The importance of preparation

All the while Artorias was giving his lessons to Talyssa, he was glad to see how seriously his daughter was taking this. The experience out in the woods might have rattled her, but any other wolf might have just counted their lucky stars and continued about their lives as if nothing had changed. Talyssa was no such wolf. She was better, keenly intelligent and adaptive. Artorias was very proud of his little girl and who she was becoming as she matured. Artorias took note of Taly's facial expressions and body language while they covered each section of the self-defense lesson, drawing from her unspoken language what she seemed most interested and comfortable with. Teaching her the techniques and giving her the tools to defend herself was merely one step of the process of arming her to keep herself safe—just as importantly, she would need to have the fortitude and wherewithal to use them when she needed to. She had to be comfortable with the idea of protecting herself.

Once the anatomical tour of combat had concluded and he had posed Talyssa with his followup question, the Aegis waited patiently while his daughter examined the dummy and considered her options. She began to think out loud, describing a scenario where she would be able to use the eyes as a target. Artorias nodded his head, looking back to the dummy as he lifted a large paw and placed it on the side of the dummy's head, flexing his toes so his claws began to bite into the burlap where the eyes would be. "Yes, if an enemy is attacking from the front, or somehow manages to get you down underneath them, this is a good place to target. You can reach up with your forelegs, place your paws on either side of their face, and dig your claws into their eyes." The details were gristly, but combat was never a clean nor kind subject.

Talyssa posed another scenario, someone attempting to force her to the ground, and how she would get out of that. Artorias nodded again. "If someone is above you and trying to force you down, you're already beneath them, which is less than ideal, but it does put you in a spot to steal the advantage back. It puts you closer to their body, meaning it's easier to strike out at the places you want to hit, like those leg joints. Just be careful you don't send a larger opponent crashing down on top of you, or that might end up pinning you instead of setting you free."

Talyssa had demonstrated a good apt for critical thinking with her newfound knowledge and had proven to Artorias that she was retaining the information he was giving her, so now they could move on to the next part of their lesson. "Good work, Taly. These are some of the basic areas and techniques to remember for getting yourself out of a fight. Additionally, always try to keep your enemies in front of you and at a distance. If you can see them, you can more easily maneuver around and dodge them, and it gives them less of an opportunity to try and grab you or pin you down."

Artorias returned to standing beside the dummy. "Now for something a little more advanced. Something your aunt Gwyn taught me." Art wore a wry smirk; Gwynevere was probably the most docile of all the Carpathians, but her medical and anatomical knowledge of a wolf's body was second to none and had elucidated some very handy information for their fighters. "On every wolf's body, there are certain spots called pressure points. These areas are highly sensitive to blows, and can be used to incapacitate wolves in a nonlethal manner." Artorias pointed out spots at the base of the throat, the bridge of the nose, and where each limb connected to the body. "If you're in close quarters with no way to slip out, striking these points can numb an enemy, stun them long enough to get away, or even knock them out cold. They're usually found where one body part connects to another, like the neck to the chest, or the legs to the torso."

After giving Talyssa a few moments to process those new techniques, Artorias moved back to the center of the sparring ring. It was time for Talyssa to put her new theoretical knowledge into practice. "Come, Taly. Let's see you use some of these moves to keep yourself safe." Artorias rolled his head to stretch his neck, then flexed his body to get into his battle stance. "We're going to run a drill now. I'm going to try to get you off your paws and pinned down. Your goal is to stop me by any means necessary. Use any of the techniques you've learned today—but maybe please don't kick my balls if you don't mind." Art flashed his daughter a little grin, then waited for her to get set before he rushed for her, starting their training off with an aggressive charge aiming to knock her off of her paws with his sheer size and weight advantage.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"