Owlpaw's Territory Tour

[Blaaze]

♧ Owlpaw ♧
♧ The Huntress ♧
No Purrks
4/100
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Ah yes, time to go! When the meeting ended, Owlpaw had bounded like a rabbit over to Jumper, standing ear pricked and alert as she stared up at him. She had then informed him she was ready to leave whenever he was, and now she was just. Looking up at him. But despite her cheerful, eager, forcibly relaxed posture her thoughts were racing by at a million miles per hour.. as usual. It'd be nearly impossible to catch them as they fly by. Apprentice! Breezy! New Herb Whisp'rer! Jumper! Where was mama? Bigcat! Growing! It was exhausting trying to think the thoughts for more than a mere moment, so she just let them speed by the front of her mind. "Are there lotsa owls? Bigcat n I caught n owl once!" She chirped. Correction, Twilightstar, or Bigcat, had caught the owl. Owlpaw was just a little kid, incapable of killing an owl. "N the feathers were real perdy! Have you caught n owl? It gave me this scar, see?" The Huntress eyed (or attempted to) the scratches on her cheek, prodding it with one paw in curiosity. So cool! SNEEZE. Stupid sneeze. The mottled apprentice nearly tumbled backward at the massive achoo. She shook her head in bewilderment, as though unable to comprehend the force of air that had shot from her snoot.
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@Undertaker [Leechscar]

[Undertaker]

@Blaaze - Owlpaw
Leechscar peered down at the brightly colored apprentice as she bolted over to him like she had fleas in her pelt. Leechscar guesses it could be worse, she could lazy and whiny. Bigcat? Who was Bigcat. Leechscar was about to ask until she mentioned the owl catching. The only one he knew that caught an owl with her Twilightstar. That must be the she-cat nickname, one of many.

Leechscar got up silently as the bait kept blabbing and wordlessly led them out of camp. He answered her after they set paw in the prairie land. "There aren't usually a lot of allows around here, they like trees, and WindClan's mostly flatland. We have more trouble with hawks and vultures here and there." He glanced up at the clear sky as he spoke, searching for any signs of the raptors he was talking about.

"I've never hunted an owl before, but I would like to one of these days. I've caught a vulture before." He muttered after glancing at the scratches on her cheek. "I got my first scar when I was an apprentice and got tangled up with a badger." He waved his tail towards the scar that took up a chunk of his chest.

He gave her a curious look at the sneezing and lowered his head to sniff at her. She didn't smell ill. "Do you sneeze often like that, Owlbait? Can you scent the air without the sneezing?" He sounded as grumpy as normal as he asked. If she normally did that he wasn't sure how good of a huntress she'd make. He was keen on making Owlbait a decent hunting partner for him. But those plans went down the drain if she couldn't use her nose without making a ton of noise.

The one paw he wanted to train and she sneezes. Leechscar huge paws stopped at their first destination. It was a small grove filled with trees, the only forestry WindClan had in their territory. "This is Sunset Grove. This is a good place to practice hunting small birds, squirrels, and mice."

[Blaaze]

♧ Owlpaw ♧
♧ The Huntress ♧
No Purrks
1/100
"I'm just a girl, oh, little old me
Well, don't let me out of your sight!"
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Wow, Jumper was a super good explainer! By a miracle her thoughts slowed to process his responses thoroughly. Sea green eyes were wide and attentative with only the occasional Twitch at his answers. She was either totally clueless of his grumpy tone or must simply not care because The Huntress just replied with as cheerful of a voice as ever. Nothing could possibly extinguish her chirpy, upbeat nature, so far. Only the Owl had managed to do so when it tried to kill her. But she showed it who was boss! The moment he mentioned his scar, Owlpaw leaned a bit closer to look at it in utter curiosity. Why didn't they get covered with fur again? Why didnt they bleed? Strange! But she got bored of the topic quickly and made the effort of chattering on in response to his question. As he led her out of camp, Owlpaw was attentative to the world around her, occasionally sniffing the grass or a bug she spotted before scurrying back toward her mentor.

