Winter brought with it cold and snow, even in Celestial's territories though it didn't tend to stay like in cooler climates and the deserts not far from them didn't usually get any at all. It wasn't a great time for travel, so it seemed likely that much of the pack would be sticking close to home. That made this an ideal time for gathering and socializing, as far as Gwen was concerned. It was also a good time for learning and practicing new skills since there was little else to do. The coming of late winter would also mean a lot of hungry predators, wolves and others alike, thar might find Celestial's easier lands a temptation. It would be good to sharpen their skills now as winter was barely begun in preparation before it came to that.

Finding a good spot took some time. Gwen wasn't interested in it being a clear area, but rather a rough place with plenty of nasty little pitfalls like ice, rocks, sticks buried beneath the thin snow covering. It wasn't a fatally treacherous terrain, but it provided many opportunities to stumble and trip up for the unwary. It had snowed in the night and hadn't yet warmed up enough to melt the snow, so the footing was a heavy, wet snow over a layer of bent-down grass and beneath that slick mud. It would make for an interesting, and probably not entirely pleasant, place to spar. Well, and after the raid wasn't it clear that the pack needed more practice fighting when the conditions didn't favor them? They had held their own against the invaders last spring despite the lack of experience many of Celestial's defenders had, but they had sustained too many major injuries in the struggle. Celestial simply was not the sort of pack that tended towards aggressive types, and many of their warriors had been either elderly or quite young, or not actually warriors at all. If the numbers and fairly good terrain not favored them a little, she could only imagine how much worse off Celestial would have been.

Clearly Celestial would need the practice and to gain more experience for the younger wolves to begin to take the place of the elderly among them on the front lines if something untoward were to occur again. She had been pleased with the performance of Celestial's youths in the raid but they simply did not have the experience she felt they needed, and she was not going to risk the pack to the fickleness of beginner's luck. Hopefully one of the trained healers would see the benefit and since winter was even more of a down time for healers hold training of their own, but that was far from Gwenevere's sphere of responsibility. She could only hope that her own initiative galvanized some in other portions of the pack. Perhaps if she had done this a year ago rather than allowing herself to withdraw into her grief for Lanse there would have been fewer injuries. But perhaps not, either. Hindsight was always clearer, and it was not in Gwen to dwell on the past. They knew better now. Time to move on.

Satisfied with the choppy, icy, snowy area she had chosen, lifted her head to call the pack together for fight training. She could hope that those outside of the fighter ranks would see the merit of learning as well, especially since Regulus required self defense training for everyone, but it was the Warriors who were her specific purview and they would be the ones she would be watching for. Any who didn't show up she would have to make it a point to track down later and have a quiet word with. The pack needed to learn responsibility.

OOC: for the sake of this thread assume all wounds from the raid including major ones have healed. This is a good time to have your character learn to compensate for any maims taken, etc, and since the spars are not going to be officially judged there is no reason we shouldn't be able to work through this quickly and get everyone some skill points before the holidays consume us.

What we are going to do in this thread is play a fun little dice based game to decide winners. Wolves of the same skill level will have an even chance of winning each round based on a roll of the dice. Higher experience levels will have a higher chance of winning their rounds because that makes sense but it is by no means going to go that way for certain. The character with the most rounds won will win their spar. Spars must be at least three rounds and preferably be odd numbered rounds to prevent ties. Remember that we need a clear winner to claim points for non-judged spars so we don't want ties if we can help it. But ties will be decided by a single tiebreaker round so don't worry too much!

Normal defaults WILL apply but defaulting a round will simply mean that round will be won by the other player rather than ending the match, and the next player may post the next round. I will explain more in Gwen's next post in THREE DAYS (that means on December 6th ). Be there, or GWEN WILL HAVE A VERY SERIOUS TALK WITH YOU AND MAKE YOU FEEL TERRIBLY GUILTY and also I will be very disappointed in you! Late arrivals can be worked in so don't think you can get away with not posting just because you miss the first deadline!

