fandomtownies | The Park; Monday Mid-Day-ish [03/11].

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The Park; Monday Mid-Day-ish [03/11].

Amaya was going to take the nice turn in the weather as a good indication of better things to come, because if today didn't just seel like a good weapons-testing day, well, then, she didn't know what was. After catching hersef being a little bit fussy about minor touch-ups here and there, she stopped herself, told herself that the extra large shuriken was just about as finished as it was going to get, and then headed on over to the park.

She'd hope the local water fowl would be wise enough to see Amaya Blackstone approaching with a well-sharpened star of metal more than half her height and know to stay out of the way, and if they didn't? Well, she'd be honest. She was going to have a hard time feeling too sorry about it.

Taking a moment to consider the lay of the land and the direction of the wind, Amaya sorted out a spot she thought might be best for giving the new obscenely large throwing star a few good goes, fought down the urge to dig a whetstone out of her pocket and give the gleaming edges a few more sharpening passes, and waited for Fjord to arrive.

It should be noted, of course, that no spikes were actually added to the weapon. It would have looked amazing, it was true, but the size and weight of the thing would make enough of a challenge without going and throwing spikes into the mix.

[[ expecting the apprentice, but it's a park! It is definitely open, be it for spectating, volunteering, or just any ol' park-related needs! ]]

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Today was apparently Fjord's turn to show up with coffee. Two large black coffees from the Perk, as a matter of fact, because so help him the time change had caught him entirely and utterly off-guard, and while he hadn't gotten out of bed early today by any stretch of the imagination, realizing what time it actually was meant he'd pretty much stumbled over himself to get to the park on time anyway.

... Only to stop at the coffee shop on the way, which was perfect 'I need a coffee, clearly' logic however you looked at it.

"Mornin', Amaya," he greeted, because so help him, it was morning enough. "Damn, that thing is looking good."

"'Morning, Fjord." Amaya nodded, a simple consession to seriousness (this was, after all, a very serious and important bout of experimental research in which they were about to enage) before she couldn't help grinning a little lopsidedly, first at him and then at the weapon as she leaned back to admire it in the sunlight. "She sure is. Taking the weekend to spruce her up a bit was a good idea, I think. If she flies even half as good as she looks, then I think we've got a real winner on our hands."

"Well, then let's hope we figure out the knack for throwing these things quick, hm?" He gave a grin that almost mirrored hers, save for the hint of extra tooth peeking out from his lower lip, and the considered the space laid out before them. "So, have we got a target?"

"Well," said Amaya, following Fjord's eyes thoughtfully, though she'd spent plenty of time considering that exact question herself so far, "only targets I can think of, unless we run back to the shop real quick to drag over one of the ones I've got there, would be the trees, and I don't know how folks'll take to use potentially scarring up the local foilage with our efforts. So I figured we'd just be trying to go for what distance we could. Plenty of open space, I'd think, without having to worry about damages."

She...honestly was not expecting either of them to manage to get this thing very far. Of course, Fjord could surprise her there, which would be a complete delight and totally worth whatever destruction might follow...especially since she'd immediately hop to the chance to fix it up herself.

Fjord could surprise her!

... Then again, Fjord would one day be princess-carried by a comparatively tiny young lady. And lose a strength check against a kobold. So.

"True enough, that. Let's see how she flies before we worry about hitting anything, then." He glanced at the trees. "People to tend to get attached to the foliage, and all that."

"Fair enough," Amaya allowed, "though, far as I can tell, none of these have been recently enchanted or the source of anyone's particular god or power..."

There...could very well be people hiding up in them, though, so she did give a cursory glance up toward the boughs of some of the closest ones to check for any dangling boots or tails. Sure, they'd try to avoid them all the same, but one couldn't be too carefully with that sort of thing.

And, seemingly satisfied with her consideration of hanging parts, Amaya hoisted up the shuriken and held it out for Fjord. "Do me the honors of the first flight?" she asked. "I want to make sure I can get the most out of my observations of her maiden voyage."

