Two Rivers Isle And I just stood there like a ghost [AW]

Phone post. Anyone want a sparring thread with Ulrich?

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Ulrich has been thinking hard lately about the fate of the Isle. What with his and Adylaide’s impending parenthood on the horizon, he thought it might be a good idea to throw the pack a couple sparring lessons, in case anything bad happened while he was busy caring for his cubs. He could not be everywhere at once, which is also why he’d promoted Iseul to Deputy. Making sure his family knew how to defend themselves and their home seemed like a good idea, and it would be nice to stretch his muscles, besides. He hadn’t fought anything since leaving his birth pack with Adylaide months ago.

With all this in mind, he issued a low, welcoming howl to anyone wishing to practice fighting. He was eager to see who would show up.

Lýkos heard the howl, and always being eager to freshen up/practice his fighting skills, he padded over, holding himself tall, shoulders back, muscles showing, under his leaner build. He dipped his head to Ulrich, wondering if any words would be spoken, or if the spar would just commense.

Ah. Lykos had shown up. Ulrich had not really interacted with him since allowing him into the Isle, and he was excited to see what the smaller man could do. Ulrich was smart enough to know that fighting was not all about brawn. Bigger size and muscles only got you so far. You had to know what you were doing, also.

Greetings, Lykos, he said, dipping his head with a smile. This is just meant to be a friendly spar, to get a feel for how well you can fight and defend yourself. No lasting damage is meant to be dealt, no blood drawn if we can help it. No maiming. All right?

Lýkos nodded. "Figured." He said, dipping his head again as Ulrich greeted him with his name.

He waited a moment, before starting to circle around his opponent, trying to pinpoint a spot to attack, hoping the other man would follow his movements, meaning circle with him.

Ulrich can throw the first strike! just make a thread for dice rolls and tag me please!

Round 1/5
Ulrich's first roll and link to roll thread
Ulrich rolled a: 1/10 lmfao RIP old man

Lykos seemed to want to get down to business straight away, which was fine with Ulrich. As his younger opponent began to circle him, he moved as well. When Lykos did not immediately attack, Ulrich took it upon himself to move first. However, he did not do well. Perhaps it was because he had not fought anyone in several months. But even as he lunged forward to attack the coywolf, he lost his paws underneath him and crashed to the ground.

Lýkos snorted slightly as the man fell. He tried to take advantage of this and pin him, but his small size against the mans bigger size would do very little

lmao Lýkos isn't much better over here with his 2/10

roll here 7/10

Ulrich could not help the heat of embarrassment that washed through him as he found himself immediately on the ground with the coywolf atop him. He had not expected to fail immediately. But the embarrassment helped him pick himself up quickly. He felt a surge of adrenaline and pushed himself to his paws as hard as he could, knocking Lykos away from him.

Lýkos growled as he was thrown off his opponent. He went for one of his signature moves. He faked a bite towards Ulrich's throat, but last second threw it at his leg, hoping to latch his jaw around his leg for a moment and inflict a short but sharp pain

4/10

Roll: 6/10

Ulrich felt Lykos' teeth bite into his leg, but could hardly feel his fangs. It seemed his fur had done its job there. With the coywolf's head down, clamped on his leg, Ulrich lunged toward the back of his neck, hoping to grab hold of his scruff and shake him, disorient him.

Lýkos grunted as teeth and scruff connected and he was thrown backward. Curse you coyote-side giving me a small-ass body. He thought to himself. He regained control of himself quickly though and lunged towards the larger mans chest, trying to throw in a bite as well as a swipe to his leg.

rolled a 5. the dice gods can sense his small size lmao

sorry for the wait. Ulrich rolled a 3 lmao

Ulrich winced as he felt teeth sink into his skin, though not hard. He felt the smaller man swipe at his leg, felt the impact, and stumbled a little, but kept his paws under him easily. Since he was much larger than Lykos, he thought he might simply fall atop the man, use his weight against the coywolf, but this did not go as planned.

feel free to imagine why it doesn't go as planned, since Ully rolled a 3, so clearly his move won't work.

