Esti called to her son, who was sleeping in their shared den. He had been begging her for a new one- one of his own- and she'd let him if he could prove he could fend for himself. She waited for him to come, thinking of what all she could tell him. She didn't want him getting too excited and running off to fight some unsuspecting wolf. Esti cringed at the thought. All she needed was for Ashmedai to bring trouble to the pack. The thought somehow brought a smile to her lips. The pack maybe could use the excitement, though she was sure Valentine would kill her for not controlling her- their son better. She would have to think more on what to do about the pack's slumber once she was in a better position and on better terms with Valentine. Right now she could roughly sum up their relationship as him teaching her things she should have already known. Hardly attractive at all. Maybe once she was rough and tough with a few new scars they'd warm up again, but Esti wasn't too sure or too concerned. She had bigger things to deal with... like teaching Ash to fight without getting him killed.

Ashmedai groaned as he heard his mother's call. He'd lay in the den for a moment longer before hauling himself up with a grunt. What did she want now? It was way too early to be up. Grumpily, Ashmedai made his way to his mother. Dew dampened his paws and the young boy grimaced. He wasn't nearly awake enough to have his paws all wet. He didn't hurry, and the walk woke him up some. By the time he reached his mother, Ash wasn't in such a bad mood at all. He still didn't know why she was calling him instead of just coming to talk to him, but he trudged on. Esti came into view and Ashmedai could already see that she was smiling. That was odd, for one, and made him worry, two. She usually smiled when there was a fight or maybe when he was really young, but not as much recently. She seemed to only scold him for being too "hyper" and "talking too fast" or loud or whatever. He could get that he probably wasn't the quietest, calmest wolf around, but it still irritated him when she called him out on it. "Did you need something?" he'd ask, his voice flat and rumbly from being woken up mid-slumber.

Ashmedai would come in looking less than thrilled, "Did you need something?" he'd ask as if to say, "because if not, I'm going back to bed." Esti clicked her tongue, "Tch, of course I needed something." Esti would turn to him, looking at him and his sleepy, unguarded form looking blankly at her. It was really too much to resist. TOO much. Esti couldn't handle it. With a cackle, Esti dove towards Ash, catching the boy off guard. He'd crumble up into a submissive ball, causing Esti's laugh to become louder. She pinned him down, licking a long, slobbery kiss on the inner portion of his ear before she jumped back, "See, now if I wanted to kill you, I'd have already done it. Now get up, Ashmedai, and show me your best fighting stance.

Before he could think clearly, his mother was on top of him. A rough, wet lick rubbed up the skin part of his ear. His entire body recoiled, shivers running up his spine, "MOOOOOOMMM" he cried out loudly, just as she jumped off of him. She told him to show her his best fighting stance after scolding him for submitting. Slowly, he got up, uncurling, and turning to face his mother. He really didn't want to do this right now. He wanted to sleep, but he wanted to learn to fight too. Grumbling, Ashmedai set his stance. He spread his feet out and bent his knees, bringing his head and tail level with his spine and tucking his ears. He stood there at attention for a second before glancing at his mother, then back straight, quirking and eyebrow, "Well...?"

Any PP is Iko approved! ;3

Ashmedai asked her what she thought impatiently and Esti clicked her tongue again, "Wrong." She walked up to him and looked him over, "How many do you count?" She'd continue, not waiting for him to answer, "I count only half of what you need." She would bump his forehead with her nose, "Tuck your head" Esti would poke towards his eyes and lips, "Narrow, lift and scrunch." Taking a step, she would bump his shoulders, "Roll them forward, get the skin around your neck." She looked over his shoulder, "Where are your hackles? Stand them up." then under his neck, "Dig your claws into the ground so you don't slip." Esti now took a step back, "Good. Relax. Do them again on your own." She sat and waited.

