Trotting along the edge of the creek that followed the edges of the neighboring grapevine forest, Dorian had his eyes peeled for any kind of fancy looking herbs and plants that he might be able to take back to his dad. Some of them he knew and whenever he found them he'd stop and recite off how it was used and what it was good for to practice his recall of all of the stuff he was learning from his dad. There was plenty of plants all along the long, winding creek that snaked away from their main territory by the falls where he and his family lived, but for the most part everything was cluttered with cattails. He didn't really know what the cattails were good for other than to have fun with breaking open the top part and watching the fluff go everywhere, but maybe he'd ask his dad about that next! Surely something that was so plentiful around here would have some kind of good use or purpose.

He started to near the end of the creek where the sound of the ocean it connected to reached his ears, the sound of waves against the shore telling him it was probably about time to turn back around. There wasn't a whole lot to do around their home when he wasn't playing with one of his siblings or getting lessons from his parents so this was a path that he took pretty often. He knew he wasn't supposed to go past the borders on his own and he didn't exactly want to get in trouble with his mother, but he did sometimes go right up to the edge of his mother's territory just so he could peek out at the lands beyond those boundaries. Sometimes he would find different kinds of plants that grew where the terrain began to change or shift into something else so it was worth the tiny extra bit of exploration! Besides, sometimes it was just fun to take a slightly different path or at least see something that maybe he had never seen before. That didn't happen all that often considering how many times he had walked this path now, but sometimes he'd see a new animal or spot something lurking in the shadows and that was always fun to come running back to his siblings to tell them about it.

Today though, as he was walking along the Ethne border right at the edge of the scent markers, it wasn't plants or animals he spotted, but another wolf! Or at least he thought it was a wolf. She was smaller than most of the other wolves he knew or had seen and her ears were all flopped over so that they bounced when she moved. As soon as he spotted her moving through the grapevine plants on the other side of border, Dorian hopped behind one of the near by trees to hide, watching her for a while to see where she was going to go. It seemed like she was getting awfully close to the pack, or at least that's what it felt like from his perspective, and he glanced back behind him toward the heart of the pack's territory. He was so far away from where everyone else was right now and if he called for someone he'd give his position away! No, he had to handle this one on his own. But he had been learning from his mom so he'd be totally fine, he was sure of it!

He snuck closer and closer, using the foliage and trees as cover, to get closer to the could-be intruder. That did take him a little bit past the actual border, but it was for a good cause so he was sure that he could explain it to his mom and not get into too much trouble–or at least that's what he hoped for. It was too late at this point cause if he were to retreat there was a good chance he'd be noticed as he was running back across the border. Instead, he got as close as he thought he could without getting spotted and then leaped out of the bushes with a battle cry that sounded much more intimidating in his head and went for the woman's curled tail, trying to snap at it with a big hop to reach it.

WC: 733
Total: 733 / 2500

"Dorian"

Ever since her family had moved up north to join Valta, Satira had not ventured down to Auster for any particular reasons. The southern continent was quite a trek from her current home, but the tropical climates did have a host of fresh herbs that simply did not grow up in the colder climates of Boreas. Wintergreen grew in abundance here, as did wormwood, both extremely handy herbs to have on hand for a budding pack's medical stores. The little tawny wolf-dog set about the dense growth of grapevines, filling her leather satchel with as many of the plants as she could. The trip down to southern Auster had been long and weary, but she was determined to make the most of her time that she could while she was here. Perhaps she would even be able to cultivate some of these excess herbs in Valta's gardens when she got back to the pack.

As she meandered and scoured about the vine-laden territory for more of the rare herbs, Satira kept a close eye on her surroundings, most notably on the nearby pack territories bordering the cathedral. She had no intention of trespassing, and if she kept her head about her she should have no issues with that. Cináed had offered to come with her to protect her, but Tira was a big girl and staunchly told him so; she could look after herself. If anyone tried to mess with her, she had her trusty blade and her half decent fighting skills to keep herself alive. Nothing and no one was going to bother her. The wolf-dog had made her way almost towards the wall of dense reeds that marked the nearby creek when the sound of movement in the nearby bushes caught her attention. Small head snapped up, floppy ears bouncing and jumping up alert. Was someone else here with her? Satira took a tentative sniff of the air, steel blue eyes fixed on the dense undergrowth for any signs of a predator or threat lurking nearby.

