Let's get started. (closed)

This situation was NOT ideal. Stoatclaw didn't feel right hunting around Fourtrees, and less so living in Fourtrees, but what was he supposed to do about either of those things? Birdchaser had made it clear that she did not want them making the journey back to Skyclan territory, and Thunderclan's forest was off limits. It made their first training session feel very off. "Okay Lightningpaw, it's about time I taught you how to hunt. Er, sorry for taking so long, I've been dealing with... something." That something was his own inability to fight anything other than a tree, but he was working on that. Soon enough he would feel confident enough to teach her how to fight, with some help from Wolfblossom on the side of course. Surely the deputy wouldn't mind sitting in for a training session. "I assume you know how to climb trees already, so we can get right into the hunting." Part of him was upset about missing out on Lightningpaw's first time climbing. When Frostbite had taught him how to climb, a whole new world had opened up to him, it was by far the best memory he had from his apprenticeship. Stoatclaw being late to training his own apprentice was to blame for missing such an event. That's all gonna change. "If memory serves, you went out before with a hunting patrol right? Start by showing me how you stalk your prey."

"A couple times, yeah!" Lightningpaw confirmed. She hadn't really given Stoatclaw's relative absence from her training a second thought: it left her a lot more free time than the other apprentices seemed to have, which meant she could focus on the things she wanted to learn or that she was struggling with; his apology was just a tiny bit confusing. "It's been fun."

She did pause momentarily at his instruction. Stalking wasn't something she was well-versed in, preferring the brute force method of chase it until you catch it most of the time. "Okay, just- give me a second," she said, trying to think back to how Creampaw had chased down the bird he'd caught. There was a hunter's crouch, of course, she knew that- any kit knew that.

Even doing it was easy, but making it look natural and effortless instead of stiff? That was harder.

"...Like this, right?"

One step, two steps, three steps forward. It felt just slightly off, but- close enough that maybe he wouldn't notice?

"It looks better when there's prey, I swear!"

Stoatclaw gave his apprentice an approving nod. "It can be pretty fun. I was in the same position you were actually. My mentor got sick after my first training session, and that freed up a lot of time for me to mess around. I... kind of spent all my extra free time breaking the rules, but that's something that we can keep between the two of us." Well, Wolfblossom had been able to piece together his rule breaking in their first meeting, but that didn't count. "That's gonna change from this point on though. You and I are gonna have a lot more training sessions."

Stoatclaw found himself chuckling at his apprentice's joke. "Don't worry Lightningpaw, you're doing fine. Your crouch looks really good, and your stalk isn't bad either. It could use some work, but that's something you'll learn to fix with experience. Practice makes perfect, and all that." Stars, that was really reassuring wasn't it? "I wish we could have done this in our own territory, but Fourtrees will have to do for now. See what you can find poking around, if you do this well without the prey I'd love to see how you do with it."

"Why'd you use it to break the rules?" Lightningpaw asked. Granted, if Birdchaser- Birdstar- their leader hadn't been so concerned with their safety, and that concern hadn't struck a chord in her; she very well might have been as much of a rebel. As it was she might sometimes bend them if it was needed. "I mostly use that extra time for training, anyway. It's nice to be able to focus on what I want to do!"

As Stoatclaw praised her hunting crouch, she felt like that extra effort- as little of it had gone into perfecting that specific technique- was well worth it. "I don't mind it here," she said lightly. "It's familiar."

She fell back into the crouch and started searching for prey: sight, sound, and smell alike led her to a bird. She glanced at it, judging the distance between it and herself-

And pounced.

A swift killing blow later and she turned back to Stoatclaw, particularly pleased with herself.

Lightningpaw attempted to catch a Bird, costing 5 SP! She was successful!
55/60 SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 3