Seabound and Aimless at Best

Dómari wandered restlessly through Celestial uncertain what to do with the nervous energy that seemed to have settled over him. The sky was still cloudy from last nights snowstorm. When the sun broke free it was likely to start to melt into a muddy mess but for now the snow lay upon the earth, crisp and clear. It was lovely. Shame it hid most of the plant life he wanted to seek out. Dómari had been neglecting his healing training thanks to the raid and now that winter was settled in he wasn't sure he had the motivation to really hunt for herbs. It probably would be good practice but the healers were over-worked. Tending to everyone's injuries had took a toll on the stores as well as time. He didn't want to pester anyone for a lesson when they had better things to do.

Dómari moved farther into the plains. He supposed he could work more on his battle-training, he was certainly well enough to do so. Was his head in the right place though? A call rang out and Dómari recognized the voice of Gwenevere, one of the older pack members who had fought in the raid. The call seemed to be geared toward the warriors of the pack and so he made his way through the snow to the place where she was waiting. He offered a gentle smile. "Hello Gwenevere, how are you today?"

Lais had been coping with his first large failure as a worrier, though he didn't like it one bit. He pushed himself a little to early and if he hadn't pushed himself, perhaps his tendon would have properly healed. Now he was left with a slight limp and weakness in the limb, but he was still trying to make his limb grow stronger. Running had been his first choice, first on flat terrain, then slowly adding in obstacles to jump over. He did what he could, but he was still weak in the limb. It was frustrating, but he was thankful his opponent hadn't went for his eyes like some of the others who had thought. So now he felt that he needed to turn to more experienced fighters, to learn to compensate and to improve his fighting technique for the next time he would need to defend his pack. Right now he was feeling weak and he needed the training. When Gwen's call rang out he was more then happy to get his butt to the training and in order to be faster he held up his weak limb to run on three legs. Getting there the man made it fairly early, coming in just after Dom. Moving in he sat beside the other male and dipped his head to Gwen before setting down his left front paw. "Talk" "You" Think

The raid had screwed everything up, big time. Though his mother's mentality had started to decline shortly before it, it was way worse now and rather then blaming his mother he blamed the raid. She had lashed out and him and pushed his younger siblings away. He was forced to once again take on the role of the head of the family, but it stressed him out. With siblings missing he was going nuts with trying to figure out what to do. He was worried and now that he was two he had the extra added stress of not knowing where in fact he wanted to go in the pack. Hopefully with those still mending from the raid and a new litter soon to be born that Regulus wouldn't be looking him up right away.

When the call came, it at first didn't register with him. He had been to deep in his thoughts, but then it hit him moments after and his eyes widened in sudden realization. Being unranked he was sure he would have to attend. He didn't want any trouble with the pack, not with all the family trouble he was currently having. The lanky male quietly sighed before heading off towards the call. He didn't run, but his pace was fast, he wasn't far away. When he arrived there was a total of three others before him and he nodded to them before quietly finding a seat and sitting down.

"Talking" & 'Thinking'

Nova had been thoughtful since their family meeting. She knew Chasm had a lot on his plate and she had vowed, at the very least, to not be a burden anymore. She was the largest of the younger litter...  and broken as they were she was determined to help them mend. So when the call from an older member of the pack went up Nova immediately leaped to her paws. This was it. No more moping. If their mother was lost because of the raid, fine. But she wasn't about to lose anyone else.

Nova arrived to find Chasm there already and the pale rainbow child brushed up against him. "You're not alone." She reminded him with a whisper. "So breathe a little, 'kay?" She was both there with him yet not. Disasociated from her own body and the things she felt around her. Her own words sounded distant to her, and the world before her looked as though a film was over it to prevent touch.

But despite not feeling quite right Nova knew she had to do this. Had to get stronger. No matter the lesson... She'd be there. Her gaze lifted to the one leading the thing, tail giving a swish. She was ready... Because she had to be.

