Some much needed practice.

[GeneralArin]

(Guess where Jake's never posted in until now! XD ...You'll see why shortly, lol )

Jake scowled at the target. It stood there, mocking him.

Fortunately, it was the only thing mocking him at the moment. He purposefully chose a moment when no one was scheduled to use the range, and when no one seemed to be around. He sharply tugged another arrow out of the quiver and laid it on the bow. He was using a compound bow. It normally gave him more luck than a regular bow since it was at least partially mechanical. It was smaller as well, easier to carry around if he could manage to make it useful. He was a notoriously bad shot. Thus far, none of the arrows had hit the target. At this rate, he'd be better off aiming anywhere else.

Jake drew the string back. He took a deep breath to cool his anger. He did his best to acknowledge the muscles that were used to aim the arrow and to ignore the fact he couldn't just will the arrow to hit the target. He stared down the target, making all necessary adjustments... then he loosed the arrow.

It soared, straight and true, far above the target.
Jake had to grit his teeth to bite back the fierce curses and nearly threw his bow to the ground. He set his jaw and glared at the target. It was mocking him. Maybe he should try the crossbow again.

[Cerulaen]

((Would it be okay if I were to RP here even though I'm RPing with my rarely-active friend Zachary in another topic?))

[GeneralArin]

(Sure, that's fine. You can be in a few different topics at the same time, so long as it's reasonable.)

[Cerulaen]

((Awesoooome. Just don't want to be unrealistic or anything xD))

After sleeping in the Hermes Cabin overnight, Daquiri was feeling rather restless with her situation. She was normally a night owl that liked her beauty sleep in the mornings, but this particular morning she had a certain appreciation for the calm peacefulness of dawn. And after the day she'd had yesterday, Lord knew she needed peace and quiet.
She'd been spending the last half hour wandering around the camp, secretly exploring the premises while no one was there to bother her. Thankfully, she'd been able to retrieve her brown combat boots from the Infirmary so she no longer had to walk around in the grass--now wet with dew--barefoot. She was currently walking near a fairly flat expanse that was partially hidden by trees. She didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when she thought she heard noises from behind the trees, her curiosity got the better of her.
Walking between the trees and into the open, she spotted an older-looking guy shooting arrows at one of the many targets lined up farther off. Or at least, it looked as though he were attempting to. He didn't appear to be very good.
When the boy took a deep breath and drew back into another stance, Daquiri held her breath as he collected himself. She could practically feel his concentration from where she was standing, what with the way he narrowed his blue eyes and didn't even bother to brush the stray blond hair out of his face. When he finally let the arrow fly, Daquiri almost cracked a smile when it soared a good foot over the target.
Slowly walking up behind the blond-haired boy, Daquiri stopped about five feet behind him before speaking. "For a camp that seems to be so adamant about fighting, I can't say you'd have much luck in a battle with that shot of yours." Daquiri kept a neutral expression on her face to keep her upper lip from twitching upwards in a smirk.

[GeneralArin]

Jake shut his eyes when he heard someone behind him. He took a long breath. It probably wouldn't be fair of him to go off on the girl who had spoken for an apt observation.
"Yes. I've noticed." He managed to say through gritted teeth. He dropped the bow on a nearby table, since he had fired his last arrow.
"Need anything?" It was intended to be a polite question, but his annoyance at his archery skills made it come out a good deal gruffer than he intended. He waited for an answer before searching for his arrows.

[Cerulaen]

By the sigh the blond let loose, Daquiri could only guess he wasn't exactly pleased to have an audience. When he turned around to face her, she was almost pleased to notice that he didn't tower over her like Andrew had. This boy was more of an average height, with a rather average build to match.
When he asked her if she needed anything with a voice that sounded anything but pleased, Daquiri couldn't help goading him a little further. Afterall, it was in her nature to piss people off.
Letting out a brief snort, Daquiri crossed her arms. "By the looks of it, you're more in need of something than I am."

[GeneralArin]

Jake couldn't help but make a face at that comment. He rolled his eyes and grunted.
"If you want to help then, help me find my arrows." He said, not holding back his occasional gruffness. He stalked out onto the range, scowling again. It made a mental note and small gesture to a few he passed in easy sight. He was going to look for the furthest ones first, then work in. "There should be fifteen in all."

[Estelle]

((You guys mind if I join?? I'm bored... :'( ))

[GeneralArin]

(lol, go ahead. I like embarrassing Jake with his poor archery skills.)

[Cerulaen]

((If Jake says it's fine, it's okay with me ))

Daquiri debated actually helping the boy. She wasn't normally one to go out of her way to help people, but...she supposed this guy wasn't tripping over his feet in a stupor at her looks. In fact, he seemed to hardly even notice that she was of the female specimen.
Interesting. Refreshing, but interesting.
Shrugging, she figured picking up a few arrows couldn't hurt. Deciding to head for the mid-range between the shooting area and the targets, she began to walk only to find that an arrow was lying about 8 feet away from where the boy had been standing. This guy was so talented at being a horrible archer, it was almost comical.

