rootin tootin' tusslin' times

Nikolai thought he was settling in fine. The shock and novelty of becoming a pack member had yet to simmer out entirely, some part of him wondered if that'd truly happen, as much as he wondered if it would feel like the ranch eventually. The similarities were few but his determination to find some foothold in this new world and this newer situation didn't leave much to be desired.

Today, he wandered the border, a mental line he'd yet to grasp in its entirety when he wasn't consciously trying—which was often—none unlike he did when a ranch house sat at the epicenter of his territory instead of a lake. This felt good, he thought. It felt right. To have some job to do with his own paws. To lose some of his tension that came with having nothing to call his when so much of his genetics prioritized such a thing.

Little did he think of how this brought him to a reputation of solitary tendencies. It wasn't intentional. He liked having some sapling revival of purpose, was all.

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{Set before the trip to Duskguard}

Currently, Valeska was in the midst of readying herself and the pups for their journey north to Duskguard. She wanted to bring a few herbs for the trip should anyone suffer from the odd stomachache, bundling them up with a few dry twigs to keep them fresher while being carried during their hike.

She liked travel - it was always invigorating, having a change of scenery, and although the idea of leaving with a gaggle of whining, fighting, fussing kids filled her with apprehension, she did look forward to the sights and smells along the way.

As Valeska toured the outskirts to grab any remaining necessities she might deem worth taking, the little wolf spied their newest member striding along the border. She felt relief. Mordecai and Urszula had been some of their only help for months, barely making ends meet with the number of hungry mouths to feed and vast territory lines to refresh, but having Tallulah and her - boyfriend (Valeska grinned) - around now lifted much of the burden.

They were a charming pair.

“Hello, Nikolai,” she greeted him, wagging her tail. “You seem to have settled in already! It is well. I am readying for the trip to Frostfang Vale, but - I wished to check in and see how you were.”

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He'd ascertained scents not long after he'd arrived, not individual ones of course, but enough to understand who was Elysium now and who wasn't. The wind blew tinged familiarity his way. Nikolai twitched his head to the source, spotting Valeska nearing; beyond the border at last, with a short, short bit of time under his belt... he could note how small the leader was—how large he was, looking down at her as they met.

"Aye, wasn't too hard—I like havin' somethin' ta' do," he told her, tail wagging lightly behind him none unlike a flag. Nikolai looked Valeska over once, tilting his head, he wondered if she ever thought their difference in stature was laughable or if it unnerved her; the latter he ran into plenty. Apparently, he was not inviting. He'd vaguely heard of this trip, too, nothing exciting in details just that the territory would be down... plenty. "Yeah, yer' all gettin' good for that?" It wasn't asked of him to follow after though he wished he was. Not that he was surprised he wasn't, new and all, nor did he think about it as some blessing given to the ranks above him but he'd have been another if he didn't wish to provide some guard. "Ah, me? I'm finer than a frog's fur, forgot how much I missed havin' a place to come back to."

He didn't just want to focus on him though. Felt rude. "What 'bout ya'? Feelin' good 'bout the trip?" No, Nikolai didn't know the reasoning for the trip nor did he ever care for the politics involved with wolf packs but he didn't have to to lend some ear if it was needed.

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Although he easily stood a head (or two) taller than she did, Valeska remained unfazed. Her half-sister Harper was nearly his equal in height and build, not to mention her own mate being of a reasonable stature, so she had quickly grown accustomed to staring up at her conversational partners as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She wasn't even particularly petite - although somewhat short, she was built hardy and stocky, much like the other winter-white wolves from her origin pack.

All that to say, she stared up toward his nostrils with ferocious well-meaning and every ounce of confidence and merriment she possessed.

“We are almost ready,” she said, glancing toward the northern pass. Her gaze fell, then, and her tone took on one of regretful disappointment. “Urszula and Tallulah will be accompanying us - it was agreed upon before your arrival, unfortunately, and though I should like to bring you as well, I do not want to inconvenience Duskguard by housing too many guests within their borders.”

