Amaya Blackstone (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
special_rabbit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2023-03-07 03:32 am
special_rabbit) wrote in fandomhigh2023-03-07 03:32 am
Entry tags:
Basic Weaponry; Tuesday, First Period [03/07].
Anyone who'd talked to Amaya in the past week would probably not at all be surprised about this week's weapon of choice, and that a good deal of the practice dummies out in the training field had been replaced with classic bulls-eye targets. Because Amaya was definitely still on her bow buillshit.
"Welcome back, everyone," she greeted the class with her usual nod. "Today, we're going to be going over a weapon that's not really as much my wheelhouse as some of the others we've covered, but I'm a fair enough hand at it, and I've steadily been improving over the years, and I assure you, my coteacher here's expertise in this area more than makes up for it. What is this weapon, you may ask? Why, it just so happens, it's none other than bows!"
"Like most weapons," Amaya started in on the long, rambling part without further ado or preamble, "bows are fairly simple in concept, but a lot more complex in practice. They're a range weapon, used from a distance, and have been around since time immemorial, as an effective way to not only defend oneself from enemies, but to also hunt. It consists of an elastic launching device...that's the bow itself...and long, shafted projectiles to shoot. That's the arrow. Other fun terms to bandy about? The art of shooting a bow is called archery, and has been incredibly popular as sport as well as for function for a very long time, in this world as well as others, though it's mostly popular for just sport these days in this world what with having guns and all. A person who makes bows is called a bowyer, the person making the arrows is a fletcher, and the person making the metal at the tip of the arrow is the arrowsmith, and I'm proud to say, I've dabbled a bit in all three titles!
"Now," she continued, picking up a simple one to point out some of the things she was going to start talking about, "basic bows come in quite a few different shapes and sizes, especially once you start branching away from wood and into the fancy, loaded-up ones they've got with the technology of today today, but the basic principle's the same. You've got an arc," tracing the shape of the bow with her finger, "and a bowstring," giving it a little pluck. "It's important that the arc is semi-rigid; you don't want a stiff arc on your bow, it needs to be a bit flexible, a bit elastic, so when you're picking out bows, that's always something to look for. It's not all the bowstring! In fact, the strings are often and frequently changed and switched out. Got a bad bowstring, it's easy to find another, but if your arc is no good, then you've got a bad bow all around. When you string a bow, you want to make sure it's high-tensile and tight, but not too tight. You want a little give. The end of your arrow nocks into the bowstring, and the archer pulls the bowstring back, creating tension and building up kinetic energy, using the arc to help aim the projectile, and then...whoosh! Release, and the arrow goes flying. It takes many years of practice to get it down, and I myself am definitely no archer, but, thankfully, Detective Diaz here is, and so she'll be showing you all exactly how that works. I'm mostly here to talk about the bones of it all.
"As I've said, bows come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and designs, but we're going to focus on three of them today.
"There's the recurve bow, where you'll see the limbs of the arc curve away from the archer at the ends, see? It's shape and size allows for it to store more energy than a more straight limbed bow, making it very popular with mounted archers. Depending on the materials and the severity of the recurve in the design, it can flex and bend in some interesting ways. This method of archery puts a lot of stress on the arc, and you'll hear it when you shoot it, and, if you're not careful, you can flex it too much, and you'll need to go find yourself a bowyer after that!
"And then a compound bow is actually sort of an...enhanced bow, as it involves a series of pulleys on the ends to help give the archer a mechanical advantage. Because of these pulleys taking the pressure off the arc to pull the bowstring, the arc of a compound bow can be much stiffer and firmer, making it much more energy-efficient, and also more durable when it comes to things like temperature and humidity, all of which will likely alter how your more traditional bows are shooting. A compound bow is an excellent example of how even the most simpliest machines of technology can improve upon a weapon, especially one that requires a lot of physical and kinetic factors.
"Then, finally, we have the longbow, the big guy! Typically, a long bow will be about the height of the archer themselves, which allows for, as the name would suggest, a long draw. Clearly, this isn't the bow you're going to want to tote while prancing around on a horse! Traditionally, woods like elm and yew are used for longbows because of their elasticity, and, unlike our previous bows, they're traditionally made as one solid piece for the arc, rather than two...or more!...joined together. When it's made from one piece, we call that a self bow. A longbow, while larger and not as powerful as our other bows, is much lighter, it's much quicker to prepare a shot with one, and it's quite a bit quieter, too, making them ideal for combat situations or hunting.
