Welcome to the Thunder Den!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Yavanna]

Vhalar 28th, 718
✾ Mood: Confident
✾ Current Thought: Whats going on
✾ Current Theme: Beautiful Dangerous

Deep within the Thunder Den, the sounds of light grunting and blunt contact could be heard echoing about. The reverberations of something being hit fill the training center as the Thunder Priestess was at work, fine-tuning her fighting technique. Punches and kicks were thrown with adequate precision as the young man took out some aggression on the poor punching bag. After several well placed hits, the naer was exhausted from her assault on the punching bag.

"Fuck, that was tiring for sure."

she exclaimed, watching as the contents of the punching bag shifted back into place after her flurry of hits. She backed away from the bag for a moment to let her body cool as it was hot to the touch from all the training.

Covered in sweat she stretched her body as she was doing things she hadn't had to do in years, and it was foreign to her body, evident to the tight sore feeling of her muscles. Looking around she saw the different people of rharne, mostly fighters, and warriors alike, perfecting their talents and forging their bodies. She knew if she was to compete with her other "sisters" she would need to remain in top form.

"I guess I need to a quick breather huh?"

she said, going to get a towel, taking a small break. Sitting there she couldn't help but catch the eye of a few of the individuals present, which made the woman smirk. She liked getting attention no matter the venue

"Speech"

[Nir'wei]

"Keep your arms close to your chest," Rolan advised. "Elbows pointed down, like this." The grizzled Lotharro's hands gripped his forearms and moved them into the right position. "You want to make yourself as small as possible, so that they struggle to land blows on you. Yes." When he'd first caught the tattoo-covered mass of muscles and scars pacing back and forth across the length of the Den, he'd honestly been terrified. The ex-Knight had since shown himself to be a bit of a softy, if he was honest. Calm, patient and a damn good teacher. "Now strike. Harder. No, you really need to throw all your strength into each blow. More." He was punching the dummy with all the power he could muster! "You need to work on building up the muscle, here, and here." Rolan tapped Nir'wei on the biceps, then on the chest. "Doesn't matter how many blows you land, if you can't pack the punch into each one, they're not going to feel it."

Nir'wei grit his teeth and clenched his fists. Left jab. Right hook. Hit. Hit. Hit! "Better. Really throw all your weight behind each punch. Make sure they feel it. Again, keep going." He did, landing body-blow after body-blow into the padded dummy, around the chest and the stomach primarily, an occasional sudden hit to the face, just as he'd been told. Eventually, Rolan seemed satisfied. "Keep practicing like this, over and over. Keep the form; feet planted firmly, elbows close to the body, punches narrow and straight, corkscrew the fist. That's the mark of a Pugilist." Panting and out of breath, Nir'wei settled for a simple nod of acknowledgement, pressing the two gold nels owed into Rolan's palm.

Then it was back to the dummy, but his knuckles already felt so sore and bruised... the padding wasn't nearly enough to cushion the wooden stake in the middle, and the jolting impacts left his shoulders feeling like they were ready to be wrenched from their sockets with one hearty jerk. He needed to keep going though! No matter how hard it felt to keep going, it'd feel a thousand times worse if he returned to Xithyria tomorrow without a solid punch to his name. The Ithecal had already proven himself as a ruthless taskmaster, everything that Rolan wasn't... and unlike here, he could expect no mercy should he mess up and lose his footing in the heat of the moment.

So, once again, he locked his jaw and raised his fists, slamming over and over again into the dummy with all of his strength reserves, panting as sweat soaked through his dirty shirt and matted his dense lock of loose hair to the small of his back.

[Yavanna]

Vhalar 28th, 718
✾ Mood: Confident
✾ Current Thought: Awe look, he's learning to fight.
✾ Current Theme: Beautiful Dangerous

Done with her rest, she went back to work. She went back to work, coming into her own rhythm, with the martial art of her people. The young woman sent a flurry of jabs into the punching dummy, finding different ways to make combos of her fists finding her comfort in the Tactician path of the fist style. It was a new learning experience for sure, as most of her training was in the bare basics of the different hand and foot styles of the Naerikk fighting form. She went next to practicing the foot styles, going through the motions of each style. Kicks, heel slams, knees, all of these things made resonating thuds in the training facility as she practiced. By the time she was done, her hands and feet were throbbing, screaming with soreness.

