Axe Marks the Spot [Open]

[Eldon Sunkiss]

13th of Fall, AV 510 Eldon Sunkiss gently stroked Vanah's body as he stood next to her. The horse, his strider, was his best companion, as was the story for most Drykas. Sunkiss, however, was not paying attention to his girl at that moment, rather his eyes were locked firmly on the tree a good ten yards from his current position, it had already been marked by him, a swift strike from the ax, two actually, made quick work and easily sliced a crude 'X' in the tree's base. That was his target. Small, far, difficult to hit surely. Eldon had told himself for seasons now that he was going to perfect this, and he hadn't so much as touched the weapons intended for throwing in a good long while. It was time. Eldon reached down at his side and lifted one of the two axes from his belt. He took a moment to feel the weapon, holding the wooden handle in the tightened enclosed palm of his hand. He waved the object slowly, feeling the weight as it tugged with momentum in either direction. Eldon tried to predict just how well it would throw, how to throw it. Finally feeling he had the feeling of the weapon down, he lifted the ax above his head, stepped forwards with his left leg, bracing his body against said leg and he hurled the arm, the ax leaving his grasp sometime within that short moment of raising above his head and soaring towards the ground. Hearing a thump, Eldon glanced up (somehow his gaze managed to bury itself in the ground) with enthusiasm. Surely it was the tree! Surely it was the 'X'! But no, rather it was the ground. Eldon looked, about eight yards ahead of him, being two from the tree itself, he managed to hurl the weapon in a perfect straight trajectory into the dirt. It didn't even stick there either! It had managed to hit and bounce harmlessly. A throw like that, no doubt, would not deter a descending Glassbeak. Hell, a throw like that wouldn't even deter an angered child! how humiliating. At least Eldon was alone, well, Vanah wouldn't mock him. She was too sweet for that. But excluding the faithful Strider, Eldon seemed alone. "Second chances..." Eldon wasn't one to believe or hope for second chances often, but for the sake of training, he would make an exception. He reached down to his waist again as he wrenched the second of the two axes from his belt, he felt the handle in his hand again, except this time decided it would be wise to show off for Vanah. He gave the ax a light toss, sending the weapon spinning slowly in air as he meant to catch it again. He did not though, the handle bounced off his fingers and hit the ground between his feet, the blade, that time hit and stuck into the ground. Sunkiss sighed heavily, thanking his ancestors that it wasn't his foot. Surely that would be a riot back in Endrykas: the Warrior that cuts off his own toe while showing off for his Strider. Might even have been a first. He had to improve with this sort of thing. This was embarrassing.

[Kayiri]

A bow sang, and an arrow whizzed past Eldon. It whistled through the air for a few brief seconds before it made it's way to the tree, hitting far below the X, but still hitting the tree. Kayiri smiled at his shot, and the confusion he had no doubt caused in the individual training here, and hopped from Serenity's back, patting the Mare's flank with a loving hand.

"My apologies, I couldn't help it," he commented, turning to face the man. He stowed the shortbow on his back. "I am Kayiri of the Starweaver Pavilion, of the Diamond clan. It is a pleasure to meet you," Kayiri then added, thumping a fist on his chest and bowing his head for a brief moment.

He set off to retrieve his arrow from the tree, and upon returning spoke once more. "I assume you are practicing your skills for the Great Hunt, no? It is only a few ten-days away," his voice was curious. He pulled back the bowstring once more, an arrow held steadily between his two fingers. The string sang yet again as it was released, the arrow arcing forwards, missing the tree by a few feet.

"Ah, I suppose we both need some work on our aim," Kayiri said, figuring the wind had blown his shot off course. "Would you mind if I shared this spot with you? Idle chatter could entertain us both whilst we practice for future battles."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

