[JRP] Readied Sword (Gabe & Ensis)

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The green and white lion stood at what he had determined to be the border of the Myrsky Syntynyt. A pride of warriors. And as a warrior intent on the pursuit of perfection in his craft, Ensis stood there, savoring the moment. He knew he would have to fight, and win, to be accepted into this pride, but it was fitting. Suitable even.

He was a sword which had been forged, but now must be tested. Blooded.

"Come, Reaver," he called to a shadow just too far out for him to make it out clearly. "Come and fight. I would test my mettle against you."  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel had not been a Reaver very long but she did love the job. Vikings were quite fun, heck she had even brought a Thrall back on her first one. That stupid hyena was finally learning its place and in doing so, showing how capable Gabriel was as a Stormborn and a Reaver. Who would have thought that pesky creature could have become so useful? The lioness certainly had had her doubts about it, that was for certain. Thankfully the thing had enough sense to respect might and realize that its imagined might was much lower than Gabriel's actual might.

Gabe was just patrolling the border, watching for any challengers, but not many were out today. She had seen all of two so far that had come to the border at all, and they both had retreated when challenged. Rogueland scavengers, maybe even dirty pirates, one never knew. The whole thing was getting quite boring, so she had put herself into some shade to wait and watch. Maybe she would get a better bite soon. She was itching for a fight, to test someone's worth and see if they could make it into the pride.

Gabe certainly wanted to see someone do what she had done, powerhouse their way in past the Reaver opposing them. If it was her that took the beating, oh well, she could handle it. SHE was a Reaver, if she was meant to lose, she would do so without complaint. She did not figure on losing any fights, today, though. Perhaps she would beat on someone to prepare them for the next try. She perked up at the sight of the male approaching and his voice. She stepped forward with a raised brow and not much else on her expression. "Big words for an Outlander."  

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Ensis sized up the defender as she approached. Odd markings in green and red, but she looked to be fairly capable for all that. He disagreed with her analysis of his words. Even if he lost this day, which would be disappointing, he would still have tested himself against her. Defeat was a greater lesson than victory, after all, and he intended to learn a great deal from this bout, whether about his own capabilities or the Myrsky Syntynyt.

"If you say so," the white lion replied politely as he dashed in to take a swipe at her face with an outstretched paw and unsheathed claws.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel gave a small smile as the male rushed her. Ah, the eagerness was so well placed. Now if he could just back it up with the force he needed. She did love a good test of force. She stepped back from his slash only to lunge down at his paws and belly. Instead of biting into her face, those claws were given her shoulder and back, but it did not bother Gabriel that she had let him get a solid hit on her. The lioness was a firm believer and sacrificing one thing for another, and she knew she was a bit shorter than some of the males, even this one. She also knew that it could be to her advantage.

Her aim was to try to get his supporting paws to put him on the ground. Gabe had the speed that she should be able to take his paws out from under him and still retreat that he would end up on the ground. It sounded quite good and sound in her head. The problem would be seeing if it worked when put into action. Things did not always go as one planned them to, even when they were well thought out. Gabe just hoped she didn't end up with the lion on TOP of her. That would be awkward, if amusing.  

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He felt his claws take hold and tear into her back, a somewhat unexpected occurrance given that he hadn't foreseen she would dive for his footing. The sudden blow knocked into his forelegs and Ensis reared up in response, balancing on his back legs as he sought to catch his balance.

But what was the point in standing on only two legs when his weight preferred to be supported by four? The white lion allowed himself to lean forward, bringing his forepaws and full weight down hard on his opponent.

She was sturdy enough, she wouldn't take lasting damage.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Since she was already under there and the male was now supporting himself partly on her back, Gabe decided to go for his back paws and twist her body to the side so that he might drop off of her. He was slightly heavy and she figured it might be amusing to dump him after his rather interesting rearing act. She did not appreciate the perching on her that he did, but eh, that was her own fault, and besides she could still reach those back paws and that belly above her under here. There were other places too, but she really was not interested in making him unable to breed.

IF he turned out to be a decent warrior, he was going to need that ability to help the SB blood. Gabriel wiggled and both used one paw to swipe at his back legs and her mouth to n** at his belly, ever trying to dump him off her back and onto his side. She did not exactly play fair, and really he could only do so much damage to her rather hard arse hide while he was laying over her. One thing the lioness could say was this was the most amusing fight she had ever had, and probably would remain so for some time.  

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He was less than completely surprised when the lioness writhed beneath him, upsetting his balance so that he fell off of her and onto his side. The white lion could not lose his temper at her antics, however, considering that he had opened himself up to them. He did try to block her teeth from getting to his underbelly though stopping her swift paw was a lost cause.

