Atlas Gym, Saturday Afternoon

[nottrivial]

Well, Alec and Sparkle had made plans for today, so even the fact that Alec had a snake following him around wasn't about to disrupt that. Even if the snake was really kind of annoying.

"You know you didn't have to get here forty minutes early," Celandria commented as Alec surveyed the archery range that, yes, he'd arrived at quite a bit early. "Even if by some miracle Sparkle had shown up early, he probably would have waited, you know."

"I know that," Alec protested, even as he blushed. "It's just that I wanted to check out the layout. Prepare. You know."

"All you've done is pace up and down," she reminded him. "You know there's such a thing as being overprepared?"

"Now you sound like Jace," Alec mumbled.

Celandria fixed him with a look that was pretty stern for a snake. "Don't say that."

[[expecting one, but open for atlas needs! beware my not-great archery knowledge ahead.]]

Comments

[myownface]

Sparkle was not, in fact, early. Sparkle was actually slightly late, looking a bit grouchy with a nagging backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, dropping the backpack onto the floor. It gave a little oof as it landed. "Weasel."

"Ermine."

[nottrivial]

"This is... Celandria," Alec said, gesturing to the blue snake that had been settled quite comfortably on his shoulder since morning. She was quiet all of a sudden, which, while much appreciated since he didn't have to contend with the nagging, was somewhat odd. "...I guess she says hi."

[myownface]

"Hi," the contents of the backpack said, in a direction that seemed to be directed mostly toward the snake.

"... Shut up," Sparkle grumbled toward the bag. "Please."

The bag squirmed around a bit, and then an ermine head peered out from under one of the flaps, shooting Sparkle a particularly annoyed look.

[nottrivial]

"So... I guess this is the weirdness for the weekend. More temporary pets." Celandria let out a disgruntled hiss at that. "Or... animal companions," he amended.

That seemed better.

[myownface]

"Talking, annoying ones," Sparkle agreed, squirming a bit as the ermine climbed up his pant leg. "At least Velcro isn't mouthy."

[nottrivial]

"Oh, your cat stuck around?" Alec said, perking up a bit. "I didn't know that. That's really nice." Sparkle struck him as a responsible pet owner, anyway. Which was probably somewhat hilarious, because... Sparkle. "Mine didn't."

[myownface]

"Velcro stuck around because leaving would have meant he'd have to let go," Sparkle replied with a shrug, slightly jostling the ermine as she perched on his shoulder. "Shame you didn't get to keep yours. You seemed to be getting along with her pretty well."

All tiny and grey and aww.

[nottrivial]

"It's okay," Alec said, shaking his head, even though, yeah, he would've liked a cat. "It'd be hard to take care of her if there were ever another crisis like that one week, or if I had to go home for an emergency or something."

Celandria slithered up Alec's shoulder before commenting, "You know that isn't as likely as you think it is."

Sigh. And he'd been so hoping she was done.

[myownface]

Sparkle considered Celandria's comment, and then tilted his head at Alec, curiosity written across his face.

"What kind of emergency, anyhow?"

Yes, he was going to be nosy.

[nottrivial]

"Oh," Alec said, surprised, like it hadn't occured to him that Sparkle might ask. But well, it wasn't as though he hadn't told anyone else so far. It certainly wasn't a secret, not after he'd already explained to Victor and Liara and Karolina. So.

"I hunt demons?" he offered. "My whole family does. We're sort of... designed to." Celandria made a small unimpressed noise at that. "And I keep thinking my sister will get into trouble fighting on her own and I'll be needed."

[myownface]

Aaaand there was a moment spent in a sort of dumb silence, right there.

"... I guess that explains the arrows, huh?"

You think, Sparkle?

[nottrivial]

Alec looked uneasy for a moment, but once Sparkle spoke, he seemed to calm down. Even so, Celandria was migrating up his shoulder to settle a bit higher up along his neck, closer to where she could murmur in his ear if she wanted to.

"Um. Yeah," was what Alec settled on. "We learn how to use weapons pretty early on. It's part of training."

Awkward shuffle, awkward shuffle... and that was Celandria's cue to uncoil just enough to whisper something in his ear too quietly for Sparkle to hear.

