windclan hunting patrol

[taillow]

Bravebird
Small paws led her swiftly out of camp as her tail hung low to brush the moorland heather she crossed over. Bravebird's sights were set on the outer parts of WindClan territory, close to where their shared border with ThunderClan was. Hopefully with the threat of the badger long gone the rabbits would feel safe to come out of their burrows and nose around the tall grass. If anything, a few trees dotted the stretch of territory WindClan had outside of ThunderClan's thick forest, so maybe they would produce a squirrel or two.

Part of her knew that this might be Fernpaw's first time outside of camp, so nodding to the two warriors with her she dropped back to flank him. "Just stick right by my side, okay? We're heading towards the ThunderClan border so we shouldn't run into any ShadowClan." She kept her voice low so as to keep the shared words solely between them. If she was in Fernpaw's place, she wouldn't want the entire patrol to know of her hesitation to leave camp - so she was taking the same precaution with him.

Lifting her head, Bravebird allowed her jaws to part to draw in more of the territory scent. "I want us all to bring back enough prey to feed the Clan for days to come, got it? Let's try for at least two pieces per cat," she called, her voice lifted to speak to those who had followed her out. Not that she would stick with that rule - the cream colored she-cat would strive for much more, though if the leaf-bare stricken moorland would provide that remained to be seen.

With one more glance towards Fernpaw, Bravebird realized that she wasn't entirely sure what he knew and what he didn't know. "Was Owltalon able to teach you how to hunt?" she inquired, readying herself to show him if it wasn't a skill he had been taught yet.

[ @BILL. @TheNyanCatMinecart @Pheasantflight @Moonraven @Ravensong i figured since it's a large group we could do a new thread for the hunting patrol so it all stays together? ]

[Pitou]

**Toadpounce**

@tulle @BILL. @TheNyanCatMinecart @Pheasantflight @Moonraven

Toadpounce took a deep breath before turning to follow Bravebird and the other cats out of camp. He padded along with his clanmates, feeling more secure being mingled among the many rather than singled out as the patrol leader. He'd always been an outcast among the clan but being on his own was a new kind of alone he'd never experienced. After meeting Batsnow he'd thought his days if being alone were behind him, until she left him...

He was pulled from his thoughts by Bravebird. He nodded to her and turned away from the group, keeping low among the tall grasses. His senses were alert, taking in the territory around them as he searched for prey but also kept his attention on any potential danger. The one thing his time in exile had done for him was improved his sharpness. He'd been solely reliant on himself to both protect against lurking danger but to also bring in enough prey to sustain himself. Now he was doing the same but for the whole clan. His clanmates were relying on him. He breathed deeply and slowly, evening his nerves.

The smell of rabbit caught his nose after a bit. That was good, that meant it was upwind and likely hadn't noticed him yet. He turned and tried to pinpoint it more accurately. His eyes found the rabbit as its ears perked up above the grasses, pointed in his direction. In the same instant the rabbit turned to flee, Toadpounce leapt forward and streaked after it. He saw the ear twitch to one side so he veered out to one side just slightly, hoping to spook the rabbit into turning, before cutting back in the other side. The rabbit turned just as he'd hoped and realized too late that it was running directly into Toadpounce's path. He'd made up a lot of ground and took one last powerful leap from the ground and stretched out his forepaws. Feeling his claws sink into the rabbit's rump, he clung on and dropped the weight of the rest of his body so he could drag the rabbit down to a stop. After a quick grapple he was able to quickly move up on the rabbit and bite the back of its neck. The rabbit's body gave one lady jerk before dropping still.

The lithe tom gave a small sigh, thanking Starclan for his luck. Then he picked the rabbit up and carried it back towards the rest of the group so he could find a good place to bury it before turning to look for another catch.

[BEAR.]

Apprehension laced Fernpaw's steps as the patrol departed camp. It'd been some time since he headed this way in the territory, not since his cross-boundary adventure with Owltalon in tow. The thought made his heart ache, wondering where his former mentor was. If he was fine. Fernpaw was too mentally drained to put much stock in hoping.

The distance between ShadowClan and them did little to ease his anxieties on that matter. They were exposed here, vulnerable. This patrol wasn't much larger than his previous one, and that'd been a slaughter.

