It’s way too early for this

Stormwatcher was curled up nice and warm in his soft nest when the first rays of the morning dawn shown through lighting up the sky just a little bit. That first bit of when you can just barely start to see things.

The dawn patrol could be heard getting ready to move on out, he internally groaned as he had promised to stone paw that today they would train… but it was so cold out and not as nice as this warm den and nest even if it was put together hastily from the move.


The lazy warrior was so not used to having to do things this early (or do things in general usually avoiding his tasks). But he had promised wolf that he would try and help the clan more… but training at the crack of dawn with an apprentice wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

He gave a big stretch and yawn, he sat there for a little just starting at the ceiling (ever had days where you can’t get out of bed? That’s him a lot)

He got to his paws and shook out the moss clinging to his big fluffy pelt. He went over to where the apprentices were set up in their temp camp.

“Alrighty then! Who’s *yawn* ready for some training? he asked sleepily but at least he was trying to stay positive about this…. Wolf owes me fresh kill for all this work, he thought to himself


Seeing mistpaw and stone paw he also looked around for dawnfeather, she seemed more like the early bird type… maybe she would take the lead on this and he could take it easier he hoped a bit.

Hmm let’s take them hunting? he suggested.

I would much rather work on getting some breakfast than practice sparring, even better yet if they can catch breakfast for me he lazily thought dreamily.

He gave a nod and grin I’m gonna show you the best hunting way stonepaw. You’ll be the next wolf of the clan and he meant it too, he was all for getting the apprentices up to speed on hunting, especially if it benighted him long term, besides these would be the warriors serving his retirement one day when he got to the elders den, best be sure they knew how to hunt alright.


With one more stretch and yawn he led the way out of camp with stonepaw. If mistpaw and dawn wanted to come along that would be great but they didn’t have to

Dawnfeather had woken up… a bit too early, if she was honest, and she didn’t want to wake her apprentice too early. Even feisty Antpaw had seemed a bit disgruntled at being woken at the break of dawn, and Dawnfeather wasn’t about to let something like bad timing ruin her relationship with her apprentice. Mistpaw. A sweet little cat, close to her sister Stonepaw. Sibling relationships were the best, weren’t they? Muddy and Holly and Wasp, and even… Stag, of course. How could one ever forget Stag.

The golden she-cat was positioned not far from the apprentice den, carefully cleaning her pelt, when Storm… Stormwatcher, of course- when he padded over, and she followed. He looked tired, too- but was still willing to work with the apprentices. Admirable. “As long as we’re extra careful about traps,” she cautioned, gently waking her apprentice. “Mistpaw, how does hunting practice with Stormwatcher and your sister sound? We’ll take it easy at first.”

If her apprentice agreed, Dawnfeather would bound after the other mentor-apprentice pair, all joyful smiles and pent-up energy.

Stonepaw's head lifted at Stormwatcher's voice, the new apprentice rousing from sleep easily. With a yawn, the apprentice shook out her fluffy coat, though she cared little more than that about it as she made her way from her nest.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go." Stonepaw mewed. Her heart raced with a mix of excitement and nerves at the idea of going out of the hollow. She was young enough to hardly remember SKyclan territory, and the few memories she had of being outside of fourtrees were chaotic, at best. And then Dawnfeather mentioned the traps... Stonepaw was careful to keep her expression neutral, though her tail tip flicked uneasily before she could will it into stillness. She wasn't scared, she told herself. The traps were just... horribly disconcerting. That was all. But she wasn't scared!

Though she was nervous by nature, Mistpaw woke up feeling remarkable confident on the first full day of her apprenticeship. Well, confident for Mistpaw, anyway; which in practice meant that she didn't flinch at the sound of voices that weren't her sister's. She'd woken early but remained comfortably in her nest, not wanting to go searching for Dawnfeather and assuming that her mentor would come find her when it was time to train.

That particular assumption had turned out to be correct, as the second voice she heard that morning was Dawnfeather's. She rose to her paws, nodding slowly. "That sounds... Nice."

Hunting practice would be safe, wouldn't it? The traps were dangerous, emphasized by her mentor cautioning Stormwatcher, but other than that... It should be perfectly safe.

Stormwatcher was glad that Dawnfeather and Mistpaw would be joining them. He was happy to have Dawn's help and extra experience, he for one had no idea what he was doing with an apprentice. He was very suppirsed that Wolf had given him one... no doubt to get him to start helping more around the clan. He had a feeling the deputy would be keeping a close eye on how his training went.

