[ P ] i like the devil can fly

It was an early spring morning when she stepped out into the courtyard bordering the manse. She didn't expect to be the first one here, but she was, to her surprise. She wondered if her father was keeping her mother for one reason or another, so she settled in by a large tree with Lucille hanging out on a branch up above and began to let her mind run wild.

Was this the right path?

Almost all Tiamat's grew up and joined the Army, aside from her father of course, and her parents were not forcing her to do this. Nobody was. It just seemed like the next logical step, along with the desire to be able to protect herself and others. But a part of her worried that she was making the wrong choice, that this wasn't for her... that it never would be. She wasn't even a Tiamat by name, anyway...

The girl's nose twitched as a blossom from the tree settled upon it. She crossed her eyes to look at the white petal before sneezing and watching it drift away on the wind. She sighed and shook herself, feeling the nerves getting to her just like she promised herself they wouldn't. She should have expected no less, honestly. She had never fought for real a day in her life, she'd never needed to, but after what happened to Haskell she wanted to learn. She wanted to feel... safer, somehow. In her short life she had learned that there were dangerous wolves out there and she was just a sitting duck at this point.

She growled a little and stamped her paw, glancing towards the door way as she saw movement nearby. She would no longer be a duck after today. Or so she hoped.

everywhere i go i drag this coffin just in case

While quickened dark paws crossed the threshold of the manse and into the courtyard, brows would rise slightly to see her daughter there already, usually always the one getting to a destination first well before anyone else did. Maybe lecturing Sheik about punctuality had finally lodged itself into the girl’s brain or alternatively she was actually late for a change. Lifting her gaze, the sun was up after all, it truly was past dawn. The heat of the day is already starting to soak into her pelt from the lack of a blanket of shade gifted by the cycle of day and night. She could have been embarrassed or apologized but instead a smile pulled at her lips as she gazed upon the young girl, feeling a small tick of pride roll up in her. It was a first step in many paths. One she apparently had to get better at herself.

The little presence of an attitude would wipe the smile away, however, straightening herself as she tried to get out of the mindset of a doting mother that just wished to keep her children close and safe. It ached each and every day she didn’t see Aurora as it was and soon there might be a chance of the same with her other two. The idea of an empty nest had ruffled her fur a few times and admittedly part of her wish to train Sheik herself was to feel needed still by her youngest daughter before she too might flutter away into not needing her mother. The pain, though not on her face, always echoed at those words from her eldest. It felt like torture sometimes and yet, she couldn’t fault her for that view. Unfortunately, for all three, all she could see were her babies instead of those that, by the laws of nature, could fend for themselves now.

“Impatient, are we?” she mused though her voice kept a serious tone. The little stomp hadn’t gone unnoticed, her lone orb settling on those that were a softer version of her own mother’s. In some ways she wanted to see the girl succeed and live that life of a possible colonel in the future, to follow this dream she seemed so skittish in following. If Sheik was to get a proper start, she had to make her verdict soon or she would be behind in her lessons of others her own age. The only problem was that the woman had low hopes for the yearling. Yes, progress had been made but Sheik was such a soft child.

Slowing her steps to a stop, she would stand atop a stone if only so she could look down at her instead of up, any friendliness gone. “You should be standing at attention, child. Today will be your assessment, the very same one I had given your father during the draft. I do hope you impress me more than he had; should you truly wish to follow this path. The simple objective is to beat me in a spar,” she leered down, though that edge wasn’t nearly as sharp as it might have been if she was an actual cadet. All the same, it wouldn’t just be brawn she was looking at. Sheik had to prove herself in skill, wit and form as well. Though she wasn’t about to tell the girl that she didn’t have to win this challenge against her to pass. “If you fail, you will be barred from touching the barracks. Understood?”

code by claerie ▬ art by areot

Sheik started a bit when she finally heard her mothers voice. She smiled and shrugged her slender shoulders. "Just excited is all," she admitted. She tried to keep a serious tone just like her mother did but it was hard-- and while she knew the Army was strict she was not molded to such ways. At her mothers words she straightened up considerably, though the middle of her back was still slack. It was not quite the pose they used but close, of course she would not get points for 'close'.

Her ears folded at her mothers words but she knew they were coming, still it was all she could do but worry over her failure. Her mother would not let her join the Army if she failed a simple spar and who could blame her? If she were not able to beat her own mother in a less realistic setting or at least show her she had the nerve to do so then she did not deserve to be a soldier anymore than a flower did. Her ears twitched back up and she nodded her head sharply. "Understood!" she chirped.

She wasn't thrilled about the prospect of sparring with her mother though she did want to show her all she had learned over these past weeks training with her.

