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12-08-2014, 02:23 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 heard sounds of pain issue from Buce amidst the dying crackle of his flames, as well as what sounded like the snapping of teeth. Perhaps the stallion's jaw snapped shut while he tried to fumble away from the flames? Gaucho couldn't tell as his large body soared forward, arching in a large circle. Perhaps the gold-flecked stallion lost a few teeth - what would Ampere think of gappy smile? SSSSSSSTOP Mara once again hissed angrily in his mind, trying to direct her bonded's thoughts back to the spar at hand and testing Buce's abilities rather than on the blue tease.
As Buce rose into the air, Gaucho's gaze narrowed, ears pinned against his skull. He was surprised that the stallion was so mobile given just how much fire had lingered against his skin - perhaps the black had a resistance that Gaucho was unaware of? That would be an interesting skill, given that they lived in the land of flame.
As Buce's words reached Gaucho's ears, a smile cracked his dark lips for the first time, and a hearty laugh raced from between strikingly white teeth. "Tokik" He chuckled as his blackened wings propelled him higher into the sky. Although Buce's comment was likely meant to continue to fuel the jealousy that he had ignited, it only served in lightening Gaucho's heart and alleviating his worries. His mind let him think that the only reason that Ampere wanted others was because they hadn't been together. If they had, Gaucho's mind silently asserted with full certainty, she wouldn't desire anyone else ever again. The untainted possibility washed over the Wildfire in a way that both cooled and burned. He felt invigorated but oddly calm - if Ampere had been with Buce, what of it? He was nothing. Not compared to Gaucho.
He was sure that Ampere knew it, and now he would make sure that Buce knew it as well.
As the stallion dove, Gaucho's body banked hard to the right. For his size, Gaucho was a strikingly agile creature. His muscular bulk aided in his drop to the right, as gravity happily began to reel him back towards the ground and away from Buce's outstretched appendages. Gaucho's body angled upwards with a flare of his flaming wings as he regained altitude, still sporting an amused smirk. As Bucephalus dove again, Gaucho's ears pinned against his skull. A wave of fire appeared under Gaucho's wings as they beat downwards, using the warm air to propel him forwards, banking again to the right, but not dropping down, to once again avoid Buce's hooves.
As Buce's body twisted in the air, Gaucho felt his right wing joint begin to ache - Buce's bite from earlier combined with his constant banking and flapping was beginning to reassert itself. As the black descended he appeared to be landing - why else would his angle put himself in front of Gaucho? The dun, who would evade but never run (and especially not with the pain in his wing gnawing at his resolve), braced himself for impact. His larger body leaned backwards slightly as black flashed before him. Buce's hindlegs struck his chest squarely, rather than his face. While surely he would have two roundish bruises to accompany the blue stripes on his chest, the kick was not a strong one - in the air there is little to use as support for such an attack, and given Buce's leaner build, he needed all the help he could get.
Leaning forward as if to resume his aerial charge, Gaucho's larger wings beat downwards against his flanks as he sought to follow the black. The golden feathers protruding from his rump were like three beacons to lock onto. He was just as fast as Buce regardless of the difference in their sizes, and while the Wildfire likely could not match him in a long distance chase, this was meant to be more of a sprint. Gaucho's feathers expertly caressed the air, automatically and instinctively correcting so as to try and stay behind those golden feathers, but high enough that he was out of kicking distance. Once he judged himself to be close enough, Gaucho poured on one final burst of speed, aiming to slam his already outstretched hooves into the top of Buce's rump. The attack was meant to hit the fleshy part of his ass, perhaps grazing his thighs and causing the kind of pinching-pain that makes you want to scream and laugh and cry all at the same time, rather than inflict any serious wounds. Gaucho didn't need to break his newest recruit, only to show him who it was he was up against.
Pulling back, the Wildfire descended easily amongst the cherry trees and gently falling blossoms.
tokik; fool
The next post is your closing post, so all you do is respond to the attacks (you can't attack back).
Summary: Gaucho evades the first two of Buce's attacks, but due to the strain in his wing can't avoid the third. Buce kicks him in the chest. Gaucho tries to follow him, hitting him with his forelegs before returning to the ground.
Attack: 3/3
WC: 793
Timeline: Regular.