Adore was excited when she heard the call for a training of some kind. Now that she had it in her head that she was going to learn fighting inside and out she was impatient over sharpening her skills. She wanted to be stronger and better now even though she knew that wasn’t possible. She hurried toward the gathering place their teacher for the day had picked and was pretty pleased to see that Nova and Chasam were already there. If anything she was just glad that they were here to learn things too so they could help her practice later. She saw Domari too which was good since he had helped her learn before. She sat down near her siblings and waited not so patiently for them to start. Of course she would never complain. After all, she was nice enough to put this thing together and train with them, right? She didn’t want to seem rude or ungraitful. Instead, she curled her tail around her hind legs and smiled gently, trying her best to look mature and composed instead of like a yearling that didn’t really know what she was doing. "Speech"

Baine went dutifully to meet up with the rest of the group when she heard the call for the training. Fighting had never really been her favorite thing. Actually, it was probably one of her least favorite things. However, if she was going to be able to go out on her own to run errands for Regulus then she was going to have to be able to protect herself. She knew some basics, but she was far from comfortable with her skill in it. It was high time she suck it up and work on being able to fight... at least that’s what she told herself on her way to the training. She spotted Laisren first and was greatful to have one of her siblings here already. She knew of everyone else that had arrived, but she hadn’t actually spoken to them yet. Maybe she’d get the chance to meet someone new while she was here. A bonus! She settled down next to Laisren and gave him a smile before she settled her gaze on Gwenwvere, offering the older woman a smile as well. She wasn’t really in a hurry to get started, but she was curious to see what she had planned for them. There was a pretty wide range of wolves here so far. It would be interesting to see how they were paired up if nothing else. "Talk" "You" Think

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

He was giddy inside, filled with wonder at the new lives that were his and Solveiga’s children. They were a wonder in their own right, and not merely because he was on a baby high. They shimmered, Aurielle especially, under every stray ray of light that made it to the alcove, and the snow that had made it through the gap in the roof of the ravine added to that light. Aramis was an inky black, yet the light revealed his coat to have a shimmering series of blues in his coat, brightest when under the direct light. Aurielle was the opposite, a white gem against her brother. Her fur shimmered a series of shades under the light, and every move seemed to bring out more. He wondered at both of them, but if he cast his mind back far enough, he remembered that his grandmother always seemed to have a faint silvery shimmer to her own coat, even though she was a vibrant snow white in her base color. He was pondering this, watching them sleep against their mother, when Gwenevere’s howl reached his ears and he grinned. That was what he liked to hear. He rose quietly, slipping from the alcove and out of the den caves. It didn’t take him long to reach the already growing group, and he was pleased to see that there was actually attendance. He spotted three rainbow backs as he sat among the group beside his siblings, scanning the rest before he gave Gwen a nod, both of greeting and thanks. He’d noticed the stronger scents along the borders since the raid, certainly, and hers had been prominent.

She had been getting out more and more working her way into relearning to navigate through the pack lands. She had even been so brave to travel out of the claimed territory, but she had little to worry about with running into Dirmuid while she was out there. Though she had her moments of depression from her loss of sight, overall she had been faring well. She still had little idea of where to go from here or to seek out the key meme era she needed to to help herself further, not that she had been putting it off, but more so wanting to relearn how to navigate through the territory so finding these members would come a lot easier. One step at a time she would take to regain the new perspective on life that she was now forced to live with. Marina had left, she was sure of it because her scent was vary stale and no trace of fresh scent. It made her worry about the other women and what might become of her.

The call for training is not normally one she would attend, but after the raid she felt it was dire for her to get more training especially now that she couldn’t see her opponents. When her more sensitive ears caught the howl she turned and headed towards the call falling in line with a familiar scent as she went. She had stumbled upon Regulus trail that led right to the gathering and as she grew closer her nose began to twitch more and more. Other scents mingled with his, she did her best to separate and pick out individuals much like she would when she was tracking for prey. She was able to tell exactly how many were here and was glad to find out that attendance was so good for this meeting. Quietly she moved over beside Regulus and took a seat beside him. She had felt closer to her cousin since thier last discussion, and how he encouraged her made her feel so much better at the time.

Pointing her ears forward the women was quiet and patiently waited for instructions to be given. This was a good opportunity for her and she was taking it.

The time since the raid had been frustratingly nonproductive for the pack in general and Justice specifically. Finding out that her brother had been kidnapped by their Talis cousin had been a hard blow to her that not even the smug knowledge that she'd blinded the bastard could soothe. Finding out that Exodus had disappeared again after the raid had made it even worse.

Then her mother had died.

