Necessary Skills {Mosspaw}

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] Fluffy white fur stood out starkly against the lush green ferns lining the bank of the famous river. Dappled shadows shifted across the ground as a soft breeze rustled the reeds, and on the air came the sound of birdsong. True birdsong, the kind not heard in leafbare, but in newleaf. In the season where all the birds came back, the prey jumped back out of hiding...and the snow melted. It wasn't full newleaf yet. Frost still iced the grass, the mornings and nights were still chilly. But nearly all of the snow had vanished, and the river was no longer frozen. Blessings and a curse, in the eyes of Icefeather. No longer could she stalk unseen through the whiteness of leafbare. No, now she would have to limit herself to catching prey that wouldn't be able to see even her white fur--fish. A messy business. Repetitive, boring. But what could she do? Hunt at night? Maybe, but not every night, of course. So fishing it was. And what better way to break the monotony than to snap at an apprentice while she was at it? Mosspaw was coming along well. He was a decent fighter and a rather gifted stalker, but never before had she had him try to fish. Why? Well, the water had been frozen, mousebrain. Besides, he had been too small before. If he'd hooked a fish at his former size, the fish would have dragged him into the icy water, and Icefeather would have had to jump in after him. No, better to save it for now. Thus, she spoke. "Tell me the most important things we must remember when catching fish," she mewed as she padded to the edge of the cold river. Unfrozen or not, the water was still icy. No cat would want to tumble in there by accident. The white warrior sat her butt on the cold bank and set her light brown gaze on the water. "Well?" she asked, tail flicking impatiently as small fish raced past her. Word Count;; 336 Audience;; Mosspaw Notes;; so this will be his second official training thread. According to this, his training is nearly complete!

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Tell me the most important things we must remember when catching fish." Mosspaw glanced at the river, his ears twisted to show his uncertainty. He'd pawed at the water a little since it had melted and had only come to acknowledge a couple things about fish. He knew there was more to fishing, but he didn't have a clue what. This was the first time he'd ever had a lesson on the subject. "Well?" "Um... Keep your shadow out of the water," he started, shuffling his paws as he recalled the time he had experimented at the river, "Because they can tell what it is. And... Don't disturb the water... because... they feel it... somehow..." That last bit of information confused Mosspaw most of all. If water to fish was equivalent to air for cats, how could they tell what was moving a whole tail length away from them? "There's gotta be more to this," the tom mewed under his breath. He stared skeptically at the river. He knew it was the thing that RiverClan was known for, but he was uneasy about it. early kithood was so long ago, back when the river was totally melted. He might have learned how to swim then, but now he wasn't sure if the lessens had stuck. What if he fell in and forgot? He shot a worried glance at Icefeather, unsure of himself and her own skills. Could she save him if he started to drown? Would she save him? Or would she see it as an opportunity to reteach him? The idea made Mosspaw shiver. A sneeze broke any eye contact that had been made and he growled loudly after shaking his head. 'Focus, Mosspaw...' Word Count: 285 Audience: Icefeather Comments: One more thread on his own would set him up for a full Warrior name, right? What to do...

