Moonspear even would i know in my lifetime i will be

@Dragomir - teach him to fight?

pickings were slim in the spear, though the moose had done something to slake the worst of their hungers. arcturus knew the value of keeping his energy reserves, but he also knew it was important to keep the troops free from letting the despair of hunger settle in. one of the ways -- perhaps the best way -- of doing that was to keep them busy, in work.. a busy mind often had little time to wander to seedy or unpleasant pastures.

calling for dragomir, arcturus threaded along the stony rise most of the pups frequented. he knew the boy to be vigilant in his daily exercises, but today arcturus was interested in a different sort of lesson: that of self-defense.

Dragomir was struggling up a steep, rocky portion of the mountain when Arcturus' howl caught his attention. One ear swivelled in the direction of the Beta and as if on cue, his stomach loosed a terrible growl. He knew it was stupid to waste his energy climbing as high up the mountain as he could each and every day, but to him, the benefits outweighed the foolishness of burning through his reserves. He was thin and hungry, his face gaunt, but his legs were starting to cord with muscle and he felt stronger than he ever had.

The limp was still prevalent, he was still haunted by nightmares of his father and the tormenters in the cave, and he hadn't seen Isi in a while, but that was all beside the mark. Progress was progress, however limned in darkness the rest of his life remained.

Dragomir swung his trajectory and limped downhill until he spotted Arcturus' dark form winding along the mountainside. Once found, he made a beeline for the Beta, cocking his ears curiously forward as he approached and asking, you needed me?

arcturus was pleased to catch the boy in what appeared to be a training jaunt — it showed some promise that the boy’s mettle matched those born to the spear. he took inventory of dragomir’s changed appearance, a shadow briefly flitting across his features. the famine had taken its toll on them all, though arcturus did not favor the gaunt appearance of his packmate, nor the hollow space of starvation that took occupancy under dragomir’s already troubled eyes.

have you been eating enough? he prompted, wondering then if he should put his plans for training on hold if the boy was weakened. a hungry disciple was a weak one — and he did not wish to waste what little energy the boy had if he was so clearly thrifty. i was going to see if you’d like to spar today — but we can also go to the cache if you would like. how has your daily training uphill gone? he noted the boy still limped, but new muscle had overlaid the atrophied ones. arcturus knew progress came in small developments, and that it was best not to rush in these cases.

I'm not that hungry, Dragomir replied. It was a lie that Arcturus could likely see right through, but the question put in mind the afternoon with Vercingetorix where his father had returned with a hare and given it solely to his children, refusing to eat himself. Dragomir doubted any of them were getting enough to eat, but in memory of his father's selflessness, he couldn't possibly take more for himself than he felt the rest of the pack needed. Weak as he felt from hunger now and again, he was alive and otherwise well. That was good enough for him.

It's been going okay, he said, a little vaguely. He had good days and bad days, but there was no use dwelling on the ones where he felt helpless and hopeless for being incapable. I can go a lot farther now, and my legs don't hurt as bad as they did before. He still had a long ways to go before he could match any of Moonspear's hale mountaineers, but being born in the mountains himself, he had the constitution for it if he just kept at it.

I'd like to spar, he said at last, pausing to peer at the Beta's face, but I don't really know how to fight that well. My dad was a warrior, I think he'd want me to know how to defend myself, but I got hurt before he could teach me anything. Even sparing all the details, and skimming over the subject of Verx, talking about these things lanced Dragomir's heart all the same, leaving him to wonder if he would ever be able to speak of what happened to him, and what happened to his father, without pain.

it was easy to see past dragomir’s insistence he was not hungry, but arcturus was not a wolf to push. if the boy chose to not eat, so be it — it was not the beta’s place to insist otherwise. besides, arcturus suspected after a rousing match, the energy spent might be enough to awaken the boys hunger to the point where he would not decline himself the comfort of a small yet earned meal. a gentle smile spread to arcturus’ dark features, as he listened to dragomir detail his progress. admittedly, there was still far to go — but the boy had proven his mettle thus far.

arcturus did not mind dragomir was inexperienced; in his opinion those unlearned often made the best students, as they had no past experience to draw opinions from. while he marveled that dragomir was able to speak of his father so openly, arcturus did not wish to discover the boy’s limit, and so briskly set to moving past it with a nod. defense is important. maybe more important than a good offense. i can teach you how to defend yourself — and i can think of no better teacher for the offense than hydra. he briefly took in their surroundings, wondering if a spar was appropriate here among the shale. for defense, know your surroundings. these rocks could hide an enemy, or help you escape them. when you are face to face fighting another, you are not bandying words or kindness. you are likely fighting to hurt — to kill — so you must not be held back by ideals of honor or fairness. it was a lot to consider, so arcturus paused to glance over dragomir, and make sure he was following.

