Ready... Aim... Miss. (Faval)

[Zerren Verre]

Ready... Aim... Miss. 30th, Summer of 512 AV Zerren Verre's House Zerren paced back and forth within his small house, waiting impatiently and feeling the chimes ticking away. The sun's been up for at least a few bells now and I haven't seen head nor tail of... Oh, what's his name... Fable? Feral? Zerren struggled with the name for a few more moments before giving up and resuming his mental rant. Where in the name of Laviku could he be? Zerren paused in his pacing as the phrase he had picked up from the trade ship jumped to his mind. I really need to find new curses... Perhaps I should spend a week in the bars insulting people and seeing how they respond. That is, if I don't have to stay here the rest of the season waiting for my volunteer instructor. Zerren had found out about the Martial Association of Zeltiva only five days into the summer season. It had taken another fifteen days for the Association to find an instructor, and another ten after that before there was a day the Faval was free. Faval! that was the name. I've been waiting for a third of the blasted season for him, and I am not interested in this getting put off any more... Zerren continued to pace, more out of nervousness then frustration (though he would never admit it, even to himself). He wanted to learn how to use a bow, but at the same time he wasn't sure that he could keep focused long enough to actually use it effectively. I will force myself to focus, I will practice until I can out shoot that bilge rat Marin in my... I need to find new curses. ooc : Information on Zerren's house can be found on his character sheet.

[Faval]

People shouldn’t be allowed to need him for anything unless they live within thirty minutes walking distance from the Grotto. This was just ridiculous. As Faval slowly, almost to the point of intention to irritate whatever ill tempered individual who might be at fault for the delay in their meeting, made his way toward the outer reaches of Zeltiva’s city limits, his mind slowly mulled over all he had dealt with since being discharged and found it quite remarkable how much more interesting his life had gotten over the past thirty or so days. Every bell seemed to bring about some new obstacle to conquer or some new person to meet or some new protege to train. He was surprised at just how often he was on the educator’s side of the teaching experiences. He had assumed that he was coming in to the world needing to be taught everything and for the most part, he was, but this would be the third person, the second through the association, that he had tried to teach some form of warfare to. One went less than favorably and the other at least started well. Hopefully the third foray in to the world of a teacher would go smoother. He doubted it.

As Faval entered the wooded area, the only indication that he was given that he was on the right track, a small smile crept to his face. One of the nagging worries in the back of his head before he was informed of where he’d be meeting his student was that there would not be anything to shoot at. Faval did not own a target or even an extra bow for the boy, so he was glad nature was kind enough to solve one of those problems for him. He wasn’t going to push his luck and hope for Mother Nature to carve another bow out of a tree for him though, so he was probably going to let whoever Zerren was use his. That was probably the reason he was making for the boy’s house at a painstakingly slow pace. He didn’t at all like the idea of someone else getting their grubby hands on his bow. A small shudder passed through him at the nightmarish thought and the realization that he was still, in fact, going forward and he would consequently be stuck eventually arriving at his destination, as loathe as he was to get there.

Faval slowly stepped in to the small clearing that housed the small…well…house that Faval could only assume was the residence of the Zerren he was set to teach. Faval, instinctually, entered the clearing in a way that his entry point did not hold a straight line of sight to any of the windows. For anyone inside to have seen him, their head would need to be out of the window. Faval quietly made his way toward the front door of the modest little home, being extra careful about where his steps were going so as not to step on any mercilessly loud sticks or leaves. It wasn’t that he was expecting danger, it was just force of habit for him to not give any sign of his presence that he did not need to. As he reached the wall, the soft pitter patter of anxious pacing reached his ears through the wall, indicating that someone, he assumed Zerren, was on the other side of the wall. Information gathering was important, in every situation, and he could tell the assumed boy was either incredibly nervous or incredibly irritated. Faval did not understand the reasoning for either and the confused look that donned on his face displayed that. Walking away from the wall and toward the door, Faval gently rapped his knuckles on the wooden frame, shifting the bow slightly on his shoulder before calling out.

“Faval, from the Martial Association, come out when you’re ready to start.”

