"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
So, some practice might be in order and I thought you might like to take a swing...
-3 posts each
-2 attacks/counter-attacks per post
-defense as needed
-traits allowed
-no pp/gm blah blah blah (you know the drill)
-no time constraints
-i'll go first (need the practice, after all) once you post your stats
My stats:
Hybrid (think morab)
15 hh
Light Beam Emission/Flight without wings
Gladly. No serious injuries. Which means I'll keep my poison secretion tucked away for now. Killing a sister miiiiight be frowned upon and I actually kind of like you.
16 hh
Andalusian/Arabian hybrid, but far more Andalusian than Arabian
Natural armor formation
There's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye.
The day is brisk, the chill of late fall hanging heavily in the morning air. It is early yet, the sun having just cleared the horizon, hanging low and bright in a blue and purple sky studded with puffy white clouds. A slight wind stirs, tugging at the pale locks that hang in tangled waves down her neck. She has come to the battlefield not to fight in earnest, but rather to get some practice. The ground is hard packed, no hint of green to relieve the unrelenting brown of the hard earth beneath her feat. It is largely flat, only a few rocks scattered here and there to trip up unwary feet and a lone boulder nearly thirty horse lengths away. With luck and some skill, they could hopefully avoid it. She didn’t particularly relish the thought of skinning her shins on the thing.
Turning her golden gaze, she studies her opponent. Lagertha had graciously agreed to partner with her today. She is glad the woman had agreed. She needs all the practice she can get, and who better than such an experienced warrior?
Joscelin is shorter than Lagertha, lighter and more refined. She does not make the mistake however, of believing that gives her much, if any, advantage in the speed and agility department. At best, it would probably only give her the slight (very slight) advantage of being a smaller target to aim for. But she has flight on her side where Lagertha does not. And she hopes that Lagertha’s armor might slow her down enough to give her a small speed advantage. She is not counting on it though.
She is still and quiet, taking in her opponent for several long minutes before finally executing her first attack. Launching at her opponent, she drives forward with as much strength as she can muster. Using her more powerful hind legs to give herself momentum and her wingless flight to give herself lift, she attacks from the front, aiming her hooves at the juncture between Lagertha’s right shoulder and neck. It is a sensitive area, one involved in a variety of ranges of motion as well as being associated with one of the more weight bearing areas of the body. No doubt Lagertha’s armor would give her protection against such an attack, but given that it is an area that needs to be free for movement, she hopes there is enough of a chink in her armor that she might score a hit. Of course, given that her aim on such an attack could easily be off, combined with Lagertha’s ability to move out of the way, there is a good chance she could hit either the neck, shoulder, or leg. While likely less inhibiting, it still had the potential of causing at least some discomfort. Or she could miss. Missing is always a possibility if Lagertha is quick enough, rendering her attack ineffective.
She allows the momentum of her first attack to carry her forward, landing along Lagertha’s right side (her right side as well) with a soft thud. Coiling her compact body, she transfers her weight to her front before bunching her powerful hindquarters in order to give a swift, opportunistic buck, aiming her hind legs as well as she can towards Lagertha’s underside. She isn’t entirely certain where she might land a blow, though pretty much anywhere she hit on Lagertha’s underside could be hindering. A blow to her soft belly would no doubt be incredibly painful. While she hadn’t put enough power into the buck to do any serious damage, it would still cause some serious discomfort. Hitting her barrel could be painful too, though less damaging. Or she might simply scrape along her side, which might cause painful bruising but would be unlikely to do any real damage. Her armor would, in all likelihood, protect her no matter where she hit, mitigating any real damage she might do. Or she might miss. Then she would just be shit outta luck.
Dropping her hindquarters to the ground, she lurches forward, away from Lagertha and potential retribution.
Joscelin
Tiphon x Elysteria
html c insane | picture c mikanicole.deviantart.com
With an almost inevitable war on the horizon, Lagertha is glad that Joscelin is taking the initiative to come and ask for a mock. It makes the Warrior Queen feel better about leading her Army into battle, and she, too, could use a refresher course. Normally, she fights without traits, but the opponents they will face would never dream of being so accommodating. No, on this lovely late fall day, they fight to the best of their abilities - and unfortunately, Lagertha can’t even wield one of her weapons. She both in anticipation to the battle and in response to the chill that has yet to dissipate beneath the sun. It is bright, and could potentially blind one of them if they aren’t careful. This place is familiar. This place is home. Her breath comes in light puffs from her nostrils as she positions herself with the sun at her back, and the boulder a ways away. It wouldn’t do for either of them to go and crack a bone on that thing. Not now.
