Aspenpaw's Training [P]

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If Fadingstar were here, aspenpaw wouldn't be wasting his time and making a fool of himself but instead trying to impress the clan leader. Fadingstar wasn't here, floodsight was and even though the latter was infact a warrior and HIS mentor, aspenpaw just didn't feel the need to show off around her. "Yeah sure, sure" he responded as he briefly touched the warm water of haven springs just to see how warm it really was before he did what he was supposed to. He had a whole lot of questions on howcome the water was in fact warm but that could wait. First, hunting crouch!

As instructed, aspenpaw dropped into a hunting crouch. It wasn't perfect but it was better then his last attempt, his practice was paying off despite not actually going out hunting that much. The tip of his ear twitched, acknowledging the summary of what floodsight was teaching. He's pretty sure she taught this too him already right? Maybe not, he'd been tired then. "and you also have to stay downwind, or else risk your prey scenting you first right?" he added feeling a bit proud he had remembered something floodsight hadn't mentioned.

He took a few steps forward, stalking around a bit until he found his so called target. A rock not far from the springs edge. Making sure he was downwind, despite knowing this was a rock and it couldn't actually pick up his scent, he crept towards. Once in leaping distance he paused, bunching up his muscles before pouncing. As he landed on it, he hit with his paw and then chased pretending it was prey running away. He might have gotten a little distracted and started playing with said stone but eventually he bit it and stood up again shaking out his fur. "I caught it!" he joked, bringing the rock back to Floodsight.

Tags:
- Floodsight ( @goodacacia )

[goodacacia]

Floodsight
✦ RiverClan | 21 moons | Mind Reader ; Beefed Up T1 ; empty slot

"Nice job, Aspenpaw" Floodsight applauded the little one, as she padded swiftly around the apprentice. The little one had already brought up things about the wind, scent and prey. That was certainly fast~ But nonetheless glad that Aspenpaw seemed to be studying into hunting. She nodded with confirmation. "That's right, downwind of your prey. That way you can smell them, but they can't smell you."

The silver warrior watched as the little one begin to stalk the rock she used as an example. It started out as a hunt and ended like a playtime for kits. A part of Floodsight found that a little adorable. As prideful as Aspenpaw may be, he was still little in Floodsight's eyes. And probably will be for a while. Her dim blue gaze fell upon Aspenpaw approvingly as the apprentice brought the rock up to her.

"After you've hunted your prey, you have to thank StarClan. For the skills they've passed on and for the critter's life you've taken to feed the clan." She told him in a steady voice, before giving a tilt of her head towards the woods around Haven Springs. "I think you're ready to give it a try. So Aspenpaw, take a walk, sniff around and tell me what you scent?"

[ @burntToast ]

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Thank Starclan? What for, he did all that with his own four paws. As for thanking the prey for its life?? It's just prey, their purpose is to be eaten. He gave floodsight a sceptical and slightly judging look, clearly not agreeing what she was saying. Looking in the direction Floodsight had indicated he nodded and trotted off.

His nose twitched as he breathed in all scents trying to distinguish them and find signs of prey. He caught on one that was strong meaning it was fresh. A squirrel- no mouse- shrew? Wait! Bird it was a bird! Oh dung he didn't know how to catch regular birds!! Aspenpaw looked around for this prey he scented, he was supposed to tell floodsight what he'd found but by talking wouldn't he scary the prey away? Easy solution, he'd catch it and then tell her! Yep made total sense.

Dropping into a hunting crouch, completely ignoring his thoughts that told him there was probably a different tactic to hunting birds, he crept forward following the scent towards a group of shrubs. Creeping around the shrub and attempting not to touch them in case it made a noise, he spotted a small sparrow pecking at something between the dead leaves.

Roll:11 (good effort)

The sparrow was close, a good leaping distance! Taking another step forward, he waited a moment longer. Unsure what he did to trigger the sparrow, it suddenly took flight! In panic and fear of losing it, Aspenpaw pushed off his hind legs in a powerful leap, his claws making contact with the bird and almost dragging it down, but it flapped and pecked and- maybe he should have looked where he was leaping because now he was falling. The bird got free and for his troubles he was left with feathers and the pain of landing on a pile of sticks! The shrub was awfully prickly and he did not appreciate it!

