[PRP] Finding your (chewy?) center (Masoal + Quella)

[Buzzwulf]

Breathe deep and find your snappy place

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

"HEY!" Quella shouted, cupping her hands to make her voice travel all the way to the hive at the top of the tree. Masoal lived all the way up there? The hunter guessed it must be good for conditioning, but spending what had to be a ton of time each day getting up and down from the hive must take valuable time that could be used hunting. She howled up at the moon, trying to make sure that he'd heard her. "Do you wanna show me your weird exercises or not, Masoal?"

Honestly, Quella had been impressed with the grace that the tealblood moved, the way he handled himself in a fight. Not so impressed with his dancing, but she wasn't much of a talent herself, so that was kind of a wash. If she could steal a trick or two from the lithe tealblood, maybe she could get a leg up on him, get him to admit that she was better in a fight. Probably not, though. She knew how stubborn the tealbood was. The hunter grinned up into the tree at the thought, and called up again. "Is there a path or something I'm supposed to take, or should I just start climbing?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

It wouldn't take long before Quella could spot the familiar face she was looking for from one of the many open windows. Masoal peered out at first, then hung almost halfway out to grab one of the nearby tree branches. "You climb," he called down to her, shaking the branch demonstratively, "You figure it out."

Truth be told, there were a few paths up that were easier than others. They were well-worn ones that he used himself almost constantly and if she looked hard enough, she could probably tell. Either way, he disappeared from the window momentarily and came back with something in his hands.

"Or I can throw you this. If you don't think you can handle it." It was a rope ladder, one he'd put together to help Emiola get up when she didn't feel like climbing. There was a challenge in his voice, though, that said he expected Quella to at least try climbing before he gave her the easy way out.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

"Oh my gog," Quella said, rolling her eyes at the aggravating tealblood. So he wanted to be like that? Fine. She crouched and then sprang up tall, a good ten feet up, grabbing a low-hanging branch. Without a ton of visible effort, she pulled her entire bulk on top of the branch, then crouched low again. If he was gonna be a huge butt about her getting up the tree, than she was gonna use all of her enhanced strength and go up a way he never had.

Her next spring took her straight at the massive trunk of the tree, and she hit it with her feet. Massive muscles coiled in the blueblood's legs as she pushed off into mid-air and bounded up into the sky, up towards a higher branch. There was definitely an easier way to do this, but Quella didn't care about easy with Masoal. She wanted flashy. She caught the next limb with both hands, flipping herself all the way to the top of the branch with her momentum, like a gymnast.

The hunter's final leap took her all the way to the raised platform of Masoal's hive, where the hunter swung for a moment by her hands before lifting herself with her hands. Nothing to it. Easy. Just don't look at the ground. What, was the tealblood a bird or something? Why in the world did he live up in a nest? It wasn't as if the floor of the forest was that dangerous.

Actually, it totally was. If Quella didn't live with an entire pack, she was certain she would have been eaten by now. Or hunted. Or both.

Huh.

She grinned at the tealblood as she finally pushed herself up onto the platform of his hive. "There we go! That must be how you get up here, right? Just a couple short hops, nothing to it!"

saedusk

The only troll who makes her show off every time they meet.

 

[saedusk]

The area lit up with sound as soon as Quella made it higher, her momentum shaking the branches enough to jangle the bells Masoal had hanging from them. It was like a joyful soundtrack to her achievements and it made his competitive edge flare up beneath his skin. Admittedly, there was no way he'd be able to climb up the way she had. His average troll strength wouldn't allow him to jump so high.

Lip curling back over his fang, he watched her make the last leg of the ascent.

"You'll break the branches that way," Masoal told her, unable to quietly accept that it had been impressive. "At least you didn't take forever," was about the extent of what he would relent.

"Come on." Without waiting to see if she was following, he turned and went back inside.

Buzzwulf

he's a s**t like that LOL

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

Quella loped after the smaller tealblood, grinning into the back of Masoal's thinkpan. What a dork. "Maybe that's what I'm going for. You know, try to give you a bit of a tougher route. You're starting to look a little bit pudgy, Masoal. I think you're losing your edge in your old age." The blueblood couldn't wipe the huge smile off her face as she poked at his sides from behind. Gog, he was so much fun to tease. He fell for it literally every single time.

Truthfully, some of those branches had been a bit creaky. Around the second jump, Quella had actually been a little scared the branch holding her was gonna snap. That would not have been very graceful.

"Soooooooo..." Quella continued as she followed him into his hive, ducking under the doorframe. "What's with all the bells, anyway? You have a lot of blind trolls wandering around in your tree canopy?" The hunter took a moment to survey the inside of Masoal's hive.

Whoa. Not bad, tealblood.

saedusk

I'm in suspense

 

[saedusk]

If Masoal were quicker witted in the humor department, it would've been on right then and there. Instead he breathed heavily out of his nose, unable to throw together a real comeback. He'd have to settle for being something like serious in the face of her play. "Are you here to train or are you here to st-" Except before he could finish, she was prodding at his sides.

There was a notable tense to his shoulders and he spun on her, hopping a few steps away. Like earlier, his lip curled back over his fang. Was Masoal ticklish? Who knew.

"The bells keep spirits away," he told her gruffly as he smoothed his hands down his own sides. "So don't mess with them."

