A comforting failure (Open, Grounds)

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He's never been very good at taking advice. Even from the people he'd grown close to, even from Kusuriyuri, he's just never been able to take someone else giving him pointers, no matter how necessary, on how he might make his life a little bit easier.

But he recognized the necessity, and decided to supplement good advice with doing something he sucked at even more.



There were still targets set up near the lake from the last time Yukimura had arranged an informal archery butt, and Kurama was there now, with knives, shuriken, two different kinds of bow, and what would have been too many arrows for some people, but he knew his weaknesses well enough to know half of them would get broken or lost, and the other half he'd set on fire or throw into the lake when he was done.

He chose projectiles for two reasons. First, and more important, because his aim was 100% accurate with anything that wasn't a bow and he needed the assurance that he at least could brag (internally) about something. Second, he needed to recalibrate his vision to make up for the lack of his right eye. He could feel it growing back slowly, an aching itch in the socket he longed to scratch at, which annoyed him even more that he couldn't.

The knives and shuriken sailed far off target for the first few tries, but after a little while the closest target was almost black with them. Satisfied, he set them aside for now. Working on a target only 50 yards away was, to say the least, rather humiliating, but he supposed part of this exercise was to learn actual humility and not the mock-humble face he put on when he was really just sublimely pissed off.

I'm two thousand plus another half Gods damned years old, he thought furiously, the arrow he'd loosed falling pitifully to his feet less than a yard away. He grabbed another, which sailed wide over the target. The third he had to dodge at the last second before it went right through the top of his head.

It was going to be a long day.


_{((OOC: Hecklers and cheerleaders would be most welcome.))}

Comments

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

Bobby watched the display quietly from his vantage point. He had gone out for a wander and decided to make his observation discreet once he saw Kurama’s rather atrocious aim. Still, he had to admire the determination. When it looked like the demon was about to either lose his patience or skewer himself in the other eye, he decided he’d best intervene.

“You’re breakin’ your wrist,” he said, announcing his presence by picking up the bow next to the demon and nocking an arrow. “And watch where your feet are, you’re all over the damned place. It’s not just in the arms, it’s in your stance.” He drew back on the string, sighted down the arrow and released.

He grunted as the arrow thunked into the general center of the target. “Not bad for an old man.”

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama might have glared, but he knew for a fact that Bobby wouldn't be impressed, and that would have irritated him further. He watched the man's stance carefully, noting the differences between western and eastern archery styles. He'd been trying (well, more making a halfassed attempt) to copy the stance he remembered from watching Yukimura, and the one time he'd seriously tried a bow something like 1300 years ago.

He took up his bow again, copied Bobby's stance, and managed to nick the top of the target. Well, that was a start. He still didn't feel any better.
"This is supposed to be meditative," he growled, knocking another arrow like it had personally insulted him.

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, they say the same thing about gardening and I still can't grow anythin' but weeds in the yard." Bobby took a step back and watching him critically. "Straighten out your leg, your balance is a little off. There."

"So what brings you out to pratice? Greenhouse in order so you felt like praticin?"

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama did as he was told, instantly kicked himself for it, and instantly kicked himself for that because he was supposed to be learning something here, dammit.

"I'm trying to reconcile some things," he said, the next arrow sticking into the outer rim of the target. Better. "I don't want to resort to praying just yet, so I figured clearing my mind in a more deity-neutral way would be a better idea." And then he ended up growling and frustrated. But he was not going back to Inari with his tail between his legs. When they spoke again he was going to stand tall and by the Gods Inari could deal with it.

The next arrow veered way off course again, landing in the lake. Damn.

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

"Well gettin' all pissed off ain't exactly good for anyone's state of mind or helpin' get anything reconciled. Stop that for a damn second, stubborn ass idjit," Bobby said, yanking an arrow out of his hand. His expression was one of mingled amusement and annoyance.

He picked up the bow again. "This is gonna play hell with my fingers later," he muttered. "Now. One arrow at a time. Go slower. This ain't no race. Get your aim down and how it feels, then worry about the rapid fire. And breathe. You're wearing your shoulders up around your ears."

[a-jackson-mofo.livejournal.com]

A stray arrow got zapped by a bolt of lightning.



Yeah, he thinks Kurama's a pirate. Not that that's a bad thing, he did start a pirate army once.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama spun when the lightning hit, ready to stab someone with an arrow if he had to, and stopped abruptly.

American history had never really been his thing, but he was pretty sure that Andrew Jackson wasn't a talking head (in more than the metaphorical sense)and did not, in fact, shoot lightning out of his eyes.

"...what." It was all he could manage, in the face (oh, god, here come the lame puns) of this.

[a-jackson-mofo.livejournal.com]

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"A...ah," Kurama managed, taking a step back. "I suppose you have a point there. But, what about pistoleers?" He didn't make the point that Yomi, a demon who had been blind for the last thousand years, had better aim than most people with exceptional eyesight. That may have been due to having three sets of ears, however.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"If I were the ground, I'd be worried," I say as I come up behind him. Not that coming up behind him or talking while behind him when he's in a mood is a good idea, but both has to be better than one or the other. "So, is this an exercise in terrorizing the ground or are you trying to actually hit a target?"

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"No,: Kurama sneered sarcastically, another arrow veering off into the lake. "I'm aerating the ground. It's very scientific."

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"Really? Because, from what research I've done, you're doing it wrong." I step into the clearing, which is something like risking severe injury with his aim and mood. "How about you try something like honesty?"

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I suck bad enough at this that I could probably hit you," he warned, dropping his arm anyway and setting the arrow aside. Damn his insightful friends. Why couldn't he hang out with idiots ever?