Fjord nodded, took the shuriken, and hefted it up, inspecting it thoughtfully. It seemed aerodynamic enough that maybe he could treat it like an oversized discus, and so that was how he was going to approach this throw, settling it under his arm with his hand hooked around one of the inward divots on the opposite side. He pulled in a breath, planted his feet, and then with a step-pivot-step, he threw his weight and his arm into the throw and let it fly.

... More or less fly. It managed to get a bit more distance than he'd expected to see out of it with that sort of attempt, at the very least, and didn't come plummeting to the earth at his feet or anything. It wasn't necessarily anything to write home about, either. An average throw for a weapon of above-average... everything.

"... I think I can do better," he mused. "Test run and all that."

And Amaya's nose wrinkled a little in some sort of hesitant disappointment, because, while a part of her had been very practical in recognizing that this might not quite be a weapon best utilized by your average humans and half-orcs, she did not come here looking for average.

"I think so, too," she said, nodding, and then taking a moment to size up a few calculations in her mind and scribbling them down into a small notebook. "Always a few kinks to work out on the first trial or two, to really get a feel for it and work it out. Give 'er another try, now that the seal's been broken."

Eh, so far as half-orcs went, Fjord was... kinda puny. A nicely built big boy compared to any human, sure, but to half-orcs?

It was a thing.

Still, he steeled himself and rolled his shoulders as he went to collect the throwing star, and hefted it in his hands a few times on his way back before adjusting his position again to account for things like the wind, and the drag of the air against the blade.

This time when he threw ~~with a nat 20 holy crap~~, the shuriken flew. Sailed halfway across the park with a grace that had even Fjord standing there kind of stunned that he'd managed to pull it off, and then embedded itself tidily in a tree well across the way that he hadn't figured he'd get anywhere near far enough to hit.

He coughed.

"Well, shit."

Edited (icon!) 2019-03-11 14:18 (UTC)

Welp. Turns out, it was a good thing that they wound up hitting a tree after all, because Amaya, entranced to the point where she couldn't even let out the long whistle a throw like that deserved, was all prepared to wind up saying goodbye to that star for good.

"Zounds," she eventually managed to breathe out, eyes wide, mouth not quite able to close all the way. Then she thought of three possible quips, tried to pick the best, and ultimately decided a throw like that was deserving of all three.

"Well, don't you warm up quick," she said. "And I'm glad I didn't go betting any shiny gold coins on this whole thing, because there's no way I'm beating that."

She was still absolutely going to try, though. Just as soon as she could manage to stop marveling.

"Zounds," she said again, breathless all over again because that was pretty near perfect, one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. From Fjord's form, to the spin of the weapon, the smooth cutting of the air, right down to the fact that she could even hear the statifying thunk! as the shuriken hit the wood from all the way over here.

Amaya didn't bother with any gods or any such nonsense, but that right there was a religious experience.

Fjord was still kind of staring at the shuriken lodged in the tree, himself, yes.

"Yeah, I, ah, I don't think I'll be able to manage that twice."

A long pause.

"But at least we know she flies?"

Amaya snorted.

"At least we know she flies," she agreed dryly before grinning faintly. "I'm almost tempted to ask you to give it a third time and wiff it on purpose, just to make me feel better once I give it a go."

She shook her head a moment, though, as she realized there was still a thread of her that wasn't quite yet done with being impressed. "That was real good, though, Fjord," she said. "Nicely done."

"You wanna feel better about it, just wait until I try to get it out of the tree," Fjord chuckled, already starting in that direction.

If Amaya really thought about it, which she did, briefly, as she started on along side him, there had been far too many instances of her weapons needing to be yanked out of wooden obstacles these days, but, hey, far better yanked out of wood than out of faces...

"I know that I can be a decent hand at," she offered. "And, if it's still stuck after the two of us have both given it a try, well....then there's always Missus Crumbler."

Was it bad that she now hoped neither of them had much luck in getting it out?

...it was bad that she now hoped neither of them had much luck in getting it out.

Fjord gave an easy laugh at that.

