we can be two birds of a feather `` copper&kite

[kite • claw]

The day was fair, or at least it was for now. A scattering of wispy clouds painted the sky, and behind them, the sun burned brightly. Perhaps a bit too brightly, thought the she-cat as she walked, the parched grasses of the moor crunching under her pads. It's been way too hot recently. Still, I guess we should be glad, as it's beginning to cool down. In fact, the weather was swinging back to its normal cycle after the rainstorm that had gripped the land for two days. Kiteclaw could now bring her apprentice out during normal hours, instead of having to wake up at the crack of dawn.

The blotched warrior swung around to peer at her apprentice, a little she-cat named Copperpaw. She could not help but notice the way the sunlight glinted off the young cat's coat, giving it a beautiful russet sheen. Kiteclaw could not help but feel a small twinge of jealousy as she thought of her own boring monochrome pelt.

She shook off these thoughts. No time to be vain now, the warrior chided herself. The pair traveled in silence for a while longer, until they approached a dip in the earth. There, an old badger set lay, the musty scent of its old inhabitant still pervading the air. Kiteclaw wrinkled her nose a bit at the smell.

"Well, Copperpaw," she meowed, turning to her apprentice. "Today's lesson will be on recognizing scents and perhaps a bit of hunting practice as well." Kiteclaw motioned with her tail to the hole dug into the hillside. "Tell me, do you know what that scent is?"

kiteclaw,,

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[! C O P P E R P A W]

Copperpaw bounced along in her typical fashion, scenting the spring air and blinking at the pale blue sky. The rain was still there, lingering on the wind, and it smoothed her russet fur and gave it a gentle sheen. Copperpaw shifted uncomfortably under her mentor's gaze, turning her head to examine the scraggly bushes that hid the abandoned badger set. They had been moving in silence for a while now, but Copperpaw gave a squeak of excitement as they neared the training hollow, where mentors and apprentices could fight and learn from one another.

"I wonder where the badger went,"

[/color] she murmured, almost to herself. Bounding on ahead, she almost pushed through the brambles, before she realized that she was being too enthusiastic. Her mentor would tell her what to do and when to do it. Fighting a sigh of sadness, Copperpaw turned and waited for her mentor.

Kiteclaw had followed Copperpaw patiently, her black and white pelt glinting in the light. Copperpaw felt herself staring at the she-cat, amber eyes wide on her orange ones. She gazed into the tangerine depths without a hint of embarassment.

"Well, Copperpaw,"[/color] she meowed, turning to face the tiny apprentice, who sat up straight and wrapped her tail around her paws. It was unusual for her, seeing as she was full of energy and curiosity that usually got the best of her. "Today's lesson will be on recognizing scents and perhaps a bit of hunting practice as well."[/color]

Copperpaw bit back a squeal of happiness. She was finally an apprentice! Finally, she would begin her training. Stripestar had held the ceremony earlier that week, and there were tons of new apprentices for the warriors to train. She thought of them, each in turn. They had proudly moved into the apprentice den together, and she was sleeping between Dustpaw and Caramelpaw, although the latter was in Cinderdust's den at the moment. The medicine cat wanted to be sure that Caramelpaw was fully healed before she began training as an apprentice.

She snapped back to attention as Kiteclaw shifted position. "Tell me, do you know what that scent is?" she waved her tail towards the opening in the bracken, and Copperpaw took a deep breath, promptly choking on the stench.

"B-badger,"[/color] she coughed, eyes watering. Her mother had told her about the training hollow when she was still a kit in the nursery. "They're big and black and white and mean and they have sharp claws and teeth and tiny black eyes and - "[/color] she ran out of air. Gulping to fill her lungs once more, Copperpaw began to cough on the putrid scent that filled the air. Slowly, she adjusted, until she could breathe without gagging. Gazing dubiously past her mentor, Copperpaw sighed inwardly. This was going to be harder than she thought.

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The black and white warrior waited patiently as her sprightly apprentice inhaled deeply, coughing on the air as it reached her lungs. "B-badger... they're big and black and white and mean and they have sharp claws and teeth and tiny black eyes and - " Copperpaw choked out, unable to finish. Kiteclaw just smiled at her apprentice. This fit of coughing would normally be a concern, but the young she-cat would be able to get over it quickly as she was only just unused to the scent.

"Correct, Copperpaw," Kiteclaw meowed, flashing her apprentice a smile. The russet cat had quieted down now, able to breathe without coughing much. Good, she adjusted quickly, thought the warrior. Although, her reaction was a bit dramatic. Perhaps her sense of smell is above average. I'll remember that, in case it comes in handy later.

"A badger used to have its home here, but it's long gone. The scent here is rather stale, so if you ever bumped into a real one, it would smell much stronger."

[/color] Kiteclaw paused, and turned her head to the sky for a brief moment. She lowered her head again, glancing at her apprentice. "On the topic of smell,"[/color] she continued, "Can you pick out anything else besides for the badger scent?"[/color]

The splotched she-cat bit her lip, waiting for a response from the little copper she-cat in front of her. A crease buried itself into her forhead. I hope I'm doing this right, she worried. She'd never been a mentor before, and her own lessons were just a fuzzy memory in her past. She gave a little sigh; she could already tell this mentoring thing was going to be a bit complicated.

kiteclaw,,

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"correct, copperpaw,"

[/color] the black and white warrior flashed a smile towards the golden apprentice, who smiled in return and prided herself in an answer well given. The scent was less shocking now, and she breathed it in almost normally, her whiskers twitching.

