[Gil'dae Cheb] Beginning Archery (Karo)

[Aarkon]

The time has finally come for Aarkon to begin his archery training. Absent-mindedly walking in the general direction of the practice range, pondering wether it hurts to be shot with an arrow at high speeds, he trips on the cobbled path and is sent sprawling face-first into the stone. Painfully feeling foolish, he quickly lifts himself off of the ground, cleans himself off, and looks around, hoping to find no one nearby who could have seen him fall. Finding no one, he once more begins his short journey to the training range.

Taking a shortcut through the beautiful garden around the Keep, he arrives, wondering who the trainer is and where he or she could be at this time. Slowly walking towards the range itself, he spots a few broken arrowheads around the targets and a blood stain on the ground nearby. Hoping nothing which involves blood would happen on this peaceful brightening, he continued to look at this and that, playing with random items, examining equipment and random things around him, in order to dispell the feeling of nervousness, boredom, and fear. Not a simple fear, something a being may get over in time, this fear was more of an instinctual type, something you naturally feel when you are gazing into the unknown, undecisive existance which is the imagination of a nervous, clueless person waiting for something to happen, and not knowing exactly what it is he is waiting for.

Hearing the footsteps of someone approaching, he quickly gets up, straightens out his clothing, and wonders who it could be that is coming near him at this very moment along the cobbled path.

(OOC: Lol, probably mispelled the word for indecision, instinct, and a few other words I rarely use. Anyway, this is my first training thread, I'm probably more nervous than I am IC, so cut me some slack. )

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

Aarkon did not have to wait for long. Within a few moments of hearing footsteps approaching, a slim elf who nonetheless had heavily muscled arms and chest sauntered easily into view, carrying an unstrung bow casually across the back of his neck. His arms were raised and his elbows were hooked over the bow behind him, allowing his hands to hang freely to the sides of his face.

"Vedui," he greeted Aarkon. "So you're the new recruit, eh? The name's Tarien. Tarien Quenias. And I am the Second Longbow of the Quicksilver Guard, here to try to teach you enough about using a longbow so that you don't put out anyone's eye -- unless you intend to do so and it is done at thirty paces."

"Who knows? Someday, if you learn well and practice enough, you may grow as skilled with the bow as I am, or even better than the First Longbow, Kraasi Joav'lania. Although that will take some doing, considering I'm not a patch on her and I've been playing with a bow for most of a century now. She is truly amazing."

"But her time is too valuable for basic training for new recruits, so you get me instead. Now, first things first. Tell me your name, a little bit about yourself, and whether or not you have any experience using a bow. If you do, I want to know what you know, and I'll want you to demonstrate. I have to know what bad habits you have and break you of them before I can teach you how to shoot properly. Not doing things wrong is often even more important than doing things right."

"Also, do you have your own bow, or will you need to use one of ours? For practice, either way is all right, but eventually you're going to want one of your own."

[Aarkon]

"Vedui, Tarien.."

Aarkon simply stands in place and listens to Tarien speak, explaining a few basic concepts, what he expects of Aarkon, and asks a few questions.

"My name... Is Aarkon. There is not much to say about myself, as I know simply know nothing about myself, who I am, or what I've done in my past, because of mysteriously unknown occurances which relinquished me of any and all knowledge and memories.. So, I have no experience whatsoever with the longbow, or any weapon or trade, for that matter.

As for a bow... Unfortunately, along with losing my knowledge and memory, I also lost my possessions, so no, I do not have a longbow with which to train and use in battle, as of yet.

Once my training is 'complete', so to speak, as in reality my training never ends, I hope to search for the local smithy and purchase any weaponry and other equipment I require in order to take my position as a member of the Quicksilver Guard.

If there is anything you require of me, or need answered, simply ask, and I will do all in my power to gather these items or information so that we may once and for all begin my training which I am obviously eager to begin."

Grinning, Aarkon lightly nods to Tarien, and awaits his instructions.

(OOC: Another pure speech post. O_o If I messed up anywhere, tell me, I'm listening to music so I might have absent-mindedly written something from the song without noticing.. Its happened before in school while writting texts and thinking about things at the same time, so it could always happen again.... Either way, like IC, I'm eager to begin my training. Well, see ya around, man. Don't forget to log in to TW in W5. :P)

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

Tarien smiled. "Very well. As I said, you will probably want your own equipment eventually. For now, though, the Guard has its own stores that you may use with which to practice. Come."

The more experienced Guard beckoned to Aarkon and led him to a small shet with several locked cabinets and drawers. He gave the trainee a speculative look, sizing him up very frankly, and then unlocked one of the cabinets and removed three different unstrung bows. Each one was slightly different in thickness and length.

