Bearclaw Valley Don't Know Much

Skoll wandered through Bearclaw Valley, watching the walls around him from said valley. He had known how closed in they were before, but didn't think much of it in the past. With all of the fighting and strangers and things he'd seen about, it was no wonder anyone tried to get into their borders. Though there was only one way to get into the territory, which meant that it was possible for an entire pack to overpower them if it came to it. 

Thinking of that came later, though, he would figure things out for that another time. 

Maybe he could gather someone to spar with him - Skoll wasn't good at fighting in any way. But he didn't mind a teaching. 

Lookin for someone to spar with him / teach him more about fighting! Either one is good with me - the chars don't have to actually fight in the thread and can instead discuss takedowns or something!

The mountain of a man looked less like himself, today. He did not carry himself with great esteem, his head lowered almost to the dirt, while something dragged beneath his body. A lump of flesh was pinched between his teeth; coarse brown hairs were matted with blood, likewise the swine's nostrils had gore caked across the nostrils, as if it had died struggling for air when it had breathed its last breath. Revui was trying to transport it closer to a cache for safekeeping, and found it easiest to straddle the body and pull it in fits and starts, leaving depressions and bloody patches in the grass.

He stopped to rest his straining neck, to lick the blood from his muzzle and take a gander of his surroundings. The last thing he wanted was to overshoot his path and need to backtrack to a cache instead; the easiest hold he'd discovered was the base of the pig's thick neck, and having to change tactics would cost him time. There were patrols that still needed to happen.

As he stood over the dead thing and peered around, Revui noticed the black wolf. They did not appear busy with anything, so he huffed a sound in their direction to get their attention — striding a few steps to extricate himself from over the dead pig — and sized the stranger up with a glance. They did not appear to be working on anything, so that begged the question - what the fuck was he doing there, besides loitering?

The wolf hadn't noticed the other until he could smell the blood from the carcas that was being dragged. Head turning, heterochromatic eyes spotting the scource. A man with a pig, most likely bringing it back to one of the pack's caches. An adept hunter of some kind. Skoll didn't often pay attention to the other wolves within the pack, however he did know of this one. 

Trotting closer, Skoll was curious. 

"I was looking for someone." He noted. Skoll didn't know if this was one of those wolves that refused to speak, but he figured it would be interesting to ask. 

"To spar with." He added on. 

"If you were interested." 

@Revui

He was huffing and puffing, tasting the humid air with each breath, and felt his racing heart calm somewhat. The stranger moved closer, and Revui noticed the way he carried himself. There was pride there, which made Revui wonder if this man was higher-ranked than himself; he immediately felt annoyed at that thought. But the man stopped to speak, and so the mountain listened.

If Revui had not been so worn out by his hunt for this damnable boar, he might have been spurred in to a fight then and there - as he had surprised Toad and Evien respectively - but this time he paused to think. This man did not have any obvious wounds, and he seemed healthy. He could be a good sparring partner.

Alright. Revui relented, striding away from the boar carcass in a crescent, effectively migrating the pair of them away from it. No need to involve the dead pig, it would have been an obstacle. Revui was confident that whatever transpired he would be the victor, and the spar would be quick, so then he could get back to work.

It would be up to the dark wolf to make the first move.

The other man agreed, and Skoll couldn't help but feel a small adrenaline rush come from it. The two moved away from the carcas of the pig, no use including it in their spar. Someone might trip over it, and it would be a pain. They didn't need broken ankles along with whatever came from the two of them sparring. 

Skoll moved into action. Just because he didn't know how to fight well, that didn't mean he was stupid to it all. Rushing forward, Skoll was going to attempt to push the other man over. Skoll was taller, though not by much, but couldn't match the other man in weight. 

@Revui

He managed to get a few lengths away from the boar when the dark wolf came for him, lunging straight after Revui. The way he moved - with more finesse than power - made the stonemaw think of his sisters, Lyra and Ayla. They were strong too but fast, built like runners. Had he known of Skoll's previous lifestyle as a loner who travelled, he would have understood. He lacked bulk but that afforded him a lighter body, and as such, he moved in swiftly to Revui's side and punched him with a lunge of his shoulder. Revui countered as best he could, snapping at the man's limbs, but already he felt his momentum being redirected; he scrambled to keep on his feet and narrowly missed plunging in to the grass. His snapping teeth met air, and then he was grimacing, frustrated.

Skoll's force was able to make contact with the other wolf, shoving him over and narrowly missing completely toppling over himself. However he got back into a well enough form when he felt the pearly whites of the other wolf nearly get at his legs. Skoll's own teeth squared up before diving forward to try and grab at the other wolf's chest. Missing by an inch and instead snapping at air much alike the other wolf. Grunting, he whipped his head forward to keep an eye on the other wolf's form. 

Weaknesses, just being shoved and off balance. If Skoll could keep him pushed over he could win. But that meant actually being able to use the other's weight to make him stay down. Skoll was too thin to constantly be able to use his own weight for it. Strengths, the other wolf was more bulky, had more weight to him. 