"Wowee! Vult'res! Nev'r seen one a those b'fore!!" Owlpaw said cheerily, grinning at the gray tomcat with admiration and glee in her eyes. "N' I sneeze in camp lots! Bigcat said its alle- ller- algorithms! Can scent the air real good, see?" big Sniffs and weird smells made her open her jaws in amazement. But on a separate note, there went her pronunciation skills. Oh well. "Happens when m' at the Galewood! Lotsa leaf stuff n makes me sneeze!" With her explanation completed the cinnamon mottled looked around in curiosity as her mentor continued onwards and talked about Sunset Grove. Whoa! Sochuffed.

hey! She recognized this place! She was here when she was teensy tiny! A baby kit! Owlpaw stooped her muzzle into the grass and sniffed deeply, then half out of curiosity, half out of spite she stuck her muzzle into the grass and inhaled. So grassy smelling. "Would Owls be here? There's forests n wood!" OH, no no no! Bad! A sneeze tree! Like the galewood! Run run run! Abruptly halting her sniffing The Huntress scurried back to Leechscar, eyes bewildered. "Sneeze tree!" was her only explanation with a small amused chuff.
____________________ @Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Blaaze - Owlpaw
Leechscar discovered rapidly that keeping Owlbait's attention was not going to be an easy task. He's only met a few cats whose brains ran at full speed at all times, and he normally avoided them. Sadly he would be stuck with this one for at least three moons if not more. Thankfully, it appeared that she retrained the information he gave her even if her attention didn't last all that long.

Okay, so the sneezing thing was normal. After being reassured that the ginger could smell the air, he watched her inhale and relaxed slightly when no sneezes followed. "You're going to have to learn how to either sneeze quieter or to stifle the sound altogether. When hunting, even the slightest of noises can spook prey." He reminded her.

The scarred gray warrior was thoroughly confused while keeping an eye on his pawful of an apprentice. She inhaled the grass like it was nothing then ran back to him a moment later. Out of habit he scoped the area out for trouble and sighed loudly when she mentioned a sneeze tree. Leechscar figured he'd have to spend a day figuring out this apprentice's lingo one of these days.

"You can find Owls around here, but as far as I know, none have been spotted." He replied, twitching his tail tip back and forth. "You know you can inhale through your mouth to pick up smells, right?" Leechscar's green eyes peered at the tree she called a sneeze tree glaring annoyance.

"Your nose is sensitive. If you accidentally pick up a scent that irritates it or tickles it, you'll sneeze which could give you away to anything you hunt or enemies and threats in the area. So I'd like you to try working on breathing with your maw open. Try it now, everything you eat has a particular taste and scent, try tasting the air and telling me what prey is around here."

[Blaaze]

♧ Owlpaw ♧
♧ The Huntress ♧
No Purrks
9/100
____________________

Wowwowwow! Jumper was so good at answering her trillion questions! So cool! And different tactics too? Yippee! Oh, dear. Scaring off prey? Owlpaw disnt want to scare off prey! Not her dinner? She needs SUSTENENCENNCE not malnutrition! Oh, mouth breathing? Mouth sniffing? Why that sounded ingenius! What kind of stunningly smart cat invented such a thing? Musta been Jumpdr himself, because nobody coukd ever think of it! Unfortunately, she wasnt being sarcastic.. no, she was dead serious. And holding in sneezes? Leechscar must be the smartest cat alive! "Mhm! Mkay, 'll try real hard to hold 'm in n' breat- sniff with m'mouth!" she assured heartily. Because after all, she was the huntress! This was her life purpose. Oo! Oo! So you can find owls here! In a desire for revenge on her namesake (even though it was already dead~ she had eaten some of it) burst through her chest like a firework. But then again so did a lot of things.

Eyes peeled for any signs of owls, the cinnamon mottled glared violently at the sneeze tree. That was probably where owls were! In the sneeze tree being ever so naughty. And wanting revenge! Well, guess what, cat eating owls? Aubs was a cat eating cat! So! There. "Tasting air? Mkay! Mkay!" She chirped, completely directing to the outward subject. Okay, prey! Cool! Somehow she managed to focus fully on this one task, rigid and completely immersed in it. Iiiiinhaaaale, mooooore inhale, okay dying, exxxxxxhaaaale. Oo! Wait wait wait wait wait! Smells! So. Many. Smells! Smells of plants, smells of weeds, smells of- wait- what was that? Keeping rigidly alert The Huntress focused on the smell. Lo and behold it was..! Uh, what was it? She hadnt paid attention to the sniffs in the fresh kill pile! Well earlier she ate a mouse! Did it smell like...? No.

Oh! Oh! Maybe a bunny- rabbit! Not a bunny a rabbit! It did smell like a rabbit, she had violently (and affectionately) demanded to share Breezy's at the picnic! Yeah! So wit delight and pride, she puffed out her chest, deepened her voice to a VERY grownup and serious level, and responded, "Tst'sa rabbit!" oh, looks like she dropped the deep voice. She didnt even use it! Silly Owlpaw. OoOPS. Oh well.
____________________
@Undertaker [hope its worth the wait!]

