Wessex is indeed mostly joking about putting a sharp, pointy object in him, but if need be, she would not hesitate to do so, as she imagines Rikyn would do to her. Forgiveness is easy. Trust, however, is a two way street, and right now, the Corporal trusts the Thief just about as far as she can throw him. A glance to the cerndyr registers Duir’s gratitude and nods back, but then her attention is drawn back to Rikyn as he comes up with a retort. “He would,” she replies with an eyeroll, though the truth is that she is flattered Erebos chose her over one of the other soldiers.

She should have known they were gearing up to fight the moment she laid her eyes on the armor. Stupid. Stupidly unobservant. To make up for such obtusity, Wessex alters her course and speed, opting to try and put distance between them - for an opponent will never simply stand still. Before, she came straight out to meet the duo at an easy trot. Now, she increases her speed to a slow canter, serving to the right, and into the open area. Oh, she knows well the game the lighter builds like to play - wear out the heavier types, dart in and out with guerilla tactics. But Wessex is confident in her abilities, and if she can start off with the unexpected, it may pay off.

Don’t hold back! he calls out, as if the chance to pummel his ass isn’t enough motivation for her to go all in. She snorts to herself. Idiot. These training grounds are hers, as he’ll soon learn, because in her mind, there’s no way she can lose to this egotistical bro. Really. She would rather die than lose.

It’s a good thing she’d put her armor on earlier in the day to reacquaint herself with its slight weight. Boiled layers of skin are hardly as heavy as bronze shoulder armor, offer enough protection for spars and provide a decent barrier against wickedly sharp points. This set is hard, but affords her some flexibility as the whole piece is made up of small scales which overlap each other. They were sewn into a much softer piece of leather, which has been stretched and tanned and worked until it lies comfortably on Wessex’s body - over hindquarters, back, and shoulders, coming together at two clasps across her chest, and two under her abdomen. Leather pads also cover the front of her forelegs, but her neck and head are free.

In order to avoid an attack from her powerful hindquarters, Rikyn must have adjusted to follow her new trajectory. She can hear him thudding along behind her, but must have misjudged his proximity (objects in the mirror are closer than they appear) because when Wessex pivots to her left to face him, she is faced with his horn, instead. She yanks her unprotected neck even more to the left, avoiding the sharp edge of his horn, but throwing herself off-balance. She stumbles - or hops a bit (it is incredibly ungainly and embarrassing) swearing loudly at the whole thing. “Motherfucker, you tryin’ to take my eye out?!” Because that would be the end of Wessex’s warrior career. She’d need an eye patch - and then she would be even less attractive and disabled… so overall, best to keep both eyes.

In the seconds after cursing at him, she notices that he swings out a bit and then his hooves come flying towards her. Wessex has no way to avoid them. They land with a resounding thud against her upper shoulder, causing her to stumble back again, half-gasping, half-growling in pain. The hard ground catches her, force of impact shoots down her right shoulder, and all she can think of while she pauses is thank god I put on that damn armor. Even with its protection, she’ll be favoring that leg the whole fight.

Adrenaline and indignation, however, are handy things, and her strong left side rebounds, pushing her diagonal and forwards - back towards Rikyn. Perhaps he’s about to make the same mistake she did, for as he turns around, she tries to curl her front half around and position the side of her head so that she can rake her horns down the side of his neck. If that doesn’t work, she’s also in position to bite the top of neck - grabbing flesh and mane to give him a good, hard, teeth-jarring shake. While aiming for this, her back end tries to quickly cross its own axis, so that Rikyn doesn’t have another target to thrust his horn towards.  

Maybe this time, that move will work.