Blacktail Deer Plateau Stronger

Hoping for @Grayday or @Sylvas Streiter

Pema rarely every needed to be agressive and so she hadn't really developed any fighting skills other then ones that could be manipulated from hunting. When Howl had attempted to strike her and when that intruder was in their territory Grayday had always been there to help or get her out of there. While she greatly appriciated the alpha's help she wanted to be able to defend herself if another situation occured. She didn't want to be dependant on the alpha whenever things got out of hand. 

So she would need to learn how to fight. How to both be defensive and offensive depending on the situation and what side she was on. But learning how to fight seemed hard to do by yourself. She could choose to spar with anyone from the pack, well excluding the pups and those still healing from injuries. But as she went out today looking for a sparing partner she had Sylvas and Grayday in mind. One had been the fighter of the pack, though luckily they hadn't needed those survices much and the other had shown her that he was capable of fighting. But she was willing to practice with anyone willing that she came across.

Grayday was walking beside a small rafter of turkeys, his eyes darting from one to another as they pecked and strutted about. He'd discovered that he could get very close to the creatures if he didn't move too quickly, and that they easily forgot about his presence if he didn't immediately attack. He was contemplating the uses of this discovery when he caught Pema's scent in the distance. Not wanting her to frighten his new 'friends', the male decided to head her off.

It didn't take too long to find her. He trotted up to her with a wagging tail, nose twitching curiously as he sussed out what she'd been up to that day.

"Hey, Pema," he greeted. "How's your day going?"

She hadn't been walking long when she saw Grayday heading towards her in the distance. Rather then her finding him and approaching him, it seemed the two would come up to eachother, both seeking out the others company for one reason or another. 

He came up to her with a sway in his tail and a friendly greeting. "It's going pretty good, nothing to complain about. What about your morning?" she replied with a smile and a tail wag. "I was actually looking for you." she said, wanting to eventually transition into a possible training session. 

Grayday simply shrugged at her question - it was going. He was more interested in her next words - why had Pema been looking for him?

"What's up?" he wondered, his head cocking to the side. He ran through a quick list of things that could possibly have gone wrong, but since Pema didn't seem too worried, Grayday wasn't going to fret about it, either. He'd find out soon enough.

She thought back breafly to Mouse and how he had intruded just awhile earlier and how angry Day had been about it. She wasn't sure if she should be so direct as to say the exact reasons why she wanted to better her fighting skills, or simply state that she wished to improve. 

"I wanted to know if you would be willing to teach me a bit about fighting. I want to be able to defend the pack... physically, if it comes down to it." she changed her tone from somewhat serious to more light hearted with her next statement. "I think it's time you stopped being my knight in grey armor." she joked seeing as how she was often a damsal in such situations. 

Grayday was surprised by Pema's desire to learn how to fight, though he supposed it wasn't an unreasonable thing to want. He himself had once taken a lesson from Chaska and Ezekiel, but aside from a few short fights and some playful sparring, he'd never really practiced much at the skill.

"Well, I'm not the best at fighting, but I can teach you what I know," he offered, not wanting to turn her toward Sylvas, who was becoming increasingly distant once more. "I'd still prefer you to never fight a fair fight. Your best bet in a violent situation is to call for help. When its your life - or the lives of our packmates - on the line, I'd always rather the odds be stacked in our favor. But since that's not always realistic, it's a good idea to get some practice in."

He hesitated, as though not quite sure how to proceed, before suddenly lunging toward Pema with the intent of wrestling her to the ground.

She didn't need to know how to be a soldier, just how to defend herself long enough for help to come or long enough where she could find a way to flea if need be. As he talked about the advantage of numbers she took little mental notes, as though if this were to happen during a real situation it would be an exam she had studied for. She thought he would go one speaking, or demonstrate something and ask for her to replicate it. He did demonstrate, but not the way she thought he would. As he lunged for she was taken off guard and had a bit of the wind knocked out of her as she was taken to the ground. 

Once there she let out a humf before saying "Expect the unexpected. Got it." In an attempt to get out from under him she rolled to the side, attempting to catch one of his legs and put him off balance, giving her a chance to stand again. 

Grayday acknowledged Pema's words with a grunt, not willing to sacrifice the concentration it would take to respond. Pema might've been slow to respond at first, but now she was taking the lesson in stride. He lost a bit of balance when she went for his leg, but attacked the exposed length of her back in retaliation, as well as to help steady himself.

With the fur at the base of her neck held in his jaws, the male gave a rough shake, hoping to dislodge her from his leg. It took some effort to keep his paws under him at the same time. Hopefully, this would pay off.

She had messing with his balance slightly, but not enough for him to fall or cause him to get off of her. He took hold of the fur on the back of her neck, which helped stabilize him. She released his leg and rolled onto her back and onto the fur that he had a hold onto. Weather or not he chose to hold on and follow, she lifted her back legs and kicked up, attempting to push him off or her and possibly knock the wind out of him. 

Grayday released her scruff as soon as his lefg was free. He regained his footing just as Pema made what Grayday considered to be a grave mistake.

"Exposing your belly and neck should be a last resort," he warned, his heart thudding unevenly at the thought of what might happen to Pema if this had been a real fight. "Anywhere you'd bite to try and kill a deer should be as protected as possible. It's better to get your back torn to shreds than to get one bad bite to your midsection."

