#netwad

MoonPaw shook her pelt, bending her back and stretching out her paws. Her jaws gaped wide open and a yawn escaped from her throat. She blinked slowly, squinting out the sleep in her eyes.

In the nest beside hers, JewelPaw snored lightly as she laid flat on the mossy bedding, peacefully dozing off as if there wasn’t a single worry in the world. MoonPaw rolled her eyes, the edges of her mouth rising to form a light, cheeky smile, and sat up, slowly padding over to JewelPaw’s cozy little safe-zone.

“Hey, grizzly-snores, wake up. It’s about time you woke, or do you wanna keep on slacking off?” MoonPaw teased as she poked at JewelPaw with her paws, prodding her sister awake. JewelPaw groaned out an illegible murmur in frustration and slowly raised her heavy eyelids, barely awake.

“What time is it…?” She mumbled.

“Mm, how about you go check for yourself? Anyway, I’m going off to train with RipplePad. I can see him waiting. Also, your fur is covered in strands of moss; go clean it. Yeesh, I didn’t even know any living cat could sleep as intensely as you! If any of the other trainees slept in the same dorm as you, they’d think you’re dead!” MoonPaw teased, poking her sister one last time just to annoy her. With that, she shot up and trotted out of the trainees’ apartment. As she poked her head out of the entrance, she could see that in the living area of camp, the clowder’s warriors were already as active as ever, the pensioners sitting in their little corner, the bushy little sap tree casting a cool, shady shadow above their heads. A hunting mission group padded towards the camp exit, and the defenders nodded to the prey-foragers as they passed through the opening. In the middle of camp sat RipplePad, flicking his tail as he slowly looked around, surely impatient.

MoonPaw ran down the ledge that led from the Apprentice Dorms to the living area, her pawsteps sending small pebbles tumbling down the hard, sturdy slope. Above her head was a coverage of vines and the leaves of the saskatoon bushes that grow around the little slope’s perimeter, hiding the path from any invaders. Running down the ledge, she slowed down as she reached the bramble bushes hiding the entrance to the slope, and turned around to find the exit. She slid out of the steep dirt slope, and quickly bound to the living area.

As she pranced forward, sunlight blinded her eyesight, a clear day with barely any clouds; a daydream came true for any cat of Sun’s Clowder. Though pure sunlight shone brightly on the cats’ camp, the soil beneath her light, bouncy paws felt fresh and damp from the minuscule sunshower from last star-time.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting for you since sun-up!” RipplePad hissed as she came into his sight, tail up and fur messy.

“Oops, sorry, it’s just that I had a dream about batting and chasing a squirrel, it felt so real! I was probably just poking JewelPaw the whole time, heh.” MoonPaw replied with a smirk.

“Well, you still have training to do! Where’s your sister?” RipplePad lightly batted at her ears as a demonstration of his frustration, and raised his head, looking around for any sign of MoonPaw’s slightly younger sister.

“Oh, she got moss on her pelt. I told her to clean herself.” MoonPaw replied cooly, flicking her left ear.

“She still needs to train, come on, go get her! NetWad’s been waiting forever, too. You little furballs better hurry!” RipplePad urged MoonPaw forward, and she groaned, pouting, as she stood up to head towards the trainee dorm.

As she returned up the ledge and reached their dorm’s entrance, she peeked into the archway and spotted JewelPaw slacking off once again. She groaned and rolled her eyes; she stomped towards JewelPaw and started to rouse her sister from her perfect nap, nagging at JewelPaw to get her to stir.

After a bit, MoonPaw returned with JewelPaw, who was lazily dragging herself over to NetWad with force. NetWad nodded at MoonPaw and directed his attention towards JewelPaw. Without any interest in listening to her sister’s incoming lecture, MoonPaw hopped over to RipplePad and shook her pelt excitedly. “So, what’re you gonna teach me today?” She mewed.

RipplePad snorted. “Probably a lesson on how to get out of your den on time.”

