No Grace for Doves.

[Anonymous]

The pole arm was mostly made of metal, and it, like the rest of her, looed pretty. Even though there was no time for pretty on a battle field. No one said you had to be practical to get the job done, and that  was what Rai'nish was good at. Being impractical and still getting the job done.
The rocks made that delightful crunching noise when she walked over them, and her hair swing back and forth with all the doo-dads and tassles that hung from her clothing. The metal bits shone in the sunlight, they were polished and shiny and barely had a scratch on them. Sure that might have been a tell of how simply green she was at fighting, but no, to her that said that she was fast. Too quick to get hit.

Or something.

Rai'nish was new to this place. Wasn't new to fighting. A few scuffles. She could hold her own against someone her size, maybe a little bigger provided they weren't bigger and faster. She scrunched her nose and adjusted her weight, she was here at he right time like she was supposed to be. She was already a Hawk, just not a tested one. She'd have to impress the masses. Or the one important fellow.

Which ever came first.

[Lion]

Today was an important day for Dram.  New recruits meant fresh new flesh to fry and though he didn't always look forward to seeing what meat bags came in today, he knew that it was better to have them trained as best as possible than to have them be useless thieves.  Even if they could rob, if they couldn't fight, they were completely useless to him.  And right now, he was what was most important.

Dram came  first and was already waiting for her by the time the new recruit arrived.  There was an obvious scowl on his face, as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.  He stood there in his training trousers and boots and a loose sleeveless tunic that showed his arms that were promptly crossed over his chest.  "You're late," he remarked.  "Put that pole arm down.  You may think you're ready to work.  But to me...you're just another meat bag."

Dram walked over to a wall beside him and took out a set of training sticks.  They were short-short sized, and waited with bits of steel to feel more like the real thing.  He grabbed one and tossed it to the rookie.  Then took one for himself.  "All right, meat bag.  Gimme your best shot!"

[Anonymous]

Meat bag? Rai'nish pursed her lips and shifted her stange to the side. Her legs looked long and her shape was curvy, but there was muscle. Underneath the appealing curves, there was the ability to kick someones teeth out. With a disgruntled look she tossed the pole arm to the side, a little peeved already at having her weapon of choice taken away from her.

Sure it wasn't practical for theiving, but pah! It looked good! It gave her range! It was lethal! Her only real weapon when without that was her legs. Oh well. She was good enough, at least she thought she was. She'd see. Careful to snatch the training stick from the air she tossed it between her hands a few times, getting the weight for it before she took a few steps to the side.

Meat bag. Her eyebrow twitched. She hated that. She was not a meat bag. She was beautiful! She was fantastic and she could break his neck with her thighs if she really wanted to. She didn't know the mechanics, but she was sure she could do it. The lack of real pants would help out with that part. With narrow apple green eyes, which looked bright against her skin and her bright blue har she lunged.

It was hard to give her best shot against a stationary target when she didn't have her best weapon. But chucking the stick at his head while she made a tackle for his midsection didn't seem like such a bad idea.  "My name is Rai'nish!"

[Lion]

Dram twirled the wooden weapon in hand and absently saw the sorry excuse for a weapon she threw to the ground.  The polearm, a coward's weapon.  Though he would never admit it, he only said that because he couldn't wield one himself.  He'd heard tales of certain people with insurmountable skill with the weapon and all its variants, but he couldn't believe it unless he saw it.  Dram would start with something simple.  If she could handle herself against a barrage of blows, then she had some potential.

He frowned at her smart ass remark, but looked at her sinisterly, and spun the weapon again, facing her with his dominant side.

"So the meat bag has a name.  Well, Rai'nish if you can block these blows, or evade them, you'll have earned the right to be called your name.  Until then you're just another meat bag."  With that Dram jumped at her and prepared to slam the training sword right on top of her head before spinning on his heel and using his leg to drop her to the floor.

