NationStates Jolt Archive

"Well...not at mine, per se..."

"Alright, he suffers at the hands of some of your peers then"

"Shan and Jovin, likely...but they can't go too far, or Rhenna would make them suffer."

"That his wife?"

"Yes...and my master."

"I see..."

"What time is it? The next class is poisons, at seven."

"Almost time then, it's six fifty"

"It was either in the same room, or the one right next to it."

"Let's check them both then"

Raven got up, and went into the next room,"Can't see a bloody thing... ow"

He'd walked into a desk

"This isn't it. Let's try the room across the hall...and this time...let me go first. I can see in the dark."

"Lucky you and thermal vision," muttered Raven, just loud enough for her to hear him,"Anything?"

"Yeah, this is it."

He brought a lighter out of his pocket, and lit it,"Ah, so it is"

Tari cast a spell on a chair, checking it for (and disarming) traps, then sat languidly.

He went for the older style of throwing something onto the chair. An arrow shot out the wall, impaling itself in the opposite wall,"Lovely"

"I would say so." The arrow had passed just in front of the young mage's face.

"I wonder if everything is so standard"

"Most likely."

"Well, this is developing into a distinctly boring situation"

OOC: Talking about the traps

"I thought the entrance hall traps had promise, but I was bored by the time we found the scorpions."

"I would have thought that the first, the boulder, would have been enough"

"They're the 'elite.' Meaning they're supposed to be able to do stuff like this."

He picked up on her tone,"I'm sure we'll see just how elite they are"

"Or lack thereof. Whichever works best for them, you know?"

"Each to their own"

"Pretty much."

OOC: Am waiting AUst, just waiting

OOC: been busy-will be back soon.

OOC: Alright

OOC: Aust, you disappoint.

OOC: Sorry.

IC: The next lession was distance Weapondry with Doctor Daniels, the same pupils who had been in the previous lession filed in to learn how to use guns, arrows, throwing knives and explosives to terminate there target.

Raven was already a masterful shot with guns and throwing weapons, never used arrows, and was an expert in explosives. He detested using them, but knew that it was needed at times... if you needed a very large distraction to say 'I'm here, and I'm coming to get you'

Tari had never handled a gun in her life, but she was familiar with explosives (granted, most cultures would consider some of the oft used Kaymirilian explosives 'rudimentary'), was good with throwing knives, and a dead shot with arrows.

Raven looked at Tari as she held a pistol in her hand, a look of confusement on her face, as if to say,'How in holy hell do I use this?'

"You look a tad confused"

"If only a tad, then I'm doing fairly well. In my form of training, we do not begin with guns until we have begun our fourth decade...two more years, for me. I've never even held one of these things before."

Raven smiled slightly,"I noticed as much, want a hand?"

"If you have a moment, that would be great."

He shrugged,"It's no trouble, really"

He moved behind her, and brought his hands up so they were cupped around hers and the grip of the weapon,"DOn't take this the wrong way or anything like that. Now, your grip and your stance are the first things you must learn when shooting a pistol. Your stance is fine, due to the bow training. However, with this weapon, your grip needs to be firm. One hand around the grip itself, with the other hand cupping it in the bottom. Look, I'll show you"

He let go, having adjusted her position as he was speaking, before taking a pistol similar in design to hers, and showing her,"Try and copy this"

Tari adjusted her grip on the pistol, holding it the way he'd arranged her hands, and she watched for further instruction.

He looked over,"Good enough for a first time. As a first-timer, you aren't going to be able to hold that position for long. If you've seen Cougar pistol-shooting, you'll notice how he can hold his aim for a long time, far longer than you can. It's all to do with strength in the arms, something he has built up over the years"

He paused a second,"Now, load a magazine and cock the weapon like so"

*He demonstrates*

She repeats his movements, getting momentarily stuck on loading the magazine, but managing it. She didn't figure that he needed to know that part of their magickal training involved physical training...including holding difficult positions for longer than absolutely necessary. She figured he was right...she wouldn't be able to hold the gun like that too long.

She cocked back the hammer.

He nodded his approval,"Good. Now, aim carefully, keeping the weapon as steady as you can. Once you think you are ready, squeeze the trigger, and don't tell yourself when you are going to shoot. Just let it happen"

The young Drow mage looked at the target, aiming for the center. Subconciously, she let little magick tendrils of energy flow around the target, narrowing down her range of focus. When she felt she had it centered, she let a little tendril flow from the angle of the gun, checking that it was aligned.

