Evergreen Grotto

[c1nder]

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​☆｡. o Hazycry
❧ Shadowclan Warrior | She/Her
❧ Purrks - Shadow Fiend [Inactive], Kitty Softpaws T2 [Permanently Active], Silver Tongue T1 [Active], Monkey's Paw [Permanently Active]​
"I once believed that the road of happiness continued forever and ever into the distance. When it was destroyed, I realized for the first time that it lies upon a thin sheet of glass."
​

---

she flicked her tail annoyedly as she waited for darkfall to show up, to no avail. great. perfect. that was sarcasm.

she padded into the territory after owlthroat, tail swaying behind her, she glanced back to make sure cricketpaw was following after. "alright, kid, watch me closely, and then i'll correct your crouch if i need to." she crept off, keeping herself visible to the apprentice, tail held off of the ground, eventually, hazycry came across a mouse, small but plump from the newleaf growth.

one pawstep after the other, she neared it, until she leapt, pinning the creature down on silent pawsteps. she returned to cricketpaw, "did you get that? let me see how you do, alright?" she would hunt more after she taught the apprentice more.

- @Daragca @Dolomedes [+1 mouse]

[Dolomedes]

"I'm Gemini! Your Friendly Puppet Guide. Or Friendly Guide Puppet? One Of Those."

Cricketpaw
#YourFriendlyGuide
@c1nder | @Daragca

Cricketpaw continued onwards to some story about something that happened the other day that wasn't really all that important. The mossy apprentice just had a habit of never shutting up. Even as they made their way through Shadowclan territory to the Evergreen Grotto. Upon their arrival, Cricketpaw did quiet enough for the enforcer to give his piece before it was Cricketpaw's time to learn how to hunt. Finally!

Hazycry showed more than she told- great from a story point of view but not so much for a lesson- especially when he didn't really understand things as well when they were just shown off. Something about watching movements get all blurred in his memory seconds after the action happened. It's why Butterflypaw's attempts at telling him things without words always fail- it just doesn't click in his brain- ( his bad vision doesn't help.. )

He blinked, "Uhhhhh- right! Yeah- I can totally do that." He couldn't. Well he could but he was going to fail miserably at this first attempt. He crouched down, trying to mimic Hazycry to the best of his failing memory- and it wasn't like he couldn't remember at all! It was just that all the visuals that go with a memory get blurry or just he couldn't picture them at all. Okay- uhh, he attempted to stalk forward in search of prey.

Of course it didn't work out very well, his weight being off enough for his paws to lightly thud against the forest floor as he tried to move forward. While it wasn't loud relatively- it was deafening when it came to hunting and he winced. "I uhm.. I don't think I can do this. I uhm, I'm not good with showing- could you maybe explain it to me more, with words?" He felt bad asking, but also if they wanted him to actually hunt something it was going to be needed.

[c1nder]

​
​☆｡. o Hazycry
❧ Shadowclan Warrior | She/Her
❧ Purrks - Shadow Fiend [Inactive], Kitty Softpaws T2 [Permanently Active], Silver Tongue T1 [Active], Monkey's Paw [Permanently Active]​
"I once believed that the road of happiness continued forever and ever into the distance. When it was destroyed, I realized for the first time that it lies upon a thin sheet of glass."
​

---

she twitched one of her eyes irritably, but didnt let it show elsewhere on her face, great. yup. perfect. totally. mhm. thats sarcasm, if you couldnt tell. she padded over to him, and lowered herself to the ground in a hunters crouch, a visual representation, and then she spoke. "lower yourself to the ground, but stay on your paws, and keep your tail off the ground as well. you want to stay on your paws so that you can move, alright, slowly step, and try not to make any sound as you do so."

she stayed for a moment, watching cricketpaw and his attempt. "there's different ways to hunt prey types. birds are very vibration and sight oriented, so you want to creep up very slowly and then pounce fast. rodents like voles and mice are very sound and smell oriented, so keep downwind and keep quiet. rabbits are really masters of everything, so you'd need to be the quietest or the fastest to catch them. alright, well i need to catch another thing or two so i will be back, try your paw at what i taught you while i'm gone." she nodded to the apprentice, briefly wondering why owlthroat wasnt doing the teaching here before padding off.

[rolled a 14! 11!]

soon she crept up on a vole, it was nibbling on a seed, back turned towards her. she snuck up on it, the rodent, blissfully unaware of her presence, was quickly caught by her. just as she was turning to find a third piece of fresh-kill to get, she came face to face with a squirrel, which squeaked before running off, attempting to climb a tree, but, she managed to hook it with her claws before she dropped the vole and bite the rodents neck, killing it and securing a third catch.

