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pew pew MAYHEM

WHO: Kas & Open
WHAT: Someone suggested archery.
WHEN: Today, mid- to afternoon
WHERE: To the left by the stables.
NOTES: Brackets or prose is okay!

Alayre was the one to blame for the idea to pick up archery, although it was a sound idea. Most scouts were proficient in it, and Kas' skills with daggers left a lot to desire - so it wasn't strange that the teen had borrowed a bow and quiver from another scout, setting up a dummy in the open area by the stables and attempting to hit it.

It... wasn't easy. Drawing the bow was a bit of a struggle for a youngster with little muscle to his body, and his aiming was way off. The walls of the fortress saw a lot more arrows than the dummy, but the boy didn't give up. Stubborn as a dwarf, he pulled another arrow, trying to not knock it on his little nubs again. His hand was bleeding a little, sliced on the fletching by holding the grip wrong, but it didn't seem to dissuade him, either.

It wasn't until he had emptied the quiver that the teen sat down where he had stood and sighed dramatically. "This is stupid."

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It's the sound of something hitting stone that draws his attention away from gathering some straw from the stables - he got permission! Stopping in what he's doing, Sam ventures out from the barn, though doesn't have to go far to see what is making the sound. He tilts his head curiously at what he finds.

He doesn't remember there being a dummy set up at that spot before, and it eventually occurs to him that the guy is probably trying to not grab attention. Otherwise it would have made more sense for him to be trying this on the other dummies and targets.

For a while Sam just watches, listening to frustrated grunts and sighs when an arrow doesn't hit its mark. He's about to leave to go back to what he was doing when he hears a light thud and a loud sigh. He only sees the guy's back, but it's easy to see how dejected he looks, even from this far.

Slowly, Sam moves closer, but makes sure to keep a safe distance. He's had daggers thrown at him before for speaking up, he didn't fancy getting an arrow. "Well you did a lot better than I would have done."

The teen gives an even more frustrated noise when he hears someone had watched him fail horribly. Biting his lip, he turns a bit to see Sam and then huffs a little. Guy looked like he could use a bow easily with that build, and he was taller than Kas.

"Well, good to know I suck as much as the random guy watching me." It's mostly a toothless retort since he's so dejected, and he slowly gets up from his seat in the grass to brood (not pout, it wasn't manly to pout!).

He had never hared a dummy as much as he did right now.

Sam visibly winces at that. He hadn't meant to upset the guy further. Perhaps it would have been better to have said nothing, but honestly it was hard not to seeing as he had actually done a good job.

"Ah, that isn't what I meant at all." Sam rubs the back of his neck and ventures a bit closer so he doesn't have to talk too loud. It didn't seem the other guy wanted others knowing what he was doing.

"I couldn't even draw a bow, let alone shoot one. You shot every single one, with enough power that you could send it across the distance to hit the wall. That's really impressive."

Kas eyes the man and frowns a bit, rubbing the back of his head. He's not sure how to be civil, and he was used to humans just giving him shit and setting him up for a fight. It hadn't really been that way here, but you never knew.

He's getting praise again, and the teen just isn't sure how to handle that.

"I should go back to the knives. It's easier." The young qunari says, looking back at Sam with a small sigh. "The scouts all use bows, though..." He didn't want to be different. He wanted to be valuable, an asset.

Not the kid who can't shoot a bow.

Sam isn't sure if the comment means the Qunari wants to be a scout or if he wants to be like the other scouts. Probably something not to pry into just yet.

"You know how to use daggers? That's impressive." Sam smiles at that. "Those are a bit versatile than a bow. Have you considered maybe using throwing daggers instead if you're more comfortable with them? Nobody wants to mess with that." At the slight wrinkle in his nose, it's obvious he's had just a bit of experience with that.

Kas takes a moment to see if the guy was mocking him, but it didn't sound like it. Carefully, he puts the bow down and then pulls out one of his 'knives'.

It's a shank, really. Just a sharpened, rusted piece of metal with leather wrapped around it as a handle.

