Maximilian trains Joy

[Rob (Cast)]

Early the morning after his arrival, Max awakes to the sounds of the inn starting to busy itself. He greets anyone inside, apologizing for his appearance. After another payment and quick breakfast of fruit and a roll, he stashes his travel sack aside and, grabbing his sword as well as some strips of cloth and a small knife, heads out into the field. Not much is going on quite yet, so Max takes the opportunity to meditate by the water's edge as he waits for Joy to begin her training, whenever she happens to awake. The air is cool but the sun is warm.

[Joy Rosewood]

*Not long after Maximilian begins meditating at the water's edge, a shadow appears near him*

"Goot Morning to you, Maximilian. If you don't mind, I zink I need to do some meditation myself before ze training. I feel a little off somehow, like I ate somezing-"

*Joy belches quite loudly*

"No, vait, nevermind, I'm ready now."

[Rob (Cast)]

Max grins at this, still seated for the moment. 'Well met, Joy! So tell me exactly what it is you wished to learn today. Something to do with improving your bowmanship, yes?'

[Joy Rosewood]

"Yah! Zat iz correct. I vish to shoot my bow better. But I have also heard zat zere iz an overarching zeory of hitting your enemies from range. Iz like veapon mastery, but bows instead of swords. Do you know vat I'm talking about?"

[Rob (Cast)]

'Ah, yes! You specifically said you were interested in "marksmanship", didn't you?' Max stands up from his seat in the grass. 'Indeed, you could describe it that way. Many core ideas, such as judging trajectories, watching the wind, having a discerning and accurate eye carry across any ranged weapon discipline, whether it be a bow, crossbow, or even a simple sling or thrown dagger. Even operating larger siege weaponry takes this type of skill to an extent, though in a different way. Improving in these principles can allow you to find points of weakness on an enemy more easily and loose your strikes on target with more consistency. So may I ask two questions, dear Joy: one, how confident are you in your draw arm? Rather, how strong, stable, controlled does it feel? And two, how confident are you in your eyes? Not simply to judge distance and aim but to discern the nature of your own shot before it is loosed and to discern the body of the target in question and how it will act and react before, during, and after you loose?'

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy ponders Maximilian's words for a while*

"To answer your first question, vell, eets alright. I am able to pull ze arrow all ze vay back, but I can't hold it zere very long.. as for your second question, I usually hit zings. I usually know vere to point ze arrow. If I'm lucky, I can even hit a moving target."

[Rob (Cast)]

Max listens, nodding. 'You should not be holding your draw for very long anyway, the thing I am most thinking of is your ability to keep your arm stable. When drawing your bow anyway you should be drawing with your back. But as long as there is nothing of concern outstanding to you, we can iron out small things in the future. Hmm...' Max thinks for a minute. 'Alright, Joy, here is what we will do. I am off into the woods to set up a little course for you to run. It sounds as though what you need now is a refining of the basics. While I set up I would like you to warm up. Arenyou going to practice with your bow specifically in this exercise? Or did you have some other ranged implement you wished to practice with?'

[Joy Rosewood]

"Zere are many veapons I vant to practice vith, but mostly I need to shoot my bow better."

*Joy pauses for a bit*

"I also vant to try throwing veapons, like throwing daggers und throwing axes as vell as ozer veapons like crossbows, slings, und even siege veaponry. I don't zink ze hellions vould like a ballista bot in ze face! Actually, vat does running a course have to do vith ranged veaponry? I don't pull my bow back vith my feet."

*Joy giggles at the thought*

"I guess I could try zat sometime.. I vould have to figure out how to balance my self on two hands.. eet vould make for a good show.."

[Rob (Cast)]

Max laughs in amusement. 'Well, for today let us focus on using our hands. I suppose you should use your bow for the time being. Now while I go set up, I want you to practice nocking your arrow. No loosing; simply nock, draw, hold it for a second, and ease the string back, then repeat until I return. I want this to become a more natural motion for you so that your eyes may more readily focus on a target. With that in mind, find a focus point as well to lock your eyes on; even a tree will do. Now then, I shall return!' Max grabs a small satchel with some strips of cloth as well as his sword and starts to head for the forest.

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy finds a relatively large tree away from the inn and other people*

*She takes out her bow and one of her arrows. She nocks the arrow, then she draws it, holds it for a second and then eases the string back. She repeats the drawing, holding and easing over and over*

*As she is doing this, she remembers the first time she picked up a bow...*

-Scene: In a forest somewhere, with large trees. The air is crisp, but not unpleasant. The leaves in the forest have many colours, most prominent of which is red. It is early morning-

*Joy is looking at a squirrel on a tree. She has a bow and an arrow in her hands*

"Papa, I cannot do zis."

"I know. I have heard your objections."

*Just to the left of Joy is Marble, Joy's father.*

"I cannot hold eet steady."

