Copper Apples (CLOSED for Legacy)

Training an apprentice... Appledapple had accepted when Stoatfur asked her, but honestly she wasn't quite sure what to do. She wasn't like Minkstar, effortlessly smooth and basically the dad of the whole Clan. She was, well, herself. Angry sometimes and loud sometimes and more trouble than she was probably worth. But still... this apprentice was her responsibility. And more difficult than usual, this cat was from outside the Clans, so they wouldn't know how to do anything... Well, she'd just have to teach them.

Projecting a confidence she didn't feel, the chocolate tortoiseshell she-cat strode from the rosy dawn-lit camp into the apprentice den, barely taking any time to soak in the nostalgic scents before spotting the orangish pelt of her responsibility. She nudged him with a dainty paw. "Wake up, Copperpaw," she whispered urgently. "Time to go on patrol." Then she returned to the entrance of the den, waiting for him to wake up.

Copperpaw was still sleeping in his new nest in the apprentices den when he suddenly felt someone prodding his fur. The prodding caused Copperpaw to open his eyes and see Appledapple standing above him. "It's time to begin?" Copperpaw asked excitedly. He was eager to get out of camp and see what was behind these walls. He had not seen any of the forest apart from his adventure when he first wondered off into the forest leaving his old home and eventually was brought into thunderclan. He saw Appledapple exit the apprentices den, and he followed her out.

Appledapple smiled slightly at the apprentice's enthusiasm. It wasn't all that long ago that she'd been that size, walking excitedly in Minkstar's footsteps. But unfortunately, this little kit didn't get Minkstar as his mentor. He was stuck with her. And she'd do her best to make him into a formidable warrior and hunter, to help ThunderClan, to make Minkstar proud! And also to show Stoatfur she was a good mentor. How was Stoatfur doing these days, anyway?

She shook the strange thought off and returned her focus to Copperpaw. "I'm going to take you out into the territory and show you how to hunt today," she meowed kindly, her gray eyes flashing in the dim dawnlit clearing. "Then maybe we'll go on a tour. But hunting is important. If no one knew how to hunt, we'd all be dead."

On that encouraging note, she led the small tom out through the bramble-coated camp entrance and into the tree-shadowed territory. The air was still cool and crisp, almost cold enough to make her breath puff white from her muzzle. The sun had begun to rise over the forest, casting a faint golden light and making the shadows stretch long in front of them, but not light enough to truly see in front of them. It was a strange moment before dawn... and all the prey would be awake.

"That sounds really fun!" Copperpaw said as he followed Appledapple out of Thunderclan's camp. He felt the cold breeze wisp by his fur and shivered slightly but wasn't going to let that stop him from learning how to hunt today. Moving around and focusing on learning to hunt and seeing the territory will help keep his mind off the cold weather.

ooc: sorry for slow replies, been getting fevers on and off :(

Appledapple walked out into the territory for a while, until they were in one of her favorite hunting spots-- a copse of oak trees, surrounded by undergrowth, a common hotspot for squirrels even this close to leaf-bare. She sat down in the middle of the pine-needle carpeted clearing, waiting a little while for Copperpaw to catch up.

Enthusiastic apprentice... she'd been one of those. She should know how to handle this. Minkstar taught her well, didn't he? The tortoiseshell she-cat shook the weird invasive thoughts out of her mind, turned to the little tom, and smiled.

"I'm guessing you don't know much about our customs in the Clans," she began, polite but curious. "Did you ever hunt much, as an outsider? How much do you know about catching prey? I need to know where to start if I'm supposed to teach you."

Copperpaw followed Appledapple out of ThunderClan's camp and looked around with wide curious eyes as he saw the forest from outside of the camp walls for the first time since he was first brought into the camp. Then he responded to Appledapple,
"I caught a mouse one time but that was it. Most of the time, the older cats caught and brought me and my brother food. It's been maybe a moon since that happened".

Appledapple nodded; that was about what she had been expecting. "Okay," she said. "In that case, we'll start with the basics before we actually hunt." This was a new experience for her, but she tried to recall the memories of Minkstar teaching her. His friendly voice entered into her thoughts, ricocheting off the insides of her skull with the tips and tricks that had long since been internalized.

"First, you need to learn how to tell where the prey is," the tortoiseshell said, deciding to take this step-by-step. "It can be difficult sometimes to pick out one scent from the many, especially when you aren't used to it. But think of how different a squirrel smells from a mouse. A bird smells completely different from either of them, and they all stand out differently from the smells of pine needles and gorse bushes." Demonstrating, Appledapple lifted her face up, opening her jaws slightly and scenting the air around her. Smells both familiar and unfamiliar washed over her, and she could tell that there were a few prey animals within reasonable hunting distance. "Try it out for yourself," she urged. "Can you pick out any smells that you recognize? Any prey?"

Copperpaw listened to his mentor's words carefully and then concentrated and sniffed the chilly air to see if his nose picked up any prey. Then he glanced back up at Appledapple and said, "I smell a squirrel."

Appledapple nodded, impressed that he'd managed to smell it. Then, she walked a little bit forwards towards where the scent came from. All right, it was time to do the legwork. "I'll show you how to hunt," she said, shaking out her fur and recalling memories from her own time as an apprentice.

"First, you'll want to make sure that you're downwind of your prey," the warrior said, moving carefully a few steps to the right. "Otherwise, the prey might smell you and run. Next, you drop into a hunting crouch-- tail out flat, belly to the ground, facing your prey." She did so, slowly lowering herself into the crouch that now felt like second nature. Remembering Minkstar's gentle instruction, her tortoiseshell tail stayed perfectly poised and flat, never dragging on the ground.

