Broken Boulder look the void in the eye and laugh

did a simple evens/odd tabletop roll here to determine whether vilkas was caught off guard or not. :-)

the mercurial firebrand watches her, watches as she hesitates and gives a subtle shake of his head. hesitation would always be a downfall. if she were ever in a situation where she was in a real fight hesitation would get her killed. of course, this wasn't real and vilkas had no place he had to be other than here training with her. don't hesitate. trust your instincts. the konahrik implores of her with her eyes, with an encouraging ( and surprisingly gentle ) noise in his throat. his muscles tense beneath pelage dripping with fire, the wispier hairs at the nape of his neck instinctively bristling as she assesses him.

he is antsy, yet he does not try to rush her again. he knows in a real fight there is no time to figure out tactics — it is a heady rush of instincts and adrenaline; quick, split seconds for you to assess what your opponent is doing but nothing longer. he lives for that chaos, for that rush: of blood, of adrenaline. it is in that chaos that the raptorial whitemane thrives. yet, he lives for this too: for ensuring that those in his tutelage — whether out of a precaution or because they desire to become warriors themselves — are prepared and know what they're doing.

she launches towards him, darting from her position with a speed that does not surprise him. she is small and lithesome: he knew she would be fast; faster than him. however, she's faster than he anticipates even though he is ( somewhat ) prepared for it. she charges for him and barrels into his side before he can react. her body might be smaller than his but there is a dull pain radiating through his ribcage where she collides against him as he is knocked off balance and collides then, on the other side, with the unforgiving earth. he lets out a defiant snarl of surprise and struggles with the rising desire to snap his teeth at her. he told her he wouldn't fight back and he meant that even while everything in him screams otherwise.