It's all in how you see things(OPEN!)

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Ashstorm quietly padded into the dense group of needle-filled trees that gave her Clan its name. Tilting her faintly striped head back, she opened her mouth to better smell the scents of her surroundings. The sharp odor of pine needles was mixed with faint scents of her Clanmates and vague smells of prey, or were they vague? The gray she-cat seemed to smell a fresher prey-scent than the others nearby. Her nose wrinkled in pleasure as she discerned that it was a robin, and the scent of it seemed to being coming from a nearby bush about three foxlengths off. She stealthily padded forward, dropping into a low slink with her tail slightly lifted to not disturb the pine needle bed. Her pale green eyes gleamed as she drew closer to the red and brown bird. The bird was hopping under the bush's leaves with its back turned to her, and seemed unaware of the small gray PineClanner. When she was only two tail-lengths of the bird, one of her paws caused a small twig to break, letting out a slight crack. Ashstorm cursed silently, praying the noise hadn't been enough to disturb her prey. It seemed she was out of luck, for the small avian stopped moving and stood stock-still, seeming tensed and ready for flight. Ashstorm quickly calculated the risks of taking another step, and opted for a more forward method; springing on the robin and hoping it wouldn't detect her until it was too late. She tensed herself for the final spring, and leapt off the forest floor into the air towards her now wary prey. Midway through her leap, the brown bird decided it wasn't worth sticking around anymore and flew off the ground right in front of her eyes. She swiped at it in midair and missed by a hair-or was it feather?- and crashed down upon the ground. Muttering crossly and shaking pine needles out of her pelt, she got up and glared at her surroundings as if they had done her a personal wrong.

[baskerville]

Spottedfoot sometimes hated hunting under the trees, the dried pine-needles always found the perfect spot to lodge themselves into a soft pawpad. However, it was summer, and the needles where green and still attached to their trees.

He crept about, scenting and flicking his ears. He picked up the scent of the she-cat he had a spat with earlier. 'I'll stay out of her way,' he decided. Spottedfoot didn't feel the need to get his ears clawed off. He listened carefully, finding a squirell clamboring down from a tree. Spottedfoot crouch and waited, the squirell hopped away from the tree to scuttle about in the grass.

Spottedfoot's muscles unknotted and he sprang onto the green-leaf fattened squirell and tusseled with it before giving it a harsh bite to the neck. Kicking dirt over it he growled loudly "That'll teach you."

[thistle.]

A plump vole swinging from his jaws, Barktail waltzed into the forest with long, graceful steps. The only thing that caused flaws in his monumentum was the rodent he carried. It banged against his forelimbs and sometimes dragged on the ground when he let his head down too far. But dusty, dirt-caked prey wasn't really suitable for eating.

The strong scent of vole nearly masked his nose from detecting any other odors, but the tom managed to snatch a whiff of a couple PineClanners right before he spotted the two. Ashstorm and Spottedfoot. He let his catch fall with a thump on the ground. "No prey and messy kills," remarked Barktail, glancing at the gray she-cat first and then at the spotted tom. "I thought that green-leaf made all the little mice scampering over to get eaten, but lookie here." He grinned, putting a paw pointingly on his vole. "Ain't that right, Ashstorm?"

The empty-pawed she-cat was a perfect target for his regular teasing.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

OoC: I pity Barktail. That's all I'll say. x3

Barktail was the last pebble that tipped her into the river, in Ashstorm's opinion. She'd already had to deal with Spottedfoot and Jaggedclaw, and losing the robin. This annoying tom would have no idea what had hit him. "You know, Barktail, if you weren't my Clanmate I would cut your tongue out for that remark. We certainly wouldn't lose anything from it. You just never know when to close your stupid mouth, do you, you egotistical maniac? Believe it or not, the world does NOT revolve around you." She sniggered, then added, "Though you're certainly big-headed enough for it to! With all that boasting you do, it must be a real effort to hold up that inflated visage of yours."The gray PineClanner snickered again, and padded off with a slightly smug grin on her face.

[baskerville]

[o3o Does that mean I wait to reply until you've said somefin'?]

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Oh. Sorry about that. No, you could've replied, I just wanted to have a post spot ready.