She had an inkling of their attachment to each other already - Tallulah and Nikolai's, that is - remembering how painful separation could be during the early stages of affection. It just didn't seem feasible, given five pups and three adults in the caravan already.

“Speaking of Tallulah, she has been attempting to 'whip me into shape',” she said with a grin, coining a recently-learned phrase. “It is my wish to become more versatile in combat, and I came close to besting her last we sparred.”

Valeska looked at him pointedly.

A brief silence permeated the air, and, worrying he did not get the hint, she moved a little closer.

“I wish to win against her when I return.”

The little wolf grinned toothily, giving her tail an encouraging swish.

“That is - would you be open to imparting your knowledge of battle, perhaps in a demonstration? A spar - ah - a tussle?”

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He thought it was a funny sight, in his head it was anyway.

They were both surely going to develop some kind of neck crick from this equal tilt.

Nikolai didn't quite grasp her tone shift, she didn't know him nor did he know her, and nor did he think of himself as some asset to the pack, at least one which deserved any sentiment. It simply wasn't in his blood to regard himself. It wasn't in the nature of groups run by dogs, either. Fickle creatures to one another. Ranks were nonexistent but status was clear, and he had only begun to be considered worthwhile when this world drew him in and spat him out. "S'not my place, ma'am, ain't gotta 'xplain nothin' to me," he answered with a soft smile, sincerity thick in his voice. "Ya' just tell me who ta' answer ta' an' what ya' want me doin' 'ere an' I'll get 'er done."

Blunt was he, a tool he saw himself as and he didn't hide it. "Aye, well, if anyone 'round 'ere's gonna whip ya' into it, she will," he told her. Tallulah had bested him in the days of their journey back to the respite, swift one she was. Again, he simply didn't understand her behavior. Unless she wanted him to ask Tallulah something, make him a messenger. "'m sure ya'll get 'er 'ventually."  Encouraging as he was, after a beat, Valeska had to grow blunt, too.

"Oh, that's what yer' lookin' for? Sure, I got ya', ma'am," he said, twitching an ear as he broke from his proper stance to round the other, curiuosity in his step. "How ya' wanna play it? 'Till one of us is pinned or cry uncle?"

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ROUND 1. 25/25 HP. Rolled a 1 for damage against Nikolai. Kill me gently.

---

"Aye, well, if anyone 'round 'ere's gonna whip ya' into it, she will."

Gods, wasn't that the truth. Tallulah wasn't particularly strong-looking or otherwise intimidating - she stood at an average height, lean but not bulging with rippling muscles either - but the girl could absolutely curb-stomp anyone she came across, near enough. Not that Valeska was a master fighter by any means; her level of skill just came at a shock. Whatever she had done in her past life (ranching, was it?), it had tempered her like steel in a forge.

“Well,” she began, drawing herself up, “It is my hope that next time, I shall be doing the whipping!”

Oh - that sounded dreadful.

She cleared her throat.

“Er - in a victorious way.”

Happily, Nikolai seemed receptive to a few friendly rounds of sparring, and the silver she-wolf perked up visibly. Yes; he would make a fine tutor, given his clear experience and affinity for combat. Tallulah wouldn't even know what happened.

She dropped into a defensive stance, tail held high and ears pricked forward attentively. “I wish us to weep for our uncles,” she said confidently in her thickly-accented tone, not quite understanding the phrase but more than willing to go along with it. “Let us begin!”

Trying a different tactic than she had in the past, the Priestess ran directly for the large man - then planted her paws before launching into the air toward his ruff, hoping to catch him by surprise, knowing he was likely used to focusing on his opponents at a lower angle.

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ROUND 1. 24/25 HP — rolled 1 for damage against Valeska.