It seemed like nothing in her life could just go right for once. Her family had fallen apart, torn from her one by one just as it seemed they were all coming back together again. On the one side of things her mother's death was almost a relief after all they'd been through with her long comatose state, but on the other side... she'd never gotten to hear her voice again after all that time being lost. It was like... well, like being lost once again.

Still reeling from blow after blow she'd withdrawn from the pack, even from the one brother who'd still remained there. Besides, with Solveiga nursing a new litter he had his paws full with all the injured who were recovering and the maimed to comfort and all. The last thing he needed was his sister moping around getting in the way. Oh she was still in pack lands, she was still feeding herself, she was still walking border patrols, but she wasn't participating in the pack or seeking out training or much of anything at all but going through the motions.

When the call came for a pack fight training, she idly toyed with the idea of rejecting the call and going off somewhere to brood alone. The spurt of angry rebellion felt good after all the apathetic numbness of the last year, but an felicitous moment of clear thinking made her admit that she actually really did want to go to the fight training and NOT going just because she wanted to be rebellious was both useless and stupid. She would kick herself later if she missed it for any reason, let alone because she was being a stupid child.

Still, she stalked into the group with a simmering sense of self-righteous irritation. She'd done just fine in the raid hadn't she? It wasn't fight training she needed at this point, it was healer training, and clearly they didn't have enough trained healers if none of them could have been bothered to mentor the apprentices in it so shouldn't that have been what they were holding?

Rasiel had been doing a lot more thinking, a lot of worrying, and a lot of time searching for Castiel and Kalliope’s missing sons to no avail. She wanted to help the pack, but thus far coming up with little to no results was frustrating the girl. She didn’t necessarily want to fight either, though she knew it’d be expected that she continue to learn and sharpen her skills in that area. She had picked up on the fact that Castiel was spending more time with his remaining family, keeping them close and staying close to the den. It was the latter part that concerned her. Her uncle was older… getting close to his tenth year.

Rasiel arrived at the gathering site to see faces whom were different from when they last gathered like this. All because of the raid. But she felt certain that, somehow, they were all going to come out stronger for it. Rassie sighed softly, padding close to her littermate before sitting. He’d been injured in the fighting too, adding further to her guilt that she hadn’t been there. That she hadn’t been there to help her family. She didn’t look anyone in the eyes at that moment, instead quietly studying the ground at her paws.

Paladin 'Knight' Ancora

He’d been quiet since the birthing. His mother’s last words had been in a moment of clarity, just before he’d left her side to gather the plants he needed to care for Solveiga when she’d called. Cherish the new lives that come. Let me go. There was so much clarity and fire in his mother’s sapphire and amethyst eyes that he’d understood the underlying order there. A mother’s order not to fall into the same trap she had. You couldn’t save everyone, not even with the best knowledge available. She had never been able to let go of her perceived failure to save Surreal. He couldn’t hang on to losing her. So, he’d let her go. He mourned her, and the fact that she couldn’t have gone, surrounded by her mate and children. But he didn’t let himself fall into the pit of self-blame. She’d been ready to go. He’d seen it in her eyes. She’d known, perhaps had remembered fragments of his and Justice’s outpourings – and for a short time Valor's – that Creed was gone, and that Valor was taken from Celestial, and that Fable and Exodus were missing. He refused to remember her as the skeletal shell she had passed away as, or the grief maddened wolf. Instead, he cast his mind back to the ghostly memories of his childhood, before everything had changed. Her kindness, and the base lessons she had tried to set within her children even then. He remembered the stories of her life growing up and learning, given to him by his aunt and Nomad family. An apt mind, keen for learning, and good humored. And today it sounded like there was learning to be done. Gwenevere’s call to the pack didn’t fall on deaf ears on his part, and he made his way quickly to the call, though he came in on the tail end of the wolves gathering, by the looks of it. A quick scan of the faces brought a sigh that he quickly repressed in favor of slipping to Justice’s side. He had seen little of her lately, especially since the passing, and yet he held no ill against her. Everyone mourned and handled things differently. Instead, he pressed into her side, light mingling with shadow as he offered the quiet strength he needed to share, eyes shifting to Gwenevere’s features. He hadn’t had a spar in a while, and he wasn’t one bit against seeing what she might had to teach them. He’d heard that she’d done very well in the raid. Every win on their side had been instrumental to their defeat of Talis’ invaders. If he’d not been busy at the healing camp, he’d have liked to take a chunk out of a few of them, himself.

