[Maplefur]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

Ashpaw (he/him)
Light grey tabby with blue/grey eyes

»»————-　☀︎︎　————-««

Ashpaw's gaze never left Tawnywhisper's eyes, but he concentrated hard on remembering exactly every moment of their previous fight. He nodded, starting to understand why he hadn't been able to hit her even if he had first surprised her with his leap. "I should've striked at your belly when you lifted your front paws, but instead I tried to avoid your attack and I lost the chance." He had never really thought about what could be the weakest spots of a cat, but now he understood what it meant to fight clever, and not only strong.

"So, if I found myself in a similar situation where the enemy makes something that I didn't expect... What should I do exactly?" This was maybe the most important thing that he had to absolutely remember. Since I'm best at surprising attacks, I have to know very well what to do and what not to do. If the opposing is exposing his belly trying to counter attack, I do it first. And what if they don't? This was coming out harder than he had expected.
"Ugh.. What if you managed to swipe out at me? I would lose the chance to attack you, and then?"


[ @Maplefur ]

(Sorry this reply took me longer than usual! I was trying to find a way to cut down on the length of this, but I'm finding that it's hard to truly have a cat teach without the amount of explanation. Or, at least, Tawnywhisper specifically wouldn't want to cut back on the explanation she provides lol)

Satisfaction worked its way into the molly's features—satisfaction that her explanation made sense to the apprentice, and satisfaction that Ashpaw was getting exactly what Tawnywhisper had explained. Training another cat was no easy task. Knowing the tabby held an understanding of the lesson made it easier for her to rationalize all the effort she put behind this lesson. No, her time was not wasted here, and Ashpaw was making certain of that. He was truly a good learner—an ideal apprentice—and a flicker of respect danced through the molly's eyes before she quickly steeled herself.

"In that situation, you try your best to hold onto your senses. Fight against the instinct to react and lash out to the unexpected, which will most likely be your reaction." Tawnywhisper knew this from her own failed first fights, where any surprise had caused her to whip her claws in front of her in a desperate attempt to regain the upper hand. It had not worked in her favor. "It's much better to play on the defensive, though your body will tell you to attack upon that feeling of surprise. Try to recover from it mentally as quick as possible. As soon as you have your brain settled and calmed, you can return to assessing the situation. It will be up to your own judgement call, in those situations, to know when you can become offensive again. Until you are sure, stick to playing the defense." She paused, flickering her pale green eyes down to her paw, which she raised to quickly lick away the sand that had gotten stuck in her pad.

Satisfied when the grains had left her paw, she returned to her explanation. "It is also important to remember that defense maneuvers can hurt your enemy, too. Defense is not just dodging, but there are attacks that are defensive in nature as well. So needing to stay on the defense does not mean that it won't hinder your enemy; they can still take some blows while you are defending if your moves counter theirs." That own piece of knowledge had helped Tawnywhisper fight past her urge to stay on the offensive, had led to her more calculated abilities in battle. It was what had helped her stop holding that viewpoint the apprentice had just brought up, that worry that you would lose the chance to attack. Learning when to be offensive and when to be defensive was not an easy accomplishment. It had taken her many, many battles and experiences to nail it down. That frustration Ashpaw had let out early was understandable; the molly had felt it herself when trying to master this very same thing.

She continued, wrapping up her addressal to the tabby's questions. "So try not to worry about lost chances to be offensive. If you need to stick largely to the defense, and if you need to stray from the back and forth of offensive and defensive, then do that. In the beginning, the back and forth of offense, defense, offense, defense will help you. But in more complicated situations, in real battle, that flow will often be disturbed. You can find your way back to it, but if it is broken do not panic. When in doubt, defend. Your own safety is more important than damaging your opponent."