So Cold (Any/Icefeather?)

[{Otter}]

Perhaps we're going too hard for his first day. The thought popped into her mind as Mosspaw sneezed several times, the sneeze wracking the little cat's body. He truly was a wretched little apprentice, but even Icefeather couldn't deny his eagerness to learn, quick reactions, and enthusiasm. If he ever snapped out of that cold, then, well...he'd be a great warrior, she figured.

Enough of that. Back to training, she thought roughly, shaking her fluffy white head as she set her light brown eyes back on Mosspaw.

"What's a good counter move after you've jumped? Can you claw them while they're rolling?"

She decided that she would answer this question, get him to try the leap-and-hold a few more times, then call it a break. He needed to rest, and she had no doubt that a cat with shorter fur than she was perfectly chilled by now. It was hard, sometimes, to remember that not all cats were blessed with long, warm fur to cover them during leafbare. Icefeather was pretty sure they would all be ready when newleaf came...though it did mean an end to her ability to hunt land critters. Fish didn't care if one had white fur, but mice and watervoles...they were a bit more observant.

Again, with the distraction! Icefeather growled at herself and pulled her mind back to reality. A counter-move for the drop-and-roll. Or, really, an extra move to follow-up a successful leap-and-hold. It took a moment for her to go through the different techniques in her mind, and what she came up with wasn't much of a help. There really was no set move to attack rolling cats. Just about any move would work, she figured.

"If you claw them while they are rolling, you must also be prepared for them to recover quickly and attack. You do not want to get too close or stay to close to them, even if they seem to be in a vulnerable position," Icefeather replied slowly, tail-tip twitching as she thought. "For you, the best bet would be to use your small size and speed. Dodge forward, slice with your claws whatever part of them you can get, and retreat. Do this until they get up...and if they are stunned enough, they might not be able to get up for a few valuable moments."

She paused, giving him a moment to take all that in, and went on, "Now, let's do this again. This time, when you leap on me, I will drop and roll. If you jump away in time, try to swipe sheathed paws at me. Put some force into it--give me some bruises, if you can."

Word Count;; 423
Muse;; good
Audience;; Mosspaw
Notes;; a few more posts, then we can finish it and go on to another thread later A hunting thread, I suppose.

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "If you claw them while they are rolling, you must also be prepared for them to recover quickly and attack. You do not want to get too close or stay to close to them, even if they seem to be in a vulnerable position. For you, the best bet would be to use your small size and speed. Dodge forward, slice with your claws whatever part of them you can get, and retreat. Do this until they get up...and if they are stunned enough, they might not be able to get up for a few valuable moments." Mosspaw nodded, guessing that it would be best to aim for the head to stun his victim a bit more and hope they'd stay down or at least get the sense to turn tail and run. He flexed his shoulder muscles, trying to judge how much power to put behind a blow without killing anyone. Not that his size would allow that to happen, but he didn't want to start out using his full power and find out later in life that he'd killed because of it. "Now, let's do this again. This time, when you leap on me, I will drop and roll. If you jump away in time, try to swipe sheathed paws at me. Put some force into it--give me some bruises, if you can." The tom scoffed at the last bit. If he could, indeed. He was so small he bet she'd ask if he'd even hit her! Still, he obeyed. He waited a few moments, then did the same trick. He focused on a different area until he decided what to do, that way his eyes wouldn't betray where he was going to attack. Finally, he jumped up and charged. When it looked like he was going to try the exact same tactic, he switched and changed directions. He feigned a blow to her hip before again hiding behind her tail and jumping onto the stump again to get more height. He reached for her shoulders once more, hoping to drag himself onto her. He'd hold on until he felt her muscles lowering themselves to the ground before jumping off and forward. Using his claws as a hook, he spun himself around once he landed, sheathed his claws, and aimed a few blows to his mentor's head before backing off. Word Count: 393 Audience: Any/Icefeather Comments: Alrighty. Sounds good.

[{Otter}]

Icefeather was beginning to learn not to think scornfully of her apprentice before he completed whatever move he was aiming for, but it was hard. Her love of cynicism told her to question and judge every move, but her pride told her she had to stop. Every time she thought she had Mosspaw down, every time she thought he was about to do something stupid or pathetic, she was proven wrong. Despite all odds and all of her expectations, Mosspaw was turning out to be a pretty fast little learner.

And so, as she watched him run towards her, the first thing that popped into her mind was, The stupid little mousebrain. Does he really think he can pull the same trick again? But even as the words were passing through her mind, she pushed them away and narrowed her eyes, bracing herself for the hit...a hit which was not aimed at her shoulder. She spun away as he aimed a blow at her hip, but as she did, Mosspaw seemed to disappear. Confused, she glanced over at the stump, saw nothing, then turned around again. Even as she opened her mouth to ask where he was, she felt a weight on her shoulders and small claws digging into her fur, and her fur bristled in surprise.