The youth heard the call, though he had been exploring beyond the borders of Celestial. Not too far, but just close enough to where he could get back to pack lands in the event of...well, something like this. He had finally turned a year old, and there was nothing keeping him from finally going beyond the borders to see what was out there. So far, it had been quite uneventful...his mother had up and disappeared, though he hadn't bothered to try and track her. Why should he? She hadn't cared enough about them or else she would have stayed. But here they were. Abandoned by his mother, and he had no clue who his father was. It was just him and his siblings now...

The knowledge that his mother didn't love them enough to stay darkened him considerably. He felt abandoned, and though he was hardly a year old, began to feel resentment. He felt darker tendencies brewing in his heart, and for a brief moment, his mind had wanted to act in a violent manner. What that was exactly, he didn't know quite yet...

Approaching the group, he sat down by himself behind everyone else. Crimson gaze hard and cold as he shifted his gaze across the gathered. He rose a brow as his gaze fell on those who had been maimed at the raid. Though the pack had managed to chase out the invaders, he was fascinated by the damage left behind. He managed to hold back his contempt for those who had come back with such nasty wounds, and after seeing them return, had vowed to himself that he would become stronger then all of them. No such thing would happen to him if he could help it...

Gaze shifting then to the woman who called the meeting, he waited.

Mask had heard the call, but had been far from being where he could answer it quickly. It was a call for fight training. He was a hunter in rank, not a warrior, but he knew that the pack rules stated that all ranks should learn to defend themselves, so even had he not been willing he would have been required. As it was, he was more than willing to brush the dust off old skills that had been left dormant far too long. It gave him a bittersweet sense of nostalgia to remember training alongside and leading training for his brothers in the cosca, and he had to stop and close his eyes, taking a deep breath against the wave of sadness and self-castigation that welled up in his chest at the memories.

Finally though, he had made his way through the sticky, slushy snow to where the pack was gathering. Dipping his head in apology for his lateness to the female who had called the meeting, he took his place among the pack, the last arrival.

Gwenevere watched as the pack trickled in, finally ending in the late arrival of the dark-masked hunter. When no more had joined them, she quietly took note of who was there, so that she could compare it later to who all was actually in the pack. Blinking in startlement she saw Acapella, the hunter who had been completely blinded in the raid, and her brow furrowed in a frown. It was good that she was willing to come to the meeting and seemed willing to try to participate, but Gwen just did not see her being able to overcome such a strong handicap so soon after acquiring it. It would require a great deal of patient training to relearn everything from walking to navigating before she was ready to actually participate in a battle, and Gwen couldn't ask someone to take time away from their own training right now to coach her through the basics. But there were other things the former hunter could do, and while the pack sorted themselves out Gwen quickly and competently began moving things around a short distance away from the area she'd chosen for the training. It was still slushy and mucky here, and she maneuvered and manipulated rocks and clumps of grass and sticks and logs around until it began to take on some semblance of a makeshift obstacle course.

That was about when the gray Mask had showed up, late, so she moved back toward the rest of the pack. Stepping up to Acapella's side, she gently touched the blind woman's shoulder to get her attention and spoke quietly to her. "Your task today is going to be a little different, Acapella. I want you working on your balance and navigating over obstacles and rough terrain before we start working with you on fighting again, so I've set up a bit of a course for you to go around at your own pace. Take it easy at first until you're comfortable. The more often you go around the more you will know the obstacles, but the harder it's going to get since that slush is going to be slick and start making some pretty sticky mud. Learning your surroundings and how to compensate for not being able to predict your footing is going to be even more important for you than most." Touching her shoulder again encouragingly, she moved to the front of the group to address them all.

