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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2021 19:37:00 GMT
 Her paws were cold from the frost that covered the ground but she did not seem to mind. Her mind was actually focused on the road ahead. Well, path ahead anyways that the fluffy tailed squirrel was running down up ahead. Sugar didn't realize how much she took her brothers for granted as she chased that horrid creature down a path she was not familiar with. She was not the brightest or most skilled when it came to hunting; having spent most of her life being pampered by her family and being brought her supper by either her father or one of her two brothers Tinder and Goon. Despite having grown up on the streets you'd have imagined she'd know how to take care of herself; she doesn't. Much preferring to run away like a scaredy cat over getting mulled by another because she believed her gusto for life could beat back the enemy that plagued her instead of her skill (or lack thereof) ever could.
"Oh darn you mean little creature come back here! You're supposed to be my supper! I can't go home without you you-you fluff tailed rat!" Sugar's thick fur thankfully rebuffed the cold wind that blew as she ran along the path after the critter that chattered at her as if it was mocking her lack of skill in catching it.
Sugar stopped running at last whenever she saw the brown fluffy tail disappear up a nearby tree and she groaned loudly in frustration as she stood at the base of the leaf less tree staring up at the mocking rodent with it's tail twitching in laughter behind it. Her own fluffy dark tail lashed in frustration as she stared back up at it.
"Mark my words you, I will catch you someday! and then I'll be the one with the last laugh." she called up at it angrily before she turned to look at her surroundings giving the squirrel no more mind.
She realized she did not recognize this place anymore than she did the sky that hung with heavy clouds and the lazy white dust that floated down around her in the cold world she did not know she was standing in. Her blue eyes looked around frantically wondering how far away she really was from her family. She was not one who liked to stray far; but her brother's challenge that she could not catch her own prey got the best of her and she'd run off swearing she'd bring something home and that she was darn old enough to hunt for herself, that she wasn't a spoiled princess. But it seemed her rash decision brought her loneliness as she stood watching the snow flakes fall around her. There was a clearing up ahead that was covered in tall grass that blew in the wind that ruffled her thick cream and dark almost black fur.
Curiosity never was her strongest point in keeping at bay so it only made sense to her that she'd traveled this far to peer into the meadow that housed the whipping stalks of grass. Not green grass; it was brown and brittle and made a creepy sound as the wind blew through them. Like a waste land awaiting it's next victim to consume. A flash of white caught her attention that moved differently than the snow flakes floating about her face and she realized with delight that it was a rabbit! She liked to consider herself a good runner and she couldn't catch the squirrel now that it was up in the tree so why not go for something that couldn't climb?!
Excitement boiled in her veins as she got down to stalk it into the tall grass not realizing that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. As soon as she pushed through the grass rustled and alerted the rabbit. It took off and with a unlady like curse the feline did as well not caring anymore that she was making a ruckus in the grass.
What Sugar didn't expect though, was the flash of orange that came out of nowhere like a bolt of flame at the corner of her eye. First, she thought that grass was aflame but the next she found herself colliding with said flame as it went from the corner of her eye to being straight in her path as she raced to catch the snow tailed rabbit. Two forms collided and limbs entangled; and bodies rolled. And...the rabbit got away. But, the rabbit no longer had Sugar's attention; instead. The golden furred feline she'd run into did as she stared down at the other cat that she suddenly realized she was sprawled across.
"Oh my gosh I'm sorry!" she scrambled attempting to get off of the other. "My goodness you came out of now where...wait hey you made me lose my supper! Ugh, now Tinder and Goon will have something to laugh about when I get home! If I don't come home without something as proof that I can hunt I'll be the laughing stock of the century!" Sugar groaned sitting down and beginning to groom the ruffles in her fur and try to pluck the dead grass bits off of her all the while giving the unknown male a look of frustration that looked more like she was pouting than it did come off as angry as was her intention. Sugar could never look mean even if she tried!