Like most things that Grayday lived by, there was a 'my aunt/uncle died from that' story that went along with it. His mother had been fond of cautionary tales that ended in the death of a sibling.

Her attempt to kick Day off of her were unsuccessful and as she did she was meet with a lesson as Day explained that exposing ones belly and the front part of the neck should be a last resort. With light irritation, but understanding she thought as to how it was she was supposed to get out from under him then. If kicking him off wasn't going to work and trying to throw him off balance wasn't going to work how was she supposed to do so. 

"How am I supposed to get out then?" she asked grudgingly not really expecting an answer. She thought about it one step at a time. First she would need to cover her belly and neck. Without his having hold of her, Pema moved onto her belly, with her back and scruff facing Day. Set number two was thinking of a way to get out. She didn't think she could do much in the position she was in other then that. Suddenly she bucked up, trying to slam her back upwards into his chest, just enough of him to raise his stance and give her the space she needed to slip out.

"I don't know," Grayday replied, moving back to let her up. "Hopefully you've already called for reinforcements, I guess."

He looked doubtfully at Pema for a moment, wondering how best to help the smaller woman. He wanted her to learn to protect herself as well, but he wasn't exactly the best teacher around.

"Maybe we'll all get together and spar a few times a month," he decided. "You're not the only one that could benefit from this, after all, and perhaps some fresh minds will help us figure out some good strategies. How does that sound?"

Sorry this is long

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Pema was feeling extremely defeated. All of her attempt to get out from under Day had failed. Rolling onto his paw and leg to try and get him off balance so he would fall over. Turning over and kicking his stomach with her back legs and claws. Turning onto her stomach and bucking back to try and knock him back. But none of it worked and it almost seemed to not effect him at all. Making her think that Day was one hell of a rock that wouldn't move an inch, or that she was really just that weak to do anything to him. Pema was larger then the average female, but her lack of muscularity in comparison to Day seemed to render her attempts useless.

Even he couldn't think of a way for her to free herself before he voluntarily stepped back and let her out from under him. He only said that he hoped that she would have been able to call for help. But what good was that when she was alone and there was no one there to help her. Even with the pack at her side, she thought as though she was a rather weak link being unable to simply free herself from another's grasp. Even though she appriciated the help of others she wanted to be able to defend herself, rather then rely on others and possible put them in danger when they went to help her. Like when Howl went to attack her but instead Day took the blow, and blood flowed down from his muzzle. 

She gave herself some slack with his first attack towards her. It was unexpected and she wasn't sure how this 'lesson' was going to be structured. In a real world situation she would be more warry of someone she didn't know, or if she thought they could possible intend to harm her. But she was very disappointed in herself that she wasn't able to get out on her own. 

Fow a few seconds she didn't turn around, her back to Day. Breathing heavy from her attempts and anger at herself that had built up as she thought about all of this. But then she took a few slow breaths. She needed to see the bright side of this. She may not have learned how to get out from under someone, but she did learn a few other things: to avoid getting in that position in the first place, expect the unexpected, and never expose your belly or front part of your neck unless absolutley necessary. 

She turned around to hear his purposal and idea for pack spars. It sounded like a great idea. Pema didn't know many members of the pack that were skilled fighters, and she didn't think any of them had a mercenary trade other then Sylvas who had been distant as of late. She was a prime example of why the pack might need this, escpecially if she wasn't the only one that could use it like Day said. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Give the whole pack the opportunity to gain some experience." she said positively, trying to push through the feelings of her defeat. 

Grayday liked the idea more and more as he thought about it. It might not be tomorrow, but the next day, or the week after that, or November 15 - but one day, someone else would tresspass, and it might not be Pema they ran into. It might even be Lavender.

"We should get on this as soon as we can," he agreed, his mind already moving over what would need to be done. He had quite a bit on his plate at the moment, but he hoped he and Pema would be able to organize this between the two of them. "Could I ask you to organize this? We should practice at least once a week and include as many as we can."

He'd have to find out if anyone else had experience fighting. Perhaps the pack in the bottleneck would be willing to practice with them - on neutral ground, of course.

After just a few moments Day seemed very eager for this plan to become reality, sooner rather than later. Though it would most likely turn out to be about two months later. Pema silently agreed. She wanted to learn how to be a better fighter and if that could be turned into helping the whole pack, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity.
 
When he purposed that she organizes it, she was a bit surprised. She wasn’t a good fighter, but you didn’t need to be a good fighter to organize some spars and training. It lifted her spirits knowing that Day would put this into her hands, and brought a smile to her face and a light wag to her tail. “Sure, you can. I would be happy to help. Maybe make it a bit more fun then today.” She agreed.
 
“But thank you for the practice today. Even if we didn’t get that far.” she said. Still feeling grateful that Day would be willing to help her learn and succeed.

Grayday wagged his tail, glad to know that Pema would be with him on this. He'd have to see about talking to a few of the others as well, but for the time being, he'd probably see if Pema took the initiative and organized a meeting day.

"Thank you, Pema. That would be very helpful."

She thanked him in turn, and Grayday gave another wag of his tail to say that it wasn't a problem before going on his way, his mind still on the prey that he'd left behind.