Mount Apikuni Everyone's got their chains to break

@Grezig Back dated to 7/27

After being up as late as he was, Kavik was surprised that he woke up just as the sun was peaking up over the other side of the mountains. After a good morning nuzzle to his mate, he stood up and stretched. He had promised Grezig a spar today and, after letting Liri know where he was going, he set out to find the female that was quickly becoming his friend.

If she happened to still be asleep, he would just wait for her in the trees on the outskirts of where their group was gathered. He would feel bad if he woke her again. Otherwise, they could get right to choosing a good place to spar.

Grezig was snoring when Kavik found her, curled up with her tail at her nose. Approaching steps made her jerk her head up, snorting unattractively. She swung her head around lazily to see who had woken her up, and what did ya know? It was Kavik again. “Is this going to become a habit?” she asked, as she shook the sleep from her mind and stood up. Stretching in a downward dog position, she continued, “No matter. A spar this morning, yes?” She stood upright again, giving her alpha a half-grin. “I look forward to seeing your skills. Should we have it here, or move elsewhere?”

Kavik came upon Grezig's snoring form and as he was attempting to make his way into the forest, she stirred, clearly woken up by him once again. Wincing, he looked at her as she spoke. Again, I apologize. I only meant to see if you were already awake, he said apologetically. Then, raising a teasing eyebrow at her, he added You're a light sleeper. He had merely walked near her, and it had woken her. 

He nodded at her question. Yes, a spar. let's do it away from the group; some of them are still sleeping. He lifted his head towards the trees with his second statement to indicate they should head that way. As he started walking, he turned to Grezig and said, I look forward to seeing your skills, as well. Knowing how to fight was important, so Kavik wanted to see what skills his packmate had.

Grezig nodded at Kavik’s suggestion to move farther away. As they walked away to find a good spot, Grezig thought it might be good to lay down the ground rules. She felt a bit awkward being the one to say them, considering that Kavik was the alpha, but… oh well. She cleared her throat. “So. No blood. Bruising and minor bites and things are fine. We spar until one of surrenders or is too tired to continue.” She glanced at him then, asking, “Agreed?”

They came to a clearing in the trees some distance from where the others were sparring. The ground had some rocks and roots sticking up here and there, but this was the flattest spot they were likely to find. After looking around for a moment, she turned to Kavik. “Is this good?”

From tabletop: 1d10 = 2

Kavik HP: 30

Grezig HP: 28

Kavik gave a quick nod in agreement to the rules Grezig had laid out, not that he could draw blood on a packmate anyway; being the alpha only made that aversion even stronger. 

Yeah, this is good, Kavik replied. It was probably the best they could do out here on the mountain. He turned to face Grezig, his eyes studying her form. He was much larger than most, so he usually used that to his advantage in a spar or fight. He couldn't only rely on that, though; there was more to fighting than just being bigger and stronger, even if it did give him a little bit of an advantage. 

Deciding to just get right down to business, Kavik lunged for Grezig, hoping to use the element of surprise. He was aiming to pin her to the ground, knowing if he got her there, it would be difficult for her to lift his weight from her. Kavik's attack not going quite as planned, he wasn't able to tackle her to the ground, but he was able to latch on to Grezig's scruff, hopefully making her responding attack a little more difficult. It was harder than he thought it would be to attack his friend, and perhaps that was his downfall in his first strike. His hesitance wouldn't help either of them learn anything from this spar, so he would just have to find a way to look past it.

Grezig was not expecting the suddenness of Kavik’s lunge, but it didn’t seem to matter, for his grip on her scruff was not hard. She let out a grunt of surprise, but tried to keep the momentum of his attack going. She angled her body towards his and shoved herself into him, hoping to dislodge his grip on her neck. Grezig swore, between this fight and the spar with Corvus a few days before, her neck might end up with some actual scarring—not that that mattered.

Attack: 5/10 (Discord)
Grezig HP: 28/30
Kavik HP: 25/30

From tabletop: 1d10 = 3

Kavik HP: 25

Grezig HP: 25

Her responding shove was enough to force him to release her scruff and take a few steps back. Attempting to think only pragmatically and without much deliberation, he chose what his next attack would be. Deciding he should try something different this time, he threw himself forward once more, connecting his teeth with Grezig's shoulder. His hold wasn't too firm, but was enough to cause her some difficulty should she try to move.

Grezig stumbled just a bit from Kavi’s charge at her shoulder. She felt his teeth connect with it, though his grip wasn’t too hard. Without thinking, she growled and turned her head towards him, snapping her teeth at his face—more to get him off of her than to actually attack him. She went specifically for his muzzle, avoiding his eyes. She did not want to maim him, of course.

Attack: 4/10
Grezig HP: 25
Kavik HP: 21

From tabletop: 1d10 = 10

Kavik HP: 21

Grezig HP: 15

Kavik felt Grezig's teeth connect with his muzzle, though not very hard; it would probably just leave a bruise. Once more, he decided to use his weight to his advantage and with a growl, he threw his body into hers. This time, he was successful in knocking her off balance and pinning her side to the ground, teeth firmly holding the side of her neck. A victorious gleam in his eyes, he held her there and waited to see how she would get out of it.

