PAFP Event Camp step one, do my highlight — battle strategy

[FLICKERDANCE]

"I like to take my enemies by surprise,"

Flickerdance says, voice serious despite the obvious glimmer of excitement in her eyes. She stalks, body close to the ground, though her target is wholly imaginary. With the way she moves, it appears almost like her body is in stasis, except for her limbs; she manages to slither along the ground like a snake, without her head bobbing even once. Even her whiskers remain eerily still.

"You don't always get the chance to do that, but that's why it's so satisfying."

Flickerdance is in her element—and perhaps if she weren't so glad for an audience, she would be too embarrassed about the notion of talking about battle with a kit to carry on. Her and Fawnkit had gotten... well, not close, but their paths had crossed several times this moon. Flickerdance supposes not all kits are so bad. The ones that don't whine and don't become too annoying are fine. Fawnkit seems to fall into that category, when she's not commenting on unimportant stuff like big birds that are way too high in the sky for any cat to reach.

She's a warrior now, fully, but she supposes there is no harm in preparing Fawnkit for the future. This can be productive, if you squint.

Flickerdance suddenly freezes, only to launch into a flurry of blows, her paws slicing through the air.

"The battle can turn into your favor if you use distraction to your advantage."

She drops, almost as if someone had struck her in a vulnerable spot of her soft belly. Her tail wraps around herself protectively and her pelt spikes... a depiction of an opponent feigning fear and weakness.

"Let them underestimate you."

Then, she sidesteps the imaginary enemy and slashes across their side, clean and unexpected.

She is barely out of breath when she finishes her little show and turns back to the kit.

"Are you excited to start training, Fawnkit?"

Prompt 85: discuss your favorite battle strategies with another cat
Please wait for @Fawnkit

 

[Fawnkit]

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Is she excited to start training? She can't wait to start! Being in camp is so boring, the most fun she has is learning something from the apprentices and warriors, when they spare her a moment.

She watches Flickerdance's performance closely, lowering her ears when she gets confused and gasping when the fresh warrior's movements surprise her. "Wow, you are so good at this!" she exclaimes. "I hope when I'm a warrior, I'm as good a fighter as you!"

Flickerdance's new name makes sense to Fawnkit - the she-cat's movements are so graceful and calculated, as if it was a rehearsed dance - Fawnkit can't tear her eyes off of her. What she is saying makes sense to Fawnkit, being able to feign fear in order for your opponent to think you weak, then surprising them with speed and force! The only battle movements Fawnkit knows are ones used in playfighting, rough but harmless, meant to ruffle her peers. She enjoys them, but she doubts they would be useful in a real fight - she never bothered to protect her own body when battling with her sisters, knowing they would never hurt her, not intentionally at least.

"How do you protect the vulnerable parts of your body during battle? Your throat, your stomach, your eyes?" she asks Flickerdance with wide eyes. She likes her big green eyes, she wouldn't want to lose one in battle just because she wasn't able to protect herself. Similiarly with the spots on her belly - they are so nice and neat, a big scar across them would ruin the picture. As for her throat..well she doesn't want to bleed out either! Nooo thank you.

Fawnkit's tail twitches in hopefulness. "Will you teach me more, Flickerdance?" she wishes to learn everything there is to learn about being a proper warrior, she wants to be the best in the clan. "Pleaaase, pretty please! I promise I will listen carefully!"

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[FLICKERDANCE]

Flickerdance's smile is satisfied; kits are not always easy to impress, especially if they deem themselves to be smarter than their peers, but Fawnkit seems open to this show. After all, she has shown quite a lot of promise already. That much is already a feat—the camp offers little when it comes to highlighting your future skills and abilities. Fawnkit has managed to bypass that entirely.

"You have to react quick,"

she says, instructing Fawnkit on something important. Protecting the vital parts of one's body is part of the battle itself; if blood seeps into your line of vision, then there is precious little you can do.

"Dodging is something that will come to you when you begin battle training. There is no teacher like the real deal."

