+5 Observe a challenge and learn the results (1/4) There’s something about blood and violence that always seems to draw a girl in. Is it relishing in the stupidity of men thinking that coming to blows will somehow fix the twisted world we living? Or the knowledge that sometimes fists can be the most eloquent of bodily parts? Well, that wasn’t exactly what Clementine was here for. Clementine had simply taken a wrong turn. A left when she had taken a right. Call it fate or simple…necessity. A need for trade points perhaps? But here she was, standing at the edge of the crowd like a pimply teenager hoping some handsome stranger might ask her to dance at this stinker one could call a prom. Oh well, those who can’t do…teach. Or at least in Clementine’s case, look over with an absurdly open mouth. "Speech" I may never sleep tonight *image referenced by Sebastian Niedlich on Flickr under creative commons liscense 2.0*

Avaneira is unhidden and observing.

Another day brought with it another challenge. Avaneira had seldom time to recuperate from the first before another man called for another crown. And yet, the tidings of politicking in Amaryllis seemed to enthrall her enough yet still to entice her presence, hoping desperately that everyone but he would be there in attendance. Certainly, the newer King would have too much on his plate to attend a contender's challenge? Or, perhaps, would he be here in hopes of an alliance, or to denounce whatever winner come less scathed from the battlefield? Nevertheless, Avaneira trudged through the undergrowth and toward the bluffs, until eventually she emerged from the sidelines.

Catlike eyes studied the unfamiliar opponents from meters away, the scents of the others wafting past her, indicating different means, statuses, and prides. Certainly, this challenge had garnered just as much of a diverse crowd as Drakon's, and Avaneira was content to linger in the backlines, observing quietly as their battle would begin to unfold. And, hopefully, not end as sorely as the last.

MANES VS. FAUST FOR WOLFBRON BLUFFS
— DEFAULT —

due to not meeting leadership requirement prior to posting the claim, this fight has defaulted.

FAUST HAS WON THE CHALLENGE FOR
WOLFBRON BLUFFS!

please allow the challengers to respond to the fight results first.

Kimagure was too late, that much she could tell when she arrived. Angry at herself, she slipped up to the edge of the group gathered. How could she have allowed herself to slip so far from the edge of the fog before it had lifted? The lioness licked her lips, aiming to keep her face smooth despite how she felt. She studied those present as her mind turned, aiming to pick out the new ruler for future reference.

What would she do now? Settle into a pride she did not care for? Or fight for one? She did not yet know, but what she did know is she was not fond of the terrain here, too much like her birth pride.

+5 Learn something about an enemy pride or lion. (1/2) (Who leads the bluffs.)
+5 Learn someone’s rank and name. (Learned Faust is High Sovereign, learns his name in next post.)

He'd heard the call, one that he was kind of familiar as to what it meant. Keir remembered when mother made a similar one, one that ended with her getting hurt but her also taking ownership of where they lived at now. It made his heart race a little, the adrenaline beginning to pump through his veins and hearing it rushing in his ears. He'd follow behind mother with a quick pace, feeling exhausted but not wanting to slow down because he was excited. Excited that she was taking him out, just the two of them, to see what was going on. And it was awesome!

Whenever they arrived the ebony boy would suck in deep breaths to regain normal breathing, settling next to mother in a seated position. Bright blue eyes would bounce everywhere, looking at all the lions that had gathered before dialing in on the two males that seemed to be interested in one another rather than the rest of the group. But before anything would happen it would seem to just end, and Keir's brows would furrow together in both annoyance and confusion. "What happened?" He would ask, lips curling into a half frown, obvious that he were pouting that nothing happened.

@Jewel

art & table from shazaki

Another day, another fight, another claim for a territory. At least this voice was a familiar one. Though the time it took for him to get there already seen a number of other bodies having gathered. Caligula didn't know most of whom had gathered though there were still a few familiar faces within the crowd.

"Manes!" Enthusiastic greeting was called out once he spotted the lion whom had made the initial claim. "Feels like home, huh?" At least the rockiness of the area gave Caligula the same feel as the place that Manes had once ruled over. "Where is Ambrosine?" He had seen her around at other claims but hadn't really had the chance to catch up properly. But he figured if Manes was here then Ambrosine would be as well.

@Manes

and the final angel perished,

Manes stood and watched as a crowd begins to gather, azure eyes watching the congregating bodies. That is, until @Faust enters. Eyes fall upon the colossal figure, and an idea comes into his mind. Words drool from the larger man's lips, and Manes turned his expression into a smile. A crooked one.

"I am sure, yes. Perhaps we are both where we're meant to be." He remarks after a moment, taking a step forward and instead settling on his haunches, relaxing a battle stance into something much more neutral. Eyes move to @Amra and then to @Caligula. The maneless man's comment made him nod. "It sure does."

Eyes looked around again for Ambrosine, but she was nowhere to be found. "I don't know, Caligula." A slight frown came across his features before his attention was returned to the matter at hand. Home.

