Moonspear shimmy, shimmy, quarter-turn

attn: @Gannet

 

Whatever was in the air invigorated her. She thought of her friendshine who was down in the dumps as of late, Gannet. She hung out with him frequently to make sure he was healing alright, and often the duo dozed together. But with the tension in the air—due to the hormones, not the situations—in recent days being so thick you could cut it with a knife, Hydra had avoided the company of many, even @Terance, who she saw pretty regularly when he was not patrolling with wonder-boy Rannoch. 

Her soaring spirits and fiery energy brought her to the place Gannet dozed. As per usual, she brought him a snack, and climbed to meet him with a low chuff. She hadn't known he was healthy enough to stand and move, now, because the past three days she was preoccupied with snapping at anyone who came near to her bar her family. Now, also like her mother, she was receptive, very much so, and in the mood to be close. Her own scent had changed a degree, so heavy was the influence of the season, but it was not so severe to indicate she had endured The Change and become a Woman Grown. Still, the combination of the heady aromas were all very tantalizing.

im gonna be vaguey vague and potentially slow until thread with Charon gets a bit further just in case :0

His recent forays outside had lifted his spirits considerably, and while thoughts of the future still made a nervous mess of his stomach at times, he fortunately wasn't much of a forward thinker. Right now he was relatively safe, had regained some amount of mobility, and things were slightly looking up. It was enough to boost him almost to previous levels of eager positives.

He sensed the change in Hydra when she entered as he sleepily registered her presence, and it was enough to cause him to look curiously, and somewhat cautiously, at her as she approached. He didn't know firsthand what this meant, but in previous packs, this had been around the time lead males had sent their newest stranger tagalong packing.

Hydra came bearing food and a friendly smile, however, so he was set at ease almost immediately. Her language would have been aggressive if it had been time to finally move on. All those times he had left with little argument; he wasn't much of a fighter when he had nothing to fight for. He was glad this wasn't the case now.

His tail thumped happily and he moved to stand, still off-kilter as his back leg rested awkwardly above the ground. But he took a few hops and grinned, taking a playful nip at the rabbit. He wasn't sure why he suddenly felt antsy, but he did, and it led him to try and lead her into a contest for the snack she'd brought. He wouldn't be up to par, of course, but this hadn't quite occurred to him just yet.

Hydra grinned as he waved the thing enticingly in front of his face. Though she wasn't hungry, she knew exactly what he had in mind. And she wanted to make him better. Strength-training was required in that, and if he was standing, surely he could partake in some measure. He looked handsome, even with that hop—and her tail waved in sweeping arcs as she moved to grip the critter. 

Her first tug was haphazard at best, to enable him to see she was down for what he had initiated here. And, to make it fair, Hydra lifted a limb and snarled as she tugged toward her right. She would not take advantage of the situation—she wanted to learn, too.

She was game. And not only that, but he noted her stance out of the corner of his eye, and a warm appreciation stole through his chest at the gesture. She wasn't going to go easy; instead she was leveling the playing field. He hadn't expected it, but that she did spoke towards what a good friend she was.

He adjusted too, bracing his shoulders, and tugged left while she tugged right. Initially he simply pulled, a slight smile tugging up the corner of his mouth as he did so, everything about his bearing indicating play. But he kept his eyes on her, looking for an opening, any way he could snag the thing back and gain the advantage.

His simple pull was what she took as his acceptance of the game and its terms. Which, really, there were no terms, it was all in good fun,  but that he was ready—yes, that was it. Hydra was not as good on three-legs as he was. He had more than several days of practice. But she would still try!

She clumsily moved, turning her head to tug in her direction a measure. This put strain on the rabbit between them, which was now held taut. She gave a little shake of her head, to test his grip and see if that might be his present weakness. Hydra did not underestimate him because he was on three legs—in this, due to her own lifted leg, he had his own advantage.

He knew he likely wouldn't beat her on brute strength; in fact, the rabbit wouldn't hold up to it. And strategy had never been his forte. Gannet was above all a defender; if someone attacked, he would fight like hell to stop them, but his abilities were not suited to games of strategy or skill.

