A Thwacking Sound in Darniva Commons (Open)

[Jeslyn]

Timestamp: 1st of Fall, 511 AV Jeslyn woke up in the middle of the night with a fright and a cold sweat, finding herself in a very grumpy mood. She dreamt about the sordid events of her past, which never helps get her into the best of tempers. Since it has been too long since she truly practiced her archery, she decided it would be a good idea to do so now and blow off some steam, though she did not wish to go very far and wanted to get out of her stuffy room. Climbing out of her bed, she lazily walked over to a pile of blank parchments stacked atop her desk. Uncapping an ink bottle nearby and dipping a quickly acquired quill in the ink, she promptly began drawing large circles on a dozen pieces of parchment; drawing circles within circles so that she might know how accurate her aim will be. Running a finger along the surface of her late sister’s pendant (which she wears with a leather cord about her neck at all times, even when sleeping) she examines the drawings for acceptable quality. Deciding it was the best she could do, she re-capped the ink bottle and set the quill beside it on the desk. She picked up a single sheet and held the tip with her closed lips, before opening her nearby chest and withdrawing a large wooden shield and a small dagger. Next, she headed over to her recently purchased practice dummy. Lifting the shield across the dummy’s chest with one hand, she took the sheet from her lips and stabbed the dagger through both the sheet and the shield. Making certain that the dagger was pressed securely to the wood of the practice dummy’s chest, she began dressing in her bryda and vinati, finding them on the ground beside her bed where she last left them. Shuffling over to her pair of sandals and slipping them on, she returned to the practice dummy. With a grunt, she picked the dummy up and carried it awkwardly out of her home to one of the large circular corridors that connect all Darniva Commons apartments. Finding a good spot marginally away from any entrances or exits, she set the dummy down carefully so as not to unhinge the dagger holding up the shield. Finally, reentering her home, she picked out her short bow from the chest, strung it quickly, and slung it over a shoulder. Grabbing a handful of arrows in one hand while gathering the spare parchments of used drawings in another, she returned to her practice dummy. Stepping a goodly distance away from the dummy, she set down both the drawings and arrows at her feet, keeping just one arrow in her grasp. Standing fully upright once more, she finally begins working off her grumpy mood, realizing with a soft and nearly self-deprecating chuckle that her escapades already partly succeeded in accomplishing the task. Still, setting the arrow to her bow, she draws the string back and steadily aims at the dummy. Totally ignoring any strange looks she is given, she pulls the arrow back just a little more, before releasing the arrow to its target. The arrow whistles towards the shield, piercing through the air as it lands with an audible thwack. Peering into the distance, she realizes the arrow made its general mark, though only landed halfway between the center and the circumference of the drawn circle. Getting into the motions, the same thwacking sound can be heard for some time. However, as time draws on, her mind wanders towards her dream. The more she thought of her dream and her late sister, the less accurate and further frustrated she becomes.

[Reo]

Reo had been dosing off, he was tired and his muscles hurt and his mind was mush. This had been one of the days where he had been caught off guard and forgotten his caste. He had found himself being ordered from place to place, picking up, dropping, cleaning and carrying. Finally, it appeared that most of the Inartans had finally gone to sleep. Reo’s final task had landed him at the Darniva Common rooms. Reo was too tired to care; he curled up at an exit where he would be out of sight and also out of foot reach. He did not want to be awoken by a pair of boots in his gut. He felt his psyche slowly float into unconsciousness.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! At first he thought it was part of his dream, THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! But the sound was too invasive, too intrusive; it delicately worked its way to his eardrums and gave them a solid beating. Reo’s eyes opened unwillingly, he groggily got up and remembered where he was. For a moment he was confused, he hadn’t fallen asleep at the archery range (he hated to admit it but he still feared falling off a cliff even so long after meeting Eywaat), but he could hear the distinctive sound of arrows hitting target. He decided to investigate.

As he approached the inner workings of the Darniva Common rooms the sound became louder and louder, he stepped around a stone wall and saw a petite, dark-haired girl practicing her aim with her bow. He might have been irritated before but now a glimpse of hope shone in his eye. Reo always took the slightest opportunity to practice any form of weaponry, anything that would get him closer to becoming an Endal. He was going to test his luck; he approached the tiny lady from behind.

“You know, they do have ranges for this sort of thing”, Reo looked towards her practice dummy and reconsidered if he wanted lessons from her, “do you even know how to shoot that thing” he asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice. He hoped he hadn’t been too forward, Reo could never judge just how forward too forward was, and he still wanted her to let him have a few shots at the target. He decided to pretend like he knew what he was doing, “if you want to I can give you some pointers”. Reo hoped his bait had worked.

