08-02-2019, 06:52 AM
1000 limit it is
This was not according to plan, and, gritting his teeth all the way here, he went over his initial ideas and finally found out how naive he had been. Nevertheless, she could have handled things differently in his opinion - there’d been a number of excuses for her absence that she could have offered that he would have believed, so that he could forfeit the challenge. Instead, she’d just called him a loudmouth and said he wouldn’t fit in anyway. By then, he’d been called a number of things already, and so when she said she would see him on the Plains, he had agreed.
But there’s that thing - he still didn’t really want to fight and hurt someone, even if she hadn’t been a good leader in his eyes. A challenge had been his only option, because climbing through ranks or even just being an official member, just wasn’t possible without a leader present. That’s how he felt at least, and what he wanted to make clear others could feel like, too.
The Plains were hot at this time of year, because spring had been here for a while and was nearing summer, and the sun had been shining all day. The mixed grasses were dry, the ground loose and dusty; it might be easy to slip on, and thus, the sturdy stallion decided not to try running and cutting corners - at least not while in his basic horse shape. When he arrived, he nickered a greeting, but Noah didn’t say a word. If she had, perhaps he would have felt like explaining or stopping the fight - now, he reacted to her determination with an equally headstrong willpower.
He took the time to study her but she came closer rapidly, winging towards him instead of trying to find footing (smart of her, taking to the air) and he started to try and back away, half in mind to grow wings and lift himself as well.
Ouch! Stuck! That was what she had done? He glanced down quickly but found he had not much time to think, as the plants were still growing, and the roan mare still approached.
His fire trait, even though it didn’t run in his family that he knew of, had been with him since birth. There were several uses to it, but the most battle-ready was the heat generation, and it kicked in more on instinct than by active thought. The grasses, newly grown yet already heated by the sun, caught flame quickly. Too quickly, for it scorned his own legs before he had freed himself of them.
And the mare was readying a dive, for her silhouette grew larger fast.
Think. Battle is all about being more creative than the other, dad would have said. Well, that and being quick. With Noah lunging into a dive now, his mind acted (again) more on basic instinct than he was being clever - and where once a white stallion stood who had just scorched his own legs, from where flames licked towards the other grass surrounding him, now there was a large pointy rock, made of white quartz.
He’d been a rock before you see, so the choice was easy. This time, he would not be stuck, because he kept his mind and senses. A sensitive, sensible rock. The fire could not hurt him anymore, but he still knew it to be there, knew he was in battle. He considered trying a rounder shape, rolling away, but he did not think the grass would let him, and so he stayed a large triangle-like shape, pointy and with some edges: a tiny imitation of the Mountain in the distance.
He wondered now, if she’d get away in time. Oh no, what if she broke or scraped her leg? What if she caught fire? So much for defending only - so much for not trying to hurt her. Though if she was quick enough she could still avoid both him and the flames, the rock was quite uncertain if it was actually a smart move at all... then again, it proved his point that he did not really want to fight, and it could perhaps be deduced that he was a stubborn rock-head, just like his father and sister. At any rate, he thought, it would come in handy that he was hard to fight and hard to hurt this way; though he suspected that the mare was not out of tricks yet.
Tldr, Aodhán has no battle experience but may have picked up some advice from others talking about it. This is his first defence so he acts on instinct mostly; sets fire to the grass when he notices it (perhaps accidentally a bit too much), scorches himself a bit in the process, then shifts into a jagged quartz rock when Noah comes close. Stays that way for now.
This was not according to plan, and, gritting his teeth all the way here, he went over his initial ideas and finally found out how naive he had been. Nevertheless, she could have handled things differently in his opinion - there’d been a number of excuses for her absence that she could have offered that he would have believed, so that he could forfeit the challenge. Instead, she’d just called him a loudmouth and said he wouldn’t fit in anyway. By then, he’d been called a number of things already, and so when she said she would see him on the Plains, he had agreed.
But there’s that thing - he still didn’t really want to fight and hurt someone, even if she hadn’t been a good leader in his eyes. A challenge had been his only option, because climbing through ranks or even just being an official member, just wasn’t possible without a leader present. That’s how he felt at least, and what he wanted to make clear others could feel like, too.
The Plains were hot at this time of year, because spring had been here for a while and was nearing summer, and the sun had been shining all day. The mixed grasses were dry, the ground loose and dusty; it might be easy to slip on, and thus, the sturdy stallion decided not to try running and cutting corners - at least not while in his basic horse shape. When he arrived, he nickered a greeting, but Noah didn’t say a word. If she had, perhaps he would have felt like explaining or stopping the fight - now, he reacted to her determination with an equally headstrong willpower.
He took the time to study her but she came closer rapidly, winging towards him instead of trying to find footing (smart of her, taking to the air) and he started to try and back away, half in mind to grow wings and lift himself as well.
Ouch! Stuck! That was what she had done? He glanced down quickly but found he had not much time to think, as the plants were still growing, and the roan mare still approached.
His fire trait, even though it didn’t run in his family that he knew of, had been with him since birth. There were several uses to it, but the most battle-ready was the heat generation, and it kicked in more on instinct than by active thought. The grasses, newly grown yet already heated by the sun, caught flame quickly. Too quickly, for it scorned his own legs before he had freed himself of them.
And the mare was readying a dive, for her silhouette grew larger fast.
Think. Battle is all about being more creative than the other, dad would have said. Well, that and being quick. With Noah lunging into a dive now, his mind acted (again) more on basic instinct than he was being clever - and where once a white stallion stood who had just scorched his own legs, from where flames licked towards the other grass surrounding him, now there was a large pointy rock, made of white quartz.
He’d been a rock before you see, so the choice was easy. This time, he would not be stuck, because he kept his mind and senses. A sensitive, sensible rock. The fire could not hurt him anymore, but he still knew it to be there, knew he was in battle. He considered trying a rounder shape, rolling away, but he did not think the grass would let him, and so he stayed a large triangle-like shape, pointy and with some edges: a tiny imitation of the Mountain in the distance.
He wondered now, if she’d get away in time. Oh no, what if she broke or scraped her leg? What if she caught fire? So much for defending only - so much for not trying to hurt her. Though if she was quick enough she could still avoid both him and the flames, the rock was quite uncertain if it was actually a smart move at all... then again, it proved his point that he did not really want to fight, and it could perhaps be deduced that he was a stubborn rock-head, just like his father and sister. At any rate, he thought, it would come in handy that he was hard to fight and hard to hurt this way; though he suspected that the mare was not out of tricks yet.
Tldr, Aodhán has no battle experience but may have picked up some advice from others talking about it. This is his first defence so he acts on instinct mostly; sets fire to the grass when he notices it (perhaps accidentally a bit too much), scorches himself a bit in the process, then shifts into a jagged quartz rock when Noah comes close. Stays that way for now.