Eagle Meets Badger (Joint Training Thread)

[Nesr]

OOC: I will be training for CTP

IC:
Nesr had finally found herself a nice place in the mountains to make herself a nice nest, lining it with the best she could find around the Rukongai Districts. It was pretty easy for her to do, swooping down and swiping some things when they weren't looking. She also found parts of a mirror, which she was able to piece together to make a good enough mirror. She looked in the mirror and preened herself, making sure her clothing was on straight, her gold was polished and her beak looked good.

Once she was up to snuff, she took flight and flew back towards the Rukongai. She still really didn't know much about this area, even after being here so long. All she knew was that there was a big division in this place. There was what she heard called 'Ru-kon-gai' which was an unknown area to her. Next to that big place was something that looked very well taken care of. She didn't know the name of this place, but everyone that walked around in there wore black and white.

She didn't understand what the fascination was with that color scheme, but to each their own. She was flying fairly high in the air, giving her enough distance to where the trees weren't bothering her. She would look down at the districts from above, swooping down every now and then to listen in on conversations. She would freak enough people out that when she would land, they would run scared, but it never bothered her. Most of that was she didn't understand what they were saying.

She did notice that even over that long a period, learning was slow for her. She slowly picked up on things, but then she could forget it after a few days. It was annoying, but it had gotten better over the years. She would try, when she saw it, to stop bad things from happening. What usually happened was she landed and started to walk towards the evil doer. They would get so scared, they would scream and run, dropping whatever they had while leaving.

Nesr would nod towards the people she helped, well at least she thinks she's helping, and fly off. The people she left behind were usually so stunned, they had no words to say and would just stand there. So, while flying again, over more wilderness this time, she looked down and noticed something she had never seen before. She swooped down low and landed in a tree right above it. She cocked her head and spoke. "What you? You weird."

[Deleted]

Zeferoth had been getting more and more used to his new humanoid body. Whenever he visits the Rukongai, he is able to stand pretty straight on his hind legs. He still had a hunch around his shoulders, as he walks on his hind legs. His arms hang low and swing gently as he walks. He can speak fairly well having interacted with it's inhabitants for several years now. He could barter, and talk to just about anyone doesn't matter if they are two leggers or animal people.

He has also gained a fairly good reputation with the residents of the Rukongai as well as some of the Shinigami. He had been on several missions with some of the shinigami killing hollows and other assorted villainy within the Rukongai. Zeferoth had just been done getting some supplies for his den in the wilderness outside of the Rukongai. He may get along better with the two leggers, but he does prefer to be alone.

He carried the supplies in a back slung over his strong bag. He had entered the forest on his way back to his den, which was getting more and more elaborate over the years. Something was a bit off though. He stopped when he heard and smelled something approaching. He looked up seeing a bird woman. She wore some shinny metal along with her clothes. It did catch his eye, but he was able to tear his eyes off the gold to look at her.

"What you? You weird." It appears to be another beast person. Zeferoth remained on his hind legs, so he could see her better without hurting his neck. He had been getting used to people talking perfectly that he had to take a bit to understand what she was saying. "I am a honey badger a mighty and proud creature. You are just as weird as I am. I am called Zeferoth. Who are you?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest.
 

[Nesr]

Nesr cocked her head to the side, looking at him. He was definitely an animal, but none she had ever seen before. She twitched her head around, thinking on what to say to him. He was definitely much different. She jumped to the ground, landing lightly thanks to her wings. She stretched them out to their full extent before bending them back into her body, ruffling them slightly before they ended up in the most comfortable position for her, folded up behind her with the ends dragging the ground and the hinge for the wing above her head.

She stood her ground, letting her staff hit the ground and leaned on it lightly. "Nesr. Nesr not know honey badger." She said honey badger slowly, making sure that she had pronounced it correctly. Even from what she vaguely remembered from her human life, she had never encountered a honey badger before. He said mighty and proud, but she wouldn't truly know that until they had actually fought against each other. She was curious about that statement, then noticed the bag he was carrying.

