Tórnach was far from home. His family had lost their home before he'd even been alive for a full year, banished to a wet, soggy estuary that was so different from his somewhat arid plains that it was bewildering. His mother had forbidden them to return, or even to interact with the pack that had taken their home. She was going to take care of everything. Her and Regulus. She'd arranged for regular patrols of their home to protect them from the pack so close to them, and Tórnach was more than happy to take part, especially since he'd only just recently been given the freedom to roam the plains before they'd been kicked out and he'd never gotten the chance to exercise that freedom before finding himself in the estuary. It was nice to stretch his legs, nice to be needed, but he felt like he wasn't doing enough. Not like his mother, not like Reg. But now he was a yearling. He was an adult, even if he wasn't recognized as such yet. He was free to move about the lands where he wished without being supervised. It wasn't a privilege he took for granted, or that he would abuse or use on a whim. He had no wish to worry his mother unnecessarily. She already had enough to worry about. No, he had a very important plan in mind for this journey. He wasn't satisfied with just being one of the kids. Sheltered from danger until his mother thought he was ready. He wanted... craved more knowledge than he could get from any one person, no matter who she was. He needed to be more capable, more ready, to protect his family. He would never be Regulus - Regulus was the oldest, and the one everyone looked to. Tórnach wasn't interested in peoples' attention, or anything like that. Regulus was better with dealing with that aspect of their family anyway. But he could be a silent guardian, and learn everything and be ready for anything. He'd left word with his father where he was going, and had left his mother a goose as something of an apology for leaving without telling her directly and for not being there to contribute, then he'd set off in this general direction knowing he'd find what he was looking for here. He took a deep breath, the unfamiliar scent hitting him with an almost physical shock. The battlefield. His mother had been giving him training, here and there, and he'd been learning to hunt which were very nearly interchangeable in many aspects, but he'd never gotten into a real fight, with a stranger. Someone who was a complete unknown. An unpredictable variable. He settled his tall, lanky gray frame into a strong stance, deep blue eyes surveying the land around him and his ears straight up at attention. This was the first step to becoming what he wanted to be. A deep breath - once more drawing the scent of the battlefield into his nose - and he lifted his head in a youthful call for someone to join him to spar. Tórnach vs ? for spar Round 0/?

Ashmedai scurried to the call. Of course he wanted to fight. He was going to become stronger than anyone else! He was going to make sure... uh... he wasn't sure, yet, but when he was, he was gonna be able to defend his stance and himself. As he approached, he saw another about as tall and lanky as he was. A young male like himself. The boy gave a nod and a slight wag of his tail, "Ashmedai, answering your call! I'll go first, so get ready!" Ashmedai offered a lopsided smile as he set into his stance about ten feet away from the other boy.

Ashmedai's legs spread out, his knees bending slightly as his weight distributed evenly across his limbs. His ears pinned back and his eyes narrowed as his lips curled, scrunching his face. His tail tucked to protect his man bits and his nails dug into the ground for traction. His hackles rose as Ashmedai tucked his neck and rolled his shoulders, ready to launch his attack.

Kicking off, Ashmedai attempted to close the ten foot distance between him and his opponent. His opponent was around his size, which offered Ashmedai no advantage for high or low attacks. He would go head on. Just before launching his attack, Ashmedai stepped to his left, lifting right paw, redistributing his weight to his other three limbs. He would attempt to shove the sharper, front part of his right shoulder into the joint between the opponent's chest and left shoulder, hoping to stun him with a sharp pain. As he jutted his right shoulder forward, Ashmedai would hope to scratch his right foreleg claws down the brute's left leg from about the knee down and stomp on his paw, hopefully pinning his opponent's paw beneath his own, though he didn't hope for much damage there. Finally, Ashmedai tilted his head to his left, opening his jaws and swinging his head to his right, attempting to grip on the other male's left shoulder. His upper jaws sought to pierce the flesh of the upper back of the shoulder while his lower jaw was aimed at the lower, more meaty, deltoid section of the shoulder (along the spine of the scapula). With this, Ashmedai braced himself for the impact of his opponent's attack.

Ashmedai vs Tórnach for SPAR
Round 1/2

He was not left to wait long. A boy a little older but no taller than he was bounced in, and he was quick to explain that he was going to go first so that Tornach didn't have to wonder what the... protocol was for this sort of thing. "I'm Tornach Adravendi," he offered in return, and nodded. "I will be ready."

