[ti]Private[/ti]Frozen Claws

[Mama]

Her mentor woke her up early in the frosty morning, for goodness sakes, and told her she had some training. The black and white apprentice had a little amount of time to groom down her wavy, silk pelt, grab a few bites to eat and then charge her way out to meet her.

Spotting Dustytuft from a distance (no offense, but her tabby pelt stuck out in the white wonderland), and her tail gave a twirl in greeting as she skipped to her mentor's side. "Well, now that I'm up bright and early, m'mam, what are we doing today?" The feline asked with a head turn. She'd already done her chores two days ago, and had a boring patrol yesterday, so hopefully it was something exciting. Something new.

Broadwaykat

[Broadwaykat]

Mama

It would honestly always be a toss up with Dustytuft, when she had an apprentice, as to who would be the more excitable one. Frankly, she remembered her own apprentice days fondly enough that she itched to spread those same experiences to any younger cat under her care. So despite the fact that the blanket of snow on the ground might have stopped many of the more mature clan members and have them bemoaning the cold, she was up bright-eyed and ready to begin, stopping only to tell Cowpaw where to meet her and to be ready for the day, before heading out of camp to get things ready.

Truthfully, her pacing around the clearing had been useful; she had trampled down a fair bit of ground with her chilly paws so that there was less snow to sink into in a roughly circular patch a few tail lengths in diameter. A few drifts also surrounded them - cushy landing spots that would be needed for what they were about to do. Then, of course, she had settled down to wait and was doing her best to lick some warmth back into her paws. She smelled the apprentice before she could spot her; but truth be told that was likely because, even with the odd black patch in her pelt, she was much more suited with blending into the snow than she herself was.

"I was hoping you didn't mind a head start!" She greeted cheerily enough. "Or the cold. It's never too early, after all, for some practice. And the first thing to remember is that no prey, or a sneaking cat, is gonna wait for a more convenient hour to be out and about!"

Of course, she knew full well that this was perhaps not the best season to start a hunting practice. For three seasons her coat allowed her to blend into her surroundings perfectly; but during leaf-bare, particularly after the snowfall, she stuck out like a dog in a clowder of cats. There were, of course, tricks to fix this - which she'd teach in good time. But she could use their surroundings to their advantage for now.

"I thought now would be a good time to work on some basic defensive moves, alright?" She said, giving herself a good shake as stretched and prepared to teach. "Snow and cold can be a great motivator, after all!"

She didn't elaborate much on that, yet - but awaited Cowpaw to confirm that she was ready.

[Mama]

Ducking her head through the light flurries of snow flittering through the air, getting caught in her pelt and speckling her black spots, the shecat's gaze flickered around to the flattened clearing. The snow was pressed where she was, and it almost looked like a little ring with thick piles surrounding them. Her caramel gaze looked down at her feet as she shifted her weight, the snow giving a satifying crunch under her paws.

Looking back up to her mentor, her right ear flicked back. "I mean, a few apprentices and most of the warrior's might dispute that." Cowpaw replied, before giving a little cough. "Not that I would."


Hearing that they would be fighting, the black and white apprentice gave a nod. She silently thanked herself for skipping on grooming her pelt too much, it would get ruined. Maybe once they were done she'd be able to curl up with some food and warm her already numbing flank up with a good groom. Watching her mentor shift around to get prepared, she shook out her own pelt before leaning back and stretching out. Even if it didn't do much, this cold at least made it feel good and she remained in a half crouch for a few seconds, before righting herself with another little fur shake. Her hind legs took turns shaking the cold off, and she swiped her tongue over a paw before brushing a long strand of hair out of her face.


"Alright, I'm ready whenever you are!"

[Broadwaykat]

The obvious chill in the air hadn't seemed to do much damage in putting her apprentice is a foul mood - which was a good thing, seeing as Dustytuft herself was in quite good spirits; the likes of which to clash with would likely do little good other than to annoy one another. She took her Apprentice's eager attitude as a good sign and simply dove into things as quickly as possible.

"Well then; let's do something seemingly easy to start with, shall we? I'm not going to fight back, I'm not going to counter. I want to see what you would do, just by instinct, in a given situation." She licked her lips - fully prepared for this to be interesting if nothing else. 

"I want you to try and knock my paws out from under me. My tail hits the ground, you win." She didn't elaborate on a prize but waved her tail encouragingly in the air behind her - like a banner in the wind. "And remember; no tricks from me. I won't box your ears or anything."