Redtail Rise She only reveals what she wants you to see

tags for reference but also an invitation XD

 

Lilia had been given guidance, a task. If she wanted to be a queen, of any pack, she would have to trade in the idea of perfection and bust up her knuckles a bit. It seemed that power needed strength- which wasn’t what she expected. She thought loyalty and poise would give her power. She still believed they would- but being able to hold her own in a brawl might certainly turn heads as well. 

@Ancelin had been the recommendation. They could learn together perhaps, though she figured the young knight was already savvy in the area of sparring. Still- if she could make him go easy on her, due to her fragile state (which was no longer fragile, though the girl remained petite and dainty in demeanour) she might not get too dirty. 

So she set out, prowling through the pack’s territory, cruising for a bruising.

atreus had not been found.
with both his mother and his father gone, with aventus' emotion mirrored into him, ancelin had withdrawn. his sparring had not been with the others, but with saplings, with great rocks against which he shoved himself, with leaping to and fro across the thinnest part of a stream.
he was often bruised and always exhausted, never letting himself have a respite let the thoughts creep in.
ancelin had hidden himself away like masque had taught him, seeking a fitful nap. at lilia's tread, the boy's ears twitched and he opened his eyes. she was close. he did not yet move to let himself be seen, wondering idly if she would smell him here.

Simply looking around for Ancelin was just about useless. With the woodlands, she couldn't very well see for forever, and simply spot whoever it was she needed to find, which was an inconvenience. She sniffed, trying to suss out his scent, but with there being decaying leaves, the scent of water in the air, and so many other wolves populating the area, she had difficulty simply sniffing him out. Hunting wasn't really her forté. 

Her voice, however- was rarely anything other than forte.

"Annnnnnthuh-lin!" She called out. She could smell him, but wasn't about to just follow his scent to him. No, she expected whoever she wanted to come to her. "Aaaaaanth-lin?" More questioning, as she wandered about. Her gaze was up- expecting for the piebald knight to come to her aid as soon as he was summoned.

oh great, she was calling him. but lilia's presence wasn't a an imposition. sitting up was. he did it with an audible groan, slinking from the undergrowth next. "hey." his tail twitched half-heartedly, but his eyes were genuinely welcoming. "what's up?"
it didn't even register that she had summoned him and he had come along immediately. led by a fierce woman, ancelin was well-placed to naturally see them all as his natural betters, in a subconscious and completely unexplored way.

She whipped her head around, just in time to see him sit up. She wondered if he'd been napping, but she wasn't really sorry for interrupting him anyway. Avicus had tasked the both of them with sparring together, so this was his responsibility as much as it was hers. "C'mon!" She invited, dropping into a playbow, before she bounded back a few paces, and offered him another playbow, her tail waiving in the air behind her. "Let'th tuh-rain!"

lilia's excitement was palpable, and finally he grinned wryly and slapped the ground with oversized paws.
"okay. fine. good." he motioned a little ways away, where the ground was far flatter and more open. "you go first." ancelin made a show of posing. "attack me."

She was keen to follow him, even though she preferred to be the one making decisions. Ancelin did not pose a threat to her ego or her projected position; she still envisioned him as her knight, her protector and a reliable means to prove herself to the pack as well. She felt it was an advantage to have a pack-born friend, as the others seemed to have deemed her a threat. 

Good on them. She was.

And Ancelin was both her weapon and her shield. Being invited to attack him first made her feeling a fluttering in her stomach, associated with both the thrill of a spar and the prospect of getting to spar with him. She wanted to grab him and wrestle him to the ground and win right away. Her enthusiasm made her a bit wild in her approach; she bounded toward him with high steps, hackles prickled and a crazed ferret look on her face. She paused and snapped a couple times almost as a warning, before she lunged for his shoulder.

she was a princess, ancelin decided, and a fearsome one also. leelee had always been ready to order one of them around. naturally, with the sisters allied against the aspiring queen, it fell to ancelin to provide her with companionship.
and he didn't mind. under his breastbone was a warmth that only, and oddly, spread as she collided with him.
but then her teeth were flashing, and she caught his shoulder with a hard slice.
"ow!" he shouted, twisting lithely and shoving her away, hooking a hindleg at her own, trying to swipe her legs out from under her. 
wrestling from day one had taught him some moves.
blood glittered high on his shoulder.

