[Round 2] Vatra vs Ro Vasuva

[Motoujamii Lands]

Round 2 information:

- The winner of this duel will be guaranteed the rank of 'Captain'.
- The winner is the lion/ness who rolls the highest number across 5 turns. An extra turn must be rolled by each player to break a tie. [Reminder of rolls: 1 - miss, 2 - bide/glancing attack, 3 - hit]
- Even if you rolled higher than your opponent, if you fail to edit your rolls with an RP response, your character is disqualified.

The deadline for this RP is: Wednesday 29th March.

Good luck!

Excited Apathy

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Ro's first challenge had not gone as he had expected, but he had been declared victorious in the end. He was a little baffled by that experience, still. Nevertheless he was excited to move on to the next round and try himself against a new opponent.

He didn't recognize his opponent, but he was very keen to try himself against her. She had the look of someone who had been born and raised in the pride, which Ro knew meant she would likely be a formidable warrior. He was looking forward to this, and so was his demon, who had put in an unexpected appearance at the last challenge, and was disappointed by its outcome.

Still, he kept the demon back and instead sallied a cautious blow, taking a chance and testing her reflexes.

Roll 1: bide/glancing blow

Excited Apathy

 

[Excited Apathy]

Vatra wasn't entirely happy with how her last match had gone. She'd been declared the victor, but she still hungered to really prove herself. To prove her skills as superior. Her next opponent was unfamiliar to her, outside of being a fellow Soldier. Good...she wanted to sharpen her claws on a real test. Climb even higher. The grin she gave Ro Vasuva was a feral one, fangs gleaming, before they got down to business.

Her swerve wasn't enough to sidestep his first strike entirely, but she still smirked before swinging for his head. Let him see a few stars in the middle of the day, see how well he recovered. They couldn't draw blood, but she wouldn't hold back.

Roll 1: Hit

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Oof! that had been a solid blow Ro's opponent landed on him, but Ro was glad. It was what he'd needed to really get his head into the fight.

Even as he shook his head in response to Vatra's attack, Ro was moving to retaliate. He snaked his head and front half around in a quick, sinuous movement designed to bring him very close to the lioness so that his next blow, also aimed at her head, would come from a short distance, but with the full weight of his body behind it, since he was not allowed to use claws.

It was good, Ro felt, to have the opportunity to fight properly, given the way his first fight had gone, and he was glad to have an opponent who was going to push him, even if her coloration would have marked her a slave in the pride of his birth. Ro had been fairly quick to shed that particular pridal prejudice, after all.

Ro Roll 2: hit

Excited Apathy

 

[Excited Apathy]

Vatra was knocked back a step by the force of her opponent's blow, snarling as she shook her head. There was a fire in her eyes, though. This one had some fight to him! And he was still nice...and...close... Hind paws digging into the sand, the big lioness rocketed forward before abruptly angling to ram into the male with her shoulder. She was in the mood for a good brawl, and she was happy to spread the aches and bruises around.

Of course, she was always in the mood for a good brawl. Details.

Roll 2: Hit

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Again with the heavy hits. Not that Ro couldn't roll with the punches as needed, but there was still a part of his mind that said lions with slave coloring couldn't possibly be that strong, and lionesses tended to be less brawl-y and more sneaky. He mentally told that old way of thinking to shove off, as it was absolutely unhelpful here, and hadn't proven to be all that helpful anywhere, to be perfectly frank.

As he twisted to regain his balance Ro also tried to recall why this lioness's name sounded familiar. She'd done something impressive recently, he thought. Maybe. For all that, she still held the same rank he did, or they wouldn't be dueling, but it seemed possible she might have a slight advantage over him.

Well, he'd just have to do better, and maybe fight smarter, and definitely put some more distance between them, before she took the opportunity to do anything like that again. While he considered, Ro kept moving, his paws now sure beneath him, his balance recovered. He also kept his eyes trained on his opponent, waiting to see what she would do next.

Ro Roll 3: bide/glancing blow

Excited Apathy

 

[Excited Apathy]

Aw, damn. Vatra was almost disappointed when her opponent gained distance from what had been rapidly becoming a close-combat slugfest. No, wait, definitely disappointed. She was far from done with trying to knock him around! And he was from the Soldier rank like her, it wasn't like he couldn't take a hit or three. Well, she'd just have to close the gap again.

