Birds of a Feather

[work_wife]

WHO: Robin Buckley
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Crossbow Practice, Capra Hypnosis
WHEN: February
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Target Practice?

Okay, time to really learn this thing. It wasn't something she could do well on the ships, but now... Now she has space. Space and a whole hell of a lot of wooden boxes piled up against a ruined building's facade. Okay. She can do this.

Deep breaths.

Robin checks the safety on her crossbow. She breathes in as she lifts it. She raises the stock. Her finger hovers just over the trigger...

And she yelps when she hears a noise. This of course results in her pulling the trigger reflexively and sending the bolt shooting off to hit a nearby tree. Which was not her target. Oops.

II. Losing Yourself

Listen, there was never a point in Robin's life where she had been in a position to consider this. There were lots of weird things that happened here, and weird things that happened back home. She even believed in psychics, okay? But come on, just watching a herd of strange creatures?

Well why would she ever expect they were psychic?

So there she was, minding her own business (or maybe their business), and now the girl was starting to climb a tree to get toward tender leaves to throw down for the creatures. Probably not a good choice given she's a bit clumsy.

Comments

[stoicandsarcastic]

"That's a little better." Alec thinks for a moment and lowers his own bow. "Here, I've got an idea. Put everything down and face me for a minute."

Alec sets his own bow and quiver down nearby before facing Robin. He takes a stance similar to his archery stance, feet apart but arms relaxed. "C'mon just a little closer, your arms are shorter than mine. Now what you're gonna do is give my right shoulder a sudden, quick shove. Hard as you can."

[work_wife]

She moves to face him after carefully putting the crossbow down. It's... weird facing him like this.

"You're a LOT bigger than me. What's the point?"

[stoicandsarcastic]

"Trust me, my sister reminds me of that every time she needs something from a top shelf." Alec of course it's just used to being tall. But having height over Robin isn't the point of the exercise. "Just shove me. You'll see."

If she does, she'll see that she's able to get him to unbalance and stumble back, feet far too close together to counter the sudden force.

[work_wife]

She rolls her eyes before lunging forward to try and shove him off balance. And... What the fuck?

"I pushed you. What was the point of that?"

[stoicandsarcastic]

"Are you always this impatient?" Alec replies as he resets himself. This time he's got his feet set more properly, and much closer to the way he stands when he's actually training. "Do it again."

If Robin does in fact try again, she'll find Alec immovable: he's able to absorb the shock of the shove without losing his footing or stumbling back.

[work_wife]

No, but she's anxious. And when she's anxious she's impatient. And that's something she can't really shake off. It's who she is. So she moves and shoves at Alec.

"Uh... Okay, but you're stronger than me. So that makes sense."

Except it doesn't make sense compared to earlier is it?

[stoicandsarcastic]

"Then why were you able to move me the first time?" Alec feels himself to be patient in the face of her impatience, because he's got a point and she should be close to understanding it. "Did you notice that I adjusted my stance after you pushed me the first time? I want to be able to absorb a sudden impact, like a shove."

He waits a beat, then connects the last dot. "Or the recoil from a crossbow."

[work_wife]

Okay, now that's she's thinking about it, really bothering, she sighs.

"Physics. Dammit. That's a good point."

[stoicandsarcastic]

At least she gets it! Alec's shoulders relax a little, tension he hadn't realized he was holding. He hasn't completely screwed up this impromptu training session, at least not yet.

"I figured it'd be better to demonstrate than to just tell you." Mostly because people in general don't like to be corrected. "So let's work on your stance, then put the crossbow back in your hands. Sound good?"

[work_wife]

"Yeah, it sounds good," she says. "But I don't want your hands on my legs or anything. Got it?"

Yeah, lesbian meets gay guy. It's awkward on both sides.