Post by feeling kinda blue on Feb 14, 2016 1:28:36 GMT
'Today's the day!'
That was the first thought that drifted through Crystalpaw's mind when she woke up. Green eyes lit up with excitement, Crystalpaw had rolled out of her nest, nearly tripped over Pollenpaw and essentially tumbled her way out of the SkyClan cluster of apprentices. Whispering 'sorry!' a little too loudly for it to be called a whisper, Crystalpaw pranced away from her denmates. Today was the day! Ah! She couldn't sit still. White paws dancing across the ground, Crystalpaw made a b-line for the camp entrance. It was hardly dawn but she didn't care. Already the dilute tortoiseshell could feel energy singing through her veins, setting her heart to race and her green eyes to dance. Silvershade had patrols all day today and had told Crystalpaw she didn't have to go because she had to practice hunting. That suited Crystalpaw just fine because training sessions with Silvershade were never easy and usually left Crystalpaw too worn out to get up to much so a day off was StarClan sent. Crystalpaw wasn't going to waste a second of it.
As soon as she cleared the camp tunnel, Crystalpaw set out a sprint. Ferns, bracken and brambles whipped by as the longhaired she-cat bounded away from camp. She felt like she could run to the moon and back! A whole day to herself! Ah!
Surprisingly, Crystalpaw didn't spend the whole day wandering aimlessly around SkyClan's forested territory. She did buckle down and do some hunting even though she was often tutted at for not getting down to task. Two squirrels later and an unsuccessful attempt at catching a magpie left Crystalpaw feeling like she'd at least done her part to contribute to SkyClan's freshkill pile. Still, watching the magpie flutter away, its cries ringing in her ears, Crystalpaw couldn't help be a little disappointed that she'd missed the kill. Hunting birds had never been her speciality. She could chase squirrels and rabbits, stalk mice and burrow out moles readily enough but some reason hunting birds had always been hard. Silvershade insisted it was because she didn't wait long enough before she pounced, that she dashed forward too early and gave the bird too much time to take off but Crystalpaw didn't know if she believed it. Sitting still was hard, especially around prey. That was why she liked hunting rabbits and squirrels, she had the speed to chase them down but with birds it was hit or miss.
'Maybe I just need to try again,' Crystalpaw thought, heading toward the southern portion of the forest, scanning the thin brush for signs of bird nests and the low branches for sizable birds.
It took nearly an hour before Crystalpaw found a suitable candidate for her bird hunting practice. It was a fat starling pecking around on the sandy bank of a rippling creek. It's dark dappled feathers glimmered in the sunlight and all was quiet around it, save for the sound of the running stream. Grinning to herself, the tortoiseshell she-cat dropped low to the ground and crept forward slowly. She kept her bushy tail from waving, tried to keep her heartbeat slow and steady. On the creek bank, the bird fluttered its wings but continued to peck about without seeming to be aware of the young huntress.
'Now!'
Bounding forward, Crystalpaw leaped at the starling with her claws unsheathed and...went...right over the bird. The starling cried out in fright and fluttered away while Crystalpaw...
SPLASH!
Cold water soaked the young tortoiseshell making her yowl in surprise as she tumbled nose over tail into the shallow creek. For a moment she flailed wildly, blinking water out of her eyes and feeling her nose burn as she breathed in a panicked breath. After a few moments of flailing and splashing she got her feet under herself and pushed up, pushing her head above water. Snorting and coughing some of the water out, Crystalpaw blinked water from her eyes, staring at where the bird had been and the sunlight gleaming off the water. She'd...missed entirely. Giggles bubbled up in Crystalpaw until the young she-cat was laughing uncontrollably, her light laughter ringing through the trees around the creek, soaked to the skin sitting in the shallow creek she couldn't help but laugh. The whole situation was just too silly.
NOTES. thread title taken from "I'm On My Way" by Phil Collins from Brother Bear
WORD COUNT. 706
TAGS. @hawkpaw
