private FROM A DISTANCE [ ✦ ] FEATHERPAW ; HUNTING TRAINING

[Bluepool]

"Featherpaw, Featherpaw, over here, look." Long grass sways around where the pair sits crouched, eyes scanning the vast landscape for any sign of prey. If you were quiet and still and you waited very patiently, a rabbit would come out of its burrow eventually, especially if you knew their favorite grazing spots. She points with a paw in the direction of one now where it sits a distance away with its back towards them, happily unaware as it munches on its breakfast, hops a couple of feet, then continues. Her apprentice had managed to snag her own prey already, impressing Bluepool with her inherent tracking skills, but that had been before the injury. Now, they needed to build all that lost endurance back up. She's not worried about it though, not when her apprentice had already managed to catch something after just being dismissed from her rest. And besides, with rabbits it did not matter how far you could run so long as you caught them before they managed to dive into one of their many burrows scattered across the moors.

She flicks her tattered tail in a silent signal and with quiet paw steps, her body close to the ground, she stalks in a wide circle around the creature, moving so that they are between it and the hole it had emerged from. When they are in place, and she is certain the rabbit cannot hear, she turns to her apprentice and in an even quieter whisper than before, she intructs. "If you are with another cat, sometimes teamwork can be your best bet for catching prey. You wait and hide here, I will drive the rabbit towards you but you must catch it before it goes into it's den so be alert" she waits only a moment for confirmation to be given before she turns and is swallowed up once again by the tall grass.

// @FEATHERPAW

( ➸ ) test my worth in blood

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  BLUEPOOL WINDCLAN LEAD WARRIOR ; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO SOOTSTAR & MINTSHADE
  

  A small framed moor runner with a blue toned pelt and black stripes. Her tail is cropped and her eyes are golden in color. On her chest, she sports a large 'X' shaped scar.

  ✦ Difficult in battle. A skilled fighter + isn’t above using dirty tricks in order to win
  

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[FEATHERSPINE]

Nervousness raked claws through Featherpaw's gut- dual eyes of sharp sunlight peered through the grass, the well-known scent of rabbit flooding her senses. He would never admit any apprehension, though- Bluepool could not know. Everything he had ever done was inching toward a perfect reputation, toward a honed warrior, to meeting the expectations that the daughter of a leader and medicine cat carried. Wise warrior blood prickled deep-set beneath his skin. To sully it now, it would be infuriating.

Horned ears angled sharply in his mentor's direction. For all the folly that Bluepool indulged in, all the perceived time-wasting, she was knowledgable where it truly counted. Crouched low, stony silent, he hung onto every word. Teamwork. Eventually Featherpaw would like to be self-reliant, but if for now she had to rely on others... then she could be doing a lot worse than Bluepool.

You must catch it. "I will." Was he tempting fate? Overconfident? Perhaps. But being unsure and nervous would do him no favours. The pressure and apprehension was smothered by steel and spines, and Featherpaw narrowed her eyes in focus as she watched Bluepool disappear into the grass.​

✦ penned by pin​

 

[Bluepool]

The rabbit is oblivious to her as she slinks through the tall heather, body moving in a complicated dance as she tries to make her movements look to be one with the wind that ripples across the moors. Her tongue swipes across her lips as she tastes the rabbits scent, as she imagines teeth sinking into flesh. Her sun-hued eyes flash to the spot where her apprentice waits in hiding for only a moment before they are back on her prey. Hopefully, Featherpaw was ready. Letting this one get away wouldn't be the end of the world but it would be unfortunate seeing how plump it was. Plenty of full bellies would be had if only they could catch it.

She waits only a moment more, gathering her strength, concentrating on breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth, she settles her rapidly beating heart and then she springs forward with the strength and speed that only comes from a life spent running. The rabbit sees her the second she bursts forward and, just like she predicted, it runs straight for where her apprentice lays in waiting. Foolish creature, thinking it would be safe if only it could just make it back to it's hole. It is so blinded by fear it doesn't even smell the other cat that would be its demise. Now it was up to Featherpaw to just catch the damned thing as it raced past her.

( ➸ ) test my worth in blood

• 
  
  
• 
  BLUEPOOL WINDCLAN LEAD WARRIOR ; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO SOOTSTAR & MINTSHADE
  

  A small framed moor runner with a blue toned pelt and black stripes. Her tail is cropped and her eyes are golden in color. On her chest, she sports a large 'X' shaped scar.

