post joining here: https://www.amaryllis-lions.com/thread-14054.html @Adeodatus

By now it was afternoon and the thin slant of the sun through the clouds struggled through the thick vegetation to become nothing much at all but a morose mood-killer of shifting, distant lights on shapeless shadows. She didn't notice the occasional, thin fog that billowed along the base of low pools. Not consciously. But in the back of her psyche she began to envision herself as something creeping and mysterious and very different than the bright, flamingo-flowing mass of perkiness that she presented. The fallout after the candid flash.

But why think about the afterglow when she had yet to even shine? As she'd told Adeodatus, she wasn't going to snipe along anyone's gutter anymore, wasn't going to trail at Hodari heels hoping for a bone. She'd take for hers what she could argue was just a little, the rank just lower than the one that had invited her. Temper arrogance with a roguish smile? Hmm, maybe. She'd see how to act when she saw the audience. And to summon them! She found a wide enough, flat enough, solid enough span. This needed some decoration. A throne, and a fairy ring, pretty girls waving palms to keep her forehead cool. Maybe the pride used it for small gatherings or impromptu fights already, but it could be more. Maybe she was the first to see its potential!

She chuffed enough to reach through the pridelands, announcing both her arrival and her claim in one voice. Rank of - something garbled - started with G? Hell if she knew. Not her job.

Because she was pretty, and envisioned a chat before a fight, she didn't set any defenses save for alertness. Optimistic wariness, aware that her mark might yet be wary of her.

+5 Study the landscape of an area (sleuth)

Toblerone vs ??? (open)
EM Gentry
Round 0/3

It would seem that she was not the only newcomer with ambitions for higher ground, this was not a voice thst she recognized even slightly, and as Dobromira came upon the scene it was clear from the lack of sulfurous murk to her scent that the other woman was fresher than even herself. More greedy too, as she appeared to be clamoring for more than a seat near the bottom of the step.

Interesting, very interesting.

Keeping to the fringes of the would-be battleground, the hound studied the woman with quiet calculation. Large in stature, somewhere in the same titanous class as the man she'd met in the jungle, Alexander. They sure did breed them big here, didn't they? It made Dobromira curious as to how her opponent would fare, if they rose to the challenge.

Settling upon a sturdy patch of ground, the hound sat and watched with rapt attention, ears pricked for the thrum of any returning call.


+5 Observe a fight

LION, CODE BY LARS

He had made a mental note to be quicker in answering rank challenges. Bruno had been assessing what was left of the pride food caches, trying to select a tasty morsel when he heard the call ring out. Unfamiliar yet clear, the prince sat up to attention at the sound and began a hesitant trot in that direction. Snacking would have to wait, as he did not want to take the chance of having his prize taken while he was distracted. Luther had taught them all better.

As he approached, Bruno noticed that Dobromira's familiar musk hung in the air along with someone unidentified. He pursed his lips as he walked, mind whirring to decide if he should continue. While once he had sought after her eagerly so as to spy on her dealings and prevent her escape, he could not help the way Luther's previous taunting over the subject made his skin crawl.

Breaking through the clearing, he was finally able to see a large, pink lioness at the center. He flared his nostrils with mild disapproval – gentry was a higher, more useful rank, and she was not the type he thought should fill it. Bruno said nothing, only attempted to sit a casual distance from Dobromira's familiar figure and settle in to watch what was to unfold.

---

|| march y9 | 1y 7m | EM royalty | at ecrosia mire | @Dobromira ||
+5 - Observe a fight

_CODE

Well, @Toblerone did not waste her time as she had promised. Her call going up for Gentry and he moved from the shelter of his own den and out into the opened area that he had just fought to keep his own title. Ears pushing through his ever thick mane as he got closer to the clearing. Bloodied jewels scanning the area, seeing that he was not the only one here but others. He did not either one of them but dipped his head towards them before finding his own place to lounge about and wait to see whoever would come and fight her for it, if anyone did to begin with. +5 - Observe a fight

Art and Code by Cloudy

Keeping this a bit vague since I'm not sure how her own challenge thread ended yet, also hoping this is alright to do.

