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

[thistle.]

A cheesy grin spread over Barktail's face and he meowed cheerfully, "Is just wishing for the pleasure of your company not a good enough reason for a prickly furball like you?" He snorted, not remembering that he needed to be as quiet as possible. "By the way, catch anythin' yet?" He peered at the surrounding bushes hopefully. If the area around here had good hunting, then perhaps he could catch more than her and parade home triumphantly. After all, he already has his thrush.

A flash of movement snatched his attention and he dived after it without a second's thought. Leaves rustling, he searched fervently for the little animal, but it had gone. Probably dashed back home, he thought grumpily, turning back to Ashstorm. Wait a minute... he was near the river! Rivers meant water voles and maybe even fish. The tom wasn't very keen to get wet, but today was so dry and this would only be his what, second chance in his life, to eat one. He glanced at his Clan mate and said, "D'you think we could fish in the stream? I'm thirsty and fish would be good, you know."

Barktail nodded in the direction of the trickling-water sound. "Well? Let's go!"

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Ashstorm nearly laughed. Barktail was weird, he was. Pleasure of her company? Sure. He was up to something, most likely, though what she didn't care. She'd gone past being upset about him being too loud, and even more so when he failed to catch something. But when he mentioned fishing she grinned, the ends of her mouth turned up and her whiskers twitching. Oh, she could definitely beat him in this. "Well, however pleasurable my company is or not, you can hunt with me if you like, and yes, I have caught something. A fish, oddly enough." She wouldn't ridicule him about being overly loud, since the PineClan tom admittedly had reminded her about the stream. You silly cat, she thought to herself, how could I have forgotten? Oh yeah, Barktail distracting me by being noisy in the bushes. No wonder. "So yeah, fishing in the stream would be good. I could even give you tips if you like." The small gray cat smiled cheekily at the larger coppery-black tom. Let's see how he took that. Even if he caught more than her, it would most likely be because of her advice. So, onward it was. Ashstorm turned, stretched her long legs, ran and jumped next to the edge of the stream, sleek fur slightly ruffled from the speed. She looked back behind her, waiting for long-furred tom to join her, for fairness.

[thistle.]

He galloped after her with ease, muttering, "More like me teaching you how to catch some ruddy fish," even though he barely knew what position he had to take when fishing, much less actually catching one. Skidding to a stop beside the river, he jerked his head toward the water and said playfully, "Whoever gets the fattest fish gets to throw the other cat into the water!" He smirked, feeling confident that Ashstorm had just gotten lucky once and that fishing was going to be easy.

"I'll start."
He reclined to his haunches on the shore and bent his forelimbs slightly, so that his paws could reach the stream better. He raised one slightly, looking down for a plump fish. But their frequent, twitchy movements created ripples and sometimes a tiny splash, and underneath the froth and bubbles, the tom was sure that they were deliberately making as much disturbances to his concentration as possible. Then he saw one, but when his paw broke the surface all the marine creatures vanished.

He stood up, frustrated but determined to not show it. "Why don't you have a go, Ash'? The water's too murky to see through, anyway." Barktail twisted his head around and began to preen his shoulder fur, giving off a casual and nonchalant impression.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

She shot a smirk right back at him. Ha, what a posturing fool. The small PineClanner was by no means an expert fisher, but she knew a basic technique that would work again, hopefully. Oh, she supposed he deserved a response. The gray she-cat snorted. "Whatever." Then, "Yeah, if by some miracle you get the fatter fish, you'll have to catch me before you could have a hope of throwing me into the river!" She wanted to start herself, but decided it might be fun to watch Barktail most likely bumble his way through trying to hunt the scaly prey.

After watching his pathetic attempts to try and catch the slippery creatures, she rolled her leaf-tinted eyes in impatience. "Sure, the water's a bit hard to see through, but if you look for the light shining off the scales, instead of looking for fish themselves, you might be better off." "Ash?" Why had he only called her "Ash"? It's not like they were friends or anything. Oh, it was probably just some strange quirk of the multicolored tom's, thought the petite striped she-cat.

