Keepie-Uppies [C]

Blackbear emerged from the forest, fur dotted with small fallen leaves. She shook them off aggressively, growling at each one individually as they fell from her fur. Then she gave her wild pelt a series of flattening licks, hoping to get the moisture from the stupid leaves out of it. She hated leaf-fall. Far more than she hated Greenleaf, even. It was wet, it was still too warm and every blasted step she took was rewarded with matted paw fur and a pelt full of ugly brown leaves. She was livid. Unfortunately, the concept of leaf-fall wasn't something physical she could challenge to a fight, no matter how many leaves she growled at. So she looked around camp, eyes settling on the first thing she could find- a mossball. She hadn't played with one... well, ever. She preferred to spar with other kits when she was little. But there were no warriors about, only cats too young or old for her to enjoy fighting. She had a brief thought that she could find Stoatpaw... But he was probably training too, since she didn't see his mentor anywhere. So, she'd settle for a mossball. She walked up to it, eyeing it hesitantly. How did one... fight a mossball? Or do anything with one, for that matter? She gave it an experimental nudge. It rolled, unsurprisingly. She have it another nudge, further this time. It triggered some hunting instinct and she pounced at it, making it roll even further. She pounced again, this time getting it in her claws. It stuck to her paw and she hissed at it, shaking her leg to get rid of it. The ball flew upwards off her claws and she jumped, reaching out for it. She caught it again and this time bit down on it as if she was killing a squirrel.

Moss was a lot softer than squirrel, she realised as half the mossball fell into her mouth and the other half plopped onto the ground. She spat it out angrily and sliced at the bits of mossball, slashing them to ribbons. She gave an indignant huff and turned away, having neutralised the threat, only to find Crookedkit standing there staring at her. She looked at him, then back at the mossball's remains. "Uh. Were you going to... play with this?" She gestured at the pile of green and brown dust. Well, she felt a bit awkward now. "I can, er, play something else with you. We could play fight." She suggested gruffly. How would someone her size play fight with a kit? One bite and it was over. She supposed she'd have to not bite then, which elicited an annoyed sigh.

Though she'd been the one to suggest it, Blackbear was a little surprised that Crookedkit was so excited about fighting her. Were all kits like this? Why did they get so wussy once they became apprentices? Apprentices never wanted to spar with her. Maybe it was their mentors, ruining them. She wondered who was going to ruin Crookedkit. Anyway, she wasn't about to take Crookedkit's enthusiasm for granted. He was already showing promise, and he was still so tiny!

"Alright, pipsqueak. Here's how this is gonna work." She raised a paw and shoved Crookedkit as gently as she could, though she still pushed him onto his rear end. "That's a paw blow. That's how you fight when you're only doing it for fun. You use claws, I won't because they'd slice you open and make a mess. Get it?" She got into a widened battle stance, though her claws were sheathed and her fangs hidden. It felt entirely, wholly wrong to spar with no weapons. Then again, there wasn't much harm Crookedkit could do to her anyway. "Attack me. Try your hardest. I'm really big, it won't hurt."

The kit was a good listener, she gave him that. Or at least it looked like he was listening, since he was staring at her intently with those big green eyes. Or... was he staring past her? She couldn't tell, and she didn't care. He got up, bending his legs into a weird version of her stance. His head was too low, if someone attacked him while he was standing like that he'd get a faceful of dirt. And then he'd probably die. Was he trying to copy her?? Clearly he was very bad at it. "Raise your head, you look like a crow hunting for worms." She growled, though she was quite close to laughing. She didn't, of course. Laughing was for obnoxious apprentices.

Her advice was too late to do any good, and with an excited proclamation and an odd wiggle the kit charged at her. He jumped, though he didn't get any higher than her foreleg. His teeth didn't hurt in the slightest, she'd been bitten worse by squirrels. But instinct was an irrational thing. She impulsively raised her leg and flicked upwards before her conscience got any say in the matter, quite effectively unlatching Crookedkit from her leg. It was at that point she remembered that he was in fact a kit, not a squirrel, and that launching him several tail-lengths into the air would probably damage him once he came down. Once again she acted on impulse, standing on her hind legs and snatching him back out of the air.

She held him in her front paws, sitting on her rear end like a spooked rabbit. That wasn't how spars were supposed to go. But how was she supposed to spar with someone the size of her paw?! "Are you... hurt?" She asked, the question feeling odd on her tongue.

Wow. Blackbear had to give Crookedkit credit, he was a resilient cat. She thought of Stoatpaw, giving up on their spar only minutes in. Compared to him, Crookedkit seemed pretty fearless so far. In fact, he was laughing. Laughing was an annoying, grating noise. She detested it. But it was better than crying, so she let the kit laugh. She flattened her ears, trying to contain her annoyance at the sound. Thankfully, he came to a wheezing stop fairly quick.

"How high? Hm." She looked up, trying to gauge the distance. She didn't spend much time throwing things directly into the air and catching them again, but she supposed she could throw him pretty high. Higher if she jumped. "Couple taillengths probably. Higher if I jump. You wanna find out?" Clearly he did, seeing as he was giggling about how fun it was and asking her to do it again. Kits were a lot easier to manage than she thought.

"Okay, good. Uh, just in case, I'll throw ya so your legs face down. Just... don't land on your back." She wasn't planning on dropping him. But if she did, she didn't want his mother on her tail about him getting injured. Anyway, he was SkyClan, he had to learn how to land a jump.

She flipped him over so he was on his belly and lowered her paws, keeping her eyes trained on him. He wanted to go high, so she was going to jump. She took a breath and exploded upwards, sending him soaring into the air. She landed fairly quick, not having gone very high herself, but Crookedkit was positively soaring. This was less of a spar and more hunting practice, she thought as she sprang upwards once again to catch the kit like a bird in flight. This time, she didn't use her paws. Mouth open, she grabbed him in her jaws. She was quite proud of herself for resisting the urge to bite down.

She did a small victory lap once she landed, head high. "Look, I caught a flying kit." She rasped, voice muffled by the kit in her mouth and humour lacing her voice. Okay, yeah, this was fun.