Everything was quiet... and then it was suddenly not quiet. The bushes exploded outwards as a wolf, extremely young looking in the face, came rushing towards her, bellowing at the top of his lungs. His juvenile voice gave away his age, yet despite his youth he was just about as tall as she was, which wasn't to say very tall at all. Tira swiftly turned her body towards the charging wolf, yanking her fluffy tail away from his snapping jaws in the nick of time. Not wasting a precious second, Satira lunged for the attacking wolf with a snarl, her petite paws moving in rapid flurries of movement as she targeted her attacker with pinpoint precision. She struck first at a point just behind the pup's foreleg, just under his armpit area where she knew a bundle of nerves would render his front leg immobile. Immediately after, she followed up with a hard strike aimed for the back of his head, right where his skull and spine connected, targeting another pressure point that would stun and black out his vision temporarily.

With her two stunning strikes made, Satira then shoved her shoulder towards the pup's chest, aiming to topple him over. She did not want to actually hurt the pup since he was so young, but she did intend to incapacitate him enough for her to overpower him and make sure he was just an idiot and not an actual threat. If her foe went down, Satira would waste no time pouncing on top of him, one paw pressing to his chest while her other pressed forward to a third pressure point at the corner of his jaw, one that would prevent him from closing his jaws properly so long as she applied pressure to that spot. "Don't fight! Just stay down or the next hit's gonna make sure you stay down," she warned the imbecile with a little growl to her voice, pointed blue eyes leering down at the pup. "Who the hell are you and why are you attacking me?!"

WC: 680
Total: 1413 / 2500

"Satira"

Dorian's surprise assault very quickly turned from what he thought was going to be a immediate success to a terrible failure as the blonde, floppy eared woman he tried to ambush turned the tables on him seemingly with little effort. She moved so fast, too fast for him to follow exactly what she was doing, and he yelped as her paw hit something right behind his front leg that made his leg give out and lock up all at once, feeling so weird and tingly all the sudden as it buckled and made him stagger and sink toward the ground. Before he could manage to get back to his paws or even react, he felt a hard strike on the back of his head, making him gasp as his vision immediately went black for a moment and made the world feel like it was spinning as he got disoriented with his sudden–if brief–lack of sight. At first he didn't even realize that he had gotten knocked onto his back in the haze of her strikes until he felt his back hit the ground and his vision started to come back in a fuzzy blur at first and he realized that he was looking up toward the sky between the gaps in the leaves.

Then just as suddenly her face appeared in his vision as she pressed her weight to his chest, making him give a soft 'ooof' in response before her paw pressed to something behind his jaw that made his mouth kind of open and felt awkward even if it didn't really hurt. His wide, green gaze stared up at her, blinking as his vision fully cleared, obviously stunned and dumbfounded over how all of this had gone so fantastically wrong. But most of all, he had never seen anyone fighting the way she did and it absolutely blew his mind! He did exactly as she said and didn't fight, instead laying there with his paws mostly tucked up to his chest. "Dorian," he replied, though his words were a little weird and strained with his jaw held how it currently was. "How'd you do that?!" he asked his obvious interest and excitement, totally missing the threatening part of her questioning and the part where she asked why he had attacked her, too distracted and excited to learn about this new style of fighting she did.

WC: 397
Total: 1810 / 2500

"Dorian"

The boy looked absolutely frazzled and gobsmacked to have been taken down so swiftly and easily, his bright green eyes moving about rapidly while he tried to process the fact that he had been defeated in ten seconds flat. Granted, it had been a fight between a pup and a seasoned fighter, but still, easy as pie for Satira. The boy introduced himself as Dorian, his words a little bit garbled from the way she was pressing on that pressure point to keep his jaws locked open and uncomfortable. He also did not answer her question as to why he was trying to ambush her in neutral territory, especially since he reeked of the smell of that nearby pack. Instead, Dorian asked about how she had defeated him so readily, complimenting her fighting style. Tira raised a curious brow, tilting her head as she considered the very young wolf that matched her in size beneath her. Was this guy for real right now? He tried to assault her and now he wanted to know how she had kicked his ass? What sort of loopy land had she entered?