"Eet vill come vith practice. Und ve both know zat. Now,"

*He points at the tree with his short leathery hand*

"Shoot ze tree. At your skill level, you von't even penetrate ze bark."

*His voice is like footsteps on gravel. He was fond of pipeweed. Joy nocks the arrow*

"No no, not like zat. Look, your fletching iz on ze wrong side."

*Joy renocks the arrow*

"Alright, pull eet back, steadily now."

*Joy pulls back the arrow. It's not very steady*

"Point eet upvards just a little.. a little more... loose!"

*The arrow flies from the bow and hits the tree, only inches away from the squirrel. The squirrel leaps away*

*Marble laughs. Joy gasps*

"You almost hit zat squirrel.. someday you'll able to do zat on purpose."

"Zat eeznt funny. I could have hurt eet.."

*Marble looks at Joy*

"Joy, my beautiful daughter, sooner or later, you vill have to hurt zings in zis life. You vill vatch zem bleed and die. Eet iz alvays hard. But,"

*Marble puts his hand around Joy shoulder. He sighs.*

"Eet gets easier..."

*A moment passes. Marble steps away from Joy and walks towards the tree.*

"Ven I vas a soldier,"

*Joy gives him a look*

"... eet vas before I vas a Woodsman. Anyvays, vhen I vas a soldier, zey taught us a.. creed of sorts. To impart on us ze importance of.. our weapon, I guess."

*Marble pulls the arrow out of the tree with a good yank*

"Eet goes somezing like zis:

'Zis iz my bow. Zere are many like eet, but zis one iz mine.
My bow iz my best friend. Eet iz my life. I must master eet as I must master my life.
Vithout me, my bow iz useless. Vithout my bow, I am useless. I must shoot my bow true.
I must shoot straighter zhan my enemy who iz trying to kill me.
I must shoot him before he shoots me.

I vill… I.. can't remember ze rest. But you get ze point. Zat bow vill save your life. Remember zat. Never stop training. Never stop improving."

-Joy's arm is getting tired, pulling back the arrow again and again, endlessly not shooting an arrow into a tree-

"Zis iz my bow. Zere are many like eet, but zis one iz mine. My bow iz my..."

*time passes*

[Rob (Cast)]

A short while later Maximilian emerges from the forest, his face eager. Striding up to Joy, e bids her, 'Come, Joy! It seems you've done plenty of warming up. I trust your mind is focused, yes? We have two steps in this little exercise I have for you. Please follow along.' He leads her into the forest where very near to where the incline starts up towards the hill there are clearly trees marked. Around some there are blue pieces of cloth and others there are red. 'Now then, I would like you to run a simple course. Going up the hill there are more trees like these marked by fabrics. I want you to follow the route as marked by the trees, making your way up the hill as quickly as uou can. However, you shall be moving and shooting at the same time: loose an arrow into each tree with a red strip, but you must be next to a tree with a blue strip when you do. This is to simulate finding cover and vantage under fire and to help you coordinate yourself better while moving. Aim for the strip of red if you can but hitting the tree itself will count. Again, move quickly. I will follow along behind you and retrieve your arrows, at the end of the course you will then turn about and do it again, but moving downhill. We will repeat this until I say. Any questions?'

[Joy Rosewood]

"No. Zis seems pretty straight forward."

*Joy looks uphill at the trees, noting the red ones and the blue ones*

"OK. Let's do zis."

*Joy takes off at a quick run to the first blue tree she sees. On the way she pulls an arrow from her hip quiver. When she gets to the tree she quickly nocks the arrow, pulls back, and looses. The arrow misses a red tree by inches. Joy scowls as she hurries to the next blue tree.*

*This time, as she is drawing an arrow from her quiver, she trips up and goes tumbling down. She scowls louder this time. She gets up and continues. At the next blue tree, she nocks an arrow, pulls back and shoots at the next red tree. It hits the tree, but not near where the red fabric is*

*She continues further into the course*

[Rob (Cast)]

Following behind at a pace that gives Joy the space she needs, Maximilian starts retrieving her arrows and pocketing them in a makeshift cloth quiver. He continues following her up the path, staying silent so she might focus. He smiles in approval.

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy continues through the woods, dashing from tree to tree, shooting arrow after arrow. She hasn't managed to hit the red fabric yet, but she has been hitting the trees consistently. An old memory creeps into Joy's mind*

*She remembers the first time she took a life...*

-Quite A Few Years Ago-

*Joy is in the woods. The trees are big. There are many red leaves are on the ground. The crisp breeze gives her some cover to sneak up on a bandit sentry. He is looking at the road from the cover of a large bush. Unbeknownst to him, Joy has an arrow drawn back to pierce his neck. It's an easy shot; Joy isn't very far away and she has been training to do this something like this for months. But her hand trembles as the arrow is loosed and it hits the tree just in front of the bandit. The thud of the arrow rings like a church bell*

*He turns around and instantly sees Joy. His black beady eyes are filled with rage*

"I'm gonna gut you."