[Undertaker]

@Blaaze - Owlpaw [Owlpaw is one of my favorite apprentices for Leechscar.]

Huh, the moody fury blinked after he got Owlbait's answer. He was so confused. How did one hold their breath and scent air? Did she know breathing through the nose and mouth weren't separate actions? If she held her breath she wouldn't be able to scent anything. Leechscar was thoroughly lost there and decided against spending any more brain cells on the strange answer.

He was thoroughly impressed when Owlpaw managed to shut up and focus on the task given to her. She inhaled loudly, it sounded like she was gasping for air. They were going to need to work on that as well. Leechscar was open that the more she used it the easier it would be able to detect scents, to the point where she didn't need to inhale like that. She shouldn't need to take that much air in to taste the air.

"Good," He answered curtly and beckoned her to follow him. Leechscar didn't want to hunt rabbits right now. He was sure they'd find a small flock of birds to hunt somewhere as they explored.

Leechscar led Owlbait away from Sunset Grove and to the next closet landmark. They heard the thundering waterfall before it came into view. The scent of fresh water flooded the air, much like the noise of the fall did to his ears. He padded around the evergreens and walked over to the pond the fall spilled into. As he wasn't up for yowling, he used his tail, aiming to curl it lightly around Owlbait's neck and draw her closer to him so he could speak near her ear.

"This is Twilight Falls. It's mostly used as our water source since the waterfall tends to scare away most prey. However, you might find some voles here and there. Fish can be found in the pond to hunt, though, WindClan doesn't usually eat fish if we can avoid it. You're not allowed to come here without me. We had trouble with minks, big mean creatures that will kill a baby like you on sight. That and I can see you falling into the pond." He added the latter with a deadpan expression.

[Blaaze]

♧ Owlpaw ♧
♧ The Huntress ♧
No Purrks
10/100
____________________

She did it! The Huntress looked over the top pleased with herself, eyes bright and a massive smile on her maw. Done and done! Cllllearly she was just plain the best apprentice in windclan. She had scented a rabbit! That made her the best! Owlpaw's fluffy, short tail did one massive flick before she made the sudden realization that- oh, they were moving! The cinnamon mottled cat had been so deathly focused on her pride that she hadn't realized that Leechscar had begun moving. With a small, squeaky "Wait for meee!" she scurried after him on big bumbly paws, skipping into the air every once in a while of stooping over to sniff something that moved whether it be from the wind or an independently controlled movement.

Oh, they were here! She was free To sniff! To show off her fantastic natural awesome skills to Jumper! Because she needed that for a form of enrichment, as Breezy had thought she saw her as. Oh, oh! He had stuff to say! Owlpaw didn't react negatively when pulled close to hear. Getting praise from her scarred mentor gave her a massive boost of entertainment and pride, something the growing attention seeker thrived off of. Literally. The sight made her intensely satisfied, especially since she was allowed here with ooonly Jumper. Which made this super special! "Bet I could take'a mink! A real little'n! Cause 'm big! Not little! N it'd be unfair." She boasted proudly, and in a yell so she could be heard clearly.. chest puffing out. Oh, and water! Yippee! In all honesty The Huntress didn't remember the last time she saw falling water that wasnt from rain, curiously she stared at it.

The apprentice reached out one paw to try and bat at it, very obviously missing. Aw maaan! So Close! Oops, maybe she wasn't supposed to do that for some reason being near it made her misty and wet. No! Nuh uh! With a small huff of disapproval she leaped backward toward Leechscar and shook (simultaneously fluffed) out her pelt, then gave him a meek look-- just in case she got water on him. " 'Ts'all misty n there's soggy air! Got me dewy." Was her cheeky explanation, getting up close to Jumper so he could hear her properly. She was too curious to talk his ear off right now.
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@Undertaker [Glad you think so! She's just a little friend in a big world :] ]

[Undertaker]

@Blaaze - Owlpaw
So she was just born full of confidence. Leechscar's frown grew when it seemed the only thing the apprentice took away from what he said was fighting minks. He was certain that all apprentices felt like they could take on the world during their first outing. Even so, her cocky declaration bugged him even if it was just in good fun. Predators were dangerous, minks exceedingly so. Owlbait didn't look like she had much self-preservation at all. So he could see her trying to fight something she shouldn't and dying for it.

Or falling into a pond and drowning. Leechscar tensed as the apprentice reached out a paw to touch the water and missed. He relaxed after she leaped back closer to him. This apprentice was going to give him an aneurysm before he reached forty moons. A sparking glint in the water caught his eye and out of habit more than anything, Leechscar crouched down and froze watching it swim for a second long and then struck out as quick as a snake with his front paws, claws extended.

