Target Practice (Jaeden)

[Aella]

Aella was quick to put her top back on, but mainly because she was suddenly rather concerned about what a bow string would feel like on a bare breast. She decided that sounded like a horrible accident to have. How did you loose that nipple, Aella? Oh, you know… Freak topless archery accident… No. It wouldn’t do. “I’d stop there if I were you,” she called out to the guy wearing the puma suit. By this point she had another bow drawn and waiting for a good shot on him. She was actually itching at that point to put the arrow into his flesh. The closer he got, though, the better chance she had of hitting him in a damaging manner. When Brother Puma did not stop, she did in fact send an arrow slicing through the air towards him. It grazed his arm, and Aella let out a frustrated yell, “Petch!” By this point she was just cranky. She pulled another arrow from her quiver and nocked it. A prayer was mumbled under her breath before she sent it on its merry way.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden picked up his sword, looking across the forest grounds to see Aella just in the process of covering up her breasts again as he caught just that glimpse of their alluring jiggles when she shifted her body. His head tilted, his eyes gaining that look of awe. A child like, soft spoke tone then entered Jaeden’s voice as he uttered the words, “So pretty.”

Jaeden’s attention was then suddenly broken away from it when he heard a rustle of dry leaves echo out from behind him. “Holy shyke!” Jaeden said, ducking just in time before Brother Wolf’s clawed gauntlet swiped at empty air.

Jaeden quickly spun his body around, the blade of his sword cutting across Brother Wolf’s legs as he echoed out a scream of pain. Jaeden quickly began to stand, bringing his sword in an upward swing as the tip of his blade cut deeply across Brother Wolf’s stomach and chest, causing a gasp to be taken in shocked pain by Brother Wolf next as he looked down to his wound. Brother Wolf’s eyes soon looked up to Jaeden, who stood over him, his longsword raised. “For the kills you dressed yourselves in.” Jaeden said before bring his longsword back down with all of his strength.

The blade bit deeply into Brother Wolf’s body, starting at that point where the shoulder met the neck as it cut through flesh, muscle, the collar bone and two ribs. Arteries and one lung were severed and cut as blood began to pour out of his body and fill his lung, causing Brother Wolf to drop to the ground, motionless and dying. Jaeden’s gaze then turned to Brother Puma just as an arrow was zinging by the man and Aella was drawing another one to fire. Jaeden slowly began to approach, the muscles along his jaw clenching as he gripped his longsword tightly. “Wait!” Jaeden heard a voice call out to him, his gaze shooting towards it to see Red approaching him with his bow in hand.

She held it out to him, gasping for a moment to catch her breath. “Are you crazy?” Red said to Jaeden as he took his bow. “She’ll likely shoot you again.”

“Oh, right.” Jaeden said as a frown crossed his features as he looked back towards Aella for a moment. He next arrow released this time found a better mark, hitting Brother Puma in the shoulder as his body rocked back from the force of impact.

Brother Puma yelled out in pain, suddenly stumbling to the side as he fell behind a tree for cover. Jaeden stabbed his sword into the ground, pulling an arrow from his quiver as he nocked it into his own bow. He slowly drew the arrow back, raising it level with his line of sight as he began to aim the tip of the arrow towards Brother Puma. A quick release sent the arrow hurtling toward his foe, the distance being covered in a matter of seconds before the arrow zipped past Brother Puma, surprising him, before sinking into the ground several feet away. “Aella! Get position on him, one of us will sink one into his heart!” Jaeden called out as he began approaching Brother Puma, drawing another arrow from his quiver.

[Aella]

“I shoot for shyke under pressure,” she mumbled to herself. She let out a disgruntled, disbelieving huff as the man went running for cover. She continued to grumble as she finally dismounted her horse, rearranging her top as she started moving to get a better angle. She was hunting a human dressed as an animal, and somewhere in the back of her mind she was pretty sure there was a joke in the situation she wasn’t seeing at that exact moment. Honestly she was pretty grossed out by the whole wearing animals thing. “Jaeden? You owe me!” It wasn’t Red that owed her for coming to get her to help in this situation. Nope. Jaeden owed her. Her reasoning was likely off, but she kind of had this feeling that she had better chances of getting Jaeden in bed than Red. What, with the slapping her and all. Wait… Was Red a prude? Was that it? Aella had kind of come to a stop as she pondered that line of thought. Her face screwed up like she’d hit a brick wall on her search for the mystery of life. She’d… Oh right, she was going after a guy, wasn’t she? She pulled an arrow from her quiver. The motion was almost loving as she put its shaft to the bow’s ledge and started to pull the string back. Then, she started to circle the tree a bit. Looking up to Jaeden, she gave him a tiny once-over before turning her aim onto Brother Puma as he leaned against the tree breathing heavily. “This one is for wanting him to die,” she barely whispered before releasing the string.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Brother Puma suddenly ran out from behind the tree as Jaeden let another arrow loose, his eyes frowning as it suddenly dropped and sunk into the ground. Jaeden quickly drew another arrow from his quiver, walking forward as he nocked it into his bow. He was just drawing his bow when he saw Aella loosed her arrow at Brother Puma. It quickly flew, covering the distance between Aella and Brother Puma, the tip sinking into to Brother Puma’s lungs as it slipped between the ribs, coming out the back.