"a badger used to have its home here, but it's long gone. the scent here is rather stale, so if you ever bumped into a real one, it would smell much stronger." Copperpaw wrinkled her pink nose in disgust. Ew. Hopefully she would never ever meet one of these creatures. It would probably scare her half to death, not to mention the disgusting reek of the creatures! "on the topic of smell, can you pick out anything else besides the badger scent?"

Tilting her head to one side, the small fiery apprentice sniffed cautiously, trying to scent past the strong smell of badger that filled her nose. Her amber eyes closed as scents flooded in - fresh rain, flowers, new growth, warm sunshine. Trying to concentrate, Copperpaw's eyes snapped open as she caught a whiff of something new.

"i smell something that smells kind of woody, like trees,"[/color] she meowed, her brow crinkling as she tried to fathom what kind of creature would live in trees. She pictured the fresh kill pile, wondering if any of the creatures there shared this same scent. None came to mind.

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The little she-cat tilted her head carefully, musing about her mentor's question. Kiteclaw watched her apprentice straining her senses to capture a scent. The black and white warrior's request had been rather vague, so if Copperpaw were lazy, she could have already said something easy, like new grass. However, Kiteclaw could already see that the rust-furred she-cat was going above and beyond.

Copperpaw blinked her eyes and replied. "I smell something woody, like trees," she said, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. Kiteclaw nodded, tracing the woody scent her apprentice was talking about. "You're probably smelling RiverClan. ThunderClan is most well known for its forests, but RiverClan has quite a few trees as well. They're just more known for their... ah, fish scent."

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Kiteclaw gestured around with her tail. "Can you identify anything else, maybe something that smells more familiar? Something like, say, prey?" The blotched she-cat knew of a rabbit den not too far away from here; she came here often on her solo hunts, and many times she had chased rabbits only to have them disappear down the same hole. It made her wonder if she happened upon the same rabbit every time, or if there were several living in there. She had caught the rabbit once just before it slipped down, but the next day, she chased a rabbit right into the same hole. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, or maybe it was a known hideout among the rabbit community.

Kiteclaw shook her head and focused her attention back on her apprentice. "Well, what can you scent out?"

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"you're probably smelling RiverClan. ThunderClan is most well known for its forests, but RiverClan has quite a few trees as well. they're just more known for their . . . ah, fish scent."

[/color] Kiteclaw's nose wrinkled just as Copperpaw's did, and the golden apprentice felt a spark of companionship already forming between them. It was always important to get along well with your mentor - the tiny she-cat had seen plenty of pairings that just didn't work. But she had a feeling that this one was going to be just fine.

"can you identify anything else, maybe something that smells more familiar? something like, say, prey?"

Frowning, Copperpaw faced into the wind, which was gently blowing her pelt, ruffling the streaked ambers and golds that ran through it. She closed her round eyes and breathed deeply, trying to catch a scent, any scent, that would make Kiteclaw proud.

"erm, i smell rabbit, i think,"[/color] she had scented the earthy smell often on other Clanmate's pelts, after they were hunting or after they had finished eating the lean animal. She liked it enough, although from what she had heard, they were difficult to catch.

"how would i catch a rabbit, Kiteclaw?"[/color] She sat down, preparing for a fascinating explanation. She had always loved the idea of hunting or running around the territory, searching for scents and just feeling the wind running through her pelt. It was something she had never done before, and she would have loved to try it just about then.

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I totally did not forget about this >__>

The apprentice faced into the wind, nose upturned. "Erm, I smell rabbit... I think," she mewed after a while.

Kiteclaw briefly tasted the air just to confirm it was rabbit scent blowing towards the pair. "Right, Copperpaw. That's the scent of rabbit, which is the main prey of WindClan. I'll assume that you already know what it looks like so I'll skil that part."

Suddenly, the little she-cat turned to her mentor, eyes wide. "How would I catch a rabbit, Kiteclaw?" she queried.

The black and white warrior smiled. "I was just getting there. The first and most important rule when hunting rabbit is to check the wind. Always. There is very little cover here in WindClan territory, so we can't hide behind trees and ambush our prey like our neighbors in ShadowClan and ThunderClan. No, hunting rabbits takes real skill." Here she paused, to sort out her thoughts. "Okay. So, first, check the wind. You always want the rabbit's scent to come to you; if you are stalking and you can't scent it any more, don't bother looking for it. It will have already scented you and it'll be gone by the time you reorient yourself. Secondly, you must watch your paws when in your hunter's crouch. Rabbits have a very keen sense of hearing, so if you rustle grass unnaturally, even slightly, it'll pick up on it. So, you must place your paws very gently when stalking, like so."

Kiteclaw demonstrated to her apprentice what she meant. She fell swiftly into the hunting position, and placed her paws slowly on the ground, rolling it from heel to toe as she did so. "This is called a 'roll-walk'," she explained to Copperpaw, still sitting by the side. "If you are starting out, it helps to reduce the noise and vibration of your footsteps. This type of walk takes more time to execute than normal stalking, so as you become more experienced, you will depend less on this and more on lighter, faster stepping."

The warrior felt she was being quite verbose, and so invited her apprentice to try out the hunting techniques she had just showed her. Kiteclaw padded to the end of the hollow, turning her back to her apprentice. "Pretend I'm a rabbit, and try to creep up behind me without me hearing," instructed the she-cat.