A metal arrow soared across the room and hit a target, the ring just around the bullseye lighting up.
"Loosen your grip."
The next arrow, quickly nocked and let loose, actually backtracked, hitting and lightning up the outermost ring of the next target.
"Don't rush it. Take the time to properly draw and line up your shot."
Another shot, not coming as quickly as the last, climbed as it crossed the room before falling, the center of one of the further targets lighting up, an electrical ding echoing throughout the room. Cinder never bothered with any sort of celebration, another arrow prepped as she moved on to other targets, a vast majority of her shots actually hitting dead center after a little correction and reminders.
I watched from beside the room's entrance, back leaning against the training room's walls.
As she claimed, Cinder had prior experience with that weapon, little help from me needed to get her started. She'd been hitting the stationary circular targets scattered all across the room, some descending from the ceiling, pointing out from the walls, or rising out of the ground, from the very beginning but her personality didn't lend itself to the patience a bow called for. After a few repetitions, either intentionally trying to challenge herself or just impatient, she'd drop practiced motions in an attempt to speed up her fire rate.
Accuracy tended to plummet in those attempts.
Only a few minutes after my corrections and she was doing just that again, her shots still hitting but rarely scoring any bullseyes.
She was probably over there thinking she was good enough to move on from stationary targets. I wasn't so convinced.
With a lazy wave of my hand, I sent my bandaged sword towards Cinder, keeping it silently afloat above her head. Just as she was about to fire another shot, the arrow nocked and target centered, I dipped the blade near her. Startled, her shot went completely off course as she put some distance between her and my weapon.
She looked at me and I raised an eyebrow.
Rather than complaining, either picking up on the reason or just trusting that I knew what I was doing, she refocused on her shots, while I continued to move my weapon around just beyond her sight. Sometimes I sped it up just enough to create some noise or send a draft her way. Other times I dipped it near the path of her shots. Occasionally, I did absolutely nothing.
For awhile no beeps went off to signal a bullseye but that didn't last long, Cinder soon beginning to ignore my weapon.
As she prepared to let another arrow fly, I dropped my blade beside her, the pommel tapping her shoulder. That small touch was enough to make her miss completely. The same happened for all that followed as I directed my floating sword to poke at different parts of her arms, legs, and sides.
Until she finally glared my way, her newest arrow aimed directly at me.
"Keep doing that and I'll fire one at you." Cinder warned, unable to keep a lid on her growing frustration.
"Try it and I'll send it right back." I said, bringing my sword back and propping it against the wall beside me.
She stared.
Then released.
Of course, a bit of telekinesis and I had the arrow circling around my head and speeding back at her. Cinder took off, attempting to stay ahead of its pursuit while preparing another arrow and taking aim at me. Another arrow fired, it hit the wall beside me without any interference on my part while she was forced to throw herself away from the one pursuing her. Rolling into a run, she'd already had another arrow nocked.
I'm surprised she didn't flat out demand moving onto to more difficult exercises. This was an almost childish way to challenge herself, this exchange feeling more like an impromptu game than any real attack.
Either way, I went along with it, only adding in arrows that would've hit me to the pursuit while keeping them slow enough that she actually had time to adjust to trying to use a bow on the move. It was still too early to move on to moving targets but that was a good skill to start training early.
Relentless as Grimm could be, if she couldn't move while hitting her targets, that weapon's usefulness would be questionable at best.
VVRRMMM!
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my scroll, pulling its thin black ends apart, and swiping through the screen. A text from Emerald, seeking that help I offered.
Obviously frustrated by the sight, Cinder's shots became rushed, most flying wide. When one, by luck rather than skill, actually closed in on me, I redirected that one with a touch more speed than the others following her, aiming it straight for the wrist that dropped down to pull from the quiver at her waist. I caught her sleeve, intending to pin the arm the wall behind her, but a rip filled the room.
"You really should look into getting some studier clothes. It'll save you trouble." I said glancing up from my scroll. Cinder just scoffed, fully ripping away the torn cloth of her sleeve and taking aim at me again.
Persistently stubborn as always.
XOXO
"What's she doing?" Emerald, her gear changed for a casual tank top, white cropped jacket, and plain dark jeans, asked as she took a seat on one of our table's benches.
"Practicing with her aura." I said after swallowing the rest of the chocolate cake I'd been eating. Cinder might not have cared where we went for this training, rarely ordering anything, but I always tried to switch it up, the place we were sitting outside of some kind of bakery with a whole bunch I stuff I was hoping to try. I should probably order some stuff to go before we were done here too. "I'm helping her get some better control over it."
Emerald's left brow jumped up, her mouth pursing as she looked Cinder over. She'd gotten pretty good at ignoring those around her, Emerald's arrival not at all acknowledged as she gradually did away with her aura shield while staring down at the book in front of her. She wasn't reading it, rather, just using it as a point of focus.
"Huh, so you got on my case, but you need help too." Emerald said. That shattered Cinder's focus, her left eye twitching. Emerald caught on to it quickly, smirking. "I guess you're not all that much better than me." Another twitch.
