Silver Linings [Closed]

Honeytongue paced back and forth at the entrance of the camp as she waited for Silverpaw...Before she lowered her head and sighed. There was so much nervous energy in her since the sickness had befallen the Clan. She had promised to take Silverpaw out hunting soon after her ceremony but things had so quickly spiraled out of control and... Well, it was better late than never. They needed all paws to help keep the fresh-kill pile filled so that everybody had their strength for whatever was about to come. The sickness didn't seem to be spreading but... It was taking its toll on their spirits. Maybe a breath of fresh air out of the camp would do both her and Silverpaw good.

ooc: woa Silver's first topic was 'Silver Lining'

Silverpaw glanced at the fresh-kill pile as she padded out of the den, but she didn't take anything. She'd gone to sleep hungry a few times, but she knew it was best for the sick cats to eat the prey. She spotted Honeytongue's distinctive pelt and trotted towards her. "Hey," she said, a sparkle lighting her eyes, despite the reason they were going hunting.

OOC: Haha, it is a clever name. I suppose I should have checked to see if it had been used but I was like, eh. Its clever and they are trying to make the best out of a bad situation so.

IC: Honeytongue perked up at the sight of her apprentice approaching, relieved to see that familiar light in Silverpaw's eyes. It was good to see that she was keeping her spirit up - this was hard for all of them in so many different ways. It was...Untold, the strength of the sickness. She knew Spiderquill was doing his best but he didn't seem to be able to lessen the pain any. She had wanted to paid visits to the medicine cat but her paws always froze up on the way, a familiar fear clogging her throat and keeping her at bay.

But... It was best to look toward the positive. What they could do to help, not be clouded by their fears and doubts. And as warriors, what they could do was hunt. "Hey there," she greeted back to her apprentice, tilting her head with a soft smile. "You ready to go hunting? We'll be going over how to fish today - its what comes naturally to us RiverClan cats and is always a good at filling the fresh-kill pile," she explained as she turned to lead Silverpaw from the camp and toward the border. "Its nothing...Glamorous but it requires something that most of the other Clans seem to lack at times - patience. None of them can catch a fish like we can and so they don't even bother while its our pride and joy."

Honeytongue looked a bit sad as she approached- well, who didn’t? Silverpaw’s tight shoulders relaxed a bit as she listened to her mentor. She followed Honeytongue, trying to inscribe every inch of the territory into her brain. I’d prefer to learn the territory first, but with so many sick cats, we need to hunt. Because the sick cats are weak and they might not recover and- she couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought. Silverpaw focused on Honeytongue’s words instead. “You need patience, okay. What’s the technique to catch it?” She frowned, trying to imagine it. They’re fast. You’d have to position yourself correctly. Silverpaw realized Honeytongue was about to teach her what she’d just asked, and quieted, resolved to not say too much else.

Honeytongue led Silverpaw across the territory, ears twitching as her apprentice spoke up. She spared a glance over her shoulder, not faltering a step as she knew the territory by heart now and knew where her paws were falling without a doubt. "Its...Waiting, of sorts. It will be much easier to show you than to just explain it," she explained before she turned her gaze turned back onto the path they were taking. It was much easier to show off what was needed than to just explain it - examples were important. Examples were important for everything - from how to behave in general to knowing where to put your paws while hunting or even moving across the stepping stones.

Finally the river came into view, Sunningrocks resting on the other side. "Here we are! The river - that there is Sunningrocks," she explained with a dip of her head as she slowed down to come to a stop at the bank. "Surrounding that is the border of the ThunderClan territory. Follow the river down either side and it will take you towards either WindClan or SkyClan - depending on which way you go," she explained, pointing with her tail before she settled down at the edge of the river. "Now, onto the technique for fishing... You need to position yourself at the edge of the river. Near the edge but not enough to cast a shadow onto the river - fish tend to know to avoid any shadows that fall over the river," she explained, raising head to peer at the rippling surface. "You need to track the shape of the fishes and wait until one gets close enough. Patience is the key here as the fish are fast, you need to wait until they are in the right spot and hope that your reflexes are enough. Even then, the river is...Strange. Fish don't tend to always be where they appear to be - it will take time to learn to guess their true position but that is something that takes practice to learn. You want to try to swipe the fish onto the river - they can be slippery so trying to grab them isn't worth it but they can easily be pinned and killed once out of the water."

Finally, she paused as she took in a breath and glanced at her apprentice. "...I...Hope that made sense. It can seem like a lot but yet...Not much at all but the other Clans don't seem to understand that patience and reflex is what is needed here. I imagine they want to treat it like how you would hunt on land and that just isn't the case," she said, before motioning for Silverpaw to join her at the bank. "Now come here and watch me - then I want you to give it a try, alright?" She rocked her haunches to get her paws into a better position as she turned her gaze back onto the river, carefully lowering her head until her shadow couldn't be seen on the reflective surface. Her eyes tracked the fish that swam peacefully, waiting for one to swim closer to the bank. Finally, one drew close enough and she swiped out with blinding speed. A heartbeat later, her paw curled across the scales of the fish and swiped it, sending it flying from the water and onto the bank next to her and her apprentice.

