Pardon me while I burst into flames. (Tariq'ra'd & O'tep)

[[Eskimo]]

It was a muggy afternoon, the sun almost looking muddled where it sat in the sky. The air was thick with humidity, and it was evident that one of Africa's Great Rains was approaching. It wouldn't rain that day, no, but it would soon.

Smirking at how stupid he felt for being able to tell the weather, Tariq stretched his forelimbs and rolled onto his stomach, shaking the dust out of his mane. He yawned, dug his claws into the dirt, and stood up. His stomach itched with hunger, and the lion sauntered away from his lounging spot, pink eyes resting on the image of his den in the distance.

Hmm, his den...Ukoo was hunting, but O'tep...O'tep would be there.

Grinning, suddenly excited, the male quickened his pace.

Ohhh, the ideas that were forming in his twisted mind...  

[Yin-Bug]

She had too be coming up with ideas, mainly in her spare time. She was still trying to annoy him in any and every way possible that she could. She had bruises, some that shown through her white coat, she had some still healing wounds and even some scars that were faint under her pelt. But there was no way in the world she was going to let that stop her from trying to get this 'master' to give up... Even though she was starting to wonder if he would. She was questioning her attempts at getting him to give her up, she knew for a fact that he wasn't giving up on getting her to obey him. Of no he couldn't have that, and quite frankly it pissed her off.

She was at the edge of the den, pacing back and forth. She was some what glad the other lionesses weren't around, even though her and Ukoo did happen to get along pretty well. She wanted a chance to be on her own for a while. Even though she knew that wouldn't happen for that long. She had a feeling he was on his way back.

She growled softly at the idea. She was wondering what she could get into today. She snorted softly as she turned around once more, heading toward the same meaningless path that she had going. She paused for a moment and looked toward the horizon before snorting. She was growing bored. She turned toward the inside of the den, heading toward the back, as she hit the dark of the den her stripes and her eyes still shown, as if they were glowing. She looked around for a moment before flopping down in the back, sprawling out as much as she could and making herself comfortable... No she had a better idea. She smirked and stood up, wandering toward the elevated part that Tariq slept on. It was comfortable, lined with some grasses that the other lionesses had put there.

She snorted before flopping down on it, making herself even more comfortable. She knew they weren't allowed up here unless he welcomed them. It wreaked of him however. She could fix that. With a smirk she started to rub her body against the area, any place that she could, and rolling in the grasses before she rolled over on her stomach with a satisfied look on her face. She was wondering how angry he was going to be.  

[[Eskimo]]

The closer he got, the stronger O'teps scent became, and the male knew without a doubt that his banu was inside.

Body twisting lithely, Tariq curved inside the den, pink eyes flitting through the darkness in search of the lioness. She was not within sight instantly, but one flick of the eyes up a level, and Tariq spotted her. Her unexpected posture and placement was surprising at first, not being used to seeing anyone up there at all. She was...In his spot. Why? Some act of rebelliousness, no doubt. Poor little girl...She didn't know what she was doing half the time. Most of her plans to piss Tariq off never worked; not unless he was truly riled up. Sometimes it was she who riled him up, and they would fight, but little petty acts like that usually backfired in the girl's face. All to Tariq's pleasure.

The black lion flashed a grin, but it was uncertain as to what he was truly feeling.

"Awww, O'tep..." he started sweetly, walking further into the den. "You missed me that much?"  

[Yin-Bug]

O'tep flicked her tail around a few times. Thinking as she did, oh she really hoped that he would be mad. She smirked some more at the idea. Maybe she could get some where today. Then again that was her constant hope with everything that she did was going to make him mad was going to make him give up. But she was wrong, it hadn't yet made him give up. It ticked her off and when they both got ticked off it ended up in a fight. It was one of the few times that she really didn't enjoy her size. She always ended up losing.

She stared at him with a growl as he walked into the den. She dug her claws into the ground as she stared at him. He was talking about her missing him? She couldn't get anywhere with this! She huffed, truly annoyed now. "Whatever." She snapped, her jaws making a clicking noise as they hit together. She then eyed him before pushing her body off of the ground with a grunt, feeling some bruises shift. It hurt moving some times. She flicked her tail as she walked by him, brushing against him a little roughly before running her tail against his face in a some what teasing way.

