Chade wasn’t ready to step back into the role of puppy yet.  He’d spent too much time feeling as if Ricin’s life was on his shoulders and, it really had been.  To go from having his life and Ricin’s life on his shoulders to trusting in others was a bit much.  That meant he still felt a need to get stronger.  He had to be a better hunter, to be a better fighter, and to know all he could about the land around him to help them survive.  Who could say this would last?  Their last family had been temporary.

It felt strange enough leaving Ricin’s side at an unscheduled time and not set up any protective traps where they slept for the night.  Making his way to where Manea was he looked up to her.  She was pretty and she seemed really nice.  Was she who she seemed to be?  Dad was nice and, dad died.  What if she died?  Regardless, for today they had someone to help keep them safe and help make sure there was food in their bellies.

“Manea?” The boy asked hesitantly, “Can you help me? I need to get stronger, I need to learn how to fight better."

"Speech"

The rate at which they had accumulated wolves under their band had surprised her. What had started as a small group of just her family and a couple of wolves that Alastor had pulled into his protection had grown to a force that she felt was one to be reckoned with. They still needed to build up their skills and the pups among them would need time to grow, but that would come soon enough and she felt like they were putting themselves in a good position to work toward the pack she felt they needed. Soon enough there was going to be too many of them to make traveling around feasible for much longer. Already the trip to Auster felt like it was going to be quite the undertaking.

She was considering this and sorting through the supplies they had on hand when one of the blue-hued boys she had welcomed into heir band approached her. She looked to Chade curiously, her ears perking a bit as he requested help to be stronger and fight better. She smiled and turned to face the young boy with a nod. "Certainly. You don't need to ask—I'm more than happy to help you, Chade. I appreciate your ambition." Getting someone to want to improve was half the battle and he already had that in spades. She nodded toward a near by clearing where she and some of the others had been training and led him toward it, her aqua gaze on him curiously as they went. "Have you had much proper training yet?"

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Chade felt relief flood him that she easily accepted the request.  The boy wasn’t sure how long being in this band would last before Manea would kick them out as their real mom had.  Sure, she seemed nicer but if his own mom kicked him out how could he not wonder if someone they had only recently met would do the same?  Trust was something he had lost fast with life.

He followed Manea to the clearing.  Chade shook his head at the question, “no, we uh, well, we’ve been alone for a while.  We play tussled and dad showed us a little but we were just little pups then.”  Chade knew his body was still a weaker pup's body but mentally he hadn’t felt like a pup for ages.

Chade had sounded embarrassed at the first part but puffed out with determined pride, “I’ve distracted long enough to give Ricin a head start but mostly we just ran away.  Nothin’ wrong with running if you can’t win.”  Running was the sort of thing that sounded cowardly, once upon a time he would of thought that.  Seeing enough death had changed that view.  “But that won’t work forever, and I’m tired of running.” A pause then added, "I know how to attack prey though, if that helps any?" It helped feed them but was killing prey any help in learning how to fight predators?

"Speech"

Manea nodded with understanding as Chade explained how they had mostly been alone and the only thing he had been given that was close to training was a couple pointers from his father. Their background was still very much a mystery to her, but she had quickly pieced together the abandonment they received from their parents and the lack of care they put into raising the two boys. She didn't have much of a moral compass for most things. Most things that the general populous found abhorrent were at least tolerated in her eyes. The one thing she absolutely could not stand was abuse or neglect toward children. Children were few and precious in her life and each one should be treasured—not thrown away and left to fend for themselves.

She pushed the thoughts away though as Chade went on, making her smile as he talked about how they could distract and run when they couldn't win and impressed her when he had the foresight to know that strategy wouldn't last forever and that he would need to get stronger eventually. They reached the clearing as he spoke of how he could kill prey and she nodded as she turned to face him. "There are definitely some skills that you can pull from hunting to implement in your fighting—and vice versa. They're both very physical, bloody tasks, just with different goals at the end. Something you'll probably need to work on is defense and dodging since that's not something you would typically need in hunting. Go ahead and get into what you think is a good defensive stance and I'll see what needs correcting."

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Surely it was a natural enough thing for a child to want to learn to fight.  Once upon a time, it had been fun to tussle with family.  Now Chade felt a different sort of joy about it and looked at it as a way to improve the brother’s odds at having a future.  If he could learn enough then Ry and he might be able to look to goals beyond the ‘today.’

Chade nodded as an attentive student as she pointed out areas that hunting skills could help his fighting skills.  When she told him to get into a defensive position Chade lost some of his determined look for a moment in indecision.  The boy spread his legs out so that they were all slightly farther out than his shoulder blades, his tail came up high and once settled into that a determined glare ahead of him as if ready to take on the nastiest monster ever imagined.  “Like this?” The words came out through a tense face, oh yah, he was perfectly tense and ready to go.

"Speech"

Manea watched with a little smile as her new student got into what might have been his first proper defensive stance. It was certainly a good effort and there were some things he got right, but there was also plenty to improve upon to. She moved closer with a nod when he asked to confirm his stance. She gently lifted and repositioned his paws just a bit to make sure they were evenly spaced from one another and she explained herself as she altered various things. "A few things... If you keep your paws more evenly spaced it makes for a more stable stance that's harder to knock over." Giving one of his knees a gentle nudge she added, "And giving your joints a bit of bend gives you more freedom of movement to dodge attacks or launch into your own."

Stepping past his shoulder, she flicked his tail with her paw, saying, "Keep your tail either level with your spine for balance or tuck it under to keep it out of the way and avoid making it a target. When it's up in the air like this it would be easy to grab." Circling back around to face him she smiled again and tapped her paw on his ears. "Pin these back against your skull. The less things that are easy to grab on to the better. Keep your head down even with your shoulders when you can and keep your eyes narrowed to protect them as well." She waited till he had all those in place and then she gave an approving nod. "That's a good start. Keep practicing that for a bit. Shake out of it, get back into it, and repeat until it becomes second nature. It puts you in a better position to handle whatever a fight throws at you. Once you have that down then we can work more on the offensive."

Manea | Temno | Ciemny