The Moon's Eclipse(closed)

Eric gave another soft laugh and relaxed his arm, the blade returning to its sheath with a soft schklink as a hand raised to ruffle Kyle's blond hair once more. "The old ones were definitely not what one would expect," he said simply. "Now that they're more modern, they fit well within our Brotherhood. I could teach you to use one, if you would like. But it's not the first weapon you'll learn to use."

Kyle gave him a smile as he rubbed for a second time his hand in his hair. “I would love to! They look so amazing! I bet they aren’t easy to use…!” The boy was still pretty glad Eric wasn’t going to give him that weapon right away. He was kind of scared by its look. It was so exotic and weird, but… still like an amazing weapon. He would have loved to see someone using it. He smiled again. But with which one will I start? he asked himself, looking at his hands. He was a gun kid, not a tiny sword one… or a hooked hand pirate!

Eric crossed the room over toward the gun-shooting practice and picked up a gun before he weighed it in his hand and held it out to the boy, handle first. "We're going to perfect your gun useage," he said, waving the boy over with the weapon. "See if you can remember what I taught you before you became official." Eric definitely did remember. He remembered pushing the boy in the right stance to use, using his own leg to reposition the boy's. He'd do it again, if Kyle couldn't remember.

Kyle took the gun and nodded. He looked in front of him after a moment, going to the practice alley, before he placed himself, trying to remember how Eric had showed him to place himself. Since he had entered that Guild, he had to forget ever single rap video he had seen in his life. Sure it looked cool to handle the gun on the side, but that was the most awful thing to do with a gun. The boy moved a little, closing an eye to see where the bullet was about to hit. He concentrated for a second or two before he shot and opened both of his eyes to see if he had touched the target. They bullet hole was nearer from the middle than when he started, but still it wasn’t as precise as Eric shots.

Eric calmly took a deep breath, as though facepalming at the boy's work. He carefully placed a hand firmly onto the boy's back and fixed the gun's position a little before he bent down, his voice whispering into the boy's ear. "Both eyes open,"

“Both eyes?” Kyle asked in a whisper more for himself than at Eric. How could he even focus with both eyes opened? He placed himself just as Eric was showing him and looked back at the target. Both eyes opened. Both eyes opened. The kid sighed after a moment, tensed again and shoot, trying not to move from the posture Eric was forcing him to keep. Again, the bullet got closer to the center of the target, without touching the really middle.

Eric rubbed his face for a moment and gave a soft sigh. He moved off to one wall where bows were strung up on and a quiver of practice arrows laid beside it. "Okay," he said, returning with the practice quiver and the bow. "Teaching you to aim with a gun is difficult. Perhaps teaching you to aim with a bow first will help your gun aim. Come on. The targets are outside."

Eric led the way out of the building and around back, where snow covered hay bale targets were set up with a powerful red center. He halted a good distance away and waited on his student while he set the quiver upon the ground, a handful clutched in a fist while the bow was held lightly in the other.

Arrows and bow? thought the boy while following the man outside, starring at the new weapons. What if he really was as bad as he thought? “I’ve never tried to use a bow!” he admitted, before adding: “Well, not really…”

He only liked to pretend to when he was younger. Those stories of epic fighters on their horses, bow and arrow in hand while looking like complete murderers in the eye… when Kyle was a child, he would always hear stories about that kind of what he called knight. But he never thought of using a bow before he first saw the Eric’s arrow pointed at him the first time they met. He never thought until then someone would still use a bow to fight… to get rid of unwanted people.

"Not only will it be easier for you to learn," Eric said as he waved the boy over with his handful of arrows. "But it'll be easier for me to teach. Like I said before, I don't wield guns. Bows have the same sort of aiming mechanic, except the boy you have to steady your arrow as well as the bow. The gun just requires you to keep it steady and aim it. Here. String one of these arrows to this bow and try to hit the target." Eric said, passing off an arrow and the bow to the boy.

Kyle nervously took the bow and the arrow. How was he supposed to take them? He was pretty sure that the way the characters in movies held the bow wasn’t really accurate. Maybe it was, but partially. He put the arrow on the string and looked in front of him. Which hand to have the bow? Oh, whatever… he took it in his left hand, then started pulling the string towards him. He looked surprised. That was way more difficult than what it seemed… he accidentally let the thread free and the arrow flew next the target, before it ended up on the floor. “Oh no! Come back!” he said without thinking about it before he looked down, guilty. As they were alone and no one was shooting at the same time as they did, Kyle went to get back the arrow before he came at Eric. “Sorry, I… I just dropped it! The thread! It just... slipped...”

