After the other night, Grimshaw definitely didn't know what to think anymore. He and Malachai cuddled. Just thinking about it made his heart beat faster and feel fluttery. He felt safe wrapped in his arms and he finally go to get some restful sleep, so he wasn't complaining. He even kind of liked it. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he had some kind of idea. No one had ever made him feel the way Malachai did, so that had to mean something right? He wished he could find the courage to talk to someone about it, but instead he would find his way to the battlefield to find some kind of release. He was rested, but now he wanted to fight something a bit stronger than the prey he'd be hunting around the armada. He readied himself early, strapping his bracers on and shrugging his armor on over his head and neck. Interested, the wolverine he'd found as a child followed along behind him as traveled. Centering himself in the middle of the battlefield, Grimshaw tipped his head back and let out a call for an opponent.

"Speech."

The sun had returned and apparently that had been the cure for the sickness because the members of Armada who'd been incapacitated by it were beginning to recover. Things were still slow yet for most of the pack. Aris, who'd not been sick at all, was in a position to herself take advantage of that despite the fact that the promised mentoring had never materialized for her. Just train with Ophie, fuck that. She was tired of being shunted aside with a pat on the head and told to go play quietly with the other less-capables. It was humiliating and offensive. Hell, Azure's kids were barely out of the den and they had mentors giving them training. Aris had "go train with Ophie" and "ask Gossamer" for her mentorship.

Needless to say she was completely avoiding the "train with Ophie" and had made her way back to the battlefield now that the sun had taken away the danger to her mother, father, and siblings that had kept her close to home. She'd been surprised to catch the scent of her pack there already though - damn damn damn, someone had beaten her to the punch. Well, it wasn't anyone she knew, knew, not someone that she'd really met per se, but the sight of him narrowed her eyes. Wasn't he the kid that was from the Hallows? Another stray that her dad had taken in for training? You know, instead of one of his own kids? If that wasn't a reason to spar with him she didn't know what was.

Stalking up to the other yearling she bared her oversized canines in what passed for a grin and squared up. "Hope you don't mind sparring a packmate," she said in a tone that made it clear she didn't really care if he minded or not. He was a lot bigger and heavier than her - a lot - but who wasn't, in the Armada? Or the greater world, for that matter? She'd never get anywhere in life if she backed down from a fight with giants. Even Tansy, hovering watchfully behind her, was itty bitty compared to the usual run of feline companions, but her species was among the most successful hunters in the world. It wasn't the size of the wolf that mattered, it was their tenacity and their fire, and that was something Aris had never lacked.

Unfortunately, Grimshaw did mind sparring a pack mate. Although, he was pleased to see that his opponent was not someone whom he'd sparred with before, so there was at least that going for him. Plus the girl was pretty small, so that was different. Most of his adversaries were of a similar size or at least not as small as her. He smirked at the smaller girl, not caring a bit.

"We've never sparred before, so I'll allow it." He chuckled slightly, spreading his dark paws in the dirt for balance. He'd allow her to make the first move if she wanted, curious to see how a smaller wolf's starting moves may differ from those his size. Studying her moves and patterns would only be beneficial to him, even if she got the upper hand and managed to win. "You go first." He invited as his wolverine poked it's head out from between his forelegs.

"Speech."

Aris rolled her eyes at Tansy, mouthing he'll allow it sarcastically sotto voce. Tansy shrugged - all wolves were overly dramatic as far as she was concerned. After all, she'd grown up with Aris, she didn't exactly have a good metric to judge them by since the girl she's been given to as a kit was very prone to melodrama.

Not finding the buddy support for her sneer that she'd hoped for Aris just rolled her eyes again and got down to business. Whatever, she'd snark about it with Dirk when the fight was over - right now the jay was flying support so it would have to wait.

Go first, huh? Well, she should argue that since it put her with her much smaller size at a disadvantage when her greatest advantage over him was speed and agility, but Aris wasn't really great at sticking to a strategy. She was smart and knew what she should do but... impulse control was a real problem.

So instead of advocating or taunting him into going first Aris threw herself forward with a feral yowl, lashing out with one forepaw - claws extended, toward the top of his bracer, intending to slash his upper arm on her way to catching the top of the bracer and yanking herself upward. Her other claw was already reaching upward, aiming to snag in the skin over his spine to likewise haul herself upwards while her oversized teeth attempted to latch onto the back of his upper arm.

Tansy was used to Aris'.... impulsive ways, and grimly followed her mistress in to once again fix the holes in her defenses, seeking to pounce under Grimshaw to attack and distract the wolverine as she rapid-fired her paws at the weasel-like monster's face, bap-bap-bap-bap.

Aris vs Grimshaw for spar
Round 1/2
Age: over 1 year
Size: Small
Build: Light
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked Plate Mail
Companion 1: Black-footed cat, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Blue jay, Male - Flying
Mutation 1: Oversized canines - Offensive
Mutation 2: Cat claws - Offensive
Mutation 3: Spine bristles - Defensive
Skills: Advanced Healer & Advanced Fighter

Grimshaw wasn't surprised to see how fast the smaller girl was. Before he knew it she was climbing up him like a tree using his bracer as some sort of support to lift her upwards. There was a slight stinging where her claw had barely cut his skin, but it was hardly of any concern to him especially at this moment. As she continued to climb him, reaching her other forelimb around to grab onto his spine he felt teeth graze the skin of the back of his upper arm. Beneath him, he was unaware of the mini battle going on with the wolverine hissing and reaching out with his short foreleg and sharp claws to combat the cat with it's own strategy, doing it's best to match speed and timing. It wildly snapped it's sharp teeth just in case one of the cats longer legs managed to get trapped. Grimshaw, on the other hand, reached with a forelimb to try and hook Aris' closest rear limb as he toppled his weight to try and crush her beneath his much larger and heavier size, hopefully pinning her or at least knocking a good bit of wind out of her and slowing her down some.

