The girl was all jitters and a big ball of nervous as she walked into the Orchard, the scent of ripe fruit filling the air. Looking up at all the trees she wrinkled her nose slightly, trying not to step on the over ripe fruit that had fallen to the ground. Why on earth had she picked this spot for training? Cursing herself for not fulling thinking through her nerves, she walked through the rows of trees until she found the same clearing that Valentine had used to call the meeting in. Perfect. There was a lot less icky fruit on the earth and a lot more space to work in. Taking a deep breath, she moved to sit on her rump. Mercy needed a few moments before she called the girl to her, to try and gather her wits about her. Even though she was honoured by the opportunity to have someone to train, she was also scared that she was going to royally screw up. What if she sucked at training and it led to the poor kid getting killed? Shuttering at the thought, she shook herself and raised her head, calling Sirius to her. She wanted to start off slow, with the basics. That was good, right? So many starting off with a list of defenses, seeing how much she knew on her own already. Cause what was the point of learning to attack if you can't even protect yourself properly. Nodding to herself in agreement, her long tail curled around herself as she waited.

"Speech"

Out of all of the territories Imperium held, the Orchard had to be Sirius' favorite. This was where she'd kept her duckling before finally getting rid of it. She liked the fruit that grew abundantly here and the thick canopy overhead. It was peaceful, serene, and the little critters that called it home made for light entertainment. Perhaps it wasn't the most exciting place in Imperium, but the solitude she often found in the shade of the apple trees made it perfect for her. Spying Mercy, the young Armada made a beeline for her. Honestly she wasn't sure what to think about this whole mentor/apprentice pairing. Daegmar had done her damnedest to mold Siri and her siblings into puppy soldiers and because of this, Sirius was a pretty well versed young fighter, but the training had dropped off sharply when the warrior woman had her own children. And then, of course, stopped altogether when she'd died. With such a poor track record (mom, dad and Daegmar all kicking it) in the way of role models she was a little concerned for this Mercy woman's safety. Siri offered a polite nod and a simple, "hey," as she slowed to a halt before her mentor. "It's Mercy, right? I'm Sirius."

It wasn't long before her apprentice trotted to her side, offering a short greeting and checking her name. Nodding her head and smiling slightly, she let her gaze rove over the girl quickly. She knew that Dag had trained these guys since they were young, so she probably knew a lot more than Mercy assumed. Which left her feeling more nervous. And of course Siruis was taller than her, cause who wasn't a freaking giant in this pack? Her. Ears flickered slightly, but otherwise she showed no other signs of her slight irritation. "Yup, and you're Sirius, right? We haven't really had much time to chat," she said softly, an easy smirk on her maw. "Now... I have never really done this mentor and apprentice thing, and to be completely honest I am not even sure where to start... I mean do you know all your basic defenses?" She asked, knowing that she probably did. But they had to start somewhere, and Mercy wanted to see what she knew before they jumped right into fighting. What was the point of sparring against her if she didn't know the basics? Assuming that she did, it never hurt to check. Plus... this whole thing was new to her. She just hoped that she did it right.

"Speech"

Sirius nodded. As she'd said, she was indeed Sirius. Seriously. She was also cool with not chatting, it wasn't exactly one of her strong suits. The yearling could, however, talk about fighting all day long. "... I mean do you know all your basic defenses?" Sirius nodded. "I would like to think I know all of the fighting basics. It's the more um, complicated things I need to work on. The teaching kind of dropped off after that." A ghost of a smile played across her lips and she went on to say, "Don't worry, you'll be fine." The smile faded and she frowned thoughtfully before offering, "I have a hard time with counters, maybe that would be a place to start? How to react to attacks?

