The Hawk Upon the Lily [closed]

Hawkflight was up at the break of dawn, just as she always was. Her claws were already itching to be high within the trees, but the cold had made it so she had to stay within the warrior den. Once newleaf came, she would most certainly go back to her perch nearby camp to sleep. The rowan fur that was signature to the warrior slipped easily through camp, her claws hidden away to keep her steps silent. If she was in the trees they would be out to grip the bark, a steady approach. She truly hoped at least one of her apprentices would be able to take on her renowned ability to balance within the branches, a true exemplar of the SkyClan ability. Having two apprentices now, she had to balance her time between the two of them. Poking her head into the apprentice’s den, a gentle mew sounded from the proud she-cat. “Lilypaw, meet me by the entrance when you are ready. It’s time for some training~!”

Lilypaw woke up, excited. She quickly groomed her pelt and ran outside, her green eyes glowing with excitement. She looked at Hawkflight, her mentor, and continued toward the entrance, stopping when she reached the warrior. She waited for her to instruct her on what would happen next.

Seeing her apprentice approach, Hawkflight rose to her paws from her spot towards the entrance of camp. Her rowan pelt had been groomed half-hazardly this morning, as it was short and sleek enough it didn't require too much attention. Nodding a greeting to her apprentice, Hawkflight had a prideful stance. "Good morning, Lilypaw. Today's training will start with one of the most important parts about being an apprentice - hunting! Depending on how that goes too, we might even have some time to learn how to climb trees." It would be a somewhat busy day, but, she knew that excited apprentices had a lot of energy. She fully intended to use it these first few days.

Lilypaw smiled. ”Good morning Hawkflight.” she greeted the rowan-pelted warrior. Hunting! Wow! she thought, filling with excitement. Her long tail flicked behind her.

Motioning for Lilypaw to follow her outside of the camp, Hawkflight kept herself alert to her surroundings. She'd want to make sure to teach Lilypaw what to do before actually having her catch some prey, and part of that was making sure the duo didn't scare any of it away. Thankfully, the colder weather gave them a bit more space to work with. It would be a bit annoying later when they had to find their prey, but until then, they would most certainly be alright. "Is there anything you can tell me about SkyClan and our food before we start?" It was one thing Hawkflight enjoyed doing - knowing what information was passed around to the kits before they were apprenticed and actually got to leave camp.

Lilypaw followed her mentor outside of camp, looking around at everything that she could see. When she was asked the question, she thought for a minute”Well, we eat a couple different kinds of prey.” She started. ”You can catch prey on the ground....or in trees maybe?” She took a guess about it.

Hawkflight nodded proudly, her tail flicking in acknowledgement. "Yep! We do find our prey from both places. We get the advantage of knowing how to hunt birds and squirrels from trees, but we also catch mice and voles from the ground. For now, we'll focus on ground hunting. It's harder to hunt up in the trees, but if you can climb them it's no sweat!" Having her apprentice follow her to a more open part within the trees, Hawkflight paused to take in the air.

"Smell the air around you. Do you smell anything familiar, perhaps like anything from the fresh-kill pile back at camp?"

Lilypaw did as her mentor instructed. Sniffing the air, she smelled the familiar scent of mouse. ”There’s a mouse!” She looked around, trying to find the small creature. Soon, she saw it. She locked eyes on the little brown rodent. ”Right here!” she flicked her tail towards the mouse, looking back at her mentor excitedly.

Pride shimmered in Hawkflight's eyes. She had caught scent of the mouse, but hadn't exactly pinpointed it yet. But Lilypaw did above and beyond of Hawkflight's quest, and she nodded. Dropping into a crouch, she signaled to Lilypaw. "Crouch down like me. See if you can sneak forward quietly enough to be able to pounce on the mouse, much like a mossball." She took a few silent steps forward to show her apprentice just how to move - a single paw at a time. All the while, she kept her gaze towards the mouse, making sure it didn't scurry away before Lilypaw had a chance to actually go after it.

ooc; with your next post, feel free to roll the hunting dice~!

