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Post by ivory on Jun 5, 2009 18:34:39 GMT -5
"At least that's something," she mumbled under her breath before turning back to face the stupid tree. She scowled at it before heading over to grab the knives. She threw them immediately after each other, determined to hit the blasted middle. With every miss, an oath passed her lips.
Her arm tired after a while, but she just switched to her left hand. She would hit that bloody red circle if it killed her. She'd show him bloody well that she could do anything he threw at her. She'd - she made it!
She smiled in glee and she turned to face him, looking for approval in his eyes. She was too proud of herself to even make a sarcastic remark, a miracle if there ever was one.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 5, 2009 21:03:20 GMT -5
Monkuta, hearing the absence of sound as she stopped throwing knives, looked up. He saw the gleeful expression on her face and smiled back. "Not bad, Marina. Not bad at all. I think that's enough for today."
He looked back down at the bird, plucking the last of the feathers from its body. Then he stood, placing the bird on the stump and walking over to her. He looked down at her, smiling. "Maybe you have some potential after all."
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 9:59:53 GMT -5
"Of course I have potential," she snapped back. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I'm useless. Ask Jordain. Actually, the coward probably won't tell you the truth." Her words ended in a scowl with her hands planted firmly on her hips. "I bet I could even beat you with a bow," she bragged after giving him a once-over. He didn't look like much to her, but she figured he could probably beat her in a swordfight. Her skills in that area were basic since she'd given it up once she figured out that guys could just use brute strength to overpower her and win. She wasn't weak, she just wasn't strong enough.
But put a bow in her hand and she could send it flying thirty yards and straight into the target. None of the boys in the town she lived in dared to go up against her in that area though the cowards sought otherways to cheat her of her pride.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 10:09:50 GMT -5
Monkuta laughed and then heard Jaeado whinnying from across the clearing, which made him laugh even louder. Sometimes that beast was too smart for his own good. Not that Monkuta minded, but it had blown his cover on a mission more than once.
"Tomorrow, perhaps, my apprentice. Tonight, you've got some work to do, after which I think you'll want to go straight to sleep."
The smile left his face and he quickly stepped aside, pointing behind him to the cabin which he was confident Marina had defiled in some way.
"You can't leave until everything in that cabin is the way it was when you arrived," he said, starting to walk towards Jaeado. Then he turned back and said, "Oh, and if you ever do it again, I'll flay your ass. Now get moving."
Then he turned, his back to Marina as he headed for Jaeado, pulling a few apples from the trees as he went.
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 10:20:06 GMT -5
Her fists had clenched as he laughed at her. Even the damn horse had laughed at her! She'd show them! But of course, she told herself, the only reason he was putting it off for tomorrow was to cover up his bad shot. She'd bet he was so bad he wouldn't even stick to his offer, but keep putting it off for another day. More confident in her skills than ever, she started to tell him so when he pointed to the cabin.
"You can't leave until everything in that cabin is the way it was when you arrived."
Her mouth dropped open in protest as he headed over to his horse. "But that's, that's impossible!" How in the bloody underworld was she supposed to turn mud back into dirt?
"Oh, and if you ever do it again, I'll flay your ass. Now get moving."
She glared at him as he left, waited a full five seconds and then headed inside. She kept clear from his room though, knowing she couldn't do anything anyways, and bedded down in the kitchen.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 10:30:36 GMT -5
Monkuta opened his eyes, squinting at the sudden light exposure. Yawning loudly, he sat up and looked around. He'd slept outside last night in the grass. It's not like he wasn't used to it and, though he often found it hard to relax, this was home. He couldn't help but be happy in this little clearing that he had all to himself.
He stood up, scratching his head and stretching his limbs. He wondered if Marina had actually done any cleaning up last night. She wasn't here now, so whatever she did, she must have finished. A small part of him actually hoped that she had messed up his cabin somehow, though he couldn't place why. He turned around and say Jaeado standing nearby, attempting to bite at some of the lower branches of the apple trees.
"Good morning, buddy. Let me get that for you. It's been awhile since we've treated ourselves," he said, proceeding to walk over to the pony and pull down and entire branch with a dozen or so apples hanging from it. Jaeado whinnied in delight.
Monkuta walked into the cabin, retrieving his own bow and one smaller one that would suffice as Marina's for the day. He'd been told how good she was with a bow. He'd also been told how cocky it made her. The thought made him smirk. Today would be interesting.
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 10:51:10 GMT -5
Marina scowled at the floor as she stretched her stiff muscles. She wasn't used to sleeping on a hard surface, having had a soft bed to fall into every night. She'd missed that as she'd tossed and turned last night, trying to find a comfortable position - an impossibilty if there ever was one.
