and yet, the sun still shines (closed)

Moonpaw listened attentively as Cherryblossom introduced the last two clans to her. Sadness emanated from her mentor, so Moonpaw pressed close to Cherryblossom's side, offering emotional comfort. "Sometimes it's better to let something go rather than keep it all inside," she mewed softly, hoping she wasn't saying something that would hurt her mentor even more. "Do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Cherryblossom let out a weak purr as Moonpaw pressed herself to her side, and she loosely wrapped her tail around the apprentice. Swallowing her tears, she took a deep breath, and spoke.
"I don't want to alarm you, but my mother, Dacedream, was killed here. It's still quite a raw wound, but I'll be okay."

With that, she pulled away from Moonpaw's touch and began to lead the way back into the forest.
"Let's not stay here."

When the pair was back in the safety of the forest's canopy, she took a few deep breaths.
"Anyway, those were our borders. Do you want to try hunting now?"

Moonpaw winced when she heard about Charryblossom's mother's death. Mutely, she followed her mentor away from the river and back into the forest. She focused on her paws, padding silently into the shade.

Moonpaw raised her head when she heard about hunting. "Of course I wanna hunt!" she mewed excitedly. Remembering her mentor's grief, she added, "If you want, of course."

Cherryblossom smiled at Moonpaw's enthusiasm, and began sniffing around for prey.
"Of course, we can hunt."

She dropped into the hunter's crouch, and nodded at Moonpaw to try to imitate.
"This is the hunter's crouch, you'll likely have done it while playing with your littermates and friends as kits. When stalking your prey, you'll have to be conscious of where you place your paws, because if you step on a twig or crunch a leaf, your prey might hear you coming and run."

She began to creep forwards in demonstration.
"Keep your steps light, as most rodents can feel your footsteps through the ground if you're not careful. As well, keep downwind, so that you can smell your prey, but it can't smell you."

---

ooc: so, how to use the hunting system!

on the hunting system page, you'll find a list of all the prey you can catch, neatly divided into seasons and the clans.

for example, if i'm attempting to catch a mouse, i'd find it under rodents, i'd find the newleaf box, and find thunderclan within it. there, it tells me that to catch a thunderclan rodent in newleaf, i'd have to roll a 1 through a 6. if i roll a 7 to a 9, i miss, and if i roll a 10, i summon a predator encounter.

each attempt to hunt uses stamina, whether or not your character catches something. each hunting attempt uses three (3) stamina, which you must deduct from your stamina total with each hunting attempt. an apprentice's stats are 20 HP/80 SP

for example:
Cherryblossom attempted to hunt a mouse.

Cherryblossom:
40/40 HP
117/120 SP(-3)

to roll the dice for your post, you have to hit either preview under the text box (if you've started writing in the quick reply box), or reply to topic (if you haven't) to open the full text editor page.

then you scroll down to the box that says "dices roll", and in the big dropdown box, select "hunting dice".

an important thing to note is that you can't roll a dice by itself, it must be done with a post, and whatever result you get, you'll have to go back and edit your post to reflect the outcome.

if you have any questions, just let me know and i'll try to answer them the best i can!

OOC: Oh man, this is hard

Moonpaw dropped into a crouch, imitating her mentor exactly. She did exactly as Cherryblossom said, checking the direction of the air, and tried stepping lightly, also keeping aware of her surroundings so she didn't step on anything that ould make noise as practice.

Moonpaw decided she was ready to hunt real prey. Sniffing the air, she caught the scent of a mouse nibbling a seed at the root of a tree. Focusing on her prey, Moonpaw crept forward. When she was close enough, she sprang, trapping the mouse between her paws. Then she killed it with a swift blow to the neck. Happily, she trotted back to her mentor with the dead mouse hanging limply in her jaws.

Moonpaw attempted to hunt a mouse.

Moonpaw:
20/20 HP
77/80 SP(-3)

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 4

ooc: you did great! everything looks good! also i cant do math hgjfkd

---

Cherryblossom waved her tail happily as Moonpaw returned with a successful catch. She smiled and purred,
"Great job! You're a natural."

With Moonpaw having caught her first prey, she decided to try her hand at it again. She scented the air, catching the scent of squirrel on the breeze. She crouched and crept forward, keeping out of its sight, and keeping the wind blowing towards her.