"Now," said Tarien in a businesslike manner. "It's really a fairly good thing that you've never used a bow before. You won't have any bad habits that I have to break, and I can teach you how to do things right from the beginning. Now, the first thing you will need to know about archery is how to string your bow. You will not always be keeping it strung, because it is bad for the wood that the bow is made of, and it is bad for the string. I will be getting into more detail about the reasons for this later. You see, just as a swordsman must know his sword intimately, just as a thief must be best friends with his lockpicks, and just as a master sculptor must be one with his tools, in order to excel, the archer must know everything there is to know about his bow. You don't need to be able to make one, but you will need to know how it is made. You will need to learn to discern quality bows from merely mediocre ones, and most importantly of all you will need to learn how arrows are made. Unlike bows, you may even have to make some yourself, eventually. You must learn to tell when an arrow is straight and true, and learn to detect the tiny flaws and warpings that can change the course of its flight."

"For now, though, none of this is important to you. All you need to know right now is what I am about to tell you." The older Elf unlocked and opened one of the drawers and another cabinet, first pulling several dozen arrows out of the cabinet and then sorting through what appeared to be dozens of bowstrings before selecting four. One of them he kept, while matching the other three to the bows he had gotten out earlier.

"Now, watch carefully. To string your bow is fairly simple. Here, try this one." Tarien tossed Aarkon the middle of the three bows and handed him the bowstring. "First, look at your bow. You will notice that down near the bottom, there is a small indentation in part of the bow, creating a sort of hook. Find the more knotted end of your bowstring, slip that loop around the hook, and then tighten the knot." As he spoke, Tarien demonstrated the process. "Next comes the hard part. If you look at the top part of your bow, you will see that there is a similar hook and indentation. To string your bow properly, you have to slip the smaller loop on the other end of your bowstring around that second hook. But as you will see if you try to do it now, the string is not long enough. You will have to bend the bow to slip the string onto that hook."

"The easiest way to do this is to brace the bottom of the bow with your foot on the ground, and push down on the top part of the bow until it is bent enough to get the string onto it. Watch me." Again, the Second Longbow demonstrated the process. "Do not worry if you have trouble bending the bow. It is supposed to be hard to bend, because that means the bow is pushing hard to straighten itself. It is that pressure which creates tension on your bowstring, and if your string is not tight enough, your arrows will not fly very far at all. The bow I tossed you is the hardest to string of the three that I took out, so do not worry if it is a little too difficult for you to string. You will grow stronger with time, and eventually you will be able to string bows that you could barely bend at all as you are now."

"Go ahead and try stringing your bow now."

[Aarkon]

Aarkon stood and listened as Tarien explained the different aspects of a bow and hadling a bow, and, after looking at Aarkon for a few seconds, removed 3 similar looking bows from a storage shed and threw one to Aarkon. Listening as Tarien continued to explain, Aarkon paid careful attention to his words and painted a mental image of himself stringing the bow.

" ..Looks easy.."

Never had he been so mistaken before. After slipping the loop of the more knotted side of the string over the hook and tightening it, he listened closely then attempted to do what looked and seemed to be very easy. Bracing the bottom of the bow on the ground with his foot, he pushed and pulled at the top of the bow, attempting to bend it enough to slip the other loop onto the hooked indentation, with no success.

Beginning to get irritated, he used all of his strength to bend the bow and attatch the loop onto the hook, and after multiple attempts, was finally able to attatch the loop onto the highly evasive hook.

Smiling and laughing, Aarkon held up the strung bow for all to see, and, remembering only Tarien was present, lowered his gaze from the sky and trees to Tarien and proceeded to hand him the painfully strung bow.

" So, how did I do?"

Grinning once more, he wondered what he would learn next, and if it would be just as difficult as stringing the bow itself. Now understanding how this elf had such powerful arms, Aarkon placed his newfound trust and respect in Tarien, and calmly and quietly awaited his instructions.

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

OOC: Well, first of all, you've just done something that we call bunnying. What this means is that you automatically assumed that your efforts were successful and that Aarkon managed to string the bow. There is more explanation to this, but so as not to take up space, I'm sending it to you in a PM


Tarien watched critically as Aarkon strung the bow after several failed attempts. "Not easy, is it?" he said. "Don't worry, lad, you'll build up your strength soon enough. As for how you did, I'd say you did just fine." A slightly evil grin appeared on the older Guard's face. "Now do it again," he said, tossing Aarkon the next bow and its string. "Remember. The thicker, more knotted end of the string goes on the bottom. Brace the bow with your foot, press down and hook the loose end over the top hook."

"You'll find this bow a bit easier, perhaps. It's a little bit less rigid and about two inches shorter, so you should have a bit easier time with it. Once you finish that, string the last one, and then I can tell you a little more about the archer's art and show you what comes next."

