Let's just get this over with... (Heatherpaw exclusive)

[Member]

Rain fell from the sky, making everything damp. Bengalbelly's brown fur was darkened now, making the stripes on his body and on his head barely visible. His green eyes were narrowed, making him look angry and threatening, not saying he wasn't angry. The right words may have been... slightly irritated.

Bengalbelly came to a stop and spun around to face his new apprentice, Heatherpaw. His eyes narrowed more than they already were as he seemed to glare down at her. He was going to train her, teach her how to hunt properly. The faster they did this and the more they did it she would get more experienced, and as she got more experienced she would be more ready to become a warrior, and when she was a warrior she'd be out of his fur. He wanted that more than anything right now. That whole nose touching thing he had to do at the ceremony didn't make even a small bond, or at least on his side.

"Okay, Heatherki- paw." Bengalbelly corrected himself quickly. He was never good with names, especially ones that changed every few moons. He didn't even understand that. Kit, paw, star, or whatever for the warrior name. Why have different names? Why not just keep your original name? It was easier just to call her Heather than anything else. He could imagine himself calling her Heatherkit for as long as he lived. Oh well, she'd just have to get used to it.

"I'm going to start teaching you how to hunt. You'll learn the basics first and then you'll go up." Hunting wouldn't be a good start out in this weather. Any scent the prey left behind would be almost instantly washed away, along with that most of the will be in shelter trying to escape this seemingly everlasting storm. Hunting will be very hard. She was going to have to learn a little extra if she was going to hunt properly and easily. Maybe one day it'll make her a good tracker, but that wasn't important now. Now, it was about hunting.

"Now, when hunting, what are the key senses you need to use?" An easy question, a good start off.

[Naruto]

"Scent,hearing,and....sight?"Heatherpaw guessed,wrinkling her nose as a rain droplet splashed on her face. Her ginger pelt was already soaked,and she felt cold.

She shivered and lifted her nose to the air,trying to get a scent,and she sneezed when water ran down her nose. "How long are we going to do this?"she asked crossly,lashing her tail. She narrowed her green eyes and grumbled. Bengalbelly wasn't the nicest teacher,but he got things done right.

[Member]

"Yes, but," he started, pointing his tail at her, "Sight isn't one of the most important. If something were to happen that would leave you without your sight then you'd only have your hearing and you sense of smell. Those are most important, especially when you have a hidden enemy, sight isn't the best thing to rely on in the most important situations." Sight wouldn't be a problem in dark areas that most cats would have trouble with. As DarkClan cats the darkness was easy for them.

"Stop complaining," Bengalbelly snapped at her, "We finish when I say we finish." Already complaining. He'd have to break her of that. "Now, tell me how much you know about each piece of prey in the territory." He wanted to know exactly where she was, and where he'd have to start. He wouldn't even know wher to begin if he wasn't familiar with her knowledge. It was irritating going over something you know well and being treated like you don't know a thing. "Lets start with the mouse."

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw twitched her ears in annoyance. "If all your going to do is yell at me,all the prey from here to Gathering place will be gone!"she snapped back.

Then she calmed down slightly. "If you want to stalk a mouse,you need to keep light on your feet."she grumbled,flicking her tail angrily.

[Member]

"Then don't complain and there will be no yelling," Bengalbelly growled. "Now calm yourself before you come unfocused. I'm not going to train some mouse-brained kit and try to turn it into a warrior." He wasn't going to deal with this, not at all. He was enough of the kits in camp, he didn't need to be dealing with one on a daily basis. He refused to do that. As angry and irritated Bengalbelly may have been he didn't show it. His fur wasn't bristling, his tail wasn't lashing, not even his ears twitched. Only a calm and cold look showed in his eyes.

"And why do we need to do this," he continued on, "there's no since and using your energy to stalk a mouse so quietly if it's just as easy to catch as any other prey."

[Naruto]

"Because it can hear better than other prey!"Heatherpaw growled,her fur bristling. "Jeez,what do you think the kits do all day? Sit there?"

[Member]

"That's what I would think since you just got that answer wrong." He smirked and sat down, wrapping his tail around his paws. "That's a rabbit you're thinking. You need to be ;light on your feet with a mouse because it can feel your paw steps under the earth. You can be quiet all you want, but if you step too hard it'll know your there from fox-lengths away." It was a simple mistake, a mouse and a rabbit can be mixed up easily. He always got the procedures wrong when he practiced with his sister when he was younger.

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw sat down and stared at her mentor. "My mistake then,"she grumbled. She flicked her tail. "When can we hunt?"she asked,a little too enthusiastic.

[Member]

"We can hunt once you get these things down. This rain makes it harder to hunt, you can't just jump off and get into it, you'll need to learn more, and you'll need to practice. You'll be hunting soon, don't worry." He glanced around the area before opening his mouth and tasting the air. He cold only get the smell of fresh rain and leaves. He pricked his ears and listened then. He could hear rustling near by, prey was around, but he couldn't smell it. The trick of the rain.

