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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 19:24:07 GMT -5
"Nobody cares about that. Whatever. I'm your slave. Shut up." Linx practically dragged the target along the ground now. It was far from a physical problem that was giving him difficulty. As was proved in these few seconds, though, mental and emotional ones could be just as crippling. He hadn't known this otter for ten minutes and she'd disemboweled his feelings. The result was this.
He didn't really care what she said from here on in. If Briala got nasty, he'd leave. If she got critical, he'd leave. If she was just curious... He'd probably leave anyway. The situation wasn't very much stacked towards his staying at that point. I just wanted to do a little practice...
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 19:38:35 GMT -5
Briala almost laughed. "Well no point in having an unwilling slave," she replied, her voice rich with amusement. He really did seem to be having a problem, and she really didn't know why he didn't just leave. He seemed to be rather annoyed of her company anyway.
Finally, Briala couldn't help it. She laughed. "Why are you staying then?" she giggled, skipping over to help him with the target. "You can leave, you know." She was rather confused; most people she yelled at and bossed around looked at her with disgust and promptly left. Added to the fact that Linx was probably much higher in rank than her, and she had no idea why he stayed to help.
Briala never really stayed mad at anyone long, unless they really ticked her off. Insulting her bow was okay. Breaking her bow, on the other hand, would result in a life of vengenance and cruelty, inflicted by her.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 19:42:31 GMT -5
He couldn't even make it all the way. Linx dropped the target on its face, letting it fall completely freely out of his paw onto the ground. The answer as to why he was staying wasn't apparent to him immediately. He had to actually take a moment to think about what he'd been asked, something which next to never happened.
"Because I..." Linx's words stuck in his throat and he had to start over. "Because I don't want you to not like me," he mumbled, embarrassed at the genuine reason which eventually came to him. There wasn't a reason in the world why he should have even cared what this otter thought of him. She didn't have any influence on his life if said influence was welcome. Unfortunately for himself, all influence within the fort was.
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 19:51:29 GMT -5
Briala was shocked, both by the sudden drop of the target and Linx's answer. "I don't not like you," she replied, sounding confused. "Why...?" she glanced around at the target he had shot, and her own 3 targets. "Oh..." she finished lamely, feeling silly. She had already forgotten about their debate.
She giggled again, picking the target up off the ground and balancing against her legs. "I wouldn't not like someone because of that, silly!" she laughed. "Geez, if I disliked everyone who disagreed with me, I wouldn't make any friends! Surely you don't agree with everything all your friends say!" Briala couldn't stop chuckling. Nobody ever worried about if she liked them or not! Nobody especially cared enough that they would let her boss them around. It was funny!
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 19:56:33 GMT -5
"You'd be surprised." Linx's voice came out completely flat and monotonous but somehow, at the same time, cracked. He was not only emotionally dismembered by what had just happened with Briala, but he was also horrified by how poorly he was reacting to events as they played out. This fed into itself and resulted in Linx's composure being obliterated.
If it weren't for things dying down a bit now, he'd otherwise be on his knees screaming at the sky, or sobbing uncontrollably or something to that effect. In any case, he held his head low, staring at the light reflecting on his boots, and his tail involuntarily followed suit by laying completely limp. The mouse looked like a standing corpse. This is what some ottermaid can do to you with words. How weak are you?
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 20:03:36 GMT -5
Briala raised her eyebrows. Oh dear, this is worse than I thought. How do I make it better? Or at least, not worse. She had no doubt that it was her responsibility to make it better. If she would admit it to herself, it was half her fault. She tapped her chin, scanning the clearing for something, anything. Hmm, what makes a warrior feel better?
Briala got an idea. A wonderful, brilliant idea, as all her ideas were. Grabbing Linx's shoulders, she shoved him over to one end of the clearing. She grabbed the target he had dropped and placed it a few yards in front of him. Then she grabbed her bow and an arrow from the quiver on her back, and placed both in his hands. Then she stepped back, beaming a grin.
"Try using those! Always makes me feel better," she said cheerfully. "You could get used to using a bow." She thought she could have tried giving him a pep talk of sorts, but she never was really good with emotional stuff.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 20:06:45 GMT -5
Linx gawked at the bow and arrow like they were musical instruments. He'd had limited experience with them before starting work with crossbows... But that was almost five years before. Being jostled around by Briala didn't help much either. It was the same as being bossed around with the targets, in his mind, anyway. She was still in control.
After about ten seconds that each felt like hours, he looked up at Briala, confusion plastered all over his face. There wasn't much of a worse weapon she could have tried giving him. "...What?"
