Slinging Stones (open)

[G A Phillips]

Armed with a sling shot and a decent sized bag of small pebbles G slipped down to the grounds in the predawn light of this particular Saturday morning. Sling shot was her weapon of choice in the endless mock battles held between her and her brothers and the Ashford boys who lived at the farm down the road back at home. Her aim was better than anybody else she knew and she could knock a quarter off a fence post at twenty meters but her range was still a few yards shorter than that of her brother Brother Jacob. She was determined to increase her range to match Brother Jacob's by the time winter holiday came around.

Since there were no classes today she was dressed in a pair of old sneakers both wearing away at the heels, black jeans with a hole in the right pant leg revealing one tan bony knee, and a loose fitting dark blue T-shirt. But on this particular morning it was just cold enough for her to be wearing her school robe, so her casual dress was hidden for the moment.

She first found herself drawn to the Whomping Willow. It was an excellent target, satisfying to hit and it's constant flailing movement provided an interesting challenge. She grabbed a stone and the sling shot from her pocket, loaded it, and swung the sling high above her head before letting it fly. She aimed at the center of the trunk but her rock went a few inches to the left of the tree. She blamed it on wearing the robes but knew she would have been a little to the left anyway, it had been weeks since she practiced. She did not want to waste her carefully collected ammo so cursing herself for letting herself get so out of practice she headed to the lake.

She found a stony little bay a decent walk from one of the more popular beaches. She took of her robe and threw it onto a rock and soon had placed her shoes and socks next to it. She rolled up her pants past the calf and grabbed her sling. After having gathered a pocket full of the smoothest stones she could find in the shallow water and surrounding beach G set about practicing.

By the time she noticed a figure approaching she was sufficiently warmed up and although she felt she could not beat any of her old records she was confident in her skill. She ran a hand through her short hair and watched the figure approach, wondering if it was a teacher coming to tell her off. But the sun had risen by now so it was probably just a student like herself out enjoying the morning. G decided that it was nothing to worry about and went back to slinging rocks out into the lake.

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

Too many things to think about...

That particular thought had crossed Henry's mind quite a few times of late, and he didn't seem to be able to find any relief from it. He had thought that some reading might be able to take his mind off of it, but that didn't work; he had even tried playing a game of chess against himself but that hadn't worked either. He had finally ended up deciding to have a walk along the lake and try to sort through some of his thoughts, and had thus headed out onto the grounds.

As it was chilly but not truly cold, it wasn't low enough in temperature to wear all the layers. He had thus decided to wear one of his suits, minus the jacket, and one of the heavy black trench coats that he usually reserved for the dead of winter.

His journey across the grounds was mainly spent staring down at the five or so feet of earth in front of him and thinking. It wasn't till he could hear the calm splashing of the minuscule waves of the lake hitting the shore that he looked up. The view across the lake was always enjoyable; it was calm and peaceful...or at least it would be if it wasn't for the stones which occasionally flew out over the water, skipping across it's surface. Henry looked around for the person doing it, but there were a number of trees between himself and the source.

He skirted the edge of the tree line and looked out across the open space near the shore. He saw a girl that looked to be a first year but, as Henry never could remember all the new first years' names or appearances, he couldn't quite figure out much about her. All he could tell was that she seemed pretty fierce with the sling she was using to send the stones flying. He decided to just sit back and watch for a few minutes, it wasn't every day that he saw stuff like this...

[G A Phillips]

She saw the figure approaching out of the corner of her eye but when the figure did not appear in her peripheral vision going the other way she could only assume that they had stopped. She gave the unknown person a few minutes but when she still did not see them moving on she stooped down to pick up a few more rocks. In the process of doing so she glanced around behind her and located the figure, he seemed to be watching her. Well there was no harm in that; at least she didn't think there was. Let him watch. She filled her pocket again and continued to sling them at a fairly rapid pace. When she was about half way done with this batch of rocks she turned around to see if he was still there.

Finding him still watching she thoughtfully cocked her head to the side for a moment, considering the boy. Then after a moment of deliberation smiled and called, "You just gonna sit around and watch? Or you wanna come over here and give it a spin yourself?"

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

Henry smiled widely at the question and chuckled a bit while considering the ground at his feet momentarily. Last thing he needed was to bust his face open attempting to understand a weapon he had never laid his hands on. He felt that sitting on the side lines would satisfy his curiosity just fine.

"Thanks," he said, waving one hand and maintaining his smile. "I had better not, though. I can't say that I've ever handled a slingshot. I know firearms and swords well enough, but I don't think I'd do too well with a slingshot. Probably break my glasses and loose another pair out here, heh."