Her eyes glimmer with memories of the battle that had occurred at Fourtrees. It had been Flickerdance's first, and she had managed to make herself proud with what she had accomplished there.

"Of course, there are moves to help you with that... like this."

Flickerdance drops low once again, as if reclining from a swipe at the imaginary enemy, and rolls away. It's an easy way to escape any slash that might be targeting her stomach.

Fawnkit all but pleads, and Flickerdance doesn't feel the familiar annoyance that often grabs her in moments like this.

"Sure I can. You're smart, and you listen well. Any mentor will be pleased to have you."

An idea strikes her, then; she is barely out of the apprentices' den, but is it unrealistic to hope for a pupil of her own?

 

[Fawnkit]

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Fawnkit beams with pride at Flickerdance's words - she knows she is smart, but it's different when someone else notices too!

She watches as Flickerdance answers her question - with not only words but a demonstration, rolling away from an imaginary attack. Flickerdance's movements are quick and steady and Fawnkit wonders if she would be able to roll the same way. She stands up, thinking up an enemy before her and drops low. Instead of rolling away gracefully though, like Flickerdance, Fawnkit loses her balance and stumbles over her short paws, falling on her side. With a huff, she stands up again and cleans her chest with a few embarrased licks. "Maybe I need to eat a few less pigeons..." she meows, noticing how her round belly affects her balance. "Or grow longer legs!"

She hopes Flickerdance still sees her as a good student, despite her falling over. She sits back down and watches her momentary mentor, not trying to imitate her anymore. She needs to train her paws and legs first, before attempting Flickerdance's impressive movements - maybe starting with something a little easier... "Thank you Flickerdance! You're a good teacher! Any apprentice will be pleased to have you." she echoes her own words back to her.

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[Thornkit]

Thorn knew he was no warrior, and that he had plenty to learn before he could consider himself one. It didn't help that ThunderClan split its young into two categories, kept them from being properly trained until they were a certain age, which meant that Thornkit had to take what lessons he could as they came to him - it wasn't that ThunderClan was against its kits learning the basics of what would become their training, but they had far too many arbitrary rules for Thornkit's tastes.

"Let my enemy see me coming. When I'm a warrior, I want them to see who they're going to lose to." Thornkit crowed as he slunk up beside Fawnkit and Flickerdance, his ego overtaking his need for suspicion or disdain for either of the she-cats. He flexed his claws against the dirt beneath his paws. "Hit them hard and fast. Perhaps it's not your style, but it's a worthy strategy, isn't it?" He didn't particularly need or want Flickerdance's approval, but confirmation wouldn't hurt. He glanced to his side as Fawnkit bumbled about, and sneered.

"I'll say. You'll need to bulk up some if you don't want to get immediately bowled over in a fight."

THORNKIT—he/him + 02 moons
ThunderClan kit
NPC ♡ NPC | adopted by Serpentberry
Brother to Falsekit, Faithkit
Mate to N/A | Father to N/A
Mentored by N/A | Mentoring N/A

penned by Archivist

 

[hyacinthrain hyacinthrain]

Oh? Flickerdance was fighting thin air, head held high in front of kittens who seemed eager to learn. They asked questions, they imitated clumsily, And it almost made hyacinthrain giggle, a paw pulling over their mouth in hushed chuffing. Shoulders shaking lightly before letting out a breath, gentle smile on their face.

So .. they wanna see more, and Flickerdance wants to show them. Perhaps an opponent they could see would help out. Sure, hyacinthrain wasn't super skilled in fighting, but they still knew moves, and they knew enough to perform them without the adrenaline of real life fighting. The patchwork cat would crouch low, eyes on the back of flickerdances head as they creeped slowly forward. Their breath was caught, their paws finding each step as if instinct- and when they were ready-

Paws aimed to land on flickerdances back, "defend against this!" They let out a quiet screech, giggles escaping the warrior as they possibly rolled and tumbled with the other.
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