As instincts were, Eldon found himself crouching low into the tall golden grass of the plains. His first glance was up at his strider, Vanah, who seemed oddly calm in the presence of danger. That was Eldon's first clue that he, perhaps, wasn't really in danger. He glanced around to see a young Drykas, only a few years his younger, smiling as he watched his progress on Eldon's training tree. Eldon sighed heavily as he stood up. He was not only discovered for being a lousy ax-throwing champion, but he was nearly hurled into a panic by some stranger. He was still surprised he didn't know everyone from Endrykas, but it never seemed to fail him. "Apologies..." Sunkiss chuckled sarcastically. He knew Kayiri, or at least assumed, was really just showing off. Even though Eldon would have done the very same could he shoot a bow like that, it somewhat annoyed him (again because he assumed Kayiri only came to show off). "Eldon Sunkiss, Sapphire Clan. Water Reimancer." Eldon nodded proudly as he stared at the arrow lodged in the tree. It wasn't on the 'X' that Eldon placed earlier, it was even several paces downwards, but he still had a good shot. Eldon was still just trying to get the ax-weight figured out in his head. Then Kayiri began to talk, idle chatter, not about himself or his considerably superior skills, but about Eldon instead. Perhaps he assumed too much (as always). "You are partially correct, Kayiri. I am practicing on my skills-" Eldon couldn't help but notice how ridiculous that sounded. Of course he was, that was painfully obvious. "But it's not only for the Great Hunt. I am still unsure if I'll participate this year." Eldon's voice somewhat dropped off. He wanted to, but there was so much to do still, or at least he tried to convince of himself. Really he knew that he was behind the average Drykas. If he joined in the Hunt, he would likely embarrass himself to no end. Still though, Kayiri brought a thought to his head. It was merely ten days away. He hadn't really considered just how soon it was, until now of course. Could somebody even improve much in a simple ten days? It was unlikely, but maybe if Eldon tried hard enough. Eldon watched, not smiling though inwardly happy that his new friend missed the tree. Perhaps their levels weren't so off after all. "Kayiri," Eldon had a habit of repeating names often until they were thoroughly embedded into his memory. "Of course you can join me. You never know what you can learn from a warrior of different weapons." Eldon bent over and retrieved the ax he dropped just before Kayiri appeared. Taking the ax once again in his hand, he waved it slowly, feeling again the heavy weight from the head of the ax in comparison to the rather lighter weight of the wooden handle itself. Eldon made a few mocking throws, making the motion of the throw, pulling the ax behind his head and swinging it vertically in front and down his body. Rather than letting the ax fly, he held tight, repeating the motion a second time. 'Third time's a charm.' Sunkiss heaved the ax behind his head, stepping forward with his left leg and pulled his body ahead for just a little bit more power in his swing. The ax spun through the air in its menacing dance as it hit the tree, a few paces below the 'X', but sadly did not collide with the bladed end. Instead the top of the head hit, causing the weapon to bounce off and hit harmlessly into the dirt below, practically lying next to the first ax. Eldon sighed heavily again, not even bothering to conceal his frustration. "With Syna as my witness, I am going to bury this ax into the tree before Leth takes to the sky." That gave Eldon several hours of practicing this, which he wasn't particularly looking forward to. He'd much rather go riding, or even lazily napping out in the sun, or maybe even scouting for a girl, but he had some level of tenacity, and he would continue this until he was satisfied by it. Besides, what would a girl want in a man if not a good 'axe-throwing' arm?

[Kayiri]

Kayiri nodded as he listened to the man speak about how he was uncertain when it came to joining in on the hunt. "You should participate. It is a good way to earn honor for your Pavilion and your clan, and also a good way to perfect skills necessary for survival and prosperity on the Sea of Grass," Kayiri then commented, wetting his lips.

He watched as the man thought, and then turned, mock throwing the axe a few times-- to test it's weight, he presumed. Kayiri watched with interest as he continued with a chain of actions, impressed by the apparent thought process that had to go into accurately throwing an axe.

When the weapon left his hand, Kayiri's eyes watched it arc across the sky, slamming into the tree. He chuckled slightly at the comment about making the throw before the moon rose, and then spoke. "I have to admit, throwing an axe looks much more difficult than simply shooting a bow. You can not throw it too hard, or the handle or the top will hit the target, but you can not throw it too lightly, either, or else it will not break the armor and flesh of the opponent. With a bow, you simply must aim, pull back the string with all your might, and release. The arrow will always hit its mark with it's head, unless the wind claims it from the air," his voice was calm and level.

As he finished saying this, he pulled another arrow from his quiver, notching it on the string. He pulled back the string, and then released, watching the arrow arc through the sky in a fashion not too dissimilar from that of the axe. It was, once again, caught by the wind, and this time slammed into one of the branches. The branch and the arrow both fell from the tree, landing with a thump. The arrow did not survive the fall, snapping in half.

Kayiri laughed slightly. "There goes one good arrow, eh?" he commented. idly. "At least it was lost to a good cause."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