[Zerren Verre]

Zerren's pacing was abruptly interrupted by knocking and a shout at the door. What the hell? I didn't hear anyone walking up from the road. There was no way to see who was on the other side of the door without opening it, which would be a long noisy process since the door was probably jammed. So either Zerren was going to have to take the man's word for it that he was Faval and go through the process of breaking his door down from the inside, or he could slip out the back and walk around the house quietly to get a good look at whoever was there. "I'll be right there!" Slowly and silently, Zerren crept to the back door and slipped outside. Once outside, Zerren walked from his back door all the way over to the tree line, and then into it. He crept along the edge of the forest until he came out at the road. Thank the gods that my neighbors don't realize that my father had to sell off most of the land to repair the house after a tree fell into it last summer. These trees would be down for kindling in a heart beat otherwise. Stepping out onto the road, Zerren brushed himself off, then looked through the line of trees that marked the edge of his property. There was a man standing at his front steps, clad in a rather dull grey set of clothes. The man also had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder. But no sword or dagger that I can see. A rather poorly equipped robber if he is one. Zerren stepped out from the tree line and shouted to the man in front of him. "So, how will we be starting out training? I'm rather new to this sort of thing." Zerren tensed, if the man reached for his bow, Zerren was positioned to leap up and swing into the tree branches above him and start removing clothes so he could shift forms.

[Faval]

Faval couldn’t hear the pacing as well as he could earlier while he was in front of the door, but he still could hear the faint sound of frenzied steps a few moments before he smacked his knuckles off the step’s front door. As soon as he had and called out however, the frenzied steps stopped and only left an eerie silence in their wake. Faval did not know why the steps had suddenly stopped, either resident was stunned in to silence or perhaps they were purposely masking their steps for whatever purpose. It wasn’t really relevant to Faval though, he was more or less prepared for any kind of offensive that would come from inside the house, he had positioned himself away from the windows so they chance of someone shooting him with a projectile were nonexistent without him seeing the movement first and as he took some cautionary steps away from the door and toward the road, he was safe from any kind of sharp and pointy object as well. As much as the denizen would later reveal to be paranoid of Faval, Faval was equally cautious when being sent to visit a less than…we’ll say beautiful…house on the edge of the city limits.

Even though it had been one of his two theories as to why the pacing suddenly disappeared, Faval was a little surprised to hear the voice behind him. His powers of observation, while slightly more developed than the average passerby, were not the most astute thing in the world but it was still somewhat surprising that the boy had managed to enter out a rear exit and make his way in a wide arc around the property to approach Faval from his blindside. He’d have to remember that. The blonde haired boy slowly turned around to look at who he assumed would be his would be student and his eyes were instantly drawn to his. They were not human eyes, Faval could tell that from here. They were slits rather than orbs and it had initially taken Faval back a bit. While he was aware that Mizahar was a world with an abundance of non-human humanoids, this was honestly the first time that he had, knowingly, met one. While a genuinely good person and rationally not having any discomfort toward those who weren’t human, Faval couldn’t help but feel a little trepidation toward the unknown. Thankfully, it did not last long. Faval first slid his quiver off his back, laying it down in the grass beside him before sliding his bow off his should and in to his hands before setting it gently down next to the quiver full of arrows. All the while, speaking what he had been preparing the whole way here.

“Zerren? I’m Faval. I’m not intending to throw any great length of theory at you, so we’re going to learn by doing. After telling me everything you know about archery, however little that is, we’re going to start by shooting. Using a bow is almost all muscle memory for the fundamentals so the only way to get decent is to shoot. We’re going to start by shooting toward the road, at the trees separating here from your house. So what background do you have in bowmanship?”

[Zerren Verre]

Having seen that Faval was, in fact, Faval made Zerren feel more than a little ridiculous for having stalked the entire perimeter of his house. Well, he started it sneaking up to my front door like that. He might have had the decency to step on a twig or two and maybe whistle to himself as he walked. And maybe rabbits can just come hopping out of the forest to my back door and I'll never need to leave home again, making learning this pointless. With no suicidal rabbits coming out of the trees Zerren grinned and walked up to his new instructor. Closer up, Faval's age was slightly more apparent. Huh, he can't be a day over twenty... Not that I'm really one to talk about youth with my sixth birthday coming up this winter. Zerren pulled an arrow from the quiver on the ground and began absently twirling it around in one hand, using it like a coin from a trick his father had once shown him. "Glad to meet you Faval. I can't say that I know anything about bows other than that the pointed part of the arrow should face away from you and you pull back on the string to fire. And as far as background goes, I lost a hunting competition to a man named Marin about a month ago, him using a bow and me using my claws and teeth. Is my lack of experience going to be a problem?"