Need more practise.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012 16:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flint_garouBut it's getting there.
28 February, 2012
The moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (46% full).
The sounds of a scuffle can be heard coming from the lower level of the garage. Clearly a friendly one, however, as it's just as likely to be punctuated with a compliment on a move or a laugh as a grunt or yell. Alexandra seems to have taken to her fighting practices with Flint, dragging him out to the garage whenever she can. One has to make proper use of the thinner moons, after all!
"Hah, gotchya," comes Flint's voice as he sidesteps inwards to catch Alexandra in an armlock. Not that he'd pulled that out before, and he tiptoes to maximise his height advantage as he looks over at her, stepping back as he lets go after just a few beats of hold, hands palm up and forward in mock-defeat nonetheless.
The upstairs door creaks open very quietly and Hayden steps into the garage, though she remains on the loft. Edging to the rail, she looks over… then sits down to watch from her birds eye perch.
"Dang it!" comes the exclamation from the girl. "Don't let go so quickly, though! That was a good one, and I need to see if I can get out of it, or if I'm just going to have to make sure not to get in it in the first place."
Flint just laughs a bit. "If I'm doin' it, you'll be able to get out of it pretty easy, is the thing. I'm no good at holding it." It's an easy enough admission of his own weaknesses. "No, now you try and get me into it, then see how I get out of it. Then try." The cub rolls slightly on the balls of his heels with a faint hint of challenge to what he's said.
Hayden remains the watchful observer on this. Quiet as a mouse and just studying the others.
Alexandra hasn't even noticed that Hayden was there, as yet. As to Flint's challenge, well, that she's quick to take up, darting in with a feint with her left and a follow up with her right as she tries to figure out how to make the kind of opening that would let her try for the armlock. She's more one to rely on her speed, generally avoiding getting in too close where a move like that might be a little easier to attempt.
Flint is not entirely quick on his feet, but neither is he actually allowing Lex the opportunity for an armlock at the moment. Hayden gets barely a glance, and then Flint slows, more-so letting Alexandra have the chance to get him in an armlock, and for the moment, he doesn't struggle against her. "Move your grip a little further," he suggests, though. "I could just drop out of this and throw you right now."
Hayden leans forward a little more as the conversation of tactics becomes more noticeable. She's quite intent on watching the two of them, and seemingly just as intent on keeping quiet.
Alexandra considers a moment. "You could drop out of it, eh?" While she does make the adjustment he suggests, a moment later she changes her tactics quite a bit—shifting her hold on his arm to the wrist with one hand and behind his shoulder as she steps forward—still beside him, but placing one leg in front of his in an effort to trip him as she continues to shift forward. It'll take them both to the ground if it works, but that's her intent—she'll try again for an armbar with both of them on the ground.
Flint twists to face Alexandra suddenly, freeing his arm her grip partway. It's enough for the taller cub to drop and gain the leverage to throw her to the ground and remain standing.
"Sweep the leg Johnny." That's what is heard from the upper level of the garage as Hayden peers over the edge still.
Alexandra lands with a thud and a whuff of exhaled air as she's unexpectedly thrown. "That's what I get for trying something fancy," she mutters. She looks up—well, over, since she's _already_ looking up, given how she landed—at the unexpected voice. "With my luck, he'd just end up landing on me if I tried it," she replies with a chuckle, only then getting back to her feet.
Flint takes a few quick steps backwards to be able to better look up at Hayden. Or to better avoid being tripped himself. "Anyway," the boy says, holding up one finger in the gesture for pausing practise now. "Hey there Hayden."
Hayden gives a nod. "Don't stop on my account." She watches the two a little more, "Someday soon she's gonna kick your butt without even trying. So might as well get your rubs in now."
Alexandra grins at Hayden. "You could join us, if you wanted? Most of the elders can't teach us unless they've gotten permission from Nik-rhya, but nothing stopping some cubs practicing with each other!"
Flint puts down the gesture for pause, and doesn't give Alexandra very much time to react before he drops to a roll towards her, coming up to get her in that armlock again, and this time, the cub shifts up ever so slightly to glabro to better hold it. "Just as long as you two don't gang up on me," he says.
Hayden shakes her head. "I'll just wait until I'm taught how to shoot guns." She does start making her way down though.
