Ophelia all I see is silhouettes trying to close the distance Come and go, near and far, she would love Mesec as a son no matter what. If only Roskuld could understand that she felt the same about her, but she could never blame her daughter for having doubts. How were they to know that her disappearance was not caused by either child when her words meant nothing? Her memories were a plague, her heart heavy with moral quandaries that could only be resolved in the unchanging landscape of the north. Admitting that weakness was not so simple, especially when she strived to maintain a calm, unflinching façade. Leaders and Ladies could not afford to go insane, so she had fled, but she was glad that Mesec seemed to understand. His kindness chiseled a hole in her heart, one of guilt and happiness. And just like the daughter of the Valiant himself, she expressed that affection in instructive violence. A spar. At his insistence, she attacked first, holding nothing back as she decreased the distance between herself and her full-moon-son. Tinek’s offer for assistance was easily waved away in her mind, shrugged off with a distracted ‘thanks’, but he took no offense. The silver was content to circle overhead, one red eye trained on his bonded as he played on the thermals. Back on the ground, the spar was visceral, real. Ophelia felt her back hoof slide past air, but the brunt of her teeth gripped onto Mesec’s shoulder. He would have to be faster if he wanted to improve, she thought absently, and she tried to shift focus from aching heart to palpable battle. She fell back on what she knew – what she was good at, just like anyone else would. Teaching, instructing, fighting and manipulating was what she knew, and her compassion for Mesec shifted her mindset. Observations regarding his technique sparked in her mind without analysis, ones she desired to share. Under her breath as her she opened her jaws again, she spoke. “Predict,” she murmured softly. “Don’t react. You’ll be faster.” A second later she was ducking beneath a jerked wing, and she heard a soft chuckle chime through the charged air around them. That made her smile. Just the simple action of curling her lips took a weight from her heart, and she breathed deeply. Just as she was about to advance again, she watched as darkness began to blot him from her vision. Startled by this awe-inspiring show of power, she felt her legs turn to lead, rooting her cloven hooves to the soft, dewy grass. Even the light of the full moon could not find him now, and she looked around her, lost. Silence. The beating of her own heart thumped rhythmically in her ears, unable to find her adoptive son’s lithe, tall form any longer. An emotion stronger than pride and deeper than affection filled her chest as she continued to seek any sign of his body from a stray shadow to a depressed print in the ground – but there was nothing! Barely a second passed and he suddenly appeared in front of her, hind hooves lashing out before she had a chance to react. Was this what it felt like when she used her magic against others? Ophelia grunted in pain as both of his solid, black hooves collided against the point of her left shoulder hard enough to force her to recoil. The sound made a hollow, piercing thud, and she felt the skin split beneath the pressure, two large, semi-circle punctures marring her white hide. Ophelia and felt the pain steal her breath away. Mesec was strong – much stronger than her initial speculations. She did not truly understand the gravity of the injury until she stepped back and toward the right, her plan to move forward and catch Mesec the second he returned to the ground again. But, as she put her weight on her left, foreleg, the muscles bunching, she felt searing pain radiate up into her poll, nostrils flaring as she tried to recover from the mind-numbing alarm. Knowing that she was in trouble now and needed time, Ophelia actively sought out his mind through mental space, attempting to erase her position from his memories. Hopefully this would give her a few, precious seconds so to get close with her limping gait. The pale princess, unwilling to risk further injuring her front left, aimed to move along his left side with her right, reaching over with jaws open to bite at the point of his hip. [[(2/3) (748 words in word) - Ophelia takes the full, crit hit to her left shoulder where he leaves two, bleeding hoof-shaped gashes and deeper trauma - Ophelia uses her mind erasing make (tries) and then, hoping she's erased, aims to bite at his left hip bone ]]

Credits: Image by Schwartze @ DA


TEACHING SPAR NOTES
1. You don't necessarily need to include the magic you use in the bottom of your posts, but it IS a really good idea, so awesome! I would definitely keep doing that, especially since his magic can be a little abstract. The less ambiguous the better!

2. DONT BE NERVOUS THIS WAS AWESOME! Congrats on your first roll being a crit hit too! :D Just to explain, a critical hit occurs when the d14 and the d2 both end up being 14 and 2, thus "maxed". This means that Mesec's attack was FLAWLESS and thus the damage he deals is automatically bumped up to 6.

6 is the MAX damage you can do without a modifier (the modifiers come from your character's damage stats). So when you take damage, you base it off of the 1-6 damage roll with 1 being barely any damage to 6 being the most damage. Since you rolled essentially a 6, I had Phi take the most realistic damage she could for your attack - which means both of his hooves hit their intended target causing bleeding/bruising/lasting damage that continues to affect her through the rest of the battle.

What I like to do is create a scale for myself to use for battles. For example, I'll say, okay, Mesec bucked at me, so his roll will mean the following:

1- 2 :: grazed by, maybe some hairs lost
3-4 :: One hoof landed solidly, probably some bruising and maybe alittle bleeding at 4
5 :: Both hooves landed, some blood, lasting damage
6 :: Both hooves landed, blood, bruising, long lasting damage

I hope that helps you in your future rolling!!

3. Since Ophelia rolled a 1, I wouldn't say that her bite caused any lasting damage at all. I know you wrote in your post that she would leave a scar, but I am not sure if that's realistic given that roll! 1s are ALMOST misses, meaning that you could have even had her pull out a feather lol. Basically, she hit you, but it didn't even have to be on your shoulder since your character was pretty much close to a full dodge anyway. I hope that makes sense!

4. Don't forget to mention the the differences between them! He is much taller than Phi and also has big wings. Those wings can be used for a variety of things, so don't be afraid to mention them. He can balance, fly, buffet, etc. They are just as much of an appendage as legs, so I would use some of that extra word space to add that in. Also, compare their stat numbers too. Is he faster than Phi? Stronger? Slower? etc.

5. Don't forget about your landscape! Is the ground soft? Hard? Are there fireflies? Really try to put your ready directly into the environment as well as his thoughts.

6. ". For when Mesec reappeared, he was in front of Ophelia - just off her left shoulder, facing away from her." ---> This COULD be interpreted as powerplay since it's up to me whether or not he gets that close! Be careful to use ambiguous language, even when defining your character's position in relation to someone else.

7. Otherwise, great job with emotion and realism! I look forward to your post, and please feel free to ask lots of questions! :D