The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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OOC: For observers, KJ and I decided to use our old battle system in this sparring session, since Nightwind would absolutely beat the tar out of Swiftspirit with the current one. Not stepping on any toes, just having fun!
When Swiftspirit asked to have a sparring session with him, Nightwind raised an eyebrow. He hadn't meant to... "make that face out loud" as some might say, so he quickly tried to remedy the situation and just agreed. What was she trying to figure out? There were many other warriors to spar with. Why him specifically? He lead her out into the moor away from the camp with his suspicions rolling. He didn't think this was a sneaky way to try and flirt with him, as she didn't seem the type to step on Sunnyskip's toes. It wasn't hard to find a fairly flat slab of land where the grass wasn't too terribly long or too short, so he decided that this would be a suitable place for their spar. He took up a position at the edge of the flat area and assumed Swiftspirit would take the other side. "Are we just throwing paws or do you want tips first?" He asked as he took a defensive stance.
Nightwind's ears flattened back against his head, his knees and elbows bent and his paws spread evenly out under him in a perfect square. His tail stayed straight out behind him and his chin lowered to his chest to cover his throat. His eyes narrowed to give them as much protection as possible, even if claws weren't going to be used. He eyed his opponent carefully, taking in every strength and weakness that her body type had. He was also going to take into account that while she was a newly named warrior, it didn't mean that she had no prior experience to this. Nightwind himself was a "newly named" warrior at one point not long ago... and he'd wager he was one o the best if not the best fighter in Windclan.
Nightwind Height: 12" at shoulder Weight: 12lbs Body Type: Mesomorph (average) Build: Lean Advantages: Strength (Slight), Lower center of gravity (Fair) Disadvantages: Speed (Slight), Reach (Slight)
Swiftspirit Height: 14" at shoulder Weight: 12-13lbs Body Type: Mesomorph / Leaning Ectomorph (skinnier side of average) Build: Lean Advantages: Speed (Slight), Reach (Slight) Disadvantages: Strength (Slight), Lower Center of Gravity (Fair)
OOC: If these stats look good to you, we can begin!
"Tips? Do tell, you have more experience than I do." Swiftspirit's had asked him to spar just for that reason. Nightwind had proven to be an interest character, as far as her clanmates went, and while she was of course suspicious of him, she could still learn from sparring with him. The way a cat fought said a lot about where they had come from, how they had grown, their experiences. Tawnyflare for example, was brutish and mean, with no discipline to speak of despite her supposed training. A useful grunt, but never someone to be trusted with anything requiring finesse. Most Windclanners were... actually disciplined, relatively, but they all, from what Swiftspirit had observed, fought in a similar style. They had never fought in the alleys of twolegplace or among thicker undergrowth, and their only territory was wide-open moor where friend and foe could see them coming from a ways off. She was curious to see how Nightwind stacked up, as like her, he was an outsider to Windclan. Unlike Tawnyflare, he seemed to have more than a single braincell. He wasn't built like the average Windclanner at all, and he'd already proven that he knew how to use his surroundings to his advantage in a way that most Windclanners never would.
"Interacting with Tawnyflare makes me want to throw myself from the gorge, and I want to actually learn, not have the same spar with a pawful of clanmates over and over." Nightwind was shorter than her, and had more muscle, but she had the advantage in a slightly longer reach. Swiftspirit thought she was faster than he was, but he was older and had more experience. He'd been watching her and had dropped into a fighting stance, very much like he'd done this before. That meant Swiftspirit would have to be on her toes. He was likely analyzing her for strengths and weaknesses, just as she was doing.
Characters : Falconmoon, Auburnrain, Sagefeather, Asmodeus Number of posts : 3027 Gender : Female; She/Her Age : 32
Subject: Re: Tribal Wardrum Noises [C] Sat May 22, 2021 3:09 am
"First of all, one thing that many inexperienced fighters get wrong is their stance. Spread your paws evenly apart and balance your weight across them. Crouch down almost like you're hunting. This will make you harder to knock over, and with me being a shorter opponent than you, that is exactly what I will try to do." He would give her a moment to adjust before continuing. "Now if you were a muscle-bound brute, knocking you over would be much harder despite me being lower to the ground, but that's not the case with you. This isn't a perfect system and you'll have to adjust to different opponents, but I'll keep it basic for now." He studied her for just a moment before moving on. "Next, inexperienced fighters never set their defenses properly. Do what I do, and don't worry if you don't remember to keep all of your defenses set properly for the first few spars. It takes practice. Tuck your chin low and over your chest to protect your throat. It's a vital area, but as you have killed prey before I don't need to tell you that. Flatten your ears back against your head unless you enjoy having them ripped off and tattered. A torn or missing ear won't kill you, but it's incredibly painful and will bleed a lot. Blood in your eyes will blind you and pain can be very distracting, crippling even, if your threshold for it is not high." It was a pretty simple concept, but he'd let her adjust regardless.
