@Nyra for merc trade
6pm, 68F, partly cloudy. territory #6, warrior's heart. i think this is the correct date, but lmk if it's not!
sand crunched under renard's paws as they adjusted their tread. it hadn't been that long, but the empty quiet was a little disconcerting. a sad claim coming from a shadow, but they relied as much on their own skills as birds and insects to stay hidden.
they'd spent weeks in this place before the saints had formed, doing nothing but combing it up and down until they had every shadowy place memorized and every potential ambush site studied, in preparation for the war that had seemed so certain to come. they'd had a little loyalty to give back then. but like every night before this, the canyon was quiet and cool, lit only by weak moonlight that streamed through the clouds.
whatever was brewing did so just beyond their view. as frustrating as it had always been, but they'd been much too impatient. this was a long game now, much as they itched for something to happen, and for now it was praimfaya's lead they intended to follow.
but that was fine. nobody here was deliberately withholding anything. if they were, it wouldn't take much work to discover it.
as the sky darkened, renard came to a stop before the mouth of the den, surveying the area as they slipped from shadow to shadow. they'd met donovan here more than once, lounging on top of the rocks, but the assumption that he'd be here appeared to have failed them tonight.
Nyra herself was lounging atop the rocks this evening, basking in what little light crept through the canyon from the moon.
She may have looked moon-kissed and ethereal to Donovan, maybe, but when she saw Renard, she heavily doubted they'd be looking at her beauty. They didn't seem like that type of wolf.
Instead she simply watched, gaze curious as they came closer.
"You look like you expected someone else." The Titaness greeted casually with the ghost of a smile. It wasn't meant to sound rude or anything, but by now, she didn't think she'd be leaving any crystaline first or second impressions on anyone, let alone Renard.
Though she didn't know what went through their mind, she figured he was probably one of those that didn't think highly of impulsiveness.
Something she would quickly learn she needed to work on.
renard caught sight of her long before she spoke. atop the exact rocks they were searching for donovan, she wasn't trying to stay invisible, and even if she was she didn't have the fur for it. they regarded her evenly as she stared back at them, usual smile, for now, absent.
they'd never gotten her name, but she was unmistakable – both in size and in what they'd witnessed of her. they didn't forget much. and they wouldn't forget that show: slamming that kid donovan had brought back into the dirt, nearly ruining their meeting with ursus. she'd already set herself at the same level of estimation as donovan and riley, and they didn't expect that to change.
"donovan," renard said. there was no reason to hide it.
so they knew her type. part of it. and they were curious, liked to get the measure of donovan's new recruits. she was exactly the same sort of build as him; sparring her head to head would be like fighting a wall. but even if it wasn't the way renard liked to start things, it would still be interesting to see if she was just as incapable of controlling herself when something other than words was involved.
"but you'll do for what i have in mind." renard's lip curved into a smile. "spar?"
The fiery woman looked at them as they told her who they had originally been looking for.
perking her ears a little as they spoke the words before the offer, she paused for a brief moment, then shrugged "Might as well."
And pulled herself to her feet, shaking her fur out briefly before climbing down the stones to her fellow packmate on the ground.
Immediately now, she was sizing them up while loosely circling, analyzing them and how they held themselves, seeing if they favored any limbs or had anything to do with their body worth noting before they began their spar. They were smaller than her, more lithe, and therefore would probably rely on speed and opportunity, so she would need to be just as sharp to keep up.
she hadn't seemed like a hesitant person. if she was, she wouldn't have gotten herself into half the mess she had. but she waited several moments longer than they'd expected. too much to hope she'd learned anything, though they wouldn't deny a little curiosity. especially when she didn't just charge them outright.
renard followed her loose circles with a steady shift of their head, eyes gleaming in the dark.
it was better to make your judgments when you had a little experience. renard liked it to come through fighting, and this was why – there was always something hiding that you didn't expect.
they allowed her, for a few moments, one ear angled in her direction. looking for weaknesses. they approved, though none of it showed on their face, where their cheshire smile had only widened. she was trying. came too late for them to care, though, and instead as they struck, teeth scything towards her shoulder, there was only something vaguely amusing in the thought.
He struck like lightning at her shoulder, teeth scything like razors. Fuck, she thought, he was like a striking snake just as much as she, if not better.
As his muzzle met her shoulder, she took the flashing glimpse of opportunity, like a viper - to snatch his scruff in her jaws, rearing on her hind legs with his neck in tow before using her paws on his shoulders to shove him backward, aiming to make him sprawl across the ground.
Whether he did or not wasn't up to her, but as she shoved him backward she staggered back on all fours and took in every second she could to brace for his next move.
their teeth slid over her shoulder, and blood flashed over their tongue. they didn't have long to enjoy it. she got hold of their scruff – exposed now, with their teeth against her shoulder – and dragged them up into the air, cutting through the thick ruff of fur and into their skin. pain sparked over their neck, and they rose with her, keeping her from biting too deeply.
it gave her an opportunity. her paws came up against their shoulders.
one of the flaws in rarely fighting these things fair was that they were out of practice, dealing with the advantage of raw strength donovan and nyra had head to head – something they needed to remedy. she pushed back against them, and they didn't have the strength themselves to win that contest.
renard's head snapped to the side; at the last second, their jaws came down over her forelimb. their teeth pulled over her skin as they were shoved backwards. it was messy; they still hit the ground hard, but with enough leverage to land on all fours. their stance wavered briefly against the fresh wounds in their neck as they adjusted to the pain, eyes glittering as they licked at their lips.
As they both landed, Nyra forced her own pain down and used the brief second of their pause to rush forward, to slam her crown into their throat and shove them backards further.
nyra didn't hesitate to take the opportunity. but even with a wolf the size of a bear charging them, it was better to take a moment to readjust than to go straight back into a fight.
they brushed away the ache. nyra came to them, head lowered, and renard could only just drop far enough that the crown of her head connected heavily with the join of their neck and shoulder with a crunch that didn't do much for the sting in their neck. that would bruise. their hind legs skidded in the sand as she pushed them back.
praimfaya had charged them, in a spar weeks ago, and they had ducked under her advance and locked their teeth around the nearest limb to send her to the ground. hadn't had quite the same luck avoiding the worst of the charge here, but it'd worked the first time. now they'd try to use nyra's weight against her just the same, teeth snapping for her leg as they lunged forward.
She instantly pulled back as they went for one of her legs, stumbling, then tripping, sprawling messily.
Yup, she was done for for now.
"Good spar." She breathed, still taking a few moments on the ground to catch her breath. Honestly, she expected them to walk away now that they were done. She didn't take Renard as the type of wolf to stick around once they got what they came for.
renard's jaws came together over her leg. the momentum sent them forwards at a gallop; they grinned around flesh and fur as they felt her weight begin to shift, and let go just in time to escape the tangle of limbs that followed. clean and quick. not that they minded messy, but this wasn't a real fight, was it.
turning a quick circle in the sand, they regarded nyra with a smile and a quick dip of their head, teeth gleaming beneath their level violet gaze.
any questions they had were for donovan and praimfaya, not her. not that he seemed much more reliable. still, they lingered only a moment longer before turning and slipping back into the shadow, tracing a new circuit around the canyon in idle pursuit as they readjusted to the wide open spaces and stretches of sand.