She gently started squeezing the trigger, and the bullet flew out of the gun. She took a step back at the recoil, not expecting it, and the bullet (which had gone from a steady gun) hit several inches high and to the left of the center.

"Not expecting the recoil?"

"I told you, I've never worked with these things before. Now I know it does that."

"Ah well, no one ever gets it perfect the first time. Try and try again."

As he spoke, he smoothly squeezed the trigger, the barrel jumping slightly, but the round thudding into the target

She set herself again, and took another shot. The barrel jumped still, but not as much. The round still went high and left...so she lowered the gun some and moved it to the right.

*Some time and many shots later*

She'd finally gotten her shots centered, but the muscles in her arm were protesting strongly.

That's probably going to bruise.

She put the gun down for a moment to try and rub the tingling soreness out of her forearms.

He laid his weapon down as well, and noticed her rubbing her arms,"Let me guess, they ache like nothing else right?"

"Not quite...you should see how badly we beat each other up in some training matches...but fairly close. I'm guessing you remember your first shooting experience, then?"

He nodded,"Oh yes... not one of the most plesent things I've ever done"

"I'm guessing it was worth it, though."

Tired of rubbing at her forearms to no avail, she ran a heat spell through them to ease the pain, then a cold spell to ease the slight swelling.

"I thought this was supposed to be the poisons class...that's what it had marked on the schedule."

"I don't like firearms... too loud, even with silencers, too crude, too bulky by far. And it say poisons... maybe they are trying to keep us on our toes?"

"If we presume the average level of intelligence is higher than that of the first teacher we encountered. And firearms...*shrugs* Just another thing you have to get used to. My weapons of choice are the scythe and chain...not something you'd see an assassin using very often."

"You could say that. Personally, I like the black knife and other such implements, along with poison"

"Poisons are fun, but I prefer to stay out of arm's range of my opponent. I'm not really a knife person."

"Each to their own, I suppose"

"Something like that. I understand from Rhenna that Fortune attacked quite differently than Vamp did. And we only heard about Fortune because she turned up in Kaymiril, and there was some trouble with her there."

"There are four different classes of assasin in Snake Eaters, each one a specialist at a different form. The Callidus are the best at getting close, and using poisons and such. The Vindicare are snipers... mine are the Eversors, the close combat ones. Finally, we have the Culexus... and no-one even knows what they are like, as no one has ever seen one"

"Sounds like either the most or least dangerous kind...either that or a myth."

"No-one knows... it's said that only the most upper echelons of government know what they do. It's like Snake... everyone knows that they exist, but no-one really knows who it is"

Tari went and put her pistol back, then grabbed a traditional bow (none of this pulley crap) and a quiver of arrows. Going back, she strung the bow.

"I've never heard of Snake before."

She picked up the bow, nocked an arrow, and sent the shaft humming into the dead center of the target.

Raven watched the arrows fly,"Snake is the premier singles operative. Essentially, they take on assignments that are the most lethal, and are by no means guaranteed to return the agent alive. No-one bar the president ever knows who Snake is"

"Well...that makes sense. If someone knows who Snake is, then they can go after any and everyone he or she holds dear."

She sent another arrow, so close to the original that the tips were touching in the target.

"Yes.. very true. I do not envy the person who is Snake"

"Neither would I."

He watched her with the bow,"I never did learn to fire a bow"

"Really? It's easy, grab one, I'll help you."

"Alright, but don't expect any miracles"

"It doesn't take divine intervention to teach someone how to shoot. Go on, it's easy."

Coulda fooled me when I was learning

He picked up the bow, took an arrow, checked it over, nocked it, drew it back, and let it fly. It sailed cleanly, and hit... the edge of the target

OOC: To be hhonest my PC crashed and lost all my work,, ican't be bothered looking through 38 pages for the scedual, I tired to do it from memory.

IC: Daniels watched as the two pupil taught each other how to fire verious weapons, that was good. It meant he could concenrate on the other pupils. He went over to cheak on them.

"Everything okay?"

"Not bad...here..." She went over to him. "Unlike when you're holding a gun, with a bow, you have to be standing almost sideways to your target."

