Oh lawd she demands training[p]

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
29/100

Midnightpaw stood up, too slow. The issue at hand was the fact that she was too careful with her stalking, so she had to lean more into speed and less on being cautious. But she couldn’t just throw caution to the wind, either–well! She’d keep that in mind for next time. “Too slow, got it.”

When it came to hunting experience, she fell short there, too. “No, I don’t.”

By the sounds of it, though, Hazelstripe was going to take her out for some hunting training, too! How exciting! Her tail lashed back and forth behind her, and she had to suppress the excitable grin that was etching itself onto her face. “Ooh, okay! Awesome! We gotta–should–we have to scent prey first, right? Can I watch you hunt first as an example?”

[ @Dark ]

[Dark]

Hazelstripe

The Collector: Inactive
___________

Hazelstripe was glad that her apprentice seemed to take her instructions to heart. Good, no one corrupted her Runt yet. Being able to take criticism and learn from it was one step closer to perfection, and perfection is exactly what she expected from someone learning under someone as perfect as herself.

Not too enthused about the idea of having to actually show the apprentice an example, she nodded and flicked her tail to follow her. Leading Runt through the territory, Hazelstripe glanced back every once in a while to make sure she was still following. She was not in the mood to be chewed out for losing her apprentice while tensions with the other clans were so high.

It took a little while, but she made it to Shadow’s Break. Her mentor, Elmshadow, had been fond of this spot. It almost seemed like sacriledge being here after his death, but as long as she didn’t disturb the herbs he was so proud of during his lifetime, there shouldn’t be an issue.

Taking a depe breath, she let the sea of scents flood over her. Good, as per usual, there was plenty of prey here despite it being the colder part of Leaf-bare. ”Tell me, Runt. What do you smell?” she asked, turning to where she assumed the apprentice to be. She couldn’t just do all the work! If Runt wanted her to do the hunting, she was going to have to pull her own weight at the very least.

[ @Omari BWAAAA OMARI PLEASE FORGIVE ME]

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
39/100

With the eagerness of a kit, she quickened her pace after her mentor, but she had the mind not to be so close to her that she might end up stepping on her paws or something. So, Midnightpaw kept a respectable space between them as they padded along.

They eventually had arrived in a location that she had yet to be in, so at this point, excitement was radiating off of her pelt in waves. Her big green eyes scanned her surroundings, a smile carving itself into her features as she took in the area… And all of the scents, too! Hazelstripe’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, though.

“Oh–oh! Um, hang on..” Midnightpaw lifted her nose to the air, inhaling slowly to get a feel for what prey might be scampering about in this end of Shadowclan territory. The scents here were intermingled with each other, which made things a bit difficult… She caught the pungent scent of herbs around here, kind of similar to the smells she caught when she walked by the medicine den, but she also could scent… “Mice! And maybe some birds? But I can smell mice for sure!”

[ @Dark get ready for your mentions to be flooded by yours truly. Also this is so funny this training has been going on since halloween ]

[Dark]

Hazelstripe

The Collector: Inactive | Ultimate Predator: Active
___________

A satisfactory response. Hazelstripe wasn’t too pleased with Runt’s uncertainty when it came ot the scent of the birds, however, the mice was a good catch. That was what their target would be this occasion. She would do this hunting training in a far different approach than her mother who threw her into the deep end and expected her to swim right away. She would make sure that she showed her apprentice a perfect example, and then make sure she practiced it until she herself was able to perfectly catch prey.

”Good enough,” The brown tabby mewed before walking away with a wide flick of her tail ”Watch.” Making sure she was down wind, Hazelstripe crouched down and stalked forward slowly, making sure not to make too much noise. Her ears were trained in the direction of her quarry, picking up the faint sounds of skittering in the undergrowth. Good. It hadn’t yet caught on the the fact that it was being tracked down. Once she got within a tail-length, she paused .A few heartbeats passed as she sat there silently – listening, waiting. Bam! Suddenly there was a flash of white and brown as Hazelstripe lashed out with a paw, snagging the rodent’s frail body before delivering a killing blow. Prey in paw (well, mouth), the young warrior made her way back to her apprentice and dropped her cach at her paws.

”When you’re hunting mice, you need to be weary of how much noise you’re making, they’re particularly sensitive to that. Additionally, you can’t move too fast because they’re able to feel the movements through the ground – you’ve got to be able to trick them. Their ability to smell is also particularly sensitive, all and all, they’re tricky little things.” She explained to the younger she-cat. ”If you have no questions, you try now.”

[ @Omari adhd brain would not let me type this post, whoopsie]

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
61/100

Midnightpaw nodded her head and stepped away from her mentor, giving her enough room to make a display of her example. Slow and steady, she would jot that down in her mind. She also took note of her mentor’s ears and how they were pointed in the direction of her prey, and she mimicked her from where she sat, slowly turning her head with her ears pointed into the same direction in hopes of catching what Hazelstripe was hearing as well. Skittering and scratching of a mouse.

Patience was key here, she noted, as she watched her mentor staying put until the mouse’s fur became visible, to which she pounced. Her tail swished back and forth excitedly behind her as Hazelstripe returned to her, fresh mouse dangling from her jaws.

