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GAUCHO
Doubt comes in on sticks but then he kicks like a horse.
Gaucho couldn't quite tell the order of what happened next. Had Ampere screamed, the bond formed, and then her body slam into his shoulder? Her her shoulder struck him just after the bond had formed? Or was it all one big mess that happened all at once? It certainly felt more like the latter, although reason told him that there needed to be some sequence as to what had happened.
Gaucho heard Ampere's distressed cry as she threw herself across the sands. In that instant instead of pulling away to evade her attack, the Wildfire actually flung himself at her. Her flailing hooves would surely come dangerously close to the fiery child as it waddled helplessly and naively in the sands, and his body was the only shield he had. His teeth clamped together as their shoulders momentarily melded into one another. The Wildfire didn't need Mara's eyes to see the sparks radiate from her body onto the sands, and instinctively one of his flaming wings shot from his body to act as an umbrella for the pheonix who still hobbled around below. As all of this was happening, something else was happening too, although it was much more subtle.
It was simply a feeling at first - like an opening. His mind widened, allowing the life that tottered helplessly at his hooves to enter and find some respite from having been newly born. Unlike whatever Ampere might have thought, bonding was not a conscious decision, and yet even if it had been, he would have let it happen. He could feel the need, the quickly fading strength, and the confusion of the small chick, and that was not a plight the Wildfire could refuse, even if it meant a lifetime of bondage. He had no way of knowing that the creature would grow up strong - perhaps it would always be a burden to him, a life that he would constantly have to protect rather than a (mostly) autonomous creature. Even so, he wouldn't have turned away. It was simply not in him.
Spinning towards Ampere, using Mara's eyes as a guide to her position, the dun snorted loudly. The pheonix shuffled to his hooves, bouncing happily and chirping.
"Too small." He pointed out gruffly. "No mother around. Never see pheonix just around." How could she possibly stand there and say that this pathetically small creature would have lasted more than a hour on its own? It had almost died under Ampere's hooves moments ago. Without Gaucho it would already have been dead. "Gaucho not -" mean to bond to it ... was the conclusion of his sentence, but suddenly he stopped.
The world grew empty and Ampere faded from his view. In a panic, Gaucho tried to search his mind, to introspect and find Mara's presence to inquire why she had suddenly pulled back, but found no traces of her. His mind was vast, inhabited only by his thoughts, and the rumbling need for food of the chick. Black ears flattened against his head as his gaze snapped back to where he recalled Ampere standing, using her hoof prints as a way of confirming he was looking in more or less the right place. His first thought was that Ampere had done something to Mara yet .... yet he would have felt it if she had, wouldn't he? Would have felt her move, heard Mara hiss -
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Sand moved on the ground where Mara had been, and yet without her eyes Gaucho couldn't see what it was. The chick was still too young for Gaucho to invade its thoughts and use it as a tool. Snorting, he watched the sands flatten in a pattern that usually heralded Mara's approach. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS came the familiar sound of her hiss.
Although Gaucho couldn't' see what was happening, he could hear her. Mara raised herself up, coiling her body beneath her as she wavered slightly before Gaucho, her onyx gaze locked flatly upon Ampere. Her mouth widened as venom dripped from her fangs. The snake was clever, far more clever than her bonded, and she took it as no mere coincidence that whatever had occurred between she and Gaucho had come at the tail end of Ampere's outburst about companions.
Her body darted forward across the sand, gunsteel on gold, teeth aimed for Ampere's chest. Maybe if she could bring the blue down, she would be able to communicate with Gaucho again.
I figured only one bond would be silenced not both, since it's her first time? Also, up to you if Mara hits or not :D
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