Eric was laughing by the time Kyle returned. He reached his hand up and ruffled the boy's blond hair before he carefully turned the boy back around to face the targets. "Reminds me of when I first shot a bow," he teased and helped the boy to hold the bow in front of him. "Strong grip on the string and the arrow's feathers. Pull it back to your mouth and rest your hand on it for a moment. Take a deep breath and release."

Kyle let him ruffle his hair before he looked back at him and followed his instruction. Him? Being as he was? Impossible, Eric probably wasn’t as bad as what he was doing right now when he was his age! The boy nodded and followed his instructions. “Strong grip on the string an’ arrow’s feathers” he said while feeling his fingers pressing on each other to maintain both of the things Eric told his with a firm hand. “Pull it back to mouth” he continued, pulling on the string to his mouth. “And… and rest…” That was the most difficult part. Kyle’s hand and whole arm were shaking under the pressure of the string. He then took a deep breath as said and quickly released the string. The arrow flew with a windy sound and hit one of the other targets. Not the one he was aiming at, though. He turned to Eric. “That bow! It looks so easier in…” In fairy tales! He blushed and went back to grab the arrow, shameful.

Eric gave another chuckle and whipped out his own bow. One hand grabbed at an arrow before he strung it to the bow and pulled back, the feathered shaft of the arrow between two fingers while the rest grabbed at the string. He raised his bow into the air and pulled the string back with visible practice. He exhaled silently and released the string. The arrow whistled through the air and sunk into one of the targets's centers with a twang, the shaft quivering from where it was.

"Not really all that difficult once you've had practice," he said encouragingly, a grin across his face. "Come. Try it again. Then we can see how using a bow has helped your aim with a gun."

Poor Kyle looked totally stunned by his performance, even if it wasn’t that of a surprise: Eric was a man that probably could get any target right between the eyes at any moment. He nodded. “Right!” Taking back his arrow in proper position, he putted it on the string and after a moment, took it back to his mouth. He needed to know how Eric could do so much miracles with a single arrow. When he let it fly away, the arrow hit the target way closer than what he did at second attend. With concentration and discipline, he could be way better quickly than what he was whit is gun. But still, the string’s tension was something that Kyle felt like never handling really well: It was impressing only thinking about the fact that someone could shoot many arrows one after the other without getting his hands to bleed.

"Better," Eric said with a nod of his head before he paced toward Kyle. "But remember the stance I showed you earlier. Feet apart like this." Once more, Eric shifted the boy's legs with his own into a much better and possibly more comfortable stance. It looked very much like a stance Eric used often, or at least had the day he'd met the boy. He then pulled out another arrow and strung it to his bow to show the boy how to handle it.

"When you grab the arrow and string, have the feathers between two fingers. I usually place it between my index and middle fingers while the rest grab the string. All except for the thumb. I always have that bent away from the string. Better grip. Eric proceeded to show Kyle with his own hand that fell into the position with practiced ease while the arrow's tip was pointed toward the ground.

There was something visibly different with Eric, though. When William had agreed to let the boy have a trial run, Eric had shown such....discipline in training the boy. But now, he acted like a big brother and seemed to have a lot more patience than he did before.

Kyle looked at him just as he was showing him everything, trying to copycat him along the way. He didn’t notice at first before he realised: yes, that man was being more like a big brother to him than before. He remembered being totally terrified by the look in his eyes at the really beginning. She felt him more like a lion over its prey than anything else. One false move and he would get killed. One false move, and the man would have jumped on him to rip his head off. That’s how he used to feel it. Everything about that man was terrifying.

But at some point, especially right at that moment, Kyle felt like those times were like more of a bad dream than reality. He knew that man was his mentor, but he wasn’t one who would hurt him at all. Everything past were bad dreams now. Brooklyn was. The arrow pointed at his face was. His bike and his stolen weapons were. He was.

The boy rose up a little, surprised at that idea, before she smiled a little, still concentrating over what Eric was telling him, taking the good position back. He held the arrow between his fingers and pulled back the string. Even if Eric seemed softer to him now, Kyle promised to never give up or slack over the training. He would always give his 100% when it was possible to. The only and very thing he didn’t want to see in Eric’s eyes was deception. Yes, he knew he was going to see anger, probably annoyance also, but the one thing Kyle never wanted to see was deception.

"Good grip," Eric said with a nod, straightening the boy's shoulders back while his own arrow rested against his leg. Once Eric was certain the boy was ready, he took up his own bow and drew back the string. "Release!" He called, his own arrow whistling through the air and striking the target's center while the shaft shivered.

