She faltered for a moment, just a moment, as she was forced to lift her head to look up at the great hulking beast cloaked in fire, sand, and sex. His wings would have cast a shadow upon her, if not for the harmless flames that licked their edges, throwing warm light upon the dark stain of her wet skin. In that moment she forgot everything except him - and then all she could remember was what was good about him. Although it was impossible, she felt heat rolling from him and into her; an undertow of passion and desire. It caused her to cast her ears back in uncertainty. Not for the first time Ampere struggled with herself. She was forced to ask why she always made life harder on herself. It would be easy to accept Gaucho now, to just take him and have him the way they both wanted - what good was this dance of denial?

Wide-eyed and blue Ampere could only stare at her Sultan, immobile with indecision. Her breaths came fast, due in part to wading through the sea they both stood in, but for more too - and he would know. She could have reached out then and touched him, traced the arcs of his muscle and pressed her weaknesses into his strength until he smothered them out of her. She could hav- he spoke, and that was all it took to break the dream apart. All around her the fantasy fell in splinters, letting the world come rushing back in. It was dreadfully cold.

All that warmth that his presence and his searing gaze pushed into her, now burned the frayed edges of her self control. It cooked the rage she was chewing on until it sizzled and popped, threatening to burn and turn all hard and black and tough. You've pushed me to this edge, she lamented inside, somewhere beneath the flames that licked her innards. The thought came as she took another step towards him, eye cast down so she didn't have to see the imposing tower of might that he was. She had fought with him several times before, and each time she had not succeeded. Sense would have told her to avoid this, to extinguish the flames Gaucho stirred with the cold grace of Mesec and his night. Though even as this knowledge swam around Ampere's conscious, bringing the glitter of tears to the rim of her eyes, she knew she could not, for the same reasons she couldn't just take Gaucho back. She couldn't do what was easy, she had to do what was right, and the only way she knew how was with a storm. She didn't know what Gaucho would do or say when the dust cleared, or if she had any hope of winning, but she would have to try because she couldn't live with herself otherwise. It was bad enough she still wanted him, she could not simply give into him too.

So Ampere ducked her head down in a fluid snaking of wild mane and black muscle as her knives hurtled their way from her sheaths. Ampere tried to bite at Gaucho's front knees, nares flaring as she breathed deep in preparation for the nearby water. Going off the same challenge she posed to her warriors, Ampere would have use tricks against this stronger foe if she had any hope of surviving this engagement. She hoped her strange attack, coupled with the lack of hints she gave to her intentions (although he might know her well enough), would confuse or startle him. She wanted him to back up, or rear up, or anything that might make him bigger, and thus easier for her daggers to hit as they whizzed by either side of her and to him. She wanted to hit his wings, the very ones he'd lifted out on either side, but she wasn't aiming very well and he was much taller than her, so they might hit his body instead if at all.

"They do not deserve slavery!" she roared out, nose flinging from the water with a deliberate trail to try and splash it at him as she lifted it up. Haunches coiled, hooves finding easy traction on the wet sand beneath, though the sea would slow her considerably as their fight continued. She aimed to lunge at him in a rear, front hooves sent out like a boxer for his chest or legs if he was still close, her teeth finishing the round as she nipped at any part of him with the descent of her forelegs. Meanwhile she flapped her wings, again trailing salt water.

Ampere bit through the anger and the fire, tasting chalk and ash and him.

---

A: 1/4
D: 0/1
W: 800/800

In the Dragon's Throat, within/near the northeastern beach, during Orangemoon.

Ampere is challenging @[Gaucho] for Confutatis' freedom <3

Continued from Twisted & Deranged