[the.forest] -- [happy.days]

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

The she-cat apprentice blinked, her ears pricked up so that they could catch the sound of anything nearby. She heard the gentle gurgle of water as it brushed against the lakeside, but that didn't really have much to do with her currently. She wasn't one for fishing -- she was more for the stalking and leaping gracefully into the air and landing on her prey type.

With interest and exctitement dancing through amethyst colored eyes, Lilacpaw eagerly darted forward as she attempted to determine where her next piece of fresh-kill was going to come from. Crouching down, she listened intently, eyes darting back and forth throughout the scenery.

All around her, the leaves had been shedding their leaves. All of them were almost bare, except for those that had managed to cling onto one or two of their leaves. The ground was soggy and moist from the thick layer of wet leaves that covered it. Although Lilacpaw rather disliked the wet leaves for the stuck to her small paws, she was thankful for the fact that there weren't any crunchy leaves. Leaves that were hard would crackle and would easily scare prey away. Come this time of year, EarthClan would welcome any piece of fresh-kill, no matter how small it was.

A fierce wind pulled through, causing some leaves to spiral off their perch on a tree. Even as a leaf fell onto her head, Lilacpaw remained in her position. That was a good thing about her -- she always paid attention no matter what the circumstance.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a mouse dashing about. No doubt it had procrastinated in storing up food and it was now trying to make up for it now. With interest, Lilacpaw crept forward, her weight spread evently throughout her elegant frame. She continued moving closer and closer to the mouse until she was just a few tail-lengths away from it.

After a bit more stalking of the mouse, she pressed her weight onto her haunches and sprang up. Landing with accuracy on the mouse, she gave it a swift smack with her paw and it was dead. Burying her catch with dead leaves, Lilacpaw looked around to see if Battooth was coming.

"He's such a slowpoke!" she moaned to herself, humor glittering in her lilac eyes. "But that means I can get a head start and impress him on my very first day of having a mentor!" she added excitedly to herself, eager to go find more prey. It was difficult though, for the light dusting of snow that had fallen in the forest had made everything slippery and threw off her sense of smell at times.

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[Battooth]

Battooth had caught up to Lilacpaw just as she had started crouching, and had watched his new apprentice catch the mouse with ease. "I am not a slowpoke!" he meowed in mock anger as he stalked out to flick the she-cat on the nose with his tail. "I caught up to you easily enough! Nice catch, by the way. I see you have mouse-hunting down. D'you know any other crouches? Like which one to use for hunting rabbits, squirrels, any of that?" He was impressed with the natural ability the apprentice possesed.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Of course I do!" Lilacpaw answered to his question, putting on a look of mock indignation. "I probably can do it better than /any/ of the apprentices!" she bragged, although she wasn't bragging out of thinking that she was higher ranking than any of the apprentices. She was simply stating what she felt, although it sounded more like an exclamation for the sheer fact that was extremely hyper currently.

She slipped into a crouch used for stalking rabbits, careful not to put too much of her weight onto her paws. She concentrated hard on keeping her paws moving lightly on the ground, but a gust of wind soon pulled through and knocked her off of her feet. "Oof!" she muttered as she fell to the ground.

Looking up at her new mentor with a rather embarrassed look, she meowed, "I guess I need a little work on that."

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[Battooth]

Battooth let out a little mrrow of laughter and nodded. "It's okay," he meowed supportively. "You'll be snatching rabbits out of their dens before they can even think by the time I'm done training you." He crouched down and swiftly stalked across in front of the she-cat. "It's really pretty simple. It was just the wind that threw you off. Believe me, I know what that's like. It comes from being so skinny." He purred, his eyes shining with amusement.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"I bet I'll hunt them even better than Maplestar!" Lilacpaw meowed, although she stated the comment because of her admiration for Maplestar. Quickly, she attempted the crouch that Battooth had just shown her. It felt a bit akward because it was a slightly different position than she was used to being in, but she eventually got the hang of it. "Is this right?" she asked, looking up at her mentor while she remained in her crouch -- not an easy thing to do.