"Well, hell, now I hope I lodged it in there too well," he declared. "Any excuse to see that thing in action, after all."

It was fascinating.

...so maybe not so bad after all.

"She has been gathering a bit more rust than I'd ever like her to," Amaya admitted with a bit of a rueful, wistful sigh, "but let's not jump to that right away. I still need a go at this thing myself, hopefully without having to get any crumbling in the way first."

Afterwards, however...

...though that might be a preserve kind of thing. A little less likely to notice a few crumbled trees out there.

"And see, that's a damn shame," Fjord mused. "Piece of work like that shouldn't know the meaning of the word 'rust.'"

He stepped up to the throwing star, hooked a hand around the inside of one of the blades, braced one foot against the trunk of the tree, and yanked on it.

... Which resulted in the throwing star coming out of the tree like a knife sliding out of butter, and one half-orc falling on his ass on the ground, a large slab of metal landing on top of him a moment later.

One minute, Fjord was there, getting a good grapple on the weapon, and the next...he wasn't. Amaya blinked, turned her head, looked down.

"I think you got it, Fjord" she said helpfully, before grinning and going to at the very least lift the shuriken off of him.

...only to pretty much find herself in just about the same predicament; she'd overcompensated a little on straightening up, planning on setting the thing down so she could offer out a hand to help him up, but she just kept going, realizing a bit too late (with a little 'oop!') that gravity was not her friend right now, before hitting the ground on her back (with a little 'oof!').

Well, that was something. But, to her credit, she wasn't used to having to actually make checks for these sorts of things.

Fjord was just sitting up as Amaya came tumbling down, which meant that he was right there to witness how one moment, there she was, and then next...

He broke into a grin. And that grin widened a little more. And then, so help him, he was laughing, hefting himself to his feet (half his movement speed!) and then ~~using his action and~~ bending over to offer her his hand.

"I think there's a decent chance that it got us."

Edited 2019-03-11 23:19 (UTC)

"Crushed by the weight of my very own hubris!" said Amaya, who couldn't help laughing a little herself despite said crushing as she reached for that hand and took it. "I can think of far worse ways to go."

Fjord smirked as he hauled her up to her feet again, reaching another hand for her shoulder to help steady her.

"Your hubris seems to have made a damn fine weapon, at least. This tree's gonna rue the day it stood in the way of progress for a long time."

"My hubris never does fail in making exceptional weapons," Amaya said, knowing full well that Fjord was probably the last person she needed to tell that to, but she was going to tell him anyway. Because she was, if anything, modest to a fault over here. She gave him a steady nod of appreciation for the help, grinning a bit because of it.

"I might need to get a picture of that before we're finished here," she noted. "Put it up next to this beast on the wall, let everyone know just what it's capable of...as well as serve as a reminder to any trees that wood," Amaya, no, "think to some day cross you."

Treants beware...

"If nothin' else, we've got some pretty solid proof that this thing flies. Its bite is worse than its bark, and all."

Who let these two idiots outside, anyway?

"All I know," said Amaya, "is that I'm just glad I decided to really branch out with this one."

Seriously. And with sharp objects, no less!

"Ah, but enough of that," she said, taking a moment to brush her hands together, wipe any loose dirt from them on her skirt. "If I'm not mistaken, I'm overdue for a good spin of this thing for myself."

And, not wanting to just find herself in a repeat of the last tumble, Amaya rubbed her hands together and focused as she took up the shuriken, enough so that she was biting her lower lip a little as she tried to recall the hold Fjord had gotten on it earlier; it had, after all, seemed to work pretty well for him, and, once she managed that and got a good stance going, she took a deep breath and heaved the star forward with a dedicated 'hup!'

Which turned out to be an awful lot of build-up for not a whole lot of result. The weapon flew...a bit...mostly up, but barely enough to really clear even Fjord's height, before plummeting straight back down into the ground perhaps all of five feet in front of them.

Hands on her hips, Amaya regarded her attempt like a disappointed mother before stating, "...that was definitely a warm up."

