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 Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:07 pm
 Dustfeather was trying his best to keep it together for the Clan. When he was made a warrior, he had suspected he'd only been made a warrior on account of knowing all the moves. Without so much prey around, he rarely had the chance to put any of it into practice. It had been and still was, a source of anxiety for some time. That, in addition with seeing his Clanmates grow thin and die off as the days wore on, did not contribute well to his mood.
However, he still tried his best. He went out to hunt day after day and occasionally cats would join him. Goldenleaf had joined him the other day, but he couldn't see her around now. He'd seen her hanging around Bloodoath a lot recently, maybe... He shook his head and tried to think of other things as he left the camp to go hunting.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 5:35 pm
 Duskwing pads towards the den entrance after leaving medicinal herbs in the medicine cats den. Even as a warrior she still goes out and finds materials for the clan. She tries to do the most she can for the ailing clan. We are a flock of birds stranded under the hawk of death's watchful gaze. She muses to herself. She tries to put faith that Sunclan will show them a path to keep them safe, but with every cat that starves to nothingness it is getting harder. I can still do more, if I sharpen my talons I can fight against the hawk She thinks as she makes it to the outside of the den.
She spots the beige tom, Dustfeather, also leaving the camp. Is he going hunting too? It's better to hunt in flocks She bounces over towards the beige tom. "Hey! Are you going hunting too? We should flock together and bring our talons down on the prey." She excitedly says while shifting from paw to paw. She sheepishly adds "That is if you want too." She smiles warmly up at him waiting for his response.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:17 pm
Dustfeather looked over his shoulder as another approached and he tilted his head to the side as he looked curiously at Duskwing. He had never spoken to her, but there were rumors of her weird choice of words. At one point he had heard her older sister, Silverstreak, teasing that she was more avian than feline.
Now he was beginning to understand that joke, he thought.
"Uh, sure. I'd love a hunting partner." He mewed with a smile. "C'mon, let's go. I'm sure that working as a duo will ensure that we'll have twice as much luck hunting." If only it were that easy, but it never hurt to keep up a happy presence, right? Still, if his statement were true than the hunting patrols would be having no problem bringing back prey all the time.
Leaving the camp, suspecting that Duskwing would follow, he glanced around at the forest. Between the lack of rain, the hot weather and the non-existent river, trapped by the Twolegs, the ground was dusty and unpleasant to walk on. Even the grass seemed to wither as he passed by.
"Where do you think we should hunt?" He asked the younger she-cat.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 12:29 pm
Duskwing followed Dustfeather out of the camp. The forest now was a weak comparison to what it was a scant few months ago when she went out with her siblings. It was only mid greenleaf, but the ground felt like leafbare only with a massive amount of heat. Rain would be a plump robin right now. she thought as they made there way towards the heart of the forest.
She considered the question for a moment, the river was bare so nothing near there would be good hunting. The other areas the clan hunting pack had already visited wouldn't have anything either. There was one place she stumbled across that she didn't know if anyone else knew of it. "Do you know of the hidden little hollow under an old owl tree? There might be something in it, or a flock of birds eating from the scant berries there. Its in the right wing of the forest." She hoped it wasn't hunted out, the clan needed prey to survive. "We could hop there in a crows wing and check it out?
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:25 pm
Dustfeather looked to Duskwing, blinking slowly in understanding.
"Yes, I know of it." He replied and then nodded, once he had deciphered her meaning. It was taking him a few moments, but he found that he was able to pick up the gist of it very quickly. "Yes, let's head there. Good idea, Duskwing." He mewed to her.
As he started to head over, he asked.
"Do you like birds very much? Not necessarily to eat, but, er, I notice you talk often of them. I was just wondering why. Not that that's a bad thing!" He added quickly. "It's just interesting--new, you know?" He smiled sheepishly. "I like it."
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:34 pm
Duskwing had a fascinating view of his expression as she watched as he worked through her statements. It was incredible to her that she didn't have to explain herself. She watched as he started making his way to the hollow on the ground. She looked up longingly at the branches, once she learned to jump from branch to branch, she never liked being on the ground. She sighed and followed after him on foot. Most cats didn't treewalk, as she called it, because it was against the norm and they thought it was dangerous. She liked it because it was freeing, she didn't have to worry so much about scent and could see farther than when she was on the ground. She always trusted sunclan to guide her paws to safety.