Armlocks, however, are far less effective when instead of an arm, you're suddenly holding the forelimb of something that is both larger than you are and built along very different lines. Someone's gotten the hang of using rage to speed a shapeshift, and she's now in hispo. Her head whips around so that those jaws might snatch at the nearest of his arms, though it's not as quick as it might be simply by virtue of being very careful about not causing any damage if she does catch him.
Flint just laughs as he shifts into crinos, his own shift fueled by rage as well. Masks-the-Storm might have his arm slightly, but Takes-It-All-In-Stride has taken advantage of her being in Hispo in order to wrap his free arm now over and around her neck, pulling up ever so slightly until she releases his arm. Claws don't dig into her fur, the Galliard cub being careful in kind, but they're there.
"One slip and things could go horribly wrong," mutters the girl from the loft, mostly to herself. "I know." Her feet cross one over the other.
Masks-the-Storm blurs from hispo to lupus, using her newly smaller size to slip out from his grip before he has a chance to tighten it, darting between his legs as she appears at first to be escaping behind him. But only appears that way for a moment, as an instant after that, she's in crinos herself and taking a swing at him. Burning through rage so quickly could leave her vulnerable in a real fight, but practice is one of the ways to learn things like that, after all.
All-in-Stride bares his teeth in a rather feral smile, reaching and catching the other's wrist in his own massive hand, though for the moment he's content to defend himself and not actually attack.
Masks-the-Storm and All-in-Stride are both in crinos on the lower level of the barn, while Hayden watches from a short distance away. While they're fighting, there's no sign of injury to either, and a short observation will make it clear that they're being careful not to use claws. The Ahroun lifts the arm that the Galliard has hold of, ducking beneath and pivoting so that she's beside him, facing the same direction—and then she brings her arm back down, aiming to get him in the same armlock that he used on her while they were still in homid.
The Glass Walker cub doesn't give Masks-the-Storm enough chance to tighten her grip into a proper armlock, shoving instead towards her, ducking ever so slightly to use one shoulder to push her, hopefully towards the ground.
A few seconds after Hayden exits, Touch Deer enters. He's older than the other two, in homid, clearly Native American, and scarred horribly on his hands and feet (which are shoeless). Poking his head in, he says nothing, but does smile.
Masks-the-Storm, not used to fighting in crinos, goes over onto her side as the Galliard slams his shoulder into her…but also doesn't let go of his arm when she does, and attempts to carry the momentum of her fall on into something that pulls him over, too.
Well, there goes that. The two end up in a pile of cub, though with All-In-Stride clearly on top, and the Galliard gives another toothy smile and what's probably a laugh as he shifts his weight to the knee that rests on the Ahroun cub's side. ~I win.~
Touch Deer enters and closes the door behind himself, and coughs politely. "Touch Deer, Adren of the Wendigo and full moon, once Alpha of this Sept, sorry if I'm…disturbing anything…?
Masks-the-Storm appears content to yield at this point, though she does offer a good-humored ~This time.~ by way of reply. She's a little startled when Touch Deer speaks; she'd clearly not noticed his arrival. She takes his introduction as her cue to begin shifting down to homid. Once the shift is complete and the Galliard has moved, she'll get back to her feet, offering a greeting of her own in reply. "Hello, sir. Alexandra Morgan, Calm Clouds Mask the Storm, Ahroun cub of the Shadow Lords. And we were just practicing."
All-in-Stride shifts down to homid not a beat after Alexandra does, punching her good-naturedly in the shoulder for a moment, then pushes hair out of his face. "Flint, called Takes-It-All-In-Stride. Galliard cub of the Glass Walkers." The cub gives the customary introduction with no pause at all to indicate that there might once have been a last name that went with that human name of his. He's long shed it, in any case. "You weren't disturbing anything, Touch Deer-rhya," the boy adds.
Touch Deer strides in, nodding amiably as if the cubs' replies were invitations. He has a buckskin bag over one shoulder and he tosses that towards a wall as he jumps upwards and grabs one of the beams that support the upper level. "Good to be back!" (his voice is thickly accented, but his English is honestly very good). He plops back down to the ground and walks, smiling towards the two cubs, hand outstretched for handshakes. Unfortunately, his hand is kind of grossly scarred, but he's extending it nonetheless. "You're both pretty good, but you need more practice," he admits to Lex.