"Wrong." Esti would state. Could she at least pretend to be a little proud of his efforts? His mother would ask how many defenses he could count, "Fiv-" he began to answer before Esti cut him off, saying he only had about half. Ashmedai grumbled. There was no, "good job" or "good try" or anything, just, "nope, you're wrong," but it had always been that way, hadn't it? Ash didn't really think so, but he tried to take it in stride. He was supposed to be more grown up now, so even if his mother was herder on him, he was supposed to bear with it.

As his mom pointed out the flaws in his defenses, Ashmedai corrected them. She got through her list, and it all felt fairly okay. Good job, lesson over, right? Nope. He did receive a "good" before she told him to reset and try again, but it felt more like she was telling herself that she did a good job correcting him. Ashmedai did as he was told, though, relaxing and taking a breath before trying again.

Ashmedai worked down his body, setting his defenses in a slow and unpracticed way. His eyes narrowed and his lips pulled up, scrunching his face together. It felt ridiculous to make such a face out of battle. His ears pinned and his chin tucked as he rolled his shoulders forward for- uh- neck protection which put his head in alignment with his spine. It felt stiff, like his neck would cramp any moment. His tail was brought down a little too far, then a little too high before he got it level, confirmed by a small nod from his mother. Then it was all stance. Ash dug his nails into the ground. Then he released his grip on the ground because he remembered he had forgotten to widen his stance. His paws slipped outward, his knees bending as his weight distributed evenly across his paws. Once again, his claws dug into the ground. He looked at his mother again, who promptly barked, "hackles" in correction. Ashmedai raised his hackles. Was this good? Did he actually do something good?

Esti would look over Ashmedai for a long moment, taking in all the little things in his defenses that could be wrong. She had seen worse, she had decided. Shrugging she walked over to the boy, "Alright, that's good enough. Try to remember to work your way down your body, starting from you head." She shook herself, then got ready to demonstrate, "Try three or whatever many things at a time. Like this, with my face, I'll narrow my eyes, scrunch my face, and lift my lips. This helps to deflect attacks from your eyes and covers the bridge of your maw." Esti acted out the motion, holding it for a second, then releasing it, "You can also tuck your ears at this point, but I usually do that while tucking my chin to cover my neck. You have to roll your shoulders too, to keep your neck guarded. If someone gets your neck, you're dead- don't stop fighting, but you're dead." Esti cleared her throat then turned so Ashmedai could see her body lengthwise rather than just her front, "Now, widen your legs, bend your knees, make sure your weight's all even, and dig your claws into the ground. This will make you fast and more able to move with your opponent's attacks." Esti demonstrated, jumping to her left, then to her right, showing the springiness in her legs, "Last thing, I make sure my whole back becomes a solid line from my head to my tail, then I raise my hackles along this line and wherever else to help balance myself and protect my main body. You're a boy, so you might want to drop your tail sometimes to protect your family maker." She smiled a kind of nasty smile thinking about Soliloquy.

"Alright! Since you have your defenses set, I'll set mine, then I want you to come at me like you were going to attack me." Esti set her own defenses, "Alright. Come at me!"

Ashmedai listened to his mother for her explanations. He was genuinely interested in fighting, but he also hated just sitting and watching a lesson. She showed him an easier way to set his defenses and gave some exaple as to why he was doing some of the things she was instructing him to do. Esti mentioned dropping his tail to protect his family maker. His wha- OH. Ashmedai's tail dropped quickly, a horrified expression crossing his face. She went right on and told him to come at her and he stared at her for a moment, confused. She wanted him to come at her like he was going to attack her? He looked over her, but it was hard choosing a point to attack. The boy took a breath then charged.

He wasn't sure what to do, but he attempted to close the distance between himself and his mother first. If he was in a real fight, he would want to go for the neck, right? Ducking down, Ashmedai tilted his head to his left and attempted to jump back up and bite Esti's neck very gently. He didn't think about it, but he was posed so that his upper jaw would seek to land on the right side of Esti's neck (Esti's right), while his lower jaw sought out the left (Esti's left) side of her neck. He didn't aim for a specific height, just somewhere on his neck. The overall attack was sloppy, but Ashmedai didn't know what else to do.