[Aarkon]

OOC: Oh, erm, right, lol, sorry about that, I didn't know. =

Tarien watched critically as Aarkon strung the bow after several failed attempts. "Not easy, is it?" he said. "Don't worry, lad, you'll build up your strength soon enough. As for how you did, I'd say you did just fine." A slightly evil grin appeared on the older Guard's face. "Now do it again," he said, tossing Aarkon the next bow and its string. "Remember. The thicker, more knotted end of the string goes on the bottom. Brace the bow with your foot, press down and hook the loose end over the top hook."

"You'll find this bow a bit easier, perhaps. It's a little bit less rigid and about two inches shorter, so you should have a bit easier time with it. Once you finish that, string the last one, and then I can tell you a little more about the archer's art and show you what comes next."

(OOC: above copied from previous post)

Aarkon grasped the new bow and string in his hands and, after listening to Tarien speak, he laid the bow down on the ground and proceeded to search for the string's thicker end. Picking the bow up, he braced it with his foot, grasped the string in his other hand, and tried to hook the string onto the bottom hook.

Next, he attempted to push the bow down enough to hook the other end of the string onto the top hook. Wiping the sweat off of his brow, caused by all of his struggling with the bow and string, he glanced at Tarien, hoping to see what he thought of his actions, registered on his face in either a smile, a sneer, or a stoic expression.

(OOC: Like that? I changed my writing style around to fit your description on what I can and can't do in these situations... Hope I didn't do any "bunnying" again. = )

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

OOC: Much better, and bunny free! But again, no worries, it was very minor...


Despite Tarien's promise that this second bow would be easier to thread, Aarkon had almost as much trouble with it has he had gone through with the first one. Easier it might have been, but for Aarkon the two bows seemed equally impossible to bend to his will. Perhaps it was simply because he had expended so much effort on the first one that the second bow was just as difficult relative to his more tired muscles. He did eventually get the loop around its hook, however, and as he looked up, he saw a mostly blank expression on the other elf's face.

Mostly, Tarien was obviously watching his student, and it would have been a safe bet based on Tarien's expression that he had no strong feelings in any direction about his pupil. However, Aarkon thought he could see hints of approval on the older elf's face. "Well done," Tarien said softly, smiling and reinforcing this positive impression. But then he went and ruined it by tossing Aarkon the final bow with a mischeivous grin. "Do it again."

[Aarkon]

Despite Tarien's promise that this second bow would be easier to thread, Aarkon had almost as much trouble with it has he had gone through with the first one. Easier it might have been, but for Aarkon the two bows seemed equally impossible to bend to his will. Perhaps it was simply because he had expended so much effort on the first one that the second bow was just as difficult relative to his more tired muscles. He did eventually get the loop around its hook, however, and as he looked up, he saw a mostly blank expression on the other elf's face.

Mostly, Tarien was obviously watching his student, and it would have been a safe bet based on Tarien's expression that he had no strong feelings in any direction about his pupil. However, Aarkon thought he could see hints of approval on the older elf's face. "Well done," Tarien said softly, smiling and reinforcing this positive impression. But then he went and ruined it by tossing Aarkon the final bow with a mischeivous grin. "Do it again."

(OOC: From previous post ^^ || Wonder whats next )

Aarkon held what he hoped to be the final bow to be strung in his sweaty hands and looked at it carefully. He thought that he could sort of tell that this bow was slightly shorter than the last, and the one before that. Reminding himself of the task at hand, he proceeded to search out the string's thicker end, and put the bow into position to be strung. Imidiately he began to string the bow, first by attempting to put the the bottom hook through the string's loop, and then by attempting to push the bow down enough so that with his other hand he could put the string's loop on the top hook. Curiously wondering what his next task would be, he gazed at his surroundings, seeing if Tarien had snuck in any equipment while he was busy pushing and pulling at the bow and string.

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

No more equipment had miraculously appeared, but Tarien did look upon the fruit of Aarkon's efforts -- a neatly stringed bow -- with a certain sense of approval.

"Well done," the older Guard said. "Now, I'm going to lead you through shooting. First, though, I'm going to explain a little bit more about exactly why bows are so infernally hard to string. You see, as I told you already, the harder the wood of the bow is to bend, the greater the tension is on the bowstring. And when the tension on the string is higher, you can shoot farther, faster and harder."

"The drawback of this is that as strong as a bow is, you have to be stronger. In order to get the bow to do what it is meant to do, you need to be able to draw it properly. This means pulling the string back all the way to your ear. The greater the strength of the bow and the more tension on the bowstring, the harder it is to draw the bow properly."

