Completed No Pain, No Gain. ~Training

[Aradia]

Winter 19th 512 AV
8th Bell, Morning
Outskirts of The Docks, Near Lake

Aradia had not heard from anyone about a training facility anywhere in Ravok. Which she wouldn't of asked anyone anyways. She could not find one either walking the streets. So she did what any other fighter would do, she went to the out skirts of the Docks, away from prying eyes, and found a quiet private place near the trees and lake.

Aradia kept her cross bow hidden underneath her cloak, to keep curious eyes off of her, and to make sure she did not give anyone a reason to follow her. She pulled it out from underneath her cloak, brushing its cool surface with the palm of her hand. Her mother's smiling face framed with her light red hair positioned itself in Aradia's mind. Then she saw her father, his dark hair shimmering with blue and green tints, his eyes changing colors with his moods, and the wonderful lullabies he played her on his flute. Her throat clenched as tears welled up in her violet eyes. I miss you mom and dad.. Aradia whispered to the bow, as tears flowed freely from her eyes. At least here in private she could release the pain inside, there was no one around that would consider her weak and cowardly for doing so.

She wiped at her cheeks and eyes with her cloak, drying the liquid, and taking a sharp breath to calm her emotions. She came here to train, to become better and stronger. With that thought in her mind, she abandoned her mother and fathers faces, she needed to train. Aradia pulled her backpack off of her left shoulder, placing it on the frozen ground. Then she unbuttoned her cloak, folding it neatly, and placing it on top of her backpack.

She stepped a few steps away from her belongings, but kept them near her and in clear sight, as she started stretching her muscles, stiff from not being used in awhile. When she was done with her stretching, she picked up her short bow, grabbed one of her arrows. She placed the arrow on the hard thread of her short bow, pulling back just to get the feel of the weapon again. Once she repeated this a few times she placed the arrow and short bow on the ground, glancing around for something soft and shoot at, so she wouldn't have to waste a lot of arrows. She glanced at the shore of lake, and saw several pieces of drift wood laying there. Rotted wood.. It just may work. Aradia thought to herself, as she walked down to the shore, and picked the soft pieces of rotted wood from the sand, bringing them back to the grassy knoll.


Aradia positioned the smaller piece of the wood she collected 20 yards away, then the next to the smallest 40 yards away, the next piece she placed 60 yards away, and the largest piece of the wood she placed 80 yards away. Once she had the pieces of wood positioned where she liked them she went back to her mark and started to loosen up her arms and legs, stretching her stiff muscles to make her movements more fluid.

[Aradia]

Once Aradia felt that her muscles were loose and fluid, her body fully relaxed she took her stance. She placed her right foot a little up and the other parallel with her shoulder, straddling the shooting line. She nocked the arrow onto the bow string. The fletch facing towards her, and the nock pushed firmly onto the bowstring, the shaft resting. She pulled the string back by placing her index finger above the nock of the arrow, and her second and third finger placed below the nock, making sure all the joints were aligned. She keeped the back of her hand flat, relaxed. She pushed back on the bow, pulling back on the string, until it came to her elbow.

Aradia aligned the arrow to the small piece of wood, placed twenty yards away from her. She inhaled a small breath keeping the tension and her body steady. She released the arrow with an exhale of breath, the arrow singing through the arctic air, hitting the rotted piece of wood. Aradia smiled and grabbed another arrow.

She did the same thing as before, hitting the mark set forty yards away. The smoothness of the arrow shooting through the air, kept the smile on her lips.

Now comes the hard targets.. Aradia said to herself, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she picked up another arrow, performing the same exact movements as before, but providing slight more tension to the string so it would carry the arrow farther. She aligned the arrow with the target that laid eighty yards away. She exhaled and let the arrow fly, it soared through the air but missed the mark, landing fifty to fifty-five feet away. Aradia sighed and retrieved the arrow.

She was only a novice so missing the target that set that far away was expected, at least the first time around anyways. She attempted the target ten times before she succeeded in hitting the mark, and when she finally did hit the mark she jumped up into the air screaming "YES". Celebrating alone at her victory.

Aradia's arms were becoming tired and tense from using the short bow excessively, she needed to take a break from training with the bow and train her reminancy. She fetched the arrows she had used and placed them and the short bow on her back pack. She placed her folded cloak on the hard frozen ground, and sat upon it. Taking deep relaxing breaths as she meditated and started touching her Djed.

[Aradia]

Aradia sat there on the ground, tuning out the world around her, as she meditated and found the inner peace with in herself. This took all of 20 chimes to accomplish her goal of complete inner peace. Then she sought out her inner Djed, holding out her right hand palm up, she focuses the Djed to her palm. This took 2 chimes to accomplish, and she expelled her Djed to her palm, exhaling a small breath to keep her concentration, her eyes held shut tight. The Djed came out as a glowing ethereal purple Res, she held it there for a few chimes, then focused on creating a ball with her willpower. The Res turned into a small ball, about the size of two year old's fist, and hovered over the palm of her hand. Aradia opened her eyes and focused on the small ball hovering over her palm.

She ignited only the outer layer of the small ball, it seemed to fail the first five times she tried, but on the sixth attempt it finally worked. The small purple ball of Res became thicker and less translucent now that it was in a shape.

Aradia's eye brows furrowed in concentration, a small sweat forming above her brows, as she attempted to direct the ball. She did not want to go big at first, instead she just made it go and hover further above her right palm, and it did so. Then she lowered the small fire ball, and tried to propel the ball forward, but it did not move, she was losing control of the Res. Aradia kept calm, although she wanted to panic. Panic would lead to lost of concentration, and she could hurt herself if this happened. Instead she inhaled a deep breath, calming herself once again, closing her eyes and relaxing her body and mind. After 3 chimes she reopened her eyes and attempted to propel the Res forward again. This time it shot forward, but only about 10 feet, and landed in a burst of sparks on the cold wet ground, melting the frozen earth.

Aradia sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She looked down at both of her palms, the small faded white circles shined in the morning light, from where she had trained Reimancy so vigorously in the beginning with her mother. The thought of her parents once again seeped into the recesses of her mind, making her heart ache for them now. Her kind and soft soul, wandered the hardened and dark streets of Ravok, constantly searching for something, but always coming up empty handed. She had met a few people, but Noric hurt her greatly taking her to the pit, her heart still burned from the dagger he plunged there with his words and actions.


Aradia punched the ground in frustration. Not only at the people who hurt her, but also at herself for being so weak. She was tired of being weak, tired of getting hurt, tired of trusting and letting people in, only to have them rip her soul and spirit from her body. She would get stronger, she would get better, she would become harder, and she would show them that she could defend herself. That she was not this weak little girl that they thought she was, that she was a powerful foe if they wished it. Aradia sighed, her anger and frustration dissipating with the exhale. If only she could be so cruel, but it just wasn't in her heart and soul to be that way. No she would be kind to people, even when they were mean to her, she only dreamed and wished she could hurt them back, but in reality she probably never would have the heart to do so.

Aradia abandoned her thoughts, and began to meditate again. Preparing her body, mind, soul, and spirit for practicing shielding for a while before she had to leave and go to the Silver Sliver for work.

[Aradia]

Aradia sat on the cloak in the winter air meditating once again, something she rather enjoyed, seeking out that inner peace and quiet within herself. She sat there for 30 chimes before achieving this goal, and grasp onto her Djed. Aradia just touched the Djed comfortingly, holding onto it within herself for a few chimes, relishing the feel of it. Then she extruded the Djed, trying to weave it and form it to surround her ears. Giving it the purpose to screen out the sounds around her, which would make meditating and concentration easier, and maybe she could focus longer on the shielding.

When she finally managed to weave and form the Djed around her ears, the sounds around her muted. She felt deaf in one ear; her left ear to be exact, her right ear was only slightly muted. Her shield had come out imperfect; the left was thicker than the right. Aradia dismantled the shield and started the work again, extruding her Djed, weaving and forming the shield, placing it on her ears, and giving it the purpose to block out the sounds around her. This time though both of her ears were only slightly mute, she could hear the sound of snow falling from a nearby limb onto the frozen ground. Aradia sighed in frustration and began the task again. Doing the same movements as before, putting the shield around her small ears, with the purpose to block out sounds. This time the shield had worked pretty well, she could still hear slightly from both of her ears, but they seemed to be almost even, with only slight imperfections in the thickness and complexity.

The shields dropped all of a sudden, her Djed had run out, and she felt utterly drained, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She had come here with the intent to become a harder person, a stronger person. But it seemed that she needed this time alone, away from the city and its people, to just be her for a few bells. Aradia sat there for 15 chimes, with her eyes closed, rubbing at her temples, a small headache forming itself.

[Aradia]

Her head felt like an explosion had went off inside of it, she desperately needed to make her way to her room and lay down for a nap before work. Her body needed it's rest from all the multiple exertions she had put it through today. She was ambitious and determined to better herself. If only she could find someone to learn acrobatics and dancing from here in Ravok, she would be doing pretty good. But it seemed the only thing she could learn here was how to kill, how to be a back stabber, how to hurt people, how to steal, ect.

Aradia sat up, feeling a little light headed like that night she drank alcohol for the first time. She still remembered Amelia's cold stares at her, filled with disgust. She thought she hid that well, but she did not. Aradia was hurt by the fact the woman hated her, for no reason at all, only a simple mistake. Aradia shrugged it off, not everyone she met was going to like her, but she really wished she could make at least one decent friend in this city. Sure she was only nineteen years old, but she thought herself mature for her age, wise as well. Maybe she was wrong, who knew.

Aradia shook her head, casting all the negative thoughts away, as well as trying to shake the pain blooming in her brain. She bent down and almost toppled forward on her face, if she had not gained her footing on the cold ground. Aradia slowly went to her knees to the ground, gathering her things and placing them in her backpack. She threw her cloak over her small shoulders, buttoning it up, and placing her backpack over both of her shoulders.

This time Aradia slowly stood up, leveling out her weight and keeping her legs locked to keep herself from falling forwards. She kept her hands and arms hidden within the cloak, as well as her short bow, and began to take a few wobbly steps forward. Her energy was spent, her body protesting not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. She glanced back at her secret training spot and smiled, at least for now she had a place to go to escape, temporarily anyways. She made her way to The Docks and to her room, swaying and wobbling the whole way there, people that she passed just assumed that she was drunk.






When she finally made it to her room, she locked the door behind her, placed her things down in the chest, and fell on the bed, falling into a dark abyss. The abyss of slumber.

[Verilian]

. . Thread Award . . Aradia +2 Archery (Shortbow) +2 Bodybuilding +3 Meditation +2 Reimancy +2 Shielding You Question My Logic? : Awarded Archery for the shortbow usage, obviously. Awarded bodybuilding for the stretching, and the working your arm shooting until it got tired. Meditation for the meditation. Even though you only had one post of Reimancy, I gave you a bonus point for making it difficult. Same goes for the Shielding. Lores: What it feels like to almost Overgive Notes: Okay, so I know some people have had a problem with this in the past, I just in case I wanted to let you know as well. The "Docks" is technically still connected to the city, out in the center of the lake, which is about a 2-4 hour boat ride from the shore depending on wind conditions and stuff like that, or if you pay extra for magically enhanced transport. I think the Southern Trade Post location thread may be in The Docks forum, something I intend to change soon, but it is technically on the shore of the lake. The only other location on the shore of the lake currently is the Kelvic Research Institution. So anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were aware, since in the thread you are obviously along the shore of the lake, and not on the docks. It's a little confusing, but I'm hoping to get it all cleared up soon. All in all, it was a well done thread. You got a lot of different skills in, and kept the pace up to a level that wasn't boring. Training threads are often difficult because they can get boring and repetitive, but I think by training so many things you were able to keep that from happening. Anyway, good job, and keep writing! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.