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[Battooth]

Battooth's eyes gleamed with pride in his new apprentice. "Brilliant!" he meowed. "Only thing that should change is you should keep your weight a little more dispersed. That way you don't put too much pressure on certain paws and you don't crackle some twigs or leaves." He let his tail tip rest on the she-cat's shoulder for a moment before meowing, "Now what do you know about hunting birds?"

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Umm..." Lilacpaw meowed hesitantly, trying to recall the crouch for hunting birds in her mind. Not being able to retrieve it, she looked up at Battooth. "I might need... er... a /slight/ reminder," she meowed hopefully as she looked at her mentor.

Lilacpaw wasn't one who easily admitted she didn't know something, but she truly couldn't remember the crouch for hunting birds. She had learned while she was a kit, for she had been eager to become an apprentice back then, but she didn't quite remember how to hunt for birds.

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[Battooth]

"It's okay!" Battooth meowed. "I'm actually glad you don't remember. It means that you actually need a mentor." He laughed and he crouched. "What you have to remember is that birds have wings, which means they can get away from a hunter faster. So you have to be as quiet as you possibly can." He put a tentative step forward, making sure he didn't step on the leaves that lay before him. He moved a few tail-lengths like that before standing straight. "If you feel like cheating, the easiest way to catch a bird is to find it's nest, but that is basically against the warrior code. You should always remember to respect your prey, because it's alive too, even if it isn't as intelligent." He nodded to himself, remember when Maplestar had taught him that very lesson. "Why don't you try stalking a bird?" he suggested. "Just try the crouch, you can practice on a real bird later." He took a step back to give the apprentice some room.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Lilacpaw nodded, eagerly taking in all the information that Battooth gave her about bird hunting. Quickly, she put a paw down, but it landed on a few leaves. Wincing at the loud crackle that they made when her paw came in contact with them, she instantly recoiled her paw. "I think the bird's already flown away," she meowed, but her lilac eyes sparked with hopefulness that she would get it on her next try.

Putting all her concentration on the stalking of the bird, Lilacpaw closed her eyes for a brief moment to try to picture a thrush. Opening her eyes and giving a confident nod, she quickly dropped into the stalking crouch. While it was a bit lopsided, since it was her first time, she felt as if it were nearly perfectly natural. Springing up into the air as if she were truly catching a bird, she landed down on the ground, turning her head with a questioning look in her eyes asking Battooth if she had done all right.

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[Battooth]

Battooth purred with delight as he watched his apprentice. "Again, brilliant!" he meowed. "I don't even know why you needed a mentor!" He gave the she-cat's ear a quick lick and a playful flick with his tail. "I think we should be heading back soon though. It was kinda late when we left, and Maplestar's picky about having apprentices back in camp before sun set. We'll see if we can't catch something along the way." He trotted briskly back towards camp, waving his tail as a signal for Lilacpaw to follow. "Retreive your prey, too! Our beloved leader would be disappointed if I forgot to remind you." His voice held a little bit of sarcasm as he spoke of Maplestar, but the amusement glittering in the obsidian tom's eyes showed that he nearly adored the tabby.

((Movin' Battooth back to the Camp.))

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"All right," Lilacpaw responded. She felt a bit sad because of the fact that her first training with her new mentor was over, but she did cheer up as she reminded herself of the fact that she would get to be doing lessons such as the one she had just had over and over, probably everyday if anything! Excitement passed through her eyes as she darted away to go retrieve her prey from where she had buried it. Once she had found it, she padded back to Battooth. She wanted to ask him to race back to Camp against her, but she found that the piece of fresh-kill she carried would probably slow her speed down. Looking up, she began making her way to the EarthClan Camp -- home sweet home.

[-MOVIN' LILACPAW BACK TO THE EARTHCLAN CAMP]

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