WILD BLUE YONDER [ hunting ]

[coyotecreek]

( ★ ) the warrior has been put in charge of hunting patrols, and he is quite happy to do so. flicking his tail cheerfully as he leads the two apprentices along the river, the flaming tom halts close to the thunderclan border, where the water flows well enough for fish to continue to live. with leaf-fall coming on, and the river still low due to the odd creatures at the end of it, he's doubtful that they will catch much, but he is determined to try. coyotecreek turns to face his new apprentice and snakeblink's, offering a gentle grin. "okey dokey, let's see what you guys can do!" he announces, sweeping his tail to indicate to the flat rocks that they will perch on to fish. "might as well make this a bit of fun- whichever apprentice catches the best prey can have first pick after the queens, sick, and elders." hoping this is initiative enough to get the young cats going, he too will crouch beside the river, odd eyes cast down into the murky depths.

the day is grey but not unpleasant- the sun had shown her face in the morning but has been swallowed up by fluffy clouds, that dull the landscape. still, it is not cold- merely a day with a slight chill that runs up one's spine when water-soaked. a perfect day for doing things, coyote has discovered. he has a tendency to overheat with his long, tangled fur, and finds the coolness of leaf-fall pleasant enough, despite the forewarning it shows to the next season. as he huddles beside the river with the two apprentices, he will take a moment to appreciate the clear cold air that fills his lungs. eyes closed, he doesn't see it, but he can hear a rustling in the undergrowth. tufted tabby ears prick up, ice and honey eyes blinking open as the air carries a scent recognizable to a former barn cat.

large paws are uncharacteristically light on the ground as the tomcat prowls towards the reeds, able to see the grey-brown lump of the mouse. his tail lashes quietly behind him in excitement- it has been quite a while since he has allowed himself to hunt on land. muscles bunch on his flanks as he crouches, freezes for a second, then leaps, landing squarely on the mouse and sending a few reeds rustling and shaking. standing up with the prey in his maw, he will purr in satisfaction. "new rule, land prey counts too." he declares, before bounding back to the riverside.

// feel free to join them for hunting! to make this fun and fitting with the dwindling prey, please roll a d20 on discord. 1-10 are failures, 11-18 are small/moderate fish, 19-20 are big catches. this is not required but highly encouraged.
@otterpaw @CARPPAW ​

 

[DIPPERFROST]

Fishing was not something that Dipperpaw was particularly good at nor was it something that she enjoyed. Often she got lost in her thoughts and staring at the water for endless moments had a tendency to make her mind wander. Her patience already is dwindling and she hasn't even really started. Still, the clan needed to be fed and no one could say that she never had tried. "Land prey should not count" she murmurs but mostly to herself. It was her opinion that land prey was best left to the clans who enjoyed such things. Personally, she found it to have too strange of a taste to be enjoyed and she would much rather stick to fish but she also knows that she shouldn't be so picky. She had heard that at one time the river had frozen and fish had not been an option. The idea of such a thing sends a chill up her spine and she finds herself wondering what RiverClan would be like if they did not swim, if they did not fish. Would they be just like everyone else? That sounds so boring...

There goes her mind, wandering into a tangent of questions. Quickly, she shakes her head to snap herself out of it. As she does, she sees a flash of movement in the water. Excited, she plunges one ivory paw into the water and with a claw she hooks the fish. As soon as she makes contact with it though she can tell it is much smaller than she anticipated, the water magnifying it so that it looked bigger and when it flops on the shore she is disappointed to see it is merely a minnow she has caught. Still, prey is prey. She dispatches it quickly but she cannot shake the look from her face.
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[otterbite]

Otterpaw trudged after the odd-eyed tom, his shoulders hunched low enough that the grass could graze against his chin. His eyes stare into Coyotecreek with an unpleasant frown that might as well be permanently tugging his face down whenever he was around his mentor. A hunt to feed the sick and elderly, and the queens that still laid in the nursery. It could be a grand success for the patrol had the river been cooperative, but it was still the same as when he had begun his apprenticeship.

It couldn't be helped, the assumptive thoughts that circled his head. Otterpaw had never been showed much promise in hunting, and maybe that could be due to the river being in poor conditions to properly train in. Or maybe, as Otterpaw believed, his true natural talents were set in his passion of fighting and defense. Smokethroat had assigned them to hunt, though, and he couldn't help but wonder if it had been intentional.

As untrue it was in reality, the apprentice was convinced he had done something to deserve being tossed aside so flippantly. He would show the deputy was wrong. He would prove that he was a goldmine of skill he had missed out on.

His stare is set on the waters not too far from Dipperpaw. He noticed Coyotecreek had gone off toward a mouse scent he hadn't noticed, but he gave no interest in the toms doings. He was focused to catch something, anything that would show he was better than all the other apprentices. Otterpaw gritted his teeth as his focus was disturbed again, this time by the older toms return.

"It doesn't count." He is quick to snap in agreement to Dipperpaw, loud enough for him to hear. She is the first to strike between them, and even though her catch is small, the envy in his chest already began to build. Hurriedly without much thought, Otterpaw swiped at the next flicker of movement he saw.

Outstretched claws break against empty water, and his frustration comes out in a hiss. "You're distracting me from hunting real RiverClan prey." He growled, quick to push the responsibility of his failure onto the other. ​

RIVERCLAN APPRENTICE ✦ BLUE-BLACK CHIMERA ✦ 6 MOONS ✦ TAGS​

 

[DIPPERFROST]

Otterpaw's agreement with her makes her whiskers twitch in satisfaction she is glad that someone sees eye to eye with her - even if that someone is the likes of hot-headed Otterpaw. How someone could ever allow such trivial things to bother them so much she would never understand. She keeps one paw on her catch, claws piercing its sides as if by some miracle it would come back to life and flop away - back to the river from whence it came. She had never been a skilled hunter but she did have one thing on the blue and black tom. Experience.

