Birds and Flowers

Wisteriabloom padded across camp to the apprentice den and stuck her head in through the entrance. If there were apprentices sitting around camp doing nothing, she might as well go out hunting with one of them. At the moment, the apprentice to warrior ratio was heavily outbalanced, with many warriors having more than one young cat to train: Ivystar had who knows how many apprentices, and Wisteriabloom was given Lilypaw very quickly. Her apprentice was eating a meal now, her smaller stature and youth meant she was a lot more tired from their earlier sparring session. "Shrikepaw!" she said, seeing her friend, "Do you want to go out hunting? I was thinking of maybe trying the Sunningrocks today."

Shrikepaw’s chin was lifted upwards as he groomed himself. It was an effort to look superior. He was superior, though. The fire must have damaged SkyClan’s brains if they thought they were anywhere near being as good as their RiverClan saviors. As for the others - well, if they weren’t of full RiverClan blood, they weren’t worth any thoughts. The ghost tabby swiped a wet paw over his ear. His pelt was glossy as ever. The apprentice hadn’t been training in a while. Who knew what a Nightwolf was doing anyway.Busy with what? Imaginary apprentices? Unlike Ivystar he only has one. And I bet she can make time for them.

His train of snide thoughts was interrupted by a gray head poking in through the den’s entrance. Shrikepaw recognized Wisteriabloom with a grateful twitch of his ears. “I’ve already been, actually.” Not that I caught anything, because my mentor’s an idiot who can’t see the end of his own tail, but- “Oh, wait,” A twinkle in his eye, mischievous smile tilting his maw upwards, “You need tips from me. In that case, of course, I’d be happy to come.” His snakelike tail curled upwards and he bumped Wisteriabloom’s shoulder.

"Of course, your lordship, I cannot possibly hunt without you!" Wisteriabloom said with a sarcastic smile on her face. As they headed out of camp, she started up a conversation. "I feel like sometimes you forget that I am older than you," the young warrior said. She knew full well that Shrikepaw was just messing around, but it made good lighthearted chatter. "It may've slipped your mind, but - if I remember correctly - you were a little kit when we first met." And you got hurt. She added in her head. The worry she had felt for him when he raised his head with a cut on it was when Snakekit had disappeared; younger cats tended to bring out a bit of the protective side of her. "How's Nightwolf as a mentor? I don't think I've met him before. Is he any good?"

He's probably well on his way to becoming a warrior, she thought. Might as well give him some practise then! "Ok then Shrikepaw, you lead the way to Sunningrocks," she said. They were nearly there, but still on the wrong side of the river. You always had to be careful when you were crossing to the Sunningrocks, as crossing a fox-lengths early would land you right on ThunderClan territory.

“Age doesn’t make you smarter than me,” Shrikepaw chirped. “And if I remember correctly, back with my tiny kit brain, you were just a ditzy apprentice.” Wait, that met he was ‘a ditzy apprentice’ as well. The ghost tabby gave his tail a twitch. He hated losing in an argument (or just banter), but wordplay wasn’t his strong suit. He blinked a little as Wisteriabloom mentioned a Nightwolf. His ears balefully flattened. “Supposed to be a good warrior. I’ve gone out on training sessions with him and am basically fully self-taught.” He disguised the venom in his voice by smothering it with pride - the pride that he’d been able to catch things by himself. Honestly, Wisteriabloom’s taught me more than him.

They reached Sunningrocks quickly, with Shrikepaw’s pent-up energy, and a squirrel practically ran into his paws. So unprepared for it, Shrikepaw skittered back, stuttering for a second in surprise. When he came back to his senses, the young tom immediately chased after the squirrel. He made a leap to one of the boulders of Sunningrocks, but his chin hit the flat bottom and he tasted blood on his tongue. The squirrel sauntered up a tree, taunted him for a moment, and danced away. Shrikepaw yelled a few things he shouldn’t have and looked back at Wisteriabloom, only a little apologetic.

He was bleeding from his chin now, and on his tongue, though Wisteriabloom couldn’t see that. “Before you sat a word, I do not need to see a medicine cat. And also, apparently I suck at teaching myself.” Shrikepaw angrily scraped a claw into the ground. “I may have been exaggerating...” He forced the words out. “I tried to teach myself how to hunt and it never worked. Nightwolf is a terrible mentor. The only times I’ve caught anything ever is by luck.” He turned around, regretting that outburst, and stalked onto the rocks.

