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 Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:58 pm
"Yes, sir." Apparently, Earako wasn't exactly the talkative type in the classroom. Well, she was sometimes. But she could read Teacher well enough to know he wouldn't want her to be chatty. And she liked him, so she was doing her best. Besides, this was hard, and required a level of focus that made her silent.
She bit her lip as she eyed the newest targets. These looked hard. And they were. She managed to hit only one on her first try, the others took two, and the last one, a particularly difficult target, actually took three shots before she made a hit. Having succeeded, she did not stop, instead shooting another three arrows, each hitting the mark, before giving up. Hah. She'd beaten it.
Giddy with success, she turned her attention back to teacher, wearing a hint of a grin. "I did it, sir."
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Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:16 pm
Haruki wasn't the talkative type, so the silence suited him just fine. Perhaps that was part of why he chose to give the students difficult tasks to accomplush. They'd talk less and work harder. It suited him just fine. As if on que he snagged the last large leaf as the girl spoke up stating that she had completed the latest task.
A quick glance toward the targets proved the statement true and was given an approving nod. "Your finaly task wil be to hit one of these leaves." He held one of the few leaves he'd plucked up while she worked as an example. "The trick is that they will be moving. So not only is your target smaller, but it will move in a pattern. If you can hit at least one leaf you will be free to go home." Of course, keeping them in a steady movement was his job.
Of course he'd chosen a way to test her that he would have no problem doing. He let all six of the leaves in his hand fall at that before using a bit of wind magic to create a circle of them in the air. The leaves where kept moving in a near perfect circle at a steady speed. Not too fast, but this would certainly be a bit harder than a target. Even a swaying one.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:32 am
Now this wasn't fair! Earako watched the leaves make their circle and came dangerously close to pouting. Except, of course, pouting never much worked on teachers, and Earako wasn't about to waste her energy on it. She stood still a moment, that motionless watching position, before finally selecting an arrow.
Her first three shots were hopeless attempts. Not only did they not hit any leaves, they failed to hit near particularly near the moving circle. Clearly, the new test had thrown her focus. But the failure steadied her, and there was a clear improvement on the next shot. Again, she failed to hit a leaf, but she hit where one had been, only seconds before.
This was nothing like sewing. Her next three shots were simular. They hit spots where leaves had been, when she'd been doing her aiming.
At that point, the albino bat stopped, lowering the bow. This wasn't working. She would never be able to protect herself, and still not hurt others, not at this rate. She'd try and shoot someone's leg and end up taking out their eye. She opened and refolded her wings, and finally picked out one leaf, her detail oriented mind quickly picking out a tear as a distinctive feature to focus on.
She watched it make its circut, noted where it was, counted silently to see how long it took to move back to the spot where she'd started watching it. Her gaze fixed not on the leaf now, but on that particular spot, she aimed while keeping up her count. She missed, her aim a bit to the left. But her second attempt, made using the same careful attention, hit.
The leaf was neatly skewered.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:40 am
Fair? It was completely within the lines of fair as far as Haruki was concerned. Expecting more than what you thought you could do would cause you to reach for a higher point. Thus, you gained from the experience. Rather than continuing on with the same task endlessly you're given something you must work for. Besides, when a goal was achieved through effort it was so much sweeter to gain it.
That, or he just expected her to be perfect right away. Both options worked to explain it.
He watched in silence as she shot the bow. The first three shots where obviously just attempts made hoping that luck came into play. She'd let the task to to her head a bit obviously. The next three... better. Still not great, but at least they showed some thought. Now she needed to think ahead.
A few more and she'd gotten the idea. It was obvious before then, but when the leaf was left with a gaping hole in it, that was the proof. That or perhaps luck, but he'd go with that she'd thought about it and worked to the solution.
"Very good." He let the leaves drop lightly to the ground shortly after the shot. "Your opponent will never stand still for you, so you must learn to be a step ahead of them. Their patterns will not always be as simple to understand as a circle, but I'm certain you could pick up a pattern to follow by watching." He started over to collect the supplies he held out a hand to take the bow from her. "I would suggest more practice in your spare time, but you did well today. You are excused."
((You can reply once giving back the bow, but that's up to you.))
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