[CHAL #3] Will She, Won't She? (Tethys x Naima)

[Epine de Rose]

One more time, she'd promised herself.

Just one more...

This time she had been promised that she would be met on the borders, there would be no surprises, and she would be treated with the respect she was entitled to as a challenge. This was the significance of her questions, and fortune had smiled upon her as she had stumbled across the white lion on yet another of his outings. Admittedly he hadn't been delighted to see her but he had humoured her.

It had come with conditions of course, for a start, he would only answer her questions if she absolutely swore to keep her distance from his band. This time, he had said, he couldn't prevent them from getting to her if they had decided they were done humouring him. It had been through this fateful meeting that she had learned who the pride truly were and all they had stood for... she had been right in some assumptions, and wrong in others.

That aside, she had also managed to persuade him, over the course of a number of days during his 'Viking' to show her how it was that he was so easily able to dispatch of her. No matter how hard she had hit him, he had recovered, her ability with small prey was vastly outweighed by the power behind his swings... She'd learned a lot.

However as he had made to leave she had finally struck up another question, and this time she had done it in front of his band.

She wanted to challenge him as per his traditions, and given it had been him that had defeated her twice before, she wished to rechallenge him again for her honour.

He had accepted.

Now it was time for her to prove that she was worthy...  

[Epine de Rose]

One might have assumed that he was under pressure at this particular point in time, he had after all been challenged directly in the presence of the band of Reavers and his Captain. However, it seemed that he had actually reached a state of 'zen', there had been something about the manner in which she had challenged him that gave him an idea.

She had already proven her honour in many ways.

She had tried once under duress (but failed), she had tried a second time without fully understanding what the conflict had been about (and failed again); and then she had set about finding out her answers as he had instructed. As such, she had demonstrated a willingness to learn from her mistakes and an openness to learning about the significance of the actions she had inadvertently been taking.

...But more importantly?

She had possessed the courage to walk in to his camp, to face the Reavers and his Captain, and demand that she be given a proper chance to prove herself now that she knew what it meant. For all intents and purposes she was a Viking in his eyes and so long as she approached him with the same conviction on this day, then it would only be fitting that she be able to take her rank.

That aside, with this declaration had come a realisation that she was not a warrior, she was akin to some of the other females within the pride who (while strong) were more suited to lesser roles. They served their purpose and displayed their strength in other ways... So it was only fitting that her strength be matched.

Yes, on this occasion, he would mirror her to an extent and be more mindful of his blows. If she could display the same strength as she had managed in one or two blows in previous encounters, if she didn't lose her cool, then he might very well concede...  

[Epine de Rose]

He had come, and understandably there were a few interested Reavers who had settled themselves comfortably nearby to view proceedings. To be honest, the lioness couldn't blame them for their interest given this was the manner in which she had introduced herself and declared her intentions. She could only hope that she put on a show that was adequate for the audience, hell, this time round she wasn't entirely sure if she could retreat if she lost.

...After all, the last two times, it had only been Tethys.

Still, she squared herself up to face the lion and took a deep breath. Once she had gathered her composure she gave him a small nod an darted forward. With her initial opening too easy to read, she had taken his criticism and crafted herself a new method of assault. There was no way he would expect it, especially when she ran round him multiple times (just to confuse him) and then slide directly underneath him.

It was inspiration from her days as a child, and Tethys was to be the unfortunate recipient of a kick to the stomach from below...  

[Epine de Rose]

Now that was something he hadn't expected.

Using her small stature against him, she had slotted snuggly underneath and promptly slammed the air straight out of his chest. He heaved in a breath and stumbled away, a blow that was most certainly more difficult to recover from than a normal claw swipe. In fact, he had to admit that she must have put her entire weight behind that one because good gods did it radiate with pain.

Ow.

He gave a series of coughs, stomping both forepaws to shake the shock from his body before returning to the task at hand. He might not have countered immediately, but that didn't mean he couldn't retaliate now surely?

...He was wrong.  

[Epine de Rose]

Don't let up! Don't let up!

He had stumbled away but the lioness was quickly on her paws again, and she was just as agile as he had suspected on their first encounter. She was most assuredly built for hunting small prey and on this occasion, Tethys counted for tiny prey. Before he had fully recovered from her initial blow, she had decided that now was the time to pounce and she did so.

