Hunting

[moonpaw]

Leopardpaw sniffed the air looking for prey, she opened her mouth and let the scents come to her. Mouse! she thought. She dropped drown and got closer and closer then..pounce! her claws ripped into the flesh of the mouse, it gave one last scream then silence. She dug into the earth so that it could get it later.

Hours passed and and Leopardpaw came back. By the time she came the prey was frozen and hard to eat. She sighed and picked the almost uneatable mouse, her clan would make her eat it. She didn't want Breezestar to see her frozen prey. But she still had to go camp, with her hopes down.

She came to the camp about to place the prey in the pile when she saw Breezestar's cold gaze on her pelt. Leopardpaw swallowed hard and walked to confront her leader.

[●●●Elli!]

"You call that fresh-kill?" snapped Breezestar irritably. She was in anything but a good mood; her day, which had started out poorly, had gotten progressively worse. And then there was the issue of a shortage of fresh-kill. She knew that it would soon pass, however, as greenleaf was on its way. The snow might remain year-round, but during the warmer moons it became wet and slushy and prey returned to the mountain's peak.

She swished her tail, annoyed. "Well?" she demanded, when the apprentice didn't reply immediately. Her eyes, like pools of ice, bored into Leopardpaw's pelt. Her Clan had been like this all day. Disrespecting her by not answering immediately. The nerve.

[moonpaw]

"I-I'm sorry! I left it out to long! I was looking for more prey and by the time I came back it was like this!" Leopardpaw said her pelt shaking like there was earthquake. fear ripped through her pelt. What would Breezestar do? Would she tell her mentor, or punish her herself? She felt her heart beat faster and faster, each waiting moment of her waiting for her punishment was torture enough. She swished her tail from side to side feeling fear ripple through her pelt.

[Dusk]

The mice were thawing as he walked back towards camp, for his hot breath breathing down melted the ice that had froze on the two mice that he had caught earlier that day. Blackpaw could feel them bump against each other, a tad irritated at the lack of prey he could find, which probably meant other cat's hadn't gotten much either. Life was no easy feat in the cold, icy mountains. Why they were so far up and situated here, he had no idea.

He walked into camp and than towards the fresh kill pile, Breezestar's voice reaching to his ears. An apprentice shaking under Breezestar's angry stare and voice. Silently he plopped the two mice with the rest of the prey that had been caught so far. "Prey is running low, Breezestar." He mewed, glancing towards the prey that was causing all the commotion, "She can thaw it and eat it as punishment."

[●●●Elli!]

The she-cat stiffened. "Eating isn't a punishment!" she growled. "Whether the food is frozen or not, it is a gift from our ancestors. Treat it as such." Her eyes narrowed. It wasn't quite that his suggestion had annoyed her, it was the fact that he had dared to suggest it. Suggest something to her, leader of VortexClan? The idea was abominable. She unsheathed her claws and began to scrape angrily at the snow beneath her paws. After a moment, she'd calmed down a little. "Eat it, then."

[moonpaw]

Leopardpaw stared at her leader, then at the prey. She reached down and took a bite. It was like tasting snow, it crunched in her mouth and felt soggy. It tasted of everything it touched and the snow felt cold in her mouth. She swallowed it before she was done chewing. She looked up at her leader, begging her not for another bite of the disgusting prey. She looked back at the half eaten prey, learning her lesson about how important prey was.

[Dusk]

This was his mentor and therefore, for some odd reason on Blackpaw's side, he wasn't overly bothered by Breezestar's anger as she growled back at him. While he didn't care so much for the fellow apprentice, it really hadn't been her fault that she had tried to search for more prey and instead had the only prey she had caught freeze up in the cold wilderness of their territory. His eyes held little emotion to Breezestar's angry words and after the ranting, it seemed she had calmed down, making the she-cat apprentice eat the prey.

When Leopardpaw started to eat the still-cold prey, he watched her with the same look he had given Breezestar. A calm expression. He did feel sorry for her though at the same time not, they both knew their clan's terrain and what held in store for them. They would learn from the mistakes they made. Or hopefully.. at least.

[●●●Elli!]

Breezestar watched as Leopardpaw took one distasteful bite after another from the frozen prey. When half of it was gone, the apprentice looked up at her pleadingly. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure you really understand," she mewed. "No prey can go to waste." Then, without hesitation, she padded toward the mouse and closed her jaws around it. It wasn't at all the way fresh-kill should taste--it was cold and hard, and had no flavor--but she ate every last whisker. She sat down, wrapping her tail delicately about herself, and cleaned her muzzle. As she did, she kept her bright blue eyes trained on Leopardpaw as she waited for the other cat's reaction.

[Dusk]

He let out a sigh as he watched Breezestar, in a sense, or in his mind, caving in a bit. While it didn't seem to be punishment to eat fresh kill, frozen, almost tasteless fresh kill was not delicious or even good in any shape or form and for Breezestar to eat the rest instead of standing over Leopardpaw till she ate it all was a bit saddening. Only get the job half done? Would that mean Leopardpaw would only wound a cat and another would need to kill the other.

He hissed lightly, turning his eyes towards Leopardpaw. "You are pathetic." With his claws unsheathed he poked her side, already irritated at the she-cat he had tried to "help".