the process.

The almost crunchy grass underpaw made not scaring off the rather scarce prey exceedingly difficult, but his heart was set on at least one catch, even if it was a measly little mouse. His paws eventually led him to the creek, in hopes that prey may have been in search of water in the thick, obscene heat they’d been experiencing. It was a last ditch effort, really- all he had left aside from scouring the Twolegplace. His ears perked up when he heard a faint rustling nearby, too large to be a mouse, and his heart started pounding. Maybe he’d score a huge rabbit, or hit the jackpot with some other prey. Crouching low, he listened again, trying to hone in on wherever the sound came from. His eyes shut, ears swiveling to find the source. Just as he was about to pounce, a large black and grey figure rammed into him, pinning him to the tough ground. His first thought was a badger, and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears, adrenaline kicking in. Oh stars, he’d have to fight for his life, this might be the end of him… Then, he heard a voice. Eyes peeking open, he saw a large, yellow-eyed molly staring down at him.

”I-I wasn’t following you, I swear!” He blurted out, panic flashing in his orange eyes. Oh, she was angry. Had he interrupted her? Gotten in the way of her catch? As she leaned down to sniff him, he nervously pushed his head back, trying to keep as much distance between them as he possibly could. Thankfully, she realized he was on her side. ”Yes, I’m SkyClan.” He confirmed, trying to keep calm. He shuffled a bit under her weight, not wanting to throw her off or show any type of aggression. He couldn’t be like his dad. He eyed her paws pinning his shoulders to the ground, nervously shuffling. She’d get off of him eventually, right?

Blackbear watched curiously as the warrior below her shifted awkwardly, avoiding eye contact at all costs. He was a SkyClan tom, his scent confirmed it, but he certainly didn't act like any SkyClan toms she knew. Which... amounted to one, now that she thought about it. It seemed not all of them were as utterly annoying as Fogfeather. She looked down at him for a moment longer before deciding that he wasn't a threat. She got off him, paw by paw, narrow eyes in his direction in case he tried something. He didn't, though, and she sat down a tail-length away from him without incident.

"It's late. I thought SkyClanners would be asleep." Of course, she herself hadn't been asleep and she was no ShadowClanner. Ignoring her own hypocrisy, she continued. "You can get up, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm Blackbear." she said gruffly. She assumed he didn't know her name. She didn't know his, anyway. But then, she barely knew anyone in SkyClan. Wolfblossom, Fogfeather, Birdchaser... She knew Briarstar only by name.

She got up and padded back to her rabbit, sure enough that this warrior was harmless. She leaned down and took a bite. The rabbit was big enough that she could have some and still bring back enough meat that Birdchaser wouldn't reprimand her about it. She looked up and felt a pang of awkwardness. She supposed, since he was SkyClan, she should probably share... With a huff, she gestured towards the rabbit. "You can have some. Can't catch anything better at this time of night anyway." She tried to keep her tone casual (as casual as her voice got, anyway), but pride seeped into her voice. It wasn't a bad catch, if she said so herself.

Nightbird let out a sigh of relief as the molly stepped off of him, remaining low to the ground for a moemnt before shifting his weight and flipping back over. Taking a moment to regain his bearing and shake the loose leaves and twigs from his fur, he spared a glance up to Blackbear. She was large, bigger than he was with all of her fur, and much more intimidating than he’d like to admit. He couldn’t help but be intrigued by her, though, the way she’d jumped to her own defense so quickly, wasn’t fast to back down, and even the way her eyes, still seemingly angry, glinted in the moonlight overhead. His gaze quickly shifted back down to his paws, though.

He nodded simply when she gave him her name, committing it to his memory. A few awkward moments passed in silence before he remembered that this was where he was supposed to tell her his name. ”Oh, I’m uh… I’m Nightbird.” Stars, why was he so awkward? ”I think usually SkyClan cats are asleep by now, but I just couldn’t sleep, and so I thought maybe I could at least be productive and go out and try and find some prey, but there was nothing out here really and then… Well, you know the rest.” And now he was rambling, not even giving Blackbear a chance to respond- not that she’d talk to him, anyway. He looked dumbfounded at her offer to share the prey, shaking his head slightly. ”Oh no, I’m okay. Thank you, though, it is an awfully nice rabbit.”

Stars, was this tom nervous. Blackbear was caught by surprise by it, to be honest. She'd never met a SkyClanner quite this... Passive. He could barely hold eye contact with her. Oddly, she found that fact slightly less annoying than she ordinarily would. Just surprising, was all.

"Nightbird. Suits you." He did seem pretty bird-ish, with all his flitting about and nervous rambling. And as for night, well. Self-explanatory. She watched him talk as she ate, not really listening to what he was saying. She was busy studying his eyes as they flicked back and forth. He acted a bit like a rabbit, she thought to herself with a small huff of laughter. Was he really SkyClan? "Mhm." She rumbled when he finished, pretending she'd been listening.

He refused her rabbit and she felt a spike of annoyance. There was no other prey to catch, definitely nothing this big. And it was the middle of the night, the last time he'd eaten was probably hours ago! She lifted her head from the rabbit, licking blood from her jaws, and pushed it towards hin with a heavy paw. "Eat." she asserted. "Might make ya less nervous."

She sat down nearby him, watching him expectantly. His fur was blue, she noticed. Her favourite colour. "Are you worried there's predators, that's why you're nervous? I'd kill them if there were. Predator hunting's fun, and I'm not letting a fox steal my rabbit." She gave a confident nod, hoping it'd solve his jumpiness.

Nightbird felt heat rush to his ears and cheeks as the molly complemented his name... Or at least he supposed that was what she was doing? He murmured a quick, "Oh, erm... Thank you." before promptly locking his gaze back on his own shuffling paws. He wondered for a moment what her quiet laugh to herself might've been about while he was talking, but shrugged it off in the end.

He looked confused when she pushed the rabbit toward him. Hadn't he just said he didn't want any? Oh... Were his nerves really showing that much? Surely they weren't... Maybe she was just very observant. He didn't want to upset her by turning down her offer a second time, so he gingerly dipped his head and took a bite, too concerned with not making himself look like an idiot to savor the taste. He had to admit, though, it was a plump rabbit, even after she'd taken her helping from it. Once he'd eaten what he thought was probably a decent portion of it, he ran his tongue over his teeth and nodded politely. "Thanks, Blackbear. It's a delicious rabbit." Did it make him less nervous? Maybe it had settled his stomach. He still felt as if some odd bug had wandered into his stomach and made a mess of it.

He watched with wide eyes as she sat closer to him, watching him. "Predators?
" Stars, he hadn't even thought of that. He shuffled and looked behind him. "Um, no, I'm not scared of the predators." That was true, mostly. He'd undergone warrior training and had fought predators on more than one occasion. Sure, they were dangerous, but they didn't necessarily make him nervous. "I'd fight a fox too, if one showed up. I doubt they will though, and we'd smell them. I'm... I'm not nervous." Well, that was certainly a lie.