(Flashback) Weapon of Choice (Una)

[Aello]

Timestamp: 4 Summer, 508 AV
Location: Shinyama Peak

Aello was practicing her aim at one of the local ranges. The range was small; with only four targets to shoot at, all stationed at different distances from a thin white line, where everyone was supposed to shoot from. The first target was set at ten yards, the next twenty, the one after that thirty, and the final one that rested at the far right, was stationed at fifty yards from the shooting line. The targets were relatively large, and from where she was standing at the line, appeared to be perfect circles. They appeared to be both three feet wide, and three feet high, and were resting against a wooden frame that reminded Aello of a painter's easel. The targets themselves were made out of a thin cloth that had been tied tightly around a large circular bundle of hay. Each target was painted with nine larger rings surrounding a central bulls-eye. The bulls-eye and the ring directly outside it were a bright yellow. The two just outside those rings were bright red. The next two a dark blue; which reminded Aello of the night sky. The next two were white, and the two outermost rings were black. The outermost rings of the targets were the most worn- they had the most arrow holes anyway, and the edges were sagging, giving the appearance that they were melting down the side of the frame that held them up.

Deciding that she wanted a bit of a challenge, but not too much of one this early in the morning, and before she had truly gotten a chance to warn up, Aello stationed herself in front of the target that was set at twenty yards from the shooting line. She knocked an arrow onto the serving of her bow. The peacock feathers that tipped her arrows tickled her fingers as she slowly raised her bow to the shooting position, and pulled the string back past her smile. Aello's left eye was shut while her right eye was staring down the length of the arrow. Aello moved her bow a few inches to the right, so that the tip of the arrow would be pointed at the center of the target she was aiming for. Her left hand was clenching more and more tightly on the grip with anticipation, her thumb guiding the arrow. The three middle fingers of her right hand were growing sore as they pulled back more and more tightly on the string. Aello was barely breathing, as she sighted down the arrow, forcing her right eye to remain as widely open as possible as she did her best to perfect her aim. Deciding that her aim was as good as it was going to get, Aello let go of the bowstring.

The arrow shot out of the bowstring, and flew through the air in a relatively straight line, slowly descending the farther and farther it flew. And then, thwack! The arrow made contact with the target; Aello had hit the red. Not bad for her first shot of the day, Aello thought as she lowered her bow. She was convinced she could hear muffled footsteps coming from behind her. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder; hoping that what she saw was another archer. It was somewhat lonely, having been the only one to shoot, until now, or at least, so she thought.

OOCFirst of all, this is my first time in Lhavit, so if there is something wrong with this post, please tell me and I'll fix it ASAP.

Second, from where Aello is standing, she may not be able to determine which of the red rings she hit, just that she hit one of them. It depends on how closely to the line she hit the target.

[Una Nox]

Una was still getting accustomed to the layout of Lhavit, so it was no major surprise to her when she got lost. She was trying to find her way around the training grounds on the Shinyama peak that morning, when she suddenly lost track of where she came from. Walking further in the same direction she was already heading, she evaded people as she went. The training space would have to end eventually, then she could find her way around its edges, or so the plan went. She was walking for quite a time before she realized that she was going in the wrong direction; It could not be any more obvious than it already was, she was looking at an almost empty archery range. There was one girl on it, and she seemed to be rather focused on her practice, well either that or she was sleeping with a bow in her hand. She was not moving at all, or at least it seemed that way to Una who was standing a few dozen feet away. She stood there for a few more seconds before finally releasing the arrow. The arrow flew pretty straight from Una’s perspective, but it seemed to lack proper aim as it did not land on the center of the target. Smirking slightly, she quickly discarded the thought it was poorly executed, as she herself could hardly pull off anything even slightly resembling the shot the stranger had made. Thinking a bit, she quickly reached a decision, this would be a good asset to her skills, so she started moving closer in order to ask the girl if she was willing to teach her. Stopping only a few feet away from the girl, she had been spotted, though a bit later than expected; Are all archers this lost in thought? She shrugged to herself as she spoke in uneven Lhavitian: “Hello, My name is Una, what might yours be?” she finished her sentence in common by mistake, but without realizing it that moment, she spoke again: “Are you new around here? I have not seen you around before…” her words were somewhat pointless, Lhavit was a big place after all, but she could hardly help herself. The girl was younger than her or at least it seemed that way as she was gazing upon her. There was nothing strange or out of the ordinary in her appearance, and Una wondered if she spoke Lhavitian at all; Not knowing common, on the other hand, was a crime in the recent world. Maybe she was mute? Or maybe Una was just hasty?

[Aello]

Aello turned her entire body around so that she could face Una. She lightly placed her bow on the ground, but rested her left hand on the top portion of the frame, as though she were leaning on it, but not enough so as to break or bend it. "Nice to meet you Una," Aello said, reaching her right hand out, and opening the palm, as though offering it up for a handshake. "The name's Aello," she added, before returning her hand to her side.

