Broken Boulder look the void in the eye and laugh

vilkas rolls on his back and and tests his legs carefully, ignoring the itch to wince as the action pulls at his the sore muscles. the pain has already begun to fade: thrumming like a dying heartbeat as the pain slows and eases. he does not immediately realize that his snarl startled her, only that he notices as she leaps from her place beside him on the ground to her feet; and begins to blurt out an apology. an apology. vilkas can't help himself. he starts to laugh, and is still laughing even when he rolls onto his stomach and is interrupted by a sneeze as dust stirs in the air. his pelage is covered in bits of dirt and debris but the firebrand is hardly concerned by it. he rises to his own legs and levels an amused stare at her. as she fusses and worriedly asks him if she did something wrong. it was cute. she was cute; almost unbearably so and vilkas cannot help the hooded look he gives her.

"damn." the word lulls out of his mouth as he looks up at her, not bothering to hide that he was, indeed, impressed. "that wasn't wrong lily. that was good," the firebrand assures and encourages. "you used your speed and size to your advantage. we need to work on that initial hesitation but that was impressive." cubs only have fledgling instincts: the instincts that tell them to eat when they are hungry, to cry when they want attention or hurt or uncomfortable, to pick fights over food ( which if vilkas is of any indication they do not always grow out of that one ), squabble with their siblings over dominance. training adults is not like training cubs, he was right. "don't ever apologize for knocking me on my ass, or anyone else for that matter." he advises, thinking that they truly are opposites: she apologizes for too much ( in his opinion ) and he apologizes for nothing.

vilkas takes his defensive position once more. "again." he barks the command, curious as to if she'd try the same move ( though this time he would be more prepared for it ) or another move entirely.