Several wolves showed up without even acknowledging the Marquis pair who'd called the meeting, causing Hati's pelt to bristle in anger more every time. If this kept up he was going to look like he'd been struck by lightning. Even his own sister ignored him, though Nott wasn't really right in the head so who knew if she even recognized him. It's not like he was asking for them to bow and fawn over him; he just wanted them to acknowledge his presence and give him equal footing to his partner.
It didn't seem any more wolves were showing up, and Hati had to fight down the furious rage that clawed at him. This was not the whole of their pack by far. Did they care so little for Daegmar's rank that they would ignore her call? A deep rumble was beginning to sound deep in his chest when Daegmar interrupted to begin the training. He listened, though his gaze was traveling over their students. The format seemed pretty close to what they had used for very young wolves, and even as adults their practice spars often focused on one area over the others. Seemed reasonable to start at the beginning here, too, since there were so many yearlings and they had no idea where they were in training.
Daegmar glanced at him as though inviting him to add to it, and he shifted. He hadn't really planned anything, but... "I'm sure it will choke some of you, but you're going to be learning to work as a team as well. Strategy, tactics, situational awareness... they're important in one-on-one fights but they're essential in a war. Another pack lays siege to us and you don't know how to fight together and keep from tripping over your packmates, and we're all dead. I have no plans to die anytime soon so expect that to be worked in to the lessons somewhere too." He gave them all a fierce glare, then let Daegmar take back over.
She added that they'd be learning to fight multiple opponents as well, then went on to say they'd be concentrating on defenses today. Seemed like a good place to start. If the big bad warrior types didn't like it, they could suck on a cactus for all he cared. Daegmar went on to talk about the various defenses, and Hati joined in when she'd paused after demonstrating, pacing forward to his demonstrating partner and poking various parts as he elaborated. "When you have your brow furrowed, don't just frown and think that's good. You need your eyes narrowed and your face really scrunched to pull skin in to protect it." He cocked his head to the side to display his own scarred eye. "I'd have lost this eye if I had left my eyes wide open and unprotected like an idiot. As for the tail, guess that depends on what style you like to fight with. You get in and muscle your way through everything you're probably going to want to keep your tail tucked to keep it from getting bit off. Protects your belly and your balls a bit if you do it right. But if you're a tricky, in-and-out, speedy sort you'll want to keep it out for balance. Helps with those quick turns and all. Now, having your weight evenly distributed is good to start out with because you can move in any direction you need to, but once you start really scrapping you're going to need to be ready to readjust your balance. A little extra weight to your hindquarters with your back rounded a bit, that's going to give you more power for those really strong leaps. Extra weight to the fore will help you shove back a pushy opponent, but they can use that against you by hooking a foreleg so be careful. Experiment a little when you're not sparring."
He shut his jaws with a snap and let her continue, and she went on to elaborate about the importance of keeping balance, and Hati nodded approvingly. His partner was no idiot, that much was clear. Then she'd stepped back to give him complete control of pairing them up, aad Hati glanced around with narrowed eyes, sizing up the various wolves. He didn't know their skill levels, so he'd have to go by just age and size.
"All right," he ground out finally. "You and you," he began pointing with a paw to indicate Zaria and Kaneyna. "The pup will go with Daegmar," he pointed to Novocaine, "Nott and the Duchess, then you and you," he indicated Sora and Neios, "but take off those damn spikes, this is a practice not a deathmatch. I'll take our duke here. Remember what Daegmar said - concentrate on your defenses. No permanent injuries, we need all the warriors we have whole and useful. Otherwise..." A feral grin bared his teeth. "Have... fun."
OOC: Pair up and spar IN THIS THREAD. It'll help get you used to the Siege format. Keep the spars short, and defaults will apply even though they're spars so we can get through this faster. Get the spars started BY WEDNESDAY. At least one member of every team should be able to manage that. And as Hati said, have... fun. :)
"Speech"
|
