Eska was officially given the all clear to go back to her normal duties and the very next day Ulric took her out to the training grounds, an eager grin on his lips. They both had their armor on and the dogs hung around them and it just felt right to have Eska with him like this. It was the first time he had ever had one of his partners spar with him like this and when he saw her in the fighting arena like this he realized it might have been one of the most attractive moments he had ever had to Eska. For a second he caught himself just staring at her with a goofy grin on his face and he chuckled, walking across the small space between and pressing a hard kiss to her lips. "It's going to be awfully hard to keep my paws off of you long enough to train," he rumbled, giving her a smirk before he backed off again, doing his best to refocus on the task at hand.

"Since I haven't seen you fight before I want to just get a base line for where we're starting," he told her as he rolled his shoulders, stretching and flexing his legs as he got ready for the fight. "Just come at me like you would anyone else and then I'll see what pointers I can give you. Sound good?" He settled into an easy defensive stance with Arlise and Lieven lingering behind him. It would be the first fight he was in with the dogs too so it was a bit of a learning experience for both of them. It would be good practice just in case something else happened like an attack on the pack or a raid.

Speech

Having been given a clean enough bill of health to begin training, Eska wasted no time in getting Ulric into the field. As the silvered woman exited the castle and stepped into the sunlit courtyard, the golden light reflected off of the shining silver embellishments. It was the first time that she'd been able to wear the armor since having it crafted. It fit well, hugging her frame in the correct placed. It was relatively lightweight, but sturdy. She quite liked it.

Approaching Ulric, she noted that he wore his armor as well. A grin turned up the corners of Eska's maw. She really only gave full smiles to the man before her. The woman noted the blatant staring and stopped, allowing Ulric's eyes to get their fill. Their armor matched in build and construction, but while hers was black and silver to match her coat, Ulric's was brown and gold. It complimented him well and Eska also let her sulfuric gaze rove over his form. The man came in close, kissing her hard. His words brought a throaty chuckle from the fae and she grinned. "You'll get to peel this armor off of me afterwards either way," she promised softly before turning away to prepare.

Ulric gave instruction and Eska nodded, looking to Avaset and Baz in turn. Both dogs also nodded. They had trained together a bit and had massacred a lion together, so they'd developed some knowledge of one another. It would benefit them during the fight.

"I won't break," Eska reminded the man that she loved, her eyes glittering mischievously. Immediately after she pushed off and ran head on towards him. The dogs flanked her on either side, rushing forward and crossing paths in front of the armored woman to pull the gaze of the man and his own dogs after them. Eska continued straight ahead and ducked low before arching upwards, her jaws open and ready to latch into the underside of Ulric's jaw. It would be easy to sidestep, sure, but Avaset was already coming up behind him to slam into the backs of his legs.


"Eska"

Eska vs Ulric for Spar
Round 1/3
Age: Over 1
Size: Large
Build: Medium
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced Leather Cuirass
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Male - Battle
Skills: Advanced Fighter & Beginner Hunter

Ulric smirked and chuckled as Eska gave him a reminder that she wouldn't break, giving her a nod as he prepared for her first attack. Her knew it was a reminder he needed, especially given how fresh she was off of a significant injury, but he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he went easy on her. He braced himself as she began to run toward him, her dogs crossing in front between them. He gave them the faintest glance, but kept his silver gaze locked on Eska instead. He was far more interested in the gorgeous warrior in front of him. He saw her duck low to reach under his head that was tucked down over his throat and anticipating her attack he quickly dodged to the side. He felt one of her dogs briefly on the back of his leg, disrupting his stance slightly, before Lieven caught the other dog by her scruff and knocked her away, pulling her into a separate scuffle to the side.

Ulric used the bit of space he created with his side step build up some momentum as he lunged back in toward Eska. He aimed his shoulder for her side in an attempt to knock into her and throw her off balance. Lieven did his best to keep Avaset occupied and in the mean time Arlise jumped in to the fight, going for Eska's front leg on the opposite side from where Ulric was trying to hit her and attempted to pull the leg out from under her as well to further worsen her balance and potentially knock her to the ground.

Ulric vs Eska for Spar
Round 1/3
Age: Over 1 Year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked leather bracers
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced leather armor
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Male - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Female - Battle
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Intellectual
Specialty: Bard

Speech

[quote="Eska" pid='222093' dateline='1628993060']

The spar wasn't only good practice for them, it was good for their companions as well. Avaset and Lieven tussled off to the side and when Arlise came in to snap at Eska's leg, Baz was upon the dog, protecting his master swiftly and efficiently. She was happy with their service and her attention to them momentarily distracted her.

Ulric slammed into her shoulder and Eska had to fight to maintain her footing. She somehow managed and bared her teeth in frustration with herself before rushing back in at an angle and attempting to headbutt Ulric like some sort of ram. As she did that, the woman snaked out one paw quickly to try and grab one of her mate's forelegs to hopefully aid in throwing him off balance.

She was enjoying this, but it was lighting a fire within her. A fire that she would demand he extinguished afterwards. He had been worried about not being able to keep his focus, but Eska was just as distracted by their heated bodies and their close proximity.

