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Re: Cattail Pond
In the blink of an eye, Creepingpaw felt himself lose his footing from Shockhoney's impact and fell on his side into the pond with a big splash. Unprepared for the surprise swim lesson, he sputtered underwater from accidentally swallowing some of the water and began thrashing his paws to claw his way to the surface. And it took a whole 5 seconds for him to realize the water was, in fact, not deep enough for him to drown in as his head shot up from the pond. Gasping and coughing, he caught a glimpse of a smiling Shockhoney and laughing Lavendersong. Realizing what happened, Creepingpaw's ears pinned flat to his skull and he climbed out of the pond soaking wet.
"Not... Funny..." He hissed through clenched teeth, shivering from the cold breeze against his wet pelt as slowly padded towards Shockhoney to shake off his pelt in hopes she would get a couple splashes on her as well.
Lavendersong, with a paw lifted to her maw, tried her best to hold back her giggles but to no avail as she busted into roaring laughter. With Creepingpaw's high and mighty attitude, he definitely deserved to get a taste of his own medicine and Lavendersong had no quarrels with that.
"You're right, it was hilarious!" She corrected the apprentice, shooting Shockhoney a nod of approval.
Battle training. Something Mallowpaw hadn't worked much on; she only knew two moves from the event that the Hornets had hosted moons ago. Wolfhive would be teaching her advanced moves as well as the basics; good. At her age she should be learning more than the fundamentals.
Mallowpaw hadn't thought Wolfhive would cover dodging; it was one of those moves you instinctively knew without being taught. But still she watched as her mentor demonstrated, springing to one side before twisting and slicing his paw through the air.
It was her go now, and Mallowpaw imagined an enemy lunging at her. As imaginary claws came towards her, she side-stepped and spun, slashing a sheathed paw across the invisible warrior's flank.
"Good!" Wolfhive purred as Mallowpaw demonstrated the move. "It's a simple move, but can be very effective." A good go-to in a pinch especially. "There's a couple other techniques you can do when your opponent is no longer directly facing you; grabbing their tail and yanking it can knock them off balance or even break the tail if you pull it hard enough, you can put your paw or tail out to trip them up.. Hell, even just slashing at their legs can make moving painful for them." None of this was worth demonstrating, though; just things he wanted Mallowpaw to consider in the future.
"If you're looking to immobilize your opponent.. you can go for breaking their leg. It won't kill them, but it'll put them out of commission for a couple moons." Wolfhive mimicked grabbing a leg and twisting it 'against the grain'. When he was an apprentice, he had a live model - but he got the impression Mallowpaw wouldn't appreciate fighting some random trespasser. So, the point was to give her an idea, even if she never used it - she could if need be. "Go against the momentum and it'll snap, you'll have to put some force into it to do more than a dislocation though. A dislocation would hurt, but might not actually stop them.."
Now onto something a bit more tangible for her. "Some other techniques.." Wolfhive went on to demonstrate things like the front paw blow n rake, playing dead, and scruff shake... but he wanted to move to more of a spar format.
He'd give Mallowpaw a chance to try it all out first, though.
[ @kittycatburmise i hope this makes sense LOL i lost my train of thought / didn't think it was worth describing the book stuff ]
Morningpaw came up to Wolfhive's side slowly, not wanting to spook away the hornet's catches, but wanting to see as he demonstrated the fishing. At first, it seemed like there was nothing happening at all, even though the apprentice knew that the older Tom was waiting for the right time to strike. It was a lot less... time stressed... if that's the right word, compared to normal hunting- at least, that's what he thought before the hornet suddenly shot a paw into the water and in a blink of an eye, a fish was on the bank and Wolfhive was killing the poor thing. Wow. Okay.... that was... Morningpaw could totally do that. The black and orange feline nodded his head at the verbal and shown instructions before turning his green eyed gaze towards the water's surface.
Would all the fish here be spooked after Wolfhive's catch? Morningpaw peered into the water, squinting to try and catch the bodies of the fish through the shaky weird effect of water. Eventually, he did spot something. So Morningpaw raised up a paw... he saw his shadow flicker with the ripples of the water and oh right, he shifted so that it was no longer cast over the space. Luckily he caught the error before the fish was frightened. Though now it was time for the waiting game. He almost wanted to yawn, but that would probably be seen as rude... Morningpaw was just tired, just as he always was.
