Hunting Too Close (Open)

[Diria]

Onyxpaw crept through the grass. A slight breeze ran through his dark grey fur and the sun shone brightly. It was a beautiful day to be hunting. He had been distracted lately. Although he still worked hard for his Clan, he hadn't been doing so well hunting because of this.

His amber eyes turned to notice a rabbit sitting a couple of tail-lengths away. It hadn't noticed him yet. He thought to himself for a couple of seconds. It was a good piece of fresh-kill, he needed to catch it to feed his clan. He crept closer towards the rabbit and lept toward it. The rabbit noticed him and started to run. Onyxpaw had let it escape. "Mouse dung!" He chased after it. The rabbit went over the Fireclan border, but he didn't notice and continued to chase it.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

His yellow eyes narrowed, peering through the shelter of the bushes like bright orbs. His black ears were the only thing poking out of the bush as he crouched there waiting. His nose scented the air, hoping to catch the scent of prey but nothing passed by. Not even the rustle of tiny mouse feet. The jet black tom sighed, feeling his muscles begin to ache from waiting so long. Why should he bother? He had plenty of days to catch prey right?
Suddenly, large rustling could be heard, instantly alerting him. A rabbit suddenly popped out of the bushes, in full flight.
"Gotcha!"Padpaw yelled in triumph, leaping out of the bushes. However, the rabbit zipped by and the Fireclan apprentice ended up slamming into Onyxpaw

[Diria]

Onyxpaw was sent back. He was confused and startled by whatever had just slammed into him. He looked up seeing Padpaw. He stared at the Fireclan apprentice and started to growl. He thought to himself as he did this, Is he in our clans territory? He slowly moved closer towards Padpaw, hoping not to start a fight. He probably was tresspassing on Fireclans territory. Onyxpaw then took in the scents around him. There was a heavy scent of Fireclan here. He had crossed the border! He stopped growling and backed away, though he did not leave.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Ow..."Padpaw grumbled, slowly getting back and rubbing his sore muzzle with one of his paw. He could already feel a bruise on his poor muzzle, not to mention the cold snow that coated it. Padpaw gave an impatient shake of his head to dislodge the snow from his head, shivering slightly as some of the snow melted into ice-cold water and sank into his head fur.
The sound of growling alerted the scruffy black apprentice to see the cat he had crashed into was growling at him.
"Geez, it was just an accident,"Padpaw meowed, rolling his eyes, unaware that it was a Dawnclan apprentice. The tom was still in the middle of trying to brush snow off his head fur and misinterpreted Onyxpaw's growling as anger for crashing into him. Every cat in Fireclan knew he had the tendency to do that.

"Darn it, I think that rabbit ran off,"Padpaw muttered, sniffing the air hopefully. Instead of rabbit, however, his nose caught the scent of Dawnclan and his eyes widened his head spun around to face Onyxpaw.
"Dude! No wonder I smell Dawnclan. It was you! Psh, and I thought I crossed the border again. Oh well,"Padpaw said with an unconcerned shrug.
"So what's your name?"

[Diria]

Onyxpaw stared at the black tom in confusion. Was this cat mouse brained? He had just crossed into his clans territory, and here he was trying to be friendly to Onyxpaw like he had done nothing wrong. They were from different clans. The only time there would be any sort of truce between them was at a gathering. He thought for a moment. Should I tell this apprentice my name or should I try to turn back now? He didn't have a clue what to do. It was bad enough he had crossed the border.
"Ummm," Onyxpaw replied. "My name's Onyxpaw." It felt wierd talking to a FireClan cat like this. Normally a fight would break out at the first sign of any cat from a rival clan crossing the border.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Nice name,"Padpaw commented, though it looked as if he wasn't really listening. He was busy washing his ear as he took quick licks of his paw and drew it over his ear.
"I'm Padpaw, best warrior in Fireclan. Although some cats are just too jealous to admit it,"the scruffy black tom meowed with a dramatic sigh. Padpaw began to smooth down his chest fur, though his ruffled pelt was proving hard to flatten. After a few attempts, the tom gave up on the tufty fur and turned his attention back to Onyxpaw.
"So why are you in Fireclan territory on this fine winter day?"Padpaw asked.