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] "Yes," she mewed, flicking her ears at the apprentice. "When you aim for a fish, you must also remember that they are moving. You don't strike when they're beneath your paw--you strike before. Strike too soon and you'll find yourself batting at empty water and the fish well down the river. Watch." There really wasn't much to do with a fishing lesson except show him in person. So Icefeather rose to her paws, tail lashing as she raised a single forepaw and watched the water. So far the sun had not risen much, and therefore there was not enough light to cast her shadow upon the water. A few more minutes, though, and they'd have to find another spot, away from the strengthening sunlight. Unblinking eyes gazing at the water, Icefeather watched multiple tiny fish race past, choosing instead to wait for a larger fish. As she waited, she explained, "The smaller fish aren't worth catching. They'll hardly feed a young cat, much less a warrior. Ignore the little fish and wait for the larger ones." As she finished speaking, a larger streak caught her eye, and Icefeather shifted her gaze upstream. Yes, a bigger fish was heading swiftly down the river. Tensing her muscles, the she-cat waited until the fish was a few mouselengths upstream before she shot her paw out, hooking the fish as it followed the current. Claws deep in the scales, Icefeather flung the fish from the water and onto the frosty bank. She watched it flop about for a moment before giving it a hard blow to the head with a forepaw. "Let me see you try," she mewed, raising her forepaw and licking the fish-oil off of it. It took practice to get used to the swift paw-action needed to hook a fish, but Mosspaw had thus far proven to be a swift learner. Icefeather figured he'd be able to catch a fish after just a few tries. Word Count;; 320 Muse;; okay Notes;; yeah ^.^ I'll have her send him off on a solo hunting mission or something after this.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Yes," she mewed, flicking her ears at the apprentice. "When you aim for a fish, you must also remember that they are moving. You don't strike when they're beneath your paw--you strike before. Strike too soon and you'll find yourself batting at empty water and the fish well down the river. Watch." Mosspaw padded over to his mentor and sat down, lowering his head to keep his shadow out of the water by reflex. He knew there were no shadows to speak of, but he had learned the trick on his own and wanted to keep it in mind. After a few moments of watching the minnows pass by, he perked his ears when Icefeather spoke up. "The smaller fish aren't worth catching. They'll hardly feed a young cat, much less a warrior. Ignore the little fish and wait for the larger ones." The tom nodded and returned his gaze to the water, searching for the bigger fish. He recalled the different types of fish that had been in the freshkill pile recently. At smallest, they were about the size of a cat's head and the biggest being hackle-size. Average fish could cover a fully grown cat's shoulder. He focused on finding them in the water, but the shapes were distorted in the ripples. After searching for a while, he looked at the white she-cat, wondering if they would, perhaps, move up river to grab the fish as soon as it entered their territory. In the blink of an eye, however, a fish seemed to leap out of the water. The only image of the strike was the way Icefeather had extended a flexed arm into the water a second before. "Let me see you try," she mewed after giving the thrashing creature a vicious blow. Mosspaw blinked, still amazed by what had happened. He shook his head to clear it and moved toward the fish to examine it. There was a deep wound in its side- claw marks. She had literally picked it up out of the water, but just batted at it and hoped the force would direct it to shore. Determined to make a kill, the apprentice stalked back to where his mentor had been sitting. Green eyes glared into the water, scanning from left to right and resting on every shadow that came toward him. He ignored the big fish- the ones he knew would pull him in if he tried anything- and focused on the ones he thought he actually had a chance with. Some were too far away and others were just out of his reach, but soon one veered toward him. He flexed his claws and waited. Soon enough, the fish was in position. As instructed, he struck just before it was under his paw. He extended his claws and plunged his arm into the water. To his surprise (and pain) his claws hit something much firmer than scales. For a moment, he felt a funny movement on his leg, just above his dewclaw, just before he flung a rock onto the shore. "OUCH!!" he yelped, shaking his paw. Claws still throbbing, he licked his paw gently. He'd misjudged the depth. Word Count: 529 Audience: Icefeather Comments: Alrighty.

