An Apprentice Already (For DaySteam)

As Nectarleap padded out of the warrior's den that day, it wasn't with the usual mission he had daily. That would be to hunt for his clan and patrol the borders, and probably hang out with his friends. But today he had a goal that was more important than mere hunting. He had an apprentice. He could still hardly believe it. It seemed like not to long ago that Silentstorm had taken him out of camp for the first time. Now instead of being the excited apprentice, he would be the wise mentor. Well, more like he would be the wise and also excited mentor. After all, who wouldn't be excited to be able to train an apprentice until they become a warrior? Though it did put a little bit of pressure on the young cat's shoulders, Nectarleap couldn't wait for training to start. He padded over to the apprentice den and stuck his head inside.
"Sootpaw, wake up. It's time for training," he whispered, trying to wake her up but let the other apprentices not be bothered. But if they were bothered, it was their own fault for sleeping in, so Nectarleap didn't worry too much about that. He pulled his head out of the apprentice den and paced slightly outside the entrance, waiting for the young she-cat to wake up so that they could begin.

Sootpaw groggily got up at the orders of her new mentor. She wasn't exactly used to being in the apprentice den, so she had been sleeping very lightly these last few days. As she got to her paws, her pale brown eyes blinking away the previous night's rest, she thought of what Nectarleap wanted from her. Are we going to hunt? Or patrol? Or fight? She definitely didn't want to fight. The thought of hurting another cat didn't seem very fun.

"What are we going to do today, Nectarleap?" she asked, yawning. She still felt small and young; she didn't at all feel like a Sootpaw. She still felt like a Sootkit.

Nectarleap smiled when Sootpaw woke up and stepped out of the apprentice den. Now they could start training. He remembered how his mentor and brother had started training for him, and decided to try that strategy for his apprentice now. The question that she asked provided a nice situation to try to do so. With an excited and warming smile, Nectarleap happily replied.
"Good morning, Sootpaw. I was thinking of letting you decide what kind of training we start out with. I can teach you to hunt, show you the borders, or we could start battle training. Which do you want to start out with?" The young warrior waited for the apprentice's response excitedly. He didn't really care which was chosen, because there was so much good things that could happen for all of them. It would be nice to see her catch her first prey, or be the one to inform her about enemy clans, or teach her her first battle moves.

Sootpaw watched Nectarleap with large eyes, not sure she had actually heard him correctly."You want me to choose?" The gray apprentice definitely had not expected that. What did she want to learn? Almost on cue, her belly rumbled. I forgot to eat before we left! realized Sootpaw, somewhat sheepishly. She laughed anxiously before mewing," I guess I want to hunt. The clan always needs food, right?" I know I need food, she said in her head. I wonder if I'll be a good hunter...

OOC: Do you want to use the hunting system?

IC: Nectarleap quietly purred in laughter when the apprentice's stomach rumbled. That would probably influence her choice. Sure enough, Sootpaw chose to go hunting. That was a good choice, she would probably catch her first prey in front of him.
"Hunting it is then. If you're even half as intimidating as your stomach, you'll be a master hunter in no time at all," the young warrior joked, leading his apprentice out into the moors of WindClan territory. Here was where all the real training would happen. "Sootpaw, I'm going to let you try to scent and catch a hare to see how you do, and then I'll teach you how. If you don't catch it don't doubt yourself, I don't expect you to, this is just to see how you do."

Catch a hare...Sootpaw closed her eyes, scenting the moorland around her. She was under a constant barrage of new scents and sounds here, and the assault on her senses would be much more bearable if she was only limited to hearing and smelling. A hare...Oh, there's one! The smell of a familiar food filled her nostrils as she was able to sense one not too out of the way from where she and Nectarleap were.

"I think I found one!" she declared, a little too loudly. Her ears flattened in embarrassment as she realized she might've scared away her first prey. She took a quick sniff. Nope, sure enough, the hare was still there, albeit a little bit fainter. "What do I do now?" This was different than the games she played inside the nursery.

Nectarleap grinned when Sootpaw announced that she had found one. This was going all too well. When she asked what to do next, the tricolored warrior replied with a prepared explanation.
"Good job scenting one. To catch one you have to first make sure that you are downwind of it, and if you aren't move so you are. Once you are downwind of it, crouch low so the heather hides you and your scent. Step as lightly as you can, so you are silent. Put almost none of your weight on your front paws. Once you are close enough to leap at it, which should be a couple of tail-lengths, leap at it. It should try to run away, but sprint after it. Once you are over it, bend down and kill it with a single bite to the back of the neck. If it is going to fast to do that, first hold it down with one of your paws. I know this seems complicated and is hard to take in, just using that information, try to catch it."
Nectarleap was aware of how much to take in that would be, and hoped that his apprentice didn't get overwhelmed by it all. Though he doubted she would catch one on her first try, he was confident she would catch at least one by the end of the lesson. Smiling reassuringly, he waited for her to try it out.

OOC: Just saw your question! Yeah, right after Sootpaw takes an L on this rabbit.

Sootpaw sat in silence as she tried to understand everything Nectarleap was telling her. When he was finished, she hadn't even registered that she had been told to try and catch the rabbit. She took a deep breath. The rabbit was atleast a few dozen tree-lengths to her right, so she started by immediately crouching to the ground, her belly scraping against the ground.