  ✦ Difficult in battle. A skilled fighter + isn’t above using dirty tricks in order to win
  

​

 

[FEATHERSPINE]

Bluepool had devised a plan- an intelligent one, and Featherpaw was impressed. Well- he would be, had he a moment to think about it- but the rabbit, it's fear scent enveloping the surroundings, was running straight for him then. But she was ready- a lie would never tipple his tongue, and he could keep his uncertainties within.

Featherpaw's legs burned with adrenaline as she burst toward the rabbit- it was a plump one, bigger than anything she'd ever caught before, and memories of the young rabbit writhing to its death in her kitten-jaws flashed like a white-hot brand in her mind. Steeling herself, she flew toward it, aiming to pin it and bite its throat-

It wriggled though, under her grip. It was scared, scared- its fear-scent made Featherpaw burn from within made his own breath quicken. His hesitation was a heartbeat too long. The rabbit kicked, dislodging one of Featherpaw's claw-grips, and began striving for the life it saw before it, and-

No! Featherpaw's grip had loosened, but he did not let go- he dragged the rabbit back to Hell, back to gaping jaws, and with swift finality he buried his fangs into its neck. That snap had become a little less sickening, over time... but it was dead, at least. Still, Featherpaw was keenly aware of how shambolic that catch had been. Without Bluepool already spooking it, she probably wouldn't have caught it. She would have let it get away.

Featherpaw stood wordless, humiliation an inferno under his fur. It was a catch, but one sharply imperfect, and he resented the contagious fear that had spread through him. ​

✦ penned by pin​

 

[Bluepool]

Sometimes, when she runs, she imagines that this is as close to flying as a cat could get. Her intention today is not to catch though, so she settles into more of an even pace then the flat out sprint she would usually use in such a situation. And what a success her plan was, just as she had predicted the rabbit had make a break for the nearest tunnel, to the supposed safety of its burrow and in doing so it had run straight into Featherpaw's waiting claws.

The catch is messy, there is no denying it. She watches as her apprentice struggles against the rabbit and for a second, she contemplates intervening. The rabbit is much bigger, much plumper, than many others that they have caught before and she does not doubt the strength it holds in its hind legs. But...no. This was something he had to do without her. If their prey got away, it would be fine. There were always other rabbits, especially now that new-leaf was encroaching. "What a catch!" she cries out triumphantly with a barking laugh.

Still, she can see the look on her apprentice's face when he straightens, the frustration and something else, something she cannot identify because she has never had any qualms about killing - not when it came to prey, at least. "Hey I see that look. It's okay that it was sloppy, what's important is that you caught it. Would you rather have a good clean catch or a full belly?" they could worry about technique later, when they were training without real prey.

( ➸ ) test my worth in blood

• 
  
  
• 
  BLUEPOOL WINDCLAN LEAD WARRIOR ; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO SOOTSTAR & MINTSHADE
  

  A small framed moor runner with a blue toned pelt and black stripes. Her tail is cropped and her eyes are golden in color. On her chest, she sports a large 'X' shaped scar.

  ✦ Difficult in battle. A skilled fighter + isn’t above using dirty tricks in order to win
  

​

 

[FEATHERSPINE]

Bluepool gained no glance when she approached, congratulatory words on her lips. It didn't take her long to comment on it- Featherpaw immediately felt himself smouldering that she knew exactly what had upset him. It had been that obvious, then- either his disappointment shone clear past steel skin, or the sheer messiness of that catch had meant it would be absurd not to feel humiliated.

For once, though... what Bluepool said was not frivolous, and in fact glimmered with a wisdom Featherpaw had seen within her a couple of times. The contagious fear of the dying rabbit, the lava of humiliation, began to seep out of him into the earth. Sun-sharp yellow flickered to meet her gaze, though he hardened himself against her reassurance. "A full belly." It was the logical answer, the correct answer. Swallowing away the dryness in her throat, Featherpaw regained her barbs, gaze brandishing a blade against the softness that had glimmered between two pairs of yellow eyes only moments before.

"Don't let me g-g-get com-complacent with catches like that, though." Her standard for her mentor would not be slipping, just because she had successfully managed to comfort her.​

✦ penned by pin​