Ouroboros Spine show me your teeth!

Perhaps it was time he get his shit in gear and practice mastering those trades Tonravik mentioned. Having come back from his forenoon patrols, he felt energized and limber. The day was young, the sun was high, and it wasn't terribly blistery either. Perfect for fisticuffs. But...no sparring partner. Seeking to remedy that, Tatsuya cut through a bush into a pleasant, even-footed glade. It was large enough for the whole pack to fit in despite being a closed off area. A lot of weeds and brushwood blocked it from immediate view but he was positive anyone could make it here without trouble. Taking a deep breathe, Tatsuya let loose a summoning strain to those interested in sharpening their skills. Limited time offer folks.

link to die roll thread: http://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=9954

A howl rose up from the basin of the Spine, not at all too far away from Echelon. She hardly pay attention to what it was offering, other than a challenge of sorts. Among this challenge was perhaps the fact that it came from someone who was essentially fresh meat. Someone who had come to prove their worth, no doubt told to come and pull their way.

And so, she had set off towards the source of the call. Quickly at first to cover the ground, only to slow as she neared the glade that they were waiting in. And it was lying in that depth and shadowy darkness she hovered. From there she tried to size him up, though bits of the foliage blocked the view. She figured it was worth a shot anyway — Echelon came barrelling out of the foliage, charging the dark-haired male in an attempt to bowl him over. He wanted a sparring partner, well, he got one.

Ears erect, they turned in their sockets, hearing the rustle of leaves. He spun around, facing a speeding shadow coming right towards him. From just a glance, he could tell this wolf was small and blessed with speed because she was little more than a blur, but her plan to ambush him failed as soon as she exited those bushes. Throwing his weight to her right – narrowly avoiding her – he lined his body perpendicular to her own and thrust himself forward. He pushed all his weight behind him and shoved Echelon off her feet, sending her sprawling. Not wanting to have her get up and rush at him again, Tatsuya rushed her instead. To bite or to throttle with his weight? That was the question.

Her advance was too noisy and ill-prepared; he had bowled her to the side with relative ease. Her mistake no doubt; she had underestimated his skill from the get-go. But in the moment that he hesitated on what to do next as he came forward, she had righted herself and came forward again, swooping in low to bite his muzzle. Not enough to draw blood, as she would never in the instance of a spar, but enough to get the point across.

A moment of deliberation cost him dearly; the shadow sprung up with a quickness and took his muzzle within her jaws. Skin wrinkled there, his face twisted in a horrible grimace. Her teeth threatened to break skin, but he trusted she knew of Tartok's sparring rules. Tatsuya growled and tried to trip her up by restricting movement in her right arm, bur failed to do so. She and her limbs were like wispy noodles; his grasp was to big to confine her. Maybe if she was between his teeth, this dance would be led by the man and not the woman.

With his muzzle firmly between her jaws, she held on tightly through what struggles he gave her. His growls were met with ones of her own, though hers evolved into a snarl as she went for the attempt to wrench his muzzle backwards. But he was too tall for her to pull this off successfully and in the moment of their struggles, felt her grip on his broad muzzle start to slip as a result.

She tried to control him as he had only seconds before, but there was not enough force behind the movement. He was larger than her, therefore harder to marionette. Heated aureate eyes met cerulean frost as Tatsuya took the lead; he pushed her back, thus leading her to trip at his second attempt to restrain her right arm. She faltered, her grip loose enough to wretch himself free. Clear of her teeth, Tatsuya angled his head down to grip the side of her neck. He would try to control her neck and, consequently, her jowls if successful.

Freed from her grip, Echelon did not have time to stop him from tripping her up. And then he was on her at full throttle, his breath hot against her neck in an instant. But his grip on her was not to be and in a heated moment where she forgot what it was that they were supposed to be doing, Echelon chose to slam her hard head directly into his snout. The resounding crack was not lost on her and she bolted, hastily moving to put space between them once again.

Okay. So, that hurts like a bitch. Tatsuya recoiled away from her, closing his eyes at the resounding pain as it traveled up his snout into his skull. “Ahh,” he grunted, remembering that they were in the middle of something. Opening his eyes, he located the lilliputian shade; far from his reach. Seeking to rectify that, he charged after her, mouth wide open, ready to lay into whatever he could get his teeth into. But the shade was faster, anticipating his attack by rolling away, leaving him with the bitter taste of dust on his tongue. Lips peeled back as he lowered his head and raised his tail like a flag. He did this to provoke her into a blind fury, but would she take the bait and rush him as he intended?

He was hot at her heels and still she managed to keep up her evasion just a touch longer. And with that distance between them and his pursuit seeming to stop, she peered back as she circled around to gaze upon his dominant pose. The taunt meant little to her as she did not fear his idle threats, but she still brought herself in closer to him. For as flighty and nimble as she was, Echelon was not necessarily always foolish. She was an experienced creature in the art of war as her most of her brethren. And where her inability to overpower others was a hindrance, she had the natural flow of being a tactician down.

So when she did strike, it was not direct. Instead she charged him only to dart away, swinging in to strike at his side. Feeling confident that she had assessed where some of his strengths lied, she sought to tire him into submission.

