Northstar Vale We don't want you to know

15C°, currently it is patchy rain and set during the afternoon. Located in Northstar Vale, borders | ooc notes: here we go! rolling thread here! | tagging: @Collision

It had been a while since he had checked up on the pack in the Vale. Ira had come back and they were officially a sister pack to Kaistleoki which meant good news to both packs - and to Hiero himself who, lately, wanted to spend some time away from the pack for some self-care. Ira was deeply involved with whom he thought were the fathers of her litter, which honestly was painful to watch but he respected hers and their decision.

In order to help distract him from the heartache, he chose to come to the Reneian Empire and offer his assistance to them for a little while and then go back home in a couple of days once he felt a little lighter with the weighed situation on his personal life. The familiar sight of the vale within the mountains was a welcomed one, cautiously he padded past what he thought was the borders and was still rather slow just in case he was mistaken. The last thing he wanted was a malicious attack to plague him from a silly mistake.

Collisionw as well aware that an agreement had been reached between his own home and Kaistleoki. The Vale wolves allowed to go there freely and the same right was to their own. Collision, however, had not yet had the privilege of meeting one of the wolves or being introduced to their scent. 

 His eyes bore off into the distance as he made his afternoon trip around the Empire. He had promised Reiko he would offer her protection and so at least twice a day he worked on canvasing most of the land and seeking any foreign smells. Today, in the distance, his eyes were met with a quite colorful figure making it's way into the land.  Though...he looked tentative. 

 Collision broke into a run and attempted to make himself heard with a threatening grunt before seen. 

 He, however, was not one to attack without obvious reason and there were plenty of reason to talk first before attack in this moment. 

 When Collision felt he were within ear shot his body began to slow and he stiffened sliding into an obviously defensive stance. Ears fell against his head and his tail swayed in warning, "Who are you?" There were a number of wolves that he had not been acquainted with that Reiko probably knew across this place. Ibis too for that matter--and so carefully he waited.

He heard the man first, paws thudding against the ground, stealing his attention as painted ears flickered in its direction first before seafoam eyes met the greyscaled man who was quickly approaching - with a stiff appearance too! Preparing to defend himself and maybe make a quick getaway to avoid any serious injury, but he man stops short from leaping onto him and starting to defend what might be his lands and demands to know who he was.

With a smile, he tried to come off as the least threatening man as possible as his tail swayed pleasantly behind him, offering a short curt bow before introducing himself in one sweeping motion. Hieronymous Boesch, one of Kaitleoki's knights. He hoped that was good enough to calm the other man's worries, hopeful that he was still in the right lands... it seemed like the right one. How many places had a pack nestled between mountains?

I've come to see how you guys are coming along, seems like there are new faces every day~

The boy was quick to explain to Collision who he was and he didn't make a single offensive move. Still on guard he did seem to soften his features ever so slightly and become less, obviously, tense. 

 What would Reiko do? 

 "Welcome then," His words are quick, awkward perhaps, and barely genuine. Collision was learning the social graces of a pack. Whilst once he had had them downpat there were notable differences between this place and where had come from. 

 "my name is Collision," he wasn't the best at making introduction or providing conversation, luckily, Hieronymous seemed to be able to steer them in the right direction, "I have to agree. It's quite often I find someone near the borders. Luckily no one with malicious intent, but I try to stay prepared for it,"

Visibly he relaxed as the other man, though not completely relaxed, welcomed him instead of continuing his previous charge and attack to chase him out. The sway in his tail grew with more vivacious swings, especially knowing now that he was indeed in the right area!

It's all we can really do hm? We had a couple of trespassers recently, so Kaistleoki is quite on edge as well. There was nothing said about keeping such news within the pack only, and the Empire being a sister pack only made sense for them to know too of the strangers who kept ignoring borders.

We had to chase one out, but thankfully no one of ours received any injuries. Even now Hiero didn't like that they injured the last one who had come and gone just for some spoiled meat - but trespassing was trespassing and it had to be treated as such no matter the reason behind it. Especially with women being pregnant within their borders.

Collision supposed if he so quickly gave information about his own home he was to be trusted and like wise he trusted the wolves from the Vale. Of course, who did he know here? What friend had he come to visit with? Surely a chance encounter hadn't been all the boy sought after. 

