Flashback The Art of Missing a Stationary Target

[Rhyus]

Time Stamp: 70th of Spring, 436AV Location: The Training Gallery Who: Ssacarirhyuss Normally Ssacarirhyuss wouldn't bother hunting with a bow because he would just change into his snake form. In his snake form in the jungle, Rhyus just looked like a large constrictor, so the myrian fangs took no notice of him, but he needed a way to be able to attack them at a distance because charging a myrian patrol was just plan stupid. When the viper got to the firing range, he noticed a constrictor woman in Dhani form throwing a javelin at a large target. Rhyus was amazed at the strength of constrictor when she threw and watched as the javelin impaled the stationary target. When the behemoth looked over at him, Rhyus quickly looked away. He was a young adult, so he hadn't even learned his human form, so his viper Dhani form was quite small compared to her. Also the large constrictor was quite intimidating to the young viper. He could feel her cold serpent eyes upon him as he took out his short bow. Suddenly, Rhyus heard the woman speak in the raspy snake tongue, “Are you any good with your sshort bow, Viper?” Taking the short bow off his shoulder, Ssacarirhyuss timidly looked over at the constrictor woman and said softly, “My ssister ssayss that I have a better chancce of hitting the target if I just threw the whole bow at the target.” The constrictor woman chuckled at his statement, and Rhyus gave her a smirk and continued and sniggered at himself, “So... the sshort answer is no.” The constrictor smiled at him and said with a nod, “At least you are honest ssincce most people would be to proud to admit their weaknesssess. If you have time, maybe I will teach you how to throw a javelin.” Rhyus gave her a nod of his head and said with a smile, “Thank you for your kindnesss.” When she picked up another javelin, Ssacarirhyuss slithered up to the shooting line and pulled out a arrow from his quiver. Watching his mother, Rhyus remembered that to get a stable stance for shooting in his Dhani form. He would have to coil up the snake half of his body like he was going to strike out at a prey and bite. Curling up his lower half into a tight coil, Rhyus lifted his torso up and pulled a arrow from his quiver. Holding the short bow in his left hand, the viper placed the butt of the arrow on the bowstring. Pulling the bowstring back, he must not have been holding the arrow correctly because the arrow fell from the bowstring onto his coil. The viper swore under his breath, picked the arrow up, and placed it back onto the bowstring. He decided to put his middle finger under the butt of the shaft and the pointer finger on top of the butt. It seemed like a firm enough grip on the arrow. Resting the front of the arrow on knuckle of his fingers, Ssacarirhyuss lifted the short bow till the metal tip lined up with the center of chest of the humanoid target. Pulling back the bowstring to his chest, he could feel the muscles in his arm start to burn and his arm left arm started to suddenly shake under the tension. Letting go of the bowstring, he watched the arrow soar to the target; however, it seemed to wavering slightly in the air. As the arrow got closer to the target, it started to descend and land in the dirt of the cave floor half way from the target. Rhyus lowered his short bow and muttered out loud, “By Ssiku'ss tail that was just awful...”

[Rhyus]

Suddenly, Ssacarirhyuss heard the constrictor scold him, “Don't usse our goddesss name in vain, Young One! She might be lisstening. On your next shot try pulling the bowsstring back to your cheek. You didn't put enough power into your sshot.” Rhyus looked over at the constrictor woman and said slightly ashamed of his regards for his goddess, “Ssorry for my language. I wass just frustrated...” Rhyus watched as she picked up another javelin and said sternly without looking at him, “Don't ssay ssorry to me. You need to apologizze to Ssiku and learn how to control you're emotionss. You are not a young-ling anymore, so you need to act like a young adult.” Hearing the authority in her voice, Rhyus wondered if she was someone important for a moment, but he remembered his mother using the same tone with him when he threw temper tantrums in his young-ling years. The young viper was about five years older than the age bracket his people considered a young-ling. Rhyus closed his eyes and said a prayer to Siku, “My goddesss this Sssacarirhyusss. I am ssorry that I used your name in vain. Can you pleasse forgive me?” Rhyus waited for a sign that she heard him, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, so he took it out of faith that Siku heard him. Pulling another arrow from his quiver, Ssacarirhyuss curled up his lower half into a tight coil, lifted his torso up, and pulled a arrow from his quiver. Holding the short bow in his left hand, the viper placed the butt of the arrow on the bowstring. Because it seemed to work the first time, Rhyus put his middle finger under the butt of the shaft and the pointer finger on top of the butt. Pulling back the bowstring to his cheek, he could feel the tension in his arm start to build and the dull pain starting to build from his lack of using those arm muscles. Feeling his arm start to shake slightly, he let go of the bowstring and watched the arrow soar towards the target. The arrow had plenty of strength as it flew towards the humanoid target; however as it got closer the shot was a little high and soar into the thick wall of dried palm leafs and other dried vegetation. Rhyus smiled at him because he never actually had enough power to make it the distance to the target. Let alone passed it! Ssacarirhyuss looked at the constrictor woman who was picking up another javelin and said with wide toothy smile on his face, “Look it! My arrow ssoared passed the target!” The constrictor chuckled to himself and nodded in a approval, “Good. You learned the first time in power now you need to work on control of your shot. You're torsso is to loosse. Tighten up the muscles your core. You are upper half is wobbling around to much.” The Dhani woman rubbed her abdomen and around to her lower back to show him what she meant by core. Rhyus tried to tighten his “core”, but he wasn't quite sure how to do it. Rhyus looked at her asked meekly, “I tried, but I not sure how to do it.” The constrictor smiled at him and said softly, “Suck in your stomach muscles that is your core. The more you do it on a regular bases. The sstronger your back and sstomach mussccless will be, and you will not wobble on your coil like a reed in the wind when you are shooting.”

