"Anyways, that's basically the gist of it. You guys wanna try it?" Charolette asked.
Hmmm...
This actually wouldn't be my first time shooting a bow. See, back in gym glass, in my previous world, we had an archery unit for a few days, so this'll actually be my, like, fourth time shooting a bow.
This is important, because, since this presumably is the first bow that exists in this world, that means that very few people have had the opportunity to fire a bow. Meaning that I have the opportunity to technically be the greatest archer in the world! That's cool, right?
I just gotta be better than 4 other people. And, since I have prior experience, that'll be a cakewalk!
"I don't wanna touch that... thing." S said, hissing and cowering.
"What are you, a cat?" Charolette joked.
S hissed.
Okay, 3 people!
"Anyways, anyone sane wanna give it a go?"
"Ooh! Me, me!" Michaus said, despite the fact Charolette clearly asked for sanity.
hehe. Man, I'm mean, aren't I?
"Alright. You remember how I did it, right?" Charolette asked.
"Of course! You just put the arrow here, string... AND PULL!" Michaus said.
He broke the string.
Silence filled the room, except for S's sigh of relief.
Well, so much for that.
"Michaus, y-you-!" Zramazos began, but was interrupted by Charolette's laughing.
"Nah, don't worry about it, happened, like, a dozen times during testing. I just gotta re-string it, hold on." Charolette said, grabbing the bow and grabbing more fishing line from a nearby box.
Michaus and Zramazos loudly sighed with relief at once, as S recoiled in horror.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for her to restring the bow. Actually, it looked like she'd basically mastered the art of restringing bows, as if she'd done it hundreds, maybe a thousand times.
She either learns really quickly, or 'a dozen' was a little less than truthful.
"Alrighty, that should do it. Here ya go." Charolette said, handing the bow to Michaus again.
"This time, I've got it! I'll hit it right in the head!" Michaus said. Oh, the target was some sort of straw training dummy, by the way.
He broke the string again.
"I grabbed a second one." Charolette said, restringing the bow again.
...
"This time for sure!" Michaus said.
He pulled the string back...
Everyone braced.
He steadied his aim...
And released.
The arrow ended up in the upper region of the target's arm. Not quite the head, but still pretty good for a first shot, I think.
"Alright!" Michaus said, pumping his fist in the air as celebration.
"Nice!" Charolette said.
"Hmm, nice shoot." I said, recalling cool rangers in fantasy movies.
Everyone kinda looked at me weird. Clearly impressed by my cool attitude.
"Uh... yeah." Charolette said. "Anyways, who's next? Zramazos, you wanna give it a go?"
"Oh, uh, n-no, I'll p-"
"Take it." Charolette said.
"Ah, a-alright." Zramazos said, grabbing the bow.
It took him a minute to knock the arrow into the bow properly, and his hands were shaking the whole time.
"S-so you just do t-this, right?" Zramazos said, pulling back the bow string.
"Yeah, yeah, you just gotta-" Charolette began.
Zramazos released the string too early, and the arrow dropped to the floor.
"You gotta pull it back harder!" Michaus shouted.
Zramazos seemed quite embarrassed.
"Here, you almost had it." Charolette said, picking up the arrow and handing it back to him.
"Y-yeah, thanks." Zramazos said, knocking the arrow again.
He dropped it again.
Earlier, his face was red with embarrassment. Now it's his whole head. How novel.
With everyone feeling a vague sense of deja vu, Zramazos re-knocked the arrow.
This time, he was able to properly release the arrow, and it flew. He did completely miss the target, but he came pretty close. The arrow landed right next to Charolette's. Wasn't a bad shot, all things considered. For a first timer, at least.
"Nice shot!"
"T-thanks." Zramazos said, still embarrassed.
"Anyone else wanna give it a go?" Charolette asked.
I raised my hand, coolly. "I'll go." I said, in a cool, low voice.
"Oh, really?" Charolette began. "You don't have to, or anything."
Oh yeah. Kinda forgot about that. This whole time, she's probably thought that I couldn't care any less about her stuff.
"I'll do it." I said, simply. May as well play off it, right?
"Even you, Beyes?!" S said. "This could be dangerous! What if the arrow flies into your skull, or something!"
"I can assure you that wont happen." Charolette said.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." I tell S.
I remembered perfectly how to knock an arrow, so I was able to do it with ease. In a moment, I'd had drawn the bow, and was ready to fire.
Everything functioned exactly like I'd imagined it.
Except, I'd forgotten one thing.
I was never any good at archery.
My arrow ended up hitting the foot of the target.
And, looking back, that's one of my better shots.
...
Well,
technically,
I did hit the target, and on my first try, too.
So...
I AM THE GREATEST ARCHER IN THE WORLD! HUZZAH!
That'll be good on my resumé.
I wordlessly handed the bow back to Charolette.
"Uh, nice." Charolette said.
I nod in response.
And then, suddenly, another projectile hit the target, right in the center of mass.
It was a a familiar looking shard of glass.
"Right on." S said.
...
Woah.
That doesn't count as archery, right?
"Whoah!" Michaus said.
"Y'know, you could've just used the bow, it's really not-" Charolette said.
Zramazos just looked scared.
"No." S said.
I guess he also wanted to practice ranged attacks.
"OOOH! That gave me an idea! Let me have the bow again!" Michaus said.
"Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Charolette said handing them the bow.
"Alright, I've got this! Here goes!" Michaus said.
As he drew the bow back, wind could be felt throughout the room, heading strait towards the arrow.
"Wait, you're g-" Charolette began.
"FIRE!" Michaus said, as he released the arrow.
It sounded like a gunshot, or an explosion, or something. I guess they're both explosions, but...
Anyways, the entire upper half of the dummy was eliminated. And most of the bow, too.
"Show off." Charolette said.
Crap.
Guess I'm only the second greatest archer in the world, huh...
Y'know, thinking about it, best of 5 really isn't all that impressive, anyways.