Looking up, she could see another near her, and by the looks of him, he was just beginning to learn the art of unarmed combat. She smirked, finding pity in the poor sap. As she continued her own training, she kept a watchful eye on him. Not because he was cute, which was a small plus, but because she was surprised to see someone living in Rharne who needed to be taught how to fight. She assumed by her previous encounters that everyone in Rharne could handle themselves in a brawl. It was refreshing to see she wasn't the only one feeling like a fish out of water. A towel in hand she waltzed over to the male and tossed it onto his head.

"Glad to see I'm not the only one who needs some training"

she teased, her eyes smiling, matching the enticing smirk she held on her lips.

"Speech"

[Nir'wei]

The towel slapped against the side of his head and made Nir'wei recoil in shock - he'd been so focused on the training dummy, he'd never even heard her approach. He wished he could say the same about her comments, light and playful as they were. His talent was nonexistent, his techniques flawed and baseless; he knew, because every weakness and exploitable vulnerability had been pointed out one at a time by Xithyria in excruciating detail, much like a crow might pick clean the meat from a corpse, leaving behind a palid skeleton. That was why he'd come to practice in his spare time, after all. So that he could be better the next time, so that he could show just some improvement, so that he wouldn't just have to stand there and be lectured on every imperfection, again... for the fifteenth time. However, it looked like asking for the ability to do that in private was asking a little too much. He grit his teeth to bite back a returning jab, and felt a growl rising from beside him. Calm, he quickly told the wolf within him.

"Yeah, there's quite a few here. I think that's why it's called a training ground." He kept his tone indifferent as he pulled off the towel, glancing at it for a moment, then tossed it back at the offending woman... though with a deal less force. Maybe if he just focused on the dummy again, she'd go away. Once again, he raised his fists, swallowed back a lump of phlegm, and set a routine of hard punches. Or at least, as hard as he could really make them at this point. His biceps burned with effort, shoulders and back aching with lances of heat and pain whenever he twisted too much in one direction. Gods, he was going to be sore after this - possibly the most sore he'd ever been. But, deep down, he needed this. Being caught off-guard was no laughing matter, and as comfortable as it was to rely on the strength of others, like Greyhide, in close-combat, it was a luxury that he couldn't always afford.

Regardless, there was still nothing refined about his 'style', if one could even call it that. His posture was slouched, his feet planted firmly on the ground with no attempt at movement or finesse; if it'd been a real opponent, he'd quite clearly have already lost. Probably a good thing he was doing it against a dummy then. Even he could tell it was true, utterly inexperienced as he was. Perhaps he'd simply taken too many beatings already to build any sort of confidence.

Without turning back to the woman, he huffed softly. "Fine... so... if you're... such an expert... what advice do you have, then?" He really hoped she hadn't just arrived to gloat at one of the fresh faces and waste time. Otherwise, there was no point reigning Greyhide back anymore. He could feel the growl rising again from the invisible spirit-wolf, constantly lurking at the edges of his vision, a hidden set of eyes. Strangely, he could feel another watching as well, peeking from a secluded corner of his mind, intent on seeing how things panned out. Honestly, are you interested in helping at all, or are you just going to sit there and watch like this is your personal entertainment?

Archailist pondered that thought for a moment, savoring it like a fine wine. I haven't decided yet, he eventually replied, his voice enveloped in light mirth.

[Yavanna]

✾ Vhalar 28th, 718 ✾
✾ Mood: Charitable
✾ Current Thought: Well that's some attitude you got there
✾ Current Theme: Beautiful Dangerous

✾ His response wasn't the reaction she was expecting, but she couldn't blame him for it. She teased him after all so it was not the best way to start things off, and she knew that much at least. Catching the towel being thrown back to her, she sighed.

His sarcasm would have stung if she cared enough for it to hurt her feelings, but as she saw it, he was the one who needed training, not her. She was merely trying to make him feel comfortable. She hadn't seen him before, and that look he had, sheer determination, was a look of someone who was striving to learn.