[Rhyus]

“I think...I undersstand.” Ssacarirhyuss pulled another arrow from his quiver and placed the butt if the arrow on the bowstring. Looking up at the target, he raised his short bow till the tip of the metal lined up with the center of the chest of humanoid looking target. Holding the arrow in between the pointer and middle finger, the Dhani tighten up the muscles in his abdomen. It was a odd feeling because he never really thought about using those muscles especially when he was shooting; however, when he pulled back the bowstring to his cheek, he didn't feel as wobbly on top his coil and the tip of the arrow didn't stray as much from the center of the target; however, the tip of the arrow was now aiming at the center of the upper arm of the target. Rhyus adjusted his aim, so it was back at the center of the chest before he released the bowstring. Rhyus kept the short bow in the air as he watched the arrow soared towards the center of the target. However, by the end, the arrow started to veer slightly to the left, missed the target by a few inches, and flew into the dried stacks of leaves behind the target. Frustrated, Rhyus ran his free hand over his black scaled head and said to the constrictor woman, “I did everything that you told me and I sstill missssed the target...why am I ssso terrible?” The constrictor woman just said simply, “Ssimply because you are inexperienccced. Do you expect to be a master after a few practicce sshots. You know the basiccsss of archery. Now you need to praccticce your bassic techniquesss till they are ssecond nature to you.” Pulling another arrow from his quiver, Rhyus placed the arrow on the bowstring. He was determined to hit the target at least once tonight. Lifting up the short with his left hand, he lined the tip of the arrow head with the center of practice dummy. Holding the arrow with his middle and pointer finger, he tightened the muscles in his abdomen. Feeling the stability start to increase in his upper body, he pulled back the bowstring to his cheek. Seeing the arrow head was pointing at the stomach of the target, he readjusted his shot till the tip of the arrow was lined up with center of the chest again. Rhyus let go of the bowstring and watched the arrow soar towards the practice dummy. The excitement in his dark eyes started to grow as the arrow kept on it's given path; however, the arrow started to veer up towards the end and flew over the shoulder of the dummy and into the practice wall. Rhyus thought to himself, It feelss like ssomeone wantss me to fail...

[Rhyus]

When Rhyus looked over at the constrictor woman, she was in the middle of throwing another javelin to pay attention to him. The viper wondered if the woman got bored of watching the viper fail at every single shot. Looking at the target, he wondered if his sister was right about his skill with a short bow. Maybe he should stick to ambush techniques instead of trying to kill things at a distance. When he was about to give up and walk away, the constrictor said to him, “Do you realize in a real battle that you would be dead right now. If you give up, you will be at a dissadvantage in the future. Try again and hit your intended target thiss time.” Rhyus knew that she was right. Hunting and warfare would be much easier and safer if he can kill a enemy or prey from a distance. Rhyus decided to widened the lower half of his body into a wide coil to help with stability. Pulling another arrow from his quiver, Rhyus placed the butt of the arrow onto the bowstring. Lifting up the short bow with his left hand, the viper lined the metal tip of the arrows with the center of chest of the target. Remembering to tighten his core, Rhyus clenched the muscles in his abdomen to help keep his upper body from wobbling. Holding the arrow in between the middle and pointer finger, he pulled back the bowstring to his cheek. The viper readjusted his aim, so the metal tip was in the center of chest again. Feeling his heart start to race, Rhyus took a shallow breath to calm his nerves and released the bowstring. Rhyus kept the short bow in the air till the arrow hit the target. Rhyus started to smile as arrow seemed to be soaring straight at his intended target; however, the arrow started to loose altitude and struck the dummy in the leg. The feeling of victory exploded in the young Dhani's mind, so when the arrow struck the target, Rhyus did a victory dance. The dance stupid display of him pumping his scaled fists in the air and swaying side to side. However, the small victory was quickly smashed when the constrictor asked her question, “Are you celebrating becausse you hit your intended target, or are you just happy your arrow hit the dummy?” Rhyus stopped his dance in mid dance and looked at the constrictor woman. He wasn't sure what to say. He knew that he wasn't aiming at the leg of the dummy, so he was truly celebrating luck instead of skill. The young viper felt embarrassed that he made a scene over dumb luck. Rhyus said meekly with a frown, “I wasss happy that I hit the dummy. My target was actually the middle of the chesst.” The constrictor woman looked at him and said with nod, “Why don't you retrieve your arrowss and continue sshooting till you hit your target ssince we can't rely on luck in the jungle. I'll be damned to see another young Dhani dead by the hand of a myrian or the many other dangers of the jungle because they relied on dumb luck to guide them through it...” Her words hit him like a slap. He always heard the jungle was unforgiving to the unprepared, so if he wasn't prepared to survive it. It will kill him. Rhyus nodded and quickly slithered over to the dummy and pulled out his arrows from their unintended targets. The young viper was glad for the tutelage of the constrictor woman. She didn't have to help him, but she took time out of her own practicing to help the struggling viper. Rhyus put the arrows back into the quiver and turned to look at the large constrictor. Thinking to himself, Rhyus smiled, When I get back to the firing line, I think I will assk her name...

[Una Tanta]

Rhyus :

Skills

Skill	Points
Short Bow	+3
Socialization	+1

Lores
✦ Short Bow: Stance