Hearts to Spades Challenge
Third time's the charm, hopefully?
Occurring Monday morning in gametime, I'm posting Zoe's challenge to Four of Spades now because impatience is a problem in case anyone wants to respond to it.
Two weeks before, when she’d picked Emerson out of the Fours of Spades as the one she’d challenge, he’d immediately given her a smug smirk. She’d expected as much, honestly. She was challenging him in something that he was acknowledged to be good at, and that she’d never challenged in herself. She was a Heart moving to Spades, and not one who was known for having particularly martial skills. And Emerson himself...was something of an overconfident prat, one who hadn’t acknowledged that his own habit of hopping between Three and Four was due to his skill level and not dumb luck.
Emerson was going to underestimate Zoe, and while that wasn’t something she could count on in every challenge - or even if she won and Emerson countered - it was an advantage she had here, for now. She’d had it confirmed when Emerson never sought her out to watch her practice, even though she’d watched him twice herself. The Spade didn’t consider her to be a challenge at all. That was fine, and Zoe smiled easily and sunnily at him as she picked a position and strung her bow. “Good luck,” she said.
If he gave the crowd a sidelong, nervewracked one and clenched his bow a little too hard before muttering the same thing, well, she wasn’t going to say anything.
The rules of the challenge were simple: six arrows, three each, none from either of their personal quivers. The person to score the highest cumulative points from their three arrows would be the winner. If there was a tie, one more arrow each would be shot to break it.
A coin was flipped and Emerson won - first arrow shot, into the red for seven points. Zoe’s went straight into the gold, along the edge for nine, and she raised an eyebrow when that made Emerson’s knuckles go whiter. He’d been so confident when she’d challenged him, and he’d never seen her shoot before; a nine was a good shot, definitely, but it shouldn’t have been enough to worry him this much, surely.
But she had the match to concentrate on, and she pushed it out of her head as Emerson shot his second. The blue, a rather poor shot of five that showed his tendency to list to the right, just as Julien had said, and Zoe took a calm breath as she raised her bow again and concentrated. Ten was within her ability. She’d gotten ten points countless times while practicing, and her eyes narrowed as she pulled back on the bowstring. Ten. Nineteen points, and Emerson had twelve, but it wasn’t yet over.
Eight points on his last arrow brought Emerson into the lead, and Zoe felt her heart hammer hard as she picked up hers. He was only one point ahead, of course; even if she landed in the blue as he had, she’d still win the challenge, but he was still ahead, and she stared across the range at the target before notching her last arrow. Breath in, bowstring taut, arrow flying straight and true. Ten again. Twenty-nine in total to Emerson’s twenty, and Zoe released the breath she had barely realized she’d been holding. Four. But of Spades, and that’s what she’d wanted. Having it made her doubts melt away - this was what she wanted, this was where she’d belong, and she turned to offer Emerson a hand.
“It was a good match. Do you want to counter?” she asked, and her brows rose up when he immediately shook his head.
“No,” he said. “No, the Four is yours, Miss Kattalakis. You earned it. Congratulations.” He shook her hand before briefly stepping back, pushing a hand through his hair before slipping past the onlookers. Zoe watched him, her head cocked to one side for a moment, and then she shrugged and unstrung her bow.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about Emerson. She’d done what she wanted.
Can I get her tag switched from ♥ to ♠? Thank you!
Occurring Monday morning in gametime, I'm posting Zoe's challenge to Four of Spades now because impatience is a problem in case anyone wants to respond to it.
Two weeks before, when she’d picked Emerson out of the Fours of Spades as the one she’d challenge, he’d immediately given her a smug smirk. She’d expected as much, honestly. She was challenging him in something that he was acknowledged to be good at, and that she’d never challenged in herself. She was a Heart moving to Spades, and not one who was known for having particularly martial skills. And Emerson himself...was something of an overconfident prat, one who hadn’t acknowledged that his own habit of hopping between Three and Four was due to his skill level and not dumb luck.
Emerson was going to underestimate Zoe, and while that wasn’t something she could count on in every challenge - or even if she won and Emerson countered - it was an advantage she had here, for now. She’d had it confirmed when Emerson never sought her out to watch her practice, even though she’d watched him twice herself. The Spade didn’t consider her to be a challenge at all. That was fine, and Zoe smiled easily and sunnily at him as she picked a position and strung her bow. “Good luck,” she said.
If he gave the crowd a sidelong, nervewracked one and clenched his bow a little too hard before muttering the same thing, well, she wasn’t going to say anything.
The rules of the challenge were simple: six arrows, three each, none from either of their personal quivers. The person to score the highest cumulative points from their three arrows would be the winner. If there was a tie, one more arrow each would be shot to break it.
A coin was flipped and Emerson won - first arrow shot, into the red for seven points. Zoe’s went straight into the gold, along the edge for nine, and she raised an eyebrow when that made Emerson’s knuckles go whiter. He’d been so confident when she’d challenged him, and he’d never seen her shoot before; a nine was a good shot, definitely, but it shouldn’t have been enough to worry him this much, surely.
But she had the match to concentrate on, and she pushed it out of her head as Emerson shot his second. The blue, a rather poor shot of five that showed his tendency to list to the right, just as Julien had said, and Zoe took a calm breath as she raised her bow again and concentrated. Ten was within her ability. She’d gotten ten points countless times while practicing, and her eyes narrowed as she pulled back on the bowstring. Ten. Nineteen points, and Emerson had twelve, but it wasn’t yet over.
Eight points on his last arrow brought Emerson into the lead, and Zoe felt her heart hammer hard as she picked up hers. He was only one point ahead, of course; even if she landed in the blue as he had, she’d still win the challenge, but he was still ahead, and she stared across the range at the target before notching her last arrow. Breath in, bowstring taut, arrow flying straight and true. Ten again. Twenty-nine in total to Emerson’s twenty, and Zoe released the breath she had barely realized she’d been holding. Four. But of Spades, and that’s what she’d wanted. Having it made her doubts melt away - this was what she wanted, this was where she’d belong, and she turned to offer Emerson a hand.
“It was a good match. Do you want to counter?” she asked, and her brows rose up when he immediately shook his head.
“No,” he said. “No, the Four is yours, Miss Kattalakis. You earned it. Congratulations.” He shook her hand before briefly stepping back, pushing a hand through his hair before slipping past the onlookers. Zoe watched him, her head cocked to one side for a moment, and then she shrugged and unstrung her bow.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about Emerson. She’d done what she wanted.
Can I get her tag switched from ♥ to ♠? Thank you!