Clawing his way out of the prickly brush, he spat out the feathers that he had grabbed. No prey. Aspenpaw glared up at the sky, where the sparrow had disappeared to, darn. Now he had no prey, his hind legs and stick things in it and floodsight had just witnessed his complete blunder of a hunt! Awful!

Tags:
- Floodsight ( @goodacacia )

[goodacacia]

Floodsight
✦ RiverClan | 21 moons | Mind Reader ; Beefed Up T1 ; empty slot

Without a word, her apprentice left. He'd scented something in the wind. Which one was he going to pick? There were several rodents in the area and couple of small birds pecking at the ground for what must be berries, or quite possibly worms.

The silver warrior watched from afar as Aspenpaw approached the bird cautiously. 'I suppose it would be fine to let him try it out, and then correct him on any mistakes.' Just as she finished the thought, a rustle sounded and a flutter of wings, leaves and feathers fell upon the world around the gray apprentice.

"That was a good first try," Floodsight spoke in an encouraging warm voice, before moving to the spot Aspenpaw started out at.

"Birds can see you better they hear you, so choose their blind spot over being downwind if you have to." Floodsight suggested, before moving onto a little more explanation, "You were pretty on point in your strategy. Always aim to bring down the bird by a heavy hit to them, or even their wings. When you jump, try to guess where they'll fly. It'll be hard the first few times, but it does get easier once you realized they almost all act the same."

On that note, she took a sniff in the air and scented another bird in the vicinity. "Watch..."

She'd stalked the bird, slowly and patiently, with her body close to the ground and stopped when bird moved. She resumed once it continued pecking at the grounds. When Floodsight was close enough, she took this chance to leap. Not at the bird, but where she thinks the bird would fly to.

[ Rolled a 18 ]
Success~

Sure enough, the silver molly brought her paws down and struck the bird hard before quickly moving in for the kill. A pretty clean leap and kill, but it could be better. She supposed it was alright for a demonstration. She said her thanks quietly before burying the bird. "Now, it's your turn."

[ @burntToast ]

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Aspenpaw watched as his mentor demonstrated how to successfully catch a bird, noting down the mistakes he had made prior. As floodsight took down the bird he was already back on his paws determined to try again, first time he got close! Surely this time he'd get it right. Scenting the air, aspenpaw caught wind of what must be a bird, it had the similar scent to the sparrow he had caught but a bit different. Probably a different kind of bird. Dropping into a hunting crouch he followed the scent until he spotted the bird. This time he focused more about staying out of sight and being quiet more than staying down wind. Once he felt close enough to the small creature he prepared to leap, not at the bird but we're he assumed it would fly to! Just like how floodsight had done it.

Roll:20 (absolute miss)

Some how this attempt ended up being worse than the last, as he pounced at the bird he realised to little to late that he had miscalculated the spot to jump to. The bird, frightened by the sudden movement, took off. Aspenpaw had leapt in the right direction but a little close and ended up with bird flying straight into his face, it's small claws scratching at him as it took flight once more out of reach. Aspenpaw let out a frustrated yowl as he glared down the bird. It left him nothing more then a few pecks and some scratches but it was still annoying. So maybe catching that seagull had been pure luck! Forget birds, they were stupid! He preferred fish anyway.

Tags:
- Floodsight ( @goodacacia )

[goodacacia]

Floodsight
✦ RiverClan | 21 moons | Mind Reader ; Beefed Up T1 ; empty slot

Oh how the tables turn, and the hunter gets hunted. She watched as the bird started to peck at Aspenpaw as they ensued a cat fight back and forth, batting at each other. The silver warrior didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this wild situation. Perhaps the first few days of training was just pure luck. No matter, practice makes perfect and not every hunt is successful, and the silver molly did not expect it to be. Her dim blue eyes showed a hint of amusement and sympathy for the defeated looking apprentice.

"No worries, there's not a single cat who've never missed. What matters today is that you've learned something." Floodsight soft voice spoked with encouragement. "Birds are not easy, definitely not RiverClan's specialty. We can try this again in the future."

Floodsight sniffed around in the air and glanced around for prey. It was almost certain a whole bunch of them got scared during the last debacle. But they were in luck, there's still mice hanging around in the undergrowth scurrying to find the last bit of food before the sun had set. She gave her apprentice a soft nudged, and in a quiet voice she spoke, "There...a mouse...by those ferns under the tree. Here's your chance...remember, mice are quite good at hearing and they can feel movement through their paws, so tread softly."