The boy nodded along, listening as diligently as he could. There was a static hum inside his head from exerting his energy and not doing enough to recuperate it, but he had to just push past that, like he did every other day. He had to believe these conditions were only temporary, and he refused to be the weakling who couldn't do anything just because he was hungry. Little did he know his foolishness would swiftly drive him to that position if he kept it up.

How can it be more important than offence? Dragomir wondered, having nothing but an imagined fantasy of what a real fight was like to go from. He'd witnessed Moonspear seizing control of the prey in the river, but he hadn't seen a lot of defence in their maneuvers that day. In the cave in the mountains ... no, he could not think about that right now.

Everything else made perfect sense to Dragomir, but defence over offence was his sticking point. If you're quick enough to attack, wouldn't that mean your opponent can't do anything back? As if fighting in real time was some turn-based strategy game, of course.

this post has a fair bit of assumptions — if anything is out of line just let me know and I’ll edit it.. I just figured it might be more seamless as one post

dragomir’s question was fair, and posed a good teaching moment for arcturus. he glanced from the boy to a stick nearby, and motioned for him to hold as he dragged it towards the boy. sometimes, defending is all you can do. with everything there is balance — you may find your opponent wants you to attack first, as it opens you up and leaves you vulnerable to counters. there are times you must stay and guard what you are protecting — and there are other times you must leave it. knowing when is appropriate to choose either, is perhaps the most important.

he canted his muzzle towards the stick. pretend this stick is your kill, and i am an interloper trying to take it. arcturus slid away, measuring the boy knowingly. should dragomir position himself over the stick, arcturus would circle, feint several times (or wait to see if dragomir would step away from his kill — such was the bait of closing in and weaving out, made to trick dragomir into leaving the stick vulnerable to be snatched).. and then, when or if the moment was right, arcturus planned to pluck the stick from the ground and lope quickly aside. for now, he circled and weaved — watching with a glint of play in his yellow gaze.

the lesson here was meant to make dragomir think critically; should the boy stay and guard his kill, or should he drive his opponent away in the form of an attack?

Everything Arcturus said made sense in theory, yet the moment he prompted Dragomir to put it into practice, the boy's mind went into a buffering loop. Positioning himself over the stick was natural enough, he'd done this sort of guarding many times when playing with Isilmë when they were young and carefree. But it was difficult to remain poised over the stick with his defences set in any meaningful way while Arcturus circled, and moreso when the Beta feigned a dash toward him, only to zip away again.

Jumpiness set in quickly after that, causing Dragomir to attempt to turn with the Beta, leaving parts of the stick uncovered and unwatched in the process. With each feint Arcturus made, Dragomir twitched, half flinching and half lurching forward. If there had been two wolves threatening his prize, he would be sorely beaten in only a few seconds. It wouldn't take Arcturus much longer than that; the next feint rattled Dragomir's nerves enough that he shot forward, clapping his jaws defensively and leaving the stick completely unguarded. Was it better to press an attack and force an opponent back, or to remain in possession of the prize? He didn't know the answer.

And, with his attention span found lacking as this new form of training overwhelmed his inexperienced faculties, he would forget to go back to it in time to prevent Arcturus from triumphantly grabbing it.

let me know if the PP isn't okay!

arcturus could see dragomir's confidence in himself was waning with each swerve. this was not the lesson arcturus intended, but if ever there was a trial by fire for nerves, he supposed this game was as harmless as it could get: better for him to learn miserably now, than find out the hard way when the stakes were real.

thankfully, the stakes here were marginal -- after dragomir lunged forward with a snap of his teeth that arcturus had been expecting, he roughly shouldered past the boy and grabbed the stick and flung it. wheeling around, he readied himself for any retaliation on the boy's part.

"try again." arcturus spoke, his tone not unkind. he would wait for dragomir to situate himself over the stick's new position, and see what the boy had learned put to the test.