 "I'm sorry to hear that. I haven't seen your home yet," Collision knew of the status of the two packs, but he felt guilty for trying to leave the vale unless it were and immediate need or a destination not far off. Reiko seemed to get bigger all the time and therefore less capable. Actually, a lot of the women seemed to be positively swollen as of late. Before long everyone would be waddling around. 

 "Would you care to put it to the test?" Collision was feeding a bit off of the adrenaline given to him upon thinking he had indeed caught an intruder. Additionally, he hadn't had a chance to practice and he feared he needed to let go of some of his rigidness in general. Hieronymous seemed to be a bit older than him so perhaps he could learn a thing or too, "In a mostly friendly sense. I would benefit from a humble duel."

Hiero couldn't tell how long Collision has been here yet but knowing the rules that both packs needed newcomers to graduate to Commoner before passing through borders, he didn't have much to say for Colission's statement that he didn't get the chance to see Kaistleoki yet other than, You have plenty of time once given the opportunity. With a playful wink, they seemed to quickly move on from there.

A duel? Another warrior at the Empire's borders, two out of the two he had met while coming here - and that was a good sign. To keep strong individuals at their borders could only mean good news for the longevity of the pack. Sure! He chirps, but like with Vespera, he had a couple of requests.  Try not to bite too deep though, okay? I can't tell when injuries are fatal, I'd like to not perish in a friendly spar. He made light of the situation still with a hearty laugh, not wanting to dissuade Collisions' desire to test his abilities.  

Let's go— This time Hiero moved first, swiftly before he could barely finish his statement and aimed a rough shoulder into Collision's chest.

Rolled a 7 in our dice thread! Lower rolls will basically just be defended by the opponent, while higher are just unsuccessful defense

The male that took him up on his duel looked like he made for a pretty stout warrior. Collision was ready.

 or not.

 The boy sprung forward suddenly and Collision immediately felt the shoulder slam into his chest. His breath withdrew suddenly and a grunt escaped the boy. His back legs tightened to reinforce his base and he would raise his left leg in an attempt to keep Hieronymous close. How light did he need to keep things? Not too deep. The thought resounded in his head as his teeth sought out the boy's shoulder. He wanted to avoid attacks to the face as it were a more delicate area, but he was certain when he grabbed for the shoulder he had actually used so little force it would hardly bother the Kaistleoki native. Collision was certainly holding back, but perhaps it was too much. Ears flattened against his head as he pushed forward.

He felt the attack on his shoulder, something had landed and he could only hope that Collision would be true to his word and not aim for painful attacks to have the knight concede before the injuries were too much. His body jerked back and that's all he knew, and so Hiero pressed on, using that lack of pain to both his advantage and disadvantage as it didn't have him flinch back but instead he could move forward and thrust his jaws onto his friendly opponent with an open mouth full of teeth to meet Collision's own shoulder or chest. 

Unlike most, Hiero knew his own rules. There was no clamping down, only a push with his maw to signal what would have been a more vicious attack should this had been a real fight. In an attempt to twist his body away from the warrior, he gently tugged to see if he could pry himself free safely and wind up parallel to the solider, ass to ass as he playfully tried to bump Collision's hips with his own. 

Because why not have a little fun with this? A little laugh.

5/20

they were being much more gentle on one another than they would be if they were truly at one another's throats. something that collision found slight delight in. this was a good way for him to learn, study, and become stronger through doing. it was serendipitous that this man had come along and been so willing to agree. 

 heiro's mouth would wrap around the front of his left shoulder. and collision would note that he never truthfully squeezes or attempted to cause pain. instead, collision noted that the grip hiero had been granted was very capable of destruction in a heartless cretin. 

 hiero would attempt, and succeed, ins twisting his body away. collision had mistakenly thought he was pulling away and deciding he was done with their spar. it ddn't last very long as the man's hips swung into collision's own. collision offered him a slightly amused and slightly alarmed look. he hadn't been expecting the plaful nature. perhaps that was something he equally needed to work on. 

 collision attepted to shove his shoulder into the boy. if he landed the force as intended then distance would be created and if done with more force in a battle perhaps it would be enough to trip up his opponent. for now he only wanted to manuever them back to a head to head stand off.

Collision was a good man, Hiero could already tell by the way he was reacting to the playfulness of the spar they were having. Vespera respected the boundaries as well, but she seemed far more frustrated by it than Collision did. Their expressions were different and the man even offered a fun bump back in response. Hiero's smile only grew but they couldn't just stand like this forever, no victor for their spar was decided yet. 