He considered questioning when ShadowClan started to care about boundaries, but decided against it. "If you're sure..." because he definitely wasn't. It felt like they were being watched. Leaving camp felt like a mistake. Fernpaw was trying to keep it together.

(He wasn't going to cry today! Not after the meeting ...)

No, he was going to keep it together. Despite his reservations and fears, and how insecure he felt. He would keep it together.

At her question, his brow furrowed. "Kind of." They'd done a hunting session ages ago, before his final patrol. "It's been a while ... having a refresher would probably be ideal." Fernpaw managed to catch prey while he was wandering with Eldersky, but it'd been largely by accident and pure luck. He was rusty beyond all belief. "A lot of what we did was border patrolling and exploring the territory. We.." didn't have a chance to get beyond that.

[ I don't want to spam folks with mentions when Fern isn't directly interacting with them, so just gonna mention @tulle for now ]

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

(Apologies if this post is short - I’m on my iPad at the moment!)

~ WOLFFANG ~

Wolffang followed Bravebird. Natural instinct wanted him to take the lead, but he held back. He wasn’t deputy anymore. Right now, he was treating the lilac lynx-point like a patrol leader. She seemed to be a good cat, young and strong, and believed that she would be a good mentor to Fernpaw. Maybe even a good future deputy. She was young, but Wolffang had been, too. Good thing he had changed in and not when he’d been more set in his ways. I already was very set in my ways. He pushed all those thoughts aside and kept track of where Bravebird was taking them. They seemed to be heading toward the ThunderClan border. Hopefully, prey would be more abundant there, with the promise of shelter. Wolffang couldn’t relate. He hated trees, just as he hated tunnels and water. Cramped spaces and harsh currents were some things he could do without.

Bravebird did suddenly drop behind to be with Fernpaw and was murmuring to him, quietly enough so that Wolffang wouldn’t hear. Wolffang wanted to eavesdrop, but stopped himself. He trusted Bravebird to be a good mentor, and if she wasn’t, he’d talk with her. They eventually reached their destination and Wolffang nodded at Bravebird’s demands. “That sounds good, but let’s not forget that it’s leaf-bare,” he meowed. “Two pieces per cat on such a large patrol will be difficult to find. But that’s a good goal for us to work toward.” He gave a respectful dip of his head toward Bravebird, also listening to how she asked Fernpaw if he knew how to hunt. Good. She was looking after him.

Toadpounce, who Wolffang believed had been one of the temporarily exiled cats, had already begun to hunt and was now chasing a rabbit. Fernpaw was responding to Bravebird, saying that he’d had a lesson, but could use a reminder. Wolffang had to remind himself that it was Bravebird’s job to teach him, and he trusted her, and he wasn’t deputy anymore. Turning away from the pair, Wolffang went out in search of some prey. He was going to catch two pieces, he was determined to. The sky was clear and the sun was out, but it was freezing cold. The tom’s dappled gray pelt was fluffed out. Good thing that he had thick fur and a lot of natural body heat.

Wolffang swiveled his head around, scanning the open moor. That was when a tiny head poked up out of the ground. He tensed as he recognized the brownish-gray fur of a mouse. It wasn’t as big as he would’ve preferred, but it would do. Any prey would help the Clan in this leaf-bare. The large, well-muscled tom lowered himself into a crouch, bright yellow eyes fixed sharply on the creature, before lunging toward it. The mouse almost disappeared into the hole, but one of his huge paws smacked down on its head before it could escape, crushing its neck. He used one long claw to hook the mouse up before he realized that he could hear squeaking coming from the frozen ground.

What luck! Surely there was a whole mouse nest under there. Getting an idea, Wolffang hurried over to the ThunderClan border, grabbing a stick that had fallen onto their side. Then he went back to the mouse nest. “Over here!” he hissed, not caring who showed up. “There’s a whole mouse nest in here. I’m going to use this stick to drive them out, and I won’t be able to catch them all before they escape. I don’t need many helpers, maybe one or two, but I want us to catch as many mice as possible.” Wolffang would’ve preferred chasing rabbits, but he couldn’t be picky right now.

