Closed A Tour Guide on the Small Side (Naira)

[Sliver]

Sliver craned her neck to try to catch the entirety of the building, but this close to the stadium it was impossible. Rubbing a crick out of her neck she smirked at the bear. "If you're not out on patrols and not sleeping, most likely you'll be in here, this is where all the behind the scenes training takes place." She guided Naira inside one of the doors. There were changing rooms and even a few heated pools to bath after a long day in the stadium, though these were usually empty in favor of a brisk freezing shower in the snow outside before heading back to the barracks. Traveling through the underbelly of the building she led them out into the main arena. Half encased in ice, half exposed in order for weapon's training, the bear would see that currently a large contingent of bears and Vantha were battling it out on the icy side, using blunted weapons and practicing their reaving while traveling on the slick ice. Just on the edge of the area was a tall slender woman with icy streaks of blue in her grey hair: Eyrwen the stadium trainer. Sliver led them both up. Watching the fake battle was getting her blood pumping, and she recognized several members she knew well, more senior members of the watch. Eyrwen turned and glanced at them both before addressing Sliver. "I hope you don't think that giving you a tour means you get out of afternoon sprints." Sliver grinned and shook her head. "No ma'am, I'll be right on time." The woman snorted derisively. "Weasel, you wouldn't be right on time if you slept in the petching arena. Now stop acting like a newborn cub and introduce me to the new meat." Sliver took a step back to allow Eyrwen to get a good look at Naira. The Instructor's eyes gleamed a sea foam green as she examined the bear. "This is the Kelvic Naira. Naira, this is Eyrwen Coolwater the head Instructor of the arena, damn fine teacher." Eyrwen gave a wry smile and winked at the bear. "She says that now, you should see her at dawn, she looks like a den of lemmings slept on her head, which would explain that ridiculous hairdo you have since they probably took most of your hair to make a nest for themselves, leaving most of your poor head shaved and bare." Sliver shook her head. It was Eyrwen's way to constantly berate and torment her students, and Sliver didn't mind much, since the woman was often much harsher to others than herself. Now the instructors eyes hardened a little, returning to their darker and more serious state. "I'll be seeing a lot of you soon Naira, hope you're ready." With that Eyrwen turned back to the seething mass of fighting and started barking insults and advice into the crowd. Sliver backed off, waving Naira to follow her up to the stands where they could sit and watch the proceedings, her gaze following the bulk of bear she recognized as Simon. While all of the dire bears looked the same to her, variations in size and behavior could always tip her off. For instance, she noticed Simon playfully cuffing a female, flirting around was exactly his style. Sliver shook her head and leaned back, glancing over at the new recruit. "So what are you thinking?"

[Naira]

Trotting beside Sliver cheerfully as they entered the building, she was amazed by the size and what it held within. Keeping focussed, though, she kept steady pace beside the wolverine and tried to hide the grin playing at the ends of her lips, daring to pull her light pink lips back in a happy facial expression. She had almost forgot to watch Sliver as she moved, trying to get to know the Icewatch member not only by what she said but how she moved and how she carried herself. By making a movement of her neck, Naira assumed she slept funny. Or made a weird movement that caused places to be pulled. She shrugged. She was probably wrong.
She noticed what appeared to be a practice, and she hummed something that she thought would go along with the theme. She again had to fight the urge, and almost gasped when she saw the woman walking torwards them.
Naira had to stop from giggling when the woman called Sliver weasle, and was very stern and hard on the Kelvic. She admired her- Eyrwen's- confidence. Naira watched as Eyrwen took her in, all of her, wondering if the look in her eye was typical for newbies or she was happy with what she was seeing. When being introduced, she had whispered "Hello Miss", but was quickly cut off as she wasn't heard and it was seen that her lips had slightly parted to speak.
She finally let her excstatic spirit take hold of her, and she grinned big and wide when Eyrwen spoke about Sliver. Naira looked over at Sliver, grinning. It faded slightly, though, as Sliver shook her head. Was that a disappointed, saddened nod? Or one not to read too far into? She let out a large breath she didn't know she was holding, and followed the female back to sit down and watch what was taking place. She had the same expression on her face as she responded to what was asked with, "I'm excited."