[Anonymous]

She squinted and felt her lips pull up to expose her sorry set of feral teeth. They weren't feral at all, could cut through skin with a lot of pressure from her jaw, but nothing fancy and no fangs. Damn she wanted herself a pair of fangs. That would be cool. As it were, all she had were her bright apple green eyes and bright blue hair.

And the fact she was practically naked.  That was a nice distraction. Well, maybe not for this fellow. He didn't look like he played for the right team. Whatever that meant. When Dram frowned her lips turned up and she blew him a soft kiss with a loud pop for emphases."Meat bag has much more than just a name, Darling." Now was the fun. Now she could show him her stuff.

Now she could barely dodge the stick that swung down at her head, feel it graze her shoulder and then felt the dirt at her back with her chest heaved occationally while she tried to remember how to breath. Was she dying? Oh god she was dying. Rai'nish quickly rolled over, on her hands and knees before she stood up, glaring, still catching her breath.

Instantly the stick was out and she was ready again. Mouth open, lips lush, bleeding knees and red palms.  Eyebrows were drawn together in a clear 'unamused with this shit' expression. He was cheating. Or something. "One more." Rai'nish changed her position, keeping farther back. She'd be able to see him coming if he wasn't right in her face. That would work. Or, hm.

Rai'nish chucked the stick at his head,as a distraction of course, before she lunged for his middle section, ready to hook his ankles with her own in some small effort for him to fall down. Screw fighting, now she just wanted to get him on his back. The jerk.

[Lion]

Dram grinned satisfied that she had fallen down on her back and he stepped away, twirling the weapon in his hand as if it were some kind of toy rather than a training weapon.  He designed most of them anyway, for what he knew would best prepare his grunts for battle.  The meat bags always complained.  It was too heavy, too unwieldy, too big, too small, too short, too long, blah, blah, blah.  That was until they were beaten and trained so hard that sweat was dripping from their eyeballs.  He'd have this one dripping from her eyes soon enough.

Dram did not expect her to throw the stick at him.  It hit his shoulder and knock him a little to the side, but saw her dive coming from a mile away.  He jumped and whirled over her as she would lose her balance and crash into the rocks and dirt.  "Think you're good?  Think again.  Now pick up that stick before I put it in a place where you'll cry for weeks about."

He stood back, letting her stand at least before rushing at her and aiming to knock into her with his shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shitohshitohshit. Tuck and roll. tuck and roll. Rai'nish wanted to cover her face with her arms, but she did as her brain demanded and she managed to do a somersault. Landing back on her feet again before she turned quickly, arms out and glaring. Of course she snuck and grabbed the stick, careful to keep her eyes on him. Just incase.

He was a cheater. Hmph.

Maybe he could read her mind? What were they called? Who cared. Rai'nish frowned before he barked at her after which she stood up straight and while standing moved a hand from her shoulder, down over the area between her breasts, down over her exposed stomach, down over her hip before she licked her lips and looked at him. Going back into stance she wiggled her hips and smiled at him. "Mmmm, I'd like your stick in places."

Ha. Seduction. She was awesome. Her knees hurt and she could feel the blood dripping down from her first tumble, but that was besides the point.

Rai turned into water, not literally of course, but she moved back with him while he charged and twirled off to the side, trying to smack him in the back with the stick. Provided he didn't try to trip her in the process.

[Lion]

Dram rolled his eyes as it seemed she tried to seduce him.  It wasn't uncommon for new recruits to try to well, wiggle their way through the ranks and into favoritism.  He had no favorites, all the regulars knew that.  But this one, well she thought she could distract him with that body of hers?  She was nothing special.

Dram did get smacked in the back and felt flushed with anger as he regained his footing.  "Good, you learn fast meat bag.  Maybe I won't have to beat some sense into you after all!"  He gave a snarling smile, showing sharpened teeth and he circled her like an animal to prey, looking at her like he was gonna eat her alive.  Though he didn't grow up in the tribes, he knew that some Umbraeons made it a habit of cooking up their enemies like a meal and sending them as rations as an insult.