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] By all accounts, it appeared that Mosspaw was doing perfect. He had judged the timing pretty well and hadn't struck too soon or too late. Heck, he just might have caught that fish if he hadn't gone down so far. Icefeather tensed worriedly as the small apprentice almost fell head-first into the icy water, but even as she was moving forward to grab him by the scruff of the neck, he came out of his own accord and threw...a rock. Threw a rock on the bank, straight at Icefeather. The stunned she-cat didn't have time to dodge before the rock smacked against her paw, and she sprang straight into the air as pain laced through her forepaw. "Ouch!" she hissed at about the same time as Mosspaw, raising her paw gingerly and glaring at it. Lucky for both of them the rock was pretty small. As the pain began to wear off, Icefeather sighed and placed her paw tentatively on the ground. She fixed Mosspaw with a slight glare, but held back from scolding him. Why state the obvious? He knew he'd gone too deep, he knew he wasn't supposed to be catching rocks. To another cat, this whole situation might have been amusing. Not to Icefeather. However, she'd learned not to criticize or scold Mosspaw too much, as most of the time he knew what he had done wrong anyway. So instead she mewed quietly, "No one gets it right on their first try. Your timing was good, but your depth perception was not. Try again." Word Count;; 279 Muse;; dwindling Notes;; haha, that was funny with the rock ^.^ Too bad Icefeather's a butt-head.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Ouch!" Mosspaw looked over at his mentor and flattened his ears as he realized he had hit her with the rock. He crouched down and looked at his paws, one held above the ground to keep from putting pressure on it. "Sorry," he mewed hastily, unsure of how she'd react. He'd hurt her by accident before, but that was during battle training. He'd never thought that he'd hurt the she-cat by throwing rocks at her! "No one gets it right on their first try. Your timing was good, but your depth perception was not. Try again." Mosspaw growled as he licked his paw again, soothing the pain. He waited for a few moments for the throbbing to die down before moving again to crouch by the river. This time, his eyes burned into the river, determined to make a kill with this next try. He forced himself to stay calm, however. He was becoming increasingly frustrated with this method of hunting because it included a factor that he had not yet come to grasp yet- depth. He knew how to hunt on land. The mouse or the vole was either ON the ground, ON the rock, or ON the tree root... Water baffled him. Fish were in the water. How far away they were from the bottom or the nearest rock was any cat's best guess. This next fish came up suddenly. Mosspaw had disreguarded it as being too far away, but it had changed directed just after it passed the apprentice's paw. He looked down, trying to guess how far the bottom was so he wouldn't hit his paw on a rock again when the shape in the water surprised him. He unsheathed his claws, the fish just about passing the point when he should have struck, and plunged his paw into the water. This time, he felt a fin and twitched his paw backwards to snag his claws on the fish's tail. The pain in his claws surged up again, but he forced him to dig in deep. The strength it took to hold on sapped the engergy he needed to throw the fish onto shore, so he ended up dragging the thrashing animal onto dry land and away from water, his aching claws screaming in protest. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-OW! Get it off!" he yowled as he shook his paw and the fish. It's movements weren't helping in his letting go of it. Word Count: 403 Audience: Icefeather Comments: Poor guy! XDDD

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] Well, at least he got one. Icefeather watched in stunned surprise as the small apprentice dragged the fish out of the cold, icy water. She stared as he flung his paw around in an attempt to dislodge the creature, and she marveled at how he had managed to get those small claws stuck in the fish so well. After a moment, the fluffy white she-cat realized Mosspaw was in quite a bit of pain. Sighing slightly, she trotted over and mewed, "Put your paw on the ground." When he had, she smacked the fish a sharp blow, breaking its back and causing it to go limp. Then she hooked it with her own claws and pulled it off Mosspaw. "That was good," she mewed as she dropped the new fish by the old one. Icefeather's compliments were rare and far between, but she felt he kind of deserved it now. "Seems like your paw hurt, but you held on. A true warrior's stubbornness." She gave him a meaningful look, for as she spoke her words, she realized that his training was nearly complete. Pretty soon, her little apprentice was going to become a warrior. How quickly time had gone by. "That is enough for now--no need to rip your claws out trying to get another." She sniffed the air, and the scent of water vole came to her from the reeds by the river. "We haven't stalked in awhile. Show me your stalking techniques and catch the vole." They had not worked much on hunting, she realized. Now was as good a time as ever. Word Count;; 262 Muse;; decent Audience;; Mosspaw

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Put your paw on the ground." Mosspaw did as he was told and dared not flinch, even when Icefeather gave a killing blow to the fish. He was too afraid he might lose his claws. It felt like they were falling off now. The tom silenced a whimper as the she-cat pulled the fish away from him. He half expected a toe or two to follow the slimy creature. It hurt so bad! "That was good. Seems like your paw hurt, but you held on. A true warrior's stubbornness." The apprentice redirected his attention to his mentor and bowed his head, pinning his ears back. He didn't want to be praised for such an embarrassing, painful catch, but he reflected on what had happened. Would he have held on even if his claws hadn't snagged? Probably. "That is enough for now--no need to rip your claws out trying to get another. We haven't stalked in awhile. Show me your stalking techniques and catch the vole." Thankful for the respite from having to wrack his brain with something as strange as depth perception, Mosspaw dropped into a crouch and followed the the prey scent to the reeds. He kept his body low, slinking along silently as if he were a snake. Quietly, he picked his head up by an inch and saw the creature. It was about to go into the water! Not wanting to have to retry his paws at fishing, he leaped forward and caught the vole in his jaws, killing it swiftly with a bite to the head. He'd learned his lesson earlier and now focused on always biting the neck or head of any prey animal before it had time to alert the forest of the hunter. With a satisfied smirk, Mosspaw picked up his kill and returned to his mentor, dropping it at her paws and awaiting more orders. True, his paw hurt, but he wanted to keep working at his training until he'd learned everything he could for the day. Word Count: 336 Audience: Icefeather Comments: None

