The pageant for the Tigress Animalians covered many of the same things that were in the male component. Some of it made sense, given that a tigress could roar just as a tiger could and it did serve an interesting method im measuring the roars in question. For between tigers and lions there were differences in their roars. A lion could roar loader and achieving higher decibels, but on open plains, that worked well. A tiger's roar, while softer in terms of decibels, actually carried more infrasound waves in it, which allowed travel farther through dense woodland. But Patty, like Diego, did surprisingly well and essentially confirmed what some Cenozoic Paleontologists already suspected in that extinct Machairodont cats could roar much like their distant modern Pantherine relatives. The fact that Patty and Diego were both Smilodon Fatalis also put them on par with the historic sizes the Siberian Tiger reached with regard to their weight. The large saber teeth on the upper jaw did seem to add to it which raised some discussion on that among the contestants.
"I'd still think the teeth combined for some of the score," Shelly commented to Patty as the group stood in one area while waiting for the next portion of the pageant began.
"I'd say it's more a healthy set of lungs," Patty answered, "my ribcage is just as big yours... perhaps bigger as your legs are a bit longer."
"Maybe," Shelly commented, though she sounded a bit more suspicious... though her eyes were focused toward where Tuxing and Liao were as they took their respective turns in demonstrating the power of a tigress' roar.
Shelly had no real rivalry with Patty, and her score actually wasn't that bad. The comment on Patty's sabers playing a role in Patty getting a higher score was mostly a playful jab at how close their scores actually were. The real rivalry was the two tigresses from Heiya Island, who had done reasonably well in the contest thus far. Ava had actually won the swimsuit competition, which to a degree made some sense as the White Tigress Animalian had some experience in what was expected from that part of the competition, though she'd ended up in the middle of the pack with regard to the following race. And while Shelly had done her best, her ticker and longer fur served to slow her down a bit, which pulled her behind Tuxing and then Liao.
"Hey... it'd be fun to win," Patty commented, "it might be better just to have fun and do well. Getting too caught up in rivalry with Tuxing and her student will only hurt you."
"Yeah... but there are lots of Tiger Animalians here," Shelly answered, "many who converted just for this year and this contest."
"True," Patty admitted with a careful nod, "but then some of us... like Diego and I were lucky just to be accepted. Your genus is Panthera. Ours is Smilodon. It's just that so many have called us Saber Toothed Tigers for so long that people get the idea that there is a close relationship."
"I suppose," Shelly then admitted, "what were you planning on doing for the talent portion?"
"Mostly some card tricks," Patty gave a smile, "stage magicians have occasionally come through and I've gotten to see some of their performances before they've moved on. But I managed to get some lessons over time and have gotten fairly good. The cassino has added me in doing those tricks on days when the hired performer can't show..."
"Hopefully it'll do well against two who's talent is martial arts tricks," Ava commented as she approached the group as well and with her blue eyes looking to Tuxing and Liao as they finished the roaring round.
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For Tuxing and Liao the pageant had also been interesting. Liao proved to have the better roar of the two, which Tuxing gave to Liao's more fiery personality that in some ways wanted to be ready to fight. Tuxing had done her best to calm Liao and get her to recognize things weren't that bad and that they were safe. While there were those that were antagonistic to Animalians, they never had any sustainable success, ultimately because of the economic boost that Animalia and its colonies ultimately provided. Liao had become a bit more trusting in that regard, and Tuxing felt that was a big part that was helping Liao get through with her return to school at "Samurai Prep." Liao meanwhile figured that Tuxing's lower score was the result of what Liao figured was a rather reserved nature.
From there, the two then moved into the following rounds that in many ways matched the male's contest. There were some elements of talent and "dressing up" that played into it. The dresses and gowns had to be tasteful. The swimsuit competition could allow for sexiness, but the main pageant had to be able to present itself as more family friendly. Excessive cleavage was not to be shown, and anything that was to be "low cut" had to have something worn under it. Dresses or skirts could be worn, but they had to be at least knee length, and if the talent portion of the pageant would have the contestant lifting her leg to do a kick or as part of some flip and acrobatics, contestants were warned that they'd need to wear leggings underneath the dress or the skirt, largely to avoid some pervert snapping pictures of their underwear.