She didn't want to hurt Sif, but then again Sif was trained and more likely to hurt her instead. Sheik did not fear that as much as she probably should. She then fell silent and waited for the go ahead, the start of the spar, to move into action.

everywhere i go i drag this coffin just in case

She wasn’t so sure that she agreed that excitement was the true tale being woven but she wasn’t keen on arguing with her daughter, whether she thought she was lying or not. Not over something like this and it showed as all she did was shake her head subtly, without a word. She would have sooner believed her if she had said nervous or uncertain. Two feelings she could more easily relate to if she was being honest with herself. Excitement had never been a strong emotion she felt on a day to day basis, it felt alien in some ways. Trepidation was far more prominent, not for herself but for her children. Their lives were always in danger and she could only do so much to keep them safe no matter how hard she tried. They all had minds of their own and wills often different from her own. Understanding them was the first step in all of this, trying so hard to be a better mother this time by being there and not immediately shutting them out.

This spar for Sheik was that step.

At the confirmation of understanding, she had expected the child to lunge and use the tactic of surprise to outdo her opponent, but the girl seemed far more obedient in waiting for the go ahead. It was a touch disappointing, feeling like the girl should know a fight is rarely fair and a tactical advantage would be the best option for her. “Well, what are you waiting for?” she huffed, not hiding her displeasure of the other’s lack of action.

Jumping off the rocky surface, she would start to circle her daughter, anticipating her movements with plans to dodge rather than attack during the entirety of this spar. She knew her own strength and she had no desire to harm her own blood if she didn’t have to. It was the prime reason she had refused to train Aurora, knowing well she could get overzealous, and she wouldn’t put it past herself to hurt her own children if she got too frenzied.


{Name of the game is impressing Mama}
{Score 30 points in 3 turns to win her favor}
{Crit fails/successes is -5/+5 points respectfully}
{Start, Round 1!}
{0/30pts}

code by claerie ▬ art by areot

Rolling combat 1d20: 5
Poor - You barely hurt your opponent

It was time, so... why was she hesitating? Sheik stood there, her limbs feeling heavy, staring at her mother until questioned about her inaction. A blush crept onto her skin, beneath her golden fur and she lowered her head, ears tilting back and eyes darting about to follow her mother as she began to circle her. She did not strike first, leaving that to Sheik. She felt a bit of shyness now even though they'd been training for what seemed like forever. It hadn't been all that long in the scope of things, though, so perhaps that was why she hesitated. The fear that she wouldn't be good enough might be getting to her.

Swallowing, she tilted her head up and decided it was best just to get on with it. Without much more thought, she run towards Sif as she came ahead of her, jaws opening and aiming to nip at her shoulder. Her paws flew threw the air, aiming to grapple her neck if she could. If she could successfully throw her mother off balance she could end this spar swiftly, or so she thought.

everywhere i go i drag this coffin just in case

Critiquing form lined her ember, noticing how open the girl was leaving herself and how easy it would have been to rip her to shreds had she wanted to prove any points to the child. It did cross her mind more than she wanted to admit, losing her patience slowly with how timid that demeanor was. It reminded her of Aurora but even her eldest would strike if commanded to, having witnessed one or two spars when Nassar was teaching the girl self-defense.

A sigh flared her nostrils, clearing the aggression from her mind, remembering this wasn't a cadet she was training but her own brood she was analyzing. A little more compassion was needed. Compassion she didn't want to afford when the word failure was at the tip of her tongue, already teasing the trigger to tell her she wasn't cut out for this. Maybe it would light a fire under her ass. There was also the chance she would turn tail and run away from it all the moment cruel words were spoken. She tried to boil it down to a tactic, knowing some women that used their coy allure to control a situation, diminish the desire to hunt by acting more submissive. However, that didn't seem likely.

Finally, some action would surface and any wish to play hard to get would vanish as the clumsy youth made her movements way too noticeable. It didn't take much to dodge, barely feeling the graze of nailed and teeth as Sif side stepped the girl and knocked Sheik's shoulder in turn to imitate an attack without actually doing one. "You'll have to do better than that if you want me to see you as worthy, or do you enjoy being a failure?" she growled, leaving herself purposely a little more open while prodding the cold coals to hopefully make them become warm.

{Mama's Rating: 5/30 do better}
{Onto Round 2!}

code by claerie ▬ art by areot

Rolling combat 1d20: 17
Competent - You deal a painful blow

She managed to stumble past her mother in an embarrassing display, feeling the 'attack' upon her own shoulder in turn and letting the burn sting her for but a moment or two before rounding upon Sif once more.

Failure...

The word rang in her ears a thousand times over before she shook the lead off her paws and reignited the coals of desire deep within the pits of her stomach. There was something about this that felt off in a way she could not describe but she wanted to prove herself worthy in some way. She tucked in her head, flattened her ears and bared her teeth as she calculated her next move. In what felt like an eternity, but was really only seconds, she made her choice and started again.

