[217]

Originally Posted by Skjoldolfr

Burningember gave him an encouraging smile, inclining her head slightly, yellow eyes gleaming. Her gaze followed the smaller golden furred apprentice, sliding across his form. She was looking for clues on what his strengths were and what his weaknesses were. She would refine Lionpaw's strengths, and help to improve his weaknesses so that his training would be rather well rounded in both hunting and and fighting, and any other skills a cat might need. As he clung the the tree, the large black and ginger warrior gave an approving nod of her head, counting his time. She was impressed that he had held on that long. Actual climbing was less taxing because you could rest on a branch, and not all your paws were holding your weight at any one time. “Probably. If you keep that up, you'll be an excellent climber in no time!” Burningember purred, stretching out her own wobbly legs.

“Well, it's so I can see where you're at, and to help build muscles needed for climbing.” Burningember explained, answering Lionpaw's questions one at a time. Sure, she was energetic, but when she spoke, it wasn't crazy fast or anything. She still liked to take her time with responses, though only if she felt that her answers were important. “Okay, so you know how to play fight? Well, we're going to have a round of that. Sound good? Let's see . . . if you can knock me over, you get to pick anything you want from the fresh-kill pile when we get back.” Burning promised, her yellow optics bright with amusement, her voice low and a tone of fake seriousness. After that, Burningember dropped into a crouch, claws sheathed as she waited to see his stance. She wanted to see what needed improvement, so for now, she was just going to study how he moved when he fought, nothing too hard.

At his mentor's praise, Lionpaw held his head high proudly, a wide as ever smile on his face. He always felt amazing when he was praised. It made him feel and know he was doing a good job, and that's exactly what he strived to do. Now, he wanted to become the best climber he could, and make Burningember the most proud mentor there ever was. He then made a silent promise to himself and the warrior that trained him; he would try his absolute best with his training, no matter what. "I'll practice climbing whenever I can, build my muscles lots, and become the best climber!" He exclaimed happily, the tone of goodnatured joking tied in with it and the small laugh at the end of the sentence. His ears perked up at her mention of play fighting, and his reward if he was able to complete his task. His light green eyes lit up, and the sight of his mentor and her encouraging smile towards him filled him with determination.
He crouched as well, mimicking what his mentor did, studying her own movements, and he took a few stalking steps forward in order to get closer. He let a grin slide onto his face, and he prepared to jump. Finally, after a few moments of bunching his muscles, his shoulders shifting, he took a leap at the more strongly built cat. He aimed for her side in an attempt to use brute force to barrel into her and knock her down, though being a new apprentice, he wasn't very big or muscled, and his leap towards her was sloppy.