exercise of trust [closed]

In truth, Lightfang needed far more than one night to come to terms with mentorship. Learning how to be a warrior was simple enough; teaching another cat to follow in their ancestors’ pawsteps was not. On top of that, he had to sort out what he could teach. Not all of SkyClan’s knowledge mattered here—some of it even hurt. Creeping up on prey was a useful skill only when they couldn’t both see and outspeed him at a moment’s notice. But some things were universal. He understood the fundamentals of warriorhood, and so he shaped the first day’s lessons around them, mirroring what he’d relearned piece by piece when he’d come to WindClan.

Lightfang rose at dawn, as promised. With a quick brush of his tail across Burningwolf’s shoulder, he headed off to where the apprentices slept, searching the pile of cats and nests for a pelt he’d only seen once before. Faces had never been his strongest suit. At least Ferretpaw’s ticked fur was distinctive. Forcing his apprehension aside at the sight of his apprentice, he called in as near to a whisper as he could manage, ”Ferretpaw? It’s time to leave.” That seemed as good a way to start as any. The pale tabby stepped back, shifting on his paws, and waited for Ferretpaw to rise.

As though the whisper gave him permission, Ferretpaw popped straight up to his paws and darted around his sleeping Clanmates to his mentor's side. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, but that didn't seem to have much effect on his ridiculous energy levels. The young tom was raring to go. If he sensed any of the apprehension that Lightfang felt, he surely didn't react to it. The newly named apprentice didn't know much about the cat that had been named his mentor, but he was looking forward to getting to know him. He knew that he hadn't always been a WindClan cat, and part of Ferretpaw wondered if he would get to learn things that maybe other WindClan apprentices would not.

"Good morning, Lightfang!" He chirped, "What are we doing first?"

ooc: do you want a walkthrough of the hunting system?

As quickly as Ferretpaw jumped up, he might as well not have been asleep at all. Lightfang blinked, momentarily disarmed. ”Good…morning to you, too.” He’d assumed the previous day’s enthusiasm had been ceremony-based; he hadn’t considered it might just be how Ferretpaw was. Another challenge. Then again, an energetic Ferretpaw was better than a Ferretpaw who had to be dragged out of camp by the ears. Some of the tension in the warrior's shoulders loosened. Maybe this wouldn't be everything he'd worried about.

With a firmer tone and a wave of his tail toward the lightest part of the sky, he said, ”We’re going hunting, to start. Besides dusk, this is the best time of day for rabbits.” A perfect start for a WindClan cat… Less so for a SkyClanner. But he had to get the rabbit-chasing out of the way early, or else he might be too tired to sprint. Lightfang flicked his tail again, then set off across camp to the gorse tunnel. ”Stay close,” he said before ducking inside, ”and keep your ears open.” Moments later, he emerged onto the moor, pelt already prickling in the morning’s chill. Stifling a shiver, he stepped aside to give Ferretpaw room.

The ticked tabby's ears pricked at the sound of today's lesson. Rabbits! It was such a fundamental part of life on the moors that the very thought of learning to do what his ancestors had intended him to do filled his paws with energy. Ferretpaw tried to file away the information on best time of day for hunting rabbits, but whether he would remember would remain to be seen.

"Alright," Ferretpaw responded, following closely with the larger tom. He couldn't wait to get to explore his territory! He hadn't expected to feel so entirely overwhelmed upon stepping paw outside of camp, however. Having never seen so much space before, he felt very small, a feeling that wasn't familiar to the normally confident tom. A shiver ran down his spine.

"It's huge out here," he spoke in a tone of awe.

ooc; yes please!

Ferretpaw, shockingly, did not go sprinting headlong across the moor. When Lightfang turned toward him, he saw plain wonderment shining in the apprentice’s eyes. ”It’s surprising, isn’t it?” Lightfang had always approached the unguarded hills with fear rather than awe; even so, some of his over-serious attitude slipped away as he spoke. ”But by the time you’re a warrior, you’ll know this place better than your own pelt.” With that, he started forward, keeping his pace slow and glancing over his shoulder every so often in case Ferretpaw got too swept up in the scenery.

