[lone]

Originally Posted by Nighty

Rusticash waited, patiently, tail flicking as it lay by the ground. He was ready. He would give her a bit of a head start, but not too much. He needed to push her. Pushing her would cause her to use all of her power, and show her the limits of her abilities. As soon as she started running, Risticash matched his pace to hers as he started trotting along behind her. She gathered speed, as did he. He stayed running, right behind her, keeping his pace slightly over what she was going. So he slowly gained. This was good though, he could see the exhaustion kicking in, but the perseverance to continue obviously showed. He would live up to his promise. If she failed and tripped, he would give her the punishment. Was he aiming to kill? No, but she didn't know that. He didn't care though. For him letting her think that he might kill her or seriously maim her, would make her go faster, last longer, push harder. He needed that. "Keep going! I'm on your tail." He hissed. It wasn't entirely true, as he was about five tail lengths away from the top of her tail. He was slowly gaining though, giving her a fair chance. He saw her turn, aiming for the jump. He pulled back, slowing down as she raced on ahead. She took the jump, and landed perfectly. Mission accomplished. The technique had worked, and Risticash was feeling both proud of himself, for actually getting it to work, and for Clawpaw to finally see her limits. "You may stop now." He called to the still running apprentice. "That was very good, but I do assume, if you are anything like me, then you will want to know why I made you do that." He said, not waiting for an answer. "Panic, fear, adrenaline. These are the things that make use loose sense of our pain in trying to run. It wakes up a different part of us, stored up with energy, allowing us to focus less on the stitches in our side as we run. It's how we stay alive in battle. That's what I just demonstrated to you. So, three benefits: one, you know your true potential, and two, you know to trust your instincts, and three, that you have passed all my training classes." He finished up, smiling softly, a rare thing for him. "If there is still more you feel you need to go over, now is the chance, if not, warrior assessments start soon."

In all the time that they had trained together, there had only been one other time that Clawpaw had seen her mentor smile. To her, she took it as a sign of pride. If he was proud of her, he would smile; otherwise, there was no chance. The white feline got to her paws, tail twitching back and forth as she did so, a look of semi-worry on her features but it faded after a moment. "What do you think? Do I need more work, or am I ready now?" She asked. His opinion meant more to her then her own. Most apprentices looked up to or wanted to be like their mentors, but Clawpaw just wanted approval. Approval was what the younger cat seemed to feed off of. Even if it was just a simple 'you did good' or 'I believe in you' or something like that, any form of praise or approval, even just a smile, meant more to Clawpaw then all the attention in the world.
　
To her, the spotlight was a place cats went when they weren't able to get enough praise of their own. At that point, they were instantly popular. Everyone wanted to be around them, talk to them, get help from them. Even medicine cats got their moments in the spotlight, though why, Clawpaw couldn't understand. She'd been to the medicine cat before and she had never liked it. It smelled like herbs. Which, to her, smelled like weaknesses. She didn't like it at all. Gingerly, the apprentice shifted her weight. She would be a warrior soon-- what would her name be? In the past, she'd wanted to be leader almost as soon as she became an apprentice.

　

In her own words, the 'best of the best.' But now that all seemed silly. What did she want to do with her life once training was over? She wouldn't have anything to do. And starting a family seemed stupid to her-- cliche, overrated, and practically everything she thought of love as. Maybe that was because the feline hadn't really felt love before. She hadn't ever been loved, even as a kit/younger apprentice. She'd always just been there, in the shadows, watching. She awaited Rusticash's response and wondered what her assessment would be. Most cats just did a little hunting and a bit of work. More work then she preferred, but it wasn't a big deal. She'd just brush it off as she did everything else, as no big deal. Everything was no big deal to her. Everything was constantly changing and twisting over time, constantly becoming different. And, when it did, there were always two options; either adapt to the change, or end up hurt.