The young Olympian was surprisingly prompt, though seemed to be half-awake yet. She'd been minded to bring the child on patrol, but it would seem she might require something a little more exciting to wake her up and get her moving. "Drottning," she corrected firmly, "or Katja. Not Lady. Today I will begin to teach you to fight." She paused, perusing the girl for a moment. "I do not know what, if anything, you were taught in Olympus, so we will begin with the basics. Defenses."
Gesturing with her muzzle for the girl to follow, she led the way to a wide, flat area in the middle of the canyon, away from any serious obstacles before turning to face her. "I will teach you your defenses, then we will test them, ja?" She took a moment to slip into her defenses, as naturally as an otter slipping into water. "You see my feet are squared, not too far forward or back, and slightly wider than my shoulders and hips? This is so that I cannot be pushed over so easily. It is a strong stance, stronger yet if you spread your toes dig your claws in as though you are rooted to the earth like a tree. And you bend your knees slightly, that you may absorb strikes like a willow tree, and so you are ready to move quickly." She demonstrated, flexing her paws to drive her blunt nails into the dirt, and bobbing slightly from imaginary blows. "Then you have your head to be level with your spine like so, not slouching down below to expose your spine to attack or so high up it compromises your balance. Level all the way across from your hips to your skull."
She flicked her tail to draw the girl's attention to it. "Your tail can be either held level with your spine, which is good if you are moving as it will aid in balance for ease of movement, or you can tuck it down to protect it from another wolf's jaws if in close quarters, or even against your abdomen for some small protection for it if they end up beneath you." She demonstrated all three positions.
And back to the front of the body. "You want your shoulders rolled forward thusly as you draw your head back slightly. You see how this makes the skin around my neck bunch up? This provides you protection for the neck there, for when they bite they are far more likely to grab loose skin than they are spine. You will want the hackles raised as well to further confuse where the bite will land." She demonstrated, raising the fur all along her shoulders and neck to make herself appear slightly larger.
"As well, you will tuck your muzzle down a bit to cover your throat. Do not expose your throat to your opponent unless you are wishing to die, child." Her eyes fixed fiercely on the girl. "That is very, very important to remember." Moving on. "Your ears must be pressed down tightly against your head, unless you wish to provide a target for your enemy to remove them for you. Too, you must have your eyes narrowed to make for a smaller target, and the skin wrinkled around them much as you did to your neck to take the brunt of any blow." She showed the girl, Katja's brow contorting in an almost-snarl.
She believed she'd covered everything, and the best way to test that the girl could understand it and remember would be to attack those defenses. "Show me that you can do them, and then we will test them. Remember to keep them up even during and after you have attacked - an enemy will not bite you once and then simply stop."
OOC: basically, have her react, practice setting up the defenses, whatever, and I'll actually start the spar in my next post. Don't worry, she's not going to get mauled. We'll just do a quick two-round thing to get those defenses in there.
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