Laurie and Warren log

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Laurie comes across Warren trying to learn archery




Everything Warren was doing was textbook perfect. The way he held the bow, the way he placed the arrow, the way he drew back the string. But it was such a foreign concept to his muscles, it did not feel natural.

Which is why when he let fly, the arrow sailed far past the target, disappearing into the distance. Far too much power, no finesse what so ever.

He frowned in the direction the arrow disappeared, then at the bow. There was something he just wasn't getting, and he wasn't sure what it was.

“You need a bow with less draw to start off,” Laurie noted casually, slipping the bow Forge had made her off her back and stringing it before placing a few arrows in the ground at her feet. She drew back on the bow, knocked an arrow and then let loose, watching it hit the centre of one of the targets several metres away. “Your elbow was too high as well, that’ll change the trajectory of the arrow.”

She’d come by for her daily bow practice and noticed Warren almost immediately, she hadn’t wanted to interrupt till he’d let the arrow loose, and the silence had allowed her to judge his form.

Warren looked over to Laurie as she spoke, watching her as she sent the arrow flying. He could see where she was getting right (and where he hadn't), but he still couldn't quite get his head around it entirely.

"Thanks," he replied, looking at the bow he'd chosen. It had seemed to be perfect, but then he hadn't realised he'd have to take into account his over-developed back muscles and compensate for that. "It's strange, I have all this knowledge in my head about all of this, but it doesn't seem to correspond accordingly to actual practice. Thus..." He waved at the missed arrow.

“When I first wanted to learn archery, I spent hours reading every book I could get my hand on,” Laurie noted, notching another arrow and letting it fly, it struck the target at the bullseye, not far from her first shot. “When I went to actually use any of the knowledge, I couldn’t even pull the string on the bow back. You’ve got to teach your muscles and your brain to do something they don’t normally do, esoteric knowledge isn’t enough for that. You’ve got an advantage I didn’t have though.”

"I do?" Warren replied, surprised. "It didn't really occur to me that I would have so much trouble with the practical side. But practice makes perfect, right? Or something like that." He'd have to carve out some time to work on it, but it couldn't hurt to have some sort of physical training that wasn't just Danger Room sessions.

"Yup," Laurie noted with an even bigger grin as she released another several arrows in quick succession, using up the ones she'd placed in the ground. She walked over to the target and yanked the used arrows out of the target, placing them back in their quiver. "You've got someone willing to train you, namely me."

Warren chuckled at that, making another attempt at hitting the target, taking Laurie's advice into account. He managed slightly better this time - he actually managed to hit the target, though it was right at the edge and it embedded itself deep.

"I'd appreciate that, thank you. It's been awhile since I've learned anything new."

"Well, it's been awhile since I got to share my genius with anyone, so I figure we're even," Laurie replied with a grin and a wink. "How about we meet out here in the morning tomorrow after my run and we can do a few games to see how much you need to learn?"

Warren mentally flicked through his schedule, trying to remember what he had on the next morning. He was fairly sure he didn't have any meetings until later in the day, and the work he did need to do he could work on from the mansion.

"I think I can do that. I'll need to check my schedule, but I'll let you know if I can't make it." Warren returned her grin with one of his own. "And I'll see what I can do about getting a better bow in the mean time."