@tulle @BILL. @Pheasantflight @Moonraven @Ravensong

[Moonraven]

Okay, so this was just going along great. Lionpaw got out of the camp, feeling pretty confident about herself, and then remembered that she had no clue how to hunt at all. So that poised quite the predicament. What made things even worse was when her mentor, who seemed to forget that she had been invited along, darted off after a rabbit and left her utterly clueless on what she was supposed to be doing. Well, she knew what she was supposed to do, the Brave said to catch two pieces of prey, so yeah. But how? All the other old warriors seemed busy, one with her own apprentice, and the other hunting on his own. So the heavily round apprentice let out a very loud very annoyed sigh and began heading off in the direction she had seen Spots dart off into.

She ran a good fox length and then had to stop and check that this was the right direction. While glancing around, her orange eyes spotted what looked like to be a baby bunny just hopping, minding its own business. Lionpaw felt a little bit bad for trying to hunt it, but she needed practice and it seemed that her mentor just chased after the rabbit he saw, so she just had to chase it and jump on it, easy. So, lowering herself into her clumsy crouch, trying to be all sneaky sneaky, she sorta, kinda, crept in the snow, and was for some unknown reason, was surprised when said baby bunny turned its huge ears towards her, and then bolted down a nearby hole.

"Wait, no come out!" Lionpaw whined, jerked up from her horrible crouch and darting over to the hole it went down. "Can you come out, please, I'm sorries that I gotta catched you, but I need you so my clan can eat." Lionpaw was hoping the creature would hear her out and come out of its hole. But after a few seconds and nothing to show for it, she decided to try and stick her paw in. Lionpaw regretted instantaneous when a burst of pain shot through the pad of her paw. Wrenching her paw out, she didn't have time to look at it cause this humongous bunny popped out. When it charged at Lionpaw, the apprentice turned tail and ran. She was out of breath after a few leaps and bounds, and thankfully the mama rabbit gave up chasing her.

The lilac she-cat could feel the sting sensation commonly associated with tears burning just behind her eyelids. The apprentice sniffled and pushed through the tears, Leechpaw always said that she had to grow up soon, and that meant not crying all the time. But her paw hurt something dreadful.
"Bunnies are mean," she muttered to herself, lapping up the blood leaking from the wound on her pad. Where was Beastpaw? Did he go with Leechpaw's mentor? Trying to focus on something other than the hurts in her paw, she started padding off in search of her brother so she could complain about how mean bunnies were. It was really hard walking on three paws, and slow, after nearly falling on her face, Lionpaw had to walk on her hurt paw, which was no fun. By the time she retraced her paw steps, she saw Spots was coming back and her paw was done bleeding. She could also hear Leechpaw's mentor calling out, should she go over and see what he wanted? Where was Beastpaw!
@Pheasantflight @Ravensong

[Pitou]

**Toadpounce**

@Moonraven @TheNyanCatMinecart

As the thin tom padded along the icy ground, his eye caught Lionpaw as she fled from a large rabbit. He cringed, but noticed the rabbit give up quickly. He was still too far away to call to her discreetly so he continued on his path and buried his catch then turned quickly to his apprentice, noticing her new limp. He cocked his head, "Are you okay? I saw the debacle with that rabbit, they can be nasty creatures. Did you want to go back to camp or are you okay to carry on?" He wasn't a medicine cat and was at a loss for what a young cat could handle or should be expected to handle.

Before he could continue on his ramble he heard Wolffang's voice. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded then looked back at Lionpaw. "If you're feeling up to it, we can go help Wolffang. Mice are a bit easier for early training." He flicked his tail to have her follow him if she was feeling up to it. He stopped beside the hole Wolffang was motioning towards.

[taillow]

Bravebird
There was not a need for Fernpaw to finish; Bravebird offered him a comforting smile and touched his shoulder with the tip of her tail as some offering of reassurance. Words did not need to be spoken in order for her to place together what he had meant to say. "We'll start from scratch then. By the next moon, I'll have you bringing home the biggest rabbits you can find on the moors," she purred, hoping that her words offered some sort of encouragement to the young tom.

Her ears caught the sound of her Clanmates moving around her; Toadpounce had seemingly given chase to a rabbit, which made her hopeful that the creatures were beginning to show their faces once more on land instead of inside those dark (and rather creepy) tunnels. Wolffang had spoken on her goals for the patrol, and a rather sheepish warmth crept into her cheeks and ears. Often times she would get ahead of herself, setting unrealistic expectations and holding herself - and by extension those around her - to the highest degree. It all came from a place of wanting WindClan to succeed and become the best they could possibly be. She tossed a grateful smile towards the former deputy, returning his nod.

