Written in the Stars

Needless to say, Mothmaw hadn't been thrilled about being given an apprentice. He'd already trained a couple over the many moons he'd been a warrior - his reputation as a fearsome warrior making him a prime candidate to take on the more boisterous youths in the clan - but it was never his favourite duty. Still, it was a duty nonetheless, and so he was going to get on with it. 

So far, Badgerpaw hadn't disappointed, but he hadn't particularly impressed either. The young tom was quite the cocky thing, it seemed. He didn't seem to pay attention while he was being taught the basics warrior skills, far too caught up in eagerness for a fight. Mothmaw could understand that - he had behaved similarly when he was the other's age - but he was not going to let it slide, just as he was not about to let the young tom get away with sneaking out of camp at some ridiculous hour in the morning either.

Badgerpaw hadn't been particularly hard to track. Perhaps if he had listened during training more, he would have known how to cover his trail better. As it was, though, Mothmaw supposed that he would not dismiss StarClan's small blessing of an apprentice that could easily be found when he wandered off.

While Mothmaw hardly had footsteps that could be described as quiet - his sheer bulk making it hard for him to move stealthily - but the other cat seemed too distracted to notice him. Taking advantage of his, the warrior sauntered right up behind the tom before he decided to make his presence known.

"In a real fight, your opponent wouldn't be standing as still as that tree is. You need to move more."

Badgerpaw was so intent on his quarry that he didn't notice the key points that should have alerted him to danger. He didn't feel the creeping steps of being stalked, or even the slight shadow cast across the morning forests' floor. Not until he was in mid pounce, and Mothmaw spoke up, that he let out a yelp as he realized he was no longer alone, and indeed had been caught out by the worst.possible.person besides perhaps Sunstar themselves.

He yowled and tried to abort the jump, turning instead to a sort of twist and falling hard on his side in the leaflitter. He sat up quickly after though, shaking his head and embarrassment written across his face for a moment before he schooled it into an expression of grumpiness, if not anger.

"I was just practicing!" He insisted, nose tilted into the air ever so slightly as his tail lashed behind him. "I needed to use something - else all I'll be good for is what? Marking borders and knowing what the territory looks like at all different times of the day?!"

In a way, it was Mothmaw's fault he was out here in the first place. Not...that he was about to tell his mentor that, of course. He liked having all his fur and whiskers exactly where they were, thank you.

As the apprentice tumbled to the ground, Mothmaw couldn't help but chuckle gruffly at him. Well, that's what you got for not paying attention,  wasn't hope? Maybe Badgerpaw would learn from his fall, though the older tom did have his doubts about the probability of such a thing occurring. His apprentice had potential, but he didn't have particularly high hopes for him just yet.

Still, at least he was eager. That was something in itself, and who was Mothmaw to deny somebody so keen for a scrap?

"Alright. We can practise," the warrior agreed. Maybe if he battered Badgerpaw about a bit, then the apprentice would start to listen more. At the very least, it'd give him a temporary outlet for how frustrated this whole early morning adventure had made him!

He took a few steps back, building some distance between himself and Badgerpaw, and then simply stood still, looking at his apprentice. "Attack me," Mothmaw instructed. "Try not to fall over when I hit you in return." If Badgerpaw were to look, he would see his mentor smirking underneath all his unkempt fur.

Badgerpaw's grumbles stopped abruptly when he looked up; his mentor was agreeing with him? That they could finally get some real, actual practice in? Something useful! He might have tried to hold himself to a more responsible appearance, but he was still young - there was a look of hopeful eagerness that crossed his face, moments before it was replaced with that oh-so-serious business look.

"Alright...well...well you try not to fall over!" He replied, before taking a few steps back, turning in a circle to try and gather his wits a bit. He knew nothing about broadcasting his moves, so as he moved close it was fairly obvious what he was about to do - running head on to the tom to try and get under that massive belly of his. He knew that some of it - most of it maybe - had to be fur, right? It couldn't all be muscle - and maybe there was just room enough for him to slip underneath and get between his opponents bigger legs and upset them from beneath.

The idea of a mere apprentice being able to push him over was, quite frankly, utterly ludicrous. Badgerpaw could try, of course, but he would never succeed. Mothmaw, well.... Mothmaw was akin to some kind of ancient oak - large, strong, an exceedingly hard to topple. Oh well, though. It seemed that his young apprentice was going to have to learn that for himself.

The apprentice clearly had no idea of proper tactics. He appeared to know the concepts, at least, but going about them? The kit didn't have a clue. Obviously that was because his mentor hadn't taught him any of that yet, and he would teach him with time. First though, it was time for a lesson in humility.

Mothmaw allowed Badgerpaw to run at him and then, at the last moment - before the younger tom could slide and attempt to strike a blow - his lifted one of his own great paws and simply slapped him in the face (claws withdraw, of course - he didn't want to harm to apprentice just yet).

Getting slapped in the face by the paw of a bigger cat was akin to getting hit by a monster by the young tom; who, despite the fact that Mothmaw was being relatively gentle for a cat his size went all but flying, tumbling into the dirt and losing the air from his lungs as he landed with a hefty thud. He flopped over - kicked out his paws - but was just as quickly back on them again, the skin beneath the white patch on his face feeling warm and growing scarlet from humiliation and...likely a good deal of bruising.

"That was NOT fair!" He yelped, stomping his paws into the ground. "You said to try and knock you down, not that you'd be attacking me back!" The fur along his spine bristled - he'd never been so humiliated in his entire life. If the ground opened up beneath him he wouldn't have batted an eye at it - most likely would have welcomed it, in fact.

It would save him from feeling ashamed, for sure.

"You're right, I didn't - and neither will you future opponents!" Mothmaw was quick to sternly yowl at his apprentice, irritated and, more importantly, disappointed by the young cat's indignation. As far as he was concerned, Badgerpaw just learnt a valuable lesson - that there were no warnings when you were in the middle of a battle. You have to constantly watch out, both for yourself and those around you. Assuming that you know how an encounter would play out was both foolish and certain to get somebody hurt.

"Listen to me well, Badgerpaw; there is only one rule when it comes to fights between warriors, and that is that you, as an honourable warrior, should not kill unless absolutely necessary or your opponent is operating outside of the warrior code," Mothmaw then went on to say. "Do you understand that? It means that during a battle, anything can happen and any weakness can be abused." And, considering this, going easy on the apprentice because he was still undergoing training would not do the young tom any favours. As far as Mothmaw was concerned, either he would learn the hard way and he would benefit from all the struggles along the way, or he would not learn at all.

Broadfae