"That just about covers the basics," Amaya grinned faintly. "If there's any questions, though, let's have 'em, and then we're going to get to work. First, before we get to the fun part, I'm going to teach you all how to actually string a bow, because a bow's not much good if you've gone and snapped a string or worn it down and can't replace it with a new one. Then it's off to Detective Diaz, where she'll go over nocking, aiming, and shooting at the targets we've got set up over there, and I'm sure, by the end of the class, if you're not an expert already, you will be!
"Or," she added, chuckling faintly, "at the very least, since we're in the Danger Shop, if you're not an expert by the end of class, at least you'll not have lost an eye."
"Welcome back, everyone," she greeted the class with her usual nod. "Today, we're going to be going over a weapon that's not really as much my wheelhouse as some of the others we've covered, but I'm a fair enough hand at it, and I've steadily been improving over the years, and I assure you, my coteacher here's expertise in this area more than makes up for it. What is this weapon, you may ask? Why, it just so happens, it's none other than bows!"
"Like most weapons," Amaya started in on the long, rambling part without further ado or preamble, "bows are fairly simple in concept, but a lot more complex in practice. They're a range weapon, used from a distance, and have been around since time immemorial, as an effective way to not only defend oneself from enemies, but to also hunt. It consists of an elastic launching device...that's the bow itself...and long, shafted projectiles to shoot. That's the arrow. Other fun terms to bandy about? The art of shooting a bow is called archery, and has been incredibly popular as sport as well as for function for a very long time, in this world as well as others, though it's mostly popular for just sport these days in this world what with having guns and all. A person who makes bows is called a bowyer, the person making the arrows is a fletcher, and the person making the metal at the tip of the arrow is the arrowsmith, and I'm proud to say, I've dabbled a bit in all three titles!
"Now," she continued, picking up a simple one to point out some of the things she was going to start talking about, "basic bows come in quite a few different shapes and sizes, especially once you start branching away from wood and into the fancy, loaded-up ones they've got with the technology of today today, but the basic principle's the same. You've got an arc," tracing the shape of the bow with her finger, "and a bowstring," giving it a little pluck. "It's important that the arc is semi-rigid; you don't want a stiff arc on your bow, it needs to be a bit flexible, a bit elastic, so when you're picking out bows, that's always something to look for. It's not all the bowstring! In fact, the strings are often and frequently changed and switched out. Got a bad bowstring, it's easy to find another, but if your arc is no good, then you've got a bad bow all around. When you string a bow, you want to make sure it's high-tensile and tight, but not too tight. You want a little give. The end of your arrow nocks into the bowstring, and the archer pulls the bowstring back, creating tension and building up kinetic energy, using the arc to help aim the projectile, and then...whoosh! Release, and the arrow goes flying. It takes many years of practice to get it down, and I myself am definitely no archer, but, thankfully, Detective Diaz here is, and so she'll be showing you all exactly how that works. I'm mostly here to talk about the bones of it all.
"As I've said, bows come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and designs, but we're going to focus on three of them today.
"There's the recurve bow, where you'll see the limbs of the arc curve away from the archer at the ends, see? It's shape and size allows for it to store more energy than a more straight limbed bow, making it very popular with mounted archers. Depending on the materials and the severity of the recurve in the design, it can flex and bend in some interesting ways. This method of archery puts a lot of stress on the arc, and you'll hear it when you shoot it, and, if you're not careful, you can flex it too much, and you'll need to go find yourself a bowyer after that!
"And then a compound bow is actually sort of an...enhanced bow, as it involves a series of pulleys on the ends to help give the archer a mechanical advantage. Because of these pulleys taking the pressure off the arc to pull the bowstring, the arc of a compound bow can be much stiffer and firmer, making it much more energy-efficient, and also more durable when it comes to things like temperature and humidity, all of which will likely alter how your more traditional bows are shooting. A compound bow is an excellent example of how even the most simpliest machines of technology can improve upon a weapon, especially one that requires a lot of physical and kinetic factors.
"Then, finally, we have the longbow, the big guy! Typically, a long bow will be about the height of the archer themselves, which allows for, as the name would suggest, a long draw. Clearly, this isn't the bow you're going to want to tote while prancing around on a horse! Traditionally, woods like elm and yew are used for longbows because of their elasticity, and, unlike our previous bows, they're traditionally made as one solid piece for the arc, rather than two...or more!...joined together. When it's made from one piece, we call that a self bow. A longbow, while larger and not as powerful as our other bows, is much lighter, it's much quicker to prepare a shot with one, and it's quite a bit quieter, too, making them ideal for combat situations or hunting.
