the Rift


[JUDGED] I'll spear you where the sun don't shine [Megaera challenge]

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#1
WINDOW SEAT TO CHAOS OVERLOAD


"I won't let you," Ampere seethed. She was still reeling over all of the honesty Megaera had finally revealed, but that last statement had been clear enough, and Ampere bit onto it and held down, hard.

Leave?
Over my dead fucking body Sunspear.


Over the course of their conversation Ampere had steadily backed away from Megaera, and now she used her position as a physical blockage, purposefully standing in the path Megaera would need to walk down in order to head to the pillars that heralded the bridge. Of course, Megaera didn't have to rely on just her feet, but neither did Ampere, and sure as a horse shits, she'd block the airways too - the evidence was in the taut way her skin pulled over her bunched muscles, in the way her mouth was such a tight line the edges wrinkled and the lips pulled up over her teeth in a snarl. Ampere's ears slid against her neck, and her wings gently spread at her sides, ready.

Megaera thought her fire had gone out? She thought the fight had left her?
Ampere would remind her otherwise; she had a box of matches curled up inside a fist and the Sunspear's name was written on it.

Ampere hadn't been able to save Gaucho, so she'd be damned if she let Megaera slip away just as easily, even if it broke whatever friendship they had. Sometimes holding onto something was worth ruining it a little bit.

"I don't think it's the herd that thinks so very little of you, so stop dragging them into it when this is about you. Failure? Tell me who's used that word other than you?" Blue eyes flashed like lightning in a brewing storm as Ampere's head tucked defensively. She knew this was going to hurt like hell. Megaera and she were a lot more alike than they realized; both fought like wild animals back into a corner, even if the world was wide open around them. Both depended on their violence to outlast their opponent's, because they were both small and they were both a hard sort of strength that came from taking blows instead of giving them really good. Against someone like Gaucho, Ampere knew one kick could be devastating, so all she had to do was twist and turn him around until he was panting and she had won, but with Megaera she'd be fighting her own reflection; if she wasn't already tired now she sure would be when this was done.

Megaera would be too though, and maybe that exhaustion would be enough to get her to stay.

It was only a maybe, but it was worth it, so Ampere lunged. The sand kicked up around her, loose in some pockets and nothing but hard red earth in others. She could hear the ocean roaring to the right of them, distant, but loud enough to invigorate. Kygo was there, on the shore, nestled in a tree as he waited out the drama, too afraid to get involved even as he felt the rush of Ampere's wrath humming through their bond. It was something violent, but heavy with something else too - not just red with rage, but more purple, or violet, something touched by grief too. Ampere was furious, but she was also in mourning, and not just for the Sultan they're already buried, but for the Sultana trying to bury herself.

Teeth flashed as Ampere aimed to bit at Megaera's neck, trying to drive the mare back, deeper into the desert where she belonged. In order to reach Ampere's front feet lifted faintly off the ground, and she used them as she heavily landed back down, attempting to rake them down Megaera's front legs in the process.

"Don't fool yourself," Ampere panted with the quick rush of her motions. "You want to be here, you just don't think you deserve to be."

She knew, she felt the same way once, or twice.
She'd worn the golden crown once, and she'd lost it too, but she was still here. Besides, Ampere had run away often enough to know it fixed jack shit, so Megaera didn't need to go through all those same motions. Ampere had done it, lived it, and learned from it - time to give Megaera that lesson.


[Directly from this thread: http://helovia.net/showthread.php?tid=25291
In the Dragon's Throat, near the bridge and the sea, some sandy areas but also hard rocky areas. Challenging for Megaera to stay, or I guess since she's already an Outcast, to be a prisoner.]


A M P E R E

darya87.deviantart.com


@Megaera :D

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Megaera the Sunspear Posts: 306
Absent Abyss atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15 h :: 8 [Birdsong] HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Gwaihir :: Golden Eagle :: None Laine
#2






They were lies, all of them. What she told Ampere, what she told herself, nothing but the weighty falsehoods she made from grief and regret to build a wall around herself. Oh, she wanted to build that wall higher, to layer stone after stone up and around to guard from this pain she was causing.  She had begun to believe those lies; even as they could guard, they could isolate and smother and already the fiery light within the former Sultana burned so very low. "I won't let you.” burned Ampere’s voice and Meg shied from it. All she wanted to do now was slink away to some hole to heal and to hide, to guard her children until they no longer needed her, and then to fade away. 

The blue wasn’t done, and Megaera’s path was blocked by the spread of dark wings and words that left Ampere’s mouth and struck far too close to home. Taking a half step forward, Meg planted her feet, finding the earth beneath them a strange mix of rock and sand. Her ears pulled back against her head as her dark eyed stared just past Ampere—at anywhere but those piercing blues eyes that saw through her far too well. She should have flashed like Ampere did, should have burned, but every inch was disspassionate, distant because she couldn't force herself to do this otherwise. She didn’t want to fight, not against one she had once stood with. She didn’t want to attack or defend she just wanted to leave. “Ampere, let me pass.” There was that flat voice again, not even enough in her to pretend at conviction.

