As the hours trickled past, and the sun dropped in the sky, one might wonder how such a simple creature could keep himself occupied for so long, without growing bored. If you were to watch Gaucho as he stood, you would see him look to the skies every so often, then back to the horizon, only moving to flick his tail to remove the odd fly, or to re position his wings. Like a statue he stood, for Gaucho was a simple creature, and was satisfied with the simplicity of just watching.

After sometime, Gaucho heard a sound which was easily discernible from the comings and goings of his herd; it was the sound of running. Training an ear behind him, his mind immediately noted that this did not seem to be playful running, but running with a purpose. As Gaucho spun on stiff muscles, his mind ran through a number of scenarios' which would cause someone to run, such as they were. Kri hurt. Onnneeee hurt. My-dus hurt. My-dus in trouble? KRI IN TROUBLE? Tee-oh here? Invasion? War? Fight? Protect. Gaucho will - His mental stream was abruptly halted as his rotation was completed and Kri came into view.

Kri run at Gaucho? Kri in trouble? Why need Gaucho? Why-

Instead of reining herself in and coming to a halt, she began to veer to the left. Puzzled, Gaucho retreated a step, and half-opened his wings, just in case he needed to take off after her.

-Why she not stopping?

It was only until she was a mere stride away, that Gaucho's brain finally caught onto what was happening. Not stopping it warned, and yet the bay was helpless to move. His brain was helplessly deadlocked - completely immobilized by his instinct to fight, his complete devotion to his sultana, and his resolve to not needlessly injure a female. Simultaneous, these scenario's played out in this mind: In the first, he saw himself swiftly pressing the button on his collar and releasing the spikes around his neck. In a flash, he could drop his shoulder into Kri, stabbing her with the spikes, and then knocking her with his antlers. From that range, even Mara would be able to slip onto Kri's chocolatey shoulders, and bite deep into her neck. In another, brutally contradictory scenario, Gaucho's mind told him to try and avoid the situation, although without retreating, it couldn't exactly work out how.

And so, because as we all know, Gaucho is rather simple, he did nothing. Mara on the other hand, was not constrained by the same inability to think, as her bonded was, and would not merely be an onlooker.

As Kri charged towards a massive, unmoving target, Mara coiled herself in Gaucho's antlers, ready to spring. As Kri neared, first biting and then throwing her right shoulder into Gaucho's right side, the white snake sprung forward, jaws agape. She intended for her bite to somewhere along the right side of Kri's neck, for that was all she could reach, given that she was using her tail to hold onto the antlers lest she fall and be crushed on the ground. As Gaucho's self-inflicted paralysis of thought wore off, largely due to the radiating pain he felt on his neck from Kri's bite, as well as the dull throb where her right shoulder had connected to the bottom of his, he instinctively swung away - moving his hindquarters to the left - and taking her kick which was meant for his flank, onto the much more muscular and durable muscle of his right thigh.

Gaucho continued to throw his hind quarters to the left, neatly stepping over himself as he followed Kri's backside with a wide-eyed blue-gray gaze. Spreading his massive black wings fully now, he halted, not wanting to charge after her in a trail of dust. "Kri!"" He bellowed, his masculine voice uncertain. "I Gaucho!" He offered. Maybe she didn't know it was him? Mara, who took the opportunity to coil herself tightly in his antlers again, was sending him mental images of previous spars, and urging him on. SSSSSS! She offered, meaning for him to understand that this was likely all in good fun, and that yes, Kri knew it was him.

[Gaucho: KRI. WUT R U DOIN? KRI. STAHP!
Attack 1/3 1/2 MC

WC: 719 Gaucho is using buffs BULK and DANCE