"Before we get too complicated, let's take it tiny steps at a time. Take the middle of the three bows you strung, and hold the bow itself in your dominant hand. Hook your index and middle fingers around the bowstring, lift your arms so that the hand holding the bow is directly in front of your face, tilt your head slightly away from your dominant hand, and pull the string as far back as you can, ideally nearly to your ear. Like this." Demonstrarting his words, the older elf raised his bow, pulled beck the string, and sighted along an imaginary arrow. "Now you try."

[Aarkon]

Following Tarien's instructions, Aarkon grabbed the middle bow and held it in his dominant hand (ooc: Lefty ooc-x2: In RL too) and hooked his fingers around the bowstring, lifted his arms to what he thought was the correct position, tilted his head slightly, and attempted to pull the string out towards his ear. Wondering how he did, he looked at Tarien's face and contemplated wether he was expressing approval, sadness at failure, or simply a stoic expression.

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

OOC: First, apologies for taking so long... Karo has been a busy boy IRL...

As Aarkon struggled with the string, he realized that Tarien had indeed not been exaggerating. Drawing the bow was even harder that stringing it had been, and Aarkon only managed to get it about two-thirds of the way to his ear before his hands started trembling with the strain. Looking on, Tarien nodded, strangely enough, in approval. "Good, that bow will be about the right draw for you after some practice. For now, though, we'll use a different one so you can pull it all the way back to your ear."

Abruptly, the older guard frowned. "You know what though," he said pensively, "I think I made a mistake. I told you to use your index and middle fingers, right? Well, I lied. You should use your middle and ring fingers to draw the bow instead. Here, put that bow down and try it with this lighter bow, using the right fingers instead of the ones I told you at first."

[Aarkon]

OOC: Its Okay =)

As Aarkon struggled with the string, he realized that Tarien had indeed not been exaggerating. Drawing the bow was even harder that stringing it had been, and Aarkon only managed to get it about two-thirds of the way to his ear before his hands started trembling with the strain. Looking on, Tarien nodded, strangely enough, in approval. "Good, that bow will be about the right draw for you after some practice. For now, though, we'll use a different one so you can pull it all the way back to your ear."

Abruptly, the older guard frowned. "You know what though," he said pensively, "I think I made a mistake. I told you to use your index and middle fingers, right? Well, I lied. You should use your middle and ring fingers to draw the bow instead. Here, put that bow down and try it with this lighter bow, using the right fingers instead of the ones I told you at first."

(OOC: ^ copied from prev. message)

Doing as Tarien said, he picked up the lighter bow, put it into position, and tried twice to pull the string all the way back to his ears, but with one difference. The first time, he did it the old way, and the second time he used his middle and ring finger to pull it back, attempting to figure out if there is any difference, and what that is.
Looking to Tarien, attempting to observe any expression as usual, Aarkon wondered how long it would take for him to train enough to be considered skilled with a bow, and also be able to truly wield and fight and, hopefully, kill an enemy with it.

[Karo Sa'Nepenthes]

Tarien frowned in puzzlement as Aarkon drew the bow first with the incorrect fingers and then with the right ones, until he realized that his pupil was probably trying to discern if there was any difference or not. To save him the trouble, the older guard began to explain.

"You see, your index finger is generally your strongest finger by far. If you use it in conjunction with your weaker middle finger, your index finger will overpower your middle finger, and the bow will not draw evenly. The same problem would occur if you used your ring finger and your smallest finger to draw the bow, but nobody ever mentions that because using those fingers is so unnatural and counter-intuitive I don't believe anyone would actually try it."

"Your middle finger and ring finger, however, are more or less equal in strength, so when you put the arrow between them, the string is drawn equally tight both above and below it. This is important, because otherwise the arrow would fly high or low, instead of straight."

Aarkon could see that Tarien's face wore a satisfied expression, both at his innate curiosity and because he had been able to successfully draw the bow back to his ear. "Well done, Aarkon," he said. "As a reward, you get to try it with the real thing. Let the string go slack, and then try it again with this." He flicked his wrist, tossing a single arrow end over end to bury itself into the sand near Aarkon's feet.

[Aarkon]

Aarkon squatted and grabbed the arrow, quickly inspected it, and then held it in his left hand.

Following Tarien's instructions, Aarkon hooked his middle and ring finger around the bowstring, lifted his arms to what he judged to be the correct position, tilted his head slightly, and pulled the bowstring out towards his ear. This time, with an arrow in place, he slowly turned himself until he was pointing at a tree.
Attempting to aim at the tree, he let go of the bowstring and watched the arrow launch itself from the bow with the force of the bowstring he had pulled back near his ear, hoping that it would at least land somewhere near the tree..