don't quit your day job [open | hunting attempt]

[Johnnyflame]

LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW​

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The first thing that Johnny learned about Skyclan was that it was a busy place. While cats could always be found in camp, it was like watching water flow as they came and went, switching in and out of various tasks and taking turns to make sure everyone got their time to rest and work. The only exception to that rule were the kits, queens, injured, and elders it seemed, which was reasonable enough in the bobtails eyes.

The point was cats had things to do, and he couldn't always rely on someone to be there to show him what he should be doing. So, Johnny had taken the initiative to try and figure some things out on his own. He was obviously still very much in training, but that only meant that he needed to practice the skills he was learning in order to perfect them- and he didn't need company for that.

So, the patched tabby had gone out into the pine forest that day alone to try out his tracking and hunting skills. He knew those were the two areas he suffered in the most and he wanted to remedy that sooner rather than later, something that could only be done by repetition and exposure. He wasn't stupid; he knew the major issue he was suffering from was the fact that he wasn't quiet enough, not used to having to watch his step on leaves and twigs and stones or having to stand so still. And those weren't things that were going to correct themselves without effort.

To his pleasant surprise, Johnny managed to catch the scent of a prey animal pretty easily- though, he supposed that wasn't much of a feat when you were in a forest surrounded by animals. He didn't know exactly what it was he was after, but he tried to do his best to figure it out, stalking along as quietly as possibly as he maneuvered through the undergrowth.

When at last his eyes caught site of a small form scuttling ahead of him, Johnny was feeling confident. It was a mouse, and he'd managed to track it down to the base of a nearby tree. Al he had to do now was make the kill- surely he could do that much, right? Only, before the thought had even finished forming in his mind, a gentle gust of wind seemed to send the mouse bolting into a nearby hole.

Weird. Why would the wind spook a mouse? Oh well. Surely it would come out again in a few minutes. All he had to do was be patient. No problem there, right Johnny?

Only twenty minutes later it was proving to be an issue, because he was no only uncomfortable laying crouched like that, but he was pretty freaking sure that most cats didn't have to wait this long for a piece of prey to appear. And like, it was definitely down there- he'd seen it go down there. Maybe he just needed to be a bit more patient...

OOC- feel free to inform him the wind isn't in his favor and the mouse won't come out as long as it smells him waiting out there XD
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[eveningsun]

"hey, psst! johnny!" the apprentice half whispered to the older tom. when she had first came across him crouched facing a tree, the girl was admittedly confused. very, very confused. the thought crossed her mind that maybe this was some strange ritual or something, she didn't know what kittypets did for fun. it did eventually become apparent that that was not what was happening. the wind shifted ever so slightly and she caught the scent of the mouse hidden away in the tree. a smile had cracked her face before she decided to help.

it had taken her a minute to get used to avoiding and upwind position. but, now that she was a pro (she was not), it was the perfect time to spread some knowledge to her dad's newest friend. "you gotta move downwind, it can smell you," eveningpaw added quiet as ever. she didn't want to scare his catch and make it bolt. her words were accompanied with a flick of her fluffy tail, indicating where he should move.​

[ FALLEN STAR ]​

 

[CHRYSALISWING]

"She's right." Chrysalispaw meowed as he trotted up next to Eveningpaw, with those familiar flint-carved words of disdain, like he bore a matchstick for a tongue. Fervid flame of hauteur, he watched Johnny just wait there. What was he doing, biding his time and twiddling his paws until the whole of the forest leapt into his mouth? Heterochromatic eyes twinkled with some starry sort of contempt, as though blessed with the color of the night's splendor, though Starclan would surely wince at and denounce such blind enmity. Most of his pelt was of the darkness, so perhaps he carried along much of the woes and scorn that were whispered at twilight's time. Chrys hadn't any room to judge, though. Even the chimaera-coated cat had made the same grave mistake when he started hunting. He would argue that his attempts had always been ruined by the alabaster landscape of past winter, but he was but an incompetent kid. Much of the same could be said now, not in his technique but in his demeanor.

"Feel how the wind blows on your fur and go against it. And when you see prey, don't immediately lunge for it. Maybe then you won't hunt like a newborn kitten." His voice lowered into a warble of a whisper, and though it rang quiet it still blazed, as if the crackle of the bonfire and its breath of smoke to accompany. It was unnoticeable in the grand scheme of things, yet still lit through the imperishable dark. Pointed ears twitched at the mouse's subtle notes of movement, as it still lie in hiding. Well, they would get that mouse one way or another. The apprentice crouched just behind a spiny bush just so he could give Johnny a chance to actually hunt the prey he sought. It was better than lazing about like some of the outsiders that infested his clan did. Chrys could always respect a cat for trying, even if they sucked at doing so.
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