[The Cannibal]

Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx

FeatherPaw flinched simply at the sight of GrouseStar, and she discreetly stepped back, avoiding his gaze. She was trembling with anxiety, and her nervousness wasn't very difficult to spot. Before looking away, she had managed to sneak a quick glance at him, admiring his confident nature. Her belly fur brushed against the ground, and her tail was curled at her flank. She was obviously attempting to appear as small as possible.

She did, however, find some comfort in his lighthearted tone. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to help her relax. FeatherPaw could only nod in response to his questions. She had even attempted to speak, but nothing escaped past her parted lips. She closed her mouth, shifting away from GrouseStar by a few more kittensteps.

She always felt guilty after acting this way around another cat, but she couldn't help it. Anxiety controlled her, and it demanded her to shy away from those willing to approach her. FeatherPaw, though, strongly disliked her own nature. She believed she could be much more than a worried she-cat. She often dreamed of herself being a self-confident, carefree molly, but honestly, she struggled to see herself like that. Sure, she had once been like that, but that was only around one cat - her mother-figure, the cat who raised her. The only cat she had ever been open around was her deceased guardian, Shrike. Together, they were a troublesome duo who would often disrupt the peace of their housefolk's home.

With a quiet cough to clear her throat, FeatherPaw gathered the courage to briefly look at her mentor. What got her attention most was his smile, and with the slight tip of his head, she had to admit his adorableness. He reminded her of a curious kitten, which caused a breathy giggle from herself. She hadn't heard herself laugh in ages, but she didn't like the sound. She flattened her ears at her opinion of her own laugh, and averted her gaze from GrouseStar's line of vision. She even shuffled her body in her attempt to make herself smaller. FeatherPaw, in this moment, wished she could just become invisible. Nobody would miss me anyway, She concluded. Tears threatened to flood her eyes, but she was quick to blink them away. She wouldn't dare shed a single tear in front of anybody.

She tried to clear her mind of the depressing, haunting thoughts to focus on training, but she couldn't. Heck, training didn't excite her in the smallest. She couldn't find an interest in it. Really, she just wanted to curl up in her nest and sleep forever. FeatherPaw couldn't feel pain in her sleep.

{I'm so sorry about how late this reply is!}

The brown tabby wasn't phased as he saw his apprentice visibly flinch as he approached, he knew what he was getting himself into when he elected himself as her mentor, he couldn't expect her to randomly be cured of whatever shyness or fear she held on the first day of training, or at the first sight of him one on one with her, but he planned to try and help her throughout the moons he would spend with her, that was his goal. Besides, just about every apprentice was nervous on the first day of training! It was something new, the first time that their parents weren't right behind them, they were there with just their mentor, a cat they most of the time hadn't really known beforehand. So really, Grousestar expected any apprentice to be like this on their first day of training.

So while he wouldn't be able to 'cure' her of any sort of fear or nervousness, the tom could try and make her feel as relaxed and as comfortable as ever and so he kept his light-hearted, gentle tone, a tone he used with all cats of the clan, to make them feel at ease because sometimes he feels they treat him differently because he was the leader, and that's not something he wanted.

Seeing her back away a few more steps, Grousestar simply stopped his approach and sat down with his tail curling over his paws several fox-lengths away, not at all wanting to intimidate her in any sort of way.
"If you're not ready to start Featherpaw, then that's quite fine too. I won't actually be teaching you much today, it's sort of meant to be an evaluation so I can get a sense of what you know and how you work best, nothing too hard." Mewed the tom with that same light smile of his, drawing a paw up and casually beginning to rasp his tongue over it before bringing it up and using it to wash his forehead and behind his ears to the best of his ability, his eyes remaining carefully on Featherpaw, though ready to look away if she gave any sign that she didn't enjoy his gaze being near her, knowing that some cats didn't like eye contact at all and naturally he would respect that. As her mentor, he wanted to everything in his power to make sure that she was comfortable and at ease in his presence. Because if they didn't have trust, then she wouldn't learn anything. Trust was key in this.

"Just tell me when you're ready and we'll begin. I want to analyze how you think you should hunt first, again, nothing too hard, just pretend you're hunting a mouse use uh.. Use that leaf over there as your 'mouse'." He said, nodding towards a single leaf that was near the far right side of the training grounds before turning his head back to her and smiling gently, ready to watch her whenever she decided she was ready to show what she knew to him. He would say nothing else after this, he would simply fall quiet and wait and see, he wouldn't push her, he wouldn't do anything at all, he would quite simply wait.

Don't worry, she'll get out of this little phase little by little the more you train with her, this is how she'll be permanently. She'll learn to know that other cats, ones of her clan, won't hurt her in any sort of way, not if I have anything to say about it. Thought the tom to himself as he waited there, quietly washing himself.