• Solo • [Starter Quest] Hard Knock Life

[Rei'sari]

7th Cylus, 719

A longbow is a self bow with limbs that are rounded when looked at in cross section. It is about the same height as the archer in order to allow a full draw. This means that it is usually over five feet tall. The longbow is designed to fire at long distance, unlike the shortbow, which is designed to be used for short distances or on horseback.

Ever since Ari'sora had taken up the shortbow as her chosen weapon, she had been interested in learning about other types of bows as well, and what the differences were between them. And since she had a little time to kill before her fighting lesson, now seemed like a good time to do a little research on the subject. But her reading gave her more questions that answers, and she quickly found herself flipping through the pages to see if she could figure out what a self bow was. When she thought she found a promising looking chapter, she began to read once more.

A self bow is a bow made from one piece of wood.

Well, that answered that question easily enough. Ari'sora jotted some notes down about everything she had just read. Then she hesitated, trying to decide if she had time to read some more.

I thought I'd find you here. What are you reading? Shadow asked with an amused purr.

"Nothing you'd find interesting, Shadow. I was trying to learn a little bit about the other types of bows since I chose to take up the shortbow as my weapon. Sometimes learning about the other varieties of something can teach you about the thing itself. If nothing else, learning about the differences in the various types of bows will tell me more about what the shortbow can and can't do."

Shadow nodded.

I know that you have a fighting lesson in a little while, but do you want to share some stories when you get back?

Ari'sora beamed at her best friend.

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed happily.

"Talking to your cat again?" an irritated voice asked.

"And what if I am?" Ari'sora asked impishly.

She knew that she could talk to Shadow telepathically. And she did sometimes; whenever they were outside together, or if she wanted to share a secret with her friend. But she knew how much "talking to her cat" annoyed Mi'zuri, so she often spoke out loud to her while in the house if her sister was home. It was her own form of retaliation for all of the pranks that Mi'zuri pulled on her. The pranks annoyed her, and her sister knew it. Talking to Shadow annoyed Mi'zuri, and she knew it. Turnabout was fair play. And annoyance for annoyance was a better revenge than escalating matters by pranking her sister back. That would only result in a prank war that she could never win.

Mi'zuri glared at her.

"You...oh, never mind. Do what you want." Mi'zuri grumbled as she walked away.

Ari'sora grinned at Shadow, who gave her another amused purr in return.

"Well, I'd better get going, or I'll be late. Wish me luck, Shadow!"

Good luck, Ari.

[Rei'sari]

7th Cylus, 719

When she got to class, Simone was just finishing up with another student. Ari'sora waited patiently for her to finish, approaching only when Simone called her over.

"Get started on some stretches while I get this cleaned up. You should know that I won't work with someone who hasn't stretched properly first by now."

Ari'sora nodded in acceptance, and got to work on a series of stretches that the older woman had given her. "This" was a series of targets that the boy she'd seen with Simone when she arrived must have been working with. The older woman worked quickly, and by the time Ari'sora had finished her final set of stretches, Simone was ready to begin her lesson.

"Why do you want to learn how to fight?"

Ari'sora stared at the older woman for several trills. It was such a simple question, and yet...it wasn't. But it was a question that required an answer. Ari'sora was pretty certain that this lesson would end immediately if she didn't give Simone an answer that she approved of. So she gathered her thoughts carefully before speaking.

"The easy thing to say would be that when I arrived in Beacon, the people who got me set up there told me that they encourage people who live there to learn how to defend themselves. And that is part of the reason...but only a small part. Two trials ago, I saw a man kill a child using magic just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time from what I could see."

Ari'sora saw the look in Simone's eyes, and she continued quickly.

"The Elements know about what happened, and it is being dealt with. But seeing that...it really left an impact on me. There are bad people out there. People who will hurt or kill others just because it suits them to do so. I don't want to be that helpless little girl anymore. If someone tries to hurt me, or someone I care about, I want to be able to stop it. Even more than that, I want to be able to control my own life. Until last Ymiden, I was a slave in all ways that matter. There was no physical mark, no paperwork making everything legal, but...Ren'zar owned me as surely as he owned my mother. And she was legally his slave while she was alive. She died arcs before slavery became illegal here in Scalvoris."

Ari'sora paused, struggling to control her voice.

"Ren'zar dictated my every move. I wasn't allowed to go to school the way my sister did. Instead, I cleaned the house, and yard. My entire world was that house and yard. If I obeyed him, and pleased him enough, he would allow me to read for a while, and through that, I learned things. But I only read when he permitted it. I ate when...and if he said I could. I slept when he told me to. Failure to obey was punished quickly, and harshly. So for all intents and purposes, he owned me. And I will not be owned again. I want to be the one who makes decisions about who I am, and what I do with my life. Even now, three full seasons later, I am still trying to find out who I am. But I will fight for the right to learn who I am. That is why I want to learn how to fight. So I can defend myself and the ones I care about from those who would try to harm us, or take our freedom away." she said fiercely.

After a long trill, Simone nodded. If she had been affected by Ari'sora's story, she didn't show it.

"All good reasons. So why did you wait this long to start?"

Ari'sora felt a wave of frustration rise up in her, making her want to scream. But she forced it back. She wouldn't impress Simone if she lost her temper, and she knew it.

"You know why. Until the thirtieth of last Zi'da, I was pregnant. You yourself told me it was too dangerous to my unborn child to learn how to fight until after she was born. But she has been born now, and I'm fully recovered from the birth. So now I'm ready to learn."

[Rei'sari]

7th Cylus, 719

Simone chuckled.

