raindrops and tree boughs

No matter how many times she'd tried to convince herself otherwise, Rainstrike knew she needed to try. Despite her promise of "tomorrow" that she'd made at Cedarpaw's apprentice ceremony, three sunsets had come and gone by the time Rainstrike found herself able to haul herself out of her nest and make an attempt at repaying Ferretnose for the excellent mentor she'd been during Rainstrike's own apprenticeship.

At dawn on that third day, the young warrior found herself standing in the entrance of the apprentices' den, gaze fixated on Cedarpaw's slumbering form. She let her eyes drop shut for a second, willing the trembling in her limbs to still. And only when they finally did, did she force herself forward, nose dipping down to gently prod Cedarpaw's ribcage and rouse her from slumber.

Cedarpaw got up quickly. Training? She wondered. It had been more than a day. But Cedarpaw understood that warriors were busy people. ”Hello Rainstrike!” She said cheerfully, wondering what she had been awoken for.

"Yes, training," Rainstrike said quietly, pulling back away from the apprentice. "Meet me near the entrance when you're ready," she stepped back into the camp, a lingering glance over her shoulder at the fresh-kill pile. It wasn't empty, but she'd wait to eat, and encourage Cedarpaw to do the same. With a longer than usual exhale, the warrior shook her fur, padding quietly over to sit near the tunnel and wait for her apprentice.

Rainstrike waited at the entrance until Cedarpaw arrived, looking freshly groomed and ready for action. The warrior inclined her head towards the forest for her to follow, and padded quietly into the early morning. Snow crunching underfoot, Rainstrike walked in silence, allowing Cedarpaw to take in the sights and sounds, but not allowing her to lag behind. Occasionally, she'd glance over her shoulder, eyes softening on the sight of the excited apprentice, but she didn't know what to say. Didn't know how to give words of advice, or be a shoulder to cry on.

But she was going to do her best, like she promised Ferretnose.

Finally when they reached their destination, Rainstrike stopped. The training hollow sprawled out before them, covered in snow but still vast and flat and perfect for sparring. Finally, she answered Cedarpaw's question. "First, we fight. You need to know how to take care of yourself in a dangerous situation, and it's my job to show you how." Another pang of self-doubt shot through her, pricking like a thorn in her heart. She saw Mistwalker's face in her mind's eye, and swallowed hard, fighting back the burn in her eyes.

Padding forward, Rainstrike shook her head, clearing those thoughts, and turned to face Cedarpaw. "Okay. Come at me with everything you've got."

Cedarpaw followed along, with an extra bounce in her step. She looked around at the territory, the things that she had never seen before. It was like how Ferretnose had described to them, back in the nursery. She was a bit alarmed at the sudden instructions. She lunged onto her mentor, claws sheathed, trying to pin her down.

Rainstrike easily dodged Cedarpaw's first attack, sidestepping and letting her tail thwap the apprentice across her shoulders. "Too easy to predict," she chided, turning to face Cedarpaw with a serious expression. "Try again."

She sat down, curling her tail around her paws, to present Cedarpaw with a fixed target.

--
OOC:

Okay, we're gonna use the battle system for this spar. If you haven't done it, it is explained https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t183-battle-system-rules! Basically, Cedarpaw can use any move all the way up to Tail-Yank! The moves do a fixed damage that can be found on the chart if you scroll to the bottom of the page. For this spar, I'm gonna let Cedar whittle down at Rain but not have Rain attack her in return, just for some practice. Usually, we keep track of the "players" below, as such:

Rainstrike
HP: 45/45
SP: 160/160

Cedarpaw
HP: 20/20
SP: 80/80

Just make sure you keep track of your HP (health) and SP (stamina) and subtract them from the total each time you use a move!

Cedarpaw nodded. She thought about how she would attack the warrior. Looking at her paws, she got an idea. She crouched low, and leaped at her mentor. Her emerald eyes glowing, she struck her mentor’s cheek with sheathed claws. She smiled triumphantly as she hit her target, inflicting no damage, but she felt that if it had been a real battle, she would have executed the move relatively well.

Cedarpaw used Front Paw Strike dealing 0 damage and costing 10 stamina.

HP: 20/20
SP: 70/80

"There you go!" Rainstrike encouraged, but as Cedarpaw paused to give a triumphant smile, the pointed tabby narrowed her eyes wickedly. She lifted a paw and, with sheathed claws, thwapped the apprentice across the back of her head. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, just enough to surprise her, but Rainstrike gave a pointed stare, accompanied by a good-natured purr.

"That was good, but remember, in battle, there is no time out - once it starts, that's it. You hit, and you keep going. Don't pause, don't stop, don't wait. For any reason. In the time it takes to blink, your opponent could be on top of you."

The she-cat settled back down into a crouch, beckoning Cedarpaw with her tail. "Try again, this time, I'll be waiting to dodge and counterattack."

Cedarpaw looked up as she got hit in the head. She knew she shouldn’t have stopped. More focused this time, and listening, Cedarpaw nodded. She started to charge and Rainstrike, and ran right into her, attempting to knock her over. As she completed her attack, she stayed focused, locking her eyes on Rainstrike, waiting to see what she would do next.

Cedarpaw used Run and Tackle, inflicting 0 damage and costing 10 stamina.

HP: 20/20
SP: 60/80

Rainstrike allowed the apprentice to slam right into her, carrying them both to the ground in a tangled heap of limbs. Cedarpaw had a lot of power behind her small frame, and they skidded several tail-lengths across the snowy clearing before coming to a halt. Bringing her shoulder down, the warrior shoved her apprentice away - gently, and without force - and got to her paws, shaking the flakes of clinging snow from her fur. She turned on Cedarpaw with a grin of approval. "That was good! You're small, but you're stronger than you look. That's a good advantage to have."

Maybe this mentoring thing wasn't so bad, after all. She had to admit that she was having more fun now than she had since... well, since her father's death. From the moment she'd stepped into the forest with her apprentice, she hadn't thought about him once. Until now, at least.

There was a noticeable drop in the pointed tabby's demeanor as she took a moment to groom some out of place fur along her shoulder, and then she turned back to Cedarpaw. "Is there any style of fighting you'd like to learn in particular?" she queried, tilting her head.

Cedarpaw smiled as her mentor praised her. She shook her pelt, sending small flakes of snow flying through the air. ”Well...I dunno. What do you think?” she asked in response to the warrior’s question. She looked at her mentor curiously, interested toms see what her input would be.

"Well, there is a lot more that goes into making an offensive run, but you've mostly got the basics down, so why don't we work on defending?" She glanced around, finding a decent sized boulder at the edge of the clearing, and pointed at it with her tail. "For the time being, we'll give you a bit of an advantage. Climb up on that boulder there."

Rainstrike padded over to it - it was a good platform to practice defending from, just high enough that she could stand on her hind legs to fight whoever was atop it. "Hop on up there."

Cedarpaw nodded and got her footing on the boulder. She adjusted so her paws fit into a bumps and dips of the rock. Above Rainstrike, she felt more powerful, like should take down the warrior with one strike. Even though that was highly improbable, she still did feel good, looking down at the ground below her.

"Okay, now I'm going to attempt to pull you down off that rock, and you do everything you can to stop me," she instructed. She backed up, circling around the boulder and looking for an opportune opening. To her credit, Cedarpaw seemed to be doing well in staying in an advantageous position, so Rainstrike decided to just go for it.

Darting forward, she bunched up her hind legs and sprang for the rock, aiming to swipe the apprentice right off the top of it - if Cedarpaw read it right, she could just lower herself and shoulder the larger cat away before Rainstrike got her footing.