'Make sure you're downwind of it.' Was she downwind of it? It took her a couple of seconds to register what that meant. She was pretty sure she was. Scenting the rabbit had been difficult as it was. If the rabbit was upwind, it would have been much easier to smell.

'Step as lightly as you can, so you are silent. Put almost none of your weight on your front paws.' Sootpaw tried her best to follow these instructions, being as quiet as possible, taking a step only every few moments. This is going to take a bit of a while, she realized, still a little while away after it had been almost three minutes. She regretted starting so far away from the rabbit.

She cleared through a small gathering of bracken, before she finally saw her target. The rabbit was rather fat and short, grazing on a small clump of cowslip sitting at the edge of a clearing. She slowed her breathing down, blinking several times before she moved on. What she didn't notice was that the rabbit's burrow was only whisker-lengths from the rabbit itself, making it impossible to catch. Sootpaw stretched closer regardless, getting closer and closer with every step.

Finally, when she found it was ready, she leaped with all of her might, trying to get as close as possible. She unsheathed her claws, flaring them out. In a flurry of mud and dust, the rabbit was gone, and all Sootpaw had to show for it was a pawful of nothing. "So close!" she growled, scowling at the burrow the rabbit had escaped to.

OOC: Sorry for it being long!

Nectarleap watched closely as Sootpaw attempted to catch a hare. The first thing he noticed was that she didn't pad towards it before going into hunting mode, though he didn't correct her. Though this would take a lot longer, she still might catch it. After she had finally almost reached it, the warrior realized something that the apprentice obviously didn't. The rabbit was close to its burrow, so only a perfectly timed leap that only the most experienced warriors could have even a chance of doing right could catch that rabbit. But Nectarleap wanted to see how she did, so he kept silent. When Sootpaw finally jumped, he saw another mistake she made. First of all, she pushed her feet against the ground when she jumped, alerting the rabbit of her presence before she was even fully in the air. Plus, she flailed a little bit on her jump instead of a straight, neat, leap. She obviously didn't catch it. But still, Nectarleap was surprised by how good she did. He trotted over to her side.
"Nice try," the young warrior commented, "But there are a few mistakes you made. First off, you started your crawl a bit to far away from it. You want to start a bit closer. And always check to see how far a rabbit is away from its burrow before trying to catch it. And your leap should be a fluid motion from the ground, don't thump your feet against the ground when you jump. You should also not flare as much, and instead have a cleaner jump, like this." Nectarleap demonstrated the right way to leap before speaking again. "But that was a really good job for your first try. You can try again if you woyld like, or I can demonstrate if you would rather have me do that."

Sootpaw nodded at her mentor's corrections, her mind still somewhat scrambled from the reality of her failure. When his words finally hit her, she nodded a few times before deciding her answer. There's no way I wanna fail like that again. I'll just watch Nectarleap." Could I see you do it? I wanna see what it's supposed to look like."

OOC: Nine, really site? The only number where he couldn't catch something... P\

Nectarleap nodded at Sootpaw's next words. It made sense that she wanted an example before trying again, and he probably would have done the same thing if he was in her paws. "Okay. Watch me closely. I know you will be able to catch something by the end of this lesson, but you need to learn. You've been doing a great job so far."
The young warrior scented the air deeply, and had soon detected the scent of a hare. He padded towards the scent and found, to his satisfaction, that he was already downwind of the creature. He crouched low and padded towards it, paw steps nearly soundless. The hare was slim and already looked on alert, so it wouldn't be an easy catch. Once Nectarleap was close enough to pounce, he leapt for the hare, his bound silent. The hare saw him coming and took off as expected, but this one was fast. Though the young warrior sprinted after it as hard as he could, it still beat him to its burrow. "Oh rabbit dung," he muttered, then turned to Sootpaw, "So I got bad luck there too. Now I'll show you what really to do."

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

Wow, thought Sootpaw as she watched Nectarleap struggle, Even Nectarleap is having trouble. Hunting must really be hard. She nodded at her mentor, continuing to watch observantly as he began to hunt again.

OOC: My bad for taking so long. Could've sworn I posted D:

Nectarleap's fur grew slightly hot with embarrassment He hadn't missed a hare in a while, and the time when he was trying to show someone how to do it he messed up. He shook himself off slightly then scented the air again. He soon caught the scent of another hare,a followed it a little ways. As soon as he was close enough, he position himself downwind of it and crouched into the heather. The hare was a few fox-lengths from its burrow, so he should be fine catching it. He focused on each step, his pawsteps silent and blending with the wind. The hare was nibbling on a dandelion and facing the other direction, so it wouldn't be the hardest catch. Once he was close enough to catch it, he made a leap for it. The jump was clean and silent, so the hare didn't notice him until his shadow was cast over it. The young warrior sprinted hard for a few strides before swiftly biting the back of its neck, ending its life painlessly.
Nectarleap picked up his catch and carried it back to Sootpaw. He laid it down at her feet and looked at her. "So that is the correct way to catch a hare, or a rabbit for that matter. Any questions?"

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2