No Hunting Like Snow Hunting

[Shy]

        Abi gleefully leaped through the snow, thrilled to stretch her legs, even if they were cold now.  After frolicking a little more, Abi paused to check for any scents.  She was supposed to be hunting, that was her job after all.  Nothing!  Come on, I need to catch something.  She kept sniffing for something, carefully searching for anything. 

        As she sniffed, it started snowing again, although it was very light this time.  It was perfect to play in!  Thrilled at the turn of events she leaped into the air, trying to catch snowflakes.  She purred, and began to run around, catching all the snowflakes she could.  It was great fun!

        While running she fell into a snowdrift, but it only gave her another idea for a game.  She began to run through snowdrifts, leaping into them and out of them.  Soon she was freezing, but didn't care, this was far to much fun.  A bit tired now, she looked around for a place to rest.  There was a nearby tree that wasn't completely covered in snow, it would do.  She climbed the tree, which was more difficult that she anticipated.  It was slippery from snow and ice.  But she made it up, and now she could rest.

        As she was resting, she saw a nearby abandoned nest.  If only it was spring, there would be baby birds.  So cute!  And adult birds that I could hunt.... Wait.  Oh no!  It was then she realized she was supposed to be hunting.

@dawn

        

[Deleted]

The snow was terrible, well at least for the hunters. Kara was one of the head hunters of the Shamsi colony, and her job was to make sure everyone had enough food, but the snow was making this impossible. Prey rarely came out of their burrows and hollows, and Kara had to spend the whole day looking for the few mice and birds that dared to leave their homes. I would rather spend my day with Thunder... At least he makes me happy... Kara hadn't been able to spend any time with her beloved mate, but she knew that work came first. It wasn't that she didn't like being a head hunter. It was just such a stressful job during these short and snowy winter days. The tabby female had come out of den this day to hunt down some prey, and she wasn't going back without a piece of prey. That probably means i'm never going home. Kara thought sadly. All she wanted to do was curl up with Thunder and fall asleep to the sound of his purring, but instead she was standing in the snow waiting for a mouse that seemed like it was never going to show up.

A sound caught Kara's attention, and she flicked her ears back to listen. She heard the sound of snow crunching and then the sounds of something climbing up a tree. It was a faint noise, but it could possibly be a squirrel! The hunter shot off towards the sound, and she soon found herself at the base of a tree. In a heartbeat, she had climbed up the tree, and there she saw a female cat with folded ears. Kara's heart dropped, and she sighed, "Hello Abi."

{Shy}

[Shy]

        For a second, Abi was terrified. Of course it was her luck that the day she completely forgot to do any hunting would be the day that Kara would show up!  Abi was mortified. She loved being a hunter!  Maybe Kara would be fine and understand that Abi just needed some time to goof off?

        Luckily it seemed that Kara didn't know about Abi goofing off, or at least wasn't mentioning it.  Abi was relieved, and quickly perked up. "Hi Kara!" She happily meowed. "Catch any prey?"  Maybe if Kara and Abi hunted together Abi would be able to focus, at least on the fact that she was supposed to be hunting.  As long as she forget about hunting again and chat with Kara too much.

@dawn

[Deleted]

The tabby hunter smiled at the terrified female. Kara had seen Abi looking into the bird's nest, and she wasn't surprised that Abi was slacking slightly. It snow was making things impossible, and she was happy that the young hunter was keeping her spirits up. It was easy to lose yourself on these long and cold winter days. However, soon enough it would be spring, and then Kara would expect more from her hunters. Spring was made for re-filling the bellies of the colonies, and she wasn't going to let any cat go hungry.

"Hello Abi," Her voice was calm and relaxed, even though her mind was still stuck on the lack of prey. "No. I sadly haven't had any luck on this particular day." She sniffed the air around Abi, and she did not smell any blood, "I assuming you haven't either." The brown tabby purred in a friendly way. She wasn't trying to insult Abi or make her feel guilty. She was trying to find an excuse to hunt with another cat. It got awful lonely on these days, and she would love to have a friend to hunt with. However Kara didn't want to say this, because she didn't want to sound... unprofessional.

