[DUEL] Show me your strength (Canicus & Kasi'Wakia)

[Lethrossen]

Canicus had been watching lions spar for a good while now, the urge to do battle himself increasing with each match he witnessed. But most of the lions he saw he did not know well, some he did not even know by name. It was somewhat difficult for him to bring himself to go speak to a 'stranger'. Multiple times he'd told himself that none of that really mattered; they were all of one pride, all brethren in their cause. But it had taken him this long to finally work up... not the courage, he was not afraid to speak to any of these lions... but sparring? Somehow it was different for Canicus.

Still, he'd spotted Kasi'Wakia not far off, also watching the matches. He did not know her well, but he did know her name. That was enough, really. He shifted and moved from his haunches onto all fours and headed for her, his face neither friendly or foreboding. Canicus usually looked fairly expressionless, really. "Kasi'Wakia, I see you are enjoying the duels." There was a pause in the conversation before Canicus gestured with his jaw toward one of the rings. "Are you up for the challenge?" At this he did offer a slight smile, though nothing overly friendly.

 

[Velveteen Angel]

Kasi had always enjoyed watching lions duel - she had been watching them since a cub when she had perched herself far enough away that the adults would not yell at her for interfering, but close enough that she could see their fights in detail. She had learnt a lot of moves from them before she had taken up her apprenticeship with Soldier Azar. Unfortunately, she had not yet had the opportunity to duel much herself other than her first duel with Soldier Azar which had not gone as well as Kasi had hoped - for one, Azar was still far stronger than Azar despite Kasi's youth. She needed to practice more, she decided, and for that, she needed a partner willing to duel her.

Spotting movement from the corner of her eye, she tore her gaze from the sparring lions to the approaching male. She knew him in passing, simply because she tried to keep track of some of the pride members. Canicus, wasn't that his name? She wondered, rising to his feet as he approached, out of politeness. "Always, Canicus" she responded to his comment of enjoying the duels, hoping that she had gotten his name correct.

She was pleasantly surprised at his offer, and her own smile blossomed - a slightly childish edge to it, showing that while she was now grown, she still had some maturing to do - before she quickly smoothed it out to a more mature looking half smile.

"Of course," she agreed readily. "I never turn down a duel." Admittedly, she'd only ever had one other duel, but still, this making two she hadn't turned down, her statement was correct.

She motioned one of the free duelling areas, and moved towards it, not waiting for Canicus to follow. Reaching the edge, she stepped in and fell into a seemingly relaxed pose, but her muscles tense as she waited. "You start," she offered, and tensed her claws into the sand.

 

[Lethrossen]

Canicus smirked just slightly at her enthusiasm, nodding his approval. He was looking forward to their match, and followed her at a fairly quick pace, but he wasn't in a rush. He was already thinking about some different moves, ways to attack and defensive strategies. As she offered the first move to him his brows raised a fraction. "Oh? Are you sure you want to do that?" He asked slowly, an almost playful air about his tone.

He circled her slowly, claws digging into the sand before he suddenly lunged at her. There was great advantage to having the first move... well. If you did it successfully. There was also a disadvantage to being given the first move, because that meant your opponent was expecting something. He cursed himself, thinking perhaps his body language was too predictable because his lunge for her completely missed!

As his paws hit the ground he turned quickly, muscles tense as he against slightly smiled. "Oh, not bad." He murmured, gaze studying her as he tensed.

 

[Velveteen Angel]

Kasi smirked, pleased at the playful comments. Her first duel had been so serious and structured – it was her attempt at showing Azar what she had learned, but now this was just practice – just...well, for fun, though Kasi was not going to hold back even if it was only a friendly duel. She said nothing as he stalked around her, her body tense. She saw him ready himself before he lunged, and launched herself to the side smoothly.

His lunge missed and she laughed. “Looks like the first-attack advantage doesn't help you,” she retorted – the words could have been nasty, but the playful grin on her face gave away her joking intent.

She kept her gaze firmly on him, her paws shifting beneath her as she lunged towards him, aiming off to the side. She didn't have the bulk to tackle him, so instead she landed near him and swiped out a paw instead, aiming for his shoulder with claws lightly extended. She no real desire to hurt him seriously, but if he ended up covered in scratches and cuts, well then it was his own fault for not defending.