As entertaining as it might've been to watch someone get under her skin, best not to risk it escalating. Closed off, Cinder came off as serious about everything, but her training got the genuine dedication few things did.
"How'd you learn to use aura?" I asked.
"Got in a fight with another kid back in the day." Emerald said, turning to me.
"Really? Must not have been a typical school yard fight."
"More like fighting for the last bit of some scraps." That sounded about right. Beyond having another unlock it for you, there were rare cases of people doing it all on their own in high stress situations. A kid getting by on the streets would have plenty of opportunities to trigger that rare event. "Been winging it ever since."
And she was pretty good for someone just winging it.
"Consider picking that up from one of the stores around here." I said, pointing at Cinder's book. "The more you learn about it, the better you'll be able to control your aura. All the methods in there should also help you with your semblance."
Curious, Emerald reached over for it but stopped short. "Can I take a look through it?" She asked. Cinder looked up, silently staring. "Please?" Emerald added.
"Don't steal it."
"Oh, ha, ha." Emerald dryly as she dragged the book over to herself, closing it and looking it over. Snide warning aside, it was best to consider it a miracle Cinder was willing to share anything with her given how she'd been treating Emerald so far.
Time passed relatively quietly, at least at our table. While I was busy snacking away on my plate of sweets, Cinder kept up her training with Emerald making some headway through the beginning of that basic book on aura. All the while, noise around us rose and dropped but remained a constant, droves of people going about their day to day.
But Emerald was far more talkative than Cinder, the unusual agreement between us hardly stopping that.
"You know, when I asked for help, I thought, I don't know, that'd we'd actually be using my semblance." Emerald complained, head propped up by one of her hands as she looked to me, interest in the dense pages already lost. "Not reading."
"Better to start from the beginning with this sort of thing." I assured her.
"How'd you learn to use aura?" She asked.
Yep, she wasn't anything like Cinder. Despite all the time we'd technically spent together up until now, there was a certain unspoken distance Cinder and I maintained. No real probing into anything personal, no asking too many unnecessary questions, and other little things. And here was Emerald, acquainted with us for less than a week and recruited under questionable circumstances, yet not bothering with any defensive measures like that.
"Grew up around a lot of people who knew how to fight. Learned from them." I shared. "And did plenty of reading."
Emerald flat out ignored that nudge to get back to the book, her head tilting further as she focused in on me. Face especially. "What's the deal with your glasses? Is there some reason you wear them all the time?"
"Why? Want to see what's under them?" I asked reaching up for them, Emerald subtly leaning in. I didn't just catch her interest, Cinder glancing up from the table as her aura briefly flickered. "You too, huh?" She scoffed, looking back down. Which didn't last long, gaze peeking back up as I adjusted my glasses. "Feel free to try and get a look under. I can't promise you'll find anything interesting though." I said, letting them go.
"Challenge accepted." Emerald said with a half smile. Boredom somewhat alleviated she picked reading back up. I shot a small smirk Cinder's way and she scoffed again, as if to call the whole thing childish, returning to her practice.
I never really gave it much thought these days but dealing with Emerald reminded me of people from my previous life. She was without a doubt the normal one between the three of us, thieving not withstanding.
If the two did find a way to fully get along it would do Cinder good to have someone like that around her.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal = 500 (Yeah it went up. Every time you guys meet it, that's what's going to happen before I reset down to 400 after a missed week. I'll actually change my limit to the end of Saturday though so we got till then to reach it.)
(A/N: Just a bit of focus on relationships and their dynamics here. Nothing too crazy other than the fact it's clearly going to be easier for Talon to get along with Emerald.
More importantly, we finally reached a point in the story that'll answer a lot of questions. For those interested in reading ahead to that here's the link:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
That plug aside, there will also be another writer's log there (A monthly thing I'm doing just to keep everyone updated on my plans for that month). It contain the prologues of those other ideas I had as well as a vote for them but I'll give the TLDR here for those not interested in heading over to that site or are unable to.
A second serious story? Yeah after preparing that for the past week or two, I quickly realized its just a bad idea all around. Writing two very different stories for two very fan bases with different focuses put me right on the path to burn out and I hadn't even posted any part of it yet. So yeah, those ideas I pitched won't see the light till this one is done. Better to focus my attention and maintain the nice balance I got going. Who would've though only one month of consistency wasn't enough to turn me into the beast of a writer I dream of being.
Reality is often disappointing.
That said, writing a casual story that also takes place in RWBY alongside this one? Far easier and if I'm being honest will likely be focused on humor and straight up smut. The gooner inside wants to put that R-18 tag to work at every turn but the intense desire to tell an actual story snuffs that out every time. Might as well focus on that energy on something that shouldn't be taken seriously and can be used to practice writing both of those. I'm not really the funniest guy around and I've only written like two R-18 scenes since I started this whole writing thing so fair warning, it will probably be trash if it ever sees the light of day but that's kind of the point so don't take it too seriously because I won't be.
TLDR and yet I typed too much. Anyways see you all in the next chapter.