Raymond's feint worked as intended. In a proper battle, the red stallion would have supped heartily on the pleasure of that success, but once upon a time Asterion had hoped for something greater, so every action and reaction Raymond analyzed not merely as a tactician but also as a teacher. Perhaps the wounded limb might be lesson enough.
Perhaps not.
They would certainly see.
For now there was no time to write a syllabus. However inexperienced he might be, the bay had good instincts and rebounded quickly from the blow. Raymond was indeed in a poor position for avoiding such a quick turnaround and the momentum he had harnessed to strike at Asterion's hind leg was still drawing him a bit forward. He marked the bunching of the star-marked boy's hindquarters with little time or space to react.
Throwing his head back in an instinctive attempt to protect his face, Raymond rocked back on his hind legs and managed to pull himself halfway into a rear before Asterion's injured hind leg connected with the muscular plane of his chest just below the base of his neck. He grunted with the force of the blow; with their proximity and the last remnants of his own forward momentum, Asterion's buck didn't quite have the space to reach its full extension, and the energy still left to unload from those powerful haunches reverberated through the red stallion's flesh as it pushed him back, threatening to unbalance him. The tightness already seeping into his pectoral muscles promised some sore days to come.
It would certainly cause some real discomfort if he was looking to do some fancy footwork in the closing moments of battle.
But Asterion's action had already written the final chapter. Loath to swim against the current and unbalanced as he was by the bay's bucking blow, Raymond pivoted away on his hind legs in a movement that vaguely echoed Asterion's own first attempt at evasion. Harnessing that circular motion he swung his long tail in a sweeping arc - this time in earnest, the movement accentuated with an audible snarl - that would hopefully catch Asterion along his side as he was regrouping from his own attack.
At the last moment, he presented the flat of his blade rather than the wicked edge. This wasn't meant to be life or death, after all.
Raymond followed through once he fully regained his balance by moving forward away from Asterion, hoping to give the star boy something to chase even if that something happened to be a bit stiff-legged on the front end.
Raymond.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
Summary: Raymond attempted to rear up and turn away from Asterion's attack but is too close to Asterion to be able to avoid being bucked squarely in the chest. The impact pushed him a bit off-balance forcing him to finish pivoting away to regain his center. As he spun around he swung his tail blade in a horizontal-ish arc to slice Asterion's side, turning the blade at the last moment so he doesn't actually cut Asterion open if the attack manages to connect. Once the attack finished he attempted to disengage from Asterion by going in the opposite direction, trotting a bit stiffly because of his traumatized chest muscles.
Attack Used: 1
Attack(s) Left: 0
Block Used: 0
Block(s) Left: 1
Item(s) Used: None
Response Deadline: 05/05/2018
Tags: @Asterion, @
