Written in the Stars

Moosepaw

Moosepaw startled from the call of his mentor, awaken from the disassociation he was going through to attempt to recover from his restless night of sleep. Not that he slept well usually, but this night had seemed to have an edge on him. That, or he was just not a morning cat, who's to say.

"Yeah, okay." Moosepaw tried to keep his voice light, careful, in response to his Cedarsong's words. They were a very important factor to how he'd develop after all, so keeping any negative emotions out of the conversation was a must-do, or at least, that's how he saw it.

Nevertheless, he followed his mentor with an obedient air, trying to swallow back the discomfort he felt as the safe confines of camp disappeared from view. Safe- he was safe right now, in a way, but still, it just felt wrong, like his warm coat had been taken and leaf-bare was on the horizon kind of wrong. Moosepaw wasn't a fan. But it was time to go learn anyway, so there wasn't much that could go amiss, right? Right. Keep it together, Moosepaw.

Once he'd shaken the ill feeling off of himself he finally noticed how quiet the environment around him really was. Of course, there was the always lingering sound of nature all around, but more notably there was no background chatter- or any chatter at all. He'd already taken notice of how quiet Cedarsong could be when they'd gone out for the first time, but now it was even worse, or better, Moosepaw liked the quiet.

What he didn't like, however, was how unreadable his mentor was. It was hard to gage anything from that stoic expression they always had on their face. Moosepaw didn't even know what they were going to do today yet, and he followed blindly! Usually a dumb thing to do, but he supposed a mentor was a trusted figure. Still.. were they teaching him how to fight? Patrol? Self-defense? Oh, self-defense, I like that one he thought to himself, pricking up his ears That's important- very important. Or maybe defending the clan, with my life! Wait, not my life. That's what I need that self-defense for, so I don't die. He glanced around suspiciously, his brown fur fluffing up automatically. It'd be real nice- real nice to know what's going on. Is there anything going on? What-

The long silence shared between him and his mentor was shattered just as he'd gotten more inquisitive within his own thoughts. He barely kept himself from startling, merely regarding the emotion with the tiniest flick of his tail before standing stock-still, twitching his ears curiously. Hunting, of course. That's a basic skill, that's something I should be able to do to be a warrior, yeah. It's groundworks! Groundworks, obviously, I'm such a mouse-brain. Start at the beginning! His thoughts took a scolding tone, and he regarded the actual sentence telling him the plan of today with a slight tip of his head.

"Um.." he hesitated to answer the question that followed, giving a slow blink as he raised his head to look at the sky. Shoot. He didn't expect to be quizzed on the knowledge of food today! He barely even thought about what he was eating- just that he got prey and it went into his mouth. He was such a mouse-brain, should've seen this coming, a fool! "Um.. Uh.. Ha- Hare- wease- No, hare, I think. I think hare."

bits

cedarsong

Between the two of them, the nerves were palpable. The difference was that the onus was on Cedarsong to have a handle on the situation - they were older, and did in fact know what they'd be doing today. Moosepaw's emotional turmoil wasn't apparent to the warrior, who managed only to pick up on the general sense of unease their apprentice seemed to grapple with. At least that much they had in common - and thankfully, Cedarsong was good at keeping their cards close to their chest (so to speak). If that weren't the case, they worried they'd only contribute to Moosepaw's anxiety with their own.

Letting the quiet of the territory soothe them, they focused on Moosepaw's response - hare, I think. A slight nod, and the warrior responded.

"Yes - although they can be difficult to catch, even for warriors. Hares are pretty large as far as prey goes," although there were certainly more dangerous prey in their territory, "and fast. For Dawnclan, it's a little harder to catch them - most of us rely on size over speed."

And though Cedarsong was average in size, "average" for a Dawnclanner was still firmly on the larger side for cats in the territories. 

"There are a lot of options - mice and voles are smaller but sometimes easier to catch, and it isn't out of the question to catch more than one on a patrol. If you don't mind marking or remembering where you've been, you could catch more than one prey and bury or hide them while you're out - then you can retrace your steps and bring back your catch."

It wasn't exactly high class strategy - for the stoic warrior, this was a given. However, they'd rather deliver redundancies than fail to deliver critical information. 

"A hunter's crouch will be how you prepare to catch most prey," they said, dropping into said crouch. It was a little odd to have to think about their stance while doing it, given that it was second nature at this point. Cedarsong briefly explained what they were doing - where they placed their paws, how they balanced their weight, how to prepare to push off and pounce - then stood back up. "You don't have to match what I did exactly - it's important that you're able to manoeuvre, balance, and pounce." They had more than enough time to offer feedback and make adjustments, after all. Cedarsong shifted to stand at Moosepaw's side, tail held low and gaze focused on their apprentice - trying to stand a little less stiffly than they tended to (and honestly? failing, but an attempt was made to come across less detached).


scottie