Deciding that the boy was no real threat to her, Satira released her paw off of his pressure point so he could close his mouth and slowly climbed back off of him, keeping her suspicious gaze on him the entire time. "I hit you in your vital points," she explained to the young wolf, trying not to look too proud of herself as she offered the explanation. "I'm a healer, see. I know all sorts of things about the canine body and anatomy, like the location of vital points, and I use them in my fighting. Vital points are super sensitive areas of the body that react when they're hit." She gestured with a speckled paw to his jaw. "That's why you couldn't move your jaw when I pressed into the back of it like that." But now back to the matter at hand. Satira's eyes narrowed again as she fixed her gaze on her maybe opponent. "Now answer my question. Why did you attack me?"

WC: 354
Total: 2164 / 2500

"Satira"

He saw the skepticism on the woman's face as he questioned her, but she did eventually let him go and he flexed his jaw a few times as it settled back into its normal place again. He rolled back to his paws, giving his brown and tan coat a quick shake before his gaze turned back to her again with a clear curiosity, his ravenous desire to learn shining through. She explained that she had used pressure points to incapacitate him and his head tilted slightly to the side at the statement. "Pressure points..." he muttered softly, mostly to himself. He had never heard of that before, but it was easy to pick out what she meant with context clues. Certain points on a body that did something when you put pressure on them. Now it made sense why she hit or targeted such specific spots. He wondered if his mom or dad knew about that kind of stuff. Maybe he'd get to teach them something this time!

He immediately perked up when she mentioned that she was a healer, but he bit his tongue so that he wouldn't interrupt her explanation. He had already attacked her unnecessarily, he figured he probably should avoid being rude on top of it. Her explanation of how she used the vital points she had learned in her healing to aid her in her fighting felt like a huge revelation for the boy, his eyes widening at the thought. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that?! They had always felt kind of separate in his mind with his healing lessons coming from his dad and fighting lessons coming from his mom, but they didn't have to be independent at all. Now that he was thinking about it he felt pretty dumb for not making that connection sooner, but this was a pretty memorable way to learn at least.

His moment of learning and realization was cut slightly short though as the woman questioned him again about why he had attacked her, making his ears flick back guiltily. "Oh! I um... I thought you were gonna try and cross our border so I was going to stop you and defend the pack," he explained, giving her an apologetic grin. "So uh... sorry about that! But thanks for the lesson! I'm a healer too! Well, I'm learning to be, anyway. My dad says I'm learning really fast! Not um... not about the fighting stuff though... obviously."

WC: 411
Total: 2575 / 2500

"Dorian"

The boy looked to be puzzled when she explained how she had managed to defeat him with such little effort. Well, besides the fact that he was significantly younger and more inexperienced than her, of course. When she explained pressure points to him, he seemed even more perplexed, simply repeating her words back to her. "Uh, yeah..." she remarked, giving him a funny look. "The body has a bunch of these spots like that all over it. If you take the time to learn where they are, like behind the jaw and under the forelegs, you can target them in a fight to incapacitate an opponent." Granted, it had taken Satira a good bit of time and lessons in healing and anatomy from both her father and uncle to learn where they were and how to utilize them, but they were a viable method of combat.

Dorian suddenly seemed to snap back to attention from whatever thoughts were in his head, apologizing for surprising her and explaining that he thought she might have been an intruder. What the heck?! What sort of justification was that?! But before Satira could ask him for an answer, the pup was apologizing again, thanking her for... beating him up or something, and then darting back towards the pack lands she'd smelled. With profound confusion in her eyes, Tira watched the boy run off until he had disappeared past the wall of cattails. Strange kid... Shaking off her bewilderment, Tira resumed her hunt for her herbs. The sooner she got done, the sooner she could get back home and out of this crazy place.

"Satira"