Kyle’s brown eyes widened as his own arrow flew from his fingers. Eric had shot the arrow so quickly! Even being aware of him being a perfect arrow shooter, he had not even considered him shooting as fast as that. He looked up at him a second before he looked back at the target, surprised but also envious. That talent was an incredible one! And he himself had none yet…

Eric gave a nod at where the boy's practice arrow had buried itself, shaft quivering. "Better," he said and restrung his bow, pulling back slowly so that Kyle could watch and see how it was done. "But you're still rushing. Take your time. Find your target down the shaft of the arrow and adjust the bow's position if need be. Try it again." Yes, Eric did seem a lot softer this time, no longer barking orders at the boy or looking on with mild disappointment and judgement. He seemed to have a lot more patience than before and was willing to teach this boy how to shoot a bow and, possibly, have helped him shoot a gun.

The boy looked up at him and smiled a little, surprised. Eric sure was less scary than before... He took another arrow and put it back on the bow's thread. He took a deep breath and again, did everything Eric told him to do a bit before. He placed his feet and took the thread next to his ear, looking at the target while starting to shake, yet a lot less than before. At least now he was able to take the arrow like Eric did, trying to copycat him the best he could. He finally released the arrow, which hit the target once again.

Eric remained silent, simply studying the target. He watched as the arrow quivered where it had struck. It was on the red center, but not near enough. Clicking his tongue, Eric took up his bow again and strung an arrow, telling Kyle to watch him. Eric planted his feet firmly against the ground and whipped the bowstring back with the feather of the arrow between his two fingers. He seemed to rest the flat of his hand against his jaw and took a deep breath. His chest drew taut. Upon his exhale, his fingers twitched and the arrow whipped away from the bow with a song. For a moment, the world seemed to have stopped as the arrow whistled through the air and struck dead center, its shaft quivering as it buried itself quite deep within the center of the target, tearing through the straw used to make it.

Eric flinched and hissed through his teeth. "Milo's not going to be happy that I tore a hole through the target again." Eric sounded as though he'd done this before, his arrow punching a clean hole through the target when it was actually supposed to just bury a little ways inside of it.

“Wha-!” Kyle yelled while taking a look to the target, before he turned back at Eric. “You… you just… made a hole into it!” From the boy’s mouth, it sounded just like it was the most incredible thing on earth. If he would have seen Eric turning that arrow into a flying little dove, he would have reacted the same. He made sure he wouldn’t get hit in any way before quickly going to the target, just to be sure that what he was seeing was actually real. He was stunned. He ran back at Eric while pointing at the target, like making sure the man would realize what he had done. “You… you totally killed it!”

He quickly blinked a moment before he asked himself: how could a bow be as powerful as a gun could be? He couldn’t take his big brown eyes from the target. That one was a dead one. He jumped a little while turning to Eric. “You are amazing!! Way better than Robin Hood!”

Eric's cheeks grew hot at the boy's praise and admiration and immediately a hand rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his own hair for a moment before he looked back to the target. "Milo's not going to be happy fixing that thing," he said, a light laugh exiting his throat. "I trained for years in archery on my own before I joined the Brotherhood and then my archery got sharpened to a razor point by my mentor. I owe everything to that man, God rest his soul." He fell silent as he once again examined the target and strung his bow upon his back, making sure it rested between his shoulder blades before he went to retrieve the arrow, which he had to rip out of the straw, sending a few stray strands flying.

He hissed through his teeth again and clicked his tongue, running a thumb over the decent hole that remained. "Yup. Milo's going to have a cow when he comes out here to maintain the yard. Most likely he'll kill me when he sees me. I'm the only one within the Brotherhood that can quote-unquote, 'kill' a target, so be prepared to watch fireworks when Milo turns up later."

“Ek!” said the boy with a smile. So even Masters could get bawl out by someone? He couldn’t even picture it so far! Especially Eric, who was, to his eyes, overthrowing his own childhood heroes. He kept there, hearing about Eric’s master before Kyle’s shoulders slowly relaxed. He surely didn’t wanted Eric to be a memory only, never. It was childish of him to think that way but… The boy looked at his feet. It was like having a big brother. He wanted to think about everything except him dying and leaving him behind.

After a moment, continuing to hear Eric’s talking about the said Milo, Kyle looked up and smiled. “That man, Milo, sounds like a total scary monster! I mean, when I was a kid, my father used to tell me about the boogeyman, but I’m starting to wonder if that man isn’t even scarier than monsters!” and, pointing to the target: “What do we do? Do we hide it or something so you won’t get beaten up by Milo?”

Eric gave a laugh and ruffled Kyle's hair again before he shook his head and ran his fingers through his own hair. "Ah. Let Milo rage." He said simply, waving a dismissive hand toward the target. "He may not like it when I kill targets, but at least he's never done anything more than grumble about it, complain to the Master and tell me off for it. What we can do, however, is make ourselves scarce. Don't want Milo catching us both out here, now do we?" Eric laughed and waved Kyle back into the building. "Come on, Kyle. Let's see how trying the bow helped your aim with your gun."