"Think you're hot stuff, don't you?  Why don't you try coming at me?  C'mon I dare you!"  He spat at her and continued to circle her until she came at him.  "You don't have the guts, meat bag.  Nothing but a coward, aren't you?"

[Anonymous]

Oooo.

Her attention was taken. Attraction panged through her middle and she tweaked an eyebrow up at the realization. Who knew sharp teeth were a turn on. Rai'nish smiled back to his sneering teeth-showing whatever that was supposed to be, throwing in a wink and darting her tongue over her lower lip.

Then he began to circle her and she frowned at him, waiting for him to strike. She turned, sorta. Her head. Shifting her weight. "I already tried to jump you once, Sexy. I'm far from a coward." Rai'nish smiled before she got into stance and moved at him again, the stick held over her head, she'd sweep it at his head while her leg moved between his. Throw him off balance. Even if that meant going down with him, as long as she got him off his feet she'd be happy.

[Lion]

If only she'd been smart enough to do what any good new recruit did, and take this whole thing seriously.  Her games only annoyed him further, all the ploys that she thought were going to land her some points.  The fact of the matter was, if she was going to try to impress him, it was going to be here and now with her skill in combat, not licking her luscious....er, he meant just her lips!  She was gonna get the beating of a lifetime if she didn't straighten out soon!

Dram stopped circling her just as she came after him and even though he'd been ready for her sweep to his head with that heavy training stick, he didn't see her leg in time to shift his weight.  Soon he felt his back hit the ground hard, wiping the breath out of him.  She fell on top of him.

Anger coursed through him even more and he growled at her in irritation.  His free hand held her there on him, trying to squeeze the breath out of her as well.  Little shit!  Until he threw her off him.  He got to his feet again, this time clearly pissed.  "You got lucky!" he spat dangerously and came at her with a barrage of head blows that would come too fast for her to block all of them.  All before grabbing her by the hair and smashing his head into hers.

When he was done, he looked at her.  "You did okay for you first time, runt.  Now we go for a run."

[Anonymous]

Helloooo, nurse. Rai'nish almost laughed maniaclly when she got this masterful master of fighting on his back from a simple trip. And then she went down with him and she was suddenly much less impressed with everything. Rai'nish took the squeezing like a man and winced slightly before she was pushed off, she rolled carefully.

Carefully but it still hurt. It was either those or the things hitting her head. Rai'nish was sure t cover her face and most of the blows while to her head, hit her arms which were up and covering her head. That didn't stp him from grabbing her hair and headbutting her, Rai'nish saw stars and she felt her eyes roll into the back of her head. What a strange feeling, she couldn't place what it reminded her of, but pain was front and foremost in her mind.

"You son of a fuck hole!" Her voice was higher than usual, but entertaned, her hand, which had a bleeding knuckle pressed against her forehead palm side down to rub at the part that ached. Could foreheads bruise? She'd see. Wincing slightly, if only for the ache of where the sticks hit and where his head smashed into hers.

"Running?" Rai'nish parroted, staring at him. Looking down at herself, "Yeah, that works. I don't run with my arms." She sretched, cracked her knuckles and moved her legs, showing off each shapely long leg in turn. They didn't go on for miles but they went on for long enough that they were obviously nice legs. "I can put these puppies to use for somethng more than being on  my knees."

[Lion]

She may have been practically infuriating, but he had to admit her curses made him grin that snarl, scoffing grin again, that showed he'd been amused significantly.  But he didn't stop there and began to walk backwards to watch her follow him.  He stopped at an open tent and went inside, pullout a shortened log, wide enough to hold on your shoulders, but not long enough to be an entire tree trunk.  No doubt the object had to way somewhere between fifty to seventy-five pounds.  She had to be able to run with this thing for as long as possible if she was going to impress him.  The weight was no problem to him.