[Diria]

"You can't possibly be the best warrior in FireClan because you haven't received your warrior name yet," Onyxpaw replied. He hated having to correct other cats, but it was clearly obvious that Padpaw was an apprentice. He stepped closer towards the bushes behind him. Then he looked back up at Padpaw. He did not want this apprentice thinking he was always overlooking things but then again, it could be a good thing as well as bad. He also did not want to start a fight when it wasn't necessary, in his eyes anyway. "I was chasing a rabbit and it went across the border. I failed to notice the scent markers though." Onyxpaw hung his head in embarrassment. He should have noticed them.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Psh, I told you, my Clanmates are all jealous of me. So they won't let me become warrior,"Padpaw explained, puffing out his chest and looking indignantly at Onyxpaw.
"Heck, I bet I can be leader if I wanted to,"he boasted with a wide grin.

As Onyxpaw explained his situation, Padpaw listened and let out a scoff.
"Who cares about scent marks. I ignore them all the time. There's plently of prey to go around the forest. Besides, rules are meant to be broken,"the scruffy black tom meowed, smirking mischeviously.

[Diria]

Onyxpaw glared at Padpaw. The warrior code is everything. It was the way of life among the Clan cats just as much as they were rules. "We are from different clans," Onyxpaw replied. "I crossed the border, so I have just invaded your territory. You're not bothered by that at all." He thought for a moment. Now that leaf-bare had arrived there was less prey for cats to hunt. It wasn't a time to be sharing prey and on top of that, the prey that lived on Fireclans territory was rightfully theirs and was not for any other clan.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Hm, I should be huh,"Padpaw mewed, looking thoughtful, though a flash of amusement sparked his yellow eyes. He licked a paw and drew it over his ear in a musing way.
"But like I said, I'm not very strict on rules. It's fun breaking the rules,"he replied, his mischief returning. He jumped to his paws and added in an excited tone, "You wanna go badger hunting with me?"

[Diria]

Onyxpaw tensed. Even if Padpaw didn't try to enforce the warrior code, some other FireClan cat would if they were caught together. It would cause trouble for both of them. Then too, how would they be able to bring down a badger. They were both only apprentices, despite Padpaws claims that he was the greatest warrior in FireClan. "I shouldn't," Onyxpaw replied. He didn't want to break the warrior code, he tried to be the best apprentice he could. If he wanted that, he needed to follow the warrior code. "I think it would be best if I just left."

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Aww,"Padpaw mewed, ears drooping down slightly. Then his ears pricked up slightly as the apprentice said he'd be leaving.
"I'll come with you! I haven't visited Dawnclan territory forever,"the scruffy black tom mewed. Before Onxypaw could protest, the reckless apprentice began trotting over to the border, showing no sign of concern.

[Diria]

The dark grey apprentice pondered on Padpaws last comment. Did this mean that he had been on DawnClan territory before. It didn't really surprise Onyxpaw, as this cat didn't really seem to care about the borders, but at the same time it amazed him how a clan cat could care so little for the warrior code. He hoped that if he did go back into DawnClan territory that he wouldn't get caught with Padpaw by a border patrol. What would his mentor think of him if he saw Onyxpaw and Padpaw together? He couldn't exactly bring himself to chase Padpaw off of his clans territory after he forgave Onyxpaw for tresspassing on FireClan territory. He lept over the border.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

Padpaw crossed the border without even a slight twitch of hesitation. He only had an air of casualty as he crossed into enemy territory.
"Geez, I don't know how you're used to this place. It barely has any trees to block the wind,"he pointed out to Onyxpaw, sneezing as the wind sent drifts of snow towards the two apprentices. His ears gave a quick flick, alert for any unusual noises, but none came. He turned to Onyxpaw with a friendly gleam in his eyes.
"So I haven't seen you around in the Gathering before. Are you a newbie or something?"the black-furred tom asked.

[Diria]

"Ummm," Onyxpaw stuttered. He followed carefully after Padpaw as they walked through DawnClan territory. He didn't know what to tell the other apprentice. He didn't want to imply that Onyxpaw was inexperianced as an apprentice, but then again it was correct. "I've only been an apprentice for a moon. I am hoping that Zephyrstar will let me go to the next gathering." But if my clanmates catch me with you I might have my chance taken away from me... Onyxpaw thought to himself. He sighed. He didn't know what to do in a situation like this.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Gatherings are pretty fun since you get to meet new cats,"Padpaw conceded. "But it's sometimes a bit boring too with all the leaders talking."he added. The scruffy apprentice looked about, his eyes searching for something.
"That should do!"he suddenly said, bounding over to a clump of toadstools. Without warning, he flopped down and began to roll around. Pretty soon, his whole pelt had the strong scent of the plants.
"There, that oughta hide my scent. Now I can pass off as a loner or something,"Padpaw meowed to Onxypaw, grinning

