She shuts out the instinct to loosen her hold when she can hear Gale’s body start to struggle for breath, even going so far as to close her eyes so she can’t see the sheen of iridescent blue fur.
This isn’t him.
Her eyes aren’t closed for long, they flash open when she feels the neck she’s trying to squeeze the air out of begin to grow. Mazikeen is surprised by the Curse’s creativity again, quickly loosening her constricting hold and falling away from the whale shark, landing in the soft spring grass. There’s a brief moment where she forgets that this is a serious fight, a brief moment where the light of the markings on her body flickers because she’s a little impressed and she almost almost says something like this is just a wrestling match and she's going to complement the one she loves.
But she catches herself - repeating that mantra that this isn’t Gale, only this time she’s saying it not to ease any guilt about hurting him but instead to stop herself from enjoying what is sooner or later going to turn into a very dangerous fight.
It chooses the leopard again but this time, Mazikeen is a giant short-faced bear and she swings a massive limb at the leopard to try to knock it down and pin it to the ground. A few of the leopard’s claws catch on the skin of her foreleg as she does this and she roars more in anger than in pain - snapping her teeth and trying to find flesh with them. He can heal she tells herself to ease the guilt that is threatening to soften her actions. Just because she's already accepted what the outcome of this fight is going to be, doesn't mean she is going to make it easy.
There's even a part of her, the competitive side, that begins to wonder if maybe she can win this if she can avoid taking too many wounds. Maybe she can tire the Curse or Gale's body out enough. It's a dangerous, hopeful thought - but so are most of those that have crossed Mazikeen's mind lately.
@[Gale]