She nodded to him, refraining from further conversation so that she could focus on hunting. She sat back, checking to make sure her shadow did not fall on the water. She did not tense her legs, but bent her right leg so that it was in a position to shoot into the water and scoop up a water-abiding animal. A fish swam by, but Ashstorm had licking her chest fur and missed the oppertunity. Vowing to be ready the next time, she steadied her twitching tail and looked as intently as she could into the water without having her shadow fall on it.

Was that gleam a fish...or merely a shiny stone? No, it was a fish, swimming slowly towards her, blowing bubbles. Closer....closer....snatch! For a moment her claws slipped on the slimy surface, but then they found a hold in the fish's squirming body. She wrenched her leg back, the gasping fish almost falling out of her grip before she could put it down to bury it. Ashstorm looked around triumphantly at her companion. "Beat that."

OOC: Lengthfail. x-x

[thistle.]

Ashstorm's logic made the copper tom let out an ill-tempered grumble. He looked down at the water; it was his turn now, and he had to work out a strategy first, which was rather new for him. If he placed his paw in the river too quickly, the fish would immediately scatter unless he had a good claw-hold on one of them. Of course, he could always dunk his head in and snatch a fish near the top with his teeth, but how would he breathe? StreamClanners get nearly all the huntin' luck, thought Barktail, They get to eat fish and forest prey. How the heck do they manage to swim with their heads underwater, anyway? But there was no real need for that, because an idea had formed in his head...

"Fine, I will," he said, his tone smooth without a trace of frustration. He got as close as he dared to the stream and crouched down, slipping a paw into the water. The disturbance, as he had expected, caused a flurry of movement from the scaly creatures, but they swam out of their hiding places when the ripples ceased and Barktail's paw was nothing but a strange, fat brown weed. Unsheathing his claws, he let it dangle until - SPLASH! A purr rose in his throat and he lifted his soaked forefoot into the air, a silver fish hooked by his claws. The warrior waved it around until it fell off, then he turned to Ashstorm and said cheekily, "Amazing, aren't I?"

Barktail lazily flopped down and prodded his slimy catch, sniffing it. It smelled like nothing, really, but he knew from an earlier experience that the flavor was stronger than mice and voles. There was also no blood in fish (which he thought was very curious) and that made it taste rather strange. Still, it wasn't as though somebody always had something unusual to share with the rest of the Clan. Barktail meowed pompously, "You see, I managed to figure out that when you put your paw in the fish get scared, so I waited until everything calmed down and I could take them by total surprise. I probably can catch a dozen a day now!" He smirked with glee.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

You had to give him credit: he'd figured something out. But the gray PineClanner had no intention of letting him know she was impressed. And there was a retort just dying to be said. "And if you did, there would be no more of the poor creatures left, though I highly doubt you could do that anyway. You just can't rest on your laurels, can you, Barktail? No, you must always be so much better than us merely ordinary cats! Whereas I am content with a modest catch, and do not parade my success around, unlike you who seem desperate for attention. But anyway, let's see whose fish is the fattest." Ashstorm looked at the pieces of prey. They were pretty equal, but....she had to admit, his was just a little bit plumper. And no way was there going to be a chance of her getting thrown in the river. Barktail may be a boaster, she pondered, but he's a strong-looking tom and bigger than me, so he could probably do it. She quickly mewed, "You win!" and hastily scraped dirt over her catch before turning and beginning to run to the nearest tree. Well, he won't get me now, she thought. I can outrun him any day.

[thistle.]

Barktail harrumphed and made a point of turning his back toward the gray she-cat. He bet that she was just jealous of his catch. Maybe she had even thought that she could run away with lots of furry prey and slimy fish dangling from her mouth while he only had a skimpy bird to offer to the Clan! Well, he definitely proved her wrong. When they returned to camp, his goal was to have more prey than that snobby feline.

