The Cliffside (Pre-wipe Corvid, not being used)

Strength 2- Corvid And Kip Training, Episode 1
Zachrin: "Not bad, Corvid! Very least, you'll piss folks off with that, maybe get 'em ta leave."

In the middle of the arena, Kip was staring across the ring at Corvid, whom he'd agreed to train a bit after their previous fight. The black bird proved to be an attentive student: maybe a bit unsure of himself, but that's something to work on. The green pup was in a sort of play bow pose, both ready to spring into action, and clearly loving the chance to have a sparring partner.

"But if yer tryin' ta stick n fight, ya ain't gonna beat folks with scratches like that." He gestured his head behind him, where a light scratched caused by the bird's recent fly-by was already mostly healed. "Gotta commit 'n hit 'em hard sometime ta close it out!"

BugInTheWater: "Well, at least it'll do something." Corvid said with a gentle half smile. He was trying the best he could with his scratches, but they didn’t seem to be doing too much damage. He really was just that weak, huh? Despite that, he was trying to at least act like he still had hope that he’d get better at this, despite the obvious evidence he hadn’t so far. Though, it’s not like they had been training for a long time. This was the first time that Kip had trained him, and despite the fact that he wasn’t good at this still, he was trying.
“So… What next?” Corvid asked, looking down at the green pup. Compared to his own size, Kip was tiny, just hardly coming up to his knees when they were both standing. Kip was cute, but perfectly able to beat him up despite their size differences. That much was obvious after their fight.

Zachrin: "At least it'll do something." Kip scoffed just a little at the wording, recognizing the lack of confidence there. "C'mon, big guy like ya can do lots better than 'somethin'!" His gravelly voice sounded perfectly at ease in the ring, even with such a massive opponent in the opposite corner. The size difference didn't bother him at all: he had fought blobs and beasts of all shapes and sizes, with enough success to feel his size didn't matter. Still, Kip had to strain his neck a little looking up at the bird, and in casual conversation usually sat down to look up at him easier. But right now, he was practically bouncing in place with excitement.

"I'm thinkin' we should work on how hard ya can hit, before we start with all the high flyin' acrobatic stuff." The pup gave Corvid a lopsided grin, taking a couple steps closer. "I want ya to gimme yer best hit, let's see how hard ya can swing." Though his movements to brace himself a bit for the impact was calm enough, Kip sounded just a little too excited for it. The grin was still on the pups face as he planted his paws firmly in the center of the ring, staring up at the bird. "Let's get a gauge on that, then we'll do some strength buildin' stuff. C'mon, gimme all ya got!"

BugInTheWater: Corvid seemed to hesitate for a moment, just staring down at the dog quietly. He already knew how this was going to go, and it was going to be mildly embarrassing. He saw how excited Kip was for a scratch with all of his current power, though. Just another thing he wouldn’t understand. Why do people get so excited to get beat up and hurt? Was he just weird, or was pain not enjoyable for anyone except the Arena blobs? He shrugged his thoughts off, and walked over to Kip. After making sure he was ready for it, he raked his talons across the pup’s face as hard as he could.

Zachrin: Kip wasn't entirely sure what Corvids thought process was, but could tell the bird was thinking it over for just a bit. But to his credit, he still walked over to the pup, winding up his best swing and striking Kip across the face.

The green pups voice rumbled through the arena as he cried out, pink blood splattering on the arena floor. Gods, that hurts! Kip screamed internally as he shook his head, sending pink drops all over. He huffed as he started circling in place, gashes cutting across his markings. That wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but it was a hell of a hit!

"Oww...owowow! Yeah, Corvid!" Kip finally exclaimed, trotting close again as the wounds began to heal. "That's what I'm talkin' bout, that's the kinda hit ya gotta do if yer tryin' ta drop someone."

"Now," he continued, using a paw to wipe away any remaining blood on the side of his face. "That's the hardest hit from ya I've got, 'n ya got a lot of oomph there. Yer stronger than ya think, we just gotta get ya to use it in an actual fight."

BugInTheWater: Corvid blinked a little in surprise. He didn’t think he could even hit that hard, but Kip had three gashes on his face just to show that he could. If he knew he was going to hit that hard, he definitely wouldn’t have gone for the face. He actually started to feel bad about it, but made himself smile as Kip started to finally talk. “I guess it was a hard hit, huh?” he softly muttered, half to himself. But could he actually do that in a fight, or was that only when people quite literally asked for it?
He simply nodded, watching and waiting for Kip’s next move.

Zachrin: A grin broke out on the green pups face to match Corvid, and gave him a light smack on the leg with the back of a paw. "Hell yeah, it was! Good stuff, Corvid." Kip trotted a few steps away before turning around, looking over as his tall feathered opponent. "Now lemme see ya do that in a fight. Don't try those light hit 'n runs, really put some force inta it." Kip would calmly wait for Corvid to prepare himself: once he'd accepted, Kip sprang into action, closing the gap and launching himself upwards, attempting to slam into Corvids waist and knock him over.

BugInTheWater: “Alright,” Corvid simply said, standing up and giving himself a moment to get himself ready before saying, “Let’s go, then.” Despite the fact he thought he was ready, he was certainly not expecting Kip to slam into his waist. He fell over on his back, but quickly scrambled back up and ran over to where Kip was standing and tried to get another scratch in. He missed and got frustrated with himself for just a moment, but made himself regain his composure. He tried to get another swipe, but missed again. That only made him more frustrated with himself, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, before trying again one more time.
Zachrin: This time, the outstretched claws scraped against his side, leaving much lighter marks than last time: they still drew blood, but nowhere near as badly as before. Kip winced a little as he jumped back, thoughts racing as they both recovered from the hit.