Echelon was unfazed by his taunt much to his disappointment. Lowering his tail to maintain balance, he watched her like a bird of prey, never letting her leave his sight. Once again, she was on the move. Tatsuya braced himself, feeling as though she was up to something. Of course he was correct in that assumption; watching in frustration as she maneuvered this way and that. She was successful in striking him, forcing spittle to fly free of his maw at the pain and the force. He was growing tired of these quick movements, only able to keep up half of the time. In a last ditch attempt to wrest victory from Echelon, Tatsuya curved his body into a 'U' shape and clamped his jaws onto her hip. While he had a hold of her (and she of him), Tatsuya breathed noisily. He sounded like an enraged bull. Truth is, he was trying to take back the air she had expelled from his lungs. Like this, he could see her out of the corner of his eye. He raised an eyebrow, questioning, how do we solve this impasse?

If you want, we can start to maybe conclude this? I totally didn't even realize that we kind of blew past the 10 post count already! @__@

Where he saw a stalemate set between them, Echelon did not see such things. She did not consider their arrangement an impasse in the slightest, as she clamped down and shook roughly at the mouthful of fur and skin at his side. Not enough to truly harm him long term, but enough to aggravate that little patch of fluff for a while. She'd make him let go, one way or another and perhaps this time she decided that she would move to overpower him. Not enough in essence to go for a "kill" of sorts, but enough to pass her perceived dominance along.

Yes please. Uh...Is someone gonna have to come in here to break their asses up or what b/c dickhead here is being a dickhead.

Standing still was easy. It required little to no energy. And energy was what he needed at the moment. Snorting loudly through the Delta's pitch black fur, Tatsuya waited for her to disengage. She made no moves to let his sore flesh slip free. Instead she wanted to carry on and...make this about rank. Goddamn it, why?! he queried with his gaze, incredulity mixed in. Disbelief transformed to pain and fury as her grip grew tighter, shaking and daring to tear into him. There would be a big bruise there after this shit fest was done. Grunts and rumbles were uttered from the bistre male, his own grip growing tighter in response. He did not respond just yet, thinking through the haze of his mind.
INDENTShe wanted to make this about rank? Fine. He'll play hard ball. So much for a friendly spar...
INDENTTatsuya used his right arm to take both of Echelon's hind legs into his grasp. With those momentarily disabled, he pushed her hindquarters down in to the dirt as roughly as he could muster with his neck. He let her legs go otherwise he was positive something in her would break. And she best be unhinging her jaw or she was going to rip him wide open...though it would not come as a surprise if she decided 'hey, this newbie is being an asshole! Let's give him a huge wound to show him who's boss!' Tatsuya stared straight ahead. He would not meet her gaze, mentally preparing himself for whatever may come. Pain, acquiescence, more fighting...Nothing would catch him unawares.

nah, i got you brah~ hopefully this all works out from what i read. i figured she'd take off at some point because she's more of an asshole than anything. if it doesn't flow right to you, just let me know though!

He was a feisty one, she would give him that. But it would have also seemed that they were evenly matched. As he made the move to bring her down, Echelon lashed out one final time at him, contorting herself back to try and bite at his face. And she missed, horribly. He had her right where he wanted her and by all rights, she knew that in any situation she was going to go down.

And then he seemingly stopped trying to push her down in the dirt. Or at least that was the opening that she perceived as she moved to bound away, uncaring whether or not his teeth went tearing at her skin or pulled at the coarse hairs of her body. Her sudden start was enough to kick out anything loose beneath her feet, and she chose to bound off with a snort and a laugh towards the underbrush. Maybe he'd chase her, seeing how he was as fed up with her antagonism as anyone would have been.

What an adorable punching bag she found.

Adorable punching bag...Yes. Good. His flesh slipped free between clenched fangs as she fell beneath him. Visually and mentally, he let out a alleviated sigh. He was glad to be free of her grip, but if this was a real fight he would likely be the one gravely wounded. The thought alone made him scowl as she turned to snap at his face, but she missed her mark by a sizable margin. The Delta was beneath him for now. Where she might have viewed this as a loss, Tatsuya felt differently. Echelon has met his blows with craft and speed, matching him every step of the way. She was well-versed in this age-old, fevered dance.
INDENTAny victory he might have gleaned from the coywolf fled as she darted away. Not wanting to give up quite yet, he charged after her with gaping jaws. With one final lunge he snapped at where her hindquarters were. His reward was an inadequate amount of fur and her mussy departure. Damn you...! A peeved snort met her rhapsodic chortle. The hell was she laughing about? What was so funny? With discomposed rumbling, he padded after Echelon, pace leisurely.
INDENTTatsuya smelled her, but he certainly did not see her. Hm. Shaking himself of unexpended enmity, he plopped down on his butt to sit and pant. Tongue lolled free of his maw. Maybe she has already left. Maybe she was still nearby. In any case, he was not going to look for her without taking a break. What a curiosity, that shade...To shove rank down his throat only to laugh it off and flee. What was he to make of this woman? I don't know and I'm too tired to chew it over. Ugh. What a weirdie.

Wrapping this up and archiving~

She didn't realize he was giving her chase until she felt the sting of teeth at her hindquarter, pinching the skin there enough as a smart reminder that life in their world was oft described as an eye for an eye. A yelp buried itself in her throat and stayed there, stifled into a rough swallow as she persisted in her escape, but the crisp cut of her laughter dying off was more than a notification.

Either way, she was done with their tussle and kept pushing forward, more focused on pathing through the ruddy trails of smaller creatures than the ones that they forged for themselves. What fun was a little vicious banter if it wasn't returned, anyway? Her interest would settle with him for now, because fair was fair even if it began as an unfair decision.

Yes, what a weirdie indeed.