the Rift


Don't Save Her

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#1
Lightning strikes every time she moves
Gonna fight Queen.

Yeah I guess that’s the idea.

Gonna fuck Queen up.

No shut up that’s not what I’mma do.

I paced back and forth on the field I had found for throwing feet at; it was sound and flat and it wasn’t even too damp with the melting snow we’d been having, so there was more grip here than other places. The air was getting warmer, the air sweeter, which meant that doing anything physical was less of a bitch-titty than it had been over the winter months--so whatever excuses I’d given myself to keep from pushing it and pushing it and pushing it was now dust and ashes in my tongue; it was time to fight a dude.

I remember, back in the meeting, that the Queen herself had offered herself as a sparring buddy, to further her own prowess as a warrior. And I ain’t gonna lie, she needed it; she wasn’t small or scrawny or anything, but she was definitely soft, with edges that were smoothed over with aloe vera and diplomacy. I knew that Tembovu was a fucking monster on the battlefield but I could sleep a little easier knowing both of my monarchs could hold their own and I wouldn't have to worry so much about their safety.

I just wasn’t sure how to call her; screaming for “Alysanne” seemed too forward, shouting for “My Honorable Lady the Queen” was too much of a mouthful and I ain’t fake enough to make it not sound like bullshit. I wasn’t sure how to treat her; Tembovu was a friend, even before and during his Kinglyship, but Alysanne was some other type of thing, an unknown quantity with a garden my companion had shit in. (You still go on ‘bout that?)

UH YEAH IT WAS RUDE.

Huh.

I snorted, and decided on giving a booming, powerful whinny to request her presence. That will have to do for now.


"In ornare vitae leo eu volutpat."


--

For @Alysanne !

Setting: World's Edge, early afternoon. Clear sunny day, warming, stable terrain with just the slightest hint of moisture from melting snows.

0/3
0/1
W/C: 323  
Chico
and Roskuld



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#2
When Alysanne heard the call from Roskuld, she didn’t hesitate to push her body into motion - it was a reflex action for her now to move when she was beckoned. Anything could be waiting for her on the other side and she did not want to waste precious moments lingering.

So it wasn’t until she actually saw the other mare standing in a flat clearing that it finally clicked. She wasn’t being called for a chat, she was being called to fight. Unfortunately enough, this wasn’t an entirely new situation but at least this time she was the first to show up - at least this time there wasn’t an audience berating her for her choices. Or, well, not yet. With gentle encouraging from Hemlock, Alysanne didn’t hesitate in her stride as she approached the other mare, calling out a warm “Good afternoon, Roskuld.” as she came to stop before her, intending to leave a bit of distance between them. Not as close as she would get for just any conversation, at least.

There was a slight hesitation next, during which she could feel her muscles tensing, refusing to be anything close to relaxed. As if her body and her mind were one in despair over the actions that would be required to spar. To take harm was not something Alysanne minded, that had never been the problem - her issue lay with the giving of harm. “You’ll need to attack first.” Alysanne spoke calmly, though she was already trembling slightly. Why did she insist on doing this? It had never ended well. She could still feel the cut of Tembovu’s horn - not on her chest, where she had asked him to stab her, but on the joint of her wing - and of Erebos’ as well. She eyed Roskuld’s horn dubiously and wondered why she seemed to only spar with unicorns. Was she so eager to add more scars across her body? There was not yet a single one that she felt pride in remembering how she received it but her she was again, putting herself in another position that she would likely regret.

Unless Roskuld could awaken something within her, unless the young, spunky mare could show Alysanne that it was possible - and sometimes necessary - to fight.

After a steadying breath she spoke again, watching Roskuld carefully - her eyes soft and pleading. “And… don’t let me run away. I need to learn, however hard it is going to be.” Of course it was going to be hard. She couldn’t even imagine trying to attack, trying to hurt, the mare who had spent an early morning pulling weeds with her in the garden, who was proving to be a capable leader of their small warrior group. How did everyone in Helovia do this? How did they approach spars and challenges so casually? She felt like her heart was going to give out on her it was pounding in her chest so rapidly. Hemlock, feeding off of her nervous energy, hopped around unhappily on a nearby tree branch. She didn’t want him getting involved, and for now he was adhering to her wishes. They both remembered how Aurelia’s companion had died during a fight and though this should be a considerably more friendly affair, the risk was unnecessary. Hemlock knew how to use his small talons to inflict damage but Alysanne was made for healing, caring, and love. She knew how each of her limbs worked and trusted her muscles but when it came to using them to fight? That was unknown to her.