He drew it back and tossed a small trout on the ground where it flopped out of water for a few moments. Leechscar pressed a huge paw down on it and it stilled with a quick bite. He'd have to take that back to camp later. He tossed fish in a nearby bush and waved his tail calling Owlbait to follow him. "Come on, hopefully, I can find you something to hunt and bring home too before we finish this lesson." Leechscar had tuned out the paw while he was catching the fish, but it was hard to ignore her for long with the brightly colored pelt. He didn't wait for her as he started walking off, but he listened for her as he was sure she was saying something or other.

The tom led them over a vast field full of heather with a lone pine sitting in the center. Beyond them were a couple of rabbits that caught Leehcscar's interest. "This is the Sky Glade, one of WindClan's bloodiest landmarks. We had to fight ShadowClan to keep this land, I've been told several good cats died for it." A thick forest of shadows stood several fox lengths behind the pine. He'd show her ShadowClan's border after they were done here.

"Owlbait, you wanna learn how to hunt rabbits now or later." He changed the subject abruptly. Sometimes he could still see flashes of Dawnstar's fangs sinking into his foster mother's neck when he visited here. He needed a distraction or to get out of here sooner rather than later. The warrior's tail tip twitched in agatintion while he waited for the paw's reply.

[Blaaze]

♧ Owlpaw ♧
♧ The Huntress ♧
No Purrks
14/100
____________________

Wow! WOW! W O W! Jumper could catch fish too?! This was incredible, unbelievable, unfathomable! Her mentor was clearly the bestest and awesomest warrior in WindClan! I mean, hunter. Cause Mama? Blreezy was still a preeeetty awesome sauce warrior! Oh, n Bigcat too! But she was a leader so she didnt count. She was the best LEADER, there was a difference. To Aubs anyway. Looking wide-eyed and totally adoringly at Leechscar, she squeaked, "Y' c'n fish? FISHES? So so so so cool!" The Huntress's pelt was dry now, but she felt as though it were lighter than it had ever been., as if she was completely submerged in water. Not that she ever had been completely submerged in water. Wait. Her? Hunting? Bringing home PREY? Yes yes yes yes! She could catch something for Breezy! And Bigcat! And Plant Whisp'rer! And Jumper himself, yes! Enough for all of them, Owlpaw decided. But then her gray mentor began trekking off and she skipped after him. " 'll catch lotsa prey! Cause you taught me!" She boasted, eyes bright and excited at the thought of carrying loads of rabbits home. Yippee! And then they had reached their next destination and The Huntress was looking around in awe. So many sights, and smells! Not to mention it was HISTORIC!

Aw, cats died? Lots of cats? Death was no new topic to Owlpaw, but itd be a surprise if someone asked and shewould thoroughly dive into Old Mama's death. With the foxes. Yucky yucky, not for Owlpaw. The lone pine immediately caught her attention and the ginger mottled cat skittered up to sniff around it, then looking up the branches, marveling at the green! and the brown! Because it was so cool, of course. The temptation to climb it was strong, but then her mentor spoke once more. "Yes, yes, yes! Wanna hunt! Please?" she begged immediately, hurdling up to Jumper and putting on her BEST begging facel
____________________
@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Blaaze - Owlpaw
Leechscar grunted quietly as Owlbait seemed overly excited about the fishing. In truth, he wasn't aware that he could fish at all, and never tried it. But when it came to hunting, regardless of what it was, he seemed to have a gift for it. He'd have to catch an assortment of prey and see what he needed to work on what he got off the start. He'd do that after training Owlbait. He couldn't help but smirk a little bit at the next comment. Knowing that a cat did well due to his teachings was a strangely endearing feeling.

Her enthusiasm for rabbit hunting was contagious. Leechscar never liked hunting the critters, they were a bit too fast for him to chase down if he didn't sneak them, but prey was prey and a required lesson to teach.

"Great, show me your best hunting crouch and pounce," Leechscar ordered. The warrior would most likely be herding the rabbit towards her to catch. He could see about letting her chase one down but he didn't think her skinny legs were long enough to keep up with a rabbit's speed yet. Hunting was a lot of instincts, so Leechscar wouldn't waste too much time making sure she had the perfect crouch and whatnot.

While waiting for her to do as she was told, he scanned around until he spotted the prey they'd be going after. There was a smaller rabbit with its head bowed nibbling on grass. That would do.