a pair a-trainin' [gentlepaw + possumpaw]

[taillow]

Cinderstar
Shuffling her way over through the clearing, Cinderstar had only one thing on her mind, and that was to correct a few things she saw occurring. The first being that the training of the apprentices needed to be picked up. It was one of her sole objectives as ThunderClan's new leader; making sure that none of the apprentices ever felt left behind or forgotten - and making sure that they were trained was a good place to start.

"Gentlepaw, Possumpaw," she greeted each apprentice in turn with separate head dips as she approached them. "I know you both have your own mentors, but I was hoping to freshen up on my battle skills and was wondering if you two would like to learn some more advanced moves?" She did not have any worries when it came to Gentlepaw - Sandsmoke was a good an attentive mentor - but Mistyshade was questionable considering Cinderstar had not seen her out to train with Possumpaw in some time.

Hopefully, today the two would not mind accompanying their leader on a quick outing to freshen up on some friendly sparring.

[ @Bliss. ]

[Madelaine]

Possumpaw - Male[he/him] - Post 46

A familiar scent filled his nose and he moved his head towards the sound of the Thunderclan leader's voice. He might as well be used to it as this wasn't his first time interacting with the she-cat. She seemed to be better than those before her in his blind eyes. Helping with apprentices training proved that. He was grateful for Cinderstar. Possumpaw moved over to her and his blind gaze stared back to catch any signs of the other apprentice. He hadn't interacted with her at all, but it seemed they needed the same training.

Gentlepaw - Female[she/her] - Post 10

This was knew to Gentlepaw. She wasn't expecting anyone in the high rank community to try and teach her something. It did make her a bit nervous. What if she failed? How humiliating that would be if it were to happen to her. She wanted to be a great warrior not one who would be reminded how she had failed to train. Gentlepaw moved after Possumpaw, keeping her distance from the blind tom. She never talked to him, so she had no clue what he was like. Probably nothing bad from what she had heard.

// @marni; \\

[taillow]

Cinderstar
A soft, airy chuckle came from her as she watched the two interact - or, more so not interact. "One of more important lessons when it comes to battle is getting to know your other Clanmates, and falling back on them should you ever need help," she encouraged the two, a soft smile stretching upon her face. That would be something worked on; for now, she would focus on battle training.

"We will head to the training cave, you can both follow me." And with that, the silver spotted leader led the two apprentices out of camp, making sure to keep her face even and steady so that Possumpaw wouldn't have a hard time keeping up.

-

After weaving in between some undergrowth, Cinderstar felt the ground slant underneath her paws as it led into the training cave. A few scents were here and there, and she was glad to see it being utilized once more. Turning around the ThunderClan leader took a seat to face the two. "Have either of you been taken out to learn basic attacking and defending moves?" she inquired, wanting to get a working knowledge on what they already knew.

[ @Bliss. ]

[Madelaine]

Possumpaw - Male[he/him] - Post 49

The blind apprentice followed the trail of paw vibrations of both cats. He could feel both the leader and the other apprentice go at a even and steady pace. He was glad she wasn't trying to keep slow. Cinderstar made him feel like he could easily catch up to any cat. Possumpaw stopped and moved his eyes towards the leader. "I haven't had the chance to yet.", he meowed. It was the last thing he needed.

Gentlepaw - Female[she/her] - Post 11

This was exciting. Never had she been this excited. She tried her best to stay calm and she did quite a bit. Her whiskers did twitch though to show. Gentlepaw sent a couple of glances at the other apprentices. She could sense something about him, but decided to just stay quiet. He must have a lot going on at the moment. The molly stopped next to Possumpaw and waited for his answer to give hers. "Me either. I've only learned to climb.", she replied.

| @marni; |

[taillow]

Cinderstar
No basic attacking or defensive moves? It was a little bit of a shock, but Cinderstar kept her composure and nodded towards the apprentice duo. "We will start with the basics then. I want each of you to practice this move on each other that I explain, okay? And then at the end, we will throw them together to see if you two can team up and use them against me."

Settling into a dance, she began to lift a paw upwards. "One of the first attacks you can do is a frontal attack. You will want to rush towards your opponent and flash one paw out as a distraction-" she demonstrated by quickly striking her paw out, "-but then going for their other side. Here, you can either latch your teeth into their neck or shoulder, or use your other foreclaw to rake it down their side." Once again she lifted her other forepaw - now on her hind legs - and pulled it in a downward motion.

