Brave New World [Open to Any/All]

Watching how everyone else reacted to the situation had Bloodkit thinking that he probably liked Firekit the most, at least in situations like these. He saw, as well as knew, the potential for butting heads with his sister from time to time too, however. They were similar enough that it made things fun, but could also make working together difficult. She fitted her name though. Never a dull moment with Firekit. Redfall began to give instructions and Bloodkit's attention snapped onto him. In silence he drank in his every movement and tried his absolute best to look the same as Redfall. So his plan had worked! He was getting lessons early. So were his sisters. Bloodkit wasn't used to the feeling of his legs bunched up beneath him, but he forced his body to obey. He didn't care that it made him ache for now. His tail pointed straight out behind him rather than go straight up, imagining that he was in tall grass. No point in crouching low if your tail gave you away like a flag. Bloodkit was so intently focused on Redfall's instructions that Adderkit was able to walk right inot him and he didn't even notice her approach. It startled him enough that he scrambled forward and lost the hunting crouch that he worked so hard to get into. His ears rotated back a bit when his eyes landed on Adderkit.

He opened his mouth to growl or hiss at her, but he stopped himself short. This isn't Adderkit's fault, He scolded himself mentally. This was my fault for not being observant... At that thought, he took in a breath to calm down and his ears pricked upright into their normal position. That said, the anger still burned inside him that he did his best to dismiss. He moved away from Adderkit as casually as he could, though the anger in his lashing tail was probably enough of a giveaway that he wasn't happy with her. Without another word, he crouched low and again tried to mimic Redfall's movements.

"Is this at least... acceptable?" He asked the red tom. He didn't think he'd get it immediately, but boy was he trying.

Wolfcall's eyes followed the kits as they all approached Redfall. He couldn't hear their tiny voices from here, but from their stances, the way they all attempted to crouch at the same time, it was clear that they were trying to learn - from the looks of it, hunting. The deputy nodded in approval, making a mental note to praise Redfall when he got the opportunity. The kits had only just started coming out of the nursery - it was good that one of the first warriors they met was keen on showing them the ropes.

He observed their mini training session, watching as Adderkit careened right into Bloodkit, the tom turning with obvious anger in his body language. Wolfcall frowned, flexing claws into the bark for a deeper hold as he leaned forward, ready to intervene and hand out punishments if the kits started fighting. But his son composed himself and didn't retaliate, and Wolfcall let himself ease back into his more casual position. Interesting.

Redfall rose, walking towards Mistkit. He tilted his head and adjusted her stance with a paw, pushing her back and chest closer to the ground. "That's better. Always keep low to the ground." He glanced at Bloodkit as another kit bumped into him - Adderkit, wasn't it? The two littermates exchanged annoyed glanced before Bloodkit settled into the crouch. He studied the kit with narrowed eyes. "Well, it's better than Mistkit's," he purred, shooting a teasing glance at the kit. Redfall smirked slightly. "Kidding. It's pretty good for a first try, but like all things, it'll get better with practice." He nodded towards Bloodkit's haunches. "You're putting too much weight on your back paws, which is making your steps heavier and harder to control. It feels weird when the first few times, but you have to learn to spread your weight onto all four paws, evenly."

A twinkle in his eye, Redfall gathered a pile of leaves with his tail. "Now: stalking." He sank into the crouch, stalking forwards. "It's better to stalk slowly than incorrectly. Keep your steps quiet, tail low, and muzzle off the ground - really, anything to make sure the prey doesn't notice you." He stalked towards the pile of leaves, keeping an eye trained on the kits. Showing off was... a guilty pleasure of his. Once he was a reasonable distance away, he leapt into the pile of leaves, feeling them crackle and splinter beneath his paws. He stood up, swept the pile back together, and turned to the kits. "For the leap, ease your weight onto your back legs, and then spring forwards. If you don't make it on to your prey, run as fast as you can to try to get it." He shook leaf dust off his pelt and grinned.

Adderkit's tail twitched curiously as the warrior critiqued the others' stances. They'd looked fine to Adderkit, though clearly a hunting crouch was something an adult would know more about. Tail low, muzzle up... Making sure she was as far from the other kits as she could be while remaining in earshot of the ginger tom, Adderkit made another attempt in replicating his crouch. So, she had to keep her tail still. That made more sense than waving it. She lifted her head up, looking ahead. She didn't want to bump into Bloodkit again, or anyone for that matter. Though, she had to admit it was satisfying to see Bloodkit angry.

Focusing yet again on the warrior in front of her, she watched as he stalked towards the pile of leaves and pounced on it. Interesting. The leaves seemed to crumble and tear beneath his paws. Were his claws unsheathed? Would it make a difference if they weren't? Maybe she'd test that out on some beetles later. For the time being, however, she kept her little claws unsheathed and began stalking forward like the warrior had. She moved rigidly, like a mantis trying not to be noticed by a fly. Almost too rigidly, though Adderkit didn't know that. Or care, to be honest. Her eyes were trained solely on the disrupted pile of leaves that she was steadily getting closer to. Was she allowed to jump now? She had no way of knowing, she'd never pounced on anything before so she had no clue how far her jumps were. Mentally shrugging it off, she pounced. Or tried to, at least. Her tail swished awkwardly, creating drag and slowing her down. She landed just short of the leaves, posture uneven and tail curled to the side in a rather uncomfortable position. She sneezed indignantly, grabbing a leaf with one tiny claw and tearing it up. Her failure at pouncing already forgotten, she watched in keen interest as the veins of the leaf pulled away from the waxy skin. Mental note: Do different leaves tear differently? Test that out later. As she pulled the leaf apart, she watched for any signs of sentience. The leaf obviously didn't move, save for the occasional twitch thanks to the wind. Leaves apparently couldn't feel pain, answering Adderkit's earlier question. She let go of the torn-up leaf and returned to her spot, watching to see what the other kits would do next.

