Pouncing Practice [open]

[ceilingwax]

Orbs with a hint of green in their yellowy depths focused on the cricket, which twitched its antennae lazily, completely unaware of the danger lurking nearby. Languid, it lifted a leg and set it down again, taking a slow step. The eyes followed its movement and their owner took a small step forward. She flicked her tail lightly through the air and bunched up her muscles, the only warning. Then she leapt, letting out a fierce battle cry as both her forepaws slapped the ground, trying to pounce on the cricket.

Birdkit stood there for a moment, looking at her paws before lifting them up, ready to leap after the cricket should it attempt to escape. However, her efforts were in vain; somehow, her quarry had managed to escape her. Disappointed, the young she-cat took a step back and looked around, trying to see where the insect had hopped off to. Another movement caught her attention, this one out of the corner of her eye. Excited at the prospect of having a target, the little brown kit whipped around. Barely a moment passed before she registered that the moving thing was a tail. But that did not stop her. She ran forward and pounced, hoping for the best.

[Venom]

Fawnshadow watched the kit try and pounce on her tail. She let out a small laugh. She remembered Heathershine talking about this kit, Birdkit.
"You know, it helps if your target isn't attached to you." She meowed. This kit reminded her of herself when she was a kit. The memory of her kithood brought up a swell of emotions. She ignored the feelings pressing against her chest. Fawnshadow sat with her tail on her paws. Her brown fur shone and her eyes twinkled in the sunlight. She gave a mischievous cat-like smile. "Would you like me to give you a few tips?" The warrior meowed to the kit.

[ceilingwax]

Just as she was about to reach it, the tail moved, and Birdkit tried to follow it. However, she ended up spinning in a circle and lost her balance, toppling over and landing with a harumph. Slightly dazed, the kit blinked and rolled over onto her stomach, gathering her paws beneath her. "You know, it helps if your target isn't attached to you." The sudden voice surprised her and yellowy green eyes flashed to the speaker, whom she recognized as a warrior but did not know by name. The resiliant kit began to climb her to paws, head tilted slightly as she studied the older cat. "Would you like me to give you a few tips?" The brown warrior spoke again, this time with a mischievious smile. That caught Birdkit's attention more than anything. "Yes please! That sounds fun. Are you going to show me how to pounce on other cats?" Birdkit stopped herself, pausing for a moment before she asked, "Who are you, by the way? I'm Birdkit. I'm going to be an apprentice in one moon."

[Venom]

"I'm Fawnshadow. And I'll just show you the basics, your mentor will have to teach you the more complicated stuff." Fawnshadow mewed. She remembered when she was Birdkit's age, so excited to be an apprentice that a moon seemed like a season. Whitepaw was always so patient, so relaxed. Fawnshadow was always jealous of how much everyone loved Whitepaw, but those feelings were gone.
The only feelings she had left for her living kin, was hatred. Then there was that prominent emotion that made her feel numb and hollow, longing. Longing for her father, longing for someone that can love her. "Will you show me how you were crouched?" She said, shaking off her thoughts. She needed to stay in the present, not dwindle in the past.

[ceilingwax]

The brown warrior was Fawnshadow. Birdkit looked at her a moment more, committing her face to memory, before blinking again and nodding. "Okay!" It did not matter that she was only learning the basics, the subject did not really matter either; she was learning from a warrior! Like an apprentice! Maybe if Fallingstar saw how good she was at pouncing, he/she would allow Birdkit to become an apprentice a moon early. The kit made up her mind to listen very carefully to what Fawnshadow had to say.

"Will you show me how you were crouched?" Birdkit nodded eagerly and hastened to crounch down, keeping her head low by her paws as she focused on a pebble not very far from where she stood. Her tail flicked eagerly through the air, and any competent warrior would be able to see that her weight was distributed too far to the front to be any good. Moving her gaze from the pebble, Birdkit looked back at the warrior, asking brightly, "Is this good?"

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[Venom]

Fawnshadow examined the kit's crouch. There were some major flaws, but she was only a kit. The brown warrior addressed the biggest problem first.
"Not bad, but you need to distribute your weight more evenly. When you jump you use your back legs, you need to try and lean back a bit." Fawnshadow put herself in a proper crouch.
"You need to keep your feet closer together." Her blue eyes trailed at the small pebble Birdkit was looking at. Fawnshadow tightened the muscles in her back legs in preparation to spring. The young she-cat narrowed her eyes and pounced, landing squarely on the pebble.

[ceilingwax]

Birdkit nodded and bit her lip, focusing on redistributing her weight. It was easier said than done. A movement beside her alerted the kit to Fawnshadow's movement, and she gave up all effort in her crouch in favor of watching the warrior's fluid movements. The older brown she-cat made it look so easy! Birdkit wanted to be able to crouch like that. After another suggestion, Fawnshadow pounced, landing on the pebble. Jaw dropping in amazement, the kit let out a gasp. That was the first time she had ever seen a warrior pounce on anything, and it looked so much more skilled than the pouncing she had done with the other kits. "Wow!" She breathed, awe reflected in her yellow green eyes. "That was really... wow, Fawnshadow. You make it look so easy!"

[Venom]

"Well it wasn't easy at first, but after lots of practice it became as easy and as natural as sleeping." Fawnshadow said. She was amused by the look on the kit's face. She gave a small laugh. "You'll get it in time too Birdkit." The warrior blinked twice. She then looked in deep thought, as if remebering something she had forgoten a long time ago. She shook her head as if to send the thought flying from out of her ear.
"Would you like to see me do it again? To see if you can copy how I do it?" She crouched again, this time staying in that position so Birdkit could see how she did it.