1188/The Many Ways to String a Bow

The Many Ways to String a Bow
Date of Scene:	16 April 2020
Location:	Titan's Tower - The Gymnasium
Synopsis:	Hawkeye and Troia meet up in the Titans' Gym and discuss the finer points of archery.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Kate Bishop

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Donna Troy has posed:
    It's inevitable that the gym at Titans Tower would be an impressive sight. Taking up the full area of the tower's main section, and two stories high, it's a big space. The north wall contains the locker room blocks and a closed-off dojo area, but the rest is all open. There are training machines, a pool, gymnastics mat and so on scattered around. A circular running track surrounds the floor raised twelve feet from the ground, and the ceiling is filled with beams, ropes, rings and so forth for aerial gymnastics. The south end of the room is netted off with very fine netting, and the sharp eyed will notice targets are erected at one end - a perfect space for practising archery, the full width of the building allowing at least a decent range.

    Despite everything that has happened over the last three years, the space seems to be well maintained. This may have something to do with Raven's magical maintenance of the tower.

    Something that hasn't been seen here during those three years is Donna Troy. She is no longer wearing the casual street clothing she'd had on when she showed up previously, but is now dressed the way she had done so back in the days when the Titans were regularly making headlines. She has a shield on her back, and a short sword in one hand, and wears armor in the ancient Greek style, decorated in black and silver, with patterns of stars picked out. Somehow seeing the armor in person it doesn't seem as impressive as it had in photos - it looks a little battered.

     Donna stands in the open space of the gymnasium mat, a look of deep concentration on her face. She practises energetic lunges and slashes with the sword, fighting an imaginary foe. Her workout is energetic and extremely athletic - there are a lot of impressive leaps and twists worked into it.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate has settled into one of the rooms upstairs, moving the stuff pretty quickly like a striking snake at the opportunity since it seemed to definitely be becoming a real thing and she is afraid it will just evaporate.

The townhome is left vacant, though stocked and furnished in case she needs to retreat back at any point to a fallback point.

Still she is present and stepping off the elevator carrying her bow and with all her gear strapped to her. She had spotted the targets and netted off area earlier and it was inevitiable that she would be down here intending to practice before too long.

"Okay this rocks. I get a lot of archery practice in but here I can do it so much easier in my gear... with some of the actual arrows I intend to use without having to find time and places to be deceptive." she is sorting of intending those words for Donna as slows her walk by the mat and is also half doing an exposition for herself.

"Damn your fast." she notes, she has her own sword in it's sheath over her shoulder. "How much of that is practice and how much is it being an amazonian... amazon..." she trails off not quite sure what is applicable there.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna stops her practise and leans on her sword, smiling wide at Kate. "Kate, right? Or Hawkeye. Which would you prefer? And the word is just Amazon." She takes her helmet off, and with it carried under her arm, walks over to greet Kate properly.

    "That's a complicated question," Donna replies. "I have spent my entire life training in combat. Well, since I was six. But there is more to it than that. We Amazons have a divinely appointed duty, and we are given certain gifts to aid us in that duty. It varies a little from person to person. I seem to have been particularly lucky when it comes to the speed the Goddesses chose to bless me with."

    Donna looks at the bow Kate caries with open curiosity. "I was very impressed by your archery, Kate. It is one of the skills we learn, though styles are obviously different. Perhaps we can give each other a few tips. I have never fired a bow like yours though. May I have a look?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate nods "Callsign is Hawkeye but yeah around here without nosy reporters... well other than Terry... go ahead and use Kate please." she considers "What should I call you as well... I've heard some different names from the other day and all but I want to get public and private right."

"Well that explains a bit. I guess I'm a bit gifted because I know it isn't all just training." she pauses "Though I train hard every day, but still I think much like an ear for music or the vocal chords for opera... not everyone has the same gifts."

Kate easily shifts the bow in her hand s and offers it up to Donna now. "I've practiced on just about every bow you can get your hands on, this one is tweaked through a bunch of trial and error.. custom made for to my specificationss but .. it is a bow at heart." she lets Donna take it to examine it.

The thing is not cheap, it isn't technologically over complicated though. It isn't some sort of cyber bow that would need constant maintenance or be difficult to upkeep but it is .. tuned precision and manufacturing.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna takes the bow with a smile, and feels its balance. She tilts it forwards and back, runs a finger along the recurve and tests the draw weight.

    "It feels like a good bow," she says. "The materials are fascinating. In some ways the Amazons are too bound to old ways. We rely a lot on enchantments to improve our gear and have not always moved with the times." She hands the bow back to Kate with a grin. "I think you'd find the kind of bows I am used to using rather old-fashioned. Come, show me what you can do."

