Training Feathers [Closed]

Flintshard sat at the entrance of the camp, staring off into the horizon - lost in thought as he waited for his newest apprentice. He hadn't been expecting to take on another so soon but there was nobody to blame but himself, he had made the choice to take on Crowpaw. He couldn't deny that he was an excellent fit as her mentor, sharing many of the same...Views. It was actually a comfort in some sense, a sign that perhaps his...Weirdness wasn't something only he struggled with. That he wasn't alone. He couldn't tell how much she shared in common thought - did she have the same problems with sound? Did she have a better grasp on the feelings on others? Could she actually sleep at night?

But the small amount he was sure of was still enough to make him feel a bit more at ease with himself - not that he showed it. He looked the same as always, bored and perhaps a little bit tired. Which he was, Thornstar hadn't been able to return to her duties recently which meant he had to pick up the slack which meant he had more trouble sleeping than ever. But he was used to the little sleep, it was an annoyance more than anything. It wouldn't be a bother for the training he had planned for Crowpaw - a simple lesson in how to hunt and also giving her a taste of what the world outside of the camp was like.

She had not slept at all that night after her ceremony. She laid in her nest listening to the breathing of her new den mates. The apprentice den was a bit bigger than the nursery was or at least it seemed like it. Maybe it was the same size; who knew it really didn't matter. When she couldn't get comfortable enough to get some shut eye she had risen from her nest too early in the morning for anyone to be out and went outside to stare up at the sky in thought. She got no sleep whatsoever and when the first few rays of the gray morning graced the sky and said it's good morning, Crowpaw made her way through the cold; not really feeling the stiffness in her limbs from sitting there too long in the crisp chilly air. Her paws carried her towards the entrance of camp; her amber eyes blinking in mild surprise when she saw Flintshard waiting already. She had been told to meet him here the morning after her ceremony so they could go on their first training session together. She didn't know how she didn't see him exit the warrior's den to sit waiting for her. Guess she was just oblivious this morning.

She drew closer and cleared her throat; giving the older warrior a nod of her head in greetings before letting her body bend in a stretch to get the stiffness from her limbs. She sighed as she straightened and sat up looking at the deputy.

"Morning Flintshard, where are we going to be going to first?" she asked softly and gave an expected look towards the camp entrance.

She would not lie and say she was not intrigued and curious to know what outside really looked like; after all she merely had heard stories and made a mental image of it herself but it was different when actually traveling the path. Being old enough to finally become an apprentice meant that she had freer range to go out and explore and see just how much of those stories were true and who was exaggerating.

Flintshard's ears twitched at the sound of pawsteps, followed by a clearing of throat as he glanced over to see that Crowpaw had arrived. He dipped his head in response to her nod, pushing himself to his paws as he gave a little stretch of his own. "We'll be heading to the Pine Grove to go over hunting," he explained as he turned and padded from the camp, a simple tail swish for Crowpaw to follow after him. He took in a deep breath as they entered the territory clearing, enjoying the crisp cold air that filled his lungs. it was almost like the air itself knew it was outside of the camp - feeling much fresher than any in the camp felt for one reason or another.

He could pick up the different scents, a couple hints of prey in the surrounding areas but he knew the Pine Grove was one of the best places to hunt so he ignored it as he led Crowpaw through the territory. He had taken this path a pawful of times and knew it by memory, allowing his gaze to focus on the shadows around them while trusting where his paws were leading the two. "Until you learn how to travel the marsh by memory alone, you are not to stray far from myself when we go out, alright?" he said as he spared a glance back at Crowpaw. "The marsh can get unexpectedly deep in certain areas and can be a death sentence if you get caught in the mud with nobody around to pull you out."

The older clan mate made his silent greeting and explained where they were going to be training today. Crowpaw tried to remember what she had heard about the pine groves from overhearing stories from warriors and apprentices alike. Her attention went back to the deputy as he began leading her from camp. This was the first time she ever went outside of camp as she was more of a goody toe shoes to not leave even to explore. She padded quickly and lightly behind Flintshard; ears pricked to hear what he had to say while still trying to listen to all the knew sounds that the territory provided. It was of course a natural instinct to watch to tune into all the new sounds around her. She turned to look over at the grey tom and nodded quickly to his command to stay close. Of course, she wouldn't stay too far behind him. She didn't feel like embarrassing herself too much today. she was here to learn what was true and not true about the stories she heard and get a sense of what it was like to grow up.

The air was crisp and icy in her lungs as she tried to sift through the scents around her and see if she could place them. She was relatively good at that as she had trained herself at a young age to pick up certain scents. Certain animals that the warriors would bring back from their hunting trips would still have their scents on them along with the warrior scents themselves. The scent of the territory around them would be mixing in their fur that would make one heck of a mixture to pinpoint. Crowpaw turned to look around the territory and cleared her throat to speak up.

