Briarsplash fluffed out her pelt a bit as she watched the young apprentice take in the new section of the territory, obviously brighter than the other shadowy parts he'd already seen, and staring in awe at the trees. Her whiskers almost twitched in amusement at the sight... almost.

She let out a 'hmph' and a nod of acknowledgement as Palepaw stated the prey he smelled; good. He at least had a decent nose on him. Briarsplash flicked her tail towards the nearest scent, where she could see a sparrow not too far away pecking at a bush, perhaps looking for berries. To the side of them was a lizard scuttling among some stones, and the rustle in some undergrowth indicated the direction of where the mouse was.

"You're exactly right. Good nose... that's the first part of hunting. Now, the next part is deciding which prey, and how you're going to do it..." She narrowed her eyes, assessing the prey he'd listed.

The bird was perhaps the closest, but those creatures were flittery; one step too hard and they'd be in the sky in a moment. And trying to get close enough to the bush without rustling it would be a challenge. Lizards were fun to catch, and this one was in the open and exposed on the stones, but they were very quick on their feet and hard to get a good grip on. And mice... their senses were very sharp and attuned, besides being a little hard to spot and grab with how small and quick they were. Any way, it'd be a challenge... she decided to give him the choice. Her gaze flicked back to Palepaw, looking both challenging and yet intrigued to see what he'd do.

"Hmmm... your choice," she mewed in her raspier tone, eyes glinting in the afternoon light. "Let's see how good your instincts are. But I will give you this first: mice will often sense and hear you before anything else. Lizards, more so feeling and smelling you. And birds... it can vary, but mostly seeing you. Although with any of them, one misstep can cost you the catch — which isn't as bad in early leaf-fall here, but in leaf-bare... each catch counts. You'd do well to put that into practice from the start."

She sat back on her haunches, curling her plumed tail over her paws, waiting to see what he'd do by instinct... then she could correct later.

[ @goodacacia - tag bc idk if the quote worked and ahhh SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY </3 had a busy weekend aha :quivering: ]

Briarsplash watched silently from a distance, just a tad impressed. Well, almost. The 'paw had a little more instincts than she'd anticipated; either that, or the bird was just completely oblivious to the pale-coated creature slinking somewhat unceremoniously through the grass. He actually managed to snag it, but the sparrow was already gone, flapping rapidly through the air with a terrified squawk.

The Enforcer padded over, letting out a huff as she considered his form. "...You got alright instincts, kid. But your movements were too hasty, a bit sloppy. Of course, you haven't learned yet so to be expected — but ya did better than I thought, really," she grunted, a bit bluntly (but almost an indirect compliment of sorts. Hard to tell with her).

She instructed him to drop back into his hunting crouch, slowly circling his form with narrowed eyes. Using her fluffy tail, she tapped on his shoulders and haunches as she spoke, instructing him. "Drop low, putting all your weight in your haunches. It'll make your steps lighter. You wanna work on being able to glide across the ground almost soundlessly — like a shadow."

Briar stepped back to demonstrate; she dropped herself low, her fluffy belly just barely brushing the forest floor. Despite her stocky size, she managed pretty well, almost gliding across the grass with light steps with practiced ease. She wasn't the greatest hunter when compared with her battle skills (grace and stealth was never her forte), but she wasn't half-bad either. Especially after rigorously training to prove herself once she'd joined the Clan young.

The Enforcer then sat up, turning to face Palepaw. "Let me see you try that out. Oh, and next time you snag your claws on a bird... best thing to do is immediately slam it down to the ground to stun it, then go for the kill," she added with a slight smirk on her maw, one of her sharp teeth poking out. "Y'can't give 'em a chance to fly away."

"Not too low..."

Briarsplash snorted a bit as she padded back over to the young apprentice, ushering him to raise up and stop putting his rear in the air. "You're gonna throw yourself off balance if you're dragging along the floor. Makes you walk awkwardly. And loosen up a bit... you wanna be firm, but being too tight will make you walk stiff and make that much more noise."

The Enforcer demonstrated the hunter's crouch again so he could see, flicking her tail to show how low and loose she was while still being controlled. She put her paw here and her tail there, trying to ease his form into the proper technique.

"It takes practice... so I wanna see ya doing it a lot," she rasped, giving him a firm nod. "Practice all the time, even when you're not training. Then you'll do it without even thinking."

That's what had done it for her; hours of practice, desperate to prove herself... not that she'd exactly advise the staying-up-late aspect of it that made her lose some sleep, but definitely encouraging the aspiring tom to make it his goal to get it down. That's how real and good warriors were made. That's how an outsider like her could become an Enforcer; the thought made her heart burn with a mixture of pride and determination.

"Once you got it..." She pointed her muzzle over to the lizard, curling her lip a bit in anticipation; it was still sunning on the rocks they'd seen earlier, nearby enough to be seen but not close enough to want to run away from the hunters yet. "I wanna see you use it on that lizard. Careful... they're slippery and get startled by the slightest sound. Remember, silent... like a shadow."

Briarsplash let out a long sigh, shaking her head. Palepaw had been close; so close to the point where his miss was almost frustrating to her, on his behalf. She fluffed out her pelt and padded over, giving a grunt and wrinkling her nose at the wriggly tail left behind.

"Huh, yeah... I guess some lizards can do that. Sorta forgot about that," she huffed, pawing it for a moment with a shudder. Ew. The Enforcer glanced down at the despairing apprentice, letting out another gusty sigh. "Look, ya almost had it... just gotta be quicker goin' for the kill. Or you can stun it. And maybe your jump was a little poorly timed. But, uh... guess it's hard to add too much onto that when the darn critter can shed its tail as a last resort," she grunted, something like flat but dark humor in her tone.

Keeping down her annoyance down (her annoyance being less about Palepaw himself since this was his first session, and more about the circumstances), Briarsplash took in a deep breath and tasted the air again. Okay, their training had caused a bit of a ruckus and caused a lot of the prey to scamper off. But she was determined to at least try one more time to get him his first catch... she didn't want to bring an apprentice (especially one that wasn't hers!) back to camp empty-pawed. It would make her look like she didn't properly train him at all, wouldn't it?

And then... a whiff of a mouse. Perhaps that same mouse from earlier? Smirking a bit, the warrior motioned silently with her plumed tail, a silent signal to show where it was at. She leaned forward and quietly murmured, "Okay, look... I'm gonna scare the thing so it runs straight into your claws. You just gotta react quick enough to catch it. So maybe we'll at least get you somethin' to take home. C'mon... 'n don't let it get away," she added with a warning edge to her tone — not too seriously of a warning, but enough to let the apprentice know that she expected (or at least wanted) results.

Making a wide loop around, Briarsplash positioned herself just behind the bush that the mouse was scurrying in. She waited, looking at Palepaw to make sure he was alert and ready; once he was, she suddenly lashed out her paw, striking a branch of the bush and making the entire thing shake.

The mouse squeaked and darted out with wide, round eyes; in its mad dash of panic, it was careening straight towards the awaiting Palepaw. All he had to do... was not mess up.