A Lesson in Hunting (Closed)

Swoopnose waited by the prey pile for Ratpaw to join him. As usual, he stuck to his philosophy about not waking up apprentices on their first day, not wanting them to be scarred for life like he had been. Only if all the normal patrols had already left and his apprentice was still sleeping would he wake the young tom up, but still be as gentle and quiet as he could. It was better to miss half a training session once than to have an apprentice who was scared of their mentor, in his opinion. While this wasn't his first time having an apprentice, he still felt nervous. While Bluepaw was extraordinary and he never had a problem with her, Snowpaw and Smokepaw hadn't come out of his training for the better. Whenever he thought of either of them, he shuddered, wondering why he was still trusted with apprentices. Chances were Marshstorm had just forgotten his history because he hadn't been deputy back then, and wasn't part of it. Those thoughts did nothing to reassure the warrior, and he found himself pacing beside the fresh-kill pile. After a few moments, he realized worrying was going to do him nothing. Going over lesson plans in his head, he did his best to remember everything he had thought out the night before. Give him a quick introduction to the terrain of their territory, teach him how to detect prey scent, then walk him through proper hunting technique. That day he had purposefully left out any battle training, wanting to get to know the tom better before risking that.
"What am I doing?" Swoopnose muttered to himself quietly, doing so upon realizing how his claws kept kneading into the dirt, which was a nervous habit of his. Mentally repeating how to hunt now would do him no good, moons of training had ensured the memory could never disappear. It was better to do anything he needed to do before Ratpaw woke up first. Stretching out his spine, he then chose two mice from the fresh-kill pile. Quickly eating one, he made sure to enjoy the plumpness and sweet flavor. Mice didn't taste like that in Leafbare. Disposing of the remains from his meal, he waited, letting the Greenleaf sun shine on his back. Hopefully his new apprentice would be out any second now.