i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

The world burns in a low simmer for Xavier. His body races to catch up with the size of his overgrown paws, but he barely notices -- compared to the world around him, he still feels minuscule and unimportant. It's a feeling he loathes.

Small things eat at him, weather away his edges and exposes the rawness underneath. The world around him feels hostile, vengeful, even moreso since he saw that lion come back for their home, fighting maman for it. It doesn't sit right with him -- how come their trespassing meant that they had a right to come for their home? It rankles Xavier to no end, and whispers to him what he feels more and more to be the truth: they're alone, and they have to look after themselves. No one else will do it for him.

With a sense of duty, he prowls beyond the Bluffs borders, a scout searching for potential threats. As soon as he finds the land filled with bones, his purpose melts away, and even if for a moment he feels like he gets the opportunity to indulge. He remembers the bone he'd carried around and begins looking for a suitable replacement immediately.

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

Curiosity bids her to follow after her brother. Séverine is nothing if not a nosy and intrusive girl, and she does so hate it when her siblings are off having fun without her. And so she trails after the fresh scent of Xavier in silence, her claws gripping the rubble to aid in her descent from the Bluffs. Rock gives way to sand, and sand gives way to a hardened clay, but the more intriguing thing is the collection of carcasses that seem to live here. Much like her brother, she forgets all else for her intrigue of this place -- but her intent is not the same. Séverine has little interest in toys or playthings, but she does have a fascination in the towering cage of bones that was once an elephant. She sidles through the shadows of the ribs, brushing her pale coat against sun-bleached bones; she's rather in awe by the sheer size of the thing, absolutely towering over her. She imagines it would even make her mother look small. And then she's caught sight of @Xavier from between the bones, and she slinks halfway through two of the ribs, leaning her shoulder idly against one and watching him closely with her typical analytical stare.

Clever as the devil and twice as pretty

image by aurora, code by koi

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

If there's one thing Xavier isn't used to, it's being followed. He's so used to feeling like the threats are all external that he doesn't stop to search for one following him from the Bluffs.

He encounters a huge hip bone, belonging (unbeknownst to him) to a water buffalo that had taken its last breath here. His teeth gnaw its jutting edges, testing where the sand has worn it smooth. Not as satisfying as when it's all rough and sharp, truthfully. And so he leaves it to the desert's grasp, turning and searching for a more suitable target.

The huge elephant skeleton draws him, as well, and he notices a familiar figure lurking between its arcing rib bones. He pauses when he sees her, ears forward as he thinks for a moment.

Then, he feels that panic crawl from the bottom of his gut. It's not safe out here, is the fleeting thought, that overwhelming protectiveness rising fiercely within him. He puffs to his full height and strides toward her, tail flagging above his back.

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?" What are you doing here? he demands. He knows better than to use that tone with any of his sisters but it bursts forward before he can quell the flood.

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

It takes some time for her to be noticed — time in which Séverine simply watches, silent and unassuming, even if her mind is racing a mile a minute. It never stops, the constant pendulum swing of information pulled in as rabidly as a dog clings to a bone, though she can't say that she's learning much from her brother's current choice of activity. At least, nothing she doesn't already know. When he spots her, there is a visible bristling of his larger, darker frame; it brings a slow smirk to the girl's lips, one that dances tauntingly in her eyes. She draws up with considerably less of a dramatic flair, her skull arching high in the nature that is befitting of a princess, and locks her gaze fearlessly onto the mismatched hues of @Xavier's. He questions her, and her smirk fades — only slightly — to allow for a considering tilt of her head, studying him for a long moment. "Tout ce que je veux," ( whatever I want ) she informs him, the slight narrowing of her eyes daring him to challenge her. They might be siblings, and they might defend each other to the ends of the earth, but when it's just them, Séverine is only too happy to remind Xavier of his place.

Clever as the devil and twice as pretty

image by aurora, code by koi

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

The ways of the Dieudonné have been whispered above him like a prayer over an altar, molding him to be the proper column to support the vaunted matriarchy. He knows that he's supposed to protect their women, raise them up, respect them.

Severine isn't a woman, though. She's his sister. And so he intentionally excludes her from his Dieudonné-women-he's-not-supposed-to-bully list. She snaps back at him and he feels the anger rise unbidden in his breast, the stone cold fury flashing in his eyes without ever resurfacing in his features until the moment he strikes. He's not sure where the anger comes from -- there's so much of it bottled inside of him, and it comes back up whenever he thinks of dad, or the trespassing whelps on the borders, or the enemies he's seen try to come for their home. This time, it comes from a place that is immensely frustrated that she doesn't immediately understand that he's just trying to protect her, look out for her.