"Today's fight training is going to be a little unusual, and for you apprentices who haven't learned a lot of fight moves yet it might seem a little backward, but we aren't going to be focusing on technique. We're going to be focusing on creativity and learning to use our surroundings to compensate for skill gaps or handicaps. I don't care if your moves are technically correct, or the recommended attack or defense, or even very smart. I want you to try new things, get creative, fail, and learn from those failures what works and what doesn't, and when. I want you to learn to use the terrain to your advantage, and I want you to learn what to do when someone does it to you. You're going to get wet, and muddy, and to be honest there's probably going to be a lot more injuries from tripping over rocks and sliding on muddy grass than there are from bites. But I want you to have fun with it, and try stupid things, and laugh with your partner. Remember that we're all pack mates here, and we aren't trying to seriously injure or maim each other."

Passing a glance over all of them, she mentally paired them up, separating family members as much as she could knowing that they'd likely already had experience sparring or playfighting together, then nodded decisively. "All right, for the first round of spars you might find yourself against someone bigger, or older, or just more experienced with you. In fact, in this round I tried to put apprentices with older wolves as much as possible. That's ok! This isn't about whether you win your fight or lose it, it's about getting experience. You aren't going to learn if you just fight someone your age and size and knowledge level. You learn by fighting a wide variety of wolves, which is why we're going to do more than one set of spars."

"The first groups will be set up like this. Regulus, you will be with Chasm, if you please. Justice and Domari, Nova and Baine, Adore and Paladin, Mask and Laisren, and Azazel will be with me. Any questions?"




OOC: Sorry it took so long to get back into this! It's been a crazy couple months for me. Remember that this thread took place in winter! I'm only going to include wolves that are still alive and set to active when I assign partners, but unless otherwise requested I'm also going to include wolves that are no longer in the pack but were at the time, because liquid time and all that. So here's a quick explanation about how this is going to go down:

When you're assigned a partner, you will each post a round of your fight (in this thread please) with your character's name and your opponent's name, the round (please agree on the amount of rounds prior so we know when we're stopping) and your characters two skills with their levels. Whatever your character's skill points are when the fight starts is going to be locked in for the duration of the fight out of fairness.

Example:

Wolf A vs Wolf B
Round 1/3
Beginner Healer 10
Advanced Fighter 65

You don't need to go into as much detail in the post itself as a judged fight, but you still need to avoid power play and godmoding, because remember that's the right thing to do in any thread! Once that round has been posted for both characters, alert me and I will roll a die for each skill for each character.

But different levels of experience will count towards their likelihood to win! The skills will be matched up based on similar types first (like if they both have a fight skill that skill will be compared together and then their other skill will be compared) but in the event that they have completely different skill types they will be matched based on which ones are closest in points.

So how does that work? Well, if the two characters' skill is equal in rank, they will each have a D6 (a six-sided die) rolled for that skill. If there is one skill rank difference the higher rank rolls a D8 instead. Two ranks difference, a D10. Three a D12. Basically every rank higher than your opponent's rank gives two higher numbers you could possibly get. Once the two characters have a score for each of their skills, each character's two numbers are added together and the higher number wins that round.

Then, you move on to the next round! Remember, spars must be at least three rounds and preferably be odd numbered rounds to prevent ties. You need a clear winner to claim points for non-judged spars so we don't want ties if we can help it. But ties will be decided by a single tiebreaker round so don't worry too much!

Normal defaults WILL apply with NO extensions but defaulting a round will simply mean that round will be won by the other player rather than ending the match, and the next player may post the next round.

Once we get through the first set of spars we'll probably do another set so that people can get paired up with different experience levels out of fairness.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Bluetick, you can either post Acapella on her obstacle course or not as you want! If you post her go ahead and just make something up, basically Gwen just made a bit of a winding, more or less circular course with rocks and twisted grass obstacles and some sticks/small logs around for her to go over and under and stuff.

Mask was somewhat relieved when he wasn't paired with one of the apprentices, but rather with Regulus' younger brother Laisren. The warrior had been mildly crippled in the raid so Mask would need to be cautious not to push him too hard until he was sure Laisren could handle it, but at least he was not a child. Mask was too troubled by memories of selecting and training yearlings for the cosca - yearlings, and former yearlings who'd grown up beneath his command, who had died believing he had betrayed them. Troubling memories, for certain.

