Moonspear somewhere only we know

dated before thread with rian!

 

Hydra was in combat with a limp hare carcass. While Hydra was not the most imaginative of the Ostrega sisters, when it came to practicing warfare she seemed proficient enough in the art. She darted away from the carcass, only to rush toward it, bite at its shoulder, and rush around it before it could 'retaliate'. When she tired of this game, she picked up the thing and flung it away from her, only to chase after it, fetch it, and repeat. She built her speed and endurance this way, and fortunately for her she had yet to face an ice patch that would cause her to misstep.

Except when she threw it again, this time it was caught by her father on the other end. His head tugged from left to right in childlike play, the hare limply dangling along the movements like a ragdoll. Then, just as his daughter was about to reach him (he guessed it was Hydra, but it could be any of them, really) he darted away with the prize. A muffled 'woof' escaped him to signify the play, and he darted away with large, playful gallops that gave her ample opportunity to catch him and her prize if she wished to.

She raced toward the thing, and in her peripheral vision she caught sight of her father. Hydra's tail waved as he gripped it and shook the thing as she had, and just as she went to grab at it her father evaded her with a quick move. Her blue eyes narrowed and her tail waved all the faster as he bounded off, and Hydra moved to attempt to race alongside him to continue to snap at the thing dangling from between his jaws. If she managed to get a grip on the carcass, Hydra would attempt to incite a game of tug-o-war, something that between her sisters she was typically difficult to beat. Sometimes they bested her with a better grip, but Hydra's competitive nature oft had her figure out a way to win the bigger, or whole, share. If it was the latter, she'd split it with whatever twin she had played with.

Charon dashed off, and he was quick to see that Hydra was still following him all the way. He grinned, still holding the carcass slash play-thing as Hydra snapped at it, taking it out of the way narrowly a few times.

Then as she grabbed it and started to pull in an attempt to start a game of tug-o-war, Charon just kept running at first while he held on tight, forcing her to either run along or slide along. He ran for a while while a playful growl bubbled in his throat.

Then, rather abruptly, he suddenly let go and then stopped, quickly looking back to see if his ploy to make his daughter fall flat on her face from the sudden disappearance of tugging worked.

Her father had much in his favor. His momentum, how much of the creature she had thrown he had between his fangs, experience—but she was, in many ways, his daughter... and this was her advantage. He continued to run, and there was not a second she thought to put on the brakes. Hydra pulled back as he did, but he seemed relentless. She could think of only one way to win this, and winning was very much so a part of her competitive agenda. It was a small risk, and if it didn't work she would have to give chase again... but that was fine, she decided, as she simultaneously released the thing. Her own intent wasn't to make him fall but to confuse him—

But she watched it fall to the earth completely! 

Hydra whipped around, snow spraying every which way as she did the wolf-equivalent of a donut, making a mad dash toward the abandoned carcass, a veritable bullet flying out of a gun. But, as misfortune and lack of experience would have it, Hydra moved too swiftly to observe her path, and skid messily on a small, barely visible patch of ice—sliding messily right in the direction of her father. There was no fear on her face, only shock and mild amusement—as a child who had experienced little to no pain in her life, she did not fear death or hurt from this. Still, instinct bid she prepare for impact, and she did so as best she could with what little time they had both been given.

Shit — he immediately realised that his plan had failed when he felt pressure fall from the carcass just as he released it; and as he turned round he saw it confirmed by seeing it laying there. Hydra instantly dashed for it and though Charon was very tempted to snap it up right before her and taunt her some more he decided to let her have this one... Or so he thought.

Everything happened really fast from there on, while he trotted towards her and her toy, but before she fully reached it she slipped and came sliding towards him. He had no time to move out the way as all of this happened in a split second and his feet were knocked out from under him by the impact, sending him crashing towards the ground with a surprised yelp. The whole ordeal must've looked funny from a distance.

He seemed to have a surprisingly soft landing, but when he was well landed and able to look around again he was beginning to wonder if there was a reason that his landing had been so soft, almost like... Wait, where was Hydra? After a few seconds of thought he quickly jumped to his feet to look around whether he'd squished her or if she had gone flying somewhere out of his vision when they'd collided.

Rabbit still in tow, Hydra bowled into her father and hit the perfect strike. Alas, the victory did not come without the loss of some dignity—and more pain, too. Hydra herself had let out a few offended yelps, but they were muted against the fur of the creature she refused to let go of, now. His weight bore on the lighter Hydra, who wheezed beneath him up until he removed himself from her. 

Shaking off the snow, Hydra lifted her head proudly with her quarry. I wrn, she said with a triumphant ear flick, and then, dropping the carcass and looking up at him with a fiendish gleam in her eye, Hydra—the little terror that she was—play-bowed and pounced with little else to warn him but for that look. Oh, she was having great fun.

"Fuck!" he called out when he saw that he had indeed squished his daughter in the crash. He had to have fallen forward and ended up right over her, or however that happened. He was about to ask her if she was okay, wide-eyed and worried, but then she got to her feet and as she proclaimed that she had won and dropped the carcass he grinned back at her, glad that she was okay, his heart finally slowing down a bit.

Instead of admitting his worry, it fell right off his face and whatever was left was kept on the inside as he said, "Good job, butterpaws." His eyes gleamed with jest and he did not realise himself how deeply these sort of responses were a part of his personalities.

