Duckpaw was very proud of herself.
I have succeeded! I caught the rabbit! she boasted one more time, for good measure. After thoroughly removing herself from her mentor's leg, and shaking off a bit of the excess dirt and dust, she raised her head to see if she could sniff out any rabbits. She hadn't been the
quietest when she was ‘stalking’ and then chasing Deadmoon, but there were probably one or two rabbits out there, just waiting to be caught. She took a sniff. She smelled….a lot of dirt. She sneezed. After using her paw to clear away excess dirt from her nose, she tried again.
Duckpaw thought she smelled something. It smelled a whole lot like a rabbit. It smelled to be in her general left. So, Duckpaw headed to her general left, glancing behind her intermittently to make sure that her mentor was following her. Every so often, she stopped and took a few more sniffs, just to make sure that she was still on the right track. She was pretty sure that she still smelled it. She hoped she was right, because she didn't want to lead her mentor and herself on a wild….rabbit chase. She was about 98% sure that they were getting closer.
Then. She saw it.
Not a magnificent rabbit by any means. It was a fairly normal weight, not incredibly plump, but it had some meat on its bones. It was the regular bunny fur color. It was eating the grass that all the other bunnies ate, with its little eyes focused on the grass it was munching on. But Duckpaw had smelled it, and she had managed to not scare it away immediately. She was DETERMINED to catch it.
Duckpaw moved into a stalking pose, slowly inching forward.
Im gonna get you….I'm gonna get you… I'm gonna get you…. she thought in her head. If she said it out loud, the rabbit would hear her and run away. The rabbit was facing the other direction, unaware that there was something hunting it. Duckpaw got closer and closer, slowly and slower. She wasn't making a sound, like she had before. She was going to learn from her mistakes, and catch this rabbit! She was very close now. Only a leap away-
The rabbit moved. Duckpaw froze. It turned, slowly, still chewing on some grass, until it was facing Duckpaw. It looked right in her eyes.
You don't see me, Duckpaw thought.
I am very well camouflaged. GO back to stuffing your face with that tasty tasty grass, rabbit. The rabbit looked at her a moment longer, as if to consider pretending that DUckpaw wasn't there (despite her being in plain view) before running full force
at Duckpaw.
Duckpaw was startled, and sort of jumped away. It took her a second to realize what was happening. That was all the time the rabbit needed. It ran to her right, and by the time Duckpaw was chasing after it, it was already in its burrow, safe from her. Duckpaw glanced into the burrow, and was met with two tiny reflections of light. The rabbit's eyes were full of mockery, and hate. Duckpaw wanted to reach in and swipe it out, but she was a) not meant to go in the burrows b)the rabbit bolted away, deeper into the burrow. Duckpaw pulled her head away, and sat down next to the opening of the burrow. Defeated. But, she would try again. She would catch that very rabbit one day.
She turned around to where Deadmoon was.
I didn't catch that one she called to her mentor.
Should I try again? Maybe that was it for today. She kinda hoped not. That was fun. She liked hunting rabbits, and she was certain that she would like to catch them even more! She waited for Deadmoons response.
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