This girls name was quite fitting, she did seem to be a very serious wolf indeed. Rather quiet with a strong head on her shoulders, someone that Mercy could see herself getting along with without wanting to bite their face off. Her head nodded slowly when Sirius said that she was clear on the basics, but it was more the complex things that she was unclear on. Well, wasn't everyone? She smiled softly, looking the girl up and down once more. A faint smile traced the younger girls lips, but it did not last long. Ears pulled back in a bit of sadness at the other talking about her training dropping off, she understood what it was from. She hadn't been that close to the warrior woman, but she had more than a little respect for her. She was missed, that was for sure. Mercy perked back up when Sirius brought up counters, it was a great suggestion. Raising to her paws, she squared herself off to the darker coated wolf. "Perfect idea. Now, we won't go into a full blown spar here, but I will stand here, and you launch your attack. I will then show you the best way to counter it, sound fair?" She asked. She could talk about the moves while she did them, but Mercy knew that showing would be a lot easier for it to sink in.

"Speech"

"...sound fair?" It sounded perfect, actually. Sirius nodded and then adopted a defensive stance. Her defenses came pretty easily although not without some thought. She still wasn't perfect. It felt kind of silly to fluff up in front of Mercy without the adrenaline and focus that came with a real fight, but she shoved that feeling aside and set her defenses anyway. The young Armada widened her stance so that her paws were spaced slightly wider than hip and shoulder width. She bent her knees and splayed her toes just like she'd been taught, and her tail rose to lay on the same plane as her spine. Siri also let her ears lay flat. However, she didn't lift her hackles or narrow her eyes or anything like that. Those felt unnecessary. Staring at her mentor, Sirius hesitated. With the ball in her court, for reasons she couldn't place, she drew a blank. If she were faced with one of her siblings Siri knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wouldn't hesitate, so why exactly she was struggling now was lost on her. It just...it felt kind of odd to be doing this with someone who wasn't Daegmar. Maybe that was it. A bit annoyed with herself, Siri ground her teeth in frustration and then used that frustration to fuel an "attack". She charged forward, seeking to approach Mercy head on with the intention of "biting" the woman's neck. Jaws wide, Sirius hoped to grab a hold of the loose skin just beneath Mercy's lower jaw on her left side. Hopefully her upper teeth would find purchase beneath Mercy's left ear while her lower teeth would grip into the crook of Mercy's neck right where her jawbone met her throat. No harm was intended; she was merely giving the woman an attack to counter.

Mercy narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched her apprentice drop into a crouch, and she silently assessed her stance. It wasn't perfect, it was something that they could work on at a later date, but it was still quite good. Mercy adopted her own stance, coming a lot faster and easier than the younger girl. But that came with practice, and she could tell from Sirius' stance that she was as skilled as Mercy had thought. But now was not the time to linger on things on that, her legs bending slightly as her toes spread, digging into the earth. Her shoulders rolled forward, head and tail aligning with her spine as her chin tucked towards her throat. Ears pulled back, and her eyes she kept narrowed, focusing on the gray girl.

When Sirius paused to think, Mercy made no comment. It was strange to launch an attack without thinking that it was a spar, an actual fight where blood would be drawn. This was something very different, and she didn't mind allowing her time to think her attack over. Besides, it had been the Armada girl's choice to go over counters, perhaps she was trying to think of one that she had the most trouble with. But soon enough she saw the girl's muscles bunch, and Mercy prepared herself for the attack. Sirius ran at her head on, jaws parting and aimed for her neck. Quickly Mercy swung her hind end to her own left, bringing the two girls into more of a 't' shape than head on. And when her jaws parted, Mercy's own did the same, as she bent her head down and attempted to gently clamp her jaws along the top of Sirius' top jaw. Bottom jaw was aimed for the right side of her top muzzle, her top jaws aimed to the left side. The pale girl took care not to bite down too hard, it was a very sensitive area and she didn't want to cause her too much pain. Punctured lips were a very sore thing indeed. But with Mercy's attack, the younger girl would not be able to bite towards her neck, or even turn her head without doing more damage to herself. She waited to see if her counter landed, or if Sirius had devised her own counter to Mercy's counter attack. The goal was to keep from getting hurt at all, while trying to inflict more and more pain on their opponent. Of course, the girls were not aiming for drawn blood.

ooc ;// So Eve has problem with counter attacks too, I hope this is okay! xD

"Speech"