My Mistake (Closed)

It felt very strange not to be a captive of The Woman. Dryad loved it, she had hated every single cat there except for her grandfather, Bubbles. But what would be done with her freedom? It was one thing to be out and around twolegplace, but a whole different thing to actually explore. Where to? The whole world seemed to be open for adventuring. As she was deciding, one idea shone brightly in her mind. She had been told about her father, Greek, who lived on a farm just across a small stretch of forest. That was where she would go. Maybe she could find her father, and have family. That was the one thing she did miss about the nest. By ridding herself of her enemies, she had also left the one cat she held dear. Could finding her father make up for that? It had to. The she-cat tried to remember everything Tiger had told her before she died. How he would come out of the forest, and speak of crossing a river. Hadn't he also had to travel through wetlands? Yes, and there were mean cats there who attacked everyone. She would have to be careful when she crossed the wetlands. But first came the forest. The scent of trees led her there quickly enough, though she had to make sure no kittypets saw her on the way. In retrospect, it would have been better to wait for the cover of night, but it was too late to turn back now. Tree tops were now visible over the rows of house, signaling that she was getting closer. Before long, she reached the fence. It shot up like a bunch of small, white, leafless trees all in row, not having big enough gaps to squeeze between. This wasn't like the metal rings of the last fence she had to get over. The soft wood easily gave in to her claws as she scaled it, leaving marks that some twoleg wouldn't be happy to find. Once over, she expected to smell freedom. It was a slightly different scent than she had imagined. A group of cats called this forest their home, and had marked their land. But the danger of forest cats had never been mentioned, just the ones on the wetlands. These ones must be friendly, they might even help her out! Confidently, she strode into the forest, half hoping to actually meet one of these cats. That feeling disappeared as soon as  the image of  Marly's angry stare and all the cats that backed her up appeared in he head. Even her grandfather had told her she was a bit rude. If she could upset every cat in the nest, why would these wild cats be any different? Hurrying would probably be the best route after all. In a sudden burst of speed, she took off. Unfortunately, she crashed right into a bush. Instantly, she thought of Siren and Satyr's snickers as they laughed at her. Some littermate they were.
"Shut up, you mouse-brained backstabbers!" That wasn't met to come out. Dryad's ears perked up, totally terrified that one of the forest cats had heard her outburst. The cats of the nest hadn't been able to kill her, but maybe the cats of the wild would. "Fox-dung..." Nowhere seemed safe. This forest full of bushes and tall trees was nothing like the yard around the nest. Somehow, it was even scarier than a place full of cats who wanted to kill her. At least she had been used to it there, and had one cat who protected her. Now she was alone, in an environment that she had never seen before. Nothing made sense. Maybe it would have been better if she had let that horrific brown she-cat kill her back at the nest.

This was the third time Blossompaw had been out by herself. The first and second, she got into battles. Now this time, she was just hunting. She had just buried a robin when she heard a call. "Shut up, you mouse-brained backstabbers!" Blossompaw's light ears immediately turned towards the sound. A cat could be in trouble! She ran through the bushes and bumped right into a white and orange she-cat with one blue, one amber eye, evidently older than she was. She smelled like a kittypet or a rogue, but definitely the smell of Twolegs, many cats, and the Twolegplace in general. She was the only one. Rather than having a menacing, challenging look on the rogue's face like most did, the she-cat seemed to be afraid of something. It had sounded like the loner was talking to other cats. "Er... Hi... It sounded like you were in trouble, so I, ah, I...
came? To save you? But you're the only one here... Um..." Then she realized she wasn't outside her border yet. "Wait, you're on Skyclan territory! What are you doing here?
Do you know where you are?" She asked in curiosity.

"Nope, I'm all alone. I was just thinking about my littermates. I don't need saving, especially from a cat younger than me," Dryad immediately responded, wondering who this cat could be. Had she just said something rude? Hopefully not. But the she-cat's words interested her. Before she could stop herself, question were flying from her. "What's SkyClan? Is it like the evil cats across the river? Because if I'm being honest, you look a little evil. Sorry, I didn't mean that. Well, I did, but I am sorry. Are you going to kidnap me because I'm on your territory? The Woman kidnapped Marly because she entered her territory. But she's a twoleg and your a cat, so i can't exactly compare you to her. Oh, and I'm her to find my father. He lives across the wetlands on the other side of the river. Could you lead me there? I have no idea where I am, other than in a forest. Is this some magical forest or something? Like the one's from the wild cat's stories?" Realizing that she had been rambling on for quite a while, she shut her mouth, determined not to say anything else. Of course, curiosity ended up getting the better of her. "I'm Dryad. Who are you?"

Blossompaw's ears flicked. This sure was an odd one. "I'm Blossompaw. I think the 'evil cats across the river' are Riverclan. Technically we are like them, but there's more of them. Shadowclan lives in the swamps, Windclan on the moor, and Thunderclan and Skyclan live in the forest. We... don't commonly 'kidnap' cats but we do like keeping them off our territory because we claimed it for hunting and living in. Just... stay by the river and don't hunt, if you smell a strong fishy scent, get out because that's Riverclan territory. I'm told they are quite cruel."

"Blossompaw? That's a strange name," Dryad commented, then immediately regretted it. Blossompaw hadn't made fun of her name, after all. Biting her lip, she forced herself to stay quiet until the other she-cat had finished speaking. Now she had even more questions. "That's cool. And good thing you're not going to kidnap me, that would be bad. Which direction is the river? I was told I need to cross through where the evil cats, I mean RiverClan, live to get to the farm where my father lives. Sorry, but I don't think I can follow that advice, no matter how good it may be. Also, what's hunting?" All of the words that the SkyClanner was using sounded foreign to her. As a cat who had never been out of the nest before, everything in the outside world was strange.