“You really think I’m gonna be able to catch one? They sound… Difficult.” No use in doubting herself, though. She had half a mind to give it a shot before Hazelstripe gave her a whack with her tail. It had happened to her before as a kit, and it wasn’t a very enjoyable experience.

So, even with her doubts, she stood from her sitting position and crouched. Lifting her chin, she scented the air to catch the scent of the mice that she had mentioned before. The scent was fresh with her mentor of course, so she strayed a bit farther away from her to catch onto something different. Slow and steady, she reminded herself, making sure that her tail was level with the ground below her as she quietly stalked along, closely following her prey’s scent trail. Listen. Her left ear twitched as she paused for a moment, listening closely to the scrabbling of the little creature. Taking another pawstep forward, she brought herself to a stop again when she suddenly heard silence from the mouse. Oops? The mouse poked it’s head up and out from wherever it had been hiding, and it seemed that they had both spotted each other in that moment. In a split second decision, she sprang forward with her paws outstretched and her claws unsheathed, one of her paws landing haphazardly on the mouse’s tail just as it went to scramble away. Quickly, she delivered a sharp nip to it’s throat before she plucked it up off of the ground.

Thank you, Starclan! She trilled jovially as she stood up straight… It was… A bit rough, initially, but she had managed. There was definitely room for improvement, she knew that. It had either heard her at the last second or scented her.

“I think I messed up there at the end..” She murmured sheepishly upon return, dropping the mouse at her paws, ears pinned against her head in embarrassment.

[ @Dark ]

[Dark]

Hazelstripe

The Collector: Inactive | Ultimate Predator: Inactive
___________

The brown and white tabby frowned with irritation at Midnightpaw’s hesitation. ”Of course you'll be able to catch one, I just showed you hoe to do it perfectly. Now get going.” She growled crossly, flicking her tail with barely masked ire. She had given Runt all of the tools she needed to succeed, now it was up to her to properly execute it. Failure would not be tolerated, especially not with that piss poor attitude. ”If you head into it with doubts, you’re only going to be met with failure. Bring something back or we’ll be trying again until you catch something.” That’s how she had learned anyways. Her mother made her do countless practice pounces before making her catch her own prey. Perfect practice led to perfect results after all.

With that out of the way, Hazelstripe watched the whole thing. It was… messy to say the least. ”Messy work.” She said in a deadpanned monotone tone, eyes narrowed slightly as she studied her apprentice. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting, as it had been Midnightpaw’s first attempt and she hadn’t bothered drilling in the technique as her mother once did with her. Whatever, she had made the catch and that’s all that mattered right now. They would be able to work on the finer details later on.

Seeing the crestfallen reaction of her dark-furred charge, her whiskers twitched slightly. The look brought up memories that she’d rather forget, but she swallowed back the feeling and hardened her features. ”That being said, your stalking form was perfect. But next time don’t just stare at the mouse, catch it before it gets the opportunity to run.” Praise and scolding, two completely opposite ends of the spectrum. ”However, that is something we can work on, as you did catch it. Good job, Runt.” She praised softly.

Raising her paw, she slowly but gently tapped Midnightpaw’s head. ”You need to be more confident. Hunting half-assed isn’t going to get you anywhere. Additionally, carry yourself with more respect, for yourself and for me. You’re my apprentice, Runt. Do you know what that means? It means you are perfect. Even in your flawed and rough state, as an extension of me, you are perfectly perfect. Remember that. Even if I’m not there to guide you, I expect you to practice until you can do whatever it is in your sleep.” Hazelstripe said, studying the younger she-cat to make sure she understood the depth of her words before continuing ”You are better than all of these other apprentices, you just need to recognize that and embrace that. Am I understood?”

[ @Omari ]

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
77/100

Messy work. Oh. Midnightpaw frowned down at the mouse that she had caught. Messy. She told herself. Well, wasn’t that to be expected from someone who had only just caught their first piece of prey? Hazelstripe must have really high expectations, huh? It was a little bit daunting, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to live up to them, in all honesty. I’ll do it better next time, I promise.

Much to her surprise, that’s not all that her mentor had to tell her. A quiet sigh escaped her at that, and she seemed to get her all of her jovial energy back just by hearing, ‘good job, runt’. With those big green eyes of hers, she watched as Hazelstripe lifted a paw, gently poking her head. It was… Odd praise, but it made her eyes light up nonetheless. It was nice to be told that she was perfectly perfect. “Yes, Hazelstripe, I understand.”

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, she crouched down to pick up her catch by the tail, looking up at her mentor with those starry green irises of hers. “Are we heading back to camp now?”

[ @Dark ]

[Dark]

Hazelstripe

The Collector: Inactive | Ultimate Predator: Inactive | Kitty Softpaws: (Perm)
___________

A small smile at her apprentice’s words. Good. She was glad that she was able to get her point across. As long as Runt held those tenets within her heart, she felt that she’d grow to be unstoppable. Thus far, she’d not been able to match up to her mother’s lofty expectations for her, but she had no doubt that Midnightpaw would be able to excel in the future. ”Perfect.” She said in a teasing tone.

The next question was about whether or not they would be heading back to camp. She figured that this would be a good place to stop, after all, the Runt did manage to catch something. ”Yes, let’s head back.” And with that, she flicked her tail to follow her and then began walking back ”Make sure you keep up.”

[ @Omari just to say this is done]