Open - A Wild Hawkeye Appears!

Eliana had been playing Terra for a few days now, but had taken the time to get a feel for some of the mechanics. She had taken a liking to a bow, and found out that it complimented well with Earth Magic, for extra defense. So, to get some quality target practice, she decided to move herself out into the woods, shooting at pretty much anything moving. And trees. Plenty of trees.

She managed to nail a few small birds and and a couple squirrels too. One through the head. Seems she was a natural with the bow. How lucky! Hearing some movement behind her, she nocks an arrow and wheels around to face the source of the sound, ready to loose her arrow.

 

Logging in …

Welcome back, Aeiou … We’ve been waiting.​

A small smile quirked the corners of Aeiou’s lips as the text lingered in front of him, wisps of smoke beckoning him to open his eyes. When he did, he was relieved to see that he recognized this part of the forests of Brisshal. Dappling sunlight tickled the leaves as they rustled in a slight breeze. Aeiou turned his head this way and that, brow furrowing slightly. While the view was welcoming, something wasn’t quite to his standards. As if something was missing. He circled around a few times, head cranking in each direction. A small tsk shot out from under his breath.

Notification: Add-Ons Installed!
​

Ah, there it was. Aeiou waved his hand away, dismissing the text scroll from his view. He pulled his halberd off from his back. As if on cue, his hands tightened and loosened along its shaft, unprompted. Cool. A small breath in and out and the Faerin was on his way through the woods, eyes wide for any stir in the underbrush. He had been expecting to find a few squirrels or pheasants. Alive, that is. Instead, he had found the trail of critter carcasses. He followed the few that he could make out a path to, and found a woman at the end of it, green hair and garb blending in easily with the surrounding area.

It was only a few steps before she had whirled around to face him, bow taught and arrow glinting. No doubt she had to pan down a foot or so in order for her aim to meet her desired target — the middle of Aeiou’s forehead. The small man staggered backwards, his own weapon doing little else but proving to be nothing but a poor excuse for a barrier between the two players. Aeiou sighed a breathless chuckle and offered the best offering of good will he could muster while at point blank: a measly wave, followed by two fingers slowly stretching out into a sign of peace.

 

She chuckled at the sight of the diminutive figure before her. Hardly a bigger target then the animals she had been sniping earlier. But she imagined that this boy would have a bit more spunk then the birds did. She angled her bow a bit down, and took an aim between the upraised fingers of the person standing around 20 yards away.

She smirked gently, and let the arrow fly, scoring a perfect bulls-eye, the arrow flying between the boys fingers without actually contacting him in any way, though the sound and air whoosing past him might give him a startle. "Heh. My aim is even better in here."

 

After the recent chaos of dying, training, and generally dealing with bullshit she had no desire to contend with, the Admiral returned to the place where her journey had begun. Brisshal, and the woods. It was tranquil and calm as she moved among its swaying branches, listening to the babble of a stream and the sounds of... nothing?

Sighing, she removed her weapons from her side and listened, aware that there were no birds chirping. That meant something had driven them off. A monster. A caster or archer practicing shooting on them. Something, somewhere nearby, was dangerous to this place. Cautiously, she began to look for it, finding it in a small clearing where a tiny faerin was being shot at by a taller archer woman. The woman seemed too absorbed in the elation of finding out that she was a talented archer, so capable of shooting at the smaller person for no discernible reason, and the Admiral used that to step up behind her quietly. Patting Eliana on the shoulder, the Admiral smiled and rolled her hammer-swinging shoulder.

"Kinda rude to attack people for no reason, don't you think?" she asked, swinging suddenly at the girl's face with her hammer.

 

Maybe he should have held the peace sign up higher. Maybe he should have tried to speak out, close the distance with a few words of friendship. Maybe he should have considered all of these things before he saw his life flash before his eyes, waiting to know the feeling of an arrowhead lodged between his brows.

Having an arrow go streaming between your fingers was a new feeling. A stinging feeling. Aeiou made sure that when he tilted his head down to look at his hand that it was more nonchalant than it ended up being. The sweat beading on his hairline from the adrenaline of it all certainly didn’t help. A cut lined a knuckle on his finger, a droplet of blood began to prick and ooze. And here he thought smaller targets were supposed to be harder to hit. It didn’t help that the archer’s quip of self-confidence made it no easier to discern whether or not she wanted to hit him in the first place, or if it was all just a pissing contest. Aeiou wasn’t sure if he could match her skills of intimidation — a halberd was a little clunkier to try and squeeze between fingers. Deftly, at least. Brutally, sure. But that would require physical finesse. Which Aeiou didn’t have much of. In the slightest. His lips grew tighter as they tried to stay stretched in a smile. A small, high-pitched whining gurgled out of his throat. It became distorted as soon as it bubbled out of his lips. An inorganic sound, as if the game’s sound bytes were skipping and distorting in Aeiou’s mouth.

Another peace sign slowly raised, the Faerin now trying to make it doubly clear that he had been there to serve from the very start. His fingers twitched in a slight sigil and small beads of light emerged from under his fingernails and bobbed and pranced around his hands. Charming, sure. Threatening, never. Hopefully that would get the message across. Hopefully it would keep the archer’s attention as another figure, ominous and grand, came up from behind. Aeiou made the lights grow brighter, attempting to dazzle with the pretty light show. Added with the malformed humming Aeiou was trying to convince himself was a song, and it was definitely … something to be seen, no doubt.

Apparently a little sideshow attraction wasn’t in the cards today. A hammer came swooping up, aiming for the Archer’s head. Aeiou winced as he prepared for an impact. The archer had shown she was dextrous. Aeiou supposed they were all about to find out just how much. He ducked down lower, beginning to scramble around the side, putting the duelist in between him and the archer, halberd at the ready and the high pitched whining ever-present.

 

@Eliana Eklis