Riverside Play

[Yoko]

Lightpaw dashed ahead of Hazelpaw, wanting to get the first look at the morning river. Her golden eyes were wide and her calico fur was impossible to blend with the rocky surroundings. Logically, this was not a good place for her to hunt, but Halfpaw was hardly a logical creature.

"Hurry up, Hazelpaw!" she squeaked excitedly, already hopping amongst the rocks and scenting for various prey.

She hardly had the concentration to hunt, her little excited heart fluttered at every new color and shape she saw. How on earth was a gentle and confused creature as herself, expected to catch prey? She wasn't. When worst came to worst, Shadowpaw would do all the proper hunting. Lightpaw was more out to play in the sun.

[hedgie]

Hazaelpaw scrambled over the rocks after Halfpaw, her tail held out behind her. It was kind of funny that they were out here hunting. Nither of them were made for hunting out on the monotne rocks by the river. Their oddly-colored coats stood out as the ran along.

"So, I figure we're either not going to catch much, or we're going to have to make several trips back to camp." she mewed energetically.

((Sorry it's so short...but I'm feeling really sick right now and I need to lay down.))

[Yoko]

Halfpaw tilted her head, confused by her friend's words, but then she heard something splash in the water and she immediatly whipped her head towards the river. She grinned widely and padded over to the edge of the shore. She dipped her paw in the river, which wasn't as fast and scary as it was when it rained. She shivered. "It's so cold. I guess we can't play in there."

A silvery fish leapt out of the water and splashed back in. "Wow, those must be super hard to catch! Don't you think Hazelpaw?"

She crouched on the river's edge and tried to see if there were anymore. She didn't really want to hurt one, but they were so pretty.

[hedgie]

Hazelpaw teetered on a rock as she watched Halfpaw. She righted herself, tail fluffed out like a plume behind her. She calmly sat down on that same rock and sighed.

"I hate it when the river's cold. How are we supposed to play than?" She huffed, pretending as if she hadn't almost fallen off the rock. She smiled in awe as the fish lept out of the water, but frowned as the stupid thing splashed her in the face, so she fell off the rock anyway. Well, at least she fell backwards and not into the river.

"You will tell no one of that when we get back to camp." She mewed, disgruntled, as she pulled herself back up. "Got it?"

[Yoko]

Lightpaw looked at her friend. She really wished she could make the river warm all by herself. StraClan could do that couldn't they. Please, StarClan! she thought innocently. Please make the water warm so we can play!

She looked over as she heard a splash, and she saw Hazelpaw fall into the river. At first she was scared her friend had hurt herself, but seeing the other apprentice come out all wet and drippy made her giggle. She tried to stop when Hazelpaw told her not to tell, but she just laughed harder.

"Of course," she mewed between bouts of laughter, "I won't...tell!"

In her giggle fit, she rolled onto her side, and found nothing beneath it. Oops. Splash! She couldn't breath for a moment and squirmed until her muzzle came through the surface. Then she clawed her way back onto the rocks, soaked.

[hedgie]

Hazelpaw, her pelt soaked, making her look a good deal smaller, watched as Halfpaw rolled over and into the river. The tortoishell-and-white she cat sat and held back laughter as her friend scrambled out of the river and back onto her rock.

But she couldn't hold it in any longer and started to laugh, her body shaking as her clwas gripped the dampened rock's smooth surface. "Oh my gosh! You did not just do that!" She crowed, loud enough that any other cats (and prey) around them could probably hear.

"We'll just have to sit here in the sun and dry out, I guess. I don't wanna walk into camp all soaked. Lilypaw'll have my head for it if I do. and then that little kit...um, Elmkit will attack us and try to like....style our fur. Eugh. Not fun." Shw twisted backwards to lick the wetness off of her pelt. she turned back around and slumped down so she could just lie there and dry out. They'd probably scared off all the prey, anyway.

[Yoko]

Lightpaw laughed. Style our fur? She wondered what that would be like. She never did anything interesting with her fur, except that time she had tried to make it brown but leaving mud in it, letting it cake up until Shadowkit made her jump into a puddle. Her soaked fur felt uncomfortable, but she did not feel like licking it. Instead she stretched out on the rock so her four legs were in all different directions, and she laid flat on her belly. She must have looked like a flattened flying squirrel.

"Hey, Hazelpaw?" she mewed, "What do you think our warrior names will be?"

