Bridgewater's Summer Spectacular: The Archery Tournament

A sweet summer breeze swept across the sky as competitors filed into Bridgewater’s arena, hoping to claim first prize. Ten targets were aliened in a perfect row across the arena floor, and various bows and were laid out carefully near the entrance. Attendants waited patiently nearby to hand out full quivers. Once competitors and spectators finished filing in, Caly called out, “M’Lords and Ladies, if you are competing today, chose your weapon, and stand before a target. Once everyone is in place I will call out the rules for today.”
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Janko took bow and arrows... checked distance and wind... soon his arrows found way to the target.

Then he smiled and turned to Maria ... I told you.


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Lt.Commander of Devon - General - Trouble

Madalena followed Janko into Bridgewater's arena, after all she travelled all this way to see the General aim arrows to a target. How silly of her to think that this could be fun. She was feeling moody for listening to him brag about his skills, his annoying voice still reverberating in her head now that they were separated. Madalena was wearing a purple dress, her long brown hair pinned into a french braid and her neck adorned by a pearl collar.

The young woman took a seat as Janko chose his bow and a few arrows. Ten targets were aligned in a perfect row, and she watched boringly as the General prepared to shoot the first arrow, aiming his target. She was suprised by his innate ability, and tried to hide her wonder when he turned to her, smiling. "That was it?" She asked, doing her best to dismiss his achievement. "I tought it would be better. You know, something I would not forget! This was just a waste of my time."She folded her arms."I could do better blindfolded." Madalena teased and smiled, waiting for a reply.
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It was the middle of the day when he raised his head peering at the sun, still hungover from the other night “Grr damn sun, why are you so bright?!”. His beautiful wife had asked him to go to the market to pick up some food for the week. Fury was almost there when something stopped him in his track.

He could hear voices and shouts from the arena “Hmm, a fight? Ooor something more interesting, I think there is time for a quick peek.”.

When he reached the arena he immpediately noticed the targets “Uuu“. Fury respectfully went to introduce himself to the other contestants “Howdy sir, that was some nice shooting.“. He looked around and spotted a lady with her arms crossed around her waist and nodded toward her. “So Mr. Janko may I try?”.

Fury took a rusty bow almost dropping it, then tried to mask the embarrassing moment. He shot the first arrow, almost hitting a bird “Upsy, fly away birdy.“. Fury then raised one hand to his forehead to shade his eyes for a moment just to see the target better as he felt the wind blowing through his hair “Hmm... now I got it!”. In the next few seconds other arrows followed. He stopped again to focus a second “Hey hey, why are you moving the target? Keep it there!“, then understood that those were the rules of the contest “So it is like this...“. Fury soon rembered that it was almost closing time at the market and he had to buy the stuff.

He emptied his quiver as fast as possible scoring less than some of the other contestants “Nice sir, but I will return, next time better prepared... for now this score will do.“. Fury saluted the crowd as he left the arena and went on his way to the market.

Fury 2089
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You have a problem with me ?

I could do better blindfolded - Janko repeated with ironical voice.
Can you do it better? - he throwed bow to her.
Blinfolded come, show what you can do - he teased her.


Janko turned back when he heard another man..
Good afternoon m'lord, I am fine thanks. What about yourself?
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Lt.Commander of Devon - General - Trouble

Madalena nodded to the man that approached them, greeting him silently. He chose a bow and a few arrows, his shaky movements making her believe that he was drunk. At his first attempt the man almost shot a bird, making her smile. Surprisingly, his performance improved and he ended his rounds with a good score.

In the meantime, Janko did what he does best, irritate innocent women. Madalena's eyes widened in disbelief at his cynical words. "How dare you mock me!" She roared, a furious note in her voice, and nimbly caught the bow that Janko had thrown at her. It was made of dark wook and quite light. She took a handkerchief from her bag and eyed Janko."You'll see how good I am!" She told him, trying to sound confident, although she felt very nervous.

Madalena had never used a bow before let alone aim a real arrow to a target, blindfolded. She covered her eyes with the handkerchief, thanking all the divine creatures for the transparent nature of the fabric, then she raised the bow and aimed the target. She did not hit a bird nor a person, though she really wished that Janko was the target. She missed a few times, but overall did a good performance, specially for a first-timer.

"Not so bad." She said after emptying her quiver and removing the blindfold.


