Hunting, hunting, hunting (private)

[Stormfrost]

Swanfrost

Today was the day for his apprentice to begin hunting lessons. He enjoyed hunting and it was easier to teach than battle sometimes but thankfully his energy made many things good. It came in bursts and he wasn't entirely sure why. Sometimes he was off the charts hyper and other times he was dragging his paws behind him. Somehow, he managed to have energy this morning.

He bounded out of the warriors den and too the fresh kill pile, greeting others on the way. But then he wound up over there and practically swallowed a mouse. He decided he'd hold off the prancing until his stomach settled so he walked over to apprentices' den. "Hey, Swanpaw! Ready to get a move on?"

[Swanfrost]

Swanpaw would probably never get used to the early mornings. She slowly sat up as Stormfrost called her name, grumpily stepping out of the den. She glared at him, huffing in annoyance. "How can you be so... Cheery?" She questioned in disgust, though there was no malice. She liked her mentor, after all. Swanpaw stumbled groggily towards the fresh kill pile, though seeing he had eaten the last mouse on the pile she decided she could do without breakfast. He hadn't told her whether they were hunting or fighting, so she moved towards the camp exit with a confused frown. "What are we doing, anyway?"

[Stormfrost]

Stormfrost looked over at Swanpaw and shook his head. "It's morning. Let's go. To be honest some mornings I'm like, bleh. Morning, woe is me." He held a dramatic pose with a paw over his head and eyes closed. Then he whipped back around. "Or some mornings I'm like. Let's go, let's go, let's go!" With that he raced around in a circle saying 'zoom, zoom, zoom' all the way around and back to Swanpaw. "So.. Ready to go!? We're going hunting!" He added.

[Swanfrost]

Swanpaw couldn't help but crack a smile at his weirdness. It almost felt as though he was the apprentice, and she was the mentor. She stretched out slowly, letting out a wide yawn. "Alright alright, calm down before I get a headache." She demanded, waving a paw at him so he would stop bouncing around. "Lead the way." She flicked her tail towards the exit, her face going back to its usual blandness.

[Stormfrost]

Stormfrost rolled his eyes playfully. "Aw, no fun! Well let's go anyway." He faced the camp exit and began to march in place exaggeratedly before skipping out of the camp entrance. "So today we will start with the basics and then work our way up throughout the day. Okay?" He saw the training area coming further in sight when he turned around to make sure Swanpaw was actually keeping up. It was the first time he hadn't really paid attention to it.

(unfortunately I have to go for a bit, I may be able to use my phone in the car depending on signal)

[Swanfrost]

(All good, posting on a cat sight shouldn't be your main priority, have fun doing whatever you're doing!)

"Mhmm." Swanpaw mumbled in response, barely paying attention to what he was saying. Her eyelids drooped, and she didn't bother trying to wake herself up. Instead, she simply stumbled along after him, fairly far behind. She didn't really care, his scent was strong enough to follow anyway. Once she noticed him finally turning to check on her she inhaled deeply, shaking her head roughly and speeding up. Hunting while stumbling around like a zombie wouldn't exactly work well, she supposed.

[Stormfrost]

Stormfrost looked back at her and felt as if he was watching a zombie ghost thing follow him. But it was only Swanpaw. That was a relief... He stood in the training area and looked over at Swanpaw. "We will start here then move out of the training area, okay?" The tom crouched down in a hunter's position. Low to the ground with his paws shoulder-width apart and his tail not too high from or low to the ground. "This is what you'll need to use for when you hunt. This helps keep you out of sight from your prey and makes it easier to stalk. Can you try it?"

[Swanfrost]

(Mobile)
Swanpaw stared at Stormfrost doubtfully, watching him crouch down in a hunters crouch. He had years to perfect it, and Swanpaw wasn't sure if she would be any good. It was easier than she expected when she tried it, though she felt imbalanced. Her tail was too high, and her paws were much to close to move anywhere. "Like this?" She questioned unsurely. It certainly didn't feel right.

[Stormfrost]

Stormfrost looked at her and rubbed his head. "Close... not quite. Your tail is a bit too high, try lowering it a little. And your paws can be a little further spread out as to maintain a bit more balance." He waited to see how she would correct it or at least attempt to. He had faith in her though as she seemed to be a bit of a fast learner, after all, she wasn't too bad at battle practice.

[Swanfrost]

Swanpaw nodded slowly, moving her paws away from each other. She shuffled them around until she felt like she could move, then she lowered her tail until it was just barely touching the ground below her. "Is this better?" She asked, more confident now that she thought she had got it. Swanpaw took a step forward, then back, testing to see if she could move swiftly enough to catch something. It seemed easy enough, though she knew she most likely wouldn't be able to catch something without giving chase anyway.

[Stormfrost]

He watched as she fixed her hunter's position. "Yeah that'll do. So we can do a couple little practice hunts and then we can go out and hunt actual prey. Pretend I'm a big old rabbit. A fluffy, grey, cat version. Don't actually kill me. But try and stalk up to catch up to me and pounce. Try to stop me from moving like you would a prey but take it easy on the teeth." And with that he started pretending to nibble on grass like a rabbit before 'spotting' Swanpaw and then starting to zoom away.

[Swanfrost]

Swanpaw wrinkled her nose in disgust as he announced she would have to do a 'practice kill'. She remained in her crouch since she would have to do it anyway, slowly creeping forward. She made sure to avoid any twigs of sorts, though her paw steps were probably heavy enough to be heard. She snickered silently in amusement as he nibbled on the grass, straightening in surprise as he took off. She dashed after him, quickly catching up and throwing herself onto his back. She attempted to fasten her teeth around his nape before she fell, though she was too slow and instead rolled straight off him.
(Mobile)

[Stormfrost]

Stormfrost felt his apprentice reach him and he plopped to the ground, regardless of her rolling off. He looked over at her with a tilt of his head. "That was good. That really was. You should be able to go catch prey. You're fast and it's not like you're hunting full grown cats. Let's catch a couple pieces of prey." He started padding out of the training area. "Let's go."

[Swanfrost]

Swanpaw growled, digging her claws into the earth. "Good? I rolled straight off!" She seethed, following after him grudgingly. She didn't bother trying to be quiet at the moment, fuming about her failure. She had always set high standards for herself as a kit, and she supposed she was paying the price now.

[Stormfrost]

He waved his tail as if to attempt to dismiss it though believing that wouldn't do he responded. "Well. You won't be hunting large animals like me. You'll do fine. It'll be easier with smaller prey and we can work together if needed. So don't worry kid, okay?" he turned away from her and kept walking outwards, sniffing the air as he went and suddenly something caught his nose. A vole? Stormfrost turned around to see his apprentice. "First. Can you smell any prey really close? Second. Go get it if you think it's there. Just remember to stalk quietly, stay downwind of the prey and leap when you're close enough."