[Mousenose & Dovepaw]

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw did not feel like her questions had been adequately answered. Perhaps it was the half-hearted way in which Mousenose had answered her, or perhaps it was because she did not feel that PineClan cats really had a good reason not to believe in StarClan, like Mousenose suggested. What could that reason possibly be? Were PineClan cats just too stubborn to believe that StarClan existed, or did they have proof of their nonexistence? Those thoughts were dangerous territory for an apprentice who was treading the line between belief and disbelief in StarClan. In the course of one day, she could talk herself into or out of belief, and the next day she could do the exact same thing.

"But Mousenose,"

[/b] she asked in mid-stride, "What good reason could a cat possibly have not to believe in StarClan?"[/b] Mousenose must know about her predicament of faith by this point. Dovepaw kept on walking as if it were a completely trivial question, but she was sure that both of them knew it was nothing of the sort. In fact, what good reason could a cat have for believing in StarClan?

"Oh, looks like we're here."[/b] Dovepaw's voice was laced with disappointment, and her tail even drooped a little lower to the ground. She knew her mentor, and now that they were a the Training Hollow, it was likely that he wouldn't answer her question. Her ears pricked up and she tried to prepare herself from a sudden attack in any direction. If Mousenose could survive a bear attack, there was no telling how formidable an opponent he could be.
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[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

"What good reason could a cat possibly have not to believe in StarClan?"

Mousenose needed to think.. Mousenose had his own reasons, Dovepaw probably had reasons to. It would just be the other way around. Mousenose turned his head on his shoulder and thought of a few reasons.

"Uh. Maybe they have been in a few accidents and Starclan never came to help.. Maybe.. A medicine cat never got a dream.. Maybe cats have some reasons and just spread it around so other cats use those reason."

Mousenose mewed, shrugging his shoulders.

Mousenose looked at the young cat. Her position was good.. So Mousenose jumped into position and put his ears all the way back. Just to give her a thought of what battle would be. He growled, and swiped a paw.

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw, at first, was taken aback from her mentor's physical display of aggression. Had she said something wrong to him? Did the fact that he had to answer her questions yet again vex him to the point of growling? Mousenose never growled, not even when he was annoyed. Dovepaw figured that she must have done something bad to make him get this violent. It was just training, after all! You weren't supposed to growl, snarl, hiss, or let yourself get too carried away in battle training. That was one of the first things Mousenose had taught her.

Dovepaw jumped back from the swipe and aimed her own cuff at Mousenose's ears. Her claws were sheathed, of course, but she found herself wishing that she could extend her claws just a bit. It would definitely make the routine more interesting, seeing as how every time she did battle training the fight sequence was identical to the one before that. He swiped, she cuffed him on the ear. He pounced, she rolled away and slammed into a tree. He pinned her, and then they started all over again. It was the same as it always was, and the same that it always would be unless one of them decided to change it.

Determination sparked in Dovepaw's eyes. No longer would the sessions be copies of their first training battle ever. It was time to shake things up a bit. Her swipe at his ears missed, but she didn't care so much. Dovepaw whirled around and shot herself at Mousenose's side, hoping to unbalance him so she could pin him. That was something that she had never done before, for sure.

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[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

Mousenose saw the paw coming toawards him. Before he could react, he noticed it missed. Mousenose started to run as fast as he could, and pinned Dovepaw down. He started to kick her belly softly, then bit Dovepaw's ear very very lightly. Nothing to make it hurt.

/short

[glowlynose]

Oh no, he hadn't! He hadn't just won! Dovepaw felt a strange surge of motivation as she struggled for what seemed like the hundredth time underneath her mentor's weight. If only I could grow just a bit stronger... aha! Dovepaw squirmed out from underneath Mousenose's grasp; a hiss crept out from behind her teeth as her ear was tugged out of Mousenose's mouth. It was now throbbing incessantly, not so much in pain, but enough to be an annoyance.

Dovepaw tried for the old "dive-under-the-opponent-and-trip-them-from-behind" trick. She hoped that Mousenose would be still a bit frazzled so that he wouldn't just collapse on top of her. That wouldn't be very nice. In fact, it would be very rude. That wouldn't be the best move, being as rude as it was. It would pin her at the same time as knocking the wind out of her, leaving her relatively incapacitated.

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[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

Mousenose felt the apprentice crawl under his weight, and the ear tug through his mouth. Mousenose growled just a tiny bit. He didn't know weather or not the ear-bite hurt or not, but felt guilt weigh on his shoulders. Mousenose sighed and stepped a few steps back from Dovepaw. Mousenose licked his chest, trying to act cool. Not like his normal self and scared of what Dovepaw's reaction was.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean for the bite to hurt.. Or did it hurt? I mean.. I thought it was soft."

Mousenose said, looking down at his paws. Ashamed of what he did. He was glad that Dovepaw didn't scream in pain or anything. That would make Mousenose really, really sad.

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw smiled and let out a small purr, but did not relax her battle-ready stance. This was, after all, battle training, and she had to be as ready for an attack as she would be in a real battle situation. That was the point of training, wasn't it? It was nice, though, to hear that Mousenose was concerned about what his bite had done to her, if anything. How... oddly sweet of him.

"No, Mousenose. It was just a nip, little more than that. It certainly doesn't hurt like a real wound would. I'm just fine. My ear only throbs a little bit, but it isn't bad. More like a dull annoyance than actual pain. In fact, it's already going away."

[/b] Dovepaw could only hope that that would reassure him enough to bring him back to the training. How rude it would be if he decided that he couldn't do this anymore. They had barely begun their training session! She scuffled her paws nervously as she waited for the attempt at reassurance to sink in.
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[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

Mousenose purred. He was so glad that there was no pain. Mousenose nodded instead of replying, cause he didn't want to bother her any more. Mousenose sat. Watching his 'victim'. Mousenose purred a little more, looking up at the sky. He was trying to act like he forgot about fighting. Mousenose sighed. It was lovely, and he would just adore to spend time out here. Time away from any monster, bone eating, tough, fearless Warriors. Even though he was a warrior, he feared of the other ones. Now he was tired of waiting. He wanted to pounce. So he drew his paws back quickly, and threw his back feet up, jumping high into the air. Mousenose landed on Dovepaw, and pinned him down once again.

[/size]

[glowlynose]

Dovenose let out an iritated hiss and squirmed beneath Mousenose's pin. That had been totally unfair! One moment he'd been staring at the sky, looking completely oblivious to what was going on, and the next moment he'd pounced and pinned her! How rude. He'd made her completely misjudge his intentions, and now she was in a very awkward position indeed.

A flicker of determination lit her eyes, but she let her limbs go slack and relaxed her muscles. Hopefully Mousenose would take the bait. She'd never used this move before, and she could only hope to whatever higher power there was, if there was even a higher power, that he'd never encountered it before in his battles.

After a short pause, Dovepaw motored herself upward. She spun around in mid leap so that she was facing Mousenose and proceeded to whack his in the face with her paw with as much strangth as she could muster. After all, this was battle. She couldn't afford to be polite in battle.

[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

Mousenose herd a hiss from Dovepaw. So the thought of being beat up again found it's way into his mind. It was just a battle move, right? And it probably didn't hurt. But.. Maybe it was annoying. Mousenose clenched his teeth together in guilt. Closing his eyes for a quick second, to ashamed to look.

Mousenose felt the apprentice crawl from beneath him. And a paw hit him in the face. It was probably not supposed to hurt. But it made Mosenose's cheek throb. Mousenose was also kinda angry. But he hid his anger.

Mousenose spun around quickly. When his back was facing Dovepaw kicked his back legs at her. Softly.

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