Kip knew Corvid was holding back, and thought of how to break the bird from that habit as they looked over him, and kicked out for another slash. This time, the pup ducked to the side, avoiding it. in the same motion, he lunged out with his mouth wide, trying to sink his teeth into the outstretched leg and and pull Corvid down to the ground.

BugInTheWater: Corvid had been zoned out of a moment as he was trying to hit for a fourth time, happy that he had hit from his third, but was snapped out of it by a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and realized that Kip had caught it with his mouth, and having his teeth deep in his leg was not a pleasant experience. He flailed his leg in an attempt to get him off, but instead stumbled over, landing flat on his back as he continued flailing his leg and trying to get Kip off. Well, this wasn’t going well, huh?

Zachrin: Some of Corvid's swings seemed haphazard, like he wasn't trying as hard as he could be. Kip capitalized on it, holding fast as he bit down hard and braced during the birds violent flailing. As soon as Corvid started falling backwards, Kip let go and barreled into him, climbing onto his chest and forcing his shoulders down with clawed paws. "C'mon, Corvid!" Kip bellowed, trying to coax out the strength he knew lay within. The bird should at least be able to make a show of it, but he needed to focus.

BugInTheWater: For some reason, Kip pinning him immediately caused him to panic. He started to tremble, but at first, he was trying to work through it. He tried reaching his legs up, grabbing Kip by the tail since he couldn’t reach any further, and throwing him that way, but Kip stayed in place no matter how hard he tried. Then he tried using his wings, despite knowing they were only really useful for flying, and of course trying to push him off didn’t work either. He paused and stayed quiet for a moment, trembling getting worse and eyes wide and teary as his panic got worse by the moment, until he just started flailing his entire body in one last panicked attempt to get Kip off.

Zachrin: Corvid's efforts rocked and shook Kip, but his weight was pressed firmly down on the bird. None of his efforts seemed to budge him much, even the panicked flailing. He opened his mouth, close to shouting more encouragement, but his expression turned to confusion and concern as Corvid's struggled gasping turned into panicked yelling and screaming.

With that, Kip kept off Corvid and took a couple steps back, studying the bird while letting him have a moment to collect himself. It wasn't making much sense to him: Corvid seemed to genuinely want to train and be better, until the fight actually starts. Whatever the issue was, Kip was sure he probably wasn't fixing it now. Still...the pup felt like he should say something. "Hey, you a'ight?" Kip asked in as soft as his rumbling voice could muster. "Ya've got the strength ta throw me off, Corvid. But ya gotta focus, yer head's gotta be in the fight."

BugInTheWater: As soon as Kip got off, he sat up and wrapped himself up in his wings, a position which tended to calm him down faster. He took deep breaths as another measure to help calm himself down, and after a while, he was calm enough to gently whisper, “I’m sorry.” Corvid felt terrible because of this. He didn’t mean to just start panicking, of course, but he already felt like a total disappointment and failure, at least more so than usual. He listened to Kip talk, then he said, his voice still a bit quite and shaky, “I’m okay, this is normal. I’m sorry. I know, I’m trying, I’m sorry.”

Zachrin: After speaking, Kip waited a bit longer while Corvid performed a few exercises to calm himself. At least, that's how he interpreted it. but now the pup was curious: just what is making this blob want to fight and train, and what is causing these hangups in the process? "Hey...ya don't need ta apologize." He replied, taking a few steps closer. With Corvid sitting, Kip couldn't quite reach his shoulder, but was able to place a paw on his back for some attempt at comfort. "If ya wanna talk about it, I'm all ears."

BugInTheWater: Corvid sighed a bit. “I do need to apologize. I messed up again and ruined your fun, just like I do with everything.” He held his head down a bit, but gave Kip a weak smile when he felt his paw on his back. That smile quickly faded when Kip said he would listen if he wanted to talk about it. He definitely didn’t want to recount everything to Kip. He’d only done that twice, once to his daughter, and the other to Tili, who literally spent Ichor knows how long finding his campsite just to figure it out. But, he guessed Kip deserved at least some sort of explanation. “The best I can tell you right now is that I’m sick, and the anxiety that I get sometimes is a part of that.”

Zachrin: "Sick?" Kip tilted his head a moment, sounding rather confused. Last time I heard of a blob bein' sick was back at the fair. Thinkin' one of the snekkities said somethin' bout it, 'n Themis did too I think. But we ain't supposed ta get sick, is he talkin' bout ferals? Maybe I-

No, no, ain't my place to ask. Kip had only trailed off for a second as his internal thoughts ran wild, and his comforting paw gave Corvid a pat before he took a step back. "A'ight, Corvid, no worries. Wanna come back 'n try again later?" Not wanting to seem too dismissive (and also being very curious what all this was about), he quickly added "Maybe somethin' tasty would get yer mind off it? There's some poffdulas in front'a the library, 'n Cyrills 'round here too."

BugInTheWater: Corvid noticed Kip’s confusion, and sighed a bit to himself. He doubted that Kip would even understand, since he didn’t fully understand what it was himself. Despite that, he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when Kip started talking again. He nodded a bit as Kip offered that they could try again later. “Yeah, that would be great.” He seemed to perk up slightly at the mention of food. “I would love something to snack on right now… Poffdulas sound great! I don’t, uh, like the taste of Cyrills, but I’m definitely in the mood to have a few Poffdula pods..”

(Words- Zachrin: 1258, Me: 1066, Total: 2324)