Lilypaw kept her eyes locked on it, and carefully crept up. As she neared it, she pounced, just like she had many times playing mossball with her sister. She watched, hoping she would catch the small rodent. As she pounced onto it and killed it, she grinned. Her very first catch! Coming back to her mentor, she proudly showed off her mouse.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Hawkflight watched her apprentice, and nodded. Lilypaw was a great hunter, and Hawkflight was definitely sure that it would be something that she would have no issue doing in the future. "You're a natural!" Signaling for Lilypaw to carry her catch with her, she looked about the forest. "Alright, so this choice I'm going to leave to you - Would you like to keep hunting and seeing what else you might be able to catch, or would you like to head back to camp and show off your prize? Catching something on your very first try hunting is amazing!"

Likypaw thought about the question before answering confidentially, ”Can we keep hunting? This is fun!” she mewed enthusiastically. She smiled. She didn’t think it was that amazing, the mouse just hadn’t been paying much attention. It was just luck. She was sure she would miss the next one.

Hawkflight nodded. She certainly had no issue with taking Lilypaw out hunting longer - especially since the apprentice herself was so enthusiastic. Having the apprentice follow her to another spot of the territory, she gave the young she-cat another nod. "Just like before... see if there are any creatures you can smell. If they're up in a tree, leave them be for right now - I'll show you how to hunt those next." She didn't want to give the apprentice too much at once.

Lilypaw nodded, and looked around, before she saw the flutter of a robin, landing a few paw-lengths in front of her. Approaching it quietly but quickly, she kept her eyes locked on the small bird, then leapt onto it, trying to make her second catch. She caught the small bird, and picked it up, running back to Hawkflight triumphantly.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

The rowan warrior watched as the bird attempted to take flight, only to fail at her apprentice's paws. She nodded proudly, enthusiasm rippling from the warrior. "You're such a natural at this, good job!" True to her word, she then had Lilypaw follow her towards some of the trees at had much thicker branches and sturdy trunks. "Since you're a natural at catching prey from the ground, I think I can teach you how to climb trees to catch prey~!" Shaking out her pelt, the young warrior signaled for Lilypaw to watch.

"You have to use your mouth a lot more when it comes to catching something in a tree, as your claws will be focused on making sure you don't fall." She noted. It was a crucial change, as most cats hunted using their claws. Seeing a squirrel balancing on one of the thickest branches, Hawkflight used her claws to carry her weight up the tree, and to get to the bird. The branch was thick enough for her to comfortably stalk and not worry too much about balance, and she did her best to be silent. Once behind the squirrel, she took a heavy paw, pinning it to the branch by its tail before eventually letting it scurry away. From there, she lept back down.

"I didn't catch that squirrel as it was too scrawny for a meal, but that's essentially what you do. Make sure your claws dig into somewhere sturdy. If the bark feels like it wants to rip off, grip just above it." She nodded. "Would you like to give it a shot~?"

Lilypaw smiled as she started to learn how to hunt in trees, she watched her mentor and tried to catch the squirrel in the tree. She scaled up the tree with her claws, and tried to bite the squirrel, to kill it.She caught it and ran down the tree, dropping it on the ground.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Hawkflight gave a little bounce of pride to her apprentice, extremely proud of her ease with hunting. Three pieces of prey on her first trip. "Really good job, Lilypaw! For your first time hunting, you've done super well!" Happily, her tail swished. "Three pieces of fresh-kill should be plenty to help feed a good bit of Clan for the day. Let's head back to camp - you've earned it!" She said, extreme pride for her apprentice within her.

Lilypaw beamed with pride as her mentor complimented her. The trip had gone far better than expected! Carrying her prey, she triumphantly headed back to camp. She couldn’t wait to tell her mother and siblings about the experience.