Ama's head whipped up and she grinned at Silent, nodding vigorously. Of course she was excited! They were going hunting. Together. She pause for a moment, unsure of why THAT part was the part of the whole thing that made her so excited, but she shook it off to take another few bounds ahead. Turning around, her eyes gleaming, ran back to Silent. At the last moment she pounced on him. Wrapping her forepaws around his neck she nuzzled his neck and giggled.

"We are hunting. If you want to play like cubs on the first ay out of the nursery, go back to camp." Cassian growled in agitation, tail flicking behind him as he stopped to glare the two. They were acting like cubs, tackling and giggling and playing. This wasn't a play trip- they were hunting. It wasn't cuddles and play fights it was killing and blood. And if they couldn't take it seriously, he would go with Cesal.

Silent saw her nodding happily, as they padded along with the group. He flicked his tail slowly as they walked, feeling comfortable in her presence. He wasn't quite sure why, but she made him forget about his fears, and he felt like he could just be himself without the fear of his parentage sneaking up on him and biting him in the rear. The male snow leopard watched with amusement as the snow leopardess bounded ahead of them, a happy bounce in her step. When she turned around though, his eyes widened as she ran straight for him and pounced on top of him. He let out a light chuckle as she nuzzled into his neck, and he didn't bother stopping himself from pressing his nose into her neck fur and snorting out air to tickle her. However, a growling voice snapped him out of his playful nature.

His ears pinned back and he glared at the Amur Leopard. "We were going hunting before you came to ask us if you could come along. And there is nothing wrong with showing excitement. Not all of us are stoic and perpetually angry. We know how to hunt just fine, and we're too close to camp for there to be any prey anyways, so there was no harm in it." he replied to the older leopard, a growl half formed in his voice.

"You are apprentices, I'm a gladiator, you should be out without one anyway." Cassian growled, padding back to stand over the smaller cat, metal claw glinting ominously. "If you don't take hunting for your empire seriously, go back to the coliseum." He said, glaring down at him. "Or perhaps you would like battle training rather than hunting training? I would be more than happy to provide." This cocky young cub didn't seem to grasp the concept that Cassian was his superior, the same rank as the apprentice's' own mentor. "Be excited, fine, but don't waste all of our time by cuddling and tackling like cubs. Waste time at cam with that, not here. Got it?" He growled, head low, ears pressed back and tail waving threateningly.

As Silent had tickled her she had laughed again and purred a little into his fur, one of the few sounds she could actually make, and smiled happily.

But Ama shrank back her eyes growing wide as Cassian loomed over the two of them. She had slunk slightly back and behind Silent when the gladiator had started growling and now he stood there, looming like a great wall. She shivered and took another step back. A familiar twinge in her shoulder started to grow and her blue eyes flicked around. Silent, be careful. She thought and brushed silently against him. As Cassian seemed to grow taller she shrank back more. Her eyes filled with tears but they didn't spill over and her eyes flicked quickly from the angry amur to the snow leopard. She looked at Cesal, a twinge of hurt in her big eyes, You said he was gentle... She thought. But her eyes quickly focused back on the Amur, and she slunk forward again, just beside Silent. She looked up at the older cat, eyes pleading as sorry. Don't hurt him. She thought, Please. I'm sorry. SHe hadn't meant for her playful antics to cause trouble, really she hadn't. SHe was just, playing. And in all reality, it WAS her first day out of camp.

Battle training, however, didn't sound fun at all. She shuddered. Of course she knew someday she'd have to learn it, how to fight. But the very idea scared her. And her mind flicked through the same scenes it did every time violence of any sort was mentioned.. Jumbled up, red and terrifying. No not fun at all. The twinge in her shoulder got worse, but she remained where she was, not showing anything but apologetic sorrow and pleading the two males to stop arguing.

Maybe it would be better if Silent and she just snuck off now... pretend to go back to camp or something?

The male snow leopard flattened his ears entirely against his skull as the Amur leopard responded to him. While he normally respected those older than him, he did not respect such short tempered verbal attacks. It reminded him far too much of his father. He saw Ama move back behind him, her face telling him more than words could that she was scared. That upset him more. She had just been happy and wanted to spread her happiness, and what did she get in return? This gladiators anger. "I do take hunting for the Empire seriously. Just not so seriously that I lose sense and make others become my prey as well. We all came here to escape oppression, and live life." He looked up at the larger cat as he loomed over him, though he didn't feel afraid.

He was about to make another retort when Ama brushed up against him, and he saw the look in her face. Giving his pelt a shake, he sighed and bit his tongue. Looking back up to the Amur leopard, he spoke calmly, though his ears were still pinned back "We understand." his voice, while still polite, held a bit of coldness in it. He rubbed his shoulder against Ama's shoulder in comfort, and than started padded the way they had been heading before the fight. "Let's go Ama. We're still gonna hunt together, right?" he looked back at her and gave her a lopsided smile, as if the almost-fight hadn't just happened.





Based off a little RP in the EBC blog. Ama is kinda a wimp but I can hardly blame her ^^;

Her cowboy is protecting her though so it's all good ^^