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[arrownomore]

It was probably the height of ridiculousness to drag an armful of books and a blanket down to the beach especially when she'd have to carry it all back, but Cissie was determined to do her research out in the fresh air

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[lt_blade]

Sonya figured the question was hypothetical, but she couldn't help responding.

"Lack of a good swordsmith, maybe."

Tomorrow would be the December first, and if it was going to be anything like last year, Sonya using the time to go for a swim-or rather just coming in from one. Over the black one-piece (the box was generous), she wrapped a towel around her waist to keep from dripping everywhere.

Seeing young women talk about weapons wasn't so unusual anymore, not after being on the island for this long. It was more novel was that she was talking about it as a 'family trade'.

[arrownomore]

Cissie snorted in amusement and looked up, closing the book. "There's a thought. I was just trying to figure out how to make some more arrows but it seems a lot more complicated than I thought it would be."

At least she had the time if it came to that - it wasn't as if she was going anywhere.

[lt_blade]

"That all?" It had been awhile since Sonya had used her bow, but it was nice to meet someone with the same interest.

She laid the towel out and took a seet. "There's a supply of obsidian near the volcano, they can be fashioned into arrowheads. Rawhide or leather to attach them, and I've some extra feathers you could use."

Some women talked about clothing in great detail, Sonya on the other hand felt that same interest when talking about and discussing weapons.

Sonya could spare some supplies anyway. With the winter coming about, spears were more effective against big game than arrows anyway.

[arrownomore]

Cissie beamed at the offer. "Really? You wouldn't mind? That's great! Thank you so much. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to do. I don't know if I'll need them or anything, but it's good to be prepared, you know. Just in case."

A fellow archer. It was so nice to finally meet one who wasn't her mother and/or crazy. "I'm Cissie, by the way."

[lt_blade]

"Wouldn't have said otherwise if I did." She found herself grinning back. "It's going to be winter soon, so it'll be easier for me to give you feathers now then having to hunt down birds all day."

She held out her hand. "Sonya Blade."

[arrownomore]

She'd been half-hoping that the stories about winter weren't really true, but hearing it from someone she didn't know just confirmed it. Snow on a desert island, as if things couldn't get weirder.

Cissie shook Sonya's hand firmly. "This'll be my first winter here, and that really feels weird to say. I'm guessing you've been here at least a year?"

[lt_blade]

"We were all new here at one point." It was something she herself tried to remember when new soldiers were assigned to her platoon.

"Two years come this January." Sonya held up two fingers, revealing a pearl ring on her finger-it's not necassarily been a dull year for her, in both the good and bad.

[arrownomore]

"Two years? I'm not sure if that's cool or scary. Little of both, maybe." There were people who had been here the same time or even longer, but she still wasn't quite sure about how she felt about being stuck here.

"I've been here a few months," Cissie shook her head. "I think I'm finally starting to settle in - or at least it feels like it."

[lt_blade]

"It's like everything else, it's scary and cool at the sametime." It was definitely that way to her: on the one hand, she was soon to be married to the man she loved and possibly gain some inner peace, but at the sametime there was the fear and loss of loosing people, and the random attacks or threats.

"It does take a month or so, least it did for me. I never liked the thought of being stuck here, but after awhile it turns from 'hoping' to just being in denial."

[arrownomore]

"I think it'd be harder if I didn't have my friends here," Cissie admitted. "I ran into them my first day and they explained things and got me settled in and it's just like old times again. Well, almost. They're all ahead of me in time so that's weird but well - at least they're here."

It really could have been a lot worse, all things considered.

[lt_blade]

Sonya nodded. "I was here over a year before someone from home, so you're lucky in that regard."

She did manage to make a few friends, but they've all gone home at the moment.

Sonya looked at her. "Come on, if you have sometime on your hands, we can trek over to the hut and get some supplies for you."

[arrownomore]

"That'd be great!" Cissie bounced up excitedly and started gathering her books together. "I can't even tell you enough how awesome this is. Thank you!"

[lt_blade]

Sonya collected her towel and shoes.

"It's nothing, I haven't really drawn a bow in awhile, and it's not the same if I'm just by myself."

"What sort of bow do you use?" She asked, leading her to one of the paths inside the jungle. May as well get details since she was that passionate about archery.

[arrownomore]

"It's a modified composite bow," Cissie answered as she followed Sonya. "It's nothing too out of the ordinary or anything like that, but it gets the job done."

The other half of the equation was the trick arrows, but telling Sonya about that would probably just lead to more questions that she didn't want to answer right now. It was simpler to just play it off as a hobby that had gotten passed along from mother to daughter.

[lt_blade]

Sonya was getting the idea that this was more than just a hobby. It couldn't be that unusual for a girl to be interested in archery, but considering the sort of and amount of reading she was looking into for supplies, and her reaction when Sonya offered some-she was thinking more 'life then hobby'.

"Long bow for me, inherited it from a friend of mine when she left the island. I do some hunting for the kitchen-long bow's handy if I want to try a hand at hunting big game. Usually though it's a spear or even a trap-but only if I have the entire day to watch it."

Traps for game such as boar would be painful if not fatal to a human who pulled the trip wire, so whenever she set one Sonya usually made sure to watch it all day: a skill she mastered from survival school

[arrownomore]

Cissie nodded. She'd thought about helping with the hunter once or twice - she was confident enough of her ability to hit the boar and then get out of the way if needed, but it felt like too slippery a slope. Other people could handle that job, she'd eventually decided.

"Yeah, my mom was really into it," Cissie said. It was more or less the truth, really. "And it kind of got passed down to me. I even had her bow for awhile, but that wasn't really working, so I had this one made."