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Post by Riley on Jan 26, 2021 4:16:49 GMT
Flare wasn't the type to get mad easily. He didn't like being mad. Once the anger faded he always felt bad about it. But he'd been stalking that rabbit for the better part of the day, what with it now being noon, and he didn't appreciate this random she-cat ruining it by brushing the long straw, scaring away the rabbit, and then getting in his way when he tried to catch it anyway.
At least she apologized right away. Flare kept his mouth shut as she started ranting, rising when she got off of him, but his good will vanished when she said SHE scared away HIS prey. He flattened his ears and glared as she prattled on about some cats called Goon and Tinder. Littermates, by the sound of it.
He waited until she had finished before meowing, "You ARE a bad hunter, though." he bluntly stated, tail lashing behind him. "Any hunter worth their salt knows you never go for rabbits when they're in tall grass! They're too fast to go for them in anything but a straight shot unless you have a partner. Once you lose sight of them in something like this," he wildly gestured with his tail around them, rustling some grass himself, "you lose them entirely."
But as he looked at her pout, Flare could feel his upset draining, and he sighed. "But. Maybe I should have been faster in catching it. So it's both our faults: mine for being too cautious and you for being not cautious enough. So maybe if we work together, we can both make up for it." The matter of who'd keep the rabbit would come after they actually caught it, of course.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2021 20:25:58 GMT
Oh she wanted to be mad. So so mad. How dare this stranger get in her way from getting revenge on her brother who wanted to think she wasn't adult enough to survive on her own? Oh she should tell this stranger what's what! well,she was going to until she had a closer look at his face and a second later his words hit her and instead of getting fired up at his callous and mean words that fire within her suddenly got snuffed out like water on a flame and her face turned down, ears fell back slightly, and her shoulders slumped. He didn't have to put it that way; all she was trying to do was hunt and prove to her family she wasn't spoiled. But, of course this ginger flamed tom didn't know that. Was either of their anger justified regardless? Casting her eyes low away from his face she cleared her throat and spoke up in a softer more meek tone of voice.
"I didn't mean to upset you stranger. I shouldn't have yelled at you without knowing your side of the story. I didn't know someone else was hunting the same rabbit as me...I'm not very good at hunting...but I just..I wanted to prove to my brothers that I wasn't useless to the family. Maybe this encounter just proved them right." she said mumbling the last part as she looked back towards the direction the rabbit vanished with a sad look.
She hadn't wasted just her own opportunity but this tom's as well. Did he have a family of his own he had been trying to provide for and she'd gone and done ruined his chances? The snow that filtered around them from the sky would make sure that other prey would huddle in their dens son enough so that didn't even either of the felines time to catch much of anything for either of their families.
"I'm not a good hunter...I only know the basics but I've never actually hunted for myself before...my family usually hunted for me. I never did the dirty work of actually having to hunt down my own food before...so maybe I was rash when it came to chasing after prey instead of using my head. Funny this was, that happened with a squirrel not too long ago. It realized I was there and I chased it all the way to the edge of this clearing here before it ran up a tree laughing at me for not having the skill to catch it. If I can't catch a stupid fluffy tailed rodent like a squirrel how am I ever going to catch something like a rabbit? I was so stupid to think I could even come close." she sighed softly and looked over at the larger tom and gave a sheepish smile.
"I am truly sorry I ruined your hunt sir. As much as I'd like to accept your offer to work together; my clumsy stupid brain would simply get in the way of your success." she replied back and looked behind her the way she'd plundered from moments before. "Though, would you mind telling me where I am? I seemed to have lost myself in these woods here in my blind attemt of proving my worth." she commented with a thoughtful frown.
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Post by Riley on Feb 2, 2021 23:00:40 GMT
Curse is soft heart! The way the she-cat slumped immediately after his scolding pulled at his heartstrings, and so did her story of her brothers thinking her useless. Supposedly, at least. Unless he heard it for himself, Flare would rather think she was just putting words in their mouths for the pure fact that he couldn't ever imagine his siblings ever calling one another useless.