"So, what prey is generally found within the marshes and the Pine Groves?" she questioned. "What's the main thing that is common to find and easiest to catch?"

Flintshard glanced behind him as Crowpaw spoke up, gaze remaining on her for a few heartbeats before he turned his attention back to the path in front of them. "The marsh is home to frogs and toads, lizards and mice - along with other types of...Rodents. Those serve as our main sources of food, along with the rare occasion of crow-food if hunting tends to be...Poor." His lips curled slightly at the thought of crow-food, having seen his fair share from trips to the Carrionplace. So far they hadn't needed to turn to such a source even in the think of Leaf-Bare, which was good as there was many risks when it came to crow-food and they didn't need to risk the sickness that it brought when they needed all the paws they could muster. "In Leaf-Bare, its going to be the rodents that you'll see most often - it seems that frog and lizards rarely choose to move in the cold weather while the mice and such often search for some scrap to eat. They would be the easiest to catch," he explained.

As he finished, the two reached the Pine Grove. The clearing laid bare - bigger and...Emptier than most clearings would be, no stray bushes poked from the tree-line and the clearing was fully open. With the scent of Twoleg that seemed to stain the air always, he could only guess that they had something to do with the fact that there wasn't a single bush within the clearing. Perhaps they liked it empty...Who knew, but it served as an excellent training and hunting spot. He padded to the center of the clearing before he stopped, turning to face Crowpaw. "Now, knowing what to hunt and which may be the easiest is good to know but it won't help you catch anything. We start with the hunting crouch," he said, dropping into the familiar crouch. He held his body low, careful not to brush his stomach fur against the snow beneath him as he stalked forward on quiet paws - barely letting the snow crunch beneath each step. "You want to keep your weight spread - not favor a paw that could betray your position. Keep yourself low and harder to spot, but careful not to disturb the snow beneath you as you move. Normally our darker pelts would help keep us hidden in the shadows...But Leaf-Bare makes hunting harder for us for numerous reasons. But no matter how difficult it can be - we must still give every attempt so that we can bring back food. Now, give it a try - see if you can locate anything and attempt to catch it."

OOC: Copy and pasting from a previous training topic.

When you are using the hunting system, the first thing you have to do is decide what kind of prey you want using the Hunting System page. Its important to keep in mind the season (currently Leaf-bare as noted as being bolded on the Hunting System) and your chances. If you hit preview at the bottom of your post, it will let you see what your post will look like...And also give you access to the Dice Rolls (located below where you can edit your reply). You will want to click on the Dice Rolls square and select hunting dice.

With one dice roll (as you are hunting a single prey, you would only change the number if you had more than one cat hunting at once in a post really), you simply hit send and it will post the reply along with a second one by Mistpelt - which will give you your dice roll. With your dice roll, you will check out the Hunting System page to see if you caught your prey, being mindful of what season it is along with what Clan you are from. For example, as a ShadowClan cat hunting in Leaf-bare a mouse will be a 6 and below catch for you. 7-9 will miss...and a 10 will summon a predator for us to fight (and thus are not favored). It also should be noted that trying to hunt uses 5 stamina (As an apprentice, you have 20 health and 80 stamina to start). This is normally 3 but its bumped up during Leaf-Bare.

If you roll a predator, its up to you to pick one to fight and edit your post to reflect them appearing. All the stats and whatnot for the predators are located here.

Also the Pine Grove gives a passive +2 to hunting, meaning that a prey that would require a 1-4 to catch now instead requires a 1-6.

Crowpaw's ears were turned towards her mentor as he was explaining and answering her questions while her keen eyes watched the surroundings around her. The idea of starting out hunting made her feel a bit more relaxed; at least they were not doing battle training. Crowpaw was not one who liked to inflict violence so she was not too keen on starting that part of her training although she knew it would be a must if she were to ever succeed at being a warrior. Her mind trailed back towards Flintshard as she listened to his explanation about the prey. Rodents were the easiest to catch; got it. She made a mental note of that as she followed him along. Her attention turned towards the land they arrived in; Pine Grove which was a clearing without much foliage to help them hide if need be but this was Shadowclan's training grounds so they should be safe.

Her jaws parted slightly on animal instinct to make sure that the clearing was safe as her brain went into business mode. She did not want to make a fool of herself or disappoint Flintshard in any way, shape, or form in their first training exercise. When his words turned from the hunting of prey to the form of how to catch them her head turned towards him to watch. A small frown came on her face as she watched him and making the comment about their fur colors. She had to agree that in Leafbare it would be much harder to stay hidden if they were to hunt in a clearing were there was not much coverage for them to hide and stalk in. When he was done showing her the hunting crouch the black and white molly relaxed herself and went into a rough hunting position before trying to readjust herself into a more comfortable easy fitting way. It wasn't unlike her usual crouch she did whenever she was lying in the clearing watching others but it was different and a bit more muscle memory due to the fact that she had to focus on not being too loud and give away the sense of prey. The hunting crouch and position wasn't too hard as she was a master at keeping herself unnoticed to the oblivious clanmates; prey would be different though as they were out for survival just as much as her.

