| "Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat." |
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Staff
GorgeClan Leader
MistClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Abyss on Mar 5, 2019 22:26:07 GMT -5
This thread is backdated!
Leafbare 20 - The cold persists, a biting breeze moves its way through trees and across meadows.
Hunting. It was a skill that almost every single cat in existence needed to know, especially those that lived in the forest. Clan cats were practically required to be able to hunt, for they had others to provide for and families to feed. It was something that could take forever to master and had many different techniques involved as well, many of which could be difficult to remember due to complexity. Hunting was a cat's natural instinct. For many cats it was considered fun.
When it wasn't so cold.
Leopardpaw almost found himself shivering any time he wasn't moving. The winds grew colder and colder every single day, making things harder. Granted, Treeclan had many trees that blocked out much more wind than what say Lightningclan would receive. But even trees and plants couldn't stop the cold breezes from entering the forest. In addition to the wind, the snow covering the ground made things worse, often times numbing the pawpads of any who stood on it too long. It was not the ideal setting for some hunting.
Yet here Leopardpaw was, out in the territory with Timberfrost, who he had asked for some help and tips from. Foolish? Yes. But worth it? Also yes.
The Apprentice attempted to keep his feet off the ground as much as possible as he walked, almost prancing towards the area he and Timberfrost planned to try and do some hunting at. The Wildflower Clearing was always one of the best hunting spots, regardless of season. Though, most of the plants and flowers that the clearing was known for were covered in snow, causing much of the prey to stop showing up there. Perhaps the two of them would get lucky and would stumble upon a rabbit out of its burrow or some birds. He could only hope that they would return to camp with prey rather than empty-pawed.
Words: 314 | Ghost the Undead Goddess | Notes: |
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| "If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks." |
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GaleClan Leader
GorgeClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Ghost the Undead Goddess on Jun 19, 2019 3:08:29 GMT -5
Timberfrost The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder Despite being gifted with a balanced battle prowess that matched her intimidating stature, the massive tabby was not the best hunter within the clan. She wasn't even the best hunter among the three siblings, Brushfire won that bought. However, she was good enough to catch prey and provide for her clan.
She also was smart enough to improve other's techniques when asked, such as Leopardpaw had done. While she was unsure as to why he hadn't asked his own mentor was a question she didn't bother pondering. It wasn't worth her effort to worry about it.
The tabby Treeclanner managed to move rather quietly through the snow despite her stature, mostly because she knew how to maneuver her large body weight and partially because the snow around them was fresh and soft rather than hard, otherwise she'd crunch with every movement. Though, she was starting to feel the chill numb her toes as they made their way towards the meadow.
Generally the cold didn't bother the striped tabby, yet it seemed that this leafbare was determined to slink under the dense but short dark brown and black pelt.
Flickering just the tip of her tail, Timberfrost hovered around the edges of the meadow, jaws parted to taste for any sort of scents. She had recently assessed her own apprentice's hunting skills, Briarpaw had successfully managed to catch not one but two pieces of prey despite the challenges that came with frozen temperatures and snowy surroundings.
Cerluean pools as cold as ice flickered from their normally emotionless light, she had caught the light but fresh scent of a rabbit hiding among the snowy clearing. Flickering her tail once more, she used the appendage to signal for Leopardpaw to circle around in an attempt to lay eyes upon the creature. It would be good to bring back such a large piece of prey, especially since many patrols came back empty pawed at times.
Crouching down, Timberfrost pulled her large body atop her massive paws to make herself even smaller so as not to be spotted by they prey they were hunting. Either the apprentice with her would be able to snag with quickly or at least send it into her waiting claws. The last thing they needed was for it to find a burrow and disappear underground, out of their grasp. She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior |
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| "Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat." |
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Staff
GorgeClan Leader
MistClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Abyss on Jul 5, 2019 12:41:10 GMT -5
L E O P A R D P A W It was unfortunate that as they walked the two Treeclan cats didn’t catch any scents right off the bat, though it wasn’t much of a surprise. In Leafbare, the worst season in terms of prey, getting food to provide the clan was very important. Queens and Elders needed to be fed, Warriors needed food to keep their energy up, and there were even some kits that enjoyed gnawing on prey. While it was a bit too cold to do hunting decently and without freezing, Leopardpaw felt a surge of pride as he and Timberfrost walked. If they managed to bring back some prey for the clan, surely his training would be closer to finished. He would be that much closer to becoming a Warrior!