While Kayiri spoke, pressuring him into the 'Great Hunt', Eldon Sunkiss stalked over to the tree, retrieving both of the throwing axes, both which failed to hit his target, or hit harmlessly and was knocked away. To be honest, Eldon was more or less intentionally ignore Kayiri, simply because it sounded like he was lecturing him about the Great Hunt, as if he thought he was Eldon's father or something. It was nothing but annoying to hear it, so Eldon simply remained quiet while Kayiri went on about the Hunt, which of course Eldon knew about. Eldon returned to his position again, too proud to move closer, that would mean that he couldn't do this from where he was, a thought he would not allow. "I don't know about that, Kayiri. I've shot a bow once, I can't recall that I hit a single thing." Eldon took one ax in his dominant (right) hand as he again waved it briefly, once more feeling for that disproportionate weight between ax head and ax handle. Again Eldon found himself ignore Kayiri's chatter. Why? He was lecturing again. Eldon wasn't too sure why he felt a need to teach Eldon about the ax or bow or the Great Hunt. Sure, Kayiri seemed very mature for his still youthful age, but still, Eldon couldn't help but feel that Kayiri might have felt superior. Always willing to share knowledge, yet not particularly asking for some. Kayiri was ironically like Eldon, he just didn't see it in himself. "A precise arrow looks better than an thrown ax any day." Eldon chuckled lightly as he pulled his arm holding the ax behind his head, leaned into the throw as he hurled the ax through the air once again, the ax, once again, bounced harmlessly off the tree, chipping off a small portion of bark in various directions as it fell, sticking the blade into the dirt. "A shame about the arrow. I hope you know how to make more." Eldon grinned lightly, he was almost enjoying himself what Kayiri wasn't preaching to him.

[Kayiri]

"I was an awful shot for the longest time as well, Eldon. It comes with practice, I suppose. and even now, I can still be a shit shot," Kayiri said with a laugh. He removed his bracer from his arm, flexing his wrist as if something was paining him, massaging the joint.

"My apologies, I have a habit of speaking too much," Kayiri then said, a tone of finality in his voice. He continued to to massage and stretch his wrist for another minute or so, eventually picking up his bow once more.

Repeating the pattern he had done so many times, he pulled the string back. Once more, the arrow flew from the string, but this time, it did not come without consequences.

Kayiri flinched in pain, blood running from his left arm. He cursed quietly yet frantically in Pavi, looking at his arm. he had forgotten to replace his bracer, leaving the bowstring free to scrape up against the exposed skin on his forearm. It was a novice mistake, one that Kayiri shouldn't have made, but did.

The cursing eventually ebbed. He whistled sharply, and Serenity came trotting over. With his right hand alone, he unhooked a bag on the yvas, pulling a piece of cloth out. He wrapped it tight around his forearm, and grimaced.

"Well, that was silly of me, wasn't it?" he commented, a laugh coming from his lips despite the situation. He sat down on the ground, keeping pressure on his arm. The bleeding wasn't bad, and most of the pain had come from the fact that a piece of string had run along his arm at high speeds and scraped the skin on the surface off.

"Don't mind me, I'll be fine," he then stated, motioning with his right arm for Eldon to carry on with his practicing. "I guess I'll just learn the lesson of keeping a damned bracer on the hard way," he then muttered, chuckling once more.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

"Don't injure yourself already, brother. The Great Hunt can't be losing warriors already. A bit pointless to train forever if you'll just hurt yourself, yeah?" Taking the next ax in his hand, Eldon repeated the motions once again, heaving and throwing the ax straight into the tree. Eldon was puzzled for a moment as he watched, expecting the ax to fall, once again, to the ground. After a few seconds of processing this odd disappearance, he realized he hit the tree, nearly a full twelve inches above his target (too high, drat!), but still, the weapon managed to bury itself into the tree and stay there. That, finally, was an improvement. Eldon smiled lightly to himself, and nearly started bragging about it when he saw Kayiri's little incident, and the blood. Eldon, in response, could only chuckled dryly at the incident. It wasn't because he was a sadist, but simply because it was a simple mistake, a small repercussion, but caused a good deal of cursing from his new found friend. "What'd I just tell you?" Eldon chuckled again as he walked over to Kay, who had already started to care for his new 'battle-scar'. "No worries, I'll tell all the girls that it was a glassbeak that got a snag of your arm. The women love a man that barely survives danger." The chuckling continued as Eldon offer a quick toying wink towards Kayiri. Eldon was a teaser, not one to actively worry about much. Sunkiss walked over to the tree, examining how the ax was stuck, where he had hit, and eventually pulled the axes from tree and the ground below, wiped them off on his pant leg, and moved back towards Kay. "You aren't going to let a small scratch dissuade you from hitting the 'X' right? Hell, I bet a gold (gold miza) that I can hit it before you." Eldon smirked. All of a sudden, now that he just managed to get his ax to stick in the tree, he was certain he could hit anything, kill anything, without so much as a struggle for it. Very bold, but then again, it was just a single coin.

[Kayiri]

"Bah, you didn't tell me anything I didn't know," Kayiri said with a sarcastic tone. When Eldon made the comment about telling girls that he had taken the wound in a fight with a glassbeak, he smirked, only speaking after a few seconds.