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Janko laughed at her shooting. I really would not let anyone near you with that bow.
Then he moved behind her with decision to teach her how to use bow...
He put his hand on her and with another hand helped her to tense arrow.
Look now - he chuckled...
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Lt.Commander of Devon - General - Trouble

His laugh did not make her feel bad, she laughed too, ignoring his mocking tone. "You should be grateful I did not use my skills against you. Otherwise, you would go back to your wife blind and infertile. I'm sure she would thank me." She shrugged, noticing his mischievous expression. Then, he moved behind her and Madalena felt uneasy. "What the hell are you doing, Janko? You know I have a dagger, right? I could use it." He placed his hand over her and helped her tense the bow. She could feel the heat that radiated from his body and his breath against her neck. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, not from emotion, not from excitment, she was overly aware of his proximity, and she found it uncomfortable, almost excruciating. She had spent most of her life pleasuring men like him, lustful and disrespectful, they had used her for their own purposes, but that life was over. She turned swiftly and slapped his cheek."Keep your hands to yourself, Janko. I'm not yours to play with, bear that in mind. "
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Slap.

Ouch, I wanted only to learn you how to use bow - Janko explained.
What is going on with you? - Janko thinks that she overreacted, as every another woman.
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Lt.Commander of Devon - General - Trouble

Madalena sighed, trying to keep her dark emotions at bay, and took a step back. "You should not have touched me that way, Janko. I'm not overreacting, you could teach me how to use the bow correctly without touching me this way." She placed the weapon on a table nearby. "Your actions are not innocent. Please respect my personal space. " She was not interested in him, and she knew that he was flirty by nature and did not intend to hurt her, or make her feel umconfortable, but she could not erase the feeling that he violated her personal space. Defeated by her own demons, Madalena added, "We should get going.", darting out of the arena.
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The morning was bright and air crisp, the orchard was in full bloom. Llyres slowly walked across one of the bridges crossing over the River Parrett on her way to the Arena, where she and Robin had agreed to meet. Across Llyres' shoulder was a small quiver of arrows, custom fletched for the four year old who dashed ahead of her, waving his small bow wildly in the air.

"Be careful, Alexander. If you fall, you might snap your bow and then you won't be able to try the targets!"

"Hurwy! Hurwy mamma!! I'm gona shoot my arwows and win a big pwize!"

Shaking her head, she called back, If you break your bow, you won't be able to win a prize. Your father's bow is near twice your height - and you don't have the wingspan to pull the bowstring.

The toddler raced back to her, thrusting his bow towards her to carry it. Once the treasured item was safely in her grasp, he raced ahead again.

"Hurwy!" he called back.

Alex, she reminded, "You need to stay at my side through the market place and away from the cart wheels. And when we get to the Arena, no rushing inside. I don't want you skewered by archers practicing their shots."

"Awrught! But hurwy, mamma"

Stopping at the market to buy some fresh bread and a sweet roll to placate the eager archer, the pair finally arrived at the arena, Alex's hands now honey-sticky. At the moment, no one was there.
Alex's eyes grew wide when he saw the large targets, standing far taller than him.

Well, since no one's here, why don't we rearrange things for you, little one?

Llyres moved a bulky crate close to the nearest target, and then handed the boy his bow and quiver. Though only four, he had grown up with an archer and woodsman for a father and knew how to place an arrow and aim. The arrows had sharp tips, not blunt toy tips and so Llyres kept a watch on her son's aim from atop the crate perch. But it seemed unneeded. With brow furled in concentration, Alex focused on the task at hand with all seriousness of an adult. He drew his bow and took shot after shot until the small quiver was empty.

Most of the arrows struck the target, though the distance between small archer and large target was a small one. The boy turned beaming to his mother.


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Devon Navy Admiral|Marchioness of Deheubarth|Earl of Portsmouth|KoTG|Veteran Admiral REN

Near the end of the stay in Bridgewater, Will had a lot of fun. Cooking up some creative dishes, as well being on vacation for the first time in 18 months, it was a nice change of pace. Granted he wasn't used to using a bow, as his primary weapons were either a sword, or with the crew a ballista. Still, knocking an arrow, He aimed a little ahead and above, and let it fly

THOK!

