[Thistledawn]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

"You'll be just as fat as it if you eat like that," The orange tom teased, before the mood grew more serious. Of course his mind was still partly on Petal and Drizzleshard and the complications surrounding them, but he'd seen less and less of his ex-mate recently and while he knew that it was wrong, Petal seemed like the best substitute for the lack of times he had seen Drizzleshard recently. He wanted to have a steady relationship, but it seemed like that was not in the future for the tom. Taking his mind off of his love life, the tom returned to the subject at hand. As Cherrypaw took on a defensive stance, the tom crouched down, getting ready to spring. "Remember, there's no guarantee that you'll get it right the first time. Don't be discouraged if you don't." With those words, the tom darted at her, eventually springing through the air to aim for her paws. Knocking her to the ground was his current goal, and from there, he would be able to easily pin her.

Once an opponent, especially a smaller and younger one was down, it was hard for them to get back up again. Even though he knew it shouldn't, this gave him some amount of satisfaction. It would show that he still had his mind in the right place. Blazingcomet would have to try not to get too involved in the current "battle," and he made sure to keep focused on keeping his claws sheathed. With his thoughts on his ex-mate and current flirt/interest, it was getting harder for him to focus on basic duties. Cherrypaw was not the least of the duties that he'd been ignoring recently. He'd also been ignoring other things, such as hunting and patrolling and things such as those. Besides, he really didn't want to be patrolling with Petal out there somewhere, and he wished he'd warned her that there could be patrols coming by when he went to meet her - he felt like he was the worst, doing something like that. His thoughts turned back to the subject at hand - the current fight.

Cherrypaw looked ready, and she had given herself some time... while that wouldn't be a luxury in battle, SkyClan was supposedly staying neutral in the tension between ThunderClan and WindClan, so she wouldn't have to worry about fighting for a while. Besides, even if they did end up getting involved, Blazingcomet's orders would be for her to stay here and forget about fighting for a while. She could stay with the rest of the younger apprentices - at just seven moons old, the tom doubted she was ready for a true battle anyways. He'd still been an apprentice during the Evil Era, and he could remember the terror of that. It had truly been a frightening experience for him, and he was glad he was no longer having to fight like that. Now the most excitement he got was from a training session like the one he was in currently.

Cherrypaw let out a half amused, half annoyed huff. She wouldn't let herself get fat, even if she did eat a starling that big. The apprentice would need to maintain her weight if she were to be useful. She wasn't slow, but she wasn't the fastest cat in SkyClan either. If she were to become fat, she'd be as slow as a slug and hardly any use as a hunter or a fighter. The she-cat was small, however. She'd known since she was able to compare herself to other cats that her size would prove to be an advantage. She'd already taken advantage of her size, slipping through spaces that prey didn't expect her to follow into. Older cats had always told Cherrypaw that she'd be able to use her size as an advantage in battle too, though she hadn't yet discovered how exactly to do that.

Tensing as her mentor crouched down, she squinted her blue eyes as if it would help prepare her. She watched as his lips formed the words that he spoke. Even her mentor didn't have the confidence that she'd succeed the first time. Cherrypaw tried to not let that knowledge way her down. Blazingcomet sprung up and through the air far faster than the she-cat expected. She'd given herself all this time to prepare, but the speed of which everything happened was not something that the white cat properly accounted for. Her heart thundered in her chest as the tom grew closer. She was sure that her mentor was making some sort of noise, whether that be his paws hitting the ground or his body slicing through the air, but the apprentice couldn't hear it.The sight was scary even though she knew that she truly wasn't in any danger. Blazingcomet was her Clanmate, her mentor even. And he'd had his claws sheathed.

All that thinking to herself had practically lost Cherrypaw her distance advantage. She'd spent too much time just watching her mentor grow closer. Feeling herself succumb to panic, she clumsily inched herself backwards a bit, but hardly made it half a tail-length. She let her forepaws lash out in front of her, her claws sheathed, swiping and pushing in front of her without aim. Perhaps a flurry of white paws would scare away her "enemy."