She couldn't tell why, but she was feeling charitable, chalking it up to being in this damn city. She continued to watch, analyzing his form, technique, and follow through. His trainer had given him the basics, but he needed more in her opinion at least.

"Please forgive me for teasing you, that's not how a Thunder Priestess should behave off duty. I merely wished to help is all. You seemed nervous and I just wanted to calm your nerves is all."

she admitted, turning to leave the man be until he asked her what advice she could give him.

turning back, she looked him over once again, pondering where to even start, she figured it would be best to be blunt with him.

"I do have some, but not if you have an attitude like that. I'm not the one who wants to be able to defend themselves."

✾

"Speech"

[Nir'wei]

Perhaps it hadn't registered at first. How could it? He'd never met a Priestess properly before. He'd certainly hoped that their first appearances would have gone much smoother than this. When it finally dawned on him, Nir'wei had to physically stop his jaw from falling. It didn't prevent a rough snort of a laugh though. That much he was sure he deserved though. "You're a what?!" he asked incredulously, staring stock-still. "Jeez, I thought you were supposed to be the subtle ones. Could have broken that a little easier." His nerves were calmed, but he really didn't think they were in the way she'd intended. Had she intended to flaunt her position to make him more compliant? Was she trying to intimidate? Whatever it was, he... just couldn't have thought of a worse way to do it.

Nevertheless, he shook his head and tried to shake off the faint giggles still wracking his body before it caused an ache in his sides. "Yes, of course. My apologies, I'll make sure to treat random strangers who greet me by hurling things at my head with the utmost respect in the future." Oh gods, this was going to be so much worse than the first one. "And, uhh, word of advice. If you don't want to defend yourself, you've definitely come to the wrong place." NOPE. That did it. The laughter burst forth and he had to grab onto the dummy for support as a stitch formed up his left side, right under his ribs as they struggled to contain himself. These weren't the light inner giggles that came from politeness, either. This was open-mouthed howling, the time that got odd looks and even some contagious giggles from the other fighters nearby as they stopped to listen in. "Gods I needed that, I really did. You have no idea."

Honestly, there was still a little shock in his system as he finally swallowed the fits and stood up straight again, though he was biting his lip a little in case it happened again. Gods, he hoped it did. "Yes, so, uhm. Heheh, oh bloody hell, I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't even take you seriously after that." He turned away and waved a hand, lest he end up distracted by laughter yet again. "Look, I'm sorry; if you want to help, I'm all for it, but I sure hope you're better using your fists than you are your mouth," he remarked, "and if you're not, and you're just here to show off or something, I've got some real training to do, and I can handle myself."

She wanted to be blunt, he could be blunt back. She wanted to play games, he could too... and if she thought she was going to get him to bow and scrape for her wise words of wisdom, he was going to show her exactly where she could shove it. She didn't scare him. Certainly no more than a nine-foot pissed-off Ithecal did. Besides, if it really was going to come down to that, they couldn't have picked a better place for a fight.

[Yavanna]

✾ Vhalar 28th, 718 ✾
✾ Mood: Pissed
✾ Current Thought: So thats how we playing?
✾ Current Theme: Beautiful Dangerous

✾ A brow raised at how this man reacted to her. She was rather confused about his initial response. She was not aware the Thunder Priestess was to be subtle, seeing as many walked the streets among the public.

She truly didnt know how they were supposed to conduct themselves, but that's not what was making her eye twitch. Was he.......was he making fun of her? Granted she knew her approach was not the best, but to make fun of her for wanting to help a fellow fighter get better?

To make matters worse, she could feel the eyes of other people looking, which made the burns of his jokes even worse. Now she could feel that vein in her forehead pulsate with the building of her anger. Her fists clenched as he hurled insult after insult, which was only fueling her fire.

Then she had an idea. She figured she appeared quite rigid in this situation and needed to let his guard fall a little. She would begin to indulge his antics, giggling along with him, then began to laugh the best she could.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! I have to admit you are pretty funny there."

