Closed [Fletcher's Corner] Finding Common Targets (Oitera)

[Elna]

10th Day of Winter
Fletchers Corner
Elna and Oitera

Elna readied her bow, arrow pointing at the target. She was trying to keep up her archery training on her own since she had shown signs of potential during her lesson in the fall. She wasn't doing great, but she was still keeping at it. She was failing hit the target with any kind of reliability without someone directly advising her. She was however catching more of her own mistakes then before, her could feel what was wrong with each shot and take steps to correct her stance and aim on the next shot. Or at least she thought she was, she couldn't really confirm if there was more she was unaware of, same as any other unknown element. In any case this whole trial and error way of doing things made her progress feel rather slow, but if she was a prodigy she would already have a job by now. She was fine with keeping her expectations low.

She released her arrow and watched as it flew forward, hitting near the bottom of the target as her arrows tended to go, if not falling in front of the target. Maybe it was a power issue, she had such frail arms she wondered if it was keeping her form getting her arrows to fly that little bit more distance that they needed. Her next arrow feel a few feet in front of the target. She looked down at her arm and realized she had lowered it a bit after the shot, if she lower it to soon that would explain the poor quality of the shot.

She found that she wasn't enjoying shooting alone as much fun as when someone was watching or shooting with her. More then just the boost of quality she could get when she had someone feeding her advice, she liked feeling validated. She wanted to shot better and do it with a witness. As introverted as she was she was growing tired of trying to self motivate herself. But perhaps she was missing more then just someone to inflate her ego, but was just another unknown element. For now anyways.

[Oitera]

As usual, at her free time, Oitera was going to try to improve her skill in shooting with her shortbow. She knew the way so well now that her feet almost walked it themselfs, she didn't need to think of it very much at least. She had been here very much for the past few years and her shooting skills had improved very much since the first time.

When she entered, Oitera saw that no target was without anyone that was shooting. She wasn't surpriced, especially now during the winter. She chose a target with only one person, a girl at her own age. As she walked over to it, the girl released the arrow which flew against the target. She missed. Oitera didn't think this girl was very good at shooting, at least not as good as herself.

"Is it okay if I join you?" Oitera asked as she got closer, it was best to start politly. She walked even closer and stopped beside the girl, waiting for her answer. Then she realised that it was something familiar with the girl, she didn't know what, but something was familiar with her.

[Elna]

She looked up at the girl who had approached her. She looked close to her age, with an obvious level of youth despite their difference in height. Her hair and eyes looked rather common aside form a distinctive shade gold around her pupils. It was a single distinctive mark she felt she had seen once before, something unsurprising considering the size of Wind Reach, most people of the same age knew each other at least a little. The name was failing her at the moment but she seemed nice enough, and her timing was good considering Elna was just looking to shot with someone. With a slight smile she agreed to share the target, "Sure, let me just finish my shots and we'll rotate."

Now she had an audience, and she couldn't keep taking bad shots like she had before. She took a deep breath and ran her training though her head. Stay calm, keep your stance straight but relaxed, hold the bow up until the arrow hits the target, and invasion the arrow hitting the center. When she was all psyched up she released the string. The arrow stuck into a fairly good spot for her in the bottom left of the sixth ring.

With a bit of a confident smirk she raised her bow back up and readied her next shot, psyching herself up once again. Her new spectator would have begun to notice at this point that Elna took quite a long time to take each shot, something that could end up being a problem depending on her level of patience. Her arrow made its way to the target, this time just barely landing in the tenth ring.

Elna blew out her lips in frustration, she was hoping to get closer over time as she adjusted her shot but that was yet another lousy one. Now she was starting to look bad. Beginning to feel frustrated, she quickly readied her next shot. She didn't waste as much time as before, wanting to erase the memory of her previous shot as soon as possible. She released and watched it move, hitting just under the target. With an audible grunt she took her final arrow and set it up. This time effectively screaming her steps inside of her mind as quickly as possible. She then immediately released her arrow as it landed about a dozen feet in front of her.

With a single stomp on the ground, her clenched her fists tightly and turned away form the target. She was clearly frustrated, cracking under she own self applied pressure. It was showing on her face as she walked to the bench, starring at her feet the whole way in a speedy shuffle. She plopped down next to her shooting partner, still having her eyes locked on the ground. "It's your turn" she proclaimed in a shaky voice.

[Oitera]

As the girl turned and answered so that Oitera saw her face, it confirmed that something was familiar with her. But Oitera couldn't figure what. She had seen many youths in her life, so maybe it wasn't that strange at all. She shakes the feeling off, wanting to focus on the shooting now instead of the girl's appearance.

The first shoot took a very long time. It hit the sixth ring, quite good. Then it was time for the next shoot, this one took as long time as the one before. If she was going to go about in this way, Oitera would never get to shoot. The second arrow flew across the room, hitting the tenth ring. That wasn't a good shoot for taking so long. Either this girl was a beginner, or just a bit unfocused. The third shoot was much faster, but it missed the target. The girl had begun being unfocused and surely a bit angry on herself it seemed, that was bad. It made the shoots worse and that was proved by her next shoot, it missed with quite a bit.

