Rise 'n shine, it's huntin' time (c)

"Copperpaw, let's hunt!" Curlyfluff whispered in an excited manner as he prodded his apprentice's sleeping side. Padding out of the apprentice den and making sure not to wake any of the other resting bodies, the curly-coated tom made his way over to the freshkill pile. Grabbing a vole for Copperpaw and a mouse for him, he swiftly ate his breakfast. He couldn't wait to get started with their training and had decided that they'd go on a hunt for today's session. Hopefully they prey would be out an about enough for them to get some actual training in.

Copperpaw was jerked awake by the thumping of paws on the ground. The next thing she knew, a paw was prodding her side and her mentor's voice sounded close to her ear. She flinched and shrank away from the paw, before nodding and getting to her paws. To be honest, she was both scared and excited for her training to officially start. Whatever happened, she could only hope for the best outcome, though something told her she was going to fail miserably at everything. After thanking Curlyfluff for the vole and finishing her breakfast, Copperpaw waited impatiently for the tom to lead the way out of camp.

Glad that she’d caught up with him quickly, he waited for her to finish her meal before they went on their way. Padding out of camp with his apprentice at his side, they began through the wooded territory.

“I thought today we might do some hunting,” he began with a purr. “Is there anything specific you’d like to learn about first?” Curlyfluff wondered with a smile. There was so just much that he could teach her and so he’d figured that if she had anything in particular that she wanted to learn about hunting they’d might as well start with that.

Curlyfluff's relaxed aura soothed Copperpaw's nerves to a certain extend. Maybe things won't be as bad as she had thought... "We could start with the introduction of the best places to find prey? I should get to know the territory better, and that includes where to find the most prey, right? After that you can teach me how to track the location of prey around me," Copperpaw answered immediately. If there was one good thing about having stayed up the whole night before thinking about her training, it was that she was sure about what she should be doing. Hopefully.

In all honesty, Curlyfluff was surprised that his apprentice had replied in such a detailed manner, considering her lack of words during their other interactions. Of course, he couldn’t help but be proud that she’d begun to warm up to his presence more, seeing as though they’d be doing lots of training together now and days.

“Well, as for where to find prey…” he paused for a moment to think before continuing. “See that shrub over there?” Slowing his pace to a halt, the lilac tom pointed with his muzzle in the direction of a bush that sat near the base of a tree. “Lots of times you’ll find mice and other rodents sitting outside places that they can quickly run and hide under. Birds on the other-paw; when they come down from the trees they tend to be more in the open, but they’re quick to escape from your grasp. Squirrels are usually found near the bottom of tree trunks and they can climb back up the tree extremely fast so you have to be stealthy yet quick,” he continued, pointing to the spots that he spoke of. There was so much to go over with her that he didn’t want to overwhelm her and wasn’t quite sure how to decide what to teach her now versus later. Well, might as well just keep going while he was at it.

“As far as territory locations, you have the Stony Hollow, the Owl Tree, and Snakerocks,” he mewed, turning in the direction of each landmark. “I suppose you could hunt at the Owl Tree and Snakerocks, but honestly the amount of predators often outweighs the prey so we try to stay away if possible. Oh, and apprentices aren’t allowed at Stony Hollow, okay? If that stone floods… let’s just say RiverClan will be the ones to fish out your body.” Just the thought of any of his clanmates drowning made his pelt shiver and he hoped no-cat ever faced such a fate. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he met her gaze with a smile. Hopefully he wasn’t vomiting too much information on her.

“Tracking prey isn’t too difficult, at least I don’t think. It’s certainly a learned skill but I know you’ll pick it up quickly!” he purred happily. “Most of the time I fee like the easiest way is to find their scent trail. After that, if it’s fresh enough, it’s fairly easy to follow and then you’ll usually be able to hear if anything is actually nearby. Of course, you’ll have to learn how to differentiate each type of prey’s scent, but it’s not too difficult and we can start learning now!” Lifting his maw to the air, he stood still for a few moments, his whiskers twitching back and forth. ”I smell a squirrel and the scent doesn’t seem to be too old. Are you able to pick it up?” he questioned, turning back to Copperpaw. He wouldn’t be offended or anything if she wasn’t able to smell it and wished that he was able to find a good way to describe the scent, but he knew that just finding it herself would be the best form of teaching, at least right now.

