Quote:
Originally Posted by Thistledawn
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." |
All of his apprentice's white fur was nearly blinding to the older tom. He shook it out of his eyes, his face, even though it had never left her body - trying to get rid of it. That was something he hadn't expected. Besides, even with her claws sheathed, she landed a few blows. Blazingcomet was about to back away and come back for another attack, but he decided to go easier on her for her first time - instead, he lashed out with his own tiger-orange paws, golden eyes a blaze of excitement. He was aiming to pin her - and he moved at as quick of a pace as he could, without her being able to react.
Soon, once she had learned more, he wouldn't have to worry about her reactions; they would come naturally, just as they did to him now. Or, some of them did. Some reactions still took a long time, which the tom didn't like. He was careful to keep his claws sheathed, focusing on nothing but the "battle" at hand, making sure that his movements were at least pretty good. Cherrypaw was still young... while it was important that she learn to fight and hunt by a decent age, it was also important that she learned at a good rate. The tom was nervous that if he pushed her too hard she would freak out, and if he didn't push her hard enough, she would accuse him of thinking she was incompetant.
While that wasn't true, Blazingcomet was trying to find the right in between stage where she would think that he was pushing her enough, without pushing her way too hard. The tom's eyes gleamed as he continued practically thrashing, trying his best to pin her, although he wouldn't have been disappointed if he were to lose this particular mock-fight. Against an apprentice, sure, it could be humiliating, but it was also somewhat of a proud moment, knowing that you had trained your apprentice well enough that they could do something like this on their own. It made Blazingcomet proud, anyways.