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"Not really." Was the simplest reply to Treerat's quips. Brackenfire, even with ShadowClan's peaty forest floor, had never liked the feeling of wetness under her paws. Lifting a paw and glaring at the ground with utter disdain, but stayed silently, suffering in silence. Stalking away from her obnoxious companion, she muttered curses under her breath. Stupid Vixensnarl, leaving her to suffer with this thing.
Hearing him sneeze in the background, she rolled her eyes. Dumbass- She felt a tickle in her sinuses, and stifled a large sneeze, letting out a whistling sound through her nose. "Shoot." She muttered, tail lashing with disdain with herself.
After a moment, she spotted a very large, very fat water vole, and stalked closer, sinking lower to the gross, nasty ground, and as she got closer, she got closer and closer, before leaping forward, claws out, grabbing it in her claws and snapping it's neck, killing it almost immediately.
Turning back, she spotted Treerat flinging a bird up into the tree, and stifled a snort. Trotting back over with her catch, she placed it under a bush beside the tree, then nodded up to the loon, in a wordless almost-but-not-really compliment.
Yeah he wanted to climb it again. He didn't remember that he had just climbed this tree. His six moon old mind just wanted to climb it once again. Nutwing didn't hesitate a moment longer. The fluffy brown tom jumped all the way up to the top with no trouble.
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Coming back only to get Barleypaw into warriorhood, but then I most likely will be leaving entirely. I've spend too much time on her to not have her be a warrior and I'd like to get her there.
As they familiar feeling of solid forest ground gave way to spongier, marshy territory, Sparrowflight shot a quick glance around her before offering a question to the young apprentice. "Now Treepaw, to get things started has anyone taught you to hunt yet?"
Sparrowflight was straight to the point this morning. Thunderclan's apprentices were behind on far too much, so if she could get even one apprentice a little further ahead on their training then she would do her absolute darndest to help them.
"Not to worry if you haven't. I happen to have been trained by one of Thunderclan's greatest hunters, Ridgeclaw, so I know a thing or two about the job."
Offering the lanky cat behind her a cheeky grin, she hopped up onto one of the fallen logs in the area and sat back onto her haunches as she awaited the younger cat's answer.
As they familiar feeling of solid forest ground gave way to spongier, marshy territory, Sparrowflight shot a quick glance around her before offering a question to the young apprentice. "Now Treepaw, to get things started has anyone taught you to hunt yet?"
Sparrowflight was straight to the point this morning. Thunderclan's apprentices were behind on far too much, so if she could get even one apprentice a little further ahead on their training then she would do her absolute darndest to help them.
"Not to worry if you haven't. I happen to have been trained by one of Thunderclan's greatest hunters, Ridgeclaw, so I know a thing or two about the job."
Offering the lanky cat behind her a cheeky grin, she hopped up onto one of the fallen logs in the area and sat back onto her haunches as she awaited the younger cat's answer.
Tree followed behind the molly keeping a mouse-length between them. Her question shocked Tree but he answered with full honesty "No..." Lifting their gaze to meet Sparrow'Flights green gaze. "With all honesty they haven't trained me in anything yet" tree lowered his head a bit but kept a sturdy eye contract. "You must've been a great deal of luck to be trained by them then" He forced a smile hoping he'd cover the anxiousness that sparked his tabby fur.
A brief hum of acknowledgement was her only reply to him for a moment as she mentally ran through the list of what this young cat would need to know. Stars above... These apprentices needed plenty of work if they were to become warriors. However, a hunting lesson would be good mentoring practice for when Cactuspaw returned... If ever. Blinking herself out of her thoughts, Sparrowflight hopped off the log and back onto the ground with practiced poise before walking about a few mouselengths away from Treepaw.
"I count myself incredibly lucky to have been one of his students," she finally stated before turning her gaze back onto her companion. "Now, the first thing you'll need to know is how to execute a proper hunting crouch. A successful crouch leads to successful catches, but if you're off-balance by even a whisker your whole leap gets thrown into disarray."
Lowering herself into the pose to demonstrate, Sparrowflight paused for a moment to let the apprentice observe before standing once more.
"Now, copy that pose and I'll give you a look over to make sure you're steady before we continue."
A brief hum of acknowledgement was her only reply to him for a moment as she mentally ran through the list of what this young cat would need to know. Stars above... These apprentices needed plenty of work if they were to become warriors. However, a hunting lesson would be good mentoring practice for when Cactuspaw returned... If ever. Blinking herself out of her thoughts, Sparrowflight hopped off the log and back onto the ground with practiced poise before walking about a few mouselengths away from Treepaw.
"I count myself incredibly lucky to have been one of his students," she finally stated before turning her gaze back onto her companion. "Now, the first thing you'll need to know is how to execute a proper hunting crouch. A successful crouch leads to successful catches, but if you're off-balance by even a whisker your whole leap gets thrown into disarray."