She was trying to get to him in every way that she could think of.

She continued her walk toward the front of the den. Stopping where the sun met the shadows of the den. Before flopping back on her haunches and sitting up as high as she could. Trying to once more make herself seem bigger, more important.  

[[Eskimo]]

The female's rough gestures were very welcomed in Tariq's eyes, and he grinned at the outright physical rebellion O'tep was displaying. The feel of her tail against his face made Tariq lose his grin, but not because he had become angry. It was because he liked it. The lion couldn't help that he was attracted to rough, angry females. It was just in him. Whether caused by what he experienced through adolescents, or because the feeling was there before, Tariq just liked it.

He liked it a lot.

But more than anything, it made him want to fight back. And that was when things got dirty. That was when things got...Painful.

Putting aside his feelings for the moment, eager to torment the female more, Tariq trotted up to his elevated sleeping space and curled up on it, snuggling against it much like a cub. He pressed his face into it, closing his eyes and inhaling very loudly so that O'tep could here. He made noises in his chest as he did so, obviously saying in some wordless way that he enjoyed the lioness's scent all over his sleeping spot. He knew it would piss her off.

But he really did like it...  

[Yin-Bug]

O'tep stared forward, at the lands, thinking a bit. She was starting to have mixed feelings about this male. Something about him and getting knocked around was attractive, but she hated him and what he stood for all at the same time. It was some what confusing but she knew right now she just wanted to get on his nerves. Anything, she had to figure it out, figure out how to get under his skin, it was one of the major things going through her mind.

Her tail twitched angrily as she turned around to look at him. She held her breath for a moment before she turned back around, trying to act as calm as she could. However she couldn't stop her tail from twitching. Her ears twisted in a cat like manner, twitching as she listened to all of the sounds that he was making. She dug her claws into the ground before she soon couldn't control the snarls coming out of her maw. They were somewhat quiet yet it still showed her annoyance. She was trying to control herself.

"YOU ARE SUCH AN a*****e!" She roared.

Well the idea of controlling herself failed. She stood up as she turned and looked at him. Walking up and looking up at him where he was laying. She snarled as she did, her body tense. Her eyes narrowed debating on what she was going to do  

[[Eskimo]]

It was far too easy to get inside O'tep's head, Tariq thought. Far too easy. But that was just part of what made her so much fun. He was so happy that she was all his. The thought of her with anyone else made him disgusted, and feel like he was going to explode into a violent fit of rage. Once he thought something was his, it was HIS; no one else's, ever.

Tariq yawned; a blow to the lioness's anger and pride. He stretched his forelimbs and rolled onto his side, paws reaching out to trail claws lightly against the female's wrists, as if he were observing her; measuring her for something. Though when it came right down to it, he was most likely just trying to get on her nerves. But, as were most things with the male, it wasn't clear.

He frowned when he heard his female's roaring curse, pink eyes narrowing, hurt. He cut a glance up at her, remaining still where he lay.

"Now, O'tep..." he started, sounding upset. But in an instant, he was on his feet in front of her, face inches from her's. He bent his head down to be at her level, head tilting slightly. His eyes were wide, glowing daggers, staring into her, not looking away; not blinking.

"That's not nice." he whispered.  

[Yin-Bug]

O'tep shivered as she felt his claws on her wrist. She glared at him, her hair falling over her eyes. She was trying to figure out why everything he did pissed her off. She was more than sure that he was trying to, just like she was. However... There was something else there. she wasn't sure what it was though. No matter how many times he hurt her, however, she wanted to go back for round two, try her hardest to get under his skin. She was really surprised that he had yet to have give up on her. He was different, a lot different from the other males.

Well at least it kept her amused.

That was until she noticed his reaction. She could feel the air shift, something was going to be different. He even sounded upset, maybe she was getting some where. Maybe she was- Nope, he was in front of her now, she could feel something going to go on again. She was about to say more but instead she kept her mouth shut. Her thoughts were racing and adrenaline was starting to kick in. She was unsure about how she felt about the fights, but one thing that she knew was she was getting a highish feeling from them.

