> Batblood [Hunting post]

The freshkill pile was low again. It annoyed him that even with the warm weather, plentiful life buzzing around them, and better control with the patrols, his clanmates still seemed to bring in too little prey. Batblood hadn't been placed on any hunting patrols, but he had some free time today, so why not use the time he could spend resting or training to fix his clanmates' mistakes?

Any way. He had picked The Weeping Tree as a hunting place, since prey was especially common, and he hadn't taken notice of as much activity there on his clanmates' side, so the prey might have gotten a little bolder around these parts. Like usual he changed his pace from his usual walking to a more slow, measured, and most of all quiet stalking so as not to scare away the prey, and began searching for it. His fine senses reached out over the area, scenting for trails, listening for squeaks of rodents or calls of birds, and his sharp yellow eyes surveying his surroundings for the slightest movement in the undergrowth.

Thrush
It ultimately was his hearing that ended up locating his first prey by hearing a rustle not too far away. It was quick, followed by a slight pause, and then repeating. Quick rustle, short pause, rustle, pause, rustle, pause. He distinctly remembered the rhythm. It was a blackbird or some kind of thrush, searching in the leaves for worms to eat. With his target found, the lean tom began to slowly stalk towards it, his other senses quickly catching on as well. Yup, definitely a thrush. So, same routine as before; He made sure he was downwind, waited until the bird was completely occupied with its worm or whatever, gathered himself, and leaped. One lunge and alarmed movement from the bird and it was dead.

Mouse x2
He had one plump bird but more would be needed, so he buried it to fetch it later, and resumed his hunting. Same stance, same alertness. And just like before it wasn't long before he picked up the scent trail of a mouse. So he followed it, tracked it down, and found it, all like usual. But he was pleased to find it wasn't just one mouse, but a mouse nest. The last time he had found a nest he had returned with four voles, so he made sure to be very quiet when settling next to the nest entrance, and waiting.

And there it was, the quiet little skiddling of mice-feet he had been waiting for, as the little rodent came out. One quick, and precise yet very quiet strike later, and it was dead. But he didn't leave it at that, but carefully picked the body up and moved it out of the way in case more mice would come, and like he had hoped one more soon poked out. It too had to meet it's fate, and he waited a bit longer still, but it sadly seemed there weren't more of them in there.

Squirrel
He could stop here. He already had three decent pieces of prey to bring back, but there was something more driving Batblood to continue. Call it ambition - the want to return with something more impressive - but whatever it was it would be good for the clan either way.

This time he didn't go to look among the roots, but followed the smell of squirrel. Yepp, there it was. The rodent had seemingly come down to the forest floor after a nut it had spotted, and it now picked it up in it's small jaws and hopped back towards its tree. Realizing he'd lose it if it got too close to the trunk, Batblood bolted forward, claw unsheathing and teeth slowing and he reached after it. Bearly, but he caught it.

Ok, that was better. A plump thrush, two mice, and a squirrel. It was something to be more proud of, so he chose to end it there, and fetched his catches before returning back to camp.

A paw broke through the soft surface, heaving their small body up onto the disturbed soil. Paws scrambled to brush off the dirt from their face, gasping for breath as their lungs clenched for air. Stars, the memories burn bright inside their head like a blazing asteroid. Lotuspaw couldn't recall how long it had been as they laid across the ground, staring at their paws with intent curiosity. Stars no longer sprinkled in their fur and they - they were here. This was..

this was home.

The sentence comforted Lotuspaw to endless means, they were back. They were back and everything was so stupid, but it didn't matter. Not in this moment because they could go home and hug their siblings. That was all that mattered to them. Watching a worm wiggle out from the ground, Lotuspaw rolled onto their stomach to view the night sky.

The moon was beautiful.

They could do this. Lotuspaw had ,, they had made a mistake. They had made so many mistakes. Everything still felt, it still felt awful, but they were fine with that because at least they could still experience it. They had watched what Thunderclan had done for them. Cindersky or ,, argh, it was Cinderstar, wasn't it? (they tried to not think about how much guilt they were riddled with at watching their siblings' reactions or how sagepaw hadn't been there.)

A paw touched their neck, blinking back in surprise at the scar they felt. It was large and - wow. They had really uh, died. "That. Sucks." They weren't really sure how to feel about that. .. They didn't have to decide how to actually feel about that, Lotuspaw decided with a huff. The sky was pretty. They could just take everything one bit at a time.

Baby steps.

Just - just baby steps for now.
...


For the longest time the apprentice laid there in peace. Listening to the life around them brought a sense of sincerity. The flickering light of the fireflies, the grass blowing in the wind, and the warmth of greenleaf's breeze was enough for Lotuspaw. In a bit they would pull themself to their paws and enter into Thunderclan's camp - with tears streaming down their cheeks because it made everything so much real.

Lotuspaw didn't think at all about what was to come. It was a relief.

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saint bernard sit at the top of my driveway.
you always say how you love dogs.
i don't know if i count - but i'm trying my best.
when i'm howling and barking these songs.