Flashback Target Practice.

[Manx]

20th Summer 505 AV Mid-day. Since this archery range was made primarily for the lower classes of Wind Reach, not many people used it and Manx thought that he would be able to practice by himself in peace as he walked through the fences that marked this area as somewhat dangerous. There were lines of level ground that had rope in-between them and at the end were a collection of targets, there was a large circular one that was based on the ground about half-way down the range. Above that one was a slightly smaller but also circular target that was suspended off of the ground three quarters of the range's length from the shooting line and finally: past both of these targets was an even smaller one that was hanging from a wooden frame and blowing slightly in the wing - a trio of thick nets hanging behind it to catch any stray arrows. Manx had not bothered to bring any of his own arrows. There were circular buckets offering him bouquets of them at every shooting area, he wondered why there was such a fetish with circular shapes at this shooting range and walked over to one of these arrow holders. He slung his bow from his back at first, letting the string pass over the two little hooks there to keep it on his harness. taking a firm grip of it in his left hand, he leaned down and plucked an arrow from the ground-quiver. Standing back up again, Manx lifted the bow and guided the arrow with his right hand, knocking it by settling the string into the groove at the back of the borrowed arrow shaft. Pulling the string back until it reached his lips, Manx closed one eye and aimed down the arrow that was held in-front of him by the composite bow at two points. His vision switched between the arrow-head and the target further away from him and felt like some traveller between dimensions. At one point all of his mind was focused on the arrow point and making sure it was off target at just the right angle to incorporate mid-flight bending of the arrow. Another moment he was staring at his target, and was thinking less about the fact he had a bow and more like his body itself were going to fire the projectile he intended to pierce the little red circle with. Manx's breathing was quite certain, the quietness of this unpopular area sat as a quiet audience to his struggles with taming the bow in his hands. Manx blinked and swallowed a couple of times and adjusted his aim every-time after doing so, his eyes narrowed and it seemed all of his bodily functions paused for a moment, he heard his heart-beat in his ears and in his finger-tips and shot before the silence became too much for his mind. The whip of the bow-string was all he heard and it took a great deal of concentration to prevent his eyes from shielding themselves against the possible threat. Taking a deep breath, Manx lowered his bow and could see the arrow embedded near the edge of the red-area, slightly right and up from the point he had been aiming (dead centre), he could not see whether it was truly in the red or just on the edge of it from this distance. Reaching for another arrow, Manx lifted his bow again and prepared the arrow in the same way - knocking it onto the bow string and pulling it back to his lips. He breathed three times, trying to keep his aim steady as he had done before, one eye closed to decrease his vision to the centre of the bow primarily. Releasing another arrow, the string pulsated forwards and bent the arrow still without it moving forwards at all. When the arrow's momentum carried it forwards, it practically swerved around the frame of the bow and began to swim through the air towards it's target like some deadly sword-fish, this shot was roughly as accurate as the first and Manx observed that he was probably too pre-cautious with his first shot.

[Manx]

Manx knew that the second target would be harder to hit - for one, because it was quite obviously designed to be harder to hit, it was further away and smaller: meaning there was more distance for the flight of the arrow to waver away from it's original target in bad conditions and that aiming at the right part of the target was more difficult in itself. Taking another arrow from the barrel, Manx lifted his bow again and gazed at the target, seeing that it above the previous one entirely - from this point it looked like the two targets were attached, but he knew from walking in that this target was a good deal further back than the target he had already hit twice. Looking at the target, he raised the bow frame up until just left of it's centre, was directed at the sight that he focused on and drew the string back. His fingers curled tightly round the string and his pectoral muscles exerted themselves to try and do a perfectly smooth draw of the string in question. breathing out deeply and then in in the same way, Manx timed his shot and as he began breathing out, he adjusted the aim just slightly to correct human error - releasing the bow string before he finished exhaling. With a concussive tinted hissing sound, the bow string plunged forwards sending the arrow flying past the bow-frame with a sound quite alike to ripping paper and the arrow soared through the air. The arrow did in-fact hit the target 75% of the way down the shooting range, which brought a smile to the young Manx's lips - but it was not dead centre, or particularly close to dead centre. It was a few inches lower than the centre of the target and was off to the right slightly, Manx had expected it to be somewhat low - considering he had not aimed in accordance with the range of the target. Trying again, Manx lifted the bow and aimed at the centre like he had done last time and then lifted his hand up until the bow was aiming a distance above where he was trying to land his arrow. He reached down for an arrow, trying to keep the bow there and then knocked and pulled the string back with the arrow attached. He re-aligned the arrow with the centre and lifted the bow again, aiming above where he wanted the arrow to hit the target. The arrow embedded itself a good deal higher than the first had, it was actually just above the little dot in the centre of the target - which Manx realised was due to his slight over-compensation for his previous shot's failure. He was much happier with this shot though, and decided that he would try the hardest target rather than perfecting this one.

