[the.joys.of.hunting] -- [♥]

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Ah yes.
Hunting along the ridge.
How lovely.
Inkpaw padded along at a rapid pace, trying to hunt down some more prey to show Dreampaw and to impress her with the amount he planned to catch. After a while, he had salvaged up enough prey to feed all the warriors in the camp - or so he thought. He was ambling about slowly, dragging a mouse, a vole, and what he thought to be the biggest hare in the entire world. Although hares were in the same family as rabbits, hares were the slightly larger mammals. Even though you couldn't quite tell on the spot which one was larger, the cats could tell quite easily - with how much meat filled their rumbling bellies.

After a while, he reached the spot from where the apprentices had scattered. He gave a little flick of his tail in delight as he looked at the amount of fresh-kill he had gotten. Dreampaw would surely fall for him now - being hopelessly lost in being impressed and loving him. Gazing up at the sky, he imagined her reacction when she saw how much prey he had brought on.

Meanwhile, Dreampaw had just managed to forget everything about Inkpaw - enough to actually enjoy herself on the hunt. In a matter of seconds, she had spotted a rabbit hopping around. She shook her head at the foolishness of the rabbit to be wandering about in open area, but it would make an easy kill. Crouching and moving silently up to the rabbit, she leaped up in the air with alacrity and landed on the rabbit. The impact of the blow at first shocked the rabbit, then eventually, Dreampaw killed it.

Briskly, the she-cat made a litheful jump onto the ground, picking up the rabbit. The brown fur of the rabbit nearly blinded her green and blue eyed gaze, but she managed to see just before she almost tumbled down the edge of the ridge. She would have to be more careful next time. She sent up a quick prayer of thanks towards StarClan to not let her join their ranks so soon.

Dropping the rabbit for a moment, she paused to glance over the edge of the ridge, although she wasn't as reckless to get close enough to the edge so that she tumbled over. Once her gaze reached where she wanted it to, she saw that it was a steep way down, and even if that hadn't done anything to her, she would have tumbled into the lake, very far down. Thank StarClan that she didn't, or else Inkpaw would probably have been heartbroken.

A melodic purr of amusement sounded aloud in the silence surrounding her. The purr was eventually swallowed up by the air. Dreampaw couldn't quite imagine a heartbroken Inkpaw. Whenever she snapped at him or yelled at him, he would sometimes be a little crestfallen, but never so sad that he would be /heartbroken/. Trying to imagine Inkpaw being heartbroken was like... like attempting to catch the dawn that sprouted out from behind the ridge each day - impossible.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

ooc::
Okay, actually, Lilypaw isn't on her way back to camp.
Bic::
Lilypaw scented mouse, then soon saw a shaow over the mouse. It was a young falcon! Lilypaw crept up on it, and punced, taking the adventage of her long legs and raking her claws into the falcons neck. Soon, its frantic attempts to escape failed, and it lay limp on the ground. Lilypaw smiled to herself. 'I wish Inkpaw could be here to see this.' She thought.

But another shape formed abouve her. Another falcon! This one was too big for just an apprentice to fight, and Lilypaw paniced. "Inkpaw! Dreampaw! Help!!" She criec franticly, trying to escape.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Inkpaw was unobservant of Lilypaw's cries, having settled down and dreaming about Dreampaw (no pun or anything intended there). Thoughts of her filled his mind - her pelt gleaming like burnished metal in the sunlight, her green eye that was the color of a leaf during green-leaf as well as her beryl eye that was of a rich, deep azure color. They both shone like jewels in contrast from her pelt, although they all gleamed in the sunlight.

He twitched his ears when he heard distant calls, but he thought nothing of them. Perhaps they were just the wind playing tricks on him, whistling through his ears and attempting to make him think he was hearing actual words uttered from a cat's vocal chords. Shaking his head at the nonesense, he returned to daydreaming about Dreampaw, thinking about the litheful and elegant way she moved, her beauty, and her intelligent but sometimes snappy personality.

Dreampaw was beginning to toss dead leaves over her rabbit when sounds of distress reached her keen ears. Hurriedly, she finished burying her fresh-kill and dashed towards the sound, lithe muscles rippling underneath her silver tabby coat. Recherché (fear the new word!) paws stepping lightly on the ground, despite the odd sensation coming over her for the need to go quicker. She lengthened her strides, although they still remained as graceful as ever.

After a few moments of racing towards the source of the sound, she found Lilypaw with a rather large falcon circling overhead. In normal situations, Dreampaw would've panicked, but a strange calm feeling flooded into her, forcing her not to run for her own life - which she would have never done unless absolutely necessary. She couldn't leave her own Clanmate here to fend for herself, could she? No -- that would be breaking the warrior code one way or another.

Baring her teeth in the beginning of a snarl, Dreampaw's ears were pinned against her cranium as her fur began to bristle with anger. How dare the falcon attack another cat -- although glancing around, she saw the body of a smaller falcon on the ground. Immediate realization and understanding of what had happened flew through her quickly. The smaller falcon had probably been kin to this larger one, and the current alive falcon was looking for one thing -- revenge.

