Target Practice

Ethan Maverick was overwhelmed.

He had recently arrived to the island, and was still in partial disbelief he had ‘powers’. After dealing with accidentally replicating someone’s power back home, he’d been sent to MCI to make sure he— and, mostly, everyone else— was safe. Ethan wasn’t complaining, though: the island was beautiful and its inhabitants amazing, from what he could tell.

Today, he could finally catch a break. Ethan headed off to the woods with a wooden bow and quiver with a handful of arrows strapped to his back, and carrying a few practice targets to hang up on trees for a bit. Archery was something relaxing to him... and, if he was being honest, he needed practice.

The forest was quiet and peaceful, save for feint rustles. Perfect for practice. While he had promised himself to stay towards the edges of the forest (otherwise, he was sure he’d get lost, and who knows what was hiding here), he could tell it went much deeper and darker. Should he ever decide to hunt, this was certainly the place for that, too.

After arriving without much fanfare, and promising himself to stay toward the outside of the forest, he was preparing to start. He took an arrow out, admiring for a moment its simple sleekness, before nocking it into the string. Stand firm, he reminded himself, staying tall but relaxed. Deep breath... pull.

3, 2, 1. Ethan released the arrow, sending it flying through the still air.

Ethan jumped a bit and turned toward the sudden voice, taking a sharp breath. He wasn’t at all expecting anyone else around here, especially someone who would just come up and talk to him. She seemingly came out of nowhere.. how long had she been watching? Even if she did give him a start, she give some constructive advice (she seemed to be an archer herself), so after a moment Ethan composed himself.

“Uh, hi. Thanks for the advice, I’m not too experienced with this. Only been shooting for a year or so”, he said. Quickly going over and retrieving his arrow (self-consciously wiggling his fingers a bit), Ethan took a few glances at her while he was walking back to his bow. She didn’t seem to have any noticeable physical quirks, being a slim redhead. Though he knew it wasn’t all too polite to judge, at the back of his mind the question lingered: what was her power?

“By the way, I’m Ethan", he introduced himself, having to resist the urge to outstretch a hand. Not quite the setting. And whatever her power was, it was unwise to risk contact with his archery gloves, which didn’t cover his whole hand.

The student council president sounded like a pretty big deal to Ethan, but she did seem to be the type to do something like that. Though something would happen to that position in a month, she seemed pretty proud about it anyway, and Ethan found himself offering a small smile in return to her bold one. As for the praise... it was unexpected, but then again, he hadn’t had anything else to compare himself to.

"I took regular lessons before ending up here. I’m decent enough but not reliable to hit a bullseye," Ethan said. It was true, he didn’t consider himself anything special. If possible, he would have liked to continue lessons sometime... but there were other things to focus on for now.

"I am new, yeah. Still adjusting to everything. Classes, the whole Realities thing...” he replied. He wasn’t overwhelmed too thoroughly, but it did turn his life on its head for him.

"And... mind showing me how you shoot, Liliana? If you don’t mind, of course.” It had been a while since Ethan practiced, and he had no doubt he could use some brushing up on technique. As an odd side note, he found himself wondering what her bow looked like. His own simple oak bow was certainly good enough to shoot straight, but it would be fascinating to see a sleeker, high quality one.

Ethan watched intently as Liliana spoke and then shot. He was satisfied to see her bow was as fancy as he thought it would be— a recurve bow, made of some special material he didn’t particularly recognize. He watched as she carefully positioned herself, then found a good target to aim for. After she’d fired the bow, he had at least some idea of the aim and release to strive for. Liliana had fired with calculation and steadiness, sure of herself.

Next, he figured he may as well take another shot. Ethan took her advice and tried to go closer, and instead aim for accuracy. Taking a few steps forward, he stared at a target close enough to hit precisely, but also accurately. Raising the bow and mocking an arrow, he stared down the spine of the arrow, not taking his eyes off the target. Deliberately and steadily, Ethan pulled back the string until quite taut. Taking care to stand straight and yet stay relaxed— particularly in his fingers— he released the arrow.

He felt that he didn’t fumble the release this time, and watched for the fraction of a second it flew through the air. With a deeply satisfying thunk, the arrow lodged itself into one of the targets he had hung up. It struck the target quite in the middle, but still slightly off-center. Even so, Ethan was satisfied enough with himself. With practice, he could certainly improve.

Turning towards Liliana with a beam he didn’t bother to suppress, Ethan spoke. "Thanks for the suggestion. I’m improving, albeit far from where I want to be.” True, it wasn’t a bullseye, but his technique was a bit better that time. "By the way, how long have you had a bow? You probably know, but you’re really skilled with it," Ethan added. She was obviously experienced, but he may as well ask as a reference.

Ethan wasn’t surprised Liliana had been shooting for a while. No doubt, in 5 years, there’s a lot of time to work on technique, but also plenty of room for injury. Ethan himself had broken arrows and strings, but he only injuries to himself was a pulled muscle or two. However, what she said also showed she was about 17. Close to his age, as he judged. The archery club certainly sounded interesting to Ethan, though, and it would be a great outlet.

"Yeah, the archery club sounds interesting. I’ll see if I can apply sometime soon", he said, eyes twinkling somewhat with excitement. Talking to Liliana had him making some small improvements, so surely a whole club would be great.

There was only one question left he felt compelled to ask her, but he wasn’t sure how to ask it. Being new to the island, and also for his own power, he was constantly wondering the reasons people were on the island. That is... what was her power? There was a huge variety of both powers and species here, and while he didn’t want to assume, she looked human. Then again, so did most people here, so it seemed safe enough to ask.

"So... why are you here?", Ethan asked. "Not the forest, of course, but... the island.", he clarified. Hopefully that was clear enough, but still he was somewhat worried about her reaction. While he didn’t want her to feel like he was interrogating her, he still wanted to learn a bit about her.