Ash found the training room with much difficulty. Because she refused to ask anyone for help, she had doubled back at least 5 times, and fell down the stairs 2 of those times. Mornings had never been the best time for her. She accidentally set a table on fire the third time she passed through the same room, and had to quickly leave the room. She entered the training room somewhat out of breath from her mild panic, but forced herself to look completely unconcerned.
Everyone was trailing in to the training room and before Zuri could set off to explore the different stations, Michael stopped them.
“Since I’m your representative I should at least give some advice. The rest of the elements will look for bows and long range weapons to take you guys down when you fly, be wary of that. I also recommend long range weapons so you can counter them.” Michael explains. Then he turns and leaves.
Well that was useful, Zuri thought sarcastically in her head.
"Oh, do you think I was dumb enough to NOT already know that?"
Seong-Jin scoffs as they enter the training room. He did like shorter-range weapons. More up close and personal, and if he got lucky….more Gorey. But that didn't matter in this situation. He just needed to kill, then jump to the other victim.
(Hoh boy, I can't wait to die)
"I am going to look at the bows though. Join me or go your own way."
She wandered off in the direction she thought the bows were and took in all the other stations. There were stations for each specific element, stations for specific weapons, and stations for specific skills. She saw one for swimming and fishing and knew she wouldn't have to stop by there. She found it was funny the capital was training them to murder each other and possibly be murdered. She finally found the bows and picked up a bow and quiver full of arrows. She hefted it to test its weight and went to the shooting range, not bothering to find an instructor. She could figure it out on her own.
Following her, quickly reaching the bows before anyone else, he picks one up. Rather big, but perfect for him. He liked the whitish silvery color to it too.
"Thisll do"
He says to his partner with a smile, he couldn't remember her name to save his life. And hopefully it wouldn't actually effect weather he died or not, which he doubted.
"Have you had any experience with these Seong-Jin?" Zuri asked. She tested and drew the string back. It wasn't that hard, but she found if she tried to hold it there it made her muscles ache. Finally, after testing her strength, she tested her actual ability to shoot the bow. The string was thick and she drew it back to the corner of her mouth like some of the hunters she'd seen do. Once her sights were lined up, she aimed and fired. It flew straight and cleanly, hitting the target… on the very edge. It would take some practice for sure. Good thing they had all day.
"Of course. Who do you think I am huh?!"
He says immediately grabbing an arrow, pulling it back with ease and hitting the target, extremely close to the center, but not quite. He had learned how to shoot these things. He would make them all of the time since he had no money to buy one. He did steal one before. And he would say he's amazing, but he needed a little bit of practice. What he really needed to work on was aiming while flying.
"Huh, better than me. I've only watched someone shoot one. Maybe it's better if you stick to the bows." She tried one more time and got the same amount of success. "Have you ever tried flying with it? I want to see if I can…" She trailed off and got enough room to take off a foot off the ground. Then she thought better of using a dangerous weapon she only had partial success with when flying in a small area and quickly dropped to the ground. "Nevermind."
"Not much, but I'm sure I'm amazing at it"
He says shooting up in the air, flying back a little and aiming with confidence. Letting go of the string, the arrow zipping through the air. Hitting the target spot on…..or did it.
"Darnit…."
He says as he lets his eyes focus on the arrow and the target. He hit the target….not even the one he was aiming for though.
"Pfffft." Zuri covers her mouth with her hand and tries not to laugh. When she composes herself she takes a stationary shot at the target Seong-Jin hit with better success than before. "What just happened there is why I stopped beforehand. If someone is always standing next to your targets I'm sure they're goners."
"Pfft, i was aiming for that one"
He says crossing his arms, sending a light gush of wind her way.
"And anyway, I've never used these types of targets or bows before. And these arrows are probably rigged"
He says with confidence, knowing fill well that he just miserably failed.
"Because arrows can be rigged." She scoffs, sending her own gust of wind towards him.
She sends another arrow down the range and celebrates when it hits the bullseye.
"Yes! Finally!" In her surge of pride, she tries again, expecting it to be close again, but no. It barely hits the edge of the target, and her smile immediately goes away.
"Huhhhhhh… Now I just have to practice until that doesn't happen."
"Yeah, definitely"
He says playfully. Lowering down to the ground, he shoots a bullseye again, and again. He was just too good at everything, wasn't he? (Sarcasm)
"All I need to do is aim for the right one this time…."
He mumbles to himself as he slowly lifts himself up into the air, little by litter, pulling back the string.
Hitting right in between the two targets and penetrating the wall, he sighed and looked back at whatever her name was.
