A Royal Hunt

[Amber]

Cloverpaw looked down to her paws. "Sorry if I insulted you, I really need to shut my big trap sometimes." she murmered. She really did feel bad about that. Ivypaw was always telling her to think before speaking, but her thinking sometimes involved speaking. And plus taking advice from Ivypaw wasn't always a good idea. She needed to stop getting sidetracked, she really did.

She watched as Graypaw went in search of prey and followed suit, figuring it was better to catch something. She did stay long enough to see that he didn't catch the squirrel. "Ehh, that squirrel had too big of a tail anyway, it didn't look like it had too much meat. That was a really good try, I don't think I could have done better myself." she said, trying to somewhat make the tom feel better. "Go ahead and see if you can catch anymore, and we can meet up back here in a few moments. I promise I won't be far." she added. That was more of reassurance for her than it was for him.

The orange apprentice slowly padded away, scenting the air and catching a whiff of a mouse. It may be the most basic prey, but it was something. Hunting was her thing, it was something more familiar with her, unlike fighting. She just absorbed hunting better. She dropped to the floor and carefully crept up to the mouse, once close enough she picked up her pace and jumped, the mouse in between her paws. Cloverpaw bit it and the creature soon became limp in her jaws. She buried it for later and went to see how Graypaw was doing.

[:c a i:]

"Don't let's be too hasty." Robinwing sighed. "I say we wait a while, see if we meet anyone and then meet up here again in about a quarter-moon. Then we can talk more and if we're still thinking about The Plan, we see how it goes from there. We don't want to get too carried away, right?" She was wary of committing herself to their plan without actually being sure it would work out. It would be better to find out if any tom suited her before thinking about kits or any of that business. Though the idea really did appeal to her... If only her perfect tom would come along!

"In the meantime, we're going to have to do some hunting." She said regretfully, wishing she could stay and talk to her friends more. "Otherwise someone's going to realise something was up. Can't have anyone think we're being lazy slackers, can we?" She giggled. She had just realised that they'd spent quite a while talking already and it was probably best for the RiverClan cats to catch a few pieces of prey to prove they had done some work this morning. "But promise we can meet here again in a few sunrises?" She added anxiously, set on discussing things more with her WindClan friends.

((I think we need to get our queens moving along...))

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Graypaw flicked his ears and shrugged at Cloverpaw. "I still missed it, even if it didn't have any meat." He knew that next time he had to pay more attention to what he was doing. Or maybe squirrels just weren't his strong point. Didn't ThunderClan usually eat those...?

Graypaw nodded as Cloverpaw went off by herself, having wanted to try hunting again himself anyway. He padded a little further in the other direction, farther away from the gorge and more into RiverClan's territory. A mouse or something would probably be easier to catch; they stayed on the ground and weren't as fast as squirrels. He caught the scent of a vole somewhere in the distance and began tracking it. Many scents of prey and vegetation blended together and made it difficult to pick out the single scent of the vole.

He found the little creature underneath a few fern patches. With an inward grunt, he realized it would be hard to catch it while it was in there. He crouched down anyway, focused on the prey. He heard what sounded like a cry of pain, somewhere in RiverClan's territory, and his ears angled instinctively in the direction. Was that... Puddlepelt? What had happened? Suddenly worried, he broke his concentration from the vole. It ran out from the ferns and bolted away from him. Graypaw gasped and raced after it, and with a giant leap he pounced on it luckily. But he had no time to celebrate his catch. He grabbed the vole quickly and went back the way he came, searching for the other apprentice. "Cloverpaw, did you hear that? I think it was Puddlepelt!"

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

Spottedfur waited until Puddlepelt was leaning on him before he started walking slowly back to camp. He wanted to make sure that they got there soon, but he still didn't want to put more stress on Puddlepelt than was necessary. The two cats began padding back towards the island, and it occurred to Spottedfur to wonder how the wounded she-cat would make it across the stretch of water with her injured paw. Luckily it wasn't very broad, so he decided it would be easy for him to tow her across if she wasn't feeling up to it by herself. Twitching an ear at the other warrior's question, he thought briefly about it before answering. "We can send someone out to tell them where we are once we've reached camp. Right now they can just continue hunting without us." He forced a smile in an effort to lighten the levity of the situation. "It will be a good chance to see how they perform without supervision. If Cloverpaw brings back a lot of prey, I'll know that I've been training her well."

OoC// When should they make it back to camp? Should we start a thread there?

[spike]

"Oh, you're right," Littlestream grumbled. "Hunting. I don't mind it but a day of just talking with Doveclaw and Thrushtail is nice once in a while. Well, Robinwing is right on that. Hunting has to be done. I don't want Willowstar assuming we are slacking here, right?" She was, of course, the first to stand and press her nose to Doveclaw's and Thrushtail's in a parting way. Then her pale eyes landed on her friends within her own Clan, Robinwing and Gingertail.

"Come on," she sighed while alreayd moving along. "We have some hunting to do." Some part of her was thinking though. As much as it was against the warrior code, Thrushtail had Russetfang. She could easily assume that Doveclaw would find a tom. With such determination in that she-cat, it wouldn't be far. Some part of her mind suggested that Robinwing might've had her mind set on somebody and Gingertail was such a nice cat that she'd find any tom willingly at her paws. But Littlestream was worried for herself. Reviewing the cats, all males that is, within RiverClan, she felt a slight fear in her. Fear that she wouldn't match her friends by the quarter moon.