Feeling her claws connect, she smirked lightly and bounced back, taking delight in having the first hit of the duel.

 

[Lethrossen]

Something of a hint of a smile touched his features at her words and her rolled his eyes, pacing in a circle with her as he awaited her next move. "Ah, it would have but it seems you're quicker on your feet than I imagined." He must have been in a fairly good mood today, giving compliments so freely. In fact, he had not had a duel in a long while and even when he was apparently losing a duel he stayed in a positive mood. His body appreciated the exorcize, and his mind enjoyed the strategy. As she lunged for him he shifted a few steps away, but again he misjudged where the situation was leading. It seemed she'd meant to land near him the whole time. He snarled just a bit when her claws slashed against his skin, and he twisted and shot a paw out, claws ready to strike.

She was quick on her feet though and instead of catching the lioness once again he missed. Ah, he would need to start practicing much more. He could not get into this condition again, this was bad. His claws flexed in the sand as he crouched low, once again circling. His gaze studied each muscle in the lioness, trying to gain some hint of what would come next. He would land a hit soon, he hoped.

 

[Velveteen Angel]

She grinned at his words, but didn't respond, concentrating on the duel. Sure, he had missed her twice, but they had not been wild and uncontrolled attacks, they had actually been quite close. If she hadn't spent so long practicing dodging, then she would have been bit both times and that was just unacceptable. She needed to take this more serious – even if it was just practicing for her.

She began to circle him as he watched her, his muscles tense for her next attack. This was fun, she mused to herself, holding back a girlish giggle which would have horrified her if she'd actually let it out. She kept a careful eye on him, and started forward. He had already noticed her quickness on her feet, and she was hoping to use that to her advantage. She took a few fast steps and then lunged, aiming her paws towards his flank instead of his shoulder, hoping to avoid another attack from him by keeping away from his front legs. Her paw collided with skin and she tensed her body to doge away again.
 

[Lethrossen]

As the female came at him he twisted but he'd thought wrong again. He felt her claws drag across the flesh of his flank and he snarled, landing on his side from the sloppy twist away. He rolled and righted himself, lunging at her without thinking this time. His paws hit the sand, again he'd missed.

Where was his head right now? His face remained mostly calm, but this time no words came from his maw. Something was bothering him, but what he was not sure. Something must have been bothering him, to not have landed one hit yet. He needed to focus!

 

[Velveteen Angel]

Again, her attack hit and again he missed. This was seeming slightly one sided. Kasi frowned. Did he even want to duel? She didn't think she was that good that he wouldn't have even landed a hit yet - she was still learning herself although she had been practicing duelling since her youth.

"Holding up okay?" She asked, in a light tease, but she was honestly curious. Did he want to stop?

Deciding that she couldn't make his decisions for him, she circled back towards him and aimed for another hit. This time, she again aimed for his shoulder, paw connecting with a solid thud - no claws this time, just a tap to show she'd hit - before twisting her body to again move back away from him, focused carefully on his next move.

 

[Lethrossen]

He ignored her words, not answering. They were frustrating, made him feel just a hint of foolishness. Luckily the feelings were not given away in Canicus' stern face. His tail lashed though, and he tensed as she came at him. He focused entirely on her, but when he felt only paw and no claw connect with his flesh he was a little surprised, was she going easy on him suddenly? His eyes narrowed and he grunted, taking a step back and then he saw it.

As she moved away he advanced forward, paw finally swiping out and connecting with the lioness. He perhaps hit a little harder than he would have meant to in a normal sparring match, but nothing she wouldn't recover from. Really it had been no worse than the few hits she'd landed on him. "You're not thinking of taking it easy on me now, are you?" He spoke, his words light again. Yes, this was good. He was beginning to finally settle his mind on the fight, really focus on what was going on.

 

[Velveteen Angel]

Kasi probably should have been upset that he got a hit in - and she did cringe at the pain, but it wasn't too bad, so she wasn't that upset - but to be honest ,she was just pleased that he seemed to finally get his head into what they were doing. "How do you know I wasn't going easy?" She suggested, dryly, though she hadn't been.