"Zucchini, I think arrows can definitely be rigged. I mean look at how bad you're doing. Surely you can do better"
He says laughing a bit at the nickname he gave her. He knew it was something like that.
"Zucchini? Did you just call me a vegetable!" She sighed and shook her head. "You are so weird Sesame Seed." She smirked at him.
While he was shooting bullseyes, she was getting closer and closer to the bullseye.
"Here, maybe if you see me do it you'll feel a bit better about yourself."
She also slowly lifted herself off of the ground, went over all the steps, and released. She whooped in delight when it hit the right edge of the target in front of her.
"Maybe it's just your arrows that are rigged. Also, I find it helps to really stiffen your arm and lock your shoulder in place." She taunted through giggles.
"Oh? Nicknames are always fun"
He laughed as he watched her succeed. Well….nit really succeeding, but definitely doing better than him.
"Yeah, mine is definitely rigged. Do they have a thing against the air elementals?"
He says crossing his arms in a pouty, and somehow cute way.
Deciding to try again, with a gush of air flowing through the huge room, shaking the rest of the weapons, he draws back the string all the way to his almost to sharp of a jawline, his white hair falling on his forehead as the corner of his lips curved up as his piercing sarcastic blue eyes focused on the arrow as he steadied it, then letting go with another gush of wind as he flew back a few inches, his white feathers almost sparkling in the light that the windows let in from the sun, the arrow going halfway into the target, and oh so close to the center, but not quite.
"Well……..i guess that's good enough."
He shrugged.
"Show off." She pouted in the same way he did, trying to mock him. "You only got it because of my advice."
She looked down the rows of shooting ranges and got an idea. She lifted off and flew down the rows, gaining speed and aiming as she went. When she was reaching the end of the room she found a target and released. The wall came up fast and Zuri almost flew straight into it, but she slowed down just enough to turn and push herself off the wall with her feet and flew slowly to the target she shot at.
"Better than I thought that would go," she noted. The arrow was wedged in the wall an inch away from the left side of the target, the way she was flying.
"Youre ri- oh?"
He says stopping in the middle of his sentence to watch her.
"Wow, okay"
He says with a slight smile.
"I'm not gonna try that just yet… I still need to practice more"
He says pulling back another arrow and firing it the same way he did before. Asaaand missing the center of the target, the arrow sticking into it barely at the edge.
"Yeah, that was probably beginners luck."
She made her way back to the target beside Seong-Jin and saw his latest try and snickered, but covered it up. Then she practiced flying stationary some more, her shots getting closer and closer to the bullseye, and getting more and more grouped.
"Once we get this down, what station do you want to go to next?" She asked.
"Your choice"
He shrugged, as he shot another arrow, hitting the bullseye. He decided to try what Zucchini had done. Zipping through the air, he was going a little too fast, but not paying attention since all of his focus was on aiming, he flew right into the wall, falling to the ground with a cough.
"D*mn… I need to work on that"
He mumbles quietly to himself as he laid down on the floor still.
Zuri burst into laughter and dropped her bow. She dropped to the ground and laughed so hard she started coughing.
"Yeah, you need to work on that! But seriously, are you ok Sesame Seed? You didn't impale yourself on your own arrow, did you?"
"Pfft, even if i did id be fine!"
He says as he laughs a little, pushing himself up and turning towards her.
"You gotta show me that again"
He says rubbing his forehead as white hair fell over his hand.
"Sure," she chuckled.
"The trick is to find your target early and fire a bit early. Also, you want to pay attention to what's ahead of you. Cough cough. Dumbass. Cough cough.
She tried it again and did the same jump off the wall next to Seong-Jin, giving him a smug look. This time it hit the target, but still at the far left of it.
Looking up at her in awe, a little smirk crossing his face as he stood up.
"Easy"
He says as he walks over to the other side taking his leisurely time.
Lifting up to the air, and shooting across the room, finding his target early, aiming……and firing, the arrow zipping through the air, hitting the target, closer to the bullseye than before, then just remembering to NOT hit the wall…..but alas…..it was too late, and he was down on the ground again. He had some work to do that was for surem
Zuri looked down at him and sighed. "At least there won't always be walls in our way in the arena." Then she made a face of pure agony and added, "But I imagine there will be trees."
She helped him up and gave him a pat on the head. Then she motioned for him to stay where he was and took off. She took a shot flying at full speed and burst out of the hallway into the open training room.
"Can you check where I hit?" She yelled back to Seong-Jin. While she let him check she scanned the rooms and stations, noticing some of the other tributes looking as well. Then she started to head back.