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[Neras Frostfawn]

Timestamp: 40th of Sping, 518AV
Location: Proving Grounds
Who: Neras and Carus

Even though, Neras was just going to the Proving Ground to work on his archery, the young man was geared up for war. The Guardian was wearing his non standard leather armor, quiver filled with hunting arrows and short bow on his back, and the short sword and scabbard on his waist. Ever sense his bout with death, he had a new outlook on life. He wasn't a kid no more, and he needed to be a adult, or he might find himself face down in a alleyway somewhere or back under the doctors knife. All those possibility were not a opinion in the young man's eyes. The young man's grey eyes had a hidden fire behind them with a determination to challenge himself to get better. He needed to get better at killing otherwise he would just be another victim. Dira decided to not take him, so it was fate that he survived to avenge his mother. The young man needed to talk to his mother's lover again, Berkley Whispers to ask him if he knew anything about her death. He doubted that he played apart in it, but the Sunberther in him was paranoid enough to not rule it out. He hoped not because he like him as a person, but anything was possible especially with the amount of money the priest were offering.

Walking up to the gates of the Proving Grounds, Neras took off his archery arm guard and showed the two burly guards his brand on his hand. One of the guards looked at him and said with a chuckle, “Well your finally not slacking on the job. Jinx could for you.”

Neras wrinkled his brow and said with a shake of his head, “Why does everyone think I am slacking? I was almost killed. It wasn't like I was able to train while healing in my bed...”

The other guard laughed slightly, “Calm down kid. We are just giving you shyte. The shyte going to fly your direction all season, so you best grow thicker skin to deal with it?”

The first guard said with nod of respect, “There rumors that the doctor took out your heart is it true?”

Neras said with a shudder, “Yes, it was the price for me. Making a complete fool of myself on the island...”

The second guard shook his head and said with a nod, “Everyone knows the doctor has a hard on for torturing people if you in our line of work. You know better to question the good doctors bed side manners if you want to see another Syna-rise. Good to see you back Jinx.”

Everyone seemed to sympathize with him about surviving the injuries and the doctor. It almost seemed like a right of passage for the Sun Birth gang members. Jinx said with a smirk, “Well I am not in the dust yet, so thanks for warm welcome...”

The two guards waved him through the gates of the training grounds. Putting back on his archery guard, the young gang member immediately, walked to one of the open archery targets on the range, and removed his Inarta made short bow from his quiver. It wasn't strung, so he put the loop of the tough bow string on the bottom of the bow. When he finished with the bottom loop, he put the bottom of the short bow on his hard leather boot, pushed down on the top to bend it slightly to give the bowstring enough slack to the top bowstring loop on the top of the bow. When he released the pressure, the short straightened out enough to create enough pressure in the string for the tool to shoot.

When the string was readied, Neras reached behind him, pulled a arrow out of the quiver, and placed it onto the bowstring. Walking to the firing line, he placed his left foot on line, spread his feet apart to shoulder length apart, and bent his knees slightly, so he wasn't as stiff. Lifting his bow with his left arm, he pointed the sharp tip of his arrow at the center and pulled back the bowstring. When the arrow moved, he needed to readjust the tip of the arrow back to the center of the target. Holding the arrow in the ready to fire position took a lot of strength, so he could feel the muscles and the abdomen start to arch, so he released the bowstring and watched the arrow soar towards the target. Neras saw the arrow sailed over the target and into the haystack behind the target. It was a awful shot, but it was the first shot of the day. If his mother was here, she would have critiqued him with some helpful pointers, but she wasn't, so he had to fend for himself. Swearing softly in vani, the half breed reached behind him for another arrow and got into his ready position for another shot at the elusive target.

[Carus Nothus]

It felt strange, walking somewhere to train. Carus couldn’t remember the last time he went somewhere just to train on his fighting ability, and of course then he went to train for hunting deer, not anything else. In Sunberth, you never knew what you would need to protect yourself against. He had been too close to biting the dust since he arrived, and he knew he desperately needed to get more skilled with weapons. He had only heard about one place that was actually meant for training in Sunberth and that was The proving grounds. He had also heard it was rather expensive, and while he didn’t have a lot of money, it was more important to train and stand a better chance at survival here.

He had first thought of simply training with his dagger against a tree or something, but he knew that would only get him so far. He needed to see other people fight and watch their techniques, maybe even get a chance to spar with someone. That would be the way to go about getting stronger, even though it might cost him a whole lot more.

