Redsand Canyon ulciscor

whenever u have time! <3

the darkened sky had not yet paled when germanicus called for @Tierra to join him in the sparring arena.

over the past month, he had expected her to rise with the others. he had taken her upon climbing excursions upon the high cliffs. he had seen her speed when running.

but today he intended a spar. the imperator waited as the soldiers began to move and to gather, yellowpaint eyes searching for mereo's newest auxillary.

This pack was definitely more than she expected, but Tierra fell in line with (not quite) minimal complaining. She hated early mornings and was silently surly when she was pulled out of sleep before she was ready to be up, but since that only made her more apt to want to shove anyone around's nose in how cool she was, it conversely made her work harder towards fitting in. And after a while a routine, grudgingly, started happening.

She still wasn't thrilled. Today she was supposed to spar with Germanicus which was... fine. Though of everyone she was going to spar with, her uncle (was he really, though?) was probably last on the list. Not only was he definitely not going to go easy on her, but he was also old, serious, and spoken for. And not in the cute "affectionate uncle" or "jolly mentor" kind of way.

Tierra yawned broadly, then froze when she saw Germanicus. Shit. Maybe she could like, feign being sick or something. She'd been slacking on the sparring practice and it was bound to show in her fight with him. She didn't feel like getting trounced today, not like she used to with Sphyra.

Or maybe he'd forgotten? She decided to bank on the latter, continuing like she hadn't spotted him, walking like she had a mission anywhere but here.

"tierra."

her actions were that of a child. he had seen her look toward him and this meant that she understood his summons.

it was not a winning first impression.

the eagle waited again for her to come closer. she was a young wolf and could be forgiven a touch of attitude, but this was outright disrespectful and it would not be tolerated.

germanicus set out her second and final chance with again a look of his yellow eyes.

Oh, good. He looked pissed. Tierra sighed inwardly, annoyed but aware that the game was up. She didn't understand what his problem was, honestly. She did what he said and it wasn't like anyone was charging down the borders. What was the point of all this training all the time when there was nothing to use it on? And did they ever take a break!?

Whatever. She sauntered up and squared off, resigned to the fact that she was going to hate this and preparing for his inevitable disappointment or whatever.

You first. She said, and as she did she tensed a bit. If he was anything like Sphyra that was all the invitation he'd need... and if she wasn't quick, he'd have her on her ass in an instant. She was definitely going to last longer than that.

tierra continued her informality.

germanicus straightened. there would be no spar until she understood her place inside his hierarchy. "when you speak to me, auxillary, you will address me as imperator."

his voice was firm.

they would not proceed until he had ascertained to what lengths the girl would go to avoid a sense of hierarchy.

When he drew up like that, seriously, Tierra knew better than to talk back. Internally she rolled her eyes at how unfair it was, him taking out whatever bad morning (he seemed to have these perpetually, tbh) out on her. But outwardly she froze and was the picture of contrite acceptance. Yes sir. Imperator. What a stuffy old vulture.

Hopefully he'd just attack already. She was impatient to get back to what she'd been planning on doing and this was already taking longer than she thought. Tierra waited, with her head lowered, for him to either yell at her more or get on with it. Either way, she was braced for it.

tierra conceded.

germanicus felt as though he might have had a vision of what an adolescent wolf might bring to him as a parent. but then he dismissed it. young or not he would expect from earliest speech far more respect.

he dispelled the thoughts. tierra was braced for his attack. the imperator had half a mind to lecture the young soldier for his own amusement but instead widened his stance.

and then in the next he had flashed across the arena. the roman utilized his favoured move: body swung broadside at the last moment, connecting with right hip, right flank, right ribcage, and right shoulder all at once.

he meant to knock her down without a tooth bared.

I rolled really well for her, omg. 16

Tierra had never been attacked like this. Sphyra usually came at her jaws first, but she did like to leverage her size as well. So while the girl didn't avoid it completely, she did manage to at least stay on her feet.