[Estelle]

' Hey Jake,' Estelle smiled as she walked over. 'Daquiri.' She gave the blonde an acknowledging nod. She was horrible at archery herself, though she had no trouble at firing off darts.

[GeneralArin]

Jake finally found the last arrow that had soared a ridiculous amount of distance past the target. He mumbled some vague crude comment about the arrow and snatched it up. He started working his way back, trying to mentally remember the vague area of each arrow.
Why was he so bad at archery? It was dumb. He could be at least modest in most everything, but it was like Apollo and Artemis determined he should never touch a bow. He grumbled to himself as he snatched up another arrow. At least they helped out last winter when he threw that knife. He grunted.

Several minutes later, he had gathered eight arrows that had ended up behind the target. He shoved the eighth arrow back into the quiver and glanced around. It didn't look like any more were behind the target.

"How many did you find?" He asked the girl who had walked up, not bothering with a polite tone. He looked over at another person joining them. He quickly recognized Estelle.

"Hey." He said. It came out practically a grunt.

[Cerulaen]

Looking up from picking up an arrow at the sound of a voice, Daquiri raised an eyebrow at the raven-haired girl. "Estelle," she returned in the same tone of voice Estelle herself had used. It figured the girl would be an early-riser.
At Jake's rather rudely-toned question, she held up a handful of arrows. "Seven. All within fifteen feet of your shooting stance." Dumping the heap in front of him, she dusted her hands off on the ripped shorts she was still wearing. She seriously needed to find some new clothes. "I'd suggest a hobby that involved less aiming. Perhaps throwing bricks at barn walls."

[Estelle]

Estelle nodded at Jake's grunt-greeting. 'You up early? I couldn't even sleep.' She had her hair in a simple braid, not having much energy to do something more complex.

[GeneralArin]

Jake glared at the other girl. He gave an angry smile. "Maybe you should stick with hair braiding and sleepovers." He sharply said back, snatching up the arrows. He shoved them back into the quiver and turned back to the usual standing area of the range.
Estelle had said something, and he couldn't completely spare a bit of his gruff tone in his response. "Yah." He said. "I wanted to shoot without the others." He said shortly. He picked up his composite again and messed with the pulleys and other settings. "Try out the composite, too."

[Guest]

((Can I join?))

[Cerulaen]

((*tries to smile angrily and busts out laughing when Ceru realizes she looks ridiculous*))

  Turning up her nose at the boy, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Maybe you should join me," she tossed back at him. "The sleeping bags would probably enjoy your company more than your arrows." Honestly, it wasn't like she wasn't right. This guy needed to give up his apparent dream to become the world's first archer killed by his own arrows.

[GeneralArin]

(I guess one more will be alright, but we're starting to get full.)
(Sorry Estelle, I feel a bit impatient.)

Jake looked up long enough to glare at her. He went back to fiddling with the composite bow. He continued talking to Estelle.
"Thinking about swapping for a crossbow. It's less touchy." He informed her. He gave the bow a test twang. It rang nicely, but he wasn't convinced. He messed with the pulley, then pulled a small wrench out of his pocket to adjust the tightness.

[Cerulaen]

Ignoring the blond guy's glare, Daquiri sauntered off towards one of the tables. God, she'd missed giving insult barrages.
  Finding the table to be covered in a couple practice bows, she picked one up at random and twanged the string. She'd never done archery before, but it seemed to be in fairly good condition. Testing the pull, Daquiri drew back the bowstring. It was harder to do than she'd imagined, but she still managed. One thing was for sure, if she ever wanted to go into archery, she'd have to get a bow tempered to her size.
  Setting down the bow she was holding, she perused her gaze over the other ones to see if they might be smaller. She spotted one almost entirely covered by another bow and picked it up to see how it compared to the previous one. Bringing on her inner Susan Pevensie, she drew her hand back, using her mouth like an anchor for her hand to rest on. Taking a deep breath, she let go while simultaneously exhaling. The string twanged back into place, reverberating from the force. She hadn't dropped the thing, so Daquiri figured there was a good chance she could handle this bow better than the others.

[Syl]

((May I join?))

[Cerulaen]

((I'd wait for Jake to answer, cuz he already said this topic was getting full when Jay joined.))

[GeneralArin]

(I guess he hasn't joined yet, but Syl would definately be the last if Jay's still joining. Estelle, are you going to post?)

[Syl]

((I'll take that as a yes))

The archery range was probably not how she'd expected.
Syl had never visited here before. She'd expected it to be filled with a bunch of Apollo kids or something. Of course, that was just stereotype. To her.

[Estelle]

((Of course!jay's gonna too, he said he's just waiting for the right moment to jump in xD))))

[GeneralArin]

(Alright, but I was saying something to Estelle, so I wanted to give you a chance to talk. I can post another if I need too.)

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