MoonPaw grinned, rolling her eyes sarcastically. “Hey…but seriously, what’re we gonna do?”

“Hm…” RipplePad slowly rolled his eyes to face the other direction in hesitation, and shot his eyes back towards his trainee. “How about…hunting?”

MoonPaw’s eyes lit up. “REALLY? YES!” Her ears shot up in glee.

“Shhh…keep your volume down! You’re so loud you could even scare a yak away!” RipplePad joked teasingly, placing his tail on her head. “Alright, enough, let’s get going.” RipplePad rose up, and so did MoonPaw. They headed towards the exit, and the defenders ArumZephyr and TangyStripe nodded as they passed.

As they padded through the vast yet lively sylvan, RipplePad came to a stop and tilted his head to face MoonPaw, and began speaking. “Alright, we’ll practice here. Ready?”

“Yep!” MoonPaw replied enthusiastically, the tip of her tail flicking in joy.

“‘Kay, then let’s jump to the first step of a successful hunt- use your nose.” RipplePad’s tail brushed against her pelt, raising his head, drinking in the scent of the woodland surrounding them.

MoonPaw examined RipplePad’s position for a moment and lifted her head as well, taking light sips of the mixed scent around her by inhaling sharply with focus.

RipplePad lowered his head and asked, “Good job. Now, let me ask you- what did you smell?”

MoonPaw hesitated for a moment, trying to sort out the jumbled fragrances and odors that flew into her nasal passages. “Mm, I think…I think I smelled some yarrow around here, ew…some faint pine…pine tree, yes, and…”

RipplePad waited for her to answer, a calming, tranquil sense in his gaze, signaling her not to rush.

“...I think I smell prey!” MoonPaw gasped, noticing that this could be her first-ever hunt. RipplePad smiled, a friendly look on his face, and said, “Took you long enough. Smells like a woodrat, come on.”

They padded a few steps forward, RipplePad taking careful, silent steps, and MoonPaw attempting to avoid the branches and anything crunchy and loud when stepped on.

Successfully, they avoided a large clump of dried willow leaves and came to a pause. RipplePad flicked his ear and squatted down, forming a hunter’s crouch. He looked up at MoonPaw, and meowed, “Come on. You trained, you know what to do.”

MoonPaw looked around, and nodded, mimicking RipplePad’s steady crouch. She could feel the leaf litter around her as her whiskers brushed past it when she lowered her head silently, making her muzzle twitch. She silently waited for RipplePad to nod, a sign that her stance is accurate. RipplePad narrowed his eyes, focusing on the cinnamon and cream woodrat sitting in front of their eyes. With a quick bob of the head from her mentor, MoonPaw took one small step forward and lifted her body up, plunging towards the one course meal placed before her very eyes.

Her claws slammed onto the woodrat’s body, and she could feel it frantically squirming beneath her two front paws; helpless, high-pitched shrieks escaping from the gaps of her claws. She lifted up away one paw, the other firmly holding her tiny victim’s head in place, and hunkered down her neck to grasp the woodrat between her fangs, champing into its crisp and fragile spine. With that, the woodrat’s squeaks and squawks faded away into silence, and hung lifelessly between MoonPaw’s jaws, tiny streams of scarlet blood slowly dripping down from where her teeth were sunk in. She could taste the fresh drops of hot blood trickle down onto her tongue, relishing a taste that she rarely gets to savour due to the prey back in camp not being as fresh as this newly slaughtered delight.

MoonPaw looked back at RipplePad, a delightful and accomplished look in her eyes. “I MIT ID!” She beamed while the woodrat in between her jaws muffled her cheery voice, its body still warm. RipplePad gently flicked her ears with his tail, chuckling.

“Yeah, I know, seagull-squawks, I saw it. Nice job, rookie. Proud of ya’.” He praises teasingly, giving her an approving gaze.

