Eager and Ready:

To say that the silver-furred tom was eager and ready to start the day would be an understatement. Silverpaw hadn't had a good night's rest due to the prospect that his apprentice training was to officially begin the next day. He'd been tossing and turning in his new nest, possibly irritating a few of his denmates but that didn't put a damper his mood. He constantly opened an eye to check if the sun was ready to rise yet. He honestly tried to sleep but his mind wouldn't shut off no matter what he tried. At least he rested his eyes somewhat. Even with little rest, he'd have plenty of energy to run on. It was just how he was.

At the first signs of dawn, Silverpaw quickly opened his eyes and let out a huge yawn. He arose from his laying position and slowly stretched up onto his paws. He spent a few more moments exercising his legs before shaking away any hint of drowsiness that he still had. He needed to be fully awake and back to his usual energetic self by the time Dayspring was ready to retrieve him. He needed all that energy to be able to efficiently learn whatever she was going to teach him. Hopefully he'll be a good apprentice for her.

As soon as he felt he was fully ready, the young apprentice quietly -at least, as quietly as he could go- moved away from his nest and toward the camp clearing. He flinched a few times when he felt his paws step on what he assumed to be his denmate's tails. They didn't really arouse from their sleep but that didn't stop him from holding his breath until he was in the clear. Once he was 'safe', the tom blew out the breath he'd been holding and swiftly made his way to the center of the camp, eager to wait there for his mentor. It was a bit early but it was better than being late, at least, that's what he thinks.

To pass the time, Silverpaw decided on trying to practice a few moves he'd seen the warriors and older apprentices perform. He'd been enraptured the moment he saw them and instantly began to try and copy them in secret. He wasn't very good, far from it actually. He didn't mind though. He'll be properly taught them during his apprenticeship so for now, it was fine if he tumbled about while he waited.

Perhaps Dayspring was more nervous about today than Silverpaw was. She had spent a long time in her nest that night having a silent debate with herself over how the training session would go, what she would teach, and how she would teach it. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that it would be best to go with the flow. Being a mentor was a huge responsibility, possibly even as huge as being the deputy. The future of WindClan was in her paws, now, as she was tasked with training and sharpening the skills of the next generation. Failure wasn’t an option here. She had no intention of being a strict and uptight mentor. Silverpaw seemed happy and eager enough to learn, so perhaps their two personalities would get along well. She fell asleep that night with the smallest of smiles on her maw.

That morning, she took a moment to blink the sleep away from her eyes before skirting around the silent, sleeping forms of her denmates. Waking them up was the last thing she wanted to do. Most apprentices cherished sleep, and clung to whatever final bit of rest they could get before their mentor’s woke them up from their slumbers, so it shocked Dayspring to see her apprentice already up and ready.

“Wow. Good morning, Silverpaw! I’m glad to see that you’re awake.” Dayspring greeted the young tom with a small nod of approval.

Perhaps she would try to emulate Downtuft’s mentor techniques. Just like Dayspring had told him before, the main cat she wanted to impress was him. She gave herself a decisive nod before turning back to her apprentice with a calm grin.

“Alright, let’s head out. I figured we should start with hunting training today. We can move on to battle training some other time... tomorrow, maybe. Hunting is a really important skill and strategy is crucial. It’s okay if you don’t understand it all the first time around. I didn’t either.” The she-cat began to lead her apprentice out of camp with a gentle flick of her tail.

After a few heartbeats had passed and the two of them had made it to a clearing, Dayspring whirled around to face the tom once again.

“Okay. The first and most important part of hunting is the hunting crouch,” She said, quickly lowering herself down into the position that she had learned moons ago, “like this. Keep your tail and belly off the ground so you don’t make a lot of noise when you move around. Give it a try! Let me know if you need any help.”

Silverpaw immediately ceased his rather awkward attempts at replicating some of the battle moves he'd seen and turned his attention fully to his mentor. "Dayspring! Good morning! I-I was just practicing some of the stuff I saw some warriors do but nothin' is coming out right. Maybe if I practice long enough, I'll get better..." The gray-furred tom gave his mentor a sheepish look before taking a moment to stretch. "What will you be teaching me on the first day? I'm so ready to get going!" He quickly moved to Dayspring's side and looked at her expectantly. Once she revealed their plans for the day, the apprentice couldn't keep the grin off his face. Hunting training? Maybe battle training tomorrow? The sounded more than good to him! "Alright! That sounds fine to me. I'll try my best to learn but I know not to be disappointed if I don't get some things right the first time." Silverpaw briskly began to follow Dayspring out of the camp, an obvious bounce in his step. His mind wandered as he thought about what they'd be doing today. Maybe he'd even catch something today! It wasn't really likely but life can sometimes surprise.