Hopefully Dawn knew what to do. He'd been assigned so many different mentors when he was an apprentice he didnt really even know where to begin with these two.


"alright stonepaw .... erm lets have you practice your hunting stalk and that way you will be ready to catch things when we see em. Mistpaw you can too... erm if Dawn thinks thats alright he mewed looking to the senior warrior

I have no idea what im doing.... Hopefully Dawn agrees with this idea and we can finish this training soon so I can go back to sleep... better yet if we catch some nice prey as well he thought quietly and lazily as always to himself.

He gave a little yawn and crouched down into a low stalk.

"This is sorta what it will look like... tail low to the ground, little movements when you sneak up on it, you want to close that distance best you can

He stood back up wanting them to try too.

"oh yea, and sometimes the prey runs up trees... we have even more of those back in our real territory and for that you might have to climb after em. Umm but for this first trip out if it goes up a tree please just let Dawn ... or myself get it.

The last thing I need is to get one of them injured. ... Wolf would unleash the bear on me

Although his thought was purely for his own self serving purposes of not wanting to get in trouble, at least he was trying to keep them safe even if not for the most wholesome of reasons.

"yeah! ... other than that its kinda some good luck... lets have you try a practice first so you get the feel for it then how about you try the real thing?

But, just as he was saying that, a squirrel went hopping past the group so far unaware of their presense,

Stonepaw was closest and he quietly pointed it out to her.

Come on you can do it!

Dawnfeather smiled at her apprentice’s words, turning to follow Stormwatcher out into the territory. “That sounds fine,” she mewed in response, although a bit of her was worrying… traps, predators, Twolegs? Wouldn’t it be safer to teach them to spar back at Fourtrees… but the Clan needed to be fed, and, for now, Stormwatcher and herself would be here to fight off any potential threats.

The golden-furred molly watched Stormwatcher (heh) closely. She had never been very skilled at catching ground prey, and so took note of everything he said. It was usually best to start with ground prey before moving up to the trees, but that wasn’t the way… anyways, she nodded at his words. “I- We can learn climbing later. After ground prey, and the basics of sparring…” that would be especially necessary in the trees. She herself had nearly been carried off by an eagle as an apprentice.

Hunting was not good luck, and Dawnfeather opened her maw to respectfully disagree, when her sharp eyes also noticed the squirrel, not awfully far from their current position. The molly slowly lowered her head to whisper in Mistpaw’s ear. “Whether or not your sister catches that, it’ll likely startle out some other prey. Feel free to go after that, if you want.”

Stonepaw nodded at her mentor, doing her best to imitate his movements. Not being used to crouching like this, her body protested a little as she kept her paws spread evenly and tried to keep her back straight while remaining close to the ground. Stormwatcher seemed to have no trouble though, so maybe it was just that the new apprentice wasn't used to it. "Like this?" She mewed quietly, glancing between the two warriors. Before she got a response however, Stormwatcher had pointed out a squirrel that was decently close by. Stonepaw blinked, watching it for a moment. She should try to go after it, but what if she missed? Dawnfeather seemed to think that regardless of success she'd draw more prey into the open, but what if she only scared it away? But both warriors seemed to want the two to go after something, which made sense. They were out here to learn, and that included hunting, of course. Maybe she and Mistpaw could both catch something.

Mind made up, Stonepaw gingerly stepped forward, moving toward the squirrel as quietly as she could. Good luck, Stormwatcher had said, and it seemed as if that were the case as Stonepaw crept up on the squirrel and then leapt forward, unsheathing her claws. She landed on it, the sensation more of a surprise and causing her to nearly lose her grip, but she managed to recover quickly, fangs catching her prey by the throat. Stonepaw turned, trying to tamp down on her excitement as she glanced back at the patrol. "How was that?"

Stonepaw attempted to catch a squirrel for -5 sp. Catch was successful!
55 / 60 sp

The member 'kjSage' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Stormwatcher watched as his apprentice first tried to practice what he had shown. His eyes widened and he tried to hide a grimace expression.

Stonepaw was asking if that was right... eek umm no... no not really... not even close. Her stance looked all akward and like her paws were so weirded out having to support herself in this low position.

That doesnt look right at all... what are you doing!? Did Wolf give me the worst one to train just to mess with me?? he thought to himself glancing breifly up to the sky in an attempt to hide an eye roll.


