violence;; open (learning to fight!)

[Paint]

You head home
If you like I'll stay here
Check if he's alright
He's got his head screwed on
And he's still going strong
As he cracks a smile and he tries to tell me what went wrong...

Oberon knew what they must think of them. Those drooling, vicious dogs across the river. He was sitting, staring, almost waiting. He'd done somewhat of a job, travelling the lands, telling everyone that they were expected to learn to fight regardless of age or gender, and that he was to begin lessons a sunrise. Bandit had told him they would be learning here, as long as no Moons were present across the wide river.

He'd chosen a particularly dense region. A thick line of trees stood between the space he'd chosen, a small clearing, and the river beyond. The sound was positively roaring, and it riled him. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Bandit had been right, it was almost better to do these tasks right under their noses. They wouldn't hear or see a thing but they might smell a smatter of blood. Thanks to the river and the trees.

As the sun rose and the chill across the ground caught his attention, Oberon realised how close winter was. It was only autumn, after all. They may even end up fighting in snow. The thought of it sharpened his mind; he would add that to his lessons. He felt so ready to prove himself. He hadn't yet had an opportunity, there had been no love, pups, no battles to defend his pack. This was his moment. He intended to seize it with both hands. He waited for his packmates to arrive.

Silence sweeps us off our feet
The violence, oh, the violence

[Ashara]

Astra had heard that they were all expected to learn to fight. It was sunrise and she was walking along the river near the territory of the Falling Moons trying to find where the spot was. She didn't think she really needed the training, from her time spent as a loner she knew how to defend herself and how to stand up for herself. If she was ever in trouble all she had to do was run, no one could ever catch her. She was too fast, too agile and too good at hiding herself to be found but still she had turned up.

Maybe she would learn something, she herself doubted it but it was very possible. Now she could smell her pack mates scent not far away. With the sound of the river she didn't want to startle him so she purposefully stepped on a larger size twig. It broke beneath her paws in a loud snap, clearly audible above the rivers sound. She raised her head from the ground to look towards Oberon who seemed to be the only wolf present.

But how wrong she was lurking in the shadows hidden from view stood Conan. This grinned this had been the moment he had been waiting for. He watched Astra carefully, her foot landing upon the branch and then the snap. Now was his time to act. In a moment Oberon would look up from the ground towards the sound and then Conan would be on top of him.

There was no time to loose, Conan left out from his hiding place towards Oberon. Astra was the perfect distraction. He was here to learn to fight so why not get started?

[Paint]

Oberon waited a little longer, closing his eyes to open his ears and nose. He felt that some of his packmates may well be close. He himself had been a loner for a few years of his life, and well he knew the feeling of a buzzing pack around him. It had practically scared him off the first time he'd chosen to live with the Stars.

He opened his eyes just as Astra came into view, the loud snap directing his eyes towards the black female. A thud entered his senses, he prayed not a moment too late, and he leapt up. What Conan had not counted on was how highly strung Oberon was at this moment in time. He felt the brush of the bolshy young male's fur on his approach but Oberon just managed to miss being knocked over, although the contact was made and Oberon span around, only just in control, to face the youngster with utter sharpness in his eyes.

He was very tense, trying to figure out if Conan had meant the attack maliciously or not. His head was lowered, he kept his distance and he watched, hoping that the contact hadn't bruised anything. He doubted it, though. He'd encountered worse surprise attacks than that, although he had to hand it to the pup for trying.

"Jumping in the deep end, are we?" he finally relaxed, chuckling, but he glanced back at Astra and around to check there would be no more of this. He looked back to the adolescent and raised a brow, awaiting an answer.

[Ashara]

Conan's surprise attack hadn't really worked out as planned but he still gave a proud wink to Astra the only she wolf around. Adult she wolfs weren't always all too keen on his flirting but he kept it up anyway. He looked up at the angry looking Oberon with a cheeky comment on his lips after which he could run back the way he had come, but then he saw the older wolfs expression soften a little.

He looked Oberon back in the eye wondering if her should chance making the cheeky comment anyway but if he did then he might not get very much of this training where he would actually get to learn how to make some even better surprise attacks. "The deep end?" he chuckled looking at the river right beside them "Now that's where you you have landed if I had some better surprise attack skills".

Conan's surprise attack did come at much more of a surprise for Astra than it did for Oberon. For a moment she almost thought it was a Falling Moons wolf and a slight growl left her lips but then seeing it was only Conan who's antics she knew all too well she sighed and sat down at a distance from the two to watch. She ignored his wink to her and waited for Oberon's reaction.

[Fire]

At the moment, the world seemed like an impossibly cruel place. Sayuri, by nature, was a positive wolf. She thrived on bringing others happiness in their darkest times, and tried her utmost to be optimistic; but she couldn't shake the sickening feeling that loomed over her every waking moment. Dread crawled around under her skin, although she was stoic in her appearance, and thoughts about what might be happening to her brother plagued her. However, she adjusted her outlook on life accordingly. If she looked at this too optimistically, it could be dangerous. There was no use imagining that Caden was safe and unharmed, in case it wasn't true. Instead, she tried to be realistic. Her brother was most likely alive, seeing as he was more use to them that way. If Caden were dead, the Moons would have let them know by now. The Moons wanted power; leverage over them.

