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Princess_Feylin rolled 10 4-sided dice:
3, 4, 1, 4, 3, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1
Total: 21 (10-40)
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 Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:38 am
Galning  "Ho, Ru! Planning on doing any training today?" Skremmende Galning called to another adolescent lion. That one had been in the pride longer and was rumored to have something going on with one of the Warlord's daughters, but Galning couldn't remember which one. The Warlord had a lot of daughters. "If you are, we should spar." His grin showed too many teeth, as always, but there was no real threat behind them. He simply enjoyed his life among the Stormborn. He had enough relatives around that he didn't feel like an outsider and the story of how he and his cousin had captured a Reaver had made them automatically welcomed to the pride and earned him a name far less embarrassing than the one his sweet mum had given him. Ru  Actually Ru hadn't planned on training that day, at least not yet, but he never turned down the opportunity to try himself against a new opponent, and he had heard some very interesting things about the spotted adolescent's fighting style. Like that he was a true berserker, and though the Stormborn had stories about them, there hadn't been any in the pride when Ru fought his askorun. "Aye, all right," Ru agreed. As he fell into step with Galning, altering his course for the practice grounds, it occurred to Ru that perhaps agreeing to spar with a berserker was not the wisest course of action for a lion about to go out viking under a new captain. Well, he couldn't back out of it now. That would just be embarrassing.
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Princess_Feylin rolled 10 4-sided dice:
1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 4, 1
Total: 21 (10-40)
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:00 am
Galning "Oh, that's great!" Galning enthused. A part of him had expected Ruzanski to say no, since they didn't know each other very well and it hadn't seemed like he was heading to the practice area. When they reached the sand-covered ground Galning had to take a quick second to acclimate himself to the sensation of sand underfoot. There had not been a great deal of the stuff where he grew up and its tendency to shift still made him suspicious. Fortunately the area where the Reavers practiced was actually only an inch or two of sand spread over hard-packed earth. They found an open space to accommodate their activities and Galning marked off the boundaries as he had seen other lions doing before beginning. The standards were either a square with about three body lengths to a side or a circle with a diameter of four body lengths. Ru While Galning marked off their area Ru established the rules to their fight. They weren't actually fighting over anything, so there would have to be limits, he had decided on the walk over. It meant he wouldn't get to test himself against a berserker just yet, probably, but that could wait until after this viking. He didn't want to set out set back by injuries after all. "To five points or forfeit. Blood drawn is one point. Stepping out of bounds is minus one." Those were fairly standard rules of engagement for lions sparring, if they bothered to establish any. Lots of lions just fought until one admitted the other had won, but Ru had concerns about doing that with a lion rumored to go berserk when he fought. When Galning signaled his agreement to those rules and finished marking the boundaries of their bout Ru settled into a ready crouch, watching his opponent and waiting for him to make some kind of move.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:47 am
Galning Galning, too, had dropped into a ready crouch after they'd established the rules governing their match, but when he saw Ru had already done so he reconsidered. And then he reconsidered again when he realized that he would be going right along with what Ru wanted by attacking first, and one of the other things he'd heard about Ru was that he had been going on vikings almost from the very beginning of his tenure in the pride, and that he was gaining a reputation as being pretty good at it. "Come on!" Galning said. "Let's start this!" Galning had not done a lot of fighting since coming to the pride, but he was eager to remedy that. People seemed kind of wary of fighting with him because of how he and Asper had gotten in. The lion they'd captured didn't seem to hold it against them, but lots of others muttered words like "berserker" and came up with other things they had to do. Ru Unaware of the difficulties Galning had with his reputation, Ru was also proceeding with caution, but there came a point where caution was boring, and besides which it was not the way Stormborn fought. There was a certain amount of planning that went into a battle, some evaluation of the enemy, but that could just as easily be done once the fray was joined. Moving without any sound of warning Ru surged across the open space, deliberately propelling himself past Galning rather than directly at him. As he passed he used his shoulder to shove the other lion off-balance and then directed a bite toward his hindquarters. The trickiest part of the whole maneuver, which was designed to upset Galning's guard, was not going too far past him and accidentally stepping out of bounds.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:09 am