    Donna leads the way to the center of the netting, where there's an opening to walk through to the target shooting area. "Honestly I'm not entirely sure what I want to be called. My name is Troia. Donna was the name I adopted to fit in when in America. I don't mind which you chose to call me. "

    "I notice you have a lot of different types of arrow. I guess your quiver is set up so you can identify them quickly. Do you use a technique for holding several arrows in your hand for quick firing? Perhaps I can show you our technique for that."

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate watches closely. That bow is of course replacable because well she has the resources and after replacing two of the bikes already she has a small armory ready in case she loses anything. Still it is her field bow and despite being identitical to the others she has really broken that one in at this point.

"The material is state of the art.... coposites and yeah it is definitely not any of the old ways of making bows." she accepts the bow back now and grins.

She follows to the area with the targets now. "Don't get me wrong, if I could get my hand on Apollo or Artemis's bow.. I would use that thing in a heartbeat. Actual magic and enchantments is still a bit mindboggling. She trails off at the conversation about names though "Well .. no secret identity I guess so it is ab it interchangable. I'll go with Troia though since it is your name. Names are important" says the girl with a billion nicknames, thanks Twitter and every encounter ever.

Kate reaches up and unsaps the quiver and pulls it around and tilts it. "Well the quiver has seperate quadrants and also the fetchings are slightly different so I can tell which arrow it is by touch." those fletchings also have a color code that is subtle but there under close inspection. "As for multiple at once.. I've been working pretty hard on it .. oh you mean't rapid shot. Yes.. but really a work in progress. I'd love to learn how the Amazons do it."

Donna Troy has posed:
"Troia it is," she says with a smile. "Thank you, Kate. I admit it is quite nice to have people here call me by the name my mother gave to me, and not think they are using my code-name when they do. But I am rather fond of the name Donna, too."

    Donna stops a moment, then gives a little laugh. "Even if when I think about it I realize I may have chosen it because it sounds a little like my sister's name," she says in a conspiratorial whisper.

    "Archery is not really my strong point," Donna admits. "I have trained for a couple of decades, but we train in a lot of things other than archery. Most of the Amazons are a lot older than me, and I still have much to learn. I have mastered the quick draw technique, but my accuracy leaves a lot to be desired still. And I have yet to perform a leaping draw without getting shouted at by my instructor."

    Donna inspects the quiver and gives a small nod. "Clever," she says, pulling the netting shut behind them and tabbing it shut. "If you hand me three arrows, ideally ones that will not explode, I'll show you the quick draw technique. I will warn you though, it takes a long time to perfect."

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate accepts the quiver back and slides it on, affixing it before offering you her bow. Once you have it she draws three arrows with realitively normal looking broadheads on them. "I tend to hoard the exploding ones, getting them out of Old Hawkeye is harder than you would think. I believe he is worried I will blow something up by accident." she says it with an air of sass though. "As if."

She is definitely watching you. "Decades. I didn't really lean into archery hard until about two years ago, I liked it and first was introduced about a decade ago to it at a summer camp.. but practicing every day... that was after the whole Loki invasion business and I almost died."

That whole statement is enough to make people who have worked a long time mastering archery probably cringe, it really wounded Old Hawkeye when he found out both how young she was and then how long she had been dedicated in practicing and.. yeah. She must not have been kidding about a gift, sort of like one of those musical savants.

Just with Arrows.

Also Sarcasm.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Maybe he will give you the blueprints to those arrows," Donna suggests. "We have manufacturing facilities in the tower. Just promise..." she tilts her head to Kate, grinning, and gives her a wink. "Promise you only blow things up on purpose."

    "Two years," Donna repeats as she takes the arrows and tests their weight. "Good. Good enough, if you have a gift, but you must keep practising, keep getting better. When you specialize, you can develop mastery. I have studied so many things in those two decades that I cannot claim to be a specialist.

    Donna fans the arrows out, and grips the ends betwen all her fingers. "You may know this technique. You have the arrows ready, as you draw, you knock the top most arrow, and pinch the others together in your grip. You can fire very fast this way, but you have to pinch the knock which limits your draw strength greatly, and fire from the side of the riser, which affects accuracy. Also it is easy to drop the arrows." She laughs again, and takes the arrows back into her left hand.

    "Now watch." Donna holds her right hand out, and makes a loop between her lower two fingers and her thumb. "Like this, a circle. You place the arrows in the circle, points down, like so. You see, you use the circle to trap the fletching, but the arrows are loose? Now, you can tighten your little finger, and the arrows come back against the underside of your arm. Out of the way, no danger of fouling the string. Now here's the trick. Watch very closely."