Alexandra's gaze goes to the scarred hand, but there's only a slight hesitation before she reaches out to clasp it. She nods her agreement to the assessment. "Yes, sir, I do. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad I have Flint to practice with."
Flint accepts the handshake in turn, though it's an apparently unfamiliar motion for the boy by the hesitation he has in the action itself. "I need more practice, too," Flint admits. "Don't get enough chance, things have been. Kinda busy lately."
Touch Deer admits, "And things will always be busy for cubs. Best advice I can give you both is to do what you were doing, when you can manage. Managing your time is a skill cubs need to learn, if not the most exciting one." He looks back towards the door. "And, ditch the shoes, unless you need to avoid looking weird around humans. They make you move incorrectly."
Alexandra asks, "Even in this cold?" Her own glance goes toward the door that leads outside. "I'm cold even when I'm a wolf out there now." She follows it up with another question, curious, "Does Wendigo help to protect you from the cold?"
Flint makes a half a face, getting that distant, inward conversation look for a very long time. "Glass Walker, Touch Deer-rhya," he offers as a half explanation. "I live over in the city at the Tenement, kinda need the shoes most've the time."
Touch Deer splays his hands up, remarkably at-ease for one of his moon. "Okay, I'll admit that growing up without shoes means I can take weather other people can't, but even I was wearing some moccasins just a few weeks ago. However: for city-shoes I really love tennis and tae-kwon-do shoes, for their thin soles. Keep your feet from freezing, but don't wear really well-padded shoes. They make you heel-strike, and that makes you move all wrong."
Alexandra nods. "And I can always go barefoot when I'm inside. The only shoes I have here are my running shoes, but I'll ask Nik-rhya if he can get me something with thinner soles for when I go outside."
Flint nods, though he looks distant again for a moment, muttering something to himself about it 'relevant or important or would you please shut up' before he looks up at Touch Deer, an almost apologetic look on his face. "I was talking aloud again, wasn't I?" the cub asks, a half-frustrated tone.
Touch Deer walks over to his bag. "Yup. Past lives?"
Alexandra says, "A lot of the cubs seem to have them. At least yours are friendlier than Mitzi's, though. Unless they hate me and you're just not telling me, anyway."
The cub shrugs his shoulders and nods. "Yes. Kinda noisy sometimes," Flint says. A grin is offered to Alexandra. "Nah. They. It's other things, really."
Touch Deer plucks two moccasins (well worn) from his bag and walks over towards the cubs. He plops down on the ground near them and seems to compare the sizes of their tracks to his personal 'shoes,' measuring the leather moccasins next to marks on the ground. "Nope, too big for you both, but I can make you a few pairs if you want?"
"You know how to make them?" Alexandra is surprised and a little impressed, both. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, then, I'd appreciate it very much."
Flint seems to have resolved whatever half-conversation with his ancestors, and he raises his eyebrows a little at the Wendigo's offer. "I'd like that, Touch Deer-rhya," he admits, before something buzzes in the boy's pocket, then turning to a tinny ringtone. He digs out a cell phone, again apologetic, flips it open. "Mmhm. Yeah." Flips it shut. "My ride back to the tenement's here," he explains, very quietly. "It was nice to meet you, Touch Deer-rhya. I'm around Edgewood, a lot. But I gotta go now."
Touch Deer waves Flint off with a smile and a nod. "All good medicine, son of Cockroach." He turns to Alexandra. "I'll have four pairs here for you two, two each, in about three days, maybe four. I just have to do a few things…so I'll leave them right there (he motions towards a wall) in a bag, once I'm done. You can just pick them right up. I know your feet from your tracks: they will be the best fitting 'shoes' you have ever worn! But even I only wear them outside the city areas: inside even I wear sneakers, but the golf kinds."
Alexandra says, "Would you let me make you dinner as a way to say thank you, Touch Deer-rhya? I've never done any crafting, so I can't make anything like that, but I can cook." She looks a little disappointed that Flint has to go, offering him a wave goodbye. "See you tomorrow, hopefully!""
Flint grins to both, moving over to half-hug Lex on his way up and then out to the house proper. "Seeya, then," the cub calls, before he lets the door close behind him.
