+5 Complete a spar or fight
+5 Teach someone a new protective move or teach them defenses

She needed to learn. At least, that's what Morrigan had told her; Ava had once been driven to protect herself and had sparred in the past once or twice with that specific purpose, but now the need for it grew tenfold with each addition to the family her sister had so delicately added. She trudged toward the Pit, the familiar sting of its sight and smell causing Ava at first to linger hesitantly around its edges. Here was where she had last seen Skarde; fighting to claim a pride he had intended to use to enslave her, to keep her fettered to him forevermore. He had been stopped in his conquest by the brute strength of Vine, and Ava had been given a fresh start.

She couldn't imagine where she may be if Skarde had won.

Eventually, she crossed the precipice of the Pit and stepped into the center; silent, waiting, knowing there would be others who would cross her path and be willing to face her. Her nervousness was evident in the way she trembled, but she stood resolutely regardless, steeled against the fleeting winter wind.

Safe to say the Pit is not Cupid’s favorite place. He might see the beauty in it when it came to the use of herbs, and perhaps in it’s brutal teachings — he’d yet to master the art of battle in a way that he felt comfortable. It’s a slow learning process. The only true fight he’d been within that of desperation. Now he chooses to push himself here, for the betterment of his pride and for that of Riptide.
He steels his nerves. Each stride he does so with false confidence in his wings, guiding him forth with he hopes is grace and less the trembling, raw anxieties he still carries forth with his recent past. The spotted boy is, at least, determined to fulfill his goals. He tells himself that he’ll reward it later, with gardening alongside Riptide if they’re up to it. (He cannot fathom why they wouldn’t be, considering their fascination with the stuff.)
A small grin touches his lips at the thought of his friend, before he feels it whisk away on the breeze. The Pit is never empty, and he finds another already waiting there — a silver maiden trying to suit up her armor with shaking fingers. “Are you okay, miss?” It slips pass him, and he snaps his jaw as if it slid off his tongue without his consent. A weak smile graces his round features, however, and he tries to roll with it.

@Avaneira

table by sentinel / artist

+5 Complete a spar or fight
+5 Teach someone a new protective move or teach them defenses

Are you okay, miss?

His voice, surprisingly, does not frighten her. She cannot pinpoint why it doesn't. Perhaps it was because she'd come here purposefully looking for a fight, determined to unsheath her claws and step out of her skin. Perhaps it was because he reminded her of Gareth, who too had approached so cautiously and concerningly, and who'd made her feel so proud when she had overpowered him by some blissful happenstance. Perhaps it was because she knew Morrigan lingered not too far behind; her shadowy sister hellbent on protecting the ghost so much that she'd seldom let her out of her sight.

Regardless, she turned to face him, and her trembling faded away.

“Come and see this,” she invited softly, her voice barely rising above the whirl of the wind. Should @Cupid choose to approach, Ava would widen her stance. She remembered what Arsynia had taught her all those years ago; back when the world was smaller, and did not stretch outside the confines of their small forested territory. She hadn't understood its importance until now. Her knees bent slightly, claws etching into the dusty earth. Her head lowered until her lips nearly kissed the ground. “If someone charges you suddenly, you can lower your head and get underneath them. Then—” she lifted her head upward, as if headbutting into the chest of an opponent who had come far too close. “You think that could work?” Perhaps she could ask Gareth to test it out. Perhaps this man would be willing to.

A private moment, he assumes, that he’d interrupted. Mayhaps for the greater good. He knows how demons can be, and a distraction instead of discussing feelings can provide a better medicine in circumstances. Cupid takes to the diversion like a fish to water. He follows @Avaneira, takes in her shifting posture with awe as if a babe inspired for the first time. It’s his child-like wonderment that seeps out whenever he finds something cool.
His head bobbles with her explanation, waiting with bated breath to see the concluded move with her arching up to a phantom opponent. It is… smart, he thinks. It would not work if your opponent is smaller, but a larger one? Yeah. He could… see how it might be used—
“Yeah,” he finally pipes up, “Yeah, I think… it could work. Depends on your opponent’s size though, doesn’t it? Because the momentum of a large lion might hurt your neck.” Like two goats coming forth to bash their horns against each other. The first time Cupid heard the thunder clap of males duking it out left him speechless.
“Do… you want to try? Maybe I could help you come up with a move that works well.” His suggestion comes with a shy aversion of grey-brown eyes.