This would probably be the last hunt for today. Floodsight didn't want to push the little one more than she needs to. It was his first training day and she didn't want to exhaust him to death. But in the back of her mind, she wanted him to get at least one kill today. One, just as trophy for his first real day outside.

[ @burntToast | i was omg yay nat 20! and then he misses ]

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Sucking in his dissapointment and frustration and missing TWICE, he followed his mentors gaze towards the mouse that was scurrying through the foliage and completely oblivious to the two dangers that stood only two or three fox lengths away from it. Mice were easy right? Stick down wind, don't make a sound, leap once close enough. The basic things he had learnt and this time they could fly away! He would be pretty ashamed if he couldn't atleast catch this. If he didn't be could blame it on a bad day???? No missing it was something he wouldn't be doing thank you very much! Slowly he lowered himself into a hunting crouch and crept towards his victim, who would NOT escape him at any means, making sure his paws didn't crunch on a dead leaf or snap a fragile twig. He missed the bird, he missed another bird, he would not be missing this mouse too! He was a kit, he couldn't be this bad at hunting right? It was just bad luck and bad birds. Those were the thoughts that reassured him as he drew only a few tail lengths away from the rodent. A good leaping distance!

Roll: 13 (good effort) {aspen live reaction --> }

Punching up his muscles he pushed of his haunches in a powerful leap towards the mouse, claws unsheathed and aiming at the small pathetic fuzzy creature. For a moment he really thought he had caught something, he really thought that this was it! He hadn't failed miserably on his first official hunting lesson. No, no no no. Ofcourse the stars hated him! As expected, hoped more like it, his paws actually collided with fur! He caught it, snagged between his paws but with those two front paws occupied there was nothing to stop his face from crash to the ground. He didn't mind and just rolled with it, more focused on killing his catch before it somehow sprouted wings and flew away like both of his former attempts at prey. In his little tumble, the mouse managed to get loose and before aspenpaw knew it, he was staring at empty air instead of prey. He had failed....for...the third time.... All he could do was sit a stare at his paws, where his prey would have been. He would cr, he really wanted to but that would make this situation all more terrible. Crying was for the weak! So was failing to catch a singular scrawny price of prey three times in a row. He didn't think he liked haven springs that much anymore, sure it had weird water but it must be cursed! Why else would he be so terrible. Rising to his paws he refused to meet his mentors gaze, the embarrassment and shame was too much for him to handle. "I don't really like haven springs, to much bugs and faulty prey! he commented, trying to grab at excuses but failing to think of anything that would make sense. So instead, he marched past his mentor towards the twoleg platform bridge thing that would take him back to camp. Away from this place! Somewhere he hoped he wouldn't return to again.

Tags:
- Floodsight ( @goodacacia )
{ I'm sorry how long this reply took /w\ my motivation for writing was pretty low last week but it's starting to come back! Sorry for the wait <3 }

[goodacacia]

Floodsight
✦ RiverClan | 22 moons | Mind Reader ; Beefed Up T1 ; empty slot

She watched as her apprentice began to approach the mice. Good. Everything was going well. Nothing was off or out of place. If he was lucky, he should be able to get it this time. Perhaps she spoke too early, too abrupt, it was all...over in an instance. Aspenpaw had tumbled over himself and the mice had scurried away.

The cream silver warrior heaved a sigh. 'He was so close...' Just barely and he would've caught it. She'd closed her dim blue eyes in disappointment. Not in him, but rather in herself. Was taking on an apprentice too much? Was she actually that bad at teaching? Floodsight was sure this was the way to go, yet little accidents kept happening here and there. It wasn't like the gray pelt apprentice had no skill yet it seemed like the stars had cursed him from catching anything. "Don't mind, no luck today doesn't mean it'll be like that forever. The prey's not faulty. They are just lucky today...and you did nothing wrong the last attempt."

With the cold wind whispering pass and the sun starting to dip, Floodsight shook her head. There was no time to respond to Aspenpaw's little tantrum. "Come on, let's get going for the day. We'll try hunting again some other time."

Together, Floodsight led the apprentice home through Sleepy Thicket. (Land went poof, but not in this timeline :"D) A eerily peaceful, serene set of mellow trees that gave off a cold presence. The silver warrior turned back a couple of times to make sure Aspenpaw was still following. "Here we are, Sleepy Thicket. The dead are buried here...and as you said, some may encounter some form of spirits."

