PACK IT IN, PACK IT IN ☆ play-sparring

[LUMIA CIPHER.]

The last few days had been... rough. Mixed, for the most part, but still rough. While Lumia was glad to be in The Typhoon, and glad to have met Vayne, she had apparently arrived at a bit of a bad time. Only a couple of days after her joining, Danny had stumbled upon the body of his mother, an experience that was just generally traumatizing for obvious reasons. After that, Lu hadn't been able to properly sleep for the last couple of days, her mind – and gut – occasionally churning whenever she reflected back on what had happened. However, she was determined not to let herself fall apart. Additionally, she wasn't about to let anybody else fall apart, either. She had wanted to make friends with Danny before everything happened, and now they were especially going to be friends. He needed support, and he was going to get it.

However, Lumia had never really had many friends before. As a result of this, she... didn't really know how to make them. She liked to think she knew how to talk to others, but... that wasn't the entire process. Instead of going the direct route and risking a big mess-up, Mia had decided to go with something a little more exciting. Something that would, hopefully, make her come off as charming. All she needed to do was wait for the right time, when Danny was in a place where neither of them would become too terribly hurt from her plan.

Thankfully, it wasn't too long until that right time came. The perfect opportunity for her to strike. She had spotted Danny out on the beach, sitting in the sand where there was plenty of space for what she had in mind. Feeling confident that her plan would work well, Lumia made her way over, dropping down into a sneaking crouch as she grew closer. Before long, she leapt forward, aiming to crash her smaller body into Danny's shoulder and hopefully send him crashing down. Whether she was successful or went tumbling into the sand, she didn't care. Because it still wasn't long before she popped back up, voice full of excitement, "Hey, Danny! Guess what? We're gonna try sparring, because I think you need some practice! After all, you're gonna be a beta soon, right? You'll really impress whoever your teacher is if you've got a bit of practice beforehand!" There was a flaw in her plan, though – several, actually, but she hadn't considered the rest. What if Danny thought that she had specifically singled him out, and caught on to why she was doing it? What if she accidentally made him think about his mom?

Thinking quickly on her feet, the young feline turned on the spot, falling out to those around her, "H... Hey everybody! Who wants to come and try out a big sparring thing? It's never bad to get in a bit of fighting practice, and we could use some company!" She gestured vaguely back towards Danny, not bothering to see what the canine's reaction was. Her focus now was just on making sure things worked out as planned.

WATER POURING DOWN FROM THE CEILING

— Reggan

[daniel]

Making friends, oh boy. What a task.

Danny wasn't sure how he managed to make one friend, especially not with Vayne, the charismatic socialite that she was. He figured his own awkwardness and significantly quieter nature would have bored her by now, but he was somehow doing something right. He found himself much too afraid to try and make any new friends on his own, he was at the mercy of the other kids who were much more energetic and friendly. Like Lumia.

Was he moping? Maybe. He did just find the dead body of his mother, that was the sort of thing that really ruined your week, a total bummer. He tried wrestling with it on his own, bad idea of course, laying around the tavern first, just listening to the music that was usually playing. When that didn't work, he opted to take a walk down to the beach, a very, very common practice. After all, if Danny wasn't hiding in the tavern building, he was at the beach. Not being in either meant he wasn't around. He'd expected the waves, maybe a shell or two to bring back for the crew's designated shell collector, and perhaps another crab. What he hadn't been expecting was Lumia, especially not as a projectile.

By the time he caught on to her it was too late, and he went down, wincing a little as the sand scratched at his already scraped up skin. He took the canine a little more time to get up than it took her, sitting up and spitting some sand granules off to the side. Oh, he'd totally forgotten, he was going to be a beta soon. Real soon. "You think so?" Danny questioned, eyes widening subtly at the idea. He shook out his fur, sending the rest of the sand lodged in there flying, and flipping one of his ears back to normal, previously inside out against his skull, flattened by the landing.

He was tired, and sad, yeah, but he also didn't want to disappoint or upset Lu, and against the alarms of his anxiety he did want to have company of some more friends. Besides, he needed to really learn how to fight, not just take on threats running on full instinct and no skill. He'd never make a good fighter like that. Speaking of that, he really hoped she didn't think he was weak or something, and this was why she suddenly told him to get up and spar with her. Surely that was just his nerves being mean to him again, right?

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[LUMIA CIPHER.]

Lumia felt a bit of a thrill run through her as Danny sat back up, seeming interested in her idea for a spar. That was certainly a good sign, considering she was worried the other would just sit around moping for months. Obviously he had plenty of reason to be upset, but... laying around and doing nothing would do... well, nothing. It wouldn't lift his spirits, and Mia really didn't think it would ease the grief. So, in her own mind, the girl was sure that she was doing the right thing. Her satisfaction with her own idea was written clear as day on her face, a crooked grin on her muzzle as she nodded, "Yeah! I mean, who wouldn't be impressed if their student already knew a bit about fighting? Besides, that means less work for the both of you, and I'm sure they'll be grateful for that, too." She didn't actually know too much about the mentoring system within The Typhoon, but surely there was some kind of curriculum, right? Something that the teachers wanted to get through with the students? Fighting had to be a part of that, and having a head start was always good, at least in her eyes.

