a 'little' training ( p )

[Fadingnight]

(( private training thread ;; @jcoontrout ))

Rays of sun broke through the fog once the giant orange sphere in the sky began peeking over the mountain, showering Fireclan's territory with the first light of the day. It was this and the birdsong that woke Fadingnight up from her slumber, immediately reminding her that she now had an apprentice to train. How long had it been since she had last trained another cat? She thought to herself, definitely too long.

Lifting herself from her region of slumber she lengthened her spine into a stretch before shaking her long fur free of dew; after this she started towards the apprentice den. Popping her head in she mewed, "Littlepaw, training in ten let's go." Before she turned tail and padded over to the fresh-kill pile. All of the prey that was still available was mostly left over from the day before, but she didn't mind. Picking out a sparrow she went to work plucking the feathers away from the bird's breast before she began devouring it.

With a mouthful of bird she noticed her apprentice heading her way and immediately cocked her head towards the fresh-kill, or in their case day-old-kill; signaling for the younger cat to pick something out. "Where did your previous mentor leave off?" She inquired, wanting to know where she would have to start.

[Deleted]

Littlepaw

    Littlepaw was snoring, his body in an odd position. He moved a lot as he heard his name, and realized he was training again. The small tom got up with his tail high and marched after Fadingnight. He watched with a churned stomach as she ate the bird. 
    Littlepaw looked at the pile of food after she pointed it out, and he tried to get a small mouse, trying to find something less messy. He looked at the mouse and felt sad, the poor thing had to die. He looked up as she asked where they left off, and he pointed toward the mouse, remembering they barely had started hunting.
    The apprentice closed his eyes and simply took a bite of the mouse, enough to leave a lot less of the mouse. He quickly chewed and swallowed, knowing he had to eventually kill them also.

WORD COUNT :: 145

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Notes -

[Fadingnight]

She guessed the tom wasn't down for a lot of talking, which was perfectly fine with Fadingnight; she didn't enjoy too much talking either. More of a visual learner. So she nodded in response that he had only started hunting and finished the bird off in a few quick bites. Fading was just happy that she didn't have to go over the whole territory because that usually took a long time and a lot of talking. Hunting was her strong point anyways.

Although by the way Littlepaw was eating his food he seemed a bit squeamish; she noted this to herself in her head and kept it in the back of her mind. Getting to her paws she disposed of the feathers and bird leftovers and then returned to the apprentice and mewed a, "Ready?" before she turned and headed out into the territory.

[Deleted]

Littlepaw

    The mute tom nodded, his ears flicking. He stretched out before following his new mentor, ready to see the territory once again. His orange eyes scanned the blades of grass as they went by.

WORD COUNT :: 034

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Notes -

[Fadingnight]

So the apprentice's training had ceased after he had been shown the territory, which took quite the weight of Fadingnight's shoulders. Having to trek the entirety of the territory all the while explaining it was by far her least favorite part about training an apprentice; she had learned this when she had shown Lionpaw the territory.

Fadingnight figured since this cat had been born into Fireclan that she should definitely start out training the apprentice through the Fireclan way of hunting. So with that in mind she headed off into the wide open prairie. The grasses had really grown throughout the summer and now were great cover, with that in mind she mewed, "With the grass being as tall as it is it's a little harder to spot prey from a distance, so for now I'm going to purely rely on tracking."

Parting her jaws she drank in all the scents around her until she could pinpoint that of a nearby rabbit. Dropping low she crept forward, flicking her tail and motioning for Littlepaw to do the same. She wouldn't drop into the hunter's crouch yet, but wanted to be low enough that her silver pelt wouldn't be spotted amongst the browns and greens of the grasses.

Once they got close enough to the rabbit Fadingnight did indeed drop into the crouch, stalking forward, her tail just brushing the ground beneath her, amber gaze locked in on her target. Keeping her voice low she mewed, "Alright, now Littlepaw, I'm going to need you to creep up around the opposite flank of the rabbit from me, and hopefully if you startle it from over there it will bolt straight for me."

[Deleted]

Littlepaw

    Littlepaw watched her as they walked and looked for prey. He watched as she went around and crouched down, and he turned his head to find the rabbit. He tried to do the same crouch, but was told to go around. 
    The apprentice nodded slowly, then made a wide circle around to not scare the rabbit, until he was opposite of Fadingnight. He crawled slowly to the rabbit, almost scared about it moving, what it if tried to attack him?

WORD COUNT :: 080

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Notes -

[Fadingnight]

Fadingnight watched as Littlepaw made a wide circle, that was a good choice at least. Although by the time he got around and was opposite to Fadingnight's location he seemed to become much more hesitant. The silver tabby started to grind her teeth and dig her claws into the ground, getting anxious now. She didn't want to scare the rabbit in Littlepaw's direction, he wasn't ready for that. Rabbit's weren't small creatures and of one got in the way of their claws and powerful hind-legs the prey could do a lot of damage.

Instead she stood her ground and struggled to make eye-contact with the tom, cocking her head to say, 'alright, startle it already'. Unless he was the one who wanted to do the wrestling.

[Deleted]

Littlepaw

     Littlepaw stared at it for quite a while, almost getting lost in thought. He stopped moving as he found Fadingnight, and realized he was supposed to scare it already.
    Littlepaw blinked and ran toward the rabbit and hopped a few times, hoping that would do the trick.

WORD COUNT :: 047

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Notes -

[Fadingnight]

Fadingnight herself had never been the greatest at hunting rabbits, but luckily for her and for Littlepaw this one was younger; and once her apprentice had succeeded in scaring the large rodent her way she immediately pounced. The silver tabby had adapted her hunting style so that her powerful hind-legs from Treeclan would come in handy out on the prairie.

Fadingnight shot forward, digging her claws into the prey's shoulder's and using her body weight to flip the rabbit over onto its back. From there she then wrapped her jaw around its neck and bit down till it stopped struggling. Breathlessly she stood up and shook out the dirt from her fur then looked at her apprentice mewing, "And that-" She breathed, "Is how you catch a rabbit."