Keeping busy and distracting herself was relatively easy. Oberon had arranged training session at sunrise, and she since the pack meeting Sayuri had spend every moment she could lurking around No Man's Land. Finding information out was a lot more difficult than it sounded, though. The Loners didn't know anything, and the Falling Moons...well. It was a waste of time as far as she was concerned, but she did it anyway for two reasons. Firstly, it made her feel like she was doing something to help get her brother back; and secondly, it meant she could get away from the pack. In No Man's Land, there weren't any wolves asking how she was, or how she was coping, or telling her that they'd be there if she needed someone to lean on. Well, she didn't need anyone to lean on. She leaned on herself, not others. The only exception there had ever been was her brother. No, she didn't need support, she was a big girl who was perfectly capable of looking after herself. What she needed was her brother back safely.

Today, however, it was important she was in the pack lands. In a way, she was looking forward to being trained to fight. Being better equipped meant a bigger chance of success in the inevitable battle. Inevitable because there was no other way this could end. There was no way Bandit would let anyone sneak into the Moon lands on their own. It was the whole pack, or nobody. And the whole pack meant war.

There morning air was bitterly cold when she arrived at the river, and Sayuri was extremely thankful that her coat was starting to thicken as Winter approached. No sooner had she emerged from the treeline, she saw Oberon successfully dodge an attack from one of the pups a little further upstream. Despite herself, Sayuri smiled fondly, and trotted calmly toward the small gathering. When she reached them, she nodded her head to them all.

Then she breathed deeply, attempted to spark a little humour in her eyes, and chuckled. "I see you've started without me, Oberon."

[Malo]

It was still dark when the young wolf had awaken from her sleep. Stretching, Jasmyne peered out of her den into the darkness, wondering who else was stalking around in these early hours. They were to have fighting lessons today by the river and she did not intend to miss them. Stepping out of her chambers, she stretched once more and then headed for the border.

The sun rose slowly as she trotted across the territory, taking in the silence of the morning. It seemed time had frozen as the creatures of the world slept away. The higher the sun got, the warmer her fur felt and she felt a surge of feelings fill her up. She watched as the light reflected off the morning dew that covered the grass, wetting her paws as she drew closer to her destination. Today would be beautiful if they were not training for such a grim reason.

Today they would learn to fight. Caden's life was depending on their success and Jasmyne, for one, did not want to fail. She was quick on her feet, light, but she did not have a lot of experience in personal conflict. She'd never had a reason to fight. Until now.

The scents of her pack mates wafted through her nostrils and she quickened her pace. Upon her arrival, she noticed that there was already a small gathering. She gave a swift apologetic smile to everyone present. "I hope I'm not late everyone." She had not witnessed the sneak attack on Oberon, so she waited for someone to speak before continuing. These lessons were vital, for Caden's survival and their own. Everyone knew that a battle was looming on the horizon, one that would shake the entire valley to its core.

No one had been instructed to enter Moon's territory to gather information. Jasmyne figured it was safe to assume that they were going in together. Why wouldn't they? Stepping across the river alone was a death sentence, they all knew it. The Falling Moons would rip them apart without a second thought-or worse. The thought of them, attacking her from all sides, ripping into her flesh with glee...it scared Jasmyne. That's why she was here today. To get some kind of defense when the time came to march into the Moons land and take back their leader.

She shifted nervously on her paws, wondering what Oberon had planned for their lesson. She was an excellent scout, but she couldn't see where her speed would come in handy in an all out brawl. Running away could only get you so far.

[Paint]

Oberon chuckled at Conan's response. The kid was witty, he'd give him that. As Sayuri entered, Oberon glanced over and assessed her somewhat. From what he could see, she would be able to defend herself. Oberon doubted that Caden had let his sister go on all these years with him as a body guard.

"Apologies, Sayuri. Although I must say the blame should really fall upon Conan's somewhat impromptu attitude," Oberon remarked, dipping his head to greet her just as Jasmyne also appeared. He knew little of her, now that he thought about it, but her expression said enough. She looked rather scared, but similarly determined.

"I don't know how many others may show up for this, but we may as well begin. Bandit asked me to start these off, but in no way am I really in charge here. Feel free to practise whenever you like, with whoever you like. I'm just here to offer what I know, having been a loner for a fair amount of time."

He paused, looking around. He was wondering where to begin.

"So to start off with. Let's talk about strengths and weaknesses. I'm fairly strong and fast, but my problem is concentration. If I hadn't have been concentrating so hard a few minutes ago, Conan probably would've had me in the river. Anyone else know theirs?"

[Ashara]

Astra had been watching the two males quietly from where she was sitting got up and stepped towards where the others where now grouped, the two males and two she-wolves that had just arrived. She walked towards them giving a dip her her head as a greeting to them both and a bit of a smile. She sat down again to listen. Once Oberon had finished talking about his strengths and weaknesses there was a bit of a silence where no one spoke up, she took a breath before saying "My strengths are that I'm agile, I'm fast so I can dodge blows well she paused thinking for a moment, what where her weaknesses? My weaknesses are I suppose my small size, I night be able to dodge most of what a large wolf can try hit me with but I couldn't do all that much damage myself. Once she had finished speaking she looked downwards slightly and sat down again waiting for someone else to speak.

Conan eyed the two she-wolves that had arrived giving a slight wag of his tail and then winking at them both. He didn't interrupt Oberon nor Astra as they spoke by speaking himself but he wasn't exactly silent either. He was prancing around showing off a little, moving in a tight circle around the others. Hd never did have much patience so staying till wasn't something he did often. If he wasn't physically moving then he was talking.