Having noticed the various scrapes that Danny already had on him, Lumia did find herself a bit hesitant to make a first move. She didn't want to end up hurting him more if she could help it, after all. Still... she was smaller, and the canine had to be more prepared for an attack now. Besides, they were only really play-fighting for a bit of practice. The feline had no intention of actually scratching him up and making things worse. She was sure that the medics wouldn't be happy with her if she did that, either. The feline didn't really think Danny was weak, per se, but she also didn't want to catch him off guard and have him be badly hurt.

It was because of this that Lu made it very clear what she was planning on doing, dropping once more into a hunter's crouch. Her grin was still bright and crooked as she spoke, briefly showing off glinting pearly whites, "Alright, you ready? Cause I'm not about to go easy on you!" Doing so would probably be a pretty bad idea, even with the other's lack of experience. Still, she didn't allow herself to dwell on the thinking side of things any longer. Instead, she launched herself forward, attempting to grab onto Danny's shoulder with her claws and drag him back into the sand with her. She wasn't aiming to dig her claws in deeply, not wanting to actually injure the canine. Instead, she was trying to just drag him down with her momentum.

WATER POURING DOWN FROM THE CEILING

— Reggan

[rhosmari]

[align=center]

MARIANAS

NYSTRÖM!

Fighting and tussling were things that she saw as thrilling. Finding her own path in the art of battle was something that she excelled in and she wanted nothing more but to learn every little thing that she could. It was exciting to keep moving, anticipating her opponents moves. The young kit wanted to be the best at fighting and throwing her weight around. She just hoped that whoever she got to be her mentor would help to excel that process. As she wandered on her own she picked up the words of Mia not too far away calling out about a larger sparring. Now this was something she could get behind. Bolting forth the large domestic made her way over as quickly as possible and she found that things were already kicking off. Lulu was already showing her prowess against Danny and she allowed a yip to leave her jaws of encouragement.

"You got this, Lulu! Show him what's what!" She cheered as she stood there watching with wide golden orbs. She hoped that Lumia won the spar. Truthfully she thought that the older girl would have more experience than anyone else that she knew. Well save for the adults. But if they needed a third she would be happy to jump in there and see how she would fair against one of them.

[daniel]

"Wouldn't be good for anything if you went easy on me!" He would be lying if he didn't say Lumia was stronger than she looked, not that he meant to underestimate her or anything. He just wasn't ready for her takedown, blinking with wide eyes as he felt himself tip over and Lulu's smaller frame pulling him down. Should he have actually wanted to crush her, he could have, but he didn't actually want to cause injury.

Digging his paws into the sand, the fear of snapping someone's spine driving his body upwards, trying to use his own weight to shake Lumia off, lifting himself up until he was balancing his weight on his his back legs. Something he hadn't really made use of, and it occurred to him that he was one tall son of a bitch.

"Aw, man, [i]both of you against me?" Danny said, jokingly of course, as Marianas cheered on his opponent but-not-really. He wasn't that surprised to see her around, this seemed like the sort of high-action event that would steal her attention. And there you had it, the three baby musketeers of the Typhoon pirate crew.

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[LUMIA CIPHER.]

Although Lumia's attack had worked exactly as intended, she still found herself surprised as she and Danny both went crashing down, into the ground. At the same time, she found herself distracted by Marianas's call, her green gaze darting over and a grin coming to her muzzle. She couldn't help but glow as she heard the other's praise and cheering, her tail twitching back and forth behind her. However, she was too distracted to realize what Danny's plans were, finding herself tossed off by the other's shaking.

She let out a soft shout as she fell back into the sand, thankfully sustaining no injuries thanks to the beach absorbing her fall. A blush of embarrassment spread over her face below her fur, but she was determined not to give up. She stumbled back up onto all four paws, calling back at Mari with a confident grin, "Thanks, Mari! I've definitely got this, thanks to you!" Of course, the fight was far from over as far as she knew, but she wanted to win even more now.

Turning her attention back towards her opponent, Mia found a little barking laugh leaving her. She said cheerfully, gesturing with a paw back towards Marianas, "Hey, at least she's not actually attacking you too! Then there's no way you'd stand a chance." With that, she decided it was time for another attack. The young feline once again darted forward, attempting to duck under Danny's belly and bite into his stomach. If she succeeded, she wouldn't be biting hard enough to break skin, or really to cause all that much pain. Since they were only play-fighting, she was essentially trying to get Danny to call "uncle."

WATER POURING DOWN FROM THE CEILING

— Reggan

[daniel]

"I guess I wouldn't." His tail wagged as Danny stuck his tongue out half way at Lulu, playfully of course, waiting for her next brilliant attack. Somewhere between realizing he needed some practice and Mari cheering on Lumia, the wolf decided that he also wanted to win, though probably not as much. But, hee could take the L, and hand over the win to his small opponent if he gave in to letting her parade her victory around the other girl. But he wasn't going to give that up so easily.

He didn't make much of a move in terms of jumping out of the way, letting Lulu slide in to chew on his stomach. Mostly because there could be advantages to letting your target get in a few punches. He attempted to roll over and lightly kick her off, twisting around a little but nothing too terrible. He still wasn't entirely sure how to go about [i]attacking, minus trying to punt her around. But that was just funny. "I could squish you." Danny joked, covered in sand still from getting pulled down onto the beach, wondering if his appearance gave the impression that Lumia was giving him a run for his money.

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]