Just like that, Arcturus outplayed Dragomir, swooping in to snatch the stick while the boy was out of position. Dragomir didn't retaliate. He froze, watching the stick as it sailed away with a very familiar feeling of disappointment. It socked him in the gut with more force than even he'd been expecting. This failure was marginal in Arcturus' mind, but for Dragomir, it felt monumental. Why, oh why, was he so stupid? Just a stupid burden who couldn't even defend a damn stick.

Arcturus urged him to try again and Dragomir marched over to where the stick lay now, fighting back tears of frustration. It would be even more stupid to cry about this. It sucked and it was hard to know what to do and he felt stupid for being bested so easily, but it didn't suck as bad as being kidnapped and tortured in a cave. It wasn't as hard as half of what he'd been through. So he channelled his frustration into something useful, taking his place over the stick and stooping low over it to protect it.

This time, when Arcturus came, Dragomir didn't budge at all ... a tactic that, unbeknownst to him, wasn't much better than his lunge from before.

arcturus caught that flashing look -- its life was brief, yet arcturus knew intimately its meaning. dragomir believed he had failed. the mountaineer felt a sting himself, of guilt perhaps -- but he knew that often, failure was the most thorough teacher.

dragomir would learn - and in time, he would smoothly outplay arcturus. of that, the beta was sure.

he waited for the boy to re-situate himself, marveling at the new glint of frustrated determination in the boy's gaze. for a moment, he wished to speak - to say something encouraging -- but he did not want dragomir to lose the steely resolve that he had seen in the boy's hardened eyes -- so instead, arcturus squared up his opponent in silence.

he had his suspicions that now, dragomir was going to try to stand over the stick and not move. this was not a horrible tactic in arcturus' mind, and was more promising than seeing his student try the same thing over and over and over again each time and getting more frustrated with each failure. this change of tactic meant dragomir was thinking critically, which meant in turn, he was learning.

arcturus circled the boy slowly. in a few months time, dragomir would likely outmatch him in pure strength alone - arcturus would be smart to play his strengths rather than his weaknesses here. he circled once, and then changed his direction -- all the while holding dragomir's gaze.

he was looking for a weak spot, watching how the boy pivoted and turned -- when he thought he finally saw a chance worth seizing, arcturus strode forward with a snap at the boy's front paw, meant to pinch but not harm.

Dragomir learned very quickly how difficult it was to keep an adversary in his sights without moving. He would've liked to remain completely stationary over the stick, giving Arcturus no openings at all, but he couldn't do it while also keeping an eye on the Beta. So he made an awkward effort to turn with Arcturus while also keeping the bulk of his body over the stick, which led to the next lesson: antagonizing.

Arcturus wasn't content to just let Dragomir guard his "kill" without provocation, and the boy wasn't expecting it when the Beta darted in to nip at his paw. Ow! he protested, snatching it back and throwing himself off balance in the process. Arcturus would have no trouble at all forcing him back and grabbing the stick now, leaving Dragomir at a complete loss for the best way to guard something.

Whether he went on the offensive or defensive, he seemed to lose the game either way. What gives?

arcturus pulled back quickly from the boy's paw, half expecting a lashing in return, and half expecting outrage. dragomir seemed surprised -- no, shocked, even -- that arcturus had been so sharp. he offered a briefly apologetic smile and shrugged his shoulders in a silent sorry kid, but that's the game gesture. then, without much further correspondence, arcturus nimbly moved in on the stick while it was momentarily vulnerable.

he did not seize the stick, however -- he aimed for the very paw the boy had raised -- it was all a show of flashing teeth, and his movement made no connection with the boy, but the point was to incite dragomir to become reactionary, defensive -- keep him on his toes as the game constantly changed the moment he managed to understand all the pieces.

The boy made the assumption that Arcturus would come for the stick and made to lurch back into place, but once again, he was proven wrong. The skill gap between himself and the Beta was becoming more and more evident. Arcturus surged forward and Dragomir attempted to block his path to the stick, but it was his paw that the dark mountaineer went for.