"I can... kind of use them. I mean... I know where to stick 'em, but I've never used them in a fight. Dunno about throwing daggers, though..."

Curious, he grasps the homemade weapon a bit tighter and then lobs it towards the dummy. It's not weighted at all, however, so it just bounces off the wall.

"...vashedan."

Sam stills for a moment, his eyes widening a bit, half expecting the knife to be thrown at him - wouldn't be the first time. Once it is obvious that he isn't going to be a target, Sam relaxes. At the swear - he thinks it's a swear, he doesn't know the language - Sam moves a bit closer to get a better look at the setup.

"Maybe we should ask someone who does know how to use them in a fight?" her offers hopefully being helpful in that regard. "My expertise isn't in sharp pointy objects."

"I dunno... people are really busy and I don't wanna be..." He pauses, straightening up a bit. "I can do it on my own!"

He wanted to be valuable, to be worth something, and what use would he be if people had to help him with everything? he'd just be another useless brat, and Kas refused to be one. Not again.

Not when he had some value, for once.

"You a warrior or something?"

Ah, so that's what this was about. Wanting to be useful, but not getting in the way. He could respect that. Very different from his own thinking and personality, he didn't have issues with asking for help. Each their own though.

Sam chuckles at being asked if he is a warrior. He isn't, but with the way Krem keeps throwing him around he could probably be pretty decent if he tried. "Or something is about right."

"Well..." Kas shrugs a bit, not sure how to deal with this. The man was a 'something'. Great. Maybe a rogue, then, or just a worker or something. Probably really useful, unlike him.

Dammit.

"I can do this," he continues, stubbornly glaring at the dummy again. "I'll be really good at it, you'll see." The teen stomps off to collect some of the nearby arrows with gritted teeth before returning and sliding them back in his quiver.

The kid had moxy, that was for sure. "I don't doubt it." He wishes he was more useful, but daggers and bows were not his thing. At this point it just seemed like a good idea to sit idly and watch, make sure he didn't end up hurting himself.

Which he seemed to already have done judging by the smears of red along the sides of his hand. "I don't think hurting yourself is the way to go about it."

"I'm not..." He pauses and looks at his hand with a sigh. "It's just a scratch!"

Angry, he grabs an arrow from the quiver, grunts in pain as it knocks into his tiny horns (he'll be so much happier when he hears about waist quivers) and then pulls back the bowstring.

Aiming. Letting go.

...and the arrow hits the wall again. The frustrated groan that leaves the teen is quite impressive. "Vashedan."

It was obvious that the more the young Qunari pushed himself the worse it was getting. Hurt hand, smacking himself in the hear with an arrow, and more frustration. Even if Sam was a bit wary, he had seen enough that he couldn't just stand back any more.

He makes sure to make plenty of noise as he walks over, not wanting an arrow or a knife in the side for sneaking up on him. "Maybe taking a break will help. I can look at your hand, even if it's a scratch, and maybe look into getting you some proper gear."

Kas frowns at that, giving Sam a distrustful look as the man comes over. Some of it made a bit of sense, however, and maybe a break sounded good. He was getting so frustrated that he might end up breaking the bow, and he really didn't want that to happen.

"Fine," the teen mutters and takes off the quiver again. "I got scout gear, I just... didn't wanna get recognized as one and make them look bad." Awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, Kas then holds out his hand.

"See? Just a scratch."

Seeing the offered hand as permission, Sam comes closer to inspect the injury. He's slow and careful as he brings his hands up to help look at it better, ready to pull back if the Qunari doesn't seem to like the touching.

"The scouts had to start off somewhere as well, as did everyone else. If anyone wants to judge you for learning and taking up an important position as Scout then they can go suck on a fireball." He's not being serious about that, but honestly people could be jerks and needed to learn some respect.

"It is just a scratch, but it's right on your hand. It's going to affect your aim. Want me to take of it?" He smiles, tilting his head. "Name's Samouel by the way."