    Donna flicks her wrist forwards, and suddenly there's one of the three arrows between thumb and upper two fingers, while the remaining two arrows are still clamped by her lower two. "Did you catch that? You flick your wrist, open the circle, catch the uppermost arrow and let the rest drop back as you close the circle again. Now I have an arrow ready, and when I knock it my draw fingers are free to draw properly."

    She takes the raised arrow out of her fingers, and repeats the action. When she does it for the third time, she misses the arrow and it clatters to the floor.

    Donna laughs as she picks up the fallen arrow. "Usually it's the second one I fail on. The final arrow is the easiest! It takes a lot of practise, getting the flick right, timing the opening and closing of your fingers just so. I practised this for half an hour a day for several years and I still drop arrows."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Scout's honor" though it is a question if she was ever a scout. Still the promise is truthful, she really does intend only blow things up on purpose. "I'll see if I can get the schematics out of him. He created a bunch but now he has Stark provide them in bulk."

She considers and nods to the next words. "I practice every day for as long as I can fit it in around sleep and school." she steps closer to consider the grip she is being shown. "I .. yeah that one I am familiar with and you are totally right about the draw strength."

She steps back when you shift them back to your other hand and watches as you demonstrate. Her head tilting. Eyes very intent. "Jesus that was fast..." she notes blinking. She watches the technique the final two times walking around to get a better look at it. "Okay. Do you mind if I get my phone out and record your hands while you do that.... I'd like to have a record. I can see what you mean about needing to practice alot." her mind is already really busy on this. "I've got good wrist flick from fencing and the sticks I use but .. yeah this is something else."

She fishes her phone out.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna looks at Kate with an expression of mock-horror. "Kate! This is one of the secrets of the Amazons. I cannot possibly allow you to film it!"

    She breaks into a grin and puts the arrows back into position. "Kidding, but please don't put this on Youtube or whatever. Youtube is still a thing, yes? I didn't get much opportunity to go on the Internet on Themyscira. My meme game is probably horribly out of date."

    Donna waits for Kate to be ready with the phone and demonstrates the motion again. She only does it the one time, possibly to avoid the embarrassment of dropping more arrows.

    "Did you catch it?" she asks. "One other good thing, when you drop arrows it is almost always only the lead arrow. The others you keep in the circle because it is loose when you start the flick. Maybe you will see the action better in slow motion."

    Donna hands back the arrows and gives her fingers a bit of a flexing. "It's not easy. Do not be frustrated if you drop your arrows the first few hundred times. Keep it up, and your muscles eventually learn the correct timing. To be reliable in combat, it will take even longer. But it is worth to learn it. Worth it to learn. Worth it to learn it? English is a complicated language sometimes."

    There's another laugh, then Donna gestures towards the target. "Want to show me what /you/ can do now?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate blinks at the mock horor, though by the time Donna brings into the grin she is snorting. "I promise to not put it up on youtube.. and yes it is a thing. Though honestly Tiktok is a whole lot more of a thing right now. Memes though, still a thing."

She records it carefully and then shifts "Can you do the flick again though." she waits to catch it at another angle then looks at the footage before tucking her phone away.

"Sure I can do that." she grins and accepts the bow back, tucking all but one of the arrows back. "So I'll not use explosive arrows, mostly until I can get a better supply and also make sure the targets are able to handle it or the gym... honestly probably need an old quarry or something.." she shifts very subtly then like a snake the bow is up, arrow is nocked, drawn, and fires down range mid-conversation really.

It is by no means super human fast, she isn't, but for a teenager she is frightning. The arrow sails and just bams right into the dead center of the target and Kate is looking back to you before it does, watching your expression. Trusting she nailed that bit of showing off really.

It does go a long way to explaining why she takes a bow to a giant robot or gun fight though.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna watches the action closely as Kate fires, her eyes very much on Kate's stance and muscle motion rather than the target. When the shot is fired, she actually applauds.

    The expression on Donna's face is one of genuine pleasure, and her big eyes shine. "Kate, that was /fantastic/. The motion of your draw arm is... poetry. My archery instructor would fall in love with you in an instant. You are quite right that you are a natural."

    Donna claps a hand on Kate's shoulder, smiling wide. "Don't take my praise as an excuse not to practise though! Keep working as hard as you can. Soon you will make me foolish suggesting there was a thing I could teach you."

