[WEOO. Crazy Gaucho table!! Sorry for the wait. Just to clarify - did you mean 'no companion' because you don't have one, or because you don't watch Gaucho to use his, either? I couldn't remember what we decided.]

As it always happens, and Gaucho knew it would, he was not alone for very long. The darkness seemed to take the form of a mare, slowly pulling away from the tree-shine, and the brute had to wonder if Scarter wasn't actually some apparition of the night. Regardless of what she was, Gaucho had demanded a fight, and would not be choosy about his opponents; supernatural or otherwise. What did give him pause, was her flirtatious speech, and sparkling eyes. Although much of what she said was lost on him, only being able to pick out a few words, such as want to and some-one and game and males....first. Confusion momentarily etched his dark features, as his mind tried to combine her suggestive tone of voice, with her words. Sensing his confusion, Mara hissed with frustration, threatening to bite his black ears for his stupidity. Grunting as her mental chastising flooded his thoughts, the large bay shook his antlered skull, returning his attention back to the smaller, darker mare.

"Yes"

Just the one word, though there wasn't any way to really tell exactly what part of Scarter's statement he was affirming. Just...yes. As soon as the word left his mouth, his unintelligent features burst with life, as the great bay lunged forward. Scarter had positioned herself directly before him, making it easy for him to try and quickly bridge the distance between the two. Dropping his head low so that his great rack of antlers were aimed at her chest, Gaucho tried to ram his spines into her dark flesh. Although he assumed she would likely move to one side or the other to avoid taking the attack head-on, he was prepared. Around his neck, his collar of sharpened bone spikes precariously jutted out into the night, with each bone 2 inches in length. As his momentum would carry him past her, should he hit her in the chest or not, he would aim to gauge her with his spikes: across her left shoulder should she turn to the right, and across her right, should she turn to the left.

With a grunt, his long strides carrying him forward, Gaucho kicked up his hindlegs in a low buck, aiming for her left flank, or hind quarter depending on her movements in the last few seconds. Although the tree-light was a cool glow illuminating the area, Gaucho had already begun to notice how his opponent seemed to blur into the darkness. Unconsciously, his instincts told him that he needed to keep her close, and of the potential dangers of taking to the skies and trying to attack. He had sparred against Unicorns before, and knew all too well what effective weapons their singular pointed horn could be. Still, his long hours spent training and sparring gave him quick reflexes, and he trusted his instincts to land his attacks.

Snorting as his hooves struck the hard ground of the Heart, Gaucho felt his temperature rising slightly, both due to the heat of the flames as well as the tree-lights. Even so, his training in the equally arid Throat had prepared him well to deal with warmer temperatures, and even though sweat had begun to glimmer on his dark coat, he was able to ignore it for the time being. Tucking his nose defensively to his chest, Gaucho turned away from where his mind positioned Scarter to be, turning in to the right.

[Gaucho is using buffs AIM and DANCE.

WC: 574
Attack: 1/3
Companion: 0/2 ?]

A battle for Gaucho, was simply impulses, with moments of clarity in between the haze of movements. As he lunged forward, the world dimmed as his head dipped low. Details lost their lustre, and as he suspected, the mare who was no more than a dark shape before him, side-stepped what would otherwise likely have been a devastating blow to the chest. Never the less, he felt resistance against his antlers as a few of the longer tines found their mark. As he continued to move forward, clarity descended upon him, as he both felt, saw, and smelled the damage that his collar had done. The acridic scent of blood filled his nostrils, as his shoulder pressed the spikes against her right shoulder, slicing through the skin. A snarl of approval crossed his lips as his body turned and his hind legs released, pounding against her flesh with a satisfying wuumph.

His long seasons of training had not been for nothing, and the beast was thankful for every attack that hit true.

As his nose tucked to his chest and he rolled to the right, his ears pinned back against his dark skull, listening for her movements in the moonlight. He could hear her hooves, however small, upon the rocky terrain of the Heart, and could likewise see out of his monocular vision, her attempts to move to his right side. With a grunt, Gaucho's longer stride covered the ground in an attempt to bar her from coming at his flank. To defend against a horn which was surely coming for his right side, Gaucho did three things.

One. Confusion: Massive black wings jutted out from his sides - specifically the right, wavering violently in the crisp night air. With any luck, the sheer size of his appendages coming at the unicorn may be enough to deter her, or at least catch her off guard.

Two. Retaliate: Gauging that her head would not be fully lowered, as he stood taller and any attempt to hit his flank would require some height on her part, Gaucho kicked out with his right hind leg as his strides lifted it off the ground, aiming for her chest, or possibly her neck should he have kicked higher.

Three. Attack: As his right leg slammed back to the ground, Gaucho could feel Scarter's horn piercing through the soft skin covering the tip of his wing. If the flapping as a distraction had succeeded, Gaucho wasn't aware of it, for all he could tell was that the agitation of the joint had not only made it more painful where her horn sliced through, but also had exaggerated the wound that her horn made. What few blood vessels stretched to the end of his wing, bled freely, though clotted quickly due to the lack of flow. None the less, his right wing in its entirety felt wounded, as pain radiated down to his shoulder.

In an attempt to attack, Gaucho's head rose into the air as his strides shortened for one full length; in effect, he was trying to force Scarter to be parallel with him. Ears against his skull, and wings slightly raised out of the way, Gaucho veered sharply right, aiming to slam his full weight against the lithe unicorn, and trying to stab her once again with his collar (although this time on her left), and hopefully knocking her badly off course with the weight of his body. As he moved, his head lowered down to the right and tilted in somewhat, to bar her horn from drifting against him, in retaliation.

As he attempted to close the distance between them, Mara, who had sensed this move in her bonded's mind, had slipped down from his antlers, to his neck, and finally to his wing joint, which he had previously moved up and out of the way. Mouth wide, and fangs glistening, Mara's elongated body lunged away from Gaucho towards Scarter. Teeth glistening with poison, the mamba snake aimed her attack for Scarter's left shoulder, or wither area, before retracting her steel-coloured body back to her bonded.

The crisp air was already numbing the inflamed wound on his wing, and for that he was grateful. Even so, the Heart rejected the majority of the bite from Frostfall, and Gaucho's lungs still laboriously heaved in the humid air as sweat broke out across his dark hide. Veering away and to the left, Gaucho snapped his luxuriously long tail with great energy, to try and deter Scarter from following directly behind him again.



[Gaucho is using buffs AIM and DANCE.

WC: 769
Attack: 2/3
Companion: 1/2]