[Since Nott never buys anything, it turns out she has plenty of silver to quickly grab herself a simply made bow and a few arrows. She doesn't need many; since they're only practicing, they can just retrieve anything they fire.
Her halfling disguise that she used to buy the equipment (a real one, not just her porcelain mask) is still in place by the time the fifteen minutes is up. She's learned she doesn't necessarily need to hide herself here, but she really can't help the natural urge to keep herself hidden, giving false names and wearing illusory disguises whenever she interacts with the world.
A short halfling woman with dark olive skin and stringy black hair—who doesn't look much different than Nott in her goblin form, actually—arrives at the edge of the forest.]
[ she really doesn't look all that much different, but that's probably also because she's got a way about her that's uniquely hers, in gesture and stance alone. he's waiting for her to arrive by the edges of the undergrowth, hands resting loosely in the pockets of his trousers, a dark, long jacket balled up haphazardly and set off to the side. the damage from last month is mostly healed over, leaving just a few scabbed over cuts along his knuckles, visible still.
at the sound of steps, he turns a little and gives her a nod. ]
Hey there. [ a little squint, though ] Interesting look.
[The halfling woman adopts a casual stance, her arms behind her head.]
It'll only last another 45 minutes. I was being discreet.
[Unnecessarily so, maybe, but she prefers navigating business in a safer way after her attempts to buy things in the past have been thwarted by her suspicious appearance. Not here, but still.
[ juno's eyes go to the bow immediately, admiring it regardless of how it looks. it's basically a relic from his perspective, and one he's interested in figuring out how to use. he's always been one for a challenge, whether it's one of his own doing or not, and something that deals in aim? why not. ]
Yeah, let's give it a shot. Show me how it's done.
[The bow itself is simple in design, sturdy plain wood but solid in design. It's a bit big for Nott, who generally requires the child size, but she was aiming for Juno's size, not her own.
She stands perpendicular from a tree on the edge of the wood, demonstrating as she describes her stance.]
Back straight, feet planted firmly on the ground, solid stance. Attach the nock of the arrow—that's the back bit—to the center of the bowstring. See how there's a groove back here in the arrow?
[She then points the bow and arrow at the trunk of the tree.]
Nock your arrow before pointing it up or you might misfire really unfortunately if you fumble. Don't shoot me.
Draw the string with two fingers, one on each end of the nocked arrow. Don't overextend the arm holding the bow or the string will slash it open when you fire. Aim, and then relax your fingers—
[The arrow fires straight and punctures the tree trunk, lodging itself into the wood.]
—and then you've fired a bow.
[She holds out the bow and another arrow from a quiver at her back towards Juno, smirking proudly at him.]
[ juno watches the instruction with one hand resting on a hip, the theia observing each of nott's motions as closely as juno is himself. there's a grudging bit of himself that resents the precise measurements it takes as it observes her stance, wishing he could push it further to the side of his brain. he focuses on the sound that the bow makes in contrast to his laser. he knows that its near-silence is... going to be useful. if anything, the only downside is that there isn't exactly any stun setting on a bow (from what he's seen). where you strike, you strike with the pointy end.
guess it'll just take some time to get used to firing warning shots and making them count.
her arrow strikes true to the center of a nearby tree and he whistles low in appreciation. ]
Nice shot.
[ as she's holding out the bow to him, he reaches out and takes both weapon and arrow, seeming to weigh them both briefly in his hands. ]
So let's see... get a good position...
[ back straight, feet firm on the ground. he digs his heels in just a little bit, and overall the stance isn't too bad. juno is a sloucher by nature, however, so that could probably use a little fixing as he works on nocking the arrow to the center of the bowstring already. he's determined to keep the theia as much out of this learning experience as possible. ]
[ the hand guides him a little and he glances down, squaring his shoulders a bit more at the reminder. back straight, back straight, feet a little further apart. ]
Gotcha... Got it...
[ he glances over his shoulder a little bit, thumb pressing against the string as if to get a feel for the tension before continuing to set up for the shot, eventually bringing the bow up to try and align it with the tree nott had given a shot. the arrow sticks out of the bark still like a faintly quivering target. he draws it back, though his muscles pull towards him just enough. the theia tries to tattoo the stance he'd observed earlier, and juno feels it in how his heels shift a little and his chin lifts a little to get a good look at where he wants to shoot. ]
And...
