She had been keeping to herself as of late, finding the solitude more and more inviting each day. She is growing older, and with that her mind is on a constant loop of what she wished to do in her life. Aside from her nephew she is the only other living Brynmawr in Amaryllis, and with that thought makes the Viking wonder if she, too, would have offspring before her well runs dry. It was a rather depressing realization that time was not on her side anymore, and now she were participating in a race with it to see who would win first. Having no love interests nor putting herself out there to find one, Valkravn was beginning to settle on the fact that she would be aunt and nothing more. It made her withdraw into herself, putting more thought and effort in keeping her body and mind sharp.

In between jogging would the rosé lioness hear the calls from her Sovereign. An ear would flick and a brow would rise as she wondered what exactly this could be about. Switching direction would Valkravn head toward where the call had come from, soon enough emerging to see several others already gathered. Lavender gaze would flick toward @Cassandra after giving a nod of general greeting to those around. She would stay standing, waiting to see what was going to be said or happen.

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

Now that Lucan was older, he was really trying to come into his own. Part of that was discovering his desire to protect the ones he loved. He still had plenty that he needed to learn, he didn't have enough experience to know what to do in any type of hostile situation. He was hoping that he would be able to adapt and learn, especially with so many willing mentors around him. @Aquila in particular was a well-versed fighter, the almost yearling wanted nothing more than to be just like his father. When @Cassandra's voice echoed across the brook Lucan was quick to make his way towards her. There were already plenty of others gathered in the clearing when he arrived, but he moved to take a seat, mismatched gaze entirely focused upon the Sovereign and curious as to why she had called them forwards. But if he could guess he hoped that it was a training exercise, this was something that the boy yearned for.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

The call for a gathering has the pale pink royal stretching from their sunbathing spot and making their way toward the group. A number of pride mates had already gathered. Felis zeroed in on their sibling @Lucan. The fluffy royal made their way toward him. Felis would headbutt their brother’s shoulder with a soft rumble of greeting. From there they would sit beside Lucan and await the start of the event. Though not particularly oriented toward battle, there was a little fire in their heart to protect others. The little fire is what has them here with a bit of excitement buzzing in their paws.

Art by ElenPanter | Table Code by Zodiac

Others began to filter into the clearing with her call for the pride itself. Many of the members of the pride started to appear - Rabbit (@Eskel), @Heloise, and @Tullia alongside Heloise's son @Ansel. Thankfully, @Revna and @Myrkvi specifically would appear not long after, with her husband making his way towards her to take a seat at her side. Perhaps someday she'd be able to give him a position of rank within the pride - he definitely deserved it for everything he'd been through as well. Leaning over, she gently touched her nose to his cheek in greeting.

Her uncle would appear as well, and she'd flash him a smile. She was glad he was here as well - he was experienced in fighting as well and it would be nice to have another experienced fighter around. The look on @Revna's face didn't go unnoticed by her, and Cassandra immediately started to rethink her initial plan. Perhaps having the older lioness lead a training group was not the best idea... That was okay - she had Myrkvi and @Aquila to help lead smaller groups.

The pride continued to filter in - including a couple of her children. She supposed they weren't too young to start learning the basics at least... @Valkravn would arrive as well, and she'd give the pink lioness a nod. Two of Aquila's children would arrive as well, @Lucan and @Felis and after waiting a few more minutes, she would get herself situated to start the training session.

"After everything that has occurred in Amaryllis recently, I figured it was fitting to host a training session for the members of the Brook to help those who wished to learn at least some basic self defense moves. I plan to split everyone into a few groups, with myself, Myrkvi and Aquila leading two others if they wish to do so. No one has to participate if they do not wish to, but I recommend it as it could help if you find yourself caught in a tricky situation." Cassandra began, aiming to raise her voice as she spoke so that she could be heard clearly by everyone. After she finished her initial spiel, the Sovereign would give the gathered group a chance to decide if they wanted to participate. "All of those who wish to learn some self defense, please separate yourselves into three groups. Yearlings and younger are to be one group, but otherwise you all are free to split into somewhat equal groups as you desire."

After speaking, Cassandra would jump down from her perch and situated herself in a spot, calling her children @Eisa and @Imber over to her. "My dears, you will be with me." She said, sitting down to wait while everyone else got into groups. "Myrkvi, Aquila, you two are free to chose whichever group you wish to lead."

actions. "speech."

Art by Rabbit | Table Code by Zodiac

She is lucky today. Her son does not appear among the gathering lions, and so she is left with only the awkwardness of @Myrkvi to deal with - which is easy enough when she can simply choose to join a different group than the one that he will be leading. She does just that, after @Cassandra laid out the plan to everyone, and makes her way to where @Aquila is sitting closer to the sidelines. She might have considered joining Cass, but it seems that she will be taking on the little ones of the pride, so instead, she chooses the high sovereign. He had offered to let her test her skills with him once before.