That was why she was here.

Hoping that she did not seem as frightened and nervous as she felt, but knowing how poorly she hid her emotions lately, Alysanne gave Roskuld a small nod indicating that she was ready and tried to brace herself for what would come next.

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attack: 0/3
wordcount: 648

Alysanne
the devoted

image | coding
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#3
Lightning strikes every time she moves
She came with a flutter of a white, black mane and she was just as I described; soft, offering her formal, Queenly greetings. I nodded at her. “Wh’s’good?” I responded, and yeah, I guess it was a little (a lot) less formal but I wasn’t at that point where polite and polished came easy to me. Maybe one day but…eh. Besides, we were here to fight anyway and there’s nothing polite or polished about any of that. Well...I guess it depends who you ask. And you’re asking me and we ain’t got any of that polite shit in here.

I made to square up, to prepare myself to do the thing that we’d agreed to do. Y’know, anticipating the fight ‘n whatever. But she didn’t make any move to match me--and then she admitted I had to start the fight, and it wasn’t that cold or windy or whatever but I could see the faint line of her body tremble slightly. I cocked an eyebrow.

And… don’t let me run away. I need to learn, however hard it is going to be.

Aaaaw shit. She’s legit terrified right now.

Got her on ropes, fuck her up.

Shut UP Cheek.

I relaxed immediately, throwing the ready off my bones and setting it aside for the moment. It struck me what it actually meant for her to offer to spar with me. Sure, maybe she recognized the weakness in her duty, but to actually take the initiative and throw herself in a situation that actually scared the crap out of her? I mean, look at her now! There was no mistaking it; she was walking in with gritted teeth and stiff shoulders, willing to just...just get it done and over with. Except I wasn’t about that kind of life.

“Yeah, you do need to learn and yeah, it’s gonna be hard,” I said, with words that sounded a million times harsher than the voice I spoke them with, “but I ain’t just gonna throw hooves and ass at you so you can just...I dunno…react at them. You wanted to learn to fight and that’s what I’mma do for you, learn you a fight.”

I paused, with Chico’s disappointment washing over me that I wasn’t just gonna turn this into a bloodbath. “Ain’t much you can learn if you’re too busy panicking over it,” I said, and my voice fell into an even more gentle, relaxed tone, “so we’ll take it easy right now, take it slow, talk it out, y’know? Build a foundation for you to stand on, feel me?”

Chico was already sauntering off, knowing this was gonna be one of those eduh-muh-cational joints that he had no interest in. Good riddance, I said with a flick of my tail. “First thing’s first, what you know about fighting? How many fights you been in?” I hoped that I could get her nerves to stop shaking, get her blood pumping normal before we threw the first hoof.


 --
OOPS no attack yet, maybe a little chat before Ros begins? :D

0/3
0/1
W/C: 496  
Chico
and Roskuld
image credits



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#4
Alysanne had been expecting Roskuld to just launch right into it - that had been exactly how both of the other fights she had gotten involved in had started, after all. Learn through doing, matching physical blow with physical blow in the hopes that it would awaken some sort of reaction within her. They had simply begun with very little conversation beforehand, just a mere ‘shall we’.

But Roskuld relaxed instead of charged and though Alysanne eyed the younger mare warily, her body ceased trembling as their young General began to talk. Utter surprise showed clearly on her face when the words started to sink in. Roskuld’s manner of speaking was crass and unique but if anything, it only endeared the General to Alysanne a little bit more - and ensured that she paid close attention to make sure that she was understanding everything. She had never had someone say the term ‘throwing ass’ before, for example, and she had to admit that the imagery that phrase summoned was a little more intimate than the battleground required.

