final assessment!

[marshy]

// @mystical
[this thread is for Hazelpaw's final assessment! sparrow will be taking it as spade has a lot on her plate right now <3]
Sparrowskip
____________

Sparrowskip decided one of the apprentices on Riverclan was finally ready for their final assessment. Sure it wasn't his job but he figured Kestrelstar would appreciate him helping out a bit. He surely didn't want apprentices waiting on becoming warriors after all! He stepped into territory and called out saying "Hazelpaw! You've done a lot of good training to my knowledge so I think its time for your final assessment! If you could come over here we can get started!"

[bailu]

@:Grimmlin:

Hazelpaw had been sleeping in her nest in the apprentices' den, feeling more relaxed than she'd been the past few moons. It seemed ages ago that she had been talking with Fogpaw about her future as a great and homourable warrior of RiverClan. Hazelpaw sighed. She couldn't achieve those dreams yet: she was still an apprentice. Yet she was already twelve moons old, and had been wondering ever since she turned twelve moons when Kestrelsar would take her out for her assessment.

That's when her ears picked up the sound of some cat calling her name. Blinking open her eyes, Hazelpaw's jaws parted in a yawn as she got to her paws, deliberately slowly. She padded out, sharp green gaze scanning the clearing, searching for whoever had called for her. An older cat caught her attention, and she turned to look at him. It was Sparrowskip, holllering across the clearing for her to come. Suppressing a rolll of her eyes, Hazelpw trotted over, pausing as she reached him. She flicked her tail.
"Yes, yes," she meowed, scraping the flooor with her paws. "Why are you doing the assessment? Where's Kestrelstar?" There was a note of confusion in her voice as she turned away from Sparrowskip, beginning to exit camp and out into RiverClan territory.

[marshy]

// @mystical

Sparrowskip
____________

Sparrowskip squinted at Hazelpaw as she questioned him. "Kestrelstar is.. busy. No more questions about that." Sparrowskip said with a smirk. As he led Hazelpaw into territory he started to explain what would happen. "Alright, firstly we have your hunting assessment. I want you to go and hunt as much as you can see, now that may not be much considering its almost Leaf-Bare but try your best! Try and catch a bunch of different prey too, it may just up your odds of passing! Although these assessments aren't really hard anyway though.." Sparrowskip decided not to go on that tangent. "Alright, I'm going to be watching you, so I guess.. start!" Sparrowskip said as he backed up a little a bit and motioned for Hazelpaw to start!

[bailu]

Hazelpaw

Hazelpaw reluctantly trailed after Sparrowskip, apparently Kestrelstar as busy. She would've shrugged if she felt less tired. Who cared if the birdcat was busy, all Hazelpaw wanted to have was her final assessment.

So Sparrowskip wanted her to catch as many prey as she could. Nodding, Hazelpaw watched the warrior stepping back. She turned away from him, thinking. She could go to the river first and catch some fish, for her fishing was so much easier than land hunting. As a breeze ruffled her light brown pelt, Hazelpaw strained her ears, pricking them and squinting. Where was the StarClan-darned river? There had to be one in the territory. Hazelpaw gave a jump as a blackbird took flight above, and growled softly. She was being scared of harmless PREY... there! Hazelpaw could've jumped up and down. The sound of trickling stream and smoothly flowing water caught her attetion and Hazelpaw headed towards it eagerly, determined to prove herself worthy of warriorhood. The creek came into sight. Luckily, it hadn't frozen over yet. Cautiously, Hazelpaw trotted over, settling herself down on the slightly wet riverbanks, hopefully her shadow wasn't cast on the surface of the water.

Patiently, Hazelpaw waited, her muscles tense, her green eyes scanning the river for any dark shape. Her paw was out, edging towards the river and hovering slightly above the ground. Leaf-coloured eyes shot to a black, wriggling shape. Hazelpaw hoped it was a fish, not some astray twig. Waiting with bated breath for it to come over, Hazelpaw's paw shot out quickly and snatched the fish up, slicing a small cut in the gills and where Hazelpaw thought the throat was. It was a trout and it was slick and slippery and wet in her paws. It had stopped moving. Assuming it was dead, Hazelpaw decided to try hunting one more fish.

A fish almost immediately swam into view. Hazelpaw scooped it up from the river, creating a small splash and a few ripples in the water, killing it the same way she killed the other fish. This one was a rather large trout, with silvery, water-covered scales. Hazelpaw picked up both fish in her maw, leaping to her paws and padding away from the river.