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---

While their familiarity was slim, Nikolai—once prompted—treated the leader as he would a friend, finding a looseness to dialogue and non-combative action allowed for a more productive outcome. "Naw, let yerself feel it, shit talkin's half the fun in a tussle," he told her, nudging her with his side encouragingly. He walked back around her, setting some space between them, planted his paws firmly while squaring his shoulders, and barked a laugh. "Weep we will, first move's all yer's, c'mon!"

When Valeska lowered herself, a tinge of expertise blooming, he reckoned he'd be rocked by her by the end of this just as Tallulah had spun him round. Valeska had... other ideas?

He could grasp what she was doing the moment she ran. He waited, hunkering himself low only to dodge her, a sweeping motion that relied on momentum and angle than swiftness he didn't harbor. The nails of a paw nicked him, he felt the sting when the cool air kissed it, but was more or less good for wear as he managed to catch a nip to the side of her leg before she landed. "Ya' told me what ya' were doin' too early, ma'am," he said, heavily laying his paws down as he backstepped, placing more distance between them. "Watch for that, folks'll wait ya' out if they think they know yer play." Verbal guidance. He didn't do it when he and Tallulah sparred for the obvious, each were well-learned for it; Valeska wanted to become versatile, he'd help her get why something went south. Nikolai braced himself again, lowered his head in an undeniably predatory fashion, and snapped his jaws in a beckon, "Again! C'mon!"

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ROUND 2. 24/25 HP. Rolled a 2 for damage against Nikolai.

---

Shit talkin'. Valeska usually shied away from curses and foul language if it could be helped, finding it an affront to the gods, but as time went on and no thunderbolts from the heavens had reached down to strike her from the earth - she wondered if perhaps they didn't care all that much. She paused for a moment, then parroted the words back to him.

“Shit-talking,” she said, still a touch stilted in her manner of speech. “Yes - talking the shit until we cry for our father's brothers!”

That didn't sound quite right, now that it had been uttered aloud, but she was too excited by their impending brawl to bother correcting it.

Unfortunately she sailed right past him in a smooth, silvery motion, all whispy hair and pine-scent as Valeska rushed through the empty space that once held his head. Only the faintest brush of her paws touched any part of him, and she landed with a hard thud off to the side, frowning visibly. He wasn't wrong - she had telegraphed her movements to him. Nikolai admonished her as he took several steps back, urging the she-wolf to try again.

To do better.

She set her jaw, furrowed her brow, and suddenly darted into his space, lunging forward like a viper as she shot toward his flank, jaws open - just aiming for a quick bite, in-and-out, if only to see how good the man's reflexes were.

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ROUND 2. 22/25 — rolled 4 for damage against Valeska.

---

---

Nikolai couldn't stifle the laugh which rumbled in his chest, hearty and earnest. "Atta' girl, that's the spirit," he said, amused with the way she took those words, as if hearing them used this way for the first time. Though silent and sharp in her following recovery and size-up. He expected some cruel, a nasty bite; something.

He found himself jeered by her snap, quick to turn, her teeth making contact enough to pinch him and tear fur from his flank; her speed and his size two things against him but he knew what she didn't. Relentlessness. Nikolai growled and with the short space dividing their blows, he hounded her, snapping once at her face with no intention of connecting and slamming his side into her in hopes of knocking her off balance. Upping the ante without getting too rough. Breaking any skin. Yet.

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ROUND 3. 20/25 HP. Rolled a 7 for damage against Nikolai.

---

She turned her head to spit out a small wad of tan fur, exposing her teeth as she licked away the unpleasant grittiness. He was a fortress, stood solidly in the middle of their small clearing, and she struggled to find any meaningful opening in his defenses. He seemed to anticipate her every move before she could even plan it, and she felt it was only by a stroke of luck that she managed to nip at his side at all that time - or perhaps he allowed her.

“You are impressive, I have not-” she would never finish her sentence as he quickly retaliated, charging forward to close the space between them with a series of merciless, successive attacks, before slamming into her side with only a fraction of the force he held.