The apprentice's eagerness followed them all the way to the clearing. He was sooo ready to try and make his mentor proud! Once the duo had fully stopped their walking, Silverpaw couldn't help but stand straight, green gaze bright and attentive as he watched the she-cat demonstrate and talk about the hunting crouch. He allowed his eyes to take in every detail of the pose. The young tom nodded when Dayspring told him to try and replicate it. Okay. Here goes nothing! "Tail and belly off the ground..." He murmured to himself as he began to copy. The apprentice crouched down and paid extra attention of how low his tail and belly were. His pose kept wobbling a bit but he managed to keep relatively still. It wasn't perfect, of course, but he thought it wasn't terrible. He wasn't sure how it looked but hopefully it wasn't actually terrible. "H-How's it look? I feel a bit lopsided and I keep wobbling a bit b-but I think I got the tail and belly part right!" He said as he tried to correct himself.

Dayspring silently and patiently watched as Silverpaw took the opportunity to attempt the hunting crouch. She couldn't help but smile as she listened to him quietly murmur the instructions to himself. Perhaps being a mentor wasn't that daunting of a task. The she-cat nodded once the young tom looked up to her for confirmation on his form. Considering the fact that it was his first time, she expected there to be a few errors, and Dayspring was rather impressed.
"Yep, you did get the tail and belly part right. Good job! We just need to work on your balance a bit." She said, swiftly moving to his side so that she could adjust his form.

"Try evenly distributing your weight on all four of your paws. You're going to topple over if you only try to balance on two of them, and your pawsteps are going to be loud when you're trying to catch food. Try it again, and then we can work on stalking prey."
It was almost as if Dayspring had completely forgotten why she was nervous in the first place. Perhaps it was time for her to stop being pessimistic about everything.

As Silverpaw allowed his mentor to adjust his form, the tom couldn't help but feel relieved that he didn't totally butcher his first attempt. He knew he shouldn't keep thinking of failure that may not even happen but he just couldn't help it. He just wanted to make Dayspring proud. He was her first apprentice and he wanted to be a good success for her. She deserved the best, and it was not just for being the deputy. She was an overall amazing cat and he strived to be like her. Hopefully his wishes would come true one day...

"Alright! I'll try my best." he said as he shifted a bit to fix the problems she had pointed out to him. He paid extra attention to evenly distributing the weight on all four paws while not disregarding the positions of his tail and belly. It took a few tries to get it feeling alright but once he was successful, Silverpaw let out the breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding in. "Dayspring! Look! Does this look alright? I think I finally got it down. It feels much better than before, too. I didn't forget about the tail and belly either." The apprentice rambled eagerly as he awaited for the she-cat to observe his fixed form. Silverpaw was desperately hoping for an affirmative. He very much wanted to get to practicing stalking prey. That sounded rather exciting to do.

Dayspring gave Silverpaw an encouraging smile as she watched him adjust his form. When he finally lifted his head to confirm that he was done, she took a moment to inspect the crouch before nodding with satisfaction.
"It looks perfect! Very impressive, Silverpaw." She joyfully praised her apprentice before taking a quick step back.
She figured that it was time to start going after actual prey, now, but that was the one part that she was silently afraid of. She had always been extremely hard on herself, but now that she was the deputy, she held herself to extremely high standards. To mess up a catch in front of the very cat that she was supposed to be teaching would only make her the epitome of a failure. She hid the entirety of her dread by forcing herself to take a quiet breath.

"Now that you've gotten the crouch down, we can start trying to catch prey. I want you to watch me first, and then you can try it on your own." The she-cat turned her head to address Silverpaw before lifting her nose in an attempt to discern the prey in the area. WindClanners were known for feasting on the hares and rabbits that traversed the moors, but Dayspring figured that a bird wouldn't do any harm.
"All types of prey have distinct smells, and you need to take the time to scent out what's in the area before you look for anything." She lowered her voice to a whisper so as to not startle the bird that she had decided to target.

Her pawsteps were silent and her eyes were slightly narrowed as she slithered toward the winged creature. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes, now. When she was certain that she was close enough, Dayspring held her breath for a few heartbeats before pouncing forward. The clueless bird realized that it was being stalked only a heartbeat before it fell to its timely death, and lifted its wings in an attempt to make an escape, but Dayspring was quicker. She finished it off with a small bite to its neck, and then proceeded to carry it back to where Silverpaw was standing.
"There. It's your turn, now. Good luck!"

dayspring successfully caught a bird! it cost her 3 sp.
277/280

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

The apprentice's whole face lit up at Dayspring's praise. He actually did it! What a relief! He'd been holding his breath in fear that he'd have to attempt the pose many times over. He wasn't the most graceful of cats so naturally, he thought his first day of training would've resulted in him making a fool out of himself. Knowing that he was making actual progress nearly had him physically vibrate with glee. He managed to restrain himself, well, almost. The only thing showing his overexcitement was that traitorous tail of his. Golly. That dumb thing always gave him away. It never stopped wiggling or shaking once he got too joyful. One of these days he'll have to tie it down as to not have it show everyone how he felt so clearly.