"Eska"

Eska vs Ulric for Spar
Round 2/3
Age: Over 1
Size: Large
Build: Medium
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced Leather Cuirass
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Male - Battle
Skills: Advanced Fighter & Beginner Hunter

Their companions ended up in spars of their own as Avaset and Lieven had it out on one side of them and Baz jumped in to stop Arlise before she could land her attack on Eska. All at once the training ground turned into a full on battle field and Ulric grinned a little at the chaos it caused. His shoulder hit home on Eska's side and he felt her stumble, but to her credit she was able to hold her stance and pretty quickly regained her balance. He took that brief moment to reset his own stance as well so that his paws were firmly planted once more and his defenses back in place by the time Eska got her bearings.

Not one to be discouraged, Eska immediately charged in head first - literally. She ran at him like a battering ram and he leaned toward the side that she approached him from as he braced for the impact. She wasn't a little thing by any stretch of the imagination, but he was still significantly heavier and larger than she was. Her head butting him did rock him slightly and made him give a soft "oof" as she knocked a bit of the air from his lungs, but he wasn't sure it really had the effect she had hoped for. However, the slight sway in his stance combined with her paw reaching out and yanking at his foreleg did manage to stagger him for a moment, catching himself as he stumbled to the side a couple of steps.

Ulric was just as quick to jump back into the fight, pivoting to face her again and lunging forward as he lifted his foreleg to try and slam his chest into her shoulder and wrap a foreleg around the back of her neck in the same motion. He shifted to try and press his weight into her as he shoved into her, trying to over power her and shove her down to the ground with the attack. He reached to try and grab her scruff between his teeth just to have another point of contact to keep her from being able to slip away, but it was a bit of an after thought so if it seemed like he wouldn't be able to catch her with that he'd give it up pretty quickly.

Ulric vs Eska for Spar
Round 2/3
Age: Over 1 Year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked leather bracers
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced leather armor
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Male - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Female - Battle
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Intellectual
Specialty: Bard

Speech

The audible Oof that was forced out of Ulric's mouth made Eska laugh mid-fight. She just couldn't help it. It was so difficult to take him seriously. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her and so it made the spar much less real than an actual fight would be. If she was fighting for her life, Eska's fighting style would be drastically different. That was why she preferred fighting off predators to hone her skills rather than spars. This did allow her to get some hot and heavy contact with her mate, however, so she wasn't complaining.

Ulric didn't seem to think that the situation was as funny as she did and he instantly got back into the fight. Eska used the mans size against him and pivoted her smaller form around his side, ducking enough to let his paw slide down and over her head as she back tracked. With his paw still needing to land and his neck arched downwards with the end motion of his intended bite, Eska leaped forward, aiming to wrap her forelegs around his thick neck as she opened her jaws to bite his ear. Gently though. She didn't want to hurt him.

"Eska"

Eska vs Ulric for Spar
Round 3/3
Age: Over 1
Size: Large
Build: Medium
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced Leather Cuirass
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Male - Battle
Skills: Advanced Fighter & Beginner Hunter

Eska snaked her way out of his grasp and he smirked as she slithered around him, far more agile and nimble than himself. That was the downfall of being as large and heavily built as he was. He was built like a tank and it was very difficult to knock him over or take him down, but he also had a more difficult time keeping up with those that were smaller and faster than he was. This wasn't a serious fight though so he wasn't really trying to hurt or bring her down. He just wanted to give her a decent fight for her first time really back in the swing of things after her injury. She leapt up as he was resetting his stance after her escape, her limbs wrapping around his neck as she reached up to bite at his ear.

He grinned with a growl that was far less menacing and much more promising of something else entirely as he redirected his foreleg to try and wrap around her lower back instead. He turned his head to try and bite at the side of her neck, but not to actually draw blood or injure - instead more like a teasing nip if anything, just a graze of teeth against skin. With her forelegs still around his neck and hopefully with his foreleg around her middle, he went to push forward, attempting to knock her onto her back and sweep her under him, supporting her slightly with his foreleg so she wouldn't hit the ground too terribly hard. No need to aggravate old injuries so soon.

Ulric vs Eska for Spar
Round 3/3
Age: Over 1 Year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked leather bracers
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced leather armor
Companion 1: Belgian Malinois, Male - Battle
Companion 2: Belgian Groenendael, Female - Battle
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Intellectual
Specialty: Bard

Speech

And the winner is...

Ulric

Eska must give up by submitting, fleeing or passing out. Totals: Eska: Attack Roll: 44 Defense Roll: 55 Agility Roll: 9 Perception Roll: 22 Total: 130 Attack[44] + 25% Bonus[11.00]: 55.00 Defense[55] + 15% Bonus[8.25]: 63.25 Agility[9] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 9.00 Perception[22] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 22.00 Total[149.25] + 15% Bonus[22.39]: 171.64 Ulric Attack Roll: 9 Defense Roll: 77 Agility Roll: 44 Perception Roll: 66 Total: 196 Attack[9] + 40% Bonus[3.60]: 12.60 Defense[77] + 15% Bonus[11.55]: 88.55 Agility[44] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 44.00 Perception[66] + 25% Bonus[16.50]: 82.50 Total[227.65] + 25% Bonus[56.91]: 284.56