With a swift bite, the fish was dead and she huffed, beaming as she moved it further away from the bank to give them more room to hunt. "There! One fish down. Now, give it a try yourself!"

OOC: Copy and pasting mostly from a previous training topic.

Hunting, most of the time, is used with the hunting system for requirements. It is not always needed - for example I will not be using it as I don't need the requirement anymore and I also don't want to risk a predator encounter (as your battle requirement should be fulfilled at the Gathering so there is no need) but it is nice if you want a little risk to spice up things...And also for requirements. Its mostly used for requirements.

When you are using the hunting system, the first thing you have to do is decide what kind of prey you want using the Hunting System page. Its important to keep in mind the season (currently Newleaf as noted as being bolded on the Hunting System) and your chances. If you hit preview at the bottom of your post, it will let you see what your post will look like...And also give you access to the Dice Rolls (located below where you can edit your reply). You will want to click on the Dice Rolls square and select hunting dice.

With one dice roll (as you are hunting a single prey, you would only change the number if you had more than one cat hunting at once in a post really), you simply hit send and it will post the reply along with a second one by Mistpelt - which will give you your dice roll. With your dice roll, you will check out the Hunting System page to see if you caught your prey, being mindful of what season it is along with what Clan you are from. Luckily, hunting for a RiverClan cat in New Leaf and going for a fish is pretty simple. 1-9 is a catch while a 10 will summon a predator for us to fight (and thus are not favored). It also should be noted that trying to hunt uses 3 stamina (As an apprentice, you have 20 health and 80 stamina to start).

If you roll a predator, its up to you to pick one to fight and edit your post to reflect them appearing. All the stats and whatnot for the predators are located here.

Also Sunningrocks gives a passive +2 to hunting, which would be helpful...If we didn't have a 1-9 chance of catching a fish. Normally the way it works is that if you needed for example, a 1-6 to catch something, its now a 1-8 so you have a higher chance. But ten always summons a predator so it doesn't matter much for right now but its important to note if you are hunting in a different Clan that there are certain locations that give a +2 bonus to certain rolls.

ooc: alrighty that was a lot but here goes-

Silverpaw quickly absorbed the information Honeytongue had given her. The silver apprentice rocked back onto her haunches, copying Honeytongue's position as best she could. "Like this?" No shadow, but I'm close enough to the river...

Silverpaw stared at the water, searching for a shadow. And she found one. Her eyes tracked it as it swam towards her, and she raised a paw slightly. Claws unsheathed. I'll try to grab it with my claws and toss it onto the riverbank. Her blue eyes decided the time was right, and her paw flicked into the water. A shower of droplets splattered the ground, but she ignored them, focused on the fish as her claws sank into it, deftly flicking it into the air. The fish landed next to Silverpaw, wriggling, and she curiously stared down at it. What had Honeytongue done?

...ah, yes. It took a while for Silverpaw to remember, but she gave it a bite (not that clean, but it worked nonetheless), and the fish lay still. Eyes gleaming, Silverpaw jumped to her feet happily. I did it!"

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

OOC: Good! Yeah, the hunting system and battle system can seem like a lot but once you get the hang of it, it will soon become like second nature to actually use it~ We can keep fishing for a bit or maybe have the two talk and do some bonding if you want, anything is good with me~

IC: Honeytongue scooted back as Silverpaw bundled down to wait. She watched with a careful eye, studying her apprentice's posture as they waited in silence... And then Silverpaw was reaching into the river and a fish landed between them. The warrior's eyes quickly trained on it, watching it flop for a couple of heartbeats before the apprentice gathered her wits and killed it. A happy laugh escaped the golden she-cat as Silverpaw suddenly bounded to her paws, excitement in her eyes. "Very good, Silverpaw!" the warrior praised, smiling brightly. "I'm very proud of you. It seems you are a natural hunter. Add it to pile and lets try to catch more, hmm?" she hummed as she moved back to her spot at the bank. Her eyes watched the many fish that swam in the river, a bit relieved at how well it was running. Despite all the hardships, at least they didn't have to worry about running low on prey.

This...This hardship would pass. Everybody would be okay again, things would...Well, there would never return to normal but find a new one.

The warrior closed her eyes, bowing her head as a soft sigh escaped her. Every time it felt like RiverClan was getting better, things kept going wrong. And...And they couldn't even pray to StarClan for things to be better, not after what had happened at the last Gathering. She wanted to trust them but...She couldn't. But...She trusted Ivystar and Stormbringer. And she would do her part to make a good future for Silverpaw. Her eyes flickered open as she shook her head, focusing back on what they were here to do - fishing. It didn't take long for another fish to draw to close as she struck out and drew it from the water. With a quick bite, it swiftly added to the slowly growing pile.