Edit 3: Senior staff approved typo fix that made an attack unclear


Much like her own challenge, there was a stretch of nothing. The young master and another man came to join the party, but not as challengers, just another body come to fill space that had been designated for blood. It was grating, the lack of interest from this pride thst alleged itself to be strong.

Fine, she would fill that space herself. To see this happen twice in a row was too irritating to consider to the hound, and this woman seemed to be on the verge of unconcerned after making the call was equally grating. It was all... so... grating.

Waiting a another minute or so, the only indication she gave of her intent to attack was a small nod to the other observers before she slowly stood, tensing her hinds before lunging forward at the other woman with her head bowed and ears back. The hound surged toward the stranger without even a snarl of a warning, only opening her jaws in an attempt to clamp down on one of the newcomer's back legs, intending to snag and pull her off balance if she could manage a hold. Bigger she may be than Dobromira, but giants could fall hard.


Dobromira vs. @Toblerone
EM Gentry
Round 1 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 20 + 18 + 4 + 6 + 15

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 8 + 13 + 15 + 16

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 10 + 7 + 3 + 9 + 11

LION, CODE BY LARS

The first to harken was medium in size and around the same age. From the shadows she came, and on the outskirts she stayed. The constant shadows veiled the dark-and-tan female well. She saw there was another patch of solid ground for this feline to sit. Then there was a younger male @Bruno ♔. An even easier target for the colossal newcomer, especially since he smelled like food. A full belly made one heavy in a bad way. This male seemed to regard her and then declined to challenge, which Toblerone naturally took as a compliment toward her size and prowess and general intimidation factor. She gave a quick, closed-lip smile, a little mince of a smirk but not daring to be undeniably haughty yet.

There was her patron, Adeodatus; she knew there was no danger from him, since he held a higher rank. Hopefully she would be able to back up her bragging, or at least lose well enough that she could prove she had tried. Not that she really put any weight on that thought. Losing.

She looked through the mire, watching the clearer areas from whence most of the other bystanders had come. Those might be trails that would allow her to travel in a more clean fashion.

She didn't expect an attack from any of the others present and thus overlooked the motions given by the black and tan. Her annoyance at not being met with a fight spiked with a snarl as a sudden lash of pain hitched up her hind ankle. She reflexively tried to whip around, skull lowering and ears gluing back, her yellow eyes narrowed with snakelike menace, but she could only manage to twist halfway around before she realized her dependency on that hind paw was simply not there. Punctures ripped through the thin skin as it was yanked off the ground, causing her other haunch to fall sideways. The grip remained in the sneak's patent jaws, leaking blood trails and radiating pain through the ankle.

Oh, Toblerone knew who it was now, and she was gonna get a load of trouble for messing with the pink princess. She planted her far front limb and used the nearer one, claws arrayed out, to try to reach enough to smack the interloper across the face. She wasn't in position to threaten major damage but that didn't mean she would give up.

Mind raced ahead, planning through the pain, vindictive. She could say she had been jumped; even if she lost, she could say it was unfair; her superior size to present as evidence that she would have won on even ground.

+5 Study the landscape of an area

Toblerone vs @Dobromira
EM Gentry
Round 1/3

Hits:

Rolling 6d20: 4 + 6 + 10 + 7 + 19 + 8

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 5 + 6 + 14 + 2

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 1 + 17 + 2 + 14 + 4

In truth it did not entirely matter who won the rank, so long as it was earned by right of blood. Dobromira hadn't been part of the mire for long, though a month of living in its boggy confines had soaked the scent of the pride into her pelt. This was still a battle of outsider versus outsider, though one wore their newly assigned colors brighter simply by how long she'd been steeped in them. If no one else was going to test this newcomer's mettle, then Dobromira would.

Her fangs met flesh, gambit of jarring the other woman's weight successful at least in part. The pink cloaked challenger was not sent sprawling but the snarl her fangs produced was a sweet compensation, drank in like the blood wetting her tongue as Dobramira shook her head in an attempt to jostle the her opponent further before releasing regardless and hopping back in a bid to dodge any retaliation.

Too late, as claws swept over the bridge of her muzzle to leave a stinging set of furrows through the black fur. Not deep enough to cause significant damage, but they welled red and began to drip down to her chin as the hound offered a split-second of a grin, red coated tongue sweeping over the blood streaked side of her muzzle almost salaciously before launching her own counter-counter attack.