[Jeslyn]

Jeslyn had been practicing her archery in a corridor of the Darniva Commons for some time. By now, her expression was hardened into an angry stare as she looked out at the practice dummy. She broke a few of her arrows when they slammed into the stone wall behind her target, only becoming more frustrated with herself at her gradually worse aim. She hardly even heard the arrival of the newcomer, too distracted was she in imagining that the practice dummy was an enemy. Faces swam in her vision, though largely a singular man took center stage. Only once she heard the sound of someone’s voice did she halt her heated practice session. Turning towards the voice with the same glare she offered her target, she declares sharply, “yeah? Well, this is my range.” She blinks, realizing the harshness of her own tone only too late. Lowering the bow which turned out to be aimed at the red-haired man, she felt the slightest flush of embarrassment tone her cheeks. With slightly less cruelty in her words, she adds, “of course I know how to shoot. I can take down a bear running towards me from a mile away.” As she begins to cool down, she glances towards the practice dummy, feeling that flush bloom further. Sighing with annoyance, she sweeps her gaze back to Reo and shoves her short bow at him, hardly paying any attention to the fact that the bow was already nocked with an arrow. Once he takes it, she smirks at him in an effort to retain some shred of dignity, “let’s just see you even hit the target, and then we can talk about giving me pointers.” She scoffs, though backs up a few feet to afford the man some room, crossing her arms beneath her chest in doubtful arrogance. While waiting for the man to miss the target, she finally takes a longer glance at him. Noticing something peaking out from his ear, she peers more closely at it. Oddly enough, there does not seem to be any separation at all between the golden red feathers and the skin of his ear. Before she has time to contain her boundless curiosity, she asks, "what is that on your ear?"

[Taryn Mantissa]

Taryn had issues sleeping. One main reason was that she was much to excited to worry about rest. So instead she took a walk towards the Darniva Commons. Rohan didn't seem to keen to leave her alone so instead he flew and perched delicately on her Sontav. The old white falcon had been a gift from her grandfather, he had sired to Rohan to be some sort of protecter. Taryn had scoffed at that but accepted the gift anyway and discovered she had a talent for falconry. Bringing herself back to the present Taryn walked slowly towards the Commons. She felt a sudden chill and was glad she had put on her Katinu leaving the hood down. Even when one lived inside a volcano you could still get cold. It was then that she heard the thwacking sound. It was actually Taryn's favorite sound to hear but at this hour it sort of gave her a headache. At first it was faint but as Taryn drew closer to the sound it became even more clearer. An outsider shooting a dummy. This outsider was dark-haired while another Inarta watched her. He said something about her needing a target-range. And of course she had retorted. Typical outsiders.

Taryn wanted to retort and defend her kind but realized she would only make the situation worse. She recognized the man from somewhere but she could not put her finger on it but if were one of the Endal she had better be careful. There was something about him that was rider-esque but then again maybe not. But the outsider was pretty good and it was very rare that she met an archer better than herself, besides the rest of the Inarta of course. Then again, those arrows on the ground showed evidence of poor aim. An archer like that only had poor aim when she was tired. Taryn smirked and leaned against a wall watching with amusement. Especially when the girl had pointed out the golden red feathers. This outsider was definitely new to Wind Reach.

Taryn approached the two stifling a giggle. Taking a moment to pick out the words in the Common language she addressed the ousider. "Pretty good for an outsider. Welcome to Wind Reach." Taryn couldn't help but be friendly. The outsider amused her she couldn't help it. She offered her best smile and glanced at Rohan who had left his perch and was now on the ground preening his feathers. "Your aim is off. Maybe you should take a break. My aim always dissipates when I'm tired"

[Reo]

Reo like this particular female already, her rude and abrupt response to his playful comment was well received. He liked her even more as her arrow turned to point to him. His liking grew even more as she blushed with embarrassment and then handed him the bow. She said something else as he grabbed the bow but did not hear her as his ears filled with his own laughter, he prevented it from escaping his mouth but knew the glint of humour could be seen in his golden eyes, that was the problem with his oculars, they could never really hide his true emotions. Reo pulled back the arrow and close his non-deceptive eye aiming for the ink drawn bull’s eye and released.

Reo also flushed with complete embarrassment when the arrow missed his target completely, he wasn’t sure if the arrow had broken but he knew he could not afford to buy this stranger another set of arrows. This gave Reo some incentive and suddenly he started hitting the target far more regularly. Reo decided to create conversation to distract the lady from his aim. “I suppose even experts miss sometimes”, Reo said with a pleasant tone, trying not to agitate her, “especially so early in the morning”. Reo had heard her question about his feathers but had tried to ignore it but eventually he felt it looming in the air, he decided to show her instead of telling her. “About my ear... Watch this...”, he said as he fired off a few more shots.