As for the others... Beastpaw had not shown yet, perhaps still back at camp? Bravebird did not have the time or luxury to worry about it though, what with the question given to her by Fernpaw and the cold wind that buffeted her side. The quicker this patrol was able to round up a good enough amount of prey and head back, the better.

"With no cover on the moorland, the most important aspect when it comes to hunting is to mind the wind. A rabbit will smell you long before it sees you, and they are fast. Check that you are upwind; that the air is blowing towards you and not away from you." Positioning herself into a hunter's crouch, lowering herself so that only her ears poke up above the tall moorland grass, Bravebird turned her head to look at Fernpaw. "For the hunter's crouch, you'll want to move slowly at first, then as soon as you spot the rabbit, you'll need to chase after it. This is where WindClan speed comes into play."

As she stood teaching Fernpaw the basics, one ear was poised to catch the chatter around her and hear of any danger before it got too close. Somewhere in the distance she heard Lionpaw, who sounded like she was in pain, and Toadpounce going over to her. Wolffang had called for helpers, so perhaps it would be best for the duo to head over and help them. But Bravebird was focused on Fernpaw. "Why don't you start off by trying that crouch. It can feel a little awkward at first - make sure you're distributing your weight more so on your back paws so that they're ready to spring into a spring at a moments notice." Trying to recall all of the lessons her own mentor taught her was certainly a hurdle, though Bravebird was confident she was doing a good job.

Another flash of Softleaf's limp body stung her mind, and suddenly that confidence wavered. She had been assigned to watch him, and he had died within the first day. Horror clenched her heart as she couldn't help but feel a smidge of guilt. Part of her knew it was unreasonable to hold herself accountable for the death - it had been that nasty rogue that had killed him - but she still felt as though there was something she could've done to prevent it. But no matter now, she had to focus on the present. That would not happen to Fernpaw, not under her watch.

[ @BILL. @TheNyanCatMinecart just mentioning those Bravebird is currently interaction with or did interact with! ]

[BEAR.]

Two pieces of prey was more than reasonable, but Wolffang's presence was short lived as he departed in pursuit of prey. That left them largely alone, the Wolf's voice a distance hiss he couldn't quite make out. Perhaps they could look into it in a moment?

Fernpaw focused his attention on Bravebird for the time being, flinching slightly at her touch. It's not intentional, it's not because he disliked Bravebird at all - she seemed great! He just.. didn't know her very well, yet. He liked to think his reaction was getting a little better. Less sharp. (he's sorry, its hard to break it)

"The biggest rabbit might crush me!" He was trying to be lighter about things, forcing himself to ease up as he gazed at their surroundings. Watching their distanced patrol members, noting they - seemed to be short one, at least for a moment? Hopefully they'd come around.. he'd like this patrol to remain intact, please.

On the subject of hunting, he wracked his mind for what he already knew. Something... about tracks. Prints in the dirt, the scent of mud overriding the smell of rabbit. Owltalon. A camp. "As soon as you see it?" That didn't seem right, from what he recalled. He was pretty sure they did some sneakies before they started chasing down the rabbit. "Are you not - suppose to try to get closer to it first?"

In hindsight, he didn't really remember a hunter's crouch. There was some creeping around but nothing like this. Fernpaw followed Bravebird's example, bringing himself low against the ground. The snow tickled his belly fur, brushing against the naked scar, and made him instinctively tuck his legs toward his body, transitioning his crouch into something closer to being a huddled loaf. He made an attempt to move forward, realized very quickly he was going to tangle his legs up, and attempted to reposition to distribute his body weight more evenly. He didn't like how exposed his underside felt. Legs less compact, he leaned back on his hindlegs to test how springy they felt before he looked at Bravebird for further instruction.

[ @tulle ]

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

~ WOLFFANG ~

Wolffang glanced around, the stick gripped firmly between his jaws, at the cats around him. Lionpaw seemed to be struggling to hunt. Wasn't Toadpounce her mentor? Had she even been taught how to hunt yet? She didn't seem to be doing too well. Her crouch was awful and she tried sticking her paw in the hole, only to jerk it back out again. Wolffang thought of the rabbit in the tunnel that had clawed his eye and he assumed that it had attacked her. She was limping, and although he wanted to go over to check if she was okay, he was busy here. He needed someone to help him out. And someone to keep an eye on Lionpaw. Luckily, Toadpounce noticed and went over to her, saying something that he couldn't hear, then came over to where he was over the hole.