[ he releases the arrow. it doesn't fly straight, doesn't make the center of the tree exactly, but it does strike into the bark with a thnk off to the side. ]
[Nott nods in approval, moving over to inspect the arrow before plucking it and its twin from the tree trunk.]
Try pulling back on the bowstring further, that keeps your arrow flying straight to where you're aiming. And you have to compensate for wind sometimes, too. Not like those guns you like.
[She walks the arrows back to Juno, holding them up for him to take.]
[ he looks at the arrows offered up to him and grins a little bit more. that is the great thing about this weapon, isn't it? you can collect your ammunition back instead of knowing it's frittered off into the atmosphere smelling like heat and electricity. ]
Thanks.
[ taking one of the arrows in hand he remembers the little nudge to his stance, recalls the way to nock the arrow in place, to lift it up and eye his target. out of the side of his mouth, he mutters: ]
Pull it back... a little more...
[ and let it fly.
this time it sticks harder than the first, sinks in slightly more and nearly where he wants it to be. there's a slightly more gleeful sound that exists his throat than the first. it's not perfect, but he sure likes what he sees already. the tension is something he's going to have to get used to, he can feel how much he's going to have to figure out the force he'll need to get the arrow where he wants, and nott's right - the wind is going to matter a lot more for an arrow than for a laser. he lowers his arms a little and glances back at nott. ]
[Nott claps excitedly for him when he does much better this time. He's pretty much a natural... which makes sense, since he seems to favor ranged weapons anyway. He'd already have to have a pretty good aim, wouldn't he?
Then he asks that question, and the grin fades quick.]
Um. No one important. I've been shooting bolts and arrows since I was a young one. We all had to learn to pick up a weapon, since... yeah.
[That's a goblin's whole deal, right? Pillaging and killing and kidnapping and all that needs to have arms if it's going to be effective.
So the clan sort of all taught her.]
I liked ranged weapons because it meant I was out of harm's way most of the time.
[ she's known how to do this sort of thing since she was young, which sounds pretty impressive to juno, though he doesn't actually know how old nott is... she looks like she could probably pass for someone still fairly young at a glance, but her mannerisms are that of someone more mature (goblining aside.)
he holds nocking another arrow, listening to her explanation with a nod. ]
There's not much else except for my blaster back where I'm from... and that usually still requires you being in the line of all the danger. But it's the only thing that really does the job. Though I guess a good plasma knife is enough for some too.
[Good luck getting a clear answer out of her on her age, because even she doesn't know what it is. The knowledge forever lost to time and birthdays not really being a thing for goblins. There's "kid" and "of age" and sometimes there's even "old" if anyone manages to live that long. Most die before then.
But yeah, comparatively to Juno, Nott's only been doing this for like. Six or seven years. But it was enough for her to get decent at it.]
Well, if everyone's got blasting laser pointers going "pchoo pchoo" at everyone, of course that makes everything way more dangerous. Mars is terrifying.
Thankfully, you don't have to worry about that here. It's pretty easy to grab the first crappy sword the blacksmith's got and start swinging it around at people, so more tend to go for that. Plus, a ranged weapon is difficult to handle at close range.
[Not for her, though. Because she's that good.
And then, as if suddenly remembering itself, Nott's disguise spell wears off, and suddenly a goblin is there as if she always was. She barely notices. She forgot it was up.]
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no subject
I'll show you
Meet you in 15?
no subject
15s good. meet you there.
no subject
Her halfling disguise that she used to buy the equipment (a real one, not just her porcelain mask) is still in place by the time the fifteen minutes is up. She's learned she doesn't necessarily need to hide herself here, but she really can't help the natural urge to keep herself hidden, giving false names and wearing illusory disguises whenever she interacts with the world.
A short halfling woman with dark olive skin and stringy black hair—who doesn't look much different than Nott in her goblin form, actually—arrives at the edge of the forest.]
no subject
at the sound of steps, he turns a little and gives her a nod. ]
Hey there. [ a little squint, though ] Interesting look.
no subject
It'll only last another 45 minutes. I was being discreet.
[Unnecessarily so, maybe, but she prefers navigating business in a safer way after her attempts to buy things in the past have been thwarted by her suspicious appearance. Not here, but still.
Nott holds up the bow towards Juno.]
Wanna shoot things?
no subject
Yeah, let's give it a shot. Show me how it's done.
no subject
She stands perpendicular from a tree on the edge of the wood, demonstrating as she describes her stance.]
Back straight, feet planted firmly on the ground, solid stance. Attach the nock of the arrow—that's the back bit—to the center of the bowstring. See how there's a groove back here in the arrow?