Blossompaw smiled softly. "It's okay, we Clan cats get that a lot from loners and rogues." Then she heard the next few comments. "Well, I think you could go around their territory, just to play it safe. And- I'm sorry- you don't know what hunting is?
Catching food for yourself by killing prey?"

“Well, I’m not stupid just because I don’t know what hunting is, so please don’t act like it. I’ve been living with The Woman my whole life until yesterday, and I’m still getting used to this whole wild thing,” Dryad snapped defensively. She had a tendency to overreact when she was corrected or seemingly made fun of, and Blossompaw made it sound like ‘hunting’ was a word every single cat in the world new. Then some reality hit her. How was she going to get food? At the nest, all of the cats were fed from bowls, but she didn’t live at the nest anymore. That was another price for freedom. “Actually, can you teach me? How to hunt? I’ll do whatever you want in return.”

Blossompaw blinked. This was a protective cat. "I'm not saying you're stupid, I was just... surprised. No offense, but you have to hunt to survive around these parts, unless you're too young, too old, or disabled and you don't look like any of those. Sure, I'll teach you best I can, but I'm only an apprentice. 10 or 11 moons old, I think. Anyway; You have to sort of... crouch, like this..." She poised herself to pounce on a leaf. "I'm told you have to keep your tail up, paws light, and, ummm, step quietly and keep still, I think. Oh! And keep it so the wind blows from the prey to you, which is downwind. Otherwise it'll smell you coming."

"Like this?" Dryad imitated the crouch the best she could, tail flicking back and forth in excitement. She could finally be good at something of her own! Fighting was a skill of hers, but most cats were better. Talking wasn't the best skill either. Climbing was a nice ability, but her recently torn claw made that nearly impossible. But Blossompaw was teaching her hunting, which could open a whole new set of doors to her future. Not having to rely off anyone else, she could truly be free. And once she found Greek, nothing would hold her back from living the dream. Listening to the bicolor she-cat, her tail lifted and she shifted her weight so it was distributed evenly and lightly. The exclamation startled her, but she managed to stay completely still. The clan cat's words confused her, but she ended up just figuring out that the wind was blowing in her face, which was the correct direction. Thinking about "prey" was unnecessary. But after the last statement every comment she held in came flying out. "This is hard! Why do I have to keep so still? And where even is they prey? What even is it? I thought this would be easy!"

Blossompaw noted her flicking tail. That would be an easy way for prey to see her. "What is prey? It's mice, birds, anything alive that moves to catch. Hunting isn't easy, but it gets easier once you get used to it. Here, I smell a sparrow a little bit upwind. Watch what I do." She poised herself, crept forward a few steps, then, eyes narrowed on the bird, she leaped. The bicolor she-cat fell short, and the startled bird began to flap its wings as an attempt to flee. Blossompaw's quick paw caught it and slammed it to the ground. She gave it a little nip on the back of its neck. Then she picked it up in her jaws and padded back to Dryad.

The member 'Jade Wings' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

"Ohhh, okay. I think I got it," Dryad replied, watching as Blossompaw caught the sparrow. Now everything made sense. Prey were the little creatures that had used to seem really annoying. Their purpose wasn't just to make everyone's life miserable, they were actually supposed to be eaten as food. As she watched the SkyClanner, confidence grew inside of her. Once she had caught her first piece of prey, she would truly be able to thrive on her own. Nothing would stop her from becoming the best version of herself she could be. Sniffing the air, the white and ginger she-cat smelled a squirrel. She remembered these. One time, one had thrown a bunch of nuts at Marly. It had been hilarious, but then Bubbles had dragged her inside so the violent victim wouldn't take out her rage on the wrong cat. Now she would catch a squirrel, and become the master huntress. Sliding into what she thought of as the perfect hunting crouch, she traveled towards the small creature, visions of it hanging from her jaws filling her mind. Victory was just in front of her. Excited, she pounced. But the jump had been sloppy and rushed, so the gray critter had enough time to sprint away. "Oh fox-dung..."

Blossompaw shook her head. "If there's one thing I've learned since I became an apprentice, it's patience. You have to keep your mind on track with what you're doing, or else you'll slip on the leaves like you just did. All focus must stay on staying steady and eyes on the prize."

"Okay. It's not like I'm just going to give up," Dryad muttered, taking Blossompaw's words into account. Once again she scented the air, this time finding a mouse. These were also recognizable, they stole bedding from the cats who had slept outside. Those were mostly the ones who used to live in the wild, and refused to come inside the nest at all. Now that she thought about it, they had sometimes killed the mice who came near them. Back then she had assumed it was in self defense, but maybe it had actually been for food. It hadn't been rare to see them refuse food from The Woman. Once again she tried a hunting crouch, directing all of her focus onto doing everything perfectly. Silently, she padded towards the mouse, making sure to do everything that the SkyClanner had mentioned. All that was left to do was jump, so she gathered up her haunches, knowing exactly what her jump would look like and could see herself catch the brown creature. But something made her hesitate. Was killing for personal gain really a good thing? In those moments of reconsideration, the mouse perked up. Their eyes met for a fraction of a heartbeat, before it sprinted away. An easy catch had just gotten away. Frustration filled her, and she attempted to pounce on a nearby bird, but her lack of preparation caused her to fail miserably. "Darn it! I was so close, and I hesitated! Why though? How are you so confident?"

Blossompaw shrugged. "I've been training to hunt since I turned six moons. Don't let your mind wander. Dreamy cats never catch any prey."