Brother Puma gasped, his eyes growing wide as he suddenly gazed at Aelle, his steps carrying him slowly towards her. Another arrow zoomed through the air, piercing Brother Puma through the knee, forcing him drop to the ground, his leg giving out on him. Jaeden’s footsteps could be heard approaching as his gaze fell on Aella for a moment, his hand dropping down to his quiver, pulling another arrow free.

“He’s still moving.” Jaeden called out. “Put him down.”

[Aella]

Brother Puma was an idiot… She actually let out a heavy sigh, frustrated with the man. There was a certain grace she appreciated in animals that didn’t put up this much of a fight when being killed. A little fight was acceptable, but she found this many arrows a little excessive. As she nocked her neck arrow, she closed the distance between her and the dying man – Though keeping herself far enough away that he couldn’t grab her. It was a strange bit of compassion, making sure that her next shot would hit its mark. Pulling her bow’s string back, she had a moment of hesitation. This man, after all, had done nothing to her. She wasn’t delusional, and so she didn’t have any doubt in her mind that he would have killed her given the chance. And while she wasn’t close to Jaeden and Red, they were likely the closest things she currently had to friends… Not that she wanted friends. The string burned under her fingers. The Brother Puma’s breath was labored. He was going to die whether she put this arrow into him or not. And Jaeden, who was the one that was under attack, wanted him gone for what she assumed was mercy. Who was she to deny that? Carefully she aimed, knowing enough to know where the human heart laid under the skin and bones. The arrow, not being very far away, sank into Brother Puma’s body with force. She watched as the last moment of worldly recognition passed over his face. Her bow was brought down to her side, and without a word just sort of stood there dumbly looking down at the dead.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s feet fell with subtle thuds along the ground as Red slowly walked beside him, slipping on a short dress over her frame. Jaeden paused just out of reach of Brother Puma’s body, gazing over the corpse. Jaeden then slowly looked up, his gaze falling towards Aella as several cuts bled slowly over his body, but for the most part looking superficial.

“A good shot,” Jaeden said with a slow nod. “It seems I’m in your debt now Aella.”

Jaeden slowly slipped the drawn arrow that had been nocked into his bow back into the quiver, taking a couple of steps towards Aella as his bow was held lazily at his side. He gazed into her eyes, standing there for a long moment of silence. “What can I do to repay you?”

[Aella]

Her green eyes lifted up from the now dead man to look at Jaeden. Nothing was said. Instead she looked at his cuts and blood. Then to his jaw before her gaze finally slipped up to his eyes. She simply stared for a long moment. How could he repay her? Food? Gold? Drink? His soul? Sex? She bit her bottom lip before shaking her head in reply to his question. "I owed you one," she said softly. "But I'm not setting up my tent tonight again... So you better not snore." And then she stood there. Dumbly.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden remained silent for a moment, looking over Aella reaction. His Ranuri was still subject to Red’s desires on top of that so he was suddenly compelled to agreed to such as he gave a slow nod to Aella. “Very well. My camp is about a mile south of here.” Jaeden then dropped the tip of his bow along the ground, laying his hand along the upper curve. “And snore? That’s ridiculous, of course I don’t snore.”

The first moment Aella turned her gaze away from Jaeden, Jaeden found himself leaning towards Red. His hand raise, shielding his voice from Aella’s direction. “Do I snore?” Jaeden asked in a hushed whisper to Red then.

“It never bothered me.” Red whispered back to Jaeden, giving a slow shrug as she looked back up at him.

Jaeden’s eyes widened a little, looking down to Red. “I do snore?” Jaeden then asked again, his tone low. Scratching his head slightly, he then muttered under his breath as he began moving back towards camp . “No wonder I always woke up before most of the women I took to the tent. They were kept up all night by the snoring.”

[Aella]

She pushed her tongue into the side of her cheek and bit down on it for a moment to keep quiet. She slowly rolled her eyes to her horse, who seemed content to stare off into the air in front of him. The silence continued on as she moved over to take his reins to gently start easing him along with her. Despite her limp, she didn’t remount. Instead she slowly started working her way towards the indicated direction of the camp. She looked back at Red, narrowing her eyes just a little… No, Jaeden didn’t owe her. Red did. Big time. Eventually, though, whatever she was dying to say couldn’t be held back any longer. She took a deep breath in before announcing, “You probably drool and fart, too.” And after just a moment of silence she added with quiet confidence, “By the way, Jaeden, you’re going to have to make the first move.”

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s hand raises slightly as his brow fell into it when Aella mention what else he might be doing in his sleep. Before he said anything, he looked down to Red who shook her head slightly in return to his gaze. Finally he spun around, his right hand falling to his waist. “Okay, one: if I fart during my sleep, it’ll likely be because of something you cooked.” Jaeden said before he spun around again and began moving to camp.

Jaeden then continued walking, making it a few feet before his head turned, looking at Aella over his shoulder. “And B: if I drool, it’ll be because I’m falling asleep while suckling on your breast, which would make my first move already a forgone conclusion by that time.” Jaeden then said before looking back forward as he walked.

Jaeden then looked down at Red, as if asking for opinions. She then quickly raised both of her hands, her hands closed into fists, save for her thumbs which were held strait up in a gesture of approval. “Nice.” Red said with a smile and soft whisper.