Wild Rye Fields You've got no one to blame

Gritting her teeth together as her body met his rock solid shoulder, but instead of barreling him over as she intended, Askan was able to shove her back and create some distance between them. Swinging back around to face him, her tail high in the air this time as her anger skyrocketed with his countered move. Instead of berating her for her failed attempt of a attack, he instructed her what she did wrong and what could have happened. Nodding in understanding, her bicolored eyes watched him, his eyes also trained intently on her as he began to circle her.

Moving with him, not allowing him her back, she widened her stance like he had when she tried to barrel over him. This lesson was nothing like the lessons she had back in her familial pack. The elders there practiced very little in violence unless it was purely necessary. Which meant she had little knowledge on fighting besides moves to keep herself alive until a Guardian came to her aid. Though, clearly Adelayde was slacking in keeping her neck protected at all times which had been the prioritized lesson of the elders.

Her ears flicked forward to listen to Askan's next instructions. Whittle them down, make them bleed, sounded easy enough, right? Keep snapping and knocking them down until they either gave in or couldn't get up anymore. That's what the fiery heathen and Odin had been trying to do to her, which she was sure was something their puppet master must of taught them. Normally she would shake them out of her head, instead she was going to use the bad memory to her advantage and use it to fuel her.

Taking Askan's cue, instead of barreling towards him like she tried last time, she took a page from his book and began to circle him. Getting closer and closer with each circle until she bolted towards his side seemingly like she was aiming for his scruff, but instead she was truly aiming for his back legs. This time the Snow woman wasn't holding anything back. Instead she was all in.

Askan's intense gaze followed Adelayde, as she prowled around him, circling him as though he were a wounded deer who's time on this planet was up. He knew that she was looking for an opening, that she was looking for an opportunity to strike and whilst his fine tuned instincts told him to beat her to it, he didn't. He simply stood his ground, shifting a little every now and then so he could always keep her in his sights. He was curious to see how she would play this, would she use his advice to her advantage or would she blindly rush in and hope for the best like she had before? What was going on behind those mismatched eyes of hers? He had no doubt that she was angry and frustrated, but as he watched and waited he noticed something else, something new. Like sunlight through the branches of a tree her eyes shone with a bright, almost blinding sense of focus and determination. Askan had no interest in teaching an unwilling student, but the look in her eyes proved that this was worth his time, that she would take this lesson to heart.

The Yukon smirked as the Mackenzie barrelled forward again and- how interesting, she was going in with a feint?

"Too obvious!" Askan snapped, ramming his shoulder into her face before she could even get close to his hind legs. Only once he'd darted back did he speak. "If you're going to do that, don't stare. Come on, I didn't hit that hard. Shake it off. Focus on me."

Without warning, Askan stormed forward like a steam train and reared up his two front legs. Hooking them around her neck he wrenched his front half to the side as hard as he could and using his one hundred and thirty pounds of weight, he let gravity do the rest. Adelayde hit the floor with a thump and he yanked his leg back so he wouldn't be crushed by her sheer mass. Before she had the time to scramble to her feet, he pressed his nose to her fluffy neck as if to say 'I win.' She was warm and her fur soft. Being so close he could hear the thunder of her heart and her panting breaths, as he laid there still not trying to get up. Eventually, after what felt like hours, Askan nudged her with his snout and stepped back to give her some space.

"Let all of that shit go Ade. Forget those fucking Whitestone wolves. It's just you and me here, and I won't hurt you. I'm here to help, so get up and try and try again till you can do it. Till you're the best." With that Askan slid into a guarded position. "Again. Give me everything you have. Be smart."

She thought she had him, had him fooled this time and this time he would be happy with what move she had tried. However, before she could even reach his legs, his voice roared in her eardrum as he rammed his shoulder into her face. Yelping unintentionally, the hit redirected her momentum towards the ground, her legs scrambling to keep her balance though the deep snow tripped her up and she landed on her side. Askan criticized her last move, telling her what she had done wrong before yelling at her to get up. Grumbling at herself rather than Askan, she gritted her teeth as she got back to her feet. Get your head in the game, Ade.