He set his defenses as his mother had taught him, carefully going through the list in his head as the other boy set his. He centered his weight, legs bent slightly, with his toes spread and his claws digging into the dirt. His head and tail leveled out with his spine, tail ready to balance him, and his shoulders hunched forward. His hackles bristled all along his back - an odd feeling to do so when he wasn't angry - as his ears pressed back and his blue eyes narrowed. He tucked his chin down to protect his throat, which he hoped he wouldn't really need to do but it was a good habit.

When the other boy gleefully charged forward, Tor braced himself, turning his upper body just slightly to his right to bring his left shoulder forward in order to take the blow on the side of his left shoulder midway down, and winced at the shock as a moderate bruise formed where he was hit. Distracted by too many things at once, he didn't react fast enough to avoid Ashmedai's paw as it sought to pin his paw down, and he hissed through his teeth as the claws scraped minor welts down the front of his left foreleg before mashing his left paw down, minor bruising to develop there later.

He sought to intercept Ashmedai's bite before it could touch him, aiming a bite toward Ash's right cheek in an attempt to gain a grip on Ash's face with his lower teeth seeking to hook under the other boy's lower jaw and his upper fangs aiming for the meaty part of the cheek just below Ash's right eye. (COUNTER ALERT) He shifted his balance to his hindquarters, lifting his right forepaw he attempted to reach forward around the outside of Ash's left foreleg halfway down from his elbow in an attempt to hook the leg and jerk it toward Tor. Simultaneously he sought to shove sideways and up hard with the front and side of his left shoulder against the front point of Ash's right shoulder with the intention of toppling Ash over onto his left side.

TORNACH vs ASHMEDAI for SPAR
Round 1/2

Surreal Adravendi

Surreal had gotten the message that Tornach had gone to the battlefield. His first spar. Her babies were old enough to fight in a real spar. She hoped he remembered all of the training she and Regulus had given him and his sister. But wait. Why not go there and cheer her younger boy on? So she had taken off after his scent with a word to Regulus and Falk, who’d been the two closest at the time, and soon, she arrived at the Field. Her son’s large thundercloud colored frame was easy to spot, and he was already tangled with another boy of slate, charcoal and snow. She took a seat out of the way, watching her son. No matter the outcome, she’d be proud of him either way for taking the initiative to come out here and try his paw at sparring. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Ashmedai felt his right shoulder connect with the other boy's left shoulder. Ash's right fore paw scraped down Tornach's front left leg and pinned his left forepaw successfully. This was going good! As Ashmedai threw hit bite, however, things changed.

As Ash drove his bite, Tornach turned and aimed to intercept with an attack of his own. The opponent's teeth would scrape down Ashmedai's right cheekbone and up his right jaw leaving moderate lacerations that ended as the boy gained half a grip on the edge of Ashmedai's right cheek. If they weren't sparring, it would have looked pretty odd with Ashmedai's face stretched out by his right cheek. Ashmedai wasn't amused, however, and winced at the pain. He felt a paw hook around his left foreleg halfway down from his elbow and pull away from Ashmedai while shoving towards Ash's left side and up. The two were close, so the force wasn't drastic, the two wolves being almost completely evenly matched. Ashmedai wouldn't topple just yet.

The boy had a plan, but he needed to be prepared. His hackles laced down his back, his tail flagging behind him for support as she struggled against the other. His weight was evenly distributed, his knees partially bent for balanced, and his toes splayed. His lips curled up, eyes narrowing, and face scrunching through the opponent's hold to further protect his bleeding face. He worked his shoulders up to protect his neck and tucked his chin as much as he could while pulling his ears tight against his skull to finish up his defenses.

With Tornach having his right paw hooked around Ash's left fore leg, Ashmedai decided to use that to his advantage. For a while, Ashmedai attempted to struggle against Tornach, then, all at once, began an assault. Ashmedai aimed to throw his full weight forward and to Tornach's right as he shifted his weight to his front paws, hoping to keep himself grounded and dig his right fore paw nails into the webbing between Tornach's left fore paw's toes. Ashmedai jutted his right shoulder forward with hopes of equaling the blow of Tornach's left shoulder, hoping to grind the foremost part of his right shoulder with the foremost part of Tornach's left shoulder, which already pressed into Ash. He turned his face against Tornach (towards Ashmedai's right) and attempted to get a grip on the right side of Tornach's lower jaw, with his upper jaws aiming to get a bite on his right jaw while his lower jaw sought the area of the neck that connected under the chin. As he stretched, he could feel Tornach's teeth pulling painfully on the right side of his face. It would hurt, but maybe it would pay off in the end. He didn't have enough momentum to topple the other boy, but maybe he could out-endurance him in locked combat.