table by sentinel / artist

+5 Complete a spar or fight
+5 Teach someone a new protective move or teach them defenses

@Cupid follows along in stride, and Ava does not think until long after she had spoken how outlandish her responses might have been. He'd asked if she was okay, and she'd all but ignored him in favor of her own musings. Nevertheless, she couldn't backpedal now, and her embarrassment was left as a deep heat settling in her cheeks that could easily be brushed off as the effort she'd used to perform such a unique move. Yeah, I think… it could work. Depends on your opponent’s size though, doesn’t it? he begins, and Ava considers his words thoughtfully, ecause the momentum of a large lion might hurt your neck. Indeed, should an opponent be large enough, Ava could still be run through regardless. She thought of Skarde, of Vine, of all the others who stood sheer and foreboding above her. This man, by comparison, was much more pleasantly unpretentious. “Hmm...” she considers thoughtfully, as if attempting to come up with a workaround that would be more suitable for larger lions. Of course, the brainstorming would have to wait.

Do… you want to try? Her eyes alit with an almost childlike titillation. A ghost of a smile curved her lips, and she stood tall once more, regrouping from the half-posed and disheveled stance she'd taken moments before. “Please!” she beseeched, the little bits of her beginning to slip through the cracks of a steeled exterior. “I would be forever grateful.” Perhaps she would learn something she could take back to Morrigan. Perhaps she could show her sister the beginning signs of a long recovery.

She readied her defenses once more, lowering her head like she had before, but keeping her eyes upward and focused on him. Should he come barreling too hard and too fast, Ava would attempt to take his advice and try something different before she'd break her neck trying to unearth him.

Avaneira vs Cupid
for spar
o of i

OOC: I may have accidentally defaulted this bc I did not realized the time snddb sorry! I'm down to continue if you are, but no worries if not <3

IC: It feels silly to suggest such a proposal and yet, he finds himself hopeful to hear her agree. His choice to follow the steps of a paladin in toe with nursemaid shalln't go buried — at least, that is what Cupid tells himself.
The silver mist pleads in response; her gratitude leaving the wheaten boy's cheeks dusted a tinge of red. His own blush hopefully unnoticed as hers had been beforehand. A nod is given to her, and he gives her a smile. Cupid strides off a distance, allowing the slow motion away to clink his own armor into place.
Outside the playful bouts with friends when he was much younger, the only other experience he's had in a brawl had ended in him running. Now he must run towards the "enemy" and choose to either attempt evading the counter he knows is to come, or allow himself to be oblivious. He circles back towards her.
Claws peak from his snowy mitts just for better traction to the slick ground, Cupid charges forth. The spotted boy uses his dark tail to further balance him by stretching it out behind him. He attempts to close the distance between himself and the guarded lioness at a decent galloping pace; he tries to aim his angle slightly towards the right of her, so he would be more aligned to her shoulder. He leads with his left shoulder, and tries to slam into her right (though the pressure, he hopes, is lessened than usual for he does not truly intend to hurt).

Cupid vs @Avaneira
for Spar
round one of three
HITS:

Rolling 4d20: 5 + 8 + 12 + 11

DODGE:

Rolling 4d20: 14 + 9 + 19 + 12

table by sentinel / artist

Ava watches his first charge, approaching from her right with his left shoulder angled in his attempt to slam right into her. His size is not so disparagingly larger as other men, and so she takes the attack head-on, her claws holding steadfast against the ground as his held-back offense causes a slight bruise to sprawl along the brunt of her right shoulder. She grits her teeth, and takes advantage of their closeness to jerk her head to her right, hoping to catch the own right side of his face as it appeared next to her. Given the slight awkwardness of their positioning, she'd only attempted to grapple what was easily within reach—an ear, perhaps.