She slowly walked closer, carrying her staff parallel to the ground, with the cross end forward. She stopped a few feet away from him and got a better look at him. He was taller than her, but her wings were taller than he was, but not by much. Her wingspan was huge, which made her wings folded up stand pretty tall. He did seem broad shouldered and strong. The cuffs around his ankles and wrists was odd, but the scar was interesting, as were the skulls. Her gold clinked together against each other and her skin as she pointed to his back. "Nesr think Zeferoth steal bag. Zeferoth steal?" She was pretty much asking if he had stolen all of those things. He was the first of her kind she had ever met and she had stolen stuff before. To her, it wasn't much of a leap to think another of her kind would do the same.

[Deleted]

Zeferoth watched the bird girl jump down from the tree and land on her feet. He kept his arms crossed while he adjusted the bag on his shoulder. Zeferoth examined her wings when she folded her wings. His eyes returned to the face of the bird girl, or Nesr from what she called herself. "Nesr. Nesr not know honey badger." She must have been living somewhere far away from his home region which would be a good reason for that.

Zeferoth watched the bird girl move closer to him, and examine him. Zeferoth was really fine with her looking over him like he was. He was used to people looking at him, and trying to decipher what he was. He looked at her with a raised eye brow. He then noticed that she was looking at the bag over his shoulder. What she next took a moment for him to comprehend.  "Nesr think Zeferoth steal bag. Zeferoth steal?"

Zeferoth looked at her stunned from her blunt question. Was this bird girl asking him if he stole the bag on his back? Did she just accuse him of theft just out of no where? His eyes narrowed and growled lowly. He wanted to make it clear that he was angry. He took the bag off his shoulder and set it down next to his feet. He would clench his fists and glared at her growling a little louder. He was trying to keep himself calm, but not doing well. "For your information, I did not steal this stuff. I bought them. I do not like you standing there and accusing me of stealing!"

[Nesr]

Nesr's head was cocked to the side while she waited for an answer. What she got was something she wasn't really expecting. Narrowing eyes and growling, she knew, was not a good sign among the land dwellers. Since he was doing both at the same time, she figured that she definitely did something wrong. She honestly didn't get what she had done wrong. He laid down his bag, clenched his fists and growled even louder at her. She cocked her head to the other side now, trying to figure out why he was acting this way when he was fine just a second ago.

He then said that he didn't steal any of it, but actually paid for it. When he raised his voice towards the end of what he was saying, about not liking to get accused of stealing, she held her hands up in surrender. At least, that's what she's seen other land dwellers do when they were faced with things like sharp, metal objects. "Nesr sorry. Nesr not mean accuse. Nesr stole before. Nesr thought maybe Zeferoth done. Nesr bad." She nodded to herself, agreeing with what she was saying.

After that, she put her hands down and squawked a little up towards the sky. She figured that if she did it towards him, he might glare at her more, narrowing his eyes to the point that he might not be able to see out of them! It would be pretty bad if he did that. Also, the reason she did it was to clear her throat. She looked back at him, resting her staff on the ground and lightly leaned against it. "Nesr think Zeferoth strong. Nesr wants Zeferoth train with her." She was pretty much asking Zeferoth if he felt up to the task of training her, or at least helping her improve her fighting abilities.

[Deleted]

As Zeferoth got angrier, Nesr seemed to back down. She put her hands up in surrender. "Nesr sorry. Nesr not mean accuse. Nesr stole before. Nesr thought maybe Zeferoth done. Nesr bad." Zeferoth caught himself before he lashed out. He took a long take of air through his nose and out though his mouth like he had noticed two leggers do when they get angry or frustrated when dealing with him. He was starting to calm down now.

"It is...ok." Zeferoth said putting another deep breath in the middle of the sentence. "I too took what I wanted from others. It is law of nature which two leggers seem to have abandoned. They make their own laws, which I am trying to get used to. Too much fighting between us and two leggers if we live by separate laws." He had been around one of the two legger nobles on an occasion. He had learned much about two legger society from him.

