life is swaying, it shines

With enough time, things had settled in. Somewhat--comparatively. Well enough for Antares to feel its faint effect, at least, but the start of summer had his feet anxious for motion anyway and he roamed through the night time hours.

The pass had been a quiet enough home for Shiroshika so far, though it would not be permanent. The deceptive, tricky paths had easily grown on him--giving him lots of ground to cover and twists and turns to explore for hours. He was a natural for those types of landscapes, bold and proud in the elevations that were similar to those he had learned in as a tiny pup. Antares felt its strength, already, and maybe that was why marginally, he could call it all more secured mindset these days. For better and worse.

Now, night time gave way for dawn, and trailing a fresh enough scent to be tempting, he wandered away from Skelmir's Pass towards Ullarcraig with day's first light. He had long since decided to keep going. It was early and relatively cool, still damp from dew--easy weather for a scent. His original heading had splintered off, however, eroding into nothing.

There were many other signs of traffic through Ullarcraig anyway, so he let himself be distracted for now. If not that, then he would find something before interests pulled him back home.

---

for @Orlaith

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Orlaith didn't know much about Shiroshika. They were allies, and of ranking nobilities. They claimed the pass, and she had no idea why they would even think of doing so — she once got lost inside of it's maze. Wouldn't that make it even more irritating to live inside of it? She wasn't sure how they did it, so some part of her respected that ; although at the same time.. It wasn't like they had a choice, driven away from their previous home. Attacked a tiger they say, and with so — some were sacrificed.

Including herself.

Not like she remembered though, nor' even being apart of this land.

But Orlaith was awfully curious of their prowess. If they had the guts to bring down a tiger, then surely too their guards were up to the match as well. But she didn't know who they were really, except for one — a tall, quiet gentleman that she couldn't remember what his name was. But one way or another was always following the nobles.

She could see him in the distance, and approached ; lowkey sizing him up, "Hey there, wanna brawl?"

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His ears came up, and the rest of him followed as she invited attention so forwardly. Antares did recognize the wolf who was coming his way.. most recently from the moose hunt before the Empress' wedding, and if he dared to glimpse past that--remembering their charge against Kuhn, and someone just like her falling lifeless after the tiger was through. Unnerving still to contrast the memory to the sizable, bold wolf who came to him now. Feeling so seen, he shifted himself, but not unkindly. Just.. aware. Generally, he liked Vanderfell wolves enough to mingle himself, so wanted to assume that much.

At that, he blinked first. Brawl. He appreciated the subject matter, yes. He hadn't heard anyone call it a brawl in a while. Antares didn't take long to think about it; he could consider himself limbered up enough to give it a shot, and he was not one to turn aside an opportunity. He had already hunted with her before, so didn't see any reason not to. “Sure,” he agreed. “I'm Antares,” he offered as sort of a friendly token to go with before they could introduce themselves further through physicality.

Already he suspected a display of her prowess from the start, so he would contrast and stand mildly, unassuming enough. Lately he was often the one to initiate, or to guide the course. Today he would let her lead the start if she wanted...

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"I'm Orlaith, and you're going down." As soon as the invitations was accepted, she didn't even ask if he wanted to go first, the warrior simply bulldozed over to him with a charge of lighting. Bull-headed in a literal sense, every spar she done, and even now, was always on the end of attempting to simple head-butt them through. Majority of the cases, this never worked.. Most dodged, but knew what was happening, but the very few times some would think 'there's no way she is doing that,' and surprisingly so, it worked well.

Now charging at Antares.. Would it work?

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Orlaith did not give him long at all. She taunted, and he smirked an ugly little grin in return. “Try,” he invited back with mischief's lilt while he was raising up onto an edge fast. She was big, bold, and not going to let him forget it as she opened with a head-on charge. He would not let that alone make him balk, though.

It posed an interesting challenge of momentum with no time to account for it, all looking to take him down with it. Antares snarled quickly and ducked into motion moving low, trying to arc past the worst of her force--at least with his front half. He aimed himself for her legs, or anywhere near the bottom of her center of gravity, teeth snapping to try to make her force falter from down low while trying not to get mowed over in the process.

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She liked his spirit, mischievous in tone that would bring a grand moment when she would annihilate him in a win. Her moved in a way that left without an impact, more of a soft collision as she felt her body against his, but not in the bulldoze Orlaith had desired. She could feel the teeth on her legs, the pushing and pulling to try and throw the warrior to bend down, but she wouldn't let so. She was someone who was a bit too risky on the ways of winning, more then willingly to let him gnaw on her leg as she directly snapped at his back, his face ; anything to grab and tear at. Mostly to force a retreat, or throw if she could.

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Up close served only as further confirmation. She was big, physically, and with the energy she expanded past herself too. Add to it the sense that he got: she was used to throwing it around and probably having it work, reckless or not, and she was a force. Just brushing with her charge was enough to jostle his steps, leaving him to have to scramble it back together.

At her legs, she answered back at him quickly. As soon as he started to gain anything, he was shooed back--lest he tempt the damage she might incur. He wasn't that invested in such damage so soon either, so he let go of her and moved back, away. He had to be quick, because he knew she was going to force him to be if not. And, it might be one of the few advantages he could have here. Maybe.

Antares tried to veer around, dodging worse teeth and looking for a vantage to throw back his own. It would all culminate in a heart-pounding rush, reckless and pure, and he was here for it. Regardless the outcome, he set out to enjoy the experience.

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