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] Well, he was certainly better than the last few times she'd seen him hunt. He often forgot to kill the prey immediately, and often ended up scaring the rest of the prey in the entire area away. Icefeather flicked her tail in approval as he carried the small creature back. So far, they were going to have quite a bit to carry back to the Clan. A successful day, to say the least. As she studied her young apprentice, Icefeather saw in his expression a continued eagerness to learn. This, above everything else, had earned a bit of her respect...and Icefeather's respect was hard to come by. Mosspaw was a small thing, sickly at first, but always willing to keep going...even to the point of stupidity. Like for now, for instance. His paw was injured, but he clearly wanted to continue. Icefeather wouldn't deny him, though she wasn't quite sure how Moonwing was going to react when she sent Mosspaw to her den to check things out. Icefeather decided to do something she didn't often do. Mosspaw had earned the chance to choose his next training, and so the fluffy white she-cat mewed, "What next? Tell me what needs to be worked on." With another apprentice, this might not have gone over so well. But Icefeather knew she could trust Mosspaw to pick a true area of struggle, rather than something he just liked to do and was already good enough at. Word Count;; 264 Audience;; Mosspaw Notes;; Woot, nearly done with Mosspaw's training!

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "What next? Tell me what needs to be worked on." Mosspaw blinked, surprised. The question had startled him. Never had he ever heard of an apprentice choosing what they wanted to do! Then again, he knew he had to ponder her question carefully. This wasn't a 'What do you want to do today?' casual sort of question. She had asked him specifically what he felt he needed to improve on. He took a few moments to think. Fishing, for one, could use a tune up. His claws, however, clearly disagreed with him. There would be no using his right claw set for the rest of the day. That, just in case, left out border patrol. Possibly moss-gathering as well. Rockpaw and Shadepaw would have to get on without him. Finally, his mind rested on his ambition. No cat knew of his desire as of yet, but this was the topic that kept his mind reeling at night, constantly thinking. New battle moves. He wanted to be remembered for coming up with a useful maneuver, one he could teach to others in his clan. There was a question in his eyes as he glanced at Icefeather. She wouldn't believe his battled training lacked at all. They had trained well enough and Mosspaw knew every battle tactic she had stored in memory. Only once in a while did they return to the river to brush up on his training. He'd probably have to tell her about his goal. "Can we have a few rounds of battle training?" he asked, keeping the tone light, "I wonder if we might try some new moves..." Word Count: 270 Audience: Icefeather Comments: None

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] A little disappointed in him, Icefeather gave her apprentice a sharp look. Battle training? He was perfectly fine at battle training. Hunting, stalking, scent-tracking...he needed work on all of that. But battle training? Not so much. His explanation confused her, which made her even more irritated. But hey, she'd asked him, hadn't she? If he wanted to battle train, then they could battle train. But she was going to make him prove himself. "What kind of ambitions are hiding in you, Mosspaw?" she asked bluntly, fixing him with a serious stare. "You are decent at battle training as it is. What is this about 'new moves'?" Not that she totally disapproved of it. She just wanted an answer...and she wanted to see if he would stand up for what he wanted to do even under her glare. He was a tough one, this Mosspaw. Perhaps she should help him along. "Give me an example of something you would like to experiment on," she mewed after a moment, for the more she thought about the idea, the more she began to like it. Still, she kept her face serious and allowed her tail to twitch slightly. She couldn't let him see her curiosity, now could she? Word Count;; 203 Audience;; Mosspaw Notes;; Heh, Icefeather's a bit intrigued

