The Preserve, Sunday Afternoon

[so_hawkward]

While the shooting range at Wellspring Arms was nice, being inside took away some of the elements Clint had to deal with on missions, so practicing outside was a necessity too. He'd found a quiet spot in the preserve where it was unlikely anyone would cross his path - or potentially get freaked out by the sight of him shooting - and was picking spots in the trees as targets. Getting his arrows back would be fun, but he'd deal with that when the time came.

[Expecting one, but open!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"Not feeling the need to dress in a tree-like fashion," she quipped, in a rather deadpan fashion but still. "Taking a chance on a walk in the woods and hoping no one goes Extreme Makeover on my room while I'm away."

Again.

[so_hawkward]

"Is that usually a problem?" He was starting to learn never to assume people were just joking about things.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie allowed herself an eyeroll.

"My little brother rearranged my room," she explained. "Apparently it was depressing."

[so_hawkward]

"Okay, that's definitely annoying," Clint agreed. "I didn't know you had a brother. If you told me and I forgot, I apologize."

[whenshewasnice]

"School assigned," Natalie amended, because Clint wasn't Peter who apparently got special treatment when it came to this topic. "Not that you can always tell."

With their tawny eyes and unimpressed looks.

[so_hawkward]

"Ah. Well, as the older and more experienced sibling, you should make him change it all back under threat of... something. Maybe dying all his clothes black, if he thinks you're too depressing," Clint teased.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie snorted, quietly. "I'm not sure he'd mind that," she replied. "And sadly, his reorganization makes sense."

Seriously, once she'd figured out the logic in what was where, she'd had to admit that.

"And it was just the room that was depressing. At least that's about as much as he said to my face."

[so_hawkward]

"That's slightly less insulting, at least," Clint said, twirling his bow in his hands for a moment before smiling at Natalie. "Hey, since you're here, do you want to give this a shot? It's safe, the deer all kind of flounced off."

[whenshewasnice]

"Too little talk for them, probably." Ah, teal deer. You were so strange. Natalie shrugged a shoulder, taking the other earbud out now as well, and turning her iPod off so she could stuff it in her pocket. "Sure. As good a time as any."

[so_hawkward]

"Awesome." It was possible Clint was a little excited about this. "Have you ever done archery before?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Nope." Though she had a vague memory of picking a minor archery proficiency somewhere around grade 6 out of a bunch of options she hadn't wanted, and then not doing anything with it.

Her world was odd, okay.

"Watching old Robin Hood movies doesn't count, so. Newbie."

[so_hawkward]

"No, that doesn't quite count, but it also means I don't have to un-teach you anything someone terrible taught you," Clint said, slipping off his quiver and offering it to her. "Here, put this on, and I'll show you what to do."

[whenshewasnice]

Well, that was an easy enough task to manage, and achieved without any embarrassing accidents like arrows falling out, even. Reassuring.

"Okay."

[so_hawkward]

"You look more badass already," Clint said with a grin. Moving behind Natalie, he got her standing by one of the larger trees, and then showed her how to place one of his arrows on the bow before offering the bow and the arrow to her. "Aim for the tree and take a shot. Then I'll be able to see what we're working with here."

[whenshewasnice]

"Okay," Natalie said, a little less neutral this time. Doing things she didn't have a hang of in front of people always set her perfectionist self on edge. But she wanted to learn, right?

Right. So she was going to try.

... And not be great at it. The arrow did at least leave the bow, but not with any great force behind it, so it landed not too many feet in front of her, and the bowstring smacked her in the arm, too. Ow.

[so_hawkward]

In Natalie's defense, that last part was totally Clint being a terrible teacher. Clearly, his perfectionism needed some work too. "Crap, sorry," he said, going over to his bag and getting out an armguard for her. "Here, let me see your arm. That wasn't bad at all, I swear, especially for your first shot. And everyone hits themselves the first time. Consider it a rite of passage." Because that was positive, right?

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, about half the world's rites of passage are painful in some way," natalie replied, not sounding too disdainful, as she held out her arm. Yeah, it was going to have a bruise later. "It could have been worse."

She could have done something embarrassing.

[so_hawkward]

Clint strapped the armguard on, covering where she'd hit herself so hopefully it wouldn't happen again. Or, at least not in the same spot. "You didn't shoot either of us, which is always a promising start." He laughed, and moved behind her again, to a spot that hopefully wouldn't be too uncomfortably close. "Let's work on distance first. We can deal with proper aiming in time."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie wasn't about to get uncomfortably. She was already in possession of that air of professionalism that was going to intimidate people in just a few years.

Right now it just meant she was that rare breed of person who could actually focus on things besides being in the presence of arms.

"Three feet isn't enough distance?" she quipped. "So how do I make it go further?"

[so_hawkward]

Honestly, Clint didn't mind people who weren't distracted by his assets, and it made the decision to put his hand on Natalie's arm easier. "It's a good start, but you can make it further with the right form. Aim again, but don't let go," he said. Once she was ready, he tried to guide her arms to be in a better position, and helped her pull her shooting arm back more. "Now just let go."

[Oh good lord I'm sorry this is so late!]

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie breathed in, and then let go. And would you look at that, the arrow did go further. Not quite where she'd aimed, of course, but that hadn't been the point anyway. She almost smiled. Not quite, but the idea was there.

Also, she wasn't going to get a bruise from that one. Win.

[so_hawkward]

It was okay if she almost smiled, because Clint smiled enough for the both of them. "See? Awesome," he said, with a hint of pride.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie caught that bit of pride, and made an effort to hide her own slightly widening smile. It wasn't hard, she'd had practice, because she was weird like that.

"Well, it's a start."