Basilisk shuffled his paws awkwardly in the training field. Before him was an adolescent bird the size of a house cat, and a meak looking healer girl. His grandfather's lecture and cuff around the ears still ringing in his head. He’d been caught raiding their allies' food supplies in the middle of the night, and his punishment was two fold. Burn off some energy, and make himself useful to the Hallows wolf. Lia had gotten them some training dummies set up, and then decided to sit in for the lesson. Together, it made for a strange audience, especially to a wolf that had never taught before.

“Uhh… Hi class. So, I’m Basilisk, your teacher today…” he trailed off with an awkward grin and pointed at the training dummy in front of him. The other two had identical ones in front of them. “First, let’s look at defences and weak points. Look at anything, uhh… that sticks out, like ears and toes and stuff. Think about what's easy to grab. Anyone got any suggestions?” man. This teaching stuff was hard


"Speech"

Zephyr was none too pleased to be put in a room without any soft fluffy furnishings or fire but, he was with his new friend which he supposed would be a fun time regardless. Better still, the third party in their room was the chick's private chef and made the most delicious meals, so surely he could squeeze an extra meal out of her when all the.. learning or whatever was over.

He remained patient as the giant puppy took the stage, settling down upon his bum with talons outstretched in front of him and his stubby wings supporting him from the sides. "Noses!" He exclaimed as soon as the question was posed - memories of the tiny, angry, hungry shrimp wolf flooding to the forefront of his mind. "Nose hurt when you kick 'em." Twitching one clawed foot from its position on the ground he kicked at the air in a mock display. Having given his very correct answer, Zeph cocked his head to the side and up to regard the fire-toned female, waiting to see whether she had as good an answer as he did.

"Zephyr"

Lia laughed. She couldn’t help it, and she quickly stuffed a paw in front of her mouth to hide her reaction. She had heard about the scuffle between tiny Sierra and the baby bird of course. But the earnest exclamation of the bird as he was able to say ‘I know this answer!’ was too much.

She had gone over defences before, even if she had never been in a mock fight before. Settling down, she looked patiently up at Basilisk. “Folding in your ears is a good place to start, tucking in your tail, or tucking in your flight feathers. Smoothing down your feathery crown, and narrowing your eyes - bird or wolf.” She said, including Zeph in her answers.

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“Err… yes, on both accounts” basilisk agreed, squinting at his new bird companion, and wondering what mischief he was planning. He twitched his nose, as though half expecting to find it kicked. “Let's stand up, and practise some poses. Tucking in some, er… feathers, and other soft bits” he said, nodding his head to Lia in silent thanks for reminding him to adapt his lesson for Zeph, too.

“As you do that, as well as thinking what soft things you have, think what soft things other people have too. Think about attacks you can go for. Like, er.. The nose. You know, Zeph. I don’t think you could reach a wolf's nose that easily. What other parts do you think you could go for?” he said a little apologetically. Wolves didn’t come in cat-height after all.

"Speech"

Lia's answers weren't as fun as his own were, but because he liked her Zeph figured it would be fine to indulge her silliness. Narrowing his eyes into a deep squint, tucking in his underdeveloped wings and flattening his crown, the chick entered his battle pose. He did feel more fierce, so perhaps the fire-kissed female had a point. Basilisk seemed to like the answer too and continued on encouraging them to practice the poses.

Soft things? Zephyr paused in his battle pose to consider where other soft bits could be, but as Basilisk mentioned that he couldn't reach a wolf's nose, his beak fell open in childlike defiance. "No! I battled a teeny wolf and kicked her nose so bad she cried." The hatchling insisted. "Like, this!"

Sprinting forward toward the practice dummy in breakneck pace (read: very slowly) in his aforementioned battle post, Zephyr prepared to maul another nose. Once he was close enough he leaned all his weight to one side, throwing his wing down to try and stabilize himself so his furthest talon could bat angrily at the air below the dummy's fake muzzle. "Just a second." He grunted, hopping on his one stabilizing talon to try and reach a greater height.

"Zephyr"

“He’s telling the truth” she told Basilisk, almost apologetically. “He got into a tussle with Aegis Artorias’s newest sibling, Sierra. she’s … yee tall” the small hand maiden explained, raising her paw like an inch off the ground. As she explained that, she got to her own paws. Tucking in her ears, scrunching her neck, bringing her tail between her legs and narrowing her eyes.

As Zeph threw himself at the dummy and tried to attack it, Lia tensed, prepared to jump over and catch him if the little bird lost his balance. “Very ferocious, Zeph.” She compliment him, hiding any signs of dryness from her tone.

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Oh yeah he’d almost forgotten about the shortfry he’d found outside the castle wolves He hadn’t realised she had a sister, but he guessed that must be who Sierra was. “Well… most wolves don’t come that size.” He explained, watching with a wince as the cat-bird decided to swing a kick attack at the dummy.

“Let's say you were going up against someone my height, Zeph” even as a pup, he already towered above the other two before him. “Come, show me what you would go for if you went against someone like me” he suggested, beckoning the bird forward.

"Speech"

Lia backed up Zeph's claim and he turned his beak toward her to give her a grin. "Yeah! I won, by the way, don't let her say otherwise - I definitely won." Placing his reaching talon back upon the ground, Zeph turned to regard the teaching wolf once more. Basilisk was encouraging him over to try and fight him instead, and with only a reluctant glance back to the dummy, the chick decided to humor him. "Ok, but I was almost there."

Waddling back towards the wolf, it seemed his size grew with every new step taken. He was nearly the size of Artorias, and Zephyr hadn't spent any time wondering how to defeat a monster of that stature. He gave a soft throaty hum as he considered it, standing below the giant and realizing how out of range nearly everything was.

Everything except... the toes. Glancing back at Lia with uncertainty, he lifted a shaky talon. Artorias had said he couldn't hurt friends and family, but surely when there was an invite given it was more okay? Having made his decision, the hatchling brought his attention back to the only part of Basilisk he could reach and stabbed his talons down into the wolf's toes. "Like that?"

"Zephyr"

Lia came closer as Zeph did, leading to all three of them in a small space. Zeph really did look small next to Basilisk, but the even Lia felt rather outmatched in height. She watched as Zeph studied Basilisk, and then went for the toes. “If you stretched, could you reach his armpits, too? Maybe you could like… run under him, striking his belly as you went?” she suggested. Trying to offer advice on how the smaller, gangly bird, could take on someone like Basilisk.

It was probably a good exercise for her, too. Trying to consider how to take on someone bigger than her. She had tried once in the Armada, and ultimately failed to bring herself to attack another wolf. She could watch however, and was happy to offer the little bird some advice.

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