28 February, 2012
The moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (46% full).
The sounds of a scuffle can be heard coming from the lower level of the garage. Clearly a friendly one, however, as it's just as likely to be punctuated with a compliment on a move or a laugh as a grunt or yell. Alexandra seems to have taken to her fighting practices with Flint, dragging him out to the garage whenever she can. One has to make proper use of the thinner moons, after all!
"Hah, gotchya," comes Flint's voice as he sidesteps inwards to catch Alexandra in an armlock. Not that he'd pulled that out before, and he tiptoes to maximise his height advantage as he looks over at her, stepping back as he lets go after just a few beats of hold, hands palm up and forward in mock-defeat nonetheless.
The upstairs door creaks open very quietly and Hayden steps into the garage, though she remains on the loft. Edging to the rail, she looks over… then sits down to watch from her birds eye perch.
"Dang it!" comes the exclamation from the girl. "Don't let go so quickly, though! That was a good one, and I need to see if I can get out of it, or if I'm just going to have to make sure not to get in it in the first place."
Flint just laughs a bit. "If I'm doin' it, you'll be able to get out of it pretty easy, is the thing. I'm no good at holding it." It's an easy enough admission of his own weaknesses. "No, now you try and get me into it, then see how I get out of it. Then try." The cub rolls slightly on the balls of his heels with a faint hint of challenge to what he's said.
Hayden remains the watchful observer on this. Quiet as a mouse and just studying the others.
Alexandra hasn't even noticed that Hayden was there, as yet. As to Flint's challenge, well, that she's quick to take up, darting in with a feint with her left and a follow up with her right as she tries to figure out how to make the kind of opening that would let her try for the armlock. She's more one to rely on her speed, generally avoiding getting in too close where a move like that might be a little easier to attempt.
Flint is not entirely quick on his feet, but neither is he actually allowing Lex the opportunity for an armlock at the moment. Hayden gets barely a glance, and then Flint slows, more-so letting Alexandra have the chance to get him in an armlock, and for the moment, he doesn't struggle against her. "Move your grip a little further," he suggests, though. "I could just drop out of this and throw you right now."
Hayden leans forward a little more as the conversation of tactics becomes more noticeable. She's quite intent on watching the two of them, and seemingly just as intent on keeping quiet.
Alexandra considers a moment. "You could drop out of it, eh?" While she does make the adjustment he suggests, a moment later she changes her tactics quite a bit—shifting her hold on his arm to the wrist with one hand and behind his shoulder as she steps forward—still beside him, but placing one leg in front of his in an effort to trip him as she continues to shift forward. It'll take them both to the ground if it works, but that's her intent—she'll try again for an armbar with both of them on the ground.
Flint twists to face Alexandra suddenly, freeing his arm her grip partway. It's enough for the taller cub to drop and gain the leverage to throw her to the ground and remain standing.
"Sweep the leg Johnny." That's what is heard from the upper level of the garage as Hayden peers over the edge still.
Alexandra lands with a thud and a whuff of exhaled air as she's unexpectedly thrown. "That's what I get for trying something fancy," she mutters. She looks up—well, over, since she's _already_ looking up, given how she landed—at the unexpected voice. "With my luck, he'd just end up landing on me if I tried it," she replies with a chuckle, only then getting back to her feet.
Flint takes a few quick steps backwards to be able to better look up at Hayden. Or to better avoid being tripped himself. "Anyway," the boy says, holding up one finger in the gesture for pausing practise now. "Hey there Hayden."
Hayden gives a nod. "Don't stop on my account." She watches the two a little more, "Someday soon she's gonna kick your butt without even trying. So might as well get your rubs in now."
Alexandra grins at Hayden. "You could join us, if you wanted? Most of the elders can't teach us unless they've gotten permission from Nik-rhya, but nothing stopping some cubs practicing with each other!"
Flint puts down the gesture for pause, and doesn't give Alexandra very much time to react before he drops to a roll towards her, coming up to get her in that armlock again, and this time, the cub shifts up ever so slightly to glabro to better hold it. "Just as long as you two don't gang up on me," he says.
Hayden shakes her head. "I'll just wait until I'm taught how to shoot guns." She does start making her way down though.
