Stripes awoke with two paws heavy on her side. “Come on,” Burn moaned, “Flame says I have to take you hunting!”
Streak got up quickly, confusion hitting her along with the bits of morning sun that shone through the trees in her new personal den. It had been almost an entire moon since she first joined the camp. Her scratches were reduced to scabs and massive scarring, the once pretty she cat kitten now clearly abused and wound ridden. Her long gray fur covered most of it though, it was so long bits of her belly fur scraped the ground and the tuft of fluff on her head laid in front of her eyes. It didn’t mess up her vision too bad though, it still allowed her to function fairly well through her everyday life. “Um.. okay..” she spoke unsurely.
“What’s wrong?” Burn asked, “Are you nervous cause you’re out of practice?”
Streak shook her head, her entire body turning hot in embarrassed. “I’ve never hunted before..”
Streaks looked at her paws, waiting for a response. “Ha!” he exclaimed, “You’re nearly as old as me!” a gleeful mockery sounded in his voice, but he sighed and stepped toward the sulking kitten, crouching down and looking up at her like a dog ready to play, “It’s fine, I’ll teach you.” he meowed.
She perked up, staring into the calico’s blue-green eyes.
“Besides!” He cheered, “I heard real empires have every member train the ‘less experienced.’ You can be my practice student!” He stared for a moment, “We’ll have to do something about that fur though.”
Streak quickly licked her paw and shoved the extra fluff out of her face, but it fell right back into place. Burn stepped closer to her, “Here, let me help.” they came face to face, noses close enough to touch. Burn lifted his muzzle to lick Streak’s fur over to one side. “There,” he smiled, “Now it only affects one eye.”
“Ri - Right.. Um thank you.” She stuttered, her pelt hot in embarrassment.
“Okay so first,” Burn spoke, energetic as always, “I’ll give you some pointers.” Streak nodded, getting ready. “See this leaf?” He pushed a leaf a couple of pounces in front of her, “Crouch down and quietly crawl towards it. Try to put your back paw where your front paw was as you travel.” Streak did as she was told, but she stepped on her own chest fur, “Wah!” she mewed as she fell flat on her face.
“Pfft...” Burn covered his mouth with his paw, clearly holding in a laugh. “Okay, okay you’ll need to pay more attention to your fur.” he laughed.
She eyed him, “Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.” she said backing up and crouching again. She was more careful this time, getting one pounce away away from the leaf that laid next to the calico. She adjusted her footing position to ensure a good catch. Suddenly she slightly switched direction, Burn apparently didn’t notice because he wasn’t prepared for Streak’s leap directly towards him.
With claws sheathed she pounced on him and pinned him to the ground. “Hey!” He quickly fought back, pushing her to the side. She slapped his face and let out a little, playful purr. He pawed her face back, backing her into the wall of the shrubs and forcing her down. She was pinned this time but she put all her strength into her hind legs and kicked him off of her. While he regained his balance, she didn’t falter and hopped onto him once more. Although the tom was clearly stronger than she was, Burn let himself fall underneath her weight. “Oh no,” he meowed mellow dramatically, “The great beast has defeated me!” and let his body go limp.
“Oh shut up.” she purred licking his fur, “Do you think I could take out a rabbit?”
“Well.. I only lost because you did a sneak attack.” he defended with a grin.
“Well.” she explained, “I don’t plan on the prey seeing me in the first place.” she sat up, getting her body weight off of him.
Burn sighed, “Alright we should go now.” he stood, leading her out of the clearing. Streak had gone out of the clearing a couple of times but she never traveled to far. She followed Burn deep into the woods, but only a short way away from camp. “If you keep going forward this way, you’ll end up in Monster camp.” He explained. Streak looked around at her surroundings, it was truly beautiful. “Take a sniff.” Burn suggested.
Streak nodded and lifted her head, “I think.. I smell mouse?” she’d had it before, even before she came to the forest, when she was still at her mother’s in nofur’s land.
“There are mice around here, yes.” He stated, “How recent is it?”