Much like many things in life, hunting was all about observation. It was about waiting for the right moment, letting time pass by, remaining out of sight- the watcher, not the watched- and then finally putting together everything you'd learned. And it was for precisely this reason that Firekit remained motionless as she watched her fellow kits and the older warrior (who seemed to be having fun, at least). She could try, of course- to display her own amateur attempt at a hunter's crouch- but what would be the point of displaying it without first learning the technique? Far better to listen for now, let each piece of information slide into place, and then finally make an attempt. Of course it was better to try and fail than to never have tried-- but for Firekit? It was far better to try and succeed. So like a true hunter- she waited, and she watched.

Aside from Redfall's observations on stance?, the kit thought, her amber eyes narrowed with focus, Mistkit's mistake was visibility. Too easy to see; the position doesn't look natural. Adderkit's and Bloodkit's, awareness. Too focused on objective and not enough on surroundings, resulting in collision. (Admittedly, it was a very funny collision- and she gave the two of them a sympathetic smile- but she'd seen it coming a mile off. Saying something wouldn't have sunk the lesson home, though.) And Redfall- well... he's showing off, which means his technique is less natural than it should be. Still, best out of everyone. Stance- tail low but above ground, head beneath shoulders, low profile, even weight to lower sound. Minimise sound, minimise visibility, maintain awareness. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Do not fail.

So Firekit took a step forward, locked eyes with Redfall to silently draw his attention-- and then dropped low, her tail just barely above the ground, her weight spread across all four paws and her ears flattened, but alert. Her breaths were quiet, almost imperceptible, and only the pads of her paws touched the ground despite her low stance. It wasn't quite a perfect attempt- her balance was more suited to a larger cat than the small Firekit (an unfortunate result of emulating Redfall's technique almost exactly)- but she'd followed the advice to the letter (and integrated her own observations into it as well), and it showed. She took a few whisper-quiet, feather-soft steps forward, gently shifting her weight to her back legs as her paws prepared to pounce, her technique an almost flawless echo of Redfall's-- and then...

... Firekit stopped, just shy of the pounce itself. She- didn't know this next part. Redfall made it seem so effortless, but Adderkit's attempt had just missed the leaves-- so clearly, it wasn't something as easy as it looked. And what she had seen taught her little on the power behind the jump, the angle of entry, the landing force and follow-up; all things that came not with observation, but practice. And open practice would make a fool of her far faster than anything else. And a stalk without a pounce may have been like a stem without a flower, but it was still a fine stem. So instead, she simply tilted her head and asked quietly, uncertainty seeping through, "... how was that?"

Mistkit flinched, wanting to retort. Sighing instead, she placed her chest closer to the ground. Her tail swished gently back to a lower position. Her haunches bunched up as she prepared to pounce...A flying leap. A glint of claws. Crunch. Miskit’s eyes lit up. “So this is why you like leaves so much?” She turned to Bloodkit. “Interesting...” she mused, before poking another leaf with a claw. A tiny tear was created among the green. The leaf she had just shredded was green too. Examining the rest of the leaves that had floated to the ground. Hmm...different shades of green?

Bloodkit immediately adjusted his stance and shifted his weight forward. Balance the weight evenly? He felt like he understood how that might feel, but putting into practice was another matter entirely. Bloodkit did his very best to measure the distance between each paw and shift them around accordingly. Once he was done, his paws formed an almost perfect rectangle shape beneath him. The feeling was both odd.... as well as sturdy. A movement ahead of him had him looking up to see Adderkit pounce just short of the leaf pile. She attacked the leaves anyway, which made him chuckle a bit behind a closed maw.

While he waited for his turn to kill the leaves, he mentally reminded himself of his tail. Straight out it went. He lowered his head until his neck, shoulders, back and tail were in a line. It was a very odd feeling, but a glance at his shadow made him at least fairly sure he was doing what Redfall instructed. The muscles in his untrained body ached a bit from the stance, but the more he glanced at his shadow, the more confident he felt that what he did was right. Why was this painful? His legs shuttered every now and then from the effort of holding what he felt was an appropriate hunter's pose.

Once all of the kits had gone.... except Firekit who seemed to have lost her nerve, Bloodkit stalked forward and focused all of his attention on the leaves. He moved slowly, remembering that slowly was better than incorrectly. That at least made sense. His eyes never moved from the leaf pile, and his underdeveloped kit ears were as forward-pricked as they could be. He really felt like he ought to do more than just leap from one spot... a running start? All Redfall could do was tell him that it wasn't right... so Bloodkit tried it.

He kicked off of the ground and ran forward a few strides. He felt the exact moment that he lost the balanced form. He mentally scolded himself before he leaped, successfully allowing the momentum to carry him into the leaves with an explosion. Despite hitting his target... despite putting his claws through a few leaves in one go.... Bloodkit growed to himself and stalked almost furiously out of the leaf pile.

"I had it!" He growled to himself. He was irritated with himself enough that he scarcely heard Mistkit speak to him. Mousedung! I had it! He mentally scolded himself, not daring say that word in front of an adult lest he be punished.

"I'm sorry Redfall," He lowered his eyes to the ground and plopped his rump down. "I think I had the form you were talking about.... my shadow looked right. But I lost it. How do you keep it while moving fast?" His claws gouged the earth, furious with himself for not getting it right.

Willowkit, finally deciding to peek out of the Nursery, made a curious noise as she watched Bloodkit attack the leaves. What was he doing? Curiously, she began to head closer, ears pricked, before Bloodkit’s yelling startled her and she leapt back. That was strange... What was happening? Did she miss something?

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