Of bears and beans - Page 2

**dionysus** · #11 June 20th, 2020, 08:35 AM

[ @space ace. ]

Grizzlybug watched Beanpaw with some measure of preemptive pride. He was his mentor, but he also felt responsible for him beyond that- seeing as he was the one who found him- and Grizz couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud of everything Beanpaw did. The fluffy tom smiles encouragingly and nodded his head to say go on. A ha! He found it. What an interesting description too. Chuckling, Grizz nodded and said,

“I believe what you are smelling is a mouse. Try to think back to a mouse on the fresh kill pile. It won’t smell exactly the same due to the circumstances but try to see if it smells similar.”

**vellichor** · #12 June 21st, 2020, 10:51 PM

Beanpaw was excited. Mouse! He would try to commit the scent to memory. Dust, earth, and fur. That was about it. He hadn’t taken mouse from the fresh-kill pile himself, but the young cat knew the scent. It was very similar, but it smelled like cats. Oh, and sometimes blood. But that was because it was hunted and dead, duh.

"Yeah I think it’s about the same. But not as... RiverClanny?" More natural, earthy. Cool! "Now what?" he whispered, trying to figure out where the mouse was. Not with much success, but he was trying a bit.

@Beau

**dionysus** · #13 June 22nd, 2020, 11:23 AM

[ @space ace. ]

The eagerness on Beanpaw’s face made Grizzlybug laugh quietly. He didn’t want the younger tom to think he was making fun of him but he really just enjoyed spending time with his apprentice! Bean’s description seemed spot on to Grizz and he purred,

“Great job! It’s a good skill to be able to take away the extra scents of cats and blood to be able to compare an unknown smell in the territory to a piece of prey. Now, you try to catch it! You know the crouch, just make sure to keep your tail from brushing the grass. Nice don’t have as great hearing as some other animals, but they will still catch on to shifting grass. The most important part is to step lightly- move will feel your paws through the earth.”

**vellichor** · #14 June 23rd, 2020, 01:00 AM

Beaming, the siamese listened as Grizz praised him. This was his first lesson, and he was glad he was doing well. This was great! Then, he listened about how much could feel grass shifting but couldn’t really hear as well. Hmm, he’d imagined that the large ears on mice would’ve served a purpose at least. He supposed not.

Dropping into the crouch and correcting himself the best he could, Beanpaw finally forgives our where the scent was coming from. He crawled — oh, he guessed the word was stalked — toward it and tried to spot the mouse itself. It was shuffling around, and the apprentice could barely spot it. Was he close enough? Now what? Looking at Grizz for help, he backed up a smidge, very nearly disturbing a twig.

@Beau

**dionysus** · #15 June 23rd, 2020, 09:38 AM

[ @space ace. ]

Grizz sat back and watched, wanting to let Beanpaw try out hunting as independently as possible even on his first try. The crouch was executed fairly well- it could’ve been better, but that would come with practice. He was creeping forward, good. Had he spotted the mouse yet? He seemed to have. But then something went wrong and Beanpaw began to back up.

Grizzlybug put a paw up to silently tell him to stop, watching the twig behind Bean’s back paw apprehensively. Luckily, he didn’t disturb or crack it. Grizz couldn’t use words at this point without alerting the prey, so he waved his paw forward as a way to tell Beanpaw to go for it. The fluffy tom dropped into a crouch himself and mimed leaping forward and biting down on something between his paws.

**vellichor** · #16 June 24th, 2020, 11:29 PM

[i’m so sorry about the slow/inconsistent responses hh]

What... what? He was waving around... why didn’t he say anything? RIGHT! The mouse. It wasn’t deaf. Uh... crouching... oh. Jump forward and... bite? Okay, okay. Obviously not bite the whole thing, but like... the neck, or something. That was... that was obvious. Why hadn’t he realized that? An embarrassed look flashed across Beanpaw’s face.

No, no time to be embarrassed. He had a mouse to catch. Creeping forward to where he was, the siamese took a silent deep breath and pounced! He landed a bit to the left of the mouse, but it seemed the creature was paralyzed with fear for a split second. Without thinking, Beanpaw slapped it with his paw. Wait— no! He leaned in to bite the poor thing and with a hesitant nip, it let out a squeak and fell still.

"I... I did it?" he said, disbelief in his voice.

@Beau

**dionysus** · #17 June 25th, 2020, 10:29 AM

[ @spce ace. No worries! ]

Grizzlybug thought for a moment that Beanpaw wouldn’t get it and the warrior prepared to console the younger tom over the loss of the creature. But then, it seemed to click and Beanpaw pounced! He missed the mouse but then managed to stun it and kill it. Grizz beamed and bounded forward.

“You did! Great job, Bean! Your first mouse!! Now, let’s go over some things that might make it easier next time. After you get close enough, you pounce. Try to land on it so that you can swiftly go in for the bite. You were lucky that time that the mouse froze up but it won’t always and you will have a bit more difficulty reclaiming spooked prey because you can’t snag it with your claws.”

**vellichor** · #18 June 25th, 2020, 10:11 PM

That was... astounding. He stared at the lifeless, half-flattened mouse with awe. This was his first catch! Proof that he could do it! Haha, take THAT stupid humans. Beanpaw was jolted from his thoughts upon hearing Grizzlybug’s enthusiasm. Yeah, he did do it!

Now.. yes. He was trying to land on it. Beanpaw may have gotten off-balance or hesitated. He wasn’t sure which, but he knew it couldn’t happen again. Oh, mice didn’t always do that? It had struck him as odd, but, then again, there was a lot he didn’t know about... everything. Yikes. "Okay, okay," he started, standing up. His legs wobbled slightly but he was alright. More from adrenaline, he thought, than anything. "What do you do with the mouse once it’s caught?" if they brought it back to camp and came back, it would be a hassle. And very tedious. But he didn’t know of an alternative.

@Beau

**dionysus** · #19 June 26th, 2020, 01:09 PM

[ @space ace. ]

Grizz ruffled Beanpaw’s fur with his paw and grinned at him proudly.

“Now, we put it somewhere we will remember and cover it with leaves and dirt to make sure that no other predators come and snatch it.”

He led the way to a nearby scraggly willow and waited for Bean to bring his mouse over so they could cover it up.

**vellichor** · #20 June 26th, 2020, 11:37 PM

"Oh, cool!" he squeaked, grabbing the prey by its tail. It smelled warm and delicious. But as much as he wanted to eat it, Beanpaw knew that it wasn’t supposed to be eaten. Sure, it was never told to him, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that hunting patrols brought everything back for the weaker cats. He would eat later.

Approaching the willow tree, Beanpaw gently dropped the mouse and tried covering it up with some leaves. It looked... unnatural, maybe just a bit. But if Grizz said it would work, then he’d just have to trust the process.

@Beau