Lykos darted out of the way as Ulrich tried to fall on him. He let the man hit the ground before trying his attack. He tried throw a bite at his neck/throat area, of course it wasn't too strong as he didn't want to really hurt him, but he had an opening and had to go for it.

rolled a 9!

rolled a 6

Ulrich called out in surprise and a bit of pain as Lykos' teeth sank into his throat. He knew the man was not trying to hurt him, but his grip was shockingly strong. Ulrich found himself stuck fast, afraid to pull away from Lykos' teeth and risk shredding the skin of his throat. Still, he couldn't do nothing, or that would be seen as a concession. So, he attempted to shove Lykos away with his shoulder, screwing up his face in anticipation of the pain in his neck.

Lykos was pushed down with a lot of force. The wind was knocked out of him and he lay on the ground breathless, his belly and side exposed for a moment. He struggled to his feet, still barely able to breathe, and threw one last swipe towards Ulrich's ankle-area, before he stumbled backward and landed in a half seated position. "I'm done..." He panted. "You're... stronger." He muttered though he wasn't proud of that.

poor man rolled a one ;-;
good way to wrap up the actual fighting tho ig

Ulrich quickly backed away from Lykos when the man said he was done. He tutted at his words, feeling bad, and shook his head. That is not true. Well. I am bigger than you, but there are different kinds of strength. Perhaps I have bigger muscles, but you are faster and more agile than I could ever be. Maybe you should... try different fighting techniques? You would do well to use your opponents' strengths against them, or work on tiring them with your quicker speed and then striking. Realizing, he was rambling, Ulrich shut his mouth. He just hated when others felt bad about things that were not their fault, and, as the leader of this pack, he felt he had some responsibility in Lykos' emotional well-being.

Lykos was listening intently. He wanted to be a better fighter. "That all makes sense, go on." He urged, noticing Ulrich intentionally shut himself up. "I'm interested in learning better technique."

Ulrich was pleased that Lykos was so interested in learning, however... Well, I... I'm not sure what else to tell you. I feel that fighting is best learned through physical practice. There are only so many things I can speak to you about, but without putting them to the test, I don't know how useful the knowledge would be. He puffed out a breath as he thought. Using one's opponent's strengths against them, working on speed over strength... What else?

Running away, even temporarily, can sometimes be a good strategy, and I don't see any dishonor in it. If you know the territory better than someone else, you could lead them into a tricky area, like a thick tangle of trees or underbrush. Running through water to make someone lose your scent, or even just to confuse them could also help you, especially when waiting for reinforcements...

Lykos nodded at that. "Is running through water a learned talent? Because water clings to my longer fur and slows me down often, so I don't know if it'll work for me, unless I just need to learn how to work through it properly."

Ulrich thought over Lykos' question. Well, he said slowly, dragging out the word. Preferably, you'd be far enough away from the enemy by the time you ran through the water that the heaviness of it forcing you to slow down wouldn't matter as much. Obviously, if the enemy is right behind you, trying to make them lose your scent like that wouldn't do much. Also, you can't give that trick too much credit, as our noses are too strong for it to work for long. Really, running through water is a last-ditch effort.

He thought more about it. It would be better to simply get far away, as quickly as possible. Maybe find higher ground, or to go somewhere with difficult terrain. You're much lighter than a full-blooded wolf, so it would be easier for you to say, scale the side of a mountain or something like that. A wolf's heavier weight would make that harder.

Lykos nodded. All that made a lot of sense. "Thank you Ulrich, I will make sure to keep all these tips in mind if I ever need to get out of a tricky situation... I often use my smaller size for speed but I never thought of it that way." He said commenting on the mountain bit.

Well, said Ulrich with a smile, I think we've had enough of a lesson for one day, yes? Perhaps we'll spar again some time? And he stood and wandered off to check on his wife.

[Exit. Thanks for the thread!]