She kept her gaze on him, and began to circle but he was clearly more focused on their fight because while before he had left himself open to attacks, now she didn't dare bound forward until she had a good view on a possible attack. He was strong and Kasi had no desire to get injured needlessly in this duel, so she bided her time, stalking around him and smirking lightly.

 

[Lethrossen]

The landing of a hit had felt good, immensely good considering how much of a rut he seemed to be in. But rather than skill, as he always boasted to his sister Zala that he had much of, perhaps this time it had just been luck. It was a negative way to think, but one he could not help in the moment he smirked and lunged for the female again. Perhaps if he hadn't become so at ease just from one paw-land. It was foolish, really.

But he had. All of the focus he'd worked up had seemed to flicker and then die out the moment he'd caught her. And so when he'd lunged again he had not been counting on the faulty betrayal of his body, twisting in a manner he had not meant it to. His front paws had come crashing down to the sand too soon, he'd meant to land very close, to catch her off balance but instead he'd not judged the distance well. He would have crashed into her if he'd not forced himself to land.

In doing so he snarled, grunting as his body propelled forward and he was suddenly on his back. The shame burned more than the hot sun baking his body, it really did.

TOTAL: 7  

[Velveteen Angel]

Kasi kept a careful watch on him and when he lunged forward, she bounced back slightly, trying to widen the distance between them. Which turned out not to be necessary, as he seemed to miscalculate and suddenly was unbalanced. As he slammed onto his back, she tried so hard not to laugh.

Well, it might not have been the most technically amazing duel, but it had been pretty fun. Before he could rise to his feet, Kasi lunged at him, and 'tackled' him, though she jumped beside him instead of on him, grinning down, unconcerned that she'd missed. She hadn't really been that focused on hitting him, since he was already down and looking less than pleased at his last failed move.

"Well, that was fun," she said, unable to suppress the grin but thankfully able to hold back on the laughter.

Total: 12  

[Lethrossen]

He stared up at the sky for a moment, simply dumbfounded at how terrible he'd performed in the sparring match. He was roused back to attention when the flicker of her movement caught his eye. Damn him, what was he doing? The duel was not over yet! But it did not matter that he shifted away, she landed away from him and he rose, shaking off his fur and mane. Little grains of sand came flying out, but many stayed hidden. Those would be annoying to get out... if he played his cards right perhaps his sister would help him groom in return of a favor of her own.

His tail flicked and he stared at the female with a stony face. After a moment a smile broke his features, it was small and almost hard to tell it was a smile at all. "More for you than for me, I take it?" He offered, knowing full well he should not be sour at his loss. She'd performed stunningly, she must have practiced hard and long. "You were very good, but I hope you know this will mean a rematch at some point." His smile widened here, to where you could actually see the emotion on his maw before he glanced toward the sky and the smile dropped away. The sun would be going down soon enough, and the cold would set in.

At least during the cold of the night it would be easier to forget the pride's problems, for a while. "Until we meet again, Kasi'wakia." He said respectfully, bowing his head lightly before turning to go.

 

[Velveteen Angel]

Kasi knew it was slightly childish to be grinning quite so much, so she made a conscious effort to lower the grin to a smaller smile, but she was pleased that he was not taking the loss too badly. "Most likely," she agreed, conceding that it's funness was probably specific to her winning, but still, it had been an enjoyable duel.

"Thank you, and I know, and I look forward to the rematch," she said, nodding. He had done well, but her speed and his own distractedness had been his downfall. Next time, she had a feeling that her win would not be an easy one, and she really was looking forward to that.

"Until next time, Canicus," she responded, bowing her head as he turned to leave. She couldn't wait to tell Azar about the duel, but she knew the female would likely be with her family by this time, so she decided not to seek her out.

She stayed where she was, looking forward to the night falling. The effects of the drought seemed more potent when she was in the sunshine, but when night fell and the cold came and she no longer had the heat to make her thirst, she could almost forget about it. She walked slowly back towards her den, taking pleasure when the cold began to chill her and the thrill of her win.