Head to head it's all or nothing.

Slow frothing turned to heavy sweat, Archibald barely able to notice the change. The sun beat down on his back and made him feel intensely hot. His war dance with this mare coupled with the heat, and the dark knight's body was nearly soaked as their spar was coming to a close. The Dauntless' breathing was ragged and harsh, each one an effort as his lungs expanded in his wet chest, but the warlord pressed on. He had faced much harder battle conditions, and the heat would not sway him from continuing his spar with his warrior. While she was doing well to increase his opinion of her through battle, Archibald was hungry for more.

Loretta's mind was crazed as she pressed into Archibald's, throwing her thrill of battle and bloodlust towards him with all of her mental force. She danced around the battle, eyes dancing between the opponents, tail wagging furiously as she whined, barked, and nipped the air. The bitch was frustrated for being commanded to the sidelines, for she had not been forced to such a low status since her pup-hood, and the frustration had transformed into stress as she watched the spar unfold. END HER! Loretta screamed finally, a long, high pitched bark reverberating the dry atmosphere. Archibald snorted several times, his mental capacity splitting between keeping his companion out and his opponent in. His lips twitched with the annoyance of his tense bonded, and a growl left his lips, a sure sign of his frustration towards her.

The irritating nagging of Loretta has drawn away all satisfaction of his attacks hitting the mare. His steel-clad hooves slam against her shoulder as she flies into a canter, passing him on his right side. His bite also lands effectively, drawing a scream from the paint. Her blood painted the tips of his dirt-marred feathers from ripping the skin on her shoulder, and the irony smell fills his nostrils and brings him back around to focus on the battle. The scent of blood mixes with the hot air, smelling deeply of the sweat from battle. Blood is something that is too familiar to the behemoth. His past was filled with bloodshed, both his own and others. The beast's life was a constant battle, his war torn frame a testament to that, as well as his eyes that narrowed to focus now on this scent of blood. The Dauntless was no longer the stallion his mother had raised him to be, however, and the desire to feel Cheveyo's life slip away beneath his massive hooves did not manifest in his heart or mind. He was, however, able to put a wall between his mechanic mind and Loretta's emotional assaults.

Archibald grunted again, turning his head some as Cheveyo moved her body to be parallel with him. His eyes flick over her body, the body he had run ragged in this evaluation spar,dancing over her hips to see where her back legs were going. Cheveyo was like Archibald on a smaller scale, her thick hips and muscled behind able to dispense crushing blows, ready and completely able to break bone and leech away life. Thankfully, the mare's response to his kick was panic-induced. Archibald stopped his forward movement, planting his front hooves on the hard earth--sliding some from his massive weight--before swinging his hips towards Cheveyo. His body groaned in protest, trained muscles pulling over the bruising on his girth and breast, reminding him of the whisper's of Cheveyo's true damaging ability. The expense of his body today and the wounds from his opponent would stick with him well, tightening up his muscles and joints some.

He intended to take her attack in the thickness of his body, where his muscles were hard and could absorb the shock well--but he also aimed to match her kick with one of his own. Tucking his head towards his chest, Archibald shot out a canon-fire kick with his right hind leg, and simultaneously Cheveyo's painted hoof slammed against his right-side thigh, near the end of his leg. A sharp breath of pain came in through Archibald's nostrils, and he kept his pale lips sealed tight to keep another grunt at bay. His own kick was an attempt to strike her around the same area, his leg extending straight towards her thigh, though with her own kick distributed his way and stretching out her leg, he knew there would be a chance of it hitting her stifle. In this moment, Archibald would be pleased with wherever his assault landed, as long as it made a lasting impression on the orchid-eyed mare.



[WC: 768 | PC: 3/3 | @[Cheveyo] -- No need to tag me in your closing defense, I'll see it ;) ]

Teaching:
- Cheveyo, as a defense, goes into a fast canter. This places Archibald's kick on her shoulder, which is very realistic and well done. However, his second attack, the bite to her face, probably should not have landed there, if at all. The canter, realistically, would drive Cheveyo away from Archibald, and his second attack comes while he is moving forward, but with her cantering that would land his bite somewhere else on her body, or he would simply miss his bite. For this bite to land on her face, Archibald would have had to block her canter away, and that was not written in, so this does not make sense to me. What I stress with this is to watch your characters reactions to the other's attacks. Sometimes timelines are confusing because of the way the posting is set up, and a lot of times (I am not saying you do this, but I know I have/do and so I thought it'd be a good thing to point out) this confusion turns the timeline into: post one character doesn everything, then post two other character does their thing, and so on, instead of them running like you were reading a novel, all at once as one large post (which is how it should be). This is hard in writing, especially battles, because you do end up backtracking some to react to your opponent's attack, you just have to be careful about it so you don't have to backtrack too much.

- You say that Archibald runs alongside Cheveyo, but that is not what I wrote. I wrote Archi trying to move forward into her, pretty much, in an attempt to stay close to her, while you write as Chev going into a canter for defense, which when they are facing opposite directions, would send her away unless she turned. Be careful to be very specific of your character's as well as your opponent's positions. A good thing to do, and which I do during battles, is open photoshop and make a little "comic" sequence of the movements. You can do this simply by making little "sperm horses" (lol) with a round point for the head and a line for the body. Neo (I think it was Neo) did this during the Qian invasion and I have done it in every spar I have ever done since.

+ I have seen a lot of improvement just from this spar! You have done well to incorporate my teaching points into your posts and I think you have made each a little less rushed each time. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to spar with you and give you some teaching pointers. I hope this helped, and I encourage you to look back on these points during over spars, or make yourself a checklist of things that you know have specifically helped you to use as a reference for other battles. Good luck with your future sparring, and thanks for taking on my beast!