Galning Ru's attack did indeed catch Galning off-guard. He hadn't honestly expected the green-eyed Reaver to respond to his challenge to get things started. Galning had always learned that patience was the way to win fights. The fact that he had absolutely no patience had been a problem in that respect, and now that he was up against someone who was not content to wait for him to make a move, it was not like he had expected. He staggered off-balance and felt sharp teeth scrape along the right side of his spine. He didn't think blood had been drawn, but he didn't want to be accused of cheating, and so after he regained his footing he asked, "Point?" And then it became Ru's responsibility to be honest and make the correct judgment. They had separated after that initial rush and Galning was glad of the opportunity to collect himself, but now as he crouched and watched Ru pacing on the opposite side of their space he felt an undeniable urge to launch an attack of his own. He couldn't move as fast as Ru over the ground, but he knew he could leap spectacularly, and so with a snarl he flung himself into the air. Ru "Not that I can see," Ru replied. So far Galning seemed pretty rational and normal, maybe even a bit out of his league judging by how startled he looked by Ru's first pass. Ru wondered if perhaps it took something like drawn blood to bring out the fighter in him, or if he was more of an emotional fighter. It occurred to the golden-toed lion that interesting things might happen once blood was drawn, given his own reaction to it. His reflections did not prevent him from seeing Galning's aerial attack. Once more he responded with a counter-attack, throwing himself forward and then slash upwards at Galning's underside as he passed beneath him.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:41 pm
Galning That time Ru's claws hit their mark, making shallow cuts along his stomach. By the time his paws hit the ground and he twisted to face Ru again it was burning. "Point," he conceded. And first blood, he thought, but that didn't seem to make as much of a difference to the Stormborn as it seemed to make to other people. The Stormborn were kind of funny that way. They didn't care who drew first blood, not unless it was a legal matter. And then there were all sorts of complicated rules that he couldn't hope ever to make sense of. He didn't allow his injury to distract him, and fortunately for Ru he wasn't the sort where his berserker switch was flipped by his own injuries. It was more of an emotional thing for him, and this was only a practice fight. No reason for him to flip out. Ru Ru allowed himself a small quick grin when Galning conceded the first point to him. He was proud of that move. It had taken him a bit to overcome his initial instinct to never charge toward someone who was already jumping toward him, but when he realized he was fast enough to evade a direct hit it came more easily. The only problem was that it was a little difficult from his current position to make another attack. He'd rolled onto his back to make the swipe at Galning's underside, and although he'd scrambled to his feet quickly, he was still not in the best position to attack. So he waited to see what Galning would do. As he waited Ru's tail twitched and his claws slid in and out of their sheathes. He was not a lion who held still with ease, and even when he wasn't consciously moving he was moving or fidgeting in some way.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:50 am
Galning Galning feinted right and then left before finally making his attack from the right, seeking to clamp his jaws around Ru's throat or even just his neck. At best he could force a forfeit if he got the right grip and at worst he would miss completely, but still have his claws. Unlike Ru, whose claws slid in and out, Galning's had been bared throughout the fight, just in case he could get a lucky cut in. Ru Ru fell for Galning's first feint but not his second, and his attack didn't do much to catch Ru off-guard. It wasn't difficult for Ru to tuck his chin and thereby protect his throat, but with the way Galning was coming in it was still unlikely that he'd get off without his opponent scoring at least one point. To keep the number to a minimum Ru twisted his body as quickly as he could so that he could control where Galning's teeth would catch him.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:58 am
