[Training] I'm on the hellevator

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

Ash blew across the ground. Stagnated lava spread out as far as the eye could see beneath roiling black clouds, underlit by the distant glow of lava pools and less solid fields than this. Beneath her paws the rock was sharp and difficult to walk on. Now smooth as glass, now crumbly like old plaster, rising and falling like ocean waves turned solid mid arch, and searing hot; perhaps this was what outlanders had meant when they wrote about their hells. A place of punishment for sinners, according to some, while others described it to be more as a state of mind. Maea could believe both, and it suited her well to be here now. 

Standing out like a sore thumb in this world of black and red and gold, she felt out of phase with the landscape and with herself. What had been a raging, howling storm of dissent inside had choked into confused silence, and the numbness felt somehow worse than even the despair. 

It wasn't a good place to be. But just as she roamed aimlessly across the crusted landscape, her thoughts kept running in circles, finding no way out.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney

charlie

Where Maea seemed to move across the crust without any direction, Charlie prowled. Not necessarily with a target in mind, but simply in an effort to feel how powerful her body was in this form; to really let her paws sink into the ground and to revel in the way her muscles were able to support her each and every movement. It felt so good to be strong in this body in a way she just wasn't necessarily capable of as a woman.

Spying another tigress ahead, while Charlie couldn't be sure it was an ancient—or even the one she suspected it to be—as she bounded forward, she also wasn't worried if it wasn't. Were she to find herself outmatched, she could simply shift and sprout wings. Easy peasy.

With no knowledge of Maea's recent spat, Charlie raced across the ground with her lips peeled back in a wide white smile of sharpened teeth, before lunging forward to strike at Maea's shoulder with her own, or, if her counterpart moved, to simply give chase.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

Paying little attention to her surroundings, the tigress that charged at her went unnoticed until she was practically on top of her. Staggering aside when the other feline crashed into her, dust was kicked up around large paws as Maea snarled, surprise and alarm flipping over into immediate anger. Spinning around to face the assailant she had no idea that it was Charlie; only knew it to be an annoyance, a threat, and perhaps a blessing in disguise.

The other tiger had started this. So it had to be alright if she finished it, right?

Rearing up on her hind legs to gain a height advantage, the blued-steel striped tigress swatted at the red tiger with her paws, claws bared and teeth snapping at its face. Heedless and uncaring of such things as size and skill and superior terrain, she just wanted the satisfaction of seeing an opponent back down. To actually win a fight and be able to feel good about it. Or lose, and still feel like she'd learned something. That would be a fucking terrific outcome, and a vast improvement compared to recent ones.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney

charlie

Ooooh fiesty!

Roaring her pleasure at having struck the other tiger successfully, as Maea snarled and snapped her teeth in response, Charlie flattened her ears against her skull and similarly snarled. It was so nice having vocal chords capable of making the sort of sounds she was emitting now, and not that the priestess would ever want to be a different race, but she did envy the attuned their abilities to partially shift. Charlie would love to be able to sound like this in bed.

Anyways.

The side of her face was slapped by one of Maea's large paws, and even as Charlie stumbled to the side yowling in surprise, her bright blue eyes never lost their playful spark. Recovering from her slight skid, Charlie turned around and lowered her shoulders, tail waggling playfully. Lunging forward, she aimed a bite for one of the blue-tiger's ears.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

Maea was not in a playful mood. The rumbling growl that kept issuing from her was a warning and a signal to back off if the other cat didn't want to get hurt, and the change in their expression suggested that the point might be getting across.
Touching ground again after the paw slap, Maea turned to keep facing the other tiger and when the next attack came she was ready. Tail whipping, she reared again and yowled as sharp teeth raked an ear bloody.

Heaving forward, she tried to push Charlie over and into the ground using the weight of her muscled form. Squinting to protect her eyes, the world became a faded blur of color, a moving kaleidoscope of chaos and vexation, where the greatest source of fury and relief both resided in the one thing aside from herself that moved.
It could have been extremely simple, this scuffle. Even pleasant. Only, a tearing, oozing pain somewhere inside her chest kept whispering that this was not going to fix anything. It was only a band aid over a bullet hole, and sooner or later she would have to look at the actual source of this pain.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney

charlie

The brief moment of ha! gotcha! that the priestess felt as her teeth grated along Maea's ear was short-lived, as the blue-tiger used her strength to her advantage, forcing the red-tiger to the ground. Even Charlie who had little in the way of tactical knowledge, knew that being flipped onto her back was a precarious position to be in, indeed, and though it took a lot to make her panic, certainly her instincts were far from pleased about seeing the world upside down.

