this is your kingdom; this is your crown

Thorn expressed some confusion about how he was supposed to touch her without her touching him. She merely smiled. While it would be difficult for him since she was of course bigger and had a larger range, he still definitely had a chance if he kept up his defense and was quick. In a normal fight, Avantika would no doubt win, sure, but she'd have to go for his ears or eyes to make him startle and move his head out of the way or she would turn to attack the side of his neck. She could do neither of those here and honestly if he was able to get himself below her head, his small size actually would yield him the advantage.

He was figuring it out, she could tell. And once he made it to the stone, he told her that he would make it work. A second or two later, he dropped his head like she was hoping for. She nodded her approval and proceeded to do similarly, her dip of her head a bit deeper and her whole body in her typical fighting crouch as well. It was just instinct at this point; and even though she knew that she didn't need to pin back her ears back or probably stick out her tail for balance, she thought it was a good idea to provide a good model.

"Great! Let's get started." She didn't wait more than a second after saying that, but lunged forward, before slowing down to push her muzzle down and forward. She wasn't going as fast as she could; at this stage, all she was doing was testing his form. She was also very careful not to open her mouth. Her own target was covered, so she had no reason not to take a bit of a risk and go easy on her little nephew.

"Speech"