... patience Storm... patience... Wolf expects you to do a good job with this... and you promised you would try and help the clan out more... so here is your shot to do so ... but looking back down at his apprentice struggling to get this he did his best to bite his tongue...

"erm... well not exactly... keep practice I guess" he managed to meow. ... at least it was more patient than what he was thinking right??? He had to have some credit for that.

Stars... im never gonna agree to another apprentice if I live through this one.

Luckily however the squirrel came at the perfect time really.

ok practice time over kiddo! Lets do it for real!

he watched silently as Stonepaw got the idea and snuck up on the prey he gave a supporting nod when she looked a bit unsure.... he might not be the most patient mentor and yes he was a bit lazy... but he really did want her to learn and do well. (Besides, her learning this would show wolf that he really was trying to help the clan)

... (he probably only wanted to help the clan to ensure he had a decent place to retire to as an elder but hey! This is Storm we are talking about he always does things for himself first keep in mind)


However, even as self serving as Stormwatcher is, he couldnt help but to feel happy for Stonepaw when she trapped that squirrel and score her first catch ever!

He did do his best though not to seem too happy about it. Even though internally he was screaming happily to see his apprentice do that. That was his apprentice! And she caught on so quickly how to do that.

It felt weird... but he felt a small amount of pride that she had done so well, and it wasnt pride in himself which was why it felt weird.

"not bad" he purred with a nod. That was all he would give externally to that.

YESSS!!! You did it!!! You are amazing! A true natural! I am so happy that I got to see that!

(for once his thoughts were more positive than his spoken)

Mistpaw nodded to Dawnfeather, listening to her instructions and keeping a watchful eye and nose out for startled prey. A bird caught her attention, soft feathers standing out against the leaves. "I see it," she whispered, almost inaudible, and began slowly following after it; a carefully practiced hunting crouch that moved forward with the same caution she'd brought to the rest of her training.

Eyes on the goal, she thought, and pounced.

Her paws caught the tail of the bird, but as she attempted to move forward and properly pin it down she found that she was stuck; the bird easily escaping her grasp and taking refuge in the relative safety of the trees.

Startled and alarmed, she called out: "Dawnfeather! Stonepaw! Help!"

Mistpaw attempted to catch a Bird, costing 5 SP! The attempt was unsuccessful, and Mistpaw was caught in a Twoleg trap.
55/60 SP (-5)

The member 'Holly' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

Dawnfeather flicked Stormwatcher’s shoulder lightly with her tail. “Good job Stonepaw!” she mewed softly, keeping an eye on her own apprentice. Your form could use a little work, but it’s rare that an apprentice catches their first prey. Impressive-“ Something was bothering her- she let the sentence trail off as her eyes narrowed. It wasn’t Mistpaw’s hunting crouch, novice as it was- it was a deeper fear, something that she had experienced before yet that she couldn’t put her paw on- the golden she-cat opened her maw to call her apprentice back, but she was just about to pounce, and surely whatever gut feeling Dawnfeather had was-

She threw herself into motion, eyes wide with fear, powerful hind legs sending her cannoning across the clearing, jaws opening to close around her apprentice’s scruff- too late. Dawnfeather slammed into the side of the trap, silvery brambles catching her fur as she pulled herself free. Too late. Mistpaw was trapped- she’d been just too slow. She used to- she’d been so certain that she could close the distance between them in time, yet now all she felt was an unaccustomed soreness where she’d slammed against the wires. No matter- what mattered now was Mistpaw.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” she mewed softly, inspecting the trap. “Check for any breaks in the wire- er, brambles, and I’ll see if I can get this open.” There was a bend, here, where she’d slammed her shoulder into it- would that weaken the door, make it easier to open? “See if you can press against it from your side, dear.” The golden she-cat firmly clamped the wire in her jaws and began to try to ease it outwards… sometimes, they weren’t made as securely as the Twolegs seemed to think.

She ignored Stormwatcher and Stonepaw, her mind totally focused on the task at paw. Mistpaw would be okay; she wouldn’t- couldn’t- shouldn’t lose another.

Stonepaw ducked her head, mildly embarrassed at Stormwatcher's words. He was going to be difficult to please, it seemed. But she'd caught the squirrel, and Dawnfeather's praise made her fur feel warm. She seemed very different from Stormwatcher, and it managed to put a small smile on her face even despite Dawnfeather's gentler criticism. She would work on her form, like Dawnfeather said.

