[JRP] Nope, just him (A'asifa Ramliya & Aagen)

[Princess_Feylin]

After his last rather disastrous encounter with a Stormborn reaver, A'asifa Ramliya, formerly a Pad of the Ukuucha'Wafalme, had been seriously on the fence about whether he truly wanted to return and issue another challenge to join the pride. He would have liked to re-find the lioness Gintare and ask her if his experience had been normal, but when he prowled the rogue lands in search of the brown-furred, blue-eyed lioness she was nowhere to be found.

So instead he had done his best to begin a training regimen that he hoped would make him more ready for his next encounter, and vowed that if his second challenge brought him into contact with anyone as weird as his first one, he was done with this pride forever. Being allowed to have a harem would be nice, but he could probably do that in the rogue lands, too, if he could find some suitable lionesses. He wouldn't be able to offer them the safety of a pride, but Ram would say he was still a pretty good catch on his own.  

[Princess_Feylin]

There was not a single thought going through Aagen's head when he heard a roar of challenge. He wasn't really on patrol, even, so he wasn't actually under any obligation to answer the challenge, but he didn't have anything better to do, and so he decided he may as well make himself useful to the pride. Assuming the reaver who was actually on patrol didn't get to the challenger first. If that was the case, Aagen figured he could just hang around and heckle the challengers.

Actually, that sounded like more fun than actually participating in an askorun, now that Aagen thought about it, and so he slowed his pace to a very deliberate, almost plodding stride to give the reavers on patrol time to hone in on the challenger's roar and arrive before him.

Thus, it was with some disappointment that Aagen found himself facing a smaller lion with the scent of the rogue lands about him, and no other lion in sight. It seemed there would be no entertaining battles for him to watch after all. Still, he liked fighting, too, and it was something to do.  

[Princess_Feylin]

It took so long for anyone to arrive to answer Ram's challenge that the blue-eyed lion began to wonder if someone was going to answer him, or if his information was bad, and he'd somehow been marked a loser and no other member of the pride would fight him. He wondered how that would work out. Did it mean he could just wander into the lands and start living among them?

There wasn't much time to pursue that train of thought, as someone finally arrived. The dark-coated lion didn't look especially thrilled to be there, but as Ram watched his expression shifted to one of easy-going resignation and Ram breathed a mental sigh of relief. It didn't seem like he was going to be dealing with the same brand of oddity which had marked his first attempt at joining.

"Hello," he greeted the golden-eyed lion. "I'm A'asifa Ramliya. I've come to join your pride."  

[Princess_Feylin]

Aagen looked the outlander over. He couldn't really get a good idea of what sort of fighter he was dealing with just by looking, but that was why the askorun system worked as it did.

'Okay. You'll have to defeat me in single combat to earn your place in the pride. Fighting to a draw is also acceptable." Aagen paused to scratch behind his ear with his hindclaws, then shook his head vigorously.

"For the record, we are neither of us trying to kill one another in an askorun - challenge, that is. This is just a way for me to gauge whether you're warrior enough to fit into the pride."

It looked like the challenger was getting all this, which was good, and so Aagen shook his head one more time, trying to get his mane to settle back into place, heedless of the fact he'd be messing it up again in a few minutes when they fought.

"Shall we?"  

[Princess_Feylin]

Ram grew increasingly relaxed as he realized that he was not dealing with an obviously insane lion. it was, of course, entirely possible that his opponent-to-be was insane in a less obvious way, but as long as he kept the crazy in check, Ram found he didn't much care.

The fight between them was far more even than Ram's first fight had been. It was still hard - one of the hardest things Ram had ever done in his life, in fact - keeping up with the larger, dark-coated lion. It was also frustrating to sense that the other lion was not putting forth as much effort as Ram himself was, but Ram remembered the warning that he had received, that this was just a means by which the other lion would gauge his fitness. Gintare had said much the same, all those months ago.