"Narrow your eyes. You don't need as much reaction time to protect them if you already have them narrowed. Finally your tail... some cats fight with it tucked to the inside of a hind leg to protect it from easy grabs. I personally keep it straight out behind me, both for better balance and because... well I have no need to tuck it. If a cat is actually stupid enough to think they can run around behind me faster than I can pivot on my toes and adjust my footing while in place, wonderful. I will tear a nice chunk out of their soft flank as they try to come by, or I'll trip them with a well-placed foreleg between their hind ones as they try to get behind me." Tail grabs have gotten him only a few times before, but he'd learned to use it to his advantage in most situations at this point. "Balance is much harder to maintain while in motion, and nearly impossible while running full speed. Anyway those are the basics. You learn more as you practice. Are you ready?"
Nightwind took in a breath and focused on Swiftspirit. He maintained all of his previous defenses and held his balanced fighting stance. If she wished to initiate it, she may. Otherwise, he'd be gunning straight for her.
Swiftspirit listened to Nightwind speak, focused on absorbing what information she could. Much of what he said was basic, common-sense knowledge, but still knowledge that Tawnyflare had neglected to teach her in her rush to get training over with as quickly as possible. If Swiftspirit hadn't spent time on her own, if she hadn't made it a point to watch other warriors and learn what she could, far more of what Nightwind said would have been new information. From how he spoke, it was clear that he knew what he was talking about, had maybe even taught others to fight before. She had to wonder what experiences had led to him gaining some of that knowledge, but for now her wonderings would have to be pushed aside. As much as she was curious, she was also more interested in improving her own ability.
"What you say makes sense." And she appreciated the lack of insults and swearing on the names of dead cats peppered throughout his explanations, though she didn't say it aloud.
Swiftspirit shifted her stance as he'd told her, spreading her weight evenly, narrowing her eyes and flattening her ears. Protecting her throat was at this point second nature to her. She could have tucked her tail close to her body as well, but Nightwind was right that it was much harder to balance when running at full speed. She'd found that out the hard way when hunting, and having the balance to turn quickly without tumbling end over end was more important. If she had the reflexes to turn on an opponent as quickly as they could get behind her to yank at her tail, there was little reason not to use it. She moved forward swiftly, striking with sheathed forepaws aimed at his legs. Balance was important... And knocking an opponent off-balance so they had to work harder was equally important. He wasn't wrong that her lack of muscle and brute strength would make her easier to unbalance, while his being shorter would lend to the dark tom having better balance overall. Naturally, minimizing that advantage he had over her was important, too. As for Swiftspirit, she didn't intend to stay still and be a sitting duck, either.
Characters : Falconmoon, Auburnrain, Sagefeather, Asmodeus Number of posts : 3027 Gender : Female; She/Her Age : 32
Subject: Re: Tribal Wardrum Noises [C] Tue May 25, 2021 1:08 am
She charged him. Clearly she was ready... or at least thought she was. Nightwind held his full defensive stance and eyed her movements carefully. He would have assumed she'd try to dodge left or right at some point, but no, she came directly at him. She reached her forepaws forward, going for his forelegs, and only then when her trajectory was locked in on it's path forward, did Nightwind kick off of the ground as hard as he could. He felt her paws strike at his forelimbs, but as he had them semi curled under him and he was moving forward, the slipped almost uselessly down them. Now his skull was on a collision course toward her chest, or her face if she didn't move it. She might be able to dodge left or right, but that only meant his shoulder would catch her, potentially knocking her off balance.
His body was lower than her's and he was stronger. Whatever her plan was, he wasn't entirely sure this was what she had been expecting. Ah well, live and learn. His ears remained flat against his head and his chin was tucked low to cover his throat. His tail remained out behind him as a counter-balance, should he need it.
Subject: Re: Tribal Wardrum Noises [C] Tue May 25, 2021 10:45 am
Swiftspirit was half-expecting Nightwind to sidestep and catch her with a blow that could have sent her crashing to the ground. Instead, he leaped upward... And Swiftspirit wondered once more just where he'd trained. It wasn't something any Windclanner would have known, nor was it something most rogues she had known would have done. She ducked, twisting to the right, though his shoulder still caught hers, and she staggered slightly. It took a few precious seconds for Swiftspirit to regain her balance. His movement had been unexpected and thus her reaction time wasn't what it should have been. At least she'd avoided a potential headbutt to the chest or face, which could have easily knocked the breath out of her at minimum.
Better to learn that lesson while sparring than against a true opponent. She wouldn't be making that same mistake again if she could help it.
