Morning Hunt (Open)

[Deleted]

It had been a long, uneventful year. So far, today proved to be no different. With a sight, River climbed out of her nest and looked around. The sun had only just come out. The weather was fair, with a slight breeze blowing across her.

Seemed like a good time to hunt.

Without looking to see if either of her tribemates were up, she padded away from camp and into the plain proper. She continued to walk for a while, knowing few creatures would be stupid enough to come so close to where three absconding felines made their home. She didn’t mind the walk. It gave her time to plan. What did she want to hunt today? Elk? Lizards? Snakes? Rats would be an option if not for Ebony’s…pet. That was fine though. They were too small anyway. She’d have to kill a whole colony of them if she wanted to keep everyone full. That was too much effort for too little prey.

As she walked, the scent of elk wafted to her. She shifted a little to the left to follow a more direct path to her prey, smiling slightly. Yes…elk was a fine choice. The tuxedo-patterned feline continued on, completely unaware that she was about to have company.

[Meesh]

The company, in question, was swiftly following River's scent, leaping with ease from rock to rock. For once his rat was not with him, curled up at home somewhere, probably keeping an eye on the tribe's supply of herbs and berries that Ebony collected. The feline's teleportation abilities, along with his knowledge of River and where she might head off when on her own, meant that Ebony caught up to her fairly quickly.

He teleported just upwind of her, letting the other catch his scent before padding into sight, flicking his tail in greeting. "I've spotted a lone elk near the south side of our territory." he said by way of greeting, padding over to River to brush his shoulder against hers and give a small smile of hello. "It's on its own and injured, but still a rather large adult male, doubtfully safe for just one to hunt alone. I was thinking we might hunt it down together?" A flicker of a breeze caught the brown and black striped feline's attention, he turned his head towards the direction of the Orchard. "The pods are stirring." Ebony quietly observed, golden eyes gleaming. "I do believe hatching season is nigh upon us."

[Deleted]

A familiar scent suddenly made itself known. She ignored it for a moment. Ebony was part of the tribe, so of course his scent would linger in their land. But she then noticed that it was fresh, and that made her pause. This wasn’t the scent of someone passing through. This was the scent of someone physically present. And then, sure enough, he came into view, flicking his tail at her. She nodded to him, ears flicking as he talked. He mentioned an elk, and she wondered briefly if he was talking about the very one she was talking. It appeared not, though – his was to the south.

Ebony brushed against her and she learned into his touch, gazing at him as he continued to explain about the elk. Male or no, injured was preferable to healthy. And…he wanted to hunt together? She wasn’t entirely sure he enjoyed the activity, and his duty to their tribe was keeping everyone healthy, not fed. She wasn’t about to turn down help though, especially from him. He’d been around her more-or-less since birth and was the one creature she was most comfortable around.

“All right,” she responded when he finished talking. “And I hope so. They’ve been dormant for too long.” She turned to the south and started walking slowly so he wouldn’t have to hurry to catch up with her. “Large prey is preferable. More meat for less kills that way.” Though if she was honest with herself, she’d have to admit she enjoyed killing, but only their prey…so she hoped.

[Meesh]

"Mmh" Ebony mewed in wordless agreement, shoulder brushing River's lightly as he turned and began padding towards the south. Days like this, where there were no herbs to be gathered and no tribes animals to be healed were few and far between, and Ebony chose to enjoy them how he could - namely, spending time with the feline he had known since his kit years. Hunting was never really his area of expertise, but all animals had a hunting instinct within them somewhere, and while Ebony's wasn't really as prevalent as, say, a proper hunter, he could still be a helping paw in a hunt if needed.

Their quarry was grazing several meters off, away from the rest of the herd as it nibbled at something among the grass. With a flick of his tail, Ebony parted from River, disappearing among the grasses to move stealthily around to the other side of the elk. At least one advantage of his stripey fur was that Ebony could more easily sneak around unnoticed. When he was at the far side of the area, Ebony peeked his golden eyes out until they blinked at wherever River was, waiting for her signal to spring into action.

[Deleted]

Ebony mewed in agreement and brushed against her as they padded to the south. She sniffed around as they walked, trying to pick out prey trails on their path. They did have their target prey already, but it never hurt to know where to find extra food for later. It was her job to see to it that the two of them and Kayalee were all well-fed, wasn’t it? It was a job she took pride in, as it ensured that she was a valuable member of the group.

Eventually, their prey came into view. She watched the elk as it grazed away from the herd. The stupidity of the herd animals always astounded her. Didn’t they know they were safer clustered together? Well, whatever. It made their job easier. Movement beside her alerted her to the fact that Ebony was circling around the elk, and she crouched down, waiting until he stopped and blinked at her. She responded with a tiny flick of her tail and shifted position to make it easier to spring into a run. Once Ebony started, she would have to move quickly.