Then she remembered it was morning and a wicked sneer stretched her lips. Today she'd make, she paused realizing that she still didn't know his name, whoever-he-was choke on his laughter. Stiff muscles forgotten, she scrambled to her feet and headed for the door. She thought for a second to check on his room, but shrugged it off just as quick and stepped outside. She saw him with his horse beneath an apple tree and stormed over there, barely being able to conceal her grin at the thought of humilating him with her shot.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 11:05:38 GMT -5
Monkuta, having strung both bows and retrieved two quivers of arrows from their places hanging on the wall, emerged back into the daylight and saw Marina waiting for him near Jaeado. He smiled as he neared her, tossing her the bow and quiver that he'd selected for her.
"Good morning, princess. Sleep well?"
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 12:38:08 GMT -5
Marina glared at him before snatching for the bow and then the bag of arrows. Her scowl turned to wonder as her eyes sucked in the beauty of the bow. Carved by a master's hand, the wood was smooth and a rich brown. The arch was perfectably shaped before tipping off into two 's's' at the ends.
She slung the bag over her shoulder as she took the bow in both hands, trailing a finger down its length before grabbing an arrow and quickly nocking it. If he said anything, she was too lost in her world to hear. She pulled the string back, slightly suprised at the ease of which it came, as if it belonged to her.
Her lips twitched in a faint smile as she aimed for the middle of the target, going a little above it, and released. She followed the blur of the arrow with her eyes, eyes filled with the thrill that was always present when she shot, and grinned in satisfaction when it hit where she wanted it. She lowered her bow, the grin still in place. It wasn't smug as it had been earlier, just satisfied and half-awed. She loved the bow, loved the feel of it in her hands, the pull of it, the strength, the knowing that she had shot it.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 12:47:34 GMT -5
Monkuta raised his brow at the shot, then slowly turned his head to Marina. "Impressive," he began. "You're certainly better than I was when I started, but then, I mostly joined the Corps so I would have an excuse for climbing trees whenever I felt like it."
He walked calmly over to the same stump where he had left the bird sitting the night before, leaning his bow and quiver against the stump and picking up the bird. He frowned. It had gone bad over night. "What a pity," he half shouted to Marina. "I guess I overestimated it's keep. No matter. Bread for breakfast then."
He jogged to the cabin and went inside, shouting out the window, "Keep shooting!"
Leaning down into the cabinet, he pulled out a loaf of bread, ripping it in half. Then he returned to the clearing to watch Marina.
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 12:56:25 GMT -5
"You're certainly better than I was when I started, but then, I mostly joined the Corps so I would have an excuse for climbing trees whenever I felt like it."
Her brows pulled together at his words in concentration at the beginning of an idea. Shooting from trees. She hadn't tried that yet. Maybe if she...
"Hey!" she protested as she watched him jog back to the cabin. "It's your turn to shoot you coward!"
She scowled as he answered through the window, ordering her to keep shooting.
"Once was enough," she muttered beneath her breath as she turned back to face the target. "I hit the bull's eye didn't I?" She wasn't really complaining though, or she would've screamed it at him. She loved shooting and didn't care if she was stuck here all day doing it.
She'd gotten off two more shots when he came back outside and she remembered her hunger. Her pride refused to let her ask for a piece of bread though and she nocked another arrow and released. It hit close to the others and she felt that moment of excited pride.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 13:05:41 GMT -5
Monkuta placed the two halves of bread on the stump and shouted, "Alright. Come eat! You want me to shoot? Very well."
Maybe this would shut her up long enough to actually learn something. He shouldered the quiver, lifting his own bow; one he'd made himself not too long ago. He walked to a point in the clearing where he was as far away from the target as possible without leaving the space.
He turned to Marina. "Ready?"
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 13:09:37 GMT -5
She snorted as she crossed her arms, doubt full on her face. He was too far from the clearing to even get enough power behind the arrow. There was no way he'd be able to even get close to the target, probably shoot short.
She didn't say anything though, believing that having mud on his face would be good for him. She didn't think he was employed by Jordain anymore, but still. He was a guy and as a 'rule' they thought girls lesser than them. She hated it. She could do anything a guy could do, given the chance.
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Post by JezusBagels on Jun 6, 2009 13:13:54 GMT -5
In one quick, fluid movement, Monkuta knocked, aimed and let loose an arrow, sending it soaring into the target, less than an inch from the center. He spit on the ground and swore quietly.
"I always forget to account for the wind. Not that it made much of a difference today. How far would you say this is? Forty yards? You'll probably never get that good, but you should see that it's possible."
He smirked. He knew that she would be able to do it. Hell, she'd probably surpass him by the time she was his age, but it never did any good to tell an apprentice how good they were. He knew that much.
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Post by ivory on Jun 6, 2009 13:22:30 GMT -5
Marina was hardly aware that her jaw dropped as the arrow thudded home. She ignored the fact that he was a little off target, he'd actually been able to HIT it! Awe in her eyes, she turned to him.
"How-how'd you do that? I've been practicing for years and I've never been able to get past thirty yards." She'd added one or two lengths to that, but didn't care to tell him so. It wasn't as if she was lying, she couldn't get past thirty; she also couldn't get past twenty-eight.
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