Megaera tried to concentrate, tried to build her own lightning in her eyes (red to face the blue so obviously coming) but though her eyes glowed briefly they fizzled and faded to black again. Was she was just too tired, too torn apart from feeling too many terrible things? Her soul had been to dark places before but there had always been light at the center of it, fire at the center, but maybe she’d snuffed it out or maybe, somewhere in her deepest heart, Megaera needed Ampere to stop her.

The wrath of the Mother of Companions was on her. Ampere lunged with enough fury for the both of them and Meg’s eyes widened then, shocked as she felt her potential for magic build only to fail and fade away. She had thought that would have been enough to ward the charging mare, as Meg couldn’t bear to let herself think that what Ampere did was out of friendship, out of belief. No, and obstacle, only and obstacle… She tried again, reaching deeper into her soul for sunlight but her magic wouldn’t rise. Her body jerked as Ampere slammed into it—a wall of emotion come to knock down her walk of apathy. 

She felt the teeth, biting and brutal at her neck, and with a heavy yell lurched backwards and away from the pain. Her back legs shook at the instant order to carry herself back, but they were nimble and did so. Her front limbs tried to keep up, to shuffle backwards but Ampere’s hooves caught them. The blue’s flints, hard as iron, scraped down her knees and cannon bones over the scars left by fire. The puckered skin there tore, not deep but stinging terribly even as Meg’s neck began to throb.

Megaera had never retreated in her life, but she almost did now. Her breath hitched again and again, throat already tightened by the strain of holding in her emotions and slightly winded after Ampere's swift blow. She had set herself upon the edge of the Throat, ready to leave it behind, ready to hurt those she loved if she could only run away. It had worked on Cera but Ampere, fierce Ampere, was even now forcing her bodily back into the sands Meg had just professed to hate. But she couldn't go back, not now! Avery inch her sister forced her back was another inch she'd have to crawl over agin in order to escape; too far and she would't have the strength to do it again. Get around her. Just get around her and run.

Heaving in a breath, Megaera swerved toward the ocean, making that open stretch of beach her target. She kept her turn sharp, trying to maintain a close proximity for Ampere for seconds more for running would not be enough, they were too evenly matched in speed and Meg knew it. Aimed toward the water, she bucked, lashed out with undirected back legs to ward off a pursuit and then bolted for the water.

Above where Kygo rested in his tree, the raptor circled before touching down and turning his golden gaze to watch.


ooc :: C'MON BABY MAKE IT HURT SO GOOOD XD
Words :: 799 (WELP Gwaihir's intro was gonna be a little more suspenseful but hey, what can ya do...)
Attack :: 1/4

Megaera
there is a war inside my heart gone silent
both sides dissatisfied and somewhat violent
image credits
FAC FORTIA ET PATERE
be brave and endure
:: permission given for use of magic and force :: please tag Megaera in all posts ::

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#3
WINDOW SEAT TO CHAOS OVERLOAD


The dispassionate manner in which Megaera responded only fueled Ampere's righteous anger. She knew now, more than ever, that Megaera was bluffing so well she had herself fooled. Ampere knew a thing or two about that, so she'd just have to try that much harder to knock the sense back into the bay mare.

It almost worked too, for a second at least. Ampere managed to push Megaera back a step, but it was like that lost ground terrified the mare, whom abruptly scrambled to feint to the side and run for it. As if Ampere thought with a growl, her small body nimbly following suit, her focus razor sharp on the Sunspear so as to catch the slightest twitch of her evasive hide.

Yet Ampere followed too close, her pursuit too reckless as she blindly clawed for her friend and failed to see her as an opponent. Those back feet fired out and struck Ampere dead on her left side as she tried to angle in and cut Megaera off by ramming her shoulders against the Sultana's haunches. Ampere hadn't even noticed until she felt the punch, utterly solid, sink into the girth area just behind her forelimb. The pressure forced all the air out of her lungs, forcing Ampere to pull up short as she gasped for breath, her head slung low while her flanks heaved with shaky, shallow breaths that rasped through flared, desperate nostrils. Every inhale expanded the battered skin on her side, the swelling immediate and growing as a deep bruise began to form; blood vessels rupturing beneath the black of her coat. The pain went deep, radiating out into her muscles, stiffening her, but fortunately avoiding any damage to her ribs.

Yet, Ampere was smiling.

Once she got over choking, the blue mare's head lifted parallel to the ground, tracing the form of Megaera as she tried to retreat. There's the fire, Ampere thought with sort of twisted satisfaction. Still not enough though, she's still running the wrong way. Ampere couldn't catch her, not yet in her still winded and throbbing state, but she could still affect Megaera.

Reaching out with her magic, like invisible hands, Ampere attempted to yank on the electrical chains that rattled inside the Sunspear's body, as they did in all bodies. That leg there? Electrical impulses from the brain tell it to lift and bend and fall, and Ampere could strum those energized strings better than an air guitar. Smiling, as she walked steadily towards Megaera, Ampere attempted to seize control of Megaera's limbs- to stop those impulses, to stop that running, that walking, that cowardly retreat.