Ashmedai vs Tornach Round 2/2 for SPAR

Caught up in the swiftness and fog of a battle Tor was only dimly aware of his mother's presence and he had nothing to spare to wonder why, and certainly nothing to spare for any sudden shyness or stage fright though if she had appeared before the two yearlings had tangled he might have been self conscious. There was success through the far-away pain of fresh wounds, but very little. Tor caught his hold on Ashmedai's face, keeping him from wounding Tor's shoulder, but though he also caught Ash's foreleg he was unable to topple the older boy over from the angle he was at. He grunted as Ash shoved back at him, the point of the boy's shoulder digging into the bruises on the side of Tor's left shoulder from Ash's initial charge causing the already-abused muscle to knot up painfully atop the bruises. Dull claws dug into the webbing between the toes of his left forepaw, a sharp stinging pain easily shunted aside as the claws dragged short welts into the more fragile skin. Releasing his hold on Ash's face Tor jerked his head backwards, chin angling up in an attempt to pull away. Ash's canines caught at Tor's jawline, dragging a deep wound along the bottom of Tor's right lower jaw before sliding off.

Releasing his hold on Ash's foreleg Tor dropped his right forepaw back to the ground to counterbalance, keeping most of his weight on his hindquarters to compensate for Ash pushing against him his weight was still evenly balanced between his right and his left. His stance he kept widened, his knees and elbows bent slightly to lower his center of gravity and his joints loose and fluid. Monotone hackles were raised, calculating blue eyes narrowed to protect them and ears flattened to his skull. He tensed the muscles in his pinned left forepaw to prevent further injury to bone or tendons, and dug the claws of his remaining three paws into the earth for grip. He brought his chin back down to cover his throat as he lowered his head once again to the level of his shoulders, blood staining the white of his chin red as it dripped thickly from his wound. His shoulders hunched forward to drive his scruff into rolls of fat and skin over his neck, and he flicked his tail down between his legs to protect it in these closer quarters.

He did not stop his motion as he allowed his defenses to resettle, instead continuing to let his body drop into a deep crouch, releasing his shoulder from Ash's push and hoping that the other boy's momentum would drive him partly over Tor's shoulders. He made no attempt to free his paw from under Ash's, instead simply pivoting around it as he let his upper body curve towards his own left side and he sought to use his powerful hindlegs to drive forward and up beneath Ash's chest - seeking to bring the tops of both his shoulders up under Ash's chest in something like a fireman's carry in the hopes that his forward-and-upward motion would allow the throw to slam Ash onto the ground on the other boy's right side. As he did, Tor curved his head further towards his left and attempted to bury his fangs on either side of Ash's right foreleg halfway between elbow and wrist, aiming to come in from the back of the limb with his nose to the outside of the leg and his lower jaw aiming to clamp around the inside in an attempt to gain a sturdy grip.

Other than the faint sounds of pain as he was wounded, Tornach fought with no sound, no snarls or growls, just the bright gem-blue of his eyes as they shifted constantly over his opponent in complete concentration, as though memorizing the fight to replay over and over after to see what lessons he could glean from it - which he was.