She just kept putting herself down and seemed like she really believed herself useless and stupid. As much as he wanted to deny it he didn't know her that well. Besides, hadn't he JUST called her stupid himself? Not precisely, not that exact word, but he was pretty sure he'd given off the feeling of thinking she was. Flare would have to apologize for that... after she was done talking. "You're... in the forest?" he meowed like a question, shrugging helplessly. "I could probably point you in the right direction if you told me where you'd come from... but I won't."
Here Flare smirked, finally feeling more like himself. "Cuz I'm gonna help you to hunt. You say you have the basics down? Show me your hunting crouch, then." He would probably get swatted for trying to treat her like he would one of his siblings but the way she was talking, she'd never had somebody actually push her.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2021 22:12:02 GMT
[googlefont="Poiret One"] Her eyes were big and round staring at him in surprise for a good moment. Was he serious? A second ago he was mad at her and now he wasn't? Did he pity her because of her speech? Oh goodness, she didn't mean to make him feel bad for her. He didn't know her after all so there shouldn't be a reason for him to feel such pity for her. But, despite her words and the way his attitude seemed to change she realized that maybe he wasn't as mad anymore? She blinked at him owlishly a moment longer before quickly turning her gaze away from him and around at the open area around them. She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings when she'd headlong dashed after that rabbit. But perhaps as her mother would often tell her. Her getting lost was something of a good thing? Sugar wasn't used to other cats besides her brothers and her parents. So, perhaps she could make a new friends then! This ginger tom seemed to go from being sorry to her to being cocky and it took a moment for his words to register in her brain. Wait, he was actually offering to help her? that was oddly sweet of him despite how they tumbled into each other so randomly.
A soft smile slowly etched itself on her face as she began to get excited. Maybe strangers were not as mean as her brothers often spoke of them as? Her fluffy tale wagged happily behind her and she started nodding her head quickly.
"I would love that actually...Thank you, it's a nice surprise. I thought you were going to rip my fur off my ears or something." she said before she stood up and took a few steps away before getting into a loose position of a crouched position.
Her tail absently brushing back and forth on the ground and her posture was too loose and not low enough to the ground. "So, this is what I got..." "Being naive with a gentle-heart is not a burden or weakness; it just means I have the chance for new adventure everyday." ~Sugar Riley |
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Post by Riley on May 2, 2021 23:59:48 GMT
Her face went through multiple expressions before settling on grateful excitement. Flare merely blinked at her and nodded his head in response to her thanks. He wasn't sure what to think about her thinking he was going to hurt her because, if she hadn't presented herself like she was helpless, he might have.
The she-cat was quick to drop down into a hunting crouch. Or the approximation of a hunting crouch. Somehow it was almost as bad as Gale's when they had first started training. Flare was quick to lightly grab her tail to stop it waving and pinning it, just as lightly, to the ground. "Okay so first of all, don't do that. Like, at all. Waving your tail around lets your prey know where you are."
Flare backed away and raised his paw to about chest level. "Keep it about here. That way it's not high enough to hit the bushes above your head or low enough to brush the grass."
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2021 2:20:30 GMT
[googlefont="Poiret One"] Starting off Sugar definitely looked like she needed a lot of help. Her posture was awful and she felt silly at the same time. Her expression shifted between focused and realization in a comically back and forth manner as she went through her inner monologue in her head as she shifted her posture so that it fit around the height Flare had mentioned and forced her fidgeting tail to stop it's wild waving. A frustrated huff left her as she noticed her fluffy tail although was mostly still the tip was flicking back and forth as if it had a mind of it's own. She sat up and pinned her own tail to the ground with a dark paw while glaring she spoke to it as if it was an actual living thing instead of a piece of her anatomy. "Listen here you! I'm trying to be impressive and learn some stuff; you cut that twitching out you hear me? You're going to make me look like I'm crazy!
