Elk's Hunting Patrol

Roseeye sighed as she looked over to see the sun rising. She had to train her new apprentice today... Wasn't too long until all this responsibility came to her. Maybe that was a good thing, but at the moment it didn't feel like it. She looked towards the apprentice den and padded to its entryway. "Elkpaw, we're going hunting. I'll meet you at the camp's entrance." she spoke before turning around.

Elkpaw had awoken with a start, and had been stretching and breathing heavily to steady his jittery nerves. The newly apprenticed cat had no shortage of anxious fear in his lanky little body. Despite his excitement, the fear that he would dissapoint lurked below the surface. He still wanted to do what he wanted, of course, but he wanted to impress- and feared he would be unable to. Nevertheless, he walked out of the den to the camp's entrance.
"Morning Roseye," he mewed quietly, dipping his head quickly in a show of respect before once again standing tall in the face of the cold air. Despite his short fur he didn't mind it too much.

"Morning." Roseeye replied. Afterwards, she headed out into the forest with her apprentice. 'Alright, how did my mentor do this, again..?' she thought to herself. She hastily went through her memories as an apprentice, trying to find out what she was supposed to do as the mentor in those scenarios. After reaching what seemed like a nice spot to hunt, she turned around towards Elkpaw. "Before we start, can you show me a hunting crouch?" she spoke, quickly dropping down into one to demonstate.

Elkpaw followed after, quiet. He watched his mentor lead him to a good hunting spot, and he breathed in and out. The cold kept him awake and aware. As per his mentors request, and nodded and dropped down, pulling his weight from his paws mostly to his haunches as his older siblings had taught him before. Right, I have to do it like this... Can't let there be weight on my paws, I'm sure it would alert the prey nearby if I were to be clumsy like that. He stuck his tail out straight, but kept it low. "This?" he asked.

"Yeah, like that. Just make sure your weight's balanced when you stalk your prey, or else they'll hear you," she said, standing up again. She looked towards her apprentice as she spoke again, "Now, try and detect some sort of prey, you may need to use all of your senses to do so. Once you find something, crouch down and start stalking it. Just remember to stay under cover and have the wind blow towards you," she tried her best to explain the technique to Elkpaw.

Elkpaw found it a little hard to follow, but listened to his mentors words nonetheless. The cold breeze blew against him, coming from the north. He followed that, sniffing around as he stalked forward slowly. He felt a bit embarrassed under the scrutiny of Roseeye, but tried his best to move forward.

He stayed very quiet, listening to the wind blow against the trees and the grass move with the rhythm of the air. He heard the faintest squeak- a mouse? He followed the noise, careful not to move too much or too fast. He jerked his head northwest- there. He pounced. He grabbed the mouse with his claws, throwing all of his weight onto the tiny creature, and bit hard and deep into its neck. He jerked his head to the side, and heard its squeak die out. He dropped it, and kept a paw on it just in case. He turned to Roseeye. "I did it!" His eyes shined with pride.

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

Roseeye smirked a bit towards Elkpaw's mouse, "Good job. Now, find a place to bury it so nothing else will come after it," she added. Something about watching her apprentice learn the process so quickly was satisfying. Not just because it made her job easier, but it was something else. She decided to try to hunt as well. Best to enjoy this fresh air. She drew her lips open to try to scent something. Aside from the fresh air and plants, something stuck out from the rest of the scents...

It seemed unfamiliar, and a bit weird. She followed the scent to see a toad hanging out near a puddle of snowmelt. Did it cross from ShadowClan, perhaps? She crouched down and approached it slowly. The warrior leaped onto the toad and pinned it onto the ground. She wrinkled her nose at the skin's odd taste, but dealt the killing bite anyway. She picked it up and walked back towards Elkpaw.

The member 'Winterpaw' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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#1 'Prey Dice' : 9

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#2 'Hunting Dice' : 1

Elkpaw nodded and quickly found a distinctive stone to bury it next to. "Here seems good," he muttered under his breath before turning back. This is tough, I must admit. Hopefully I can catch something big, maybe Roseeye will tell Thunderstar... He'd be so proud of me. The apprentice gestured to the spot and continued on, keeping his hunting crouch, tail low. He noticed movement nears the trees before him, opening his mouth to catch the scent as Roseeye had done.

Rabbit!

Surprised at the large mammal before him, he pounced- and he dug his claws into the smaller animal, hard. He bit its neck to end its life quickly, to end its suffering, and held it up by his teeth for a moment, amazed that in the heat of the moment he'd been so lucky as to catch such a big rabbit. Starclan... Roseeye better notice this one!

The member 'cat5' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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#1 'Prey Dice' : 5

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#2 'Hunting Dice' : 3

Roseeye saw that Elkpaw caught quite the sizable rabbit. In leaf-bare, that'll be considered a blessing from StarClan. 'What do I say..?' she thought to herself. She looked at her apprentice, "Great job, Elkpaw. You'll be a great hunter..." she trailed off at the end. That strange satisfaction grew stronger, pride being a weirdly unfamiliar emotion for her. It was a strange loophole, for once she felt at ease, but at this point that concept was so unfamiliar that she was uneasy at the same time. "We'll surely have something to show for the clan once we get back," she added, ignoring the conflicting feelings in her head. She turned around in order to continue hunting.

It wasn't long before she saw a bird fly onto the ground. A bit surprised, she dropped into a hunter's crouch and watched it carefully. It looked like a pidgeon. Returning to the forest earlier than most to get more seeds, perhaps? Whatever the reason why it was here, she quickly pounced on it and dealt its last bite to it. She picked it up and walked back. This felt nice. Gathering up prey, anticipating the praise when its brought back to the clan. "We might want to head back soon, we have to be able to carry all the prey we catch," she smirked. Pride is... really strange.

The member 'Winterpaw' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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#1 'Prey Dice' : 7

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#2 'Hunting Dice' : 4

Elkpaw rejoiced at the praise- no one had ever said things like this to him, like they were proud, like they believed in him. He turned away, jittery, as he buried his huge kill. He was so happy, he couldn't really control himself, but he remembered that his father cared so much for diplomacy and honor and it stopped. He closed his eyes, breathing in hard, turning back towards Roseeye. He watched as she caught a bird, not allowing any emotion to cross his face. His whiskers twitched. "Looks good," he said quickly.

He jumped at the chance to grab his prey and head back, he felt incredibly overwhelmed and he didn't quite know how to handle these conflicting feelings. Something about Roseeye felt a bit warmer, but he was too wrapped up in his own mind to notice. "Sure, that makes sense," he replied absentmindedly. He dug up some prey- his mouse and the fat rabbit. A flurry of warmth suddenly overtook him- I did good today, actually- I can appreciate that. This will be good. He turned to Roseeye. "I- This was good, I think we did a really good job. You're a really good mentor, Roseeye," he chirped cheerfully, smiling big and proud at the warrior before picking up his catches, heaving them up and walking back towards the camp. Good, good, good.