"Oh, yeah? We'll see when we get- hey, where're you going?" Barktail sprang up and dashed after her, his long limbs swiftly devouring the distance between him and Ashstorm. His anger evaporating, he scampered closer and meowed teasingly, "Think you can out pace me?" His eyes glinted. "Think again!" When he was nearly running over her, the warrior pounced and attempted to land on her back. He missed, however, so lay on his side to batter her legs with his paws. She would hopefully become tangled up and trip. Then she'd be his what - third catch of the day! Whiskers bristling exuberantly, the brown tom gave a loud mock-growl of triumph.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Ashstorm felt a bit of smug satisfaction at her belief that the bigger tom would never be able to keep up with her. She didn't bother to answer when he asked her where she was going, preferring instead to use the energy to move her small frame towards a large oak tree about seven badgerlengths off. The small PineClanner heard a thump somewhere beside her. Was that Barktail, or-"Meoooowww!" Ashstorm felt the nick of a claw as she jumped on pure instinct, surprised, into the air, wondering furiously what she had nearly tripped on and figuring it out when she looked down. When she crashed onto the ground barely a tail-length ahead of the coppery-pelted warrior, she was in shock, so much that she found it hard to breathe. Her eyes grew huge, her tail bushed out and her pelt on end. Now what would happen to her? Barktail wouldn't really throw her into the river-would he? Hopefully he'd just been joking. Well, she wouldn't run. No, she would face him like a warrior. Making herself get up, licking her sides quickly to try and at least get off some dust, she turned around and sat down, head high. It was no use trying to run again, and her legs were still trembling a bit. "All right, Barktail. What are you going to do with me?"

[thistle.]

A tiny purr vibrated in his throat. Should he really dunk her in the stream? It would be fun, yes, but the main reason he had come out hunting was to provide food for his Clan. As much as he wanted to see her soaking with water, she could easily catch cold due to the crisp, leaf-fall winds. Anyways, the little scuffle had already taught her not to mess with him! But he could have some quick fun with the she-cat. Tilting his head in an arrogant manner, he meowed haughtily, "I think you deserve to be thrown in the river, don't you agree? But because I'm much better than you... taking your prey will probably suffice." He flashed a sneaky grin in her direction, and immediately bounded toward her freshly-caught fish. Snatching it up by the tail, he meowed a muffled, "Catch meh if ya can, A'hsto'm." Waving his tail in the air, he leapt past her with her prey dangling teasingly in his mouth.

The tom galloped forward a few yards, feeling the breeze rush past his ears. The fish in his mouth didn't taste like anything - yet. Soon a strong, clammy flavour seeped onto his tongue along with the dirt that Ashstorm had kicked over it. He spat it out onto the ground and turned to his companion. "I dunno what's wrong with your hunting skills, but this fish tastes wierd!" He lolled his tongue out at her.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Now was the time to be angry for Ashstorm. Her energy was somewhat recovered, and her spirit spurred on by the idiot tom's cheekiness. Why did he think he was so great? He was no better than anyone else. Acting noble-what had she been thinking? Obviously this champion mouse-brain didn't get rules or fairness. Anger surged in her mind and she was tempted to rake her claws down his face. The gray PineClanner nearly did. A paw went forward, claws unsheathed. Lips drew back over cream-colored fangs. But it wasn't worth it, attacking a Clanmate merely for the sake of satisfying her want for justice. Justice could be administered in a better way. Ashstorm's thoughts were fruitless as how to get her small revenge on the narcissistic tom who was simply strolling off with her fresh-kill. She felt he was simply arrogant, not truly hostile or spiteful, so this would have to be handled carefully. Yet the petite she-cat couldn't think of an alternative besides shoving the truth in his face and taking back what was hers. Well, I have to do something soon, or he'll be too faraway, she thought. So, running after him, she just decided she'd make it up as she went along. As she was catching up with him, she swerved, planting herself in his path. Just remember that losing your temper won't do anything, Ashstorm, she thought. She mewed evenly, "Barktail, you are no better than me. We are equals, both cats, both of the same Clan. And if you don't give me back my fish, which I'm sure is just fine, I will most likely be very angry with you, and you would not like that."