Noctisardor Bypass That's what you got

She knew it was coming. The past few days she'd been more shifty, her patrols being shorter and more erratic. Could the others tell? Maybe. To a certain point, she didn't care. The ones who would recognize it would know soon enough anyway. It made her irritable, and regardless of whether he realized why or not she'd driven Spook out of the heart of the territory. Then yesterday, she didn't patrol at all, she moved away from the edges the territory. After the confrontation with Merrick, she wasn't keen on letting anyone outside the pack know. They didn't need the trouble.

It was time, and she couldn't sleep. In the dim early hours of the day she couldn't stay still, ending up leaving to circle the lake. It helped a little, but it wasn't enough. She'd started on another lap before tiring of that and veering off towards a copse not too far from the lakeside. Arbiter wound her way through the trees, looking out to the horizon beyond. Surely her scent would lure him over -- again, she didn't want to tempt the Bearclaw wolves if they happened to be lurking by being loud. After all, @Kaertok shouldn't have wandered far after she'd made her offer -- if he'd gone out scouting he was a fool -- so she'd give him an hour or so. Call for him after. And then if he didn't come by then, maybe she'd just find someone else.

Kaertok was no stranger to the scent that drifted through the air that morning. It was Arbiter. Not just Arbiter, but Arbiter+. A delicious blend of her usual scent mixed with that of what he could only describe as alluring. The Tartok wolf was drawn to it immediately, and unlike with Towhee, he felt a certain sense of... not ownership, but a feeling of protection. Like he needed to protect Arbiter from anybody else who wanted to get near her right now. Perhaps the dynamic was so different now with the expectation that he was to stay and help raise any children they might make.

Knowing that Arbiter was open to the idea of joining another pack should Legion not be strong enough when the time came had been enough to seal the deal for him, and if the other guy showed up, Kaertok was fully prepared to fight for what he believed he deserved. And didn't he deserve it? He had stayed by Arbiter's side even as others had faded away, including the wolf who claimed to be her mate and father to her (now yearling) children.

As he approached, Kaertok slowed, allowing himself to simply watch Arbiter for a moment before he spoke. He was far from a romantic, but there was one thing he had come to do before each wolf whom he'd coupled with. The white wolf shifted down, braced himself, and then he said, Show me what you've got. Arbiter could make the first move.

And he did show. Perhaps it was just Arbiter's current state of mind, but what he said caused a wide and somewhat wicked grin to spread across her features. She hadn't had a chance to test him and given the timing, she'd pretty well given up on the idea, but now here he was unknowingly offering to put things back the way she'd planned. Suddenly he was seeming like a much better match than she'd originally thought -- to her, maybe that was sort of a romantic choice, but she was pretty weird at times.

The only thing Arbiter didn't like was making the first move -- she liked being the one to react. Her grin started to fade as she focused more on the thought at hand, prowling forward out of her chosen refuge. She watched Kaertok in her normal analytical way, making a quick plan and a few quick choices. She shifted into a run to close the last bit of distance, a dive towards his closest shoulder.  A dive that she then redirected more towards his neck at the last minute.

Rolled 3/10 for the hit, woo!

He watched as she sized him up (though in a different way than he was used to being sized up for these things). At least she seemed amenable to the idea of fighting before they sealed the deal... plus, it makes the thread longer without having it be all lovey-dovey, which really isn't Kaertok's style. But enough about that—back to your regular scheduled programming.

Arbiter dove for his shoulder first, an obvious choice, but something about her movement gave away that it wasn't how she meant to follow through. Sungiwok picked up on that, and he pulled back as quickly as he could, though not without feeling the brush of her teeth against his neck. She hadn't been able to grab him, which meant Kaertok was thankful for not being bested in the first ten seconds of their little ritual fight.

Pressing his feet into the earth below, Kaertok countered her attack with one of his own: he flung himself at her with all his might, hoping to crash shoulder-to-shoulder and knock her off her feet. Both literally and figuratively.

Rip 9

See, there was totally a reason she didn't like making the first move. It was much easier to plant yourself and react -- it fit better with her personality for times like this. To her it was a significant disadvantage to make a move at a target that was actually ready for her attack, so though she had just about managed a tag, it had ended with him slamming into her shoulder.

She staggered a few steps away from Kaertok, the first step and a half a near-stumble but she'd managed to keep her feet under her, barely. It was frustrating, really, but at least she had enough training to not just lash out at random -- collect her thoughts as she got her footing. It limited her choices as she quickly moved forward again: she took a quick strike at his side and pull away if she could, trying to goad him into the more offensive position so she could have one she was more comfortable acting from.

Rolled a 4/10. kek.

His hit landed about as well as he could ask for, and he smirked at her, egging her on and hoping that this wasn't her best showing. The way she'd spoken before made it sound like she was a fighter, but if this was all she had... well, it looked like he was going to be the one training their kids. She recovered quick enough, gathering her feet under her as Kaertok gave her some time to plan her next attack.