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 20:14:47 GMT -5
Briala sighed impatiently, convienently forgetting how bewildered she had been when she first held the bow. It was clear that Linx had never held a bow before, or at least in a long time. However, she was determined that she would at least take his mind off whatever was bugging him before. If that meant getting him annoyed with a bow, then so be it!
Briala stood behind Linx and put the bow in his right paw, then his left pawon the string. Moving around to stand in front of him, she studied his stance for a bit before ordering, "Stand with your feet a bit farther apart. About shoulder width."
Without waiting for him to comply to her orders, she carefully nocked the arrow on the bow, moving his paws around so they held onto the arrow loosely. She beamed another grin. "There! Now just pull back on the string, and let go! Just don't pull too hard; you don't want the bow to break. Just until your left thumb touches your left cheek." Ignoring how simply awful the instructions were, she stood out of the way and waited.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 20:20:06 GMT -5
Linx felt increasingly patronized by the second. He was being treated like he had a third of the years he actually did, and the result was one very unhappy mouse. There was no need for him to do anything with a bow and, as before, the only reason he was even still around was because Briala wanted him to stay... Apparently. For all he knew, she was trying to get him to leave, but it was best to take this at face value. Even if face value didn't make it very pretty.
Drawing the bow back was easy enough for a well-muscled beast like himself. Having spent much time cocking repeaters of various strengths and yet more time doing actual, purposeful resistance training, it was easy to draw the string back. What wasn't easy was holding it. Having very little extra strength in his actual fingers, Linx accidentally let go while trying to get the bowstring back to his ear, sending the arrow up into the air and eventually nose-first into the earth.
Stunned by the accidental loose, Linx stared dumbly at the arrow in the ground. And you failed.
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 20:28:35 GMT -5
Briala slapped her forehead into her palm. "Maybe this was a bad idea," she said after a moment. Obviously, her methods weren't working. And she was getting increasingly annoyed with the equally annoying depressing-ness of the mouse. Honestly, you try to help, and get nothing in return.
No more nice Briala... The otter thought determinedly. She found that if she couldn't draw happiness out of an upset person, she could definitely draw out anger. "Just stop it! I don't know what you want me to do, but you're moping around like a dead person!" she said irritably, her strong voice carrying out over the clearing. "If you're that upset with my company, you can leave. And I have to say, it's very rude to be so dead when someone is trying to help!" With a huff, she took back her bow and arrow, returning the arrow to her quiver. She then proceeded to continue dragging the target over to where it was supposed to go.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 20:33:18 GMT -5
"You're right," Linx admitted dejectedly. "I'm making an idiot of myself and... Wasting your time. Shame on me. I'm outta here." Obviously, Briala's reverse-psychology attempt had been, as had the instances before, taken at face value. The mouse set the empty bow on the ground gently, careful to not damage it, put it in a dangerous position or even press it the wrong way against the grass. It's not yours. It's valued. It's old, but it's valued. Let's see you live up to it and value yourself. ...Now. This didn't quite work either.
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 20:39:16 GMT -5
Briala huffed again. Some beasts just need a good kick in the head to bring them back to their senses, she grumbled to herself. Now she was back at square one. Well, not quite. Square one was slavery. Speaking of which...
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked sharply. "I still need help with these," she indicated the targets. "Just because you're going to mope, doesn't mean I am. Oh, and you left this here," she added, pointing to his bolt repeater, which lay on the grass where he had left it when he first started moving the targets around. "Come on, we don't have all day."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Mar 14, 2008 20:45:35 GMT -5
Linx could make another repeater for the cost of his lunch. The add-ons and customizations he had made were next to free. That kind of lifestyle made him apathetic to leaving his property behind, and he wasn't feeling very jovial with Briala right then. All this slavery mock-up junk and patronizing with a bow and... Insulting his inventions... It didn't make him want to follow orders from someone who wasn't even a military equal.
"I think I don't care what you think of me anymore," Linx spat before turning and walking off. You just fell for the trap.
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Post by briala on Mar 14, 2008 20:53:53 GMT -5
Briala was enormously pleased with herself. Linx had left, which was sad. But at least he wasn't depressed anymore. More importantly, it wasn't her fault. She continued to tug on her target, tenaciously determined to get in her normal archery practice.
Briala didn't understand why Linx had left his repeater thing behind. If he cared about it so much, why would he leave it behind? Another reason she prefered her bow; it was an important part of her. Gingerly kicking the repeater to the side, she finally dragged the target to it's intended spot. Finally! she thought happily. It was all set up. Returning to her bow, she picked it up and began to shoot, sending a few arrows to the center of the closest target before moving onto the next one. She soon fell into the rythm of shooting, reaching back for another arrow, and shooting again.
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