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "What kind of ambitions are hiding in you, Mosspaw? You are decent at battle training as it is. What is this about 'new moves'?" Mosspaw flinched. She had caught him. Not that he had tried hard to hide what he was planning, coming right out and asking about new moves. There simply wasn't a good way of getting her to believe that he still wasn't good enough in the battle department. "I've been thinking of new tactics," he admitted, staring back at his mentor, "I want to come up with my own move- something I can teach the clan and make us better. And I want to be remembered for it." That last part, he had added rather sheepishly. But he had a right to want this, didn't he? After all, the stories the elders told were only ever about either things they'd seen or the legends they'd heard from their own elders when they were young. There were no tales about the weak or the cowardly- only the strong and brave or the smart and clever. Being alive in StarClan wasn't enough for Mosspaw. When he died, be wanted to be remembered, to live on in the stories told about him. "Give me an example of something you would like to experiment on." The tom grinned. Here was his chance to show off how much his brain had been working through all those nights he couldn't sleep, the old, tired story told in the elders' den, the boring lecture, and the repetitive work of an apprentice in camp. "I was thinking that there might be a better grip for the leap-and-hold and maybe a way for a small cat to knock a bigger cat off its feet and I've got a good feign attack, but it works better against smaller or equal-sized cats..." Word Count: 304 Audience: Icefeather Comments: None

[{Otter}]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true] Icefeather stared openly at the young cat, hiding her feelings behind a wall of indifference. Inwardly, she was impressed, and she agreed wholeheartedly with Mosspaw's ambition. It wasn't such a bad thing, to want to be remembered. It was when cats wanted to be remembered as rulers and leaders that problems started occurring. But being remembered for a new fighting move? Not such an outrageous desire. The mentor did not voice these opinions, though, but rather flicked her tail slightly in interest. Then, as Mosspaw mentioned more equal-sized cats, she looked at herself and then looked at him...and saw that this was not what he wanted. He needed another apprentice to train with, but...well, there weren't any. The closest thing to an apprentice was Ottersplash, and he was certainly too large to be a sparring partner. Not like he'd be able to keep his mind on the task anyway, though. Well, what were they to do? The other Clans had apprentices, she was sure, but Icefeather would die before going to them. "Demonstrate it to me, then," she said after a moment. "It may not work perfectly, but at least I will be able to get the gist of what you're trying to do." Besides, he needed moves that would work against cats bigger than him. That was his disadvantage. "Experiment on me with the leap-and-hold. See if you can improvise something." Hey, she was perfectly fine with being his guinea pig, as long as it was her idea and not his. Word Count;; 274 Audience;; Mosspaw Notes;; Kinda sucks, sorry x.x

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Demonstrate it to me, then. It may not work perfectly, but at least I will be able to get the gist of what you're trying to do. Experiment on me with the leap-and-hold. See if you can improvise something." Before she finished speaking, Mosspaw was flexing his hind legs and powering himself up into the air. Although his favorite tactic was looking somewhere-attacking somewhere else, he was too eager to wait. He twisted himself into the air and, instead of aiming to hold onto her shoulders, he let his front paws reach forward. As with a normal leap-and-hold, he'd grip her scruff in his teeth and hold on tightly, but careful not to draw blood. With his front paws, he clung to Icefeather's chest fur. Wanting to make a point, he unsheathed his claws only slightly. He probably wouldn't harm the she-cat through her thick fur, but he might, perhaps, loose some fur. Growling, the apprentice held on until he felt the tell-tale sign of the rolling counter move. Grinning to himself, Mosspaw rolled from his mentor in the opposite direction, avoiding being crushed and dragging his claws up and around the she-cat's neck before falling away from her. He rolled twice before getting up to look at the white cat, wondering wether or not he had hurt or surprised her. It wasn't too much of a deviation from the move, so some cats might be comfortable with it. That, and it would make the victim a lot less likely to get up for a revenge attack. "Like it?" he asked, unable to suppress his eagerness to hear her approval. Word Count: 270 Audience: Icefeather Comments: Sorry for the apprentice/mentor godmodding again. ^^;