TORNACH vs ASHMEDAI for SPAR
Round 2/2

Ashmedai vs Tórnach for SPAR ROUND ONE Ashmedai CLARITY - “...Ashmedai stepped to his left, lifting right paw,” Front right paw, or back left paw? You say it later in the post, but I cannot assume that you are stating the same limb here. -1 - “Finally, Ashmedai tilted his head to his left, opening his jaws and swinging his head to his right, attempting to grip on the other male's left shoulder. His upper jaws sought to pierce the flesh of the upper back of the shoulder while his lower jaw was aimed at the lower, more meaty, deltoid section of the shoulder (along the spine of the scapula).” Okay so this is a tad confusing here, and I acted it out several times to try and make sense of it. If he tilted his head towards his left and swung his head towards the right, that would not bring his top jaw close to the back of the shoulder, but his bottom jaw. Unless you mean something else when you say 'back of the shoulder' because to me I think of the outer portion of the shoulder, closer to the spine. And from the diagram, I think you mixed up directions here. From where the bottom jaw is aimed it would make more sense if he was trying to bite in the center of the chest, just below the neck. -2 Total: 7 POWERPLAY “Kicking off, Ashmedai attempted to close the ten foot distance between him and his opponent.” There is no where that says that you and Tea agreed upon a distance of 10 feet, and assuming distance is powerplay. Next time either check with your opponent, or leave it a little bit more vague, like a simple 'attempting to close the distance.' -2 Total: 8 DEFENSES Legs spread, knees bent, weight distributed, ears pinned, eyes narrowed, lips curled, tail tucked, nails in ground, hackles raised, shoulders rolled. Total: 10 ATTACK + 1 shoulder slam + 1 paw slam + 2 for bite to shoulder (minus points for clarity issue) Total: 4 INJURIES - First round! Total: 10 Total for Round One: 39/50 Tórnach CLARITY - All clear! Total: 10 POWERPLAY - None seen! Total: 10 DEFENSES Weight distributed, legs bent, toes spread, claws in ground, head aligned with spine, tail aligned with spine, shoulders rolled, hackles raised, ears pinned, eyes narrowed. Total: 10 ATTACK + 3 bite to face + 1 paw swipe + 1 shoulder shove Total: 5 INJURIES - First round! - (Moderate bruise to left shoulder) - (Minor welts to left foreleg) - (Minor bruise to left front paw) Total: 10 Total for Round One: 45/50 ROUND TWO Ashmedai CLARITY - “...right cheekbone and up his right jaw leaving moderate lacerations that ended as the boy gained half a grip on the edge of Ashmedai's right cheek.” You either have a grip or you don't, a half a grip doesn't really make sense. Did only his top jaw or bottom jaw hit? Did you mean a weak grip? Just using the word half makes it sound a bit off. -2 - “He felt a paw hook around his left foreleg halfway down from his elbow and pull away from Ashmedai while shoving towards Ash's left side and up.” Was was shoving towards Ash and up? -2 - “...attempted to get a grip on the right side of Tornach's lower jaw, with his upper jaws aiming to get a bite on his right jaw while his lower jaw sought the area of the neck that connected under the chin.” Where along the upper jaw? It is quite a large area. In the middle, by the nose, by the base? Top jaw, bottom jaw? And just where under the chin? -2 Total: 4 POWERPLAY - “Ashmedai aimed to throw his full weight forward and to Tornach's right as he shifted his weight to his front paws, hoping to keep himself grounded and dig his right fore paw nails into the webbing between Tornach's left fore paw's toes. Ashmedai jutted his right shoulder forward with hopes of equaling the blow of Tornach's left shoulder, hoping to grind the foremost part of his right shoulder with the foremost part of Tornach's left shoulder, which already pressed into Ash.” Okay so at this point I got really super lost and it took a lot of thinking for me to work this out. From where I am sitting, Ash still has a paw raised in the air from Tor snatching it from under him, there was no mention of him trying to put his paw back down on the ground. Plus you make no mention of his other paw that is, at this moment, still pinning Tor's paw to the ground. So to me its a powerplay to try and use that paw for another attack and to shift into your front paws without stating that the other has returned to the ground. I really had to read it over, I think it was missing the paw swipe paw that really threw it all off. -2 Total: 8 DEFENSES Hackles raised, tail aligned with spine, weight evenly distributed, knees bent, toes splayed, lips curled, eyes narrowed, tucked chin, ears flat. Total: 10 ATTACK + 1 paw webbing attack + 1 shoulder slam + 2 bite to jaw/neck (minus points for clarity issue) Total: 4 INJURIES - 3 moderate lacerations Total: 7 Total for Round Two: 33/50 Tórnach CLARITY - “...the point of the boy's shoulder digging into the bruises on the side of Tor's left shoulder from Ash's initial charge causing the already-abused muscle to knot up painfully atop the bruises.” Did this make the bruises worse than just the minor ones that were there? Are they moderate bruises now? Major? -2 - “...dragging a deep wound along the bottom of Tor's right lower jaw before sliding off.” How bad is this deep wound? You might want to be specific if you don't want judges to assume damage, because to me deep is severe, but to you it might be moderate. -2 Total: 6 POWERPLAY - None seen Total: 10 DEFENSES Stance widened, weight counter balanced, legs bent, hackles raised, eyes narrowed, ears pinned, claws dug in ground, chin tucked, head aligned with spine, shoulders rolled. Total: 10 ATTACK + 2 flip shoulder carry thing + 4 bite to right foreleg (plus grip) Total: 5 INJURIES - 1 Minor welts to front paw - 4 severe lacerations to bottom jaw (decided by judge) Total: 5 Total for Round Two: 36/50 Totals: Ashmedai 39 + 33 = 72/100 Tórnach 45 + 36 = 81/100 And the winner is... Tórnach Ashmedai must give up by submitting, fleeing or passing out. Damage: Ashmedai - Moderate lacerations to cheek will take 2 ooc weeks to heal, and may scar Tórnach - Moderate bruise to left shoulder will take 1 ooc week to heal - All welts will take 3 ooc days to heal - Minor bruise to paw will take 3 ooc days to heal - Severe lacerations will take 3 ooc weeks to heal and have a high possibility of scaring. Notes: Tips for writing and some suggestions. (no points are deducted here): Iko I think I listed most of my notes are listed above! Just watch your wording on things, it left me rather confused in parts. I was getting laughed at though cause I legit sat here and mimed out your first attack that confused me. xD So just try to be specific! Tealah Same here, its all above! Just make sure to be specific about damage taken. - By [Evelyn]

