[ti]Private[/ti]First Hunt

[ladyspectral]

Snow piled against the ground in sizable mounts, and the bare branches stretched upward toward the cloudy sky like gnarled claws. Tufts of white slowly drifted from them, dancing and swirling in a chaotic dance only they themselves knew, one not even Starclan themselves with all their wisdom and sight could predict. Now that the winter had been slowly drawing to a close, rabbits cautiously poked their noses from their warrens and the squirrels yawned from their trees. Crimson red birds peered down below, keeping watch from the safety of their perches. A peaceful scene, only to be interrupted by the obnoxious meows from the chubby tabby cat that came carelessly wandering through the dormant bushes. Her breath was visible as she spoke, delicate white clouds that drifted and faded away moments after their birth.

"C'mon, Pebblepaw! The snow's cold but you get used to it pretty quick." The she cat meowed encouragingly as she crunched her way across the clearing, voice lowering sheepishly as she heard the fluttering of wings above her and saw a flash of red feathers as the bird fled. ". . . It's hard to hunt in, though. The prey can see you from fox lengths away, and it crunches like beetles when you walk. But, the other cats like it when you bring stuff back to the pile. And they'll wanna be your friend even more than if you don't. I think, anyways." She explained knowingly, as if it were some great wisdom she had pondered over for many moons.

The short she cat peered back at the mute tom, awaiting a reply patiently. She couldn't quite understood his vague gestures like the other warriors and apprentices could, but that never stopped her from at least trying. The tom seemed to be the agreeable sort, anyways. As far as Oakwish could tell.

[Taako]

Pebblepaw had always been a somewhat spacey and distracted tom, his mind seemed to want to wander over and around every avenue and path before finally coming to rest on the present moment. He was soft, gentle to a fault, and some probably thought that he wasn't fit to be a warrior. He didn't know if that was true, and really he didn't care, he was content doing things his way and walking to the beat of his own drum, if they didn't like it they could choke on a bird bone.

His ears swiveled and he glanced up at the birds swooping and sweeping through the trees, squinting against the blinding white of everything around them. The snow was so different, he'd always thought that it looked like the stars had floated down in the night to rest in piles...He made a quick gesture to lap some from one of the piles, wondering briefly how stars tasted...Like water, apparently.

His attention was pulled away from the snow when he heard his mentor's voice, catching up in a few quick bounds as he realized that he'd fallen behind. He liked Oakwish, she didn't push or bully him like he'd been afraid his mentor might do, even though she didn't really seem to ever know what he was trying to say, he still liked her. She tried, and trying was enough for him.

He tilted his head a little, but nodded, he didn't quite see how they would catch anything with the way they were crunching through the snow and making a whole mess of noise, but he'd never hunted before, so he supposed it would be trial and error. His attention was caught by a lazy squirrel scruffing in the snow, and he gave her a gentle flick with his tail and pointed towards it with his paw.

[ladyspectral]

Oakwish watched her apprentice lick at the snow with a curious gaze, silently judging him but attention soon shifting. She was sure she would have done the same thing if she were an apprentice during the winter months. "Eh, it's okay if you fall a little behind." She meowed encouragingly, dipping her head. "There's a lot of things to see, it's easy to get lost just looking at it all. Is this your first ti-"

She stopped mid meow as his tailtip brushed her side, and he lifted his paw up off the ground. "now, it's not that cold." She teased, gently prodding his leg with her own paw. "You'll get used to it, I promise." Only when the somewhat lethargic squirrel tensed at the sounds did she turn her attention to the animal, freezing in place and blue eyes widening somewhat in shock.

"Oh, Starclan. There's a squirrel." She declared, voice barely audible over the wind that rustled the branches of the slumbering trees. "Don't move or it'll see us and run off, and maybe warn the other ones we're here. That's always annoying... If you're with other cats it makes them sad at you." As the rodent relaxed she lowered herself down,"Get down, if it looks at you look away. I think that'll help, so it doesn't think you're looking at it... I think that makes sense."