He had no way of knowing the family that Boneskull would have out there in the world. It's not like Boneskull was much of a sharer. It was all he could do to get some semblence of what or who his parents were. He knew that the little bratty girl Kahina was his sister but she was mean as all get out and had too much attitude for his taste so it's not like he had to claim her or anything. He had been the one to raise Boneskull after all so he felt that Boneskull was as much his as anyone else's. The yearling didn't seem to mind either. But no kid raised by him was going to be a wimp so he would make sure Boneskull was the finest fighter around. That just meant he got to kick around another young punk in Iromar, so be it. He would make sure Boneskull had a good time of doing it. He had the advantage of having training from Cuirass beforehand anyway.

The moment that Zanon opened his mouth, Cuirass decided he didn't like him that much. Such smartasses around here, really? He rolled his eyes and looked at Boneskull, snorting indignantly.

"You didn't want to tell me you had other siblings? Rude."

Then he turned back to Zanon and frowned.

"And yeah, I want you to TRY to beat up on your deaf brother...wait."

He snapped back to Boneskull.

"You're deaf? Why didn't you tell me that? Rude again!"

Huffing, he looked back at Zanon.

"He certainly DOES know what's going on, FYI. He's not stupid, you know."

He had learned to be quick to defend Boneskull's honor, no matter the situation. Just like how he had turned on Kahina the minute she started calling him names. Not cool in his book. Which by the way, neither was the way Boneskull had totally blew him off earlier by saying "whatever" like it was the best word or something. Instead Cuirass batted him to the side with his paw, as if to remind him who was the bigger badder wolf here and like a good student, Boneskull had showed his teeth and perked up as if excited to sink his teeth into something. Good response, in Cuirass' opinion. He smirked and nodded his head before calling for Zanon. Good thing the boy knew how to come when he was called. Cuirass would have really let him have it if he'd had to go find him or something.

He was also glad Boneskull decided not to try to "help" him call for Zanon since he'd already had a taste of the thing the boy called a howl and frankly, he wasn't impressed. The boy was better off with short answers. At least he seemed to get just why they were here and finally he could take out some real anger. Just let Kahina come through here now. Cuirass might let Boneskull loose on her too. The yearling rushed Zanon and though there wasn't as much strategy in it as Cuirass would like, he had to approve of the spirit. At least Boneskull remembered to keep his head low to protect his own vitals. He wanted Boneskull to focus more on his advantages rather than disadvantages. Like he knew how Boneskull could feel the vibrations where someone moved a certain way and he was more observant of body langauge to be able to read lips and such.

He would need to use all that to fight. Really fighting was less about the sounds the opponents made and more about instincts and movement. Movement could be felt and if read right, it could be predicted. He knew Boneskull could do it if he focused right. He sighed, remembering that he was supposed to be training Zanon too so he started to do wide circles around the two to get better angles on them fighting.

"Try to use his momentum against him, Zanon. Or dodge or counter or something. Make it creative. If you feel him going for your neck, give him your leg or something else instead. You sacrifice a little to gain a lot. Sometimes you have to take a little damage to win the overall battle. Focus on places that will be in reach once he's right up on you. Use your pain to do some extra damage."

It would be harder for him to direct Boneskull so he made sure to circle around where Boneskull could see him to read his lips if he didn't have cone vision on his target, that is. Battle was all about focus but he needed to direct him somehow too.

"Make your movements hard to predict. Use those combos we talked about and never stick to one location too long. Adapt your tactics as you see fit to stay on top as much as possible and watch his body language. Predict his movements. Try to stay ahead instead of just reacting. Don't give him recovery time to think. Make him rely on instinct, that way there's less complicated movements."

He kept circling as he went out of Boneskull's eyesight, hoping that he had at least picked up on something of what he'd said. Maybe he should make banners or something for him to look at? Naw, too distracting. Zanon seemed cunning enough to take advantage.