Ashmedai had been here and there and then there and here. He wasn't totally sure how to train others without just telling them to throw some punches and see what happens. He did know a lot about fighting and one thing was for sure- in a matter of life or death, there's no such thing as fighting too dirty. Every opportunity to get out of a fight alive was essential to survival. Especially with raids on the horizons, Ash felt it was needed that the members of the pack had every advantage they could get.

After finding a nice area, Ash howled for those in the pack who were willing to fight, and those who were willing to heal just in case things got a little more heated than anticipated.

Posts due: July 5th at 11:59 p.m. cst

Valdís returned from patrol with a spring in her step, lightly humming to herself as she went. She was a newly engaged woman and far happier than she'd ever dreamed. Valdís was working her way back to the den she shared with Ásvor when she caught Ash's howl. Turning her head toward the Knolls her ears flicked forward. That was definitely a summons for fighters and available healers. Were they to get some training in? Valdís stretched. It felt like awhile since she'd last trained with her focus shifting to her heart and also to patols. She arrived in short order and dipped her head in greeting to Ash. "Talk" "You" Think

Álarr eyed the dried Barberry root he'd gathered and dried, checking it over for quality. It would do. He stored the root then moved on to sorting the rest of his stores. At some point during the frenzy of the fall everything had fallen into disarray. Álarr had been so focused on gathering as much as possible that he had just been throwing things about willy nilly and now it was becoming difficult to find what he was looking for. He still needed to clean his pack out to. Álarr sighed heavily. There was always so much to do and not enough time to do it in.

His ears flicked up as he heard Ash's call. Well, he had a good assortment of herbs in his bag, that would do for now. He glanced to Branwen who flew out of the storage den and he swiftly followed. Best to just let Afi sleep for now. When he arrived he dipped his head in greeting to those that were already gathered and quickly took a seat.

Sparrow had been working on coming into an age where she was ready to prove herself in the pack and earn a rank that fit her. She had gotten over the awkwardness of her best friend- and uncle- being a big bad alpha or whatever, and now she was ready to try her paws at other pack functions. When her father called a training session, Sparrow decided it was a good opportunity to do just that.

Sparrow took her time coming to the gathering, planning on slipping in at the last minute so that her father wouldn't get the chance to say anything too embarrassing. There were less wolves than she expected since she was already late. She gave her father a sheepish smile and settled herself.

Ashmedai waited for a good deal longer than he though he'd ought to as a few measly wolves trickled in. Not that the wolves themselves were measly. He gave each of them a hearty nod and lopsided smile as they appeared- even his daughter as she trailed in late. He was familiar with each of the wolves that appeared and after that- no one else came. "Yknow, I thought we had more fighters in Fireside," Ashmedai said with a small, breathy laugh. Shit... this was a little miserable.

"Well, lets not get all hung up on that, right?" Ash took a large breath to regather himself. "I'll start this off by askin' y'all some questions." He looked to Valdis for a moment, "I reckon you've been in a fight or two? What's the dirtiest thing that you've seen in a fight?" His attention tossed to the other two, "And for y'all, what's the dirtiest thing you can imagine happening in a fight?"

OOC: Next post due by July 21st!

Sparrow was the next to arrive and Valdís gave the girl a quick nod of greeting. She glanced about her as they waited for the rest of the wolves to show, her lips pursing together at the tardiness. She'd expect a swifter answer to any calls of security concerns at the border but perhaps everyone was busy with other tasks. She smirked as Ash spoke about the number of fighters in Fireside but either way the meeting would continue. She thought for a moment. "The dirtiest thing I can think of and have seen was one wolf trying to urinate on another during a fight. For my personal experience I guess Celestial's alpha tried to fart on me while we were engaged in battle but I didn't really notice." She grinned. "I was too focused on maiming him and I'm happy to say I was successful." Even though Talis had lost she'd succeeded in maiming two of Celestial's members in that bloody raid. "Talk" "You" Think

Álarr's thoughts drifted as they waited for the rest of the warriors to arrive. He was running over all the things he wanted to get done that day after training and the stores he needed to restock. With spring around the corner he was anxious to get back to herb gathering.