In fact, Ampere was trying to make her turn back around. It took concentration, but Ampere had plenty of that to give Megaera in the moment, and so she narrowed the blue of her gaze as she focused on singing a song into Megaera's body, her magic a new brain to direct those impulses.

"Now I know you never back down from a fight," Ampere rasped, her lungs still recovering. "So this must be some bad shit, but it won't go away just because you do." A deep frown streaked across Amperes face, "trust me. You can't run away from your feelings, so might as well turn around and fight them." Fight me.

Ampere stepped into a hidden dip in the sands and abruptly jarred her leg. The unexpected and strong impact that reverberated up her body forced her breath between her teeth as her injured side pulsed in agony at the shock waves. Ampere's focus waned in that instant, a grimace pulling her features and her mind taut with pain.

"You feel like everyone hates you, because you hate you." Ampere kept talking, forcing the conversation through her clenched teeth. She thought maybe she could fire Megaera up with the match sticks she was spitting out. "It's better to assume that, isn't it? Because if they don't hate you, then you feel guilty. You feel like you don't deserve anything less. Because if they don't hate you, then maybe it's because there's something worse."

Ampere reached again for her magic, but this time it was to unsheathe the metal dagger by her wings. A quick flick of the electric currents around the blade, controlling it, and it was sailing through the air with the tip aimed towards Megaera. She wasn't here to kill the mare, but some danger might spice up her responses.

"It might mean they don't care, and that's a helluva lot worse than hate."

I care.
The dagger carried that message, she hoped.

In the tree, Kygo hunkered down with a squawk, wary of Gwahir.



Oops I forgot this last time :x

A: 2/4
D: 0/1
W: 799/800

Holds Meg <3



A M P E R E

darya87.deviantart.com

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Megaera the Sunspear Posts: 306
Absent Abyss atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15 h :: 8 [Birdsong] HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Gwaihir :: Golden Eagle :: None Laine
#4






Reach the water, get into the sky, find the twins… Megaera recited the order rapidly in her mind, the thought of her goal trying to drown out the knowledge of what she was leaving. She’d felt the firm collision of her hooves with Ampere’s body but didn’t stop to glance back as her winded opponent struggled for breath. It was a desperate scrabble to pick up speed and her wings spread wide even as she struggled to build momentum. Her forelegs screamed in protest, scoured fronts bit by bloody tears and now the sharp stings of oxygen and gritty sand. On this uneven ground they wouldn't let her prepare for take-off. Where one step would press off firmly against red rock, the next would sink into craggy sand and slow her. She’d have to run, have to get to the base of the bridge.

To her astonishment the bay warrioress lurched, the movement in her limbs suddenly sluggish even while her upper body wanted to continue moving forward. Surprise, terror, disbelief, all flashed through Meg’s mind and her brain screamed over each to tell her traitorous legs to move but for several long seconds they simply would not respond. And then they were turning… Turning! Realization hit Meg like a bolt and even as her body turned against her will her black eyes locked onto Ampere.

Outrage: the fierce flames of it kindled, spinning past the guards Megaera had thrown up because unlike the self-loathing Ampere was pinpointing so accurately, outrage at this intrusive violation could be turned outward. Boom! It knocked sharply at the wall she had built around her emotions, and the stones of it quaked. "You feel like everyone hates you, because you hate you.” — Boom! Another knock against the wall, and Meg, stunned by emotions too numerous to name, didn’t even realize when the hold Ampere’s magic released. She stared at the blue, eyes glassy as a frozen lake, shining with some grotesque mix of childlike terror and inhumane rage that tore out from the place that the former Sultana had locked it away in ”She’s right. You know she is.” Not Meg’s inner voice but Gwaihir’s echoed in her mind. BOOM!

Megaera’s attention faltered as the walls shook, started to crumble…She turned for the briefest second to look for her companion, to plead with him for help and the flying dagger sliced across her turned cheek, leaving an angry red slash from the bridge of her nose to the base of her skull.

From his perch, the eagle felt the bloody bite of the dagger as if it had scored his own face. As much as he would have liked to close himself off from Meg after they had been at odds, he could not leave her alone to feel that pain, or any pain. He felt everything that she did, but in a filtered way that left his mind clear to see the truth where Meg had blinded herself to it. It went against practice, against instinct not to rush to her side, not to defend his Meg, but he approved of Ampere’s actions. Perhaps the blue mare’s uninhibited violence could succeed where his attempted conciliations had failed; he knew Meg’s heart down to its very core, he knew she could thrive nowhere but in the sands of Dragon’s Throat.

"NO!" The violent scream was rent from her throat, a vicious and desperate denial of everything she faced: Asavvi’s disappearance, Gaucho’s death, Cera’s accusations, Ampere’s insights, Gwaihir’s betrayal. Had she thought she could be cold? Had Meg really thought she could wall herself away? Even now Ampere’s final words were like a battering ram and Meg’s palisade of indifferent disgust was no match to the iron force of the truth.