Dram practically threw the log at her, expecting her to catch it.  And turned around to retrieve a heavier log for him.  He emerged shirtless and put the heavier log on his shoulders.  "I expect you to keep up, runt.  And remember, this is a distance run, not a race.  If you pass me up and get lost, don't even bother trying to find your way back."  With that he started off in a jog and kept on running.  This was going to be an interesting day indeed.

[Anonymous]

Did he want to play fetch now or something? Rai'nish shifted her weight, moving a hand to rub at the aching bump on the back of her head. She wasnt' his damn pet, she was not going to play fetch and not with a log that was that huge. He had to be kidding himself. But oh no, it was much worse. She had to run with it.

"You're shi---Oof."She caught the log, pillowing it against her significant and well placed personal pillows, if she could kiss them she would. Grumbling she held onto the log, it was a bit heavy but nothing worse than her pole arm. While that was lighter, carring it at odd angles all the time helped with carring one plain weight.

One plain log weight. Seriously. A log. Rai'nish snarled at him gave his torso an appreciative once over then mimiced what he did with his own damn tree and put it on her shoulders. If only she had a cool chest plate, she could have just stuck the damn tree on that and let her whole torso do the work instead of her shoulders. "Did you read this in a damn book or something?" She grumbled before she started to jog after him. She could do the jogging thing. Distance, not a race.

Rai'nish found that inside happy place, it was deep deep down and maybe a shirtless Dram doing the hula was in there somewhere too. It made her smile to herself, and hey, there was his butt. So, for the job, Rai'nish made sure to keep Drams butt in her sights because she could follow that fine. And his legs. He had nice legs.

Distraction from aching shoulders and soon-to-be burning lungs was a glorous thing indeed.

[Lion]

The distance run.  It wasn't as easy as it sounded and because Dram was an Umbraeon, that gave him a special, often unfair advantage when it came to the task.  But it was all for a good reason.  Obviously if she was going to be a Hawk, and a good one at that, she was going to be doing a lot of running.  Everyone under his command knew that and made it their daily habit to keep it up.

But sometimes it was the best lessons that were the hardest to learn.  When she grabbed the log, obviously she was reluctant just like he knew she would.  But he had a feeling that if she kept it up, she'd thank him for it later.

"Not in a book," he admitted as he set the path, knowing she was right behind him.  "Out in the field.  If you're going to be a bandit, obviously you'll have to be a good runner.  If you can keep up with me, you'll do just fine.  Understand, runt?"

He made the path easy at first before he started to run a little faster, and the trees started to get a little denser.  He would see how she handled that.

[Anonymous]

Out in the field. Rai'nish squinted at his butt, glaring because that was easier than lifting her eyes. Who decideds it's a great idea to run around with a log on your back? An insane person, that's who. An insane person with a nice ass to be exact. Jerk.

"Oh, I understand." Her words were shaky, soft, not a lot of oxygen put into them because said oxygen was needed in other places like her burning shoulders and burning calves. This wasn't fun at all! Whose great idea was this anyway? Hey, lets run with fifty pounds of tree hanging out on your back, it's great fun. Build up your endurance.

She saw what he was doing. It was easy before, now it was harder, now concentrating on his ass and his back and his legs was getting harder and harder because she had to notice the surrounding area, and the ground. The ground was getting more tricky. Sweat beaded her forehead and she didn't bother closing her mouth anymore, made it easy to breath.

"Know..." breath, "What else builds..."breath, "Endurance?" Her voice was airy, her face was red and she had so much damn hair trailing after her that  right then she'd cut it all off to at least make the tree feel lighter. "Marathon sex. We should..." breath, "try that next time, Cap'n." If he turned around she'd see her cat with the canary grin, which she still managed to breath through.

[Lion]

He thought he felt eyes on him, but he didn't have the patience to look back at her.  She was already annoying the hell of him with all her complaining, but that was something to be expected by all the fresh meat, right before all that rotted away with the amount of training he'd make her do.  If she didn't like it, then she could just very well be on her merry way out the door

Dram wasn't going to put up with any babies in his ranks, they'd all been past that stage and he needed people who were going to be able to keep up with him.  It just wasn't right that a wimp should be allowed to even be in his presence.  But so far, she was doing well to surprise him.  Even if he did find it fairly annoying.

