grind time [closed]

The member 'Honey Bagel' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Mudpaw’s ears warmed at Ivybrook’s comment. With more effort than she’d ever used to catch a fish, she managed to shove her grin down. Keeping it out of her voice was another, much less successful endeavor. ”I’ve been practicing.” She waited long enough to see Ivybrook hook her paws around yet another fish. Then, on her way back to the riverbank, she passed Honeytongue, who was hauling a massive trout over to join their other catches. They’d be adding a lot to the fresh-kill pile as it was, but there was no reason to stop when they were on a roll. Mudpaw wouldn’t be the one to suggest it, anyway. She peered into their hunting grounds once more. Fish were…well, fish. By Mudpaw’s best guess, they were about as observant as a pile of rocks.

She darted forward—and felt something slip against her pawpads. In a flurry of ripples and silver scales, the fish slipped deeper into the river, well out of reach. The pride that had overtaken Mudpaw drained to nothing. With a sniff that wasn’t nearly as indignant as she’d wanted it to sound, she stepped away. Maybe they hadn’t been looking. Anyway, it was a temporary setback, however badly it stung. Bright eyes narrowed to slits, she resumed her stubborn staring into the river’s depths.

Mudpaw attempted to catch Fish, using 3 stamina. The attempt was a failure…

Mudpaw
20/20 HP
74/80 SP (-3)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

Nodding at Honeytongue once again, Ivybrook turned her gaze to Mudpaw. The apprentice had just barely missed the fish, by half a whisker for sure. ”We can all learn from our mistakes, Mudpaw. Next time, wait just a moment longer before darting in for the catch.” With a smile, Ivybrook flicked her ears, motioning for Honeytongue to step back for just a moment. They’d both added to the pile enough, and Ivybrook wanted Mudpaw to catch another before they headed back to camp. ”Why don’t you try one more time, Mudpaw? After that, we can carry all of this back to camp.” Gesturing go the pile with her paw, Ivybrook looked from Mudpaw to the river and back.

Honeytongue's gaze flickered over to her friend as she saw her miss a fish, only for Ivybrook to speak up before she got the chance. She sat there quietly, listening to the deputy's word until she got a chance to speak up. "Everybody misses prey at some point, Mudpaw. Its nothing to be ashamed of and don't beat yourself up about it. We've already done so good, a single missed fish pales in comparison of the prey we got," she meowed, glancing toward the good-sized pile behind her. She perked up when Ivybrook spoke up again, to let Mudpaw give it one more try. She nodded as she got to her paws, taking a moment to give the apprentice a soft smile. "You're doing great, Mudpaw. Don't let that miss cloud how good you've already done." With that, she stepped back toward the pile to let Mudpaw have room for their last catch. Her eyes flickered toward the pile, taking the moments to try to figure out the easiest way to carry them back with the least amount of trips.

At the first comment from Ivybrook, Mudpaw’s ears fell back just a little. It was helpful input—she had been hasty, and she usually made a point of learning from her mistakes, as any apprentice should. Walking on Sunningrocks until she was certain she’d never fall again. Spending a pawful of afternoons in the Beech Copse until she understood how to keep herself downwind and slide her paws near-soundlessly across the damp earth, because prey was prey, and RiverClan needed it even if she didn’t. But this wasn’t one of Berrycloud’s lessons. She was better than a missed catch on an ordinary patrol, and she knew it.

Honeytongue spoke up next, encouraging. Only then did Mudpaw turn to look, rare uncertainty hovering in her eyes as her attention drifted from Ivybrook to Honeytongue. Though they had enough fish to help fill the fresh-kill pile, the two older she-cats had stepped back. They both wanted her to try again. More importantly, she wanted to try again. That was the thing about temporary setbacks; they were just that, temporary. If she really was better than this, she could prove it. ”Okay,” she said. Some of the steel found its way back into her voice. ”One more time.”

Another shadow flickered just beneath the water’s surface. ”Wait just a moment longer.” The calico raised her paw so, so slowly. ”Don’t let that miss cloud how good you’ve already done.” This time, there was no slipping, no bare brush against scales; with a flick of her tail, Mudpaw dove, and in a blur of motion flung the fish onto the shore. In the few seconds it took for her to kill what she'd caught, the last of her doubts faded away. ”That’s more like it,” she muttered as she leaned back, smiling again. Six fish, two for each of them. Any way she spun it, it had been a wildly successful hunt—and a fun one as well.

Mudpaw attempted to catch Fish, using 3 stamina. The attempt was successful!

Mudpaw
20/20 HP
71/80 SP (-3)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

“Excellent work.” Ivybrook’s eyes remained trained on Mudpaw through the entirety of her hunt, analyzing each move down to the second. When Mudpaw added her catch to the pile of prey behind her. “Let’s head back to camp.” Leaning closer to Honeytongue, Ivybrook sighed softly as she grasped the fish in her maw, speaking past the scales. “You are much better at encouraging the younger ones than I am. It is a valuable skill to possess, I trust that you will use it to the best of your ability.” Nodding her head, Ivybrook motioned with a flick of her tail for the rest of the trio to gather their prey and follow her back to camp.

"There you go, Mudpaw! I told you that you could do it," she purred, excited to see that the apprentice had managed to catch another fish to make up for her previous miss. It hurt to fail, to mess up something that was suppose to come natural so she knew where Mudpaw was coming from and was happy to see how content she was now that she had caught the fish. She blinked as she felt the brush of Ivybrook's fur as the deputy leaned close, before feeling her cheeks warm at the compliment the she-cat murmured to her. "I...Thank you, Ivybrook," he responded, ducking her head in slight embarrassment. "I'll try, of course. Making people smile is the least I can do." But then the hunting trip was more or less over. She turned and she leaned down to pick up some of the fish, carefully by the tail-tips so that she could speak around them as she glanced at her friend. "You did good, Mudpaw," she meowed once again with a smile. "You'll be a warrior in no time."

Underneath, her pride still smarted, as it most likely would until her next patrol—but despite the frustration her failure had caused, the comfortable heat that flooded her chest when she looked up almost made it worth it. They were watching her. Mudpaw smothered the purr rising in her throat, though a bit of it sneaked out anyway. ”Like I said, I’ve been practicing.” There was more weight behind the boast now that she had a fresh fish to back it up. ”What you said helped, too.” It wasn’t a proper “thank you,” but she decided the intent was clear enough.

Before that could sink in, the tall calico grabbed her pair of fish off the dwindling pile and moved to join her patrolmates with long, confident strides. Ivybrook and Honeytongue were clearly talking about something. Though Mudpaw angled her ears toward them, she was too late to hear anything; when she opened her mouth to ask, she nearly dropped the fish. Then Honeytongue was addressing her, and she had no choice but to file her questions away for later. In lieu of speaking, she bumped her shoulder against her friend’s, eyes shining. I’d better be.