So it was that he made his way towards The proving grounds that day. He had never actually even seen it before, but he knew of its general location and simply hoped to recognise it when he arrived. It was rather easy to recognise the large compound, and the two large guards outside did some to help make it clear what kind of place this was. He had hoped desperately to have able to charm his way in for free, but it was clear these men wouldn’t take too well to it. He had heard it was expensive, but he had never heard the actual price.

“Hello, am I right in assuming this is the proving grounds?”, Carus asked as kindly as he was able to, his face easily moving into a smile that most people found charming, even though it was a fake smile. One of the guards looked him up and down, wrinkling his nose at Carus.

“You are right to assume so. If you’re not part of The Sun births that will be seven gold mizas to go inside”, he answered briskly, taking his eyes back out on the streets behind Carus, clearly not caring if he would enter or not. This made Carus very uncomfortable to say the least. Seven gold Mizas was a lot of money to someone like him, but it looked like it would be hard to haggle down the price.

He actually thought about simply leaving to go do something else instead, but as he was about to turn he thought about the problems that had happened to him recently. Before his eyes he saw the wolf that almost managed to get a hold of his leg, which certainly would be his death. He saw himself running for his life, trying to escape the cloaked men who would easily have killed him. Finally he saw a sword go straight through Umbras throat, and he quickly turned back toward the guard. He sighed a bit as he took out the money, holding it out for the guard. He looked surprised to see Carus reach out the money, assuming he would have left instead, but he took the money and let Carus walk in through.

There were less people there than Carus would have expected, which was a shame to him. He had gone here and paid mostly to get a chance to train with someone else. He looked around, trying to see what the people who were there was doing. He noticed someone that was readying up a bow, and since it was one of the few weapon Carus had at least used before, he moved closer to have a look at them. He couldn’t see what the person looked like as he stood behind them when they got ready to shoot.
He went to the side of the archery range instead, looking at the man, almost a boy, getting ready to shoot. He took a shot and it flew over the target, as he had to adjust his aim when he was about to shoot. As he was about to get ready for another shot, Carus spoke up.

“If you take a big breath when you lift the bow and hold it until you release, you’re less likely to shake and have to readjust your aim”, he said, loudly enough for him to hear but not that loud as too draw attention to them from the few other people training in the proving grounds. He took a step forward towards him a bit hesitantly. You never knew how strangers might react when approached.

[Neras Frostfawn]

Reaching back to grab another arrow, Neras stopped when he heard a man's voice give him suggestions about his archery. He looked over and saw a older man in his early to mid twenties standing there. He had long dark hair down to his shoulder. He looked at him for a moment, and he was definitely one of the “pretty boys” the stupid girls would swoon over. The boy was hesitant to trust him as he approached him, but he didn't flinch when he moved closer. Neras said to him with a nod, “Thank you for the advice. Let see if your advice works...”

His mother told him that he should never not listen to advice. If it is good or bad, someone was making the effort to make your life better. Getting into his shooting stance, Neras placed the arrow on the bowstring and lifted bow till the tip of the arrow lined up with the center of the target. Pulling back the bowstring with his right hand, he took a breath and readjusted the shot. When he felt confident to shoot, he watched the arrow soar straight towards the target; however, the arrow fell short of the target, bounced off the ground, and hit the target sideways falling harmlessly to the ground. Even if the shot was terrible, he wasn't going to not notice his small victory. Neras was excited that his arrow flew straight and hit the target. Well it did hit, but not as he wanted. However, a win was a win, so he celebrated anyways with a little dance of victory.

Looking at the pretty boy, Neras said with a smile, “Thank you for the advice, umm... well what is your name?”

Feeling his face turn slightly red with embarrassment, the young gang member couldn't believe that he acted like a child in front of a stranger. He was a proud member of the Sun Birth gang, and he needed to keep a tough persona in front of non members. Looking at the pretty boy, Neras said with a more serious tone, “You seem to know what you are doing with a bow. Would you like to practice with me? Do you have a bow of your own? If not, you can use mine. It is Inarta made, so you can't ask to shot a finer short bow.” He figured if the man was willing to give him advice. He could be trusted not to run off his short bow, but if he did, he would do his best to cut him down where he stood. Smiling at him, Neras decided to give him a nickname and said with a smirk, “So...Archer. What do you say?”