She watches him with an impassive gaze as he misses his catch, then as quickly as the events had unfolded before her he turns and places the blame on her shoulders. If the tom was expecting a reaction from her then he was looking in the wrong place. Dipperpaw merely rolls her shoulders, her expression remaining unchanged. "Aim for where the fish is going to be, not where it is" she offers instead, a tip her previous mentor had once shared with her that had helped her with her fishing tremendously.
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OOC NOTES . ✦ . CHARACTER INFO

• ooc : — ​
• 
  

  

  
  

  ➵ she / her
  ➵ riverclan apprentice
  ➵ single
  ➵ bisexual
  ➵ a tall, long legged blue tabby and white she cat with a plumed tail and blue eyes, the left one containing a burst of yellow
  ➵ toyhouse [ ✦ ]
  ​

 

[coyotecreek]

( ★ ) the man chuckles as dipperpaw meows dissent and otterpaw is quick to growl agreement. "alright, alright kiddos, land prey doesn't count. but just you wait- one day land hunting skills might come in handy. leaf-bare's comin' on." he tries not to let otterpaw's words sting deeper than the surface. the boy feels abandoned, feels like he's been cheated out of training. coyote has simply decided to prove him wrong. although maybe i started off with the wrong tactic, he justifies to himself. padding closer and dropping his mouse beside him, the man crouches over the water, odd-eyed gaze watching the two apprentices curiously. otterpaw seems to take out his frustration on the water, face screwed up in anger as he misses his catch and dipperpaw comments bluntly, but not unkindly. "aye, that's good advice, dipperpaw. otterpaw, take a deep breath and steady yerself. fish hunting is an art o patience."

eyes of ice and honey flick down into the shallow water, following the trail of a small trout as it makes its way slowly upstream. claws flash, paw dipping quickly into the river and hooking the creature up. the fish shakes for breath for a second before coyotecreek finishes it off. he places it beside his mouse and turns back to the river. "now, the lowerin' of the water due to them creatures, as well as the changin' of the seasons make this more difficult than normal. don't worry if it takes ye a few tries."

// rolled a 15 ​

 

[Moonbeam]

The thought of a contest to see what kind of prey the apprentices could catch caught the attention of Ratpaw and it caused her competitive side to come out. She wasn't the best at fishing yet - her stance was a little sloppy still and she didn't have the patience to wait for the perfect time to strike for the fish - but she had been successful a couple of times, and she was sure with more practice she would perfect the art of fishing and be able to help feed the clan more consistently.

Listening to what Coyotecreek said the girl would nod her head in understanding of the rules. She didn't care about being able to eat first after those who needed it more but she did want to prove that she had been learning a lot and make Salmonshade proud of her. Taking a breath Ratpaw sat on a stone, eyes watching the water carefully as she slowly lifted a paw and stood as still as possible, waiting for the perfect moment to swing her paw down. A flash of light glint off the side of a fish and quickly paw came down into the water, scooping with claws extended and a squeal of glee came from the child as a fish - a big fish - came flying out of the water and she quickly bat it down onto the stone to the side of her, paws pressing the fish down as she quickly went for the killing bite. She couldn't help but feel the warmth of pride rush through her chest as she quickly grabbed her fish and ran towards the bank of the water, setting down her prize with a large smile glued to her maw.

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ I thought that love would stay a mystery

• mentor tag @salmonshade
  && rolled a 19!
• 
  ⋆ ratkit - ratpaw - rat???
  ⋆ female - she/her - 5 moons
  ⋆ homosexual - too young for relationship
  ⋆ apprentice of riverclan
  ⋆ attack - speech - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

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[otterbite]

Dipperpaw doesn't bite on the bait of his harsh tone. Watchful sage sights notice she doesn't make a single move, not a single muscle twitched in response. If he had any room to find it entertaining he may have scoffed or laughed at how rigid she remained, but the thin layer of patience he had was already worn. It was easy to do on a usual day anyhow, but lately it might as well not even be there.

Batty ears pin down at her advice. Fine. It sounded familiar, maybe Ripplewave had said something like that before but he wasn't paying attention back then. How unsurprising he would forget it. A narrowed sideways glance is sent Coyotecreek's way when he chipped in and his tail began to lash as his irritation bubbled.

"Embarrassing another apprentice has to train me now." He hoped his words stung as his voice sharpened to ice. The fiery heat of envy that stirred before only grew in size as Coyotecreek struck the water only to rise with success. A trout? It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair! This barncat couldn't be better than him, not when he was born by the rivers edge. Not when he was reared at its shore.

Ratpaw comes next and the apprentice nearly sent him over the edge as her claws surface with an even heftier bounty that what his mentor caught. Ratpaw was younger than him, but clearly Salmonshade must be doing something better, right? This wasn't his fault. This wasn't his fault. His leadership had done this to him.

Otterpaw's movements are once again hasty, not taking the advice of his peers out of spite. He wouldn't need them, he could do this himself. His gaze would spot a flicker of scales underneath him and he took the moment.

A splash against the water and, once again, his paws are empty. That's it. That's the last, final spark against the match of burning anger. Teeth snap at the air and his eyes turn to glower at the older tabby. "What's the point if nothing you teach works. I'm not- this isn't- UGH!" The chimera turned away from the rivers edge to storm away, spine bristling and swears muttered in his wake. ​

RIVERCLAN APPRENTICE ✦ BLUE-BLACK CHIMERA ✦ 6 MOONS ✦ TAGS​