Luckily he wasn't a sore loser, and games were always taken for what they were; fun. Practice. When she pulled the rabbit tight, he hopped sideways and tugged, hoping to perhaps overbalance her in the process. He kept it small enough so he didn't knock himself over as well; he did have more practice in at least these small motions.

Hydra wanted to learn more of defense; she was a warrior, who attacked offensively and was an expert at this, but wanted to learn more about defensive fighting as well. She was good enough to have never sustained a serious physical injury that ever scarred, though Hydra attributed that more to luck than she did to skill. She was a master warrior, true, and an exceptional fighter, but it wasn't enough; she wanted to be an expert in the matter of defense, too.

Her gaze was critical upon him, though her expression remained warm and her tail waved as he moved. She had not known exactly what he was going to do, but there were telltale signs. Still, reacting with three legs was different than reacting with four, and that understimation alone nearly cost her the balance she had (thus far) maintained. Hydra remembered to keep her leg close to her and lifted, though swayed as she tried to maneuever on three legs in the opposite direction to keep the tension upon the rabbit. She tugged in her direction roughly, though her estimation on her own balance was wrong; it was easy to forget about her "lack of a leg", and it was almost her undoing. Hydra was quick to shift and adjust her weight, admiring Gannet's own willpower. Even though he was no expert, yet, himself, maneuvering like this was no easy task. They would learn together how to draw on different strengths in his new situation.

rolled to see if he would bite the dirt lolol but he got 10/10! Good boy

She tugged back and for a bit they were at a stalemate, each trying to tug the other over and neither giving way. The clench of a prize in his jaws ignited an instinct to keep it, so letting go was hardly an option. But there was a prickle of mischief in his mind, and with a small grin, he did indeed let go, abruptly and suddenly.

Then he did something potentially silly, though he managed to keep his balance! He hopped sideways and reared back, trying to wrap both paws around her neck and tackle her down (gently) or at least give her a big old friend hug. He knew he shouldn't test it too much, but he'd been still for so long that just moving had set a giddy desire to do more!

LUCK I TELL U but since this isn't a real spar LOL you don't have to even acknowledge that success, just really rolled to see if she'd fall over!

 

When he released Hydra reeled backward, though she'd never forget the mischief in his eye. She nearly put her own leg down, but the thought to keep your leg up was so ingrained in her mind now that she stumbled backward on three legs. If that didn't unbalance her, Gannet's swift approach surely would have; wide-eyed she observed his movements, and Hydra, three-legged as her mind consistently bid her, hopped opposite of him to avoid his impending "blow". 

And mischief lit in her own eye as she, too, remained balanced—luck was on her side, this day, it seemed—and acted as swiftly as he had. Hydra moved to unbalance him as he reared, attempting to knock him over with a shoulder-check to the nearest hindquarter. It was a difficult maneuver on three-legs, though she hoped to utilize his body to stay upright. If she succeeded in her endeavor, Hydra would seek to see what way he fell so as to be there to soften his fall as best she could; she was cognizant of his current injury, as her foreleg pulled tightly to her chest would show, and hardly wanted to hurt him further. Her tail waved wildly, thrilled with their game.

sameee! But he needed a real high roll not to lol so 6 is not enough!

He didn't quite manage it! But that was perfectly fine with him, because he could plainly see she was enjoying the game as much as he, and that was more than enough!

His jump had definitely left him wobbly, and his raised forepaw as well. So when her knock came, he wasn't able to stop his momentum or catch himself. He fell, but instinctively twisted so that the brunt of the fall fell to his good side. The breath whooshed out of him, but he immediately started laughing in his almost silent fashion.

"Balance," he said finally, once he caught his breath a bit. "She was right, this is hard." Amekaze had told him to spar, and he hadn't really thought of it. But obviously the task was difficult! And the fun was merely an added bonus.

By the time they parted ways, he was breathless and tired, but envigorated. He could learn! Hopefully she'd help him again.