Blacktail Deer Plateau What are you made of?

Special Event Spar Tournament! First posting round will end 12/28. Everyone planning on participating should join in by them. Opponents will be chosen after that. Good luck everyone! @Grayday @Dawn @Aditya @Engel @Kieran Adrien @Aliac @Aviana @Spiritwalker @Raid @Shale @Dauntless @Easy @Lavender @Burr

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It was time. She had this idea in her head for a really long time now, and it was time to make it a reality. She wanted to wait for Day and the others to get back, and it was good that they now had new member. She wanted as many people to attend as possible. Morningside was filled with a variety of wolves, with varying skills and trades. But they were lacking in one area. Mercenary. They were by no means a fighting pack and that’s not what Pema wanted. But she wanted to make sure that if it got down to it, the member of the pack would be able to defend themselves. And she could sense that she wasn’t the only one that felt this way.

She made her way down to the meadow that early afternoon and found a place that she thought was fairly level and open. A place where everyone in the pack could have their own space to tussle, without bumping into others. Even though the pack wasn’t filled with fighters it was good to know where everyone was at. This didn’t need to be super serious, for now this would just be a fun game for everyone. A bonding experience. She let out a howl for the whole pack and waited to see who would arrive.

It was Pema's sweet song that stirred him from whatever monotonous task he had applied himself to that day, and Shale's head lifted, ears pricked as he tried to suss out from where the sound had come. He loped that way and found himself in the plateau's vast meadow, where Pema was standing alone in a flat, open part of the territory.

Cocking a solitary eyebrow upwards, he trotted toward her with a smile of greeting. "What are we up to, today?" he asked, his voice quite chipper. "A hunt?" His heart stirred with excitement at the thought. He had not been on a pack hunt in. . .god, how long had it been? Two summers ago, at least.

She had called for everyone, after all, and Morningside was a hunting pack, or so he had been led to understand. Like his siblings, Shale had been brought up an excellent hunter, and was eager to flex his skills in that area in front of his new packmates--not the least of which was this pretty girl standing here before him.

The voice is familiar, Raid thinks as she lifts her chocolate crown to the sky and squints, ears swivelling towards the direction of the call. She is in the middle of a border patrol, a monotonous job which she is beginning to enjoy for reasons which even she, herself did not know. Maybe it is because it gives her a sense of purpose, something she lacks nowadays. Still, despite hating interruptions and unfinished tasks, Raid is glad for the distraction and after scanning her surroundings swiftly just to make sure the area is clear, she begins to make her way towards the direction of the howl. 

Raid arrives in a meadow where Pema - she recognises her as the source of the howl and greets her with a brief smile - and a male whom she had yet to meet stood. Immediately, the medic wonders if she should sneak off and wait until more wolves arrive before participating as she isn't fond of interacting with strangers or of being a third wheel. Raid forces away her irrational fears, however, and trots forwards, eager to hear the answer to the stranger's question. It's time to interact with her packmates, anyways, and she'd rather it to be sooner rather than later.

The howl that rose and broke the silence of the early afternoon caused the perking of Kieran's ears, head raising as he located the source. It seemed he was not all that far. The summon led his paws forward, across the snow-topped ground as he made his way to Pema and the others. When he emerged on the scene, tail flicking gently behind him, he scanned the area. Pema, and two who he had not yet grown familiar with - perhaps he would get a chance to after the event of which he could see would take place here. What this event was, however, he had little idea.

The young hunter sent a smile to each wolf present, though his forest gaze landed on Pema as he wondered what this particular call had been for. A pack hunt, perhaps, though no prey seemed present nearby, nor had he scented any in this area. His brow raised slightly at his friend, though he did not yet inquire - another had beat him to the words.

Engel heard the call out for the pack, and he headed out to meet with the group. He found that Pema was in fact the one who called this time, he had met her once and shared a rather personal story with her. That had gone back to the furthest reaches of his mind. He saw that Kieran was there, someone he didn't know, and Grayd-

He took a double take upon seeing them. Now that he got a closer look, even daring to sit nearby and not realizing he was staring, he saw it was not Grayday. "Another relative to Day, are you?" he asked. He kept it in his pants this time.