Arbiter came toward him, and she seemed more confident this time around, but something about it didn't hit quite home. She managed a tuft of fur from his side, but Kaertok was quick enough to get his own swift attack in, diving low and aiming for her left foreleg.

10, double rip.

She was one who didn't mind making sacrifices to shift the advantage, and here was one case that she wished that she'd hadn't been put at such a disadvantage moments ago -- it would have been a far more fair trade but she would work with what she was given. On the other hand, this was slightly more her jam. He moved towards her but aside from the shift in her weight, she didn't try to wildly dodge.

As he dove low, Arbiter struck down upon him -- if he lingered, perhaps it would be his nape that she grabbed, or she'd grab his muzzle as he pulled away, but no matter what target, the purpose was the same, she wanted to force him down. She felt his teeth close on her leg -- likely marking it a loss for her had it been a real fight, but she also couldn't just let an opening go unpunished when he'd made such a bold move.

Rolled 1/10, LMAO.

Had this been a fight and not a spar, Kaertok would have had her in a tight spot. Thankfully for her, he let go as quickly as he'd gotten her leg in his mouth. He pulled back in the nick of time, making her narrowly miss her mark on him. At this point, he was starting to wonder if she had straight-up lied to him, or maybe...

You're not pulling your punches, are you? Malrok asked, only half-joking. Worried you'll damage the goods? This time, Kaertok didn't even attempt an attack, but he let her come in again, lowering his defenses and (let's face it) hoping she could get a hit in before they got to the other part of this little dance.

This thread totally makes me never want to use dice again though, haha.

Her teeth clipped air. Frustration. So close yet so far. What the hell. Her lips pulled back in a momentary grimace, expression cooling quickly. Apparently beating up a couple of disinterested pups doesn't make for good practice. And she was currently very irritated at them too, though it was an abstract floaty sort of thought drifting in the back of her mind. Not worth her focus. She dismissed it and would probably go pick on the pair of them later. 

Arbiter took a swaggering step towards him, Well, come on, show off. Nah, if he was gonna play that card, do it, really prove that she needed to get back in shape. She probably deserved it. Hell, she was sort of tempted to just stop, let him do whatever. But that wouldn't do, that would make her feel too weak. At the very least she'd prove she was stubborn. So one more forward attack, straight on, none of this supposedly clever nonsense she'd tried. So she launched herself that short distance to try to grapple.

Rolled 10/10 -- direct hit!

Instead of flitting about, trying to best him mentally, Arbiter did what she should have done in the first place: come at him head-on. He wanted to test her strength, and here she was finally pushing her whole self into it. So much so that Kaertok was bowled over, belly-up, while she stood over him when it was all said and done.

Huh, Kaertok said in a lightly-teasing sort of way, So you can fight. He made no attempt to get up from where he was, letting Arbiter decide when she wanted to release him for less fighty things and more baby-making things.

Arbiter collided with him and bowled him back, finally for once getting the upper hand -- not that he'd much tried to deflect her. It was momentarily disappointing -- just that little flash wondering why he didn't do more. But it was an instant, and in the end she had to admit that landing a good attack and standing over him did feel better. In the end, as long as someone scored a total win she would be happy. She leaned over Kaertok, sniffing at him, her expression having drifted away from aggressive now that the combat part of this dance was done, Mhmm. She lingered a moment more in her examination before stepping away, freeing him. 

Arbiter shook out her fur, a quiet glance around before locking her gaze back onto Kaertok, turning back towards him and -- regardless of how quickly he'd gotten up, if he had by then -- nipping at him a couple of times. Look, those close to Arbiter probably discovered pretty quickly that she was pretty physically mouthy, so it was unsurprising that she'd eventually turn it on him.

With Towhee, after the fight (although he couldn't remember who "won"), they'd gotten right down to business. That was typical how things went, and he didn't expect Arbiter to be any different. Not that he was comparing her to his various conquests... if they could be called that. Yep, definitely not doing that. That would be rude.

When she removed herself from him, Kaertok flipped himself back onto his feet, shaking his fur at just the same time as Arbiter had. She nipped at him then, and Kaertok knew that could mean only one thing: time to seclude themselves and well, y'know.

Archive here or with your post?

Yeah, Arbiter wasn't one who played many games, and she certainly wasn't right now, other things in mind and all that. Besides, it was all to plan, wasn't it? There were things that she wanted -- that they both wanted or at the very least agreed to -- and wasn't going to for some reason suddenly go back on it. Arbiter had selected her man and had waited for him at a place of her choosing, they'd completed his little challenge and so, on to the real point of it all.

Another rake of her teeth through his fur before she brushed against and past him back towards the little grove she'd been initially peering at him from. She did look back over her shoulder as she passed, and that plus a single flick of her tail was about as seductive as Arbiter ever got. Again, not big on games. Maybe a little impatient. But hey, future children to create and all that.

I'll archive here! :)

Kaertok needed little more to urge him forward. She was the director of this part, and he followed more than willingly. There was a bit more bounce in his step than usual as they made their way to the small grove. Kaertok was pretty sure he had plenty of children, but this would be his first chance at being a father.