Hitting a little down and two the right, Will reknocked an arrow, and made small adjustments. He thought to himself, boy it's been a while....about 20 years? He muttered, letting the next arrow go, slowly impacting on the target. The second and third boards were further distant, then he waited for the news to come back



Sighs, but smiles, knowing he didn't do too bad for a older fellow among the next generation....quietly packs his bow, and returns to the tavern
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It was the very first time she left her home. Since that fatal evening when she had regained her consciousness on the shore of Chard, she had never had the courage to leave the safety of the town. All the persuasion of her brothers and sisters were in vain, Eumelia wasn't willing to leave Chard. Finally now, after Kat was swearing for about an hour at least that they wouldn't be hurt on the road, Eumelia decided to untertake her first jouney.

The trip was pleasant, the sun shone brightly and a slight breeze was blowing. The landscape was captivating, too, they could see green forests when crossed the River Parrett. Eumelia was pondering if her small property was somewhere near here, but this time she set aside the thought for another day...Finally the first houses of Bridgewater appeared in front of them.

After being refreshed in a local tavern, Eumelia decided to look around in the town. First she went to the market, hoping to find something interesting that couldn't be bought in her hometown. After a while however she got bored and followed the road untill she reached the arena.

Arriving there she saw a round shaped slab painted with circles of different colours - a target of archery. Eumelia looked around curiously, and soon realized some bows and quivers of arrows near a table, where a sleepy-headed man was sitting. Eumelia went there and asked him politely.

- Good afternoon, Sir, may I try.... - and poked towards the target with her head.
- Two gold pieces - he answered drowsily defining the charge of hiring a bow and a quiver. Not having an own weapon to shoot, Eumelia payed the fee and took one of the longbows on hire.

After taking her place she concentrated on the target for a couple of minutes, carefully measuring the strenght and direction of the wind, then tensed the bowstring and shot...


Well, compared to the fact that she was not used to the bow, it was not that bad.
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Baroness of North Petherton Sheriff of Devon

Bob stood in front of the targets arranged before him, his heart beating heavily and his mouth dry. He licked his lips to muster some form of moisture, but it seemed a futile endeavor and he quickly gave up on his attempts. He hadn't handled a bow in a few years and he knew his skill was rusty at best, and abominable at the worst. Either way he would not allow his own misgivings at his archery abilities to dampen the high spirit of friendly competition. He pulled an arrow from the quiver at his waist, put the nock against the bowstring, and brought the bow up, pointing it downrange. Pulling back on the string he brought the arrow back and could feel the tickle of the fletching upon his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, taking a few deep breaths to steady his aim as well as his nerves. He loosed his first arrow, the twang of the bowstring loud in his ears, and was surprised to see the target struck. His confidence now was much higher, though he knew he would not win, he was nonetheless excited to see his abilities not too encumbered by time and lack of practice. He quickly shot the three arrows which were left for the first round, his accuracy not great but not horrible either.

The target was moved further for the second round. He shot his arrows, his accuracy falling due to the greater distance but still a decent job he told himself. The third round is where his skills were lost completely. The target was moved still further out, the colors of the different regions of the target seeming to blend into one another at such a distance. His first two shots were clean misses, the third hitting the edge barely making a score, but his fourth was somehow almost dead on. The wind was working in me favor for that last one, he thought to himself.

His turn at the range over he turned to the crowd looking on and gave them his best smile as well as a low bow, sweeping the ground with his headscarf. Turning on his heel he strode off of the grounds content with the score he had made, though not likely to even place in the top ten it was much better than he had expected after so long away from the art of archery.


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A Wandering Man| Troubadour Extraordinaire| Student of History and Life| Chyler's Sig

After explaining the rules, Caly decided to stay back and watch for a while before she attempted to shoot, She beamed when she saw Llyres and little Alex come into the arena. Attracting contestants young and old; I love it, Caly thought. I wonder if he remembers me at all. She gazed with concern at the couple who seemed to be having a bit of a row in the middle of the arena. Didn't seem to be terribly violent just....heated. She waved towards Will, and looked about for Lucy...Guess he really didn't let her compete. Caly became rather lost in thought as she walked up and down the arena, watching closely. Finally, after a time, she took a bow and her twelve arrows and took her best shots.

The first round went well. All arrows, landing on or near the center of the target. A rush of excitement ran through her as she remember her first tournament being a disaster by comparison. Calm down Caly. You aren't through yet.

Second round most shots made their way into the red. Not good. Not bad. I'll take it, she though satisfied,

The third round came, and she wasn't expecting much, It was enough that they hit the target. By some miracle though they all managed to land somewhere near their brothers and sisters, "I'll be damned," she whispered. She turned to the rest of her competitors. 'Right! Well done everybody! Feel free to play again if you like!"

Calypso17: 1299


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