What would Gaucho do without Mara? Rarely did she strike in spars anymore for Gaucho had grown to the point where he did not need to utilize her special set of skills quite so often. But that didn't mean that she wasn't being useful the entire time. Mara often acted as a second set of eyes during these dances - most often when Gaucho's opponent had a companion. She could easily peer behind him, to search dark areas and to try and find those who might be lingering while Gaucho's focus was elsewhere. They had become quite the pair, although her contributions went largely unnoticed. Although she was nearly 6 feet long now, she stayed firmly coiled in Gaucho's impressive rack of antlers, or wound around his neck under his mane.
While she would not bite anyone from the Throat for fear of accidentally poisoning and paralyzing them, she was more than happy to serve as another set of eyes while sparring them - although given Gaucho's current questing status, she would be the only set of eyes.
SSSKKKYY she projected, her voice a rattle of excitement. Ssshe comesss!
Gaucho looked into the sky, almost directly at Meg, but saw nothing but a blue BirdSong afternoon. His dark ears flickered trying to hear the sound of her wings on the breeze but detected nothing. She wasn't terribly close then. Spinning slightly, Gaucho realized just how difficult this was going to be. He felt as though Meg could be anywhere. Hissing softly, trying to refocus her bonded, Mara projected the images she was seeing: of the mare descending rather quickly.
Snorting Gaucho retreated a few steps, his gaze still pointlessly searching the skies. GOOOOOOOOOO Mara hollered, leaning her body to the left to try and pull Gaucho around to move away from where Meg was quickly descending. Uncertain of where exactly he was meant to go, Gaucho spun on his hind legs with relative ease, and energetically cantered forward. He could hear the air behind him suddenly come into contact with something as Meg's wings stretched outwards to slow herself. Snorting, unable to tell whether or not she was planning on landing behind him, he allowed himself a brief halt in his stride at literally the exact wrong instant. Another full stride and Meg's hooves might have missed him entirely.
Gaucho felt pain rake down both sides of his rump, with special emphasis on his left side. A snarl pulled his lip up as he squealed with pain and surprise. His hind legs popped off of the ground as he hopped forwards, ears pinned against his skull. Flares of what felt like fire moved up and down his thighs and back, radiating outwards from where her hooves had struck. Her attack hadn't broken the skin, but it certainly did smart, and would likely be much more sore the next morning.
The dun's left ear flickered forward as the sound of hoofs upon grass was heard, and Gaucho was surprised to find that he could see the grass moving. With an energetic hiss Mara confirmed that indeed that's where Meg had landed (more or less). Delighted at this new turn of events, Gaucho lunged forward and to the left. His stride was not nearly so energetic and bouncy now that his ass had been literally kicked, but nevertheless his large body covered the ground quickly.
He lowered his left shoulder, bracing his nose inwards to the right as he threw himself .... well, into nothing. Although he could see the grass rippling with movement, he couldn't in fact see anything that was doing the moving. Anticipation mixed with uncertainty as the dun braced himself for impact. He wasn't entirely sure where he would hit Meg if he even was near her, although the un-automated Mara navigation system suggested it would be Meg's right shoulder and flank area if he was successful, given how much larger he was than she. Still, Gaucho felt like he was merely going to continue awkwardly cantering with his shoulder to the left in an awkward circle. It just didn't seem possible in his primitive mind that there was actually the body of his warrior somewhere before him.
Timeline: Regular
WC: 710
Attack: 1.3
Summary: Meg hits him squarely on the ass. He sees the grasses disturbed where she's crash landed and throws his shoulder to the left as he canters towards it, trying to knock into her right shoulder.
Teaching notes: This was a really solid opening post! I think that there was a good amount of motivation (why is Meg here) and emotion (how she's feeling in general, but also about this spar). Really, really excellent! Mentioning tactical things now is also really good - that both Meg (and you!) are thinking ahead is super important. Gaucho also has Mara and his bone spikes around his shoulders don't forget! There's also his magic, a good tip for fighting anyone basically is to look and see what their actual magic does. Sometimes the way people write their character using their magic can be confusing, so looking in the records to see the actual restrictions can be super helpful.
The only thing I might mention is Meg's 'landing' . She's flying over, fanning out her wings to decelerate, tries to kick Gaucho's ass with her back legs. Why on earth is she rolling to his left, and more importantly, WHY IS SHE NOT LANDING NORMALLY. Okay so you mentioned that she isn't good at landings, okay fine. But to actually tumble is a big deal. For her to full on fall down almost seems like she's taking damage (for instance, if she had gotten a critical miss I could see you having her wildly miss and then ruin her landing and injure herself). So while I think what you were going for is 'Meg is inexperienced and uncoordinated', I think you might have taken it too far. Horses are big, tumbling down, especially after flying quickly will hurt them.
All in all though this was a FABULOUS first post!
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
⇒
[JUDGED] The same heart beats | Meg