Somewhat disoriented from his fall, Ensis snapped at the lioness to dissuade her from coming too close. He doubted his teeth would close on anything, but better to try and fail than to fail to try at all.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel was satisfied that her tactic to throw the male off balance and onto his side had worked. She took a step back to get away from the snapping teeth and smacked at his head for his effort. She had claws out only part way, more because she liked giving bruises rather than cuts. Bruises hurt longer, if you asked her. She took hard swings at his head and paws just to see if he would stay down or manage to get back up by taking hits from her. She had used a similar tactic on her now thrall hyena once, but she doubted this male would retreat quite as quickly as the hyena had.

Gabe was enjoying the fight. It really was quite an interesting one and this male was proving his worth in many ways, just not proving it well enough to get past her. She did hope that if he lost this, he came back. She would like to see him keep knocking paws with a Reaver, even her, until he got into the pride. He had the determination and the fierce streak for it. The fact that he amused her, did not hurt either. She needed someone besides her brother to amuse her from time to time.  

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Ducking his head to keep the lioness' blows from doing too much additional damage, Ensis managed to right himself and wriggle out of her reach for the moment. He was not retreating, but it occurred to him that if he was taking repeated blows to the head, he might not be thinking as clearly as he could. Indeed, this lioness was quite skilled, just as he had expected of the Myrsky Syntynyt. Just as he desired.

Still, that did make his goal of joining the pride somewhat more difficult. If he was in such poor practice as to not even be able to hit her half the time, it could take far longer than he had expected to make it into the pride.

Well then, he would simply have to improve. For now, though, the lion circled his opponent, careful to stay just out of her reach. Perhaps he would see a good opening to attack if he gave himself just a bit of distance.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel watched the male take a few steps back, but did not let him stop there. She followed him and tried to cut off his attempt at circling. She did not swing while she was out of reach as it only would have slowed her down to do so, but she did not let the male really get into his circling. She was going to keep him moving the way she wanted, herd him as it were and force him to make a move. The lioness wanted to force him to think on his paws and see how he worked under pressure.

Gabe kept pressing close to the male taking a swipe here or there to try to get him to either back off or defend himself. She was not one to give her opponent time to think and plan. She liked being in their face and a rather big cloud in their judgement. The lioness had certainly done it to her brother enough times in training. He usually just buckled down and started swinging back, though as he knew he wasn't going to hurt her anymore than she did him.  

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So, she intended to keep the pressure on him, eh? Ensis' estimation of the lioness' skill rose. But that wasn't helping him to succeed here, and the white lion alternately moved his paws to block her blows and his feet to retreat away from their source. Neither movement was perfect and the green and red lioness rained her attacks down on him without halting.

There was indeed a great deal to learn here. Unfortunately, pain was something of a deterrent to his analysis. A pity, but that was how things went.

The white lion brought his own paws up, trying to retaliate, but without even a breath to focus, his aim was off and he could feel the limbs whistling through the air, hitting nothing at all.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel watched the paws go past her face by a few inches, judging that the male probably was getting tired if he was missing on what probably could have easily hit. Well, her tactics were certainly working int his fight and winning it from the looks of things. She would have to wrap this up soon, if the male kept this up. He obviously needed to go lick his wounds and practice before he tried again, and she was of the opinion the sooner the better on both of those aspects.

The lioness tried to take one final swipe at the male to knock him back before she fell back and looked at him. Unless he followed after her, she was done with him. "Are we done, Outlander?" She tried to keep all emotion from her voice as she spoke. "If so, go practice and try again. I will be here then as now." Which was the truth. She was not going out on a Viking any time soon, so he could come fight her again. Then again, she did not drop her guard just in case.  

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He was breathing more heavily than he liked when she finally withdrew and not to make a new attack upon him. Ensis was, overall, displeased with how he'd showed himself here. He would have to do better, much better, in order to satisfy his own desire for skill and join this pride.

But it was likely best this way. Now he knew for certain that he had come to the right place, that the Myrsky Syntynyt would be able to help him reach the next level of skill.

"We are done for this day, and I shall work to improve my skill until next time," he responded. There was firm determination in his tone and unblinking magenta eyes.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel nodded and retreated back to her shade to watch the boarder some more. "It was a good fight and please do return when you are ready to try again. I do enjoy a good duel." The lioness sat down on her haunches and watched the male leave. He would get there. Just as she had done so before him. She had not won her first duel either. If he was as good as she thought he would be, he should win the next one. Of course, even if he didn't, he had that look in his eyes that meant he would keep trying.

Gabe loved that look. They made wonderful Stormborn, usually reavers too. She did love to see new blood in the pride. She settled herself down to watching the border for any more challengers, enjoying the shade on her dark pelt. The sun had been hot, and she certainly was glad to be out of it again. Hopefully the next challenger would not come when the sun was so high in the sky. That fight had taken more out of her than hit should have because of the heat.