Archery (Open to all)

[Jethro Harker]

Draw, aim, loose. It was a simple ritual.

Jethro found it particularly relaxing, a kind of meditation. He drew his longbow slowly, drawing breath as he did so, taking his time with the action. The hickory and ash woods creaked quietly as it flexed. Jethro could feel the tug of holding the bowstring all across his back as the ligaments in his right arm stretched to accommodate the pull. The arrow cradled between tips of two fingers of his right hand and resting on the knuckle of his left. He aimed down the shaft of the arrow with his right eye.

As he exhaled his fingers slipped gently from the bowstring. Released from his hold the wood snapped back into place, the string flying forward to strike the leather bracer he wore on his left forearm. There was a moment of friction as the shaft slid across his knuckle and into the open air.

The arrow hurtled through the empty space, arcing slightly to make up for the distance. It thudded into target he had set up about twenty yards away. The arrow sank into its upper left corner, causing the target to jerk to the side a little bit. Jethro frowned to himself.

It seems he had gotten rusty.

His bow had arrived a few days ago, sent with the arrows and target by his father as per his request. Back home, he shot everyday, but he had not been sure of the exact rules relating to owning a bow on Hammel property. This year he had decided that a bow should be the least of the staff's worries, considering some of the students could melt a man's brain by looking at him too hard.

Besides, archery calmed him. It was a skill he had developed out of stubbornness and time. He did not rely on his power to do it, though he very well could. It was a matter of pride in his skills. It was for this reason that he used an old fashioned longbow as opposed to a fancy compound bow with sights and pulleys. He reached down to pull the next arrow from where he had stuck it in the dirt and took a moment to consider his previous shot.

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaer had wanted to get some occer practice in. Really, he hadn't been playing well because it had been getting warm. And it sucked. So he had taken his skinny self out to the training field to see someone else there. The thudof an arrow caught his attention. He had never been good at archery, but he hadn't tried since like, fifth grade. This person was alot better than he was. He could at least his the target. Zaer usually ended up hitting air.

Not that that was necessarily a bad thing. He couldn't be good at everything, he knew that. But he could still wish. So he slowly walked up to the other kid, not wanting to startle him into shooing. That, would hurt.
"Hey, you're pretty good. Do you shoot often?" He asked, eyeing the longbow.

[Jethro Harker]

Jethro halting his shooting when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Even though his pass time was relatively safe compared to some of the abilities that he had seen displayed, accidentally shooting someone would get his bow taken away. He only had target points but the principle of the matter remained. He lowered the bow and regarded the newcomer.

"Yeah, I used to, but I haven't had a chance to recently. My old man was hesitant to send my bow along with me. It took a couple of years to convince him that a longbow is the least of the security concerns around here. I forgot how good it felt." Jethro brought the bow back up, nocked an arrow, drew, aimed and let it loose.

This time the arrow thumped into the target somewhat lower and to the left of the first shot. Jethro nodded to himself, that was good, his aim had not suffered as much as he had thought it would. "I find it is good for blowing off steam," he explained.

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaeric nodded. he could understand blowing off steam. Although with him being so cold steam wasn't the problem. Maybe frostiness. He watched the boy place another arrow in the target, and thought about his words. Yeah, bows were dangerous, bit to were the powers the people here had. Really, mostpeople here could probably stop an arrow anyway. So it seemd like a good sport. Then again, if you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn maybe it wasn't the sport for you. And that was the case for him. He could hit ..... maybe the ground if he really tried.

"I don't think I've shot a bow since I was in fifth grade. I tried it for a while. After not being able to hit anything I decided it wasn't for me. I can seewhat you're saying though about blowing off steam. It would be a good way to chill." Of course, Zaer usually chilled by playing guitar or something similarly non-movement involving. Well, other than soccer. He looked out at the empty field,. Well, there was no one there to practice with. Probably not a good day to try then. He took the bag off his shoulder and let it thump to the ground.

"I was going to get in some soccer practice, but no ones out there. Somaybe I'll chill here with you for a bit instead." He smiled in a kind off innocent sorry-to-bother-you manner.

[Annabelle Coronova]

Look up, what do you see? With eyes squinted, Anna peered up at the rich blue sky. As if the gods had sprinkled little white fluff balls all throughout the sky to amuse themselves as well as the humans below them, both small and large characters seem to drift sleepily throughout the afternoon skies. To the left, she could see a little lamb, sleeping on hills of blue, and farther to the right were elephants dancing on balls at the circus. Smiling sleepily, she leaned back onto the grass, hands under her head, and closed her eyes. She could literally fall asleep here for a while, and no one would notice, or bother her. It was the simplicity of a bright, crisp spring day.

---

Eyes groggy yet opening, reluctantly, as the blue light burst into her pupils, and the color balances came together to show her a clear view of her surroundings, Annabelle swung her body up, putting the majority of her weight on her palms as she rubbed her eyes with one hand and tried to put things together. What time was it? How long had she passed out? At least the clouds were still pretty. She got to her feet, brushed off the loose dirty on the knees of her jeans, and saw up above, on the wee hill of campus, two gentleman. And before she could figure out what they were doing, she heard a whizz fly by, her eyes focusing on where exactly it came from, and where it was going. With a 'thoing' the sharp and swift object stuck itself into a target. This could only mean that they were practicing...