"That just about covers the basics," Amaya grinned faintly. "If there's any questions, though, let's have 'em, and then we're going to get to work. First, before we get to the fun part, I'm going to teach you all how to actually string a bow, because a bow's not much good if you've gone and snapped a string or worn it down and can't replace it with a new one. Then it's off to Detective Diaz, where she'll go over nocking, aiming, and shooting at the targets we've got set up over there, and I'm sure, by the end of the class, if you're not an expert already, you will be!
"Or," she added, chuckling faintly, "at the very least, since we're in the Danger Shop, if you're not an expert by the end of class, at least you'll not have lost an eye."
Sign In - Weaponry, 03/07.
Re: Sign In - Weaponry, 03/07.
Re: Sign In - Weaponry, 03/07.
Listen to the Lecture - Weaponry, 03/07.
But there's always time for questions if you got 'em!
Re: Listen to the Lecture - Weaponry, 03/07.
(Okay, to be fair, the majority of the actual talking had been done by Alva, because... Alva. But it had been interesting nonetheless.)
She was thinking about that now, as she listened to the lecture, which explained the slight smile on her face.
Class Activity: Bow Stringing - Weaponry, 03/07.
With that, Amaya...'quickly' went over the handwavey details, both by hand and with a stringer, and then set to the task of seeing how everyone took to it after the demonstration.
Re: Class Activity: Bow Stringing - Weaponry, 03/07.
Besides, pfft, it was the more energy-efficient (for her) and mechanically optimal (less unnecessary torque on the limbs) technique, in her opinion.
Class Activity: Bow Shooting - Weaponry, 03/07.
That word was more tightly strung than any of the bows they were working with, and a more observant student might have noticed the faint inhale and exhale Rosa took before getting into it. Then, bow in hand, she lead them through a few more moments of instruction to go through the basics on shooting a bow well, working her way through proper stance, proper grip, a good nock, a good prep, a good draw, aiming, and finally release. She did it a few times, claiming for demonstrative purposes, but really maybe showing off a little because each one of her shots went whizzing perfectly through the air and landing in the center of the target far on the other side.
"Anyway," she said, lowering her bow and cocking her head toward the other ones on the weapons racks, "it's your turn. Try a couple of the different bows to get a feel for them if you want, or stick with one, or try one you might not be familiar with if none of this is new to you. There are various targets at different distances; try to challenge yourself or just try to get the baby one that's closest to us. I'm going to watch and maybe offer advice if your technique sucks or just let you do your thing if you seem to be knowing what you're doing. Any questions before we start? If not, go grab a bow, let's shoot some shit."
Re: Class Activity: Bow Shooting - Weaponry, 03/07.
She was scowling in frustration, because intellectually she knew exactly what the technique should be and how it should be executed, but she'd grown up on a spaceship using virtual computer interfaces for everything and her muscles (such as they were) didn't really want to cooperate. Of course she was aiming for the closest target, but since she was struggling to hold even the lowest-weight bow at full draw long enough to get a consistent shot cycle her arrows were all over the place. Not even the ghost of a hint of grouping.
Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
That wasn't why she was here to talk about.
"Have you showed any of these to Aloy?" she asked Amaya. Look, just because people kept giving her bows as thanks for finding their friends or saving their villages or whatever...
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
Good job, Beta, you earned yourself a good solid A+ from one of your teachers today.
(Of course, it would balance out with the big fat F- from the other one).
"I probably am a bit overdue to check in and see how those targets I rigged up are working out for her, too, actually..."
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
"I think she might appreciate them," she offered quietly. "And... I would be interested in learning more about how to maintain and improve bows, just to help."
Which as far as she knew involved a lot of machine parts for some reason.
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
"Is this to help Aloy specifically?" she then wondered. "Maybe I should have a closer look at what she's prone to use most, and use that as a starting point."
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
It took her a moment to snap out of it enough to answer Amaya's question.
"To help Aloy, yes. Some of our other associates too, though." Friends, Beta. They were called friends.
Re: Talk to the Teachers - Weaponry, 03/07.
OOC - Weaponry, 03/07.
I just really like Archer!Rosa a lot, okay.