Swiftcurrent Creek one for the money

for @Njal

Fox was feeling perky this morning. She was somehow giving lessons to a trained warrior, her place in the pack was secure, and the Delta just felt good about life. Fox found herself looking for something to do, or perhaps somebody to talk to. Not in a "let's get all heart-to-heart" kind of talking (because she was never into that), but maybe some "let's dick around and throw insults at each other" kind of talking. She had always been so much better at the latter, anyway. Then again, maybe she should have been looking for something to eat. Her stomach growled at her, and she growled right back at it. Scowling for a second, she wondered if that rabbit she had buried was still in the cache.

With a sigh, she shook her coat and began heading toward it at a leisurely trot. Fox did not have a care in the world at that moment, and she aimed to keep it that way. Life at the creek was easy, and she could not imagine any way of life in that moment. Her naive little brain did not take into account that it was always calmest before the storm.

It was by chance that the cache which Fox had navigated towards had brought the attention of another. He was already digging it up - but with a different intent than the girl, who sought out the hidden treasure out of need. Between Njal's teeth sat a half-dead fish; a gleaming fat thing that still weakly clung to life. His fangs were sunken in to it's neck (if it had a neck), with chilled blood draining down the man's chin. His front paws were thrust in to the earth wrist-deep as he clawed at it, refusing to give in to the hard texture of the frozen ground. When able, Njal deposited the organism in to its new grave and began to cover it up once more. He kicked the loose soil across it's damp body and was satisfied as the smell of earth overpowered the scent of water.

It was then that Njal caught the scent of a pack-mate, and lifted his head to eagerly survey the plain; he spotted the red girl a moment later and felt a familiar thump in his chest. Njal bayed deeply to her, to catch her attention - they had yet to pass on from a wordless relationship, and Njal was not exactly a social butterfly. He wouldn't be the one to push for their social evolution. A wave of his tail accompanied a second bark, a quieter one, which transitioned in to a happy rumble. The Gamma was quite happy to see her.

Fox quickened her pace when she realized somebody had beaten her to the cache, and she had her hackles raised and was ready to beat some sense into somebody when she realized who it was. In an instant, her posture switched from hostile to aloof, and she halted all together. Her grey eyes focused on him, and her chest suddenly felt tight and strange. Fox hated and enjoyed whatever was pressing through her right now, but she could not explain it. She remained stiffened for at least ten or twenty seconds before she gingerly put one forefoot forward.

He was the only one aside from Lethe that she had taken a liking to here (although Jinx might have a number in the hat if she kept it up). Still unsure of herself, Fox made a move to turn around, only to go back on her decision and face the nameless male once again. She pouted her lips in frustration, eyes sticking to the ground. “Fox,” she said, speaking that single word that she knew so well. After a pause, she realized that probably didn't make much sense. “That’s my name.” Well, if she wasn't an idiot before, opening her trap had surely solidified it.

I'm a moron and I posted with Dawa. At least I can delete things. x_x

The girl was spooked at first; but the hesitation lasted only a heartbeat, before she slackened her posture. He was accepting of her regardless of the attitude she brought forth. The brief stiffness did not intimidate Njal in the slightest, as he saw the ruddy girl as... Well, just that. A girl. He was at least double her age. Why was he thinking about this?

With a small flick of her ears and twitch of his nose, Njal banished whatever that was which had popped in to his head. Paws halted their digging and covering for a moment, and he advanced upon her, reaching with his boxed snout to nudge her confidently upon the shoulder - in time with the admittance of her name. The word fox made him want to turn around and look; thinking she had noticed something behind him. Perhaps a pest who was eager for the fish he had just buried.

"That's my name," She clarified quickly. The Russian, with his ever-present grim expression, finally cracked a tiny smile. A smirk. "I am Njal," He retorted with a small bow of his head, which descended so that his skull was briefly level with his shoulders. He raised himself a second later, falling easily in to the posture his rank afforded. "Are you.. Hungry?" Njal posited, with a slight turn of his body - going to retrieve the fish he had so diligently put away, moments before.

She didn't look hungry, but offering food was polite. Right?

“Njal,” she repeated aloud, as if to solidify the name on her own tongue. It felt foreign, but she had come to expect all names to feel foreign. It was only her own that felt natural. She lifted a paw, unsure of whether to step forward or back, but ultimately decided to stay where she was, her paw hanging in midair. When he asked if she was hungry, she realized that she had forgotten why she had come this way at all. And while her stomach was doing something, she was fairly certain that it was not hunger that she felt.

“No,” she replied, “Just checking on the caches. But you seem to be doing a fine job of that.” Her posture slackened, and she lowered her foot to the ground, finally standing with four on the floor. Fox wondered if perhaps this whole anxiety thing was in her head, and was not actually the case at all. Maybe she was just being stupid. “It’s good to see you again.”

