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[Her Holiness the Ruff]

Post for stripeh. Open to all (especially skyclanners!)

The mid-morning sun was reaching its highest peak and there wasn't to be a cloud in sight. Indeed it was to be a lovely day with the sun blazing in all its glory. Perhaps, just perhaps, it would even be better if not the fact Smokeclaw's wandering paws hadn't come upon this barren wasteland. Green eyes flickering about he saw no trees or rather any trees that would provide a sanctuary from the heat. His backside was sweltering and at this moment he was considering changing his name to Smokedback. He glanced over at his mate, slightly frowning "Well, certainly not much beyond the clans' territories." He noted before continuing to move on. There wasn't much use in standing around although his arthritic joints pleaded to lie down, but more so his throat screamed for water. Plopping his rump down at the base of an enormous boulder, Smokeclaw sighed in temporarily relief. His gray coat was dusty from treading in the sand and his nose was wet with sweat, but his green eyes still gleamed with adventure and excitement as always. "That was quite the journey. I've gotta admit I've never seen anything like this place before." He mewed, as he looked around. Smoke found nothing of interest; the area was chuck full of rocks, disease-ridden trees, and even more rocks. His sore pads missed the soft grass of the forest. "It's beyond me how anyth-" Smoke suddenly cut off at the sight of movement. His reflexes may have dulled, but at once was he on his feet and carefully poised. There was no mistaking this. It was a rabbit. No way could it be a mirage as he smelled it, no tasted it in his mouth. The innocent brown creature was casually sniffing some scrub grass completely unaware of his spectators. "Look." Voice barely above a whisper as his gray paw wiped away the drool.

[stripeyness xx]

Yayy, smexy Sky table! Sorry for the wait, and I think I'm in love with your avatar. =D
"Ugh," was the first word Skybreeze murmured as she made her way into SkyClan territory. She hated this weather - it was too hot to even continue one more step. Her mind was pleading to stop to take a drink, or to rest, but she knew that they had to continue if they had any hope of finding a home. She did not have any interest to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. The black and white she-cat tried to keep up with her mate the whole way, but it was proving to be difficult, especially because of her age. It was finally catching up with her, even though she never really payed attention to it before.

Her eyes drifted along, taking in the territory. It was nothing special, and she expected more of the new territory. All she saw were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. A small sigh escaped from her muzzle, as she continued to tread on beside her mate. "It's beautiful," she stated sarcastically, accompanied with a roll of her light blue eyes. As they approached a boulder, she took a seat in front of Smokeclaw, and smiled at the excitement still present in his green eyes. "I'm dying for some food or water. I swear-" She tilted her head in confusion as Smokeclaw's gaze landed beyond her. "Look."

She turned her body around, and her eyes landed upon the rabbit in the distance. Her ears swiveled toward the direction of their possibly next meal. Her stomach rumbled rather loudly as her eyes feasted upon the rabbit, who was oblivious of its surroundings. Her mouth hung open in hunger as she licked her lips, placing herself into a hunter's crouch. However, she was far too tired to even attempt to hunt, and it was just out of instinct. "Go," she whispered. She could not wait any longer.

[Her Holiness the Ruff]

Yay, welcome back. Tee. :3

The ordered word acted like a stimulate upon Smokeclaw and he bolted, temporary forgetting his aches and stiff joints. His lean, long legs were no longer quite as fluent, but being of Windclan he was as quick as any other clannie. He had a fleeting memory of his past clan and their plains with its overabundance of rabbits. However, there was no grass to be found here and he stumbled upon the rocky rubble, being unacquainted with it. The rabbit whipped around coming face to face with its pursuer. No matter. The dusty gray feline thought. Smoke may have made the mistake of tripping, but the rabbit made even a grander accident of hesitating a few milliseconds too long. That was all he needed. The bunny attempted to spring away, but Smokeclaw had succeeded in a terrific lunge. The cat landed neatly on the scrambling rabbit's back and as swift as he could, he broke its neck. Whaddya' know, the old man still had it in him. "Dig in." He purred, releasing the rabbit at Skybreeze's feet and rubbing against her as he walked past to sit behind her. He was ravenous, but his feet needed attending to first, having various pebbles wrenched in between his pads. Smokeclaw plucked them out, also finding he had splinters from Starclan knows what. Delicately, he removed them and now satisfied he went to join Skybreeze in their feast. It was stringy, but he rather expected it to be; what food could it possibly find to eat? Still it was delicious and Smoke wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. At that moment, that is.

[Blitzy]

Hunting on Skyclan boundaries, bad kitties

THISNEWDIVIDE

The she cat was out hunting, alone. Her nose in the air, she sat, sniffing. The smell of bird wafted towards her, and she stood, pinpointing its location. Green eyes scanned the rocky landscape, seeking out the prey she had scented. Finally the eyes of the hunter saw it, and she lowered her body, rump just above the ground. Her rosy brown tail swayed back and forth just above the ground, it moving slowly, with no sound coming from the small movement. Her head rose slightly, just visible. It's amazing how rocks could be cover. She stalked forward, paws rising and falling lightly on the ground, little sound coming from them. The distance between prey and predator closed slowly, but steadily. Her gaze stayed train on target, it never wavering from it. Green eyes blinked unoften. She soon darted for the creature, her form true. Rosy brown fur shot through the air, a speeding bullet wanting nothing more than to meet its target. The bird, with a cry, shot into the air, and Peachspots, acting on instincts alone, bunched her hind quarters, tension building on them. She leapt into the air, and using her paws, batted the creature towards the rocky landscape below. It gave a small cry, and landed on the ground. Four feet hit the ground, fore paws before back, and she turned, lunging at the bird. Her mark was true, and soon the speeding bullet had come to a stop. The she cat stood over her kill, looking around. She then picked it up delicately in her mouth, and placed it down close by. Using rocks, she covered it slightly. She'd come back later and claim it. It wasn't the best prey, but prey was prey, and beggars couldn't be choosers.

Then the smell of rabbit wafted towards her, but something wasn't right. The scent was tainted. But with what, she wasn't sure. At least, not right away. She approached the scent a few tail lengths, then lifted her head to the heavens again. Cat. Two of them. Hackles started rising. They were too far into Skyclan territory. But wait, these didn't have the fresh scent of the other clans, foreign to her as they were. But she was at the last gathering, she had learned the scents of Thunder, Wind, River, and Shadow. Though they were slightly strange. She allowed her hackles to fall, but her body was still tense. If these two wanted to fight, she wasn't running. She approached the cats, with caution. They had killed a rabbit, on their territory! But did they know this was claimed? They had to smell the scent markers, didn't they? They still could smell, right? She eyed them both, her green gaze observing the two. A tabby and a black and white cat. Both were sitting beside each other. They appeared to have an attachment. And that could mean kits, and boy were they needed. But would Mazestar approve? Should she get him? Should she lead the two back to camp? That was what she would do. After all, he did say they needed cats, and he'd be opening the borders. She nodded slightly, not knowing or caring whether the other two cats saw or not.

She opened her maw, words flowed out. "You are on Skyclan territory. Do you know of this?" Short and simple. Who ever said a first introduction had to be long and complicated? Nope. No one did. Short and sweet worked better anyway. You didn't bore the cat, and business was taken care of more quickly. It didn't waste too much time. Heck, really no time if you knew what you were doing, and if the other was willing to make his points short and sweet as well. She waited for an answer, body ready to spring in case these trespassers decided they were unwilling to cooperate.

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