Placeholder "Oh... well, hello again..."

[Roderick]

34th of Spring, 512 AV, The Bronze Wood With a noisy crunch Roderick's boot pressed straight down onto a twig, bending its back until it snapped, sending small splinters of wood flying. Keeping his complaints to himself he continued walking, edging his way around anything that might have made his movements noticeable to anything nearby. He wasn't trying to be a master at sneaking around, but at the very least he wanted to be assured he was being vaguely quiet as he moved around. His bow was resting against his shoulder as he walked, supported by one hand while the other gently swung back and forth through the air. Enjoying the coolness of the air, which served to keep him from baking alive, he thanked Syna for sparing Syliras from another roasting day; while it was still warm - enough so that every inch of his body felt hot to the touch - it wasn't as scalding as the previous days had been. No longer having to worry about scorching his skin, Roderick had come out here into the woods to practice his archery some more. The archer had already set his target up on one side of the clearing - far enough away so that he would have to put in a fair amount of effort in order to strike it, close enough so he still make out the details of the bale's face, and adjust his aim accordingly. Planting his feet firmly at what he judged to be a fair distance, Roderick took hold of his bow with one hand while the other moved up towards his shoulder. Closing his fingers around the fletchings of an arrow, he felt the feathered ends of the others brushing against his skin. Drawing his chosen projectile free from the leather quiver it was housed in, he set the pointed end down against the wood of his weapon, while laying the other against the string. It was with a slight thrumming twang that the twisted cord clicked into place in the nock. Ready for use, he released a flow of air from his lungs, letting them run dry before drawing in more. While his left arm rose into the air, elbow bent slightly and hand holding the weapon loosely, the string dug into his flesh as he brought the it back towards his face. As he completed the motion, he looked down the shaft of the arrow, set out before his eyes, and with the fletchings brushing about against his cheek and fingers from the slight breeze that pervaded the clearing. Sighting down the target, he moved his fingers, releasing his hold and hearing and feeling the string thrumming and vibrating as it launched the arrow off towards its destination. With a whizzing sound it flew through across the clearing, embedding itself within the 2nd ring of the target; all his recent practicing had greatly improved his aim - though he hadn't realized until now just how good he had become. All the same, there was always something more for him to do; if he stopped trying his aim would suffer for it. Taking another arrow from his quiver Roderick laid it across his longbow, setting the end in place on the string and settling the shaft between his fingers. Repeating the maneuvers of releasing his breath as he readied for his shot, and then breathing in again as he drew the string back, the Zeltivan felt the shifting muscles in his shoulders and back working towards the goal of preparing him for another try at the targets centre. Parting his fingers the string snapped forward, and the arrow hurtled away from him, shoving its head into the bale of hay, several inches away to the left of his previous arrow. Mm... pretty good - but it could be better.

[Raven Nightfoot]