"Aquila," she greets him with a respectful dip of her head. "Once the groups are assembled would you care to spar with me?" Even though her spirits are low from everything that has happened with the Sigrun, the anticipation of a fight - both to show off and sharpen her skills - prickles along her spine. As long as Reynir doesn't show up, she can't imagine anything going wrong at this little event that Cass had decided to host.

code | image

He is not a weapon of war.

Eskel is a weapon of the shadows, of the secrets that exist within them. Yet, when @Cassandra speaks, stating her intention for this group meeting- he remains. He doesn't know anyone well enough to seek them out for a spar- a one on one, and so he sits there quietly, contemplatively- yet his posture is open, ready.

He studies everyone, his pink eyes roving over the group as he waits for someone to step forward and offer him an opponent, without him looking too eager. He looked forward to a spar- and was open to it from anyone.

OOC: Eskel is open to a spar!

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She stays silent and observant as several others trailed in after she had arrived, attention then being drawn as @Cassandra began to speak. It was no lie that there had been more than enough chaos and fighting happening in Amaryllis lately, and it only seemed to be gearing up to more and more. So when she mentioned this being a training session of sorts would the Viking's ears prick up a bit more, her body beginning to tingle with subtle anticipation. Perhaps this what what she needed to free her from whatever funk had gotten a firm grip on her.

As the Sovereign dismissed them into groups would Valkravn allow for her eyes to sweep over the small gathering. She would take notice of everyone in attendance, but one in particular would catch her attention the most. She had seen the clay colossal around the Brook several times, mostly during hunts, and she supposed this was as good of any a time to properly introduce herself to him. Moving toward him with confident steps would the warrior maiden would bring herself to stand before his sitting form, giving him a slight nod. "Want to be my partner?" Torn ear would flick as she spoke, subtle humor lacing her lips as she waited a response.

@Eskel

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

He doesn't wait too long until a large pink hued female approaches him. He appreciates her height, for he doesn't have to crane his neck to look down at her. And she doesn't seem to want to hang back, which in his mind- is a good thing because he's had his colossal ass handed to him plenty of times by smaller women.

He smiles, nodding at her. "Sure." He agrees, studying her quickly- assessing her size, and wondering about her skill. With her athletic build, he hopes she will be an interesting opponent- and yet, she is a female and he is nothing but respectful- as he steps back to give them some space.

"Ladies first." He offers her politely, before ensuring there is a bit of space between them- so that he can prepare himself.

Eskel vs Valkravn
For Spar
Round 0/3

ART COPYRIGHT IRISH

She is met with an acceptance of her invitation, watching the man for a moment more as he spoke. Valkravn would waste no time once he declared that she go first; her body would instinctively bend at the knees and lower herself a bit to the ground, shoulders rolling and her ears pinning themselves atop her head, claws unsheathing to grip at the ground and her eyes narrowing upon her now opponent. Her tail, hanging limp for the briefest of time, would then flail out behind her as she surged forward with a powerful push, rushing the short distance between the two.

As she neared would she then rear onto her hind legs, claws gripping the ground below to help with traction and balance, as the Viking attempted to wrap both front legs around the male's maned neck, making sure that she kept her claws sheathed so that she would not cause injury from her claws - they didn't need to cause unnecessary bloodshed purposely. She was attempting to get him into a grappling sort of move, wanting to also use the right side of her face in an attempt to swing it as hard as she could into the left side of his. Valkravn knew that sometimes in battle you had to also cause some sort of injury or pain to yourself in order to gain the upper hand of your opponent, and a spar between pride mates was no exception - you needed to be prepared whenever, wherever.


Valkravn vs. @Eskel
for practice
round i/iii
hit

Rolling 6d20: 11 + 14 + 20 + 12 + 5 + 13

dodge

Rolling 6d20: 12 + 2 + 5 + 16 + 20 + 6

luck

Rolling 5d20: 11 + 7 + 2 + 4 + 8

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

Heloise smiled as her son came to join them and took his place at her side. She loved that they had the sort of relationship that he would do so unbidden, especially as he was getting older and hanging around with your mother could become a bit of a sore spot at his age.

She listened to Cassandra's instructions and while she saw the merit in learning to fight, she wasn't here for that. "I be here to patch ye lot up afterwards," she commented. "Unless ye need me for de numbers." She looked around, gaze searching for another younger lion for her son to spar with if he so wished. Save for the royal cubs there was really only one she deemed of the same age as Ansel. Not many options there. Of course, if he wanted to spar with someone older than him then that was fine by her too, as was him not wanting to spar at all. He'd taken after her and his father in his build so she wasn't concerned about him.