    There's a little squeeze to Kate's shoulder, and Donna takes her hand away. "You know, when I came back to the tower, I had no idea what I was going to find. Yes, I saw in the news suggesting that the team was coming back together, but it had been so long, and from what I had heard, it was only Gar of the old team. You new guys..." she gives a slight shake of the head. "What you did, the other day, when we rescued Rae, I could not be more proud of you. Of all the new Titans. You are better than we were at your age. I know our legacy will be safe in your hands."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Troia, thank you. Also I don't intend to stop practicing. Especially that trick you showed me tonight." she grins, there may be a very faint blush. Come on a compliment from an Amazon, Wonder Woman's sister and all. It is very affirming. "Also no reason to be foolish at all... you've already showed me something I had no idea how to do."

She shifts and draws two arrows as she listens to you "Thank you. It really does mean a whole lot to me to hear you say that. I am... really excited about all of this. I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks since I came out trying to figure out how to pull together like... a young Avengers or something but it wasn't working and this. All of this just makes more sense and feels more right you know." she grins. "Also you aren't so old, better not be going anywhere legacy or not." she looks down the bow a moment longer this time, aiming. It is a two arrow trick and she takes more time on this one. When she lets it loose two arrows sail down and hit two of the targets. "That one is the trick I've been working on." it isn't two bullseyes but it is very good. "It worked on the demons thankfully." she notes. Her sass a bit more reserved when she thinks to that.

"Third time in my life I was convinced I was going to die."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna is very dismissing of the notion that it wouldn't be foolish. She waves the thought away with a hand, and the expression on her face is almost comically serious. "Nonsense! Soon you will be instructing me."

    "No, not so old," she agrees with a laugh. "It's funny to even think about that, really. Where I come from, I am considered extremely young. Very much still a child. Still, I am here now. I have to support my sister at the embassy now, and I will be here for the Titans as much as they want me. "

    'They' is a telling word. It's obvious that Troia doesn't feel that she's still really Troia of the Titans. Kate won't have picked up on the full history of that yet, but she'll know there were some odd things going on and it's not hard to pick up on the fact that Donna isn't really sure of her position in the team any more.

    The two arrow trick gets a nod and a smile from Donna, but not quite the open applause of the previous shot. Her reaction is more professional interest this time. "Impressive. Yes, firing two arrows at once can be a useful shot at times, but it is better if you focus on a wider spread to meet two targets. You will never achieve the accuracy of a single arrow, but sometimes it is worth it to achieve two hits. Only two years, really? You are so good, Kate. "

    "It's not a good feeling, to think you are going to die." Donna's regular smile fades as the topic moves to a more serious subject. " But you continued to fight anyway. There are few who can manage that, and if there is a better definition for a hero, I do not know it. Whatever training I can help you with to keep you alive, you only have to ask."

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate avoids some of the gloom by walking down to retrieve the three arrows and look them over before shifting the back into the quiver. "Two years hard, I've always enjoyed archery and have been familiar with it since I was introduced to it in camp one year. My dad approved of it since it is in the Olympics as a good pursuit so didn't really frown on me practicing. Though he greatly preferred my fencing."

There is an eye roll as she walks back to Donna. "Well .. I mean I am pretty sure that asking the demons to politely not kill all of us wouldn't have worked at all. I'm not really sure what else I could have done." she is grim when she says it. "I won't ever be helpless in the face of that.. rather die trying then just give up." there is some real venom there for some reason.

Then a brighter topic. "I'd love to have you work with me on my sword skills. I know you are a lot better than I am there just watching you." and yeah Kate is an adept there too, but not at Donna's level of training since really markswomanship and bows are her true gift.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You could have run away, Kate." Donna smiles at her a little sadly. "Even if there is nowhere to run, that is an instinct that most people have. Even if they know it probably only gives them a few more seconds of life, they will try. When that thought does not enter your mind, when you think there is even a chance of succeeding so you go on fighting because you know the fight is one worth winning, and you know you might make a difference before you die? That is what makes you a hero."

    That hint of sadness fades from Donna's smile and she takes a step backwards and flexes her arms. "Yes, sword skills. Certainly I will help you with that." She gives a teasing grin. "That's one area I am confident you will not have much to teach me, it's kind of my speciality. I am good, and I say that because those I train with have been doing it for many centuries, and aren't scared to give me a reminder of my failings. I can tell how good I am by counting the bruises. "

    Donna pats Kate's shoulder again. "Don't worry, I will try not to bruise you. But you have come here to practise your archery, and I did not want to distract you. I will leave you to your targets for now. Sword fighting later!"

    Donna pulls the netting aside and steps through before sealing the tabs up again. "It's good to have you with us Kate," she calls back over. "Maybe one or two bruises though!" She heads away towards the locker room, laughing.