Meg didn’t want the truth, couldn’t handle the truth. Her life had crumbled around her around her proud ears because when things had gone wrong, when life had gotten messy, she hadn’t leaned on her friends, on her herd. She hadn’t trusted them to help her, to love her; hadn’t trusted that they would believe in her because despite The Sun God’s belief—despite Gaucho’s belief—Megaera hadn’t believed in herself.

With tears streaking from her eyes to mix with the blood that dripped from her cheek, Megaera twisted to clamp her teeth on the shaft of gilded steel at her side. She wrenched it free if its holding position and heaved her body up into a rear, arching her head back. Crashing her ruined forelegs to the earth again she hurled the spear at the symbolic center of everything she wanted to run from: Ampere.

@Ampere  
ooc :: Companion knows best.
Words :: 771
Attack :: 2/4

Megaera
there is a war inside my heart gone silent
both sides dissatisfied and somewhat violent
image credits

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#5
WINDOW SEAT TO CHAOS OVERLOAD


She hadn't stopped walking as she talked. Each step she trudged across the desert was fire on her side, the extensive bruise gnawing angrily at the network of muscles behind her limb. Every breath expanded her rib cage, pushing on it from the inside, though that seemed of little consequence compared to the burning within her starving lungs. Competing for attention, both pains assaulted Ampere, but she grit her teeth in resolution, her breaths growing steady as she regained her wind, and her legs perpetual as she regained her ground. All the while her sights held Megaera firm.

"YES!" Ampere barked back, defiant and unrelenting; she finally was getting something from Meg, was maybe getting through to her. She couldn't let up now, couldn't risk this vital moment where the Sunspear might finally shake her and spring for the borders. "DON'T TURN AWAY FROM THIS!" Ampere roared, then wheezed as she shakily breathed in.

A song came on the breeze then, sharp and sudden. Whistling her name, the spear of the sun was driving for Ampere. Quick as a rabbit in a fox den Ampere set the electrical currents about her shield and hauled it from her back. She barely had enough time, in fact, not enough, not entirely. Like a muted gong the shaft struck her metal barrier, glancing off at an angle that cut through her left wing. Ampere had smartly kept her senses in bringing down the shield, but she'd stupidly reacted on instinct too and flinched down, her wings spreading from her sides for balance as she ducked. It was sort of like hiding behind the couch, but with your foot still sticking out.

Feathers tore free in the force of the impact, but other than the end smacking her wing's upper joint and an early molt, she was little worse for the wear. Certainly nothing compared to the continually torturous reminder of the stitch in her side, but still, Megaera was fighting back. Even if it didn't hurt as much, it seemed liked there was real gusto behind that move, and Ampere gave a low whistle of approval as she slung her shield back between her wings.

Still not enough.
Megaera was just burning on the edge of desperation, but she hadn't broken yet, not enough to keep her here.

"I get it," Ampere proffered her understanding like a consolation prize. Still, she was moving. "I've been there. I was sultana once. Did Megaera know that? Ampere didn't exactly tell anyone, and she hadn't left an impact the way Gaucho had. "Not for long- I failed, and I ran." The blue of her eyes swept over the bay mare, calculating if this was a good move or not, talking like this. "You see the Sun named me Sultana, me. And I thought, he must be mad, he must be wrong, because why would he have picked me."

He'd even crowned her.
Where was that crown now?
She'd lost it...

"He didn't waver though, and I started to have faith." A pause, wondering if she should reveal this next bit or move on... "Until, until I had my first child. His child." Was she about to cross a line? Was Megaera now about to come at her? Maybe she deserved it for what she was about to say. "Except, I was scared, because I'd never been a mother, and children require a lot. I didn't think I was ready, first the herd and now a kid, it was too much so I-I." Ampere stopped, blue gaze flashing. "I ran." A breath. A mistake. "I left my kid, his kid, all alone in the sands." She didn't need to say it, wasn't it obvious? She left that kid to die, because what else could it do at that age all alone?

"I came back, and it was hell, but he didn't burn me on the spot and I've served him and his herd ever since." What's the fucking point? "I failed Megaera. We all fail, we're only mortal." Hell, the gods fail pretty often too. "The point isn't that you don't fuck up. The point is what you do about it when you do." Running ain't it, take it from someone who knows.

"So what are you gonna do Sunspear?" Ampere lunged, feeling close enough now to risk the distance with her speed and her injured side. Her teeth flashed, eager to drive her point into Megaera's hide. "You gonna hide, or you gonna help us piece this fucking herd back together?"