Before long, the gorse bushes shielding WindClan’s camp fell out of sight. A familiar scent drifted to Lightfang’s nose. One rabbit, partially hidden by a hill some fox-lengths away. He signaled with his tail for Ferretpaw to stop—then, remembering this was Ferretpaw’s first time on any sort of patrol, whispered, ”Wait—that’s rabbit scent.” Some WindClanners could match a rabbit at an all-out sprint. To Lightfang, that seemed a lot to ask of a new apprentice. Besides, every cat had to learn tracking, crouching, pouncing; that was the same here as it had been across the forest. The pale tabby padded a short distance ahead, then spun to face Ferretpaw. ”You have to be fast to hunt rabbits,” he said. ”First, crouch like this”—he hunkered down and took a few steps, paws moving swift and silent—”and get as close as you can. Then you jump. It’s better if you can pounce on it directly; you’ll have to chase it if it notices you.”

Raising his muzzle to the air again, he returned to the younger tom's side. As far as he could tell, the rabbit hadn't moved. ”…There’s one nearby, if you want to try catching it.”

---

ooc: sweet – if you have any questions (or if i explained any of this a little weirdly), feel free to ask me or staff!

First, you have to choose what type of prey Ferretpaw’s going to hunt from this list. Listed below each kind of prey are the numbers that will result in a successful catch, organized by season and Clan. The current season is written in bold; however, since this topic started in leaf-fall, we’ll be using leaf-fall’s numbers. Once you’ve written your post, hit the “Preview” button at the bottom of the screen. Below the text box on the next screen is the menu that will give you access to the dice rolls, labeled “Dices Roll #1.” Click on the menu and choose “Hunting Dice” from the list of dice, then make sure the number of dice used is set to 1.

Now, if your post is finished, hit the “Send” button. Two posts will appear – first yours, then one from Mistpelt showing what number you rolled. Say Ferretpaw attempts to catch a rabbit. Since Ferretpaw is a WindClan cat hunting in leaf-fall, if he rolls any number from 1 to 8, he succeeds; if he rolls a 9 or higher, he misses. Rolling a 10 always results in a predator encounter; you’ll have to pick and fight one of the predators listed here. Normally, the person who rolled the 10 plays the predator, but if we run into one in this topic, I can play it for the sake of showing how these encounters usually go.

After you see your roll and determine whether you caught or missed your prey (or encountered a predator), all you have to do is edit your previous post to reflect that. Regardless of the result, you lose 3 SP (5 in leaf-bare) each time you roll the hunting dice. Most people indicate the stamina loss by adding something like this at the bottom of their post:

Lightfang
80/80 HP
237/240 SP (-3)

That’s it for the hunting system! Also, any roll that doesn’t result in a predator encounter will count toward your hunting requirement, regardless of whether you catch or miss your prey.

Ferretpaw nodded, silently dedicating himself to learning every pawstep of his territory. He could see himself in his mind's eye, taller and more muscular, running across the moors and snatching rabbits just before they could escape into their dens. He was so wrapped up in this fantasy and his new surroundings, that he almost ran right into Lightfang. He shuffled back a couple steps, feeling a little flustered, before raising his muzzle to catch the scent of the rabbit. It smelled so different out here than when he'd eaten it in camp. Perhaps because it was still alive.

He attempted to mimic Lightfang's crouch, forcing himself to take slower, more careful steps than usual. It was his first day, and he really wanted to impress the older tom. If that meant he had to move with almost painful carefulness, well, he would try his hardest. He crept towards where he could scent the rabbit, aware of how loudly his blood was rushing in his ears. Could the rabbit hear his heart pounding so hard?

He was soon close enough, and fought the urge to turn to look at Lightfang. Not only was he at enough of a distance that any expression would be lost to him, it would definitely be too much of a distraction. Taking a deep breath, he pounced towards the rabbit, landing just a bit short and having to put on a burst of speed after it as it tried to run. He was close enough that it never really got it's legs under it, though, and the apprentice turned with a proud gleam in his eyes, his first catch in his jaws, heavy enough that his neck was slightly bent from the weight of it.