'make her look crazy?! she seemed to freeze a second realizing what she said before looking up at Flare with a sheepish smile on her face. Oh yeah, she was definitely crazy. She gave an embarrassed laugh and slowly returned her posture back to it's original position like he'd mentioned. She didn't say anything and avoided his gaze. Oh she was going to make such a fool of herself to the point that Flare might regret having even agreed to help this feline for sure! It wasn't that she was crazy or stupid. It was more of her lack of self confidence and well...okay maybe she was a little nuts sometimes talking to herself. But she blamed it solely on her brothers. Idiots that they were always enjoyed playing pranks on her and she didn't have any real interactions with others besides them. She blamed them for her personality being out of whack.
"Right so like this yeah?" she said shifting her position so that her form wasn't as look and sloppy looking and her tail was finally still. "Then you move like this right? So that you barely make a sound...." she began creeping forwards with a more natural grace and light foot than before. Looking more at ease the more she focused on her task to not realize that she wasn't screwing things up entirely.
Sugar had more grace than she gave herself credit for; she just never had the chance to put it to use before. She normally was such a wild thing when it came to interacting with her brothers but her mannerisms said that maybe she had something hidden inside that grave her a new look from other people. Her blue eyes turned up from where they had been set onto a bush in the distance and instead turned to look at the ginger flame haired tom as if asking him if she was doing it right. "Being naive with a gentle-heart is not a burden or weakness; it just means I have the chance for new adventure everyday." ~Sugar Riley sorry for the wait! |
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Post by Riley on Jul 16, 2021 7:50:35 GMT
Flare watched the myriad of facial expressions on Sugar's face. Some of them he didn't even know a cat's face could do. He wanted to laugh, he really did, but he had the feeling Sugar's self esteem was low enough.
Her tail kept twitching while she moved and Flare was going to point it out. Sugar seemes very aware of herself though and pinned her own tail beneath her paws, glaring down at it. Sugar spoke TO her tail, and it took everything Flare had in him to keep from laughing hysterically. The only thing he did to conveynhis amusement when Sugar looked up sheepishly was grin.
Her lecture worked though. Somehow. When she started stalking again, she looked much better. Flare realized she was even keeping her eyes on a bush, giving herself a target. Good. It meant she knew to focus on the target without being told.
Flare nodded when she looked back at him, pleased. "MUCH better. Your weight was even too. Ready to try it on a REAL mouse?" @gala |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2021 20:56:11 GMT
[googlefont="Poiret One"] A warmth spread through her as she heard his praise. Sugar didn't realize how much she missed out on having someone who didn't know her to criticize her daily to give her praise of admiration for something she did. She wasn't used to it but she liked it all the same. It gave her encouragement that she was getting on the right track to feeling like an actual cat! She straightened up from her position with a smile on her face. "Thanks. I know I must have looked silly at first!" she giggled to herself.
The suggestion of putting her new skill to use on actual prey gave her pause for a moment expecting to feel trepidation or something but instead found that she was excited at the thought of actually hunting her own food down for once in her life. She found herself nodding excitedly and instinctively opened her jaws to scent what was nearby. It took her a second but she finally managed to find a warm scent of another living creature. Her first time hunting that inevitably ran her into Flare to start with was not a good reference on hunting. But since Flare had given her his time to train her quickly enough she knew she wanted to give him a reason not to regret stopping. With her heart pounding in her ribcage she estimated that what she was hearing was small so probably either a mouse or a chipmunk and she could have a slightly better chance of catching it now that she could actually do the hunters crouch properly this go-around. So, she took that chance and slipped back into the stance of a hunter.
She allowed all the surrounding noises around her to slip away so that she was only focusing on the sound of the little noises that her prey was making and its heartbeat. She didn't realize she was moving forward until she finally opened her eyes to find that she'd moved several feet away from Flare and was staring at a squirrel eating a nut on the ground a few tail lengths away from her. She grinned and lunged with claws unsheathed. She met the eyes of the rodent seconds before her teeth and claws sank into it taking it's life. When her heart beat stopped pounding in her ears from the excitement she realized she actually did it. Her eyes widened and she looked back over towards Flare excitedly.
