Haunted Wood that ending wasn’t worth the wait

famine hadn't slept much lately, mostly at the fault of his adopted siblings. spending time in the den was becoming less optimal as @Leshen and @Arwen grew, forcing the similarly growing boy to find other ways to spend his time. he woke up earlier than normal this particular morning and walked himself to the cache, where he grabbed a small snack for himself and for @Vanity to share.

he told her about his plans for the day and left with a slurred farewell, his mind still recovering from the relatively sleepless night before. after leaving the den, famine walked back to the cache for seconds, then called for @Valour, hoping that he might get some response.

If there was anyone to call his name, Famine was a welcomed one. Tail high and wagging he howled back to tell the child he'd be coming and hurried off, pissing on the borders along the way before turning inside the territory and making his way toward the cache. Seeing the child he first scanned him over, seeing the wounds from the lynx fight and feeling the stinging reminder of failing to remind him not to rush into a fight upon their first spar together. Hadn't he actually encouraged it to defend himself? "Famine, Alpha pup.. What can I do for you?" his tone was light and playful, announcing the child's title casually though the rise was only because Valium had gotten himself snatched away. The only thing he hoped was the boy wasn't getting himself into too much trouble, he still couldn't shake the image of the cute little boy proudly weilding his soggy pinecone. 

valour's jovial greeting startled famine enough for him to drop the small carcass he'd fished from their collection. some part of him was embarassed enough to ignore the food.. though he still planned to eat it once he was alone again.

he picked up the unidentifiable remains and placed them gently on top of the other food items, snorting his response: sounds dumb. alpha pup, valour had called him; despite having fought for this rank only weeks prior, it now sounded much less appealing. 

famine didn't know why he'd lost interest in taking over, but something about it didn't feel right. the only remaining pups were either brand new or otherwise uninvolved, and he'd gotten the rank by default rather than by merit. something about alpha being given rather than earned made it feel.. insincere. 

whatever. wanna train? he asked, now starting to walk away, vanity's been helping me a bunch, but i don't wanna bother her. she was a mother, and a good one -- better than his own mother, anyway.

"Sounds dumb" 

Standing there he looked down at the child and in a matter of seconds realised he was right. A child had no business wanting anything to do with leading. "you're right. It is" the words held a heaviness that was quickly dropped as he followed behind the moving boy who offered him another chance to train him. A little bit of jealousy was added when Vanity was mentioned, wasn't he the one who'd first....right...he'd taught him wrong. "Vanity isn't as mean as she tries to be" he said unable to bring himself to say anything venomous against the woman who'd shown him praise and support...though what was with the attitude lately? Women were weird. "Come at me kid. Show me what you've learned" 

valour thought.. what? vanity's not mean, famine corrected him with a firm head shake, but she's got babies. and last time, i hurt her. remembering the slow trickle of blood down his caregiver's abdomen brought his ears back once more, a shiver traveling down his spine from lingering guilt.

it probably didn't matter, though. valour wanted to do more training, and famine would happily oblige. he shook out his fur, puffing up his growing hackles with an attempt at a growl, then pounced for valour's shoulder.

Guardian hadn't gotten to see any of the violent fights Vanity had been in nor had he experienced what his home had once been like. Valour responded only with a small smile finding it especially funny that the boy was worried about a wound he'd given her. "Trust me she's had worse" he was sure that she'd been through more than he even knew. Quickly the conversation turned to battle and he was able to anticipate the attack, watching the bristling display before quickly sidestepping away from the lunge lifting a forepaw with the hopes to comically bop him on the nose though Guardian sailed past it untouched. "From experience, when you're as young as you are and going into a real fight never ever show anything to hint that you'll attack. It takes practice not to" anger was the hardest thing to control, he'd seen what it could make of others and now...it was a weapon. "When you get angry try to push all that energy into your legs and wherever you strike, otherwise your opponent will probably see it coming. Try again" was he actually giving good advice? Tail wagging his first thought was to tell Vanity, to brag about how much he learned and could teach...because of her. 

how could he attack someone without them knowing? sneaking around wasn’t an option because of his size, and he had a naturally expressive face.. was there another way?

guardian thought through his options while valour finished speaking. wait, he asked, brow knit tight with confusion, like.. hoping he’d done it correctly, the young mercenary forced his weight onto hind legs and reared up again with aims for his advisor’s shoulder.