She watched as her sibling started after her own prey, a bird, and her eyes widened as Dawnfeather suddenly darted forward. It was difficult to figure out why at first, until she spotted the glint of something silvery. Even as Stonepaw picked up on that, her sister was calling for help, and Stonepaw moved faster than she thought she could, bounding towards her sister, on the heels of Dawnfeather.

"Let me help!" Stonepaw practically begged, paws pressing against the trap fretfully. She noticed the bend that Dawnfeather had butted her shoulder into... Maybe they could force it back open somehow. She pressed at it, unsheathed claws scratching against the silvery tendrils of the trap. "We'll- We'll get you out of this. I p- promise." She mewed, forcing her voice to remain as steady as it could be, and growling under her breath when it didn't quite come out that way. She lifted her paws again, trying to find a way to get the foul thing open.

Stormwatcher was well aware that Dawn was more likable mentor than he was, he was doing his best but he never really had a mentor that held his paw the whole way through.

Besides, he was already doing well to be up and out of his nest and showing his apprentice the basics!

He gave a little sigh seeing how much more the apprentices liked Dawnfeather apperently, that was fine by him, he didn't really care at least, thats what he told himself.


Not seconds later and an all to familiar sound of a twoleg trap rang out as it creeked and slammed shut. His head jerked over seeing Mistpaw now trapped. His heart beat super fast as he stood there stunned. NO...NOOO not this again. He was not about to lose another apprentice and have to tell wolf and Bird this.


It wasnt his fault Crooked had been taken but he wasnt about to have 2 apprentices go missing on his watch, he may not try very hard all the time and he may not care alot about others: but he wasnt about to let the clan loose all their apprentices, besides, these young ones would be the ones in charge of keeping the stacks of prey high when he got to be an elder.


He got unusually angry, he was generally pretty mellow and gentle giant sort but he was furious that he had not seen this trap prior to and been able to warn Mistpaw, he should have known what to look for after Crookedpaw had gotten statched but it was just so well hidden.

He saw his apprentice and Dawn trying to weaken the cage and for a bit was standing there stunned.

He allowed the anger to build up till he was nearly shaking in place. These twolegs had ruined everything for him!!!! HE had such a GOOD life prior to all this, of just sitting back and doing as little as possible but now with cats getting snatched left right and center more and more tasks were falling to him!!

UNACCEPTABLE CONDITON!!! These brute twolegs would not take another one.

MOVE! he yelled at his apprentice and Dawnfeather.

He took a deep breath in and stared at the cage. His big overly large and clumsy body was gonna open this dark forest thing no matter what! All the times his old mentors had taunted him about being nothing but an oversized cat too clumsy and overgrown for anything else humf!! Well he was gonna flatten this dumb trap! Like the barbarian that they had accused him of being

He dug his claws out into the ground and let out a feral growl as he charged headlong at the thing. He knew this was gonna hurt he just didnt expect how bad it was gonna hurt. As he slammed into the cage at full speed he felt his shoulder a very sharp pain as he hit the weakened spot that the other two were trying to get.

The wind got completly knocked out of him and he coulda sworn he saw stars for a second or two there. He crumpled down to the forest floor letting out a groan.... but it had paid off somewhat... the bars were a bit more bent now... not enough for Mist to escape yet but another hit like that...

IT took him a minute or so to get back up to his paws but he shook his head backing up to where he had started from before and again ran at it full barbarian mode. It helped to just turn his brain off before hand and just full yolo it!

CRASH!! The bars were now free enough that the apprentice could probably escape. His shoulders hurt like something evil from bashing into the thing. He rubbed his shoulder uncomfortably ... he hadnt really ever done something like that .... get hurt for someone else.

... clan life is so not worth all this he thought negativly to himself feeling very sore and in a very poor mood right about now.

He glanced over to mistpaw. "ok.... please tell me you can squeeze through there?"

Mistpaw was too busy panicking to pay much attention to what was happening around her, the voices of all three cats blending together in her ears. It was all so overwhelming, something that made her want to shrink in on herself, but the loud and worried shouts brought her back to reality. "I... Think so...?"

Slowly, she managed to slip out of the trap; freed by the joint efforts of Stonepaw and their respective mentors.

"Safe," she whispered, her voice soft.

Though suddenly the worried expression returned.

"Do I have to do that again? I... Still haven't caught anything, have I...?"