[aergia]

Username: aergia (previosuly sweet pompeii)
Link to Clan: OceanClan
Name: Eaglefeather
Gender: Tom
Rank: Warrior
Age: 47 moons
First Hunting Experience: (400 words)

“You want to know about what!?” Eaglefeather shrieked at his apprentice.

“Your first hunting experience? It’s not that confusing, is it?” she asked, confused at his reaction.

“Oh, well, er, I guess not,” he paused. “Are you sure you it’s my first hunt that you want to know about? Why not ask Sealstar or Sedgefur? They’d be more than happy to oblige and I’m sure it’s much more interesting than mine.”

“But you’re my mentor!” she whined.

“Oh fine, but no laughing at me. And sit down.”

She squealed in delight

“Well, I hadn’t been in OceanClan for long. Sealstar mentored me. Intimidating, I know.” He shot his apprentice a look. “And you thought I was bad.”

“Well, one day Sealstar took me on my first hunt. And, as a former kittypet, I had never stalked, let alone hunted anything in my life.”

“Where was I? Ah, Sealstar took me to the edge of the stream, where it’s shallow enough to wade through. I thought she would ask me to get wet, a horrifying thought, but it was much worse than that.”

“Worse than wading through the stream?”

“Much, much worse. We were hunting birds that day, Sealstar thought I would be good at it because of my pelt colour. We had to wait for prey for a while, it was almost leaf-bare and many of the birds had left for the year. It felt like the sun was going to set by the time Sealstar spotted a finch sitting on the branches of a rather small alder tree. But it was prey, so up I climbed.”

Eaglefeather took a deep breath, looking at his apprentice. “At this point, I was only a few cat-lengths away from the finch. It had no idea I was there. I was a branch across from it and had to leap over to catch it.”

“I can see where this is headed.” His apprentice giggled.

“I caught the bird between my claws and swiftly gave it the killing bite. However, I had overbalanced and was falling at the same time. The stream was below me. I don’t think I’ve ever been colder in my life. The worst part was walking back to camp, finch clutched between my teeth and soaking wet.”

His apprentice was madly laughing as Eaglefeather gave her a playful bat on the nose.

“Don’t tell anyone.” He said, knowing she would.

[alokesti]

Username: alokesti
Link to Clan: rushclan
Name: ottercloud
Gender: she-cat (female)
Rank: warrior
Age: thirty moons
First Hunting Experience: "come on otterpaw, get lower! your prey will see you coming way before you can even scent them," otterpaw's mentor scolded.
"i'm trying wolfpelt, its hard," the apprentice whispered the complaint. "all you have to do is lower your rump a bit," the tom chuckled.
"that's a lot easier to say then to do, wolfpelt," the apprentice snapped back, not appreciating his teasing. wolfpelt walked over to otterpaw and placed his paw gently on her back and pushed. "there, now hold it like that,"
"it hurts!" otterpaw growled.
"you have to let your muscles get used to it, otterpaw," the tom muttered and turned around to face her but instead came face to face with a cloud of dust where otterpaw was once standing. she was gone.
"otterpaw?"
otterpaw was frolicking through the woods after some brightly colored insect with wings. "what are you?" otterpaw pondered aloud. her head was cocked to the side as she watched the strange thing land on a flower.
"you act like you've never seen a butterfly before," her mentor teased.
"a what?" otterpaw asked, confusion written on her face. "a butterfly," wolfpelt repeated, slower this time.
"wow! a butterfly," the apprentice repeated, excitement heavy in her voice.
wolfpelt chuckled, "come on, we have to get back to training,"
"but i don't want to learn how to hunt," she whined. "i just want to play with this butterfly!" she meowed.
"otterpaw, they are everywhere, you can see them anytime," the tom replied with an eye roll and annoyance heavy in his tone.
"fine," otterpaw huffed and jogged back to the training fields. she looked back one last time to get a final glimpse of her first butterfly.

