in to deep // failed hunt

TO FAR AWAY TO HOLD ME
siltpaw | 04 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf

Silt has only been a 'paw for a little less than half a moon, and already she's filled with determination and pride she'd named an important landmark, made history - and she hoped to continue to do so as the days go by. Turtlenose thus far had been an... alright mentor. She had to share with spicepaw - whom she wasn't yet sure if she liked, with her odd mannerisms, so they'd only interacted briefly so far for training. One such time was now - one of her first chances to hunt in the territory, she'd just finished training and been headed back to camp for a well earned rest when the rustle if leaflitter alerts her that prey is nearby. Scenting the air briefly, dull green gaze lands on her prize - a mud toned salamander, it's slimy body wriggling towards a felled log. She crouches and wriggles, posture a bit uncertain, and leaps. Paws landing clumsily mere whiskers away from her prey, she wobbles and falls over, a loud heave of breathe forcing its way from her lungs at the bad landing. She... missed. She can't believe she missed. Eyes water and her face burns beneath her pale pelt as she slowly hauls herself to her paws, avoiding eye contact with her mentor. This is humiliating.


// @turtlenose - mentor ping, feel free to post before response
 

"Oh, what an impressive jump! So close!" She had witnessed the dramatic rise and fall, the child so close yet a whisker away from the tiny lizard she had so boldly leapt toward. Halfshade had only been passing by, her own hunt going about as well as poor Siltpaw's due to simply just bad luck in not finding anything around her usual haunts; the dual-toned she-cat approached the other on light paws with confident strides, her plume of a tail flicking outward to beneath the young molly's chin in a gesture encouraging her to look up. "How brave! Don't cry, you threw yourself into it wholeheartedly and did well-not every pounce will deliver prey! Even full grown warriors fumble now and then~" She had certainly taken her own time learning how to hunt on such soft terrain, her paws were accustomed to hard stone and the shift had made her quite the poor hunter in her earlier moons within the Marsh Colony. Skill came with time, as did confidence though she had certainly faked it til she made it when she was so young; simply trying on its own was an admirable feat to her and she would hope that Siltpaw's mentor felt the same. Their youth should be guided with a gentle paw, not the strike of claws as was once common in the kingdom she hailed from within the great concrete and steel castle of two-leg place. She could remember, even now, how the bricks began to fall and wondered faintly if her old comrades were doing well and learning from mistakes as any good apprentice did or if they had simply killed one another by now. Sadly, she believed the latter.

 
"Get up and try again! Practice makes perfect." Brawlinglion chimed in with a hearty laugh as she pricked up her ears high. It was clear that the apprentice had potential but needed to hone her skills more in order to achieve better results. "Hey, Turtlenose, you should let me borrow your apprentice at some point, bet I can teach Siltpaw a thing or two!" Naturally the main thing the calico would end up focusing on would be building up muscle strength, but she was more combat orientated. Not always the best thing either.
 
would you do anything for me?
Ravenpaw watched the sorry showing, a frog clutched between her jaws. Holding herself with a smug satisfaction, she set her catch down for a moment, and padded to Siltpaw's side. Setting her tail on her fellow apprentice's side with false sympathy. "Oh, good try." She said condescendingly. It really was too bad, not everyone could be a natural like her after all.

Her ear flicked as she heard Brawlinglion insist that practice made perfect. That might be true for some, but not her. The perfect had no need for practice after all. She didn't say as much though. After all, half the reason she was making the effort to "console" Siltpaw was to make a good impression on the assembled mentors. She wasn't foolish enough to throw that away just to appease her ego.

It was close though.
 
TO FAR AWAY TO HOLD ME
siltpaw | 04 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf

Green gaze is focused on her paws at first, so it takes a moment to realize the rest of the training group has noticed her failure. Where halfshade's words are meant to be kind, Silt can only feel failure - she knows she's useless by herself, it's why she's always the tag-along, the one on the sidelines. Her thoughts just get jumbled up or she freezes and- a touch to her chin draws her from her thoughts, eyes wide as shes forced to meet the mollys gaze before she shies away once more, uncomfortable. She doesn't really understand why eye contact is so hard for her, but it sets her on edge everytime. "I'll do better next time," She says blandly - a non-answer to a non-question from brawlinglion, her attention already elsewhere as her least favorite cat speaks. Green eyes glare sullenly at the dirt, a quick side-eye revealing the smug expression of the other apprentice, she flicks away the girls touch as though swatting a bug, pelt twitching - tongue swiping at her pelt as though dirtied from the touch.