Copperpaw listened to everything attentively. Of course, mice and shrews would stick close to bushes and burrows, it was only common sense, and birds could obviously get away quickly from her if they flew, and same goes for squirrels' climbing. She didn't say anything, just listened and chanted everything over and over in her head. Owl Tree, Snakerocks, Stony Hollow... don't go to Stony Hollow... got it. Hopefully.

At Curlyfluff's next question, Copperpaw obediently opened her mouth and took in the scents around her. There was the usual scent of dew, grass and a few faint scents of what she thought was mice. But it smells different from the mice I know, she thought to herself. Catching onto the freshest scent, she quickly realized that it belonged to a squirrel. But yet again, it smelled slightly off from the squirrel she knew... Oh, it was the blood, isn't it? Warrior always bring back prey that's been killed, so there's blood-scent mixed with the fresh-kill's, but if they're alive there wouldn't be any blood-scent, right? Proud to have solved that mystery, Copperpaw nodded to show that she had picked up the squirrel's scent.

Watching as she attempted to catch the scent, he nodded in approval she looked back to him. "Good, I'm glad you found it. Now-" before he was able to continue, he shut his maw and pointed with his tail past from shrubs in front of them. Sitting at the base of tree not more than a few foxlengths away was a squirrel, most likely the one in which the blood scent had been coming from. He quickly noticed a gash on one of its legs which made him assume that it had already been injured by something else, perhaps one of their clanmates. Crouching down, he bunched up his haunches and crept forward. While it technically would've been good practice for his apprentice, he wanted her to be able to experience a true hunt; not one that was practically already caught for them. Racing forward, he extended his claws and leapt at the fuzzy tailed rodent. Landing perfectly on it, he bit down onto the back of its neck and finished it off with a swift bite. Luckily, he'd been able to catch it off guard just enough for it to not have any time to escape up the tree.

Thanking StarClan for the prey, he padded back over to Copperpaw. Burying it under a nearby bush, he turned back to his apprentice. "Let's find you something to catch now!" he purred happily. "This time I won't say anything. You try and find a prey scent and scout it out," he mewed with a nod, letting the young molly take over for a bit.


Curlyfluff attempted to catch a squirrel and was... successful! -3 SP.

Curlyfluff
SP: 117/120

The member 'Ice' has done the following action : Dice roll

---

'Hunting Dice' : 6

Copperpaw watched Curlyfluff's stance with intense focus. Tail and belly held just above the ground, hindlegs tucked in, leaning forward when stalking... she tried to remember the stance to the best of her ability, desperately trying to catch the information that threatened to slip away as fast as it had come to her. The perfectly aimed pounce... quick snap of the neck... her attention switched unwillingly to the squirrel. It's head laid at an angle, which she now realized was never how it was supposed to be but rather a sign of having been killed. It's fur was fuzzy, like a kit's. Was that squirrel a baby? Where was it's parents? Any queen would have been horrified to find it's kit killed and eaten by hunters, perhaps they shouldn't be...

No, she was making a fool of herself again. She shifted her paws as Curlyfluff continued to talk. She had missed most of what he had said, only catching the last few words. From what she could guess, he wanted her to try and catch something, right? Tasting the air again, Copperpaw picked up a fresh trail. Was that... mouse? Or perhaps vole? It was earthy, and a bit... warm? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the pale tortoiseshell dropped into a crouch as she had been taught and crept towards the scent. Tail still... belly above ground... she nervously ticked off the list in her mind as she made her way closer to the prey, adjusting her stance as she went along. At last, she was within pouncing distance of the creature. It was a mouse after all.

Copperpaw took a deep breath and pounced, her front paws outstretched to catch the prey. Ferns loomed over her path, and roots jutted out to block her path. The trees seemed to close in around her, their falling leaves dancing before her eyes. Fear closed around her heart as her hindleg hit against a root, and she found herself tumbling forward in a blur of grey and cream. She scurried to find her footing in time and hooked the mouse up, before killing it swiftly with a bite to it's neck. Shame flooded her; it was no secret that of all her siblings, she was the one that looked the most like a Windclan cat. Until now, it never occurred to her that it might show in her hunting as well. Will I never hunt as a Thunderclan cat? It no longer mattered that she had caught the mouse; it was a messy catch and she knew it.

The member 'Copperbeans' has done the following action : Dice roll

---

'Hunting Dice' : 4