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Post by Briar on May 31, 2022 22:44:01 GMT -6
When Briar had made his pact with Noa, he hadn't thought...
... Well. The truth had been that he hadn't known what to expect. After serving in Noa's household for months on end, Briar had learned some things about the man, but they were mostly superfluous details that did little to reveal anything useful, and everything to further sour Briar's opinion of him. Either that, or they were meaningless little idiosyncrasies -- like the fact that, despite having a garden at least partially devoted to edible plants, he conjured most of his meals via magic. Briar didn't know if it was a flaw of the spell or simply Noa's preferences, but from what he had seen, the 'food' conjured forth was always a blandly colored block with no character to it whatsoever.
That didn't reveal anything beyond the idea that Noa didn't care much about what he ate, however. It certainly didn't reveal Noa's aims.
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Post by Briar on May 31, 2022 22:47:12 GMT -6
The only thing Briar could really count on was Noa's penchant for cruelty. He thought, without real conviction, that he might be turned into some sort of whipping boy. The Hara he had freed had clearly been useful only for what twisted joys their torment had brought their 'owner', and if Briar was to replace them, it wasn't unreasonable that he could expect the same treatment. But that did not come -- or at least not more so than had already been the case. In fact, Noa seemed to enjoy his company rather less these days; there were no more petty, needling questions or unnecessary visits. When Noa sought him out now, it was generally with a purpose, and he was as concise and to the point as Briar had ever seen him.
One of those visits had brought him here. Noa hadn't specified it, exactly, but if Briar was to fulfill his orders...
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Post by Briar on May 31, 2022 22:50:15 GMT -6
Looking up at the building, Briar frowned, then shook his head. Even now it was hard to believe. Noa had handed him a bow some days before, informing him that it was his, even though Briar wasn't ready to use it yet. Briar hadn't comprehended at first. His old masters would never have entertained the idea of giving him a weapon, and here was Noa, presenting one to him with little fanfare. It was a well made bow, though the decorations were not what Briar would have looked for in a weapon for himself. And he knew without being told that it was likely enchanted, because almost anything of real significance would be, in a house like Noa's.
The trouble was that Briar knew almost nothing of archery. He might have sought it out himself to learn, if left to his own devices, but there hadn't been time enough for that.
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Post by Briar on May 31, 2022 22:53:49 GMT -6
He certainly couldn't have begun it in the service of his former masters, and since his escape he had done little that did not further his search for the boy in the tower, both before and after finding Gracehaven itself. There was no time to develop an interest in learning self defense. And, perhaps more crucially, whatever paltry protections he could afford would have done little to Noa. That was likely the real reason he didn't seem perturbed by the idea of arming Briar. What could Briar do? Even with an enchanted bow, he was unlikely to be able to get a clean shot at Noa. Even if Noa himself didn't manage to stop the blow, Rhys would have done it -- or worse, any one of the larger monsters that Noa kept at his beck and call.
And they wouldn't have given Briar the chance to fire a second shot.
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Post by Briar on May 31, 2022 22:57:24 GMT -6
And when Briar had asked, very carefully, what Noa meant by giving him this, the man had merely smiled, and informed Briar that he was to be made useful. In the intervening time, Briar had had time to ponder those words, and arrived at the guess that he was being shaped into one of those monsters at Noa's command.
He wasn't as strong as a Wiurn... but there were things that a fellow member of a spoken race could do that creatures couldn't, even in this city. Or maybe it was just a matter of not wasting a resource at his disposal; maybe he would have done it even if Briar had been inferior to his kept beasts in every conceivable way. It was hard to tell with him.
But if his directive was to learn archery, then Briar had little choice but to follow through, whether he wanted to or not.
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Post by Briar on Jul 21, 2022 22:08:01 GMT -6
Which had brought him here. Unlike his trained beasts, Noa couldn't teach Briar how to fight -- nor would Briar have wanted him to, even if the option was available. Though knowing how Noa operated, if he could have personally seen to Briar's tutelage in this regard, he probably wouldn't have given Briar the choice to seek any alternatives. Either way though, Briar was glad for any excuse not to be under Noa's watchful eye any more than he had to.
The problem was finding a tutor who would teach him, or failing that, a facility where he might teach himself. As luck would have it, he found the latter before the former, then came to the conclusion that it would have been more uncomfortable to learn from an instructor anyway. Not everyone was a busybody, but Briar's muteness and his stature tended to provoke a lot of curiosity he'd rather avoid.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:36:18 GMT -6
As it was, he was still a little discomfited about the fact that he would be doing this in a public place, where other people might watch him if they liked. Instinct still drove him to hide where he could, away from prying eyes. He could have set up a shooting range in the garden, practiced there… But no, it was better to be here, to see what the proper equipment looked like, before he did that. Despite everything he did have, Noa didn’t have anything in that sprawling mansion for arms training, as if to drive home the fact that theirs was a clan of magic handlers.
It was a good thing Noa hadn’t seen fit to teach Briar any magic. He hoped it stayed that way.