He had been slowly wandering closer to the cache, but when Fox indicated that she was not interested, Njal halted and turned around once again. It wasn't too far from her position so he was moving towards her again quickly, then sank back upon his haunches when he was close. Not too close though. "It is good to see you again," She commented, and Njal gave a small nod. A twitch of his mouth indicated a small smile, but the expression passed when he responded, "It is good to know you," Er, that was not correct.

"I mean, yes, see you again." His ears flicked sideways atop his head, and he gave a little huff at the verbal stumble. A silence slipped between them that Njal was slightly uncomfortable with; but he didn't say anything more. Unsure if he should speak, or perhaps invite her for more play, like the first time they had met. Now was a time for work and the idea of slacking off did perturb the man a little bit. While he thought, Njal found his eyes trailing across the healing wounds she still sported; and that gave him something else to ponder about. "Do you fight often?"

Fox would have bitten her lip. Fortunately, canine lips were built in such a way that such a thing was impossible. If she'd been human, it would have immediately betrayed several of the emotions that flared up in the fiery girl. Not that she knew what they were. Fox did not even realize that he had misspoken, for she thought it was good to know him, too. In fact, it had a far deeper meaning than "good to see you." It only made her stomach go for another silent whirl.

“Define often?” she quipped, not missing a beat when he asked her if she fought often. “It’s just an affliction I have.” Fox could not (or would not) pass up the chance of a fight, and she often provoked others into combat when it was unnecessary. She thought that fighting could only make her faster, stronger, better. Those were things that she strived to be.

Affliction was too complicated a word for Njal's lexicon. He quirked his head sideways at the sound of it, cupped it with his gold-licked ears, and let it settle. The man could understand sickness and hurt, he could understand compulsions (although perhaps not by that word), but the term that fell from Fox's mouth made little sense at all. He shrugged softly, feeling the weight of his ignorance very briefly, before rephrasing.

"You should be able to fight without scars." Did that make more sense? Maybe not. "Be quicker, be stronger, than who you are fighting." His accent was strong now, crackling around his words as he pondered. A lightness came to his tone; something akin to contentment or joy. Njal liked to teach and to talk about things that he was good at - and fighting was one of those things. "I could show you." The wolf gave a toss of his tail, one sweep across the snow behind him, which showed his pleasure at the thought.

Normally, Fox's ego would have caused her to scoff at his remark, which she would have considered an insult. This time, the notion to do such a thing did not even cross her mind. Instead, she pouted, wishing that she did not look so weak to him. All she wanted was for them to get along; for him to enjoy her company and think that she was the best thing since sliced bread. He did not seem to think that at all, and it only caused her to want it more.

“Show me,” she replied when he offered to give her advice (or something like it). Fox knew that she was not the best fighter in the land, but it had somehow become one of her goals. Ready to drink in whatever information or instruction he gave, Fox listened with open ears.

He would have apologized had Njal realised the insult behind his words; he had not meant it. But for the time being the man was oblivious to the tiny verbal wound he had inflicted to the girl's pride. Her acceptance of help did brighten his features, adding a fresh glow to the usually dull expression he held. With a small nod Njal adjusted his body and faced her; his head level with his body, chin slightly tucked, and limbs evenly spaced to brace for impact. It was the same situation as with Xi'nuata - he squared off, then grunted to Fox. "Attack me." The only way he could show was if the girl participated. She would be quick and nimble but Fox was not the first nimble creature he had faced - this thought made his eager ears shift slightly, and a heavy thump to resound inside his chest.

i think i'm going to forego formal combat in favor of moving this thread along to a quick ending, due to the massive events happening right after this. :)

Before he had said the word "me," Fox was rushing at him. Her speed was good, but her accuracy was often low, and she was not a precise fighter. The fiery girl often acted before she thought, due to the fact that her body tended to move quicker than her mind. She was by no means a stupid wolf, but she tended to lean on her speed far more than her brains in most situations.

For this attack, she aimed to nip at his shoulder. Nothing rough, for this was only a play fight, but enough that she hoped to grasp on to his skin with her teeth. This gentler style of fighting was the same one she had used with Jinx just days earlier.

Fox was quick - much like her namesake - and for an instant Njal was reminded of the fire that had tempted him in Kindred. His fire, the woman who he had trained and cultivated with such diligence. But the girl's movements were not as strong as Tuwawi's; she was fast, but there was little finesse. Fox moved with a wild stride that made her appear to nearly tumble at him, and then she sprung up to snap at him. Njal turned himself slightly and brought his head down, thrusting out the shoulder she was so eager to grab.

He wanted to teach her, but Njal wasn't known to be relaxed in his lessons - she would probably end up with a smacked jaw, or a jarred set of teeth as they clacked shut by the motion. The follow-through of this movement was a single step, and as Njal stepped he drew his head around, to snap his teeth near her ruddy face. Had it been a true fight, he could have easily grabbed at the side of her neck and tossed her aside, like a child.