"So I did. Good to know that you listen when I speak. That's a good quality for a student to have. So. What do you want to learn first?"

Ari'sora grinned. Simone had been testing her, and she passed.

"Well, I've learned a little about the short bow already. You taught me a few things, and I've done some reading on my own. It's no replacement for actually using the bow, and working with it, I know that. But it's a start at least. And as I read about the bow, it occurred to me that it was all well and good to learn how to use a weapon. But what happens if it breaks, or someone takes it away from me? If I go back and forth between learning how to use the short bow, and how to fight without a weapon, then I will be able to defend myself and the people I care about whether I have a weapon or not. So that's what I want to start with totrial."

Simone nodded.

"Fair enough. If I'm going to teach you how to brawl, the first thing you need to know is the proper stance. Here, let me show you."

The older woman changed position, and Ari'sora could see the difference. With her feet placed the way they were, it would be harder for someone to disrupt her balance, and knock her over. Ari'sora knew that much from all of the times her sister would try to knock her over when she was frustrated with something. Learning how to balance with her wings had taught her a lot, too.

"Now you try it."

Ari'sora obeyed, shifting her stance into one that mimicked Simone's as best she could. There were some adjustments made to the way she placed her feet at Simone's suggestion, but that was because she had wings, and needed to take them into consideration when anything regarding balance was concerned.

"Hmm. It'll do as a first attempt, I guess. But you need to learn how to fall into that stance naturally at a trill's notice. You're also too tense. I know that it seems natural to want to brace against an attack, and there is some benefit in that. But in the basic stance, you want to be relaxed enough that you can move instantly to react to anything that might happen. If you're too tense, you will get in your own way when you have to react differently than whatever you were bracing yourself for. At the same time, you don't want to be too relaxed, either. It's a difficult balance to find, and harder to maintain once you do find it until you get used to it."

Ari'sora nodded, taking in the older woman's words. She tried to make the corrections that Simone had mentioned, but it was a lot more difficult than she thought it would be. Simone chuckled.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually. Learning how to fight, or really, learning any physical ability is different than learning something out of a book. With book learning, you can just keep reading it over and over until you memorize what you want to learn, right?"

Ari'sora nodded again.

"With learning something physical, it's the same thing in the sense that you have to keep practicing what you are trying to learn. But for some people, it can be a lot harder to remember the way your body feels when you take a particular stance, or make a certain movement properly, and train your body to do it naturally, and instinctively. For now, though, I'll give you something else to work on."

Simone took Ari'sora's hand, and gently curled her fingers until she formed a fist. After a moment, she frowned, and shook her head.

"Not like that. Here, let me show you how to make a proper fist."

She demonstrated it, and Ari'sora could see the difference instantly. She tried to mimic what Simone was showing her.

"When you punch someone, you need to make sure that your thumb is on the outside of your fist. The right spot for it is between your first and second knuckles of your index and middle fingers. Many people make the mistake of having their thumb on the inside of their fist when throwing a punch, and its a good way to break your thumb if you hit a hard target."

Ari'sora practiced making a fist for a while, then Simone went on to show her how to actually throw a punch. It involved more than Ari'sora had thought it would since balance and a proper fighting stance were an essential part of it. If she was already off balance to begin with, then the forward momentum of throwing a punch would likely cause her to stumble or fall. Simone demonstrated the movement several times, then had Ari'sora try it. It took her several attempts, and required a lot of corrections from Simone before she managed to get it right. And when she did, Simone immediately had her repeat it several times until she began to remember the way it felt to move in the correct way.

"I think that's enough for one lesson, Ari'sora. If I try to give you too much information now, it will only confuse you. Why don't you go and practice what I've taught you so far, and I'll see you again in a few trials?"

Ari'sora nodded in agreement. She didn't think she had done all that much work, but her body was really starting to feel it. Were she to keep going, she would no doubt be too sore to move in the morning, and she had promised the kids at Luna's Dream that she would play a game with them.

Once Simone had dismissed her for the trial, they both left the clearing. Ari'sora went over what she had just learned in her mind as she walked. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she had no warning before a stunning blow sent her reeling into the darkness.

[Qit'ria]

[anchor=OptionFour][/anchor]

Thread Review

Word Count: 2,375
Total Post Count: 3
Word and Post Count for Ari'sora: 2,375 / 3
Word and Post Count for Player 2: N/A
Review Request Link: viewtopic.php?f=242&t=17435&p=130995#p130986

It's so nice to see Ari'sora pulling herself up by her bootstraps and improving. This was a nice insight to her character and a good training thread.

Ari'sora

• Skill Points - 10
• Renown - 0
• Skill Knowledges
  Ranged Combat; Shortbow: a self bow is a bow made from one piece of wood
  Ranged Combat; Longbow: is a self bow with limbs rounded in cross-section, and is about the same height as the archer so as to allow a full draw, usually over 5'
  Ranged Combat; Longbow: is designed to fire at long distance
  Unarmed Combat; Brawling: proper stance
  Unarmed Combat; Brawling: how to throw a punch
  Unarmed Combat; Brawling: when punching someone, your thumb needs to be on the outside of your fist, between your first and second knuckles on your index and middle finger; if your thumb is on the inside when you hit a hard target, you will break your thumb
• Non-Skill Knowledges
• Items and Other Rewards

Player 2

• Skill Points -
• Renown -
• Skill Knowledges
• Non-Skill Knowledges
• Items and Other Rewards

Final Notes

If you have any questions, please PM me.

Code: Select all

      [center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12064[/img][/center]