"I'm... I've been told it's meditative. Eventually I'll get there, but for now it's an exercise in pissing myself off."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura came across Kurama practicing quite by accident. He hadn't intended to interrupt, or even come across anyone else. He had just wanted a little time to think without having to be physically with anyone for a bit. He had a while before his classes and was just enjoying a relatively clear, if rather cold, day. When he saw Kurama, though, he had to stop. His eyebrows climbed his forehead. He couldn't remember seeing such bad archery...ever. It was beyond obvious that Kurama was distracted and angry and not focusing properly. The trick would be getting the fox to admit it and ask for help, because he wouldn't offer any without it.

Instead, he brought Tengoku over his shoulder and loosed a reiki arrow that flew past Kurama's ear and landed solidly in the center of the target before dissolving.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He wasn't sure what was worse: That the reiki had startled the shit out of him or that it had gone right past his bad eye and literally blindsided him. If he hadn't recognized Yukimura's ki signature (was it getting more powerful? It seemed that way) a heart attack would have been imminent. Knowing it was Yukimura at least meant there was no immediate danger. Sort of. Maybe.

He rubbed his ear as he watched the arrow dissolve, then turned to look at Yukimura. "Nice shot."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Yukimura said, with neither bragging nor humility. "And, I know your aim isn't that bad, is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He stepped into the clearing. He looked at Kurama's face more closely. "I see," he said flatly. Between what Kuronue had told him and seeing Karasu's name on the popcorn plaque, it didn't take a lot to guess just what had happened.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Better than I do," Kurama muttered lamely. He'd figured Kuronue had spilled to Yukimura; it would be foolish to assume otherwise. He'd just hoped he could have met the samurai under less embarrassing conditions. "I've never been very good with a bow."

[codex-of-good.livejournal.com]

Codex had been suffering from acute "do not want to go out and face the world." It wasn't so much an actual... thing... as it was just sometimes she really didn't want to deal with the world and all the people who lived in it and said things to her and thought things about her, and it was kind of doubled at Hogwarts. Smaller place as a whole, but about fifty times the concentrated weirdness.

But her room was small and had no WiFi, and the Ravenclaw common room was kind of boring if you didn't want to drink and also lacked WiFi, and the compy lab was just weird, so eventually she ended up outside. Where it was still weird, but in a more outdoorsy way.

Like now, when a seriously freaky looking guy was trying to kill a target. She watched for a while, riveted. (She had never been much of a TV person, and while she was mostly out of MMO withdrawal it was just too much like something from the game for her not to pay attention. Old habits and all.)

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

If Kurama had been paying more attention, he might have noticed someone watching him. As it happened, he was making a mental catalog for all the reasons he had to hate Inari, which were quite a lot, and another arrow went flying off course.

He managed to glance in Codex's direction with enough time to grow a wall of grass in front of her, lest the arrow give her a severe case of sudden hole in the head.

"Sorry about that," he called, un-growing the wall once the arrow was effectively grounded. "Didn't see you there."

[codex-of-good.livejournal.com]

((I'm falling asleep, but I'm mostly done with this tag--if it's not cool, let me know and I'll edit it in the morning.))

Codex's eyes widened as she saw the arrow heading somewhere kind of toward her, and she went with her first instinct: drop and squeeze her eyes shut as tightly as possible. Then she remembered Oh right, magic school, and started fumbling around in her inside jacket pocket for her wand. Why didn't she have a holster for it? A shoulder holster, like a cop in the movies. It would be so badass.

So she didn't really see the grass, though she was aware of something moving. Finally, she grabbed something wand-like, and since she didn't remember putting anything else that shape and texture that could be weird or embarrassing in that pocket, she grabbed it and held it out in the general direction that she remembered the arrow coming from and shouted, "Incendio!" It was the one spell that she had promised herself that she'd get right, and she had actually become rather good at it, and had stopped setting things on fire that she wasn't aiming at.

Thankfully for Kurama, while there is a correlation between playing video games and developing better hand-eye coordination, it's pretty much only been proven in people who play action-type games (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_videogames.html), and her hand-eye coordination was fairly crappy. It went wide, high and to the right, burning out harmlessly somewhere farther out.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear.

He set down the bow and held up his hands, putting on his patented 'I'm just a big harmless puppy' smile and staying right where he was.

"I'm really sorry about that," he said, his voice as soothing as he could manage, which was very. "It's the patch, you see. I'm still not used to this whole playing pirate thing. I hope I didn't frighten you too much."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh.

Kuronue had to take a quick step to the side as the last one flung in his direction somewhat and landed on the grass by his feet. "I'm sure you should win some kind of medal for how seriously shit you are at throwing things."

Kuronue had given up on trying to teach Kurama long ago, which was why he was content to slip his hands into his pockets and watch the train wreck before him. He also kept watch for any stray projectiles coming at Kurama from his blind side.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I can throw things just fine," Kurama snapped, loosing another arrow, which bounced off the top of the target, ricocheted off a tree branch, and stuck into the ground at Kurama's feet. He glared at Kuronue. "Not a fucking word."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

No words were said, but he did laugh, making his amusement obvious.

"Since arrows are fired one-eyed anyway, one would think you could learn from a little practice." That humour wasn't going to leave his voice any time soon.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I can still stab you with one of these," Kurama threatened, pointing with an arrow.

Oh, what the hell. This wasn't getting him anywhere anyway. He dropped the bow next to the other weapons he'd lugged along with him. "At least I'm making an attempt, anyway."