He attempted to grab a part of the man's scruff and see if he could submit the man - but of course it would not be easy. His fangs only graced the man's skin and no hold could be assured until he found the distance between them grow with a shoulder bump making way for space between the sparring partners. 

head to head it is as Hiero, this time, would wait to see how Collision would take the first move to start the match again and possibly, for the final round. The knight would watch carefully and prepare for a counter strike or defence depending on what the greyscale man decided to do... oh how excited he was to see what the Reneian might have up his sleeve!

2/20. i think i put 3/20 in the other thread bc i can't math lolz. <'3

The spar was a refreshing change of pace. Walking around and studying things as he had been doing with little interference from anyone had proven to become quite boring. equally, he had begun to wonder how rusty he truly was. As the match endured the answer was quite obvious.

 Really rusty. 

 It was alright, though, it all in good fun today and Collision knew no matter the outcome there would be no one feeling downcast. Hieronymous had definitely proven a good opponent, also, given the age gap between the two it was to be expected that the Reneian boy might learn something. That was the point of all of this. 

 Now head to head with one another Collision decided on nothing more than using brute force. He wasn't fond of the biting especially for a subconcious fear of doing so too hard and violating the budding and unspoken trust. It had to exist to allow this kind of excersize between two partners. So, with haste Collision made an attempt to charge forward and slam his body weight into Hiero. His body willing to absorb some of the damage that would automatically come from a 'collision' of so much force. His attempt was simply to force hiero back and incur discomfort. nothing more.

I was going to make them collide in an epic showdown but Collision's 1 made me giggle and wanted to do this instead LOL head to head collision next time....

Now what will he do? Hiero mused with a few possibilities but it was cut short as the sparring partner made a quick decision and began to rush toward Hiero with every intention of running him over. A tactic Ira had used as well. And just as what Hiero had done to Ira, the knight braced himself at the final moment, crouching down just enough to shoot up from his crouching position and try to flip the Reneian's tactic on himself. Spars were all about learning after all, to learn new ways of fighting and honing in on certain skills until the real thing came around. 

He was a big guy tho and seemed pretty heavy so Hiero wasn't quite certain how this would work out. With a shit-eating grin, he'd try anyway.

Collision came forward with all the force that he could muster. Hiero dipped down and much like a spring he jutted back up and shoved right back at coll. Collision, confused as to what he was doing, tried to change his tactic at the absolute last minute but he had been caught by Hiero's body. So in a very dramatic flail of limbs he fell over to the ground.

 then he stopped. 

 the male seemed to knead the earth with his paws and he looked up at hiero before a laugh rumbled from his mouth, "Well thank goodness you didn't have ill intent," It was like some mystical force sat above laughing at the ridiculousness it could cause. It was all, truly, in good fun though and Collision felt quite a bit better in getting to hone some of his skills, get to know one of the men from Kaistleoki, and being able to get his adrenaline truly going for once. All in all--nothing had been a loss.

Though his new favorite tactic of throwing sparring partners over his shoulder as they charged forward was successful just as it was with Ira before - he knew there would be some bruising later from the force, at least bruises were non-lethal and he would be fine in a few days as they healed. Standing back up to face Collision, seeing the sprawled out display of the man was well... rather humourous.

With a chuckle, Hiero's tail swayed. I feel the same way Collision, I'm sure you would have had me on the ropes if I didn't have such strange spar rules. But again, he liked to think that it made individuals think differently in a spar than to just bite and rip mindlessly until the other decided to give up. He hoped they learned at least just as he did. I'm happy to see the Empire has fine warriors. With a nod, he was pleased with his visit. Perhaps his next here would be less... of a spar and more of a casual get to know everyone instead.

I should go now, wouldn't want to hold you up any longer - I'll see you next time! once the farewells were made on both sides, Hiero was quick to make his way back up and down the mountain to return home once again. Thankful that the packs were neighbors.

Collision was quite thankful for the spar. It did teach him. It taught him that he needed to redevote to the studies and made it so that a fire burned in his belly. the admittance to his defeat leaving him a  bit embarassed, but all would be well. you had to face defeat to know how to better oneself. 

 "It was a pleasure to meet you. I'll be sure to be more welcoming next we meet," He offered him his own soft smile. never over done and simply polite. "Enjoy your travels, Hieronymous," Collision needed to get back to his rounds and make sure the rest of the borders were safe. He stretched out his limbs, that would no doubt be sore a day or two, and pressed foward with a spring to his step. 

[exit]