Mount Apikuni It’ll all be alright in the end.

@Grezig!

Elixir roamed the territory close to the band, though she wanted to explore around she knew the best thing to do was to stay close in case they moved again. Her floppy ears flicked every few second, an irritating feeling of an itch irked her nerves. Her back foot slowly reached around to her ear as she sat back on her haunches, teasing it until it vigoriously scratched. AAHHH Yes!, she thought letting out a quiet groan to herself.

The day was nice and she wondered who she would have a conversation with next, in the back of her mind she wondered about Grezig and how she was doing. The wolfdog had a sort of draw to be the woman’s friend but she knew if she tried too hard it wouldn’t happen. Shaking the thought she trotted over to an edge just to look out and see the beautiful views. Miles and miles of beautiful hills and mountains the sight was nothing like anything she’d seen before. Well, second to the stars.

It was a clear day and the view was beautiful… but this was Grezig and Grezig was not one to think that much of anything was beautiful. The view was wasted on her. Oh well. As she walked along, she spotted Elixir standing there, facing away, looking off into space. “What are you doing?” she asked the wolfdog. True curiosity was in her voice, as opposed the usual gruffness that overpowered the way she spoke. She’d been slowly learning how to change her tone when she spoke to other so that she didn’t sound so pissed off all the time. She hoped it was working.

As she was looking out onto the horizon a familiar voice interrupted. She welcomed Grezig with a smile and looked back as she did so. “Just admiring the beauty that we can see, we might not be able to see this again. Sometimes in life you have to stop in your tracks and just look. Never know what you can find” she said, her voice was oddly in an old wise tone. It was almost as if she was in a trance by the views. 

In her mind she knew what she was saying and doing but to anyone else who knew Elixir, like Grezig, it could come off as weird. The wolfdog returned her gaze to the miles of land in front of them and took in a deep breath. “And At night we will be even closer to the things I love,” she moved her head up to look at the sky, “The stars and moon “. She couldn’t wait to see them here and compare them to how it looked when they were traveling elsewhere.

Grezig sat down when Elixir began to speak. She wanted to laugh at the wolfdog for her naiveté, but she didn’t. Perhaps it was herself who was naive. Perhaps, in some ways, Elixir was wiser than she was. There was nothing wrong with finding the world beautiful, as long as you could understand that it wasn’t always beautiful. Grezig took a deep breath through her nose and looked around, trying to see the world through Elixir’s eyes, but all she saw was… tree, tree, tree, hill… fading into nothingness on the horizon. What good was a view? You could not eat it, or use it for shelter. She shrugged, giving up. 

“Well, at least one of us can find some use for the view,” she said, her voice a bit sarcastic, but with a hint of something like sadness, as if she really cared about the fact that she couldn’t see the beauty in things. Truthfully, she didn’t really care. When Elixir spoke of the stars and moon, she recalled a vague memory of their first conversation. “You… like the stars and things, don’t you? I think you told me that.” Trying to find something that she could contribute to the conversation, she said, “Do you like hunting? Or fighting—well, sparring? No one liked fighting, unless they were crazy, but she was sure many wolves enjoyed the exercise that came with a good spar.

Elixir watched Grezig as she looked out, her eyes looking from tree to tree and hill. She chuckled a little after she  said her first sentence. “Views are nice for me, they calm me sometimes.” She offered her reasoning. The wolfdog listened to the rest of what Grezig had to say, nodding when she asked if she had already told her she liked the stars. That was the only thing Elixir had cared about in her life, so far.

”I haven’t sparred before, but I know what it is.” She was a bit embarrassed by this statement. Pondering for a moment she looked at Grezig with an innocent look “Do you think I’d be any good? I mean I guess you’d have to see right?” Her brow furrowed, almost frustrated.

Grezig tried to think of what she did when she needed to calm down. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d needed to really calm down from something. Maybe the day she’d brought Thorleif to Liri and Kavik and he’d gone crazy and thrown rocks around… What had she done afterwards? Walked away into the forest shaking her head, mostly. Maybe she’d gone hunting? That was probably it. Grezig calmed down by doing something active. The exercise calmed her and helped her sleep. Grezig was realizing how vastly different she and Elixir were.