He then turned to Pema, awaiting an explanation to what exactly was going on this day. Had he known what it was, he would have not come at all. His recent spars...they did not go well.

not grayday, not dawn, but pema called for them all one quiet afternoon, sounding from the meadow. he twitched an ear, genuinely curious. she was a fine hunter herself, but dawn usually led the hunts, and if it were a matter of dire importance, grayday might be the one calling instead. this must be interesting.

the burly male made his way down the gradual slope to find several wolves already assembled around pema. he gave a chuff and a playful tap of the tip of his tail on engel's shoulder--he was glad to see the man back from their trip to easthollow--and a friendly nod to raid, kieran, and. . .shale? shale.

greetings settled, he turned toward pema, gaze expectant. he did not speak--slightly out of character--but he knew the young woman would explain herself soon, once everyone was gathered.

She arrived shortly after Adi, greeting a couple other packmates before drawing alongside him, playfully bumping her muzzle to his side. Her thoughts echoed his; Pema had never before called a pack meeting, and she could not imagine it being of crucial importance (her father's domain) or a pack hunt (her own). She didn't know just where this meeting was to lead, but remained silent on the matter, knowing Pema would explain herself soon enough. She settled for seating herself beside Aditya, humming a small note as she glanced to him with a quick grin before looking towards Pema.

jumps in before I lose my chance. Hope I can. If not I'll delete it. Shitty mobile post.

Sunny was bored and needed a way to prove to himself that he was still able to run and do stuff properly with his forepaw mangled. When pema called the meeting he arrived super late,seeing some familiar faces and some unknown faces. He sat down and waited patiently for the announcement.

WHoops here I am

Grayday came rolling in a bit late with @Lavender and @Easy in tow, ears pressed forward atop his head in something like concern, until he saw that the pack had gathered itself sedately enough. He'd forgotten all about the sparring lessons he'd hoped they might hold, and thus, only shot a quizzical look around the loose gathering before moving to sit somewhere between Shale and Sunny. There were suddenly quite a few lookalikes around - Dawn bore a close resemblence to him, and Sunny even more so. They both could just as easily been Shale's children as well.

Easy and Lavender moved to sit on either side of Sunny, clearly glad to have their older brother back home.

Participants are in. Anyone joining after this post can spectate, but won’t be participating in the sparring tournament. We are now starting Round One of sparring. There is no post order, and you can (and should) post more than once, as long as you take turns with your opponent. Opponents are stated below. Spar winners are determined by roll which will take place in this tabletop thread Round One of sparring will end 1/11 or when everyone finishes. Feel free to PM me with questions :) @Shale @Raid @Kieran Adrien @Engel @Aditya @Dawn @Sunny @Grayday

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One by one more and more members came down to the meadow and awaited what Pema would say. With Morningside being such a heavily structured hunting pack she wasn't surprised to hear that this is what they thought they might be gathering for. But Dawn was more geared towards leading the hunting parties for now and as we know, Pema had other plans. She was hoping for a larger turn out, but looking over the croud and giving everyone a friendly smile she realized that they still had a decently sized group on thier hands. And if everyone here was planning on participating it would be a perfect group.

"Hello everyone." she began. "Now, I haven't gather you all here today for a hunt, rather for a different reason." she said clearing up most likely everyone's main question. "It is no secrect that Morningside is a hunting pack, and is not known for having strong fighter. But even though we are not fighters, it is still important that we all know how to defend ourselves if the situation arises." she said and left a few moments of silence for that message to sink in. Many thoughts were roaming around that pack about recent events and current issues with other packs going on around them. And among these thought there was conflicting opinions. But she hoped that at least this message could be agreed upon.

"But I don't want this to be super serious. Morningside is not going into battle anytime soon." she said with a hint of humor in her voice to lighten the mood. "I thought we could all take part in a light hearted pack spar tournament to see where we are all at." she suggest and waited to see what the groups reaction was to the idea.

