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11-30-2014, 04:35 PM
GAUCHO
& if we should die tonight then we should all die together
& if we should die tonight then we should all die together
Gaucho felt his hooves find the soft underbelly of his opponent making the screaming pain in his wing joint entirely worth it. A dark smile pushed his lips apart as his hooves found purchase on the ground again, pulling him away from the gold-flecked stallion. The distance he meant to put between the two proved unnecessary as his fiery companions descended upon Buce. Gaucho watched with a snort of amusement: he was a fool for standing still. Fire only burns when it lingers after all. In his mind, Mara wondered whether or not Buce had ever seen fire before - he did dive under Gaucho's wing which bore flames on the top after all. Perhaps he wasn't acquainted with the foundational element. Snorting, Gaucho shook his head. Who didn't know about fire?
With a look of mild horror, the Wildfire watched as the dark stallion dropped to the ground and began to roll. As his belly rolled towards the Sun, Gaucho had to stifle the desire to let his hooves slam into that soft skin once again. What sort of idiot allowed himself to be so vulnerable during a spar? Perhaps he thought that Gaucho would not attack while he was in such a precarious state. Normally he would be wrong, but as the two were so far from home, the dun refrained. He didn't want to have to fly all the way home just to return with one of their healers. Still, he bore this little display with a look of disappointment, snapping his dark tail against his hocks in annoyance.
As Buce began to hobble in a circle the Wildfire remained still, allowing his nose to move in a small arch to follow his opponent's movements as he passed in front, while Mara's black eyes covered his rear. Did he mean to show the dun that he was injured? Did he think Gaucho would care? Gaucho had told him at the outset that this was a test ... trriiiiccckkkk? Mara suggested in his mind. Nostrils flaring, Gaucho mentally nodded. Perhaps it was some sort of trick, meant to divert Gaucho's attention or soften whatever blows might follow? Before this line of thinking could continue, Buce's words broke both Gaucho's concentration as well as patience. He said the magic word, springing the true trap.
Ampere.
A snarl parted Gaucho's dark lips as his body swung jerkily, now actively following Buce's movements. His dark ears flattened against his thick skull as the flames that burned on his wings suddenly flared with his heightened emotion. "Zichome yalli" He breathed raggedly as crimson seemed to wash his vision. He should have taken the opportunity to slam his hooves into Buce's exposed belly when he had the chance. How could he mount the Blue if his belly is unable to withstand even the slightest amount of pressure?
Just as he was about the charge, the black rose into the sky. Snarling, Gaucho followed his movements with a gaze that rolled like thunder clouds. If he wanted to take the battle to the skies, that was perfectly fine. Following suit, the Wildfire rose easily on wings larger than Buce's and pursued as quickly as he could. He banked hard to the left to try and remain squarely behind the dark stallion, surprised to find that Buce was descending.
"Aresak!" He bellowed, thinking that Buce meant to try and simply fly away from him. The beating of his wings paused momentarily as the fire that lined his feathers suddenly flared up, bright and hot, sending a wave of fire towards Buce. Because the arch dissipated after about 30 feet, Gaucho waited until he judged himself to only be about 10 feet away from Buce who appeared to be landing upon the ground.
What?
He watched the stallion kick out, and wondered if Buce thought Gaucho would be stupid enough to fly with his head so close to his ass that a kick like that would reach him. Fury boiled within the Wildfire as his body pulled upwards, soaring over the black stallion. How could Ampere even consider such an idiot worthy? Whatever skill he possessed when it came to fighting was masked by his stupidity. Perhaps the whole thing was a charade, but that was becoming less and less likely now, at least in Gaucho's mind. Was it his clever words that wooed Ampere? The idea was concerning, for Gaucho hadn't taken Ampere to be one easily persuaded by a silver tongue. SSSSSSHOULDN"T MATTTTTERRRRR Mara hissed furiously in his mind, smacking him with her tail as he glided in a large circle. SSSSSOHALIA She continued to bellow in his mind, unimpressed by his flare of jealousy and rage.