This was going to be a pain. However he didn't mind.

While he had been trained by his siblings from an early age, it was always in the offensive style. He'd never had to be defensive, although Hydra had tried to impart as much skill as she could during her lessons. In this moment, as Revui struggled to get to his paws amid the flurry of snapping teeth and misplaced momentum of attack after attack, he could not get to his paws. He could not lunge in to Skoll's periphery or overwhelm him, which was what Revui often did while fighting.

He had to welcome the other man's attempts, instead. Let him get close. Let him push and prod and snap, while trying to counter with his own teeth. It was not something he was accustomed to and so his reactions were sluggish; his snaps met air more often than not, and the further they fought the more crowded Revui felt. He did not like this. He did not feel powerful against the ground like this. And so, while the spar continued, a kindling rage began in his heart.

More snapping at him that couldn't connect. Skoll wasn't sure if it was because he was so skinny, or if he was so swift. But he kept making the bulkier man miss and he wasn't going to complain about it. The issue was that the other was no longer off balance and it was going to be harder to get him to the floor. Skoll wanted to push the other man to the floor and win. Skoll wasn't even sure he was good enough to win. 

Pushing forward again, Skoll's nails dug into the dirt, and he moved to shove the other wolf once again. Keep him off balance, keep him from taking Skoll down.

He was shoved again, this time hitting the dirt hard. His skin would bruise in the coming hours, but that was nothing - if this were a real fight, Revui knew he would have torn this guy to pieces. He did not like being pushed around at all, and once he hit the dirt this second time he was scrambling to stand again, almost immediately. He huffed, bracing against the dirt, and lunged - throwing his weight in to Skoll's path and snapping his teeth, trying to herd the man backwards and hopefully off-balance, or at least trying to get more space for himself.

As soon as Skoll shoved the other man into the dirt, for real this time, the other man was pushing himself back up right away. The dark wolf lost all amount of surprise, which wasn't strange. There was no way to keep surprising and enemy if the same thing was used over and over again. It was too bad, too. His heterochromatic eyes widened when the other man suddenly pushed forward, making him back up and lose balance for a moment. That wasn't good. 

Skoll was weaker than the other wolf, in pretty much every way except for speed. His slim body allowed him to be faster than most, but it made him weak. But he could still read into the other man's movements. Even if Skoll was pushed off balance, he surged forward to shove his teeth into Revui's exposed shoulder. that was one part he could get to without getting himself hurt in the process, one weak point.

He didn't manage to get any distance between them; try as he might Revui snapped and crowded up against Skoll, trying to drive him back, and that much worked out as planned... but the spry wolf would not relent, and came for Revui again and again. When he finally snapped at Revui's shoulder and grappled there, there was little the giant could do. He tried to throw his weight in to Skoll but that failed; he tried pulling, twisting his body, snapping his teeth, but the other man's hold was strong despite how thin and wiry he appeared. Frustrated and tired, mostly because of his earlier hunt and resulting need for a nap, Revui snarled and bristled.

Enough! He all but roared, essentially crying uncle. This was an unfortunate loss.

The man thrashed and thrashed and it made Skoll bite down harder, though he wasn't ripping or tearing at the other man's skin. If he were to let go he would lose. Losing wasn't fun. Skoll was hyperfocused on staying planted in his spot, not being able to be moved or pushed anywhere. And it seemed to be working. 

until the other man yelled for their sparring match to be over. 

That made skoll immidiately remove his teeth from the shoulder of the other man. Moving in a quick motion to not cause any more damage and to back up out of the space of the other wolf. He was tired, maybe due for a break for a bit. Somehow he'd been able to overpower the stronger man. Skoll could tell the other wolf was tired, too. Maybe from his hunt before that, or something else. Eyes scanned him, spotting the shoulder where he was bit - it surely wasn't that bad. But something of an emberassment from being overpowered by someone weaker. Weak points were easy to spot if you focused. Skoll focused and won, even if he cheesed his way through a lot of it. 

Heterochromatic eyes wathched the other. 

"I win." A snark.

When the other man finally gave up and released him, Revui stepped back. He shook out the tension in his shoulders, the serration of his coat giving him a wild look. A low rumble started in the pit of his chest but he curtailed it, looking over his shoulder at the boar he'd abandoned. His shoulder was sore, so too was his back and his neck, however it was the loss of his pride that stung the most. If he hadn't been preoccupied prior to this spar he'd probably have won - or so he told himself.

The man's voice was met with a sneer, a cold, sharp glare. This time. Revui comments darkly, unable to find the mirth in this moment. He was a sore loser. There was work to be done though, so he ducked away from Skoll and proceeded to grapple at the boar body, tugging at it, working at pulling it across the grass again - as if the spar never happened.

This time. Came from the other wolf, and he couldn't help but feel some form of excitement from that. Would they spar again in the future? That was a feeling he'd not had before. Skoll was loooking forward to it. His eyes watched the other wolf go grab the pig and start to drag it. 

Might as well help. 

So he moved that way and grabbed the flank of it, before going with the other. 

//Fade