When it looked like everyone was feeling up for the idea she smiled and began to pair them up. "Ok. For the first round... Keiran you can be with me." Pema had only hunted with Kieran before and hadn't had a chance to spend that much time with him recently. "Shale you can be with Sunny." Both of them were still somewhat new to the pack, even though Sunny had been apart of the pack before, she wasn't sure where they both stood. "Raid... lets have you be with... Dawn." Dawn was far more outgoing then Raid, but Pema hoped that she could be able to bring her out of her shell a bit. "Then Adi you can be with Engel. And Day..." she looked around and realized that they had an odd number. "Umm. You can go against whoever loses their first spar. Give them a second chance." she said with a joking tone.

When it looked like everyone was set up with their partner she answered any remaining questions before headed over towards Kieran.

Sunny looked down at Easy and Lavender giving then each an affectionate nudge with his nose and a bright smile. He sat quietly as pema began to speak and when she finally announced what they were called for he grimaced. A spar? He had only ever playfully sparred aunty Krypton and he was pretty sure she had let him get in as much hits as he had. Despite the creeping anxiety he looked at Grayday and Dawn and took a deep breath. He would do his absolute best to win his spar.


With one more affectionate nudge to his sister's, he stood up and moved to Shale, who he had never met before. It made it somewhat easier to put himself in a fighting mindset but even then he offered a friendly wag of his tail and a smile "hello...looks like we're partners then. You can go first" he said kindly wanting to see what shale was capable of before he chose how to fight back. Sunny had an obvious weakness and that was his twisted and sore paw, but he still had some hopes he wouldn't mess up too terribly.

The ginger furred boy sent a nod and a gentle smile to each individual who joined the gathered bunch, feeling excitement creep up and make his paws shuffle occasionally in the snow as he wondered what this was all about. After the last few began to arrive, Pema spoke up, and Kieran's ears perked forward eagerly to listen.

It was certainly a good idea for this, he realised, as Pema began her explanation - as a hunting pack, they were not strong on fighters. Though he himself was not big on the idea of fighting, he knew it was necessary at least to have some basic skills to ensure if the need was to arise, he could help defend Morningside. Besides, perhaps it would do him some good to try out something that was not hunting - most of his time was, indeed, spent hunting. 

When the details of the event had been given, Pema began organising who would spar with who first and he gave a little grin as she paired him with her. It would be good to do something with her, for they had not spoken much recently unless hunting - a spar would be interesting. As the wolfess approached, he padded forward too and greeted her with a chuff and a wag of his tail. "I'm not the best at fighting but I guess that's the point of this," He giggled. "Let's give this a try." And then he crouched into a fighting stance, preparing to try and defend against any move Pema might make - allowing her to try make the first move.

Pema explained quickly what the meeting was for, and he smiled, thinking her quite bright indeed for putting together the event. He didn't know of the troubles brewing to the south, but he did know that it was important to stay physically--and mentally--sharp, prepared for any scenario.

Shale just barely held back an amused laugh out loud as Pema paired him up with Sunny, the gray-furred boy who clearly was Grayday's son--which made the kid his nephew. Sunny hadn't been around when Shale had first arrived, and there was no spark of recognition in the younger wolf's eyes. He didn't know.

"You sure?" he said, voice brimming with humor. "Well, if you say so."

The boy was still growing a little, and he was already bigger than Shale, who was more on the trim side. Despite their difference in stature, Shale did have several years on his opponent, wisdom gained from experience. He was quick on his feet.

Snakelike, Shale darted just out of the corner of Sunny's vision, then struck his opposite side, darting nearly underneath the boy to sweep his hind legs and knock the kid on his ass. Much to his pleasant surprise, it actually worked.

unlike shale, aditya did not hold back his laughter as the selections were announced, padding over to engel with a smug look on his face. "want me to let you win?" he quipped, smirking.

adi was no natural-born fighter, it was true. but he had the advantage of both height and weight over engel, and while engel was older, that could be to adi's benefit as well: he was in the prime of his life, the older man perhaps past it. this fight would be over quickly, he was sure of it.

everyone broke into their respective pairs, and adi found a nice, quiet spot in the meadow for engel's and his spar. he gave his friend a gracious bow before taking a few paces back, eyes glittering with suppressed mirth.