"I did it...I actually did it! I caught my first catch!" she found herself dashing back to him and ran around in circles around him a few times before she lunged at him and toppled him over. Grinning down at him with bright blue eyes. "Thank you! "Being naive with a gentle-heart is not a burden or weakness; it just means I have the chance for new adventure everyday." ~Sugar Riley Notes here |
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Post by Riley on Jul 20, 2021 22:10:38 GMT
Flare watched approvingly as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth to taste the scents. He didn't say anything, didn't even move as she, still with eyes closed, followed the scent she'd caught. Flare didn't even try to pinpoint what she'd found, letting her do everything. If he moved at all it might startle whatever she was after.
There was a pause as she opened her eyes and the rustle of leaves as she jumped. Flare half-expected her to miss, especially with the way she paused after landing. He couldn't see if she'd caught anything and was ready to console her and urge her to try again when she looked back at him, eyes wide in amazement. "I did it... I actually did it! I caught my first catch!"
Then he caught sight of the squirrel by her paws, and Flare laughed. "You did!" He laughed again when Sugar ran around him in her excitement, but his laughter escaped him in a wheeze when she tackled him in thanks. He would have basked in it a bit more, maybe thought some about how pretty her eyes were, but her paws were like right on his chest. "You're welcome, now get off. Can't breathe."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2021 2:07:44 GMT
[googlefont="Poiret One"] To say she was excited was an understatement. She didn't know if she was more proud or shocked that she managed to catch something at all. Their moment would have been sweet too if she hadn't been such an oaf and not realizing that she was not actually a kitten...and she was standing on his chest crushing the breath out of him. Scrambling back off of him she felt her fur grow hot and her eyes averted from his in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry Flare! I didn't realize I was literally taking the breath out of you! I didn't know what came over me. I was just so excited." she looked over at him shyly as she continued casting her gaze bashfully to the ground. "I have you to thank for that. If it weren't for you. I wouldn't have been able to have the concentration to attempt on my own and we had only just met!" she laughed lightly and shook her head.
"Now I can show my brothers I'm not useless after all." she added more to herself than to him thinking about how her family would react to her having lifted a paw for herself finally. She didn't know if they'd be shocked or be disappointed that she'd finally taken means into her own paws for a change.
She enjoyed being able to hunt for herself and to be able to say that she wasn't dependent on another to live in the woods. For the longest time she'd been the baby of the family. The only girl besides her mother and she was treated like a princess all her life. Afraid that she'd get lost or hurt herself trying to do something or another; what her brothers and parents hadn't realized though when they were being so over protective of Sugar was that what they thought they were doing was good for her and her safety was not to be as they thought. She finally felt free; like she had the whole world of opportunity to be able to do as she pleased. That being said, the ginger tom in front of her she'd so carelessly knocked over moments before was staring at her and she stared right back with a shy smile. She took a step forward and gave a playful nudge of her shoulder against his in a way of saying thanks without words.
"So, what will you do now Flare? Now that you've done your good deed for that day..." she asked tilting her head. "Being naive with a gentle-heart is not a burden or weakness; it just means I have the chance for new adventure everyday." ~Sugar Riley Notes here |
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Post by Riley on Sept 25, 2021 2:49:17 GMT
As the pressure released itself from his chest, Flare took a deep breath that immediately escaped in a cough. He still had the presence of mind though to wave his paw dismissively at her apologies. "Never say sorry for being proud of yourself." he wheezed, smiling at her. He got his breathing back under control though, just in time for her to mutter to herself about showing her brothers she wasn't useless. It made Flare narrow his eyes angrily, but he made sure to point his expression away from her. Nobody should need to PROVE they weren't useless. In Flare's mind, it was an inherent fact that nobody was useless.
