Midday setting. The day was bright and clear when Axelle finally emerged from the caves. She had her sword sheathed in the belt around her waist and her crossbow slung over her back like it usually was. She was heading toward where there was once a mill. She remembered quietly that it was a nice mill, a nice quiet peaceful mill that was torn down by Alaki and made into a training grounds, and the training grounds were what she needed right now. She had been sitting back in her Marbas rank for too long. She needed advancement, it was what she craved and wanted. Maybe she would find someone already at the grounds to train with.
The hike up the hills was a bitch, and an even bigger bitch carrying the equipment that she was. Even though her sword wasn’t really that heavy, its bulk slowed her down anyway. Her legs felt like noodles once she reached the top of the hills where the training grounds were. She figured she would just train outside – she had all the weapons she needed, and she just needed a target to practice with. She didn’t see anyone around at the moment – which was usually what happened because there was never anyone around when she needed them.
Axelle moved through the weak fence built around the grounds and headed toward an empty enough space in the grass. She situated her pile of stuff next to a target practice bulls-eye. She dropped her sword and quiver full of arrows beside the object, and took three arrows from the quiver. Then she snapped them onto the bottom holder on her crossbow and headed toward the other way. She needed to get as far as possible in order to practice on her shooting – and it was pretty damn good. She needed to work on her moving targets, but she wouldn’t be able to get that here unless she decided to start hunting pack mates. She pulled the latch back and situated an arrow there, aimed, and then fired.
Bull’s-eye! She smiled to herself, but she wasn’t surprised. She wanted to refine her skill better, and looked toward a shelf that held bows conveniently nearby. She walked toward the bullseye and placed her crossbow next to everything else. Then she made her way over to the traditional bow and arrows and brought them back with her over to her spot. The bow felt weird in her hands, and positioning the arrow felt foreign. Her crossbow was automatic – all the positioning that was needed was to pull the latch back and place the arrow in there – then pull the trigger. Traditional bows and arrows were a bit more complicated.
At first, Axelle was a little shaky and off. She couldn’t even load the arrow right and have it fly through the air fast or far enough to even hit the target. After an hour though, she at least became a little better at loading and aiming, but hitting her target was still not mastered. She loaded an arrow and pulled back the elastic and let go. The arrow soared through the air, but hit the target way off to the side. "Fuck!" Axelle cursed to herself, but loaded another arrow to try again. She repeated the process over and over again until she saw improvement. She knew using the bow would take practice, just like learning the crossbow did.
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