"Also, Badger is proud beings. Not always a good thing. Easy to upset, and provoke." He added fully calming down at this point. Even for this stage in his development, he was quite philosophical. He was able to learn and think about the two legger's concepts once he was able to understand them. The concept of money had him lost for a long time, but in time he was able to understand the promise, and faith held in the coins.

Zeferoth watched her look up and squawk into the air. Out of instinct, he too looked up to make sure that she wasn't calling for any back up to attack him. When nothing came for him, he returned his attention back to the bird woman. "Nesr think Zeferoth strong. Nesr wants Zeferoth train with her." Zeferoth actually cracked a smile when she said that. He nodded proudly glancing down at his wrists and ankles.

"Nesr thinks correctly." He said in an approving tone. "I am so strong that not even a two legger den could hold Zeferoth." He said lifting up one of his large arms showing her the large cuff on his wrist. He could tear it off at any time, but he saw it not only as a reminder of his mistakes, but also as a symbol of his strength. He was proud of it. He let his arm down and looked at her. "I will be more than happy to train with Nesr."

[Nesr]

Nesr listened while Zeferoth started to talk. She was catching about every two or three words. She didn't know much about actually talking yet, even though she talked while alive. Spending so much time like she was, she had forgotten how to. She didn't really spend a lot of time around others, just flies above everyone, looking down on the world from the sky. When she thought something bad was happening, she intervened and then would leave again. This was one of the few times she actually talked to someone.

From what she was catching from Zeferoth's speech, it seemed he used to steal, but two leggers, land dwellers is what she called them, have their own ways. He is still getting used to them. It seemed he was trying to learn them to fit in better. It was interesting that laws of nature really didn't apply to them. She assumed nature laws applied to everyone. He then added that badgers are proud, quick to anger. She would try to remember that for future reference, but knowing her, it might just fly out of her head just as easily.

She spoke again and it seemed he now liked what she was saying. It seemed she was right in what she thought about him. He showed her the wrist, saying that the land dweller's den couldn't hold him. So, she assumed the thing on his wrist was proof of that. She looked at it, trying to think of what it was, but it alluded her. She assumed it was some kind of fancy bracelet and moved on. Nesr smiled when he said he would train her. Well, smiled as well as an eagle can. She then fluttered her wings lightly, moving them slightly to get the stiffness out of them. "Nesr ready. What first?"

[Deleted]

Zeferoth watched Nesr ruffle her feathers a little bit. He was curios about some of the things that she did, but he would wait to inquire about those after they had done their training. "Nesr ready. What first?" Zeferoth laughed a bit with a low chuckle as he got down on all fours. He smiled looking up at the bird woman now that she was taller than him. He would not attack right away. "What else? We fight, we train." He said before lunging at her.

Zeferoth's leg and arm muscles tensed as they pushed him forward and off the ground. He would bring his right hand back as he lunged forward to swipe at her with his claws. His claws would come straight down to rake down her chest. If that was succesful, he would bring his left arm up to slash at her going up and to her left shoulder. He held back a little bit so that he wouldn't hurt her too badly. This was a learning experience not a hunt.

Zeferoth did tend to focus on what he was doing a bit too much, and put everything he had into it. He likes to do everything with as much efficiency as possible, so that he doesn't waste energy. That is how he operates on hunts, and in fights with two leggers. He would try to keep in mind that this was just a training fight with another beast person. he needed to know what she was capable of first before he went all out on her.

[Nesr]

Nesr watched as the one called Zeferoth got down on all fours. She cocked her head, curious as to why he would so something like that and not stay upright. She assumed that maybe he was originally on all fours? She honestly didn't know. She made a mental note about it and then another to actually get a book she could write in. She was learning much and wanted to take notes to remember all these things. She needed to know much if she wanted to impress Horus, who, she assumed, watched her through most of her day, making sure she was doing right.

She caught the tensing of his muscles and figured that he was going to do something. He then immediately lunged at her. She had only caught the words fight and train in what he said, and she had enough sense to put two and two together. He was going to fight her so they could both get stronger. It was a good idea, and she was ready to actually get strong to defend herself. She could fly away, but she knew there would be times when she couldn't just fly away. She needed to get stronger, much stronger, to actually defend herself.