After several furious clashes that involved some fairly exhausting martial acrobatics on A'asifa Ramliya's part, Ram was glad to see Aagen sitting back, signalling for a break in the violence. Ram mirrored the dark lion's pose and waited to see what would happen next.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Aagen could tell he was fighting a self-taught lion almost immediately. The swirl-patterned lion was bold in his attacks, but slow to defend, as though he was not accustomed to having a live opponent. That, Aagen knew from experience, could be fixed simply enough. He just had to be surprise attacked a lot, as Aagen had been when he first came to the pride in his youth, seeking his father. His cousins and half-siblings had called it "training," and although he'd found it annoying, it had helped.

Overall, though, Aagen thought that the challenger would be able to learn Stormborn ways and become enough of a fighter that he wouldn't embarrass the pride. His enthusiasm had given Aagen reason to work during their fight, and although Aagen was far from the pride's greatest fighter, he was a reaver and had earned the title by going on a viking and doing a not-awful job.

"I think I've seen enough," Aagen said. "As far as I'm concerned you'll be able to find a place for yourself here. Congratulations!"  

[Princess_Feylin]

It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise to Ram that the fight was over. He had sort of gotten the feeling as they fought that he was doing an especially good job (even if his opponent wasn't necessarily giving it his very utmost), and he was proud of himself for that. Still, it did surprise Ram that he'd apparently made a good enough showing to gain entrance.

Basically, he'd had no idea how he was doing, although he had done his best and hoped that would be enough.

The news that it had been enough was a cause for jubilation, and Ram was almost tempted to give a cry of victory, but he recognized that he hadn't actually been victorious per se. He had simply been good enough. Was that cause enough to celebrate? Ram didn't know. He wasn't really practiced at being mediocre, in his own estimation, at least.

While all of these conflicting feelings and thoughts were going through him, Ram was just kind of staring at his opponent wearing an expression that gave away the fact he was feeling more than a little nonplussed. Eventually he essayed a smile.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Aagen worried that sounded kind of stupid, but it wasn't as if Aagen could un-say it, so he decided it might be better to just keep talking and hope that the stupidity could be forgotten. Joining a pride should be a memorable, momentous occasion, not sullied by the lion he'd fought being a doofus. Aagen came by it honestly. Most of the male lions in his family were doofuses.

"I'm sorry there's not much ceremony to this part," Aagen began. "At this point, I just have to take you to a lawspeaker so that your name can be added to the pride's records, so when you start doing heroic deeds as a Stormborn your story will be remembered. That'll start with today, your askorun."

Still not properly impressive-sounding, but Aagen supposed it should count that he was trying.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"That's...great?" Ram said, finally figuring out that he ought to be maybe playing a verbal part in this narrative. "I really am glad to hear it."

It was only now that he realized he didn't know the name of the lion he had been fighting. He also realized that the lion didn't seem to have the same growling burr that his first opponent had evinced in the few words he'd spoken to Ram, although his mind dismissed that as a minor issue for the moment.

"Do you mind if I ask you questions on the way to your lawspeaker? I know a little bit about the pride from someone I met in the rogue lands, but the first person I actually met from your pride was...not what I was expecting."

And then, when his guide lion indicated that it was all right for him to ask questions Ram described his first challenge, eventually leading up to asking if there were many lions like that in the pride, his tone implying that he intended to avoid these lions if at all possible.

At first his description was met with some bemusement, but as he spoke he could see comprehension dawning in the dark lion's eyes and a definite streak of amusement dawning in his expression until at last it seemed the black-furred lion could no longer contain his mirth and burst out laughing. Ram did his best not to stare.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Aagen couldn't believe that the new freeborn had somehow managed to run into the one of the Brothers Grei. That trio was a very private, very unusual family with a reputation for subjecting their thralls to very specific behavioral rules. He, personally, had never had any dealings with them, but word did travel, and they were successful traders, and so he knew a little bit of them.

When his laughter subsided, he imparted what he knew and then assured the yellow lion, "We're not all like that. It's really just him. And his two brothers. And maybe their thralls, a little, but you should have no difficulties there. They pretty much keep to themselves."

He chuckled again and then continued, "If there's anything else you'd like to know, I'll do my best to tell you, but the lawspeaker will absolutely do a better job of it, so let's get going."

Then the two lions set off from the border toward the stronghold, with Aagen still occasionally bursting into chuckles as he remembered A'asifa Ramliya's story of his first attempt to fight his way into the pride. Aagen couldn't wait to start telling that story to his friends.