His crown turned towards Faust. "I have a proposal for you, King Faust." Manes announces, clearly placing the crown upon the other man's head. "Let me rule beside you. An area like this is a home to me - it's similar to what I left behind. I can support you, if you'll allow." And there was the bombshell. Would Faust accept?

She settled to wait, looking to her son as he arrived at her side, a smile to her lips. "Much like what you saw a few months ago - these two would like to both rule.." Yet, unlike her own pride fight that had turned bloody and vicious, Jewel noticed that this one seemed to end with little fighting. "Sometimes, like mine.. Neither lion will wish to step aside...And what you saw would happen. A battle..But sometimes, like what you see here.. A peaceful transition can happen."

The female was speaking quietly to her son, explaining to the youth so that when the time came to see it for himself - or maybe even make the attempt at a pride himself, he would know more about such things. Jewel's tails curled around her paws as she waited, curious to see who the new leader would be. "When they sort out who will lead this pride.. We will go discuss alliances or.. See how they will handle a pride led by a female."

Jewel had noticed, unfortunately - how some of the leaders here had responded to her. She would only try that much harder to prove to them that she was capable - or almost as much so as her more 'testosterone' driven counterparts. Ears tipped forward, though she would have wished to see how the lions fought - the strength of the new pride leader, the female waited. "Knowing who the pride leaders are can be valuable information.. You never know when you may have to leave your home - and knowing a safe place to go will only help. It also helps to know in the event someone comes looking. I've had a young lady asking about a "manes" already- but I didn't know where he was.." Until now.

@Keir

"speech"

And oh, how their mountainous colosseum of stone filled.

He kept his eyes on the red maned male before him, but Faust could smell and hear the crowd that had crept from what very well could have been the cracks and crevices in the rocky landscape. A vast majority were silent, watching like vultures waiting for an end one way or another.

Among the menagerie of scents, one stood out to him in particular. A certain herb eating serpent. It was interesting to think that Snake would be all the way out here just in time to witness him making his play for power.

What the male was offering, bargaining for in fact, was quite the bold move. He wanted to end things without snagging their claws into each other's flesh, did he? Far be it from him to avoid a fight that would end with him looking over new territory alone and injured.

However.

"Remiel, Ripper, Judge, Angel, Faust. I've been called these names and more in my short time within this mortal flesh, but it seems one's reputation has outlived the others." He let the names fall from his mouth like a chant, like the hallowed prayer that they were. He did not know this male but he knew him, which while not entirely impossible was surely an interesting tidbit of information on its own. "You put your paw forward in offer to rule at my side, yet I do not know you or what is in your heart and mind. Just as despite you having collected one of my names I highly doubt you know what is in mine."

The golden male lifted his voice further, so that it would echo off of the stone to ring out clearer to the crowd.

"I could be a killer, or perhaps a healer. A con, a saint, a liar or a defender of the weak. Just as you could be, but would you take a stranger's word for such an important gamble?" To play such a game had its risks, and often those risks outweighed the reward. What was to stop this stranger from taking his throat in his jaws as he slept, or attacking him at some later date? What was to stop him from doing the same?

@Manes

Stock | Manip by Taboo | Coding by Werge

Caligula was glad to see that his friend was alive and seemed to be doing well. And as there didn't seem as if there was about to be a fight the maneless male moved to settle down next to his friend. It didn't seem as if Manes knew where Ambrosine was and that was troubling. But then it wasn't like he kept constant tabs on Sarthak either. Right now they all seemed to be trying to make their own way and carve out a space for themselves.

"Are the cubs doing okay? I haven't seen them. I seen Ambrosine at a different fight though, over at the Oasis." So he knew they were both here which meant the cubs had to be here too. He hoped nothing had happened to them on the trip over. He also wished the same for his older cubs and his adopted ones. He hadn't been able to gather them though he had found Schro at least.

Caligula listened to the proposition and then the listing of names that came with the counter to the proposition. It wasn't an outright no but a game of words instead. Caligula found himself interested in knowing more about this individual.

"And which of those names do you prefer for yourself? Just because someone else might call you them does not mean that you take them for your own. Perhaps your name is not even among those that you have listed." Caligula knew what it was to choose one's name. He had done so with his own. And it had changed, though not as frequently as it seemed that the other's had. Though Caligula could name off a few not so nice names that he had been called.

"Are we not all a bit of all of those things? Can not any one of us become any one of those things? And are not some of those dependent upon one's perception?" It had been some time since Caligula had gotten to dissect words with someone else. And perhaps he shouldn't be involving himself in this affair but he simply couldn't help himself.

"You know me not either and so my word will mean nothing at all to you but I can tell you that Manes is a protector. He has been King before and so he understands the pressure that comes with it. Would not some help to alleviate the stress of ruling be welcome? Equal rights need not be given, though to do so would help you amidst the day to day things, and as such you can decide to demote or banish Manes should he not pull his weight. A trial period in which he must prove himself, perhaps?" And now he was negotiating on Manes's behalf, the same as he had done time and again for Sarthak. Caligula had attempted to find a compromise before things blew up and it hadn't succeeded there. It could just as likely not succeed here as well. Or eh could just piss his friend off for speaking for him.

@Manes @Faust