Regaining her footing, Swiftspirit's paw flashed out toward Nightwind's haunches before she backed off, circling to Nightwind's left. Pale blue eyes studied the tom thoughtfully. She was erring on the side of caution now, and throwing her energy into attacks that he'd be able to anticipate would be wasteful. He knew how Windclan trained, knew how she had trained, while she couldn't say the same of knowing how he fought. "How did you learn to fight? That wasn't anything I've seen a clan cat do before." She was genuinely curious, though if she got him talking, it might be used as a distraction.
She had been in relatively few sparring matches against other cats aside from Tawnyflare which hadn't been recently. The last time she had truly fought another cat had been... Never, actually. Eleos had always made it a point to avoid fighting when she could, and the last thing she had actually fought had been a fox with experienced warriors at her side. Group against a mindless predator was not the same as one-on-one sparring with a better-trained opponent. Not even remotely.
If Swiftspirit thought Nightwind was about to let up on his attacks, she had another thing coming. He kept the pressure on while she was unbalanced and moving, moving towards her and striking at her paws. He did whatever maneuvers he could to try to cause her to trip, whether it was simply placing his paw in the way of her's, to hooking and pulling at them to make standing difficult. He took full advantage of the fact that he was shorter than her as well, hoping that if she resisted falling long enough for him to get in close, he would throw a hard shoulder just behind her foreleg in her ribs. Her question was a surprise... as well as the smack on the haunches. Well... Okay then...
"I have spent moons training in many different battle styles against many different opponents. Most of those I have sparred against have had more experience than me, so I've had the foxdung beat out of me a lot. I have found, however, that defeat is more fruitful than victory when you are learning."
He was willing to pause for a moment to explain something to her. If she thought charging him head on was a good idea... well he would teach her again why that wasn't the case.
"I won't honey-coat it for you, Swiftspirit. Your body type, tall and slightly skinny, is going to be the hardest one to use for battle. You're a large target with little strength to make up for it. My suggestion to you would be to get yourself as fit as you can, and by that I mean build your stamina. Cats with your body type need to move around a lot in combat, both to avoid blows as well as deliver fast strikes. You can almost never stop moving, or you may not be able to move again at all. You need to focus on striking weak points quickly and perfect exactly how hard and fast that you strike. If you strike too fast, you'll only leave shallow, meaningless wounds. But the more power you throw into each strike you risk moving too slow, which means that you could be grabbed or dodged and that has the potential to put you off balance. Once you are pinned or otherwise unable to move, you're likely done for. You're not strong enough to wrestle most cats."
He paused again to let her drink in this information. Maybe this time she wouldn't try to charge him. It was a bad idea for the same reason that it was a bad idea for a deerhound to charge a bull.
"I'll let you try again. The only way you'll perfect these strikes is with practice. Think about what you're going to do before you do it. Watch me for tiny muscle movements, gaze aversions, anything that would clue you in on what my plan is to do next. Just be observant and think fast." It was a lot of information to swallow, but if she wanted to learn, then would teach her. He had another idea... but he'd wait until after the spar to share it with her.
Nightwind attempting to trip her up made sense, though Swiftspirit wasn't quite used to countering it. She adjusted her stance so that her paws were set apart and her body was lower to the ground, which helped her better maintain her balance, though it did slow her down considerably. He hooked one of her forelegs, knocking her off balance again, and Swiftspirit's lip curled in irritation. She'd rarely been frustrated in a spar before, but then that was part of the purpose, she supposed. He stopped to speak, at least, and Swiftspirit listened.
"Can't learn much if you don't make mistakes." Swiftspirit agreed with that assessment, though noticed that he'd avoided giving any specifics about where he'd learned or from who. Whatever his past was, he wasn't sharing, Swiftspirit had expected as much.
Swiftspirit let out a soft huff as Nightwind continued, "I can admit that much. I'm not built for strength." What Nightwind said made sense. Swiftspirit knew that she wasn't particularly strong, especially compared to most cats. Her body fit in with most Windclanners, which had been part of the reason she'd come to the moors. Their fighting and hunting styles suited her better, and what she knew of the other clans wasn't encyclopedic, but she had known that she wouldn't have been a good fit among dense forest or the claustrophobic marsh. The moors were wide-open, made for cats to run on.
Swiftspirit eyed Nightwind for a moment, silently judging what might be her best course of action. Directly charging him was proven foolish, and she wouldn't make a mistake like that again.
The she-cat darted forward, feigning an attempt to swipe at his left foreleg before abruptly veering to Nightwind's right side, paws flashing towards the upper half of his right foreleg in an attempt to hook beneath his shoulder. If successful it would 'trap' his foreleg and force him off balance while he then had to struggle to untangle his foreleg from hers. He'd be able to slash at her with his other foreleg, albeit at a somewhat more awkward angle for him. He'd be able to throw himself into the hold and take them both down, but if he managed to dodge her completely she'd be a bit more open to attack than she'd like.