"Next," she whispered, "you stalk towards your prey, getting as close as you can. You want to get close enough to catch it, but not so close that it sees you. And you need to be quiet. Don't step on any branches." For a moment she was completely silent, walking a few steps forward into the underbrush, waiting until her gray eyes caught sight of the squirrel. It was fat, probably from gorging on nuts as they approached leaf-bare. It would make a good meal, and a good example. "Then... you pounce."

True to her craft, the warrior expertly leapt forward, paws landing directly on the squirrel and ending its life with a swift swipe of her claws. It smelled delicious. Pride brought warmth to her pelt, reminding her that there were still some things she could do right. Now, it was time to see how the little former loner would fare. Appledapple trotted back to her apprentice, bearing her catch in her jaws before gently setting it down. All right," she said, "your turn, Copperpaw."

Appledapple attempted to catch a squirrel and was successful. -3 SP

OOC: Here are the rules for the Hunting System on WCC. If you have any extra questions, please PM me! You can practice using it in this topic. Though it is technically leaf-bare right now, this topic was started during leaf-fall, so we will be using leaf-fall rolls. You pick a prey, then go into "preview" on your post and select one roll of the hunting dice. After you see what the dice rolls, you edit your post accordingly. I rolled a 4, and a ThunderClan cat will catch a squirrell on any number from 1-8, so I was successful. With a successful or failed catch, your cat expends 3 SP, or "stamina points." These are a measure of how much energy your cat has. They can be found on the ranks page.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

Copperpaw listened to Appledapple's instructions and watched closely as Appledapple caught the squirrel. After Appledapple caught the squirrel it became Copperpaw's turn to hopefully catch a squirrel himself. He repeated what he did before his mentor caught the first squirrel Copperpaw picked up. He sniffed the air and could sense that there were still more squirrels in the area. He turned to the direction the scent was coming from and followed it until he finally spotted the squirrel on the ground next to a tree. He came up right be hind it and then pounced in the air, hoping to capture the squirrel for prey. When he landed, he sighed as he saw that the squirrel had gotten away.


Copperpaw attempted to catch the squirrel but the squirrel got away. -3sp

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

OOC: All right, you rolled a "10," which means (according to Hunting System rules) that we now have to fight a predator. Normally the person who rolled the 10 roleplays as the predator, but I'll do it for you to make things simple! We're going to have to battle now, so here are the battle system rules. I'll demonstrate how to use it in this post, but if you have any more questions please ask! We're going to be fighting a raccoon. It will run away once it reaches half health.


Appledapple watched her apprentice running off to another squirrel, using the techniques she'd taught him. Moment of truth. However, another scent drifted across the wind to her, and the fur on her spine began to prickle. Something was wrong. Sure enough, even as Copperpaw accidentally missed the squirrel he was trying to catch, a raccoon scampered out of the bushes, ready to attack the small cat that seemed to be encroaching on his territory. Alarmed, panic shooting through her voice, the warrior darted forward as fast as her legs could carry her. "Look out!" With a grunt of pain, she took the clawed blow that was meant for her apprentice, then slashed back at the predator with her own claws.

Raccoon used Quick Swipe on Appledapple, dealing 8 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Appledapple used Front Paw Strike on Raccoon, dealing 8 damage and costing 7 stamina.

Appledapple:
37/45 HP (-8 from raccoon)
80/90 SP (-7 from fighting, -3 from hunting)

Raccoon:
12/20 HP (-8 from Appledapple)
50/60 SP (-10 from fighting)

Copperpaw gasped as suddenly the raccoon was quickly approaching him. He was ready to attempt to fight back when Appledapple jumped in front of him just before the raccoon swiped its claws into his fur, causing Appledapple to get scratched instead. He ran towards the raccoon to help his mentor by doing his best to repeat how Appledapple attacked the raccoon, managing to grab a hold of the raccoon's fur, with his unsheathed claws as he did his best to repeat the same move Appledapple used on the raccoon.

Copperpaw used frontpaw strike dealing 6 damage and using 5 stamina.


Copperpaw stats:
20/20 HP
50/60 SP

Racoon stats:
6/20 HP
50/60 SP

ooc: I think I fixed the errors

The raccoon hadn't been prepared to deal with two cats. Hissing as it was attacked, the small predator decided that the fight wasn't worth it and scampered back into the bushes.

Appledapple snarled at it as it ran off, hoping that would dissuade it from ever returning. Then she sighed, wincing at the shallow slash in her side, and turned back to her apprentice. "When hunting," she said, trying to keep her voice calm, "you need to look out for predators like that. That was a raccoon, but you could also be attacked by an owl, a badger, a fox, or any number of dangerous animals. If you aren't with a sufficient number of cats to battle it, you should run to camp or the nearest warrior for help. Got it, Copperpaw?"

She let out a shaky breath, sorting out the tangled mess of emotions in her chest. The last time she'd fought a predator, it hadn't gone well. Flashbacks of lying bloodied on the ground while her brother watched flew in front of her eyes. However... this time she hadn't been alone. Appledapple's gray eyes shifted back to the small tom in front of her. For someone who had just become an apprentice, he'd been rather fearless. Knowing how to fight would be a boon for ThunderClan in these upcoming moons. "Wiith that said... good job. I'll teach you how to fight properly soon. For now, we ought to take our squirrel back to camp so I can get this scratch treated."