Gaucho didn't care. Buce's cunning tongue wouldn't matter if his body was too burned to sustain Ampere's demanding embrace.
zichome yalli; disrespectful child
aresak; coward
Summary: Gaucho takes the air with Buce and tries to fly behind him. As Buce descends (and begins the attack that was meant to hit Gaucho had he remained still), Gaucho sends a wave of fire towards him, then pulls up and continues gliding (Because your attack missed per the role).
Attack: 2/3
WC: 800
Timeline: Regular.
Teaching:'
Nice post! I LOVE how Buce tries to fuck with Gaucho - so awesome. Taunting and faking injury is a wonderful tactic, especially against someone like Gaucho.
Don't worry if you feel like things are rocky - if you go back and read any of my first spars (or even spars now) I do stupid things that afterwards I kick myself for. And some mistakes you just need to make before you realize that you've made them and why they're important. Here's an example: order of attacks super matters. It's going to matter in terms of flow (because if the judge has to re-read something 5 times trying to figure out why it seems like you're leaving out attacks when really you're changing the order of them), and realism (because the order of injuries sustained is going to matter).
Here's the order of Gaucho's attacks from last post: (1) Thrust shoulder to the right to try and stab Buce with his bone spikes (2) Shoulder thrust again, this time meant to bump Buce's nose as he bit Gaucho's wing (3) Buck (4) Fire birds.
(1) happens and shortly after (2) happens. (2) is meant to occur simultaneously with Buce's bite, and then (3) occurs as Buce tries to pull upward/rear. While it's the case that Gaucho's birds are created, I specifically write that they fly upwards and Gaucho moves away before they attack. So that should have bought Buce a few seconds at least.
You wrote (4) as happening before (3), that is, the smoke happened before you acknowledged the buck which isn't how I wrote it. Even if you think your opponent made a mistake or wrote something super unrealistic, you can't change what I've written - that constitutes power playing.
Realism
Your first line indicates that Buce evaded Gaucho's first shoulder thrust. How did he do that? Did he dodge to the right? How far did he have to go? Given that Buce abruptly stopped and tried to move under Gaucho's wing I have a hard time seeing how he could have fully evaded it. If that's how you want to write it that's totally fine but I think you'll lose marks on realism for not explaining how it was done.
You say that Gaucho's buck hits Buce in the stomach. Gaucho's a big boy with big hooves, he would have done more than knock the wind out of him - there would likely be bruising, possibly even a bleeding wound.
The flow of time
Here's a pro tip: Think of how horses fight - there's a lot of quick attacks. I know we don't always do this because ... well, characters have magic, can fly, and have companions, but for the most part these spars don't take up much real time. Because of this you don't want to force yourself into doing any one action for too long. Here's an example: Buce does a stop drop and roll to put out the fire from Gaucho's magic. Then he gets up and walks around Gaucho feigning injury (such a good idea!!! Then he tries to egg Gaucho on, continuing to circle. Then he takes to the air and tries to attack. Fewf, that's literally minutes worth of action. Because you've written that it has happened you can't go back and change it. Now imagine if in my next post I write Gaucho as trying to hoof-stomp Buce while he's on his back? You can't say that he tries to defend himself, because you've already written that he hasn't. What if Gaucho sends an arc of fire (his other magic) at Buce while he's circling? You can't say he ran away or tried to dodge it, because he didn't. What if Gaucho took to the air while Buce was talking? Now it makes literally no sense that Buce dives down to attack him because he isn't there anymore. I've had this happen to me in the past, and what I've learned is always to leave things open ended and only to write bits of action at a time. So you'll notice at the end of my post I just say Gaucho fucks off to the left. I don't say how far and he doesn't do anything else. This gives me the most amount of flexibility when it comes to responding to you.
Injuries
Gaucho rolled 11.5 pts of damage against Buce. That's almost the most damage he can give in one hit, the most (without a critical hit) being 13.5. I think you took the damage reasonably. If it was me, I might have taken some from Gaucho's original shoulder thrust, and the rest from the birds - it is difficult for horses to actually catch on fire (think of running your finger through a candle), so to lessen the damage Buce might have ran a bit.