A: 3/4
D: 0/1
W: 798/800

Hmm not sure what happened with this post @.@ @Megaera


A M P E R E

darya87.deviantart.com

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Megaera the Sunspear Posts: 306
Absent Abyss atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15 h :: 8 [Birdsong] HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Gwaihir :: Golden Eagle :: None Laine
#6





With her neck still at full extension from the throw, Megaera’s eyes were trained on the spear as it left the grasp of her teeth, as is soared at Ampere and was deflected. Ampere’s shield—because of course she had her shield—was pulled to fast and the golden spear glanced off the metal surface with a clamor. For a moment looked like it might do some damage too the wing, but the loss of a few feathers was hardly critical. Megaera’s eyes narrowed and her teeth were bared as she seethed. Angry breaths hissed through her teeth as she watched the spear clatter to the dusty ground: sent, spent, and useless. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Ampere, not really, but the horrible symbolism of the impotent attack fanned the sparks that Ampere had been trying to kindle in her. Just a spear…Just a spear: thrown, fallen, forgotten, useless.

Ampere spoke again, stalking towards her, and Meg’s dark eyes flashed upwards to meet the the piercing blue ones. Tears swam across her vision: hot, any, and useless. Useless! But they fell anyway and mixed with the blood on her cheek and dripped to the ground. Useless. She should have recognized the was the other mare moved, they way the blue gaze flitted to search for ins and opportunities, but Megaera’s mind wasn’t in this battle, it wasn’t really anywhere. Her thoughts and emotions were so scattered that she couldn’t summon the mental fortitude to resist and Ampere had the Sunspear under her spell.

Though anger and desperation and grief shook her, though her lungs heaved from heavy breaths and her legs hurt and her neck ached and her cheek stung, Meg was captivated by the confessions that poured out between them. 

How could they have been so similar and still so distant from one another? In their own ways they had lived their separate lives but each checked in on the same points. Both were warriors, neither built like the stallions they fought alongside and against but just as valiant. Both had been raised to sultana though they had not sought or expected the position. Both had been given their first child by a god, one by her body and the other by her heart. Both had failed, in one way or another; Ampere had run and Megaera was running now. Megaera stared into Ampere’s eyes and saw her own reflection. Two separate souls cut from the same cloth. she thought,  
“But you’re so much stronger than I, so much better…” The words were barely audible, the last gasping threads of her despair that trickled from her lips to die upon the air.

When had Megaera every given up because someone else was better than she was? When had she ever been able to hide behind a stony facade? When had she given up on fighting to get what she needed or failed to fight for those that needed her? "So what are you gonna do Sunspear?” How could Ampere speak Megaera’s own thoughts? Meg didn’t have time to ask because the lighting mare collided with her in a heavy, violent thrust of power. She’d been completely off guard that tactics, attack, defense all flew even farther from her mind and even as Ampere’s front slammed into her own she lifted her chin up and away. Across her chest the muscles were battered by blunt force, vessels ruptured and beneath the skin blood pooled and tissue swelled. It hurt, yes, would ache for days, yes, but the true danger was the flash or teeth that caught the tender flesh of her stupidly-exposed throat.

She felt the tear of skin, the rip of muscle and sinew; it was the kind of pain that made you dizzy, and your head spin and your stomach want to retch. Even as she staggered she wanted to scream, needed to scream but the only thing that came from her throat was a guttural sound that was half a moan before it bled into an earth-shaking yell.

Hide.

Hide?

FUCK. THAT.

The flames erupted in her heart and light, pure, unbroken light poured out of her. She was sunlight and fury and Megaera let the power of that rule her, fire her up, steel her against pain and despair. What was she going to do?

By all the gods, she was going to fight!

She didn’t think about who her opponent was, didn’t think about what had been done or said in the past or what would yet come to pass. For Meg there was only now. Her hooves dug into the dirt, holding ground, advancing and she threw herself back at the other mare’s body. Megaera’s own teeth snapped for the top ridge of Ampere’s neck to hold there and force the other mare to the ground.

@Ampere
ooc :: Oh thank god, though she'd never snap out of it xD
Words :: 800/800
Attack :: 3/4
Magic Used :: [ Magic: FirexLight | Body emits a burst of sunlight that can be used as a beacon signal or to temporarily blind opponents - Restrictions | the signal takes considerable energy and can only be used once in battle and long distance signals can only be used once per 5 posts ]
Megaera
there is a war inside my heart gone silent
both sides dissatisfied and somewhat violent
image credits

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#7
WINDOW SEAT TO CHAOS OVERLOAD


Ampere didn't catch what Megaera muttered under her breath. It didn't matter anyway, because it was just another damn lie; some other moan of self-pity that tarnished the more than capable Sunspear. Ampere didn't want it, nearly evident with the way her ears pinned against her neck, incapable of catching little more than the rebuking rumble that roared from the bay mare's chest as the two collided.

The impact rattled down Ampere's body, shaking up some mild pain from her bruised side like dust that comes up after a rock slide. Regardless, Ampere was smiling when she pulled away from Megaera, because she knew what that yell was. She knew what had finally happened beneath all that rubble she just tore free.

Light exploded before her and Ampere was forced to avert her gaze, head swinging around defensively to her injured side while she continued to stumble back and away from the atomic mare. Kygo spooked from his perch in the tree, squawking in terror as he fled further down the beach and away from the mad mares. Ampere laughed at that; a small, victorious sound that was quickly cut short for the stitch in her side, but it continued within as Ampere evaded the onrush of her 'twin'.