Grezig yelled in legitimate pain at the teeth on the back of her neck this time. Yeah. She would definitely have some bruises for at least a week or two now. Kavik had her pinned pretty well, and she was on her side so it was too difficult to get her paws underneath her with the pressure of his jaws on her neck. Desperately, she flung her head backwards, attempting to slam it into… something. His face, his nose, whatever.

Attack: 7/10
Grezig HP: 15
Kavik HP: 14

From tabletop: 1d10 = 2

Kavik HP: 14

Grezig HP: 13

Grezig's head connected with the bridge of his nose, causing him to stumble back in pain as little bright lights briefly twinkled in his eyes. Damn, that was a sensitive spot, and it had done the trick--the pain causing him to lose focus just long enough to make the mistake of letting her up. Shaking his head, the spot where she had hit him still throbbing some, he shoved her with he side of his body and attempted to grab her front leg in his mouth and pull it out from under her. She didn't budge, though, so he was left holding her leg hoping it would affect her next move.

Since I rolled a 1 on Discord, meaning Grezig got a crit fail and hurt herself, she calls for timeout in this post.

Ahh, good! Grezig shook her head from side to side vigorously when Kavik was forced to let go of it. She turned to face him, but suddenly found her leg in his mouth. But he wasn’t doing anything with it. His tug on her to try and get her to fall over had been so weak that she hadn’t even noticed it. Now they were standing there, and he was holding her leg in his mouth, doing nothing… Well… She stared down at him for a moment. This was awkward. But—the fight had to continue!

Suddenly, she lunged for the top of his head, the only place she could really reach since having her leg held in place prevented forward motion. But, somehow, while she was lunging for Kavik, she managed to twist the leg around that he was holding, while it was still in his mouth. She yelped, a high-pitched cry of genuine pain and immediately straightened, as a shock ran through her leg. “OW!” Had this been a real fight, she would have ignored it, at least as best she could. But this was a friendly spar, so she could afford to stop and assess her leg to see if there was any real damage. “Time out,” she said to Kavik. “My leg hurts pretty badly.”

Attack: 1/10 (This means Grezig becomes injured, cos it’s a critical failure).
Grezig HP: 13
Kavik HP: 14

Kavik holding her leg in his mouth may have seemed awkward, but it proved a somewhat useful tactic when Grezig attempted to make a responding attack and was unable to get her leg from his mouth. He froze, though, and immediately released her leg when she cried out in pain. Forgetting about the spar, he ran up to her, his expression that of guilt and concern. Grezig, are you okay? he asked, distress in his voice at the possibility of hurting one of his pack members. He waited and watched as she assessed her leg, his gaze focused on her until he was sure she wasn't injured.

Grezig tentatively placed her paw on the ground, putting pressure on it in small increments. She winced about halfway to normal standing pressure as pain shot through her leg. “I may have sprained it,” she explained, sitting back on her haunches with her leg resting just barely on the ground. “Give me a moment. I cannot tell yet.” She allowed herself to rest for a few minutes.

“It was not your fault,” she said to Kavik at some point. 

When she had given her leg some time to rest, she stood up again, slowly putting more and more pressure on her leg. This time it only twinged a bit, but the pain was bearable, and she’d be able to walk just fine. “It is not sprained after all,” she said. “Perhaps I just pulled a muscle.” Her tail swayed behind her to show that she was all right.

Kavik watched with silent concern as Grezig tested out her leg to make sure the injury wasn't serious. When it seemed there was no major harm done, Kavik relaxed a little. She may not think it was his fault, but her leg had been in his mouth, therefor to him, it was his fault, and he was glad he had not caused any lingering damage. 

He studied her for minute before deciding she truly wasn't harmed. We can resume this later if you would like, he offered with a bow of his head. Even though the injury didn't seem lasting, she may still be in some pain, and he wouldn't want to make that worse.

Grezig sighed when Kavik suggested that they continue the fight later. She wanted desperately to continue now, and her leg no longer hurt. But… she did not truly know the extent of the damage to her leg and if they had to move on soon, she didn’t want to exacerbate any possible injury. She bowed her own head and grumbled, “I suppose I can ask for a rematch later.” She pursed her lips in irritation, snorting. “But I will ask, and you will agree. Deal?” Grezig looked up again, into her alpha’s face, searching for the promise she hoped would be there. She felt useless being unable to even finish a spar. She needed Kavik to swear they would finish it later.

Kavik nodded at her request. When you ask for a rematch, I will agree. You have my word, he replied, his tone appeasing as his emerald gaze moved to meet Grezig's brown one. Getting hurt was sometimes an unfortunate possibility when sparring, and even though he felt bad about the situation, he wouldn't let that keep him from future spars; they were important part of life and helped one learn where their strengths and weaknesses were when fighting. 

Let's head back, then. The rest of the group will likely be awake now, Kavik added with a lift of his head in the direction they had come.

Kavik agreed to a rematch when he was asked, and Grezig could not help the sigh of relief that escaped her. It was good to have a reliable, but kind alpha. She nodded at his suggestion to go back to the others, and followed after him. She found herself limping just slightly, but she was sure that in a day or two she’d be back to normal. It hadn’t been a big injury or anything. She thought back to the spar itself. Kavik, at least, knew what he was doing. That was good. Two alphas who were useless in a fight would simply not do. Since Liri couldn’t do much on three legs, Grezig was glad that Kavik could be the muscle in case of a fight. She nodded to herself in satisfaction and began greeting the others as they woke up.

[End.]