Her mind was so twisted and confused. She wanted to leave but she didn't know anything else she didn't know any other way of living. She wanted to fight but she wanted to give in. She wanted him to give in, but she wanted to give in. She wanted to Obey but she didn't. She wanted to love him.. But she didn't.

"I'm sworry. Did I huwrt your lwiddle feelings?" She said standing up straighter. Her blue eyes meeting his pink ones. Her tone mocking. After the words escaped her maw she couldn't help but to smirk. She stepped forward, placing her front paws on his. "Do you want me to do sometwhing to make it fweel better?" She said as she let her claws dig into his paws. Her smirk becoming more toothy as she did.  

[[Eskimo]]

Tariq didn't grin, or smirk, or smile. He remained still, eyes staring unblinking into O'tep's blue ones. His nose puffed steady, even breathes on her face, and he didn't flinch or give any signs of change when she pierced his paws. His ears stayed tall, drinking in her words and registering her mocking tones and phrases. His eyes flashed over her smirk, taking that in, too.

Suddenly, the male lunged forward, ripping his paws free from the female's claws. In split seconds, he had one on the back of her head, tangled in her hair to tilt her head back, and the other paw placed on the side of her right cheek. He trailed his tongue across the left side of her face, closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, his pupils were paper-thin slits. He extended his claws in his left paw and dug them deep into O'tep's face, ripping them down to open her flesh.

The feeling of hot blood smothering his toes made Tariq'ra'd strangely excited, and before he let O'tep have a chance of retaliation, he bowled into her, knocking her off her feet. Then he half-circled her, pacing slowly, eyeing her as he wondered what to do next; what she was going to do next.

It was all a game to see who broke first, and since Tariq would never break, it was only a matter of time before O'tep did. And he looked forward to that day.

He looked forward to it so much.  

[Yin-Bug]

It was odd. He didn't react. He didn't react at all! She gritted her teeth together. She wanted him to do something, anything! She waited and waited, how could he not react? How could he not do anything? She was about to dig her paws back into his paws before she registered pain. Where did it come from? He moved to fast for her to notice at first. But then she could feel her hair pulled, she let out a loud snarl in response.

She blinked as she felt the rough feeling of a tongue on the side of her face. She froze, before she growled again. "What the ******** are you-" She was interrupted by the feeling of claws against her face. She hissed in pain, it felt worse when there was still some old cuts on there. She tried to move back, but again it was too late, she was on the ground, her body was already starting to ache once more. She could feel soreness almost all over her but she wasn't going to let it stop her.

She growled before pushing herself up. She stared at him as he circled her. she could feel more anger build up in her. She was trying to figure out what she was going to do, she couldn't just let him keep wandering around her. She waited for her perfect moment before launching forward at him her paws wrapped around his neck with her claws out before she clamped her jaws around his. She knew she was going to be able to hold on long like this. She snarled loudly as she did. Maybe he would react a little faster that time.  

[[Eskimo]]

Tariq let out an explosive laugh, allowing himself to fall onto his back as O'tep launched herself at him. He slid backwards, dust and gravel swirling around the pair before his body stopped skidding and fell still.

Blood stung his nose as the female's teeth sunk into his maw, but still he grinned, pink eyes shining. He slid his paws up over her back, seeming to caress. But sharp, dagger-like claws unsheathed themselves from the male's black paws in an instant and sunk themselves deep into the lioness's striped back. He ripped them in hard, and dragged them to the sides, the sound and smell of blood filling his senses. He pulled his claws out and reached up to sink them into O'tep's own maw that was biting his, black claws sinking into the sides of the bridge of her nose. His paws trembled with the force he was putting into the stabbing, but his face remained wide-eyed and focused as he did so.

When would she learn? Would she ever? Would she never learn, and just eventually break? Or would she learn? Learn or break, learn or break? Maybe both?

Ahhh, O'tep. His O'tep. His Kajira. His almost-banu. She was only making things harder for herself. Perhaps she liked to suffer?

Hm...

Probably not.  