Shy

[Shy]

        Abi was glad that at least Kara hadn't caught any prey.  If Kara couldn't, how could Abi. Now that she thought of it, hunting with Kara would be a great way to improve her hunting skills.  Kara could help Abi focus on hunting and focus on improving her hunting skills.  It was great!  Now all Abi had to do was ask.

        "Hey, Kara, do you want to hunt together."  She meowed, careful not to sound rude.  "Two hunters are better than one!  I could use the practice.  Maybe you could give me a few pointers for snow hunting?"  And maybe this time I won't forget I'm supposed to be hunting! 

@dawn

[Deleted]

Kara's ears perked up before she could stop herself, "Sure!" Her tail flicked uncomfortably, and she wanted to look away from Abi. Great... Just what I wanted to avoid. "Uhh," and she nervously laughed, "We should probably get going now. Soon enough it will get dark and no prey will be around to catch." The brown tabby jumped from the tree and landed lightly on his thin paws, and she looked back up to see if Abi was following. She started to move away from the tree they had been in. Kara was heading away from the center of Shamsi territory, and towards the edge of their territory. She had good luck there before, during late spring, summer, and early fall cats didn't hunt over there.



With her tail high up in the air, Kara turned to look at Abi, "Come on! We don't want to be out here at night!"

Shy and Calista

[Calista]

Heftig sighed as she sat for a moment, she'd been out since this morning thinking to find food for the others with no such luck and it was clear from the ice and snow that clung to her fur. Looking at the sky now she could tell it would be getting dark soon and her already slim chance at finding prey would be completely gone. The tan Savannah was sadden by her lack of catches since she had left her two kittens relatively alone for the first time since they were born only weeks ago only to have to return to them empty handed.Great mothering skills Hefy. She grumbled mentally as she continued her hopeless search, pausing when her ears flicked to two very familiar voices.

Quickly she followed the voices, reassured that it was who she thought it was by the scents in the air."Abi, Kara!" She called happily to her fellow hunters, hoping the pair were having better luck than she was."Have either of you caught anything so far?"She asked, her tail flicking with hope and anticipation at the thought of being able to feed her children. Who though they were still drinking their mothers milk would soon need to be introduced to fresh meat.

@dawn and Shy

[Shy]

Abi perked up as Heftig showed up. There was no way she'd forget she was hunting now! With two other cats to help, they'd surely catch something. Plus, while hunting she could get to know Heftig. The teo hadn't talked much before. "No, we haven't." She sighed. "But if the three of us work together, I'm sure we can catch something!"

Abi happily started scanning the air for scents before Heftig could reply. If she could catch a scent, she would prove to the others that despite her silliness, Abi was a great hunter! Or at least a good enough hunter to feed her colony.

@dawn and Calista

[Deleted]

Kara smiled at the hunter's arrival, "Hello Heftig, we haven't had any luck yet. We were just about to head towards the border. You are welcome to come with us." Her purr was friendly and more confident then it had been before. Heftig hadn't seen her childish behavior, so she had no reason to judge Kara... right?

The tabby started to jog lightly away from the others. Her nose worked furiously trying to catch a scent. Come on! I just need one stinking mouse. She thought in a halfhearted way. She didn't expect to find anything, but it would be wonderful if she did! Especially she was the first of them to find something. Young Kara was just the tiniest bit competitive. Thunder might argue this and say she was extremely competitive. That was how they had fallen for each other anyways.

A scent tickled the hunter's nose, and Kara's ears pricked up. She lowered her body to the ground, and her tail went still. Confusion filled the tabby cats mind as she tried to figure out what the scent was. The scent was mixed up with a hundred other scents, and it was impossible to tell if any of them were prey. The tip of her tail began to twitch with worry as she smelled the scent of a cat. Is that us? Or is that just some other Shamsi hunter or scout? What if it isn't a Shamsi at all!?

Calista and Shy

{One of you can decide if it's actually anything. I thought I would try and add a plot twist, but I didn't want to completely change things if you two weren't okay with it. }

[Calista]

Heftig quickly took the duo up on their offer, something she didn't usually do but she was becoming despite. It was getting late and the new mother had been away from her kits way to long and she was starting to worry almost frantically as she watched Kara jog ahead of her and Abi determinedly search for scents.

