go!

[val]

fenneldrop
SUNKISSED CREEK

She laughs quietly, in a feathery light way. She'd avoided the topic because she assumed that Bitternpaw couldn't care less, but he turned out to be vocal about what he thought of ThunderClan. She's a bit surprised until she remembers how most cats got to thinking one way or another by his age. She's glad to have gotten him to laugh, anyway.

"Think of yourself as a...puddle of rain. Sap dripping down the tree bark," she advises him, nodding her head shortly. Bitternpaw picked up skills well. He must be one of the easier apprentices to train. She only knows of those, however, because of warrior gossip; she's never had an apprentice of her own before.

As the trees thin out, the babbling of the creek reaches their ears. Croaking frogs echo each other. Fenneldrop looks over the creek and warns quietly, "Predators like this place since it's easy water. We should be fine, though."

@silver.

[silver.]

he/him // 7 moons
27/100

---

What odd ways to put moving about... Puddles didn't move. Sap did, but it was slow. Quiet but slow as a snail. Though he doesn't really understand he'll keep it in mind for when he needs it. Arriving at the creek he eyes the area with alert ears, sunkissed hues wide and aware of his surroundings. Sure, he was still hunkered in a crouch, but he wasn't as much sneaking anymore as he was observing. Only a quick glance is offered to the she-cat before he goes back to looking the serene area over for these predators.

"Understood. Is there a lot of prey here as well?"

He can hear the frogs. Hear their cries for company into the otherwise silent night time air. So he can only assume other predators come here to hunt as well as drink. His jaws part to scent what lives on the breeze, eyes closing so he can focus. Frogs and toads were familiar to him, thanks to his hunt at the swamp. But no sign of shrews or blackbirds. Not right now, at least. Not from what he could tell.

"I have some hunting training. Wouldn't mind better hunting training."

The warrior that had taken him out to hunt was... Helpful, but not enough. Didn't show him how to sneak up on anything or how to hide his scent from the wind. Masking his scent was helpful, sure, but he needed to know more. If he knew more then the clan would be fed better and he would be a warrior sooner.

fenneldrop | @alkaline

[val]

fenneldrop
SHADOWCLAN TERRITORY

She clicks her tongue, thinking carefully of her answer. "Not really," she replies. "Just frogs and minnows." She surveys the area calmly. "Shadow's Break is better. Or the Ruins. Lots of mice there..." She shrugs lightly. "It all depends, though. Time, weather, how much somecat hunts someplace make out how much prey there's gonna be."

A small smile cracks through her neutral expression. Bitternpaw strikes her as a very no-nonsense kind of cat. He's demanding, but she minds it very little. He's polite enough about it, and there are ruder cats in ShadowClan.

"As you wish," she teases. She turns away from Sunkissed Creak and begins to head back into the territory, blue eyes fixed on the apprentice. She's starting to feel less wary the longer they stay outside the camp. Surely nothing bad could happen to him. Freak accidents and the like don't happen all the time. She lets her gaze leave Bitternpaw more often, for longer.

Fenneldrop inhales slowly before dispensing knowledge she thinks the apprentice should know before she has him try to catch something at... Mourning Ruins, perhaps. "In general, you'll want the wind blowing in your face. For mice and frogs, you've got to step light or they'll feel you coming. Most birds are easier to catch when they're eating off the ground, and you should always go for their wings so they can't fly."

She turns to peer intently at the apprentice, a quizzical look overcoming her face. "Who trained you to hunt? Why wasn't it good enough?" she pries.

@silver.

[silver.]

he/him // 7 moons
28/100

---

Information. Knowledge. Strength. Power. Status.

These are all things that run through his mind as Fenneldrop begins to explain how different prey animals are to be hunted. It was a worthwhile pipeline. Achieving status amongst his peers in the clan meant he would be useful. Meant that he would be able to help the clan prosper just like Fenneldrop. Like Mistlewhisker. Like Dawnstar. And if Shadowclan was successful, so was he. He was just as successful as the weakest link in the clan. That's basically what Dawnstar had said at the most recent meeting, right? We were as strongest as our weakest link.

Right now, Shadowclan was weeding out those links. As they should.

When she moves, he moves. He follows her silently, practicing the stealth training she had already bestowed upon him. Sticking beneath the low hanging branches, slipping through the pines like running sap. Slow and steady. Aware. Even though he had just been taught the means of stalking through the territory like a shadow he's put it into good use already. For a moment he wonders where they were off to next but she's speaking again. Asking about his previous training. And he huffs out a laugh, accompanied by a roll of his eyes.

"Some warrior named Mistydawn. Took me out to hunt and expected me to know how. Stupid." Thinking back to it he was the one that asked to be taken out... But he assumed that the warrior would train him before just expecting him to grab four shrews sprinting blindly in a panic around his feet. "Didn't tell me how to hunt a bird. Told me to just do it. Only thing she taught me was to mask my scent and to stand upwind of prey. Something I didn't understand until now."

There's a pause. One breath, two...

"I caught it, though. The bird. Even with the sad excuse for training."

fenneldrop | @alkaline

[val]

fenneldrop
MOURNING RUINS

She scrunches her nose up in puzzlement. What had Mistydawn expected? That was certainly an odd method of teaching. She wasn't sure she agreed with it in any way in the slightest.

When she notices how the apprentice is slinking through the shadows, she is proud. He's a natural: a perfect fit for ShadowClan. She figures he'll become a formidable warrior in the future, should nothing terrible happen to throw him off course.

She waits through the pause, sensing more to come. She was right. Her head tilts to the side, and her eyes narrow. Impressive. "Some cats have a strong hunting instinct," Fenneldrop says. "You must be one of them," she concludes, tail flicking as she pushes through the thickening underbrush.