[Diria]

Onyxpaw gazed at Padpaw. At least he was hiding his scent. "I think that whatever the leaders say would be important." He said following Padpaw closely. It wasn't long until he noticed a rabbit. "Watch this." He crouched down, slowly making his way closer to it. Then he lept, catching the rabbit before it could run. Onyxpaw then stored the fresh-kill so that he could pick it up later and raced back to where Padpaw stood. He was proud that he had finally caught some prey. It was not very big, but he still felt that it was a good catch.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Wow, that's cool,"Padpaw commented, eyes wide as he had watched Onyxpaw skillfully catch the rabbit. His kill had been quite swift too. In order for Padpaw to catch a rabbit, he'd have to sit and wait.
"But I bet you guys can only eat rabbits. See, with a Fireclan hunting technique, we get to eat a variety of prey,"the black-furred apprentice bragged. To emphasize his words, the apprentice also dropped to a crouch. But instead of darting forward like Onyxpaw, Padpaw made an effort to keep his body light on his toes and tail low, but slightly above the ground. He slithered forward like a quick snake.

[Diria]

"We eat other prey too," Onyxpaw replied. "Though we do eat more rabbits than other kinds of prey." He was amazed at Padpaws way of hunting. It was probably the best way for FireClan territory so he shouldn't be so surprised. He knew that he could probably not catch any prey in FireClan with his way of hunting. "Our technique is best for our territory, just like your hunting technique is better for the forest where you live." For a moment, Onyxpaw wondered what it would be like to live in FireClan. He pushed the thought aside immediatly. He was a DawnClan cat, and he always would be.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

Padpaw just shrugged. "Your technique looks kind of exhausting to me. I mean, you guys have to actually chase down your prey. We just let it come to us practically,"he pointed out, slightly boasting. Padpaw let out a sneeze as a chilly wind gusted by.
"Geez, how do you stand this windy weather? There's practically no trees to block the wind,"the tom complained.

[Diria]

"We were made for this weather," Onyxpaw replied. He made his way closer to Padpaw and sat down next to him. "I think that if we weren't, we wouldn't have lived here in the first place." He had to admit, this conversation was getting very interesting. He was learning a lot about FireClan from Padpaw, but then Padpaw was learning from him too. Onyxpaw didn't know if either he or Padpaw would use the information that they learn today, but her knew that he had to be careful. Padpaw was from a rivel clan after all. "Each clan has to be made for their territories. FireClan's skills were made for the forest, and DawnClan's were made for its territory as well." He gazed up to the sky. "Same goes for MistClan and MoonClan as well."

[*~Blazeheart~*]

"Well I still think all cats ought to be suited in Fireclan territory,"Padpaw meowed loudly, flicking his tail.
"I mean, we're not called forest cats for nothing right?"the scruffy black tom added, giving a huff as if the matter was settled.
"I should give you a tour of my territory someday. Then maybe you'll see just how great being a Fireclan cat is,"Padpaw meowed, turning to Onxypaw with a grin.
"I bet you've never tasted shrew before. They're small, but their meat is pretty tender."

[Diria]

Onyxpaw laughed. He would probably say that being a DawnClan cat was better than being a FireClan cat too if he thought about it. That's only because I live in DawnClan, He told himself. "What if you were to get caught?"
It was at that moment that he realized that he should be getting back to camp soon. The cats there might get worried if he was out for too long. Besides that, he needed to bring his fresh-kill back as well to feed his clanmates.

[*~Blazeheart~*]

Padpaw shrugged casually, not really comprehending the seriousness of breaking the warrior code. He never did.
"So what? I'm a master of stealth! I can't be caught,"Padpaw boasted, crouching down and pretending to slink around and leap through shadows as if he were some invisible cat.
"Besides,"the black-furred tom added, dropping the bravado. "I can't get into any more trouble. I've done enough crazy things that Revolutionstar doesn't know what to do with me anymore."

[Diria]

Onyxpaw wondered about what kind of things Padpaw did. There was still a good chance he would get caught, no matter how confident he was but Onyxpaw did not reply with this.
He knew that going into other clan territories was against the warrior code and he would try to avoid crossing the border like he did today. If another FireClan cat had caught him crossing the border, he would have been in serious trouble. He was glad that it that he didn't have to fight. Onyxpaw turned to leave. "I should be getting back," He said, returning to where he had left the fresh-kill he caught earlier. "Good-bye Padpaw."