She was seconds from joining the pair in their scent search when she caught the sudden change in Kara's body language, the Savannah could tell something wasn't right as she watched Kara lower to the ground with her tail as still as it could be. Throwing a glance at Abi to see if she had caught the change in their fellow hunter as well before slowly joining Kara at her side. She instantly could tell what had the other on alert, through the tangled mess of scents in the air Heftig could make out another cat.

The scent wasn't familiar to her which had the already worried mothers fur standing on the back of her neck, "Kara?" she said quietly as she trained her eyes on the direction the scent was coming from. She hoped it was just an unfamiliar member from their own colony and not a dangerous stray or another colony cat. They could get my kittens  she thought which had her body on even higher alert.


@dawn and Shy

[Shy]

        Abi had been trilled when she discovered the three of them were going to hunt together.  While the others were far more serious than Abi, she didn't care.  If she really needed to, Abi could act serious, or somewhat serious. Serious enough for a hunt.  Of course, the others seemed far more focused than she did.  In fact, they seemed to have picked up on a scent.  She raced over to where they were, and started searching for the scent.

        "What is it guys?" She meowed, a little sad that she hadn't found a single scent.  Surely she wasn't that bad at finding scents.  Honestly she thought she was good at finding scents.  But this one had passed her nose, and it stung a little.  Then she caught it, and realized why it had been so hard.  She was searching for prey, familiar scents.  This was foreign.  Abi tensed up, confused. 

        Cautiously she looked at the others, who seemed rigid.  Abi had hoped that they knew what it was.  They had more life experience after all.  Kara was the head hunter, surely she knew it.  But the others seemed just as confused, and it scared Abi a bit.  She was used to being confused, but she wasn't used to others  being confused at the same time.  Normally it was just her.  "What is it?"

@dawn and Calista

[Deleted]

"Stay here." Kara hissed. She was trying to act calm, but inside she was having a panic attack. The brown tabby started to move forward slowly, and the scent crashed over her as she saw the cause of the scent. Kara leaped into the air in fright, and she stumbled backwards. There was a fox! Oh god, hopefully it didn't see us, wait... Slowly and carefully Kara approached the fox, and the stench burnt her nose. She pointed her ears towards the fox and listened carefully. There was no heartbeat, so she moved closer the smell getting even stronger. The fox's chest was still, and it was obviously dead. However it still seemed off. Is that... foam... coming from it's mouth? Kara bent even closer to the fox's corpse to examine the "foam", and she realized what it was.

Kara turn and sprinted back to Abi and Heftig and away from the corpse of the fox. Her eyes were wild with fear."Don't go near that thing! It's... It's sick or something!" Her normally calm voice was now high and squeaky. She had heard of a disease that caused animals to foam at the mouth, and it was always deadly. Kara's body shook with fear and panic, and her tail wouldn't stay still. Her fur was on end, and she wanted to run back to the center of Shamsi territory so she could curl up with Thunder.

Calista and Shy

[Calista]

Hefting's heart dropped at the fear in Kara's voice, she knew it had to be something truly serious to make the normally calm hunter show all out fear. She became even more afraid when she heard that the corpse had been sick before it's death and knew that it was that disease that everyone colony was talking about.

"We need to get away from here, now." She said as strongly as she could with her shaky voice as she thought about just getting back to here kits and getting as far away as possible from this fox. She looked to the others, knowing that at least one of them had to agree with her. She waited to see which one of them would make the first move, no longer caring about the hunt as she just cared about all of their safety.


@dawn and Shy

[Shy]

        Abi didn't quite understand why a dead fox was a big deal.  It was dead, the danger that came with the fox was gone.  For a second she wondered if there were other foxed around.  Did foxed travel together?  She didn't know.  Carefully she peered at the dead fox, shivering as she saw the foam.  The others were scared, but Abi didn't quite understand.  As long as they didn't eat the fox they would be fine, right?