The castle itself had been overwhelming at first, but enough people came and went that no one paid him any special attention.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:36:34 GMT -6
Or at least they didn’t until he began to look well and truly lost, at which point a middle-aged man took pity on him and asked him where he wanted to go. He answered in sign, only to find that the man wasn’t familiar with it. Awkwardly, he pantomimed the motion of shooting a bow, and the man pointed him in the right direction, though he looked a bit flustered.
Briar could hear the sounds of practice before he arrived at what turned out to be some sort of gym. Peering inside, he could see a few individuals and pairs, all deep in their own exercises or taking a break from their exertions. Several faced off against dummies, while others sparred with wooden blades. The sounds he had heard were a combination of their weapons ringing against each other, and the cries and bitten-off grunts that accompanied their swings.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:37:01 GMT -6
He was… well, not glad, exactly, but maybe relieved, that this wasn’t what Noa had asked of him. Many of the weapons looked too heavy for him to handle even with training and practice, and the ones that would have been manageable for him would have necessitated close combat. Small as he was, Briar doubted he would be any match for most of his opponents at such distance -- or more accurately, the lack thereof -- where they would be able to bring their height and weight to bear against him.
Briar could see the archery range past the gym, but he had to gather himself before he could walk through to it. This wasn’t exactly a crowd, but honestly, a crowd might have been easier. At least in a real crowd, there were enough people and things going on that he had a reasonable chance of slipping by unnoticed.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:37:17 GMT -6
Here there were just enough people to make him uncomfortable, but not so much that it would obscure his presence from anyone present.
He chose a path that skirted around the gym. A head turned here and there, but mostly among the ones resting, and even then they didn’t dwell on his presence for too long. Once he was past the gym, Briar let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Then he got a good look at the archery range itself. It was a larger space, but he quickly realized that it had to be. There had to be room to practice shooting, since it was generally done from a distance. He had known this, but it hadn’t really sunk in for him in terms of what it meant for the practice space. There were targets set up at the far side of the room, though some were closer than others.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:37:49 GMT -6
Nearer the entrance, there were various stations with different weapons and ammunition, from arrows to bullets. A quick scan of the length of the room turned up only three people: one shooting at targets with a small handheld gun, another perusing the longer firearms, and a third wiping down a bow.
Unfortunately, the latter was standing at the station for bows and arrows. Briar wondered if he ought to wait for the woman -- at least, he thought it was a woman -- to leave before he approached. But after watching her for a moment, it became apparent that she was likely to be there for some time, and he was aware that he would only look more conspicuous standing at the door the longer he stayed where he was.
He didn’t like it, but the only sensible choices were to go in and get it over with, or to leave.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:38:01 GMT -6
And even if he did leave, there was nothing to suggest that he wouldn’t run into such a situation again the next time he came here. He steeled himself again, then walked straight to the archery station, and picked up the first bow that came to hand.
The woman looked up at his approach, then arched a brow as she took in his selection. “You lost, kid?” she said. She was a tall, heavy-set ungulate, with shaggy dark fur and short horns. When he made no answer, and tried to leave with the bow, she snorted. “That’s too big for you. You won’t even be able to draw it properly.”
Briar froze. The woman crossed her arms and looked down at him. She didn’t say anything further, and he was aware that she was waiting for a response, but he… wasn’t sure what to do.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:39:13 GMT -6
It was clear that she knew more than he did about bows, though that bar wasn’t very high, since he knew almost nothing whatsoever. Now the full weight of her attention was on him, and he didn’t know how to rid himself of it. He could still leave, but...
The woman sighed. “Look, kid, if you’re going to try shooting, at least pick a bow for your size. Here, this one’ll do.” She perused through the selection at the archery station, then picked another, much smaller bow from the available weapons, and held it out to him with a grunt. Briar looked between her and the bow, then carefully took it from her. As soon as he did, she looked through the quivers of arrows. This time, when she found what she was looking for, she tossed it at him, and he had to scramble to catch it.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:39:38 GMT -6
To his surprise, she laughed. “There, that finally got a reaction out of you. It’s alright, kid. If you’re here without your parents’ permission, I won’t tell.” She gave him a wink, while Briar wondered whether he ought to correct her. He did sometimes get mistaken for a child, between his short stature and… No, it really was mostly his size, wasn’t it? If he could speak, his voice might have given him away, and sometimes people figured it out later when they got a better look at his face, but that didn’t always happen either.
Some people were kinder to children. This woman seemed like she might be one of them. And she had come to the conclusion on her own -- though it was true that he wasn’t bothering to correct her -- so for the moment he simply nodded his thanks to her.
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Post by Briar on Jul 25, 2022 23:40:22 GMT -6
He walked with to the shooting area with the things she had picked out for him. She was probably still watching him; he could feel a faint prickling at the back of his neck, the way he always did when he sensed someone’s gaze on him. But he tried to put it out of his mind as he drew back the bowstring, and--
“Hey, kid! You’re not about to fire that bow dry, are you?” Briar only barely managed to keep himself from jumping out of his skin at the sound of the woman’s voice. He turned, the bow going slack in his hands. Her expression had gone from jovial to stern again, and now she was making her way towards him. Worse still, her volume had attracted the attention of the other two people present in the shooting range, and now their eyes were on him too.
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