Galning Galning felt his teeth close around flesh, but because his target was in motion it was only the smallest part of his bite that actually caught flesh. In essence he had nipped Ru behind the ear, but he'd tasted blood, and that meant he'd won a point and they were tied. Ru called the point and they separated because it was a sparring match with a winner determined by points. To keep it from becoming confusing, Galning assumed, the fighters would move back to a ready position after every point. He didn't exactly understand why that was necessary, but that was the way things were done and who was he to argue with it? Ru Pain, sharp and sweet behind Ru's ear, where he was already sensitive. He breathed in sharply, a breath that would probably be misinterpreted as merely pained surprise. It wasn't. There was pleasure there in that sudden blossom of blood and pain that made him quick to award Galning his point before he could become distracted by the sensation. They separated but that didn't mean Ru had to give Galning a great deal of time to ready himself between attacks. Instead the black lion only maintained his distance for a heartbeat or two before crossing the space between them again with his claws reaching forward as he ran. This time he was not trying to pass Galning and sneak in a cut to the flank, though he might still end up doing something similar depending on how Galning reacted.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:13 am
Galning There wasn't time for Galning to do much more than rush to meet Ru's next charge. He wasn't going to fall for the same attack Ru had tried initially. It had only been unsuccessful the first time because Galning had been lucky. This time they were joined in earnest and Galning didn't imagine Ru would let him off easy. Meeting Ru's charge meant plowing into him with as much speed as he could build up in a few running strides. When their bodies slammed into each other Galning bared his teeth and made a snap for Ru's face while he sought to dig into Ru's shoulders with his foreclaws to hold him close. Ru Ru embraced Galning, welcoming the claws which dug into his flesh even though he knew it would be a point to his opponent because his own claws were just as deeply embedded in Galning's side and raking up his body toward his shoulders as he pulled the other adolescent closer. A point to him, too. Meanwhile he pulled his head back in time to evade Galning's bite and ducked to attempt a hold on Galning's throat. They didn't have to separate until one or the other called a point, technically, and this was not an easy position to get out of, so he thought he might as well take advantage of it.
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:52 pm
Galning Galning snarled in pain as Ru's claws dragged along his side and toward his forequarters. Gods that had hurt! He had no doubt those would leave scars. Ru definitely was not pulling his hits at this point. Galning knew that was actually a compliment, but it still hurt like balls. It didn't take very long of the two lions standing on their hind legs, pushing against each other and clawing at each other for Galning's balance to begin to suffer. And then Ru made an attack on his throat that got him all sorts of panicked because he couldn't just pull away thanks to Ru's claws hooked good and deep in him. The only reasonable solution was to jerk to one side and hope to avoid the worst of the bite. And so what if that solution toppled both of them over just as Ru's mouth found his throat? s**t. Ru Ru snarled around a mouthful of fur as he felt his feel slipping beneath him and his body falling to the side. What kind of a moron was Galning? Did he want Ru to tear his throat out? Because that was absolutely what was going to happen here if things went even a little wrong. He spent most of the brief moments of falling doing his best not to accidentally bite through Galning's throat upon impact. On the ground, in the sand, Ru almost welcomed the hind leg kick which punched into him, drawing blood and allowing Ru to end the match. "Three to you," he said, pulling his mouth away from Galning's throat and thinking that maybe he'd seen a little bit of the berserker after all. That kind of disregard for one's life wasn't normal.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:07 pm
Galning When Ru's teeth released his throat without having torn it out Galning took a deep gulp of air and exhaled it in a relieved sigh. He could have died in one of the stupidest ways imaginable, and it would have been undeniably his fault. And yet Ru was saying that he had won. As he climbed to his feet Galning shook his head. "You probably couldn't hear it, what with my windpipe being somewhat crushed between your jaws, but I forfeited. That would have been a kill for you in a true battle, regardless of how many points I'd scored." That was the truth as Galning saw it, and although it galled him to admit defeat, claiming a win by points when he obviously would have been dead in a real battle was the act of a childish, petty lion, and Galning liked to think that he was neither of those things. He was Skremmende Galning, a warrior of the Stormborn. Ru Ru had been climbing to his feet from the moment he ceded the fight to Galning, and was already standing by the time Galning refused the victory. It pleased Ru that he had done so, since he raised a valid point in saying that he would not have won that fight if Ru hadn't made a sincere effort not to kill him. "How about we call it a draw?" Ru suggested. He could afford to be magnanimous. Anyone watching that fight would have seen who was truly the victor, regardless of how the points were allotted. It was interesting that Galning had said he had tried to forfeit, because Ru would have noticed that. When Galning agreed to a draw Ru nodded to him, an acknowledgment of his skills as a fighter, and proposed that they do this again sometime.
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