This time she would aim low, trying to sweep the legs and bring her mother to the ground so she could more easily pin her. Sheik was not much larger than her mother at all but it was the best thing she could think of in the moment-- and yet perhaps it was the wrong thing. She didn't know. She felt like the weeks of training she'd endured had all but flown out the window of her mind now and that was a horrible feeling. She felt like a bumbling calf, just newly born and finding its legs.

Maybe she was not truly cut out for the Army, or maybe she was just being overly nervous but still she fought on, aiming her teeth at Sif's slender legs to try and bring her down. She kept her own features drawn to her body for more protection but she knew she could only do so much.

everywhere i go i drag this coffin just in case

It seemed her bark had gotten Sheik to root herself, no longer looking like the unsure child she was seconds ago as determination took over in a way she hadn’t really seen from the girl before. The very thing the older woman had been looking for during all of this training. An unwavering resolve that truly made her think this was the path that was desired more than any other and it would make any judgment become all the more painstaking to make. She could not deny there was a part of her that wanted to fail her daughter no matter how she did on this test, as wicked a thought as it was, she knew she would keep her own word in the end. There was a chance to gain that hunt for approval and in a blink of an eye the young warrior would show her that was very much a possibility.

She was caught off guard when the girl went low, having not thought the girl would use a tactic better for larger wolves on her but perhaps that was what made it the better option because she wasn’t expecting it. Her reaction time was faulty and quite frankly being half blind didn’t help in the least, one of the reasons she did not carry a more respectable title any longer. Her missing eye would always be a liability, especially in a fight. A bad leg could potentially be hidden but her scars could not. It might not have been the younger one’s intention at all to use her disability against her but a ghost of a proud smile took the place of shock as she was forced to lose her balance in a flash. A little bit of pain would erase it just as quickly, realizing just how much power was behind the movement.

Staggering upright, she would try to regain ground and get the other back in her line of vision, seeing and feeling the fangs digging into her limb. Rather than try to flee from another action, she would use a free hind leg to roughly kick at her side with an aim to break free without harming her child too much, resisting the urge to bite her in the face like she would a genuine attacker.

{Mama's Rating: 22/30, nice comeback}
{Now the final round, you got this Sheik~}

code by claerie ▬ art by areot

Rolling combat 1d20: 5
Poor - You barely hurt your opponent

Somehow she'd managed to gain the upper paw and catch her mother off guard. Sheik didn't know if someone was watching down on her now and guiding her movements but she felt a little bit of pride as Sif was knocked off balance and her jaws placed hold upon her leg. She did not bite viciously as she would in a true attack, but simply mouthed the limb before pushing forward to try and pin her mothers own arm against her body and roll her onto her back.

She was interrupted in this when she felt the claws of her mothers hind paw strike out against her, scraping down her side and hip but not so deeply that it caused any serious amount of pain. She let out a surprise yip, but managed her best to keep her hold. She was trying to pin her down to immobilize her and possibly win this thing. She felt the sparking embers in her gut turn to flames as her yip turned to a small growl, perhaps one born of frustration at being caught up by her mothers kick or aggression at her own actions to still her. She couldn't think straight and figure out which, so she just focused on the task at hand instead.

everywhere i go i drag this coffin just in case

{Mama's Final Rating: 27/30 close but no cigar, you failed}

Brazen, gaze flashed with a chaotic heat as her ears flicked at the yep, feeling like she had barely touched the girl for audible pain to be needed. Was it a way to surrender without admitting it outright? Concern did form along her brow, and she was just about to yield until a snarl took over the yep. Jerking backwards, she would just miss being pinned down and only feel the graze of the other slip against her. It seemed emotions had overwhelmed the girl to not be thinking right, be it the pain or what she had said earlier, this wasn’t how a soldier should fight and she was quick to put an end to this as she pressed a paw down onto the young girl’s head to use her weight against her in her lunge so that her face might plant into the ground.

“I’ve seen enough!” she said firmly, glaring down at her with hardened authority. There was no second thought in her command as she moved back a step and got more into the other’s line of view. “You will not be stepping foot into the ranks of the army; I can’t risk you on the lines with your presentation. You are to find a different path to tread than this one,” she declared, not giving herself any time to allow emotion to overshadow judgment on this call. It might end with another death if she allowed love to change her mind, to see her daughter run off to follow some dream that could be her end. There would always be a chance she could defy her, run away to make a different life far from her. She had a hard time thinking she would after that little bumbling of abandonment on the not-so-great vacation.

The ridges along her shoulders would soften as she finished her verdict, at least the first half of it. Lowing her head, she’d gently press her nose to a golden crown. “That said, I’ll continue to teach you to fight better in private; continue this little bootcamp. I might not want you to end up as fodder in a warped regime, but I still honor your desire to protect others. Haskell needs a tough sister to keep him safe, right?” she smiled warmly, trying to kick some of the edge off of calling her a failure.

code by claerie ▬ art by areot