She'd twisted sideways and taken a quick step back, absorbing most of the weight of his push into her shoulder as a result. It stung. Tierra hesitated with a sharp intake of breath, then lashed out for his leg with her jaws. That moment of pause would likely give him the leg up in retaliating and adjusting for it, but she wasn't quick enough on the uptake yet for instant reactions. Her goal was to upset his balance before he regained it fully.

NICE

tierra did not collapse which was a credit to her. she rose in the eagle's objective esteem. he saw shades of glaukos in her. look where the boy now ranked.

the soldier had taken the brunt of his blow. it was the minute pause that choreographed her limitations. germanicus would not avoid her own strike. her jaws flashed and he tensed the muscle where it would fall, bringing his shoulder up toward her cheekbone.

his own muzzle flared for her nape.

Tierra's teeth met his leg, and she gripped it without biting hard enough to break skin. She couldn't upset his balance though... he'd regained it too well. She cursed in the back of her throat and let go, but couldn't avoid the teeth that came for her nape. She'd opened herself up to that grab by going low while he was high.

His shoulder met its mark just as his teeth caught. She jerked sideways with a small yelp at the sting of the blow, then tried to scrabble away. Her neck strained as she turned and tried to twist to bite, but as long as he held on, she didn't know how to break free.

tierra cried out. germanicus tightened his grip.

he meant to force her to the ground, pinned by his shoulder and reined by his jawhold.

the imperator applied a great pressure. 

this was the way of the soldier.

Normally when something hurt, whoever did it backed off when they realized. Germanicus apparently wasn't the normal. It didn't matter how she twisted or how frustrated she grew, she couldn't break free of his grip. As she tried, he just applied more and more weight.

She was having a harder time drawing a full breath. He had her pinned by the back, not the neck, but she was still being pressed into the ground.

Tierra gave up and stopped struggling. Instead she would just wait for him to get off. Apparently fighting was only going to make this hurt more.

when tierra stopped her struggle, germanicus released her and stepped back.

"your attacks are energetic and hard." there was a note of praise in his voice. "but you must decide what will carry your attacks: stamina or strength"

it was difficult to move so fast with every strike. if tierra did not cultivate herself carefully, the danger was that she would reach her limit in the very middle of a conflict.

germanicus flicked his tail. "again."

She was tempted not to get up and to tell him where he could shove his "training", but the praise in his voice cut through her current temper and lessened it somewhat. She still felt hot, a little thirsty now, and frustrated by her pretty easy defeat. But she wasn't the sort to ignore when it felt like someone was complimenting her, and what he said actually was pretty nice to hear. Take that, Sphyra! For not the first time, she wished her twin was actually here.

I don't know what that means. Her tail twitched agitatedly when she said that instead of coming after him. How was she supposed to do any better this time with that kind of advice? What's the difference? It's just a fight. She didn't understand how stamina played any bigger role than strength, or vice versa, or how you could choose to use one or the other. If you got tired, sure, you lost. But if you weren't strong enough, you lost too.

the imperator watched her. "a very large fighter will not be able to reach the swiftness that you possess. you will not be able to deal as heavy a blow to them. those are the weaknesses involved in a fight. if you go in quickly but do not remain quick, you will be injured before you know it."

"a fight is never 'just' anything. today we spar. tomorrow you may face a true enemy. understanding their weakness as well as your own limitations is imperative if you wish to win either."

the eagle was silent.

That made even less sense. But how do you stay quick and still attack someone? As soon as I try to bite you, you can just catch me and pin me down. It feels like I don't really even ever have a chance. She had always kind of hated fighting mostly because of how shit she was at it. Sphyra always mopped the floor with her, and the only reason she'd ever beat Caracal was because he was a whimp.