Armlocks, however, are far less effective when instead of an arm, you're suddenly holding the forelimb of something that is both larger than you are and built along very different lines. Someone's gotten the hang of using rage to speed a shapeshift, and she's now in hispo. Her head whips around so that those jaws might snatch at the nearest of his arms, though it's not as quick as it might be simply by virtue of being very careful about not causing any damage if she does catch him.
Flint just laughs as he shifts into crinos, his own shift fueled by rage as well. Masks-the-Storm might have his arm slightly, but Takes-It-All-In-Stride has taken advantage of her being in Hispo in order to wrap his free arm now over and around her neck, pulling up ever so slightly until she releases his arm. Claws don't dig into her fur, the Galliard cub being careful in kind, but they're there.
"One slip and things could go horribly wrong," mutters the girl from the loft, mostly to herself. "I know." Her feet cross one over the other.
Masks-the-Storm blurs from hispo to lupus, using her newly smaller size to slip out from his grip before he has a chance to tighten it, darting between his legs as she appears at first to be escaping behind him. But only appears that way for a moment, as an instant after that, she's in crinos herself and taking a swing at him. Burning through rage so quickly could leave her vulnerable in a real fight, but practice is one of the ways to learn things like that, after all.
All-in-Stride bares his teeth in a rather feral smile, reaching and catching the other's wrist in his own massive hand, though for the moment he's content to defend himself and not actually attack.
Masks-the-Storm and All-in-Stride are both in crinos on the lower level of the barn, while Hayden watches from a short distance away. While they're fighting, there's no sign of injury to either, and a short observation will make it clear that they're being careful not to use claws. The Ahroun lifts the arm that the Galliard has hold of, ducking beneath and pivoting so that she's beside him, facing the same direction—and then she brings her arm back down, aiming to get him in the same armlock that he used on her while they were still in homid.
The Glass Walker cub doesn't give Masks-the-Storm enough chance to tighten her grip into a proper armlock, shoving instead towards her, ducking ever so slightly to use one shoulder to push her, hopefully towards the ground.
A few seconds after Hayden exits, Touch Deer enters. He's older than the other two, in homid, clearly Native American, and scarred horribly on his hands and feet (which are shoeless). Poking his head in, he says nothing, but does smile.
Masks-the-Storm, not used to fighting in crinos, goes over onto her side as the Galliard slams his shoulder into her…but also doesn't let go of his arm when she does, and attempts to carry the momentum of her fall on into something that pulls him over, too.
Well, there goes that. The two end up in a pile of cub, though with All-In-Stride clearly on top, and the Galliard gives another toothy smile and what's probably a laugh as he shifts his weight to the knee that rests on the Ahroun cub's side. ~I win.~
Touch Deer enters and closes the door behind himself, and coughs politely. "Touch Deer, Adren of the Wendigo and full moon, once Alpha of this Sept, sorry if I'm…disturbing anything…?
Masks-the-Storm appears content to yield at this point, though she does offer a good-humored ~This time.~ by way of reply. She's a little startled when Touch Deer speaks; she'd clearly not noticed his arrival. She takes his introduction as her cue to begin shifting down to homid. Once the shift is complete and the Galliard has moved, she'll get back to her feet, offering a greeting of her own in reply. "Hello, sir. Alexandra Morgan, Calm Clouds Mask the Storm, Ahroun cub of the Shadow Lords. And we were just practicing."
All-in-Stride shifts down to homid not a beat after Alexandra does, punching her good-naturedly in the shoulder for a moment, then pushes hair out of his face. "Flint, called Takes-It-All-In-Stride. Galliard cub of the Glass Walkers." The cub gives the customary introduction with no pause at all to indicate that there might once have been a last name that went with that human name of his. He's long shed it, in any case. "You weren't disturbing anything, Touch Deer-rhya," the boy adds.
Touch Deer strides in, nodding amiably as if the cubs' replies were invitations. He has a buckskin bag over one shoulder and he tosses that towards a wall as he jumps upwards and grabs one of the beams that support the upper level. "Good to be back!" (his voice is thickly accented, but his English is honestly very good). He plops back down to the ground and walks, smiling towards the two cubs, hand outstretched for handshakes. Unfortunately, his hand is kind of grossly scarred, but he's extending it nonetheless. "You're both pretty good, but you need more practice," he admits to Lex.
