There is a creeping fear that gnaws at her, endlessly scraping away at her very bones like a starving dog, chilling her blood in a way that even the harshest winters upon the Summit had never quite managed to do. A sense of dread that had been slowly building up within her ever since the terrible, helpless moment that she'd been forced to face the truth - she was not strong enough to keep her family together, no matter the promises she'd made to herself, or her mother (when the title had still tasted sweet on her tongue), or even Auntie Olive. (Did Olive even remember her, anymore? Did Ghyslaine?) Even father walked his own path nowadays. As did Capucine. And Maven was powerless to keep them from their callings.

She tires of being helpless. Even more than that, she can afford such weakness no longer, now that war thunders on the horizon. The mountain remains, as immovable now as it was the first day Maven had laid her eyes upon it. Perhaps she might still be able to protect her pridemates when the bloodshed comes. She owes them that much, at least. For always being there.

But to do that, she must be strong. And what better place was there to build up the power of one's mind and body, if not here in the Pit? The abyssal woman's nostrils wrinkled a bit at the smell of old blood clinging to this place, but she would step her way to the arena's dusty center nevertheless. A roar tears from her parted jaws, louder and more demanding than even she had imagined herself capable of. But there was nothing for it - it wasn't like she had the time to stand around all day in the vague hope that someone would show up eventually.

So she prepares herself, stalking in small circles around the dustbowl with her ears pinned back to her skull, ignoring the anxious throb of her heart as she watched...and waited.

Maven vs. ???
Dominance
Round 0 / 3

You're only sixteen, going on forever

art + code by sammiie

Ghyslaine

To scent one of her oldest daughters at the pit, sent a bolt of fear through her. Ghyslaine, though she had become distant due to trauma and injury, and... her own shitty things- had never stopped caring for her daughters and son. Though she did not know what had become of Mervielle or Alastor... she knew, at least- the last she'd known and heard.. that Capucine and Maven were in the Summit still. Safe.

To scent Maven here now... filled her with anxiety and apprehension so as she approached, she expected to see her engaged in a fight... and she'd be able to observe from a distance and continue to not know what to say to her. Of course, she hadn't expected to find her awaiting an opponent. Ghyslaine, slowly descended into the fit- looking at her daughter with a mixture of fondness and pride, and she speaks softly.

"You're so beautiful." Her words were a hoarse whisper, a soft thing as she came to stand before her daughter- paws evenly holding her weight, as she dipped her head towards her.

She knew she'd been a shitty mother. But at least she could do one thing right. Maven could get some safe practice in on her.

"Attack me." She ordered softly- preparing herself.

Ghyslaine vs @Maven
For Dominance
0/3

_{art by yumpy}

Nero will never not be a helicopter parent. Not one that hovers suffocatingly close, but one that lingers off in the distance with binoculars. He's ready to intercept at any time, particularly in the moment where he hears his daughter's intentions to fight. Maven is strong and capable and has two.. unique.. parents; it made sense she would follow in their block headed ways and show an interest in combat. He has half a mind to answer her challenge himself when he notices Ghyslaine arriving. Nero's breath hitches in his throat as his eyes dart to their daughter. Out of all their children, Maven had taken her mother's absence the hardest

He's not sure whether or not he should be present for this, but he hunkers down a respectable distance away and does his best to hide behind a rock. He'll intervene if things get too heated, but for now.. he needs to let his baby blaze her own trail.

_{ART — CODE}

Maven can't say she truly knows what she was expecting to happen here. Who she expected to see. Countless possibilities flicker through her mind with every step she takes, 'what-ifs' jumping at her with every telltale twitch of her tail. What if it was a friend that showed? Was it normal for pridemates to make each other bleed? What if it was a stranger, an enemy of the Summit? A monster.

In the end, she thinks it would have be so much easier if it had been a simple monster that stepped down into the arena to greet her.

Instead, her mother looks no less perfect than she had in Maven's earliest memories of her, her pelt light and soft and framed with gold. The scent of rolling grasslands drifts off her petite shape - another happy memory, long since tainted by bitterness.

'You're so beautiful.'

The words make her quiver, far too many emotions seething beneath her skin, boiling her blood and bleeding her heart, for how could this woman bring herself to come down here to say that now, after all this time-! She wants to yell. To scream. To snarl and cry and flash her teeth. Maybe all of those things at once.

Instead, she does nothing, her body frozen stiff and still. "How dare you..." There is more to say, she thinks, too many things, too many words swirling bright and sharp and furious in her head, near impossible to sort out.

'Attack me.'

"Gladly." She hates how her voice shakes on the hiss, the word rattling in her chest, scraping and tearing its way up her own throat as if it were a razor blade. She hates how it still hurts.

