Crowpaw's Assessment [WindClan]

[Arie]

-- @Rani [ @Wings ??] --

It was finally time, another assessment for another apprentice. Based on what he'd listened to to previously it would be a few warrior ceremonies this time around... if Twilightstar managed to keep the two clearly not smart cats alive long enough to pass their assessments. Nevertheless this time it was Crowpaw and Breezefeather was actually quite intrigued to see how this would go. "Crowpaw! And Creekdash if you want to come, but Crowpaw its finally time for your assessment. I'll be doing it with you, and what we're going to have you do is a simple hunting exercise and then I'll want you to demonstrate some fight techniques later on. For now though, the hunting. You'll be heading up to the Swooping Cliffs and see what you can catch. I won't help you and I don't expect Creekdash to help you either." It was all going to be Crowpaw's skills.

[Wings]

[ @Arie @Rani - I've been really bad with replies lately so continue on without me and Creek will just be watching in the background. I would like some mentions tho just to stay updated cause I do read the posts, it's just real hard for me to actually reply. ]
-Creekdash-

Creekdash trotted over, giving his little brother a smile and giving Breezefeather a respective nod. "I'm sorry about how I acted before. I got defensive for some reason, I was getting used to playing deputy and now that your deputy it felt weird to nod have those duties. I hope you accept my apology." The young tom murmured to the deputy. He had had time to think about his actions and had time to reflex. Now he had understood himself and why he had acted that way.

[Rani]

The tom was well aware of how the clan probably viewed him. Lazy and irritating most of the time for his habit of napping at weird hours in the middle of the camp with small bursts of rapid and blinding rage and strength, usually linked to an battle. But for all his more lump like tendencies he wasn’t foolish by far. Crowpaw was, despite all evidence to the contrary, fully aware of what went around him while he dozed (ignoring others for his own amusement) and he slept at any time for a very good reason, a reason like this. In a movement faster than you would think an asthmatic cat would be able to move he was on his paws by Breezefeathers side, ridiculously alert eyes flicking back between his mentor and the deputy. Wait did they have bad blood or something? He had no clue. Well something had happened and Crowpaw would be getting the information out of Creekdash later by prodding if he had to but now was the time to focus on doing as well as he could.

Hunting was defiantly his weak point, being more fight talented, but he would just have to do the best he could in this area and make up for it later and it wasnt like he was incapable. If there was supposed to be a running component though… That’d be an issue.
“Any specific types of prey or is it just general? And am I trying to hit a limit or are we just going until you think Im done. Just trying to understand my parameters here.” Chasing down a rabbit would be impossible so if Breezefeather wanted one of those he’d need to get creative and though he wasnt half bad with his breathing he did hava a slight disadvantage with noise triggered prey.

This whole thing was looking impossible was there anything that could help him here?! Wait no he was dumb “And if I find a burrow or tunnel can I enter it to hunt at all.” There evening the odds hopefully, most cats would find the tactic risky but it would hardly be to Crowpaw. If that was allowed he’d be set.
@Wings @Arie

[Arie]

-- @Rani [ @Wings ] --

Seemed the kid was quite worried about not doing well in the hunting portion of the assessment and Breezefeather draped his tail over the apprentice for a brief moment, sitting down in order to answer and explain the questions. "It's just what we can find at this moment. It's leafbare so despite how much I want to hunt the moors dry to have a feast for the celebration of new warriors, that is simply unreasonable considering we've got to balance out the lack of prey during these cold months and its unlikely you'll be able to find much. We're going until you've caught at least one prey item, preferably two. It's not about how much prey you catch its about how you catch it and if I can see you're doing it good enough or trying your best. That's what matters more over the catch."

At least here in leafbare that was what mattered, if it had been greenleaf the deputy was sure that the circumstances would've been very different. And then the rabbit burrow question had him smiling a tad bit. Seemed Twilightstar had the perfect volunteer to lead a potential tunnel team when he was made a warrior. "Yes you're allowed to use the burrows, just for Stars sake do not get stuck, cause a cave-in or burrow yourself inside of them." That was pretty much it and he nodded.