Sure enough, this area was close to the patch of land on which he had lost his first and favorite pair of spectacles. He now wore the half-moon pair of gold framed ones he had been given as spares.

"Still, you seem pretty good with that thing..."

[G A Phillips]

"Aye, I'm am." She boasted. " 'm deadly with it at up to fif'y meters or more and got just 'bout the finest aim you'll ever see." She laughed and stuck her hands in her pocket as she strolled over. She was one to show off, but she wasn't exaggerating a lot either. Her and her brothers all used sling's to hunt small game and she once did kill a rabbit at about fifty meters, however she usually she never went for anything further than twenty to thirty meters away if she was aiming to kill.

His words about breaking his glasses stirred a vague memory of Garret-Connor teaching how to use a sling. She let go of it too soon once and swung a rock into his face, he still had a scar over his eyebrow from it. She started to chuckle to herself until she remembered hitting herself with the actual sling shortly after that, which made the idea of getting smacked in the face not as funny.

"But yeah, it can be tricky until you get a hang of it." She leaned against a tree, still a fair distance away from him as it would be rude to invade his space, and wrapped the sling around one hand. She grinned at him and with a wide sweeping gesture asked, "And what, might I ask, bring you out here on such a fine morning?"

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

"This and that," Henry said, looking around briefly before returning his attention to the girl. "mostly that. That being the fine morning, as you've observed."

He let his feet regain his weight and paced out into the area of lake shore in which they stood. He looked out across the lake for a moment before speaking once more:

"My uncle was mostly responsible for me learning real swordplay. My father insisted that I be a good enough marksman not to accidentally shoot myself should I ever come across a gun...I find almost every skill and the knowledge it encompasses has a purpose, and that purpose has a purpose. By that, I mean to say that every skill, in addition to helping and defining the person who possesses it, serves to fulfill the will of someone. Whether that someone is the person who possesses the skill or someone who cares for them depends..."

Henry looked back at the girl with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell me, how is it that someone ends up learning the ways of a device like that nowadays...?"

[G A Phillips]

He was an odd one, G concluded as he gave his little speech. But an interesting odd one who either was wise or spoke like he was. Using what little experience she had on the subject of talking wise, she had come to the conclusion several years before that the greatest minds probably didn't know half of what they were going on about but if you sounded like you knew what you were saying, then people believed you.

Although she tried to grasp at everything he was saying, the only thing that stood out was he knew how to properly use a sword. Shooting was no great feat to her, she owned an air rifle of her own and had shot one of her eldest brothers smaller rifles on several occasions. But if she could only get him to teacher about sword play, how impressed her mates back home would be...

He spoke in a much higher caliber of language than she was used to and this made his idea's seem important and foreign. Although she missed half of the actual meaning of what he was saying (either because she was fixated on the idea of swords or just because she was to young, she did not know which), what she did hear made her all the more interested. And having missed bits and pieces she filled them in with her own mind and ended up with a very high opinion of him.

All this was going though her head as he spoke to the lake so when he did turn and address her, she blinked. She blinked once again as her mind caught up and then she answered. "Ah, one of me brothers picked it up the idea of it somewhere and a few days later he'd made his own. Once I saw how neat and useful it was, I immediately wanted to pick it up as well. So when the next christmas come around he buys hi'self a new sling and gives me his old one. But that musta been five or six years past." She paused briefly to wonder where Garret-Connor had gotten the idea of using a sling. From some movie, she guessed.

"Do you really know how to use a sword?" She inquired, leaning forward a bit.

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

"Indeed, I do." Henry said, turning to face her in full, sticking his hands into the pockets of his buttoned trench coat. "Fencing: European and Japanese. The latter is fairly tricky, but European fencing is pretty strait forward in comparison. My uncle and my father were on a fencing championship circuit when they were young. Extracurricular activities, you know; they were quite good in their day, and still are. My father figured I would enjoy it, which I did when I was learning it actively. I figure I'm pretty good at it, but I haven't had much call to test those particular skills recently and I don't imagine that I'll have much call for them in the future."

A fair few very fond memories crossed his mind. This conversation was accomplishing what books, chess, and a quiet walk hadn't even begun to cover: all the troubling thoughts had been driven from his mind, though he wasn't consciously aware of it. A good chat had always helped him out quite a bit, but he rarely remembered that particular fact.

"So, I'm figuring that you like swords?" he said, squinting at her. "You seem a bit determined on that little detail. There were plenty of other details in what I just said that you could have inquired about, but you chose that one..."