"Now, tell me about birds. How do we go about catching those?"

[Naruto]

"Um..."Heatherpaw hesitated,thinking. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of her mentor,so she said,after moments of pause,"You.... hunt from upwind,so your scent doesn't reach them."

[Member]

That was... vague. "That's what you do for every prey. I want specifics." Bengalbelly knew she could do this, it wasn't very hard figuring out how to hunt for a bird. It was the same as hunting a vole only you had to be a lot more careful not to startle it.

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw looked down,ashamed. She couldn't figure out how to hunt for a stupid bird!! "Then you um...."

[Member]

Heatherpaw seemed to be having some trouble. The arrogance she showed before seemed to disappear. "Okay, you seem to be having some trouble. How about we skip the bird, how about we just skip everything. Learning how to catch every bird isn't that important, especially if most of them can be caught the same way." Bengalbelly felt uncomfortable now, his response was ... odd, strange for him. he was usually irritated when a cat couldn't figure out these simple things. Maybe it was because she was just an apprentice, she wouldn't know these things as well as the warriors he had to deal with every day.

"Hm..." he thought about what to do next. "How about you show me your best hunter's crouch. Don't try to get it too perfect, you're just starting out so it's not important it's flawless."

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw sighed in relief. "Thanks,"she mumbled,dropping into a crouch. She foucused more on keeping her weight distributed evenly over all four paws,but ended up in a lopsided crouch.

[Member]

Bengalbelly stood up and padded over to the apprentice. "Good, good. Not too bad for a first time. You're just tilted just a little bit to the side. A crouch like that can make you clumsy and loud." He put his paw on her and pushed down so she'd become more level. "This is a more proper position. It's still not perfect, but it'll do a lot better than what you had before. And it'll be a lot more comfortable." He nodded. "Now stay like that until you get a good feel for the way you're standing. When you think you've got it try redoing the stance to see if you fall in the same position. If you need an example yo hel you, just simply ask me."

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw nodded her thanks and stayed in that position for a moment,remembering the stance. Then she straightened,took a deep breath,and did a much better crouch. "Like this?"

[Member]

"Yes, that's great! You're tilted just a little bit, but for the first training session it's great. You'll be a pro at this no time if you catch on to everything as quick as you are now."

[Naruto]

Heatherpaw beamed with pride. "Now can we catch something?"

[Member]

"Now? Oh no, we need to see if you're silent enough on those paws of yours. You don't want to go hunting and find out that cats can here you all the way to the Gathering place and past, do you?" He tilted his head, as if he was asking a question, his eyes still narrowed all the while. "Unless... you think you've got it now and you want to try it on your own. There'd be a larger chance you wouldn't get it, and you might not get that big feeling of pride of knowing that your first time hunting you caught something. You wouldn't be able to brag to all the other apprentices, but instead keeping silent while they tell their stories. You want that now?"

[Naruto]

"Uh..."she mumbled,looking down. She brightened,looking up with her green eyes sparkling. "I'm gonna try to be quiet!"and she stalked around,keeping her paws light and not going to quickly,as to direct attention to her orange fur.

[Member]

Oh, really, Bengalbelly thought. Those word she just spoke were loud enough. What's worse was that she didn't even bother to do the first and most important thing. She had to use her ears and nose, but she didn't start out with that, she just started stalking away. How could she catch something if she didn't know where it was? He watched her stalk, she was... a little quiet. He could hear her clearly, maybe that was only because he was paying attention and probably straining his ears and... maybe not. Bengalbelly's fur bristled, he lashed his tail, his ears twitched, and he bared his teeth. As quickly as they came his movements disappeared. It was the sign of his irritation growing. He was ready to scold her now, but he knew he should just let her keep going, maybe she'd remember as she went on.

He scented the air. Again, he couldn't smell anything except for the smell of fresh rain and leaves. He pricked his ears then and listened, there was some rustling. He looked in it's direction. It was probably a forging mouse, would she hear the faint noises?

[Naruto]

"Oops,"she whispered,straining her ears as she remembered. She heard the mouse,and began stalking towards it. her eyes intent and large. She quickly determined after a few steps forward that it was a vole,not a mouse as she had earlier thought. She prepared to pounce....and it ran. She jumped and caught it's tail,then she ripped at it's throat to kill it before it got away.

[Member]

"Nice catch," Bengalbelly told her, irritation sneaking in to his voice. He smiled at her. She learned quickly. "Now, how does it feel to get your first catch with barely any training before hand?"

[Naruto]

"It feels good!"Heatherpaw purred. She picked up the mouse's limp form and brought it over to Bengalbelly,placing it on the ground. "Um,what do we do now?"

[Member]

"Hm... well, we can either stop now or start with a little battle training. I was going to wait till tomorrow for battle training, but if you want to do it now..." Bengalbelly was giving her a choice, he wouldn't normally do that, but what else would he do during the day?

[Sponsored content]