[22tabby]

Mark

[Sabatea]

Username: Sabatea
Link to Clan: TreeClan
Name: Bramblefoot
Gender: Tom
Rank: Warrior
Age: 15 moons
First Hunting Experience: (min: 50 words, max: 400)

I made my way out onto the large limb of Heart Tree, following behind Maplestar. I was already frustrated with the older cat's slow pace, and was studiously ignoring his "wise" words. I was already amazing at catching moss balls and feathers! It couldn't be any harder than that.
"Bramplepaw, are you listening?" Maplestar murmured.
"No." I replied haughtily, "I already know all of this."
"Oh?" He purred, turning to look at me over his shoulder. "My apologies then."
Suddenly, he charged forward, and the tree limb we were standing on bucked underneath me, almost throwing me off. I gripped it with my claws just in time, and I yelled after him, but he was already leaping across to another tree. I sprinted after him, just barely managing to keep my balance on the swaying branch. Before I had time to think about it, I launched myself after him, desperate to keep up and prove myself.
He stopped suddenly, his body halting in an instant. I wasn't quite so fast, and I barreled into his rear.. He managed to stay rock still, and I was knocked backwards away from him. I started to exclaim my feelings to him about that, but he laid his tail across my muzzle, silencing me. He turned and leaned towards me then, whispering in my ear, "Do you see the bird?"
I forced myself to give up my indignation, and look around instead. I saw the bird almost immediately. A male cardinal. I nodded slowly.
"Try to catch it." Maplestar murmured, nudging me infront on him. He sat down, and seemed entirely unwilling to help me.
I held my head high, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing how nervous I was. I instead focused on my task, crouching and stalking towards the bird on the limb. I tried to keep as steady as I could, so as to avoid moving the tree.
Suddenly, the bird startled, and in my desperation I leapt after it, releasing my hold altogether on my branch. I realized my mistake almost immediately, and my claws barely grasped the tail of the bird, ripping out a single feather. The feather remained caught in my claw as I plummeted downwards.
And that was how I managed to wind up in the medicine cat's den on my first hunting day, with only a single feather to show for my efforts.
(399/400)

[~HєуRєι~]

2 Day warning! Closing in on the end date!

[Areater]

username: areater
link to clan: blitheclan
name: thrushleap
gender: she-cat
rank: warrior -- future medicine cat
age: twenty-three moons
first hunting experience:
"i bet you can't catch a mouse, debbie," warren taunted from the rafters. his dark fur was lightly dusted with hay, giving him a dull appearance, but his eyes were bright with excitement. a half-eaten mouse sat next to him, and although debbie knew he had no intention of finishing it, she also knew if she asked for a bite he would just hide it from her. "of course not, you scared them all away," she retorted, gesturing towards his kill. he rolled his golden eyes at her, picking the mouse up by the tail in his jaws and hopping down to the barn floor. "it doesn't have to be now. i'd caw like a rooster if you managed to catch one before the sun falls." with a haughty swish of his tail, he headed towards his favorite sunbathing spot. debbie's fur bristled with annoyance. "i'll show you how to catch a mouse," she muttered.
it had been hours without success, but each time she got a little closer. that last time she had almost snagged one! as she watched a mouse peek a pink nose out of a pile of old hay, she fell into a haphazard hunting crouch and waited. she struggled to control her excited breathing as the mouse ventured outwards towards a seed. it's leg dragged behind it as it moved, clearly limping from a past injury. that was okay - warren didn't need to know it was crippled. with a cry, she pounced, landing sloppily on it's tail. shocked that she had trapped it, she hit it with a paw, dazing it. tasha, an old calico barncat, chuckled as she watched. "debbie, you have to bite it!" she laughed. embarrassed but thrilled, debbie crunched down on it and felt...horrible. she spat it out and stared at the now still form, almost expecting it to move. now it just seemed kind of pathetic that it took her this long to kill such a tiny creature. "good job!" tasha praised, and debbie thanked her and picked it up to go show off to warren. somehow, though, she wasn't as excited as she thought she'd be. she'd much rather observe the mice and maybe eat one someone else had killed than do this again.