"Ugh, You again... Raven's voice came sounding exceptionally bored and uninterested with a hint of annoyance. She had been out in the forest hoping to see Aoren in the clearing where the two of them normally met up but to her disappointment he wasn't there today, he was probably busy with something or someone Ileera in town. She had rolled her eyes at the thought of the red-headed girl, Raven didn't actually dislike Ileera she just disliked that she was Aoren's favourite person in the whole of Mizahar. After she'd arrived at the empty clearing she decided she'd relax there for a while before returning to her living quarters in Syliras and sleeping the rest of the day away, but her plans soon changed. Just as she'd left the clearing heafing in the direction of home Raven had heard a rather loud snapping sound, she of course knew it was a branch of a tree but was more interested in what had broken it. Nowadays caution hardly ever trumped curiousity and so, without so much as a second thought, Raven had bent her legs, crouched low and silently made her way in the direction the noise had come from making sure not to step on any fallen twigs herself. It had only been a chime or two before she'd caught a glimpse of the man in the distance, bow against his shoulder, but he had been so har ahead that she had barely been able to observe any real details, also he was walking away from her so she'd only seen his back. So, unsatisfied with the results of her little reconnaissance mission she decided to continue her pursuit, making sure to hid behind every tree she passed as she followed the man who was clearly unaware. Eventually the man had stopped and she could see him getting ready to practice his aim with his bow in the distance and so she had carefully and quietly stalked closer and closer until she was hiding behind a tree only about twenty feet away from the stranger. She heard the familiar thump of an arrow hitting it's target and decided to climb the tree in order to get a better look at the man. Slowly, quietly and very carefully Raven had reached up and grabbed a thick low hanging branch and hoisted herself up climbing further and further until she was a good ten feet from the ground. There she found a rather comfortable and sturdy looking branch to perch on as she observed the bowman in silence. Her amber eyes had watched him curiously from where she sat although the tree was positioned directly behind him so she still hadn't seen any defining features, but Raven had the sneaking suspicion that she had seen this man before. There was something very familiar about his lean yet fairly muscled build along with the brown hair and bow. Raven had been sitting there silently watching the man practice his archery for a short while when it had finally hit her. This was the young man who'd randomly attacked her in the forest not too long ago, they'd had a little tussle and ofcourse she had won. 'Little Girl' he'd called her, she didn't know his name but she already disliked him.

[Roderick]

As he was preparing himself for his next shot he heard a slight rustling from nearby, quickly dying away into nothing. For a moment he presumed it to just be the wind; the rustling of leaves wasn't anything particularly out of place in the middle of a wooded area. There had been an incident two days before where he'd dismissed just the same thing - and that had ended with quite a bit of pain. He half turned himself about and glanced over towards where the noise had come from, but didn't see anything obvious. Peering more closely at the undergrowth scattered around the edge of the clearing, Roderick frowned to himself and turned back towards the target, chewing his tongue thoughtfully as he continued preparing himself for his shot. Just as he was bringing the bow up into position he heard a slight noise, again from behind him; something like a voice, maybe a woman's - it was too soft for him to be sure. Turning himself around the hunter raked his eyes across the clearing, trying to pick out any details of where the voice had come from. After a few tics his gaze made its way upwards, towards the sky; they locked in the upper reaches of the trees, brushing through the layers of leaves until they settled on a figure perched atop a branch; he took in the black leather she was garbed in and the matching blackness of the long locks of hair that hung down around her shoulders. He took a few steps towards her when his mind told him that he recognized the face. As his thoughts began to piece themselves together, one by one, he connected the face with the black-haired woman who'd been sneaking around in the bushes two days ago, and had been offended when he'd mistaken her for an animal and loosed an arrow at her. "No." he called up to her, firmly "No." He turned around and walked towards a nearby tree, "Not again, lady, not again!" slipping his arrow away into its quiver and leaning his weapon against the trunk, Roderick turned around and made his way back towards the tree the woman was in, planting his feet firmly on the ground, "Why are you here? If it's about what happened, I'm sorry - so's my back. I'm not in the habit of picking fights with every random person I come across." He sighed in exasperation, "Why are you even up there?"

[Raven Nightfoot]

As hard as she tried not to, Raven couldn't help but think it was adorable how the young man had said 'No, not again lady, not again!' as if he were utterly dreading what might occur. Her lips curved up at the edges into a smug smirk as her amber eyes watched him put down his weapon and return to interrogate her. "Oh so I'm a lady now? What happened to 'little girl'?" she teased, she had been quite annoyed by his comment a few days ago but Raven wasn't one to hold a grudge, especially since she'd won the fight. "And don't flatter yourself, I'm not exactly thrilled to see you again, either." as she spoke she shifted herself slightly into a more comfortable sitting position in the tree. Her eyes examined his features more carefully this time around, committing every detail to memory, during their last encounter she'd hardly had the time. The young hunter was quite handsome if one were willing to look past his past transgressions, which Raven was. Returning out of her thoughts her eyes locked on his as she spoke, I like being far above the ground, get over it. she said dismissing his curiosity about her current position perched above him. "So, you must be pretty determined to get better if you're out here practising everyday, with the bow I mean." she said casually, all hints of annoyance and animosity completely erased from her voice.

