Howlingstar's gaze isn't one she shrinks under- but rather, she simmers, she lifts her head. Ears perk gently and eyes widen slightly as Howlingstar speaks, listening intently to what her mentor has to say. She thinks to herself, this time next moon, she wouldn't be her mentor any longer- she'd be a warrior, one of the few that had trained under Howlingstar's tutelage. Not a star-given right, but a privilege, one she had not shirked in the moons she had been taken in by Thunderclan.
Her mentor's eyes grew firmer, and she nodded once to show she was indeed listening, not just trapped in her head. Hunting alone, for an entire day? She'd have to see how many she could catch- the variety, the efficiency of her kills. Orange eyes glinted as she looked on. "I am ready." She meowed in confirmation, her voice stronger then she could have imagined, the confidence in her words not just a bluff, but true.
Howlingstar's visage, and body, disappear into the underground. She inhaled slowly, orange eyes sweeping over the territory beyond, further from camp. It took her but a brief moment to decide which direct to move in, and as she started moving, Antlerpaw's own paws were swift, quiet. She avoided any dead twigs or crunchy undergrowth, her ears perked and mouth slightly parted to catch any scent she could. It wasn't long before she caught indication of rustling in the underbrush.
Antlerpaw's paws came to a slow, then a stop, pressing down silently on the duff, orange eyes widening as she searched for the source. There. She surmised, vision honing in on a vole that hadn't caught scent of her- she was surprised, but careful, at being downwind. Antlerpaw was decisive, quick, her teeth flashing into the vole and ending it before it could make too much noise. A long breath left her as she picked the kill up, moving to tuck it against the roots of a tree and covering gently with leaf litter. She'd be back for it, mentally marking where she had made her first kill.
Her head angled backwards, lifting towards the sky. It was nearing sunhigh, the heat at it's worse. Was this how hot it was when I was born? She thinks to herself. A dangerous thing too, her eyes clouding gently with emotion she didn't know how to handle. Mother.. Briefly, she wonders if her blood-heritage was okay, if she was eating enough, but something inside of her snapped that idea in half. Orange eyes slid closed, brows drawn together as she breathed through the memory.
It took minutes before Antlerpaw was moving again, shedding any bit of loyalty she may have had left to Baying Hound as she moved. Minutes after beginning to stalk through underbrush and around knotted and gnarled trees did her paws lose any kind of shake that she owed to the scars across his face, which stung when she closed her eyes too hard. The sun was starting it's downward travel when she caught sight of what would be her second piece of prey. Far from the skill of Stormywing or Batwing does she take to a tree, scaling it.
Even here she was quiet, eyes pinned to the bright red cardinal. The one thing she could thank her mother for was the similar pelt- it blended her into the trees, the undergrowth, so well. Antlerpaw flashes across the branch before the bird has a chance to see her, or take off. Claws dig into bark as her teeth bit down, breaking the small thing's neck and ending it's life. A slow exhale leaves her, taking a moment to regain her balance. Her tail shifts, just as Howlingstar had reminded her at the climbing tree. Scampering down the tree with the cardinal in her jaws, Antlerpaw made the quick trek back to the vole to add it to the pile.
Vision lifted to the sky once more- halfway to sundown, and she had two pieces of prey. That was enough, right? But the sun was still high, and she had every opportunity to make good on the time remaining. Determination filled her as she turned, heading in a direction she hadn't yet thought of moving towards. The Windclan border- she had watched a rabbit escape the paws of her mentor, and she wondered... She wondered if she could catch one. A hint of competition found her, rare as it was. Could she do that? Trap a rabbit and it's bigger size for Thunderclan?
Antlerpaw's heart soared as she grew near the border, and the scent of rabbit was thick in the air. She shifted, waiting, with ears perked as her vision searched the undergrowth. Mottled brown soon poked through, and she exhaled slowly, eyes wide and ears perked. And she was off, running after the rabbit. Rather then it running towards the border directly, it ran near diagonal- then switched it's track. Antlerpaw didn't stumble, her teeth grit and body stretching as she twisted and ran after it.
She grunted as she leapt, her hindquarters bunching before she powered forward. Windclanners might have been fast- but Antlerpaw had some serious muscle in her hind legs from training. Teeth secured around the rabbit's neck, and while she tumbled over at the end of her catch, she had done it. Her chest heaved for a moment, before rolling onto her paws and standing. Dusty, dirty- but she had done it. Orange eyes blinked, and a grin spread on her muzzle around the dead rabbit's neck.
Perhaps a hint more egotistical then before- though it was never much with Antlerpaw- she trekked back towards her first two catches, a satisfied smile on her lips, orange eyes twinkling with amusement and pride. Pride, in her own abilities. Dusk was just slipping through the trees as she made it to her pile, laying the rabbit down and uncovering the leaf litter. The she-cat's head lifted, turning to survey the darkening woods. Still, Howlingstar is as good as ever. I never scented her once. Antlerpaw mused to herself, not even as she crisscrossed her own paths.
Sundown had come, and Antlerpaw had hunted her heart out. Three pieces of prey in just over a half-day was something to be prideful for, right?