"Like this Flintshard?" the molly asked glancing up at him.

She felt slightly silly and felt a bit out of position a bit as she was not used to having to keep her position off the ground and her tail kind of just stuck out behind her awkwardly as she did not know where on earth she was supposed to put it.

Flintshard watched as Crowpaw dropped into a hunting crouch, taking the moment to circle his apprentice and study her form. Hunting crouches could be a bit tough to learn at first - it was something that could only be improved by practice. Prey was much more sensitiveness to things than cats were - it was hard to tell where the slightest mistake that would set off a prey could be. So while Crowpaw's stance wasn't perfect...It would do. "Very good," he praised - although it was in his normal monotone - as he gave a slight nod of his head. "Now, lets put it into action - see if you can find something to catch," he said, tasting the air as he did so as he spared a glance around. Certainly there would be prey around and it was time to see how well Crowpaw was in action - where it truly mattered.

Crowpaw held still as she watched her mentor from the corner of her eye scan her form over with a critical eye to see if her form needed more work or if she was okay. Flintshard of course was not a praising type of cat and didn't speak much so she wasn't expecting much of a reply from him but at least he nodded so she was okay. When he spoke up about putting her crouch into practice she licked her jaws to hide her nervousness and stood up. Her jaws parted some to see if she could scent anything nearby. It probably would be best to go into the woods a little more instead of being in the clearing where there was no where to hide from prey or predator alike. She made her way from the clearing where the training grove was and went a bit deeper into the woods in a random direction; still scenting the air she tried to pick something; anything up.

She scented a mouse nearby; or she figured it was a mouse from the familiar scent that was jumbled with the scent of the wild woods around them and the new scent of territory she was not familiarized with yet. Taking a breath the black and white molly padded closer and crouched; making sure to try and stay in the best position possible in her hunting crouch. Even to her own ear she could hear the soft steps of her paws on the snow; she was not familiar with being sneaky when it came to keen ears like prey. And she knew immediently as she started stalking the mouse in the brush up ahead that she was screwed. Her heart was hammering just as badly as the poor creature she was trying to catch and she knew she would disappoint herself and Flintshard if she didn't buck up and catch this rodent.

It was either her mind being too filled with needing to catch this mouse that she did not realize she was not in the proper position for the wind to carry her scent away from the prey, or it could have been her heavy pawsteps on the snowy ground that gave her away but she knew as soon as she drew near enough and saw that small brown furball dash across her path she was in trouble. The mouse heard her and scented her before she could get close enough to pounce and she found herself giving chase but unfortunately the mouse had a better head start and all Crowpaw managed was to make a pounce in a cloud of cold snow spray that left her feeling like a fool and claws digging into cold ground beneath her. Her amber eyes watched the squeaking creature run away in the distance and felt her ears droop slightly. Foxdung! She knew it should have been an easy catch for her but apparently hunting was not as easy as everyone made it out to be. She was using her head more than she was her instincts. Her gaze went hesitently towards were she knew Flintshard would be waiting for her empty pawed and probably disappointed as she was.

Crowpaw's Stats

Crowpaw used 5 SP with no catch

75/80 SP
20/20 HP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

Flintshard watched as Crowpaw stepped away, settling down into a sitting position as he took small mental notes of how she was going about it. He wasn't expecting perfection - far from it. For all her knowledge, it meant squat in a true situation and this was her first attempt. She was young, inexperience...And StarClan knew that even he missed prey every once in a while. So as he watched her, he did his best to take notes of what he could as she disappeared from sight. He knew he could follow her, to get a better idea on how she was doing but he wasn't the most...Skillful at being quiet when it came to Leaf-bare - his large paws made diligent steps much harder. There was always a risk of him being the factor and he wasn't going to let that be an issue.

So he waited, quietly keeping his ears perked as he did his best to locate prey, to have an idea of where he ought to head towards once Crowpaw had returned. Finally, there was the sound of pawsteps as she stepped back into the clearing...No prey with her. A failure then. Ah well. Flintshard pushed himself to his paws, swishing his tail in acknowledgement. "Emptied pawed? ...Do not take it to hard, Crowpaw. That was your first attempt. Failure is inevitable, take solace that this is the type of failure that you can grow from. Hunting is not meant for everybody, some take to it...Better. Easier. Hunting is not a strong suit of mine, I do not catch every prey I come across and I do not expect any different from you. If you do fail, try to learn what you did wrong...So that you can work to avoid that mistake the next time," he explained, twitching an ear. It was stupid and pointless to disappointed in Crowpaw's efforts when he was no better at hunting at times. He could only teach her so much. It was up to her to take the basics and learn - perhaps find her own way of hunting. "Give it another shot. I'll do some hunting of my own - but do remember not to stray far from the clearing...And if you see anything dangerous, do be sure to call for me. As that will be a failure you cannot learn from."

