Secrets of Past Generations

[Abyssopelagic]

Inspired by her interaction with Crowtooth, Shockholly pressed forward with her side project to teach her Clan the art of hunting birds of prey. Her next apprentice: Mosspaw.
Mosspaw was on the younger side of who they'd planned to teach, but the apprentice had shown a great passion for the idea when Crowtooth spoke about it. It only made sense that they'd include her, if with a few words of warning, and hope she took them to heart. Stars know they didn't need the little one getting into danger trying to be the brave one.
It was less difficult this time around, to draw the cat into a dream. Perhaps it was because she was younger, and more than Crowtooth, or perhaps it was because of their practice.
Either way, they appreciated the low effort. It made them less tired.
As Mosspaw appeared in their sight, Shockholly greeted her with a wave of their tail.
"Hello, Mosspaw. My name is Shockholly. I was once a WindClan warrior. One of your clanmate's... Stories of our past have inspired me to pass along the art of hunting large birds."
They'd need to work on their introduction. It felt mechanical, and as if they weren't truthful.... Something about being straightforward always gave off that impression for some reason.
"If you are interested, that is."


[ @Rustleaf ]

[Rustleaf]

Originally Posted by Abyssopelagic

Inspired by her interaction with Crowtooth, Shockholly pressed forward with her side project to teach her Clan the art of hunting birds of prey. Her next apprentice: Mosspaw.
Mosspaw was on the younger side of who they'd planned to teach, but the apprentice had shown a great passion for the idea when Crowtooth spoke about it. It only made sense that they'd include her, if with a few words of warning, and hope she took them to heart. Stars know they didn't need the little one getting into danger trying to be the brave one.
It was less difficult this time around, to draw the cat into a dream. Perhaps it was because she was younger, and more than Crowtooth, or perhaps it was because of their practice.
Either way, they appreciated the low effort. It made them less tired.
As Mosspaw appeared in their sight, Shockholly greeted her with a wave of their tail.
"Hello, Mosspaw. My name is Shockholly. I was once a WindClan warrior. One of your clanmate's... Stories of our past have inspired me to pass along the art of hunting large birds."
They'd need to work on their introduction. It felt mechanical, and as if they weren't truthful.... Something about being straightforward always gave off that impression for some reason.
"If you are interested, that is."


[ @Rustleaf ]

Mosspaw:

Mosspaw stared at the starry she-cat. He was surprised, and having never seen a spirit cat before, he didn’t really know how to respond.
“Uhhh…” ok, that DEFINITELY wasn’t how to say hello to a StarClan cat. “Um, hey Shockholly…” then their words FINALLY sunk in, “OH! YES! I am VERY interested!” The words burst out of his mouth like juice from a berry, “I mean, I’d like that very much,” Mosspaw finished.
Well… that was… embarrassing to say the least…

(Just saying, Mosspaw is a boy with the pronouns he/him/his )

[Abyssopelagic]

//My apologies! I'd tried to remain as neutral as possible because I'd been unsure! I am also sorry how long this took me to get back to, I had not been feeling well this last week\\

Shockholly smiled, feeling almost a little shy now. They caught his embarrassment at showing excitement.
Excitement was good! It was why they'd chosen to visit him despite being an apprentice.
"I'm glad you wish to learn."
They let their smile widen for a moment.
"I will need a moment to give us an appropriate training field."
Their long tail swept so that it was held at their side instead of behind them. They closed their eyes, imagining a moorish landscape, with the long grasses that called WindClan's territory home, the open skies, the rocky crevices that made perfect vantage points.
After a few moments, they felt a shift, and when they opened their eyes, the landscape looked less ambiguous in the way StarClan tried to be, and looked far more similar to the moors the little apprentice called home. Perfect, this would make teaching the application of this easier.
"There, now. Has your mentor gotten around to teaching you how to hide yourself? I promise it's necessary. One of the techniques would require this."
They gave a small tilt of their head, and gestured for Mosspaw to approach them.

[ @Rustleaf ]

[Rustleaf]

Originally Posted by Abyssopelagic

//My apologies! I'd tried to remain as neutral as possible because I'd been unsure! I am also sorry how long this took me to get back to, I had not been feeling well this last week\\

Shockholly smiled, feeling almost a little shy now. They caught his embarrassment at showing excitement.
Excitement was good! It was why they'd chosen to visit him despite being an apprentice.
"I'm glad you wish to learn."
They let their smile widen for a moment.
"I will need a moment to give us an appropriate training field."
Their long tail swept so that it was held at their side instead of behind them. They closed their eyes, imagining a moorish landscape, with the long grasses that called WindClan's territory home, the open skies, the rocky crevices that made perfect vantage points.
After a few moments, they felt a shift, and when they opened their eyes, the landscape looked less ambiguous in the way StarClan tried to be, and looked far more similar to the moors the little apprentice called home. Perfect, this would make teaching the application of this easier.
"There, now. Has your mentor gotten around to teaching you how to hide yourself? I promise it's necessary. One of the techniques would require this."
They gave a small tilt of their head, and gestured for Mosspaw to approach them.