But his daughter had plenty of confidence to go around and he had barely finished speaking before she turned to look at him and pounced right at him. He was surprised, but didn't let it show as he stood back on his hind legs, making himself tall and trying to land on top of her shoulders to use his weight advantage to pull her down.

His insult served only to fuel her playful fire. As he reared, she was already springing toward him in her pounce. As he attempted to put his weight atop her as she landed, Hydra sought to unbalance him by using the momentum she had gained in her landing make an attempt to barrel through/past his back legs, before the whole of his weight landed in any one place. She had already experienced the discomfort of bearing however much he weighed, and her aggressive maneuvering could only prove she did not wish to experience that again.

Charon landed down again but Hydra was too fast, having already passed him. He felt the knock to his hind legs but it wasn't enough to completely take him off balance. It was enough to spur on his fire too, though, and he was quick to turn and came at her with parted teeth aiming for her scruff, waiting to see how she would respond to this move.

Hydra didn't stop her movements, particularly when he did not fall outright onto his side (or any other part of him). Knowing he, like her sisters, would attempt to seek redemption, Hydra continued her line of movement, using the strength her limbs provided her and her momentum gained to continue her line of motion. Her father missed his slippery, lithe daughter, who turned around and parted her jowls to prompt him to jaw spar with her.

Teeth were met with teeth, the spar accepted whole-heartedly. Charon would try to grab his teeth round his daughter's snout, releasing again if he managed, or try to get just part of it such as her lower jaw so that she couldn't move — but never for long, and never to inflict any pain. He jumped up again during the spar and tried to wrap front paws round her, hoping that she would join.

Hydra was still learning. He moved in when he saw she relented any bit, which would only serve to aid her in the future. When her jowls closed even a little bit, her father had the advantage—and Hydra deduced this firstly when his fangs met her snout, then her lower jaw! When he released, Hydra opened her jaws all the wider and reared right along with him, stepping backward to lure him nearer to her. Size was his ultimate advantage, and she sought to find her own in their game.

As she stepped backward Charon followed, standing on hind legs still while his front paws flailed through the air and teeth were parted in play. As he stepped closer he tried to lock his front paws around her neck while teeth sought to grab at her muzzle again.

Moving backward was not so easy as moving forward, but Hydra did alright in this. Still, as she saw his intent Hydra allowed her weight to lean forward so that she could wrap her own forelegs around him to do the same. She kept her jaws opened wide so that his teeth could no longer grab her muzzle, and adeptly avoided his fangs, coordinating her movements to his own, patient and watchful this time instead of rash.

Their paws were wrapped around each other's necks and teeth snapped at each other. He did not manage to grab her muzzle as she kept er mouth open, and though he tried to grab the bottom of her muzzle a few times he failed each time, as she was waiting for it and aware of how she should stop it this time.

Charon withdrew, placing his weight backwards and trying to take his paws off her neck again so that he may once again be able to land on the ground. He was getting a little tired from all the running and playing so he hoped he could finish it by withdrawing from the spar.

Once her father moved to withdraw, Hydra relented. She removed her limbs from his and landed on all fours, tail wagging. She felt she had done well, and she still had the boundless energy befitting her age. Hydra, for the most part, learned by doing. But Hydra also appreciated insight, which she knew her parents could provide. I can't knock you over, that was something she had noticed. Even when she came into her full figure, Hydra was uncertain she'd ever be able to do this, and so she asked, how do I win against wolves that are bigger than me, if I can't knock them over? She could easily bowl over her sisters, but they shared her frame and she knew how to work with that.

She understood the hints that the play fight was over now and got down again, to ask him about tactics. "You have to be fast," he explained. "A bigger wolf is often slower and will take longer to reach you. You might not be able to knock them over, but you could bite their hind legs when they go for you. If you're lucky, you might even be able to knock them over by swiping their paws out from under them." He looked at his daughter to see if she understood, and to see if she had any other thoughts or questions on the matter.

Their hind legs. That made sense as he said it to her. The hind legs were more difficult to respond to when someone was going for them. The opponent would likely be more difficult to reach. And then he mentioned potentially swiping the paws out from under her opponent. That was a thought; she would have to practice it, though wondered if she could find anyone big enough to practice on when she perfected the maneuver. How can I become faster? she wondered aloud next. In general, and in fights. She supposed that the former might lead to the latter.

She seemed happy with the extra information, and Charon was looking forward to next time he'd spar with her. It was an odd thing to spar with one's daughter when one was so prideful; he wanted to win and at the same time wanted her to excell. At her next question, he said, "Training. Running a lot, patrolling a lot, fighting a lot." He was glad his daughter was becoming so useful to the pack so soon already, and he hoped that his tips helped her to further build out her use.

Is fight the same thing as spar? She asked, wanting to know if the words were two of the same. She could rope her sisters into sparring without question—even if they were unwilling, it was very much her way to provoke and incite a rough game. And, in her next breath, Hydra perked upward, wanna go for a run? her tail waving happily behind her as she spoke the words. 

fade at ur posty?!?!?

Charon loved seeing his daughter so full of energy and so eager to learn. "A spar is a form of fighting," he explained, "But a fight can also be much more serious than that, where wolves try to actually hurt each other." He hoped that the implications were clear and that the words couldn't automatically be interchanged. But at the end of the day those were just semantics and he cared little for those.

At her question he smiled and while he dashed off called out — "Last one to the rendezvous site's a lame-o slowpoke!" — and then went full speed, assuming that his daughter was right on his tail.