+15 Complete a spar or fight

After the day at the hot springs, Bhaskar had left with a relaxed body and a fresh new perspective. Gawain's words concerning sparring were eye-opening. To hear that the lion had taken the approach of simple wrestling to work on his battle prowess sparked an idea in his mind. Perhaps Bhaskar could dip his toes back in the art of battle without the bloodshed that usually followed suit.

And so, today he took a trip to the valley's arena. He hadn't been here ever since the day of the Caladan Cove challenge. It brought back unpleasant memories of the crowds and the greedy women, of his friends in danger and of a little pale boy by the name of Nero.

He stood in the center of the pit, observing its majestic dirt walls. So that's how it looks from down here?

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Aurochs knew nothing of this place. He stumbled across it - luckily not literally - and arrested himself with foolishly unsteady paws at the Pit edge. He peered over, his ears bent forward as though somehow he could see more that way. His tail twittered with excitement, the most he could express in his ragged condition. Sure, he should stay off his leg, but it would never get strong enough if he didn't test it. So he found a shallow, numerous series of ledges, and began working his way downward. At first with silent, stoic vigor, and then with a series of muttered and suppressed grunts.

He stopped near a last major jump to catch his breath. He noticed warmth from behind him... or a relative lack of coldness. He turned and looked into a sheltered cleft. No icicles or ice in there. No weather at all would reach in there. He smiled, panting loosely, smoke before his breath. He still had to get down, and pondered his last jump as he waited. He noticed someone before him, the shadow that was somehow smaller than the beast that cast it. That was a huge male, but not much older than he. Definitely more built, and stronger. He smelled, whiskers keening, but couldn't smell any fresh pride scent on the air.

"Hey. This isn't like the local black market, right? Cause I don't care." Yeah dude please do not stab Aurochs, he does not care about your skeezy drug deals, please do not mistake the yearling for a law-abiding citizen in any way.

@Bhaskar

+10 Explore a territory and find something useful in it
+10 Discuss the features of a territory with someone
+10 Find a notable landmark in a territory

While his steel gaze observed the ledges covered in snow against the pit's walls, he saw a meek shape stand hesitantly at the edge. Bhaskar's eyes narrowed in on the grey-pelted yearling as he began to descend, carefully but surely, using the protruding ledges. The red-haired lion hoped that the younger guy won't slip and fall because Bhas was quite frankly sick of saving the asses of careless kids.

Fortunately, this time he wouldn't need to run to the rescue. He stood silent and unmoving, watching as the yearling limped towards him. Was he planning to fight with that leg? After all, what was the guy doing here if he wasn't planning to fight? Upon first glance, the stranger definitely looked malnourished and sick, but when @Aurochs stepped closer, Bhaskar could see that he was almost as big as him. Nah, man. Too obvious for shady deals. Black markets were probably going to be in some god-forsaken alley that nobody could see them. Here, though... this arena was built with the audience in mind. Why? You looking for something? His face remained unchanged, lacking any emotion.

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Aurochs had half a sense of where to go to do shady things, just from spying on others doing shady shit. Usually when you saw a pride lion outside their pride... alone... it was for shady shit. But he didn't know why a fellow rogue would be somewhere so open and useless. The gray yearling shrugged with his good shoulder. Despite size and health advantage, @Bhaskar wasn't going to outright attack him. Some would take Aurochs' casual manner of asking as an insult. This was one bear he didn't have to worry about poking too hard. So he would be honest... which usually meant an offhand, borderline disrespectful manner. "Shady deals. Shady lions. Less stuck up than your pride princes and princesses."

He eyed the older rogue over again. Didn't seem stuck up and he figured they would be mutually aware that each didn't have a home. Which did beg the question of why they were both here. "Huge ass open pit, I say I check it out. Be funny as hell if all these scents were from lions all thinking the same thing. 'Hey, gotta be something down here!' but nobody knows what it's for."

+10 Discuss the features of a territory with someone

Bhaskar was amused by the younger grey-pelted lion and couldn't help but agree with his comment. You could say, The mottled giant reclined back on his haunches. But who isn't less stuck up than them? He could even argue that the regular pride members, those that bore no titles, were just as stuck up. That didn't apply to all of them, but a good bunch had a stick up their ass.

There was no scent plaguing the boy's pelt, which was understandable considering his views. Good for him, seemed like a smart one. @Aurochs observation made Bhas' cast his grey gaze to the rising walls of the pit that surrounded them ominously. Would be funny if it were so, However, Bhaskar knew the reason for the many scents and the purpose of this giant hole. It's an arena, though. He rolled his broad shoulders in a shrug. I've seen 'em. The whole damn valley swarms the edges like bees to honey, watching two lions fight in the middle for their made-up titles and prides. Or whatever. He couldn't forget the sheer number of lions here. The empty pit seemed almost uncanny now.