There were more bells hung from the ceiling of Masoal's hive, too, all round and some faintly twinkling when a breeze blew through the open windows. Everything about the place had a round sort of appearance to it and it was obvious the tealblood collected anything that rolled if he could get his hands on it. Bells, balls, marbles—you name it, it was there.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

Quella cackled like as Masoal spun away from her. Oh. Oh that was precious. "Alright, alright," the huge blueblood called out, her hands out disarmingly. "You're right, I'm here to train," She finished with a snicker. But now she was keeping an eye out. If the hunter saw an opening in Masoal's gruff exterior...

Well, she was gonna tickle the $%#@ out of him. That'd teach him to take everything so seriously.

Oh my gog what if his strut pods were ticklish. That would be hilarious.

"Spirits, huh?" she said, reaching out a finger to touch a bell, then whipped it back when he told her not to mess with them. The hunter flushed a little like a pup who'd got caught sniffing the wrong thing, her eyes shifting away from the tealblood. "Maybe I should, uh, get some bells for myself. After all that business in the haunted house. Although I've never had spirits in my hive before..." The hunter shrugged. She was still pretty sure she could take a ghost if it really came down to it, but she wasn't sure that was a fight she really wanted to have.

"I really like your hive, though." she said, picking up a ball and bouncing it off a wall. She caught it without much of a second thought, putting it back where she'd found it. "Where do you usually train?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

There certainly would be hell to pay if Quella enacted her tickle plan, no doubt about it. That would be a problem for future Masoal, though.

"Spirits can follow you if you're not careful," he told her as he dared to move closer again, taking a ball from the very same shelf. "You have to be prepared." Masoal sounded totally serious about the entire thing. It obviously wasn't a joke to him.

Moving to the middle of the block, he took a seat on the floor, legs crossed. For a moment he looked up at Quella like he expected her to do the same, then mimicked her actions by bouncing the ball he'd taken at the wall, too. "I train here," he told her as he caught the ball on its return. "There's another block," he pointed up, "Or outside if I need more room."

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

Ok then. Spirits. Fair enough. Quella'd been on the wrong side of a ghost. Any little bit would be useful if she ran into one again. Hopefully that wasn't something that was gonna happen anytime soon, though. She sat down and crossed her legs like Masoal, having to pull on her knees a little bit to get them in the right position.

"Ok, so what, we just... sit here for a while? What's that supposed to do?" She could already feel herself getting bored, her body crying out for a chase, something to catch, or run after, or hunt. "I mean, it's your show, man. I just wanted to see how you do your thing."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"You're impatient," he said off-handedly, though he didn't care all that much if she was. If she could keep up with what he wanted her to, then it didn't matter. Masoal could be just as impatient, himself.

"It's not gonna be that long. I just wanna test something first."

Except he did make her wait a bit longer as he rolled the ball between his hands, the lapse an attempt to get her to drop her guard. After about a minute, he reeled back without warning and threw the ball hard against the wall in front of them. It ricocheted off at a perfectly planned angle, shooting at high speeds in Quella's direction.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

"I'm not impatient!" the blueblood complained, "I'm just bored!" Quella rolled her eyes as they sat again, but she folded her legs back up and didn't complain any more as she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.

Focus. Focus...

The first snore was just starting to erupt from the hunter as the rubber ball slammed against the blueblood's head, knocking her to the side. "Dude, what the hell?" the blueblood shouted as she tried to disentangle herself from her crossed-up legs. "You wanna fight? C'mere, let's fight!"

saedusk

Did she pass? She totally passed.

 

[saedusk]

The offending rubber ball bounced square off Quella's head, popped a few more times along the floor, then rolled to a stop somewhere across the room where it would probably stay until Masoal cleaned next. Even before the blueblood could fully react, he was up and dancing away from her. Any other time he'd take her challenge head on, but she'd come here looking for some kind of insight into his tactical style and he was feeling generous. Or maybe he was just feeling like a show off. Either way.

"I just took advantage of an opening," he told her before darting across the room to a ladder that lead to the training block he'd mentioned earlier. "Are you coming?"

That said, he climbed quickly into a block that was wide open and larger than the one beneath it. There was plenty of room to move here.

Buzzwulf

>thinking face

 

[Buzzwulf]

Quella Fehtan

Quella rubbed at her thinkpan where the rubber ball had bounced off of her head. "Yeah well maybe I'll just take advantage of your opening," the blueblood muttered to herself as Masoal disappeared up the ladder. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, she was just so bored! Quella never knew what to do with herself when she stopped moving, and it was a good skill to be able to steal a bit of sleep anywhere if she really needed it. Then the hunter realized what she'd said and flushed deeply as Masoal called for her to join him up above. "Uh, uh yeah! I'm coming up!" Thank gog he hadn't been paying attention. Or was an idiot. The second seemed more likely.

Quella climbed the ladder to the larger training block, taking a second to take in the new space. She stretched quickly, doing a few exercises before Masoal showed off his tactics. "Alright!" Quella said with a grin. "I'm limbered up and ready to go!"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

The second assumption was definitely more likely. When it came to those sorts of innuendos, Masoal was extremely ignorant. He took her comment in the same context as his own and gave it no more attention than he gave any of her other pointless protesting.

After watching Quella stretch, Masoal was already sure she wasn't as limbered up as she thought she was, but he made no mention of that, either. Instead he slipped into a crouch, balancing on his toes with his hands splayed out on the floor in front of him. He looked sort of like an animal preparing a strike, but anyone who knew him wouldn't find that unusual. Though he'd grown quite a lot, he was still a bit wild.

"See if you can hit me," he challenged, shoulders rolling forward. Every muscle in his legs was poised to react. "You won't be able to."

Buzzwulf