A Quick Outing [Closed for Tyleca]

Leopardfang knew that Viperpaw was getting impatient. Her training was progressing perfectly, though with his deputy duties and his added head captaincy he had lately been a bit too busy to attend to her training like he ought to have. She was fiery and this would be an excellent trait that would serve her well in the future. Right now he just wanted to spend time with his daughter and apprentice and make sure she was getting on all right. And since his other daughter, Tigerpaw, had merely been lazing about instead of doing her chores, he would be bringing her along with them. Besides, he hadn't been able to see her training in action yet. "Viperpaw! Tigerpaw! Get up and get ready to go out." He meowed loudly into the apprentices' den as the day finished fading into night.

Viperpaw blinked the sleep out of her eyes when she heard Leopardfang's call. She stood up and arched her spine in a long stretch. She stood up and padded out of the apprentice's den with her natural quick pace, and walked over to Leopardfang. "Are we going to be doing some training?" she mewed.

Tigerpaw was much slower getting up. Her mentor was very, very lax and almost completely paws-off. Getting up at this hour was unheard of to the tabby apprentice. Dumb training with dumb family around the dumb territory... She was not an early riser, and she was in a pretty bad mood, but she kept her mouth shut all the same and instead looked at her sister and father with tired eyes.

Leopardfang was less than impressed with Tigerpaw's sluggishness. "Shape up, Tigerpaw. We have work to do." He turned back to Viperpaw and said in response, "Yes. It's finally newleaf, and that means prey will be coming out from hiding." He kept it short and started out of the camp, taking up a quick pace.

Viperpaw nodded quickly in understanding and followed, easily being able to keep up with Leopardfang's quick pace, despite her smaller size.

He carried on deep into the marshy territory, pausing only when the prey scent grew sufficiently strong. He held his tail up in a silent command to halt, then turned to look at his two daughters. Tigerpaw had obviously been dragging her tail through the mud, and his ear flicked in irritation. Leopardfang shook his head and didn't bother addressing it; she could learn her lesson when she had to groom it out herself. "Alright. This is a good place to start. Let's split up and hunt solo for a bit, then meet at the Burnt Sycamore at moonhigh. Be careful, ok?" He meowed, a rare moment of concern showing through his stony exterior. "With the prey comes rogues, badgers, dogs, and foxes as well. I couldn't live with myself if I knew I left you alone with one of any of them around. And keep an eye out for twoleg contraptions, you never know if those fox-hearts are hiding something dangerous." He flicked his tail and then headed off, lifting his nose in search of prey. Fear for his kits still clawed at the back of his mind, but he knew it was irrational.

Tigerpaw wasn't fully awake yet. Her father was clearly bothered at the thought of her and Viperpaw being out alone, and the way he mentioned foxes reminded him of the story he'd told her when she was still a kit. A fox had attacked her mother when Shimmerheart was an apprentice, and Leopardfang had taken a bad clawing to the face trying to protect her. That was how the deputy explained that ugly scar on his muzzle, anyway. She didn't know if it were true or not but she shrugged it off and set about her work after glancing tiredly at Viperpaw. The sound of a small lizard crawling through the mud caught her attention, and she crouched and stalked off in its direction.

Viperpaw listened intently. "Don't worry, I'll catch the biggest piece of prey you've ever seen!" she mewed as she turned away and followed a scent trail of a squirrel. She saw its fur after a few tail lengths of walking. She squatted and stalked, jumped, and landed on it with accuracy. After a little while, staying in the same area, she had caught the squirrel, one small lizard, and a frog. She tried her best to fit all of her prey in her jaws, or under her chin. Eventually she made it to the Burnt Sycamore right on time, moonhigh. She sat and waited for Leopardfang and Tigerpaw to reutrn. She was very curious to how much they had caught.

When Leopardfang finished, he was almost rushing to the meeting place. He carried with him a small snake, clenched at the neck between his teeth, and two lizard hanging by their tails. The snake had tried to bite him but wasn't quick enough to avoid his claws. The lizards were also somewhat tricky, but he had outsmarted them. Seeing Viperpaw, safe and with prey jumbled about her, was a huge relief. Except that Tigerpaw wasn't there. She always took her time with everything.

Speaking of Tigerpaw, she was trekking through the territory, both noisily and angrily. She'd screwed up her hunt because she missed a bird that let out a loud warning call, effectively scaring off all of the prey around her. The only thing she had to show for her effort was a little toad that she'd gotten before alerting the bird. She doubled back where she came from, giving up her hunt to retrieve her one measly kill. When she found the Burnt Sycamore where Viperpaw and Leopardfang were, she found that she couldn't look either of them in the eye.

Viperpaw saw Tigerpaw's measly catch and spoke to her in a sympathetic way. "Don't worry Tigerpaw, everyone has bad hunting days. Once I didn't catch anything but a small moth!" she chuckled.

The tabby kept the toad in her mouth to avoid having to speak. She was glad that Viperpaw was not getting stuck up about it. That would've really added insult to injury. Hopefully her father would be as forgiving. She plucked up the courage to hazard a look up at him, her tail flicking nervously.

Leopardfang looked down wordlessly at the toad. Had Redwhisker even taught her anything? He didn't know, maybe it would be better for him to take over Tigerpaw's training entirely. This wouldn't do at all, and it was obvious that even Tigerpaw knew that she had done poorly. But he still didn't say anything. This could be fixed with more time and more training. He wasn't really all that upset, just disappointed. His mate had been a natural hunter, and he was hoping maybe his whole litter would have received that gift. Instead he turned to Viperpaw and meowed to her after he set his prey down. "Altogether, I'd call this night successful. This will feed many cats. Let's head home." He picked up his prey again and headed back home, with the two in his wake. He was mostly preoccupied with pressing matters and said nothing else on the way.

Viperpaw nodded, grabbed her prey, and followed Leopardfang back to the camp.

OOC: Can you make her a battle training topic? Thats her last requirement.

OOC: Battle training is optional for members who already understand how it works. Would you still like to have it anyway, or should i ask Shadow to start your warrior ceremony?

OOC: Can you ask Shadow for her warrior ceremony instead? That would great!