Whitefish River Against the Rising Tide

@Hieronymous

Reclamation of the river meant a huge clean up was in order. The forest present along the side of the current was now habitable again, but that did not mean the mess of the earthquakes no longer existed. One spot, in particular, captivated the Count's attention, it was the river bank where she once taught others and sparred at.

The ring she had created had been scattered, but overall it was mostly untouched aside from the debris that collected amongst the sand. For the better part of the afternoon, Ira decided to take the time to clean up what once was a small haven to her and get rid of some of the pent up aggression in the form of creation. By the time she was done the sandy pit had been cleared, lined once more with stones from the river bed to create a ring-like pit.

Once again he trailed after Ira. So much time was spent apart that he could not hold himself back from staying as close to her as possible in his attempts to randomly "bump into her" as casually as possible on most days. The roan woman was more grouchy than usual, but it didn't bother Hiero in the slightest. He blamed the stress of moving, seeing her once home just recovering from the brink of ruin, it would upset anyone.

Upon one of his most casual happenings onto Ira's presence, her curiosity in a bunch of rubble causing him to approach with a tilted head and wide-eyed wonder. Greetings to the lovely Count Ira, what 'cha up to on this beautiful day? Completely unafraid of the woman's anger that focus on him now.

The peace of her haven had been broken, once more by the presence of the painted man. So often now he appeared throughout the day to nag her about birds or the weather or something he saw in the woods. All of it was idle chit chat that she honestly found a waste of time. She would resist the growing frustration for now, she was still a leader and as such had to act like one.

If you must ask, I'm making myself useful. Maybe you should try it sometime? This location was used for sparring in the past. I figured I had some free time to clean it up. It's not like she had anyone to train now, but Evergreen had started sparring with her again. Perhaps others could get use out of it too.

Sparring? How interesting, even if Hiero didn't like fighting all too much, he knew the importance of spars and making sure everyone was ready for the worst should luck turn on them. It'll be quicker with the two of us. He chirped, quickly grabbing a relatively good-sized log and began to tug and pull it back by a thick and sturdy branch.

He'd do anything if it meant spending any time with Ira if he was honest. Just to bask in her presence, get to know her a little more and maybe, once she was ready, get to know him. He was certain the woman knew very little about him, and he with her too - though not with the lack of trying. Once the log was out of the way, he cleared his tongue of bark with a few disgusted tongue flicks and turned his attention back onto the roan woman.

Do you have someone training with you soon?

A growl threatened to escape when Hieronymous decided this was now his task, yet she bit it back as he dragged the log away. Stifling the anger she stood and watched as he discarded it, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was being helpful. What, are you offering? Of course he was, he was always offering to do things with her. There was no such thing as peace and quiet now that he found his way back. That being said...smacking him around did sound appealing. Win-win right?

What could he possibly do to make her happy? Well, the only thing he knew how and it was to be patient and give her time. Either one day she would accept his affections, or, she would completely reject him - one was better than the other, but he couldn't force someone to love him. All he could do was hope things would turn in his favor, and continue to shower her with adoration until then. 

He was certain even if she did refuse him, he might never fully stop loving the woman he saw. All he could do was maybe give her more space and move on, be a productive part of the pack and maybe be lucky with someone else, only to admire her at a distance. 

For now, he'd drag all these sticks and logs away, some smaller rocks he could carry without risking his teeth and see if he can strike up a conversation with the Count, and maybe, if he was lucky, get her smiling. Well.. Uh, I guess, if that's what you want to do? It was also a win-win for him.. he gets to purposely touch Ira and be right up and close to her! Even if he hated fighting, even he could see the good in this.

wanna roll?

Ira would idle as Hiero worked, taking the moment to rest. Afterall she had been at this for a while, he could break a sweat for now. After clearing some more debris he answered leaving the Count to mull it over. Alright. Step in the ring. First to grab the throat or pin wins. Simple rules. She could enjoy this and now with her leg healed there was no fear of reinjuring herself and tiptoeing around her injury.

He was sure to finish clearing the debris from the arena, even if Ira had taken a moment to breathe, if it would please her, he would do so without being told to. Once it was all clear, he turned to her as she put up the rules of the spar. First to pin or grab the neck huh? Sounded bloodless for the most part, unless the Count decided to rip his throat out in this... worth it. Sounds good to me~

With Ira's leg now fully healed, he didn't know of any weaknesses on the woman. Not that he would take advantage of it either, how could he to Ira? So instead, he would have to do it the old fashion way. Without a growl or raised hackles, he kept his defenses low and aloof, feeling pretty safe in this spar and instead, just ran up to her. Once close enough, he'd stop, crouch, and reach up from below as the easiest way to grab one's throat. 

