Beginner's Luck [Closed]

Brindlewhisker sat in front of the prickly gorse wall that encased the camp, her thick fur bushed out against the chilly wind that buffeted the half-frozen landscape. Today she began the adventure of training her first apprentice, and she was rather eager to begin the experience- despite how surprised she had been whenever Ashstar had appointed Hollowpaw as her apprentice. Narrowing her eyes slightly against the sharp, icy wind, she sniffed the air quickly- hopefully something would be drawn from it's burrow so Hollowpaw could at least begin practicing and working on his hunting technique. "It'll be hard learning to hunt in Leaf-Bare, but the experience should help him in the long run." She reflected, twitching her ear in annoyance as the wind picked up once more. Looking over at the small gap in the sharp thorns of the gorse-wall, Brindlewhisker settled down more comfortably as she waited for the small dark tom while she began to mull over what would be the best starting point.


ooc) Okay so this topic can double as a patrol and brushing up on Battle/Hunting system. Tell me what you need to learn (if you need to learn anything at that) and I can easily help you.

ooc: It would be great to do a hunting patrol and then perhaps a little bit of battle training? (I don't remember the last time I practiced it xD

Hollowpaw was more than pleased that he got to go out on his first patrol today. He was almost bristling with excitement to begin his training and when he spotted Brindlewhisker, his mentor, he padded over with a grin painted onto his jaws. "Hey," he called, slowing down as he reached her. Today, luckily, the new apprentice was in a good mood, though if he was ever in a bad mood - which he was fairly often - he'd probably be a right grump. Sarcastic, moody and stubborn. In all honesty, however, he was stubborn anyways.

He looked up at Brindlewhisker with a gleam in his eye. "What are we doing today?" he asked, cheerfully.

Brindlewhisker looked down at Hollowpaw; relieved to see that her apprentice was a rather passive young tom- if she had gotten a cat like Vulturekit as her apprentice, she wouldn't of known what to do. "We can head towards Fourtrees; I don't want to take an untrained apprentice anywhere near the Riverclan border with how tense things still are." She quickly decided after taking a brief glance at Hollowpaw's eager, still kit-like face. "If we ran into a hostile Riverclan patrol we'd be goners." She added silently, ear twitching worriedly. "We're going to start with a little exploration of the territory, and maybe try hunting if we can come across anything." Brindlewhisker finally mewed as she rose to her paws and gave herself a quick shake, before beginning to pad away from the shelter of the prickly barrier. Looking back at Hollowpaw, she flicked her tail to beckon the young dark tom forward. ""It's going be quite cold once we get out on the moor since we have nothing to protect us from the wind." She warned as another gust of wind buffeted the sparse grass that remained on the moor, plastering her long, thick fur to her side.

Hollowpaw waited for a reply and when she finally did, he stretched his legs and stood up, nodding. "Awesome!" was the only word he said as he followed his mentor out into the Windclan territory. I am, after all, a Windclan cat, so the wind shouldn't bother me, he thought rather arrogantly to himself, though he said nothing and just walked out, padding behind Brindlewhisker.

Brindlewhisker stifled a huff of amusement at the way Hollowpaw's chest puffed out slightly, although she made no remark; whenever you become an apprentice, you think you can take on the entire world. Leading the way, she made sure to follow a more sheltered path between the ridges of the hills- it wouldn't do her any good if Hollowpaw got a chill on his first day out-, she lead the way towards Fourtrees, but kept a safe distance away from the Gorge. The ground steadily sloped upwards to a rather high ridge that overlooked the deep chasm that was the Gorge, while Fourtrees also rose up as a faint green-brown mass in the distance. "See that?" Brindlewhisker questioned, using her ears to the point to where the ground fell away into what appeared to be nothing, "That's the Gorge; the border between our territory and Riverclan's. It's very dangerous piece of territory; many Warriors and Apprentices alike have fallen or gotten injured there- never go there without a Warrior." She warned, a pang of remorse flickering within her as she recalled the horrible incident that had taken place there only a few moons ago. " I would take you closer so you could really see what it's like, but with tensions so high, I don't want to risk having to deal with a Riverclan patrol." She mewed, gazing back down at Hollowpaw; hopefully he would remember her warning about the dangerous strip of territory. Pausing to taste the air, she was surprised to see that there was lingers of prey-scent within the area; perhaps the river kept the surrounding territory thawed enough to lure all sorts of prey close?