Not that she's ever encounter any when passing through this area. Yes, she believed in StarClan as some place for her dead sister to go to and have a happy ending, but ghost cats always felt a little strange to her. The dead in their world? Odd thought.

"There are some mice and birds scattered here and there, but they'll run at a pin drop." Floodsight continued then tilted her head. "If you don't have any questions, we'll be going home."

[ @burntToast | yeahh no worries! i'm not the fastest myself <3 if aspen don't have any questions, i'll take it as the end of day 1 lol ]

[goodacacia]

Floodsight
✦ RiverClan | 22 moons | Mind Reader ; Beefed Up T3 ; empty slot

She'd wanted to get some swimming lessons done before Leaf-bare hits. It was too hard and unreasonable to swim in the ice cold water and Floodsight would rather much preferred he knows how to swim; the sooner, the better. He'll be able to evacuate himself if he ever does, stars forbid, fall into some thin ice.

With the luck Aspenpaw's been getting lately, she wouldn't put it against the stars to throw another (bad roll).

Seeing today as a average sunny day, the silver warrior called out for her apprentice. It would be good to make it into their territory by noon and have a warm afternoon to cover the basics. Hopefully, she'd have some luck in teaching today. "Aspenpaw, come on, let's get going."

"We've got swimming today to cover." Floodsight called, tilted her head to their new camp entrance. It was still weird to be living amongst the cliffs, but she'd guessed it was somewhat safe. It'll be quite the travel into their territory but luckily the rivers in every directions, it didn't really matter where they go. The silver warrior led them to a quiet stream, slightly wide and an alright depth. One that she could wade in with the water barely touching her chin. For Aspenpaw, this type of stream needed the knowledge of swimming to conquer.

Floodsight picked the shallow banks to start. "Swimming will be quite important when traversing to some parts of RiverClan's territory and amongst many things it can be a useful tools in terms of combat and fishing. If not careful, it could easily turn against you."

"Come on, let's get you accustomed to the stream first." Floodsight waded into the water, waiting for Aspenpaw to catch up. "Try wading around in the water. If you feel confident, let yourself float for a second by lifting you paws off the riverbed. It'll almost feel like you're jumping in slow motion."

Floodsight encouraged. "Take your time, I'll be here if you need me."

[ @burntToast ]

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He might have missed his mentor call if he had been actually sleeping, luckily he had not! Who could possibly sleep in a den like this. Well it was cosy and there was actually nothing wrong with it but for whatever reason Aspenpaw couldn't get a full nights rest in it without waking up too early or at any subtle movement or just not falling asleep at all for that matter. He half ignored Floodsights initial call not quite realising she was calling him despite her using his name. Aspenpaw, aspenpaw. Aspenpaw? Oh wait that was him!- stumbling up out of his nest, he shook out his fur in a rushed attempt to remove any scraps of moss that might have settled on his pelt while he'd been restlessly resting. Then in an organised fashion he dashed out the den, briefly tripping over someone's nest or maybe their tail. Training! Yes finally he'd be freed from camp again! He loved training, sure his last session had been far from enjoyable but maybe today would be different! Just as he had exited the apprentice den did his mentors last words settle and register in his mind. His ears flattened against his head in embarrassment as he cast a quick glance around making sure no one had paid much attention to Floodsights words. "Pft, I know how to swim." he replied defensively. "practicing what I already know how to do won't be to much of a bother though." yeah, becuase not knowing how swim when you were a literal riverclan apprentice was embarrassing and he'd prefer no one knew that he couldn't do a basic riverclan skill.

The walk to a river hadn't been long, after all any direction you walked in riverclan territory was bound to have a river in it. Aspenpaw stood on the bank of said river as he watched Floodsight wade into its water, her paying close attention to her words. This should be easy, he'd gotten this far in his lesson with that lionheart and other kits. Remembering how cold it had been then, Aspenpaw gritted his teeth in preparations to feel that biting cold again as he stepped off the bank into the water. It was- not that bad? He'd forgotten how weightless he'd felt the first time. Confidently he wadded a bit further until he was submerged to his flank. Hesitantly he raised one paw after the other. "like this-" he began to say before getting a mouthful of river water when he didn't float like his brain had told him he would. Immediately he placed all forepaws back down on the riverbed and rose his head high above the water. "Demonstrate please!" he coughed out. Yeah he wasn't too keen on drowning so early on in his life.

( Floodsight; @goodacacia )