Archery! But of course! Yet she had yet to see anyone doing that here, although it had been a big 'fantasy' hobby that had, until now, been all in her head. Her parents would never let her play with sharp objects, and arrows that could pierce human flesh counted. Still, she always imagined herself as the next Robin Hood as a child, although this Robin Hood would be a girl (Robin was an androgynous name right?) But not to get too hasty, Bells stuck her hands in her pants pockets and kicked at some dirt, making a bit of a hole with one of her shoes. She was pretty shy about this whole "Hey! I love what you're doing, can I join?" kind of thing. But..this could be her one shot of at least looking at it from close range, in person, you know, that sort of thing.

Slowly and carefully, Bells walked on the side of the hill, over the uneven ground to reach the two gentlemen, particularly the one with the bow and arrows. She smiled shyly at the two of them, whilst finding a new patch of ground to kick at, and said, "Hey. I, uh, saw you guys shooting at targets. Archery, its pretty much awesome. Mind if I just watch?" Well, it sorta came out how she was expecting. Sorta being the key word. Hopefully they wouldn't think her too much of an oddball to starve her of the benefit of merely watching.

[Jethro Harker]

"No problem," Jethro said, taking a third arrow from his quiver and nocking it. "That's usually how it goes with most folks. They have a run in with a bow at a young age but no one teaches them how to shoot it properly so they never hit anything and get sick of it." He drew his arrow back, took aim and let it fly. This one sank into the center of the center of his target.

When he looked back at the boy that had joined him he noticed another student coming up on them. When he was shooting he always made a habit to keep track of movement around him. He wanted to avoid accidentally hurting someone or something. He pursued archery for his own relaxation, not to harm things.

"Yeah, sure," Jethro said, it was very common for him to attract an audience. He usually shot in a park near his home and usually got one or two interested spectators. Feeling like showing off a little, Jethro fired off the next eight shots in rapid succession. His hands moving so quickly that his quiver was empty in just over a minute. Only one shot missed the target and sank into the earth a handful of inches away from it.

"Not quite as fast as usual but pretty good," held out the longbow to his two watchers, "Either of you, wanna give it a shot?" He offered. The curved, six foot length of wood had to be a little bit intimidating but Jethro gave them his best encouraging smile.

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaer was amazed by how skilled this kid was. Seriously. While he had the talent with a bow of a dead fish it was like an extension of a limb for this kid. He was amazed. The other girl showed up, and he was surprised yet again. He didn't think any one would be out. Maybe I need to broaden my horizons. No, not maybe, definitely. Zaer watched the arrows fly so true that they could have hit each other.

Then the boy offered to try it. Zaer had to chew the thought around in his head. On one hand he could try and and suck, and maybe hit someone if he wasn't careful. On the other he could not try it and regret not taking the chance. At that the weights went in favor of trying it. How hard could it be? He hadn't tried it in forever, but who knew. So he nodded.

"I'd love to." He carefully gripped the smooth bow, which was extremely long. The weight was unfamiliar and kind of awkward. But he took a moment to center himself like he would if he were concentrating on his powers. He had had a few lessons and they helped. The string was taught, and he had to laugh internally. This was stupid. But he'd do it anyway.

He held the thing up and took a moment to sight the target. The arrows were near, so he took a moment to grab one. It was another unfamiliar weight. Should have taken this up when mom urged me to He nocked the slim arrow and sighted the target again. He didn't have wrist guard, and remebered how much the taught string could hurt. Oh well.[i/] So he pulled the string, and let it loose.

He wasn't expecting anything special, and that's exactly what he got. The arrow flew true for a moment and plopped to the ground a foot or so from the target. Zaer wrist burned slightly from where he had had his wrist to close to the string. eh It was a good try.
" So not the best shot. Better than hiting people. Or air." He smiled and held the bow at a weird angle, examining it. The he held it back to the boy.

"I might try to get better at a later time." He realized he didn't know the boys name. They'd been standing thee for what, maybe ten minutes right?
" By the way, I'm Zaeric. Or Zaer."

[Jethro Harker]

Jethro winced as Zaeric immediately went to shoot without letting him try to teach the proper form or give him the finger pads and bracer he was using. There are five mistakes a beginner makes almost every time and which Zaeric had indeed made. He took the bow back and resumed his firing stance.

"You made the classic five mistakes, Zaer. Every beginner does even when they are shown beforehand what not to do, it's reflex. First." He gripped the bow so that it sat in the flat of his hand. "Hold the bow in the flat of your hand. Next." He raised it and straightened his elbow and shoulder. "Lock your elbow and shoulder, you'll get greater stability. Third." He nocked an arrow so they could see how he was holding the arrow and string. "Grip the string with only the tips of your fingers. It'll give you blisters but if you actually hold the string, the arrow'll get tugged off target when you fire. Forth." He drew the arrow back. "Draw to about your cheek. Fifth, aim with your right eye only." He loosed the arrow and it flew in a slight arc before sinking into the target.

"There we are," Jethro said with an air of satisfaction. "This bow has a draw weight of about sixty pounds so it is a little heavy for a beginner and twenty yards is pretty far but you didn't give me a chance to move you in some." He held it out to the girl that had joined them. "You're welcome to try too."