She takes his shoulders and adjusts his stance.

"Have your forward foot facing exactly where you want your shaft to go, and have your trailing foot perpendicular to your leading foot."

She took two arrows while she let him adjust his stance. "When choosing arrows, there are some very important things you should know. First, the head. You want one that isn't chipped, and doesn't have too much angular difference in either side of the head. You want a straight shaft, and you want a straight fletching. Crooked fletching will send your arrow wide each and every time. An example of a good arrow is this *holds up one* and a bad arrow is this *holds up the other.* You with me so far?"

Daniels smiled, "One other thing, i knwo it dosn't apply in here but once your out there the wind is somthing to watch, especcially on distance shot, an arrow light really and it gets pushed around by even a light wind."

Raven watched and listened... it was scary to hear the 'adultness' in her voice,"Yeah, I'm with you"

Daniels smiled, "One other thing, i knwo it dosn't apply in here but once your out there the wind is somthing to watch, especcially on distance shot, an arrow light really and it gets pushed around by even a light wind."
"Right now, a bigger concern for him is that the string doesn't smack his forearm or face when he releases."

Raven watched and listened... it was scary to hear the 'adultness' in her voice,"Yeah, I'm with you"
"Now, as far as arm placement goes, you hold your bow arm out straight, exactly aligned with your leading foot. *Stretches out his arm and sets it.* Oh, and you should hold it a bit higher in the grip. With your arrow hand, take the arrow and nock it. Nocking is hard when first beginning."

She picks up her own bow, and takes an arrow, moving slowly. "There will be a spot where the end is not fletched...maybe even a little groove. That's the part you put to the string. Don't hold the arrow. Let it rest between your index and middle fingers, and when you draw it back, it'll come on its own. Final thing, much like a gun has recoil, a bow will swing around and smack you if you don't have it gripped firmly enough. You can change the angle of the shot by changing the angle you nock the arrow at...the angle of your arrow arm will let you know about what angle you're shooting at. That should be about everything, so go ahead and try."

He followed every instruction to the letter, and let another arrow fly. This time, it flew slightly high, coming to rest just above the golden centre

"See? It's easy. Oh, since this is your first time, don't shoot off too many at once. The bow bounces around in your hand, and creates friction...which creates blisters."

Raven nodded,"Basic survival training taught us how to deal with blisters... it's extremely painful to do, but it works"

"I'm telling you not to. It's the second class of the day, and a long time until you'd have a chance to scrape them off or I'd have a chance to heal them for you."

He had to resist the urge to go,"Yes Miss", and instead settled for,"Alright, I won't give myself blisters, I promise"

"You get them, you deal with them yourself." She sets herself back with her bow and starts shooting.

He stopped after a while, to prevent himself getting blisters. There was something in her tone that made you think,'Best not to mess with her then'

She set her bow (longbow) against the ground, twirling it in one hand. "I wonder...what are the differences in shooting a rifle and a pistol?"

He paused a moment,"For a start, a rifle is longer, heavier, so it's harder to move quickly and aim for long periods. At the same time, they use larger rounds, meaning they can take down a person far easier than a pistol ever could"

"I don't know about that...I'd think a pistol round to the head would take someone out faster than a rifle round to the leg."

"Maybe, but another thing the rifle has is range. Whilst it's true a pistol to the head is almost always going to kill them, you have to get close to them. That means being exposed. With a rifle, you can shoot from up to over a kilometre away, and still kill them through the head"

"But the farther away you get means the more power you need and the greater margin for error you have. You can be aimed dead on someone's ear, and hit the side of a building a hundred feet away. That would expose you, I would think."

"Sniper's rule. Move after every shot. Never fire two shots from the same position... still, as I said before, I don't do rifles. Not my thing at all"

"No, that's the Vindicare's task. You're the one that'll get in there with a knife and stab someone. I think that would be harder...looking at someone's face as they die by your hand. Magick's a lot cleaner...and allows for more room."

"I've never killed a man face-to-face. I always come up behind them, and do it quickly, cleanly, quietly"

"That way you don't have to look into their eyes when you kill...if you're not killing a person, it's that much more bearable."

"Anything is better than cold-blooded murder"

"And it only feels cold blooded if you're looking at them...and they at you."