Valeska let out a soft oof, feeling the breath knocked briefly from her lungs. She faltered, tipping over to the side -

But before she could fall, she curved her neck and bit toward the side of his own, aiming for the fleshy wad of skin at his nape to both restore her footing and keep his head at a safe angle. If she was successful, he wouldn't be able to reach her with his jaws.

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ROUND 3. 15/25 HP — rolled 1 for damage against Valeska.

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---

Nikolai would never hear her words, singularly intent, the world but a blur encasing him as he breathed out at the give of her stance—or so he thought, what she lacked in subtly of attack, she had in heaps for resourcefulness, twisting oddly to latch onto his skin, he couldn't stifle his yelp-whine when she pulled up all her weight with those jaws cinched and tightening and breaking, drawing the scent of blood. Yet, the wolfdog would merely snort and growl, enduring the pierce of pain to shove at her with his body.

This wasn't to counter her as much as it was to free himself.

He managed. Braving the instant of pain it'd deliver, Nikolai thrashed himself the opposite direction she went, tearing himself free with a rolling chuckle entwined with a tempting snarl. "Real bite ya' got there, shame ya've no hold," he laughed to assure her of his shit talkin' merely being that, shaking out his fur with no care for if his kind-of wound. He snorted, lowered his head again, and barked at her—dog-ish, another beckoning. The most he could've done is leave her with a brief pop of pain for his escape. "C'mon, show me ya've got a hold."

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ROUND 4. 19/25 HP. Rolled a 6 for damage against Nikolai.

---

She felt a twinge of guilt at the sound he made, feeling his flesh tear as he jerked himself away in a bid to escape. It worked, but in her defense, she hadn't gripped him as tightly as she would a true foe - it didn't feel right. However, the wolfdog seemed to desire it from her, as he shook off the pain with only a momentary wince as he teased her for her lack of commitment.

Valeska felt her brows furrow, and she snorted audibly in response. “I am going easy on you!” she quipped, holding her head high. “Tallulah would not want me to damage her boy-friend.”

Oh - right. Weren't they supposed to shit-talk?

Uh...

"... Долбоёб!" — ... Motherfucker! she exclaimed with cheerful vigor, getting into the spirit. It was probably for the best that he couldn't speak Russian.

He barked at her, but the sound was - different from what she was used to. She hadn't encountered many dogs or dog-hybrids in her time, which lent him an almost exotic aura of intrigue, and his vocalizations were several octaves lower and much more pronounced. How interesting.

She readied herself, muscles tensing, and sprang forward to lunge for his throat - then banked at the last second, cutting to the left and moving to bury her fangs into his nape.

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ROUND 3. 9/25 HP — rolled 7 for damage against Valeska.

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The bark he gave sounded like some sort of ha!, amused by how she approached shit-talking in a way that both came across as a new concept to execute and something she took to quite well—he shook his head, stepping sideways, each move deliberately made to draw her in, spur a reaction. ”I dunno, I reckon she’ll like the rugged look, ‘m far too boyish as it is,” a clear joke, the wolfdog brandished scars a-plenty and knew his frame was one built for wear and tear. ”But ya’ think yer lady’ll fancy ya’ comin’ back with a prospective scar or two?

Nikolai eyed her, hoping to predict her next go when a strange sound met his ears—words, yes, but could have well been a growl for how clear it was. He didn’t need to speak what she did to know the sentiment, however intrigued by the expression as she was. ”Aye, what’d ya’ just call me?”

His quirked smile portrayed continued amusement. Nothing said in a spar was to be taken to heart. Valeska made a move then, he sought to block her from her jugular hit despite knowing his collar would aid him some, yet he merely slung himself into her true intent. Jaws found his nape, tore at him oddly, skin not breaking but twisting and pinched—a sensation he swore felt worse. ”Ya’ learn from a tick, did ya’?” Nikolai spun to try and break her grip. To a brief no avail. He lost balance, snapped at her the instant his hip touch the earth.

