the bright future [closed]

Emberspark hummed to himself, a habit he often showed, trotting towards the Pine Grove with Brightpaw at his shoulder. He was trying to set a slower pace for, but often started to walk faster out of his long legs. Eventually he'd just let her set the pace. The Pine Grove was a good place to hunt, easier than most, and the same place Ravenmist had taken him training his first day. It was before dawn, and the sky was still dark. Realizing with a start he hadn't yet explained to Brightpaw what they were doing, he mewed, "Alrighty, so we're gonna hunt today, in this place called the Pine Grove. It's a good first place for beginners, and any cat, really."

Brightpaw had been excited for her first training session since her ceremony yesterday, and had been practicing hunting moss balls and leaves, in hope to catch some prey today. Emberspark had been, thankfully, fairly quiet on their walk, letting her focus on seeing the pine forests properly for the first time, instead of trying to hold up awkward conversation. When he did speak to her, he told her about the Pine Grove, and how they were going to hunt today.
"Ok," she replied, "What are we going to hunt?" Inside, she was very excited, but kept calm, trying to control any small bits of emotion.

Brightpaw seemed eager enough. White tipped tail flicking loftily, Emberspark craned his neck to look back at her, allowing a soft grin to spread over his face. "Whatever we can find. Prey is prey. It's pretty plentiful right now, being Greenleaf." Albeit very, very hot. He stopped, signaling with his tail for Brightpaw to stop, and turned towards her, allowing her to survey the grove as they arrived. "And we're here. Want me to show you the technique and try first, or you want to try first?" Voice dropping into a whisper, he picked up the scent of frog and gestured towards it with his ears. The frog was already injured, bleeding from a couple of marks in its leg. If she wants to do it, it's an easy catch.

"Can I go first?" she whispered, as her mentor's voice had suddenly lowered. She felt fairly confident in her hunting abilities, even though she had only practiced on leaves, moss balls and bugs. Her grandfather had - as always - shown her already, constantly wanting her to outshine everyone. She looked where Emberspark was indicating, and saw an injured frog. It should be an easy catch. Hopefully. No-one back at camp would need to know it was already injured, and prey was prey anyway. Carefully, she crouched into the hunting position, unknown to her, her tail was sticking up a little too much, but the frog didn't seem to see.
Just as she was close enough, she pounced, and her outstretched claws landed on top of the frog before it could leap away. She bit into the back of its neck, remembering the prey fresh-kill pile, which almost always had little nips in the back of its neck. Admittedly, hers wasn't quite as clean, but the frog was still dead. Proud of her first catch, she turned back to her mentor, "What should I do with it now?" She really wanted to eat it, but knew it wouldn't go down well with Emberspark and her family.


Brightpaw used 3 SP to catch a frog. Catch was successful

Brightpaw:
77/80

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

so sorry for the late response! also, if you’re not aware of the hunting boost in the pine grove, it gives hunters a +2 chance to catch something. if ember rolled a 4 for a bird when it has to be a 1-2, he catches it because the chance here is 1-4.

Emberspark lifted his head, watching Brightpaw’s technique. Her tail could use work, but it was decent. She killed it and asked about what to do first. “We bury it. This is a common place to hunt, so some warrior’s probably already made a good hole. Put the frog and there, and watch me hunt.” He settled into the familiar position of the crouch, rocking backwards and gesturing towards his tail. “The frog didn’t see your tail, but it was probably too focused on it’s injury. You need to keep it lower. If it touches the ground, prey will hear it dragging. If it’s high up, prey will see it, or it can rustle a bush or something.”

Birds were uncommon in ShadowClan territory, but this one was still here. Crouching, Emberspark waited for it to plunge its head into the ground, searching for seeds that probably weren’t there. Then, he leapt. His huge leap cleared most of the clearing as he sailed forwards, planting the bird’s neck in his jaws. Flicking his tail in happiness, he dropped the bird in the hole Brightpaw had chosen for the frog.

Emberspark caught the bird for 3sp
157/160 sp

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

Brightpaw made sure to remember Emberspark's comment on her tail, just before burying her frog in a ready-made hole created by a previous patrol. She carefully watched Emberspark's technique, memorising his position, how long he waited and how his leap was perfectly judged. Not long after her mentor had buried his catch, she spotted a large lizard sunning itself on a small pile of pebbles. Even though she prefers to eat mammalian prey, she knew the prey would probably go to the elders anyway, and it was still more prey to bring back to camp. Not wanting to disturb her prey, she made eye contact with Emberspark and flicked her tail in the lizard's direction. She didn't wait for a response, turning to the scaly reptile and dropping into the hunting crouch, thinking care fully about the positioning of her tail.

Creeping closer, she leapt towards it, and landed neatly on the rocks, her claws holding onto the lizard. She delivered a killing bite, pulling away quickly at the taste and added it to their pile of prey. Smiling slightly at her double success, she turned to Emberspark and awaited his comments.

Brightpaw used 3 SP to catch a frog. Catch was successful

74/80

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Emberspark analyzed Brightpaw's technique with a trained eye, nodding to himself. He froze and flicked his tail for silence as he spotted another lizard below the rocks. Drawing himself into a crouch, the dark tabby curved around and leapt at the lizard, claws outstretched. His aim was true, and his claws pinned the little reptile down. It thrashed a bit as Emberspark gave it a sharp nip to the neck and turned back to Brightpaw, tail sweeping the ground in happiness. "Seems like you're a natural! Sometime soon we'll work on sparring. A lot of what you learn in hunting applies to that. Anyway, I'll take you out to hunt again later, though you can always go on patrols and practice. Don't go out alone, though; it's often dangerous... snakes and owls and such." Gripping the lizard firmly in his teeth, Emberspark padded over to the bird he'd earlier caught and pulled it out of the ground, shaking the dirt off of it. He swung the lizard up by its tail and locked his jaws onto the bird, barely managing to fit both in his mouth. Gesturing for Brightpaw to pick up her catches, he slowly led the way back to camp.

((and end. want me to do a fighting lesson/predator encounter in a new thread or no?))

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

((OOC: Can we do a fighting lesson in a different thread please))