Healed from his illness and getting more comfortable with the pack Áskell felt it was high time he started living up to his rank as Taicho. He had never led fight training before and had really only covered the basics with younger pups. Training older warriors was an intimidating experience but he had to start somewhere.

Áskell swam out to the island that rose out of the middle of Manatee Bay. Moving about he found a clearing and howled for interested warriors to join him. He would start by inquiring where they were at with their skills then perhaps they could all pair up for spars. The clearing was small but that was fine. They would need to be able to fight on all kinds of terrain and in close proximity to other dueling pairs in a real raid.

Better late than never, whoops. And somehow Tachi was still the first pup to arrive on the scene. He glanced about, panting slightly as he slowed to a trot, the nub of his tail already twitching in anticipation. He hadn't recognised the voice calling out to them, but he knew it was an adult and could tell there was something important afoot. Fight training, most likely. Everyone seemed real keen on that around here and Tachi was fine with that, wanted to get better as fast as he could. Skip all the corners and take all the short cuts.

"You a master fighter too? Who'd win in a fight then? My dad or Hattori?" A very valid question, if he did say so himself. One he'd been wondering for a while. He flopped down to his chocolate rump and let his hind legs splay out to the sides, might as well natter whilst the others were on their way.

Usagi wouldn’t pass down an opportunity to polish his skills. He was always picking up a new tactic, a new approach, a new perspective on how to better defeat his opponents. Really anything at this point - he had experience to show, but not a fair amount of victory in them. He was smaller, more lean than bulk, and that presented a disadvantage in spars against larger wolves. His unique style of kicks and launches had its merit, and he wished to hone them in ways that could offer him more leverage with those who simply had more muscle, more heft. But the hohei couldn’t say he was discouraged, or mad about not winning. He was no longer a pouting child. Life wasn’t fair, and he could either take what he had and improve it, or whine about what could’ve been. For him, he chose the former. Nothing to cry about here. He had his strengths - now he had to bolster his weaknesses so that he could get stronger still.

The bob-tailed warrior answered Áskell’s call, and though Usagi wasn’t very familiar with the male, he recognized he had a decent amount of fight experience and it would do him well to pay attnetion and participate. With his double-bladed sword sheathed and slung over his shoulders, he came across the warrior as well as one of Sedna’s pups - Tachibana, he believed he was called. He offered the child a quick glance before offering a polite nod to the Taicho, He took his own seat, quietly settling himself upon his haunches with steely, emotionless moss eyes cast straight ahead.

Speech

wishing there was something left to lose

this could be the day i die for you—

Fashionably late was never a term Tenshi really agreed with. If you made the effort to show up, it was good enough for her. So when the call rang out from a pack member she had yet to meet, her curiosity piqued. Having been tending to her humble abode with the help of her companions, she motioned for them to follow. Whether she would need them or not, the mountainous woman still threw on her shoulder pads and tightened the throwing star sheath around her left leg. Making her way swiftly through the bamboo with barely a sound, she only hesitated at the water separating the mainland from the bay's island for half a second. Dipping in, her breath shuddered but welcomed the chill of the water as she and her companions made their way across. Once upon the shore, she gave a quick shake before approaching the trio already there. Glancing around, her eyes drifted over the warrior, the pup, and the teacher. This would be an interesting lesson. Finding her own seat not too far from the group, her attention turned toward Askell as she waited for the lesson to start.

Áskell waited patiently, all the while running through the lesson plan in his head. He hoped it would be helpful to those present. Either way he had to start somewhere to be of any use to his fellow packmates. The first to arrive was one of the pups. One of Sedna and Kaijin's pups if he wasn't mistaken. The pup was quick to fire off a question. Brow raised, Áskell observed the pup for a moment. "Yes, I am a master fighter. As to who would win that very much depends. No wolf can win all the time, just as none can lose all the time. Much depends on who fate smiles upon that day." It was probably an unsatisfying answer but it was true.

Next to arrive was Usagi and Áskell gave a nod to the other warrior. It was a small gathering to say the least so he waited a bit longer, just listening to the sounds of the birds and the wind shifting through the bamboo. The last to arrive was an older woman with horns.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming. I wanted to hold a brief training session. I'd like to start with a few questions then finish with a melee fight. First questions. What do you most want to learn? Where do you feel you need more traning?" This would give him a base to know his fellow packmates as each was a unique individual. The skill level between all those present were considerable and it would help no one to treat them all as equivalent.

"My next question is more of a scenario. You are facing a wolf larger and taller than you. They are attacking straight on, jaws going for your face. How do you respond? I'd like two responses from each of you." With that Áskell settled and waited for the answers to arrive. There was very little time in the midst of battle to think and calculate. Running through scenarios and building muscle memory was crucial to responding swiftly and decisively in a real fight.