MoonPaw drops the woodrat onto the forest floor to speak, delighted. “Thank you! Do we bring the woodrat back to camp, now? I can’t wait to savour my first kill!”

“‘Course we do, kid! Let’s go.” RipplePad chuckled, and flicked his tail, signaling for MoonPaw to follow as he slowly padded away in front of her.

MoonPaw blinked, and craned down to pick up the woodrat, the proud gaze still lasting on her face, and trotted over to RipplePad, her paws bouncing with joy.

As they trod back to camp, MoonPaw’s tail was perched high in the air, seeming if a rainstorm had begun pouring down right now, lightning could easily mistake it as a lightning rod and shoot her down.

When they finally arrived to camp, grasping her kill in between her teeth. Her mentor gave her a quick nod of the head, and she strode over to her favorite spot to settle as she prepared to devour the woodrat she’d freshly caught with her patience and skill.

As she chomped down on the woodrat, her mouth flooded with the glorious taste of pride and satisfaction, the tender meat melting on her tongue with each chew. “Geez, food tastes better when I catch it myself.” She purred silently to herself, beaming with the gratification of finally being able to hunt her own quarry.

As she was peacefully swimming inside her own delightful thoughts, a sharp “Hey” shot her all the way back out of the tunnel where she pleasantly resided, knocking her back to reality. She blinked rapidly for a moment, and slowly tilted her head upwards to identify the unfortunate soul that barged into her safe space, feeling vexed and ready to fume at the to-be victim.

She managed to contain her annoyance as she glanced up to see TwigPaw, the pleasant yet whimsy and fragile apprentice. She sighed, and flicked her tail at him, signaling for him to sit. He was a burnt umber tom, his buttercream colored underbelly standing out well in contrast to the rest of his pelt, a soothing merger of color for one’s sore eyes.

“Hi, you seem to be enjoying your meal, MoonPaw.” TwigPaw meowed as he loafed down beside her, his limbs hidden underneath his body.

MoonPaw rolled her eyes, giving him a sarcastic tone but not showing him any ignorance. “I sure was until you snapped me out of it. So, you’re not gonna eat?” She questioned, once again taking another large bite out of her woodrat.

“Oh, I’m not very hungry. Anyways, how’d you do? Was it hard trying to hunt?” TwigPaw replied, a little bit of awe beaming out of his voice as he shifted the topic to hunting.

MoonPaw shook her head. “No, it was easy. Detect prey, stalk prey, kill prey, eat prey! Yeah, pretty much it.” She explained candidly, her tone of voice blunt.

TwigPaw blinked and chuckled, sounding slightly confused. “Oh, then I guess your hunt was pretty perfunctory!” He began to grin, an anxious smile rising from his muzzle.

MoonPaw hesitated, trying to decipher exactly what TwigPaw had just chuckled about. “Oh. …What’s ‘perfunctory’ mean?” She narrowed her eyes in confusion, swallowing the last remains of woodrat meat as she looked straight at TwigPaw, waiting for a reply of some sort.

TwigPaw fidgeted with a rock on the cool, moist soil beneath them and sighed. “Oh, I just meant that your hunt must’ve been easy, you know?”

MoonPaw let out an "Oh" of understanding and nodded slowly. “Yeah, it was. I’m getting pretty full, and I bet you’re starting to get hungry now. Here, have the rest of my woodrat! I’m gonna’ go find JewelPaw for now.” She brought herself up, prodding the woodrat remains over to TwigPaw, and left tail up, appeased with her small but fulfilling meal. She slid down the path to the main camp and looked around, hoping to catch JewelPaw around, greeting DamPaw and RiseHollow as she passed by.

After a while of searching around camp, she slumped down onto her nest, groaning as she toyed with the grass strands poking out of the cushy moss bedding, exhausted after a day of sprinting around camp trying to find JewelPaw. Who knew a training session could take as long as JewelPaw’s never-ending beauty sleep? She thought to herself, pouting.