Finchpaw's Assessment

"Finchpaw!" Fishstar called from the center of the camp.

Finchpaw, who had been relaxing in the apprentice's den, wasn't startled this time when Fishstar called her name from the main clearing. Her mentor was still sick and confined to the medicine cat's den, so the leader had seemingly taken over her training. Jumping out of her nest, the small she-cat stretched and gave her poofy fur a few taming licks, before trotting out into the camp with a smile. Golden eyes shining, Finchpaw purred a friendly greeting to her leader and meowed; "Hello Fishstar, what are we doing today?"

Fishstar gave a nod of greeting to Finchpaw, who was now her pseudo-apprentice, and rose to her paws. "It seems that it's high time for your assessment," she explained, glancing up at the sky to make sure there were no dark clouds in sight. It was as clear and blue as it could be. "Are you ready for it? It's the last step towards becoming a warrior."

Finchpaw's golden eyes widened, an equal mix of excitement and fear shining deep within. Jaws parted for a moment in her shock, the small gray and white tabby quickly shook herself and stood up a bit straighter, a bright smile adorning her face. "Y..yes I am Fishstar! Thank you!" She tried her best to contain her eagerness, but she couldn't quite stop her paws from shuffling in the sand. I can't believe this is happening! I've dreamed of this moment since I was a kit!

Fishstar nodded, and then led the apprentice out of the camp exit. The territory was already well on its way to being fully healed from the fire. Burnt tendrils of reeds and various other aquatic plants still littered the ground, but the rains recently had brought plenty of new stocks out of the soil to replace them. "Alright, so this is how it works. You have until sundown to catch as much prey as possible. I'll be watching and assessing you silently from somewhere hidden nearby, and when it's over, I'll decide if your hunting skills have been honed enough to allow you to become a warrior." The tabby turned away, but before disappearing into the vegetation, added, "Good luck, though I'm sure you'll do just fine." And then she was gone.

Finchpaw followed Fishstar dutifully out of camp, and listened carefully to her instructions.  The last thing she wanted to do was mess up....  With a firm, but excited, nod of agreement, she watched as Fishstar vanished into the reeds, and let out a nervous gasp she wasn't aware she had been holding.  Taking a deep, calming breath, the small silver tabby she-cat hissed a few reassuring words under her breath; "Okay Finchpaw, you can do this, it's just like hunting with Ospreypaw and Nutpaw,, it's going to be fine."; before setting off at a trot towards one of her favorite fishing spots.  I'll start off by getting a few fish, and then I'll go look for some land prey.  Fishstar would probably want to see my technique for both...

Quickly reaching her chosen spot, a sandy patch of beach that dropped off into a much deeper pool, the long-furred molly settled down into a comfortable fishing crouch and began to wait patiently. Soon enough, a fairly large carp came into range, and with a quick paw-swipe she scooped it out of the water, flying in a nice arc before it landed stunned on the ground, where she gave it a quick killing bite. This bite though, was quicker than most, and she didn't take a moment to closely examine her prey before pushing it behind her. She didn't need the sight of the expelled blood clouding her judgement right now.

After a minute, the ripples left from her attack quelled, and pretty soon a minnow swam into her vision. It was a very quick and easy catch, albeit not very impressive in size. Ah well, it will make a fun meal for a kit! It's so cute to see queens let their kits have a minnow all to their selves, their eyes get so wide and excited, as if they were offered the biggest trout on the prey pile! With a brief chuckle, Finchpaw added the small fish to the growing pile behind her, and continued to watch the water, waiting.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 5, 7