There were cats like Stoneclaw, older and absolutely terrifying in the she-cat's mind, then there were cats like Sagefur, nice but she'd never consider it. THe others under her age just didn't appeal either. Littlestream sighed and pondered her friend's choice in love. Thrushtail and Russetfang. The warrior code spoke so strongly against it and yet... love was love. Love could come from anywhere, right? Hadn't that always been something she was taught by her mother? As a kit, Littlestream asked her mother about love and mates. All her dear mother said was, "never assume you know where love is. Even those you think the least of hold a heart."

That long story of her mother nad father's meeting was terribly boring but the point to it all was that she couldn't assume love came from one place but rather from the most unexpected. Maybe Thrushtail had the right to love. However, this didn't distract Littlestream's dislike for her own Clan's toms.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

Getting to her paws, Doveclaw spread her claws out in front of her and arched her back in a luxurious stretch. Straightening up again, she blinked companionably at the other queens as they prepared to part. "We'll see you in a quarter moon, then," she said confidently, returning Littlestream's farewell gesture and pressing her nose to Robinwing's and Gingertail's as well. Flicking her tail in farewell, the slender she-cat beckoned to Thrushtail to be sure that she was coming and then started trotting away from the RiverClan border, back into the heart of WindClan territory. When the five of them met again, she intended to at least have an idea of who she was going to pursue as her mate, but for now it was time to hunt. Making a mental note to peruse the toms in her Clan for any possibilities that she had previously neglected, Doveclaw turned towards the abandoned badger sett and quickened her pace. She wasn't going to return to camp without a respectable catch to bring with her.

[Kitty]

"Oh, fine," Gingertail sighed. Must they leave already? Actually, her patrol was supposed to be hunting too. But, you know, you had to make sacrifices to talk to friends.... But like Doveclaw said, they'll see each other again in a quarter moon! She was already anxiously awaiting that day.

"Goodbye, Doveclaw," she purred, touching her nose to the WindClan she-cat's flank barely before she left. Turning to Littlestream, she meowed, "Bye, LIttlestream!" The ginger she-cat then, too, touched her other WindClan friend's flank, the same way as Doveclaw.

When they were gone, she turned to her RiverClan friends. "I suppose we should be hunting, too, huh?" she asked rather unenthusiastically. Great. Not that she had anything against hunting, but after spending a morning with her friends, she kind of wanted to go back to camp and relax.

But first she had to clean her fur, before she could do any relaxing. StarClan only knew how her Clanmates would react to her coming home covered in WindClan's scent!

[:c a i:]

"A quarter-moon, remember!" Robinwing called mischievously as she watched her WindClan friends pad away, having touched noses briefly with each of them. And there's no way I'm not going to have found a tom by then. She thought, gritting her teeth and determinedly thrusting any curiosity about a certain ShadowClan tom out of her mind. She'd forget all about him soon enough. They'd only talked for one, solitary night. It wasn't like she actually knew him or anything.

"OK, well, I'm going to catch something as fast as possible so I can go back to camp." Robinwing sighed to Gingertail. "Coming?" Without waiting for an answer, Robinwing flicked her tail cheekily and bounded off in search of prey. It wasn't long before a hapless mouse blundered across her path and she grinned with pleasure. Perfect! She had hardly had to do anything and she'd come away with a good catch. One more piece and it ought to be safe to get back to camp. With a yawn, Robinwing sniffed the air, awaiting her next prey.

[Kitty]

Gingertail grinned. "I'm gonna see what I can find this way," she called over her shoulder as she spun around and headed off into the undergrowth. "Good luck!" she remembered to yelll at the last second, and had to suppress a giggle. How wonderful! They were meeting up with their WindClan friends again in a quarter moon!

Only one thing dampened the moment. There was no way she would find a tom by then. But she couldn't let herself worry about that now.

The fluffy-tailed she-cat followed the border with WindClan for a little longer. Then she reached the river, and crouched next to it, preparing for a fish with one paw outstretched. Then a flash of sliver glinted underneath the water. Her paw flashed out and a fish flew out of the water in an arc of waterdrops. Gingertail smiled in pride and swiftly killed the fish with a bite to the neck. She returned her green gaze to the water, and waited for the next fish.

[froststream]

Thrushtail gazed sadly at her friends. Goodbye was always the hardest part for her. Usually she was lucky to only see her RiverClan friends two or three times a moon, Gathering included. And it was rare they were all together. Back as apprentices, they got out of camp more, and the eagerness to see one another was masked with Clan duties getting in their way. Life was so breezy, so carefree back then! But, with the promise of getting back together soon, Thrushtail dipped her eyes, heaving a small sigh, and trotted to Doveclaw.

“Same place, eh? A few sunrises? I’ll be here. I’ll find someway...” Thrushtail called over her shoulder. Then she started bounding after Doveclaw, catching up quickly. She tossed her long fur out of her eyes, and flickered her gaze at Doveclaw.

“It was nice seeing them, wasn’t it? It’s funny how everything just fits together so quickly. I don’t know what we’re getting into with this plan thing, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt? Right? What’s the harm of some tiny scraps of fur?”

She didn’t know if she was just merrily asking these questions, or trying to convince herself of something. What was she so unsure about? The plan was great! She’d be fine. But the more she thought about fragile, clingy little hairballs that did nothing but eat and whine, she got uneasy. Well, with all those kits in WindClan, she’d get used to them, some way or another.