"And I suppose you could say I'm fairly new, having only gotten hear last season. Do you live around here Una? Or are you simply visiting?" Aello asked, as she tilted her head to the side slightly and awaited an answer. "And what, for that matter, are you doing wandering about the archery ranges? You don't seem to have a bow and arrows, or even a quiver on your person," Aello asked, wondering why someone would come up this way without them.

Aello's eyes glimmered as she stared at Una, awaiting a reply. The girl seemed somewhat quiet, Aello thought, as she concentrated deeply and began to breath in through her nose, and out through her mouth. Soon enough, Una's aura was swirling around her body mist hanging over a lake on an overly-humid day. The aura was a pale yellow color, that closely resembled the sun's rays.

Rather abruptly, Aello closed her eyes, which instantly broke her concentration, causing Una's aura to disappear in a puff of smoke. She supposed yellow meant optimism, happiness, or hopefulness, but she couldn't be too sure. Yellows were confusing, and she was still only a beginner when it came to reading auras, let alone interpreting them.

"And if you don't mind, could you speak in Common? I am not very good at Lhavitian yet, although I know some of the basics," Aello said.

OOCSince Aello's Lhavitian is awful, she replies mainly in Common, but there is a Lhavitian word here and there.

[Una Nox]

I am sorry to have kept you waiting, will do my best to avoid such occurrences in the future. As the strange girl turned towards Una… no, strange was not a good word to describe her, as it was already terribly overused. Even while living in Lhavit, Una find pretty much everything and anything strange before she would get accustomed to it. After all that was the only difference between weird and casual, the routine. Rethinking on her past words while listening to Aello talk back, she understood she should speak to her in Common; Well that was a start. Once that the stranger was finished talking, it was her turn to respond, and she did so in a cheerful tone, happy that she gets to use Common, as she was getting used to Lhavitian herself: “Glad to have met you as well Aello. I am indeed a resident here, not for the longest time, but I get around; Actually, I sort of wandered into the unknown searching for a sparring partner for some interesting swordplay, so it could be called rotten luck I guess, I still might be wrong though..” her voice trailed off as she giggled softly. Remembering why it was that she approached the stranger in the first place, Una nodded her head towards the bow, talking slowly: “Is archery really as simple as it looks? And why do you carry that thing around? If it is for protection, you would be far safer with a small, hidden blade; maybe a dagger of sorts. If it is for hunting or entertainment purposes however, I guess I can understand” she stopped just as moderately as she had started, inspecting the girl with her gaze. For a moment, she thought that Aello was actually looking right through her, but such empty notions were quite pointless, were they not? Even as convinced she was that the girl had done nothing to her, she still smirked a bit, pinning this strange suspicion on her usually non-existent paranoia. Speaking once more in a curious manner, she asked what she was going for the entire time: “So could you teach me something about archery? And maybe I could show you some sword stuff in return? How does that sound to you?” she got quite again, waiting for answers.

[Aello]

OOCIt's ok, I'm going away tomorrow, and won't be back until wednesday, so... it evens out =)

Aello giggled. "No, it is much harder than it looks. Mastering the aim can be quite the challenge, especially when it is rainy or windy out. The rain has a nasty tendency to seep into the arrow shaft, and cause them to bend a bit, which can wildly throw off one's aim. And the wind... well the wind is self-explanatory. It always seems to blow things off course, and well, if you don't have a good stance, or know which of your eyes is dominant, and how to aim properly, then you might as well just put down you bow," Aello finished.

Aello shifted her weight from her right to her left foot and continued. "This is my father's old bow, I carry it around everywhere I go. Partially because it was his, partially because it's as good as any other weapon as far as protection goes, maybe even better." Aello paused for a moment before continuing. "I mean, I can shoot at anyone with a sword long before they get near enough to strike," Aello giggled.

Aello nodded her head contently. Yeah, bows and arrows were the best things around she thought. "So I suppose I use it for a bit of everything. But what about you?" Aello asked as she tilted her head to the side and raised her right brow quizzically, as she eyed Una playfully. "Concealing some sort of dagger from me or something? Or was that simply a bluff?" There was a slight pause. "It was a bluff, wasn't it?" Another pause. "Of course, you may know something of swordplay, but that doesn't mean you actually have a sword on your person," Aello added nervously.

Aello's face was starting to turn red as she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, and the back again. She attempted to change the subject rather abruptly in order to hide her embarrassment. "I could try to teach you something, although I doubt I'll be any good at it. Do you know which of your eyes is dominant?" Aello asked.

[Ophelia]

Aello: +2 Observation, +1 Archery (Shortbow), +1 Auristics
Una Nox: --


Aello: Aiming an arrow, Bow and arrow over the sword
Una Nox: Layout of the Shinyama Pavilion Training Grounds (Poor)


Not that much to grade, which made me sadface. Graded Una on the off-chance she returned! Good thread, I love how detailed you were in describing both your archery and what you saw on the range. Any concerns, questions, declarations of love, PM me. <3