And so, she finally lashes out. Just as @Ghyslaine had asked her to. Just as she had made her do.

~fight starts here~
There is little artifice to the way Maven lunges forward, her planning as absent as her sense of calm, but the abyssal woman is fast, closing the distance quickly in an attempt to swat Ghyslaine's right forelimb out from under her, reaching for her pale ankle with curved, unsheathed claws. Slightly too-long fangs gleam within gaping jaws that seek to clamp into the skin of her mother's right shoulder.

Would it pain the other woman? Maven's not sure what she wants the answer to be. Though she knows it all the same.

Maven vs. @Ghyslaine
Dominance
Round 1 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 3d20: 7 + 1 + 11

Dodges:

Rolling 7d20: 20 + 16 + 18 + 13 + 10 + 5 + 14

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 6 + 4 + 10 + 1 + 20

You're only sixteen, going on forever

art + code by sammiie

There isn't a parenting guide on 'what to do when you nearly die, have trauma, and end up basically neglecting your entire first litter through their early lives' -- if there were, Ghyslaine would own a store to sell them. The fact was, she had no excuses to give Maven that she already hadn't. There was nothing more to be said, for the time that had passed. She didn't expect her daughter to welcome her with open paws, and instead- the look that passes over her smaller daughters face- well, it's a stab of sadness that quakes through her- that strengthens this resolve.

You can hate me, Maven, but you can also learn from me.

How dare you those words will haunt her dreams and nightmares.

Then there is movement and though her daughter is small she is fast. Though Maven may have ire and anger- Ghyslaine would do nothing to harm her. Only to teach her. Maven is quick, and Ghyslaine hardly has time to steel herself against the attack before her right forepaw is swiped with quick needle claws that rip into her flesh, and teeth meet her shoulder, as she feels that side of her crumple to the ground. Pain arcs through her, and she does nothing but absorb it.

She aims to use her bigger size to the advantage, to reach over in an attempt to grab of her daughters left shoulder/ upper neck area -- aiming for once to be the bigger one, who can use their weight to the advantage. "You're fast. Good." She breathes in between her attempts to grab ahold of her daughter- being careful to not prick her flesh. Ghyslaine aims to jerk her leg free of claws, to get it back under her- despite the flesh that may rip and tear- to make sure she's back on her feet as soon as she can.

Ghyslaine vs @Maven
For Dominance
Round 1/3
hits:

Rolling 4d20: 12 + 10 + 20 + 17

dodges:

Rolling 8d20: 4 + 2 + 16 + 8 + 18 + 14 + 3 + 9

luck:

Rolling 6d20: 5 + 4 + 6 + 9 + 16 + 18

_{— art by yumpy}

Maybe it is true. Perhaps there really is nothing more to be said about all that has come to pass. Yet there is a part within Maven that longs to see @Ghyslaine try, as if there was a chance that hearing some new stream of excuses that wouldn't matter to her would somehow change anything. It would not. Could not, when the girl's mind was already clouded with bitterness, reinforcing walls far too stubborn to fold.

Yet still, it stings.

Not unlike how the pinch of claws behind one's ankle must sting, she imagines. There are all sorts of half-thought-out expectations swirling around this act of impulse, and still, Maven can only feel surprised when her own teeth break through skin, when her mother actually stumbles beneath her charge. Maven has laid her eyes upon more violence than either of her parents may have wanted her to see, and yet the sensation of participation still shocks her.

It never feels entirely real, that her own petite body could be capable of causing pain. Yet the evidence of it wells up around her fangs, a hint of her mother's own blood staining her tongue.

It doesn't her make feel any better. She might cry, if only she wasn't so determined not to let Ghyslaine see.

She may be fast, but she doesn't yet have the instinct to avoid the grip that presses into the junction of her neck and shoulder, the pinch of teeth as infuriatingly gentle as it is firm. "Don't coddle me!" She hisses, jabbing her shoulder upwards in an attempt to catch the underside of Ghyslaine's neck as her own skull flinched back, allowing the other woman's ankle to tear away from her claws as she reflexively tried to sidestep away from the hold.

Maven vs. @Ghyslaine
Dominance
Round 2 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 3d20: 3 + 12 + 14

Dodges:

Rolling 7d20: 6 + 14 + 4 + 9 + 7 + 17 + 8

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 9 + 2 + 6 + 18 + 8

You're only sixteen, going on forever

art + code by sammiie

Ghyslaine's focus was on her daughter- to savor this moment even if it was not... the moment that she wanted- reunion wise. She wanted to focus on the scent of her, the feel of her body as it slammed into her- the feel of her teeth as they pierced into her flesh even. This was better than the nothing she had, had before this moment. So, she'd take it. She'd take whatever her daughter wanted to throw at her- figuratively and literally.