Shrikepaw attempted to catch a squirrel. Attempt failed.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

"Self-taught, huh? We'll see how good a teacher you are in a bit." Wisteriabloom was enjoying being in the comapany of a friend, as (even though she was a fairly social cat) she didn't really have many friends. It was unknown to her why, but her blunt attitude and sometimes unfeeling honesty often didn't take to long to deter others. "You'll be a warrior soon enough, then no 'supposedly good' warrior will try and train you." She pitied the young tom - her and her old mentor, Streamtail, shared an unbreakable bond. The warrior couldn't imagine not having the silver she-cat to go to for help whenever she needed it.

Having to suppress a small snigger at Shrikepaw's failed attempt at catching the squirrel, then his reaction when it escaped, Wisteriabloom began to give him some advice. "Come on, come back over here!" she called when he disappeared in a strop. If the apprentice wasn't careful, he could easily wander over the border onto Thunderclan territory. "Do you want me to train you properly? Maybe you can tell me how good a mentor I am. I mean, I can't be much worse than Nightwolf!" Any feedback that she could use to help Lilypaw was good feedback. Before checking if he was watching, she scented a mouse. She would take him through the proper techniques of hunting land prey later, but for now just watching her hunt would hopefully be enough.

The mouse dashed from its hiding place, to fast for the silver tabby she-cat. She tried her best to trap it between her paws, but missed dreadfully. Part of her tried to use the classic excuse 'I guess I'm just not used to catching land prey as much as fish,' but she knew that that was no reason now. After the river had dried up, the whole clan had spent a long time only able to hunt land prey, including Wisteriabloom.

"I guess even a good mentor can't save every hunting trip." she said jokingly, hoping that by the end of the patrol they would have some prey.

Wisteriabloom used 3 SP to catch a mouse. Catch was unsuccessful!
197/200

The member 'khamosa khough' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

“Catching prey isn’t really going to teach me. It could demonstrate the technique, but you gotta explain what you’re doing and why.” Shrikepaw watched as she clumsily tried to trap a mouse between her paws. “I always have to come up with my own techniques. Catching fish, and land prey too, I guess. Maybe if I see a ThunderClan cat hunt I can mimic them.” The ghost tabby scented the air. There wasn’t any prey near them, so he stalked along Sunningrocks for a minute. He was more graceful on land than most - even having a build suited perfectly for water, the young tom had close to no experience in the river. Perhaps Wisteriabloom could teach him later, but he knew the proper strokes and such. Hunting was grasping on thin air for him.

Shrikepaw’s paws were dipped in the water as he spotted a frog. After walking for a few minutes, Sunningrocks was hot from the sun, and the smooth, flat surfaces of the rocks absorbed heat easily. His ears perked up hopefully and he shook the water from his legs, lowering his belly until the end of his fur was touching the ground. The frog was tantalizingly close. He drew in his hind claws so they made no click against the stone and inched closer and closer. He stretched his tail out for balance (stars, the position was hard to hold), but made sure it didn’t cast a shadow. Even for catching fish, shadows were an important part of hunting. Land prey was harder because they could scent, but slower than fish most of the time. Shrikepaw leapt for the frog as he felt the wind shift, blowing towards him. In another moment the frog would sense him. It was the time to strike.

His expression morphed from concentration to surprise as the frog landed right on his paws. Shrikepaw’s landing was unbalanced and not dignified whatsoever, but the frog was pinned. He planted his front paws down and bit the creature on the back of the neck. The apprentice studied it for a moment, wondering if it was actually dead or not. When he prodded it with a claw and nothing happened, his eyes widened and he looked back at Wisteriabloom. “Wisteriabloom! I got it! I caught the frog!”

The happy tabby picked up the frog. It was tempting to eat it, but he knew he couldn’t - at least while Wisteriabloom was around. He made sure his teeth wouldn’t puncture it. It was a rather large frog (probably how he’d been able to pin it), and would make a good meal for the elders. “How long do you usually stay out on a hunt?”

Shrikepaw attempted to catch a frog. Attempt successful.
74/80

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

"Well done Shrikepaw! Your technique's nearly there, come on I'll try and show you properly." Wisteriabloom said cheerfully. At his next question, a smile crossed her face. "A bit longer than this - we've only caught one piece of prey between the two of us! Make sure you don't forget to put your catch somewhere. There's a good spot over there." She nodded towards a small hollow where two rocks crossed over each other, creating a good hollow to collect their prey.

After Shrikepaw had followed her instructions, she crouched into the hunting position. "I know it's tiring, but holding it will strengthen your muscles and make it easier. You do it now, and I'll give you some pointers." Her original goal had been to hunt, but it had slowly grown into a training session. The young tabby needed it, and the less apprentices and more warriors in Riverclan the better. He'd never learn enough solely on Nightwolf's bad mentoring, so he needed her help. It annoyed her that she'd get no credit for doing most of his training when he eventually earned her warrior name, but that was a short-term thing. If Shrikepaw was never trained properly, he'd never be a successful warrior.