Of War and Warriors
Tamsyn
Sirius
High Councilor
Master Fighter (240)
Master Hunter (275)
Bloodletter
11 Years
Male
51
Seadragoness
He rose early the next day, checking the stocks of their supplies and doing his first patrol of the morning. He caught the scent of Resin at the borders, as he often did. The old warrior often spent her time patrolling.
He made his way back to the communal space as the day continued on, sunlight filtering through the tall grasses of the plains. He stopped here, howling for Tamsyn, so he could met her in this place she knew, and lead her down to his arenas.
Tamsyn made a point to rise early that morning so she could eat and get fully ready for the day by the time the sun was high in the sky. The excitement and nerves she had felt yesterday had come back ten-fold, but she had made a promise to Sirius that she would train with him so that’s exactly what she had set her mind to do. She let herself take a deep breath before she set out toward the common area of the pack. She wasn’t exactly sure where to find him, but she figured that was as good a place as any to start looking.
Just as she began her short track, a howl called to her that made her smile. It seemed like her hunch had been correct. She picked up the pace, her light, dancing strides easily carrying her to meet the much larger male. Her tail wagged gently behind her as she made her way over to him, a far cry from the slightly timid approach she had given him yesterday. ”Good morning!” she said in greeting, giving him a small dip of her head. Even though her nerves were making her jittery, she still looked at him expectantly and tried to calm herself in the process.
Sirius
High Councilor
Master Fighter (240)
Master Hunter (275)
Bloodletter
11 Years
Male
51
Seadragoness
He took her agreement for granted as he took them both to Sea’s Plains, where multiple small arenas had been constructed in the sad. Built to allow the water that rose in the high tide to wash away blood and muck, and keep the arena clean.
The barracks, built to house a large number of warriors during training regiments, stood closest to Tall Grass Plains, and away from the reach of the water. He lead his young prospective warrior to the first arena, and stepped over the border, turning to Tamsyn to indicate she did the same, and see if she was finished taking in the lay of the land.
Tamsyn followed along behind Sirius willingly, making sure to pay attention to the path they took as he led the way to their next destination. Soon enough the spot that was obviously the training area he had spoken of came into view and she looked at it all curiously. It seemed like they had really found a way to make the best use of this watery area and it was all incredibly interesting to someone like her that loved to explore and learn more about the land. Maybe she would have to come back some other time to fully explore it when there wasn’t other training to be done.
She shifted her eyes back to Sirius and noticed that he had stepped into the sandy arena closest to them so she did the same, moving to stand across from him. It felt awkward to stand here, like she didn’t quite know what to do with herself. She looked to the Warlord with a small smile, letting him take the lead and waiting for her first set of instructions.
Sirius
High Councilor
Master Fighter (240)
Master Hunter (275)
Bloodletter
11 Years
Male
51
Seadragoness
“Alright, let’s start with your stance” he decided, covering the short distance between them. “You need to be steady, and stable, spread your legs just so, and dig your paws into the sand, raise your tail behind you for balance, or tuck it so it’s not a target, never just leave it dangling, always consider where your appendages are” he explained. As he spoke he gently taped a paw to each leg, helping her place them apart. Once she was set, he told her to hold it and ducked away for a moment. He returned with numerous small stones, and placed them by each foot. “laying the groundwork is important, we want these stances to feel natural and comfortable, I want you to step out of this tance, and then back into, every time we start a lesson, and in your spare time, too when you find you're just standing there.” he instructed, giving away his intention to make this a regular occurrence.
When he chuckled it helped to ease a bit of the tension in her shoulders. Maybe someone else would have been embarrassed by his reaction to their attempts to seem natural in this new environment, but she was very aware of how ridiculous and awkward she looked. She wanted to look ready to learn and comfortable in the arena as she faced the Warlord, but she just wasn’t capable of that just yet. Perhaps one day that would change and she could confidently stand here for a real fight of her own, but for now she was happy to just absorb every bit of knowledge she could get her paws on.
Tamsyn took all of the notes she was given and adjusted her stance accordingly. Her paws shifted as his larger paws tapped each of her limbs until she had the steady, stable stance he had described. She let her toes spread till they were able to dig into the sand, her claws anchoring her on the soft ground. Her tail ended up laying flat in line with her spine. Now that she was in this fighting stance she could feel the noticeable difference between this and how she would normally stand. She could feel herself flexing muscles that she hardly ever used before now. She nodded in understanding as he instructed her to practice this stance often. She gave a curious glance to the stones he put by her paws, but as she relaxed into her normal stance and then shifted back into the fighting stance he had placed her in before, she saw how they helped mark her place in the sand. They were certainly helpful as she practiced falling into the stance more quickly, trying to learn how to do it without needing to think about each paw every time.
Sirius
High Councilor
Master Fighter (240)
Master Hunter (275)
Bloodletter
11 Years
Male
51
Seadragoness
How strange his world had become, how strange and unexpected.
He nodded in approval as Tamsyn put herself into the stance and out again, practising how it felt. It would take more than a day to lay the groundworks, but she would have the knowledge now to work on it. “Good.” he murmured, taking a step back as he surveyed her carefully. His eyes occasionally flitted to her scars, reminding him of his anger and frustration, and the reason he taught her.
“Let’s get a feel for your instincts, lunge at me, go for soft spots, the joints of my ankle, the soft spots behind my knees. You're smaller than I am, more nimble. Use it.”
After a few attempts at setting her stance, Tamsyn was certain that she at least could remember what this felt like so she could continue to practice later. It still wasn’t a natural stance for her, but she knew how to do it and for now that’s what was important. It earned her a small, simple praise from her teacher which pulled a smile to her muzzle. She decided that focusing on small accomplishments was going to be the only way she was going to be able to look at the daunting task of learning how to fight and not get overwhelmed. The fact that even just learning how to stand was a thing she had to practice told her that much. She was determined though and refused to let herself give up.
His next task for her made her more uncertain than the last, but did her best to not think about it too much or second guess herself. She figured that the more she over analyzed what she was going to do the worse it was going to be. The more her nerves got in the way the more hesitant her moves were going to be. Instead, she tried to do as he said and just test her instincts. Using the grip her paws had on the sand underfoot, she made her lunge toward him. She darted off to his right side a bit, keeping her body mostly out of reach while she kept low to the ground in an attempt to keep her balance as she moved quickly across the soft surface. She went to bite at his ankle as he suggested, stopping as soon as her teeth grazed his skin so she wouldn’t actually bite him before taking a quick step back away from him. She was a bit clumsy falling back into that defensive stance, but she settled into it eventually. She didn’t feel nearly as steady or graceful as she had seen some fighters be, but she didn’t feel like she had done horribly either so it didn’t feel like the worst first “attack” she had ever done.
Sirius
High Councilor
Master Fighter (240)
Master Hunter (275)
Bloodletter
11 Years
Male
51
Seadragoness