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Aurochs half-shrugged and teased a tangle out of his mane while he was at it. He could say that kings and queens were more stuck up than them all, but he was aware the question was rhetorical. Would be funny if it were so, indeed - the male at first seemed noncommittal, but then revealed that he knew the real 'purpose' of this place. Pity. It could have been a nice mystery but, of course, pride lions had to get their claims and customs and general stink all over it. An arena. He cast his gaze up and around, noting the scored walls where claws had been sharpened and the dips in the ledges where many paws had thumped down. Yeah, he could see that.

An arena for - and this caught his attention, looking back with raised dark brows. "Like they push them in and make them fight to the death? Hardcore." Okay not like Aurochs morally approved but it wasn't any of his business to approve or not. Actually it sounded like an interesting spectacle. So long as he was doing the watching and not the fighting... pick up a stranger's scent, sniff around for some fun herbs to steal, sounded like good times.

@Bhaskar

The yearling's assumption was beyond far off, but Bhaskar wouldn't put it past some leaders doing that. So far, though, he hadn't seen anyone pit two lions against each other just for the fun of it all. Although the audience definitely gathered to watch some blood spilled. Nah, they do it of their own volition. Y'know... out of greed, maybe for the sake of revenge or simply for the sport. He couldn't fault the last two, but he would never agree with greed for power as a reason. Those who watch seem to like it, though. Otherwise, why would it be a widely accepted thing? Why not just go with rolling the dice? Maybe a rap battle? In the end, it all came down to violence. Everyone here, and outside of the valley, seemed to agree that fighting was the fair and square way to determine a winner. Don't get me wrong, I like a good fight. But I don't agree how some lions around here use their strength to bully others. Not cool, if ya ask me. Forcing others to play your dumb games. He hated that, but he had no choice but to fight back.

@Aurochs

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Aurochs didn't know what volition meant, but the male's tone was of clear denial. Aurochs' ears drooped a bit. Pride lions couldn't even do one thing that was slightly cool. Even their evil petty shit had to be boring. "I might swing by if I hear it going on. Even just to laugh." And to steal shit, but that wasn't information you volunteered to someone you didn't know. All he knew about this dude was that he was huge, he liked a good fight, but he had morals about it. Most lions had morals. It was just where they drew the line. Those who had no lines were as dangerous as mobs, a mob of one, all chaos and no boundaries.

"You're a big dude. Only way they'd bully you is by ganging up on you. Not fair." He hated that when it happened to him, when he and/or his brother had strayed too close to pride borders and apparently needed half of the pride to chase them off. "And me too, when I'm old enough. Gotta build some muscle." He squared his chest and thumped the middle of his collarbone with his good paw. "You wanna have a round, if you watch for my bad leg?"

@Bhaskar

@Aurochs thought he might get a good laugh out of the pride lions' events. To each their own, Bhaskar thought. Personally the older lion didn't find their blood sports entertaining. He would attend from time to time only to remain in the know about their politics. As much as he disliked them, they affected him and his close ones.

The grey yearling was right: to bully Bhaskar, they'd have to gang up on him. But that didn't matter. They can gang up on me all they want. I will get through it somehow. What concerned him was when they did it to some undeserving poor soul. Aurochs was a self-aware boy. You look to be almost as big as me. Bhas agreed. When Aurochs grows up, he will certainly be as big as Bhas. The following offer was accepted welcomed by the red-maned giant. I'm down. It was going to be fun. You go first. He squared up, limbs spreading beneath him, eyes narrowing in on the other.

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Aurochs wasn't going to mother, father, or brother the older male... but he had to fight the impulse. To warn him. That you could escape nine times but get caught the tenth. He frowned. Well, it was none of his business. If Bhaskar wanted to shrug off danger, then so be it. Aurochs lived a reckless life too and, practically speaking, he'd only really been in trouble once.

And he didn't want it to happen again. He was going to be too big and strong to mess with. He backed up a step, lowering his head, keeping his chest square. He eyed the older male with a new goal: find out his weak points, or at least his probable strategy since honestly that guy didn't seem to have many weak points. Except for not yet being in his prime, but that didn't help Aurochs when he was younger still. "Alright..." he trailed, agreeing, and also quasi-announcing that the spar was starting.

He tried to charge forward a stride or so, leading with his right shoulder aiming to plant it within the left side of Bhaskar's chest. He kept only part of his weight on his left front paw, just the toes gingerly feeling the rock for balance - mostly, he was ready to rock back onto his hindquarters, and his tail jet straight out in preparation to not be squished. It was instinctive to keep his ears back but his eyes were open until they narrowed on a target - the back side of the peach male's right cheek, into which he attempted to attach his fangs.

note: dice were 5/1/5 at start of thread

Aurochs vs @Bhaskar
Spar
1/3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 7 + 12 + 1 + 5 + 10

Dodges:

Rolling 1d20: 16

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 9 + 7 + 10 + 5 + 20