When it was clear they were going to have a small turn out the meeting started and Álarr brought his attention back to Ash's words. He couldn't really think of anything that dirty that he'd seen. Valdís spoke first and Álarr wrinkled his nose at the urine story. That was disgusting!

"I don't think I've ever seen anything that dirty in a fight before. Not that I can recall anyway. But I guess to follow up on Valdís' thoughts… being ejaculated on would be pretty gross. In terms of dirty tactics I've always wondered how it would work to try swatting dust or something into an opponents eyes."

Torrent was late responding to Ashmedai's call for the pack's fighters, and nearly hadn't come at all. Asriel, the snow leopard who had been with her since he had rescued her at his prior companion's behest, had fallen ill. She had been frantic for two days, or as much so as she ever was, feeling helpless and angry that there was nothing she could do to help him. She had vowed to herself after the thirty-sixth straight hour that she would never, ever feel this helpless to save someone important to her again, and would seek out the pack's healers for training. Asriel was recovering now but he was still weak, and she had been reluctant to leave him even at the prospect of fight training until he had chased her off himself.

She approached the group silently enough to hear the conversation from some distance away, though she had missed the very start of it. She heard Ashmedai's question to Valdis, and her answer, and then Alarr's. It was surprising to hear, and she cocked her head in thought. Woukd either of those things stop her from engaaging in a fight? No - while she was by nature cleanly, bodily functions were just that, and their byproducts could be ignored at need. "I imagine such tactics would cease quickly if the opponent ignored the urine and bit their penis," she observed matter-of-factly as she seated herself beside Alarr. So what was the dirtiest trick she could think of in a fight? "With a male, finding some way to strike the testicles seems like it would be considered unsporting," she offered, though her brow furrowed. She didn't really fully understand the point of sportsmanship, so she had to dig deep to think of what someone else might think was unfair. As far as she was concerned, the only objective was to win the fight, and she didn't really draw the line anywhere. "Maybe drawing them into a preset trap? Or a poison salve on your fur?" she added instead. No, that last seemed too unlikely - most carriers for a poison would leave a slick greasy look to the fur that would give it away. Besides, she thought that some things could be absorbed through the skin so rubbing poison in yourself might backfire...

Talon had bumbled in on Sparrow's heels, bouncing along chasing his sister's tail with his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth like an overgrown puppy. He flopped down on his belly beside her to listen when his dad spoke up to start the meeting. Or lesson. Lesson-meeting-thing. Talon's tail swished happily through the grass at his dad's voice. The others spoke up one by one, and Talon let out a muffled guffaw when Vamdis mentioned she'd seen someone pee on someone else in a fight. The idea of someone farting on a warrior as intimidating as Vamdis drew a faint giggle as well, though he kept that one to a tiny little teehee that he hoped she didn't hear. At Alarr's idea his eyes widened. Oh yuck, that would definitely be weird enough to put him off a fight. "Wouldn't that be hard?" he asked, unaware of his amusingly poor choice of phrasing. "I mean you can't just... uhm... you know... on command?" he gave a wide, embarrassed grin towards Alarr. Torrent's suggestions perked his ears. "Ooooo whst about like, really cool traps? Like skunk stinkbombs or sticky things to slow them down or... ooooh ooh you could drop a beehive on them. No one wants to keep fighting you when they have a beehive on their head!" he said with gleeful confidence.