“You are right,” she replied. “I would have to see, or spar with you myself, to know if you were any good.” She studied the girl. “It is something you will have to learn at some point, if you wish to survive as a pack wolf. One day, you may need to defend the borders, or one of your packmates.” She paused. “I could teach you the basics, if you want.”

Elixir wagged her tail as Grezig was beginning to speak. A spar sounded like fun, being in a real fight would be a different story for her though. Elixir wasn’t one to fight if she didn’t have too, though if someone were to threaten the ones she’s loyal to maybe she could find herself in the position of a real fight. That topic would be a conversation for a different day and time.

”I think I would like that actually. If ever I need too it would be a good thing to know how to do.” Elixir said with a smile, maybe they could get to know each other better become friends... maybe. Her tail wagged in excitement that she couldn’t contain.

Well. At least Elixir seemed excited by the prospect of learning to fight. Some wolves shied away from it, wanting to run and hide instead. That was cowardly, but she supposed that if all wolves fought like her, a lot more would die. And you needed wolves to stay alive to continue with pack life, so… maybe cowardice wasn’t so bad, after all. “Do you… want me to teach you now? Or…?” It wouldn’t have to be a long spar, just a quick, basic one. She would go over things like keeping your ears back (though that might be difficult for Elixir, whose ears were floppy from her dog heritage); tucking your tail; keeping your head pulled back and low to the ground. Things like that.

A spar sounded fun, like fighting for... well nothing but the fun of it and Elixir loved to be taught new things. Grezig asked if she’d like to be taught now, the thought sunk in and it was an almost instant reply. “Yes! “ she said voice was a bit higher as she couldn’t contain how excited to learn she was. 

A wag of her tail and she was a bit calmer. She hoped this could bring them a bit closer as Elixir always needed a friend. The ebony female waited for the wolf to start to teach or to show her what to do first. The only thing she knew about fighting was it involved biting, shoving, and anything to win.

Grezig nodded, happy that Elixir seemed so excited by this. “Okay. Some basics, first, though. Always keep your ears back, though with you, I do not see how that would be possible. Keep your tail tucked between your legs so your opponent cannot grab at it. Aggressive posturing to show that you are dominant is different. That is when the tail goes up over your back. But during an actual fight, you want your tail tucked to keep it safe.” She paused, trying to think of anything else. “Keep your chin down to protect your throat, and try to keep your body low so you cannot be knocked over as easily.” 

Grezig thought maybe a demonstration would be best, so she stood up to do all the things she had just told Elixir to do. She lowered her center of gravity, her belly almost brushing the ground. Her ears were pinned back along her skull, tail tucked between her legs. She looked up at Elixir with her eyes, though her head was lowered, chin tucked almost to her chest. She looked the epitome of a submissive wolf, but this stance had the best chance of making sure she came away with minimal maiming. After a few seconds of holding the pose, she sat down again. “You try.”

Elixir listened closely so she could get it right the first time. She wanted to impress Grezig, though it might take her some tries she was determined to make a good spar partner. 

Ears pinned, head down, tail tucked, chin down because of my throat.

The mental notes were adding up and taking up space in her metaphorical drawers that were in her head. The wolfdog watched and analyzed as Grezig demonstrated. It didn’t look too hard but what did Elixir know, she barely knew what a spar was before this. She was nodding frequently before Grezig had told her to try. After those words she sort of froze up for a second, Alright we can do this her conscience said. 

First she moved her body low low to the ground, as if she were hunting. Then she tucked her tail like running away scared from something. Her ears well, they felt pinned but in the outside still looked just about the same if they were relaxed. The wolfdog tucked her chin and hid her little white spot and then shifted her eyes up to Grezig. Though it felt the same as Grezig she wasn’t sure if her center of gravity was right.