[baskerville]

"Touchy that one, I'm telling you." Spottedfoot shook his head and nosed the squirrel he recently covered with dirt as though to assure it was still their. "About clawed my whiskers off this morning," his mew was goodnatured rather than cross, "I'd assume she'd do the same to you."

Turning away from Barktail, he stretched and then opened his mouth to drink the scent of the area in once again. Mouse. He pawed lightly, which was easy for his slim build, and crept up onto the poor creature and pounce on it before it had a chance. He let it dangle in his jaw a moment before burying it beside the squirrel. "No hungry bellies in the Clan tonight," he mewed to himself, wondering where the she-cat had gotten herself to.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Ashstorm padded along, feeling some satisfaction at finally being able have the chance to relieve her building temper. She felt a small twinge of pity for how she'd spoken to Barktail, but she wasn't about to regret it too much. That ridculous tom had deserved every word. Good thing Spottedfoot hadn't made any stupid comments, or she would've sent a few remarks his way as well. But no, at least the black-and-white tom had had the sense to keep silent. He did have some brains, she reflected. Ashstorm wandered along for a bit, thinking, when se noticed a swishing noise and relaized she wasn't too far off from the river. Her conscience reminded her that she should hunt for her Clan. She opened her mouth to better draw in the scents of her surroundings.

[thistle.]

The tom looked stunned, as if he'd just recieved a slap at his face. Then a puzzled expression took over and he shook his head, mumbling something that sounded something like 'that bad-tempered, poor excuse for a hunter got no respect' and 'she-cats dunno' how to take in the truth'.

"Touchy that one, I'm telling you."

Barktail glanced up at Spottedfoot and grinned. "Mm, yep. Got some temper, she-" He broke off when the other cat leaped onto a small, brown-furred rodent. "Good catch," he meowed. He almost sounded sincere, until he added, "For a Spottedfoot. A Barktail is much better." He winked and settled down into a crouch, prowling through the undergrowth with more caution than usual. There probably wasn't much chance for him finding an earth-bound animal because of Spottedfoot's hunt, but perhaps the birds above hadn't heard the commotion below. He whispered, "Now you shut up while I get myself a bird."
Barktail jumped onto the base of a tree and scurried up, using his long tail for balance. Scrambling onto the nearest branch, he perched on the wood and waited. And waited. And waited.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all.
Just as he was preparing to leap down, he spotted a thrush fluttering through the air. Nice and plump; a perfect meal. Barktail sprang... and only managed to hook one of his claws on a wing before gravity pulled swiftly fastened his jaws around the head and squeezed. "Well, how about that, Spottedfoot?"

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The gray she-cat waited for a few minutes, attempting to catch even the faintest prey-scent. No such luck. A strange thought slid into the she-cat's mind. What if she tried to fish? She snorted at herself. PineClan cats didn't fish; StreamClan cats did. But still, the notion had stuck itself in her mind like a fly in honey. She was a skilled hunter, so surely she could figure to catch fish? Ashstorm shrugged and came to the conclusion that it was at least worth a try. At least the river wouldn't too cold, since it was greenleaf. And who knows, maybe if she got a bit wet she wouldn't have have to wash for a day or two! Ashstorm's whiskers twitched slightly at the thought. Some of the warrior's humor had returned now that she'd vented her temper. This being decided, the gray-pelted PineClanner padded smoothly to the river. Her paws sunk into its sandy banks as she moved to the edge of the river, which was the shade of her fur. Now for the fish....the water was only a mouselength from her paws, but the only fish she could see were in the center. Ashstorm watched them for a while, trying to figure out why they were only staying there. At one point in her observation a bee buzzed towards her head and she jerked to avoid it. As she did this, she noticed that her shadow, only slightly darker than the water, had moved as well. She berated herself silently as she realized that it stretched out on the thick band of water and that the fish would notice and not swim near that spot. Shifting her petite torso, Ashstorm moved back and sat up as straight as she could. Perhaps now she might be able to take some fresh-kill back to camp, she thought, as she waited for the fish to come closer.

-shoots self- Yes, this is horrible. Forgive me, Basky and Thistle.