"It's good to have your help," he meowed with a quick nod. "If Lionpaw's up for it, she can come, too. But there's a whole mouse nest here and I want to be able to catch as many mice as we can." Wolffang glanced toward Bravebird and Fernpaw to see if they wanted to help, too. She gave him a nod, but appeared to be focused on teaching Fernpaw. Understandable. He turned back to look at Toadpounce, then his gaze flitted over to Lionpaw.

"Lionpaw, as Toadpounce said, this hunting should be rather easy," he meowed. "If you want to help us, all I'm going to do is drive this stick down into the nest. It should cause the mice to run out. When they do, jump on them and try to trap them under your paws. You can kill them by using your teeth to snap their necks and spines. Toadpounce can teach you how to properly hunt after this, but for now, we're just flushing out these mice."

Wolffang positioned the stick over the hole, waiting a moment to let Lionpaw process the information and to let her decide whether or not she wanted to help. "Ready?" he asked Toadpounce and maybe Lionpaw. It depended on if she was going with them. "Now!" He plunged the stick into the hole. Startled squealing came from the hole, then mice burst forth from it. Wolffang dropped the stick and lunged, trapping two helpless mice between his huge paws and promptly snapping their spines. The others were scurrying away, trying to disappear through other holes in the ground. "Hurry!" he hissed, swerving and trying to smack another one, but he overshot it a little and barely missed. They were getting away and fast. He hoped that Toadpounce and maybe Lionpaw would be able to catch some of the fleeing rodents.

@Ravensong @Moonraven

[Moonraven]

Lionpaw's orange eyes were still sweeping around in search of her brown pelted brother with no luck. He was the one who wanted to come along so where was he!? The short, chubby, she-cat went back to licking at her paw, but seeing at it stung, she pressed it back into the cold snow until it went all numb. The molly looked up as Spots came over. "I'm okays, bunnies are mean, I don't like them." She told her mentor, having no clue what that debacle meant, but it didn't sound like a nice word. "I can hunt," She added earnestly, "the pain goes aways when I stick my paw in the snow, I don't knows why but I can help." She would have liked to go home, yet, with something to show for coming out here.

She got up and followed after Spots as they went over to Leechpaw's mentor. "I don't knows how to catch mouses," Lionpaw informed both the toms after Leechpaw's mentor spoke up. "Do mouses bite? I don't want to get bitted." She complained, more to herself than either warrior. Thank stars, Leechpaw's mentor explained what it was he was doing and what she was supposed to do. The big tom's explanation was simpler than Spots' explanations so it was easier for molly to follow without needing someone to show her how to do it. She just had to step on them and bite them, Lionpaw felt rather confident she could do that.

The lilac she-cat lowered herself into a sloppy hunting crouch, purely out of instinct, as soon as the big tom said ready. Before she could tell him that she was ready, suddenly a bunch of small mouses burst out of the hole. Lionpaw swiftly got to work on trapping them below her paws and trying to nip them. She lost a lot of them and flinched twice when she ended up nipping one of her toes instead of the mouses, but she did manage to catch one and accidentally crushed two more underneath her hind paws in her frantic, uncoordinated efforts to catch as many as she could. The ones that she smooshed were still wiggling around, just not trying to run, she felt a little bad however still make quick work of ending their lives.

Thank you, StarClan and Rushingkit for the prey. The molly recited her little prayer within her head, Lionpaw didn't know where the animals they ate went but her Mamas said that she should not be sad about catching prey and end their lives cause if they don't cats get hungry. Lionpaw's been hungry before, it wasn't a nice feeling, plus Twilightstar said that's how life worked. Everyone always eaten someone or catching someone to feed their babies, so the babies can grow up and eat someone. Or something like that.

"Spots, look I caught mouses!" Lionpaw purred to her mentor, puffing out her chest as she gathered her catches as the last mouse dove down a nearby hole. "This was fun, can we hunt with Leechpaw's mentor all the time?" With this, the huge tom cat had solidified himself as a friend in Lionpaw's head. She didn't get how he could be mean to her Ashmama, he had helped her catch mouses. Wait until she told Leechpaw, maybe he'd be nicer to Wolffang.
@TheNyanCatMinecart @Ravensong