Another Day, Another Apprentice [closed]

Acornstem sat just outside of the camp, tail curled around her paws as she listed to the distant birdsongs on the horizon. It was a beautiful day - the heat of Greenleaf hadn't struck yet but even then they did have plenty of shade to hide under. The deputy was waiting patiently for Flypaw to join her, having informed him of their planned training when he had woken up but had given him time to shake of any lingering sleepiness and grab a quick bite to eat before they went out. It was fine, she didn't mind waiting for however long it would take Flypaw to join her - it was nice to have a brief moment to herself.

Despite Acornstem's offer for him to wake up and get something to eat, Flypaw was bounding towards his mentor eagerly as soon as he had woekn up. Excitement sent thrills down his spine as he skidded to a halt before the fluffy brown-and-white she-cat. "What are we doing first?" He asked, straight to the point as always.

Ah, an eager apprentice, huh? Acornstem turned at the sound of approaching paws as Flypaw clearly sought to waste no daylight. She smiled, a purr rising out of her - it was good that he was so excited, it would make training so much more fun for the two of them. She pushed herself to her paws as he questioned what the plan was, motioning for him to follow with a wave of her tail as she turned and padded into the territory proper.

"Well as exciting as just giving you a tour of our territory would be, I am sure you are more eager to actually learn," she explained, turning her head to glance at her apprentice. "So, I thought we would start with hunting - while fighting is important, its a far more...Limited skill set. Far more days will be spent hunting than raising a paw, but if you want we can at least go over the basic of sparring today once we've done the basic of hunting."

Flypaw followed along, half-running to keep up with his much bigger mentor. As eager as he was to learn how to fight, even he knew that hunting was the most basic skill a warrior needed. But still, being able to learn how to fight was, in his opinion, the most fun part of being an apprentice. "Could we?" He asked as soon as Acornstem mentioned teaching him a bit about fighting.

A small laugh escaped Acornstem at Flypaw's eagerness to learn how to fight, but it was a good-natured one as she gave him a smile with a purr. "Of course, if that is what you want then that is what we will do! This apprenticeship is far more than me just teaching you everything - I want to keep you engaged and make sure you have fun with it. If you want to learn how to fight, then we will - but a quick lesson on hunting, alright?" she meowed before she came to a stop, tasting the air.

"Speaking of...This will be a good place to do our lessons for the day." Turning to face her apprentice, she gave a broad wave of the area with her tail. "As you can see, our territory isn't really one with many open areas. Roots, bushes, scattered leaves and branches are all kind of tripping hazards. They can block line of sight which can be useful on hunting, but it means keeping an keen eye on where you are putting your paws," she explained, dropping into a hunting crouch.

Her stomach was low, but not enough to brush along the ground - her tail held straight behind her to avoid being a easy thing to see but also to avoid catching a leaf or stick that coated the ground. "Your hunting crouch is important - with enough training, it will become a natural stance for you to take. You want to keep your body low to make it harder to be seen, but not enough to make any noise by your pelt catching on anything. Your paw steps need to be light - many prey animals can sense heavy footfalls and we might not even pick up noise-wise," she explained, taking a few steps forward as an example."Its also important to try to stay downwind of your prey - don't let your scent give you away before you can close the distance. Hiding behind roots and bushes might also help you sneak close to your prey, but can easy serve as a hindered should it make a run for it by being in your way."

She pushed herself to her full height - which granted wasn't that much as she was a half a head shorter than most of her Clanmates as she turned to look at Flypaw with a sheepish smile. "Its...A lot at first, but hunting is a series of choices, risk and just...Hoping you are lucky. You can do everything right, but prey may choose to leave for no other reason but their own whim before you can catch them...Or you can muck everything up and still manage to catch something. So its important not to let a sour catch get you down - to keep your head high and keep trying. Now, I want to see your attempt at a hunting crouch and if you are feeling up to testing your luck, see if you can pick up the scent of anything and give it a try. It will serve well to see how you learn better - through lessons or action."

Okay, hunting first. Flypaw was hanging onto Acornstem's every word, nodding along every now and then whenever she so much as moved an inch. And Acornstem said a lot of words. The dark ginger tabby dropped into a crouch, trying his best to imitate his mentor's stance. It was... uh... belly above ground, right? And his tail should be straight, and his pawsteps should be... light? How is his pawsteps supposed to be light? He just walks, there was a difference? The tom narrowed his eyes and adjusted his stance for what felt like the seventh time, then glanced over at Acornstem for confirmation. Once he was sure that he had his stance at least somewhat accurate, he tasted the air for prey scents.