Unfortunately she misjudged the distance as she leapt in and her swing flew wide, prompting her ears to flatten to her head as she let out a low growl.

Roll 3: Miss

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Vatra's leap toward him should not have come as a surprise, but somehow it did, and Ro found himself springing backward and attempting a return attack all at once. Unfortunately, he had bounded a little too far in his reverse, and not only put himself beyond her reach, but also put Vatra beyond his.

He huffed in annoyance as he recognized his mistake, knowing that there could not be much time left for him to recover from his earlier mistakes of exhibiting too much caution, and then too little. It seemed he had swung back to being overly cautious, which might not allow her to score against him, but would neither allow him to score against her.

Ro would have to do better. In the most primitive part of his brain, his demon echoed that thought while simultaneously pouting at not having been allowed to play properly for this duel, which was turning out to be a much more interesting match than Ro's first had been.

Ro Roll 4: miss

Excited Apathy

 

[Excited Apathy]

Vatra reined in her frustration at missing her mark, mollified by the way her charge had caused him to leap back even as she was annoyed by it. Sure she'd intimidated him, but he needed to stand and fight. If he wouldn't...fine, she'd chase him. As long as he didn't dance around, this was totally doable. If he did, she'd adjust her strategy (albeit reluctantly--hitting hard and fast was her favorite). With a lash of her tail she charged at him again, powering forward to slam a forceful paw into him.

So far, she was quite pleased that he was giving her a good scrap of it. Dancing and feinting was fine and all, but there was simply something compelling about a proper testing of power. It made her blood thrum with excitement, giving almost a manic look to her expression.

Roll 4: Hit

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Gods this lioness had power in her blows. Ro was impressed, even though he probably shouldn't have been. This was a pride of warriors, trained from birth to fight. Even those who didn't grow up to be soldiers knew how to fight. That was why he had initially thought the Firekin were the pride his father had come from. He'd been wrong about that, as it turned out, but he'd stayed anyway. He liked it here.

Even though he was definitely working his a** off to keep up with his current opponent. If he lost to her, he would not be ashamed to have done so. She was strong, and not only that, she knew how to use her strength. That didn't mean he was just going to roll over and let her win, though. If he was working for victory, she would have to do the same, Ro thought as he recovered from her most recent attack.

In retaliation Ro closed again, this time moving too close even for paws to be effective. In a real fight, he would be biting, but there were rules against that in these duels. Instead, he was going to use the protection afforded him by his mane and hope his skull was really as hard as his brothers used to say it was: when he was close enough, Ro flung his head to one side, aiming to bring it into contact with Vatra's with bruising force.

Ro Roll 5: hit

Excited Apathy

 

[Excited Apathy]

@#$%!

Vatra was impressed, even as her head rang like a bell. A good hard headbutt was the kind of tactic she'd favor herself, and one she'd likely use later. Still dizzied, she drew back--just enough to swing again. It might have been expected for her to need to gather herself after such a hit, but she figure she was still in it enough to stay on the attack...if he thought he'd get respite from the move, he'd be in for a surprise. She was thrown off more than she'd figured, though, and what could have been another solid hit was instead a glancing smack. Close enough?

Roll 5: Bide/Glancing Blow

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Using his head as an impromptu battering ram had been creative, but Ro hadn't gotten it quite right. The sudden impact had jarred his head, too, and he was still reeling internally, although he was not doing anything like swaying or weaving which would make it readily apparent that he'd knocked himself a little silly.

It was almost completely luck which kept Ro from being struck full-on. Certainly it was none of his own doing. He hadn't even seen that last blow coming. Perhaps he could benefit from a bit of a lie-down. It helped not at all that his demon was now chattering at him in a way it never had, perhaps knocked loose. He would need time to get that under control.

For that, and other reasons, Ro decided it was time to call it.

"I think you've won," Ro conceded with reasonably good humor. "I'm not going to be able to beat you."

Excited Apathy

Congratulations!