[hedgie]

Hazelpaw could feel her pelt start to dry just alittle bit and she resisted the stronge urge to twist and turn to groom it. If she did that, there would be no way to talk to Halfpaw. so she settled on licking her right front paw, stretching out her toes to get in between them. her green-brown eyes were half closed as she and her friend lazed about the rocks, watching the water of the river rush by them, just as lazy as they were.

"Hmmm....I don't really know. I haven't put a lot of thought into mine. I kind of like the sound of, you know, like Hazelclaw or maybe Hazelwind. You know, I either want my name to sound really fierce or really pretty. Hazelwind's pretty far-fetched though. More like Hazel-can'teverpayproperattentionclaw.' she slumped even lower on the rock, then perked up. "Naw. i'll get a good name when I'm a warrior. just you watch!" She purred.

"For you? I have no idea what your's would be." She let her mind drift off, different names piling up. "Halfpelt, Halfwhisker, Halfstrike, Half.....step, Halfstorm...something like that."

[Yoko]

Lightpaw looked up at the sky. The sun was really bright, and she could feel her pelt slowly drying. She did not lift a single paw to dry it. She listened to Hazelpaw talk idly, not listening carefully just hearing. She was getting drowsy. She could doze off any moment now, but that would be rude to her friend.

"Hazelwind? I think Hazelbreeze sounds prettier. More free, like you are," she mewed, not understanding what she meant by that. "Me...My true name is...My true name is..." but nothing else came out. At last she sighed, "It'll be something like you said Hazelpaw. Halfwhisker, or Halfstorm or something."

She smiled, but deep down it stung. She didn't know her true name...her warrior name. There was a whole half of her she would never understand. She smiled brightly, trying to keep the mood light. Why spoil a good day.

"Why do we train for battle? There's no one to fight," she giggled, rolling onto her back.

[hedgie]

Hazelpaw felt like giggling. Coming up with names really was fun, and it was a good way to just waste time. The thought that they should've been hunting wormed it's way into her head, but her subconcoius pushed it away, allowing her that...freedom that Halfpaw had mentioned.

"Free? You could call it that, I guess."She shrugged, shoulders rolling under her striped pelt. "I just think it's kind of like this nagging little...bug that keeps all the serious thoughts away so I can't concentrate right." That habit bugged her. She was truly bothered about how her brain wouldn't work right. she could be having a serious conversation one minute and would be thinking about chasing butterflies the next. Not the most productive habit.

"Why? Well, um...I guess it's because there's always a tiny threat. Like...what if the kittypets or the loners go crazy and want to get rid of us or something? Then we'd need to know how to fight, right?"

[Yoko]

Halfpaw giggled and rolled back onto her stomach. "Crazy kittypets?!" she giggled airily, trying to imagine. She had never seen a kittypet before. She was sure that they must look really odd. They live with two-legs like dogs do, so they can't possibly be normal looking, right? The thought amused her for only a moment.

Suddenly she jumped up and shook her pelt, splaying droplets of water everywhere, including on Hazelpaw. "We should get to hunting," she mewed, still brightly. She would try her best. Maybe she would not have to rely on Shadowpaw today!

[hedgie]

Hazelpaw leapt back from her friend as Halfpaw shook herself dry, spraying Hazelpaw with icy cool droplets of river-water. She stood up slowly, keeping herself stable upon it's slippery contours. The multi-colored she-cat apprentice laughed, shaking the droplets away.

She leapt down off of her perch, landing on a smaller rock, it's surface unfazed by the water rolling past it's solid shape. Her eyes, green-brown in color, were confused at first. Her best friend wanted to actually hunt. So far today had been about lazing around. Why did it have to end now? She sighed, shoulders drooping.

"You sure? We can always just slip back into camp and say that we couldn't catch anything, but we tried."

[Yoko]

Halfpaw's yellow eyes went wide and she mewed in awe, "You mean lie?"

The small apprentice looked as if she had never heard anything like the idea of lying in her entire life. And in fact, she probably had not. Her innocence was to a degree of naivity probably not reached by her own friend. Shadow was the darker half, the one that handled all the grisly and immoral tasks, even that of a simple lie.

"But we must try, Hazelpaw! We must! Don't you want to be an honest to goodness warrior? How will we ever be warriors if we don't practice hunting?" her tone was not a scolding one, but one of desperate begging, and Halfpaw looked as if she might cry at the very thought of being a liar.