She quickly returned herself to the matter at hand, the words that Roskuld was speaking - explaining how this teaching session would be different.

Take it slow.

That honestly sounded so wonderful and ideal that Alysanne wanted to cry. But, thankfully, she did not. Instead she slipped into a role she had not been in for a long time - that of a student. She was here to learn. And maybe actually talking about this first would ease the rest of the tension out of her body.

She didn’t have the words just yet to explain how grateful she was for this approach, so instead she did what she could and answered the questions asked. “Formal ones like this? Just two. Once with Tembovu and once with a stranger I happened on in the Green Labyrinth. I didn’t finish that one though...” Alysanne was not ashamed of the fact that she had abandoned that fight but there was the slightest note of remorse in her voice when she relayed this information to Roskuld. She wouldn’t describe why she had left - how the young unicorn had been about her son’s age and she hadn’t been able to shake the image of him from her head. With a small shrug of her wing, she continued speaking - finding it calming. “I don’t know much, really. Nothing first hand. Both of my attempts to learn have been getting hits thrown at me and trying to see if there was some sort of instinct inside of me that would tell me what to do next.” Clear as day, she was sure, was the fact that both of those attempts had failed. “I’ve watched a fair few fights during my time here at Helovia and it just always seems like two bodies being thrown at each recklessly - just complete chaos.”

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attack: 0/3
wordcount: 484
Alysanne
the devoted

image | coding


@Roskuld
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#5
Lightning strikes every time she moves
She seemed absolutely shocked when I offered to take a chill pill and spend some effort on her, which didn’t surprise me once she ticked off all her previous experiences with a fight. All of two experienced, one of them including Tembo, which I knew from experience could end up getting hotter and more intense than you intended (Chico wasn’t here to turn that into an innuendo). I listened to her history, then paused for a second, chewing on my lip, wondering how to attack the challenge of teaching someone how to throw blows when the drive for it wasn’t something that came easily to them.

“Well, I mean,” I said finally, slowly chewing on the thought, “you can’t really use an instinct you ain’t got.” I shrugged, because, honestly, that would’ve been my first tactic to try. But clearly it hadn’t worked for her before, so something else had to give. “‘S not bad that you don’t have it, either. Don’t have to be like dumbasses like me who wanna get their ass kicked every once in awhile; you’re sane. You wanna preserve shit. So I guess that’s what I’m gonna start teaching you.” I nodded once, decided.

“So, first thing’s first, gotta know what actually happens in a fight, cuz it ain’t just a whole buncha bodies just…throwing themselves around, like you say. Or maybe it is, but that just mean those two fighters suck at the same time.” I started pacing--slowly, but I needed to do something while I spoke, because this was still gonna turn into a fight and my blood couldn’t help but anticipate that, “There are the most dangerous parts of a horse and the most vulnerable parts. Hooves, teeth, horns, wing-joints, and the point of a shoulder are things you gotta watch out for; your face and eyes, your stomach, the soft underparts of your neck--basically everything underneath are the most dangerous areas to have hit. Basically, in a fight, the end-goal is to use your danger parts to hit the weak points as many times as possible, or at least wear down the opponent any way possible to get them to stop, for the fight to end, and for you to keep standing. If you’re not gonna attack, then your next best option is to make sure they don’t hit your weak points in the first place. One way to do that is to dodge.

“Dodging is more than just jumping the fuck outta the way. When you avoid an attack, you gotta keep your awareness of where your opponent is, how they’re positioned, and what kind of advantage or disadvantage you’re givin’ yourself. If you jump blindly outta the way, you risk losing sight of your opponent, which leaves you open. But if you dodge good enough, you could place yourself in a place to actually fuck some shit up before they can react, you follow?”
I shook my head for a sec. “But we ain’t gonna get that technical yet. Right now, I just wanna run through some basic exercises with you on dodging--would you be cool with that?” I didn’t wanna jump into it super suddenly, and risk inducing the kind of panic that made the lesson moot.

--
Next post will be attack post unless Alysanne says otherwise!