Once both paws landed back on the ground, she offered a smile. "Gentlepaw, I would like you to try the move on Possumpaw first. Possumpaw, I want you to try and avoid the attack. We'll go from there."

[ @Bliss. - Cinderstar wasn't going slow - she was keeping her pace "even and steady" as noted in my post ]

[Madelaine]

Gentlepaw - Female[she/her] - Post 12

She looked at Possumpaw, trying to study a little bit about him and his blindness. She didn't want to hurt him and she wasn't sure what to do without sounding rude. That was not her intention. Once Gentlepaw had a good study on him she made sure he was paying attention before she sent a strike towards him before moving to the side. She attempted to catch him on the side like Cinderstar said.

Possumpaw - Male[he/him] - Post 53

The blind apprentice lashed his furless tail from side to side as he waited for Gentlepaw to make the first move. Possumpaw felt the vibrations of her paws as she began to send paw strike at his side. Feeling her send some wind near him he quickly moved out of the way, feeling her paw almost graze his fur.

| @marni; sorry I did change the last post |

[taillow]

Cinderstar
Observing the two as they sized each other up, Cinderstar couldn't help but be transported back to one of her first days as an apprentice of ThunderClan. It had come hot off the tails of a camp raid led by WindClan, and her first request had been to learn battle techniques. Tingling all the way down to her paws had been the thrill of the fight, the adrenaline that pumped within her each time she delivered a strike towards Ridgeclaw or ducked just in time to avoid one from him.

"Excellent," Cinderstar purred with an approving flick of her ear. It was great to see that Possumpaw was still utilizing his ability to feel the vibrations of the ground, and she figured it helped out just as much with battle as it did with hunting.

Stopping from where she had been circling them to examine the move from each angle, the siler bengal took a seat once more. "Now we can work on adding to that move. A few other starting attacks you can use are diving underneath and then twisting around to get at their vulnerable underbelly - this will only work if they are distracted first. Or you can try to get onto their back. Be careful with this one though, because while it does work on larger cats you want to make sure they don't roll over to crush you underneath. If that happens, you can spring to the side and double back to swipe at them while they're on the ground."

With the next move instruction given, she waited to see how each apprentice would approach it. "I want you each to try that on each other, and after that we can move onto partner fighting."

[ @Summer Rose ]

[Madelaine]

Possumpaw
◖ Male[he/him] - Post 61 ◗

Listening to everything the leader said the tom moved his blind gaze to the scent of Gentlepaw. He hoped she knew he wouldn't go so easy on her. Possumpaw waited wanting Gentlepaw to go first. He's rather try and tell how she did it before he did. He moved his paw in a moving motion for her to go first. He was so focused he didn't talk.

〔 @marni; @Don't Panic; 〕

[JusticeRabbit]

~Gentlepaw| @marni, @Summer Rose~
the molly nodded at the leader, before looking at the other. she really didnt want to hurt the tom... she noticed his paw movement, and took a deep breath. she took a step forward, making sure to keep her feet as light as she could, acting as though she were hunting prey. she stepped over, hoping to circle around without the tom noticing, before jumping, hoping to land on the tom's back. she felt the wind on her face, adrenaline went through her veins, and worry on her face. she really needed to impress cinderstar. it would be embarrassing if she didn't make it.

{sorry if it doesnt really fit! still getting into her character!}

[taillow]

Cinderstar
Watchful eyes laid upon both apprentices as Possumpaw motioned for Gentlepaw to go first. It was rather curious to her, but perhaps understandable. He most likely wanted to see how his den-mate would approach the situation so that he could counter accurately - a smart move if done right.

With Gentlepaw getting to her feet and circling Possumpaw, Cinderstar was curious if the blind tom would take notice of this and be able to deliver a counterattack in time to avoid being surprised. Gentlepaw had a good idea in using Possumpaw's blindness against him, and how the tom reacted would perhaps dictate what he would do in a real life battle - after all, ThunderClan's enemies would perhaps pull the same tricks on him in an actual fight.

[ @Summer Rose @Don't Panic. ]