Valour didn't reply to the quesioning, raising a brow with a slow wag of his tail and leaving Guardian to figure it out on his own. The next attack was better than the first, the young boy surged toward his shoulder a little faster than Valour anticipated and struck. The only sign of pain was a small twitching of his jaw muscles and a shift of his ears back as he lowered his head wrapping his chin over the boy's neck and tugging him forward using his own momentum. While they were pressed close Valour grabs Famine by the scruff not moving but speaking through the boy's fur "Where are your jaws? What can you reach on me?" he firmly held the boy close "Find something you think would get me to drop you and strike. don't be afraid to hurt me I promise i've felt worse" one move at a time he could at least teach the child how to handle himself in a tough scrap even if Vanity was better with actual lessons.

Rolled a success

adrenaline-fueled laughter turned to low growl, valour’s jaws finding their way around his opponent’s scruff. guardian yelped, then quieted himself, putting his effort into listening instead of responding. don’t be afraid to hurt me, valour assured him, but it was certainly easier said than done. 

guardian’s breath sped up, his chest making deep movements as he thought through his options. his position made reaching anything difficult, but valour’s chest was available.. if only to be released, the gargoyle twisted his face toward his target and striked.

Once done speaking the agouti boy did release him and the burning tear on the freshly healed wounds told him the boy took his words to heart. Instead of feeling anger he was proud but the fight was getting good and this time he would not stop to praise Guardian. Within seconds he struck back gripping him by the back of the throat and swinging his head to send the boy tumbling off balance and if lucky completely to the dirt. As it was a spar he walked slowly forward to mantain the proximity, feeling close combat training would do them both good rather than trading blows expected on both ends. "Keep going" he encouraged his voice a warm rumble, eyes burning with pride instead the cruel vicious hunger that he rememberd always looking up to see in his mentor's eyes. 

guardián followed instructions, stepping carefully upright with eyes focused on valour. he tracked the warlord’s steps, watching him make his approach, and timed his subsequent attack accordingly. being careful not to make any big mistakes, he lunged for valour’s throat, hoping to grip the scars set by the cougar.

There was focus on the boy's face and Valour wanted to smile. Teaching him was different from the matches between Seagull. Guardian heeded every word he said, seeming to take them in and actually put them into action on top of being fairly good company for a child much younger than himself. It felt good in a way that Valour associated being close to "fun"...something he remembered from playing with Clay. It was fun to mentor the impressive boy. Until the boy struck, fangs sinking to grip the pink healed wounds from the lynx. The pain was like fire on every inch of his chest and he sucked in a sharp breath tensing up his lips curling up over his fangs though instead of retaliating he simply screamed "FUCK!" and nudged at the boy with his head roughly "You're the winner this time" his voice was strained as he could feel the blood starting to drip from the wounds though once again there wasn't any anger, just pain and then a shaky smile "I knew you'd be impressive but you're doing really good" even as a chubby baby belching and trying not to vomit he'd been quick and a fast learner, the praise was nicest thing he had probably said to anyone and Valour meant all of it. He was looking forward to trying to engage him in another sparring session, someday when he was bigger and would be more of a match. It was rather cute how fast Guardian let go and he was quick to reassure the child that he was not actually in pain despite intending to head to serem's den immediately. Giving him a playful bump to send him moving in whatever direction he recommended he go tell Vanity his accomplishment before limping off toward Serem's den to snag whatever he could find to use.