When she was close enough, she pounced. The squirrel never saw her coming, and she landed squarely on it. Before it could squeal, she nipped the back of it's neck, and she carried it back to where Moonpaw was waiting.

Cherryblossom attempted to catch a squirrel. She was successful.

Cherryblossom:
40/40 HP
117/120 SP (-3)

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 3

"Wow," Moonpaw dropped her mouse and mewed, admiration shining in her eyes. "that was so fast! I just blinked and the squirrel was dead." She dipped her head to pick up her catch. "What should we do now? Go back to camp or can I learn to fight?" she mumbled, voice muffled by the prey in her jaws.

ooc: im so sorry for the late response, i got very distracted ;;

---

Cherryblossom smiled at Moonpaw's awe, and set down her squirrel to speak.
"Of course we can do some battle training, just grab your prey and follow me."

She picked up her squirrel and led the way to the sandy hollow, and set her prey by the edge when they reached it. She then stood in the center of the hollow, and when Moonpaw stood before her, she began to speak.
"A lot of battle moves begin and end with your paws, and your claws. One of the most simple things you can do in battle is to give your opponent a good whack upside the head. Even with claws sheathed, you can still do some damage with a well-placed blow."

She lifted her paw, and making sure to not hit anything or anyone, swiped her too-many-toed paw through the air.
"How 'bout you try it?"

---

the battle system works in similar ways to the hunting system, as it also has a stamina cost.

the battle system page has a list of all the moves your cat can use, as well as the stamina cost of each move, what rank your cat has to be to use it, and how much damage it does, also organized by rank.

some moves are also "special effect moves", which mean that along with doing damage, they have an extra effect, for example, stunning your opponent. some of them, like leap-and-hold, will include a dice roll, but instead of using the hunting dice, you use the effect dice instead.

you would format your attacks the same way you would an attempt at hunting, for example:

cherryblossom used front paw blow, dealing 6 damage and costing 5 sp.

cherryblossom:
40/40 HP
115/120 SP (-5)

opponent:
34/40 HP (-6)
120/120 SP

though, for informal things, such as this, you don't have to use the battle system

again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! i'll answer to the best of my ability

OOC: Thanks again!

Moonpaw bounded after her mentor to the sandy hollow, dropping her prey next to Cherryblossom's at the edge of the clearing. Padding to the center, she listened attentively as her mentor spoke. She scrunched her nose and narrowed her eyes, trying to focus as Cherryblossom demonstrated a move with her forepaw. Moonpaw tried to mimic her mentor's attack, keeping her claws sheathed as she raised her paw and struck at the air.
"How was that?" she turned to her mentor, eyes shining brightly. "My first fighting move!" she grinned happily.

Cherryblossom waved her tail a little in approval as she mewed, "That's great! To do more damage, you can unsheathe your claws and slice your opponent with them. However, during training, we always sheathe our claws, so we don't hurt each other."

"The next move I want to show you is Leap-and-Hold. You leap on top of your opponent and pin them, so they can't do anything against you for a little bit. Try it on me, but remember, don't use your claws. You'll use them for a normal opponent, though."

---

ooc: also, question! would you like to do a topic with red and ash as well?

OOC: yes plz! for training and stuff right

Moonpaw smiled happily when her mentor praised her. That smile froze in place when Cherryblossom told her she needed to tackle the other she-cat. "Umm, are you sure?" she asked in a small voice. Then she shrugged. "Well, if you're sure about that, then okay!" Without wasting another second, she leaped at Cherryblossom. Paying extra attention to keep her claws sheathed, Moonpaw aimed at her mentor's flank. "Now what?" she mumbled when knocked Cherryblossom over.

Cherryblossom let out an "oof" as she was knocked over, and she quickly rolled over, back onto her paws. She flicked her ear to dislodge some sand stuck to it, and turned back to Moonpaw.
"You've got the strength, but you missed the mark. You don't want to knock me over, you want to pin me down. Aim more for my back and shoulders, so I can't stand up and attack again a for a few moments."

She shook out her pelt, and nodded. "Try again."

---

ooc: yep, can do! i'll make it sometime tonight or tomorrow

OOC: great!

Moonpaw nodded, listening attentively, before stepping back a few paces. "Here I come!" she yowled before dashing towards Cherryblossom again. This time though, she aimed for her mentor's back and shoulders as instructed, and pounced. She winced when she squashed her mentor beneath her, and she hopped off before she asked, "Was that okay?"