Maia was not kept waiting long on her question: @Dero was quick to answer, and her masked features turned to face the black lion, eyes widening in shock when he appeared. "Dero?" The lioness couldn't quite believe that he was here, and he was here now. But it was not the time for family reunions and celebrations: her home was on the line, and she wasn't happy about it.

Genya was the lionesses name, and it turns out she was an ally once. Maia frowned. "Why would an 'ally' do such a thing to our family?" She asks, half to herself and half to Dero. She was confused - why would a lioness just do this, try to take a home away from her family? Maia couldn't comprehend it, and so she looked to those around her for some answers.

they tumble and fight

and they're beautiful on the hilltops at night

The satisfaction of getting a bite at her neck was short-lived, as she immediately swatted one paw at the right side of his face. Kiton cried out at the feeling of claws pricking against his skin, the fiery sting of it foreshadowing the threat of a scar forming where she had sliced him over his eye. He could see red--be it from blood or fury--as he turned his head slightly to his left, attempting to catch the mitt of her right paw in another snap of his jaws if he could manage it to try and prevent her from smacking him again. His chest heaved with the strain of battle, but he pressed forward with his force centered in his right shoulder as Kiton attempted to knock it into the smaller lioness's chest violently.

Kiton vs. Genya
for Ecrosia Mire
Round 3 / 5
Hits:

Rolling 6d20: 7 + 2 + 18 + 9 + 5 + 10

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 2 + 8 + 15 + 3

code by corvus

Genya's chest was heaving and she was feeling the edge of tiredness and the prick of various injuries on her frontal body. Her eyes were watering too, not because she was sad about challenging a complete stranger, but something else. Not sure but she wasn't worried. Her paw made contact and more blood struck forth, slithering into her nostrils like decadent honey. She couldn't quite catch @Kiton from taking hold of her paw though she attempted to pull away. Something snapped and a sharp, intense pain caused her to give a muffled roar. With his face now closer, Genya took the opportunity to smack the same paw against his newly accrued wound, hoping to dig in with her claws into it. There was blood on her toes, both from Kiton and from Genya herself. His chest snapped forward, and Genya braced herself, jaw opening to grad the right side of Kiton's face by the cheek, right beneath his eye.

Genya vs Kiton
for Ecrosia Mire
Round 4 / 5

Hits:

Rolling 7d20: 1 + 15 + 11 + 10 + 14 + 5 + 17

Dodges:

Rolling 3d20: 3 + 20 + 11

THESE, OUR BODIES, POSSESSED WITH LIGHT

+10 Attend a spar or challenge to assess the wounds - 1/2
+20 Witness an event worthy of making history - 1/2
+10 Attend a challenge - 1/2


the challenge is in full swing by the time he manages to arrive, the call catching his attention even from across the island. it might be none of his business (were these challenges ever his business?), but still he attends. despite the dour mood the budding spring was always cause to celebrate, and he enjoys spending time outside -- now that he's able to again. settling in towards the back of the crowd, the cherub peers at the two opposing lions. knowing neither of them and understanding little, but there's a good chance the power may shift here: either the reigning king would keep his crown and prove his worth, or someone new would ascend. both combatants seemed keen on violence, he knows, and eyes the wounds both of them have already sustained.

@Kiton VS. @Genya FOR Ecrosia Mire
— DEFAULT —

due to two occurrences of genya failing to use proper "attempt" words in her most recent post, this represents an instance of major power-playing, as per the fight page. for this reason, the fight has defaulted.

Kiton HAS WON THE CHALLENGE FOR Ecrosia Mire!

Please allow the challengers to respond to the fight results first. As per the site rules, if 3 days go by without a post from the challenger(s), they can be skipped. Whichever comes first! Any posts made before this will be removed.

