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 Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:05 pm
A smile was on her face as she rubbed at her forehead with a towel. She'd been working with that practice bow for a while, and though she was sure there wasn't any big improvement in her capabilities, her muscles were still sore and she figured that at least was a good sign. Made her feel a bit more confident about things, or at least gave her the sensation that she hadn't just... lazed the day away. She'd totally done something productive!
Taking a swing from her water bottle and tossing her towel onto her shoulder, she debated tossing her stuff back at her dorm and going for a jog, or maybe grabbing her camera and going into the woods... though, her thoughts got kinda snagged when her eyes got caught on some shiny daggers. Currently in the hands of a much taller blonde. Tara's lips pursed, brow furrowing a little as she eyed the weapons, glancing down now and then at the practice bow in her hand and blunt arrows in the other. She'd tried her hand with blades in the first few days, trying to figure out what sort of combat style felt... well, more her. Ok so more... what she felt worked with the fact she was not someone built for running speed. But she didn't like swords that much, or well. Anything that would put her in close to her opponent, she'd quickly decided. First under the highly mistaken assumption she'd be totally better at aiming with her camera experience--oh god no--then under the preference that if she was already far away from the enemy, maybe she could run to a better vantage point if she kept missing it.
If not just. Have a nice head start on running away.
But daggers. That put you up close and personal with your target. Clearing her throat, she edged a bit closer to the woman, smile on her face. "Hello, sorry to bother you," she started, hoping she wasn't interrupting something. "I um... I was just wondering, are those comfortable to use, in your opinion?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:48 pm
Mathilda smirked at the defeated dummy. Her head was quite a bit clearer, but she was still off. It had been quite a while since she had been in an active fight. Despite her mother's protest, she had decided that she would try her hand at baking. While she was far away from her vater, baking helped her feel closer to him, and right, with a defeated practice dummy lying in a heap, she was far away from the gentle man that raised her.
Sighing, she looked at the weapons in her hand. Picking up the daggers felt like picking up her kitchen knives, and that worried her. She had been using a knife to create, not kill, for quite a while now and yet picking it up to harm came natural to her, no matter how hard she tried. She was about to put them away when a voice call out to her.
Looking around, she had to look down to notice the girl standing behind her. It seemed the girl was asking about her daggers.
"These?" She spun one into the air and caught it, by the blade.
"I am most comfortable with daggers. Easy to hide, easy to access."
Taking stock of the girls' bow, she raised a blond eyebrow.
"Why?
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 11:13 pm
Tara's eyes went wide to not only see the woman toss a dagger into the air, but catch it by the blade. She stared, mouth slightly agape at the sight. So this was... someone who knew their way around a blade, she was guessing. Or someone with excellent hand-eye coordination. But the way the woman spoke about it also gave support to the former.
Or maybe both options.
She shifted a bit where she stood, feeling a tinge of pink forming on her cheeks. "I've never pointed anything at a subject that wasn't a camera," she confessed, giving a little sheepish laugh. "I've been trying to figure out what... fits? I guess is the only way I can put it." To Tara, there wasn't a real reason to not be open with someone. Even a stranger. In this case at least, this was someone else that was in... at least a sort of similar boat to her. A Chosen, brought on in by a deity for whatever reason. A genuine smile, not in the least bit forced, came to her as she looked between the daggers and the woman. With a definite bit of awe in her expression, to boot. "You don't seem to be having that issue though, wow. Don't suppose you have any pointers, huh?" Ok maybe she shouldn't be so impressed by someone clearly able to use a blade--there was the question of how someone came about knowledge like that after all.
But it was still pretty damn neat, and, yes very impressive to the wildlife photographer.
"Oops, sorry! I'm Tara, nice to meet you."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:14 am
Mathilda hummed. After taking stock of the girl, it seemed that she really wasn't used to any form of combat. Thinking back on her training, Mathilda spoke. " Ich heiße Mathilda Callahan. Es tut mir Leid. Ack. Sorry. My name is Mathilda Callahan. And nein, I have been around knives and such my whole life, both cooking and fighting. Both are in my blood. As for you though, I would say you might be trying too hard to find something. Don't force yourself to learn all you can at one time." She eyed Tara's bow. "Fighting isn't in everyone's blood. It is definitely in mine, but might not be in yours. Tell me, what made you choose the bow? Better yet, tell me how you are adjusting to all of this. A bad mental state will block your path to getting better. Come, sit." Mathilda sat on the ground, and motioned for Tara to do the same. "What is your chosen, by the way?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:02 am
Unless combat included keeping a chipper facade even in the face of the most belligerent clients and unruly educational outing participants, yeah no. Tara O'Connell had zero experience.
The German caught her off guard--and no, not a lick of it made any sense to her, except the nein. Her eyes couldn't have gotten any wider at that point though. Cooking... and fighting experience with knives? Whoa. Well. Tara was beginning to feel a bit over her head, if she was among the company of others who had... clearly far, far more experience that could be used to fight, according to Olivia van Hooten, monsters.
She nodded a little to the quick advice, though she wanted to argue that she clearly had a lot to catch up to in terms of some of her peers. Mathilda's quick questions and instructions bewildered Tara, but she followed along, taking her seat across from the other woman. Questions. A few questions. Ok. She laid the bow across her lap, fingers curled around the training weapon.
Lips pursing slightly, she collected her thoughts and nodded. "I'm a wildlife photographer. I figured something like a bow and arrows would be kinda similar in terms of point, aim, shoot, but that um. Yeah it's a lot more complicated than that," she added with a wince. She... hesitated a little, sheepish, before continuing. "I don't want to be close to a monster, if that's really what we're being trained to fight. If I have to fight, I want to be further back. So I have less of a chance of getting myself killed, and if I need to run away to fight another day, then maybe I'd get a head start."
