With world domination in mind the boy had adopted a strict training schedule. One day was defenses, then attacks, then defenses and so on. Today, thank god, was not defenses day. Those bored him. Nope, today was attacks day. A day that admittedly wasn't going all that great because somebody (he shot a hateful glance up at Amadeus) refused to be attacked. Jupiter had even promised to be gentle, but noooo. Amadeus was little and frail, or whatever. Sulkily he flopped down in the sand and watched the waves roll in. The boy had come to the beach in the hopes of seeing Iskra again. She was the coolest grownup he'd ever met and he was pretty sure she'd let him attack her. Gently. Honestly he could behave if he had to. "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”

Ashiel had slowly been making his way back south but if he was perfectly honest he found himself swept up in the beauty of the north. He found himself wandering along ebony shores. The beaches he'd seen on Talis were white and shimmering, nothing like those that he found lining the north. Griff was off hunting somewhere though he imagined the bird would return with a few snacks sooner rather than later. In the meantime Ashiel intended to just amble along the shore. Well, that had been the plan until he noticed a familiar, glowing blue furball not far off in the sand. Ashiel padded over toward the boy and noticed that the usually energetic youth seemed rather down. "I don't recommend snorting sand. Your snot will be black for weeks. What has you so down Jupiter?" "Talk" "You" Think

Absentmindedly he began digging a trench with his left forepaw by pushing it out and then pulling it back in. He did this for several moments, the weight of his paw displacing the sand and carving, very slowly, a mark in it. It really was a bummer that he couldn't wrangle any of his friends into helping him. He supposed he could ask his mom or wrestle with one of his siblings, but he wanted his skills to be a surprise. While he was surprised by the voice of another reaching his ears, he wasn't surprised that it it belonged to Ashiel. Running into him was becoming a common occurrence. Jupiter's head shot up and he turned to grin up at the older boy. "Ashiel!" Well, he wasn't really down anymore since Ashiel was with him, but nevertheless his gleeful expression quickly turned into a scowl as he recounted the reason behind his previously sullen mood. "I want to get better at attacking but nobody," he shot a rude glance over his shoulder at Amadeus, "Will help me practice." "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”

Ashiel grinned as the boy sprang up to great him. It amused him that the kept running into each other and he sensed the fallen god's paw at work in this. However, he also knew that the time would soon come for him to return back to Auster and the thought almost made him sad. He hoped that they'd be able to meet again after he created his own empire but the odds of him being this far north again seemed far off. Ashiel shook the thought from his mind as Jupiter explained his frustrations. It seemed Jupiter's companion was not indulging his need to spar. Ashiel tsked playfully as he eyed the monkey. "Goodness, now how will you ever learn to be a strong wolf without fight training? If you want I could help you practice. Is there anything specific you want to know?" "Talk" "You" Think

Jupiter perked up at Ashiel's offer. Well at least someone understood! He couldn't become the best fighter ever if no one taught him. "I'd like that a lot!" Jupiter was quiet for a moment as he considered Ashiel's question. The older boy was so smart. He wanted to only ask him good fight questions. "Um..." he said as he stalled for time. There was one problem with him asking only good fight questions; he didn't know any and he didn't want to sound silly by asking a dumb one. "Well," he admitted slowly, "I don't know a whole lot, so...if you could only tell me one thing about fighting, what would it be? Like, the most important thing you can think of that I need to know." "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”

Ashiel hid his nerves well. He'd never tried to teach anyone else anything about fighting before. He just hoped he wouldn't make an idiot of himself. The godling watched quiety as Jupiter decided what to ask. When the question finally came Ashiel's brow furrowed in thought. If he could only tell Jupiter one thing about fighting? Oh, that was a hard one. He supposed he had an answer but he wasn't sure if Jupiter would like it very much. "Practice. I hate to say it but that's honestly the most important thing. In a real fight you don't have time to be thinking about every little thing you'll do or forming grand schemes. When it comes right down to it you've got to trust your instincts and your body." He was sure Malleus would've had a better answer but that was the best Ashiel could do for now. "Which means I think we should get right down to it. Have you been taught how to set your defenses?" "Talk" "You" Think

Ashiel's advice was simple: practice. That was easy enough. He wanted to be the best fighter ever and was willing to do whatever it took. If that meant practicing from sunup to sundown...well, that didn't sound like a whole lot of fun but...he'd do his best to do it. Jupiter was committed. He wanted to be a god and he wanted to be the best fighter ever. Both struck him as attainable goals. If Ashiel could have a relative that was a god and Angelus (it was still weird to call him dad) said his dad, Jupiter's grandpa, was the best fighter ever, then it was possible that he, Jupiter, could be both, right? That was his assumption and he was sticking with it, anyway. Jupiter thought about Ashiel said for a moment before replying, "That sounds like very good advice." As for his defenses... He glanced over at Amadeus and then back to Ashiel before giving an unconvincing, "Yeah?" After a moment he relented. "Amadeus has been helping me with defenses but..." he leaned in and whispered so as not to offend his friend, "He thinks like a monkey." Fighting was fighting, but what worked to a monkey's advantage didn't necessarily work to a wolf's. He hopped back a step to show Ashiel what he knew. "Defenses are supposed to make you look scary, right? So I do this." He flattened his ears, narrowed his eyes and showed Ashiel as much tooth as he could. "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”

Ashiel chuckled, wondering what monkey defenses looked like. He was half-tempted to ask Jupiter but decided it would be best to focus on the task at hand. After all, he wasn't terribly certain of being any sort of teacher and he liked Jupiter, he certainly didn't want to steer the young lad wrong. Jupiter set his defenses and Ashiel gazed at him a moment before speaking. "Good, that's a start. Defenses are about more than making yourself look scary, they're about protecting parts of your body or making it harder for your opponent to deliver maximum damage. Take your ears for example, that is good to pin them to your head like that. It makes it harder for an opponent to bite one off." He moved so that he was standing in front of Jupiter with his left side facing the boy. He rolled his shoulders forward and scrunched his neck back. "If you pull your neck back and roll your shoulders forward you'll push your skin and your fur over your neck and make it harder for your opponents to get to your throat. Also see if you can get all your fur to stand on end." Ashiel's hackles rose making him look even larger. "The more padding you have the better and if your opponent is going to bite you may as well have them get a bit mouthful of fur as well. You go ahead and give it a try." "Talk" "You" Think

With much excitement Jupiter watched as Ashiel demonstrated his defenses. He took in the information like a sponge and eagerly copied the older boy's movements. It felt weird to stand with his shoulders all scrunched up and his neck pushed back. He felt a bit like a turtle drawing into its shell, but as far as he was concerned, Ashiel was a genius and he would do whatever the yearling did. Even if he felt funny doing it. "That makes sense!" He also fluffed up his fur to make himself look bigger, but unlike Ashiel who looked more imposing, Jupiter just looked like a cosmic dandelion. While copying Ashiel, Jupiter had let his other defenses go as he concentrated on his advice. It occurred to him as he stood all turtle-like what he'd done so the boy quickly reset his first defenses. He narrowed his eyes and flattened his ears again before tentatively looking up to Ashiel for approval. "Like this?" "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”