Ferretpaw
20/20 HP
80 - 3 = 77 SP

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 8

He’d all but invited Ferretpaw to go after the rabbit, but Lightfang couldn’t help but second-guess himself as the russet tom turned away. Was such a hasty explanation really enough? Should he have tried to catch something first to give Ferretpaw a proper demonstration—or, if he failed, a clearer idea of what not to do? In any case, it was too late for misgivings. Slipping back into a crouch, he crept off to the side to get a better view. No matter how odd it felt to correct someone who was meant for rabbit-hunting, that was part of mentorship in the WindClan way. Ferretpaw sneaked closer and closer; Lightfang held his breath. Then came the leap—

Ferretpaw’s timing was almost perfect; unfortunately, “almost” meant landing just behind his prey rather than on it. The rabbit spun. Too far away to do much of anything, Lightfang sprang to his feet, but Ferretpaw—who was, after all, every bit a WindClanner—took off after the rabbit and caught it before it could do much more than twitch in the direction of the tunnels. Lightfang let out a soft sigh, shoulders slumping. Then he padded forward to meet his apprentice with a slight smile. ”Good catch. Rabbits startle easily; it’s difficult to get so close, especially on your first try.” This was far from the only hunting lesson Lightfang would give, but having something to bring back to WindClan made for a promising start. ”We’ll practice this a few more times, and…then we can try sparring?” Skipping battle training wasn’t an option; leaf-fall’s earlier battles had made that clear. Still, the pale tabby hesitated, shifting on his paws as he searched Ferretpaw’s expression.

The young tom set his catch down, not all that excited to trip over it all the way back to camp. It was different from just lugging something across camp from the fresh-kill pile. Still, he was ecstatic about his first kill, barely processing the information Lightfang added with his praise. His ears pricked at the word sparring, his attention quickly being caught once more. His tail flicked as he imagined what he thought some fighting moves looked like.

"Can't we spar now?" he asked, looking hopefully to his mentor.

Lightfang opened his mouth, then closed it; it settled into a frown. That wasn’t part of the plan, but… He glanced at the rabbit, then at Ferretpaw. They’d have other opportunities to practice hunting tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after. Maybe he could abandon the plan. In the interest of safety, of course. The more time they spent out here, the greater their chances of running into something bigger than the prey they chased. His shuffling paws fell still. ”All right.”

This time, he didn't wait to see Ferretpaw's reaction; he could make a guess just from how bright Ferretpaw's eyes had gotten at the mention of battle training. Padding a few fox-lengths away, he turned back toward his apprentice and braced himself against the ice-cold dirt. If there was anything good about his fear of heights, it was that he'd never needed to adjust what he'd learned to work at ground level. ”First, see if you can knock me down. Without claws, please,” he added with a wince. Honestly, he wanted to see where Ferretpaw’s instincts would lead him first—even if it didn't quite count as sparring yet.

No attacks have been made.

Lightfang
80/80 HP
240/240 SP

Ferretpaw
20/20 HP
77/80 SP

---

ooc: battle system go

A list of all moves and how much damage they do/stamina they cost is here. Your rank determines which moves you can use. Ferretpaw, being an apprentice, can use all moves labeled “Apprentice” and below, while Lightfang, being a Tier 4 Warrior, can use all moves labeled “Tier 4 Warrior” and below (except for Play Dead, which is an Apprentice-only move). It also determines how much damage your moves deal, which is shown in the Battle System chart labeled “Damage Done by Each Rank.” Moves use the same amount of stamina regardless of rank.

There are three different types of moves. Normal moves are standard moves and can be used as many times as you want. Special Effect moves have special effects (such as stunning or pinning an opponent, or dodging an attack). Each of these can only be used once per opponent, and you can’t use two different Special Effect moves in a row; they must be separated by a Normal move. Clan moves are two moves unique to each Clan, with restrictions on where they can be used and who can use them. You can only use the Clan moves of the Clan your character first became an apprentice in, and only in the locations listed with them. They can be used multiple times in one battle, but you can’t use two Clan moves in a row without using a Normal move between them.

Some Special Effect and Clan moves require the Effect Dice to be rolled to determine the move’s effects (such as how long it lasts or if it does damage). This works exactly like the Hunting Dice – just use the Effect Dice in the dice rolls menu instead.

The battle system is turn-based; you can only use one move per turn (with the exception of WindClan’s Clan move Swift Strike, which lets you use a Normal move along with it in one turn), and must wait for your opponent to post before you can attack again. Combatants continue taking their turns until one runs out of HP or SP, ending the battle. The battle tutorial shows how these things usually go, and it explains how Special Effect moves work in more detail.

