pafp TODAY WILL BE THE DAY // first prey

[SHALLOW]

That day he had been out on a hunting patrol alongside his mentor Sunfreckle, Sunnyday and his apprentice Lichenpaw. The four had left at noon, the sun was peeking through the clouds, the cold was biting at their pelts but overall it was a warm day for being leafbare. That made it promising because with the sun out prey was more willing to come out from their hiding places. Shallowpaw for one didn't want this opportunity to go to waste, not wanting this to be another failed hunt. He could already see the faces of Badgerpaw and Wildpaw giving him satisfied smirks when they saw he had returned back yet again without any prey to show. No matter how unwilling he was to give up, how passionate he was to achieve his dream it did left a scar on his confidence every single time he returned back to camp without anything to provide the clan with. What sort of warrior couldn't even feed their clanmates?. The last thing he wanted was to be a burden to disappoint.

He had found the trails of a mouse, and so Shallowpaw had left the patrol behind to follow the trail using his nose and whiskers to guide him to the prey. Eventually he would find it out there in the open. Shallowpaw was hiding in some bushes as he crouched down to watch the mouse as it too was out searching for something to eat. The mouse back was turned against him, and so it was the perfect given opportunity for him to stalk forward. Quietly he would crawl forward to get closer to the mouse, to shorten the distance between them. Carefully he would put the paws in front of himself to make sure he didn't stept on anything that would give him away. It was the perfect stealth as he effectively moved forward.

Suddenly he froze when the mouse went up on its backlegs to listen after danger. Shallowpaw stood completely still, barely even breathing as he had the eyes locked on his target ready to charge forward if he had too. But to his luck the mouse didn't turn around and instead the mouse lowered itself back to the ground again to return back to what it had been doing previously. That was the signal. That was when Shallowpaw took one more step closer and then another one until he found that perfect distance for him to lunge. Placing himself into position the attention was still locked on the prey, and then with a push with his single back leg kicked himself forward to lunge himself straight towards the mouse and was ready to catch it with with his claws. It happen so fast. Shallowpaw had not been prepared for the outcome of his hunt.

Inbetween his paws the mouse laid trapped, and it actually took one single minute for the dark blue tom to realise he actually had succeeded and captured the small thing!. The mouse was not easy to held still as it struggled and screech in his grip trying desperately to free itself. Shallowpaw was not heartless. He did not like to inflect unnecessary pain upon another creature, prey or not. So he knew what he had to do. It was a quick clean kill directed straight at the back of the mouse neck to give a quick twist so he would break the mouse neck to kill it without causing suffering. And then it was over. The mouse fell still and unmoving in the apprentices paws and Shallowpaw would stare down at his first ever catch prey with staring, unblinking eyes.

// please wait for @Sunfreckle @Sunnyday and @LICHENPAW to post first thanks! (:


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[Sunnyday]

☀ - WHILST MY HEART STILL BEATS
The threat of the dogs was naturally still nagging at the back of his mind as they set out on a hunt. If anything happened to either of the apprentices he wasn't sure what he'd do, but he took some solace from knowing that they were avoiding the area that the dogs had been last spotted. Safe. They were surely safe hunting where they were. He had to convince himself of that otherwise he doubted that he would be capable of settling entirely into the task at hand.

After fanning out, Sunnyday focused on hunting down scent trails of interest. However, it seemed as though the local bird population was more keen to harass him to no end. A thrush would lure him in, then fly away before he could leap, and then a finch would clip the tips of his long ears in a taunting display. It happened multiple times much to his annoyance and eventually he gave up. Or rather he just needed a break from the indignity.

Prowling through the undergrowth, that was when he came across Shallowpaw. Admittedly he was already thinking up lines to help keep the youth's spirits up in the face of an unsuccess day of hunting, but as he got closer he came to realise that the apprentice had something. He dared to come closer, driven by his deepening sense of curiosity, and it was then that the realisation descended over him and his eyes widened. "You caught a mouse?!" He didn't mean to be loud but he was just so surprised and overjoyed by what he was seeing. "Did you catch that? Oh Shallow, I'm so proud of you!"
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[Sunfreckle]

The sparrow in his mouth was preventing him from having a nice conversation with Sunnyday as they walked, but he didn't pause to set it down because they really shouldn't linger out here for too long. The dogs on the territory kept his thoughts racing and his ears pricked upward and swiveling about to catch any sound, a nagging worry that if he dropped his guard they'd be set upon by teeth and claws and if even Emberstar's many lives could not hold out against those beasts then cats with less would be just as unfortunate. When Shallowpaw dropped to crouch and creep away he raised a tail to stop Lichenpaw from walking ahead without them, if his apprentice found more prey to bring back then it was worth a quick pause so long as they remained alert. The bird he held was set down and he turned, keeping a watchful eye on the young blue tom inching along forward until finally motion that tightened his chest into a knot only for it to ease away into relief at the victorious return. Sunnyday had broken away around roughly the same time to hunt and he nodded back to Lichenpaw to join them in going to examine the new catch all together.
"Good form, excellent work." A nod of approval given, a smile lighting up his face. Catching your first prey was warming, a sort of comfort you couldn't get anywhere else. A sign you were meant to be, a sign you were moving forward rather than backwards.
"Look at the size of that mouse, it's more well fed than we are! If only we could nibble on the grass and plants like it did-life would be so much more simple."
Imagine life without worry of starvation. One could only dream he supposed.