She had an interesting reaction when he cried out in pain. She'd been separated from herself in the onslaught, but to hear him in pain caused her to balk not because he'd surprised her, but because hearing Ancelin cry out immediately snatched her attention. She clamped her mouth shut and stepped back, and saw the blood that stained the pale guardhairs at his shoulder, just where the darker patches of fur broke his silhouette. 

One second ago she'd wanted to wrestle him to the ground, and now she felt guilty for harming him. 

He pulled back, and she'd just opened her mouth to say something when his winging hind leg caught her in the knee and pulled her front legs out from underneath her. She cracked her chin on the ground, and felt it sting where it had scraped against the cold earth. She licked her lips, and tasted blood on them. Hers or his, she wasn't sure. There was a momentary pause, followed by a slight giggle. This...Was all surprising. To inflict pain on a friend...It felt wrong. So maybe she shouldn't attack him like she meant to draw blood. 

When she lunged for him again, she did so with short lunges aimed toward his feet. Not close enough to chance clipping him and cracking a bone in his foot- but she wanted to get him moving, and set him off his balance.

leelee laughed a little, which he didn't understand. ancelin was prepared to give as good as he got, maybe even fetch them both some scars this time around. but she moved with precise little turtle-snaps. he danced backward, feeling her breath hot on his ankles, the pads of his feet.
when lilia lunged again, ancelin snapped for the back of her shoulders. his teeth bounced on her pelt, not quite catching. but he tried to throw her all the same, grunting with the effort.

He moved, shifting his feet away from her snapping jaws, which made her grin. She crouched and pounced toward him- not realizing that he was going to make a grab for the back of her shoulders at the same time. She felt the first time he tried to grip her, but she'd moved by the time he did it again- so his teeth sank into the ridge of her lower back, and squeezed, making her want to drop her hindquarters from the pinch. Her own lunge had failed, as he'd been too quick on his feet. 

She growled, and twisted her body, contorting to try and angle herself so she could reach at something- and ended up slamming her body weight against him so she could get close enough to try and bite at the tender skin of his flank.

ancelin thought he had her, and gripped her accordingly. but in focusing the harshness of his bite, trying to imitate his dad or his aunt or prophet or any of the adults, really, he didn't guard the rest of his body.
another strangled cry as leelee sank her pointy little teeth into the tender skin there. ancelin released her at once and kicked out at her with as many legs as he could, hoping to shove her away as hard as he could.

His feet pounded against her, and with the power in his haunches he was able to catch her in the chest and kick her away. Having been released from his grip she whirled, and aimed to grab him near his jaw. If she could grab him there and get a good grip, he wouldn’t be able to bite her back.

lilia was back quick as a whip, her teeth catching his chin. ancelin was caught off-guard.
"okay, okay!" he shouted, not daring to struggle lest she tear his skin. "you win!"
at least that time!

She felt her teeth graze fur and press against bone. Her hold was only superficial, but made an impression and her sparring partner flinched and moved away- shying from her grasp. She bared her teeth in a victorious smile and crowed. 

Energized by her win, she growled and nipped at the air between them before she bounded away, casting a coy glance over her shoulder. She’d remember the moves she used, hoping they might aid her in a future victory.

fade? <3

ancelin didn't care to be bested. but the little smirk lilia wore softened the blow, because it always reminded him of how she had stood before his fierce aunt and said she wanted to be queen.
it turned her face into something ferocious, ancelin felt. he rushed after her, laughing in spite of himself and nipping for her plume in play. they could burn off the rest of their energy that way, ancelin legging ahead as long as he was able.

<3<3<3

Her cajoling had tempted him to chase after her, which was exactly what she had desired. In much the same way that Redd had invited her along after their spar, she felt it was right to bring Ancelin along with her. A gesture of goodwill, and no lingering hard feelings over the outcome of the brawl. Wild with adrenaline, she coursed through the woodlands of their home, her heart singing along to the tune of their pawpads as they dashed like a pair of mad rabbits.