[Sliver]

It wasn't until they were walking away from Eyrwen that she noticed how giddy the bear had become. The Kelvic smiled at Naira's enthusiasm. "Fine answer this question by confirming my last question." The wolverine leaned forward watching the battles. She couldn't wait until the time when she would be put in with the more senior members. As it was now she was kept with the newer recruits like herself, many of which were Vantha with little to no combat experience that had just happened to stumble across a bear and bond, leaving her a bit at a loss of what to do with them when she knew her purpose and had a handle on fighting. She knew all things came in due course, but she wasn't a patient creature. She shook her head again. This time was not about her after all, it was about the new bear. Her gaze drifted back towards the young Kelvic, admiring how delicate she looked when such a massive creature lurked beneath the surface, and hear she was a tattooed stocky woman with few looks to her name. She smiled. "So do you have any questions for me? They can be about anything."

[Naira]

Naira wasn't sure what was meant by what Sliver said, but she continued grinning. Ignorance is bliss, right? She looked at the wolverine, trying to read her gaze. Not much she could see, but it was obvious she was thinking about something. She stayed silent, watching what was going on before them, and scratched her nose. This made every other part of her part itchy, and she began to twitch nervously. What would happen if she flipped out like she does when she's alone, and... She couldn't help it. Her arm jerked and she began scratching her back, her other arm going for her side. It appeared to be a very awkward position, but it felt so, so good.
Sliver shook her head, and Naira stopped her scratching and settled her hands into her lap as she watched the Kelvic seem to get focussed again. Smiling at her, she thought about the questions she had. She did have questions, and she had one she'd very much like to accomplish soon.
"At one point, do you think I could practice with you? This," she gestured towards the fighting before. "I think it would be fun. You and I."

[Sliver]

Sliver laughed out loud a barking sort of laughter, loud and echoing. She liked this bear, Naira knew what she liked. She was funny and quirky, the itching, the blank looks she gave Sliver when she didn't quite understand something, up until this point Sliver thought of her more like a bird Kelvic than a bear. But of course she would ask to fight, if there was one thing Sliver understood about bears it was that they loved to play. Once she had calmed down from the question that had so amused her, she slapped her leg and stood up. "How about we go right now? You won't be transforming into a bear will you?" With that last question Sliver winced as she imagined herself getting pummeled by a huge white ball of fur and teeth and claws, then smiled nervously. She preferred fighting in human form where the physical plane was a bit more even. As she waited for Naira's response she gazed at the half of the stadium that had been left abandoned while the Icewatch fought on the icy side. It was a large space and far enough away that they wouldn't disturb any instruction or training that would be occurring, how fitting.

[Naira]

Naira raised an eyebrow, obviously in wonderment as to why Sliver was cracking up so bad. "Uhhh," she said blankly, mouth slightly open but the noise loud and obvious that she was confused. She ended up smiling, though, to act like she knew what was going on. Which she didn't, up until the female slapped her leg and offered to begin at that moment.
Naira's eyes widened in excitement, gleaming.
"Yes!" she gasped. Then paused. "Wait, oh, no, I won't be changing. I don't think. Unless you ever want a real challenge." at this point Naira gave herself the boosted confidence to wink at the other Kelvic.
She stood up as well, beaming. She followed the gaze. "Let's go. Come on Sliver. I'm exciiiiited, and I wanna know what I can do!" she was hopping lightly on her toes, having never really practiced much...battling...before.