With those parting words, he turned and headed off on his own - making sure not to wander to far from where Crowpaw had done her hunting. It was better to stick close and risk running into each other than to be on the other side of the clearing if there was any sign of a predator. He tasted the air, coming to a stop as he glanced around. There were many scents, but one stuck out to him more than the others. A frog. His whiskers twitched, dropping into a crouch as he drew himself forward towards it. He wouldn't dare say he had a...Favorite prey - any were suitable for him, but frogs had always had a...Special place in his heart due to Sparkfire's strong dislike toward them. It always meant more for him in the rare moments the two got a chance to chat over prey. Finally he spotted the frog - a dull brown against the blinding white. He drew forward, mindful to keep his pawsteps light to avoid crunching the snow beneath him until he found himself close enough to leap. The frog didn't even have time to move a muscle before the large tom was on top of it, large paw slamming down onto its back to quickly kill it. He leaned down and gently picked it up, a small happy huff escaping him as he turned and padded back toward the clearing to find a place to hide it until he and Crowpaw were done for the day.

Flintshard succeeded catching a frog, costing 5 stamina.

Flintshard:
100/100 HP
276/280 SP

The member 'Honey Badger' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Crowpaw's ears perked up slightly at his words. Flintshard was right after all; this was her first time putting knowledge to physical use. She could be smart and logical all she wanted but until she physically began doing what she spoke about and knew about she wouldn't be able to expect anything less then failure in the beginning. Being the first lesson Crowpaw knew she had a long way to go; hunting should never be that hard but some took to it better than others. That was okay, she had to keep her head held high and not get too disappointed. If anything, even if she did not come back to camp with fresh kill like Flintshard probably would she would still come back with some kind of knowledge and ideas on how to train herself better. Now that she was an apprentice she had more range to work with. She had others she could look towards to help her not just her own mentor. Kits could not help much so her fellow apprentices; especially those older than her already would be able to give her a few pointers at least whenever Flintshard wouldn't be able to. She didn't find it appealing to go in search for other's company as she was much a solitary cat but if she were to get better she had to train harder and be more reliant.

"I won't stray far Flintshard." she agreed softly and gave him a nod. Watching him leave to hunt for himself the black and white molly straightened her shoulders and looked around her with her jaws parted to scent more prey. She would not stop until she got it right; until she caught something at least. Even if it was one small thing that she could bring back to camp.

With that in mind she trotted further into the forest; she had very faint scents all around her but the clearest one was a squirrel; it wasn't a common thing for Shadowclan to hunt squirrels but this one was in her scent range and in her territory. So she figured she'd go for it anyways; anything was better than nothing. She wouldn't pass up the chance to catch something period to bring back to camp. She couldn't get her footing right yet again or it was her flashing tail as a give away. She didn't even get close enough to even pounce with this one. She cursed under her breath and rose to her paws as she watched it scurry away. She needed to get out out of her head and start thinking smarter on how to catch things. Everyone had a different way that they hunted; whichever one suited them more comfortable to be able to catch prey; Crowpaw just needed to figure her own style out. So, instead of going after more prey for the time being she crouched on the cold ground and started from the beginning to try and get her crouch and stalking skills to a better stage so that she'd be able to hunt.

Crowpaw Stats

Crowpaw used 5 SP with no catch

70/80 SP
20/20 HP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

It wasn't hard to find a spot to hide his frog, safe from any prying eyes until he and Crowpaw were ready to head back. As he stepped away from the little hole he had created in the snow, he took in a deep breath. His eyes scanned the nearby snow-dusted undergrowth, turning in the direction of the scent of a mouse. Mice were often small and rarely enough of a meal for him but with the plenty of kits and apprentices, perhaps it would be a suitable meal and it seemed better to try his paw at bringing in a variation of prey - not just frogs even if they were his prey of choice. His eyes scanned over the snow until he spotted the dim gray color of a mouse - nearly blending in with the snow in the shade. But it wasn't enough to not be notice by his watchful eyes as he stalked forward, carefully circling around it to avoid it catching a whiff of his scent. With a soft grunt, he threw his weight backwards, then forward as he sprung from the shadows - claws bared as he landed skillfully on the mouse and ended its life.

Another catch. It seems things were looking up for him. He huffed as he leaned down to gently pick it up, turning to go hide it with the frog.

Flintshard succeeded catching a mouse, costing 5 stamina.

Flintshard:
100/100 HP
270/280 SP

The member 'Honey Badger' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 6