It was amusing to see Blind launch right from getting her face nipped to rattling off answers to her fighting mentor’s question. It was even more amusing for Vesper to think of herself as a mentor to everybody; she’d actually never done anything like this, save for teaching Juniper self-defense. Those lessons had been much more…distracted.
Vesper smiled once more as she watched the girl, nodding at her answer and chuckling at the sudden wag as the girl seemed to realize the fight wasn’t continuing for the moment. She didn’t want to exhaust the poor creature, especially with her bad leg. She’d need to build stamina if she were going to be able to last in a fight or run away from one.
She went over her answers one at a time, taking a seat and letting her tail tap the ground. “The back of the neck is protected by thick fur and loose skin; you can protect it more by kind of rolling your shoulders forward, like this.” She demonstrated then smirked. “Your opponent will get a mouthful of scruff, but not much else. And you can consider a fight won if you tear their jugular vein or get a good grip on their windpipe.” And she had done the latter, but she wasn’t going to tell Blind that.
“The belly’s soft and unprotected by bone, but you gotta knock the enemy over first.” She gave her apprentice a devilish look then flicked her bad ear. “And ears are important for hearing, obviously. If you keep them pinned, you won’t get it torn off like mine.” She blinked. “And eyes, too—you need them to see. But attacking the face is always risky because of teeth.”
Vesper rose slowly, stretching her legs briefly. “The best thing to do when there’s a threat is run away, of course. Don’t take risks. If there’s no way you can get to safety, fight for your life. Just because I gave you some tips doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready for war.” She padded closer to the dark wolf and nudged her with a shoulder. “I don’t want to see all my time and effort going to waste with you dying,” she said arrogantly before giving Blind’s ear a quick lick. The gesture of affection surprised even herself, but hey, the girl was adorable.