"Speech."

Grimshaw vs Aris for Spar
Round 1/2
Age: over 1
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Leather foreleg bracers with knife
Defensive Battle Accessory: Dire wolf skull head armor
Companion 1: Wolverine, Male - Battle
Mutation 1: Elongated sharper teeth - Offensive
Mutation 2: Double upper canines - Offensive
Skills: Advanced Fighter & Intermediate Hunter

Tansy hissed at the wolverine that kept trying to catch her paws but instead of attacking further she sprang back in alarm to avoid being squashed as Grim threw himself down. She'd do a lot of things for Aris, but being smashed flat by giant wolves for the sake of a stupid game was not on the list.

Aris, distracted by kicking her hind claws at Grimshaw's attempt to hook her leg, did not move quite quickly enough when she realized and tried to throw herself back, and squeaked as he pinned her hindquarters under his shoulders. That.... would definitely bruise. "Fucking hell, fat ass," she snarled, swiping viciously at his face with her sharp claws extended, then attempting to bury her fangs deep into the shoulder that pinned her.

Aris vs Grimshaw for spar
Round 2/2
Age: over 1 year
Size: Small
Build: Light
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked Plate Mail
Companion 1: Black-footed cat, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Blue jay, Male - Flying
Mutation 1: Oversized canines - Offensive
Mutation 2: Cat claws - Offensive
Mutation 3: Spine bristles - Defensive
Skills: Advanced Healer & Advanced Fighter

The cat wasn't alone in doing the best they could to get out from under the collapsing wolves. The wolverine scurried out from underneath Grim in the opposite direction, avoiding not only the wolves but the smaller cat as well. Grimshaw knew that by forcing his weight over onto her, it would put him in a vulnerable place being unable to get away from her attacks. Her words made him smirk, but it faded quickly as her claws snagged the flesh on his face and caused him to hiss. They narrowly missed his eye, slicing the skin around it though hopefully not deep enough to scar. It was her teeth next that he felt piercing the flesh and muscle of his shoulder, the pain from that alone enough to cause Grimshaw to attempt aborting his mission to collapse on her and now his legs were scrambling beneath him to stand once more. Once he found solid ground beneath him, he immediately raised his rear leg and attempted to awkwardly kick at her to dislodge her from his shoulder.

"Speech."

Grimshaw vs Aris for Spar
Round 2/2
Age: over 1
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Leather foreleg bracers with knife
Defensive Battle Accessory: Dire wolf skull head armor
Companion 1: Wolverine, Male - Battle
Mutation 1: Elongated sharper teeth - Offensive
Mutation 2: Double upper canines - Offensive
Skills: Advanced Fighter & Intermediate Hunter

And the winner is...

Grimshaw

Aris must give up by submitting, fleeing or passing out. Totals: Aris: Attack Roll: 37 Defense Roll: 63 Agility Roll: 39 Perception Roll: 20 Total: 159 Attack[37] + 35% Bonus[12.95]: 49.95 Defense[63] + 25% Bonus[15.75]: 78.75 Agility[39] + 10% Bonus[3.90]: 42.90 Perception[20] + 10% Bonus[2.00]: 22.00 Total[193.60] + 15% Bonus[29.04]: 222.64 Grimshaw: Attack Roll: 28 Defense Roll: 35 Agility Roll: 18 Perception Roll: 95 Total: 176 Attack[28] + 55% Bonus[15.40]: 43.40 Defense[35] + 15% Bonus[5.25]: 40.25 Agility[18] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 18.00 Perception[95] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 95.00 Total[196.65] + 15% Bonus[29.50]: 226.15

Being squashed under the shoulder of someone much bigger was not a great experience and the pressure was making it difficult to breath. Her claws snagged his face, and her teeth his shoulder, but her vision was slowly darkening. She could have let go of her bite and breathed easier but Aris was stubborn and kept her jaw clenched even as her vision grayed and began to do some serious tunneling.

Luckily before she got all the way to blacking out, Grim stood up. Aris gasped in a suddenly-freed breath, but while her grip was loosened from that Grim's paw caught her right in the gut and threw her off. She was sent somersaulting backwards to land in a heap with the wind knocked right back out of her.

She, wheezing, finally sorted out what body parts went where and wobbled back to her paws to stand gulping in air for a moment to recover, but with the return of oxygen came the return of fire and she bounced in place. "Ok, ok, best two out of three!" she demanded. She wasn't willing to admit defeat yet! She may have lost the battle, but the war would be hers.

Aris vs Grimshaw for spar
Round 0/2
Age: over 1 year
Size: Small
Build: Light
Offensive Battle Accessory: Spiked Plate Mail
Companion 1: Black-footed cat, Female - Battle
Companion 2: Blue jay, Male - Flying
Mutation 1: Oversized canines - Offensive
Mutation 2: Cat claws - Offensive
Mutation 3: Spine bristles - Defensive
Skills: Advanced Healer & Advanced Fighter