I don't see how I can tell any one's weaknesses, either, if I don't even know who they are. She was starting to think maybe that he was just making fun of her for how much she didn't know. She wasn't sure where he got off doing that, seeing as he had a face like a withered tree stump, but whatever. She could take it.

"that is why you spar. over and over. endlessly. you use all of your body, not only your jaws, tierra. you learn to trip your opponent and to turn their weight against them. and you learn the rest by observation and by practice. this knowledge is something i can lecture or something i can show."

he nodded at her again. it was time to resume their sparring. 

germanicus knew that his words would not have the same effect.

Okay, now he was making sense. She didn't want to admit that it had never occurred to her to think about fighting like that, but she was (for once) raptly paying attention to everything he said. So she could trip someone, or catch them off guard like that, and actually win out? It didn't seem to her like that would be enough still, but maybe if she was, like, fast enough....

Her wheels were obviously turning as he stopped to stare at her. She would much rather he tell her than have to learn it on the fly like this, but she could see that he was done talking.

So how did she do it though?

Tierra stared at him, tensing automatically as she readied herself to get back into fight mode. Okay, so like... maybe if she just ran past him? And came from behind?

It was hard for her to imagine what he'd do in response to what she did, so her strategy was a wild guess. Still, she committed and sprinted full-tilt at him, ready to swerve sideways when she got close and dart past. It wasn't exactly smooth or unpredictable, but it was certainly better than charging in headfirst.

tierra took a moment to ready herself.

germanicus prepared himself.

the young ayxillary ran for him, then cut aside. he followed smoothly with a clip toward her tail, but did not catch her.

the imperator pursued. the arena was large and he wished to see her speed. 

his teeth flashed for her left flank.

She'd hoped to get around and whirl to leap behind, but it didn't work out quite that way in practice. By the time she ran past, Germanicus was beginning to chase, and stopping would mean leaving herself open to getting pile-driven into the dirt. Nooo thank you.

She was fast, but nothing to write home about. When she felt his snap graze her side, though, she did push to pick up speed and open some distance. And once again, she began to get frustrated. How was she supposed to win by running away? This didn't make any sense.

After one circuit, she stopped abruptly and turned, bracing herself and ready to lunge for his chest with an attack. She was too impatient to draw it out any more.

tierra flashed around. he saw a raw tactic in the surprising sweep of her teeth. 

they clipped the fur of his chest. he was ground to a halt. he could sense the tight, annoyed energy surrounding tierra and gleaned two things from it.

the first was that she had never been tested in such a way. the second was that she was unused to losing, and therefore perhaps more predisposed toward discouragement.

germanicus came for her again, teeth flashing for her cheek, but tierra had thus far moved very swiftly. he wanted to see how long she could maintain it.

She was done running, so when he lunged for her cheek, she wasn't quick enough to get away. She snarled and tried to shove in on him again, forgetting everything that he had said about speed and taking advantage of other methods in her frustration. At this point her patience was waning and the value from the lesson would likely need to sink in over time. She wasn't a particularly quick study.

Still, she tried her best in a last ditch effort to overbalance him. It was raw and unpracticed, likely easily read and countered, but she shoved into him with both weight and intent.

tierra came apart. 

germanicus took her scrabbling blows. she scratched him high upon the shoulder.

he twisted his body, meaning to shove her to the ground. he flung up his plume. "at ease." their spar was over.

He shoved her over and immediately called the fight to a close. She felt both frustrated and relieved, but mostly the latter. Her annoyance was mostly from being pushed off of her feet at the end.

Tierra picked herself up and watched him warily, but when he didn't seem to immediately go back on the pause, she started to put her fur back in place.

She didn't say anything at first, choosing to busy herself with cleaning up instead. She didn't like sparring mostly because she didn't like losing, and she'd known when they started she was no match for him.

"well done, auxillary. you have a penchant for swiftness and you are not afraid of risks. go and rest now. eat. we will begin again tomorrow."

the imperator nodded once at her. she could preen elsewhere.