        "What's so bad about this disease?"  She asked.  "Aren't there herbs or something?  And as long as no one touches it, we won't get sick."  Perhaps this was one of those times when Abi just couldn't understand.  "We're fine, right?"  Still, they looked really spooked, so she backed away.  She was still confused a little.  What had she been thinking of that could be a reason to be scared.  Oh, that's right!

        "Hey guys, do foxes live in groups?"

@dawn and Calista

[Deleted]

Kara's fur bristled as she starred at Abi, "No, there are no herbs for this... illness." The word illness felt horrible in her mouth. It wasn't an illness. It was a death note. Once you caught this disease there was no help for the sick cat or animal. They would die a horrible death soon after, and it spread like wildfire. "None of us touched the creature, so we should be fine. But Heftig is right, we need to get out of here." As soon as the frightened brown tabby spoke these words, she turned to run from the fox's corpse.

"We need to inform the other hunters." Kara yelled over her shoulder to the other two hoping they were following. "Foxes commonly do live with their mates, so it may be sick as well. Not to mention that it might have already spread to prey. "

The hunter suddenly stopped in her tracks many tail lengths away from the diseased fox, "Wait... What if someone else finds the corpse and doesn't know that the fox is sick? They might not recognize the scent and foam." She looked to the others trying to get input on what they should do, till she remember that she was supposed to be the one in charge. "We can inform everyone we find, but that doesn't mean every Shamsi cat will get the message. Also to think, this disease might be passing through Sheeva's territory as well!" Kara's voice had gotten rather high as she panicked about the sickness. It was easy to make decisions about who got food during the winter days, but it was a completely different matter when it came to disease that drove a cat insane and made them die a horrible death.

Calista
Shy

[Calista]

Heftigs body shook with every worry that came out of Kara's mouth, all were possible scenarios and could easily be happening now as they spoke. But she couldn't let the trio bring panic back to the others, panic brought chaos and chaos wasn't what the colony needed right now.

"We need to calm down, think." She said softly, fear gripping at her throat as she continued. "This is serious and scary but we can't bring panic back. " She looked to Kara, the frantic she cat looking like she didn't know what to do.

"Kara?" she called, hoping to get the head hunters attention an snap her back to her usual self. She hoped that she would take control as Heftig was one to lead others. "Kara!" She called louder to make sure that not only she was heard but to emphasize the fact that they needed a leader.

@dawn Shy

[Shy]

( You can skip me. Busy.)

[Shy]

(Since no one skipped me, I'm going to reply.)

    Abi was terrified.  She danced back, behind the others.  If the fox had a mate, then there was a problem. It made more since to Abi to fear a living, sick fox than a dead one. Although she seemed only to have frightened the others more by asking. She hadn't meant to do that.  Cautiously she looked around, trying to spot a fox. As she looked around, she spotted a bit of red.  Scared it was a fox, she hoped back, almost colliding into the others. 

    It was just a cardinal, but it spooked the she-cat. Right now she wanted to run, but the others weren't running. She wanted to run until she was back at the camp, where she could forget about foxes and just relax.  None of the others were taking charge. "Maybe we should leave." She suggested.

[Deleted]

"Yeah we need to head back to Seline and Osiris and inform them about this." Kara breathed and turned away and started to jog off a bit calmer now. It was problem, but maybe the stories she had heard were just exaggerations. Her thoughts were still on the fox, but now she was mainly thinking about how idiotic she had acted. But her parents had told her horror stories about animals with foam coming out of their mouths. She had been taught about the horrible disease that killed you in the most horrible way. Ever since she was young she had been afraid.

Kara breathed deeply when she reached the center of Shmasi territory, "Okay we need to find the King and Queen, and if you see anyone along the way warn them."

(Sorry my muse is a bit low for this thread.)

[Calista]

Heftig was slightly relieved when they made it back and her first thought was to go to her kit, but she knew Kara was right. They needed to inform the king and queen and others who would have reason to go out about what they saw, giving Kara a small nod of acknowledgment before looking at Abi to see how she was handling this.

It was clear they were all shaken up and she was sure the others were probably as glad to be back in a place where they felt safe. "Let's go inform the king and Queen." she spoke, her voice calmer than before as she waited for a response from the others.