[G A Phillips]

"Well it was all intres'ing to be sure, and if you care to elaborate on any of the idea's mentioned I'll be mighty interested to listen." She answered, pushing off from the tree she was leaning against and returned to the beach again. She started to gather a handful of rocks as she spoke.

"But swords is an interesting idea. Now if I come home knowing about fencing and the like, well I figure Brother Jacob would be much impressed. Much more impressed than having a wand I can't use." Now she had gathered a small handful of rocks she stepped a bit in front of him, put a rock in the pouch, swung it out into the lake.

She was silent for a few moments. Although the rocks were not the best in either size or shape she was still managing a good distance. She glanced behind her and asked, "Would I be able to convince you to show me the ropes of fencing? I can teach you how to use a sling in return."

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

"I think I know my way around enough weapons to last me a lifetime...or shorten it considerably." Henry said, taking a seat on a nearby boulder.

He crossed his arms and considered the girl carefully. He probably couldn't be considered a master of the sword, but he was certainly an expert. Between his father, his uncle, and his cousin, he spent more than a few years practicing against and with people who could be considered masters. This put something of a burden on his shoulders in a situation like this: he could teach her how to really harm or kill someone with a long blade; what she would do with those skills was and probably always would be beyond his knowledge. This meant that he had to figure out if it was safe, and, equally so, worth taking the time. He figured there was one way to tell...

"I'll tell you what...I'll make you a little challenge; if you win, then I'll teach you as much as I can about the blade of your choice: Rapier or Katana."

[G A Phillips]

"All right, what's the challenge?" She turned around to examine the older boy. If he was serious, and she hoped he was, then this had the potential to be very exciting. He did not seem to be messing with her so she started thinking about what the challenge might be and how she could win it. She hoped that it would not be something she had a chance at winning and not some extreme challenge he knew she would not be able to win.

But if she did win, which weapon would she choose? She did not know a lot about either type of blade and ran a quick comparison of what she did know in her mind. She was pretty sure Rapier's were long, thin and bendy while a Katana was much more solid with a long curved blade. Rapier brought to mind fencing while Katana's inspired images of jungles and martial arts. Rapier's seemed more practical while a Katana seemed more showy. But she was not certain on any of this.

She went over and leaned againsts a large boulder across from the one where he sat and waited to hear the challenge.

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

Henry smiled. He leaned down and picked up five rocks of decent size and tapped each one in turn with his wand. Instantly, they transformed into thin, round disks of stone which could easily be broken. He threw them out over the water all at once, and, with a swift flick of his wand, they hovered in place. They formed a perfectly straight line facing skyward about an inch off of the water.

"Hit the targets and you win." Henry said. "I'll send them out off of the line one by one and give you as many chances to hit each one as you want. You get ten points for every hit, and loose five for every miss. In order to win, you have to have at least forty points by the time all the targets are destroyed. You in?"

[G A Phillips]

She smiled, he could not have chosen and easier challenge. What it had to do with sword play she could not see, but she was not about to argue. "Of course I'm in." She grinned and moved to her robe and grabbed the pouch of pre-gathered stones from her pocket. She picked out a rock and loaded it into her sling. "Ready when you are." The stones would undoubtedly be moving, but that was ok, she had hit moving targets before. If none of the stones moved further out than they were currently then she could hit them without the slightest problem. She smiled to herself not only because this should be easy but because she loved a challenge. Part of her hoped he didn’t make it too easy, the harder it was the more fun it was, but part of her hoped that it would be easy so it was more likely that it she would win.

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

Henry smiled; he wasn't going to make this easy on her, but he wasn't going to make it impossibly either. He knew one thing, he had no intention of truly testing her with a few transfigured stones. He needed to know her to know whether or not it was safe to teach her the arts of a weapon. Her hitting targets told him nothing of real value other than how precise she was and her abilities of estimation. Both were useful to a swordsman, but that was hardly a good basis for adopting someone as an apprentice in any capacity.

He flicked his wand at the first of the stone disks and watched as it soared out over the water and flip up to face them. About twenty feet out from them, the disk froze and remained stationary for a moment before beginning to move up, then down in a circular motion about three feet off of the water's surface.

"So," He said as the disk did this. "what's your name anyway?"

[G A Phillips]

She studied the moving disk carefully. It was well within her range and its patter of movement was regular and simple. She watched it as she answered his question, "Phil...or G if you prefer." She swung the sling around, but did not let go. But in her mind she did, and in her minds eye she watched the rock fly and hit the target. She swung again and this time let go and the rock flew from the sling and hit the target a little to the left and up of the center but it broke all the same.

She turned to face the older boy, "G A Phillips, is my full name. And what do you go by?"