A SONG FOR THE BROKEN ONES ☆ combat training

[wormwood.]

Complacency was never good for a group, no matter how peaceful times had become. That wasn't to say that Aurum wasn't glad for the peace that Tanglewood had at the moment, considering how hard fought it had been. However, he also knew one thing that had been drilled into his mind constantly by his father – war was always on the horizon. Even in the most peaceful of times, there would be threats lingering in the shadows, and one had to be ready to face them, head on. For the most part, Tanglewood had been good about this. While they weren't a particularly violent group, they knew how to handle themselves, and they had certainly proved themselves more than capable when it came to the final battle against the Pitt. Since then, however, they had begun to get... soft. Most of their members were either older or very young, and most also weren't particularly well versed in the art of fighting. He knew Vigenere to be a warrior, of course, but Vig also had larger things to worry about than just some simple combat training. He was also sure that Vig would've wanted to try and avoid such a thing, not exactly seeming the type to enjoy conflict. Aurum didn't enjoy it either, but he also accepted it, as an eventual reality.

With this in mind, the lion had done as he had many months ago, creating several dummies out of straw and salvaged cloth from the various destroyed houses that were scattered around, as well as the junkyard. Once he had several dummies behind him, along with a few of the weapons that had been included when Roxie had come with gifts from the Pitt, the angel felt as though everything was ready. Rolling his shoulders a bit, Aurum raised his head high, calling out in a gruff rumble, "Anyone who'd be interested in learning combat skills, or sharpening their old ones, feel free to join me over here!" As he sat there, the shaderunner hoped that Vigenere wasn't too annoyed with him for organizing such an event without asking, but he doubted it. After all, his job was to help make sure things were running smoothly, and making sure they could defend themselves was part of that. Once upon a time, perhaps Red would've been around to help him out with the lesson, and the two of them would work alongside each other, making sure that their individual techniques were understood. Still, that was now a time long past, as much as it hurt to accept.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]

[DELILAH.]

DELILAH EVERGARDEN

"The Gods have forsaken us."

Scornful were the eyes of the men who had harmed her in the past, those looks in their eyes forever burned into her memories. The men who had made her a slave, hurt her, branded her with the shape of a thorned rose.

Those memories always flickered now. Gone, present, gone, present.

"I'm not too useful with fighting, but it wouldn't do many any bad to learn. Especially with such a big body.."

Came the soft voice of the elder as she slithered her way over, massive feet pressed into the dirt under her. Cherry blossoms fall from pink scales, the scent of it lingering as she walked over to the lion. The wyvern made it a simple walk, too large body easily dwarfing the dummies in size- it looked almost pitiful to her. If her enemies were so small, to the woman, she wouldn't be able to fight them- so she believed.

"If you'd be kind enough to teach me, that is."

tags - penned by [member=1260]ryuu-tan[/member]

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[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[glow=white,1,400]LOOK INTO MY EYES, WE ARE NOT THE SAME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Vigenere had been planning on doing something like this himself, but he was relieved to see that Aurum had taken it upon himself to start some combat training. It was definitely needed, in case The Pitt decided they wanted to suddenly get antsy. But indeed, the savannah wasn't the one to enjoy conflict despite his background; if it was possible to avoid, he would certainly do so. "Of course I'll be participating." Vigenere chirped as he made his way over, dipping his head thankfully towards Aurum.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[wormwood.]

Lifting his head when a pair of both heavy and very soft footsteps approaches him, Aurum was unsurprised to see that it was Delilah, and Vigenere. They were two of the most active members of Tanglewood, after all, besides himself. Despite his infinite familiarity with both faces present, the angel still found himself smiling as per usual, always glad to see two of his friends. Nodding firmly at both Delilah and Vig, Aurum spoke in an even, and instructive tone, "Thank you both, for coming over. The two of you participating together will be... interesting, considering the size difference. But I can actually use that for teaching purposes." A soft hum left the lion as he moved closer to the pair, nudging both Delilah and Vig so that they would be facing each other head on – save for Delilah having to look down, of course. Stepping back once they were into position, Aurum questioned both patiently, "First, I'll need to see what I'm working with. So, Vig, you're going up against a much larger opponent. What would you try to do to gain the upper hand? And Delilah, you're going up against a much smaller opponent. What do you think he will do to try and win?" This was how his father had taught him – through a series of trial and error. See what someone thought was the right choice, see how close they were to it being true, and then nudge them in the right direction.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]

[DELILAH.]

DELILAH EVERGARDEN

"The Gods have forsaken us."

Delilah watched in calm silence as positioning was set and she was made to face Vigenere in a spar, a mock fight- being advancely knowledgeable of medical information meant that she knew more than basic anatomy of a feline body- mainly due to the fact that felines took up most of the population of Tanglewood half of the time.

When the woman stood to her full height, bones shifting and cracking as muscles stretched with misuse, a low rumble left her throat as scales shifted and moved with every stretch. 