Lowering herself into the pose to demonstrate, Sparrowflight paused for a moment to let the apprentice observe before standing once more.
"Now, copy that pose and I'll give you a look over to make sure you're steady before we continue."
Tree examined her perfect posture but he furrowed his brows. They let out a huff and lowered into a squat like pose his hind-paws completely uneven and his hind felt heavy. His front paws angled inward and held his body up from being pressed ageist his chest. He closed his eyes picturing her crouch knowing they had messed up comparing. But he kept viewing the image over and over not understanding what she'd done that made Tree's messed up.
"I know im messing up" They grumbled not directing it at her, trying to lean forward abit but if he did try and catch something i'd have to be at the tip of his nose.
Padding back over to Treepaw, Sparrowflight nodded in concentration as he attempted the crouch. It honestly wasn't a bad attempt, but there were a few points that needed adjusting for it to be successful. One paw gently nudge his front paws till they faced forward before she circled around to his back.
"Tilt your weight just a touch more towards your front," she stated, before moving back to his front. "But make sure that the majority of your power is coming from your hind paws. Using your back half will give you a stronger pounce, and it'll be quicker to launch yourself forwards."
Dropping back into her crouch across from him, she let a friendly smile cross her features.
"Now, lets try out that pounce. Keep an eye on where you want to land; try and aim for that patch of moss."
A quick flick of her tail pointed out a small moss patch in the marshy ground.
"Watch how I leap, and then you can follow."
Exhaling to steady her body, Sparrowflight's tail stilled behind her before her rear paws pushed off and she leapt towards the moss patch. Brown paws quickly collided with the aforementioned moss and in a swift turn she was back facing the apprentice expectantly.
Padding back over to Treepaw, Sparrowflight nodded in concentration as he attempted the crouch. It honestly wasn't a bad attempt, but there were a few points that needed adjusting for it to be successful. One paw gently nudge his front paws till they faced forward before she circled around to his back.
"Tilt your weight just a touch more towards your front," she stated, before moving back to his front. "But make sure that the majority of your power is coming from your hind paws. Using your back half will give you a stronger pounce, and it'll be quicker to launch yourself forwards."
Dropping back into her crouch across from him, she let a friendly smile cross her features.
"Now, lets try out that pounce. Keep an eye on where you want to land; try and aim for that patch of moss."
A quick flick of her tail pointed out a small moss patch in the marshy ground.
"Watch how I leap, and then you can follow."
Exhaling to steady her body, Sparrowflight's tail stilled behind her before her rear paws pushed off and she leapt towards the moss patch. Brown paws quickly collided with the aforementioned moss and in a swift turn she was back facing the apprentice expectantly.
He almost fell forward when she adjusted his posture but he didn't. Watching her lounge forward he dug his hind paws deeper into the marsh and pinned his ears back and focused on the moss. With a heavy push with a little to much power he leapt passed it by a few mouse-lengths. As his fore-paws touched the earth he hurried before his hind-paws touched and bounced back at the moss. He tilted his mouth open a little and kept his left paw placed on the moss not knowing if it where prey that had fled away...
"Are voles the best you can do, swamp sipper?" It's teasing at worst, because Jaystride didn't give an actual damn about what she caught - only that she was doing something. Unlike Mudrump back there. "Why don't we make this interesting?"
So the marsh lover didn't feel at home, huh? This was fine with Jaystride, because this wasn't hers. He doubted she even knew what a muskrat was, but tonight! They'd change that. "This is called Muskrat Mire for a reason, you know. Never seen so many of them in one place before."
There were plenty of small holes in the mire that told him where the muskrats were burrowed. Which was perfect, because all it took was some digging near the rushes to find roots, and he could set a trap. Having them placed near some of the holes, he put some distance between them and waited.
Soon enough, one of the fat oversized rodents came rolling out. Sniffing the ground, until it was upon the bait he'd set. Quietly, he muttered toward her. "I hope you're not afraid of a big rat? If you don't take care of it, I will."
He knew how mean these things could be and was prepared, but he kind of liked the idea of watching her get her tail handed to her.
A small chirp of amusement escaped her, as it seemed Treepaw had taken her advice about using his hindlegs for power to heart. While the apprentice overshot the mark, he certainly wasn't lacking any spring.
"An admirable first attempt Treepaw! Most apprentices usually undershoot their target, so my advice to you is just dial back your strength about 2 notches. That should put ya where you wanna be," she stated before stretching out her paws and glancing around to the marsh. "Now, for one final lesson before we formally begin what can you smell? If you open your jaws like so you should be able to increase the range of scents you find."
Sparrowflight lifted her muzzle up and parted her jaws slightly, scenting the new-leaf breeze. Hmmmm... No muskrats emerging in this area, so the inexperienced apprentice shouldn't be accosted on their first hunt, but there were a few other things about.
Re: Muskrat Mire
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