"We each get one warm up throw," Fjord replied dutifully, biting back an amused smile, more at her reaction than at the throw itself. "Gotta get a feel for the heft of the thing, right? Ain't the same at all, throwing it versus making it."

"Ain't the same at all," Amaya agreed emphatically, "which is whhy you'll catch me using these," she lifted her hands, balling the fingers up into fists, "more often in a fight than something like this. I can make you the best damn sword you ever laid eyes on, but when it comes to using it, I'm not much good beyond sticking the pointy end in the squishy bits."

Which, to be fair, was still effective, usually.

"Same goes for throwing," she added, considering the shuriken again as she hefted it up for another throw. Keeping in mind what she suspected may have gone wrong with the first one, and definitely dedicating herself to throwing it a little less up this time around.

A strategy that did not seem to work, because now, instead of a short arc up that landed a few steps away, the weapon took an even shorter trip straight down into the ground in front of her.

At least she managed to get a good spin on it before it started tilling dirt.

Hand on her hips again, Amaya looked down and had to wonder if the thing was just doing this on purpose.

Fjord looked at Amaya, and then at the crescent shape that she'd carved in the ground. And then back at Amaya.

"We can plant flowers there," he offered.

It was... what he had, here.

Amaya huffed slightly, and only the fact that she actually did enjoy planting flowers quite a lot saved Fjord for getting as much of a withering look as he might have.

"Bit too late for crocuses," she murmured, "but it is just about the right time for some tulips and roses..."

But they weren't here for gardening. Amaya regained her resolve and picked the shuriken up again. "Third time's a charm, they say," she announced confidently before quirking a brow at Fjord. "Not all of use can be so charmed as to get it on round two."

Fjord just shrugged and offered Amaya a grin.

"Third time's a charm," he agreed.

And then he eeever so slightly shifted his weight back a little. You know. In case he needed to get out of the way.

Considering her luck so far, that was an exceptionally smart move, there, Fjord.

So Amaya took another breath, rolled her shoulders a little, focused hard, then thought maybe her problem might be that she was focusing a little too hard, relaxed, kept her lower lip firmly tucked underneath her front teeth, and...

Oh, thank the stars! It wasn't much. It was no where near as impressive as the throw Fjord had gotten in, but it was actually a throw, not a pop-up or a grounding, getting a nice little spin and a...satisfactory amount of distance before it curved slightly toward the ground.

The whole thing was perhaps a little understanded and underwhelming, but Amaya still looked as pleased and satisfied as if she had thrown a nice long-distance tree-smasher like Fjord. "Now that," she said proudly, "is more like it!"

"And there," Fjord mused, "you have it. Functional weapon achieved, and with a little bit of work, so long as you can lift it, you can get it going."

He broke into a grin and reached to clap a hand against Amaya's back.

"Well done. This beauty's gonna look mighty fine on the weapons wall."

Amaya glanced over at Fjord with the hand at her back, offering him the same sort of smile she'd had when he helped steady her earlier, with the added touch of a particular red flush across her cheeks.

Pride. She was going to chalk that, along with the strange little flutter in her chest, up to pride.

And she was incredibly grateful for the fact that she now had to go fetch the thing, too. "'Bout high time for it," she said, going to do just that, "and now we've got a nice tidbit to add if anyone comes asking after it. Can't thank you enough for helping out with it, Fjord. That throw alone...!"

"Aw, it wasn't anything special," Fjord replied, grinning crookedly at that. Maybe a bit awkwardly. Compliments! What did a person do with compliments? "Beginner's luck, I'm sure."

Accept them. You accepted them, sometimes agreed with them, and moved stoutly on with your life, Fjord.

Especially when there was empirical evidence to support it.

"Sure," Amaya agreed easily, hitching a thumb down toward the other side of the park, "let's just go ask that tree over there what it thinks about this 'nothing special.'"

Fjord glanced toward that tree, and then ducked his head a little and chuckled.

"Point taken," he allowed. "... Almost feel bad for the tree, now."

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The Park; Monday Mid-Day-ish [03/11].

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