[Manx]

Manx took up another arrow, the first that he would attempt to fire at the furthest away target and knocked it into his bow string with two fingers. He placed the arrow shaft into the groove on the bow designed to hold it and made sure that the fletchings would not ruffle against the bow-frame when it was fired. He felt that paying attention to every little detail that he had been taught about shooting the bow would help in this shot - which he was expecting to be difficult. After preparing the bow properly, he lifted the frame up and extended his left arm entirely, taking two fingers to the bow-string, one either side of the arrow notch where it touched the string. Drawing the string backwards, he felt his bicep contracting and then as it slowed down, he extended his right pectoral to drag the bow-string back further - he remembered how strange and uncomfortable the position had first felt to him but now it was almost second nature. The string lingered at his lips and he held it there. Next was to aim the bow, though he was already pointing it in the right direction - this was the hardest part for Manx as he had to focus on one thing for some decent length of time. Looking over at the target in the distance, Manx wracked his memory for where he aimed roughly to get the desired hit on the target before it and tried to calculate in his mind where he should aim for this target. He lifted the bow until the centre of the frame was lined up with it's centre and then raised the aim, he raised it further than he did for the target previously and was almost aiming at the edge of the target by the time he felt that it was sufficient for the distance he shot at. Finding it hard to release his fingers smoothly in the mental need to do well, Manx paused for a moment but knew he could not do so for long without jeapordising the shot he had prepared but he thought for a moment, willing himself to take confidence and let go of the arrow-string. Doing just that, he breathed out and let his fingers slide off of the bow string almost perfectly in sync. The string shot forward. As the arrow caught up with it's momentum, the string forced it forwards and caused the shaft to bend quite a great deal as the force worked it's way along it. Being pushed past the bow's frame, the arrow pinged back to it's original shape and bent in the opposite direction, the shaft flexing backwards and forth until it finally stabilized in it's flight, soaring straight towards the target at the back of the range. The arrow began to fall in the air, gravity managing to lock it's hands around it as the momentum of the air slowed in it's effort to push the tip forwards. If Manx could've seen the arrow falling, he wasn't sure if he'd be happy or sad to see it do so. Of course, all of this happened in short of a second to Manx and all he could do was grin in success as the arrow hit it's target, obviously not dead-centre but close enough to appease the young archer in his attempt to improve. Though it was probably beneficial for Manx to continue his shooting and hone his skills, he thought that his confidence needed the bolstering somewhat more and as such he decided that he would end his shooting there. Swinging his bow string over his shoulder, Manx pulled the string against his harness until it caught on the two hooks that were positioned there, letting it hug his chest and back at the left. Turning on the spot, Manx left the range through the way he'd came a distinct spring in his step to anyone else that could have been observing him.

[Skerry]

Grades

Manx

Skill	XP
Observation	5
Planning	2
Weapon: Shortbow	5

LORES :

• Readying a bow for shooting
• Lining up a shot
• Bull's eye: elusive

Notes:
A very descriptive thread with plenty of archery skill. I gave you planning for the careful line up of shots.

Remember if you have any questions or problems with your grade then feel free to PM me.