If only Ampere had some insight into Amaris' thoughts, then she could know this strange girl whom called upon the art of war, but did not labor under it. She could have seen the insecurities that the hybrid trifled with, she could have soothed them (maybe). Whatever prejudices Amaris had faced before did not roost in Ampere's thoughts; she was far too concerned with trying to combat the natural armor the mare wore, wondering if it slowed her like the crafted kind, if it was heavy, or itchy, or strong. Not one fond of defensive items herself, Ampere nonetheless found it fucking awesome.

Probably for the best Ampere didn't know her thoughts, she had enough of her own to concern her. Besides, Amaris was hardly mysterious. Although she was noticeably reserved, she was a far cry from shy; with little more than a second thought Amaris picked up speed and coursed through the sands, battle upon her 'brow. Ampere grinned, proud to see such courage.

While Amaris initiated, Ampere worked to transform the dust kicked up in her wake. The smaller particles of organic matter were easier to rearrange into its purest form of energy. Although thousands of grains of sand littered the space at her hooves, to separate them out was nearly as consuming as dealing with something large and whole, so the gladiator used her opponent to her advantage. Blue sparks blossomed like flowers from the discarded dust, humming softly as they spun into something larger behind Amaris.

Lightning touched gaze flicked from her work to the mare at hand as her approach obliterated the space between them. Muscles tensed under a black coat, ears which had tilted back to hide from the rain sunk lower as war buzzed between them. Ampere prepared her teeth to deflect the dragon mare, to find out for herself just how strong that golden armor built on blood was. Ready, steady, she told herself, poised to evade the head on collision. Or she was, until Amaris suddenly spun away to the right.

Eyes, so hungry for motion, darted as the spiked tail swerved sideways. Ampere's flesh rippled in response, head thrown back, teeth slipping beneath their fleshy sheath as Ampere is forced to retreat. Front legs stiffened as her ass tucked, body jerked backwards, but too late, too slow despite her agility and her speed. Such was the downfall of standing instead of moving; momentum was harder to engage when it was stationary, a truth for any being, be they slow or fast.

Maybe if it had been the scythe which whipped into her Ampere could have beaten it, but like a magician, Amaris used it as a distraction technique, her hooves swinging into the space and time which was left, unfurling heavily against Ampere's exposed and taut breast. One hoof even collided with her throat, her short stature no doubt throwing off the taller mare's aim. The impact of their force was immediate. Ampere staggered backwards, almost toppling over as sand caught about her hooves and darkness swam in her vision, but her flared wings managed to keep her upright. After a few useless steps Ampere stopped all together, though hardly by choice. Her body warred with itself, legs splayed wide to maintain balance while Ampere's head dropped, abruptly heavy. Her gaze blurred and blackness crept in at its rims, a threat of unconsciousness as a result of her windpipe collapsing momentarily. Thankfully they had just started fighting, so Ampere's muscles were not so greedy for oxygen that she couldn't recover after a few gasping, hacking, awful moments of suffocation. Still, it brought her to a complete standstill, assisted with the resounding fire that blazed its fury across her chest, deep bruising affecting the musculature and its flexibility. Swelling was already obvious, a testament not only to Amaris' mark, but also her strength.

In that moment Ampere knew that she couldn't afford another full strike from Amaris, friendly spar or not. In an effort to occupy the golden dragon, Ampere sent the electricity she'd harvested. Shaped into a serpent the blue mass swerved along the sands towards Amaris, its outline crackling and at times marred by violent arcs of lightning which popped free. It tried to strike up Amaris' left front leg, electric fangs seeking to numb and disable that region of her body for the time being. It would give Ampere time to recollect.

Time was short either way. Gritting her teeth Ampere forced herself into an unsteady, limping trot. She kept close to Amaris, winding a circle through the sands, eyes trained on the surprising disciple. Every step hurt, but flight would only compound the effects of her bruises even more. "Stay moving," Ampere croaked, though if to herself or Amaris was uncertain.

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A: 1/3
D: 0/0
W: 799

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YOUR POST
You did a great job on your post, as expected considering your long experience with fighting :P

You had a great distraction attack, always a good idea when starting and going head on, as otherwise it's hard to imagine why it couldn't just be dodged. I also like the motivation behind not following through with the attack which was the distraction, her tail, which ties in the realism nicely with emotion. You kept your timing great and explaining their relative positioning well so that I had no problem following you with how this attack went down.

I would have liked to see more of what Amaris did after landing, especially since you had the words left. It's a great way to set yourself up for better success in your next post, so that it's more realistic if you need to dodge my attack or even make one of your own. You don't have to go running away, in fact I rather dislike that because there's not as much time as people think in fights and you usually can't be running away far, plus it really restricts your opponent's possibilities (which in and of itself can be an advantage...). However just stating something like, "As Amaris' hooves all came back together on the sand, she drew into herself, ready to bound forward or to the side if the gladiator retaliated, wings at the ready to aid in balance or deflection..."

I thought you had some good emotion in this, particularly the bit where she tried to make herself look smaller. So I definitely felt Amaris all in the post, however I wanted to know more about why she was doing this, or more about what her past was like. You touch a little bit on her parents teaching her some skills, and the differences of dragons vs. horses, but you had the room for more detail. For instance, was the teachings of her parents what encouraged her to continue her training now? Why is she a disciple instead of a warrior? Does she consider herself a horse, or a dragon, and how does that impact her choices to fight since as you say, there's different motivations for each species? What is she hoping to gain from this? How does she feel about her opponent, intimidated because it's the gladiator, uncertain because she's small and loud etc?

You did great bringing in the scenery and talking about the rain's affects on the sand and their coloration on the sand, but you never really used it when you attacked, so it's not really holding a lot of worth. If you had said something like, when Amaris turned suddenly to fire out her kick, some wet sand clinging to her also flew out perhaps hitting Ampere, or it was harder to turn on because the top layer was slightly wet, that would have really solidified it. Same with the breed references, you touched on them, but didn't use them much. Amaris has a huge strength score compared to Ampere, so that might be a good thing to mention in your next post since I'm assuming Amaris didn't intend to cause that much damage.


MY POST
I really struggled with emotion and good wording in this post. I feel like compared to some it's rather barren as far as prose is concerned, so knowing this, but still needing to post, I tried to focus on some other aspects of my score to make sure this wasn't a complete failure.

I focused on ensuring that I took enough damage for Amaris' 6 roll, although back to my wording issues, I hoped I conveyed enough of how extensive the injury was. I'm already anticipating to have Ampere severely hindered in movement and therefore attacks/defenses because of the chest attack - and the chest is really part of everything a horse does. However, for proper injury consideration, I need to make sure it's explained enough here, so hopefully I did! It's always easy to explain injuries when you're bloody, or burned, or falling, but something like this wasn't as noticeably horrific since it's more internal, but those can still be full damage if written correctly.

I also tried to bring in more breed and surroundings mentions, hence having the sand help trip up Ampere and commenting that maybe Amaris kicked her throat because of their big size difference. I also bring in Amaris strength and Ampere's speed and agility (even if she failed to utilize them), however again my wording weakened their inclusion a bit so hopefully they still left an impact!

Because I had Ampere standing still when Amaris attack, it cut out a lot of believable options. That's why I set up ahead of time Ampere's magic attack, because otherwise it wouldn't have been realistic for her to suddenly recover and attack Amaris like normal - that would have been discounting her injuries and the depth of damage Amaris dealt with a 6 roll.