But he set them aside as he moved out of the group to meet with Laisren far enough that they would be out of the way, and nodded courteously to him. Were it a true fight he would have attacked immediately, but for the sake of a safe and fair training environment he waited for the warrior to ready himself. As he did, he took a moment himself to glance around at the terrain, trying to take in at a glance as much of the potential pitfalls as he could. He could not see everything, and likely wouldn't remember all that he had in fact seen, nor predict exactly how the footing would change as they fought, but that was precisely why they were practicing this now.

Mask (Enrico) vs Laisren
Round 0/? (your choice)
Beginner Fighter 0
Beginner Hunter 5

Gwen watched the group, a faintly puzzled frown line creasing her brow as it seemed the pack was hesitant, slow to pair off into their assigned spars. Well, she couldn't very well spend all her time here herding them along like a mother goose with a bevy of goslings; they would either get to it on their own or they wouldn't. She had her own spar to get to and an untrained youth who needed her attention.

Moving to meet the boy, she studied him. At a year old he was already taller and likely heavier than she was despite the unfinished gangling nature all yearlings shared, but the biggest concern was the very fact that he was untrained, and the untrained tended to be unpredictable in their movements and less controlled, which could lead to more injuries. That was in part why she'd tried to pair the inexperienced young wolves with more experienced older wolves as much as she could, to offset that danger.

"All right, Azazel," she began once they were in an area without other bodies in it. "Ideally for spars it is polite to give your opponent time to ready themselves and get into the proper mindset, but in a real fight that could backfire on you if your opponent attacks first before you yourself are ready. Eventually I will have you practice your fighting stance and your defenses over and over until it's so ingrained in your muscle memory you don't have to take time to think about it. You will instinctively fall into it as soon as you are in danger. Those extra few seconds you gain may save your life someday."

She smiled crookedly at him. "Not today, though. Take what time you need to get yourself prepared, then when you are ready, attack me." She had already dropped into a defensive stance herself, trusting that he would copy what he could if he didn't already know his defenses, and attack when he felt prepared.


Gwenevere vs Azazel
Round 0/? (your choice)
Beginner Fighter 0
Beginner Navigator 0

ooc: keep losing my connection so skipping the table this time.

Dómari remained quiet and listened as Gwenevere spoke, curious about the 'unusual' fight training they'd be participating in. He winced a little at the mention of the training focusing on creativity and using the terrain to their advantage. Dómari was a simple, straightforward kind of guy and so was his fighting style. He could feel his stomach start to church with the pressure to be 'creative'. Goodness, he hoped she wasn't expecting him to fling mud in anyone's face… though he supposed that was an option. Gwenevere tried to lighten the mood, encouraging them to just have fun. He smiled shyly, unsure why he was plagued by nerves about this. Maybe the raid was still haunting him. The moment he needed to train or spar there were the memories leaning over his shoulder and breathing in his ears.

He grinned at Justice as they were paired together but his stomach was flipping. He admired her so much that having to spar her was bordering on downright terrifying.Oh man, don't make an idiot of yourself! Of course Gwenevere was encouraging them to be stupid right so….? Dómari tried to shove the chattering voices in his head to the back of his brain. They weren't doing him a lick of good.

Dómari padded through the muck away from the group so they wouldn't be crashing into each other before he turned to face Justice. "Ok, well, this should be interesting." Dómari quickly set his defenses, his skull and tail moved to align with his spine as his chin tucked lightly into the curve of his neck.  Dóm's neck scrunched back, his shoulders rolling forward and his hackles standing on end. He spread his limbs equidistant apart and his toes splayed wide, claws digging into the muck that squished between his toes.  His ears pinned tightly to his head and his eyes narrowed Ok, use the terrain and have fun. He could totally do this.

Dómari tested the ground beneath his paws once more before kicking off, sending mud flying into the air as he charged at Justice head on attempting to close the distance between them. Throwing all common sense to the wind Dómari picked up speed before twisting his upper body sharply to his left, his whole frame lowering, in an effort to send his right side sliding into the front of Justice. He hoped for the outside of his right shoulder to connect with the center of her chest and his right side into the front of her left shoulder. His head would twist down and to his right as he tried to catch Justice's right foreleg between his jaws, just below the elbow. He wanted to get a good hold on the leg. He didn't have much of a plan beyond that but he hoped that when he twisted his body and skidded sideways toward her that he'd send a spray of mud and slush right at her.