The distance she'd already put between them since her attack, though not vast, was enough to let her react to Megaera's retaliation without injury. Grinning ear to ear, because finally she broke through to the Sunspear, Ampere settled in to finish bringing her all the way home. Enough of her endless prattling about failure and gods and kings, now they'd argue with their bodies until they were too tired to think about running anywhere. Megaera's head was finally in the game, and that meant words or not, Ampere would have to best her to keep her here. It was the warrior law they both followed, a bloody dance based on respect and pushing yourself beyond your limits.

They were nearing those limits Ampere suspected, because if she and Megaera were so similarly built and fought like two reflections of the same mare, then Ampere knew as she was tiring, Megaera was bound to be as well. So, time to make it count now.

Though Ampere had dodged Megaera's rush, it was just barely, and that would have left the two of them pretty close together still. So Ampere collected on her haunches and reared up, her wings splaying from her sides for balance, the one missing a few feathers where the spear had kissed her. As she rose Ampere pushed forward, meaning to land her front hooves heavily on Megaera's right shoulder or neck line, while her teeth mimicked the Sunspear's prior move and sought out the bay mare's crest where it'd be easy to deliver a strong bite and maybe control some of her balance.

Ampere landed hard, successful or not, and the recoil of the stiff desert ground jarred her bruise. Ampere winced faintly, but didn't slow, spinning on her forehand to bring her butt and its feathers around to fire a buck towards Megaera's right side. Though the ground was hard in some areas, Ampere hit a soft spot as she pivoted and it slowed her somewhat, which may have been for the best. Trying to kick Megaera in close proximity increased her accuracy, but it decreased the power, of which Ampere had little of already. The extension of a kick is what gave it all its juice, so if she wanted Megaera to earn a similar bruise to her's, it'd be better if the mare followed her instinct and tried to back away, granting Ampere more room to fire. Either way she'd be happy if she hit the Sunspear, because it'd be an invitation for Megaera to hit back.

Then, maybe then, the ex-Sulatana would stay here and fight in the sands against more than just Ampere.



A: 4/4
D: 0/1
W: 653/800

<3


A M P E R E

darya87.deviantart.com

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Megaera the Sunspear Posts: 306
Absent Abyss atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15 h :: 8 [Birdsong] HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Gwaihir :: Golden Eagle :: None Laine
#8






Megaera's jaw snapped shut around nothing but air and clack of her teeth reverberated in her skull. Her body stuck nothing and her ringing head could not make sense of it, Ampere had been there, close, so close, and Megaera had still missed. That sensation alone was enough to send her reeling. She could never put much power behind her strikes but at least she usually hit where and when she aimed to. Her head lashed, searching for Ampere and found her, not at her front as Meg had intended, but at her side and already hovering above her in a rear.

She didn't have time to move before Ampere's hooves struck the hard muscle of her shoulder. The force of it sung down her already injured leg, making the tendons and muscles there want to shake loose their tension and collapse from the strain. Megaera felt her right front knee quiver and give, dropping her shoulder under Ampere's hooves, just as the blue executed the grip Meg herself had tried. With a grip on the crest if her neck, just behind the bay's ears, Ampere's swift tug sent Meg careening out of balance. 

She stumbled, listing to her right and toward Ampere but in no position to attack. The weeks of searching for her daughter, the sleepless nights since returning to the Dragon's Throat, the strain of emotional turmoil all compounded into an exhaustion that reached down to her bones. Her soul may have been dragged back from the brink by Ampere but her body wanted to go down for the count. The trickles of blood from her cheek and neck made her head spin and that with Ampere's latest attack made Meg's battle to remain upright a difficult one. Her front legs shook and she scrambled to keep them under her, managing only because her hind hoof met a patch of softer sand and sunk downward using Meg's own weight to finally balance her out, but precious seconds had already been lost. 

The kick hit her square in the ribs. Air exploded out between her lips in a low cry that was echoed by a high shriek from the predatory bird that had sat silently by and let his bonded take hit after hit. He'd felt the echos of every strike, every slice, but had Let Ampere do her work. The blue mare had been the conscience that he could not be, removed enough that Meg could hear the words she needed to hear aloud like Gwaihir could never speak them, and Ampere had won where it mattered and so he had seen enough. Meg would stay, he knew the depths of her heart to be sure of that now, and so with a mighty stroke of his wings her was soaring through the air toward the dueling pair. The eagle fell toward Ampere's head with reaching talons, aiming to grasp the hair between her easy and pull her eyes and attention away from his Meg. He gave another screech, though Ampere wouldn't understand: You've done enough. Thank you. That's enough.

Drawing air into her lungs again made her chest feel like it was screaming, but Meg did it, forced herself to gulp and the dry desert heat like it was the coolest water from the purest spring. Keep going. Keep. Going. with and effort she whirled herself around as the eagle tried to distract. She squared her hindquarters toward Ampere and with a heave, assisted by a swift downsweep of her wings, launched herself into the air and aimed a double-barreled kick.

ooc :: SKIN OF MY TEETH
Words ::595/800
Attack :: 4/4

Megaera
there is a war inside my heart gone silent
both sides dissatisfied and somewhat violent
image credits
FAC FORTIA ET PATERE
be brave and endure
:: permission given for use of magic and force :: please tag Megaera in all posts ::

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#9
WINDOW SEAT TO CHAOS OVERLOAD


Yeah, Megaera got the invitation and R.S.V.P.ed too.