The earth was thawing, though still rigid in its plasticity, like icy, slimy clay. Raking a set of claws through the muck on her paws upward sweep, Dobromira threw herself forward and lashed toward her opponent's face with those soiled daggers, intentions on delivering an eye full of dirt in addition to a face full of claws.


Dobromira vs. @Toblerone
EM Gentry
Round 2 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 5 + 7 + 19 + 20 + 12

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 14 + 6 + 18 + 19

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 11 + 7 + 1 + 8 + 18

LION, CODE BY LARS

Only a noble showed, his expression unreadable as he settled in to watch the brawl in a manner similar to how both he and Dobromira had done. Bruno twitched his whiskers as he watched the challenger sneer, displeasure tightening in his chest at the notion of such a cat being among their ranks. He had no idea who she served – where her allegiances lay – and that made her a threat until deemed otherwise.

He steered his vision to the side after catching movement in his peripherals, just in time to catch Dobromira's silent nod before she went in for a graceless bite. Bruno's stomach burned as he realized that she was answering the call, a mix of relief and anxiety in equal measure flurrying there while Bruno sat and watched. He had been waiting to see how she stacked up against a lioness, and this one would have to do, even if freakishly large. He perked his ears forward atop his skull, silently cheering on the hound without making any such display. It was time someone lived up to what the mire claimed to be.

---

@Adeodatus @Toblerone @Dobromira
+5 - Observe a fight

_CODE

She strained to reach around with her front paw while her back leg was jostled more. There would be more soreness around the ankle, and longer stripes of blood along the thin skin of its shank. Their fight took an awkward, ungainly swing once the paw was freed. The pink lioness's haunches jumbled around, fighting with her own weight and half-sprawled other hind paw, struggling to at least manage to get her snappy jaws into the game. She slapped her front paw back to earth triumphantly after she felt, and saw, that she had managed to catch a nice swatch of the interloper's face. Although she was panting, with unhinged jaws poised to retaliate, the expression in her yellow eyes was completely vindicated. HAH! it said, believing she now had the other feline where she wanted her.

As such she was completely flabbergasted by a sudden cold rain of mud running down her cheeks with the feel and embarrassment of running eyeliner. There were also slash marks beneath it, burning in their freshly parted red furrows, but all she felt was indignity. "Oh my gods!" she shrieked, her tail briefly standing straight up to emphasize. "You are such a little bitch!" Snarling, she aimed to barrel forward with basically no footing, her hind paws still out of place, but she was angry and she was gonna slap a bitch. Paw lashing, claws out, trying to smack her opponent broadside across the face.

She was too pissed to think about doing the same move with the throwing of mud. But she'd get her. This lioness was going to end up with her face in the mud eventually.

Toblerone vs @Dobromira
EM Gentry
Round 2/3

Hits:

Rolling 6d20: 3 + 19 + 7 + 14 + 2 + 10

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 16 + 14 + 3 + 13

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 5 + 20 + 9 + 2 + 14

Bitch she was, a female dog with fangs that bit and claws that tore. The remark was met only with a bark of a laugh that revealed her pink tinged ivories at the raw offense on the other woman's muddied face. The riposte came like a landslide, her opponent's massive form lunging her way like a bristling mountain tumbling down with daggers bared.

Dobromira did not leap away or sidestep in the face of the other woman's fury, instead, she threw herself into the heavy-handed attack. Her inky skull angled itself to the side as a massive paw swept toward it, not taking the full force of the blow but still receiving harsh impact of the paw's pad that rattled her teeth as claws drew thin, red trails across her jaw.

The hound grunted, reaching out with her forepaws as her own charge brought them far into each other's space. One sought to sink its claws into the other woman's shoulder while the other attempted to hook around the last truly supportive limb she had left, seeking to jerk the non-attacking front leg out from under her.


Dobromira vs. @Toblerone
EM Gentry
Round 3 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 17 + 19 + 8 + 16 + 11

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 4 + 2 + 6 + 3

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 11 + 7 + 19 + 9 + 16

LION, CODE BY LARS