"You always gotta fight harder when you're different. There are no qunari scouts, so if I look bad I make all qunari look bad. 'Cuz I'm the only one they know." He is bright, behind those blue eyes and all the layers of defense. He knew quite well just how different could mean life or death on the streets, and what a reputation did to your chances to change.

He didn't need to be the 'qunari kid who couldn't shoot straight', because everyone would know who he was. Say that with 'elf' or 'human' or even 'dwarf', and it could be anyone.

"Y'got a bandage, Sam?" He finally adds when the man offers to take care of his wound, slightly wry. "I'm Kas."

Sam smiles sadly at that. He knows, not exactly how Kas feels - he's not a Qunari after all - but he knows what it is like to be different and judged. "You're right. That's definitely something to be aware of. But if you don't take care of yourself you're not going to show them how amazing a Qunari scout can be either."

Did he have a bandage? Ah, right. He's so used to being around Korrin that he had almost forgotten that little big about Qunari and magic. "Not quite. How are your feelings about healing spells?"

He sighs at that. The man was right, he supposed... but that didn't make it any better. What good would he do if he kept failing like this? It left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he tries hard to keep away the despair.

Then Sam explains that he can use magic, and Kas' eyes widen. "Really? You don't look like a mage at all! S-sure, you can fix it that way! That's great!" Someone grew up with Tal-Vashoth mages, so he had no problem with magic... unlike some of his peers.

That has Sam giving a bark of laughter. It isn't the first time he's heard 'you don't look like a mage', but it's the first time he's heard it quite like that. "I did say something else or other didn't I?"

Sam takes a moment to get his laughing under control, at least until there's only a small shake of his shoulders. "No issues with magic, huh?" A bit of conversation as he places his hand over Kas', a soft green light appearing between their palms.

"You did. That's kinda sneaky." Kas approves of sneaky when it's wordplay like that. The laughing is a little odd at first as he tries to see of the guy is laughing at him or something, but then he accepts it as a nice thing and chuckles as well.

"Nah, I've got no problems. Magic healing is great." He's even excitedly watching as that green light appears and the small cut stops bleeding. How many times had he wanted a mage to help the kids he ran with? But no, they were all locked up back then.

This was better, wasn't it?

"That's me, sneaky mage, Sam." It was fun not fitting into the "image" that people had of mages; the look of shock was always fun. He never lies about it, but from time to time he is cautious about being up front about it. Qunari especially. Though obviously Kas doesn't mind it at all. "I take it you know Korrin then. If not you should probably meet her."

It isn't long before the cut is healed up, but the dried blood still remained. "Any more injuries while I'm at it?"

The boy takes his hand back and runs a thumb where the cut had been, scraping off some dried blood with an almost fascinated look. How cool wasn't that? Here one moment and then just... fixed.

"Yeah, I know Korrin. She's pretty okay." He liked her well enough, even in there was something about her that made him feel weird, like his stomach hurt.

At the last question, Kas shakes his head. "Nah, m'good. Knocked my horns a little, but that's just aching."

Pretty okay. He chuckles at that. He rather likes Korrin, but he supposes everyone has their own opinions.

Sam tilts his head at the comment about the horns. "Ache from getting hit some? I take it that they're sensitive while they grow out?" He points up to his own head with a smile, indicating his lack of horns. "I'm just curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want."

Kas hasn't had the chance to get to know Korrin that well yet, but there was a good chance that she would end up an older sister-type to him eventually. She already reminded him a bit of his mom, after all.

At the question about the horns, he rubs one a little bit. "When you're little and they haven't broken through the skin yet, it's really tender. Afterwards, you can mostly just feel them at the bases, and when you get hit by things that make them push against your skull." Like arrow heads knocking them.

That sounded rough, but the horns were rather cool. Even if Kas' weren't that big yet - they're growing - they're still pretty fascinating to Sam. "Your horns can grow out into a number of different shapes right? Is there a certain way you'd want them to grow?"

pew pew MAYHEM

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