375 // 400

[wolfpack12]

Username: wolfpack12
Link to Clan: Crescentclan
Name: Oliver, Oakpaw, Oakclaw
Gender: tom
Rank: warrior
Age: 33 moons
First Hunting Experience:

The chocolate brown tabby kit, silently stalked forwards. His paws slightly sinking into the snow, as he crept up on the unsuspecting robin. It took all of his will power, to not let his excitement get the better of him. Once he was close enough, he then crouched and waited for the right moment to strike. Upon seeing his chance, he then leapt forwards." Gotcha!", he cried out. Only to then find himself landing face first in the snow. Coughing slightly as he lifted his head up, before glaring up at the branch above him. As the robin he had been hunting watched him with clear amusement from its perch.

Warm laughter was what caught the young kit's attention. Causing the tabby to glance in the noise's direction. Pale green eyes, meeting warm amber ones." I thought you said you were hunting birds, not unsuspecting snow, Oliver", the older tom said. A warm smile appearing on the toms face, as he moved over to his son. Gently grabbing Oliver by the back of his neck, and lifting him out of the snow. Causing the young tom to release a huff, as he flattened his ears." I was, but you make hunting look so much easier than it actually is, dad", he replied. Earning another chuckle from his father, as he was placed down.

" Every first hunt will end in failure, not even my first hunt was a success", the older tom said. Causing Oliver to glance up in disbelief. Surely his father was bluffing." Really?", he asked uncertainly. His ears lifting upwards slightly, as his father smiled once more. The battle scarred tom now taking a seat next to him, as both cats stared at the garden in front of them." Yes, I tried to hunt down a rabbit, but ended up with my head getting stuck in a fence, nearly lost my voice with how much I cried out for help", he replied. Earning a small giggle from his son.

" My point is, no one is perfect, not even me, all we need to do is keep trying, and we will eventually succeed", he added. Glancing down at the chocolate brown tabby kit, who was now cuddled into his side." How about we try again tomorrow, just the two of us?", he asked. Earning both a small nod and a happy smile in reply.

"I'd like that"

[~HєуRєι~]

Closes today at 9 pm PST! Get your forms done! No extensions will be given!

[mackstarr]

Username: mackstarr

Link to Clan: Pineclan

Name: Talloak

Gender: male

Rank: warrior

Age: 60 moons

First Hunting Experience: note// Mapleclan was the clan that existed before my clan, Pineclan. Talloak would be old enough to have been there before it dispersed.

Tallpaw gazed up at the towering cliffs over his head. The clouds soared above him and he gulped. There had been more apprentices than normal in Mapleclan, so he had been assigned in a group of three to a single mentor. The other two apprentices were much older than him and had been previously promised that they would be choosing the hunting location for the next session. Tallpaw knew they chose the cliffs so that they could laugh at the newbie. The silver-coated female beside him snickered and he flattened his ears, suddenly very aware of the harsh wind ripping across the flatlands. Their mentor, a very large black tom, stood behind the three stoically. "Tallpaw," he said evenly. "You may opt to hunt on the flatlands since this is your first time." Tallpaw saw the other two apprentices exchange a snicker. He shook his head in response. "Very well," his mentor responded, sitting down. Tallpaw caught a glimpse of curiosity in his eyes.

The older apprentices looked at Tallpaw smugly and began to scale the cliff-face. Tallpaw watched them for a few moments, swallowed his fear, and grabbed onto a protruding stone in front of him. His back feet scrabbled to get a grip, but soon his claws met a clump of grass and he levered himself upward. He got the hang of climbing faster than he expected to, but tried to remain as close to the stone as possible so the harsh wind did not knock him off. It was only once he had reached a flat area many fox-lengths in the air, did he dare to turn and gaze down at his mentor. The big cat looked like a mouse and the young tom's stomach flipped. He sat back and stared at the clouds above him, his heart thudding against his ribcage. He knew the other apprentices would come back with prey. He had to show them he wasn't the joke they thought he was. He lifted his face to the buffeting wind and sniffed. A scent drifted to him. He crept toward it silently.

A bit later, he dropped to the flatland earth once more. His arrival was met by two hanging jaws and a slight smile of approval. He released his grip on his catch and let the young hawk in his teeth fall to the ground with pride swelling in his chest. [ 398/400 ]

[dimi.]

Good luck all!