Alexandra's gaze goes to the scarred hand, but there's only a slight hesitation before she reaches out to clasp it. She nods her agreement to the assessment. "Yes, sir, I do. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad I have Flint to practice with."
Flint accepts the handshake in turn, though it's an apparently unfamiliar motion for the boy by the hesitation he has in the action itself. "I need more practice, too," Flint admits. "Don't get enough chance, things have been. Kinda busy lately."
Touch Deer admits, "And things will always be busy for cubs. Best advice I can give you both is to do what you were doing, when you can manage. Managing your time is a skill cubs need to learn, if not the most exciting one." He looks back towards the door. "And, ditch the shoes, unless you need to avoid looking weird around humans. They make you move incorrectly."
Alexandra asks, "Even in this cold?" Her own glance goes toward the door that leads outside. "I'm cold even when I'm a wolf out there now." She follows it up with another question, curious, "Does Wendigo help to protect you from the cold?"
Flint makes a half a face, getting that distant, inward conversation look for a very long time. "Glass Walker, Touch Deer-rhya," he offers as a half explanation. "I live over in the city at the Tenement, kinda need the shoes most've the time."
Touch Deer splays his hands up, remarkably at-ease for one of his moon. "Okay, I'll admit that growing up without shoes means I can take weather other people can't, but even I was wearing some moccasins just a few weeks ago. However: for city-shoes I really love tennis and tae-kwon-do shoes, for their thin soles. Keep your feet from freezing, but don't wear really well-padded shoes. They make you heel-strike, and that makes you move all wrong."
Alexandra nods. "And I can always go barefoot when I'm inside. The only shoes I have here are my running shoes, but I'll ask Nik-rhya if he can get me something with thinner soles for when I go outside."
Flint nods, though he looks distant again for a moment, muttering something to himself about it 'relevant or important or would you please shut up' before he looks up at Touch Deer, an almost apologetic look on his face. "I was talking aloud again, wasn't I?" the cub asks, a half-frustrated tone.
Touch Deer walks over to his bag. "Yup. Past lives?"
Alexandra says, "A lot of the cubs seem to have them. At least yours are friendlier than Mitzi's, though. Unless they hate me and you're just not telling me, anyway."
The cub shrugs his shoulders and nods. "Yes. Kinda noisy sometimes," Flint says. A grin is offered to Alexandra. "Nah. They. It's other things, really."
Touch Deer plucks two moccasins (well worn) from his bag and walks over towards the cubs. He plops down on the ground near them and seems to compare the sizes of their tracks to his personal 'shoes,' measuring the leather moccasins next to marks on the ground. "Nope, too big for you both, but I can make you a few pairs if you want?"
"You know how to make them?" Alexandra is surprised and a little impressed, both. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, then, I'd appreciate it very much."
Flint seems to have resolved whatever half-conversation with his ancestors, and he raises his eyebrows a little at the Wendigo's offer. "I'd like that, Touch Deer-rhya," he admits, before something buzzes in the boy's pocket, then turning to a tinny ringtone. He digs out a cell phone, again apologetic, flips it open. "Mmhm. Yeah." Flips it shut. "My ride back to the tenement's here," he explains, very quietly. "It was nice to meet you, Touch Deer-rhya. I'm around Edgewood, a lot. But I gotta go now."
Touch Deer waves Flint off with a smile and a nod. "All good medicine, son of Cockroach." He turns to Alexandra. "I'll have four pairs here for you two, two each, in about three days, maybe four. I just have to do a few things…so I'll leave them right there (he motions towards a wall) in a bag, once I'm done. You can just pick them right up. I know your feet from your tracks: they will be the best fitting 'shoes' you have ever worn! But even I only wear them outside the city areas: inside even I wear sneakers, but the golf kinds."
Alexandra says, "Would you let me make you dinner as a way to say thank you, Touch Deer-rhya? I've never done any crafting, so I can't make anything like that, but I can cook." She looks a little disappointed that Flint has to go, offering him a wave goodbye. "See you tomorrow, hopefully!""
Flint grins to both, moving over to half-hug Lex on his way up and then out to the house proper. "Seeya, then," the cub calls, before he lets the door close behind him.