Eventually, ( after a life time of waiting ), the fish finally came into what the apprentice thought was a fine fishing range and he shot forward with little time to rethink what the hornet said about this part of the hunt. Saly, it resulted in him aiming straight for the fish, rather than under it for a hook. It resulted in Morningpaw simply straight up punching the fish and attempting to hook his claws along its scales but with the poor angle it was futile and the fish slipped away. The black and orange feline sat back with an irritable huff, great, he shook out his wet paw half dramatically with frustration.
"Stupid fish." He cursed the creature as the last of its tail flickered out of sight.
"It just takes practice." Wolfhive purred gently at Morningpaw. "No shame in missing it to start with. Violetfreckle didn't even tell me to aim lower 'n I almost ended up in the water with the damn thing!" Second time was the charm for him, maybe it'd be the same for Morningpaw?
Regardless, Wolfhive went for another fish again. Same thing as before, aim lower and hook, then flip it out of the water and kill it. Though he didn't fish too often, the technique almost felt second-natured to him - similar to hunting on land with less stress. "Uhh... as a warning when you kill it, it's gonna be very cold! Their blood isn't anything like our normal prey."
"Good!" Wolfhive purred as Mallowpaw demonstrated the move. "It's a simple move, but can be very effective." A good go-to in a pinch especially. "There's a couple other techniques you can do when your opponent is no longer directly facing you; grabbing their tail and yanking it can knock them off balance or even break the tail if you pull it hard enough, you can put your paw or tail out to trip them up.. Hell, even just slashing at their legs can make moving painful for them." None of this was worth demonstrating, though; just things he wanted Mallowpaw to consider in the future.
"If you're looking to immobilize your opponent.. you can go for breaking their leg. It won't kill them, but it'll put them out of commission for a couple moons." Wolfhive mimicked grabbing a leg and twisting it 'against the grain'. When he was an apprentice, he had a live model - but he got the impression Mallowpaw wouldn't appreciate fighting some random trespasser. So, the point was to give her an idea, even if she never used it - she could if need be. "Go against the momentum and it'll snap, you'll have to put some force into it to do more than a dislocation though. A dislocation would hurt, but might not actually stop them.."
Now onto something a bit more tangible for her. "Some other techniques.." Wolfhive went on to demonstrate things like the front paw blow n rake, playing dead, and scruff shake... but he wanted to move to more of a spar format.
He'd give Mallowpaw a chance to try it all out first, though.
[ @kittycatburmise i hope this makes sense LOL i lost my train of thought / didn't think it was worth describing the book stuff ]
Mallowpaw
100/100
Wolfhive praised her attempt before listing the other moves she could use on an enemy if they weren't facing her; yanking their tail, tripping them or slashing their legs. She could see how they would be useful, especially the last two; movement was important in a battle, and once her opponent was down she would be able to pin them and... well, she wasn't sure what she could do to end the fight outside of killing them. Knocking them out, maybe? She didn't know how hard it was to do that.
Wolfhive went on to give her an option for taking out an enemy; breaking their leg. Mallowpaw watched as he demonstrated the motion required, taking note of his comment that she had to be forceful to make sure they couldn't keep fighting. She didn't really want to put a cat in the medicine den for multiple moons, but between that and killing them, she'd choose it any day. It was effective, and if the cat was unable to provide for their clan it wasn't ThunderClan that suffered.
Wolfhive went on to explain other techniques. The front paw blow and rake. Playing dead. Scruff shake. Mallowpaw stored the information in her mind before attempting each move, trying to mimic her mentor's confident motions.
Willowfrost padded quietly along Cattail Pond, ears pricked and jaws open to scent for prey that might be nearby. She glanced over her shoulder to see if her patrolmates, Sunflowerswirl and her apprentice, Antpaw, were following her. Seeing as Wolfhive hinted at Sunflowerswirl to train Antpaw, she figured she'd be doing most of the hunting at first. Hopefully they'd get it down quick.
Her joints moved stiffly as she maneuvered as well as she could with the long, healing scar down her flank. Hopefully one day it would be a distant memory. But for now, she crouch on the edge of the pond, still as she could, waiting to see if a water vole would pop out.