For her BROTHERS to make her feel this way? Flare frankly wanted to find them and beat them up. He had no idea how many there were or how big they were but if they made Sugar feel like she had to prove herself, he'd find a way. Sugar pulled him from his own mind though when she nudged her shoulder with his own, a shy smile on her face. Flare tilted his head and thought about what he was going to do now. "Probably find something else for my family. Normally we all go hunting separately and bring our catches back to the den to share. But..." here he grinned and shrugged. "I think they'd understand if I came back empty-pawed for a day. After all, I did make a new friend."
Flare winked at her for good measure, just so she knew he was talking about her. He looked over at her squirrel with a thought before turning back to her. "Say, would you... I mean, if you'd be okay with it... Wanna meet here again? We can work on your stalking some more, maybe some teamwork to catch something bigger than a squirrel." His whiskers twitched more and he teased, "Ya know. Besides me, of course. Good tackle, but I'm not fresh-kill."
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2021 18:16:00 GMT
[googlefont="Poiret One"] Sugar knew she could be a bit of a fur-brain at times but for the first time in awhile she was able to build on some sort of stable ground and have some confidence in herself. Perhaps, it was because she was the only girl besides her mother so her the treatment that she received from her family had unintentionally caused more harm than good for her emotional state but in a short time meeting this stranger Sugar realized that she didn't have to be that kind of girl anymore. She could make her own decisions and start building on herself as she experienced life a little at a time without the judgement or the over-protectiveness of her family. As she looked towards the ginger furred tom in front of her when he began to speak she smiled when his words registered as he began to answer her question. He did have a family didn't he? She'd forgotten that he'd mentioned his dad before she thought. Was there siblings involved too? Her scatter brained self realized that she didn't remember what he'd said earlier or if she'd just imagined a perfect family that he lived with somewhere in the forest. Did he have a personal family of his own like a mate and kits waiting somewhere or was it just his immediate family like parents and siblings? A part of her felt a little guilty that she did not know much about the flame colored tom. But, she consoled herself that they had just met; perhaps he wanted to be friends and she'd get to find out a little more about him in the future.
Her wish was granted though as he began to speak of his family and hunting; imagining him hunting with his family to bring it back home and eat together. Generally, her family did the same. Well, at least her brothers and father hunted for her and her mother but they generally didn't just sit there and chat while they ate. Sugar never really had a good connection with her family. To outsiders her family seemed perfect. Loving and protective which in a way they are but their way of protection and their mindset of what she should and should not do was not in par with her own wishes. She loved her family of course but she found it sometimes hard to talk with them because they didn't see her as a grown cat but more of...well a helpless kitten that needed protection no matter how many moons she grew and she hated it. She figured toms had it easier though because of the stereotype that toms were stronger than she-cats. She blinked her blue eyes to refocus on her new companion to hear the last bit of his question. She stared at him a moment realizing that he seemed a little off. Shy perhaps or maybe even a little embarrassed as he spoke up asking if she would like to meet up again here for further training. Her flat expression brightened and she smiled at him while her tail waved excitedly behind her.
"I'd love that Flare! That'd make me so happy!" she exclaimed not sure if she had truly been expecting his question or merely wishing for it. But she was glad that he asked nonetheless because she was enjoying his company even if they came off a bit shaky at first.
She realized that perhaps she was a little too excited and tried to calm down before she tackled him off his feet again and wrapped her waving tail around her paws and pinned it down from going off again. Clearing her throat she tried to act a little more mannered than an excitable apprentice and nodded her head as she spoke.
"I'd like that." she supplied before adding. "Only if you are okay with it! I mean I know you offered and all I just want to make sure that it's what you'd like and not just saying it to be nice." she added looking down at her paws with a small smile. "Being naive with a gentle-heart is not a burden or weakness; it just means I have the chance for new adventure everyday." ~Sugar Riley Notes here |
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