Teaching:
Oh Buce. Such a trickster. I mentioned it before, and I'll mention it again: Spars are one of the few places where you really don't want to have a short post. Sometimes during normal threads you can have a 300ish word post and actually have it capture everything that it's meant to, but with spars that's rarely the case. For instance, Gaucho's attack took off nearly 20% of Buce's overall health. That's a lot. But here's the entire summary of you describing the pain: bellow tore from him, and he whirled, wings snapping out. What about it hurt? Where was he burned? Why didn't those injuries or the injuries from Gaucho's last attack effect all of his aerial maneuvers? They should; and that's just the physical side of it. Is he mad that Gaucho keeps using fire? Magic? Is Buce kicking himself for not bringing a bucket of water to throw on him?
Also when it comes to your attacks, again, there is a lot of time in between. Horses are big, and even fast ones like Buce are going to take time gliding up and down. Gaucho could easily dive away from Buce which would render his attacks completely meaningless. Remember to keep that in mind! Multiple attacks aren't always your best option, especially since the dice is only rolled once! I know you watched the video of the eagle and the hawk which is awesome, and while some of the mechanics are going to be the same, horses are still slower!
I also found this really strange: A grin cracked his features when he saw Gaucho glide overhead. Perfect. A wild laugh broke from him as he shot up to try and dig his teeth into the bay's leg. Whether he succeeded or not, the black could care less. - If he saw Gaucho gliding over head, how could he possibly think his bite would be successful? By the time he saw him, he'd already be moving away and fast, given that he's flying. At first I thought it was going to be a sarcastic bite, but then you made it seem like there was a possibility of it succeeding.
When I judge things I'm a real stickler about powerplaying. If I was judging this fight, I'd definitely mention this line: ...returning to fly above Gaucho. There are a few that are written similarly. Remember you cannot state where anyone but your own character is. So in saying that Buce returns to fly above Gaucho, the powerplaying is in saying that Gaucho hasn't suddenly decided to fly as high as he possibly can. Instead you'd say something like, ...returning to his previous altitude, trying to stay above Gaucho. or something like that.
Spelling/grammar: Re-read your posts!
the black could care less.: this means that he could actually care less, as in he does care some amount. The phrase is couldn't care less.
he'd loose to Gaucho in the air.: lose
Since this is a teaching spar, here's how I figure out damage and how I should react to attacks! So the first roll is for whether or not the attack hits or misses, but if you're in need of spar-muse, you can also use it to help figure out how well the attack hit or missed. For example, Buce's last attack rolled a 12.5 and Gaucho's defense is 10.5. This means that while it did hit, it didn't squarely hit (as it would have if he had rolled a 14.5 which is Buce's strongest attack). This isn't necessary, but sometimes I find it helps. The second stat rolled is for damage. Now you can interpret this in one of two ways: either with relation to your opponent, or your character. So for instance Gaucho's last damage roll was only ("only") 8.5. Gaucho's default damage stat is 7.5, so he literally can't do anything less than 8.5 (the calculation is a six-sided die roll + damage stat, so since 1 is the lowest roll 1+7.5=8.5). So when you're thinking about fighting Gaucho, whatever amount of damage you take from an 8.5 had to proportionately be weaker or equal to any other damage you take during the rest of the spar. If he keeps rolling 1's then on the pain/damage scale Buce will be taking the same amount of damage, but anytime he rolls something higher you're going to have to have it hit Buce harder than whatever you thought an 8.5's worth of pain was.
The other way to interpret the number is with relation to your character. So for that particular roll, losing 8.5HP was almost 20% of Buce's remaining health (it was actually 16.8 [ 8.5/50.5 (remaining HP)]. So if you're thinking about Buce, he's already lost 18.5% of his health up to now (62-50.5) and just roughly the same (50.5-42). So while the attack was relatively weak, Buce is now basically running at 60% of full health.
All of that isn't to say you aren't taking the damage well, it's just another way to think about the dice rolls, rather than going "hmmm. 8 pts of damage from a mythical pony. That hurts how much?????"
Finally, stats!
I mention this since I know you're trying to use Buce's speed to his advantage against Gaucho. You can look up your characters full stats via the stats request page.
So here's Gaucho
Strength 7.0 + 1.0
Speed 5.0 + 1.0
Agility 6.0 + 1.0
Endurance 4.0 + 1.0
The first column are his base stats, and the +1's come from sparring often enough to increase them.
Strength 5.0
Speed 6.0
Agility 3.0
Endurance 7.0
So in looking at this, while Gaucho started out with a speed lower than Buce's, they are actually equal now: Gaucho is just as fast as Buce is. He doesn't have the same endurance however, but he's much more agile and strong. Again, the only reason I mention this is so that when you read the post it doesn't seem like Gaucho is unfairly dodging attacks.