Tuxing and Liao watched through as the other Tigress Animalians, and the "honorary" tigers in Megara and Patty go through their acts. Megara, like her husband, put on a show of strength that Tuxing figured would rival Shuixing and Nate in terms of raw power. Patty performed some sleight of hand with cards that was quite impressive. The other Tiger Animalians put on their own acts that Tuxing and Liao watched that seemed to go fairly well. Ava put on a dance that was something like ballet and spoke on wanting to provide for work that would serve to ultimately save the mundane tiger from extinction. Many of them also had their own fans, which both Tuxing and Liao suspected were either mates, friends, or close friends. Shelly had a female Polar Bear Animalian rooting for her.
Tuxing and Liao even found that they had some fans that rooted for them specifically. One was obviously the male Bengal Tiger Animalian, whom they thought was named Wayne. The other was the male Siberian Tiger Animalian, Lenard Bearstone, and his younger brother, "Mikey." They all cheered as Tuxing provided a demonstration of her style of martial arts and when Liao gave a demonstration on the effectiveness of her weapon. While watching Liao go through her routine, Tuxing got a call and found that it was from Shuixing.
“Shuixing?” Tuxing spoke as she answered the phone. "Are you and Nate coming or...?"
"We've just finished up everything we need to with regard to "Gōngniú," he's going to have to remain in China for a while, but the government has agreed to allow Interpol access to monitor his progress," Shuixing answered, "so he'll be working off the damages done to the restaurant he trashed and the injuries the man he hit suffered. It'll be a lot of community service and to a degree some hard labor."
"So... they named him "Bull," that seems kind of... um..." Tuxing began.
"Unimaginative, yes," Shuixing answered, "but he's very apologetic and rather simple. It appears that some drunks on a moped or something accidentally opened his pen, he followed thinking it was time to go to work, got lost when they didn't go to the fields where he'd normally be plowing, saw his reflection in the door and charged it thinking it was another bull challenging him."
"So... he's not challenging them on it," Tuxing gave a relieved sigh, "that'll be good, and if the Chinese government allows for some Interpol access, that'll allow Horizon to make sure he stays up to date on the vaccination for the Animalia Virus's infective and transformative effects."
"Yes," Shuixing agreed, "how are things going with the contest?"
"Fairly well," Tuxing answered, "Liao presently has a slight lead in the points... mostly from her having one of the better roars among the tigresses competing. I think Megara won that one in terms of volume, but Liao and Shelly were the closes behind her."
"And the rest of the pageant?" Shuixing wondered.
"I think I made up for the less impressive roar with my routine, as it did earn more points than Liao," Tuxing commented, "and I think my dress and leggings provided a major plus there."
"Showing that a true queen doesn't need to be loud to win," Shuixing quipped, "and shows why you're the Elements' leader."
Tuxing smiled as she saw Liao approaching out of the corner of her eye with Lenard carrying Mikey and Wayne following along behind her. There was actually another tigress following them with a male with her, though Tuxing noted that both of these last two had infant cubs with them. It'd make for keeping some of Wayne's excitement down and keep any open flirtation from him toward her to a minimum and would then also prevent Liao from pushing too hard on Lenard. Thus, the focus would stay on moving to the next round.
"So... when will you and Nate be arriving?" Tuxing spoke after a moment and holding up a paw with one finger raised to prevent Liao from getting into any introductions.
"Probably sometime tomorrow... though with all the time zone changes, both Nate and I will be bushed, particularly with the run-around dealing with the Wild Bull first," Shuixing answered, "we might just land and settle into my room in the apartment to recover."
"That should be fine... the next section will be the "cat fights" tournament," Tuxing answered, "and from the rules, that will be something of a tournament. It may start tomorrow, but it will take time to go through the tournament."
"Any hints on the rules?" Shuixing asked.
"Mostly that the matchups will be arranged based on the points," Tuxing answered, "highest points against the lowest points and the one with the lower points actually gets to pick the specific combat sport. So, it won't be a free for all."
"Then the race up the mountain after that," Shuixing answered, "and Nate and I should be able to get there to take part. Good luck."
"Thanks," Tuxing answered her sister.