And so he strikes, reaching with his larger stature to lash out with his right paw. He seeks to smack the left side of her face, trying to take advantage of her position between the bones and slam Severine's head into the ribs she lingers between.

xavier
vs
@Séverine
for
dominance !!

round one of three

Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 11 + 14 + 3 + 16 + 20

Dodges:

Rolling 2d20: 13 + 6

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 12 + 10 + 19 + 2 + 6

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

Perhaps she knows it's coming even before @Xavier does. The glint in his eyes, the stiff stillness — Séverine knows her brother, and she knows that she's struck a nerve. And more than that, she's glad that she has. Her claws curl slowly into the baked sand beneath her feet, tension quivering up her muscles in the moments that it takes for him to reach a tipping point and implode on the lingering silence. When the stillness breaks, she lunges forwards and upwards, seeking to close the space between them with a powerful propulsion from her haunches. The resulting blow from her brother's paw lands hard against her left shoulder, welts rising beneath her pale skin. Séverine attempts to keep herself from getting bowled over by trying to sling her right forepaw across his neck, hoping to hook her claws into his nape whilst the claws of her left fore try to find purchase just behind his right armpit. Her muzzle strains upwards, and the flash of her teeth attempt to give a bloodying kiss to her brother's left cheek. séverine vs xavier for dominance move one of three Hits: Rolling 4d20: 17 + 7 + 20 + 16 Dodges: Rolling 2d20: 18 + 9 Luck: Rolling 5d20: 4 + 5 + 13 + 20 + 8

Clever as the devil and twice as pretty

image by aurora, code by koi

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

The anger boiling at his belly glows hot, already emboldened and invigorated by the promise of a brawl. Their fights grow less and less one-sided as they continue to grow, the gaps between their strengths rapidly closing. What Xavier hefts with pure strength, Severine makes up for in ferocity, launching herself bodily at him, stark in contrast to his measured but powerful strike.

There's something right about their kinship forged in blood. He's angry, but this is the best way they know to bond, to work off that steam that bubbles beneath the surface of his pelt.

He moves forward into her embrace gladly, seeking to latch on with his claws where his whack had landed on her shoulder. She latches to him, claws digging into one pit with stinging incisions and the others slinging across his neck, fighting through budding baby mane. At the same time that she finds a grip on him, he ducks his head forward and down to try to headbutt hers -- not even seeing her launch the attack with her jaws, just living up to purest sense of the word hardheaded as his forehead seeks to slam into her oncoming nose.

xavier
vs
@Séverine
for
dominance !!

round two of three

Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 6 + 15 + 3 + 19 + 12

Dodges:

Rolling 2d20: 16 + 1

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 10 + 1 + 6 + 2 + 14

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

Warped and twisted though it may be, this is both how they establish dominance and how they bond; they are made for bloodshed, for war, and they would not be Dieudonné if they didn't embrace every part of that. It is hardly the first time they've scrapped, and it most certainly won't be the last. And every time they collide, they will learn something to take away for other battles. @Xavier's claws curl into the meat of her shoulder, and she similarly finds purchase where she's sought to grab him, locking them in some kind of macabre embrace. The broad brunt of his skull comes swinging for her face, and she can't quite recoil enough to evade it, for her momentum had already been driving for his cheek. And so he manages to connect with her snout in a glorious smack, sending blood spewing from her nose and staining her porcelain skin. Séverine squeals angrily, her head recoiling instinctively as she attempts to drag the claws of her left fore through his armpit, eager to give her brother a similarly tender injury. séverine vs xavier for dominance move two of three Hits: Rolling 4d20: 7 + 14 + 17 + 20 Dodges: Rolling 2d20: 1 + 17 Luck: Rolling 5d20: 5 + 1 + 13 + 11 + 2

Clever as the devil and twice as pretty

image by aurora, code by koi

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

His skull bashes her nose, her teeth scraping shallow incisions the top of his forehead as he lunges his face into her fangs, her hard nose bruising just above it. He twitches his head backward the same has hers after the impact, recoiling from the stinging pain, and hisses as her left forepaw digs her grip deeper into his flesh, slicing into the shallow fur and flesh there and drawing blood against her talons.

With her propped up on her back limbs and supporting herself on him, he attempts to take a sudden lunging step or two forward, trying to pit the power of his four driving limbs against her own in an attempt to bowl her backward. He tries to step forward with his right paw deeply over-extending, blindly aiming to try to reach enough to try to stomp down on her back left paw and keep it from walking back to maintain her balance.

xavier
vs
@Séverine
for
dominance !!

round three of three

Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 1 + 10 + 3 + 8 + 7

Dodges:

Rolling 2d20: 7 + 1

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 4 + 8 + 20 + 17 + 5

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

Following through with the pull of her foreleg, Séverine seeks to snake that same paw over the back of @Xavier's neck, attempting to solidify her hold on him from both sides. He pushes forwards into her, testing her fulcrum of balance and causing her to stutter-step slightly, only to have his claws come down on her left hind toes, pinning the foot in place. Her right hind pushes against his attempt to thwart her balance, and she seeks to use her grip on his neck to give her the leverage to lunge her head upwards again, attempting to sink her teeth into the soft flesh of his throat, wanting desperately to make him submit first. séverine vs xavier for dominance move three of three Hits: Rolling 4d20: 20 + 6 + 9 + 7 Dodges: Rolling 2d20: 5 + 17 Luck: Rolling 5d20: 7 + 1 + 3 + 19 + 18

Clever as the devil and twice as pretty

image by aurora, code by koi