The apprentice made the decision of burying her prey so she could come collect it later. Digging a large hole in the soil, and also making a mound of dirt next to it, she dropped her fish in it and covered it up with dirt from the large dirt hill next to it. Satisfied, Hazelpaw took a step back, and turned around to face the wide open forest.

She disliked it. There were so many sounds and just too many scents, it was also overwhelming. Hazelpaw's whiskeres twitched as she dropped down, feeling her belly brush the floor as she bent all four legs. She raised her tail slightly over the ground and opened her maw to scent the air. Hmm... trying to keep her tail low, she picked up the drifting scent of a shrew nearby, in a hollow tree trunk. Eventually it scampered out, squeaking shrilly, and paused near a moss-covered area near a shrub filled with blue berries. Hazelpaw pulled herself over, stepping as lightly as she could, green eyes piercing the shrew when she occasionally lifted her head up. Now she was in the vicinity of the shrew. Hazelpaw paused for two heartbeats, and then pushed off hard with her hind legs. Fortunately, the wind earlier had gone away, and Hazelpaw snatched the now squealing shrew up from the ground. She bit down on its throat, cutting off its squeals and ultimately silencing it. Hazelpaw went to bury it next to her fish.

The she-cat turned around again, and the strong smell of mouse smacked her in the face. It was coming from her left. Turning on her spot towards the mouse's direction, she dropped into a hunter's crouch, attempting to let all the weight go into her haunches. She stepped as lightly as she could over, though she felt like she had made a sound. Now Hazelpaw was close to the mouse... but she felt like it had noticed her already. A tight feeling formed in her stomach, squirming as she pounced onto it, grabbing it. The mouse wriggled, its long tail hitting Hazelpaw 's pelt as she leaned down, killing it as fast as she could with a bite to the throat.

Hazelpaw dug up her shrew and two trouts,carrying them one a t a time over, creating a pile. She glanced around, hoping Sparrowskip was near, and annouced to the air, "I think I'm done."

@:Grimm:

[marshy]

// @shxmmering

Sparrowskip
____________

Sparrowskip watched as Hazelpaw did her assessment, taking note of her position, how much prey she caught and he was pleased! 4 pieces of prey was not bad at all. He enjoyed that she made the decision to fish as well because fish were a big part of RiverClans diet and she got extra points for proving she could fish. "I do think you are as well!" Sparrowskip said as he approached Hazelpaw out of the forest. "You made a pretty good haul too! It'll definitely make for some good meals. You.. seem ready in terms of hunting to be a warrior but we still have the second half of your assessment left!" He said, motioning for the apprentice to follow him to a different area.
He led her over to a less crowded area with some open space and made a little bit of distance from her. "Alright, now its time for the sparring! Once you're ready, you can make the first move. Also, I think this is common sense but please keep your paws sheathed, and don't go too overboard. I remember hearing about an apprentice almost breaking their mentors back during a spar and I don't want that happening here." Sparrowskip said with a chuckle. While Sparrowskip almost died laughing when he heard it, HE definitely didn't want his back being broken. "Alright, whenever you're ready! Show me everything you've learned over your apprenticeship!"

[bailu]

Hazelpaw

The apprentice nodded silently, and didn't respond, suppressing a roll of her eyes at the statment of keeping her claws sheathed. Obviously she would do that! She wasn't dumb. And she hoped Sparrowskip didn't think she was stupid.

Okay, so now it was battle. Hazelpaw exhaled through her nostrils, taking a step back. All her battle training lessons simply seemed to have leaked out of her brain. What had Sunsetbloom said about leaping?

The answer clicked firmly into place Oh, yeah, that's right. Lean back for a heatbeat and push off hard with hind legs? Hazelpaw pondered what she should do to attack Sparrowskip. She decided to leap and latch herself onto her back, claw him and... well,,the rest could be improvised along the way.

Sidling closer and desperately hoping with all her willpower that the warrior wouldn't notice, Hazelpaw faced him and leaned back. Before she even knew what she was doing, she'd leapt off the ground, her muslces working hard as she pushed off with her hind legs. Her jaw set, she grabbed Sparrowskips shoulders, hopefully it would startle him or something. Hazelpaw then gripped hard, latching herself up and attempting to flip over onto Sparrowskip's back.

@:Grimm: