Contest For Curiosity

[Dravite]

Ixzo was just showing off now, Dravite decided, taking his bow up again. He watched her stance and technique, tempted to reach out and touch her elbow to see what kind of restriction she put on the limb which just so happened to look far more relaxed than his own whenever he took a shot. As the Myrian struggled to ask about the Drykas Striders, Dravite took the time to set up a shot and loose and arrow. He looked down the sights, remembered to release the arrow with an exhaled breath, and held his pose until the arrow struck the target, still favouring the outer rings to those closer to the centre where most of Ixzo's shots were landing.

The action gave him enough time to think about his response and without saying a single word, Dravite put his bow down gently and told Ixzo a story with his hands, that of a Drykas warrior who fought and fell in the Sea of Grass where his spirit rose up out of his body and was reborn in the form of a horse to return to his people. Of course he left out the small detail of the Drykas web and how important its role in their culture was. When he was done, the watchman filled in the first gap in Ixzo's knowledge, "horses," he smiled and signed the word for Strider before speaking the Pavi equivalent, "very special."

Dravite placed a hand against his chest where his own Strider was represented in ink and realised that though he had wondered about Ixzo's markings, he had not spoken up, "which land huntress from?" He made the Pavi sign for her name, "why scars?" The man asked curiously, drawing his finger over his upper body where the majority of Ixzo's scars could be seen; he didn't know that he had come across anyone in the past who had boasted such tribal looking markings before. Surely, he thought, wherever she came from the people were very brave to mark themselves in such a way.

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[Ixzo]

She paid attention to his story, although she did not understand most of it. Snippets here and there didn't keep the cat interested enough to continue. He spoke of the horses in a way that reminded Ixzo of how some of the Myrians bonded with tigers. Yet, she didn't think the connection was nearly the same. Although her lack of understanding quickly lost her interest as he spoke. But the lion was easily distracted, and had lost interested before he finished his story. She glanced warily at the people around them, also shooting at the targets. She sat for a moment, not pretending to be interested any longer as she waited until the other archers needed to get their bows as well.

She though he was asking her a question when she turned away, wiggling her bows out of the target. She turned back to the man, as if she had to say something, but instead she just waved, before doing a quick inspection of the arrow heads. The target wasn't nearly damaging enough to them for her to need to do much with it. Instead, she tucked the remaining shots into her quiver, stepping back towards the man.

"I must… go." She said, a weak dismissal and turned away from the man, back towards her tent. It was only a few steps out of the archery range, that she remembered the bow in her hands. Whirling on her heels, she tucked her head down and walked past the man once more, intent on returning the bow to the pavilion she borrowed it from.

oocA crappy escape, but we can start a new thread!

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Dravite]

Dravite was thrown by the woman’s sudden escape and turned to watch her go without a goodbye, though his hand was raised in a half-hearted wave. The lesson had been fun and he wouldn’t forget his loss in a hurry. “Ixzo,” he mouthed the name of the woman who had managed to outshoot him with a longbow before lifting his own weapon again and turning it on one of the targets.

The watchman drew an arrow from the quiver he liked to wear on his hip and fixed it to the bow. Slowly, he drew the string back and made sure the tip of his arrow and the tail end lined up, keeping it as straight as possible while he checked down the sights. The horse lord relaxed his breathing and on an exhaled breath, loosed the arrow, watching it zip towards and then past the target to hit the safety wall.

Once it was safe to do so and no one else was taking any shots, Dravite ran across the way and collected any stray arrows he could find before sheathing them again in his quiver. He returned to his station then and packed up his things, taking the lion pelt with him, rolled up and held under arm as he turned for home and slowly made his way back to camp. There was nothing wrong with losing to a girl, he had often experienced that growing up, but there was something bitter to be felt about losing for a foreigner, strangers he must always strive to be better than if he hoped to be able to protect his people against outside forces.

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[Azmere]

 

Ixzo

Experience

• Observation: +5
• Socialization: +5
• Weapon: Longbow: +5

Lore

• Longbow: Excitement doesn’t help accuracy
• Dravite: Skilled Hunter, Sick Man
• Pavi: Interchanging Speech and Signs
• Longbow: More powerful than shortbow
• Location: Warstorm Pavilion
• Laughter is contagious
• Dravite: Good sport
• Myrian Tigers & Striders: similar but not the same

Notes

This is a really great job in the use of lores to display a skill (Longbow). Gossamer could post a link to it and show new members "This is how it's done." You play Ixzo's feline personality so well, I really enjoyed this thread. Please let me know if you think there's anything I missed.

 

Dravite

Experience

• Weapon: Shortbow: +5
• Intimidation: +1
• Storytelling: +1

Lore

• Dravite: Skilled Hunter, Sick Man
• Ixzo: Prideful Foreigner
• Location: Warstorm Pavilion
• Fletching: A small twist makes a big difference
• Shortbow: Making adjustments
• Ixzo: Curious as a cat
• Ixzo: Quick to show, quick to go

Notes

Consider me biased if you wish but you have a gift for unraveling a story in just the right way. There's a subtle brilliance to explaining the struggle and feelings associated with using a (relatively) new weapon. Enjoy the goodies and let me know if my first attempt at grading was epic or an epic fail.