She was holding her staff next to her, hand in the middle. She watched him come at her and saw his hands move. All she did was move her staff up, twisting it slightly to move it to a horizontal position, to block his attack. After the attack was blocked, she quickly moved the staff down, flipping her wrist so that the staff was now parallel with the ground, the cross part of it facing Zeferoth. She moved it down to hit him as fast and as hard as she could. Even though this was training, she figured he was strong enough to endure a hit from her.

[Deleted]

Even though that Nesr blocked his first strike, he would still move his left hand to hit her. At the same time, Nesr would jab her staff at his face. His left hand hit her staff higher up near her hands forcing the rest of it to move up and to the her left. The end of the staff would veer off target, but still glance Zeferoth's right shoulder. This wouldn't seem to do much more than twist that side of his body from the impact.

Zeferoth nodded in slight congratulations to her for landing a hit, but at the same time smiled wickedly telling her non verbally that she would need to try harder than that. Zeferoth would try to close the distance between them pressing himself against her if all possible. He wanted to make it very difficult for her to use her staff. He would then try to wrap his arm around her pinning her wings to her side. Not only will he try to rake his claws across her back, but he would also try to dig his teeth into her left shoulder.

Zeferoth was no longer holding back. He was convinced that she would be able to handle fighting him. If not, then she will just have to train that much harder next time. He wanted to push her. See what she did when he was up in her face. He figured that with her weapon, that she was used to being able to keep her enemies out at a slight distance to hit them with it. She would need to think of something quick to be able to avoid his onslaught.

[Nesr]

Nesr watched how her staff was going down to hit the badger. Sadly, she didn't end up hitting him squarely on the face. Instead, he was able to change the course of the hit. She was aiming to hit him square in the face, but instead, she hit him on the shoulder. If he didn't move his hand to move it, she probably would've scored a hit on the man. In all honestly, this was the first time she actually fought someone. She fought other animals for food, of course, or to kill them so she could eat, but never faced another being before.

The badger, Zeferoth, nodded towards her, she assumed that was to acknowledge the hit that she had landed. It made no difference to her, she was just trying to concentrate on the battle at hand. His smile made it known that he was eager to continue the fighting. She would try to smile back, but her beak made it almost impossible to actually do that. She always tried to smile, but it turned out more like a grimace or just no emotion showing on her face at all. People had no idea how lucky they had it to move their mouth around like that.

He tried to press himself into her, but the staff was still between them. She quickly grabbed the staff with both hands, using all her strength to press him back. Since he was so close to her, his face was in range of her pointed beak. So, when he tried to grab for her wings, she moved her face towards his and tried her best to peck at one of his eyes, or pretty much anywhere on his face. He continued, trying to get to her back with his claws and bite her. So, while she tried to peck his face, she would fall on her back, trying to pin his hand before it moved to rake. Then, while on her back, she would move her talons up to rake at any piece of exposed flesh he had.

[Deleted]

Though Nesr tried to hold him back with her staff, he was still able to get a hold of her. He was stronger than she was, but that didn't necessarily meant that he was going to win this battle, but it defiantly helped. He felt them both fall to the ground. He was on top of her, but her back was pinning his arms, so he couldn't claw at her back. That didn't stop his teeth however.  He could feel her beek peck at his face. He angled his head so that the top of his head was angled to her instead of his face. His teeth sank into her shoulder and getting a mouth full of her feathers. 

Zeferoth could taste her blood as he bit down harder turning his head slightly. If he were to fight her earlier on in his development, he would have gone straight for her throat and more than likely devoured her after she was dead. He felt the urge to rip the flesh from her bones, but he resisted. He needed to remember that they were training. She was not his enemy nor his prey. He had to fight his animal urges and think with his growing humanity.

He could feel her talons raking against his shins and calf. He growled as the pain got his attention, but he was able to block out the pain a bit as he tried to adjust his legs to pin her's to the ground and stop them from cutting at his legs. He would slowly start to wiggle his arms free from under her back every now and then digging into her back to either try and cause her some sort of damage, or try to get her to move in a way that would allow his arms to get free easier.

