[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 35 Moons
Bilingual T2 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Beefed up T3

Some cats tried again and did better, much to the tripods pleasure.
Treepaw earned a headbutt and a "Good work! Much better!" after getting close enough to boop Mudhound.
Crowpaws second attempt earned another yelp out of Mudhound at his 'sudden' appearance, much like Sprucepaw had earned. It was a good thing though, and the hornet soon followed up the shock with a flurry of praise for the improvement, that he'd managed to sneak up on the warrior a clear indication of rapid mastery of the stalk.
Poppypaw wasnt the most stealthy, as the announcement of her actions kinda alerted Mudhound to her but the rest of it was good and the hornet was a bundle of good natured giggling and headpats for her as a reward.


Time to move on though.

"Ok everyone! Pouncing now, were nearly done! After this Ill talk about prey types and release you to hunt in the area for your own prey!

But first pouncing.
Now its pretty simple and naturally follows stalking, some of you were doing it already! Once you get as close as you think you can get you bunch up aaaaaaalll your legs under you tight, extend your tail for balance, point your nose at your prey and leap! Youre gonna wanna land on the prey and give them a chomp and then you got a meal!"

While explaining the tripod demonstrated, wiggling in place to draw all their legs from the more balanced stalking stance to be under them to give their spring more power, stretching out their tail long behind them to compensate for that lost balance, and pointed their nose to the flower they were going to hit before they leapt.


Mudhound pushed hard with all four paws at once, springing into the air before tucking their front paws close mid air to be more aerodynamic and to be able to use them later. In 'flight' they were not inactive either, tail flicking hard to the side that was missing a leg to re-orientate themself as their leap had started leaning due to this disability.

The came the final part, the landing. Front paws stretched out and (claws out) both grabbed the flower and caught them, paws quickly shifting to move the caught flower to the hornets mouth for a 'killing bite'.
It was a full bodied motion, but a smooth one where each movement shifted into the others without thought.


"See! Some tips Ive got are that while grabbing with your mouth is simple, you paws are longer, if prey is juuuuust outta reach you can catch them with your front paws and bring them to your mouth, you should find it instinctual! Also use your tail, it can help you aim by flicking it the opposite of where you wanna go! And tucked paws mid air helps you fly farther but its not necessary."
Honestly the motion sounded complex when explained but was one the apprentices had probably done already or by instinct. Cats pounced, its what they did and so came without thought but might need some practice to be deadly.




"For you advanced cats who want a challenge or know this already~

You can with practice learn to shift mid air and change where youre aiming to. Your body follows your head, so look at a different thing and twist your body to follow it while flicking your tail like I said and you'll find yourself able to change where you land a bit! This is great for birds who are flying away or running prey if they were alerted!

Also, try running pounces. This will by trial and error but Ive seen windclan cats do a pounce from a run, no stopping needed. If you can learn to leap mid run then you dont have to sneak up on prey, you can just run it down (just be careful to not run into trees)!"

There, that'll give them something to chew on to further their skills! There was even ideas for stuff they could learn that even Mudhound didnt know how to do!

"Everyone go! Try and pounce on stuff and Ill be around giving tips!"

Hopefully at least some of the group stuck through the lesson, it'd count if they'd tried 3 things but to those that hung on Mudhound would make sure to find them a special treat.


@Desert Rain Frog @ThePrettyPurpleDemon @Spider-in-the-corner @bubble[error]. @Ladiebugg @Fawn @mars @Alchemist Kitsune @SuspiciousMindz @SpiritedWarrior @Estelle @Eden @zozelen