The pain that pierces her is nothing compared to the emotional turmoil the lift situation she had caused had brought them, and so she withstands it. Her teeth find purchase in her daughters scruff and she is careful to not try to hurt her- though her hissed words make her reply- words muffled. "Despite what you may think, I will always do my best to not hurt you." She growls. I'm sorry that I've failed in that aspect so much.

She doesn't say those words, but they echo in her mind as Maven's shoulder juts upwards, hitting the sensitive spot in her neck- making her reflexively open her jaws, as her ankle is let go and her daughter moves to get out of her grip. Ghyslaine's jaws part into a grin, as she aims to give her head a good shake before aiming to rear up, and aim to swat down with her right paw, onto her daughters back or shoulder in order to potentially press weight into her to try to buckle her down to the earth.

Ghyslaine vs @Maven
For Dominance
Round 2/3
hits:

Rolling 4d20: 11 + 20 + 16 + 17

dodges:

Rolling 8d20: 3 + 18 + 4 + 5 + 10 + 9 + 13 + 17

luck:

Rolling 6d20: 13 + 14 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 9

_{— art by yumpy}

The pressure of fangs against her scruff is an itching, scorching thing upon her skin, gentle though the hold might be. So many cold days atop the mountain's peak had seen the abyssal child missing and yearning for her mother's warm, soothing touch - and now that she has found it again, after all this time, Maven can only think to tear away from it as if it burned her. It feels like it really might burn her, a storm of emotion both bitter and sweet churning her blood into a boil, her senses all too keenly aware of the phantom touch at her nape even after she'd forced Ghyslaine's jaws to release her.

The prickle of broken skin and dripping blood would have been so much easier to simply hate. But nothing about @Ghyslaine has ever been simple or easy, has it?

Her answer to the other woman's words is a ragged blend of a snarl and a sob as she pulls herself away, words all but strangled between her gritted teeth. "Then spare me." How is she to accept a sentiment that has come so late? When believing in its supposed truth can only feel worse than the hollow thought that Ghyslaine had never cared at all? At least the latter idea would make the hurt make sense.

The heavy discomfort of the paw pressing against the space between her shoulder blades is as welcome a distraction to focus upon as it is a frustrating one. Maven's haphazard retreat is brought to an abrupt halt, slender legs quivering as they began to give way beneath the added weight she'd not been expecting to carry. The uncaring expanse of dusty earth draws steadily closer, even as Maven struggles to resist the push with what meager strength her petite frame possessed before her knees buckle, her neck and shoulders twisting in an attempt to snap her jaws around whichever part of Ghyslaine's right forelimb she might be able to reach.

Maven vs. @Ghyslaine
Dominance
Round 3 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 3d20: 18 + 11 + 5

Dodges:

Rolling 7d20: 15 + 6 + 16 + 19 + 11 + 1 + 12

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 6 + 3 + 7 + 2 + 14

You're only sixteen, going on forever

art + code by sammiie

Ghyslaine

sparring with her daughter, wasn't quite.. the "bonding" exercise she'd had in mind. truthfully, she didn't really know what she'd expected but... this wasn't it? teeth clamp into her, and maven's words are more... of a wound than her daughters teeth. her own paw thuds against her daughters body and she feel shes that she's pressing her down, so ghyslaine merely aims to keep doing that, to try to force her to the earth while coaching as maven's teeth latch into her foreleg. "you're smaller but faster. now be faster." she orders, instructing her to roll free, to do something that... would help her get out of the position that she found herself in. "roll free. focus on defense, not offense." quick instructions through panting breaths.

@Ghyslaine vs @Maven
3/3
for dominance
hits:

Rolling 4d20: 13 + 20 + 11 + 6

dodges:

Rolling 8d20: 20 + 6 + 1 + 3 + 17 + 13 + 14 + 4

luck:

Rolling 6d20: 2 + 14 + 4 + 9 + 6 + 18

_{art by yumpy}

@Ghyslaine VS. @Maven FOR DOMINANCE
— RESULTS —

Ghyslaine Hits: 3 + 4 + 3 + 3 luck = 13 hits
Ghyslaine Dodges: 3 + 3 + 4 = 10 dodges

Maven Hits: 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 luck = 7 hits
Maven Dodges: 5 + 2 + 5 = 12 dodges

Ghyslaine Successful Hits: 1
Maven Successful Hits: -3

GHYSLAINE HAS WON THE CHALLENGE FOR DOMINANCE!

The results of this fight cannot be acknowledged ICly until either both challengers have responded or 3 days have gone by — whichever comes first. Any posts breaking this rule will be removed.