Trying in a Different Way (CLOSED hunting patrol)

Silverfang still couldn't understand why Shadepaw was incapable to learn the Riverclan way of hunting. She looked back at him, eyes narrowed as they walked through Riverclan's lands. She didn't know what to do anymore. He was close to reaching the age of a warrior but he wasn't a good hunter like the rest of his denmates. The warrior sighed and stopped with a lashing of her tail. "Okay, we're going to start our hunting patrol here. Let's see if you're getting better." She mewed before starting tracking for any scent of prey.

Shadepaw sighed softly and trotted up to his mentor, for once feeling a little discouraged. No matter how much he practiced, he just couldn't seem to step lightly enough to stalk silently through the reeds or snow, nor did he have the swift and powerful grace to scoop fish from the river. However, he would still give hunting another try. Hopefully with a stroke of luck he would be able to impress his mentor for once. "I'll do my best, Silverfang." Please, StarClan, just let me catch ONE piece of prey, I don't care what it is!

He began following his nose to the riverbank where he spotted a frog near the edge of the water. His stomach growled at the thought of crunching his teeth down hard on its bones and enjoying the tough texture of its skin and the muddied taste of its flesh. He crouched down and tried to stalk forward as slowly as possible, though his paws were still splayed a little too far apart to stalk silently, once again as if he were tracking through muddy marshes. He leaped at it at the last second and managed to land on its back, but his claws were unable to hook into its tough green skin fast enough. The frog managed to slip out from under his paws and fled into the water.

He sighed in disappointment, his tail drooping into the snow and his ears drawing back. Well, even if his stalking technique wasn't exactly the same as every other RiverClan warrior's, he was still able to remain undetected as he crept up on it. If only he hadn't focused so much on trying to perfect his crouch and stalk that he had totally forgotten to use his StarClan-forsaken claws!

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Silverfang followed her apprentice keeping a good distance between him and her so she wouldn't scare his prey. Once again, she saw her apprentice fail but she also noticed something. The tom was trying so hard to do what she told him to stalk that he was losing focus and at the end, he wasn't being able to catch anything. It was a mystery to her why this apprentice couldn't act like other Riverclan cats but... maybe she was forcing him to do things that weren't in his nature. Maybe... the warrior should change the way to teach him so his hunting could adapt to Riverclan's lands.

The she-cat swiftly approached the river and her eyes met Shadepaw's. She wasn't angry or disappointed but her look was as strict as ever. She couldn't go easy with him if she wanted to turn him into a respectable warrior. The warrior quickly caught a fish from the river grabbing it with her mouth when she dipped her head in the water only because this was a hunting patrol and not regular training. She had to do her part too for the clan. Silverfang left the fish in the riverbank and once again she fixed her odd eyes on the brown tabby tom. "Even if your stalk was perfect, it seems that something is off in you when you do it. You lack concentration and the main ability to focus on hunting. And maybe it's my mistake. Let's try something different." She mewed before pointing to a muddy land of the riverbank that was covered in reeds. "Silence is your main problem when you hunt putting too much weight on your front paws like you used to do during our first training lesson. However, when you try to put more weight in your hind legs, you lose your focus and that can't ever happen. So... stalk like you used to do but, this time, take advantage of what surrounds you. The mud is a good way to be quieter when you step in slowly and with a lot of strength in your front paws." The she-cat was trying to see if this tom was actually better hunting like ShadowClanner than like RiverClanner. Until now, he seemed more fit to hunt as those frog-eaters.

The member 'Jay Bird' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 7

Shadepaw's head lowered as Silverfang approached him, but he then looked up at her in surprise when she decided to allow him to hunt somewhere else that would better adapt his strange hunting technique. Nodding, he padded over to the muddy riverbank and sniffed around carefully until he located another frog. Hoping and praying to StarClan that he would be able to catch it, he crouched down and began to stalk the same way he always would, and he was surprised to find it was leagues easier to control his weight in the heavy mud. The thick ground beneath him even muffled his pawsteps, and when he was close enough he was able to pounce on it and kill it with a swift bite, making sure to dig his muddied claws into its back to keep it in place this time.

"I did it! Silverfang, I did it!" He couldn't seem to contain his excitement, trotting back to his mentor with the delicious-tasting amphibian dangling from his jaws.

(OOC: Thank StarClan I rolled a 3. XD)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

(OOC: YES! Do another dice roll and we can finish this ;) Really quick hunting patrol for requirements. Silverfang is suspicious now. In the next Gathering she's going to ask Scorch if he knew Sweet ;))

IC:

The warrior watched each movement of her apprentice and her idea gave the result expected: Shadepaw was better hunting in muddy grounds. It was weird for a Riverclan cat... not impossible but unusual. The she-cat gave him a little smile when he came excited with the frog on his jaws. He reminded her Frostpaw, her first apprentice and daughter.

"And at last, you finally caught some land prey. Did you learn what you have to do from now on, Shadepaw?" She mewed with a defiant look on her face. The she-cat turned her body to do a demonstration to the young tom. She pointed a dove not far from them and telling Shadepaw to stay quiet, the she-cat approached her objective doing the Riverclan's crouch. She swiftly caught it and brought it back to the apprentice. "What I did is what you must not. You're different from your denmates, Shadepaw. You're a better hunter when you're in the mud, using that weird technique of yours. Keep doing that and you'll be a warrior in no time."

The member 'Jay Bird' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

(OOC: Alrighty! Just so long as Scorch doesn't get into any trouble with SC, I've still got some other plans for him in the future. :3)

Shadepaw listened to his mentor and nodded when she finished. Finally, he dipped his head respectfully to her. "I appreciate all you've done for me, Silverfang. I truly do."

He decided to head back to the muddy riverbank to try and catch something else. He scented a water vole through the stench of rotten fish -- and calming scent of soaked earth -- and began stalking towards it. He was still able to get his stalking down just fine, but the water vole still sensed his presence; he had forgotten to hunt downwind of it. It leaped off the nearly submerged rock it rested on and leaped into the water.

"Oops..." And just after he had done so well with hunting that frog! Silverfang must really think of him as a fish-brain now... How was he ever going to become a good warrior of RiverClan if he kept messing up his land hunting?

Well... at least he was able to catch one thing, and perhaps that still pleased her a little. He waded out of the mud and trotted over to the frog to pick it up. Perhaps... Perhaps he could give it to Birchkit as a way to apologize for his awful, uncalled for behavior towards him a few days ago.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8