"you can go first," he chuckled, standing, opening his body so as to be vulnerable to engel's first blow. he would, after all, recover quickly. engel would not have the upper paw for long.

Engel quirked a brow toward Aditya as he approached him. "Let me win? Aditya, I may be old, but I can hold my own." There was a pause, then he laughed at himself. "Who am I kidding, no way I can win this." He followed Aditya to the spot where they were to settle their spar. He kept going on in his mind, 'don't end like with Day, don't end like with Day'.

"You sure?" He shrugged. Then bolted forward without warning and went for a pounce to try and knock Aditya off balance, toward the ground. If he could get him on the ground, it would be a piece of cake from there.

Sunny nodded firmly though there was a nervous light in his eyes. "I'm sure yeah" he said. Just like that it had started and quickly Sunny was flipped over legs flailing in the air. Grunting he sucked in a breath and rolled into his back, getting his frontal body upward and hooking his forelegs around Shale's neck. Once that hold was secure he hooked his hind legs around Shale's right side and twisted with his weight,pulling with his forelegs and pushing with his hind ones to also push Shale into the dirt. Much to his delight it actually worked and they both lay on the ground now, though sunny quickly stood up, knowing better than to stay down on the ground.

this'll be my KO, you can choose how he reacts to the shove

Well, I'll be damned, Shale thought as he was unceremoniously knocked onto the ground, Sunny having pulled him downward with his legs. The kid had some talent. With a small groan, he stood back up and began to circle the boy, contemplating his next move.

To go for the legs again was predictable, and yet, Shale was too small to try and bring Sunny down from above. There must be some way to distract him, to get him off-guard enough to knock him over. Perhaps. . .

The sleek gray male darted to and fro for a second, like a startled fish, then made a low rush at Sunny's legs once more, stopping just short of colliding with his back paws. Instead, he spun on his heel, raced around to his nephew's unguarded side, and, with all the strength he had to muster, launched himself forward, a silver blur shooting through the air and latching onto Sunny's back, bowling him over.

He hoped it was enough to take him down.

Pema could empathize with what @Kieran Adrien was saying. Pema was by no means a fighter and the last time she tried to practice was with Day and that was a complete and utter failure. But it is what inspired her to put this whole event together. This setting would be alot less stressful and serious. "Same here." she replied before lowering herself into a fighting stance.

Even though she wasn't a good fighter she could learn from her mistakes. Making sure not to expose her underbelly and neck too much. She wasn't worried that Kieran would kill her obviously, but that worry would be real against an actual opponent. 

She thought about how she wanted this to end. A pin? How was it that spars ended. Everyone most likely had their own idea and so she didn't announce it with a group, for now she needed an advantage. When they were both set she lunged forward towards him and grabbed hold of his shoulder. She kept her stance low and pulled his shoulder, bringing it down and back with her.

It had worked and sunny couldn't help the goofy grin of delight that spread onto his maw. Not getting too lost in his pride he watched with confusion (and a bit of concern) as Shale darted back and forth, the move was distracting and quite frankly weirded the poor boy out. As Shale went for his hind legs he attempted to scurry away but was too slow and suddenly had a weight upon his back.


The extra weight made him press down on his twisted paw awkardly and he grunted as air rushed from his lungs and he toppled over in a heap. Laying still he struggled to suck the air back into his lungs and when he did he flattened his ears and submitted. "That was awesome! You gotta spar with me again, teach me?" He gushed once again sounding like a pup with his enthusiasm. In that moment it struck him that he would be going up against his father next since he lost and he got extra excited his tail wagging quickly. "I get to spar dad! Oh jeez...I don't wanna hurt him though" he murmured warily as he rolled onto his belly.

The kid went down in a heap, Shale still atop him. Bounding back, the older man shook out his pelt and smiled as Sunny stood back up, excitedly asking to spar again sometime soon. He nodded, giving the boy an affectionate head butt.

"By the way, I'm your uncle. Uncle Shale. Good luck with Day," he chuckled, padding away.

Shale took a seat near where Pema was fighting with Kieran, looking over the young woman approvingly. She did a good job at staying low, keeping the center of her gravity close to the ground so Kieran wouldn't easily topple her.

