Of bears and beans

[dionysus]

[ @space ace. ]

“Nicely done. Now we just hunt a bit more and then collect everything up to bring back to camp! Once we’re there you can tuck into that first kill of yours if you would like! But in clans we only eat after we bring food to the camp. Speaking of which, had anyone told you the warrior code?”

Grizz realized that might be his job, but he also had figured that someone in the nursery had schooled Beanpaw on it. It wasn’t like there was much else to do for Bean at that point- he wasn’t so young as to need constant care and yet wasn’t old enough to be an apprentice.

[vellichor]

Ah, so he was right. The siamese apprentice stood and looked up at Grizz, a pleased look on his face. It was his first catch! And without claws, no less. Take that, stupid humans. Hah! They may have taken away his claws, but he could still be a warrior! He’d prove himself — oh, he was being spoken to. Snapping out of his thoughts, Beanpaw tilted his head to the side.

"Warrior... code?" Was this a set of rules? Oh no, did he break any? Was he supposed to know this? What was a warrior code?! Eyes widening, Beanpaw began to panic.

@Beau

[dionysus]

[ @elysian ]

Grizz chuckled.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

The panic in Beanpaw’s eyes was clear and Grizzlybug put his tail on the young cat’s shoulders soothingly. He didn’t want to cause his apprentice to have a panic attack on their first hunting trip!

“It’s okay! No one can hold you to something that you weren’t taught. The warrior code is a set of rules that we follow as clan cats. I will explain them to you back at camp. We can grab some prey and I’ll teach you! They are mostly common sense to be honest so it won’t be hard to memorize.”

Patting the apprentice one more time and offering a smile, Grizz pulled away and scented the air. He wanted Beanpaw to try at least one more time before he grabbed a few critters and they could go back to camp.

[vellichor]

Feeling a calming pressure on his shoulder, Beanpaw looked to Grizz. His heart was still pounding, but he was reassured. Of course... he was being irrational. But you couldn’t blame him! Bean had a tendency to get nervous and not think.

"O-okay." he was still a little shaky, though determined. Getting to his paws. He tried to mimic what Grizz was doing. Scenting the air again. Mm... maybe his nose wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. All he smelled was plain again.

He disliked spring. His nose itched.

@Beau

[dionysus]

[ @elysian ]

It took a few moments to find a prey scent- their chattering had likely scared most creatures off- but eventually the smell of a swallow wafted toward Grizz. Birds could be tricky but he felt Beanpaw was ready to give it a go so he turned to look at the young cat, chuckling quietly as he saw him mimicking him.

“Smell anything, Beans? Remember the trick- use the scents from the freshkill pile to try to find something similar.”

[vellichor]

Beanpaw lifted his muzzle into the air, trying to smell. What was on the fresh-kill pile? Mostly fish. Yummy fish. But also mice... he didn’t smell any of those. Uh... ssss... shr.. shrew! That’s what it was called. But he didn’t smell anything like the weird looking, earthy creature.

What he eventually scented smelled a bit like the nursery nests. But fresher and a little like mouse. It was weird and he didn’t know what it was. "I think I smell something," he whisper-said, closing his eyes to focus. If it smelled like nests, what was in nests? Moss, bracken... feathers, sometimes wool....Feathers! Was this a... "Bird...?" he wasn’t confident in his answer, and his voice showed it. But it was a guess, and he’d go with it.

@Beau

[dionysus]

[ @elysian ]

Grizz watched the little mice running in Beanpaw’s head as they tried to generate an answer and he beamed when the younger tom spoke. He’d not gotten it exact but he’d been as close as Grizzlybug could rightfully expect.

“It is a bird- good job. This one in particular is called a swallow but I didn’t expect you to get the name. We don’t eat birds often but sometimes they stray over the borders into our territory and they are perfectly suitable meals so it is a good idea to learn how to hunt them
Most birds are very similar as well so learning to hunt a swallow will also be useful with the water birds that more often appear around here.”

Grizzlybug crouched like before, making sure to keep his tail up and away from the grass. A bird hunting crouch was slightly different in that you had to be prepared to leap high of the bird caught on to your presence.

[vellichor]

Beanpaw nodded, pleased he had gotten it right. Grizzlybug’s strategy was working well — woohoo! Oh — right. He would try and get this ... swallow. Noticing that Grizz was down in the crouch again, the apprentice dropped into it. This time, he thought he knew which way the bird was coming from. Looking that way, he looked to his mentor for approval.

It was entirely possible that he was incorrect, after all, it was his first training session. But he was a little more sure.

@Beau

[dionysus]

[ @elysian ]

Grizz liked the fact that Beanpaw had remembered not to use words while they were stalking prey and he nodded to the apprentice to send him after the bird, impressed that he’d gotten its location right on the first try. The fluffy warrior crept along beside Beanpaw to provide backup and moved toward the other side of the bird, not concerned about the wind’s movement- by the time the bird scented him it would likely be too late. Now if something went wrong, Grizzlybug would be able to bat the swallow out of the air.

[vellichor]

Beanpaw was creeping up, ready to pounce. And hopefully land on it this time. But Grizz was doing something -/ what was he doing? Just kinda circling around. Was he supposed to do that too? No, no. Grizzlybug’s wouldn’t told him, yeah. He was good. After his momentary startle, Beanpaw pounced! He felt more confident this time, and nearly landed on the bird!

Nearly.

He fell just barely short, and his ears were filled with a shrill screech. The young cat reached out as the bird began to fly away, barely grazing its tail feather with his paw. "No!" he cried, as it flew past the reach of his paw. All he could do was watch it soar into the air with frustration.

@Beau