Which was kinda a horrible, cowardice thing to say, but. Hey. She knew where her strengths lay, and she was pretty sure hand-to-hand wasn't one of them. She had the strength to handle a bow though. It wasn't that hard for her to string them, and use them. Just had to get that aiming right...
"Um... all of this feels super... surreal to me? I mean, a woman spoke to me from my computer speakers, and I was seeing a magical, ethereal looking doe in my photographs that hadn't been there when I was taking the shots. And now I'm here. It's... I mean, it's amazing to think this is seriously happening but it... I guess I keep expecting to hear we're being pranked, y'know?"
Tara shrugged, not sure how else she was supposed to view the whole situation. "What about you? Does anything about all this seem off to you, or... do you think this is really... legit?" Aware she was babbling, she clamped her mouth shut. Until she realized she hadn't answered Mathilda's last question. "O-oh, I'm a Chosen of Artemis." She lifted her arm, showing off a silver moon bracelet, the crescent moon almost framing her little tattoo. Blue eyes flickered over the other woman, landing pretty quick on the necklace Mathilda wore. Lifting a brow, she whistled. "Oh wow. Ares, right?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:21 am
Mathilda nodded as the girl spoke. She decided to answer slowly, hopefully being able to make everything understandable.
"Well, I don't see fotos being any different than the basic mechanisms of a bow. You will simply need to work on your upper arm strength."
Noticing the changes in the girls face as she spoke, Mathilda smiled softly.
"And there is nothing wrong with being in the back. If there comes a time when you are with a group of people and they need reinforcement, you would be the one closest to go get help. Nothing wrong with that! I used to hide behind my mother all the time when I was learning. I was a very timid child and didn't like to be near people. But now, not so much. It's hard to get to the throat when you're across the room."
Laughing, Mathilda nodded.
"And I understand how you feel about the popping out of nowhere thing. I ruined a good batch of batter when my God spoke to me. Und ja, I was chosen by Ares. It seems my 'skills' can apparently be put to good use. And your Armband is very beautiful."
Patting Tara's hands for a moment, Mathilda spoke softly.
"If you were Chosen, it means you have a skill the Gods deem useful, don't forget that, Liebchen."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:07 pm
Tara nodded, enthusiastic. That'd been what she'd hoped would improve her capabilities with the bow, but it felt good to hear it from someone else. Least it gave her the feeling she wasn't wasting her time or something by trying to train and work out more. Actually.
A lot of what Mathilda was saying took a bit of weight off her shoulders. Particularly hearing it wasn't such a shameful thing to prefer to stick to the back. "Did it take a long time for you to feel more comfortable with it all? Or did it just... click, at some point..?" Crinkles of mirth appeared at the corners of her eyes, picturing a smaller Mathilda hiding behind her mom as she mentioned such a thing--though Tara was willing to admit her mental image was likely far more cartoonish than what she was talking about.
Such as how Tara winced to hear about getting someone's throat. Cooking and fighting. It was... dawning on her. Slowly. Reluctantly, that this rather kind woman was being rather blunt about a topic Tara was being damn near obtuse about ignoring. Because acknowledging the growing obvious would mean facing a rather terrifying reality about the sort of person she was now conversing with.
Instead, she tried to focus on the cooking aspect of how those knives might have been used. She'd seen plenty of cooks on TV that did nifty knife tricks. Didn't mean anything more... sinister. "Batter? What were you making?" Thinking of how there were kitchens--of sorts--in the dorms, the words quickly followed, "Do you cook much here?"
She was being purposely obtuse about what those skills might be. Mostly because she didn't want to feel like she had to be nervous or feel like she should bolt out of there ASAP. Instead, she smiled, curious at the word Mathilda used--to address her, right? "Liebchen?" She tried to repeat it, unsure if she got the accent right. "I... thanks though, for that." The vote of confidence was much appreciated, and as Tara watched the other woman, she tilted her head a bit. "Do you... are you comfortable using those skills..? I mean... do you think accepting Ares' blessing was the right choice for you?"
Color darkened her cheeks and she lifted her hands, waving them briefly in the air, eyes wide as she realized that could come off wrong. "Not saying it wasn't or anything! Just... um... the way you talked about it. You said apparently, like... well. That sort of suggests doubt."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 9:12 pm
Mathilda grinned at the girl as she pattered along. It was quite endearing really. "Liebling means "sweetheart" in German, for starters. Born and raised there until I decided to move to the US." Resting her elbows on her knees, and placing her chin on top of her fists, Mathilda paused before she spoke. "It took me a long time to get used to using a knife for harm. I was raised with a father who used a knife to create, but my mother used it to harm. By age five, I could use a knife to make dish upon dish, with my fathers' supervision, and by age six, I could use a blade to harm. I wasn't fully comfortable until I was fourteen, maybe fifteen. Don't misunderstand me, I did a lot of damage without a knife before then. I am comfortable with my skills, it's in my blood to be so, but I was very unsettled for along time. I spent my a lot of time hating my mother for what she had taught me, but I have settled for what I know. It's why I focus on my baking. I bake because I am good at it, and it helps keep me calm and level-headed." Pausing, for she had spoken for while, Mathilda pursed her lips. "I do think coming here was the correct choice, but I still have my apprehensions. Mostly about our goals here. But I okay with using those skills here, if it's for the right reason." Mathilda stretched her arms, smiling as she moved onto her favorite topic, baking. "I've done little baking here, because of how hard it is to get ingredients, but I own two bakeries. And I was baking my red velvet cookies. Ares appeared in the bowl. But what about you? You're a photographer, correct? What made you decide to come here?"
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