He was too busy plotting a harder course to really pay attention to what she said but he looked back only for a moment and he stared at he with wide eyes.  "What did you just say?!"  He couldn't be sure he heard her right, but if she said what he thought she said, she was in a world of trouble when they got back.  "What the hell is wrong with you, woman?  And take that goddamn smirk off your face, meat bag!  And run!"

[Anonymous]

She was running! She was practically riding his ass, how could he not tell she was running. One foot in front of the other, running so that  her lungs were on fire and her feet hurt and her shoulders hurt and she was quick to snap a quick sing-song "Nothing" after he asked what she said. Nothing that would interest him.

Rai'nish knew it. He was fighting for the other army. Should have guessed, all these men around here. One would turn to that side eventually. Slake their lusts and all that. Rai'nish gave a mental shrug, oh well. Wouldn't hurt to still try, for sure. The smirk came back and she was quick to put on a theatrical frown. Which looked more like a pout.

"I am running." She yelped back, her breath was heavy now and her hair stuck to her face. She was not having fun, she probably smelled just wonderfully ripe now. It was a good thing she was nearly half naked to begin with. So, she took in a large breath before she consentrated on the sound of her feet, of his feet.

"Are we there yet?"

[Lion]

They were indeed almost there and he grunted in response, far to pissed off to beat her senseless and leave her here in the thickened threes to get eaten by bears or dragons and other various wildlife.

"Yes," He answered when he finally stopped, sweating and breathing hard as they had run around the camp at least six times in all that time.  It was a long course and she managed to do slightly better than he expected.  At least she didn't die.

"Now we can rest for a bit, I know your kind need that a bit more."

[Anonymous]

Rest for a bit. Her kind. Sure her eyes were the colour of apples but that glare was a very unhealthy glare and if looks could kill, his immune system would be shot and poor Dram would catch some horrible disease because of it. That was a nice way of going around his death that wouldn't lead back to her at all. Besides the whole glaring bit.

Her breath dried out her mouth and she was more than happy to finally stop, even though she sort of felt like puking. That couldn't be healthy. Deep breaths, gods this sucked. Rai'nish eventually caught her breath well enough after dropping her log onto the ground to sit with  her legs spread and with her head back.

"My kind." Rai'nish scoffed, "What are you?" She gave him his minutely once over, her eyes lingering on bits of him he would probably find inappropriate. She stood up slowly, her arms were trembling and her legs were shaking but if there were two thing Rai'nish was unable to do, it was do a hand stand and give up.  This man made the best obsticle, he was such a hard ass that she had to prove him wrong with every fibre of her being.

"You look like a drow. Only you're bigger. And out in the day time." She looked at his eyes then, making a face before her own eyes flicked to his nose, to his chin, down to his collar bone, "And you're hair is red."

[Lion]

Dram couldn't give half a shit about her being tired.  New recruits were always tired, always had excuses, always complained and in the end either stuck with it with their mouths shut or were kicked to the proverbial curb.  Well, in this case, she'd be thrown off a cliff.  She seemed to be impervious to everything else he tried to stress her out with.

He was busy getting back his own breath when she suddenly started talking.  He shot killer eyes at her, and wished for his kopis in hand at that moment.  He felt uncomfortable for a whole minute with her weird, staring, but other than that, his anger was all encompassing.  "I am an Umbraeon," he said plainly irritated.

"Ain't you heard of them?  Looks like a drow, but is a million times better than them at every turn.  Those stupid slime balls don't have a thing I got.  And I could beat you senseless if you keep running your goddamned mouth like that.  Now get moving!  The break is OVER!"

Dram stalked away toward the obstacle course.  She was really starting to get under his nerves.