[sleepyyjax]

 

Originally Posted by Fits

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

Heroneye flinched a bit under the weight of the apprentice, but was able to stay on her paws. She gently shook the apprentice off and turned to face him in the second part of this leap-and-hold section. Seapaw had managed to hit a stationary target and seemed to only continue to become more comfortable, but that wouldn't be enough for a real battle, of course. Heroneye wanted him to know how to attack a moving opponent before she moved on to the final, more complicated move.

"Well done," Heroneye said with a flick of her tail. "Next, I want you to try to leap onto me again, but this time, I will be trying to defend against your attack--just as a warrior in a real battle would." Once again she slipped into her battle crouch. "See if you can hit me like that."

She paused thoughtfully before adding an adendum to her assignment. "While I would like you to practice the leap-and-hold in particular, in a real battle, one has to be flexible; if you sense that you wouldn't be able to complete that move, or you have an idea that you think might be more effective, feel free to try a different approach." After all, while Heroneye knew she had a more structured approach to teaching combat than other warriors, her ultimate goal was to teach Seapaw skills they could bring with them on a real battlefield. If this exercise could help with that in one way or another, Heroneye had no complaints.

( @sleepyyjax - Seapaw )

Seapaw

he/they - 12 moons - Go with the flow

Woooo! They did it! It was actually quite a thrill, leaping onto the warrior's back. Though, they went sliding down with ease when shaken off. If only this was all battles were - just harmlessly jumping on each other's back. Life would be a lot nicer, if that were the case. And this whole ordeal would be a whole lot less nerve wracking.

This time, Heroneye would defend herself this time. Okay, okay... This would be okay. It wasn't a real battle, and Heroneye wouldn't hurt them - they just needed to dodge and stuff. Then, Heroneye added a bit. So, the lap and hold wouldn't always be the perfect choice. He had to be flexible. He considered himself a pretty flexible cat in most situations, but in battle? That sounded kinda scary. The idea of never knowing what would happen next seemed like a lot. It was how Spiderpaw had told him - there's a lot more to this than just moves.

They nodded at Heroneye, to show they were ready, then bunched their legs up, ready to pounce. He sprung forward a little, to get closer, then lept, in attempts to jump onto Heroneye's back once again. No doubt she'd dodge, or fling him out of the way, but he supposed he needed to kick things off somehow.