[Yin-Bug]

O'tep cringed as she heard his laugh, it was not out of fear, she wasn't going to show fear in front of him, she wasn't going to show pain in front of him. Not yet anyway. She didn't know that she was going to. She growled at the sound, she hated that sound. It annoyed her so much. Her hair stood up and she bit as deep as she could into his maw. That was until she could feel his grin under her jaws. She had a feeling of what was coming next.

A roar of pain once more escaped her jaw. But she refused to let go. The pain had been worse at one point. She had flashbacks of the abuse that her father did to her. All of those times that she had deep wounds all over her. He could have done worse. In her eyes this was nothing. Then again she had a feeling that the male could have done worse, he could do worse. She held on the best she could, that was until she felt the claws on her face. She snarled and released, falling back onto her paws, before glaring up at him. One thing she was starting to learn was to keep him from getting her off of her paws.

She took a moment to let the pain soak in. She was waiting for the burning to stop for a moment and as soon as she did she launched forward again, pulling back on her back legs for a moment and swinging her front paws at him, leaving her claws out making sure to hit him as she did she refused to give up She wasn't going to lose this battle.  

[[Eskimo]]

The lioness's retaliation was very easy to see coming, and it was with little effort that Tariq'ra'd moved out of the way. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The male could thank his beloved Warleader female for that...If it hadn't been for her brutal training, Tariq wouldn't have become the able fighter he was.

Displaying even more of what had been drilled into the lion's brain, as he dodged the female, he slid back to her again before she landed, slamming down on top of her back and pinning her harshly to the ground.

Hmm~, if he wasn't careful with that move, he could break her spine...

Oh, well.

Body pinning the lioness to the floor, Tariq casually grabbed the back of her neck in his teeth and bit down, hard. Blood entered his mouth, but it only made him bite harder.

She was getting good at taking pain, he'd give O'tep that. But she could never win against him. No matter how long a fight took, she never would win. She'd always succumb.


Poor b***h.  

[Yin-Bug]

She wanted to know how she ended up on the ground. She was beyond mad now. But something told her it that now that she ended up on the ground she wasn't going to be able to do much more. She wasn't going to win once more. She couldn't believe it. She started to protest once more. A little more loudly and violently this time. Clawed limbs flew out, snarls ripping out from her throat. She went to lean up and bite him but his jaws were on her throat. She roared in pain but she tried to keep her neck still, she didn't want to do a lot of damage there.

More snarls started to escape her throat, she lashed her paws, pushing into his stomach with her back paws, making sure to dig her claws into there as much as she could. She slammed her front paws into his sides, digging down. "GET THE ******** OFF ME!" She snarled, blindly swinging her claws at his face, she could smell blood in the air, a mix of hers and his. She didn't want to give up. Now she couldn't do that. It would be going against everything.  

[[Eskimo]]

What was that? That feeling?

Was it...Mosquito bites?

Hahaha...Well, Tariq could laugh to himself in the security of his mind, but he wouldn't taunt the lioness further out loud. She had had enough. She was done. Any more and she might suffer permanent damage. And he didn't want that...Nooo, he didn't want that. Permanent damage meant the possibility of less-fun fights in the future, or even no fights at all. And that would be tragic.

Then again...The idea of not having to fight O'tep anymore brought a grin to the male's face. Because not having to fight her meant that she would break. And he wanted that...He wanted that a lot.

It was with an almost tell-tale flick of the tail that Tariq signaled the end of the fight, all the while ignoring any slashing and thrashing his kajira was making. He shoved himself away from her, claws pricking and digging into her flesh, and pulling her up like fish hooks.

In one motion of power, using his claws and teeth, the male had her up, and threw her into the wall of the den. Hard.

Tariq didn't flinch at the sight of the lioness falling to the ground in an unconscious heap. He just stared. He watched her, examining her, the scent of her blood still stinging his nose. He trailed his tongue over his maw, took a deep breath, and turned away. He walked to the exit of his den, left it, and pointed himself in the direction of the nearest supply of water.

The lion's thoughts shifted and changed until he didn't think about his den or O'tep or the fight at all, or even where his wounds had come from, or why he was going to the water in the first place.

He just smiled, walking, thinking about how he liked baths.