His slam into her shoulder had caused her paws to skid a few centimeters, but she'd been just able to hold herself upward, if not for Cupid's purposeful softness in his initial attack. Ava was both thankful and fearful of such; part of her appreciated the caution in his thoughtful offense, and part of her almost wished he'd go all out. Her enemies would never pull their punches, and Ava should learn to anticipate even the kindest of sparring partners might not either. Perhaps it would be for the better if she learned harshly.

Avaneira vs Cupid
for spar
i of iii

Hits:

Rolling 3d20: 13 + 16 + 4

Dodges:

Rolling 5d20: 4 + 1 + 20 + 14 + 16

It is a hurdle that Cupid has to climb, too, for he cannot bring himself to inflict agony on any except situations to assist and save. Even then, the spotted boy hates that it is needed. This brawl is a step outside his zone, but it is to help and that motivates him to do well.
They collide; Cupid connects his left shoulder to her right shoulder. Due to the impact — even lessened as it were, he knows he'll likely feel a bit sore there later. Right now, he just tries to swallow down the budding nerves fluttering in his stomach. The silver mist goes forth with a version of her shown defensive move; her head goes up and to the right side of his face. She manages to find a dark ear (right) that he hadn't tucked into his mane; something to take note of later for defenses.
Cupid is stuck with his head scrunching towards the right, to refrain from too much pressure pulling on his captured ear. Even as a spar, he cannot trust that it wouldn't end up gone if she yanked in the right direction. He raises his left forearm, and attempts to place it over her spine, above the right shoulder he hit prior, to try baring his weight on it and force her further down.

Cupid vs @Avaneira
for Spar
round two of three

HITS:

Rolling 4d20: 12 + 13 + 10 + 7

DODGE:

Rolling 4d20: 10 + 14 + 17 + 16

table by sentinel / artist

He bares his weight further down on her, and Avaneira swiftly remembers the advice he'd given her previously. She had not attempted the move she'd been practicing at first because she'd wanted to contemplate it; but now seemed like the perfect time. She used the momentum of him pressing her down to release his ear and allow herself to slip further to the ground under the weight of his pressure. But the scrunching of her forelegs allows her to quickly spring them up and forward, lowering her head and in one fell swoop hoping to lodge it just underneath his chest, rearing herself skyward and using the entirety of her weight to either wind him, or knock him away as she'd shown those few moments before.

The move, although powerful if successful, compromises a lot of her own defenses, and the weight of his chest on her neck and the added pressure from his paw cause her to ache and burn, and should Cupid not be moved from this action, Avaneira would have to swiftly pull away and figure something else out.

Avaneira vs. Cupid
for spar
ii of iii

Hits:

Rolling 3d20: 14 + 19 + 7

Dodges:

Rolling 5d20: 9 + 7 + 18 + 14 + 2

Cupid feels her slip away from his ear — the release of it distracts him for a moment, out of relief, for his pressing down upon her had been an attempt to relieve the grip, too. It is this distraction that keeps the spotted nursemaid from realizing what she is doing at first. She is able to sneak underneath him in one fluid movement, and then, ram upwards into his chest.
With his left forearm suspended and taken by surprise, Cupid is the one to back off a step. He knows that there will be bruising in the area she smacked him — there’d been no mercy, this he does not mind much. An idea, however, does spring to mind to teach her. Using the momentum of the shield-bash, Cupid attempts to pivot his hind-end to his right (her left) and places his left foreleg back onto the ground.
His head tilts to the right, and he attempts to nip the left side of her neck while it is lifted in the air from her attack.

Cupid vs @Avaneira
for Spar
round three of three

HITS:

Rolling 4d20: 20 + 13 + 12 + 17

DODGE:

Rolling 4d20: 10 + 19 + 6 + 16

LUCK:

Rolling 5d20: 13 + 7 + 2 + 3 + 12

table by sentinel / artist