The girl now seemed very angry and didn't pick up her arrows. Oitera picked them up and gave them to the girl, both because she wanted to be kind, but mostly because they were in the way. She walked I front of the target and took an arrow out to begin her first shoot. She aimed as both Harif had taught her and how she of her own experience had shown her. Standing with her feet spread apart to get balance, Oitera released the arrow and watched it flew through the air. It hit the fifth ring above the centre. I gotta aim lower this time, she told herself as she aimed again. She released the arrow and saw it hit the third ring under the centre and a bit to the left.

It was hitting closer, but not enough. Oitera hopped to hit the centre at least once this session. Aiming again, a bit higher and a bit more to the right. The arrow hit the fourth ring a bit above and to the right this time. Hmm... Not to high. She thought to herself and aimed for the fourth time. This time the arrow hit exactly the right hight, but to much to the right so the third ring again. Okay, that's how hight I should aim, now just a bit more to the left. Oitera thought to herself as she aimed for the final shoot. The arrow flew through the air, across the room and hit the second ring a bit under and to the left of the centre. Quite good shoots. Oitera walked over to the target and picked the arrows of the target before walking back and sitting down. She smiles at the girl. "Your turn again"

[Elna]

Elna lifted her head up and watched as the girl walked up to the target and retrieve her arrows for her. She cringed a bit as she did so, it only made her look more incompetent. As she handed them over, Elna apologized, "Sorry, I was just thinking we'd collect both sets at once. I'll make sure to pick them up next time." She wasn't exactly on her game, but it seems apologizing for her actions on the archery range was becoming a common practice, so it wasn't exactly a new occurrence.

Elna watched as the girl made her shots consistently and efficiently. Perhaps not exactly impressive but she certainly was good. She also, like most people, shot with a composur at Elna was highly lacking in. It reminded her that she had to keep calm or she was never going to make any real progress. She took the time waiting to shot for clearing her head. She closed her eyes gently and started doing some deep breathing. "It doesn't matter how well you just shot. You'll get better in time. Keep clam, do better next time" She started telling her self in her head, trying to drown out thoughts that her time to improve her self was actually quite limited.

She woke up from her trance as the girl returned, letting her know it was her turn. "Right, thank you" she responded. She got of her seat and moved up to the line, reciting the proper stance inside of her head as she normally would. With one good breath he pulled out her arrow and readied it in to the bow. She pulled it up and imagined the arrow hitting into the center. When the arrow hit the target it was pretty far form the center, hitting the eight ring on the lore right corner. She continued to keep her composer as her continued to shoot, arrows landing on the bottom of the seventh ring, top-left of the ninth, the left hand side of the seventh, and the final on landing in close proximity to her first shoot on the eight ring. Not exactly anything good if they were keeping score, but they all hit the target so that was good enough for her. More importantly she didn't lose it when shoots landed further from their pervious ones. Considering her skill level she was certainly happy about it.

With a relived sigh she moved forward to retrieve her arrows. The archers to her sides had been waiting for her to stop shooting to retrieve theres as well. It was a little discouraging knowing she might be getting people impatient, but she did her best to keep from thinking about it. Her arrows came out of the target rather easily, its not like their was much power behind them. She dropped them into her quiver and retired to the bench. "Okay, its your turn, um… sorry I didn't get your name yet I guess."

[Oitera]

As the girl moved to the shooting spot, Oitera looked around to look at some of the other once shooting. The skill lvl was mixed, some hit the centre very often and others had a hard time hitting the target at all. She got reminded of how she had started, with a branch, some string and a sharpened stick. And now she had a quite good bow, own arrows and was apprentice to Harif. She had made quite some progress, but it was still much to learn, one day she hopped to become an Avora. Or even better, an Endal. But to that it was far, first she had to find an Eagle to bond to and then she had to become more used to hunting and shooting. She just hopped that shooting with a bow was enough, she had never even tried to fight with a sword of any kind. Well except from when she was a kid and imagined to be an Endal. She snapped out of her thoughts as the girl came back and informed her that it was Oiteras turn and asked for her name, which she hadn't told the girl. And now Oitera relised that she didn't know she girls name either. Oitera stretched her hand out to the girl, smiled and said "I'm Oitera. And I'm afraid I don't know your name either" Once again Oitera saw thought that this girl was familier, she had seen her somewhere before. But where and when?

[Elna]

"Right," she responded, "my name is Elna. Sorry I didn't introduce myself properly earlier." She started tapping her finger against her head while having one eye closed to make a typical thinking face. She scanned her brian for memories of the name. She snapped her fingers as she successfully uncovered her memory. Nursery roll call! That was it! "You grew up in the nursery didn't you" It was no wonder her didn't quite recognize her face, she likely hadn't seen her sense she was nine or so. That and she wasn't significantly close to anyone from the nursery. Her social weakness was a long standing problem.

Regardless, it was a bit of a load of her mind not having the vague memory of who she was and where she had seen her before subtly distracting her. Perhaps they had something more important together, but if they did Elna had completely forgotten about it at this point. Not remembering something someone you should is usually pretty embracing, but Elna figured there wasn't many people like that in her life anyway. Again, she was socially week and just didn't talk much especially back then before she got business oriented.