"Essentially, yes. I'm not a murderer, I'm an assassin. It should be honourable... not in cold-blood"

Tari almost said something quite opposite to Raven's thoughts, but didn't.

She merely reached back and summoned the pistol back, loading it.

"I use the pistol, you use the bow, and we see who's the worst with the other's weapon. Sound fun?"

He smiled a thin smile,"I'm sure you'll win, but hey, it's all in fun"

He checked his arrows, made sure that they were adequate for the task at hand,"Let's go"

"Best out of three...that way I don't break my arm, and you don't blister."

She sent a round thudding into the ring around the center point.

He nooked the arrow onto the string, and brought the bow up, his eyes looking directly at the target. He pulled back, his hand just brushing his cheek, before letting it go. The arrow sailed through the air, coming to rest in the centre of the target

Now, can I do that all over again?

"Good shot." Tari narrowed her eyes, focusing. Gun angle, location of target...layers of target peeling away until there was only the center.

She squeezed back the trigger, and the bullet sailed to just off-center of the target.

He went through the same motions as before, but as he released the string, his arm dropped a fraction, causing the arrow to hit in the area just outside the bulls-eye

"Damn"

"You have to keep your arm raised. Arrows feel the effects of gravity very heavily."

She set herself back, but her bit of advice to him had shifted her stance a bit, so that when she fired, she hit the line where the bullseye point (which I'm guessing is a round ring about the size of my fist) and the ring outside that met.

She laughs. "Well, so much for learning quickly."

OOC: You would be correct

IC: "A gun is different to a bow... it's a heavier object in a much smaller package"

"Something like that."

"Something tells me we could do this all day, and neither would gain the advantage over the other"

"Probably not. But you have one last shot. Hit it in the bullseye, and you win."

He smiled, and nooked his final arrow onto the string, bringing it up to his eyelevel. His breathing settled into a steady rhythm, and he held 2/3 of one back. Five seconds passed, and he let the arrow fly. It thumped into the target just above the bullseye

"Guess I loose"

"Nah, it's a tie. My first shot was awful. You might even win by a bit."

"Ah, whats a small difference between friends?"

"Not much. My only question is...now what? It's a good half an hour before class lets out."

"Be bored?"

"That's no fun."

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Unfortunately, no."

He laughed slightly,"Thought not... do you feel we're wasting our time here?"

"Only a lot."

"I'm seriously considering returning home"

"I'm going to contact Vedt about returning home...but he's probably going to say I have to stay for at least a month...which is going to suck. And waste time."

"Is Vedt a hardass then?"

"Yeah, you could say that. That, and a day isn't really enough time to observe and pass judgement. A year would be optimal, but I don't know how much of it I would be able to stand."

"Sometimes, a day is all you have."

"Yes...but this is a learning experience. And I'm supposed to learn. About these...people...or assassins...or whatever."

He smiled,"Just do what I do. Memorise the codes for their system, and hack it."

He glanced around, and lowered his voice,"That was another reason for me being here... similar to yours"

"Oh?" *Louder, but not obviously loud* "Come on...we're taking up space, and we're done for now."

She moves to put her weapons away, and then sit against the wall.

He put his weapons away, and sat next to her. His voice softened again,"Yeah... it's another function. Spies"

"That's always fun. I think they know I'm here to 'observe.' I don't really have much in the way of respect for them...yet...they haven't earned any. Maybe they will, before I'm allowed to go home."

"They have gained some respect from me... but I still see a lot of holes in their methods... training assasins in large groups does encourage you to keep on your toes, but it also reduces the time a tutor can spend with a student. I might go tonight to get this information"

"I find our system better...then again, I'm probably just biased."

"Quite possibly"

"I think you'd like us."

"The real question is, what would your people think of me?"

"That is a good question...you're a human, and you don't use magick."

"On the one hand, I may be accepted... on the other..."

"It's a city of mages. Wile we might decide you're okay...you'd probably not be welcome."

"I doubt Cougar was welcome orginally either... still, he is a mage... of sorts"

"But you aren't."

"Exactly"

"I think we'd like you...you just wouldn't belong."

"I don't really belong anywhere. But in any case, I doubt it will become an issue"

"No, probably not." She takes out a small knife (a penknife, really) and a little piece of wood and starts carving at it.

"Something you do often?" he asked, gesturing at the wood

"Every now and again, when I get a spare moment."