Bicycling her limbs without much aim or strategy, Charlie tucked her chin to her chest before yowling what was meant to be an apology. Or at the very least, a get the fuck off of me. She'd started this of course, so there was no anger in her feline vocals, but that didn't mean she was keen to have another tiger's claws disembowelling her right out in the open like this.

Especially not without Asta around to at least take advantage of her dying body.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

Down they went. It was pure instinct that had Maea pull her hind legs up and bunny kick the other tiger in the gut. It was half hearted though, unlikely to do more than cause discomfort, and the moment she heard and recognized a sound of distress, she relinquished her grip on her opponent and rolled away.

Getting to her feet again only a moment later, with black ash and dust darkening her coat and clinging to the scalding lines of super-heated metal, the white tigress paced back and forth, back and forth in front of the other. Her growls would have been curses if tiger mouths could form words, and to anyone looking at them it could easily seem as though she was scolding the other. Wary eyes kept watching for any sign of another attack; she even rushed the supposed stranger once, as if to ask whether they'd had enough. A snarl, a threatening paw that aimed for the nose or a striped cheek - it didn't matter if she hit or not, or even if they kept going or not. 

Gods, but she didn't know what mattered anymore.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney

charlie

Charlie was no stranger to pain and indeed knew of many techniques to turn pain into pleasure. This, however, was not one of those situations. Not that it was anyone's fault of course. She'd attacked either another ancient or a natural predator; what could she really have expected? Though at first, the large cat enjoyed the feeling of her muscles being properly put to use and then tested, now it was becoming quite clear that unless she intended to properly engage, no part of this situation was going to end well for her.

Pinning her ears against her head and scrambling onto her paws once Maea shifted, the red-tiger lowered her shoulders, tail lashing as she eyed the other feline. The faint had her shrinking back a few steps, before slinking back into the ground she'd just given up. It was probably a bad idea to stay, but such were her instincts.

Not retreating as the other tiger's large paw battered her nose, instead, Charlie mirrored the movement, lashing out with one of her own. Perhaps that's where the expression of being a copycat came from.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

At first it seemed as though the message was getting through. The low posture, belly to the ground and merely protecting the back was a sign of submission, of non-threat deescalation. But that flicking tail betrayed her, and the pinned ears was a red flag if Maea had ever seen one. How she knew she couldn't be sure, but she knew all the same, just like she instinctively sensed the moment where some decision was made to remain and fight rather than give up and run. Back, back, the red tiger moved, only to surge forth to meet Maea's own taunt.

They both gave as good as they got. Mere moments after her paw connected with the red one's nose a heavy blow to her own snout rattled her vision. A sinking sensation in the gut preceded a white hot surge of pain. Something hot and salty trickled over the sensitive nose-pad, dribbling and dripping from pale whiskers, drawing a rumbling growl that pitched higher than before.

When her other paw came up to aim another slash towards the opposing tigress's head it had a weight of finality over it. Either they would have enough, or Maea would. She was not enjoying this. Beating on a random creature was utterly pointless without any bloodlust to drive her on, and she was not in a mood to enjoy a contest of skill or strength. If the other did not withdraw she would disengage herself and bound off in several long leaps, eager to put distance between them.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney

charlie

Charlie got the message.

Though her proceeding swat of Maea's face had filled her with a devilish delight that might have encouraged her to keep playing this dangerous game a while longer, the dull slap across her brow had stars filling her vision. Staggering to the side, Charlie's bright blue eyes dimmed as unconsciousness threatened to thrust her back into her own body. It passed, though, owing largely to the fact that Maea didn't take advantage of her weakened state, solidifying in the priestess' mind that it likely was an ancient she'd been sparring with.

Not that it mattered, not really.

Yowling softly, her tail curled around her hind legs, this time as Charlie dropped her shoulders they stayed down, as did she. Dropping her gaze somewhere near Maea's paws, the ancient retreated a few steps, and then a few more. Only when she judged herself an appropriate distance away did she spin and begin to properly run.

~FIN

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!