“Come”, he pushed into Layla’s head. She was off hunting and he didn’t expect her to arrive for a while so he was about to create more conversation when a rather tall lady spoke out about an outsider. Hearing outsider, Reo looked to the young girl who had given him the bow and seeing the expression on her face, he realized that the strawberry-blonde was actually talking to him. As he gave her a second glance he realized that he, in fact, recognized her. His mind combed the strands of his memory and the most reasonable theory was that he probably knew her from his Yasi days. Reo immediately felt his body compress into himself and try becoming as indistinguishable as possible. Reo tried to shove the bow back into the owner’s hands but that was the moment at which Layla chose to arrive and instead of landing on Reo’s shoulder per usual, he landed and hopped over to the white falcon that was preening its feathers. Reo’s dek instincts kicked in and he quickly apologised; “sorry to wake you, I’ll take her and leave”, he said as he was looking to the bird.

[Jeslyn]

Upon hearing another enter her practice range, she is momentarily distracted. Turning towards the woman with some small surprise, she blinks a few quick seconds to comprehend her words. Talking back in perfectly fluent Nari, she practically feels her hackles rise once more, “I am no outsider.” To back up her words, she points to her golden eyes with a tense finger, “see? I have golden eyes. Where else would I have gained them but from the blood of an Inarta?” Nonetheless, the woman’s smile was mildly disarming, and she soon finds herself embarrassed by her own words yet again. Sighing heavily, she relents with the slightest of nods, “I suppose I am tired…” Of course, her momentary distraction is shortly forgotten upon hearing the hearty laugh from that arrogant man. Returning to observe the man’s failure, she offers him a pompous smile, lifting her chin ever so slightly, “you see? If any were to give pointers here, it would be me. ..” Her voice trails off however when the man actually starts hitting his target, unaware that her lips have parted in abject astonishment. Stunned even further as the man pushed the bow back into her grip, she blinks a few times to whisk away her reverie. Shaking her head slowly, and then more quickly, she declares, “nonsense. Don’t leave. You promised me some pointers.” Looking to the two birds playing on the ground, she crouches to the floor. Setting her bow to the side, her attention is diverted by the falcon and the hawk. Abruptly, she asks them both with her first smile of the night, “they’re so beautiful. What are their names?” Moving her golden gaze up to the pair of humans, she glances between them before asking, "in fact, what are your names? It was my understanding that strangers who interrupt someone's practice are supposed to at least tell me their names." Not deigning to mention her own, she takes her time examining them both while waiting expectantly for an answer.

[Taryn Mantissa]

Taryn's face reddened as she suddenly realized that the girl was probably a half-blood. Taryn had never met a half-blood but the girl did have something about her that seemed Inarta. Maybe it was the stature. "Pardon me I did not mean to offend you. I was thrown off by the dark hair." She said switching to Nari. It felt good to speak in her original tongue. She glanced at the other bird who had hopped down besides Rohan. The white falcon seemed to give Taryn an indignant look as if to say What have you gotten me into?. Taryn smiled slightly and turned towards the other the girl."I'm Taryn it's good to meet you. This old bird is Rohan." Another indignant look from the falcon. Rohan always seemed to understand what she was saying. Maybe old birds were smart after all.

When she heard that the man was going to leave Taryn shot a desperate glance at him. "Don't leave! Besides Rohan needs a friend he's too much of a grump." This time the bird stopped preening and flapped his wings ready to take off. "Oh no you don't." she said firmly shooting Rohan a glare. She then approached the girl with the bow. Taryn wasn't the most skilled archer in Mizahar but she felt she was pretty good at it. Her eyes drifted momentarily to the target as she already began to picture her arrow sticking out of the center. If the half-blood was in fact Inarta she must be a hunter. Taryn had always imagined being an Avora hunter but had never believed she had the skill to join them. Before she could stop herself Taryn felt her excitement flare up."Are you one of the hunters? Is it hard? How well can you shoot? How much-" Taryn blushed as the questions tumbled out of her mouth and rocked a little bit on her toes. " I mean- May I try?"

[Reo]

Reo found himself once again lowering his guard, the two ladies seemed harmless enough, even though he was still unsure about the one who introduced herself as Taryn. Being a Dek, it was difficult to trust anyone and look out for anyone else’s needs but your own. But Reo did not always regard himself as a Dek and at times he forgot his place and found himself between two higher castes which could equal danger for him. He decided to stay but remain as inconspicuous as possible. Reo propped himself up on the wall behind the two ladies as Taryn stumbled through multiple questions. “I’m Reo and that cheeky lady there is Layla”, hopefully the two ladies would keep each other distracted. As he leant back on the wall, Reo surveyed Taryn and wondered just where exactly he had seen her before.

Taryn was tall for an Inarta woman, in fact, she most likely reached Reo’s own height, with an athletic build and had pale red, blonde hair and her face was dotted with freckles, she was a stark contrast to the short, dark-haired, chubby-cheeked sprite that stood next to her. Despite his guard being down, Reo still felt uneasy but this disappeared momentarily as he giggled at the sight of the two ladies. Reo pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the two birds, he sat in-between the two birds and called back to Taryn, “You said his name was Rohan, right”, he asked as he looked down at the bird. It had been some time since Reo had formed a mental bond with another bird. He looked down to Rohan and flashed him a quizzical look; hopefully it would be well received.