[Sliver]

Naira's excitement was infectious, and Sliver caught herself grinning from ear to ear. "Well come on then!" She dashed down the stands, sprinting over to the empty half of the arena. Some weapons and weights were scattered about, but she found a rather empty spot that the two would have some room in and she peered around. The Kelvic stretched her arms out, sizing up the bear physically for the first time. She was lightly muscled to be sure, but Sliver had always found most of the bears that specialized in unarmed combat to be more wiry or burly than Naira, she cocked her head to the side. "What's your weapon of choice, bear?" Her tone was playful and curious. From Sliver's muscled arms and lack of armament it was clear the wolverine preferred fighting one way: with her hands, and she cracked her knuckles in anticipation of the fight to come.

[Naira]

She followed the wolverine down to the empty area, and stood on her toes. She walked over a few yards away, slipping off her shoes, feeling the ground up with the pads of her feet and feeling much better. Like she could move better. Returning to where she had been standing when the Kelvic had obviously been looking her up and down, determining her build and such, she thought about the answer to the question for only a moment when she fixed to grab her short sword when she realized she didn't have it at the time. Shrugging, she looked over at the one laying on the ground, begging her to pick it up.
She jogged to the sword, bent over and picked it up, then jogged back, waving it in the air. "This thing!" it felt slightly heavier than the one she herself owned, so she wasn't sure if she'd have to hold it tighter or a bit more loosly. She took on the idea of holding it tighter so she wouldn't have to worry about it flying from her hands, and then stopped. She looked at Sliver, and on the inside she said, "Oh wow. I'm going to lose." her lack of confidence almost took over her whole body, the whole nervous thing having a tendency of shutting her down.
She forced a feeble smile, then asked, "If you don't have a weapon, couldn't I badly injure you with this thing?" referring to the short sword she wielded.

[Sliver]

The wolverine looked curiously at the hunk of steel. She never understood holding a weapon when one's hands were just as good and so much easier to manipulate, but she found that the dire polar bears tended to be raised with more than simple unarmed skills, perhaps one of the many advantages of having a Goddess who specifically bred and trained them for her private army. "Sword, huh?" She saw a nervous look appear in her opponents eyes, but when Naira asked the dangers the blade posed, Sliver smiled. "It will just make it more fun! Come on show me what you can do with that pointy thing." It was clear the wolverine was excited, she bounced around on the balls of her feet, having removed her boots as well. Her toes scrunched up against the cold ground, finding a nice surface from which to move upon. Her knees bending slightly, body bouncing up and down. She sidled from side to side waiting for Naira to make the first move. Her eyes were keen to see how this new recruit sized up, she looked a bit soft if Sliver was being honest with herself, but looks could be very deceiving and the Kelvic was more than happy to be proven wrong on the bears outward appearance.

[Naira]

Naira nodded slowly, her pointy thing beginning to feel at home in her hand. She managed to toss it from hand to hand without dropping it, trying to see which hand it felt better in. Of course it felt best in her dominant hand, but she was always open if it seemed different one day. And she had to get used to the blade which wasn't hers, the feeling of it in both hands in need be. She sighed. Rolling her shoulders, she wondered if she would be much against the larger female. This is going to end bad, Naira. she thought to herself. You're going to lose, and it's going to be awful. But you should first prepare yourself for humiliation, and be prepared to act like it doesn't bother you. So like she told herself, she prepared for the worst.
She thought about something to be a good first move. She hadn't noticed her eyes had been closed, but thankfully there hadn't been a move made or in the process of being made. She knew she was a bear and that usually for bears, they could use size as an advantage. But obviously in human form she wasn't going to be able to use that. She breathed in, and then attempted to be swift. She ran foward, shoulders rising, trying to make herself appear that she was going to make a move up towards the top of the wolverine's bodice.
If the move she was planning on worked, the bear would then duck below the Kelvic, to the side of her left leg- one of her own legs out to go sharply through the air, not to trip the Kelvic. If sliding down and behind would have worked, she would use the butt of her sword(where there was not a point) to hit the back of Sliver's left knee, hopefully causing her to fall. If this worked, which maybe it would, she would follow through with jumping on the female's back.