She'd swayed easily enough under Ampere's prowess, which gave the Mother of Companions some smug satisfaction that she could still kick ass when she focused on it, but that achievement didn't last long when Meg returned the compliment. In a way that was a victory too, but it didn't feel like it in the moment.

It began with the utilization of the Megaera's companion. Ampere rather thought that was a dirty trick given her reputation and all.
Gwaihir came, a little bundle of feathery wrath (so Ampere took it to be) reaching out with razor sharp talons for Ampere's more sensitive features. Even if the little blue mare intended to retaliate, instinct alone drove her to duck her precious head away from the oncoming assault. Her neck bowed as her head dropped like a stone, tucking against her chest with such intensity some of her body rolled along with the momentum, shifting her some to the right. Gwaihir's claws managed to snag some of the dark strands from Ampere's mane, and a single blue one too, but aside from a nearly unnoticeable tug and his loud screeching, which in comparison to Kygo's usual was actually melodic, Ampere avoided the eagle.

Unfortunately that meant he served as the perfect distraction, leaving Ampere wide open for Megaera's rebuttal. It came, hard and swift; a set of two hind hooves glancing off Ampere's left shoulder and cracking like an echo against her wing joint.

Let's just say, sometimes a direct hit doesn't hurt as bad as a glancing one.
Let's just also say that if Ampere's face was precious, her wings were even more so.
Oh and one final statement, screaming doesn't really do it justice to describe the atrocious sound that came mewling our of Ampere's craw.

Combine the immense pain that comes with a full force attack slanting off a bony portion off your body, then landing against another bony, albeit weaker and much more vital part of your body, and you've got a great recipe for the greatest holy FUCKLOAD of pain imaginable. Immediately Ampere wheeled away from the sensation, her tucked head acting like a drive for her momentum as she hurled it up and to the right, further spinning around and away, while also scrambling on her legs to get back and shy to the side. She ended up doing a sort of weird shuffling crow hop that caused the rough desert terrain to jar her injured right side once more, but that was the least of her worries.

The wing wasn't broken, she'd later come to find out, but something doesn't need to break for it to be agony. All around her blue sparks of furious energy popped into existence, born of the dead matter mixed within the desert sand that was like an untapped well of power for most. Now Ampere had no intention of using those sparks, because she was certainly done by this point and had no intention of provoking the bay warrior any further.

After stringing out every set of curse words she knew and 'walking it off' as she paced down the desert, Ampere finally spun around to return her attention to Megaera. Who knew if the fucking Spear had already left, Ampere certainly didn't have the means to chase her or hold her back any more.

"You pack a punch," Ampere breathed, her teeth clenched around the pain that still radiated like a miniature sun was slowly burning away her meat and sinew. "Given our similarities, I can only hope I manage to deliver the same sometimes." An amused smirk founds its lopsided way onto Ampere's maw, lingering briefly before a wince chased it away.

"So it seems like you got your fire back finally. So what do you say, stay here and burn with all the rest of us in the desert? Use that light and all of ours to guide your daughter back home?"



A: 4/4
D: 1/1
W: 672/800

You want to post back in the original thread to tie this all up?


A M P E R E

darya87.deviantart.com

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Official Posts: 847
Administrator
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
Official
#10
By my verdict: AMPERE is the winner!

AMPERE
Realism [4]

LOVED how you wrote Ampere taking Meg's damage roll of 1 in your 3/4 post - having Ampere flair her wings instinctively seemed a great way of realistically taking that damage. 

This read as fairly declarative to me: Though Ampere had dodged Megaera's rush, it was just barely, and that would have left the two of them pretty close together still. Although it makes sense that Meg would have been close, she ended her post with the attack. It's possible that in her ext post (for example) she immediately uses teleportation magic and disappears entirely - meaning that she isn't still pretty close. 

Overall, very realistic. You used the similarities between Meg and Ampere to her advantage (and as a way to explain some of Meg's attacks) several times, and were both realistically aided, and hurt by the desert terrain.

Emotion [2]

Sometimes holding onto something was worth ruining it a little bit.

Ampere was furious, but she was also in mourning, and not just for the Sultan they're already buried, but for the Sultana trying to bury herself. 



Prose [3.5]

Electrical impulses from the brain tell it to lift and bend and fall, and Ampere could strum those energized strings better than an air guitar


Of course, Megaera didn't have to rely on just her feet, but neither did Ampere, and sure as a horse shits, she'd block the airways too - the evidence was in the taut way her skin pulled over her bunched muscles, in the way her mouth was such a tight line the edges wrinkled and the lips pulled up over her teeth in a snarl. From LOL to "oh damn" in one sentence. 


p1: both fought like wild animals back into a corner (backed)
p1: Teeth flashed as Ampere aimed to bit at Megaera's neck, (bite)
p2: Amperes face (Ampere's)
d:  that came mewling our of Ampere's craw. (out)
d: slanting off a bony portion off your body, (of)


Minor spelling errors. But Ampere is always a joy to read, and your writing is always easy to understand. 