Silverpaw snapped out of his daydreaming and hurriedly focused his wayward attention back to his mentor once he heard her begin to speak again. It was time to start stalking real prey? Oh StarClan! On one paw, he felt more than ready to begin. On another paw, he was more nervous this time than he'd been when they had only just been practicing the crouch. He was hoping desperately to not mess this up but a part of him knew that it was more than likely that he wouldn't be catching anything on his first try. Maybe he'd catch a bit of beginner's luck? There was still a chance but he'll just have to wait and see.

"Alright. I'll try to watch as closely as I can." he told Dayspring as he crouched down so he'd be able to watch her form better. He observed how she scented the bird and performed the hunting crouch just as she had taught. She easily slithered up to the feathered critter and without missing a beat, she pounced and successfully caught it. Woah. It didn't even have a chance to budge, let alone fly off. Oh geez! How was he going to do that as well as his mentor had?

The apprentice took in a breath as he tried to shake away his worry. "Okay. I'll try my best." he muttered to Dayspring as he nervously shuffled forward before beginning to scent out what prey was nearest, just as instructed. Alright. So far, he wasn't having much luck scenting or spotting anythi- oh! There! He could smell a rabbit! Ah. A good ol' rabbit. WindClan was known to catch these rather easily. Hopefully that would be enough to improve his chances of success.

As he'd been shown and taught, the young tom crouched down into the hunting crouch, mindful of his weight distribution and where his tail and belly were. He carefully snuck over to the creature, cautious of stopping a safe distance away. Okay. Here went nothing!

The tom wasted no more time and pounced as soon as he could... a big mistake. He hadn't paid enough attention to his surroundings and instead of catching the rabbit, he crashed face first into a bundle of furry aggression. "Ack! H-Hey!" he yowled as he attempted to scramble back up but was impeded by a set of sharp teeth clamping down onto his right foreleg. "Ow! Get off! Dayspring h-help!" Silverpaw, understandably, was much more than a little frightened. Until now, he hadn't had a chance to see his attacker. It appeared to be a weasel. He'd heard about these little monsters from his half-siblings. Oh geez! This was a disaster! A painful one at that.
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Silverpaw failed in catching a Rabbit and instead encountered a Weasel costing 3 SP.

Silverpaw:
20/20[HP]
77/80[SP] (-3 SP)

Weasel:
60/60[HP]
200/200[SP]

Dayspring:
100/100[HP]
277/280[SP]
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Weasel used Gripping Bite on Silverpaw, dealing 10 damage and using 30 SP.

Weasel:
60/60[HP]
170/200[SP] (-30 SP)

Silverpaw:
10/20[HP] (-10 HP)
77/80[SP]

Dayspring:
100/100[HP]
277/280[SP]

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

Dayspring quietly settled down in the grass so that she could properly study Silverpaw as he made his first attempt at catching living prey. A small smile was plastered on her maw as a symbol of encouragement. Whether he caught it or not, the she-cat would still be proud of him. After all, catching prey wasn't the easiest task ever, especially for newer apprentices, and she knew that better than any cat. She watched as the young tom prepared himself and sprang forward, but her fighting instincts immediately kicked into gear once the bundle of fur revealed itself to be a vicious, bloodthirsty weasel. Silverpaw had no battle training, so Dayspring knew that she was going to have to take the lead in protecting her apprentice.

"Get off of him!" Dayspring yelped as she used her hind legs to push herself forward and straight at the weasel.
Using all of the force that she could muster, the she-cat bowled the creature over. Fighting was the last activity that she wanted to engage in at the moment, especially since their morning had begun so peacefully, but getting rid of this attacker was the highest priority.
Dayspring quickly turned her head to speak to her apprentice, "I know that you don't have any battle training yet, but use your instincts! Try swiping at it. The weasel will be more inclined to run away if we double team it."

dayspring used "jumping strike" on weasel, dealing 15 damage and costing 20 stamina.

dayspring
hp - 100/100
sp- 257/280

weasel
hp - 45/60
sp - 170/200

silverpaw
hp - 10/20
sp - 74/80