With her ears pricked alertly, she stays silent for a while until they reach the charred barn. Fenneldrops jerks her head in the direction of the ruins. "These are called the Mourning Ruins. It was a barn before it burnt down, obviously. Several cats died, so we named it so."

Shifting the subject, she points out, "There are a lot of mice returning. Lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide." She blinks languidly at the blackened remains, running her tongue over her teeth as she falls into her thoughts.

"Want to try hunting?" she asks a second later, turning around to peer at Bitternpaw with gleaming eyes. "I'm sure you'll find something here," she encourages.

@silver.

[silver.]

he/him // 7 moons
29/100

How interesting... He had never seen a structure like this before. Especially one so... Decrepit. The compliment goes over well, bringing a twitch of a smile to his face before it's locked away for another time. This was no time to get cocky. He wasn't an arrogant cat by any means. But the validation did feel nice every once in a while. His attention returns to the barn and he's looking it over with dull interest, far more interested in the prey the building shelters.

Mice. Lots of mice. He can smell them from here. The warrior suggests hunting and he couldn't agree more with her. This was definitely a good chance to practice and get even more training in-- and far easier than catching birds, too.

[ Bitternpaw rolled a 15 to track prey. ]

Easy. One was near by. He's already lowering himself into a crouch as his ears twitch working in tandem with his nose to try and discern exactly where the creature was hiding. Slowly his tail begins to swing back and forth behind himself, bright, intent gaze focused on an overgrown patch against the side of the charred wood.

"Teach me. I can smell one so if you teach me-- or show me, even-- I will catch it."

fenneldrop | @alkaline

[val]

fenneldrop
MOURNING RUINS

Her face goes stony and stoic, tongue running over her teeth as she watches him settle into a hunter's crouch. Likewise, she slinks low to the ground and checks his posture. After gently nudging his front paws back some, she nods brusquely.

"Alright. Your crouch is good," she murmurs, bright eyes flicking over him. "For mice, you want to get as close as possible - but not too close, so you gotta leap a little, and land with all your weight on the cretin so it's squished to death," she tells Bitternpaw. "Like this."

She narrows her focus on a nearby fallen leaf, demonstrating her feather-footed prowl. She pauses for a fraction of a breath, then pounces and slams her front paws down onto the leaf. Fenneldrop turns back to the apprentice with a sharp nod, then jerks her muzzle toward the mouse's scent.

"Go get 'em," she whispers. A grin splits her maw until she squirrels her expression away and returns to her stoic mask.

You've gotta be serious when hunting, after all.

@silver.

[silver.]

he/him // 7 moons
32/100

---

Easily enough his paws are shifted into position. And he doesn't mind the paws on approach, either. But his mind doesn't linger on it long because he's listening to the advice on catching mice. Land with all his weight... Seemed simple enough. He could do that. And with the demonstration he was certain he would be able to succeed. Nodding in understanding to her command, he pushes through the brush to approach his prey.

[ Bitternpaw rolled a 20 to hunt prey. ]

Watching the mouse scurry from stalk of tall grass to stalk, he waits for the perfect moment to jump. Perfect moment to land upon it and end it without it being any the wiser. When the moment comes he lunges forward and brings both paws down upon it's head without hesitation. Just as she had showed him. And it works perfectly. He really was a natural hunter. For being taken out with minimal training, he's successfully caught prey two out of three times. But now he had a bit more knowledge and he couldn't silently thank Fenneldrop enough for her wisdom.

Looking over his shoulder, catch dangling from his jaws, he awaits the other's praise. He deserved it, didn't he? He was successful. Almost flawlessly so.

fenneldrop | @alkaline

[val]

fenneldrop
MOURNING RUINS

She let him get a few paces ahead of her before she followed silently after him, paying close attention to everything Bitternpaw was doing. She watches with bated breath: mentally praying to StarClan that he catches the mouse.

One heartbeat later, Bitternpaw pounces. Fenneldrop relaxes her tense shoulders and grins briefly, duly impressed. The apprentice had a knack for hunting; that much was clear. Though she hoped her tidbits of advice had helped him in some way.

The warrior stalks over to him, tail-tip twitching, and nods her head at him. "Yeah, like that," she lauds. "Well done." Fenneldrop eyes the rodent dangling from Bitternpaw's jaws with an appraising expression. Having no notes to share on his performance, she quirks her whiskers and smiles at the younger cat. "I'm half-convinced you didn't need the extra lesson after all," she kids kindly.

"Cache the mouse. I still wanna take you somewhere else, 'n we're gonna pass back 'round here anyway," she explains, sweeping her tail in a broad gesture east of the barn ruins. She then asks, "You know how to cache, right? Just scrap some leaves and dirt on the prey. And say your grace."

@silver.

[silver.]

he/him // 7 moons
38/100

---

That's what he liked to hear. Indeed, he was a natural. The little hunting training Mistydawn had given him proved to be completely useless to him but Fenneldrop knew how to teach. He could give her some credit for his catch but right now he'd rather bask in the glow of her compliment. When told how to hide his prey for safe keeping, he nods to her, and follows her instruction perfectly. Without flaw, an air of perfectionism, he sets the mouse down and covers it gently with leaf litter and dirt. He even pats it down a little bit to make it look less like something was hidden there. Perfect.

The part about saying his grace confused him, though. Did she mean that he had to thank Starclan for... Something? Unsure, he blinks, but mentally thanks Starclan for watching over him as he hunts, anyway. Maybe they put the mouse there and that was why he should have thanked them-- he tacks that part in on the end of his mental rambling.

"Alright. Where to next?"

(sorry this is kinda bad OUGH)
fenneldrop | @alkaline