Let the training begin! [Autumn x Mistpaw]

[*Nimbles*]

Ooc||
Here we goooo

BiC||
Autumnstar padded out into the secret woodland and watched Mistpaw silently. Her nose wrinkled against the smell of bog mushrooms and new moss. Leaf-fall would be around soon.
"So today, i'll teach you how to hunt," she said and smiled.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw silently followed Autumnstar, ignoring the bad smell of the mushrooms. He eyes darted excitedly around the woods as they walked. Today is hunting! he grinned at the idea and watched Autumnstar happily. 'That sounds fun!' He meowed softly and with a confident smile. He couldn't wait to start his training, he was determined not to make Autumnstar sorry for choosing to have him as her apprentice, he would work extra hard to prove himself. He had always been irritated that he was so small, but he couldn't wait to show that he could be just as good a warrior as any other cat.

[*Nimbles*]

"You're quite like me, you know. You're small, you think, you use your brains more than most and most of all, your determined to prove yourself," she said. "So you never know, you could be Miststar one day," she said with a small smile over her shoulder. She found that if she boosted others confidence, they tended to work better, but she had spoken no lie. He was a fine cat! She flicked her tail and pulled into a a hunting mouse crouch. "Now you try," she said softly, watching him closely.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw grinned at her words. Miststar! He let it echo through his mind, he liked the sound of it. He looked carefully at Autumnstar and then tried to mimic her pose. His tail was straight up in excitement and his ears were pricked forward, wondering if he was doing it right. He studied Autumnstar again and then lowered his tail a little as he realized that he had it up too much. He was sure if he had lowered it enough though, he still had a little trouble telling where different parts of his body were. He looked up at Autumnstar, waiting for her comments, tips, anything to make him better at what he was going.

[*Nimbles*]

Se gently reared up on her back paws and nudged his tail so that it was touching his thigh and into the little crevice where his ribs and stomach join. "That's where your tail goes," she said and droped to her paws again. "You should be a little lower to the ground, but other than that. Fine." she said.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw smiled a little as his tail was put into place and he held it there, taking note of it in his mind. He lowered himself a little closer to the ground and smiled again, glad that he was doing good so far. He glanced at Autumnstar and crawled forward a little, still in his crouch. 'So this is how I do it when I hunt stuff?' he asked, finally saying something to his mentor. He wasn't a very talkative cat as a rule until he got to know the other cat pretty well, and even then he wasn't the most talkative cat around. He was already warming up to Autumnstar though, she was easy to be comfortable around.

[*Nimbles*]

"When you hunt mice, voles and shrews. When you hunt birds and rabbits, it's different. I'll teach you those later, but now, we need you tomaster this one." She watched him as he crawled forwards, his pace was perfect, but he needed to put more weight on his left side. She grinned and reared up suddenly and put some weight on his left side. "Feel better?" she said and smiled before letting go. She quickly looked around and opened her mouth to taste the air.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw smiled and nodded. 'Yeah, it does feel better.' He glanced up as he noticed that Autumnstar tasted the air. He sat up and imitated her. He caught a lot of scents, but he couldn't sort them out. He looked at her quizzically and put his head to the side. 'Do you smell something?' he asked curiously, flicking his ears around to see if he could hear anything of interest. Not being able to he flicked his tail in slight irritation and waited for her to answer, his misty gray eyes watching her intently.

[*Nimbles*]

"Mouse, squirrell and vole," she said faintly. She too inclined her head and listened intently. She couldn't hear anything either and twitched her tail. "If you can smell something but not hear it, you do this," she said. She pressed herself against the floor as if she was lying down. Her right ear cupped the floor and she could here the frantic scratchings of mice. "Listen," she said.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw put his head to the side curiously but imitated Autumnstar. He lowered himself onto the ground and then put an ear on the ground. He smiled and twitched his whiskers as he too heard the scratchings of mice. 'That's neat.' he whispered. 'I didn't know that you could do this to hear things better.' He closed his eyes and just listened, like he enjoyed doing so much. He was definately more of a listener than a talker, unless someone really got him riled up, which didn't happen very often. He twitched his tail over the ground as he listened, bumping a fallen leaf and sending it flying into the air.

[*Nimbles*]

Autumnstar reared up and batted the leaf playfully. Her emerald eyes glittered playfully. "That trick I just showed you isn't part of the whole training programme. Not all cats know it, or of it. Plus, soley ThunderClan know about it, no other Clan does. It's a big secret..." she said, half sadly. She felt that if all the Clans knew every little thing about hunting then there would be less reason to fight fo rmore territory. Escpecially in leaf-fall.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw put his head to the side. 'Why?' he asked flatly. He didn't really see the reason hunting techniques should be secrets, it wasn't a battle technique, so it couldn't get used agains't them, hunting was for survival, everyone should know about that... shouldn't they? His gray green eyes watched Autumnstar curiously, waiting for her answer. He wasn't being disrespectful, at least he wasn't trying to, but he wanted to learn. He wanted to know why about things, especially about this, what was good about secret hunting techniques?

[*Nimbles*]

"No idea," she said softly. "I've argued for us to tell everyone that secret, then RiverClan might tell us the secrets of hunting fish, WindClan might tell us how to hunt rabbits and ShadowClan might teach us to step silently. We wouldn't have to fight for territory anymore," she added. She looked a Mistpaw. She liked him. There was something quirky and curious about him. "But it's a Clan tradition, but even most of the ThunderClan cats don't know of it!" she said softly, slightly annoyed at the fact.

[~*Speckles*~]

Mistpaw smiled, he still didn't understand but he wasn't going to question his mentor, especially on the first day. 'Okay.' he consented simply. He looked at his paws, still wondering why on earth who would hide hunting techniques but decided he would think about it later. He turned his eyes back to Autumnstar, 'So now what?' he asked curiously, wondering what they would do next. His eyes showed that he was excited about learning, but also that he still didn't quite understand the secret that ThunderClan and all the clans had about hunting.

[*Nimbles*]

"Oh yes," she said and smiled. "What you will need to do in order to catch the mouse is step lightly," she said. She remembered when her mentor said that, she laughed at him and refused to do it. A bemused expression took over her face, still amused at her naive-ness. "Look," she said. She flicked her tail and dropped into her crouch. She drew her paws up slowly, making no impact on the floor.