Moonpaw wasn't nearly as prickly as Sagekit. In fact, he sort of enjoyed having this sort of community. Growing up, he had only met strangers on the road who weren't quite as friendly, or his family. Here, it felt like everyone was sort of family. The warriors were kind for the most part, the apprentices were usually friendly, happy to play games whenever they had spare time. His guardian–he didn't call anyone father anymore after Bermondsey–taught him the ropes, and he was pretty eager to learn everything else.

The only cat he still wasn't certain about was that Sagepaw. She certainly was making certain of her promise to be at the top of the class, and while Moonpaw himself would love to be at the top, he...didn't care as much as she did. Still, there were days when he wanted to get some extra practice, and today, in particular, he wanted to get a certain hunting technique right–mice were far too sensitive to his large paws–and he had found himself by the riverbank to take a break, unaware of the time.

A voice and the nickname immediately made him snort, interrupting his own train of thought. Oh great. It was grumpy old Sagepaw. "–shouldn't you be eating dinner?" he replied in the same, almost condescending tone, a smirk on his face, "oh it's Sagebutt. I thought we were finally rid of your grumpy self by now."

Yeesh, couldn't Sagepaw take a joke? He was sure she had heard the sarcasm in his voice, the way his expression had been some goofy smirk, but it seemed like she either just one, wanted to fight him or two, was so literal that everything flew over her head. A frown appeared on his face, listening to her speak. Wow. Low blow.

A groan left his mouth. "Gods, not this again," he grumbled, "seriously, can't you take a joke? Or do you not know what a joke actually is? Maybe if you'd...I don't know, hang out with the others instead of always fighting everyone, you'd figure out I was just kidding?"

He wasn't usually as snappy with the other apprentices–his internal need to please often overruled that–but Sagepaw was a different story. "Not to mention, you're also out here training all day," he pointed out, "what, too scared of me actually beating you in anything despite doing half the work that you need to avoid me at all costs?"

If he kept rolling his eyes, they'd be stuck there, he thought, giving her a raised brow instead, as if dumbfounded by everything she was saying. Really? "What a roundabout way to say you don't have any friends," he stuck his tongue out to Sagepaw, "you know, eventually you're going to have to have friends as a warrior, right? It's not like they send patrols with one single cat. Not to mention, we're supposed to be working together? Or did you miss that whole section during our first lesson?"

He shrugged at her insult, despite its sting. It was true; his larger paws made him a clumsy hunter and he had been working a little harder because of that failed lesson, but he wasn't going to admit it to Sagekit. He felt his face flush and his jaw tighten a little. "Yeah?" he replied coldly, "is that why you're out here all the time training? To fix that messed up batting you call a fighting stance? You know, maybe if you're lucky, we won't get into any border skirmishes at all and you'll actually survive until warriorhood."

"Would it hurt for you to say please?" he frowned. Sagepaw was always demanding, demanding, demanding. Didn't she have some sense of, oh, I don't know, manners? Perhaps some actual kindness in there? Moonpaw really doubted it at this point. Still, she did have a good proposal, and there were things he wanted to learn, though he wasn't exactly sure how someone as small and nimble as Sagepaw could teach him. They were just so different, after all.

"Fine," he replied with a sigh, giving her a look over, "though to be honest, your disadvantage is just that you're kind of small. You won't be able to fight the same way I do anyway." He wasn't large to most cats' standards, but certainly, he was large enough to reach the vital parts where he had to hit in battle. "What did you want to start with?"

The tom rolled his eyes. One day he was going to make sure to show her that a please really did go far; he was just going to reject her until she started being polite, he thought ruefully as they began their training session.

He looked her over as she formed her stance, and he raised a brow. “Why are you standing so...stiffly? I mean, you’re practically gripping the ground as if you’ll be able to push back whoever with just brute strength.”

Surely, he shouldn’t have been surprised at all. “Look, your fighting stance should be like your hunting stance,” he gestured to her paws, “you need to stay light in case anything comes your way so you can dodge and not get hit.”

Her second stance was certainly better than the first, though she still seemed a little...stiff, as if this all just felt odd to her. He couldn’t exactly explain what it was either; Moonpaw had always felt more comfortable with fighting than hunting. It wasn’t like he had gone into all of this blind; as a kit, his father had taught him one or two moves to defend himself in case anyone came looking for a fight. Thinking about it, neither his dad nor Charlotte had babied him that way; the world to them seemed...less happy to him.

“I don’t really know how to teach you,” he admitted, “some of this just kind of comes naturally...but all I know is that my—uh, someone once told me that a good fighter knows how to use their strengths and to...uh, know how others see you and use that to your advantage?” That wasn’t exactly what he had been told but it was close enough.

“So you’re small, other cats think they can get the jump on you and you know that, right? So you act like you’re small and weak first and then when they’re about to attack...you use what you’re good at to get the better of them, if that makes sense? Sometimes not looking strong actually helps.”

He wasn't sure how he felt about attacking a clanmate, even if they were as annoying as Sagepaw was, and for a moment, he seemed skeptical, as if not quite agreeing with her method, but with her change of stance and the determination in her eyes, he knew he'd find it hard to refuse. Moonpaw found that his own fighting method rarely started with him first; he preferred it when others more foolhardy than him approached him in an attempt to claw at him. It was easier to watch and predict than to run into a battle blind.

Yet, he wasn't incompetent. Moonpaw immediately moved forward, eyes sharp and observing the way Sagepaw reacted, judging her size and weight and immediately moved in for a low sweep, a move designed for a cat as small as her.

He wasn't surprised that Sagepaw caught on quickly; she did practice plenty, even more than himself. Despite his own competitive nature and his desire to outdo the other apprentice, he couldn't help but smile at that, a bright expression on his face. It really wasn't half bad, and well, what could he say? A good student meant a good teacher, right?

The tom reacted to her second comment with another attack, except this time, it was a full-body tackle, his large form would certainly be harder to dodge than a half-assed swipe, but he knew to expect otherwise, a second attack already forming in his head as he hurtled towards her.

She wasn't bad, and that really made him wonder whether he should be doing some extra training to catch up, lest he allowed her to get ahead of him. As laid-back as he was, that was something he didn't want to happen. Still, this was a mutual exchange, and frankly, seeing her actually polite for once was...nice. He found himself a little tired after all of that training, drinking alongside Sagepaw when she posed her question.

His hunting stance? "I can't seem to get the balance right," he admitted sheepishly, "it's just a bit...weird I guess? I know we're supposed to keep light on our toes especially with hunting mice and all, but I just feel like I'm off balance when I do."