You must stop thinking so scornfully of him, she told herself firmly, dropping to the ground. As she dropped, the weight lifted, and this time there was no little body beneath her to be squashed. Instead, she saw Mosspaw landing on the ground...facing the wrong way. Even as she opened her mouth to scold him, the little cat grabbed the ground and spun around, jumping forward to bat at her face.

The first bat landed squarely on her cheek, the other on her forehead, and at the last one she snapped at his paw before completing her roll, springing to her paws and leaping towards him. Why stop now, when he was on such a roll?

Icefeather pinned the small apprentice to the ground, placing her full weight on her shoulders to keep him from wriggling away. Tail lashing, she mewed, "Do you know the belly rake? If so, try it with sheathed paws." She knew this move would become invaluable to Mosspaw later on, especially if he didn't grow. There was no way for a cat as small as him to simply push a cat as big as her away. But the belly-rake...well, that was a fight-stopper right there.

Word Count;; 413
Muse;; okayish
Notes;; sorry for the powerplay. I wanted Icefeather to teach Mosspaw the belly rake somehow ^.^

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] Mosspaw yelped at the snap and pulled his paws back quickly. As he did so, the long-furred cat jumped at him, knocking him over and looming over him like a giant cloud. She had him pinned. Immediately, he knew that instead of simply pulling his paws away, he should have jumped completely back. He didn't dwell on it for long. The apprentice just made a note not to ever stay within range of a counter attack for too long. Learn from your mistakes. "Do you know the belly rake? If so, try it with sheathed paws." Belly rake? Mosspaw was sure he knew what she was talking about. He'd never heard what it was called before, but all kits knew it by instinct whenever they were play fighting. If they didn't, any decent mother would have given their children the tip. Hoping that his guess was correct, he drew his hind legs in and pushed up, dragging sheathed paws across Icefeather's chest. He wasn't big enough to reach her belly quite yet. "Like this?" he asked as he battered his mentor's body with his back paws. Being pinned was becoming quite uncomfortable, so the young tom had also resorted to wriggling around as much as possible, trying to loosen her grip on him. After a moment, Mosspaw began to think differently about his tactic. He was putting too much attention on getting free and not enough on actually getting her off of him. He stopped fighting for a moment and relaxed. Once he was ready, he drew a breath and shrunk further under her, tensing all his muscles and forcing his back paws straight up into Icefeather's chest. With his size, he doubted he'd be able to knock the wind out of her, but maybe it was enough to bruise her, like she had requested earlier. Word Count: 306 Audience: Icefeather Comments: It's alright. I actually think mentors should be able to powerplay with their apprentices once in a while. XD

[{Otter}]

The first attempt was reasonably pathetic. Mosspaw was just so small! Icefeather sighed slightly as his little hind paws battered at her chest, doing nothing at all to make her uncomfortable. Even so, she could see he was becoming uncomfortable himself. "Stop squirming," she growled as Mosspaw began to wriggle around. "It is a waste of energy and rarely works."

But he fixed himself pretty fast. Finally, an odd glint in Mosspaw's eyes told Icefeather he had come to some kind of conclusion. Having seen what he could come up with, she waited expectantly for him to move. Sure enough, the small apprentice seemed to shrink (if that were possible) and managed to maneuver himself further beneath her. At first she thought him a perfect mousebrain, but within moments she discovered his aim; she flinched slightly as the small cat's paws connected to the soft spot on her belly, and, more from surprise than the force of Mosspaw's move, she found herself jumping back.

"Good," she mewed without thinking. "The first think you tried was the belly rake. Once you grow, you will be able to rake your claws down your opponent's belly. The second thing you did was a back kick, and it can be used to knock a cat off of you or knock the wind from them. However, the belly rake is usually the most effective." She was panting slightly, and slowly her head tilted to one side as she studied him.

They had been out here for awhile. Even Icefeather's body was growing cold, and she had layers of fur to keep her warm. So Mosspaw...well, he was probably freezing. With a feeling of regret, Icefeather glanced at the cloudy sky and realized it was late in the day, and night would be falling soon. They needed to head back to camp.

"We will continue this tomorrow," she mewed at last, turning in the direction of camp. "Meet me in the marshes tomorrow, and we will review this and hunt. Now, keep up with me back to camp." At that last, she shot off through the snowy land, her speed not particularly fast, but certainly not easy. If Mosspaw was going to have to rely on his speed to win battles, then great StarClan, she was going to get him to build some speed!

Word Count;; 384
Muse;; better
Notes;; Yeah, me too. Okay, you can post again with Mosspaw or we can end it here. We can convene in the Marshes whenever ^.^

[Deleted]

Sounds good. We can end it here. I'd say we can go ahead and post a hunting thread with Mosspaw. This time he'll be a few moons older, though. He's been 6 moons for a while now. XD

[{Otter}]

That sounds good. I'll move it to the archives. And we can say in the next thread that Mosspaw knows leap-and-hold and belly rake pretty well, and knows the basics of hunting some types of animals.