Sparrow listened as others joined in with their suggestions, snickering away at the thought of them all. Valdis was particularly cool and Sparrow made a mental note to ask to spar with her sometime. Sparrow eventually stepped up to speak, "I mean you could always pull a good ole' Jupiter Sparrow trick- send one in and when he has em, BAM the second one comes in from behind!" Sparrow acted out her words as she pretended to be Jupiter fighting, then submitting before jumping back and pretending to be herself coming in all heroic like. Now, that wasn't exactly what happened in the Armada, but it was close enough probably, besides, Jupiter wasn't here to tell them different AND Jupiter was cool enough that he would PROBABLY back her up... hopefully. Sparrow beamed, it was the perfect answer. All the other answers were cool too though.

Ashmedai was proud to see more wolves come to his training. His smile especially widened when Talon appeared. He knew the kid took more after his mother- or at least didn't seem to take after Ashmedai- in terms of fighting inclination, but as long as the boy was happy, Ash didn't have any complaints. Valdis told of the raid she had been in and Ash nodded solidly in her direction. He could practically see the stars in Sparrow's eyes as she looked the older woman over. The others made some pretty wacky suggestions and some retaliatory remarks to those suggestions. He found himself stifling a snicker in a thinly veiled attempt to look professional.

After everyone had spoken and the laughter had calmed, Ashmedai addressed the crowd with a lopsided smile, "Well those certainly are all dirty ways of fighting. I've seen it all, and almost anything can be included: cat claws, horns, companions, allies, leather harnesses with spikes, weapons... the list goes on."

Ashmedai looked over the group for a moment, sizing them up.

"But there's one thing you oughta keep in mind: when you're fightin' life or death or limb for limb, there ain't nothin' too dirty for a fight. In those cases, you gotta either get out alive or die tryin'. Sometimes you'll face crazy odds, say, a band of pirates-" he looked at Talon, Sparrow, Torrent, and Alarr pointedly "- gettin' the drop against two travelers like me and Valdis?" Ashmedai donned his gear, shooting a smirk in the pirates' direction. "How bout y'all just start whenever you're ready? Valdis and I can wait."

OOC: No post order for the pirates, just get the post in by August 5th

Álarr listened attentively as the other's spoke. Fighting was one area he felt he still needed practice in. He much preferred healing and so his thoughts often strayed there, where as fighting for him anymore was purely instinctual. He blinked for a moment as Ash gave them their assignment. They were to pretend to be pirates and attach Ash and Valdís. Like… right now? Should he hide first? While he thought about it he swiftly set his defenses before deciding they just ought to go for it. He zeroed in on Valdís first.

Kicking off quickly he charged for Valdís, lowering his head as he neared, seeking to smash his head down into her forehead while his jaws sought to seize the top of her muzzle.

Álarr Imperialis, Talon, Sparrow, and Torrent vs Valdís and Ash for Spar
Round 1/?
Age: Over 1 year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Medium
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked shoulder harness
Defensive Battle Accessory: Spiked helmet
Companion 1: Pallas Cat, Male - Battle
Companion 2: Raven, Female - Flying
Mutation 1: Kudu horns (small) - Offensive
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Healer
Specialty: Field Medic

Valdís smirked at Ash as he continued their lesson by setting the four younger wolves against the older. Well, this would be fun. It had been a long time since she'd spared against so many opponents. She got to her feet and set her defenses, legs coiled and ready to spring. Álarr was the first to attack, charging toward her. His head shot down as she slipped off to her right seeking to avoid his attacks and slip along his left side with her jaws open to seize the front of his left thigh. With luck she could hinder his movements though Valdís knew it was likely she wouldn't be able to keep a hold for long with so many foes. She'd trust Embla to keep her informed of the others' movements. Álarr Imperialis, Talon, Sparrow, and Torrent vs Valdís and Ash for Spar Round 1/2 Age: Over 1 Year Size: Large Build: Medium Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked harness Defensive Battle Accessory: Spiked helmet Companion 1: Red Fox, Female - Battle Companion 2: Raven, Female - Flying Skills: Master Fighter & Master Intellectual Specialty: Tactician "Talk" "You" Think