Finally (open)

Finally. It seemed as though an eternity of kithood had passed, an eternity of being confined to the nursery and Shadowclan's camp. Boulderpaw, then Boulderkit, hadn't minded the comfortable life he had been given for the first six moons of his existence; he got to sleep snuggled up against his mother, he had a surplus of friends to play with, and nobody ever bothered him. Yet, the whole time, there had been a sort of hole inside of the little kit; something had been missing. Something to fuel his inert determination and ambition. Purpose. Now finally, after six moons, Boulderpaw had the means to fill the void inside; apprenticeship. Training, fighting, hunting, patrolling. All of this, his clan had given to him....Ravenmist, his mentor, had appointed this to him. He had vowed to devote every bit of energy to his training, and so far - a couple of days in - he had lived up to this promise. He woke up before most of the others, spent his whole day working, and only settled down to sleep long after the others. Boulderpaw had heard of the competition between Smokepaw and Emberpaw who, like him, were being trained under Ravenmist. However, Boulderpaw was so caught up in his own training that he noticed little of the affairs of other cats, let alone Smokepaw and Emberpaw.

Speaking of which, that's what Boulderpaw was doing now; training. Alone. Just how he liked it. Out in the marsh, this young (though not lacking in size, that's for sure) grey apprentice could be seen practicing his clumsy hunting stance and pouncing on clumps of grass. He was coated in a layer of mud, thanks to the swampy land of the territory, but didn't seem to even notice.

Ebonysong padded around the marsh, when she spotted a familiar pelt. “Boulderpaw! Hey! Are you hunting? Mind if I join you?” She settled down next to the blue-gray apprentice, her own dark grey fur shiny and sleek compared to the muddy clumps of fur on Boulderpaw. That’s going to be me rather soon. She thought, stifling a laugh. Ebonysong never really liked to hunt around in the mud, but she would if she had to.

Boulderpaw tore his focus away from his practicing as a familiar voice reached his ears. It was Ebonysong who approached him; she had been a friend to Boulderpaw when he was a kit....back then, he had known her as 'Ebonypaw'. A confused expression came across the tom's face, almost as if he didn't know how to interact with the warrior. However, like he did with all older cats, Boulderpaw gave this she-cat his utmost respect, courtesy, and formality. "Greetings, Ebonyong. Actually, I am practicing my hunting stance as I cannot quite get it right. Do you mind showing me how it is properly done?"

Ebonysong stifled a laugh at Boulderpaw’s formality. “Yup! You don’t need to be that respectful, though. I’m still Ebonypaw...just with the ‘paw.” Grinning at him, Ebonysong got up and placed herself into a hunting crouch. Chest flat to the ground, but not too low, tail hovering just a tiny bit off of the floor to not attract prey. Ebonysong turned towards Boulderpaw. “So...how you stalk your prey is to step lightly and carefully.” She bunched her haunches up and stepped forward lightly, eyes checking the ground of the marsh for any potential leaves of twigs that would blow her cover. When she was done with her demonstration, Ebonysong straightened and smiled at the apprentice. “Here. You try. Afterwards, do you want to work on some hunting?”

Boulderpaw gave a slight nod to Ebonysong's comment on being respectful, though didn't change his demeanor much. Boulderpaw then watched the elder cat's hunting stance, noting different things about her crouch that he had not been doing. "Yes, I would very much enjoy an actual hunt. Is my hunting stance good enough to catch prey?" Boulderpaw dropped down into a crouch, trying to mimic Ebonysong's as best as he could. He then let his grassy gaze rest on the warrior, searching for feedback.

Ebonysong walked around the apprentice, before giving him a final nod of approval. “Ravenmist is your mentor, right? She taught you well.” Ebonysong dropped back into her hunting crouch, before sniffing the air for prey. Toad. With a spark of determination in her eyes, Ebonysong padded forward, before leaping on the toad, pinning it down with a single paw. The poor toad croaked sadly, before Ebonysong gave a final blow to it’s head, dragging it’s limp body back to somewhere close to Boulderpaw and burying it nicely.

117/120 SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Boulderpaw beamed with pride at the mention that his mentor had taught him well. Boulderpaw looked up to Ravenmist; to him, she was practically a goddess, that's how much she inspired him. "Thank you, Ebonysong." After Ebonysong caught the toad, Boulderpaw sniffed the air for his prey. There was a mouse nearby; Boulderpaw dropped into his crouch and stalked forward, ears pricked, eyes focused, mouth slightly open to drink in the rodent's scent. He was a few tail lengths away from the creature; he stopped. The muscles in his back haunches tightened as he prepared to pounce. He watched the creature stop and sit for a moment, and that is when he leaped forward toward the animal...

...and his massive frame came crashing down on the little mouse, crushing it's neck in a heartbeat. Boulderpaw quickly gave thanks to Starclan for the mouse, then glowed at his first kill. He picked up the half squished creature with his teeth and brought it back to the warrior, where he dug a hole and buried it.

77/80 sp

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

Ebonysong flinched slightly as Boulderpaw crushed the mouse with his giant frame. That would work...it would just alert prey that there was danger. Personally, Ebonysong preferred more silent tactics. Ebonysong dropped back into her hunting crouch, slowly moving towards a toad. They weren’t her favorite, but she knew a couple of cats that liked to eat toads. Pounding, Ebonysong slammed a paw on the unfortunate toad. With a bite to the neck, Ebonysong dragged her catch near Boulderpaw’s so they wouldn’t get lost. 

Ebonysong used 3 Sp to try and catch a toad. Catch was...successful!

114/120

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Boulderpaw observed Ebonysong's stealthy hunting techniques. He looked down at his own large paws and big body, feeling embarrassment rise up inside of him. Stealthiness wasn't one of Boulderpaw's strengths, but he was determined to try and learn to be more silent while hunting, like Ebonysong. The blue tom lifted his head, mouth agape, drinking in the scents of the marsh. He pinpointed a lizard nearby and stalked toward it. The creature was sunning on a rock; Boulderpaw prepared to attack, muscles tensed, then pounced....

...and landed on the lizard, crushing it much like the mouse. He huffed quietly to himself. So much for being silent and stealthy. The apprentice carried the half-squished lizard back to the rest of the caught prey, wondering to himself who would even eat a squished lizard in camp.

74/80

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Ebonysong chuckled as Boulderpaw squashed yet another piece of prey. “Just remember to try and be stealthy!” Ebonysong sniffed the air again, scenting delicious mouse. With her icy eyes carefully trained towards the piece of valuable prey, Ebonysong blended into the shadows, silently thanking StarClan for giving her a rather dark pelt. She punched, trapping the poor mouse under one paw and tried to stop it from squirming around. Suddenly, a thud of strong footsteps alerted the mouse and it scampered away. Frowning, Ebonysong turned towards Boulderpaw. “Hey...was that...Boulderpaw! LOOK OUT!” A raccoon appeared out of nowhere and snarled at the two ShadowClan cats ferociously.

Ebonysong used 3 SP on a mouse. Catch was...unsuccessful and a wild raccoon has appeared!

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10