Antpaw is giddy with excitement and nervousness. It's his first patrol, and first hunting trip, after all. A part of him wonders if he should have asked Sunflowerswirl to teach him hunting for his first lesson- then he shakes the thought off. Perhaps it was due to the awkwardness between her and him. He didn't want to ask for help. No, he could do this on his own.
[Antpaw rolls an 11]
Antpaw sniffs the air, searching for prey. The stale scent of water vole hangs in the air, so he knows there was one before. He just isn't sure if it's still here now. And he can hear grass rustling, but was it prey? Somecat's tail swishing? Or the wind? Antpaw isn't sure.
It'll be better not to make an attempt in the first place, than to fling himself at the rocks and notice there wasn't actually any prey, Antpaw decides. He pads further away from the other cats, not so far that they are completely out of sight, but far enough that he hopes he'll be able to see prey that his clanmates cannot.
Echobreeze sniffed the air. A young male named shadeclaw catches her eye… she has some weird feeling that this cat would be important. @Badwolf please answer
Last edited by Spookytail; August 19th, 2024 at 08:36 AM.
"Good, good!" Her motions were a little uncertain, but with time Wolfhive knew it'd come as natural as breathing. Wolfhive planned on doing another session with her later on, maybe with another apprentice to tussle with. "How are you feeling so far, Mallowpaw?" His plan had been to do a short practice spar, but he knew she'd been given a lot to chew on already and didn't want to overwhelm her. There was always tomorrow after all!
Willowfrost sighed quietly as she waited for a hint of any prey. She felt as though she had been waiting for ages. Then suddenly, as if StarClan's answer to her prayers, two little noses peaked out of a hole near the reeds.
( Willowfrost rolled a 20! )
Her eyes widened as she held her breath, slowly settling into a hunting crouch as she kept as still as possible. After a few agonizing moments, the two water voles peered out cautiously before scuttling out into the open. Her paws were itching for her to leap but still she waited. Finally, as the pair stopped to sniff what appeared to be seeds on the ground, the she-cat leapt with claws outstretched catching one vole in each paw as she scooped them together with claws digging into their spines. Once she was sure they were unable to move, she nipped both on the neck, admiring her catch. Not one, but two voles! Maybe she should test her luck, she thought to herself as she buried her current catch.
( Willowfrost rolled an 8! )
As if she was blessed with luck today, yet another water vole appeared from the same hole. There must be a whole family in there! The warrior confidently, perhaps a bit too confidently, tried to quickly spring at the unsuspecting prey again...but she fell awkwardly on her chin. Her scar ached and caused her to freeze momentarily from the pain mid jump. She clenched her teeth and she pulled herself back up, checking her wound to make sure it hadn't tore. It had not, thankfully, but it sure did hurt. Sighing, she noticed the other vole got away. "Well, two is good." She mumbled, digging them back up. "Let's finish this quickly." She said to her patrol mates, grabbing her catch in her mouth as she waited for them before returning to camp.
"Good, good!" Her motions were a little uncertain, but with time Wolfhive knew it'd come as natural as breathing. Wolfhive planned on doing another session with her later on, maybe with another apprentice to tussle with. "How are you feeling so far, Mallowpaw?" His plan had been to do a short practice spar, but he knew she'd been given a lot to chew on already and didn't want to overwhelm her. There was always tomorrow after all!
Wolfhive seemed pleased enough with her attempts, but Mallowpaw's spirits fell at his next words. How are you feeling so far, Mallowpaw? She knew he was trying to help her, to look after her. But she hadn't done anything strenuous; just some battle moves. She hadn't even sparred. Yes, she had once collapsed after stalking, but that was moons ago. She had gotten older, stronger. She was warrior aged now; she shouldn't need to be asked how she was feeling after practising battle moves. But he would always see her as weak. How could he not, when she hadn't done anything to prove otherwise?
Trying to push away the thoughts lest they overwhelm her, Mallowpaw gave Wolfhive a small smile. "Good, thanks." She wouldn't let her feelings show on her face. He was just trying to help her, after all. Even if it felt like the opposite.
Re: Cattail Pond
I'll make sure to cross that off when I do lmao]