It was a move that he simply couldn't dodge at this juncture and she coiled her forepaws around his neck with her hinglegs clasped firmly at his sides. If she let up now then he was going to win, it was better to overwhelm him quickly and without remorse.

So she bit down... hard.  

[Epine de Rose]

Sweet, merciful gods, she had needles for teeth.

The lion growled in protest as she sank her jaws into his mane and gave a violent shake to attempt to dislodge her. Unfortunately, it proved to be a fruitless endeavour as she had stuck to him firmly. At this point in time there was no shifting her from her vantage point - for want of a better phrase, he had been caught. Forget about meeting her on her level, the petite little lioness had actually come up with a legitimate plan to fell a giant.

With a second failed shake, he decided it might be time to change tactic and, probably to the amusement of his fellow reavers, he adopted the stance of a wilderbeast and proceeded to bounce and shake. With enough of a jolt she might actually come off.

...Alas, he was wrong again.  

[Epine de Rose]

She was winning! Or rather she felt like she had been winning until she came to the realisation that unless she intended to actually kill him, she didn't really have anywhere to go from here.

At this precise moment in time the lioness had the advantage as he couldn't reach her and he couldn't get her off. However, she also wasn't big enough to cause significant damage to him. She could make it irritating for him and never get off, or she could get off and put herself at risk again, but at this precise moment in time she knew that she was in a stalemate and if she got off, it was more likely that he would take two steps and floor her.

Dammit.

With no current 'gameplan' in mind, she had no choice but to tighten her grasp and bite down again until she came up with a solution to her problem...  

[Epine de Rose]

To be honest, Tethys had never anticipated that he would be so easily fooled by a move that cubs often made on each other. Hell, he had even made it on his father more than once - in fact, his twin and he had regularly 'attacked' their father by leaping on his back and declaring him defeated - he had humoured them for the most part of course, but when he had things to do...

AHA!

It was so simple that he would have laughed at any other time, but given the gravity of the situation, he simply did exactly what his father had done in those times. He rolled over, and he didn't just do it gradually... Oh no, the larger lion flopped down and rolled his full weight on to his back with the unfortunate lioness underneath him - if anything he fully intended to stay this way until she let go.

He even took a small amount of pleasure from the muffled yelp of surprise underneath him!  

[Epine de Rose]

Cheap, dumbass, move...

She was almost indignant at the fact he had done such a thing even though it had been a perfectly logical counter to her position. Still, she was rather surprised by the weight of the male on top of her and if she didn't react soon then she was going to be turned in to a pancake. How had she responded to this as a child? Some of her siblings had been bigger than her after all so...

Oh she knew!

Bringing out the majority of her claws she took great pleasure in scratching at his back and sides. What might have been a nice grooming session if she had been more tender, was quickly turned into a scenario in which one was about to be stabbed by a thousand tiny little knives and pins. He was either going to get off her, or he was going to end up with no fur on his back.

The choice was his.  

[Epine de Rose]

It started off nice, a massage almost, and then it quickly turned in to something that really wasn't terribly pleasant. Just like her teeth, this little creature seemed to possess needles for claws and they were making quick work of the skin on his back. Without screaming, though he had a rather great desire to shriek the longer it went on, the lion pulled himself up from his position on top of the petite lioness and clambered to his paws.

It was while he was shaking himself off that he sent a cloud of fur into the air.

A glance over his shoulders indicated that she had made some really quick work of his back. His mouth moved into a mild 'oh', a mix of pain and admiration at her handiwork. There were clumps missing, and her claws had managed to cut fairly deep, he was going to take a while to look normal again even if the wounds themselves were superficial. Despite her size, she had done an impressive amount of damage.

However, as he caught her out of the corner of his eyes preparing to attack he did hold up his paw to ward her off.

"Enough," he said finally and lowered it once more.

"If you had been in the company of a full band, I would be dead," he continued and lanced over his shoulders towards the 'audience' who seemed to be reasonably satisfied with what they had seen. "Given these circumstances, you will receive credit where it is due."

"Congratulations, Naima; Honour be with you."