As they reached the meadow, the tom’s legs bent more so than usual, attempting to hide the sound of his footsteps more than usual. He lightly parted his jaws and allowed the scents of the clearing to brush across his tongue. The familiar and comforting smell of the trees around them. The very subtle scent that came from the snow. He didn’t catch anything out of the ordinary at first. But when that dirt-like scent of rabbit grazed across his tongue, his eyes focused in, his pupils growing slightly thinner. He caught the signal given by Timberfrost at the corner of his eye, and very slowly gave a brief nod.
His body, muscle slowly building over time and showing through his pelt as he moved, slowly turned and stalked along the edge of the clearing, trying to shield himself with the trees around him. As he walked, the light crunching of the white snow beneath his feet was a large disadvantage to hunting during Leafbare. Luckily, Leopardpaw wasn’t too heavy that the crunch was very audible. As he circled around to the other side of the meadow, his yellow eyes narrowed in, trying to catch sight of their prey. He saw nothing at first other than just snow and a few small bushes dead from the cold. But when he did see the rabbit, his ears perked. The rodent, slightly larger than he expected a Leafbare rabbit to be, was closer to the opposite side of the meadow to Timberfrost. He watched as the rabbit dug at the ground, likely looking for some hidden herbs beneath the layer of snow. When he finally reached the other side of the meadow, he crouched low to the ground next to a tree and assessed the situation.
The rabbit was closer to himself than it was to his companion. Currently it was facing sideways, focused on chewing what appeared to be a root or a small branch. There was a small hill behind the rabbit that blocked the Apprentice from seeing Timberfrost. When the rabbit began to dig at the ground again, Leopardpaw very slowly picked himself up just barely off the ground and moved forward carefully. As only his head and legs came more so into the clearing, he spotted a key to this hunt that had to be taken into account. Off to the left of the rabbit he could see a spot in the snow where it was a bit darker than the rest. At first it appeared to be just a shadow, but there was nothing there to cause a shadow. It was then that he realized that it was a hollowed out spot in the snow. Perhaps a burrow? Even if it wasn’t, he had to make sure he kept an eye on it.
It took a little bit, but eventually the rabbit turned its head away from him, hopping a few small hops in the other direction and finding a new spot to dig. Now is my chance! The golden bengal slowly crept forward towards the rabbit, his eyes focused on it and it alone. As he got closer, the scent got stronger, making his mouth slightly water at the thought of eating some rabbit meat.
Finally, the rabbit put its head down towards the snow to grab whatever it was digging for. It was at this moment that the tom leaped forward. His first leap only covered about half of the distance between him and the rabbit, his landing making a deep-sounding crunch in the snow. The rabbit quickly lifted its head, and just as it turned, Leopardpaw was already leaping forward a second time. The rodent let out a frightened screech at the sight of the tom flying towards it. The young cat felt his claws dig into the rabbit’s back leg before it could run. He managed to keep a hold of it at first, but the prey whipped around and started kicking at him with its free leg. It missed almost the entire time, but the one time that it did hit him, his claws slid through. The rabbit shot forward, its leg tore up and bleeding from where his claws had likely caught on muscle. He ran after the rodent as it leaped over the top of the hill, at first running towards Timberfrost. But he saw it. He saw the sign. That ear flicker.
Rather than run straight after the rabbit, Leopardpaw angled himself slightly to the left. The rabbit, likely wanting to trick him or get back to its burrow, suddenly turned away from the woods ahead. But just as it turned, it saw its mistake. Leopardpaw leaped forward and dug his claws into the side and back of the rabbit, the front of his body leaning forward more than the rest of him. He and the rabbit rolled together for a moment, tumbling in a ball of fur towards the woods. When they finally did stop rolling, the young tom was on his side, the motionless rabbit’s neck in his mouth and his claws still dug into its pelt.
