Looking back, Gaucho would wonder if the swiftness with which the draft was able to move, was a prelude to his skill in battle, or the magic he possessed. The bay had severely underestimated his opponent; believing he would be powerful, but slow, and as long as Gaucho could land a few of the Dauntless’s blows, he would be able to give some as well. Though as the dark stallion sidesteps from under Gaucho’s powerful hooves, yielding only superficial bruising if anything, Gaucho was rewarded with a mouthful of course mane, rather than the pleasing feeling of striking flesh, for his efforts. In truth, Gaucho had never been so hopelessly outmatched in a spar, as he was now. In battle, yes; but in battle, there were others who could be used as distractions, and emotions often ran wild. Battle was an entirely different arena than a simple spar. Yet this one was proving anything but simple. Gaucho had gauged his opponent wrong, and Archibald surely would make him pay for it.

As Gaucho defensively spun inward, as he had seen the Dauntless do only moments ago, he clenched his teeth together, silently praying that by some absurd course of events, he would land a kick on the draft as he bucked. Of course Gaucho cannot see this, for his head is lowered and tucked, but we can see what Archibald as planned, can’t we? While Gaucho prepares himself to defend against an attack from Archi, the strangest sensation comes over him. It’s almost like...a thickening. He feels rooted to the ground somehow - or perhaps it is gravity, pulling him toward’s the Meadow’s hard soil? As panic overwhelms him, he finds that he is still able to move his eyes, and breathe normally - yet this only quenches his primal need to maintain his faculties. What is decidedly not satisfied, is the knowledge that behind him somewhere, is surely the cause of this strange solidifying feeling that has come over him; and he doubts that this is where the attack ends.

Hearing hooves striking the solid flat ground, Gaucho’s eyes widened as he found he could not determine from which direction the Dauntless was coming. Although the bones in his ears were small, he still found that the new weight there made moving them seem like a foreign command. Giving in to his instincts, Gaucho’s brain forcefully strained to move his large head out of the way, but only succeeding in literally moving it millimeters to the right. Had he moved to the left - his odd piercing would surely no longer be in his nose: As Archibald raced from the left, grabbing the bone piercing the cartilage of his nose, unimaginable pain shot through his muzzle as it was torn. The contrast of having his bones turned to stone, with the tearing of soft flesh created an almost deafening cacophony of pain inside Gaucho’s brain. As Archibald forced his neck to the left, following the motion of his pull, Gaucho quite literally thought his neck would break; that it would crumble, and simply fall a part. He could feel warm blood trickling from his nose, where the bone was held in only by a tiny flap of skin. Coughing, for he could do little more, Gaucho’s brain tried to squash the impulse to take a deep breath, fearing he would choke on his own blood if he did.

From the dusty haze, Gaucho could make out the hulking form of the draft before him. He was being played with; given the increased density of his bones, the black steed could easily have taken his time, lining up to kick him squarely in the face. Or, he could have set his dog on Gaucho, and watched as the bay was helpless to fend off her attacks. As Gaucho took a hesitant step forward, feeling as though his body was moving in quicksand, the impulse that he would fall, and not be able to right himself sent off warning alarms in his brain. There was nothing he could do. Raising his wings - for at least those bones were more hollow, and thus still felt relatively light, compared to the rest of his body, Gaucho defensively shielded his face and neck by drawing the black plumage around himself. If the stallion were to attack again, Gaucho might suffer a wounded wing joint, or bruised ribs, but at least he would not feel the immediate crack of death, by a blow to his head.

Despite the fact that Gaucho was sweating profusely, by creating a cave around himself, he only succeeded in increasing the temperature around his head, causing his new stoned-body to feel both dizzy and nauseous.

[Okay. So using the rubric for time that you gave me last post I think that:

Archi uses magic: 1 second
Run: 3 seconds?
Bite: 1 second
Then, based on your word count (:P) I don’t know where Archi is anymore - whether he’s now just in front of Gaucho, or if he pulled up a few feet). Even so, I feel like Gaucho still has at least 15 more seconds of being turned to stone, to deal with. So here’s a question; since this is Archi’s first time using magic, I couldn't go back and see how others interpreted it. What do you do, if you don’t understand someone else’s magic? Here, I assumed that Gaucho basically couldn't move. I imagine if my bones were turned to stone, I could probably walk like the tin-man, but given how big Gaucho is, if he was put off-centre for any reason, he would topple, so I basically just made him immobile. Given that we’re only doing 2 attacks, I think the fact that Gaucho didn't retaliate this post would be the most realistic.

Maybe when we’re done, if you have time, what would be really helpful for me, is if you could go back and say ‘Okay, when Archi did this, a better response/attack/defense, would have been if you did this. If you have time?

WC 802
Summary: Is overcome by Archi’s magic. As Archi runs towards him, he moves his head slightly to the right, yet the bone in his nose is nearly completely torn out by Archi’s teeth. Ouch. Knowing he has no hope of attack, he shields himself with his wings, which also causes him to feel dizzy and nauseous, given the heat.
Attack: None :( I considered writing something like ‘the relativity of how long 30 seconds was pressed on Gaucho’s primitive mind as he waited for Archi’s magic to dissipate..." and then would have had him attack, but I tried to envision a battle where this was actually happening...you said horse fights are usually quick, and given the time-scheme of attacks from Boom, 30 seconds is actually a long time. That’s why I went with the raised-wings and nothing else, because if there were more attack posts/longer spar, Archi wouldn't hesitate to attack again, and wouldn't just stand there while the 30 seconds ticked down.
Defense: Raises his wings. ]