[Fate Admin]

Cougarflight

Pounce!

Cougarflight landed with her front paws together, looking down at the butterfly she’d caught, her long tail waving happily. She took a short step back and the butterfly rose once more, fluttering away and just calling for Cougarflight to chase after it. To any cat watching they might be more than a little confused. There was no butterfly. Most insects were becoming scarce, butterflies especially, as leaf-bare approached. Even if there had been a butterfly, she would have crushed it the first time she’d pounced upon it, and she’d caught it at least three times since then, always releasing it to start over again.

The dusky she-cat weaved her way lazily through the undergrowth, always keeping the butterfly in sight. Sometimes it would land somewhere, as if waiting for her, but if she got too close it would flutter off again, teasing her. “Where are we going butterfly?” The butterfly of course did not answer, even in Cougarflight’s daydreams a certain amount of realism remained. She wasn’t crazy, just… overly imaginative.

She bounded after the butterfly as it seemed to get a little farther ahead of her than she wanted, but it disappeared amongst the leaf-fall wildflowers currently growing in the Wildflower Clearing, blending in perfectly. “Hey, where’d you go!?” She mewed with a laugh, pouncing a clump of flowers not far away and sending up a poof of flower petals. Forgetting all about the imagined butterfly and snuffled amongst the flowers, purring as she enjoyed their scent and rolled in them.

[Fawn]

Lionstep

He'd seen a lot of things, sure. He'd seen kittens play with a dead mouse before, he'd seen elders grow senile and go roll around in a bed of catmint as though it were the greatest thing on earth. What Lionstep hadn't seen before, however, were the strange but comical actions of a dusky she-cat frolicking through a field of flowers.
Lionstep, having just buried a mouse to come back for it later, crouched down low against the wild flowers, his brawny shoulders bunched, not a hair or muscle out of place as he slunk forward - golden eyes locked on the she-cat. It was Cougarflight, obviously, he could tell by her scent as well as her actions, so he wasn't particularly worried - only curious.

Rather than announce his presence right away, the TreeClan deputy for a 'lay low and observe' strategy. He'd been on patrol with her, he'd seen her hunt, it was... pretty lousy, but Lionstep had always halfheartedly wondered if whether or not Cougarflight was faking it all, putting on an act to somehow get out of warrior duties.

This was obviously not the case. She seemed just as air-headed by herself as she was in the company of others.

[Fate Admin]

Cougarflight

As she was rolling on her back, twisting from side to side and quite enjoying herself, a strange feeling settled over her. Most cats would recognize this feeling as ‘being watched’ and would react accordingly, perhaps leaping to their paws and searching out the source of this feeling, but for Cougarflight it manifested itself into another daydream. She paused in her gleeful wriggling amongst the flowers, laying still and quite on her back, ears perked and alert. In her dream world, the sky was darkening with storm clouds and a rumble of thunder sounded on the edge of hearing, though in reality the sky was blue and dotted with clouds of fluffy white with not a single hint of a storm.

Her tail swished in anticipation, something exciting was about to happen. She rolled over onto her belly and peered over the flowers that nearly hid her from sight completely, her ears twitching. Cats were prowling along the far side of the clearing, dark shapes with too bright eyes, fangs bared. They stalked slowly through the clearing of flowers, ever closer until….

NOW!

Cougarflight leapt to her paws with a battle screech and raced forward, toward the dark shapes. Behind her, Clanmates followed her charge, appearing out of the flowers just as suddenly as she had. Both sides raced toward each other and when they finally met it was explosive, a flash of lightning and boom of thunder announcing the beginning of the battle. Cougarflight leapt on their leader, yowling, “GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY FOXDUNG!” She pretended to grapple with the enemy cat, rolling about and growling, claws unsheathed as she swung, struck, batted, swatted, and otherwise landed a surprising amount of hits on her opponent. She soon had the other cat fleeing with a screech for mercy and immediately leapt on another enemy.

She actually demonstrated a decent knowledge of fighting moves in her faux battle, proving that she could in fact make more than a decent warrior if she could ever be made to focus on reality. However, chances of her showing battle prowess outside her daydreams were not likely. Finally she stood at the center of clearing, panting and yowling victory to the trees around her as the last of her imaginary enemies retreated, “AND STAY OUT YOU FOXHEARTED ROGUES!” Her tail lifted proudly and she lifted her chin as her imagined Clanmates gathered around her, cheering her name.