"Bah," he seemed to like that sound right now, "I've already been mauled within an inch of my life by Zith. Once you get that close to death, Eldon, it looses a bit of it's edge," Kayiri rebuked, shifting slightly to make the scar down his left arm more apparent. It was a series of claw marks, four fingers and a thumb, running from just below the shoulder to the top of his elbow. It was a remnant from the battle he had held over his bow not three seasons ago. He was proud of that battle to this day. At the same time, he moved his face a bit to show off the three marks just below his eye, also from Zith claws. He wasn't really boasting, just showing off evidence to support his otherwise hard-to-believe claim.

"Killed three of the bastards, we did. I claimed one's life, another's hand, and a third's teeth before the night was done," Kayiri then commented. "Was down with fever for the next two days, but I survived," with a quick glance, he noticed the bleeding had stopped. He replaced the cloth with a clean, thinner one, and then strapped his bracer back on. The white cloth sticking out from under it made it look a bit bootlegged, but that was besides the point.

When the bet was offered, Kayiri laughed wholeheartedly. "You sure you want to make that bet, boy? I'm pretty sure my purse'll be a tad bit heavier than yours by the end of today," Kayiri then said, winking playfully. He rose to his feet, drawing yet another arrow from his quiver. "I'll take your bet, but don't get upset when you lose your coin. It'll make me feel bad," Kayiri then teased.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

"I can't say that I've had the privilege of crossing paths with a Zith, though the stories don't leave me regretting such. I feel confident that I could hold my own against one." One, perhaps. Eldon fell silent as he imagined what a full fledged 'life-or-death' fight with a singed humanoid would be like. A swipe across his chest, a stab on the Zith's shoulder. It was the typical 'Eldon is victorious but receives some sort of injury' image in his head. Foolish, inaccurate, a waste of time. He shook his head to recover from his drifting mind. "For now I'll just be thankful that I haven't had to defend myself from one." Eldon may not have fought a Zith, but he's had plenty of interesting scuffles in the past. A few glassbeak encounters, many reimancy overgivings, and of course learning to ride bareback had a life threatening moment or two. Being a Drykas meant you are always threatened with death. When Kayiri found it humorous to call Eldon a 'boy', Eldon found himself grinding his teeth behind closed mouth and a fierce twitch in the corner of his lip. It was a touchy subject for Eldon, being called a boy when he was, without a doubt, a man by now. It especially bothered him that Kay was obviously younger than himself, and was the one calling Eldon, his superior in age, a boy. Eldon had to force himself to breathe slowly and clench his fists just to keep himself from chewing out Kayiri, or worse, tackling him in a fit of rage. "I'd watch my tongue if I was in your shoes. I am certain of my wager. That is why I made it of course." Eldon spoke in a 'matter-of-fact' manner as he restated his bet, though there was an obvious scornful tone lingering in his voice. The viciousness would subside in a matter of moments as Eldon picked up his axes and stared at the tree once again. He hit near the 'X' a moment ago, it was inches away, but the ax hit and stuck. All he needed to do now was judge, memorize, and execute so he could hit the tree every time. Eldon heaved the ax above his head, stepped forward once and let the weapon soar through the air. The ax hit the tree once again, but it was even higher this time. The target was a good five inches below. "Take your shot." To be honest, Eldon didn't care about a single gold-rimmed miza coin. It was so insignificant that it was hardly even worth betting, but he needed something to fuel his competitive spirit at that moment. This would give him the drive to try harder, and ultimately learn quicker. And interesting trick he played on himself.

[Kayiri]

"With pleasure," Kayiri said certainly, drawing the string of his bow back. Steady breaths. Eyes on the target. Kayiri didn't give a damn about the Miza. His pride had forced him to accept this challenge, and it was his pride that would make him go to any length to win. Raise the bow for distance, aim to the side for wind, wait for the lull between the gusts... There it was! The man loosed the arrow, watching it arc through the air as the bowstring sang.

Thump! The sound alerted the Drykas that his blow had connected. But where? His eyes darted to the tree, scanning it throughly. Old arrow, old arrow, old arrow... But that one, that one above the X, it was a fresh hit. It had not been there moment before. It was not on the X, but it was close. A bit lower on his next shot. That was all he had to do. The man jogged the distance between the end of the makeshift range and the tree, pulling the arrows from the tree. When he was done, it looked considerably less porcupineish. Wonderful. The appearance had been bothering him.

"We're both honing in. Who's going to loose the kill shot first?" Kayiri inquired to no one in particular. He settled down on one knee, pulling a small whetstone from his pack. He went about honing the edges of his arrows methodically, like a killer sharpening his murder weapon. Imagine how humiliating it would be for his arrow to hit the X and fall off, like Eldon's had? No, he would not allow that to happen. He would sharpen every last one of his arrows to a razor edge. When he was done with them, their heads would guide the rest of the arrow not just into the tree, but straight through it, until it emerged victoriously from the other side!