She began, allowing him to finish his ridiculing rant. She wasn't all to keen on his venomous words, and she was going to make sure he was aware of such. He wanted to train then, by all means, she would put him through a Naerikk's training regiment.

"I guess I deserve that, but I genuinely wanted to help you train."

she began, a genuine smile on her face, just before bowing to the man. Just as quickly as she came up from her bow, she drops down pivoting her body as she descended and swung her right leg back to sweep the short man off his feet.

"Lesson number one, never turn your back on an opponent. Quickest way to have your neck snapped from behind."

She hissed, annoyance evident in her tone.

"Lesson number two, underestimating anyone is how one looses a fight."

her eyes glaring into the man, shooting to some of those present that had been laughing along with him.

"If there one thing I know, the one thing I'm good at, its fighting. Its one of the reasons I was asked to join the thunder priestesses after taking on an angry mob. So go ahead and make fun of me for trying to be nice, for trying to ease your nerves. But what an obvious novice like you won't do, is belittle me when I can break your bones in a fight."

"You say you have some real training to do shortstack? Well, experience is the best instructor and its free, so let me see what you can do. I mean it's not like I haven't been fighting since I could walk."

She took a step back, and got into her stance. Be what may, she was going to show this man what true fighting is. ✾

"Speech"

[Nir'wei]

It was kinda good to see that she could at least see the funny side in all of this. Perhaps she'd intended it - honestly, he was really struggling to see a scenario where she didn't. Still, surely she had to understand that she was just distracting him now from his workout. Like he'd said before, he had some real training to do - and he could do it himself. Honestly, he didn't even think about turning his back, because... well, who'd be silly enough to attack a stranger, for refusing to let them help? As it turned out, her.

The air was knocked from his lungs when she swept the legs out from underneath him and sent him sprawled out on the ground, coughing as dust and dirt billowed in little clouds around his prone body while she lectured him from up high. Karem above, she had an ego, didn't she. Couldn't even take the fact that he didn't want to be trained by her as anything but an insult, to the point that she was willing to attack him as if it were an impromptu lesson! If he had any sense of decency he would have gotten back up and told her exactly where she could shove her lessons. Except she was probably entirely right. She could break his bones; they weren't exactly the durable short, and as she'd pointed out in her own extremely insulting fashion, she had a good deal of height and weight on him as well, if they were going to get dirty.

That growl came again, but this time he could almost feel the hackles raising. Okay, so he knew that he shouldn't be relying on this. He'd said so himself, he wouldn't always be able to depend on the help of others! Except this was a very different situation. But who knows, it might be a good learning experience after all? On the other hand, he'd end up getting hurt, and then he'd have to bunk off training for loads of days, losing all that time spent recovering, and in the long run, it'd just be better to-- Okay, I know this is you Greyhide! The pressure in the back of his head eased temporarily, but there was an unspoken question hanging in the air, a sense of tightness, waiting for that sweet confirmation. They wait. You first. That was all that needed to be said. A lot of things to go on in one's mind, but Nir'wei was quite used to the mental multitasking as of late, and besides, this lady did not know when to shut up. He'd all but finished wrapping up loose ends by the time she'd prepared herself, and at that point, it was just a matter of stumbling back to his feet and dusting himself off.

"Okay then. Fine." Nir'wei cleared his throat. "You wanna teach me? Lesson two, underestimate anyone, you lose a fight. And lesson one... never turn your back on an opponent." He gave no outward cues, but the mental bond let Greyhide know that now was the time for action. The grey wolf materialised from thin air already in mid-pounce behind Yavanna, both paws ready to crash straight against her shoulder blades and send her tumbling. Nir'wei chose to stand with his arms folded. "Call this evening the odds. You say you're a more skilled opponent, fine. Let's make it two against one. You can teach the pair of us." Greyhide growled, shaking his shaggy fur clean of the arena's dust and earning plenty of odd looks from the other combatants. "Unless, of course, you'd like to walk away now." Maybe if she did, he could actually get back to fighting the dummies as he'd intended... however, he had to admit. Her persistence was something to be admired... and some perverse kind of curiosity egged him to see how this would play out, now that a new challenger had entered the field.

