[The Santuary] Sticks and Stones (Dust)

[Vanator]

After sharing a beaming smile of victory with his Kelvic companion, Vanator bent down to jerk free the ax blade from the chunk of wood, leaving the block behind the wall and returning to Dust's side. She had selected another bullet and was already immersed in concentration. The raven girl meant business this time, the Drykas thought as the woman eyed her target with sober intent. This time Dust did not break her glare at the wooden block, dropping the pellet into the sling and setting her posture with more fluid ease. Gaze never wavering, the leather sling was whirled around, creating a whistly-whooshing sound. Then delicate fingers released on side of the thong, and the bullet zinged through the air.

Her effort was rewarded this time with a solid thunk, the wooden target toppling backwards off of the short wall. Dust's elation was greeted with a broad smile. "I knew you could do it Dust! Good shot!" Van stepped closer and wrapped his arms around his friend in a congratulatory hug.

Suddenly a flutter of wings above caught Vanator's gaze, and he watched Larik light upon the tall Sanctuary wall. He looked down at his father and the Kelvic girl, then gave them one long screech. "Alright, we are coming!" Van answered back to the hawk. The Kelvic raptor gave a quick nod and lifted again to the air, then disappeared behind the wall.

"Suppose we should head off to lunch. But how about one more shot each, and we return after we eat?" Van suggested. He turned again to the target wall, adjusted his grip on the hand ax again as he studied his target as well. Slowly he lifted the weapon over his head, pausing to gauge wind and distance again, learning from his last throw. Then he brought his arm down quickly, letting loose the ax. It struck the wooden block askew, not blade first, but knocked the target off of the wall. He looked over at Dust and shrugged, giving her a sheepish grin. "I definitely need more work!"

[Dust]

Van hugged Dust in celebration; almost giddily, she bounced up onto her toes and briefly embraced him in return. She felt his attention shift, and stepped back to look at the eagle behind her. "Did you see?" she asked excitedly of her fellow Kelvic; the importance of lunch took a backseat to the fact of her success. Surely he had -- but the eagle's order of priorities was rather reversed, in that regard. "It's lunchtime already?" Dust asked of her companion as Larik departed, turning back to Van with a somewhat mystified expression. Where had the morning gone? Peering up at the sky verified the bell... even if it didn't answer the rhetorical question. "Huh." Well, lunch was a good idea anyway... and she could tell stories about her success over the meal. Sybel would probably listen. "One more," she agreed enthusiastically, turning to watch Van take one last shot at the target wall. Even she could tell the little axe didn't hit right, with the way the block skewed sideways before it finally fell. "Guess so! ...My turn!" Dust declared, snatching up a last pellet and tucking it into the pocket of the sling. She needed a new target... ...that one there would do. Orienting herself towards the block, Dust thought about what she'd done last time -- but not very hard. Mostly she thought about lunch, and stories, and coming back to score on all the blocks next time. The slinger went through the right motions, looking at her target, bringing the sling up, releasing at the top of the arc -- but she didn't manage the same internal focus this time around, and was doomed to disappointment when the stone went whizzing harmlessly over the top of the target to thud into the greater wall beyond. "...aww." Dust briefly slumped in a half-feigned, mostly exaggerated sulk at her failure, then snatched up the bag of remaining pellets and bounded forward to set it on the blocks where no one might trip over it. If there was even anyone in the courtyard during lunch... Tucking her sling back away, she padded over to join Van. "Okay, lunch! Let's go!" All the better to come back faster. She'd gotten it right once, with the little targets. She'd do it again later, for sure!

[Caelum]

Thread Award Name: Vanator. Skills: Weapon: Hand Axe +5 Teaching +1 Name: Dust. Skills: Weapon: Sling +5 Notes: Fun and straight to the point. I like it. Please delete your post with this thread link in the Riverfall grade request thread and, as ever, feel free to PM me with any questions, concerns, or cobbler.