Target Practice

[Sheva]

Sheva watched him curiously as he went over and retrieved both his and her arrows, he was such a gentleman. When he handed them back to her she gave him a simple small smile, how could any girl resist him. "Thanks" she said softly. It seemed he didn't want to talk about it, so Sheva guessed she would go on as if it hadn't happened. She raised her bow and knocked another arrow, pulling the drawstring back as she squinted at the target. When he began to speak again she lowered the bow and turned to face him, he was definitely not his usual self. He said he hadn't spoken about it with anyone, ofcourse, his best friend had left so he couldn't have told him. He let out a fake chuckle which did little to hide his sadness, it was much too lifeless. Sheva watched Nate as he walked unhappily back to his spot, dropping his arrows unceremoniously onto the ground before he spoke. What! She married someone else! How could she! A mixture of anger and sadness flowed through her as she watched Nate staring sadly at the ground beneath him. After a moment he returned his gaze to her and Sheva could literally see the pain in his eyes. This wasn't right, this wasn't how Nate was supposed to be. She hated seeing him like this. Slowly she dropped her arrows and bow as she made her way over to Nate, stopping infront of him, only a foot between them. She wanted to comfort him, she wanted to wrap her arms tightly around him so that he knew he had her support, but she feared it would be an unwelcome intrusion. So she simply looked down at his feet "I'm sorry." her voice was almost a whisper. After she had spoken she returned her gaze to his with a tiny reassuring smile on her face.

[Nate Frostfawn]

The corner of Nate's mouth quirked upward as if he were about to smile. He never understood why people said they were sorry when they heard bad news. It was never their fault.

"She didn't want to, y'know." He shrugged a shoulder non-committally. "Her parents didn't like me. They never said it, but we always knew. They wanted someone better for their little girl." He sighed. "Anyone looking at me knows that I'm not a full Vantha. Heck, most people probably don't think I'm a Vantha at all!"
Nate's voice had a sharp, frustrated edge to it. It wasn't just the subject, there was more to it than that.

"They married her off to the first guy who offered. Not even two days after her birthday..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowing slightly as he recalled the day. "I never spoke to her since."

There was a long pause where his expression became unreadable. "You know, it was nearly two years ago..." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just... I can't stand not being able to get away from it. I see her all the time! That's why I need to go." He looked down at Sheva, noticing for the first time how close she was standing to him. Green eyes met her blue ones and he smiled involuntarily.
"Aha, sorry... you probably didn't want to hear all of that." He poked her gently on the shoulder. "We should practice some more. And it's your turn to tell me something now."

[Sheva]

Sheva stood there, her gaze on Nate, focused on his story, listening intently as he spoke. The pain and frustration was more than evident in his voice and Sheva hated that there was nothing she could do to fix it. This girl clearly had a very special place in Nate's heart and now she was gone, although he still saw her which only hurt him more. This girls parent's considered Nate not good enough for their daughter just because he wasn't completely Vantha. How dare they!? Sheva's hands balled up in anger as it overcame her at the thought of these people who had caused Nate so much pain, because of his heritage. Those wild pigs of filth! She could kill them! Yes! A wild animal attack leaves two people dead. Mauled to death by a large predator that 'wandered' into the city! She could do that, for Nate, but that wouldn't fix anything. Sheva hadn't noticed but she had started breathing abit heavier, slight signs of anger and sadness in her expression. She got slightly misty eyed and quickly turned around not wanting Nate to notice. "Uh...yeah...we should." Her voice was quiet and weak. Why was she so upset over a story she just heard involving people she had never met? Sheva took a deep breath as she returned to her spot and picked up her bow and arrows. She lifted the bow, knocked the arrow and loosed the arrow, but it was slightly worse than her previous attempt. "I'm afraid I don't have any stories." she said apologetically. She was still avoiding looking at him, she couldn't bare to see his pained expression anymore. "Uhm...I was kidnapped once." she said softly, though audible. She guessed the best idea was to get Nate's mind off his pain by distracting him. She shot another arrow before going to retrieve both, the whole time fighting the immense urge to embrace Nate.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate paused for a brief moment as Sheva turned around as quickly as she could. Her voice sounded odd when she spoke, sort of...small. Nate's brow furrowed ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything. It didn't even cross his mind that it could have been his words affecting her. He didn't think such a story would affect anyone that much.

He gave a mental shrug and retrieved his bow and arrows from the snow. Nate shuffled his feet into the correct position and held an arrow to the bowstring. The bow was raised to his face as he drew in a breath and pulled the string back before allowing the arrow to fly through the air. It landed nicely in blue ring this time. It seemed that Nate was stuck on blue today.

He picked up another arrow as Sheva spoke. He couldn't help but smile a little. Everyone has stories. He nocked the arrow and pulled the string back as she continued to talk. Her next words shocked the boy enough that he released his arrow in surprise. As a result it flew off at a tangent, completely missing the target altogether.

Nate turned to her, eyes shining with shock.
"You were kidnapped?! By who?" He lowered his bow, the weapon hanging limply from his hand. "Why would anyone do that?"