[Yavanna]

✾ Vhalar 28th, 718 ✾
✾ Mood: Pissed
✾ Current Thought: Let the games begin!
✾ Current Theme: Beautiful Dangerous

✾ With the lines drawn, she was ready for him to get up and fight. Though if he decided to flee she wouldn't blame him, she could indeed break if she wanted. She hoped he had some balls and fight.

She wondered how he would respond, with a kick as he got up, trying to hit her, she couldn't truly say. She knew however that whatever he did she would be ready for. She was going to make him pay for his words.

Several bits later, he stirred, getting to his feet and accepting her challenge. Something was off though, something was not right about how he was reacting. Why the hell was he so damn calm, it was almost unsettling to her and she didnt like it.

He was just standing there as if unafraid of fighting her. Why was this, and where did this sudden burst of confidence come from? She didnt like this at all, and she not going to stand around to find out.

Just as she went to move, there was a force, a pushing pressure on her back, forcing her to the ground as she slid a bit. Looking over to him, there it was, this wolf. Just where the hell did it come from? It wasn't there a moment ago, and she surely would have seen it in the building.

If looks could kill, the glare Yavanna was giving him would have struck him dead, him and his pet wolf too. Oddly enough, she had a smirk on her face along with her death stare. This as rich, two against one? He was starting to get on her good side for this.

The way she saw it in her head, even if she lost, her reputation would rise. Taking on a coward who had to call on his pet to fight in his place would look good on her. And even if it didnt, she was getting a chance to test her limits.

What he didnt know, however, was that she had some tricks of her own. Her eyes shifted from the short man and his mount, as she had a plan in order to deal with that mangy mutt.

Getting to her feet, she got back into her fighting stance.

"Well dont just stand there shorty, lets get this sho started."

✾

"Speech"

[Nir'wei]

There was a good deal of anger in her eyes, there was no denying it, but Nir'wei clenched his jaw and kept his arms folded as she rose following her embarrassing little fall. Pissed as she might be, she deserved it; after all, she'd attacked someone while they weren't prepared, and now she was getting a taste of her own medicine. Not that it mattered, she also seemed to be enjoying herself at least a little by that growing smile on her face. "Fine, if you insist." With a mental tug, Greyhide pulled back around to Nir's side and he unfolded his arms, rolling up his sleeves and readying his fists before his face, as Rolan had advised.

Okay, so he'd only practiced any of this stuff on a dummy up until now, and before that... he'd never fought hand-to-hand at all, if he was entirely honest. This wasn't what he'd imagined his first foray into the art would go down like, but then again, he couldn't exactly complain either. Whatever position she took was absolutely nothing like what he'd seen in the past, and his own felt horribly clumsy even to his own inexperienced hands, hunched over with his forearms shielding his face like it were a pristine work of art, but he was determined to do this. More than that, he was determined to win - and win properly, without solely relying on Greyhide to take her down for him while she was busy kicking him in the stomach or something. No, he wasn't about to lower the odds again by pulling the wolf back, she'd made it abundantly clear that she deserved to be taken down a peg or seven, but he wanted the finishing blow to be his fist. Which meant thinking smart, not hard. How to take her down?

Normal overwhelming techniques would have dictated that both he and Greyhide strike from different angles, increasing the chances of catching her off-guard and forcing her to spread her defenses thin over a wide area. However, call it overconfidence, but he felt like that wouldn't be necessary here. Fighting unarmed as they were, they could rush straight forward and force her backwards with a flurry of coordinated attacks, at best putting her on the defensive and keeping her there until she slipped, at worst knocking her down and out straight out of the gate and cementing an end to this farce before it could even truly begin. Greyhide growled, and Nir'wei took it for agreement. His foot slid forward, edging hesitantly closer... and he took off, pushing hard forward with a light left jab, and then followed up with a hard right. Clumsy, true, and hardly worthy of the name 'combo', but they both knew he wasn't the heavy hitter of the duo.

That came from below as Greyhide charged with a jaw open wide, ready to snap at Yav's ankles and slam into her with the full weight of the wolf's larger-than-average frame while she was distracted by above.