The promotions – all except her own – failed to surprise her, given their previous discussion beforehand. They had plenty of interesting members pop up recently, and she looked forward to seeing their contributions to the group. With a flick of her fire-tipped tail, the lioness glanced at the aforementioned creatures to gauge their reactions to such a promotion.

When Stryker said the word love, the woman’s cold gaze landed back on him – this hadn’t been in the planned script. Her claws kneaded the ground as he showered her with compliments, irritated that he flung her in the spotlight like this. But, she supposed, if she wanted to become a proper Vicar then she ought to get used to standing with everyone’s eyes on her.

And then he specified Ardent. She felt tempted to laugh in his damn face; sure, she lived here for a while and had a mostly solid track record. But Ardent without serving as Vicar for longer than five seconds? Ardent with a history of contribution that, until recently, mostly included healing? But she would take it. Clearly the uncertainties that mattered to her mattered little to him. "Of course I accept the position as Ardent. Thank you for your service and leadership -- and continuous service as a marauder," she spoke with a flick of her ears. She liked Stryker staying on in the high position team; she liked his leadership style more than the other leaders she served under in the Pitt, at least. He would be useful to her in her reign.

Her golden eyes, however, quickly slid to Carmen. And that’s when the lioness did laugh, a barking devil of a laugh that reverberated out of her like a flung curse. “You think he was serious about love? Please, he calls every woman he meets sweetheart and tries to flirt, unsuccessfully, into their pants. As if he could feel that way about anyone – as if he could feel that way about me, as if I could feel that way about him!” she said, the laughter bubbling out of her throat as she spoke.

But the amusement drained out of her face in an instant, leaving her cold neutral resting face staring back at the other woman. “How misogynistic of a woman to assume that I’m just a way for him to regain power,” she added with a scoff. Pathetic fucking idiot.

WRITTEN BY AXIOM * TAGS