When she drew back and settled back down on his shoulder, Alec looked a little less anxious. "I know it's... probably weird."

[myownface]

"You just had a snake whisper in your ear," Sparkle pointed out, sounding... weirdly reasonable, all things considered. "What isn't weird, around here?"

He kind of had you there, Alec.

[nottrivial]

"...That's true." Of course it was, Alec. Sparkle was wise.

But talking about Shadowhunting and all of that was still weird and unsettling, so rather than dwell, he offered a slightly awkward-sounding, "So... ready to learn?"

[myownface]

"Ready as I'm ever going to be with a weasel following me around." Sometimes, Sparkle made a weird sort of sense. The best thing for it was to appreciate it when it happened, and then spend the rest of your time smiling and nodding. "Where do we start?"

[nottrivial]

Alec glanced over at Celandria and held out a hand for her to slither onto so he could set her down somewhere a little bit less disruptive. "The first step is getting used to the weapon," he said, heading over to get his bow from where he'd set his bag down on the floor. "This is a recurve bow," he said, holding it out to Sparkle. "You hold it-- well, are you right- or left-handed?"

[myownface]

"Right," Sparkle replied, shrugging as he reached for the bow, and feeling suddenly and distinctly badass the moment it was in his hand. Look at him, world! Armed and dangerous!

... Even if it wasn't worth much without an arrow or the faintest clue about how to use it. "So I hold it how?"

[nottrivial]

Pff, Sparkle was allowed to geek out as much as he wanted. It was a bow! Shiny and badass and shiny!

"So you'll want your left hand on the bow, right under the notch in the middle where the arrow will go," he instructed. "Loose, though. And then your right hand should hold the string, just under your chin so that you can aim. And you want your elbow up, but not too far up."

That was probably a big chunk of information to digest all at once, Alec.

[myownface]

"Uh... right..." Sparkle was putting forth his best effort, at least. He figured out the left hand under the notch bit, and his other hand went under his chin, like so, and...

"That looks way too high," Reyna informed him, crawling across his back so that she could sit on his opposite shoulder, and then sitting up, paws resting on the top of his head as she surveyed his form. "Lower your elbow, Robin Hood."

"You will get stuffed into my lunch box next."

[nottrivial]

"Not way too high," Alec said, trying to sound encouraging. "But a little lower would be good."

Sigh, Reyna.

"And then when you actually shoot, you'll be doing this all to the side, and the goal there is not to turn anything except your neck and your head. But that's... more of a convention thing than anything; it's not like I always stick with the exact same angle when I'm... fighting a Ravener demon or something."

[myownface]

"I'm going to assume that's something really, really nasty," Sparkle decided, lowering his arm all the same. "Sound good?"

Sure, Sparks.

"It sounds hungry," Reyna decided, crawling up onto the top of Sparkle's head and perching up there, merrily ruining Sparkle's hairdo. "I'm kind of hungry. When's supper?"

"When I develop a taste for weasel."

[nottrivial]

Alec watched them banter, amused but at the same time uncertain of whether it was okay to interject. Weren't his social skills just the best?

"So, then," he said after a little bit of an awkward pause, "then the last thing to know is that when you shoot, it's mostly extending your bow arm forward, not pulling the string back. You do that too, but only when your left arm is fully straight and you're ready to fire. It helps with aim, mostly. And... not hurting your hand."

[myownface]

"Bow... forward, not string back?" Sparkle looked at Alec to make certain that he was hearing him right. "You're telling me that everything I ever learned from cartoons is a lie, you know that?"

... And yet.

[nottrivial]

"I know, it's a difficult adjustment," Alec said, smiling a little. "Strange fact, mund-- I mean, cartoons rarely have too much concern for personal safety."

[myownface]

The slip probably wouldn't have caught Sparkle's attention so much, if Alec hadn't caught it. It was always the backtracking that he seemed to notice the most.

"Yeah, well, I guess they also have roadrunners letting giant anvils crush idiot coyotes," he noted, cocking an eyebrow at Alec before shrugging and looking back at the bow. "So. What now?"