0/3
0/1
W/C: 539
Chico
and Roskuld
image credits


@Alysanne



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#6
Roskuld started pacing and Alysanne shifted her weight a little bit - wondering if she should be pacing as well, warming her body up for the fight that would, inevitably, follow the lecture. But she didn’t didn’t think she had the same high energy levels as their new General so she stayed where she was, only her head and her eyes moving to keep with the younger mare as she explained about the weak points on the body. Most of this, Alysanne knew from her years as a doctor, but she had never thought of them as spots to exploit before. They were spots on the body for her to check first, dangerous places where a wound could cause severe damage if inflicted in the right manner.

It was strange, to call on her knowledge of healing and twist it to suit her new needs for battle. But it did help to make Roskuld’s lesson easier to understand. Not that the General was unclear at all, she made perfect sense, it just helped to already have some basic knowledge on anatomy as Alysanne followed along.

Dodging seemed like a good spot to start the lesson, it appealed a little more readily to Alysanne than jumping right in with the attack motion. More of the tension eased out of her body as her ears pricked forward, hanging on every word that Roskuld was saying. It made sense, that dodging correctly would be just as important as attacking correctly - as there could be serious consequences if you were to misstep or miscalculate.

Her dark head nodded along occasionally, showing that she was following along, until a more direct question came. It seemed, if she was ready, it was time to get started.

“Yes, I would be cool with that.” The word ‘cool’ is awkward on Alysanne’s lips, her age and personality conflicting as much with the slang as it did with the (very) occasional curse that she uttered, but it brought a small smile to her green eyes as she nodded for Roskuld to continue. It was, for her, a small way to show that she was fine -  that she could do this.  

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attack: 0/3
wordcount: 363

Alysanne
the devoted

image | coding


@Roskuld <3 BRING IT!
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Roskuld the Sparklight Posts: 424
World's Edge General atk: 7.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Tribrid :: 15.3 :: 6 HP: 82 | Buff: ENDURE
Zchiraxicon :: Royal Rougarou :: Electric Smithers
#7
Lightning strikes every time she moves

I paused a sec, thrown slightly by the hesitant way Alysanne said “cool”; it brought the smallest awkward smile on my face, kinda charmed by the way she was trying to use speech that she clearly wasn’t comfortable using. I ain’t tryna knock her for it or anything but it was...I dunno…cute, I guess. Kinda a metaphor for the situation at hand.

“So uh--” I stammered, trying to wipe the moment off my face, “Yeah..here’s what’s gonna go down.”  I took a moment to compose my thoughts, running an eye over her and choosing the best course of action--before I thought Screw it, deciding on the easiest, most direct choice I could make for a first attack. I closed the distance between us, reaching out with my muzzle to touch her lightly on the point of her left shoulder. “I’mma aim for here,” I said, backing away again once I made my point, “I’mma come at you head on with my teeth. What I want you to do is to dodge the way you think is best--getting away from my strike without losing me in your sight. You follow?”

But she wasn’t an idiot and I wasn’t trying to make it out like she was one; maybe she didn’t fight but she still had a head on her shoulders, dammit. I backed up a couple more steps, shaking my shoulders to get them loose and my blood flowin’ good; then, my ears springing back, I launched for her, reaching forward with my muzzle open and my long teeth bared for her skin. I wasn’t exactly going easy on her--I mean, I was explainin’ shit and going through motions, but I aimed with all the power I had behind my hit. More than anything, pain itself was one hell of a motivator to get someone to act right, even if it wasn’t always the best way--but we’re talking about a fight, here. If she didn’t get it right, that shit was gonna hurt.


--


1/3
0/1
W/C: 332

"In ornare vitae leo eu volutpat." .
Chico
and Roskuld
image credits


@Alysanne



Please tag ROSKULD in every reply!

Blu the Bootyful Posts: 443
Administrator atk: 99 | def: 99 | dam: 99
Mare :: Other :: 5'7" :: 25 HP: 99999 | Buff: TWERK
Blu
#8
Time limit exceeded. Alysanne defaults to Roskuld. Roskuld earns 0.5 VP.
 HP: 1100

Helovia Hard Mode


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