She hummed as she thought of his question. She didn't think she talked of them all that often. She liked watching them to see patterns in their behavior that helped her hunt, and her siblings never complained about it. "Birds are interesting and watching them helps you find better ways to hunt them. They do all sorts of things that you don't get to see if you only spend your time hunting them. Like how they teach their young to fly by pushing them out of the nest. She considers that for a moment. "Its not too unlike how we send apprentices out to hunt or gather herbs alone to test their abilities. The only difference is we spend our time roosting on the ground in our little nests." She looked back up at the branches, then looked at squarely Dustfeather. "Have you ever treewalked? Like hopping from branch to branch up there like a fledgling?" she'd paused in walking and looked straight up at the trees.
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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:07 pm
Dustfeather listened closely as Duskwing told him about why she liked birds so much. She seemed to watch the world in a very different way than most cats did and he liked her more for it. His tail tip curled upward pleasantly and a relaxed smile found its way onto his maw.
"I wouldn't have thought of our sending our kits to be apprentices, like birds learning how to fly, but you're right in that analogy." He remarked thoughtfully. "Maybe I ought to start watching the birds more often... Well, once there are more to watch, at any rate." He sighed. "Although, with how we are now, I would rather hunt them, at least for the time being." He mewed.
When she stopped walking, he turned to face her, confusion mixing with interest in his eyes.
"Tree...walked?" He repeated, slowly, not sure if he'd heard her correctly. "No, I can't say I have." He followed her gaze to the trees and swallowed. "But I can try. Never hurts to try something new, right?" A moment of understanding came over him. "Do you think it would be easier to hunt birds up there?" He asked, glancing back to Duskwing.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:49 pm
Duskwing nodded to his insight on how the clan was fairing with the thinning food supply.
"Up there your scent doesn't reach their beaks. You can also dive like a hawk on them from above. When spooked birds generally hop and fly straight up rather than ducking to the side." She answered his question with a slight grin on her face still looking up at the branches. "How far can you jump?" She asked him suddenly serious and seeming to drop the bird talk, as she got a tingle up her spine that her idea wasn't just brushed off like it was by several other cats had.
"Also never climb higher than you are willing to fall. You could hurt yourself that way. Treewalking is all about jumping from branch to branch. To start with you have to jump as high as you can and pull yourself up, though in different places it might be better to climb to a broken branch and jump to a more stable one."
She then demonstrated what she meant by lunging straight off the ground for a broken branch above their heads and catching it with her front paws and skillfully pulling herself up on to the branch with practiced ease, then she sat down as close to the trunk as she could and looked down at him. "If you don't feel comfortable getting up here like this, there is a felled tree that you can walk up. Over in there!" she called down to him from her perch while pointing with a paw at the dead tree leaning against two branches a bit of distance away from where she was in the tree.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:18 pm
Dustfeather listened, interest in his gaze as the smaller she-cat spoke about how much she knew about hunting birds.
"Seems like you've really mastered it." He remarked, inclining his head towards her. "It's really very impressive." He said, before he blinked in surprise at her sudden question. "I'm not sure... About average, I suppose?" He asked, feeling uncertain as he was put on the spot. She went on to talking about treewalking and he listened carefully. It sounded more like branchjumping to him, but who was he to question one of her passions in life? It was a relief to hear that a cat in the Clan had managed to find something that they took such delight in doing, especially when their was such tension and sorrow in MountainClan.
When she suddenly lunged off the ground to grab a broken branch, his mouth dropped open. He stepped back so he didn't get showered with bark and then looked at the fallen tree she had indicated towards. He frowned a little, but then refocused on the trunk in front of him. All he had to do was jump, right? He could always hook his claws into the trunk, even if he couldn't get to a branch. Besides, something within him wanted to impress her, so without another though on it, he rushed forward and leaped forward, claws stretched out. He managed to hook his claws into a branch that looked sturdier, but was lower than the one that she had climbed onto. With churning hind paws, he managed to scramble onto the branch and he slowly made his way towards the trunk, peering around it to try and look up at her.
"I don't think I'll ever be as graceful as you, Duskwing, but my, that was exhilarating!" He mewed, light dancing in his eyes.
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