Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mari was having a good day. She had followed her half brother and his 'owner' from the lands of their now scattered pride to this new place. She knew they had entered the ranks of this pride, and that her brother was happy with the former demon he called his master. That did not change the fact that she was determined to get in there, make a very high rank for herself if possible, and keep an eye on her brother. The male needed SOMEONE to look out for him, and she did not entirely trust his master to do this job. And so she was here, waiting for someone to come by.

Marinette just sat as regal and pretty as can be, licking one paw as if bathing. She knew this pride, as she had used one of the males from here to sire a litter of cubs, her only litter of cubs. She did not even bother to move when she heard the roar from the male. She had watched from a distance to see how one entered these lands, so she expected the challenging roar. She smiled to herself and called back. "I do come to challenge, sir. Are you to be my opponent?" She kept her manners and body language as non-aggressive and "weak" as she could to throw the male off. She also knew that this pride took slaves.

Her idea was simple. Mari would give off as much of an impression of "slave" material as she could, so that she could get as much of an advantage over this male as possible. Yes, she was a very large lioness, having gotten more of her father Roth's size than her rather small mother's, but why would anyone assume that size made up for the demeanor? She had found time and again, her gender and actions could be used to make it seem like her size meant nothing. She just hoped that it would work this time. And so she waited for the male to make the first move.

Mari barely got out of the way of those claws before the male ripped her apart. Okay so this male was not likely to be tricked, so she would have to use every bit of her very large demonic size and her extensive knowledge of fighting. Her old pride had taught her to fight or die really, so it wasn't like she didn't have the experience. The lioness turned to face the male again and gave him a hard look. From what she had seen, killing him was not the point, just winning the fight.

Mari tried to get behind the male to make a slash at his backside. He was probably as large as she, so it was a matter of who could get the most swipes in without tiring first. This could be an interesting fight, but she hoped it would not take too long. She wanted to get in to see her brother and not spend all her time with this stranger. The lioness calmed her breathing and took a very quick inventory of her surroundings to make sure she didn't misstep in this fight. She wanted to win, not break a paw.

Mari was glad she'd managed to throw the male off balance and get that hit in. He might not have liked it, but it have her a one up in this fight so far. Now she just needed to keep that advantage. Her size might prove to be a disadvantage here since she was just as big of a target as her opponent and could not dodge and weave any faster than he, most likely. She would have to get creative in how she hit the male and time it well. His next attack was aimed at her face, and she dropped, letting him hit her back so she could flip him.

Mari rarely used this tactic, but she had a feeling it would work well in this situation. she felt the claws did into her flesh and used that as a signal to spring herself back upward, using her shoulders to catch the male's underside and throw him over her own body. She wasn't sure which way he'd end up going, it depended on how he had been angled. He could go straight over her, or he could end up off to the side. She was a bit curious to find out. Of course, she really hoped her sore back was going to be worth using this tactic.

Mari had to give herself some credit. That had actually worked really well. She was quite happy with the result as she watched the male scramble to his paws again. Oh yes he was getting very upset over the blows he'd taken, so she was pretty sure his next hit would be hard to dodge. She did not even try to dodge, instead she let him hit full force on her rump right where he was aiming. She just simply grabbed his own rump and started biting it to see how long it would take him to let go and retreat. It hurt quite a bit, but she would endure and not back down.

Mari's claws and teeth came to bare on the lion's rump, ripping at him and causing shallow but bloody gashes. She wasn't going for ripping him apart, just making it hurt a lot and lose enough blood to be noticeable. She had the feeling that this male was not amused with her tactics so far and probably wouldn't' last too much longer before he had to call it quits. She was really taking a toll on him with her surprises, and while she was letting him get some nice hits on her, she was turning them into pretty hard ones on him in return.

Mari gave a smug smile as the male backed off. Oh yes, she hurt and this fight was not pleasant, but she had won it would seem. She was quite proud of her work and happy to be accepted in this pride now. It seemed like a much more honestly strong pride than what the demons had been. There was likely less lying and general crazy, so she might actually have an advantage here. One whom was used to working around crazies would have a much different way of thinking anyway, so she would have to see if it worked to her advantage or not.

Mari let the male start off and fell into step behind him. "Thank you." She wouldn't say another word to him, figuring that he was already sore and grumpy and did not need it made worse. A strong male needed to have his pride and dignity or so they normally thought. She was just looking forward to tracking down her brother and his owner. She was going to beat that male senseless if he hurt her little brother. But she would worry about that AFTER they got to the pride and she settled herself in a den.