[Oitera]

"Okay and no problem, I didn't introduce myself before either so..." Oitera smiles and shrugges at her but Elna seemes to be lost in her thoughts. When Oitera had just stood up and was starting to head towards the shooting spot, Elna askes if - well, rather pointed out - she had grown up at the nursery. Oitera turned around and looks at Elna for a short moment before answering, the question had surprised her. Her face was revealing this before turning to a more suspicious expression, how did this girl know this? "Yes..." shortly after she had answered, Oitera remembers the familiar feeling with this girl and relaxes again. That's may be it, that they had met at the nursery. She had been quite shy when she was in the nursery and hadn't been so much with other kids, but more with girls than the boys. Trying to remember Elna in the few memories that she had Oitera was, without thinking of it, starring at her face. She remembered a girl that could be Elna, but she wasn't sure of it and the memorie was very dull. Something about one of her first time she was shooting with the home made bow that was the first she used, but she wasn't sure at all. After a couple of minutes Oitera gives up and turns around back to the target, walking infront of the target. After a quick thought she backs away a bit to practice shooting from further away, which would be good when she was out hunting in the wild. When she had placed the first arrow she aimed for the middle, a bit higher than she usually would since it wouldn't get far enough otherwise. The arrow flies through the air and hits the fifth ring above and a bit to the right, at least she wasn't aiming to low. The second arrow hits the third ring, still to high but to the left this time. Once again Oitera is aiming and letting go of the arrow, which hits the third ring again. Still to much to the left but now under the center instead of over. The fourth arrow hits the fourth ring, way to much to the left but this time it was almost in the right hight at least. But as she aimes for the final shot, Oiteras thoughts wonder away back to the past and the nursery, trying to find the girl in any of her memories. The arrow almost hits the last ring, landing just inside the boundaries to the second last. Damn it! Oitera thought to herself as she started to collect her arrows. She had learn to controll herself when she doesn't shoot as she want, but when she failed like this and couldn't concentrate she got irritated. As she walks back her face is revealing that she's not happy about the last shot and without smiling as before she exclaimes "You're turn" while looking at an arrow that she's still holding in her hand.

[Elna]

Oitera started giving Elna a weird look. She pulled her head back defensively from her gaze. Perhaps she had said something wrong just now. She didn't think such a simple question would offend her like that, or at least she seemed offended. She continued into the conversation anyway, although tentatively. "Well…Great. I did too. I just remembered your name from the old roll call. I don't think we were playmates or anything." She told her while worried that bringing up the nursery might have caused an argument. Did something bad happen there? Maybe it would be better just to avoid the topic. She was still starring at it her, it was starting to feel down right creepy. When she finally turned away towards the target, Elna let out a breath of relief and put her teeth into and soundless cringe. She couldn't handle that kind of tension.

She watched her take her shots, she shot well with most of her shots in medium quality areas, those three point rings especially aren't easy to hit, Elna never could get that close. Elna's ability certainly looked bad in comparison. But when she turned around she looked rather frustrated with her results, almost as much as Elna was before. In a way it was good to know she wasn't the only one that got frustrated when her progress went backward. Misery loves company right? She came back to the bench and just started staring down at the arrow. "Right, I'll just go take that turn then" she responded with an uneasy and forced have smile.

She moved up to the line, looking back and seeing Oitera out off the corner of her eye, having some concern for her new, or old rather, acquaintance. She took her deep breath and lifted her bow to the target. Her first shot missed but only by a little bit and landed right below the target. Not a good shot and the next wasn't any better, just grazing the left of the target. Clearly she had to put the worries of others behind her rather then just her own, keep a clear mind. With another breath she took her next shots 8th ring, then the 6th, and the 5th. Those last two were great shots! She rarely shot that well but some times she got lucky. But whether it was luck or skill or state of mind, she still raised her fist in front of her chest in victory. She was easily happy with how those shots turned out. She collected her arrows and returned to the bench. Hopefully Oitera wasn't still mad by now.

[Oitera]

She hadn't noticed it until now, but Elna seemed almost afraid of her. Strange. Had she done something wrong? Oitera smiled at her to try to repair the damages she had caused. She wasn't used to socialise, especially not with someone her own age, she was far to interested in getting better at shooting and hunting to have time for stuff like that. Oitera tried to figure out something to talk with Elna about and the only thing she could come up with was: "So what are you doing daytime?" Oitera stood up, still looking at Elna and waiting for her answer but she took an arrow out of the quiver at the same time to prepare for her first shot. She didn't know if it would be unpolite to start shooting at the same time as talking with Elna, so she took the safe side and didn't. She wondered what Elna was doing, could it be hunting? Oitera didn't think so, cause honestly, she wasn't that good at shooting. But who knows, maybe she was very good at trapping and tracking and stuff like that. On second thought, that would be quite good since then Oitera could ask her to teach her a little about it. But probably it was something else, but that seemed strange as well. Why would she be practising shooting when she didn't work with it?