[Nesr]

Nesr was hoping that all of her weight on the beast's arms would help in pinning him and at least not letting him try to get at her wings. Her wings were one of her prized possessions after all. They showed to everyone how she was loyal with Horus, the greatest god that had ever existed. She took great pride in them and if something had ever happened to them, she honestly wouldn't know what to do with herself. She would do her best to keep them from harm.

So, since the staff is still in between them, she would push up with all her might, moving the bottom of the staff downwards. By doing this, the top of her staff will be moved more in front of her, and therefore, pushing on the side of Zeferoth's face. He can still reach her, but now he has the top of the staff pressing into his neck and face at the same time. She would hope that it would help pressure him to do something differently, but that's not all.

While she did that, her talons were trying to find good purchase on his legs. She knew that she was hitting him, and she felt his legs try to move to stop hers. She wouldn't allow that to happen. The next time she moved her legs up to rake against his again, instead of raking, she would grab his legs, one in each foot. She would grab on to his legs tight enough to let her talons sink into the skin. Then, she would move her legs down, trying to pull him off of her.

[Deleted]

Zeferoth could feel the end of the staff now being prodded against his face. He tried to fight against it for a while, but the staff was pushing against his neck forcing him to yield to it. He could feel the blood pouring down his legs from her scratching his legs. On instinct he would activate his Yaseishin. His blood contained liquid spiritual steel, and his ability allowed him to harden the steel into armor around an wound. 

When Nesr tore up his shin and caffs, the blood would harden coating his lower legs metal. The same thing happened when she used her legs to push herself away from him. He did not let her go that easily. When she was being pushed away, he dug in his claws the best he could, so that when she was moving away from him she would be cutting her back against his claws. Other than that he let her go. He would fight better up on his feet anyway. 

Once they were both on their feet, Zeferoth would once again charge straight at Nest on all fours. His intent was to charge past her and swipe at her mid section with his claws. He would end up a few paces away from her giving him time and space to turn around for another pass. He would do the same thing again only this time he would attack lower down at her leg with his right hand. He would always keep his eyes trained on her. He was ready for whatever counter she could come up with.


Release -200 300/500
Multiple small to medium cuts so -30% Blood 70% remaining.

[Nesr]

Nesr watched as the beast tried his best to fight against her staff. But, her staff is unyielding, since it's a solid piece of metal that doesn't bend so easily against someone. She could tell he was fighting it, but he had to know that he couldn't defeat her staff by just sheer strength alone. Well, he could, but he didn't have enough strength at this moment to actually move the staff out of his way. His hands were also occupied, so he couldn't move it easily.

While grabbing onto his legs to pull him off, she felt something slick on his legs. She just assumed that it was blood, which made her grin. Well, grin as much as a bird could grin. She had gotten the first blood in this training, which made her happy. But, she had not gone without injury. He had been able to get a bite in, which was annoying. The wound stung but it wasn't life threatening. It shouldn't impede her any in their fight.

She felt that he was letting her pull him off. While he was letting go, she felt him try to rake at her back. In one single motion, she would quickly sit up and use all her strength to shove him hard with the top of her staff in the face. She hoped that if she did that, he would move quick enough to get shoved off and not do too much damage. She would also move her wings up while she did that, in case he did get his claws in so they wouldn't get damaged.

Either way, they were now both back on her feet. She was thankful for that. Laying on her back had helped, but once there, she had no alternatives. She knew now that they needed to stay upright and for her, to take to the air when needed instead of on the ground. It was then she looked down at his legs. They looked so weird now, all shiny and the color was different. She cocked her head at the sight and then saw that he was charging at her again.

Her first instinct was to fly up, so that's exactly what she did. She would flap her wings quickly, taking to the air. She would fly up six feet in the air, holding her staff horizontal. She would be sitting in the air, watching what he was doing with her head cocked to the side. "What that? Legs funny now. Nesr do that?" She was curious what was going on with him and if she had actually caused whatever happened to his legs.