Dragomir snatched it away and clapped his jaws harmlessly in the space Arcturus' muzzle would've occupied if he'd committed to grabbing the boy's foot. Naturally, he was wrong about that too; the Beta was already out of the way and likely plotting his next attempt. Exasperated, the young wolf sat down heavily and exclaimed, stop! What am I supposed to do?! It seemed like Arcturus had a counter for every move that Dragomir made.

he felt a brief flare of guilt for the boy’s frustration — yet it was not enough to slow his advances. this was how we learned — by accumulative failures. one day, dragomir would easily outmatch arcturus. until that day came..


he paused, ears cupped in response to the boy’s outcry. all you can do, is learn. his tail swayed in encouragement, but arcturus knew if he took it easy on dragomir he would never be prepared for the real world — the cruel world.

returning to their game, arcturus came tantalizingly close now; inching step by step into dragomir’s range with eyes lit by a crafty gleam.

Learning was difficult. Dragomir preferred to learn in controlled environments with specific lessons—this was too much like the real world, and Drago was terrified of the real world. In his experience, it was a cruel and mad place that seemed hell-bent on destruction. Arcturus knew this, and so he refused to pull punches with Dragomir, which only frustrated the juvenile more.

His reaction to Arcturus edging into his space was therefore more emotional than it should've been. Dragomir was annoyed that he couldn't figure out the best way to win this game. He was flustered by his lack of experience. He was irate that Arcturus would not tell him what he needed to know to succeed.

So when the Beta stepped into his space, Dragomir snapped at his face in a quick lunge before pulling back to the stick. He didn't make an effort to connect—his temper was flaring but he wasn't angry enough for that—but he immediately felt bad for losing his cool anyway, and his ears fled back to the safety of his scalp as he remembered himself.

it was understandable dragomir's temper flared; arcturus pulled back. it was not for the speed of his reaction that he was spared teeth -- it appeared dragomir's move had largely been a bluff.

pity, and other softer emotions, would spare the boy nothing here. arcturus knew the lesson cruel and frustrating -- but in the long run, it was a better kindness. "that is all for today." arcturus announced softly, recognizing like all lessons, sometimes it was better to quit while one was ahead. the emotions dragomir felt were warranted -- but the boy would have to learn to channel them.

"there are only two emotions one should allow while training. a sense of humor -- and the other is patience." his gaze swept to dragomir briefly to ensure he was following. "the rest you must learn to channel away. humor will help you see your mistakes. patience will show you how to fix them."

here is where the mentor would say rome is not built in a day - but wolves had no rome, and so arcturus struggled for a moment with his next little piece of insight. "practice often, and these things will come easier to you. just like you practiced on the mountain. you are learning, not everything has the same approach. you learned too, that sometimes it is better to stand your ground, and sometimes it is not. tomorrow, we will try again."

At last, Arcturus called off the lesson. Although he knew he needed time to cool off and process everything the Beta showed him, he'd wanted to figure it out and impress Arcturus. Instead, all he did was emphasize his inexperience. Nothing was learned or gained in a single day, but that didn't stop the boy from wishing he could end on a better note than this. His heart sank with disappointment.

He listened carefully to everything that was said next, filing it all away for later consideration. While Dragomir could exhibit a lot of patience in the right circumstance, his life hadn't set him up to have much of a sense of humour. His father was always able to find a joke in everything, but Dragomir wasn't the wisecracker that Vercingetorix had been. Instead, he'd experienced more than his fair share of tragedy and frustration, which was likely to blame for his fuse running short these days. Learning to find humour in his failures was going to be the hard part, he knew.

Drago was relieved, at least, that Arcturus thought he was learning something even if he hadn't succeeded. Right now it did little to cut through the gloom of failing so miserably, but given time, he would realize the Beta was right. Every failure was a lesson. I'll do my best, he promised, ignoring his doubts that his best would ever really be good enough.

sometimes, doing your best was truly all one could do. arcturus shook his coat lightly, glancing from dragomir to the steppes below. "sucking at something is the first step to getting good at something." he offered, a sway of his tail given in what he hoped would be a sign to relax. dragomir was trying -- that arcturus could see -- and he would never fault the boy for his lack of experience.

"let's get something to eat." he remembered the boy had been hungry before, and surely their spar had only further managed to work up his appetite. he waited for the boy to answer before he began padding down the slim foot-trail, ears ahead. "remember, tomorrow we try again."

A bob of his head was the only indication that Dragomir heard. He would find his resolve again and his determination would flare again, but not today. The mention of food made his stomach snarl, reminding him now that the lesson was over that he was absolutely starving. Yes, please, he agreed, following Arcturus down the slope.

Tomorrow they would try again, and he hoped by then to think of a strategy.