Fernpaw's First Day

It was the morning after Fernpaw's apprentice ceremony, and the eager gray she-cat rushed out of the apprentices' den excitedly. The sun hadn't even risen yet, but she was just so excited to begin training to become a WindClan warrior!

Fernpaw rushed to the entrance of the warriors' den and meowed loudly. "Quailfeather! Quailfeather, wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up! You gotta take me out to the moor today!"

Snuggled up tightly in her mossy nest, Quailfeather let out a groan of protest as her brand-new apprentice yelled out her name. Hopefully the she-cat wouldn't wake up any other warriors- she knew many who would be grumpy if awoken this early, herself included. The gray speckled she-cat extracted herself from the crowded sea of sleeping cats and stumbled out into the freezing cold leaf-bare air. Her ice-blue eyes were slightly displeased as they looked at the young, eager apprentice. "The sun hasn't risen yet, Fernpaw," she observed, a little bit annoyed. "We're WindClan cats, not ShadowClan." Stifling a yawn, Quailfeather shook out her pelt and stretched. "Oh well. As long as you're awake, we may as well start training... I was planning to have you start with changing Cedarfur's moss, but if you wake my uncle up at this StarClan-forsaken hour I'm sure he'd bite your head off. Let's go on out, then." Finally ready, the gray speckled warrior began to head out of the camp, beckoning with her white-tipped tail. When Fernpaw couldn't see her, however, Quailfeather couldn't hold back a smile.

Not at all brought down by the light scolding, Fernpaw bounded eagerly after her mentor, meowing rapidly as she bounced around from one side of Quailfeather to the next. "What are we gonna do today, Quailfeather? Are we gonna hunt? I've always wanted to try rabbit! I've always wanted to try rabbit but I never took one because I wanted Cedarfur to have them. He's done so much for the Clan, did you know that? I was told he was an amazing warrior before he retired, so he deserves rabbit! Can I catch one for him, Quailfeather, please?"

It took all of Quailfeather's willpower to withstand her apprentice's constant, bouncing energy. She took a deep breath and exhaled, keeping a straight face as they walked- or bounced- across the moors. Eventually, she had to stop and speak up. The she-cat's enthusiasm was well-meant, certainly, but very tiring. "Enough, Fernpaw," she snapped in exasperation. "You need to learn how to hunt before you catch anything. And you don't know anything about hunting yet. So I need to show you, and that means I need your full attention. All right?"

Without waiting for an answer, the senior warrior began to search for prey, sniffing the air and scanning the moors. They were on an excellent high vantage point atop a hill, a great place to start hunting. "First, you have to actually find your prey. You'll learn to recognize the scent of rabbit soon." A few seconds later, she caught sight of a brown furry shape far off in the dawn's golden light, rustling among the long grass. She gestured towards it with her tail, showing Fernpaw where it was. Her voice dropped to a whisper so as not to scare it away. "Then, you position yourself. You have to be upwind of the animal- don't want it to catch your scent and run off. Those few moments of surprise are invaluable in the hunt." The gray speckled she-cat dropped into a hunting crouch, leg muscles tensed and ready to run, tail flat out behind her. "You want to crouch like this before you run. Put all the power in your front legs so you can start off as fast as possible, and stream your tail out flat so you don't fall. Got it?" Her blue eyes narrowed, locking the rabbit in her sights. "Then... you... run!"

Quailfeather was off like a flash, sprinting with characteristic WindClan speed towards her chosen prey, paws flying over the earth. Yet she was silent as she shot through the grass, making no sound. When the rabbit caught sight of her, it began to run as well, taking off through the long grass. But she knew she could catch up to it easily, and she did. The head-start and her superior speed combined, the senior warrior caught up to the furry creature and caught a hold of it in her jaws and sank her fsnfs through its neck, swiftly ending its life. She dropped it, and looked at it in satisfsction. "Thank you, StarClan, for giving us this prey." Then she buried it with a few quick swipes of her paws so no eagles would find it. Quailfeather trotted back up to the hilltop where Fernpaw stood watching. "Your turn to give it a shot," she meowed, sitting on her haunches to see how her apprentice did.

OOC: Right, time for you to learn the hunting system- aka what I just did. Here's the basics. You choose a type of prey to find (hint: WC generally eats rabbits) and then roll a dice (click "preview" on your post and open the options menu below it, select "hunting dice" and roll once). After rolling the dice and receiving the results, edit your previous post with either catching the prey, missing it, or (rarely) attracting a battle encounter. I think you can figure it out, you're pretty smart. If you need help, just ask or pm me, 'kay?

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Fernpaw dug her claws deep into the grassy ground to keep from kneading and potentially give away her mentor's position to the rabbit. Her thick fur fluffed in excitement and she began to quiver, eager to try herself. When Quailfeather gave her the permission to try for herself, she began looking around, ears tilting back and forth and mouth parted to try and detect any prey. It didn't take long for her to locate a smaller, younger rabbit creep into the open moor, its fluffy white tail bobbing as it hopped along in search for food.

All her instincts told her to rush immediately towards the rabbit -- and that's exactly what she did.

It was pure luck that she had found a younger, much slower rabbit to pursue, as Fernpaw's paws thumped rather loudly against the ground as she sped towards it. She caught up to it when it was no more than a whisker away from fleeing into its warren and she bit the back of its neck, causing it to go limp. However, her paws didn't seem to want to stop in time and she tripped over the warm body, sending herself flying and crashing into the tall grass with flailing paws. She squeaked and shook the tiny grass seeds from her pelt before picking back up the rabbit and rushing back to Quailfeather, eyes wild with excitement.

"Did you see me, Quailfeather? Did you, did you?" she muffled through a mouthful of fur. "I was so fast! Now I can give this rabbit to Cedarfur and he's gonna be so proud of me!"

(OOC: Thank you! Thankfully I've learned the hunting and battle system from my ThunderClan mentor prior, so you don't need to worry about teaching me battle system basics. :3)

The member 'Yoshachu' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

Quailfeather couldn't help but grin at Fernpaw's antics. At least she learned fast, and by the look of it, she was a WindClan cat through and through. Despite her extremely hyper personality, she might yet become a great warrior. "Yes, I'm sure Cedarfur will enjoy that rabbit very much," she purred, letting a bit of pride into her voice. After all, Fernpaw was her apprentice. "But he's not the only cat we have to feed. Can you try the same techniques on a bird?" The senior warrior gestured with her tail at a fat gray quail further down the hill. It was time to see if her apprentice could improvise.

Fernpaw stood up tall at the praise, feeling as if she would burst with happiness. She spotted the quail and swished her fluffy tail excitedly before bolting towards it.

The bird let out a startled shriek when it found Fernpaw was nearly on top of it, the apprentice's pawsteps much quieter and swifter this time. It fluttered into the air, but it hardly got far at all before the gray cat knocked it out of the air and onto the ground. Stunned, it was completely defenseless to the fatal nip to the throat.

"I did it again, Quailfeather, I caught another! Hunting is so much fun!" Fernpaw squealed with a happy bounce as she trotted back to her mentor, dragging the limp bird along in her mouth.

(OOC: This is the most luck with hunting I've ever had! XD)

The member 'Yoshachu' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5