[Sheva]

Sheva was about to shoot an arrow, her bow raised and eyes focused when she heard Nate's voice. He was clearly shocked, it was evident in both his voice and expression. She was surprised at his reaction, since she had long since gotten over it, now just water under the bridge. She lowered her own bow and turned to look at him, a small smile on her face. "I don't know who and I don't know why." she said with a dismissing shrug. She thought back to those dark days when she was encaged in the cargo hold of a ship. "It happened the day I was to leave Zeltiva, I was at the harbor looking at the sea when someone grabbed me and knocked me out. When I came to I was in a dark cramped cage in the cargo hold of a ship." she paused for a while to breath and recollect more memories. "I was in that cage for weeks before I escaped, I uh..." she paused again and looked down before speaking again in a quiet yet audible voice, "...killed a man. Well the ship was anchored near Denval so I stole a dingy and escaped...Well not before setting the ship on fire with my reimancy." she smiled as she said the last part, clearly proud of her accomplishment. She realized she hadn't answered either of his questions yet, "I guess just slavers maybe? I mean as a tiger kelvic lots of people want me as a bondmate, but they couldn't have known that. So I guess because they thought I'd make a good slave, apparently I have a very exotic look which people seem to like a lot." she shrugged again, she hadn't given much thought to the event since she escaped, it didn't really bother her at all. She watched Nate's face intently, curious as to what his reaction would be.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate watched Sheva with a somewhat incredulous expression. How was she smiling when talking about being kidnapped? She seemed so nonchalant, almost as though it meant absolutely nothing. He remained silent as she spoke, though his eyes flashed between shock, worry and disbelief a few times.

When she spoke of being caged for weeks on end, his brows drew together in a frown. He couldn't imagine such a thing. His inner thoughts were quickly interrupted though, and his eyes grew wide. She had burned up a ship and killed someone?! When she finished speaking, Nate simply stared at her for a few moments.

"...how are you smiling?" Nate still couldn't grasp the fact that she seemed unaffected by what she had described. "Sheva that's awful..." He paused before catching what he'd said. "I mean the fact that someone kidnapped you. Not the...not what else you said." The shock had gone from his face, though his eyes still held something akin to a mixture of that and worry. He had chosen to politely ignore the part where she had mentioned killing and burning boats.

[Sheva]

Sheva couldn't help but laugh at Nate's shock, this was all a very long time and it barely seemed shock worthy at the moment. She wondered what he thought about her killing someone though, she was worried he would start to fear her. She looked at him a small smile on her face, "It was a very long time ago, so it barely crosses my mind anymore..." as she spoke she raised her bow and loosed an arrow, which hit the target though neither better nor worse than her previous shot. She went to go retrieve her arrows and returned. His face wasn't shocked anymore but she could still see it in his eyes, "I guess it was awful...then." she shrugged it off again. Her eyes went to his once again as she spoke with a more concerned tone, "Hey, it's okay...I know what I did was terrible, but I had to. You don't have to pretend you didn't hear it. Say something." her smile was reassuring although a small bit of worry could be seen in her sky blue eyes.

[Nate Frostfawn]

'A very long time ago...' Nate was no expert on kelvics, but even he knew they lived far shorter lives than a human would. Some of the polar bears in the Icewatch had been born and then died within Nate's own lifetime. Sheva looked no older than he did, which meant she really wasn't very old at all.

He watched in silence as she shot another arrow. She appeared to have reached her peak spot for improvement today, the same as he had. When she returned with her collected arrows, her words surprised him. Does she think I'm scared of her? Maybe he should be. But he wasn't. Nate let a smile tug at the corner of his mouth and he stepped closer to her.

"Sheva, what they did was terrible." He paused. "I mean, okay, I'm not going to pretend that the other part didn't surprise me, but don't worry." He gave her a smile, and this time it did stretch to his eyes. She was the sort of person he needed right now, and Nate didn't particularly care that she had stuff in her past. "It doesn't matter to me if it doesn't matter to you."

[Sheva]

Sheva noticed the slight smile on Nate's face at her words, did he think it was funny that she thought he may be a little scared of her. Did he think it was a joke? I mean she could turn into a tiger that was almost as tall as him and at least three times as big. Well...at least he wasn't terrified she thought, as a smile crossed her face. She was glad that he hadn't responded badly although she was slightly irked that he wasn't even a little cautious, but mostly glad. Her smile grew as she saw his normal joyful one appear, he stepped toward her emphasizing that he wasn't bothered by what she had told him. Overall, his reaction was better than expected. "Thanks Nate..." that was the first time she had ever addressed him by his name and for some reason it seemed significant in her mind. She stepped closer to him aswell looking into his sea-foam green eyes as she spoke, "I saw that first smile ya know..." she said now smiling herself. "I may not look or seem very intimidating in this form but I can be scary okay." she said, although her tone was completely teasing and not at all threatening.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate couldn't help but grin. "Oh I know. I'll never forget the feeling that I was about to be eaten the first time I met you." He chucked. It was true though. When Nate had first seen Sheva's feline form, he hadn't been able to move because he had been so worried. "You know, you scared me into paralysis that day." He grinned again and poked her shoulder.

It was easy to forget that she was in fact a tiger. She was so much smaller than he was in her human form, and she smiled so easily. She was just so human. Nate realised that as he had been thinking, his eyes had stayed trained on hers. He blinked and gave her a small smile before turning his gaze away. He absently rubbed the back of his neck before motioning at the targets.
"I'm not sure about you, but I seem to be stuck on blue." He sighed, obviously frustrated that he couldn't break into the red target ring.

Ashca took that moment to reappear from wherever she had run off to, barking at the pair as she approached. She had been running and forgot to brake, resulting in her rushing straight into Nate's legs. Somehow he managed to stay standing, but snow flew up everywhere. He laughed at the do and rolled his eyes in Sheva's direction. "Want to get something to eat?'