He wondered if she'd been practicing. This was her idea, anyway. So Shale watched, grinning from the adrenaline of his own successful fight, and waited to see who he'd face next.

as expected, leaving his body open to attack did leave him vulnerable, and engel's lithe form bowled him over, knocking him to the ground. he gasped, half-laughing, and lurched into a crouch, keeping low and steady.

his gold hawk's eyes, razor sharp, took in engel--where he was, how he was faring--for just an instant. then, creeping with quick, light steps, he thrust his burly head and shoulders under the man's belly and flipped him up and over, engel's body sailing for a brief instant before coming down to the ground again.

chuckling to himself, adi, who thought engel at least winded, if not completely knackered by now, turned and slowly, grandiosely, padded over to where his opponent lay, intending to give him a final pin to the ground with the utmost ceremony.

his playful pride would be his downfall, here.

Grayday had been watching the various matches as closely as he could, but much of it was lost on the man. When he was in close quarters with another, he could sense their movements well enough, but simply watching was not a good way to keep track of the situation. Still, he could tell when Sunny lost, and chortled heartily at his words.

"I think you'd better worry about me hurting you," he teased with a challenging growl, barrelling toward his son with intent to tackle. The male hit his mark and was able to jar his son somewhat, although not quite as much as he'd wished. A cheerful ha! escaped the older male - he was as pleased with Sunny's resilience as he was with his own.

Sunny's ears shot up at his father's reply and suddenly his dad was running toward him. With a bark that sounded more like a squawk from a startled chicken he was slammed into and stumbled back a few inches once again wheezing as the breath left his lungs.

Wasting no time he did what he thought was best, a move he had used on Krypton. He reared onto his hind paws and wrapped his forelegs around his fathers neck, swinging his weight to the side and falling over tugging with his forelegs and sliding his hind limbs down and under his father's belly and pushing upward by using the momentum of his fall to flip his father over.

With a loud grunt of effort it worked and he flipped his dad, squirming away and getting onto his paws again breathing somewhat heavily. "Are you alright?" He asked concerned despite the wide grin that formed on his maw. He may have found his calling here today.

Once more, Engel was flung over onto his back. And it was not the best of positions, especially in a position like this. But he decided to play it smart, as Aditya believed he had won already. He rested his head on the ground, waiting for his moment to strike. His underbelly was in the direction of Adi, as well as his legs. And as soon as he was close enough, he made for a kick to their face, and a powerful one at that.

He could feel his own paw he had kicked with hurting. But nevertheless, he stood up and put the sore paw on Adi.

Sparring? Raid doesn't quite know how she feels about that. Oh. Nevermind. That strange feeling crawling into her belly...it's dread. She can't remember anything but her medical knowledge after her little amnesia attack. Hunting came naturally, but it was probably only because it had been honed by a year instincts but fighting? Medics probably didn't fight that much, right? She's a medic. She can't remember much, can't remember anything from her past but she guesses that she probably wasn't a good fighter.

God, Raid doesn't even remember anything. She can't recall any kind of tactic or fighting move. Her mind is completely blank and however much she digs, however much she begs her brain to spit up some kind of fighting move, she comes up empty handed. And Dawn! I can't fight that girl! Look at her. She's like some kind of warrior hunting princess. She's gorgeous and fit and nope I'm going to embarrass myself fighting her. Right. No, nothing good can come out of this. Oh my god, why her.

Outwardly, Raid observes everyone moving off in their pairs to spar and resigns herself to her fate. Quietly, she makes her way over to @Dawn and dips her head respectfully, a nervous shadow of a polite smile flits over her features. The time she bumped into the leader flashes through her mind and Raid resists the urge to laugh awkwardly. Yay. God loves her - they're giving her yet another opportunity to embarrass herself in front of Dawn. I'm loooving this. "So," Raid shifts her weight between her paws almost anxiously. "I'm just going to warn you - I literally cannot remember anything about sparring. 'Cuz of the amnesia. So, if I'm terrible, I'm sorry. If I somehow manage to kick your arse - know it's probably some sort of miracle accident." Raid grimaces. "Yeah."