For the moment, Lagertha stands still, watching Joscelin study her and prepare in turn. Her head is no longer weighed down with horns (horns that might have been useful in this war, but she likes to think that she upgraded), and she finds that her neck and head feel surprisingly light. The Iron lady has seen the cracks in Joscelin’s skin and is aware that the mare can fly without wings, but she’s never seen either of her gifts in action before. And so she looks at this as a way for her to get to know her warriors, to learn their strengths and weaknesses, and to learn how to keep them alive in the not too distant future. Here, she assumes that the lovely Joscelin is not as dainty as she appears. The Khaleesi’s brawn might give her a weight advantage, make her attacks a tad more powerful, but she isn’t going to let herself count on anything. They stand a good distance apart - maybe twenty horse lengths or so - facing each other head on.
When Joscelin drives forward, Lagertha leaps into action too, because there’s no point in giving her an easy target. She doesn’t have the advantage of flight, but her well-muscled, practiced hindquarters are quite powerful on their own, propelling the gray mare into a quick canter. It seems to be no more than a handful of heartbeats before the two Amazonians clash together, though it isn’t from a head-on position. As she runs, Lagertha coats herself in her favorite method of defense - quarter inch plates of iron start to coat the top half (front part) of her legs, her shoulders and hindquarters, her chest, and her barrel. There are naked spaces (large cracks, really) at her joints to allow for movement, creating a rather archaic, if sleek, picture of a medieval war horse. Her lower legs are free of the armor, as is her neck, head, and underbelly. On top of the iron she places a few unevenly spaced out thorns, not of iron, but of plant material so that it wouldn’t hurt as much. ‘No serious injuries’ means cuts and bruises are perfectly acceptable and expected.
A pace before they collide, and as Joscelin’s front legs leave the ground, Lagertha swerves 30 degrees to the left. The iron-clad mare intentionally waited until they were about to hit each other knowing full well that as long as Joscelin’s attack was focused on her protected side, she would be fine. Her sister’s hooves glance off her barrel, right behind her scapula, scraping down the latissimus dorsi muscle and the outer edge of her ribs. She grunts upon impact, because even if the force is absorbed by the iron, there’s still a good deal of ‘oomph’ behind it due to Joscelin’s flying abilities. Were she not wearing armor, there would be a lovely bruise at her shoulder and a shallow abrasion running down her side, but with the thorns, the tables might be turned, giving Joscelin some stinging scrapes instead. In fact, once they pass the point of impact, Lagertha tries to adjust her course to remain as close to her opponent as possible, digging in her back legs to slow her down, giving the thorns an opportunity to do more damage along Joscelin’s right side. It would be like being caught amongst the brambles in the Jungle - infuriating and annoying, and potentially enough to make one lose a bit of focus.
Unfortunately for Lagertha, she neglected to cover all her bases and has indeed left her abdomen open to attack. On the other hand, she’s stayed close to Joscelin and tried to slow down enough so that she doesn’t blow past her. Plus, she’s already digging her back legs in to slow the quick canter, which almost naturally leads to wanting to rear up upon them. So even though she feels her opponent decline to keep on moving forward (that can really only mean one thing) and coil herself in preparation to buck out, she can’t really do anything about it save for hoping that their proximity and practically parallel position allows her to avoid most of the damage and try to time her attack to hit Joscelin when she’s on the way down.
For the most part, Lagertha’s assumption is correct, though she does have to manage a pivot to her right and a bit of a balancing/hopping act to keep herself up in the air (and out of the reach of Joscelin’s hooves) in order to come down at the right time. Her sister misses, and after the mare’s legs fly out, the Khaleesi twists her body to the right, towards Joscelin, and lets her own hooves fall, aiming for the fleshy part of the mare’s hindquarters. It’s an attack that’s fairly easy to dodge, if Joscelin acts quickly enough and scampers out of the way.
Regardless, Lagertha is eager to see what Joscelin throws at her next.
Lagertha
warrior queen of the amazons
[I’m hoping I interpreted that correctly - was she actually flying with all her feet off the ground, or was she just giving herself extra lift/propulsion? Let me know and I’ll edit if I’m wrong!]
