[mock] LITOTES

[Warlight]

@[Litotes],
I challenge you to a mock for both our benefits. Traits are ok and drawing blood is better - how will we learn anything if this isn't the real deal? Anyway, there are a few healers around Hyaline who can patch us up if things get too rough 

Warlight
1.5 years old
13.1 hh and growing 
(smol) antlers + dream teleportation

You post first

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@[litotes]

[litotes]

Litotes
3.5 years old
16 hh
Companion animal (sand cat) - I suppose he will be discovering mid-battle? If that's okay with you!

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litotes

Whispers across Beqanna haunt Litotes; little ghosts slip and whirl between his legs, cast shadows around his eyes. He has been summoned today - a mock, though battling has never been his style (quite the lover boy, he is). Fear and anxiety wrap squelching hands around his lungs. It is not that he doesn’t want to fight (he has resigned and steeled himself already), it is that he finds himself particularly chased by the violence of his past.

This, he thinks, is what he is ready for - but why has he chosen to run from it for so long?

The past is a magician: here, behind this curtain, then gone in an instant - here, sawing you in half, and you come apart as if your body is meant to split. She pokes and prods and peels until there is nothing left of you but the very bones of who you are: memories and lessons that over time form, perhaps, some type of moral code. Morality is in question today; is Litotes a man of war? Of steel, sword, and shield? Is he - now a shudder down his spine - tormented and ultimately violent like his father?

Trekking to the challenge grounds is quiet work. Each step of a hoof switches an emotion: worry, acceptance, worry, acceptance . . . like clockwork, the emotions are seconds passing on a clock. He thinks of turning back (dreams of it); his anxiety screams that he should not do this, cannot, must not do this. And yet, it is fate (destiny, fortune, what have you) that drags him to the barren and frightening plain.

Besides, he thinks, Will is his friend - and it will feel good to do something other than think about the strenuous relationships he has cultivated.

Warlight is already there, watching and waiting as Litotes approaches. A pleasant smile tugs at his maw at the sight of her - quite the opposite of what he was feeling earlier. The pale stallion stops a few lengths away from her, dips his head, then meets her gaze challengingly.

“Will,” he calls teasingly, not daring to give away the unease churning deep within. “Shall we begin?”

Truthfully, he has no idea how to begin. Battle lessons with his father were few and far between; when they did happen, he was too frightened to fully understand what was going on. But this is different, friendly, and Lie knows that he must learn to protect what morals and creatures he loves. The fight: it calls to him, perhaps toxic but perhaps loving (for now, he cannot tell).

He knows he must not wait any longer - if he hesitates for too long, Will may move first. If he moves too slowly or without enough certainty, she may predict what he is planning. So, in an instant, the sinewy man is galloping pointedly toward his opponent. His steps bring him to her in mere moments. Lie runs just slightly to the left while leaning his body to the right, hoping to throw his well-balanced shoulder into her side (and if connecting, off-setting her). Using the agility of his bloodlines, he cuts a corner around the back of her, now hoping to run along her other side. Just a bit further away than he was initially, Lie stretches his neck and snaps his teeth at her back and flank. Whether his mouth connects with her side, he does not know, for he is pumping his legs away from Will (hindquarters now within her reach) - hoping she is not quick enough to retaliate

i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right

@[Warlight] i wasn't sure if you still wanted mock! i figured you would since this is before she goes to pangea!!

[Warlight]

Warlight

He appears on the clay battle-field and her pulse rises. For once Hyaline's princess keeps her mouth shut as he accepts her challenge, nodding in greeting as she tries to swallows the butterflies clogging her throat. Warlight was scrappy; as one of a set of triplets, every day had been a contest. The give and take of physical conflict was nothing new to Warlight, but this was something new and exciting.  

The day is perfect for their mock - overcast yet dry - and she strikes the hardened earth with her front hoof in anticipation. 

It isn't until he springs into a gallop, barreling towards her, that she truly understands their physical differences. Warlight's dark, sapphire eyes calculate his body in a way she had never done back in Hyaline. Keeping her stronger opponent at an antlers-length would be key, yet she holds fast, waiting for the perfect moment to move. 

He leans to his right (towards her) as he nears and she takes a single step to her left (away). He is taller than her, and at the speed he travels a body-slam to her shoulder could hinder her for the rest of the mock. Instead of taking the blow full on, Warlight arches her neck and swings her head towards him as her body moves away. If they connect, her short yet sharp antlers would drag along the length of his side as he barrels past. They could lave a scratch, or they could open him from shoulder to flank. As his flank draws level with he face she draws her head back swiftly to keep it out of range of a passing buck.

Once past, he is spinning, aiming to come up her other side it seems. But she does not hold still for this pass. Leaping into a canter, Warlight glances over her shoulder in time to see the bared teeth land on her flank. She squeals as Lie's teeth rip skin her, skull swinging forward and down as she throws out her back left leg for a defensive kick. At the canter it is difficult to aim, but Will hopes that the threat of one of her hooves flying towards his knees and hocks is enough to discourage him from latching on. He charges past her but she doesn't let him get far. 

Extending into a gallop Warlight swings wide to his right, keeping herself clear of the young stallions powerful haunches. Once she has brought herself alongside him Will cuts quickly towards the galloping stallion, her head lowered. Veering suddenly she leads with her anthers, and it appears that she is seeking to drive them into his shoulder. But at the last moment, she pivots and throws both hind legs into the air, aiming her kick for his girth. If her hooves should connect with his barrel they could potentially break ribs or knock the breath out of him and give him a bruise to remember her by. 

The quick trick puts a strain on her front end, and the bay splashed girl slows to a trot. Her dark eyes watch her opponent and her wild smile dares him to close the distance between them again. "Your turn, again. Try a little harder this time!" She baits him, her tail lasing against her hocks as she prances, feeding off the energy of battle. 

— soul as sweet as blood red jam —