Hoping to scare the falcon off, she gave a loud caterwaul. When threatened, or a Clanmate was threatened, Dreampaw could get extremely protective and fierce -- unlike her normal, shy and patient self. The falcon, obviously not caring for her noise, swooped down. At the last moment, Dreampaw seemed to dance away with quick movements. As the falcon screeched with frustration, she dug her unsheathed claws at the falcon's wing, attempting to stop it from flying. She succeeded quite easily; the falcon stood unsteadily on its two legs, sending a glare towards the two apprentice she-cats.

"Go!" Dreampaw hissed at the falcon, although she was certain that it couldn't understand her language. Leaping at the falcon, she landed hard on the injured wing. Pulling her claws along the wing again, she made sure that the falcon learned its lesson. Jumping off of the falcon, she gave a satisfied yowl, warning it not to try to do anything yet again.

Turning around and facing Lilypaw, she asked with her eyes filled with worry, "Are you all right?" For a brief moment while she was waiting for Lilypaw's answer, her eyes danced to the smaller falcon laying on the ground. "Nice catch," she added cheerfully.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

"Uh, thanks" Lilypaw muttered, jealous that Dreampaw fought the falcon. "Now Inkpaw won't notice that I caught the falcon, he'll probably be admiring Dreampaw for saving me." Lilypaw murmured to herself angrily, probably loud enough for Dreampaw to hear her. Lilypaw shuffled her paws in embarresment, then realized that she probably knew she loved Inkpaw.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"It's all right," Dreampaw mewed in a soft voice to Lilypaw, understanding how the other she-cat apprentice felt. "I don't love him, and he'll realize that sooner or later," she added, attempting to make Lilypaw understand that she wanted nothing to do with Inkpaw - unless it was to make him realize that there was another she-cat apprentice that would equally hold his affectionate emotions.

"Here, take that with you," Dreampaw mewed, her tone still quiet as she gestured towards the falcon laying on the ground with her paw. "Inkpaw'll be able to see that you managed to kill /that/ piece of prey on her own. Who knows, maybe he'll give you a compliment or two - /after/ I give him a good talking to," she mewed, her last few words slightly hinted with frustration at the black tomcat apprentice's ability to hear things. He was just that thick-headed, wasn't he?

She glanced to the side to see the retreating figure of the larger falcon as it tottered off, sporting the wound that she had given it. Although the large bird had indeed attempted to attack Lilypaw, she couldn't help but recognize the feeling welling up within her - pity. A trail of blood tracked from the injured wing, seeping into the ground underneath.

Heaving a sigh at having to do that much damage, Dreampaw turned and began padding away, only pausing for a moment to glance over her shoulder to see if Lilypaw was following with the smaller falcon. After a while of her dainty paws falling onto the ground like a light falling of rain, she found herself almost face to face with Inkpaw. Immediately, annoyance began growing within her.

"Lilypaw was being attacked by a falcon and she called for help, but did you hear her? No!" Dreampaw hissed, only at the beginning of her frustration. Inkpaw opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off while Dreampaw continued. "What good are you as a warrior if you can't even hear things through those ears and process them through her thick mind?" she mewed furiously, anger flashing through her sparkling green and blue eyes.

Inkpaw, meanwhile, wasn't processing any of her fury. He had learned to ignore her scoldings after a while, being able to block them out and to still manage to stare at her and drink in the sight and sweet scent of her. Once he was sure that she had completed her rant, he gave a nod and continued gazing at her.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Lilypaw watched as the affection in Inkpaws eyes grew with every word Dreampaw said. Lilypaw padded on, brushing past Inkpaw with her long tail held down. Inkpaw hadn't even noticed she caught the falcon! Lilypaws eyes grew watery, and one crystal tear fell from her turquise eye, but she soon got over it. Maybe Inkpaw would be impressed when he actually got a chance to see the falcon. ' I think I'll save this till Inkpaw gets back, then give it to the elders.' Lilypaw thought, her spirit rising with every step she took, her pace qickening until she was racing back to camp.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

A sigh rumbled lightly in Dreampaw's throat as she watched Lilypaw walk off. Although she felt pity for the she-cat apprentice, why couldn't Lilypaw just /wait/ until Inkpaw noticed it? Why did she just have to go off? Dreampaw blinked, then mewed to Inkpaw, "Let's go." Picking up her rabbit and her vole, she turned only to realize that she had left her mouse.

Blinking with frustration, she attempted to pick it up, but was blocked when Inkpaw darted forward to pick up the mouse. From his jaws, a rather big squirrel was dangling. Turning with a flick of her tail to tell him to follow her back to camp - so he didn't get into anymore trouble - she headed back, her petite paws padding on the ground.

Inkpaw, holding the mouse and squirrel, dashed ahead in attempt to catch up with Dreampaw. After a while of racing, he managed to get close enough to brush his pelt against hers. A purr issued in his throat at being so close to Dreampaw.

Dreampaw, meanwhile, wanted nothing better than to shrink away from his touch, but if she did, she would fall over the edge of the ridge - something she wanted to avoid. She didn't favor pushing Inkpaw to the side, although she wanted to. In the end, she remained where she was, grimacing as his black pelt touched her silver tabby pelt.

((-MOVING DREAMPAW & INKPAW BACK TO CAMP-))