[She then points the bow and arrow at the trunk of the tree.]
Nock your arrow before pointing it up or you might misfire really unfortunately if you fumble. Don't shoot me.
Draw the string with two fingers, one on each end of the nocked arrow. Don't overextend the arm holding the bow or the string will slash it open when you fire. Aim, and then relax your fingers—
[The arrow fires straight and punctures the tree trunk, lodging itself into the wood.]
—and then you've fired a bow.
[She holds out the bow and another arrow from a quiver at her back towards Juno, smirking proudly at him.]
no subject
guess it'll just take some time to get used to firing warning shots and making them count.
her arrow strikes true to the center of a nearby tree and he whistles low in appreciation. ]
Nice shot.
[ as she's holding out the bow to him, he reaches out and takes both weapon and arrow, seeming to weigh them both briefly in his hands. ]
So let's see... get a good position...
[ back straight, feet firm on the ground. he digs his heels in just a little bit, and overall the stance isn't too bad. juno is a sloucher by nature, however, so that could probably use a little fixing as he works on nocking the arrow to the center of the bowstring already. he's determined to keep the theia as much out of this learning experience as possible. ]
no subject
Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart.
[After correcting him a bit, she backs off and watches him continue to set himself up to fire the arrow.]
And don't hold your breath unless you're really, really scared at the time.
no subject
Gotcha... Got it...
[ he glances over his shoulder a little bit, thumb pressing against the string as if to get a feel for the tension before continuing to set up for the shot, eventually bringing the bow up to try and align it with the tree nott had given a shot. the arrow sticks out of the bark still like a faintly quivering target. he draws it back, though his muscles pull towards him just enough. the theia tries to tattoo the stance he'd observed earlier, and juno feels it in how his heels shift a little and his chin lifts a little to get a good look at where he wants to shoot. ]
And...
[ he releases the arrow. it doesn't fly straight, doesn't make the center of the tree exactly, but it does strike into the bark with a thnk off to the side. ]
Hah!
no subject
[Nott nods in approval, moving over to inspect the arrow before plucking it and its twin from the tree trunk.]
Try pulling back on the bowstring further, that keeps your arrow flying straight to where you're aiming. And you have to compensate for wind sometimes, too. Not like those guns you like.
[She walks the arrows back to Juno, holding them up for him to take.]
Plus, you can reuse ammunition.
no subject
Thanks.
[ taking one of the arrows in hand he remembers the little nudge to his stance, recalls the way to nock the arrow in place, to lift it up and eye his target. out of the side of his mouth, he mutters: ]
Pull it back... a little more...
[ and let it fly.
this time it sticks harder than the first, sinks in slightly more and nearly where he wants it to be. there's a slightly more gleeful sound that exists his throat than the first. it's not perfect, but he sure likes what he sees already. the tension is something he's going to have to get used to, he can feel how much he's going to have to figure out the force he'll need to get the arrow where he wants, and nott's right - the wind is going to matter a lot more for an arrow than for a laser. he lowers his arms a little and glances back at nott. ]
Who taught you how to use one of these?
no subject
Then he asks that question, and the grin fades quick.]
Um. No one important. I've been shooting bolts and arrows since I was a young one. We all had to learn to pick up a weapon, since... yeah.
[That's a goblin's whole deal, right? Pillaging and killing and kidnapping and all that needs to have arms if it's going to be effective.
So the clan sort of all taught her.]
I liked ranged weapons because it meant I was out of harm's way most of the time.
no subject
he holds nocking another arrow, listening to her explanation with a nod. ]
There's not much else except for my blaster back where I'm from... and that usually still requires you being in the line of all the danger. But it's the only thing that really does the job. Though I guess a good plasma knife is enough for some too.
no subject
But yeah, comparatively to Juno, Nott's only been doing this for like. Six or seven years. But it was enough for her to get decent at it.]
Well, if everyone's got blasting laser pointers going "pchoo pchoo" at everyone, of course that makes everything way more dangerous. Mars is terrifying.
Thankfully, you don't have to worry about that here. It's pretty easy to grab the first crappy sword the blacksmith's got and start swinging it around at people, so more tend to go for that. Plus, a ranged weapon is difficult to handle at close range.
[Not for her, though. Because she's that good.
And then, as if suddenly remembering itself, Nott's disguise spell wears off, and suddenly a goblin is there as if she always was. She barely notices. She forgot it was up.]