[Roderick]

"For the record, I never called you a little girl. I mentioned 'leather-clad little women' - nothing about little girls. While we're on that subject, everyone seems small to me." next she made it clear she wasn't happy to see him, "And here I thought you were desperate to get another look at my lovely chest." He commented dryly. She seemed to take a moment to look him over, and so he did the same; regardless of anything else about her, he had to admit she was a pleasing thing to look at. Scraping all such thoughts from the forefront of his mind, he made certain he was ready for anything else she might say. Right after she brushed off his question about her sitting up in the tree like a bird. With the same level of suddenness that the woman had appeared before him in the tree, she completely changed the subject, bringing his training to question - albeit with casual interest, rather than deliberately trying to get one over on him. He nodded up at her, "'Practice makes perfect' as everyone's so fond of saying. He shrugged, "I spend a lot of time outdoors. I'll die if I don't know how to use it. It's a newer weapon I've been using, though... smoothing out the rough edges' been a little annoying - seem to have got it now, though. How about you? You must have spent quite a while practicing at moving around quietly so you can keep sneaking up on me."

[Raven Nightfoot]

Raven rolled her eyes disinterestedly as he addressed the semantics, 'little girl, little woman, same thing, then he went on to say everyone seemed small to him, which she could understand because he was quite tall. "Is that some sort of dirty joke?" she teased, knowing full well that it wasn't an innuendo. "And here I thought you were desperate to get another look at my lovely chest." She let out a short playful laugh, "Maybe I am.". Raven pulled a stray hair to the side as she watched the handsome young man from a few feet above while he spoke. He had answered her question with his first three words but decided to speak on, pointlessly, at which Raven lost interest only regaining her focus at the end of his speech as she realised he had asked her a question. She let out another playful laugh, "Me sneaking up on you? How do you know I wasn't here first?" her smirk crossing her face once more before she decided to descend from her perch. She slid forward off of the branch, dropping through the air like a downward pointed arrow and landing only feet in front of the young man, her legs bent to absorb the shock before she stood up straight meeting his gaze once more.

[Roderick]

She rolled her eyes at him as he started reminding her of what he'd actually said; after a moment a mischievous air fell over her and she made the implication that he'd been making a dirty joke. A slight upward curve came to his lips as he continued speaking; "And here I thought you were desperate to get another look at my lovely chest." At that she gave a playful little giggle, "Maybe I am." He raised his brows at her then, his smile growing even broader. She seemed to become lost in thought as he continued speaking, losing interest after the first few words, but he plowed on regardless. Finally listening in as he asked her a question, he gave another laugh, "Me Sneaking up on you? How do you know I wasn't here first?" she gave another one of her smirks and then shifted from her branch, falling through the air and landing a couple of feet away from Roderick; despite the impact she only took a tic to rise to her feet, staring into his eyes again. Now while he'd made note of the fact that she was a very attractive woman already, it was only when she was standing next to him that he was able to get the full effect. From here he could see all the little details, and he could see now why she was so confident with herself. What drew him in the most were her eyes; incredibly pretty. "Well, either way you look at it, you've been hanging around staring at me for at least five chimes right now, so you obviously don't plan on violating me like you did the other day." He rubbed his hands together slowly, enjoying how it felt, "You seem rather nice, when you're not slapping me in the face and throwing me on the ground. We should do this more often - killing one another would get pretty stale." He turned around and started walking about slowly, thoughtfully, "That and I like being alive. There's so many things I don't know yet - one of which is your name." He stopped and turned around to face her, "You can call me Roderick, if it pleases you - though I get the feeling you'd like to throw in the words 'petch' and 'shyke' when you're talking about me."

