Note: First five dice are for Slips. Second five are for Nakki.

Näkki was feeling good about herself. She'd woken up, killed some marsh creature and eaten it, and now she was on her way to find the pride whose lands she had apparently been living on for several days without anybody being the wiser. The idea that a pride could fail to notice a stranger living within its borders had been astounding, and quite frankly, she had been amazed to learn how expansive the pride's territory was from that grey hyena before she chased the thing off and stole its kill.

Apparently the hyena was one of the pride's slaves, but she knew a lot more about the pride than Näkki did, and so Näkki had taken the opportunity to pump her for information. It sounded like a good sort of pride. One where lions were real lions and lionesses only had to work if they wanted to. Definitely her kind of place. The only snag was that they apparently didn't take just anybody, and in order to get in an outsider had to take part in something called an askorun against a current member.

From that point on, Näkki had made it her business to seek out a member of the pride so that she could challenge him or her to an askorun and get in. Näkki hadn't been able to get the hyena to tell her what the challenge would entail, only that it could be easier or harder depending on who one ended up challenging. Näkki wasn't all that concerned. She knew that she would be able to triumph, even though the first lion she saw was a tall, ungodly sexy grey lion who made her stomach flutter.

"I'm here to challenge you to an askorun," she announced, striding up to the handsome lion and doing her best not to swoon when she looked into his dark eyes.

The lion in question, Solvslips Grei, was one of the so-called Brothers Grei. He was not really much of a fighter. This was fairly obvious if one was to look at his record for the last few askorun he had fought in, though fortunately the only people who kept track of those things were the lawspeakers and the occasional snarky bard. Since Slips didn't report his losses to bards and the lawspeakers mostly kept those things to themselves unless somebody challenged a lion's right to be in the pride and then people could consult with them.

"I'm not on patrol," he informed the dark lioness. "If you want to fight an askorun, find somebody else."

Näkki was not used to being dismissed so curtly, and would have been deeply insulted and affronted had the grey lion not had a voice like velvet dipped in honey. She wondered if he would be up for a bit of the old in-out, in-out after their askorun. Because she certainly would.

"But both of us are here now, and I'm not from your pride. Surely that bothers you? Don't you want to either toss me out or make me prove my worthiness to be here? I've actually been hunting these lands for several days."

If she was trying to provoke Slips, she wasn't doing too badly. The grey lion's right forepaw began to twitch in that way it did when he wanted to use it on somebody who had broken the rules by which he and his brothers lived their lives. He walked closer, the muscles under his grey pelt rippling as they moved. He may not be much of a fighter, but he did work hard to keep fit and strong so that he would have the strength and stamina to properly discipline the subs he and his brothers kept around to amuse themselves.

"I don't think that you really want to be provoking me," he said using his voice that sounded like silk wrapped around steel. "If we fight, you will lose, and then I will make you very, very sorry."

She was dark and not unfit, although something about her was not quite pleasing to his discerning eye. Perhaps it was the fact that she appeared to have stepped in s**t at some point that morning and then neglected to clean herself. Slips hated messes and filth and people who neglected their personal hygiene.

"Why do we have to fight at all?" Näkki asked. It was the second time the grey lion had mentioned fighting and she didn't quite see why. Oh, it was obvious that he was keeping his anger in check. She could sense his fury radiating from him like a thunderstorm, held back only by the awesome strength of his will.

Slips smiled unpleasantly. "Because, shitfoot, you want to take part in an askorun. That is a fight to prove yourself a warrior worthy of the Stormborn. We do not count weak lions among our number. The weak ones here become thralls."

"Shitfoot?" Näkki repeated. She had dimly registered the rest of what Slips said, but what stuck with her best was the fact that he had just called her shitfoot. That particular trait had always made her uncomfortable, given the way everyone who noticed it seemed to think it would be hilarious to make some remark about how she'd stepped in s**t, or mud if they were feeling charitable. She hated it.

Slips got no warning before the dark lioness flung herself at him with her teeth bared and her claws splayed to kill. If he wanted a fight, he was getting one. She was going to tear him limb from limb, rip off his balls, and shove them into his gizzard. And then she would kick him. And jump on him. Oh, yes. She would also s**t on him.

It was a brief, furious battle, but Slips had been taken unawares and that never meant good things for him when fighting, since he was not a cool and analytical fighter anyway, but one whose strength usually came from an explosion of pent-up rage finally breaking through his iron control. In the end, Näkki had him pinned with her teeth at his throat.

"Get off," he told her, not quite realizing how much danger his life was actually in. "You win. You're a Stormborn now. Congratulations."

Näkki was taken aback at first. Enough that Slips was able to bodily fling her off of him and regain his feet, taking a few moments to groom himself. They had been fighting on muddy ground and he was too fastidious to enjoy that.

"That's...it? I'm in?"

"Yes. Congratulations. Come on. We have to find a lawspeaker and let them know you're one of us."

Näkki's fury was curbed by the suddenness of her victory and the grey lion's demeanor. Now that she no longer wanted to kill him, she was back to wanting to jump his bones, but she got the feeling that the opportunity for that had passed at some point in the recent past. Too bad, that. Still, she was in!

Word Count: 1,163