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[LICHENPAW ❁]

( ☘ ) Lichenpaw still isn't quite used to hunting in the forest. He's not the most experienced with hunting at all, but especially not with crunching leaves underfoot giving away his every move. Still though, he has to try. The midday sun feels good on his back, a welcome change from the relentless cold. He's glad that ThunderClanners send cats out to hunt together rather than alone. Lichenpaw always prefers hunting in groups, as it lets him follow along with how the forest-born cats creep through the undergrowth. And, admittedly, he has begun to grow attached to the other apprentice he's been sent out with today.

It's not any surprise that this happened; Lichenpaw is quick to connect with other cats, and once he learned that Shallowpaw had once been a rogue, an outsider like him, he decided that the other must be a kindred spirit, tagging along with him whenever possible. Lichenpaw had been surprised when he learned that Shallowpaw had yet to catch anything. The tom seemed so sure of himself, so skilled in his stealth, movements careful and coordinated, compensating gracefully for his missing leg. It seemed wrong for him to have not caught a single thing.

When Shallowpaw breaks off to go hunt on his own, Lichenpaw moves to follow him, hoping the two can hunt together. He is stopped, however, by a fluffy red tail. Fine, alright. He gets the message. Lichenpaw instead trails after Sunnyday, less attempting to hunt and more observing how his mentor does it. Well, if even a senior warrior like Sunnyday can miss so many catches, then maybe it's alright that the two apprentices have been struggling too. He's trotted off on his own a bit, caught up in the exploration, when he catches sight of that same red fur. Sunfreckle beckons him over, and he follows to see Sunnyday too, right by Shallowpaw. Are they regrouping already?

...

Oh!

Lichenpaw visibly brightens the second he sees the mouse clutched between Shallowpaw's claws. "Ah! Shallow, you -- that yours? I mean, did you uh, catch--" he pauses, grin wide, genuine, and unwavering. "What am I saying, obviously -- of course you did -- knew you could, I told you you could do it, didn't I?" Did he? Probably. He'd been talking the apprentice's ear off when the two headed out.

"That's -- Wow, Shallow, that's a good one. Haven't seen a catch like that since -- well. I haven't." He chuckles a bit. A kit of street rats and Winter forest hunts, he has little experience with good food. "I knew you had it in you," he reiterates, seemingly too excited for eloquence, beaming at Shallowpaw.​

 

[MOUSENOSE]

Mousepaw tags along with the patrol, forgetting to be stealthy and making as much noise as she could with her rambunctious paws. She sees a crisp leaf falling from a barren tree, and she musters every bit of her untamed energy to leap into the air and catch it. It crumbles away in her paws, but her smirk is self-satisfied.

Until all the warriors and Lichenpaw notice Shallowpaw's catch. A real mouse, a real chunk of meat, and all the adults are quick to tell him so. They're all so proud, and her father -- her father is looking at Shallowpaw like he should look at her.

She pouts, tail waving in the air behind her. "I bet I could catch a better one," she says petulantly. "Watch this." She prepares to duck off into the brush, completely forgetting about the lurking threat of dogs in the forest.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[WOLFWIND]

In leaf-bare, every little thing mattered. At least, that's what the elders told ya so you wouldn't feel bad about your measly little scrap. but fact is, you're gonna be disappointed when your prey weighs less than a pile of leaves. Not like this one did, but like...

It was his first, though. And that was something ya could be proud of.

Wolfwind is a mere onlooker, nodding on as the elder warriors congratulate Shallowpaw. Wolfwind has nothin' to add that hasn't been said already. A mouse was a mouse. A good two kits or so could feast on that thing. Mousepaw herself is unimpressed by this though, shame to her namesake, or somethin'. It's a story Wolfwind makes up in her head. Doesn't matter.

And yea, she could catch a better one too, but she wasn't gonna tell him that. Wolfwind snorts. Though she doesn't disbelieve her. Doesn't know enough about her to know whether she was any good or not, but apprentices knew themselves better than you may think. Though, as she turns like she's actually gonna do it, like, right this instant, alone, instantly Wolfwind's fur spikes. "Hold the hell on before you get yourself mauled," She has one too many images fresh in her mind to let her dumb ass do that. "If you really need to go right now, I'm going with ya'"​