Shaking the snow off her face, she focused her mismatched eyes on him as her body turned towards him. Suddenly, he was the one barreling towards her like a bull towards the red flag. Though she tried to backpedal away from him, he reared up and hooked her with his front legs pulling her to the ground with such great force, force she never thought he could have. Before she knew it, she hit the solid ground with a thud as a groan escaped her lips. He was fast, too fast. Despite her larger size, he was able to throw her down like she weighed nothing. How was she going to get the upper hand on him? Before she could even recover and get back onto her feet, she felt the electric touch of his nose against her neck to signal he won by gaining access to her vulnerable jugular.

Her heart pounded against her ears and seemed to beat faster as his touch lingered as she panted for air. But before she could think anything of it, he nudged her with his snout, signaling her to get up. Rolling to her feet, she got up with a soft grunt, her bicolored eyes glancing to find his. She had to think this through, not be so rash in moving against him. Askan then gave her the advice she was yearning for, that she needed to truly get over the attack. Let it go. He told her again until she could land a blow on him, till she can be the best that she can be.

Barreling towards him again, this time she focused her weight to her right side shoulder as she intended to ram into him again which wouldn't be a surprise to him. However, this time she intended to do more than just ram her weight into him. If she wasn't going to beat him with speed, stamina was going to be her key to winning. She intended to ram her shoulder into his body while her other leg swiped at his feet to try to get him off balance before she gave him once last shove to get him onto his side. Ade hoped this time, she could land more than she did before as her eyes shined with determination.

This time Askan wasn't going to move out of the way or beat her to the punch. Instead he hunched his shoulders and braced himself as Adelayde rushed forward. With her sheer size and mass he knew that she'd hit hard, but rather than be intimidated-or worse yet, scared- Askan grinned with anticipation. For sure it would hurt, but he could take it, after all fighting was just as much about taking hits as it was dishing them out. The fact Adelayde got to her feet after being shoved around proved that she wasn't a wilting flower, that she was tougher than she looked.

The Mackenzie rammed into him with a thud and Askan gritted his teeth as he was pushed backwards, his paws leaving drag marks in the snow. Nice! He really felt that, he'd be sore in the morning, but it was good! She was learning, mimicking his movements and adding her own little twist to make it hers, to make it familiar and natural. But then she did something he didn't see coming. He opened his mouth to praise her when all of a sudden he felt something crash against his leg. He buckled, lost his footing and- another shove sent him stumbling back and then he fell down onto the snow with an undignified "OOFFF!"

He lay there for a moment, panting slightly as he gathered his bearings and tried to figure what the hell had happened. He'd been duped. She'd gotten in close and taken full advantage of it. Rather than let her 'boop' him just as he had, Askan pushed himself up into a laying position, his elbows digging into the snow. He wasn't any good at the whole complimenting thing, but for that display Adelayde deserved some sort of praise. Even if it sounded a little stiff.

"Good job." He grumbled as he clambered to his feet and shook himself off. "Caught me out there. If you can do that in a real fight you should be fine. Let's try something else. Say you someone's got a hold of you, how would you shake them off?"

Askan circled her, looking for a good point to grab onto. Her tail was nice and bushy, soft looking too. A good place to hang onto in a friendly fight, but not really effective in a real, serious scrap.

"I'm going to hold onto your leg, won't bite down hard. Show me how'd you get me off. If I'm hurting you, say.... rye and I'll let go. Got it?"

With that, Askan took a hold of her left back leg and held it up a little to make it hard for her to stand. By no means was he clamping down on it, but his grip was firm and wouldn't be shaken off so easily.

she says beauty is pain

Grimacing as the pain of their collision coursed through her body, however she was able to succeed in shoving her large pack mate to ground as she heard his muffled outburst. Panting in exertion, her sides heaving as she looked down to see Askan getting up on his elbows before she could go in for the winning boop. Giving him a toothy grin as she realized she had actually bested Askan, the big, burly brute Askan who intimidated all who stepped near their borders. She didn't expect anything from him, especially not a compliment, but before Askan got to his feet thats exactly what he gave her.