"Vigenere knows he has more training than me, and since my size is a huge weakness that makes me slower than him.. I'd say he'd go for my legs, or face and neck area, due to my species. Leaving a dragon blind leaves them vulnerable since their sense of smell is the only other thing they can count on. That is.. at least, how my body works. It's a guess.. throw me off balance using my own body weight."

Delilah's first instinctive move- primal, animalistic, ingrained in some part of her body, was to make herself seem bigger. Show off her size, intimidate the enemy and make them back off. But knowing Vigenere, he had to have a better trick up his sleeve..

tags - penned by [member=1260]ryuu-tan[/member]

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[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[glow=white,1,400]LOOK INTO MY EYES, WE ARE NOT THE SAME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Despite his experience, Vigenere had very fought a dragon. That being said, however, he did know how to use his small size to his advantage - he's definitely fought opponents bigger than him. Vigenere didn't prep himself as Delilah did, not really seeing her as a threat (at least not compared to what Snarl was). Then again, catching the enemy off-guard was always a good thing.

"Delilah is right - looking for a weak spot is key here mostly." Vigenere spoke in a thoughtful voice, watching the dragoness attempt to make herself look bigger. It certainly worked - she definitely seemed a lot bigger than she was, but there were still weak points to find here. Neck, legs, face, wings. Simply going under Delilah, as he had done with Snarl, wasn't going to work here - Delilah was far too big in comparison to a hyena. But that didn't mean Vigenere wasn't trying to find a way to confuse her.

Delilah wasn't going to be aggressive as most dragons were, Vigenere knew, but hopefully this would still work. Vigenere decided to give a running start towards [member=1277]DELILAH.[/member] , aiming to try and go underneath her. As he did so, however, Vigenere would veer off towards the side, trying to see if he could get DELILAH to trip or at the very least, confuse her.

Regardless if he was successful or not, Vigenere looked back over at Aurum. "Since my own weight isn't going to knock her over, I need to figure out a way to make her fall or be able to maneuver my way onto her body by distracting her." With it being a one-on-one thing, it would be hard to hypothetically do that, since the enemy would only have you to focus on.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[wormwood.]

Aurum was extremely glad to hear both Vigenere and Delilah listening to his orders, instead of being stubborn about his training style. He hadn't truly expected any conflict or protest from either of them, but he had become unfortunately used to... very outspoken voices popping up every once in a while. Thankfully, it seemed as though things were going well, and the lion found himself nodding as he heard the dragoness, letting out a soft chuff in response, "Very good, you're right. Any opponent that is smaller but has higher speed is always going to go for a weak point, since they know they have to hit hard to inflict real damage." He then watched as Vigenere lunged forward, tail twitching in thought as he nodded and continued, "That was good, too. You need to get a bit of breathing room, make sure that you have a moment you can take advantage of. Delilah, what do you suppose you should do in response? Hunker down, make sure that your larger center of mass can give you more stability?" He didn't want to just give Delilah the answer, but he was supposed to be the teacher here, and he intended to make sure she knew how to handle all kinds of opponents, both big and small.

Turning his gaze then to Vig, he said with a bit of a chuckle, "And Vig... if she does do that, what do you think your chances are then? In a one on one fight with a heavy but stable opponent, what do you think you should do?" The obvious answer was to try and get to their back side, since if they were entirely focused on keeping their stability, they wouldn't have as much speed to stop an attack from the back. A frontal attack, by any means, would probably be a horrible idea.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]

[DELILAH.]

DELILAH EVERGARDEN

"The Gods have forsaken us."

Delilah let an uncomfortable rumble leave her throat as the man slid under her large body, head tilting down and under her body to watch him before she chuckled. He looked so small.. But she knew he was a fine warrior. No time to poke fun at her old friend when she was supposed to be serious. Fighting and battles were serious, after all. She knew what it was like to be kidnapped and abused. The Pitt would pay.

"I'd crush him with my body weight if he was still under me. I weigh more than what small feline bones can take under pressure, so.. If I were to collapse and well, roll in the direction he was going, he'd be trapped under some.. Heavy weight."

With the move that Vigenere made, however, Delilah did indeed hunker down, confusion evident on her face.

"Keeping the defensive means that my face is left vulnerable. I'm.. unsure? Should I step on his tail?"

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[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[glow=white,1,400]LOOK INTO MY EYES, WE ARE NOT THE SAME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Although Vigenere couldn't hear Aurum's thoughts on how some people might oppose this training style, the savannah would agree that this is the type of training that is more efficient; it encouraged growth and others to work on a battle style that may or may not be good.

Indeed, a frontal attack on a much larger opponent would certainly mean injury - if not outright death. "If you can step on their tail." Vigenere spoke up. "A lot of the time, its going to be lashing and moving too much to be able to properly step on it." Or at least, that's how it would be with cats. "As for continuing an attack - aiming for her back would be a good priority. Delilah -" The savannah's gaze flickered back over to the dragoness. "How flexible are dragons?" Not that he had time to ask that in a battle, but it was a good question nonetheless - at least, to him.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]