Dómari vs Justice
Round 1/3
Intermediate Fighter
Beginner Healer

Laisren waited as the pack trickled in, Baine being the first of his older siblings to arrive. He hadn't had any one on one time with her lately and thought that maybe after training he should see if she wanted to spend some time together if she wasn't busy. Baine was now one of the higher ranks in the pack and he knew that meant a lot more duties, but perhaps she would have a little free time or maybe even he could help her with some of her work. She settled beside him and the younger male smiled at his older sister before his tail lightly drummed the ground in a quiet greeting. Regulus was the next of his family to arrive and though e was busy looking around at the attendance Lais greeted him in the same quiet manner as Baine. Then shortly after his newly blinded cousin came in a sat beside Regulus, a surprise it was to see her here, but he was glad. A few more trickled in before Gwen began and his attention turned back to her. The training technique for today sounded vary interesting and Lais was starting to feel rather excited. It was the first time since the raid that the young male would be back into training and he had been itching to be back at it. When she was finished his eyes fell to his opponent, watching as he began to move away from the group to start. Getting up Laisren fallowed his lead to a spot away from the group. He at first visually looked over the chosen spot and took in the more slicker looking spots. While doing so he fell into his fighting stance to ready himself for the spar. Head head and tail fell in line with his spine, legs and feet spread to try and evenly spread his weight. Ears laid back and the skin on his face was bunched together to hide vitals on his face.The mud was going to be tricky, but it would make for a fun way to adapt to different terrain. He was able to put weight on the leg with the severed tendon to help him balance, but his main weight was balanced on the other three limbs. Then he looked to his opponent before springing off his back legs and charging forward towards Mask. His angle was not directly towards the male, instead he was off centered towards the left. He was aiming to slam into Mask with his right shoulder pointed forward aiming to contact the male's chest right beside his right front leg. He chose this side because he would have his three remaining strong legs to balance himself on his assault and was looking to knock the wind from his partner. The male was smaller then Lais and he tried to use that to his advantage. When and if he would make contact his head would be thrown to a sharp left and upward. His jaws would open and he would seek to grab a hold of the older man's scruff to hopeully be able to control head movements. Mask (Enrico) vs. Laisren Round 1/3 Intermediate Fighter- 35 Beginner Hunter- 0 "Talk" "You" Think

Justice returned Domari's grin with an enthusiastically savage one of her own. Oh yes, this was going to be fun after all. Instead of being paired up with one of the babies or being babied by one of the oldest of the wolves, she'd been paired up with someone else of her own age and skill level and gusto for battle.

Unaware of Domari's nervous thoughts concerning her, Justice bounced along in his wake as he led the way out of the group. It was probably better that she didn't know; her ego was certainly large enough for two wolves as it was, without the added boost. "Should be fun," she countered with a laugh, dropping into her own stance as he did.

She thought she was ready when he charged, but she hadn't spent a lot of time training in snow OR mud, and she had overestimated how good of a grip she had on the ground. So when she gathered herself with the intention of leaping over the sliding Domari and got a face full of muddy snow she found her hindlegs skidding instead of gripping properly, so instead of propelling her over him she slammed into his shoulder and side, the bottom part of her chest between her forelegs taking the brunt of it.

She grunted in surprise at the impact, doubly so as the changed position made it so his fangs buried into her upper foreleg near where it met her chest, but instinctively sought to wrap both forelegs around him, her left leg over his shoulders and her right leg reaching around the front of his neck, to hold herself from simply somersaulting over his shoulders while she dug her claws into the muck and continued to shove against him. Though he was taller and heavier, she hoped that the bad footing and his skewed positioning would serve to let her topple him to his side.

As she did she tilted her muzzle down and attempted to secure a grip on his scruff right behind his ears - not trying to damage his spine there as she might have in a more serious fight, but rather trying to grab him like one might carry or scold a pup.

JUSTICE vs DOMARI
Round 1/3
ADVANCED FIGHTER (60)
BEGINNER HEALER (0)