There was a strange feeling in the paw that @Kiton took a bite out of. The thrumming was ceaseless and there was a nauseating pain within. Blood continuously seeped out. Genya's eyes were swathed in white, diluting every other color. Her heart was racing so fast that it almost felt unreal. All of a sudden, Genya felt like she was tipping over - no she tipping over. But she could only think about was what will happen once she wakes up. She'll get better and she'll come back and challenge again. Maybe the mire, maybe even Vermier's pride. Damn it she said before the world faded to black. [exit via unconscious :(]

they tumble and fight

and they're beautiful on the hilltops at night

(This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of violence/blood/gore/cannibalism)

The metallic taste of blood welled within his mouth with far more intensity than Kiton had ever experienced, even in his lifetime of battle prowess. He had never gone this far--had never caused an injury so permanent as this, as he felt himself bite down on the unexpected resistance of some appendage in his mouth. It only took the movement of a few muscles for him to have swallowed whatever part of her by accident, his nose wrinkling with a snarl of disgust. He watched as she fell over seemingly unconscious, his heart still hammering aggressively in his chest as the lion struggled to catch his breath while standing there before the crowd that had gathered.
"Only the victor can have claim upon this land," he quoted her with a sour snarl as he lifted his head to look out upon them--the critics and cretins who sat in entertained bliss as they fought over his very home. "Ecrosia Mire is Hodari land. You may have a head-start in vacating yourselves from the premises or be forced out momentarily," he panted in the loudest voice he could manage to project, spreading his limbs out in a guarding stance as if waiting for the next figure to throw themselves at him.
"Take her if you don't want her buried here."

code by corvus

Huh. Well that was anticlimactic.

Sarabi hadn't quite expected the dark furred lioness to just keel over but maybe the purple guy had hit some kind of nerve. Whatever, once again these 'skeela' associated lions or at least lions associated with the loud mouthed male were proving to be weak.

Was that why they'd left him to hang before? Eh. Not her problem.

Finally drawing herself up, Sarabi rolled her mud splashed shoulders to work some warmth back into her limbs before she turned and began to slither off along the fringes of the crowd. She didn't have much else that she was willing to learn here, what was done was done and she could head off somewhere to get this cold mud out of her fur.

[Exit]

Art by Taboo | Coding by Werge

GOD KILLS INDISCRIMINATELY AND SO SHALL WE

The male perched jovial as the battle got underway. This was indeed the high life! Life on high, life on an adoring throne, and he fancied that the dark shaded lioness was fighting for him. Yes, he must have impressed her enough for her to want to win his affection in what she might see as the savage way of his family. No words just violence. He would, of course, deny her. Nobility of character, purity of passion, and all that. She was damaged goods.

The discerning spectator watched the violence, ignoring all prospect of past and future and the lines of influence that led into and away from this event. It was just bloodshed. Difficult and dirty, murky in the gloom, the scent of the pride that he would remember well later. Now he was invested, forward-leaning and jaws agape, panting as his sweetling swatted at the male's face and was caught - a precarious position - and crippled! Vermier fancied a groan from the crowd but he was already alight, no longer spectator but rescuer. "Skeela, guard!" he snapped expectations as he surged forward. She was Skeela and she was downed. One of theirs. No others would touch her with their filthy paws and their remonstrations. Vermier protected his own.

Even if each would discard the other without a care.

With a frothing, warning growl he aimed to pose over her, an agitated stance intended to warn off any interlopers while he trusted @Cassine or @Amara to actually bear her off.

It was only when @Genya fell unconscious did Halimede wrench her attention from the Miroslav brothers and onto the finale of the battle. So, the large, fanged woman wasn't up to snuff, huh? Halimede did not voice these thoughts, for even she lost her battles, but to take such a hard fall in such a large group of people would certainly have to hurt someone's pride. And perhaps, even more surprising to Hali, it was not @Seneca who ran to the woman's rescue, but the stranger @Vermier instead. Hali's nose twitched; long had the sound of their fighting lingering in the background excite her, thrumming her nerves and alighting a fire in her belly. She turned her gaze back toward Seneca, smirking. “Hey, uh, big man's about to run off with your girlfriend,” she crooned, but it wasn't long before Halimede got to her paws, and began to stride almost leisurely toward Vermier as he towered over Genya's felled form. The closer she got, the more frightening Vermier's expression and demeanor became. But rather than balk, Halimede grew only more enticed.

“I think this belongs to someone else,” she remarked boldly, disregarding her general lack of knowledge around pride life. Genya truly belonged to Scilla, according to their long-withheld laws, but Halimede, who had grown up so viscerally different, had never known. Regardless, it was a win-win for Halimede - he'd either accept the misunderstanding, hand her over, and then Genya would leave Seneca and fall in love with her instead. Or, he would attack her outright, and give Halimede the bloody battle she so desired.