Because why not try to make it quick? He doubted it would work, but maybe it could give him an opening to work with. At least at this angle, his own throat was protected - all he had to worry about was her finding a way to pin him in this position.

He agreed and without a prompt ran at her. The intended blow was direct and obvious with the distance between them giving the Count plenty of time to prepare. When Hieronymous went down, she would push off to the side. Like Evergreen this man was big, smaller than her, but big. She would have to be fast to win.

Digging her paws into the sand Ira came to a cushy slide, already trying to push against the friction to head back at the painted man. Pinning him would be difficult, but doable. A similar blow to the neck was likey expected. The Count would feign a reach for Hiero's throat, although her actual target was his side. If he was distracted by her fangs she could use her weight to slam into his side and possibly break his stance.

As expected, his initial blow did not land. As she moved, he mimicked and prepared for her counter attack. Keeping his head tilted in a way to protect his throat from her at all times, Hiero braced himself as Ira came in for her own attack to try and win this little spar. With his feet planted firmly into the soil, he crouched to sacrifice the upper half of his body instead of leaving his throat at all vulnerable to an attack and instead was surprised with her thrusting into him.

She was powerful, as much as beautiful, Ira was dangerous. Like a leopard, she was to be watched carefully as just one wrong move could spell disaster as her opponent. While down low already (fortunate for him and the luck of the roll), he hoped to shoulder her and try to topple the woman over by giving her sort of uppercut with his own shoulder. If he could, he wanted to pin her instead of putting his teeth anywhere around that neck of hers.

If he had a choice, he preferred that above all else.

It seemed as if she had miscalculated, for Hiero was also quick on his feet. The wide target she was hoping for narrowed as the painted man crouched making her hit less sturdy for her footing and as a result she was shoved back in the moment of vulnerability. Ira stumbled, her paws slipping on the sand as she attempted to rebalance herself. If Hiero was fast enough he would easily be able to knock her over before she had the proper chance to recover. Nevertheless, she would attempt to brace herself for the next blow and retaliate with a counter-attack.

Half of it was luck, the other was partly from experience, he rolled with every hit and miss and naturally flowed from one moment to the other. Not letting the failures cloud his thoughts or the victories make his head too big to focus. Once standing, he turned to watch as Ira stumbled from his previous attack and moved in to finish this spar and maybe prove his prowess to the Count once and for all.

With her off balance, it made her legs an easy target to finish this all here and now. Moving in for the hopefully final blow, he used his teeth just to grab onto her leg and try to pull to put an end to her balancing act. Should it succeed, he'd triumphantly place a paw on her neck and claim both her neck and a good pin as the victor among them.

Maybe with this victory she'd see him less so as a nuisance and maybe, just maybe, he'd earn some respect from the beautiful Ira.

It had happened fast, too fast. Perhaps she was rustier than she would have liked to admit between her loss to Evergreen and now the clown. Ira's leg was pulled out from under her resulting in a soft thud on the sand as she collided with the earth. Doing her best to keep the surprise off her face, the Count swiped the male's paw off with a quick growl.

Her core burned in more ways than one and it frustrated her perhaps more so than the loss. You're lucky. Except she couldn't keep relying on it being a one-off random chance. she needed to catch up and retrain herself. Not giving him the chance to cherish looming over her, Ira pushed her way up, shoving the man off if he stood in her way. I suppose I must give credit where credit is due though, it's only fair. You did well. The last words were grumbled, but she said them with complete honesty.

Well, she wasn't completely off by calling him lucky. One lucky crouch may have been the deciding factor in this spar and that was all he needed to claim victory. With her brushing him off and forcing herself to stand, he was easily pushed away as he trotted off with light teeth, a sway in his tail as he listened to her words. You may be right~

Even now that he proved to be more than just a useless fool, she was still upset. Again, he had to remind himself that in time things may change, all he had to do was keep working on it. Keep proving himself to be a good addition to the pack, as well as possibly someone who could take up that empty spot next to her romantically. I'm more than just a useless fool Ira, I'll show you someday.

last post from me

She gave a huff already trying to distance herself as she moved several steps away, We'll see. For now this conversation was over. Ira would do her best to get away from Hieronymous for the time being. She had to replay that spar in her head and figure out a training regimen for herself to get back on top.

His tail continued to sway until Ira was out of sight, with a sigh, he was defeated in the long run. Hiero might have won the spar, but he lost the favours of the woman he was falling deeper and deeper in love with. Even as he tried not to let it bother him, the longer it took for Ira to relax around him, the more worrisome it became. Would she ever come to see him as nothing but a pathetic, useless, fool?

Leaving her in peace for a while, Hiero wandered off on his own, perhaps to the river to clear his mind with a little bit of fishing of his own.