*Joy screams and turns to run, but trips on a root. She only has enough time to turn around and try to pull out her dagger when a big meaty hand clasps the front of her tunic and slams her into a tree. Still holding her up, he produces a short blade*

*It goes forward into Joy's stomach*

*Joy is still screaming for a few moments before she realizes that the dagger has stopped a hair's width from her stomach*

*She then notices the man is frozen, as if he'd turned into a statue. There's something familiar about this..*

"Cut hiz throat." from a gravelly voice out of nowhere.

"..Vat?" Tears are streaming down her cheeks.

"Cut. Hiz. Throat. I can't hold him for long, more are coming," says the voice softly.

*She cannot see the voice. All she wants to do is get away, but she is still trapped in the man's grip. She remembers her dagger. She knows that a single wrong move would leave her eviscerated. Her hands are still trembling as she takes the dagger and cuts her tunic. She takes a few lacerations from the weapon held by the large man, a reminder of the danger she is still in. After a few long moments, she is free*

"Remember vat I showed you."

*Joy looks at the man, frozen with a mesmerized look on his face, his hand still clutching cloth*

*With tears still running down her face, gets behind the man, reaches up with both hands, one on the man's face, the other holding the dagger to his throat*

"Joy.. you can do zis."

*She holds back a sob and yanks the dagger as hard as she can across his meaty throat. Blood goes everywhere as the bandit clutches his throat and gurgles with agony*

*Joy stumbles backwards.. the last thing she sees before she faints is the red leaves drifting from the trees above..*

*...*

*thunk*

*An arrow lands, piercing the red band of cloth attached to the last tree in the course. Joy's hands aren't trembling now*

[Rob (Cast)]

Max can tell Joy is very focused, almost trancing herself, and gives her distance. His face lights up as she makes her mark on a red band. Soon enough they are at the course's end, no tied trees beckoning onward. Max jogs up beside Joy, handing her the collected arrows. He also hands her a small dagger. 'Good, keep up the pace, back down the hill now. This time substitue one arrow shot for a knife throw. Flexibility!'

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy looks at the knife, then looks at Maximilian and nods*

*She hurries back down the hill, backwards through the course, this time with a single dagger*

*Dashing from marked tree to marked tree, sweat is pouring down her brow*

*Four trees from the top, she has only missed once when her foot slipped on the wet moss*

*The next tree she takes out the dagger*

*turns*

*winds up*

*releases*

*the dagger misses the tree by a foot and clatters on the nearby rocks*

"gotsDAMMeet."

*She continues downwards*

[Rob (Cast)]

Max watches Joy's technique closely as he follows behind. He picks up the fallen dagger as they continue back down the hill. 'Stay focused, Joy, don't let one poor shot affect your next.' Once they reach the bottom of the course again, Maximilian returns Joy's arrows and gives her the dagger again. 'We will keep this up until you feel it is sufficient, and then push past that as we can. Listen to your own body though.' He spies a nearby hatchet left to rest, and shrugs. He grabs it and also hands it to Joy. 'Two thrown shots, arrows for the rest. Ready? Back up again!'

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy begins the course again, albeit with less enthusiasm*

*Her step is less quick as she dashes to the first tree again*

*A satisfied look appears on her face as an arrow sinks into the red fabric on the tree*

*There is no stumbling this time as she makes her way to the next tree*

*She pulls out the hatchet, the blade shining in the morning light*

*brings it over her head*

*a swing*

*a spin*

*a thunk*

*red fabric falls to the ground*

*footsteps fading into the forest*

[Rob (Cast)]

For a good while Joy continues her training, running through the forest with Max coaching and continuing to retrieve her arrows. After a time they come to a rest, and Max looks on, pleased. 'Well done, Joy, you are certainly becoming more consistent. That is the key! This is also an exercise you could practice on your own, though you would have no arrow runner.' He chuckles. 'If you would like to conclude for now, I think you are getting a good grasp on your footing and focus, but it is up to you. Shall we do some more runs? Or do you feel confident in your progress? I am sure you have much to attend to today as well.'

[Joy Rosewood]

*Joy's breathing is wheezy*

"Yah, I zink zat's goot enough for today.. You are a tremendous help to me und zis little hamlet.."

*Her stomach grumbles*

"Uh, lunch iz calling me. I zink Krond vas also looking for training.. I vill be in ze Vatering Hole."

*Joy gets up*

"Zanks for your training.."

*Joy looks at Maximilian's arm*

"Und if you ever vant us to restore your arm, ve vill help you."

*Joy turns around and begins to head towards the inn*

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