He moved too carelessly and too fast. With his opponents movement, Ashmedai found himself toppling over to Tornach's right. He could struggle though, but he knew where he had made the mistake. He learned what he needed to work on. That was the point of the spar, right, so the spar was over. He hit the ground with a small thud, turning onto his back to show his submission, "Hey, hey! Good fight!" he called, signifying that the spar was over. After a moment, Ashmedai turned onto his side, "You really had me with that thing with your shoulders!" Now Ash sat up, scratching at his ear, "I'll have to try to do better next time! You okay?" Ashmedai's tongue flopped out of his maw as he panted. His cheek stung, but other than that he was good. He could taste blood in his mouth, however, and hoped he hadn't been too rough with his opponent.

His gambit worked, surprisingly, and Ashmedai flashed his belly in a traditional gesture of submission, putting an immediately halt to Tornach's motion. He stood panting a moment before he could answer, though he did give a shy smile at the boy's compliments - a smile that faded into a wince as it tugged at the wounds on his jaw. "Thank you, Ashmedai, I'm all right," he returned finally as equilibrium returned. "You're really good - where did you get trained?" he added curiously, then took a slow step toward him to examine his injured cheek. "Would you like me to look at your wounds for you? I'm a healer - I mean, I know a bit of healing, I'm not anywhere near a trained healer, and I wouldn't be offended if you'd rather go to someone else," he amended quickly, not wanting to seem like a liar particularly in front of his mother whose presence had just registered in his mind.

Surreal Adravendi

Her heart swelled with maternal pride as her younger son won his first real spar. Mismatched eyes shone warmly at both boys as she rose to her paws, letting her son make his offer of medical assistance before stepping close to nuzzle nis shoulder and murmer toward's his ear, "I am very proud of you, my son. Well fought." She stepped away, allowing him his dignity and surveying the young male that easily matched Tornach for height. "You are well trained. You've both fought very well today." The praise wasn't made lightly. In a world like theirs, you needed to be able to fight and win. A smile was cast to both boys before she nodded, dipping her head and turning to leave. -Exit unless stopped.- Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

His opponent halted, and mentioned that he was okay. Ashmedai smiled. The other boy stepped closer and Ash's ears flicked back. Tornach asked if he could help heal him. This guy was a healer and a fighter? Amazing, "You can do a little of everything, can't you? Of course you can look at it!" Ashmedai moved to stand. Then the supposed mother of Tornach spoke up, congradulating them both. Who was she, anyway? Was she a trained warrior? She didn't even smell like a pack. Ashmedai looked at the woman as she left flatly. When she was out of view, Ashmedai turned back to Tornach, "Mothers, right?" A loose smile came back to Ashmedai's face, "How about you heal me then we try to get something for dinner?"

Tornach would have blushed if he could have, embarrassed but gratified by the praise from both Ashmedai and then his mother. He wasn't sure he felt it was earned; though he'd won, in hindsight he'd made so many mistakes and missteps. He needed to do better next time. As Surreal made her way out of sight, he expelled a deep breath. Mothers, right? the other boy asked, and Tornach nodded quizzically, not sure what he was agreeing with but not wanting to look stupid by asking either. He'd never had a friend... and though he wasn't sure that this yet qualified he didn't want to ruin his chances either. "All right," he agreed far more eagerly to Ash's suggestion of fixing their wounds and then getting something to eat.

He took a moment to look Ash over, walking around him and searching him with both sight and scent, but the cheek wounds did seem to be the only real wounds - he couldn't do much about bruises. Returning to Ash's head he sniffed the wounds over - "This might hurt, I'll have to clean the dirt out," he warned solemnly - and then set to cleaning them carefully while he considered what to put on them... Herbs... he didn't really know many. A bandage, but that by itself wouldn't do much but keep more dirt from getting in it and he'd need to stick it on anyway... "Honey!" he exclaimed suddenly, his licks ceasing and his mind suddenly returning to the broken-open old tree he'd passed on his way here. A bear had been at it and opened up an old bee hive with the bees long gone but the old honey still there, and if he remembered the scent correctly there'd still been a bit left the bear hadn't eaten. Hopefully the bear hadn't come back...