"Off you go now."

[Rani]

Crowpaw decided he liked the new deputy rather rapidly, the older tom was reasonable and calm without being too soft, something much needed with the issues the clan was currently facing. Sure Crowpaw defiantly did not envy him his job and he'd generally be among the first to call the deputy on any issues, given how much of the clans well being hinged on how he's doing. But Breezefeather was almost shockingly likeable to the mischievous tom so in one fell swoop gained a fair bit of leeway for any mistakes and a rarely given bit of respect and obedience from the skunk striped tom.

So it was with a sharp nod that Crowpaw set off at a steady half trot making for the cliffs with a determined scowl on his face. Only a few moons ago he wouldnt have thought keeping up this pace possible but Creekdash's breathing training had been a boon beyond measure so while he'd never truely be able to run like most of his clan he wasnt slow at least. And hey at least he'd always have Stagpaw to keep him company when the rest of the clan went for a sprint, Stag was faster then now him sure but they, at least, were nice enough to stick around in the back with him.

Crowpaw didnt wait even for a second before begining when they arrived at the cliffs head popping up to try and find any scents on the wind so he could hone in on some prey. And he found... Nothing. There was nothing here! Even beyond the frustration and stress of his assessment it was concerning, there should at least be something here even if it was out of reach or stale. But right now there was just the dry air and dead grass on the wind.... Maybe it was just him, Crowpaws nose wasn't the best so hopefully it was just that rather than a more concerning underlying problem.

He was about to give him and move on to a hopefully better area when the tom spotted a flash of feathers nearby a dead tree, a finch! A poor looking finch but food was food and Crowpaw dropped into a crouch slipping smoothly behind some nearby rocks to approach. There wasnt much cover here so instead of slowly slinking closer Crowpaw made short quick darts from rock to rock to get close, adapting to the situation. An adaptation that worked for the most part and got him within pouncing distance, before the bird got a lucky look in and spotted the tom peaking out, trying to gauge distances for a final bolt. In a rush of feathers and a curse (from Crowpaw) the bird took off, only to be knocked out of the sky but a second before it could escape with a paw and tossed to the ground. The large tom landed from his frantic leap with a huff, cursing again as he raced to grab the bird and break its neck, the first blow only stunning it in the end. With a crack and a sigh Crowpaw sat for a second to catch his breath, scowling unhappily. That was just sloppy, what was with him today, that couldn't be it? It wouldnt be, Crowpaw would not let a poorly caught tiny finch be his only catch for his assessment so, after burying the bird he set off again to find another catch. He, for a moment, hoped his mentor and the deputy didnt see that, though the apprentice held little hope that that was the case.

@Arie @Wings (he's gonna make another catch just didnt wanna let this one post run to long)

[Arie]

-- @Rani @Wings --
[apologies for the shorter post but Breezy aint doing a whole lot lmao]

There was a lot of talent within this young cat and the deputy followed at an unnoticeable distance away. He didn't want his presence to disturb any of the prey that Crowpaw might hunt but he noticed that the apprentice went for the small bird in the grass over the rabbit that was hiding out by its burrow. To Breezefeather it was a show of skills or maybe Crowpaw had just not noticed it, but his ability to catch a bird nearly as well as a rabbit was particularly promising especially with the leafbare settling in.

The catch might have been sloppy but that did not matter much to him, what mattered was that it was caught and it was and therefore he couldn't complain. Instead he continued to watch as Crowpaw ran off, and he looked at where the finch had been buried and took mental note of it. So he continued to follow the apprentice at an acceptable distance.