Readability [+3]

*You missed the 1/4 on your first post, so I almost skipped it until I saw the roll. Don't forget!

* I know I mentioned this to you, but your word counter was hella off. 

Good readability.




Finally tally: 46.5 + (12.5*2) = 71.5



*******************************************

MEGAERA
Realism [2]

Ampere's attack 2/4, only rolled a 2. That you allowed Ampere's magic to be successful and turn Meg around, and that Ampere's dagger cut Meg from her nose to top of her skull, seemed a little much. 

Similarly for Ampere's 3/4 attack, I know she rolled a 6 and all she did was bite, but you interpreted that as Ampere knocking into Meg, and tearing flesh. That seems a little extreme. Again, I know a roll of 6 with a relatively 'minor' attack like a bite is hard to interpret, but remember you can have Meg take the damage other ways! If she'd gotten the bite and then tripped in the sands and twisted an ankle or something similar. 

This, for me, counts as powerplay: 

Her hooves dug into the dirt, holding ground, advancing and she threw herself back at the other mare’s body. Megaera’s own teeth snapped for the top ridge of Ampere’s neck to hold there and force the other mare to the ground.

The first sentence is a relatively minor instance - it would have been better to say that she threw herself in the direction of where Ampere had been, or that she tried to throw herself against Ampere's body. The second sentence though is very declarative. I would rather see sentences written with too many trieds (as in, "Meg tried to reach for the rop ridge of Ampere's neck, meaning to hold on there and try to force her to the ground") and have it read slightly awkward, than have it be a powerplay. 

I also found this attack very awkward:  She squared her hindquarters toward Ampere and with a heave, assisted by a swift downsweep of her wings, launched herself into the air and aimed a double-barreled kick.

Horses can't fly backwards, and they can't just fly straight up into the air from a standstill. So if she had her butt aimed towards Ampere, by achieving any sort of lift, she'd have to move forward a significant distance, meaning her buck would have no chance of being anywhere close. 

You did a good job of using the desert to both help and hurt Meg. 

I was also surprised when Gwaihir intervened, since he was happy with Ampere's attack? 



Emotion [2]

Angry breaths hissed through her teeth as she watched the spear clatter to the dusty ground: sent, spent, and useless. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Ampere, not really, but the horrible symbolism of the impotent attack fanned the sparks that Ampere had been trying to kindle in her. 

Megaera stared into Ampere’s eyes and saw her own reflection.

Great emotion from Meg!



Prose [1.5]

She didn’t want to attack or defend she just wanted to leave. Q__Q

He felt everything that she did, but in a filtered way that left his mind clear to see the truth where Meg had blinded herself to it. 

The weeks of searching for her daughter, the sleepless nights since returning to the Dragon's Throat, the strain of emotional turmoil all compounded into an exhaustion that reached down to her bones. Her soul may have been dragged back from the brink by Ampere but her body wanted to go down for the count. 

p1: Her ears pulled back against her head as her dark eyed stared just past (eyes)
p1: inch was disspassionate, (dispassionate) 
p1:   Was she was just too tired (repeated word)
p1: No, and obstacle, only and obstacle… (should be 'an'?)
p1: even now forcing her bodily back into the sands (body)
p1: Avery inch her sister  (every)
p1: agin in order to escape (again)
p1:  She kept her turn sharp, trying to maintain a close proximity for Ampere for seconds more for running would not be enough (super awkward, don't even know how to fix it?)
p2: It was a desperate scrabble to pick up speed (scramble) 
p2: The violent scream was rent from her throat (?)
p2: Her life had crumbled around her around her proud ears (awkward)
p3: flashed upwards to meet the the piercing blue ones (repetition) 
p3: Tears swam across her vision: hot, any, and useless. (many?)
p3: She should have recognized the was the other mare moved (???)
p3: When had Megaera every given up because someone (ever)
p4: He'd felt the echos of every strike, (echoes) 
p4: but had Let Ampere do her work. (let)
p4: of his wings her was soaring .. (he) 
p4: grasp the hair between her easy and pull her eyes (eyes?)
p4: Keep going. Keep. Going. with and effort she whirled herself around as the eagle tried to distract. (awkward)

Spell check! Lots of these posts felt rushed as I was reading them - both because of some of the obvious spelling errors, but because of sentence structure as well.



Readability [1]

Lots of these posts were difficult to read for me. There were lots of instances where I felt as though you dropped a comma or two, which made parsing together what was happening very difficult, because I couldn't follow who/what was being referred to. As mentioned above, I think lots of these posts were written in a bit of a rush, and your sentence structure definitely suffered for it.



Finally tally: 37.5 + (6.5*2) = 50.5 HP


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