[ @Rustleaf ]

Mosspaw:

Mosspaw padded up to Shockholly, and replied, “No, my mentor hasn’t taught me much, not with all that’s going on in WindClan, like the minks, and Fallownose’s death. In fact, Whisperingwater hasn’t taught me anything!”
That didn’t worry Mosspaw that much, because it had indeed been hectic in the Clan; what worried him was if it would affect his training with Shockholly too much.
“Are you able to teach me?” Mosspaw inquired, “I still want to learn about hunting birds of prey, but if I have to learn other skills first, I’m ready!”

[Abyssopelagic]

Shockholly's brow quirked in frustration as Mosspaw admitted that his mentor hadn't been teaching them. Seriously, how has the Clan not gotten better about training their apprentices!!
If anything, they needed their youth to know how defend themselves now more than ever, with the rising tensions and the invasion of these minks.
With a lash of her tail, Shockholly lowers her head to look at the apprentice in front of her.
"We will need to go over some basics to hunting and fighting, but I think we can make this work."

[ @Rustleaf ]

[Rustleaf]

Mosspaw:

“Thank you” Mosspaw meowed to Shockholly, he really wished that Whisperingwater had taught him something before now. “I’ll do my best to listen.”

(@Abyssopelagic sorry it’s a bit short, I just needed to get it done)

[Abyssopelagic]

Originally Posted by Rustleaf

Mosspaw:

“Thank you” Mosspaw meowed to Shockholly, he really wished that Whisperingwater had taught him something before now. “I’ll do my best to listen.”

(@Abyssopelagic sorry it’s a bit short, I just needed to get it done)

//Crap!! So sorry about the wait, life got busy\\

Shockholly gives Mosspaw a gentle nudge with her shoulder.
"Firstly, all successful hunters have a hunting crouch, usually for sneaking up on prey. This will assist you in hunting larger creatures, as well as ambushing."
Shockholly takes just a few steps away from the apprentice and shows him their own hunting crouch. Legs evenly spread, tail high enough to be off the ground, but not up enough to give them away if they were trying to hide.
"Distribute your weight as evenly as you can, as well. When hunting large birds, or even prey, you do not wish to give yourself away. This will greatly increase your chances of succeeding."

[Rustleaf]

Originally Posted by Abyssopelagic

//Crap!! So sorry about the wait, life got busy\\

Shockholly gives Mosspaw a gentle nudge with her shoulder.
"Firstly, all successful hunters have a hunting crouch, usually for sneaking up on prey. This will assist you in hunting larger creatures, as well as ambushing."
Shockholly takes just a few steps away from the apprentice and shows him their own hunting crouch. Legs evenly spread, tail high enough to be off the ground, but not up enough to give them away if they were trying to hide.
"Distribute your weight as evenly as you can, as well. When hunting large birds, or even prey, you do not wish to give yourself away. This will greatly increase your chances of succeeding."

Mosspaw:

He copied Shockholly as best he could, and noticed that his tail was sticking out. Once he had lowered it a little, he felt that it was good, and looked to Shockholly for confirmation.

[Abyssopelagic]

Shockholly gave a brief nod.
"Good. Now, for large game like hawks, you would find yourself somewhere to hide yourself and wait for them to come down. Now, even as a warrior, you should never try to take large birds down by yourself. Always have at least one other with you, but three total is optimal."
They'd made this mistake themself for their initial assessment, trying to take a buzzard on by themself, and it hadn't ended well. They'd been lucky the beak had been the only thing that caught them, and that it had only been their shoulder injured.
"When a large bird comes in front of you, you will want to try to have the high ground before it notices you. They do not have good smell, but their sight is impeccable, and their sense of hearing is on par with most creatures." They explained.
"If you have managed to get to a higher point, you should wait until it's lower than you, but not necessarily by much. You'd run and leap at it, trying to land on it's back. While there, the wings are to be attacked to make the bird fall from the sky."
Shockholly turned to show their shoulder scar to the apprentice.
"While the talon's of a large bird are their most deadly weapons, do not underestimate their breaks. Attacking the head of your quarry is also a good idea, but you risk the bird going into the sky rather than to the ground."
Shockholly paused, to allow Mosspaw to soak up the information.

[ @Rustleaf ]

[Rustleaf]

Mosspaw:

He quietly listened to Shockholly, and when they had finished, Mosspaw meowed, “wow… I didn’t realise that you needed three warriors to take down one bird! But I guess it makes sense… they’re birds of prey after all.”
@Abyssopelagic