He sought to up the ante, now. Nikolai flashed his teeth in a guttural snarl, and while she held him in her grasp, he swung low despite the pain of having her latched to him to snap up her foreleg and yank it out from underneath her—but before conceding, he slammed his side into hers, far harder than the first yet still nowhere near how forcefully he could get, decisive restraint, hoping to send her into the dirt.

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ROUND 5. 12/25 HP. Rolled a 10 for damage against Nikolai.

---

The rugged look. He was certainly that - on top of his collection of scars, his ears were cut short, almost deliberately so; yet she couldn't fathom a situation where that would ever occur. She was wholly unfamiliar with dogs and their customs, but the idea of something so brutal being done to a proud, strong canine like Nikolai would have made her squeamish.

“If you can manage it!” she shot back, clearly enjoying the banter. It felt wrong and went completely against her usual nature to spit vitriol unwarranted, but it also felt - naughty. Liberating. Electric. She liked shit-talking. Valeska would still probably end up facedown in the dirt begging for forgiveness from the Five later, but in the heat of the moment, she chose to relish it.

“Dolboyob - mother fucker. I called you a mother fucker.”

She looked downright proud.

Making contact with his neck as intended, she twisted uncomfortably, his greater size dragging her up and around in a way she did not anticipate; nevertheless, she held on, jaws tight like a vice as she readjusted her hold to grab an even greater mouthful of flesh.

He snapped at her leg, but she yanked it out of the way reflexively, reading the way his muscles bunched before the movement was performed. Nikolai, however, had one more trick up his sleeve - he slammed into her side forcefully, using his superior weight to his advantage.

"Shame ya've no hold."

It hurt. Gods, it took all of her strength not to let go -

Valeska took it with a heavy groan, but she refused to yield this time. Snarling through the pain, she deliberately moved her grip down - further toward his windpipe -

And clenched.

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*sports announcer voice* AND NIKOLAI HAS BEEN PUMMELED!!

---

---

”Just don’t go an’ make it so easy like ya ‘ave been,” he teased with a growl. Nikolai kept his eyes narrowed on her until he broke—and suddenly at that, because she’d called him this before in her lingo. [b]”Damn, I ain’t got no fancy word for that. Dolboyob, aye?” he no doubt butchered it, his southern twang twisting around it in an unnatural way but it so deeply intrigued him.

But intrigue fell, Valeska turned vicious, relentless. She stumbled but she did not fall. Her grip adjusted and he snapped, snarled and twisted to try and rid himself of her to no avail. Nikolai could tear back and shake, surely she felt the sheer force behind the growl rumbling in her throat.

He went to jerk sideways when her teeth found purchase around his windpipe, a faint squeeze. Ha! The fucking bite she had.

Nikolai rumbled, tried again to knock her or himself free, side nudging and shoving her. ”A’ight, a’ight, uncle!”he barked, not at all of the belief she was going to do more than the rather uncomfortable clench around his throat that mildly made it difficult to swallow. ”Aye, I’m weepin’ for the bastard!”

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At last - he stopped.

Valeska felt more like a ragdoll than a wolf by now, having been thoroughly shaken and thrashed about. Still, she had managed to prove herself this time, and the satisfaction she felt over finally making progress in her skills far outweighed any lingering pains she would experience over the next few days.

She finally released her grip on the man and spat out another wad of his fur, tasting the iron tang of blood as she did so. Had she gone too hard?

Yet Nikolai's expression was not one of anger, but (slightly inconvenienced) geniality. Valeska grinned sheepishly, licking her lips as she sat back on her haunches, thoroughly spent.

“That was good - you are an excellent teacher,” she said admiringly, still quite proud of herself for pushing past her usual boundaries. “For a dolboyob, you fight well.”

Shit-talking, she found, was now one of her favorite parts of sparring.

“Ah, but I am tired! Come, let me thank you for your time by treating you to a meal. There is fresh deer and hare from earlier today; we may eat and rest.”

Smiling broadly, she turned and motioned for him to follow.
 

{Exit Valeska}

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