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| "If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks." |
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GaleClan Leader
GorgeClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Ghost the Undead Goddess on Jul 10, 2019 0:14:18 GMT -5
Timberfrost The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder The massive tabby had been expecting to aid in the capture of the rabbit within the clearing. In fact, at one point the chilly feline had darted forwards when the white rodent squealed it's way towards attempted safety. A ripple of annoyance passed through those cold cerulean pools at the loudness of such a thing.
At this point, neither Treeclanner would be able to find anything else nearby to hunt.
Timberfrost was not, however, expecting to watch a scuffle between the frightened hare and the persistent Bengal tomcat as snow went flying in every direction before Leopardpaw finally managed to kill the large rabbit. The once Fin snow indented where ever the two of them had fallen and rolled about like young kits.
Making her way silently over, the chilly tempered feline let those cerulean ice cubes stare down at the golden and black apprentice. Her tail twitched slightly behind her as she noted the kill within his grasp, both claws and fangs deep within the white fur of his prey.
"Your clumsy catch has probably scared off anything left awake nearby." Her tone was sharp and frosted as always and though she was reprimanding him, she did acknowledge that he did manage a difficult attempt successfully despite how it went down. But, she also had advice for him to improve his ability even if there was the hindrance of the snow.
The massive tabby waited for him to release his freshly caught prey and to sit up, snow falling from his pelt as he did so. Timberfrost stood standing, her intimidating form and frosted look did not ease the situation. "You can't hunt through snow this thick like you can the thicket in Greenleaf." She spoke after a moment, tone sharp as always even though she wasn't getting onto Leopardpaw. She was teaching him, she did mentor his brother after all. And since he too was an apprentice, it would only be right in aiding him to correct his technique for future hunts.
"You have to get as close as you can, keep yourself as small as you can so that you can't be seen. Rabbits are difficult, and there is a reason we weren't born in Lightningclan." The cats among the moors were usually sleek, slim and quick as their clan's namesake, it wasn't often that cats of other clans could outrun them. Similar to the way Rainclan harnessed the power to swim while the others stayed away from the depths of the river. Treeclanners were gifted with the strength and prowess that aided them among the trees and undergrowth, hunting the open was a harder task for them.
"The snow bogs you down when running and it slows down your leaps. You want to make it to where a single leap takes out your prey, or at least gets you close enough to snag it with a claw rather than the need to chase after it." Though she supposed that the rabbit did kick it's way free, the though causing a pause within her speak as she tried to think of a fix to that problem. He had done well avoided every frantic kick except for the one that gained the rabbit freedom. "When you are in a situation where the prey is fighting back, try and get your body over it some way and shield your eyes."
She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior |
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| "Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat." |
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Staff
GorgeClan Leader
MistClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Abyss on Jul 17, 2019 19:04:40 GMT -5
L E O P A R D P A W
Realizing that the hunt was over, the Bengal released his claws and fangs from the rodent’s pelt. At the sound of footsteps, he glanced over to find Timberfrost approaching him. While her eyes were always icy and cold, her gaze almost seemed judgemental in the tom’s eyes. He felt the skin beneath his cheeks slightly grow in heat, knowing that she likely had something to say about his catch.
Just as he thought, she made her comment about his little scene. At her tone, the tom slightly looked away, turning his head downwards to give his chest a few quick licks. “I’m sorry.” He did look back to the rabbit, glad that he had caught it and would be able to take it back to Treeclan with pride, but he knew he could have done better. It was prey, not another cat. He wasn’t meant to tackle it to the ground and wrestle with it. He was supposed to catch it off guard and kill it quickly.
Luckily, the older she-cat did have more to say. At first, he felt a slight disappointment at her pointing out what he had tried to do that he shouldn’t. But she continued, giving him more advice rather than criticism. At this, his ears perked and his yellow eyes locked onto her large form. He listened quietly as she spoke, taking in each word and attempting to memorize it for the future. He waited until she had finished speaking before he moved once more. He only turned his head to look at the rabbit, one of his ears twitching.
“I did manage to get as close as I could without being spotted. I probably could have gotten farther forward, but I don’t exactly blend in with the snow, ” he stated, not trying to back-talk or defend his hunt, but merely stating what he had done from his point of view. He completely agreed with her, though. He should have tried to get closer and should have gotten better control over the rabbit. But it was over now and they had earned a decent sized rabbit to feed the clan.
“Should we head back to camp or should be try somewhere else and come back?”
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