Mice, but those were stale. At least he thinks they are stale. He lingered on the scent for several more heartbeats, then gave up and just looked around him... and there the mouse was. Eyes narrowed, Flypaw launched himself at the mouse, throwing whatever Acornstem had just said into the wind. His paws hit plain dirt. Flypaw's head snapped up and he looked around him for signs of where the mouse had gone, but there was no sign of it. His tail drooped, and he turned to give Acornstem a sheepish grin.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 7

Acornstem watched as Flypaw did his best to mimic the crouch, giving a nod of approval - it was good for a start, any small issues with it could be noted for the future and dealt with through later sessions but it was clear he had taken her words to heart the best he could. As he managed to locate a mouse, she watched as he made his approach - doing well but it was just poor timing that the mouse skittered away underneath a nearby root as Flypaw was pouncing, leaving him with empty paws.

"Good try, Flypaw! But like I said - don't be too discouraged. You did everything right, sometimes luck just isn't on our side," she purred as she pushed herself to her paws. "But I think its safe to say you grasp the basics so how about we reward your valiant attempt with what you seem truly interested in, hm?" She padded forward, giving him a playful bump of the shoulder. "A spar, you verses me. I'll be sure to go gentle on you of course," she meowed. It wasn't quite fair, she was much older and more skilled - there was no doubting that. Against an apprentice...Well, even if she wasn't a large cat, she could easily swat Flypaw down. She padded away a bit, before she turned to face him with a bright smile.

"Truth be told, I have a fondness for sparring. I didn't expect it, but there is a thrill in testing your strength against a Clanmate with nothing on the line other than your pride," she added with a playful wink. "To fight, its all about finding an advantage and making the most of weakness in your enemies. I can't speak much about how the other Clans fight, but we ThunderClan cats tend to have a surprising strength. Nothing keeps us down for long, no matter what tricks the other Clans may try," she meowed with a swish of her tail. "But fighting, in my experience, is not something that can be taught through words. You fight on instincts, using your knowledge to inform those choices and know how to best tackle a foe. So!"

She dropped into a battle stance, head low as she raised her tail and gave her apprentice a smirk. "I am a enemy warrior - I have you beat in size and strength. There are multiple ways to come at me - but what do you think is the best choice, Flypaw?" There was truly no wrong answers here - and the deputy wasn't truly expecting a vocal answer. If Flypaw wanted to give a sparring a shot, then he was more than welcome to raise a paw against her. She would have to make sure to go easy on him to allow him multiple chances to bring her down, but she was curious what path he would take.

Flypaw instantly regained his eagerness when Acornstem mentioned sparring. His claws unseathed automatically, and he had a huge grin on his face while Acornstem instructed him on what to do. So he was given a choice, huh? Amber eyes narrowed in concentration, Flypaw crouched down on instinct. Acornstem was much bigger and stronger than him, and more experienced, so she'll see his strikes from a foxlength away. That meant that he had to be quick in his moves.

With a sudden dart to the left, Flypaw leapt at Acornstem from the side, covering the distance between them in one bounce. At the last moment, he remembered to seathe his claws, and crashed into his mentor rather clumsily. Whatever, he still managed to knock her off her paws.

Flypaw used Jumping Strike, dealing 6+3dmg and -7SP

Flypaw
20 / 20 HP
53(-7) / 60 SP

Acornstem
51(-9) / 60 HP
140 / 140 SP

Acornstem watched as Flypaw made a leap at her, tail swishing as she turned to face him but allowed her movement to be slow a bit - but even then, she wouldn't have been fully prepared for the speed Flypaw leapt at her if she had been on the top of her aim. While she was indeed bigger - it wasn't by much, with Acornstem being rather small for a full-grown cat so the force was enough to tip her balance, sending her to the ground. She blinked, before she smiled - raising a paw to gently cuff Flypaw on the ears with a smirk. "Good! Using your small and quick size to your advantage - very smart," she praised before resting her chin on her paw. "You can think quickly and that speed will always be an strength 'til you grow bigger and can rely on our ThunderClan might. So, you want to keep going with this or should we change tack and try hunting? I have enough to work with here that I think I know where to focus our battle lessons on."

OOC: I...Apologize for taking so long to post - my attention got swamped by other things

OOC: It's alright, Copper has been telling me that you've been quite caught up in games lately. I can understand that.

IC:
Flypaw puffed out his chest at his mentor's praise. "Very smart" was something queens often told him, so it was no surprise that he would be told the same now that he was an apprentice. "No, no, I want to continue fighting! Besides, fighting is harder than hunting, so we should spend more time on the more difficult things!" The dark ginger tabby replied instantly. The last bit about fighting being more important was completely made-up, but whatever. As long as he could continue learning battle moves.