Camping Trip With Sniper and Scout - Friday

[bloodon_myknife]

Who: Sniper, Scout and a bunch of children.
What: Camping Trip!
When: April 8th - 10th
Where: Mayfield Park.
Warnings: It is Sniper and Scout teaching basic survival lessons.  You do the math.

Comments

[thief_of_truth]

[Kay takes the knife in hand, handling it rather gingerly and nervously at first - after all, she and knives had something of a history together, and the memories weren't exactly pleasant. Still, though, she could at least recognize the difference between a tool and a murder weapon, so she takes a deep breath and resolves to focus on the task at hand.]

"Hmmm... stick, stick, stick, where's a good stick..."

[She begins poking around the general vicinity, eventually coming back with two or three thin but sturdy-looking branches from under a nearby tree. Sitting down on the ground, she folds her legs underneath her and begins concentrating on the task of whittling the first branch down.]

[bloodon_myknife]

[He'd pass by and smile to her.]

Good choices, when you're ready we can string them up.

[thief_of_truth]

"Thanks, Mr. Sniper!"

[She inevitably screws one up by working it too hard, but that's why she's got spares with her. The second one turns out much better, and within minutes she's got a decent-looking branch whittled down.]

[bloodon_myknife]

[He looked it over and nodded.]

Nice job. Now lets see.

[He'd make a notch at the top and bottom and hand her the cord to string it. Showing her how to make it nice and tight, so when it pulled back it would snap back into place.]

[thief_of_truth]

[Kay takes her time with this one, noting how much that cord would probably hurt if it broke and snapped back to hit her in the face or something. So, very slowly and deliberately, she sets the bow down on the ground and sets about the task of getting the string into place.]

"Careful... caaaareful... there we go!"

[Smiling, she picks up the finished product, twanging the string lightly with her finger to test its tautness.]

[bloodon_myknife]

[He smiled seeing the finished product.]

Good job. Now here a few arrows, I scraped a line in the dirt for you to stand behind. Pick a pillow and go line up, I'll correct you on holding it if needed.

[thief_of_truth]

[Kay nods, taking the bow in hand and heading over to the designated spot. She gives it a test pull - and of course, since she knows nothing at all about this sort of thing, the arrow just kind of snaps to the side and falls out of the bow, as she utterly fails to realize what the notches are for.]

"Wow... this is harder than it looks."

[bloodon_myknife]

[He nods, at least he had an idea of what she knew. Walking over he positions her to stand right, bringing her one arm up with the bow.]

Now, this arm straight. Rest the arrow just above your thumb and pull back straight, aim down the arrow.

[He'd adjust her position until she got it right.]

Now pull back and release. If the string hits your hand adjust your grip.

[thief_of_truth]

[This time, she manages to fire the arrow more or less straight, but she doesn't pull back hard enough and it doesn't fly very far.]

"Hm... little bit better..."

[bloodon_myknife]

A good start. Now try pulling back harder, test out your bow some. Also when you aim, aim a little above your mark. Arrows fall fast, the slower they go the faster they fall.

[thief_of_truth]

"Okay, let me give it another shot..."

[Truth be told, she's a little afraid of the bowstring snapping back and hitting her in the hand or face. Still, though, she does as she's told and gives it a harder pull, aiming above the target. She's still a little nervous and lets the arrow fly faster than she was intending, so it shoots off in another direction and misses the target completely, but it does make a decent amount of distance this time.]

"Getting better!"

[bloodon_myknife]

You're doing great. You just have to get more comfortable with the bow.

[He knew after she had it snap on her hands a couple times she'd likely get past that little fear. It always hurt less than you imagined.]

You have the aim right, keep trying to give a smooth release.

[thief_of_truth]

[Kay tries again, and perhaps predictably, this time she pulls it back too hard and the string snaps back and lashes her across the back of the hand. She squeals and drops the bow, shaking out the pain.]

"Ow!"

[The pain subsides quickly, though, and she looks back at Sniper with an embarrassed smile.]

"Guess I gave it a little too much that time... Do you have another string?"

[bloodon_myknife]

[He hands her another cord with a warm fatherly smile.]

See, not so bad. Just always have to be prepared.

[thief_of_truth]

"Yeah, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would..."

[Kay grins, taking the cord and stringing up the bow again. This time, she's much faster at it. Taking it in hand after testing it, she takes her time, stretches back just far enough to get a good shot, and lets the arrow fly. She's overcorrected for the height dropoff, but this time, she actually does manage to hit the target - a few inches above the bullseye.]

"Sweet!"

[bloodon_myknife]

Good shot, now keep trying until you get the hang of it.

[He'd put a few more arrows in the dirt by her. Mayfield was easily boring enough for him to have made plenty.]