Through his playfully bared teeth he rasped, "Fast, but not fast enough."

Instead of getting a mouthful of skin, she got a smack in the face by his shoulder. Having dealt with much rougher situations, she did not think anything of it. The only way to learn was to fail and fail until she succeeded, and Fox was more than willing to do that. If there was one thing that could be said of the fireball, it was that failure was something she was quite accustomed to. While she felt the harsh force of his shoulder upon her face, she managed to deflect the majority of it to her neck, something that held up well to such a defense.

The click of Njal's teeth in her ear reminded her that he was still close by, and she skittered backward to regroup. Instead of flailing at him again, she paused. “How?” she asked. Fox sought spoken advice rather than physical for this brief interlude.

"Control." He swiftly stated, as a response to her hushed how.

As the man paced in wait for her next attack, he tried his best to explain. "You move without control. You are wild. Your strides are long and awkward, but they do propel you. If you want to be faster you need to control how you move." His ears flicked back thoughtfully for a moment, and he paused in his wandering to brace himself and lower his head to save his throat, in case she chose to use his speaking as a distraction. He continued a moment later, having let his explanation sink in a bit. "You have long legs which gives you movement, but it is easy to see how far you can go and how quickly. If you use shorter strides, or a mixture of movements, it would be harder to anticipate where you will end up. You can use this to trick your opponent." A small smirk crept across his face, twisting the corners of his serious expression.

"Try again."

"Control." It was a word that Fox barely knew. Oh, she knew what it meant, but she did not know how to practice it. At only a year and some change, she had little in the way of control. As Njal observed, she was quick, but she was messy. She flailed this way and that, and as much as she was chaotic, her movements were predictable much of the time. Fox tended to go for the easiest opening, rather than fake her way around until a real opportunity presented itself. She was direct, but from what she understood, she would need to be less obvious in her actions.

This time, she started by going for his hip, but at the last second, she spun around and aimed her teeth for his front leg. Her bite would be soft, for she did not wish to break the skin, but she did want to make sure he felt pressure upon his leg.

She did as she was asked, and fell towards him with intent. Njal did not want to go easy on her in this trial - but at the same time, she needed to know what was good, such as her adjustments. When she came at him he dried to dodge by swerving his hips in reverse, but then when she corrected her attention and drove towards his leg, he allowed her to sink her teeth in to the skin; knowing of course that she wasn't intending harm. He grunted a pleased sound, for she had been successful. However, Njal didn't want her to get too assured. Her hold was weak but he was careful - dragging his legs away from her face and towards his own body, hoping to jolt her closer. If this was successful he would be looming over her, and could easily attempt to pin her down. It was almost like their playful first meeting. The memory prompted a small jerk of his tail to-and-fro, as he set upon her.

As soon as she had her hold on his leg, she released herself from him. Perhaps if she had been playing for blood, she would have held on longer. As it was, it foiled his attempt to bring her closer, for she sprang backward. His lessons would be taken to heart, and Fox would apply them to future spars. While her mind was often slow (except in those instances when she was upset), the yearling did manage to keep useful things in the forefront of her thoughts.

Moving into a play-bow, she silently invited Njal to come at her. Even with the best offense, there was still some defense that needed to be done. Fox tended to use her speed to her advantage when it came to that sort of thing, though she wondered if she could couple that with the faking maneuver. Or perhaps there was another technique that worked better for this sort of thing.

Njal was pleasantly surprised when she slipped away from him, and then bowed. He hadn't thought her capable of being that quick. A pleased murmur crept from his muzzle and turned in to a low rumble, a form of applause towards her efforts.

She seemed eager to continue, but Njal lifted himself out of his defensive posturing. He gave a small nod - as if contented by the information granted to him - and then reclined in to a seated position. "You adapt well. Quickly. This is good." His tail dragged through the snow and rested against his feet. "Very good. With more practice you will be much better." But no more for today his silhouette seemed to say to her; he did not stand or place himself in to any sort of fighting stance any longer, implying that the lesson was over.

Fox had enough to think about now. And Njal had many more caches to fill - but he was thankful for the warmth that the brief lesson granted him.

Disappointed by his lack of continued teaching, but accepting of his reasons for leaving, Fox rose to her normal posture and shook her coat. He was a fine teacher, and Fox hoped that many more lessons would be had between the two of them. It was too bad that their budding relationship (romantic and otherwise) would soon be charred by another female thrown into the mix.

The both of them were oblivious to the events to come, and Fox flicked her tail this way and that before heading off in another direction. She did not wish to crowd him, and there were plenty of other things that she could busy herself with. It would be several hours before she was able to push the feeling from her chest that bothered her so.