[Rani]

The entrance to the tunnels was found almost impossibly fast, but that really wasn't much of a surprise. Even those small openings to the deeper maze of pathways had little visible cues on the surface that one could learn to read if inclined to. And Crowpaw was more than inclined to find them. Inspecting the opening for the indications that it was too unstable to enter the skunk striped tom gave a fanged grin at what he found. Rabbit dropping and a heavy scent of the animal, Crowpaw had found an active warren. Normally the tom would wait outside and take out a couple of the adults before heading back to not wipe the entire thing and potentially lengthen the amount he could hunt from one burrow but... This was his assessment and the clan wasnt exactly flush with prey right now. If he over-hunted here they could store what wasnt eaten and he was looking to make up for that one god awful catch of the tiny finch anyway.

So without further ado Crowpaw dived in to the warren, tail disappearing into the dark. There were a few beats of silence after his entrance before the quiet was broken by the ungodly racket of panicking rabbits and a large amount of movement from the warren. Still besides the noise there was no indication of the chaos going on underground from the surface before, after a good minute of the racket, one singular bedraggled rabbit fled from the burrow and it all fell quiet.

With a shuffle and a mad grin Crowpaw emerged from the tunnel looking around the area to try and spot the warriors before calling out "Hey Breezefeather! Creekdash! You can come out now I think Im done here!" Despite his, quite frankly maniac, smile Crowpaw looked like he'd been put through the ringer by the unknown events that jusr occurred with his fur ruffled and covered with dirt and his cheek already looking a bit puffy, bleeding sluggishly from a lucky kick. Still as soon as the warriors showed themselves he darted underground and revealed why he was so happy despite gaining a good few new bruises and loosing a rabbit from his adventures. The large tom was bringing out his haul. It took some time to collect them all and he even had to double back twice because he missed a couple but in the end his catch was lined up on the surface in a neat row for inspection. Three adult rabbits and another three much smaller juveniles from one warren and Crowpaw looked smug as hell about it, sitting in front of his catch as he waited for Breezefeathers next instructions. Honestly he was incredibly happy with himself for how well he'd done given how he usually sucked at hunting even with how much he'd improved since he was first apprenticed.

@Arie @Wings

[Arie]

-- @Rani --

The apprentice looked like he'd been in a tornado and then tossed around and back and forth and Breezefeather wasn't entirely too keen on that but the pride that lit up Crowpaw's face made the deputy undeniably happy. He was proud of what he'd achieved and so would Breezefeather be. And it was at that, that moment with Crowpaw looking so proudly that he felt there was no need for a fighting assessment. Not that they were normally conducted in WindClan anyhow, he remembered Echoheart's assessment which had only been a hunt and that was it. The same could very well be applied to Crowpaw and the apprentice's uncanny ability to manage the tunnels and to hunt well in them would be something he would need to discuss with Twilightstar too.

"You've done extremely well! I think this cuts it for your assessment Crowpaw, because that rabbit burrow catch is seriously impressive, be proud of it kiddo. I'll be happy to tell Twilightstar of your accomplishments and you'll me made a warrior the next meeting I hope." With that he rested his tail on the young cat's shoulder and smiled. "Be proud of this, and take the prey home and enjoy a piece for yourself."

[Rani]

Crowpaw couldnt help but blink for a moment. That was it? Wait what? "Are... Are you serious? But the apprentices from other clans say theres a fighting part of the assessment does Windclan not have one? I mean Im not complaining just... Kinda confused I guess." The elation and victorious joy was starting to zip through his body building to a crescendo but he couldn't help but feel a sort of tinge of disappointment at the lack of a battle component. Not because he had something to prove, no, two raids (one real and another a fun exercise) and several vicious border fights had more then proven his skill to himself, but he just enjoyed battle and had been looking forward to tussling with either Creekdash or Breezefeather.

He was more than happy to take the instructions and go home but if he was going to be told this was it he might just tackle Creekdash for some victory biting before he did so.

@Arie @Wings (Sorry for how short this is but also wings wanna do that brother battle or wanna hold that off until later?)