”like this?” She asked seeking approval of her first try. If it wasn’t right though her dog side would take over and she would try and try again until she got it right.

I had Grezig attempt to sort of push Elixir while she was in the fighting stance. She's not trying to knock her over, but she's checking Elixir's balance. You can choose whether or not Elixir keeps her balance.

Well, Grezig had to admit that Elixir was a fast learner. Or, at least, she was good at copying movement. Grezig didn’t think there was anything particularly difficult about getting into a fighting stance. “How’s you balance?” she asked, coming up to the wolfdog and attempting to nudge her. Not necessarily to knock her down, but to see if she was standing properly. The lowered head and tucked tail were good, but if you could be easily thrown off balance, then your stance was useless. You needed to be physically strong in this position, to hold your stance and to not let anyone knock you down or push you around.

That’s fine. I rolled a dice on discord whether or not she would keep her balance. 1- she falls 2- she doesn’t and rolled a 1.

Elixir was still in the position like a statue standing. “I think it’s okay..” she said too soon as Grezig came up and nudged her. The nudged was enough to throw her balance. The wolfdogs legs crumpled from beneath her and she fell to the cool ground. In that instant she let out a slight whimper, she felt a bit bad maybe she wasn’t down right or something. Her gaze shot back up to Grezig as her legs sprawled out and then helped her stand up again. 

“Maybe I spoke to soon” she said softly looking down at her legs. Her brow furrowed as she tried again, tail tucked, chin down, ears pinned (not that it matters), and got down a bit lower grasping her nails toward the ground harder than before. It felt a bit different this time around. “Do it again?” She asked about the nudge hoping this time would be the right one.

Grezig made a noise in her throat when Elixir went down, sprawling on the ground. “Sorry,” she said. “Perhaps I pushed you too hard.” She watched as the mutt took the same position as before, but noted that her legs were better positioned, that her center of gravity was lower. 

’Do it again?’ Elixir asked.

Grezig grunted and lowered her head, pushing it into Elxir’s shoulder in an attempt to knock her off balance. The wolfdog did not budge this time. Grezig stepped back with a small wag of her tail. “You learn fast,” she commended. “Perhaps we will make a warrior out of you, yet.”

Have my 100th post! She's getting whumped after this :)

Elixir was still in the pose as Grezig approached her the second time, thise time she was more sturdy and even felt in when she was pushed. A smile spread across her face when she was like a brick house standing there. Grezig praised her at being fast learning and she gave a tail wag and nodded. Not to toot her own horn or anything but this was her element, learning new things. Sometimes it stuck though and sometimes it didn't time would only tell if being a warrior would stick to her.

"Maybe we will!" she said excitedly and then got up and undid everything looking at Grezig. After she learned the basics maybe she could teach her how to really fight and then maybe they could do it more often. It would be like Grezig was her mentor, but that would be a question she asked later. "What's next when it comes to sparring?" she asked ready and willing to learn whatever the woman wanted her too.

‘What's next when it comes to sparring?’ Elixir asked.

Grezig smiled at her for just a moment, and then the smile disappeared. “Well, next we need to actually spar.” She stood up and turned, looking over her shoulder at the mutt. “Come on. We must find somewhere more open to do so.” With that, she trotted off to find an area devoid of thick trees so that they would have enough room to spar. Grezig wasn’t sure how well this would go. Despite making friends with the wolfdog, she was still prejudice and just couldn’t believe that a half-breed could be as strong as a fully-blooded wolf. But she’d have to see, wouldn’t she?

[Exit.]

Elixir was a bit scared at the words, actually spar, she just learned he basics. As much as she was scared she wanted to see if she could prove herself or if she would be just useless when it comes to defending the land when they settle. With a bit of hesitation Elixir nodded, “I guess that’s good with me.”. Her little heart was racing as Grezig was walking off to find a place for them.

At first her paws stayed in the same place as if they were glued to the ground but then they started to move again following Grezig away . You know what they say... curiousity killed the cat... or in this case the wolfdog.