- @Dolomedes @Daragca [ +1 vole, +1 squirrel | total: 1 mouse, 1 vole, 1 squirrel ]

[Daragca]

​​​​
Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Enforcer | 47 moons
Killer Aptitude T3 - Just A Scratch - Silver Tongue T2
The Dancing Bird

Owlthroat watched the two practise with his head slightly canted, after Hazycry’s explanation she slunk off to hunt some more. The enforcer stepped forward and made his presence know, not interrupting. But giving a simple head nod to let Cricketpaw know that if he needed any more explanation he was here to assist further.

It was curious, the apprentice seemed to learn verbally rather than visually. He took pity on the less expressive kind, Owlthroat didn’t think he’d fare too bad if it came down to it. It wasn’t his style of course, he’d never been a talkative cat, but when necessary he could put in a damn good argument. It felt better that way, using words when truly necessary, rather than blurting them out uncontrollably.

It was simply a waiting game now, Cricketpaw would learn. Whether he came home empty pawed or not was a different story. It felt like a long time since Owlthroat had been an apprentice himself, moons ago quite frankly. He was reckless and brash back then, sneaking out, rule bending. But it hadn’t turned out too badly, he’d reigned it in eventually. Making something out of himself. It was an interesting train of thought to go down, perhaps Cricketpaw would prove them wrong one day. Just like he did, either that or just another difficult warrior on their hands.

[ @c1nder @Dolomedes ]
[ c1nder please try and keep the posting order if you can, don’t want it getting confusing c: <3 Hoping to wrap this up after the next few posts, but let me know if either of you would like an extension and for it to go on for slightly longer instead? ]

[Dolomedes]

Cricketpaw
@c1nder | @Daragca
#YourFriendlyGuide

The apprentice closed his eyes as Hazycry spoke, thoroughly explaining hunting in a way that actually stayed out in the mossy colored feline’s brain and the moment the explaination was finished, he jumped up to his paws. “I got it! Watch!” The words were more genuine then his first assurance that he understood and he followed the instructions.

It was much better than his first attempt and you could hear the apprentice murmuring little bits and pieces of Hazycry’s words out loud. It wasn’t until awhile more, after both older cats had caught their piece, that Cricketpaw even heard any sort of prey to follow.

He stalked forward, trying to keep his excitement at bay. His nose poked through some grass and his eyes narrowed through the opening. A toad! Yes! With a little wiggle, Cricketpaw sprung forward and missed. The toad croaked and started to hop away, but Cricketpaw followed suit and awkwardly thumped his paws on the ground twice more before they landed on the toad and he was able to kill it.

“A toad! I caught a toad! Look! It’s my first prey! Look, I can hunt! I’ll have to show Butterflypaw when we get back to camp!” The happy apprentice returned to his patrol, cheering loudly and without thought of the fact he was likely scaring whatever else away within quite a radius.

[ +1 Toad ]

[squidz]

~ BRIARSPLASH ~
stocky, large, & fluffy dilute gray tortie she-cat with goldish-green eyes; just a scratch | killer aptitude t2
[ shadowclan enforcer | she-cat | 33 moons | abrasive, standoffish, loyal ]

~

Briarsplash padded into the grotto, glancing around. It was a partly cloudy newleaf day, some clouds darker and heavier with distant rain than others. She didn't mind the rare dry day, although the ground was still wet from the recent showers. At least it'd led to blooming flowers... hopefully because it made their jobs easier right now. Not because she... secretly liked flowers, or something. Pfft.

The Enforcer turned to look back towards where Hazycry and Emberpaw should be following. As far as she knew, these two were diligent in duties (as long as Hazycry didn't decide to disappear again on her), so she wasn't worried.

"Lavender 'n horsetail, remember. Grab as much as you can. Don't go too far to where we can't see or hear each other — and keep an eye out for anything suspicious," she added, recalling the loner incident that'd happened on her last border patrol. Since there hadn't been a formal announcement for it yet, Briarsplash didn't want to cause rumors or paranoid concern. It shouldn't be a problem given how far into their own territory they were, but still. You never know.

That being said, if she saw another trespasser — and especially that same one as last time — she'd make sure he wouldn't escape again.

Flicking her tail to dismiss her patrolmates, the fluffy she-cat made her way to the nearest clump of wildflowers she could find. Spying the pale purple sprigs of lavender wasn't too difficult, closely by the pungent smell once she got closer. At least it was aromatic, but a little too suffocating and 'herbal' for her tastes.

[ Rolls: 5, 14, 11 ]

Well, carefully plucking it did not go as planned. The first one got obliterated by her large paws, and Briar muttered a curse to herself. The other two weren't perfectly neat, but they did alright. Hopefully Sleepysunrise wouldn't nitpick the precision — she didn't want an earful (or worse, one of those unnerving stares) from the medicine cat.

[ +2 lavender ]

[ @Mica - Emberpaw | @c1nder - Hazycry ]