She flew fast and furious, dragging bird and blade behind her, casting her tempestuous gaze upon the silver visions to assure herself that she was going the right way. She could not afford to lose her now, not after all the mindless searching Ampere had done already, not when she needed this fight, or this win, or whatever it would prove to be - just the opportunity for it even.
A questioning flare of mud brown coated the thoughts tumbling through her mind, a gentle prodding from Kygo as to just what the hell Ampere was going on about.
Just what is this? she asked for him. The question hung empty inside herself for a moment, and it seemed Ampere was trying to figure it out just as much as he was. The same way she tried to understand or to determine what lent her heart to beat so quickly in Gaucho's vicinity, what flushed her cheeks around Mesec, what bid her ears to pin when she saw a bond.
What is this? she whispered to herself again, wings beating up the storm inside of her as she bulleted towards the frozen north.

This is a reminder that stormlight only lasts so long. That darkness can be eroded. That I am still me.
And there it was, the truth of the matter. Since bonding to the parrot Ampere had felt as if she'd been falling, unable to catch her breath, unable to see anything but glimpses of something better, of her precious light among a siege of descending night. It felt like it did when the world was trapped in the caves, only worse, because she was the only one stuck and it was in the caverns of her own being and the network of betrayal ran deep.

Could she be someone better by doing just this one good deed?
At the very least, could she be herself again?
Too many names, too many jobs, too many wrongs. Ampere had too much, and yet she cradled an emptiness to her chest all the same, because none of it fulfilled her perceived notion of her purpose. Maybe she was too stubborn to see that her purpose had never changed, that her means had merely shifted, grown slower as she surrounded herself with love. It was difficult to see anything right now when all she could manage was a hatred for herself, when all she noticed were the chains that she laid on herself without ever taking off.
Not today she swore. Today she would break one, or break herself trying if need be.

That was doubtful though, given her opponent was none other than the stupid fucking pink bitch! Ampere's gaze spotted her among the first, recognizing the blue cloak from her dagger's eye, knowing that glitter of gold and pink was no trick of the light. Grinning a wolf's grin, wild and eager and hungry Ampere descended towards the ground, moving fast.

She aimed to swoop low over Hotaru, to intimidate, to promise more. Yet she didn't strike, as much as she wanted to, she'd give the stupid bitch a chance to redeem herself in some small way.
Ampere cut down and to the side in a sudden landing. It was so hard it rattled into her bones, set the cold of the land immediately into the soul of her being, but she felt numb already to all of it as something hot and violent blazed within her.

Like a snake Ampere's head coiled on her neck, motion whipping her hair around her poll like a halo of darkness. From her side her blade dropped, and the bird circled far above in anxious interest. "You have something that doesn't belong to you," Ampere offered by way of greeting, her stare and her lips edged with an immovable hardness. "Give back the armor and we can walk away from this. It belongs in the desert."

Though she said as much, her body was coiled in preparation to act. If her past knowledge of this mare held true, she like to give up things, but she was also a stupid bitch, and might think to try Ampere in a fight.
One way or another, Ampere would take it back.

---

0/4
W: /800

Ampere is challenging for Destry's stolen armor