Ferretpaw didn't even seem to register that his mentor might be less than pleased with the direction this training session had taken. He was far too excited that he would be getting the opportunity to learn some real moves! If any dumb enemies came around again, he'd be able to stand up to them and make them run with tucked tails. His whiskers twitched in amusement at the thought, and he unsheathed his claws to dig them into the dirt, only to sheathe them once more as Lightfang gave directions. Not as specific as Ferretpaw had expected, but that was all the better, as the young tom would've had trouble concentrating on more than two sentences anyway.

He nodded, glancing about in what he hoped was a casual manner but was probably just amusing in how unsubtle it was. Then he charged, aiming to tackle into the larger tom.

Ferretpaw used Run-And-Tackle, Dealing -6 in Damage & Costing -10 in Stamina.
Lightfang
74/80 HP
240/240 SP

Ferretpaw
20/20 HP
67/80 SP

ooc; hopefully this was all correct <3

ooc: it looks good to me!

To the pale tabby’s relief, Ferretpaw withdrew his claws as quickly as he’d unsheathed them. Though they'd be able to spar properly soon, Lightfang wouldn’t risk either of them coming back to camp injured on their first day of training. He steeled himself, expecting an immediate charge. Instead, Ferretpaw seemed to hesitate, turning to look at just about everything but Lightfang. It wasn't a bad idea; a fellow apprentice might have been convinced. But Lightfang kept his eyes on the russet tom, and before long, Ferretpaw darted forward.

Instinct told Lightfang to sidestep. He did not sidestep, and Ferretpaw collided with him hard enough to make him stumble backward, though he regained his balance before he could fall. ”Good,” he wheezed. ”But in a real battle, there won’t be time to wait.” An idea dawned on him, then. How fast could Ferretpaw react without a warning? He lashed out with a paw—without claws—aiming to lightly bop Ferretpaw between the eyes.

Lightfang used Front Paw Blow, dealing 11 damage and using 5 stamina.

Lightfang
74/80 HP
235/240 SP (-5)

Ferretpaw
9/20 HP (-11)
67/80 SP

Ferretpaw was pleasantly surprised to actually make contact with Lightfang. He had expected his mentor to sidestep him easily. The little boost of confidence was short lived, as the warrior's strike hit true, and Ferretpaw could see stars for a moment. Shaking his head to clear his vision, the apprentice struck out with his left front paw, hoping to StarClan that he'd manage to hit and not just look like a fool.

Ferretpaw used Front Paw Blow, dealing 4 damage and costing 5 stamina.

Lightfang
70/80 HP (-4)
235/240 SP

Ferretpaw
9/20 HP
62/80 SP (-5)

Lightfang recoiled as he made contact. He’d sparred with other cats before (mostly Burningwolf, these days), but they were usually around his own age, if not older; he hadn’t fought an apprentice since he’d been one. He opened his mouth to ask if Ferretpaw was all right. A rust-colored paw shot out and hit him soundly on the shoulder, hard enough to sting—as good as an answer. "Great," he said, more than a little relieved.

Rather than retaliate, the tall warrior stepped back. "Anything bigger or stronger than you has an advantage in a fight. If you manage to pin your opponent, though, you can stop them from attacking as long as you keep your grip. So—" Lightfang crouched slightly. "Try pinning me. Use your claws if you need to." That was, unfortunately, unavoidable. At least it wouldn't result in any major injuries.

No attacks have been made.

Lightfang
70/80 HP
235/240 SP

Ferretpaw
9/20 HP
62/80 SP

Ferretpaw felt himself puff a little as he tried to catch his breath. As active as he was just naturally, he still wasn't used to the physical exertion that training entailed. His eyes got a little glint in them at Lightfang's words. If speed was the answer, he was certainly capable of that. It was in his blood after all. He went for it, no thought behind his actions, just leaping and attempting to land on Lightfang's shoulders to get a good hold with his claws.

Ferretpaw used Leap-And-Hold, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina. Pin lasts 1 turn.
Lightfang
64/80 HP (-6)
235/240 SP

Ferretpaw
9/20 HP
52/80 SP (-10)