Did she truly knock into him that hard that she jumbled up his brain so hard he was able to say something nice? Smirking, she kept those thoughts to herself and just returned his words with a curt nod. However, he wasn't done with her. Turning the lesson around, he went on to ask her how she would shake someone off if they had ahold of her. Pausing a second, she contemplated his words as he began to circle her, her mismatched eyes still trained on him as he moved around her.

It would truly depended on what they had a hold of. Either her teeth or claws could encourage someone to release an appendage, but what if they had a hold of her neck? Askan spoke again, letting her know where exactly he was going to grab. Nodding at his question, she felt him take a firm grasp on her left hindleg. Allowing him to lift her leg up, she contemplated on how exactly she was going to get out of his grasp. Rolling and twisting would only give him access to her vulnerable underside and with her large size, it would be rather difficult to reach around and try to grab at his muzzle or appendage of his. With her both hindlegs, she shifted her weight towards the front and used momentum from her right leg to lift her hindquarters up into the air. In midair, she kicked out enough to hit him square in the chest and try to knock out his grasp. If she was successful she'd whip her rear end around and face him with squared shoulders and defensive bared teeth.

and there's beauty in everything

Steadying himself, Askan tightened his grip on her leg and let out a vicious snarl. He didn't mean it at all, there was no real aggression behind it, but for the sake of realism he let loose. His tail stood high and as per usual he looked like an agitated porcupine with his hackles standing on end. He was an expert on putting on the show of aggression, of making his violent intentions clear. But as before, it was merely just a show. This wasn't a real fight, he wasn't going to hurt her and he assumed she had the very same thought in mind. Or at least she should have. Not that he couldn't take a hit but, he wasn't in the mood to limp about.

Having no intention of actually hurting her, Askan relinquished his grip on her leg when he felt her paw slam against his chest. Had it been anyone else he would have held on for dear life, despite the pain, and would have even yanked a bit to tear up some skin. But that wasn't the point of this little exercise. This was training, he wanted to see what she was capable of, whether she could think on her feet and put her plans into actions. And so far she didn't disappoint. For as ditsy as she seemed, there was no doubt that she had a sharp head screwed onto her neck. It was simply inexperience that held her down, and with a few more training sessions like this he was sure that she would be able to hold her own in due time. As long as she kept working on it no other puppies would be able to bring her down.

"Good." Askan nodded, as he took a step back. "I think we're about done for now." He didn't want to push too much too soon. She needed time to mull this over. "Think about what I said, practice. And come to me again when you think you're ready for more."

He was willing to do this again, it wasn't exactly what he would consider to be a chore. It felt good even, like he was doing his part to make the pack strong, to make Adelayde strong.

"You feeling better now? Not going to throw another tantrum on me?" He asked with his brow raised, a teasing little prod at her earlier display.

Again, he couldn't exactly fault her for it, but he was never one to let others off easy. Especially not Adelayde, not if he could help it anyway.

As soon as he felt him relinquish his grip on her back leg, she smiled with pride that she had figured a way around Askan. Turning to face him as he took a step back, she smiled as he praised her. There was no smugness in her features, she was merely proud of herself and knew there was still a lot that she needed to learn before she would be ready to take on anyone. He told her to continue to practice which was definitely something she would put her mind to. Also, he wanted her to come to him if she wanted to put her practice to work. Nodding, she will take him up on his offer once she was able to heal from the bruises she likely received today.

A smirk graced her features as he teased her. It was so unlike to her to be so down in the dumps like she was and she was very happy and appreciative that Askan took the time to snap her out of it, She certainly needed it. And he was certainly improving on his social skills. "Now, I can't promise you that," she retorted back with a light singsong chuckle as she bumped into his shoulder as she began to walk back towards one the caches. "You hungry?" She asked as she looked back at him to see if he was following her.