Streak sniffed again. “Um, just now, I think.” she looked around, listening. A rustle in the grass to her right. She crouched towards it, pouncing on it. It squeaked causing her to scramble and cut of it’s scream with a messy bite to the neck.
“Good job.” Burn praised, “But next time, try to kill it quicker, the squeak warned the other animals.” Streak picked up the rodent and trotted back to Burn.
“Do you think all the prey left?” she asked, concern raising in her voice.
“Maybe.” He admitted, “But it didn’t get much of a chance to warn the others so we might still be able to hunt.” Streak turned, listening once again, another rustling in a bush. Burn went this time, returning to her with a plump sparrow in his mouth. “Let’s try to at least catch one more.” he offered.
Streak stepped away from him, her ears pricked. “Rabbit.” she whispered to herself, spotting one grooming itself, she crouching stepping softly on the forest floor. She crawled closer, anticipation for the tasty creature luring her to it. Right as she was about to pounce, she lost her balance. Her chest fur tripped her up once again. The rabbit saw her as well. It turned it’s head to her, with a few quick foot thumps to the ground, it took off running. But Streak refused to let it go. She chased after it and snagged her claw into it’s hind leg, dragging it to the ground. It thumped it’s foot as fast and as hard as possible, Streak bit into it’s neck with all her might and it went limp.
Streak walked back to Burn who was guarding the mouse and bird. “I think every creature in the forest heard that rabbit’s foot.” he warned.
“I’m sorry..” she dropped her catch in front of him. She should’ve been more careful, if only she hadn’t tripped on her own fur like a dumb kit.
“At least you caught it,” Burn praised, “You did well, it just takes practice to keep them quiet. It’s quite hard to catch a rabbit after all.” Streak perked up again, “Shall we head back?” Burn asked.
“We shall.” Streak bent down to pick up her rabbit as Burn did the same to the sparrow and mouse. She followed him back to the camp, taking careful note of her surroundings, ‘I’ll have to hunt here on my own one day.’ she thought, willing herself to be a good hunter.
When they returned, the fox was waiting for them in the main area, the place where Streak had to spend her first half moon in recovery before she was given a den of her own. “Red,” Streak greeted her as she set her rabbit down in their food pile, “What’s up?”
“I wanted to go berry and herb picking,” she explained, “but Flame said I should wait til you two get back and take Streak.”
“Berries and herbs?” Streak tilted her head, she knew what they were, Spiderear had said as much, but he didn’t really say any details on them.
Red dipped her head, “That’s right,” she said, “After the snowfall ends, flowers begin to bloom and berries begin to grow. We can use them for medicine, like how Spider treated your wounds.” Streak drew closer, intrigued. “You two eat your prey, I have to tell Flame that you’re back then we can go.” Red excused herself and ran off to Flame’s cave. Streak’s never gone to the mysterious leader’s cave, and Burn might’ve but he doesn’t go regularly like the others do. It seemed intimidating, like if she went in unannounced, a beast would be waiting inside.
Streak shrugged it off and turned to her rabbit, her mouth watering at the smell. She judged the size for a moment, “Do you wanna split it?” she offered Burn.
“Sure.” he said, pulling it away from the pile, “Let’s eat.”
Streak sat across from him as they both enjoyed their share. She’d never eaten rabbit before she came to the camp but it quickly became her favorite pray. She looked up to watch Burn eat for a moment, his fur glistened in the bit of sunlight that made it through the trees. He soon looked up too and her eyes locked for but a moment before Streak shoved her face back to her meal. Burn stayed staring for a long moment as well then slowly bent his head to finish the last bits of rabbit.
They both licked their bloodstained lips and sat waiting for Red to return. They were silent but the lack of talk didn’t make it awkward, just peaceful. This was the first day Streak was really able to leave the camp, she’d stepped just outside the bushes before but never to hunt her own prey or go ‘berry and herb picking’ excitement filled her body when she saw Red’s pointy nose poke through the bushes that would lead to Flame’s cave. “Shall we head off?” Red asked her, Streak nodded, getting up quickly.
“I’m going to take a nap in my den.” Burn excused himself and left to sleep. Streak and Red watched him go as they got up to head in the opposite direction.
Comments (0)
See all