Runnin' with a rough and tumble crowd!

[Jantus]

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┤Also...maybe I'm getting nitpicky at this point, but shifting isn't an instantaneous process (at least in this game...), last I checked, shifting down to four or up to two legs takes a minute or two at minimum. That said, you have a lot of posts, to the point that I wonder if you've kept up with a rules change that I've missed? (my activity has been somewhat sporadic for a while now)├ "Well," the alpha considered, evaluating their guest with a curious eye. "You look like you could use some easing up. We were gonna spar sometime today. Why don't we do it now and you join us?" Mala gave her brother a pitiful expression, but Jantus waved it away. "Look at him, he's been in scraps before! Besides, we'll do it more like a training exercise than an actual spar, so there's little chance of getting hurt." He looked over at the unshifted two who were alternately looking at Jantus and the newcomer. "Why don't you shift up, Nik?" he suggested, rising to a stand himself. "You been in many fights, have you? We can train on four legs or two, if you want. A place like this, 'pick up' fights out of the blue are more likely, so four legs might be better. But, if you're expecting something in advance from Inferni, you'd do well to be ready for two." He shrugged. He didn't like shifting down much, himself, though he would for a training session. Alternatively, Aivyr was still in the proper shape for such training, and would be closer to this wolf's size, to start. Both he, Mala, and Aivyr were more experienced on two legs, but they all knew what they were doing in both. He supposed Mala had never had a fight in halfling form, but really that wasn't much different than standard, so he didn't worry about it too much. One way or the other, he knew he'd have no need of his weapon belt, so he unbuckled it and the half-axle fell away from his waist, thudding unceremoniously to the ground. "Over where we live, in the Snow-capped Pine," he explained, "We're beating people away from our valley all the time. It's so bad that we need about fifty people just to hold it. We've only got about a dozen with us right now, though, so the rest are still back holding the fort." Two sets of glaring eyes got the alpha's attention, and he shrugged, laughing. "Okay, Mala and I are from the Pine. These two aren't my subordinates. Maybe they're lives are a little more private and a little less brutal." "Hey, you try being a coyote in a wolf's world, you lummox! There's a reason Tanya and I have weapons everywhere we go." Jantus laughed heartily at the coyote's indignation as Nik finished his shift, standing at a hair below six feet tall. Pure-bred coyote blood just didn't make for large people. For his part, Aivyr frowned resentfully over at the alpha, considering whether or not he should shift himself. As the only person still on four legs, he guessed he should stay unshifted in case the newcomer wanted to train like that. Aivyr was a little more skilled than Jantus by most accounts, but there was no question who would win in a fight. He had never appreciated that, but it was just an uncomfortable fact of life, and he had learned to live with it.

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