[Phoenix]

The flowering clearing had quickly become one of Littlepaw's favorite haunts, especially since she enjoyed the scents of the flowers. None of the older apprentices seemed to hang around the area, so she had it all to herself. And with leaf-bare coming, she figured that she should treasure what time she had left in her little meadow. Older cats had told her the effects of the cold season, and she vividly remembered her conversation with Leafscar about it. Her mentor had tried describing snow to her, but Littlepaw still found it hard to believe. Regarding the flowers in the field, the older felines had said that the foliage whithered up and died when the cold came. The thought made her sad. The clearing was special because it was filled with flowers; with a blanket of snow over everything and the flowers dead, it would become no different than the rest of the forest.

And so, Littlepaw spent every free moment she could amongst her little companions. As of now, she rested on her back, paws in the air. The wildflowers wreathed her body as she watched the clouds float by through the leaves of the trees. So peaceful, She mused softly, a small smile on her face. The birds singing, the sun warm, the breez-- What was that? Her tail flicked and the she-cat sprang to her paws as a voice reached her ears. Looking around for her companion, Littlepaw hoped that it was not one of the sibling apprentices, Noblepaw and Joypaw. A relieved smile came back when she saw the figure, realizing that it was far too big to be an apprentice. As she watched, the other cat pounced, sending flower petals flying into the air. It looked fun.

Quietly, Littlepaw made her way closer, if only to get a better view. She was not one who made a habit of instigating a conversation, but she would talk if another cat did the job for her. Crouching down, the apprenticed watched as the warrior, whom she did not recognize, pounced around in the flowers, looking completely like a little kit. The sight made her laugh softly and a grin spread across her face. So warriors did know how to have fun.

However, her laughter turned to a screech of surprise as the other feline's actions suddenly changed. The rolling turned abruptly to a charge. Frozen, she watched as the warrior pelted straight toward her. Wide green eyes lost all of their joy. Did the other cat not see her? Was she not going to stop? Frantic commands finally reached panicked muscles, and Littlepaw leapt to the side. She landed awkwardly on her side, but immediatly flipped over, clambering to her paws in order to see where the warrior had gone.

The charge had broken down into grappling with an imaginary opponent, and Littlepaw backed away, hurt. As she watched, she became aware of her stinging ear. Had the cat meant to hurt her? What had she done? Littlepaw wanted to know, wanted to go up and ask. But she did not want to have a repeat experience. The warrior could attack her again if she approached. And Littlepaw knew painfully well that she could not fend off an angered warrior.

OOC: I was thinking that Cougarflight might have hit Littlepaw by accident while she was flailing around and she might not have noticed it. If you want me to change it, I can.

[Fawn]

Lionstep

Wow, she's actually not half bad. When she's...playing. Lionstep watched, pleasantly surprised to see that Cougarflight's fight-training had sunk in at some point, and was now resurfacing in a -admittedly strange- way Lionstep wouldn't have ever imagined. Though he'd picked up on Littlepaw's scent as he'd crouched, the deputy hadn't put two and two together, that Cougarflight's gallavanting around might in some way be a threat to anyone foolish enough to get near her. Letting out a hiss at himself for this mistake, the golden-furred warrior launched out of hsi crouched position and landed beside the dazed apprentice, placing his muscular body in between her and the play-fighting warrior, lost in the throes of her own imagination.
"Cougarflight!" He yowled, trying to get the she-cat's attention as well as act as a living, breathing roadblock should Cougarflight's imagination send her in Littlepaw's direction again. The tom's body was tense, and though he didn't want to have to hurt Cougarflight (Lionsong would really start warming up to him after that), he was willing to push her away or redirect her imaginary battle to some other cat-less spot, even if he had to do it a bit roughly than he wanted.

Ha, snorted Lionstep inwardly, And Lionsong says she has things under control! Where was the she-cat now? Probably hunting to make up for her sister again, but he could hardly blame either she-cats for the way they were born.