Prodding Hollowpaw's shoulder with a gentle paw, Brindlewhisker quickly scanned the rigid hills with a new found interest- this would be a good place for Hollowpaw to start with his training! " There seems to be quite a bit of prey nearby- this is the perfect place for me to assess how much you know." She mewed with a flick of her tail, her attention now solely focused on the young tom. "Try to see if you can scent anything nearby and then track it down. If you think you can catch it, go ahead and try." She added, backing away from the young tom several paces.

Hollowpaw wrinkled up his nose in annoyance as a cold wind ruffled up his fur in all the wrong directions. When the two cats entered the more sheltered area, the sleek black tom paused to smooth his fur back down again. He looked up and saw that Brindlewhisker was already walking still, so Hollowpaw got back to his paws and followed after her.

Once they were further down, Hollowpaw saw the large scar in the ground, the one that his mentor called The Gorge. It was deep and they couldn't see the bottom from where they stood. The apprentice was about to slink back but he instead stood up taller - though made no move forward. He also saw Fourtrees, a brown-green smudge in the distance.

Glancing at his mentor, who was currently warning him not to go to the gorge without a warrior.
He sighed quietly and nodded. "I won't." Though he was fairly curious about what was going on between Windclan and Riverclan. He turned back and opened his mouth to taste the air, just like Brindlewhisker had. He opened his eyes wider at the different scents entering his jaws.

He smelt something fairly familiar to what was sometimes in the prey pile and he crouched low, stalking forward.

Brindlewhisker watched Hollowpaw with interest gleaming in her eyes as she continued to back away silently- she would only interfere as needed. Dropping into a half-crouch, she watched as the young tom sniffed at the air before dropping into a crouch and beginning to stalk through the rather cover-less moorland- at least the wind was definitely in their favor currently. "It'll be impressive if he manages to make his first catch on his first time out- it's been along while since we've had an apprentice that lucky." Brindlewhisker reflected with a twitch of her tail as she watched the young tom.

ooc) you can use the hunting system if you'd like, it doesn't really matter since this is just a patrol

Hollowpaw followed the scent that he recognised as rabbit. He licked his lips, continuing to get closer and closer to where the prey sat, unaware of the black cat hunting. The apprentice paused, wondering if he was close enough, before leaping.

Unfortunately, he had jumped just a little too slow, and rabbit was leaping across the ground, away from Hollowpaw. Cursing under his breath, he bounded forward, giving chase. The tom refused to let the prey beat him. He ran with ease, but the rabbit was also fast. Hollowpaw growled to himself, clearly irritated, but he saw an opportunity. There was a pile of rocks just ahead that might slow the rabbit down, and he would be able to catch up easier. He sped up, hoping to gain a little speed, and sure enough the rabbit ran to the rocks then tried to turn and bound the other way - except that the apprentice was blocking it's way. He leapt, landing on the terrified rabbits body, delivering a quick bite to the neck.

He gave a satisfied grin, picking the rabbit up in his jaws and making his way back to Brindlewhisker. The rabbit he'd caught was thin, but still had plenty of meat on it to fill a cat or two. He snorted, a hint of humour in his voice, "I was told rabbits don't have the best eyesight - and that much is clearly true." Dropping the rabbit at his mentors paws, he looked up to face her, waiting for her judgement on his hunt.

Brindlewhisker padded forward to meet her apprentice, a mrrow of amusement escaping her throat at Hollowpaw's words. "That was quite impressive," She relented, amusement heavy in her words. "But next time we go out we can work on a more graceful approach- your stalking technique was the only immediate flaw I saw." She mewed, glancing down at the rabbit's body with a flash of pride for Hollowpaw; she'd seen mentors struggle greatly with their apprentices, but thankfully Hollowpaw was shaping up to be a worth adversary. "We'll have to work on learning downwind approaches though- or else he'll be as out of place on the moor as a Shadowclan cat." She reflected with an absent twitch of her ear, briefly looking up at the grey sky. "Unless you're dying to see anything else, I suggest we start heading back to camp before that rabbit gets too cold- plus I'm sure you're eager to tell your denmates about your first catch." Brindlewhisker mewed, prodding the rabbits limp form with her forepaw.