Coming Together (Tortuga Event)

OOC: quick comment, but OMFG guys I'm sorry for how long this rambles on. XD

The first to appear was Dayton, and Qanik gave him a warm smile. He had certainly been eager to prove himself to the pack since he joined... first joining in on the pack hunt and now coming to this meeting. "Nothing is wrong," she assured him. "I will explain when we've all gathered, so that it's only said once."

They hadn't long to wait, since another wolf was already quickly approaching. Aldoro, one of the wolves she'd personally accepted into the pack. "Aldoro," she greeted. "This is Day, another of our wolves. Please, make yourselves comfortable while we wait."

The next to come, at a fast pace, was Misha. Qanik was glad to see her here, as it had been her shyness with the pack that had prompted Qanik to hold this training to begin with. But her strange behavior - greeting both Qanik and Aldoro with a smile but turning her back on Dayton - had Qanik frowning internally, one ear flicking back as she could not help but wonder what had happened. Had Misha not just informed her that she and Dayton were planning to have pups? Had the relationship really soured so quickly? That was too bad, particularly considering how doting the boy seemed towards her. Qanik would let it pass, not wanting to comment on it and embarrass either of the children, but she made a note to speak with them at some point in private. Their private issues could not be allowed to taint the pack's unity, and Misha's deliberate slight against Day did just that. "Misha," she greeted the girl simply, her voice cautiously reproving.

Another wolf's approach went nearly unnoticed in her distraction, a boy of warm hues that she had not met before, but he bore Tortugan scent and his scent was another she'd begun to notice around the territory - one of Roman's new recruits. He greeted her by name and went on to confirm that Roman had recently accepted him into the pack. Qanik nodded toward him. "Hello, August. I am indeed Qanik... welcome to the pack, and I would be glad for you to join us today."

Next would come Ritsuka. Qanik was happy to see that his enthusiasm for working toward bettering the pack had not waned in spite of the long period where they and Gossamir had been the only wolves willing to come together in pack fellowship. "Good morning to you, too, Ritsuka," she returned with feeling.

She waited, but it seemed Ritsuka would be the last wolf to come, and she wanted to get things moving. It was disappointing - she knew there were more wolves than this in the pack who hadn't come, some who truly needed the lessons... Gossamir was ill, she knew, and she hadn't expected the girl to come, but Blizzard and Melody were both absent, both in need of training. Aithusa and Elli, the other two wolves she'd accepted - though Elli was so recent that it was perhaps understandable that she had not come. There was also one other new scent that had tracked through the Tortuga territories belonging to a male she'd not yet met that was currently unaccounted for. Roman too was missing from the meeting but Qanik had not expected the alpha to attend. She was, Qanik knew, busy with many other things.

"We may as well start," she spoke finally. "I called you all here for a few reasons. Firstly, many of our members have little or no training for battle. I know some of you to be ill-suited for war or with no interest in it, but there may come a time when you need to defend yourself and having training may well mean the difference between life and death. That is, foremost, our goal for today - fight training. Additionally, this will act as a chance to get to know our packmates, to get comfortable with one another. Being a pack is meaningless if we are so scattered about we never see each other." She met Ritsuka's eyes as she said this - of all those gathered, he was the only one who would remember what it was like when they'd first joined and the only pack wolf they ever met was the alpha.

"That said, this will not be the only training meeting. I will split it into several, each focusing on a different subject, then another to bring all the lessons together. I hope you will continue to meet up outside of the group lessons, to practice what you learn and to keep your skills sharp. They will do you no good when you need them if you never use them." She gave them all a sharp look - she would not personally require them to spar on their own time, but it was important to her that they understand how significant it was. Her warm, low voice shifted to a more brisk, lecturing tone - teacher Qanik was in the house. "Today we will be focusing on defense, which will be the most important skill many of you will learn. All of these skills are important to win a fight, but proper defenses will lessen or prevent injuries altogether. To start I will demonstrate."

She began by squaring herself, paws a little past shoulder-and-hip width apart and equal to each other and her legs slightly bent. "You want your stance to be squared and sturdy, toes spread and flexing into the dirt, your knees slightly bent. This will give you more balance, makes you hard to knock over, and also gives you a base to immediately attack or defend from, rather than needing to adjust your footing. It is usually best to begin with your weight equally distributed over all four paws, though that will change as you move and you should redistribute your weight to allow you to balance despite any movements.

"You may choose to hold your tail level with your spine for balance or tucked to protect it and give some small protection to your underbelly - I prefer it level myself. Lower your head to be neutral with your spine as well, and angle your head slightly to protect your throat. Rolling your shoulders forward and pulling your head back a bit will bunch skin and fat and fur over your neck, which protects the back of your neck a bit. If you raise your hackles, that gives some added protection as it's a little more difficult to judge where to bite when the wolf looks bigger than it actually is." She continued to demonstrate as she spoke.

"Pinning your ears narrowing your eyes will give them some protection by making a smaller target - you'll also want to wrinkle your brow to bunch the skin there and give a bit more protection to the eyes. You can still hear with your ears in tatters, but eyes aren't as forgiving."

She glanced around, meeting their eyes in turn to be sure they were paying attention to all this. "Now one thing many wolves forget is that movement is defense. It can be used offensively as well, but not solely. Don't hold still waiting for them to hit you before you respond, but you can't just leap around unthinkingly. You need to think about what you're doing with your feet. For instance, don't do this..." she moved as though avoiding an attack, her feet scissoring beneath her as she did. "Crossing your paws compromises your balance. It puts you at risk and slows your reactions. If you must sidestep, do this instead." She repeated the action, this time placing her paws next to each other before immediately moving the matching one out. "And always, always account for your weight distribution and balance."

She relaxed from her fighting stance and glanced around once more. "If there are no questions, I would like you to each pair up to practice this. Concentrate on perfecting your defenses. Don't hold back too much on attacking, though - you will never learn how to make an effective defense if it's never been tested against an offense. We don't want anyone seriously injured though so be careful. We aren't looking for winners and losers, we're learning. So!" She mentally calculated. Judging by Misha's earlier behavior toward Day, it would be best to keep them separated... luckily they were all around the same size, Aldoro being the tallest by a couple inches at most. "Ritsuka, if you would spar with Misha please. Dayton, you will be with August, and Aldoro with me." Most likely out of all of them she was the only one with real consistent experience sparring taller opponents, so she would not be distracted by needing to adjust everything to account for even Aldoro's slight height advantage like her students could be. She wasn't sure of August's skill level so she hesitated to put him against Day, but she did trust Ritsuka to be able to adjust his skills to Misha's.

OOC: We *will* be doing all three spars at the same time in this thread, but there are only the three separate spars so that should cut down on the confusion. It is good practice for sieges which are much more confusing. This meeting I want everyone to focus on upping their defense scores so don't worry too much about your other scores (that said you do still need to not power-play and stuff, just don't stress about super complex attacks). We are going to get them judged so you can see your scores but it doesn't really matter who wins. Have fun!
Round 0 posts (pairing up to start the spars) are due by Wednesday May 7th and all spars should be short (preferably just two rounds). If people come in late, either they can pair up on their own or (if there's an odd number) wait to spar with someone else.



speech.