Between Heathers and Reeds

Reedheart walked inside the Thunderclan territory with a happy smile on his muzzle. He couldn’t be more excited about having his first apprentice! The tom was always looking back to make sure that Heatherpaw was next to him. He didn’t want to mess up his first time as a mentor. ”Okay, Heatherpaw! Here we are! In this clearing I’m going to teach about hunting and battle skills, both of them are essential for any Thunderclan warrior so you must always ask me any doubt you have, all right?” He purred, flicking his tail excitedly to her adopted sister. ”So, have you ever trying hunting? I need to know so I can set a plan for today’s lesson.”

Heatherpaw padded alongside her new mentor. She was still shy and nervous around a majority of her Clanmates, but at least she was getting used to being around Reedheart, especially considering he was her adopted father's son -- and by extension her older adoptive brother. And, in spite of her natural timidity, she couldn't quite quell the burning ball of eagerness in her belly.

In response to Reedheart's question, she shook her head. "N-No, I don't know how to do either of those yet. Why, was I supposed to learn the basics as a kit? B-But I didn't know! I didn't do anything wrong, did I?" Heatherpaw began to fret nervously.

The tom blinked a bit surprised by her answer and with a soft smile he tried to calm her down. ”Hey... don’t worry! You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just some kits play hunting with moss balls sometimes so they imitate some hunting poses from warriors and apprentices. I just wanted to know if you did that as a kit. But don’t worry at all. I’m here to teach you, right?” Standing up, the warrior smelled the air, searching for near prey. ”Now look at me and be quiet... I’ll show you how to do it.” Stepping closet to a bush where a squirrels was searching for nuts, the tom blinked to his apprentice and then crouched, approaching the rodent with quiet paws and his tail raised up enough to not touch the dirt but also to not caught the attention of the prey. Reedheart jumped toward the small animal and caught it with open jaws, killing it with a strong bite on its neck. He made his way back to the nervous apprentice and smiled, leaving the prey on the ground. ”The key of hunting is to be as silent as you can and don’t catch the attention of your objective. Never lose the focus of your prey and always be prepared for a long leap. Now give it a try. I’ll be right here.”

OCC: Hunting system is easy once you get used to it. You must click the “post reply” banner (the one with blue cat) and then you’ll see a white rectangle where you can write, right? Well, down there in the left side there is a place that says “Dices Roll”. You must choose the Hunting dice, select it and then send your post. After that, the result of your dice will appear and then you would know what you can hunt using this page. For example, if a get a number between 1 and 8 I would be able to hunt a squirrel. But if a get a 9 it would be consider as a failed attempt and I will have to edit my previous post( because double posting isn’t allowed here).

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

(OOC: Oh, okay, sounds simple enough. I'll give it a try!)

Heatherpaw watched in awe as her mentor stalked, leaped, and finally killed his catch. Now she was much more eager than worried, and she gave an excited nod when Reedheart invited her to try for herself. She copied him, parting her mouth to drink in the fresh forest air, until she caught whiff of a mouse scurrying under the multi-colored leaf litter. She crouched down, lifting her tail up and taking tentative steps towards the wriggling mass under the debris, doing her very best to keep the dried leaves under her paws from crunching with each paw step. Once she was finally close enough, she leaped.

Heatherpaw sprayed up the leaves, sending them noisily fluttering behind her. Before she landed on the mouse, it quickly scurried away with a frightened squeal, and all the apprentice was able to catch were dead leaves. Her head and tail drooped in misery. "I-I'm sorry, I did the best I could, I didn't mean to miss it..."

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

OOC: That’s it! Now give it another try so you can be sure you learn it well ;) Then we can proceed with battle training so you can be ready for the skirmish before it starts ;)

”Of course you didn’t. Everyone does mistakes so don’t blame yourself so much. It’s okay. And honestly, your first try wasn’t bad at all. Your crouching was perfect and your tail was in the right position. Nothing bad for a newbie. Now, the only thing you need to improve is your coordination between eyes and claws. You must never close your eyes during your leaping because the prey could escape when you’re not looking. Now go ahead and do it again. This time will be better, trust me.” He purred, touching her head with a brotherly paw. Having a little sister always reminded him his dead littermate, Cherrykit. That’s why he was so nice with Heatherpaw.