Silverpaw gave a happy smile as Honeytongue caught another fish. She focused on the ground, searching for a shadow. Not a shadow right beneath her, but one a little ways up, so she had time to judge its position. She heard Honeytongue sigh, and glanced up, but quickly glanced back down and flashed her paw out in a rapid arc. The fish landed beside her, and this time, she quickly killed it. Her happy face turned to worry as she turned back to Honeytongue. “What’s wrong? I mean, I guess I know, but...” Her voice trailed off and she stared at the river for a moment.

ooc: using the hunting dice to get used to it!

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Honeytongue perked up as Silverpaw suddenly spoke up, glancing over as she watched her apprentice drop of another fish onto the pile. She opened her mouth, half ready to brush off her apprentice but... No. She had learned her lessons, there wasn't anything to be gained from bottling up her emotions. It was better to be forthright with it all. "Yeah...Its just...Everything," she sighed glancing up as she stared out across the river. "Throughout my life, RiverClan has had many hardships. I was a kit when Jaystar died and my father become leader. I watched family leave the Clan and die. Whenever things seemed to be getting better...It wouldn't last for long. Before I knew it, my father was dead as well... Its...Its easier to focus on the...Positive. The good that is happening in hopes that they bad things and the pain will pass more quickly but... The sickness, what happened at the last Gathering... I fear for how much worse things can be before they get better." She fell silent for a few heartbeats, glancing over at her apprentice with a soft smile. "I just want a good life for you and the other apprentices. A life of hardship is...Unfair and terrible. I just wish for you all a better life than I have had and I am just not sure how we are going to get there or what it will cost."

Silverpaw stared at the ground as Honeytongue spoke. That's kind of tragic. How did she stay positive? I guess that means she has experience for times like this. The young apprentice moved her gaze up to rest on the water. She noted a vole on the other side of the river. A thought struck her, and she asked, "I know RiverClan's primary food source is fish, but what if the river freezes over? How do you hunt land prey?" Hopefully Honeytongue will think that was a good questino, and not just a pesky little one.

Honeytongue blinked as Silverpaw changed the subject, turning to look at her apprentice for a little while before a laugh escaped her. She...Suppose she couldn't be surprise. She had laid out a lot for her apprentice, she hadn't been expecting her to know what to say and it felt nice to at least laid out the truth of the situation. But a chance of subject would do them both good. She pushed herself to her paws, giving out a stretch. "I do suppose I would have to teach you how to land hunt at some point," she yawned as she curled her tail over her spine before she straightened up with a shake. "We can go over the basics - the river isn't the best place to find land prey but maybe we can find something," she explained as she stepped away from the bank, motioning for the young she-cat to follow her.

"While you are fishing, you need to keep in mind the position of the sun. When it comes to hunting on land...Its the wind you need to pay attention to and your own body," she explained as she dropped into a crouch. "This here is the hunting crouch - you want to hold yourself low to the ground but not enough to stir up any grass that could make noise. Balance is also important as you move forward," she said, slinking forward as an example, eyes gleaming as she looked over her shoulder at Silverpaw. "You don't want to favor one paw over the other - prey tend to be skittish and can sense the vibrations of your paws if you aren't careful. When it comes to the wind, you want to try to make sure the scent of your prey is flowing towards you - not the other way around so there is less of a chance of them being alerted to your presence. You sneak up towards the prey until you think you can make the jump and then..."

She rocked backwards before she sprung forward through the air, landing skillful on her paws before she straightened up and spun to face Silverpaw. "You land, kill and bury it! Then repeat until you have enough, gather up all your catches and head back. Hunting on land isn't easy - there are a lot of variables that fishing lacks. More of a chance that you will end up empty pawed but that is quite alright - everybody has their off days. Do you want to give it a try? I'm sure you could find something if you searched around if you want to try to catch something right away," she murmured as she tasted the air and glanced at the reeds around them.

Silverpaw followed her mentor's movements with her eyes, copying her. It wasn't perfect. Not even good, really. But she tried it a few more times, eventually relaxing the tension in her shoulders that had thwarted her leap the past few times, and she pounced down, eyes glowing. "I did it!" Silverpaw grinned and jumped up. Time to put those new skills to use!

The silver apprentice pricked her ears as she heard a tiny scratching sound. A few moments later, she pinpointed the sound- a scrawny thrush- and started stalking towards it. But she was still new to this hunting thing, and she wasn't going to catch every piece of prey she tried to get. A moment later, her paw scuffed against a stray pebble, and Silverpaw winced as the thrush heard her, cawing in alarm. It fluttered up to the tree, seeming to taunt her with its beady eyes. Silverpaw scowled at it before turning back to Honeytongue with a shrug and a sigh.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 7