[Raven Nightfoot]

Raven felt his eyes dancing over her figure as he sized her up, her eyebrow raising quizzically as she contemplated whether or not to ask if he liked what he saw, but that was too conceited for Raven's taste. She knew she was beautiful but she felt no need to point it out, beauty was something that spoke for itself. "Well, either way you look at it, you've been hanging around staring at me for at least five chimes right now, so you obviously don't plan on violating me like you did the other day." Raven couldn't help but laugh as he said 'violating' what an odd choice of words he used. "How do you know I'm not adding the variables and forming the best plan of attack?" she said mysteriously before smirking once again to show that she was only teasing. He spoke again and she laughed again, this young man didn't seem as bad as he was the last time they'd met, at the very least he was providing her with entertaining conversation. She watched as he turned around and began walking as he continued to speak, although Raven stayed where she was and soon enough he stopped and turned to face her once more, her amber eyes locking on his blue ones as he introduced himself. "You can call me Roderick, if it pleases you - though I get the feeling you'd like to throw in the words 'petch' and 'shyke' when you're talking about me." Another playful laugh escaped her lips followed by her trademark smirk, "That's a tad bit presumptuous don't you think...Roderick." she added his name solely to prove her point before introducing herself. "My names Raven, by the way..."

[Roderick]

She laughed at him, then spoke with an air of mysticism, smirking at him to let him know that she was only playing with him. He smiled back at her and continued talking, enjoying the sound of her laugh and what it did to her face; she looked good when she smiled - far better than that worrying look that came over her when she was angry, as she'd been when they'd been fighting. As he paced back and forwards and spoke, he ran one hand over the leather trousers he was wearing - bought quite a while ago, and worn sporadically since then; any cloth breeches he wore tended to become worn out rather quickly, so hopefully these would last a while longer. As he finished and returned his gaze to the woman, she gave another laugh, accompanied by what seemed to be the standard smirk she made when she was at ease. He took a moment to take her name down into his mind, running it over and over again in his mind. "Raven..." he said, tasting it, seeing how it felt to speak it. A nice name - interesting too. "Nice to meet you, Raven." He folded his arms and rested his weight on one leg, "So, now we know one another, in a way. Any good ideas on what we could do? I didn't have anything planned for today - you're the most interesting thing I've met all day, and I'm hoping you have some fun little idea in your head." he found himself moving in closer, "Or maybe we could sit and make pointless small talk? We could tell one another what we do to make a living? How about we discuss the weather? Or maybe we could share our feelings of frustration over how pricey a pound of ham is?" he smirked, "Now, there are two ways this is going to end - I'm hoping for the second one. The first ending involves you calling me a rambling madman and leaving me alone here; the second is the one where you tell me about something you like to do, and we spend the next few chimes having a good laugh about me failing at whatever is going on. Or if you like we can stand around debating what we're having for lunch. Which is it?" OOCRod can be so silly at times

[Raven Nightfoot]

"You talk a lot you know that, right?" she said with a playful smirk as she ran a hand through her dark hair flicking it at the ends. "So what? You don't want to have another go at killing each other?" she asked with a pout, she had enjoyed their fight, although that was mostly because she'd won. Raven stretched her limbs absent mindedly as she tried to come up with something for her and Roderick to do, nothing great came to mind. "The most interesting thing you've met all day, that's a let down. I was aiming for all season." she teased adding a playful wink at the end. "As for the options, perhaps a combination of the three? You rambling madman." Without another word Raven turned around and began casually walking away from him, she took several steps before stopping to look back at him mysteriously, "You coming? Or are you gonna keep playing with your 'arrows'?" she said the last word suggestively before turning and walking once more. As she walked away her hips swayed naturally from side to side like they always did, well except for the day of their fight but that was because he had kicked her in the shin and left her limping away. "So you got any special people in your life?" she asked, assuming he was following, if not, oh well.