Feeling slightly more encouraged, Heatherpaw nodded and searched for a few moments for something else to catch. She spotted a different mouse in the leaf litter a few tail-lengths away and, crouching down, she copied her stalking from before, creeping up to it.

She leaped, making sure to keep her eyes on her prey this time, but unfortunately her hind paws slipped along the leaves and she landed clumsily in front of where the mouse used to be, it having rushed off to the safety of its burrow just a heartbeat before she landed.

Feeling less worrisome and more irritated, she gave a soft hiss of anger and lashed her tail, stirring up the leaves behind her. How in StarClan's name was she ever supposed to catch anything with such noisy, slippery ground?

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Reedheart tilted his head, worried by the bad luck of his apprentice. What was she doing was perfect but those leaves.... they were frustrating her for no reason. ”Okay... maybe we should move to a leafless spot. What about... His green eyes searched for a good place and he found a clearing a few meters away with less leaves and a squirrel jumping from one side to another. ”That! There the leaves won’t bother you anymore.”

Heatherpaw narrowed her eyes at the squirrel, directing her frustration into determination. She may have been having bad luck hunting thus far, but now she was on leafless ground. She could do this. She had to do this. She quietly stalked to the squirrel, finding it easier to place her paws down without risking alerting her prey with leave crunches. Finally, she pounced.

There wasn't anything beneath her to give away her position, and she landed squarely on the squirrel's back, leaning down quickly to deal the fatal nip on the back of its neck. It lay motionless in the grass.

Heatherpaw's eyes widened. She did it! She finally caught her very first fresh-kill. She turned to Reedheart, her amber eyes sparkling with indescribable joy, the squirrel drooping in her jaws.

(OOC: It's about time I caught something! XD)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

The warrior eyes shone with happiness as he trotted to his apprentice smiling. ”That was awesome, Heatherpaw! You must be proud! Your first fresh-kill!” He mewed congratulating the young she-cat. He raised up his tail proudly, puffing up his chest with a wide smile. ”Do you want to give it another try or start your battle training? We still have time before we must go back to the camp.”

OOC: Lol XD Finally!

Heatherpaw placed the squirrel down on the ground, but before she rose her head back up she murmured softly. "StarClan, thank you for providing this fresh-kill for the Clan." She looked back up at Reedheart, eyes shining. For the first time, she truly felt like a ThunderClan cat, and she was eager to learn more. "Battle training sounds like a good idea. I could certainly use it."

Nodding after her answer, the pale golden tom crouched his body, keeping his hips a bit higher than his shoulders and his head a bit low but with his eyes still focusing on the sandy she-cat. He moved backwards and stopped a few steps away with his steady as a tree. ”This is the simplest battle crouch. This the way you show you’re ready to fight.” He lifted one of his paws and looked around for a falling leaf. Quickly as the breeze, the cut the leaf with his unsheathed paw and returned to his usual pose. ”Claws are your main resource for battle. So, what you need to learn first is how to use them properly. Now, go to that tree and show me what you learned” He said pointing an old tree a few steps away with a movemen of his head.

Reedheart used Front Paw Strike, dealing 8 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Reedheart
40/40 HP
110/120 SP

Leaf
-8/?? HP
??/?? SP

OOC: I believe you already know the main idea of the battle system after the border battle and the predator that is still going on. So I will just clarify some stuff. SP doesn’t need the aid of a Medicine cat to be restored but HP does. That’s why we go to Sageleaf last time. Your stats are in the Rank System (I think Reedheart was a Newly Appointed Warrior in the start of the topic so I’m working with those stats). Also, when there are more than two roleplayers during the battle we usually respect the posting order. In other words, we can only post our next reply until everyone has written a reply after your first post. This way the battles are fairer.