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Tweak says, "i was there for you..."

Shizuka Doumeki (throughyoureye) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-05-11 18:44:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 07, location: museum, shannon rutherford, shizuka domeki

Day Seven - Early Morning
Who: Shannon Rutherford & Shizuka Domeki
What: Early morning practice
When: Asscrack of dawn
Where: Initially the museum, then the carnival probably
Rating: PG- something or other (but probably no more than 13)
Status: Complete

The snow already beginning to press against the door of the thrift shop made it a bit difficult to leave and the snow already beginning to accumulate on the streets and walks of the town made the trek to the museum something slow and labored. Domeki, figuring that it would take him a while to make the hike across town, had chosen to leave before it had even begun to get light outside and it proved to be a wise choice - aside from the fact that he found himself already chilled nearly to the bone by the time he paused before the large door leading into the museum.

Domeki flexed the bare and numb fingers of his hands as he debated whether or not to knock. He knew that knocking was, essentially, the only way he could let Shannon know that he had arrived but there was an equal chance that he might awaken one of the gentlemen currently staying with her - and then he might have to explain what he wanted with his big sister at this hour and also why he was currently carrying a bow.

After a moment of silent debate, he finally raised his hand and rapped his numb knuckles against the wood of the door. He could only hope that, should Shannon not be the one to answer, whoever did liked early morning knock knock jokes.

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ballerinadreams
2009-05-15 10:24 pm UTC (link)

Shannon grinned. "Are you saying you think I'm pretty?" she teased, nudging his shoulder with her own. Rolling her eyes playfully at the mention of the dress from the other day, Shannon shook her head. "I don't think it's really your color, babe," she replied in a deadpan that the amusement in her eyes and the smirk on her lips easily betrayed. "And I'm still convinced you're the beauty queen, asking for world peace, geez," she laughed, winking.

National bias...hmm. Shannon hadn't ever really thought of that, but now that he mentioned it, she wondered if America had a bit of a national bias against Japan. She supposed at least some Americans probably did; some probably still held a grudge over Pearl Harbor, never mind the fact that they'd bombed the everlivin' out of the Japanese in retaliation.

Her mind wandered slightly to a story she remembered reading back in elementary school. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Sadako had lived in Hiroshima, or maybe Nagasaki, during the war and had ended up with cancer from the radiation of the bombs America had dropped; she'd tried to make one thousand origami cranes because a legend said that if she did, she would be cured. The little girl had died before finishing the bunch and Shannon remembered being so upset by the story that she'd cried. Yeah, there was Pearl Harbor...but there hadn't been any little girls on those ships.

She missed most of what Domeki had said, actually, in her reminiscing and caught the end bit about show business and Tokyo being the capitol city with big business. Sounded a bit like Silicon Valley, she thought, but didn't say. "Oh, yeah, okay," she replied, nodding. She was loathe to admit she'd stopped listening to him in favor of being pensive.

When Domeki's voice went serious as he seemed to agree with her, she lifted her head away from his to look over at him. But, when his serious expression melted into a grin and he asked about her taking care of him when he was sick, Shannon laughed. "Oh, I suppose it's more of an obligation than anything else," she sighed with playful theatrics in her voice. Then she grinned. "Of course I'd take care of you if you needed me to. I'd expect the same from you," she pointed out. Why she expected such so soon in their friendship, she wasn't sure, but it felt the way it felt and she didn't see any reason not to share it with him.

Shannon opened her mouth to tell Domeki that she really couldn't care less which animal she used as a target, but he beat her to the punch in saying that it really didn't matter. She watched as he set up one of the stuffed bears on a platform an she shrugged in response to his question. "I don't know how far an arrow shoots, sweetie, you tell me," she laughed. But if he thought it was a good distance, she'd take his word for it without question. Not to mention, she was excited to get down to it and give it a go before she got too cold to feel the rest of her body; her fingers were already completely numb.

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throughyoureye
2009-05-16 12:24 am UTC (link)

"You're the prettiest big sister ever," Domeki responded with just the slightest of eye rolls but he was grinning all the same. It seemed an obvious enough statement, anyway - Shannon really did seem to uphold what most people would call beautiful. "I'm not sure that dress is anyone's color," he snickered slightly and shook his head. He felt quite sure that no one would be sad to see the last of that particular garment, even if he also was quite sure that he wouldn't allow his big sister to forget about it entirely just yet. "Hm? Is there a better, non-beauty queen response to give when it comes to wishes?"

He seemed to only vaguely register that Shannon seemed to be quite far away when he spoke on about his homeland - but that was because he was walking the halls of memory, himself. It was easy enough to prattle on about Tokyo and to give the brief tourist snippets but Domeki found himself really missing the more basic things: the early morning walks to school with Watanuki, lunch outside on the grass with Kunogi, the meetings of the archery club or the student council, evenings at the shop either eating or drinking the night away - all of them seemed so routine and so day-to-day but those were the things that stung the most when he allowed his mind to wander. It really did hurt him to think that he might never be able to see those people and to do those things again.

"I suppose if you're obligated to take care of me then I must be obligated to take care of you," he sighed but his sigh rather quickly turned into a bit of a laugh. Really, he had no issues at all with being the one to take care of Shannon if she was sick or injured - in fact, he would likely insist on it quite forcefully. "It would be nice if it never came to that, though."

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throughyoureye
2009-05-16 12:24 am UTC (link)

"It looks fair enough to me - I don't think you'll have problems hitting that from here and we can adjust as we go along," he nodded. Realizing that the lessons were best done before his fingers got too numb to be able to notch an arrow, he moved easily into a starting position - standing at a slight angle to his target with his dominant hand holding the bow and facing the target. "The best way to stand, if you can manage, is with your toes to the arrow shaft and your feet shoulder width apart. Take step back with your front foot about five to ten inches - but you can adjust this to whatever feels most comfortable to you. Once you're in a comfortable stance, you can nock an arrow in the center of the bowstring and let the shaft of the arrow rest against the bow, just above the handgrip." He moved to demonstrate this, holding the bow so that she could see what he was currently doing. "Now, hold the string with your first three fingers and it should settle in the crease of your last joint, with the nock of the arrow between your middle and index fingers - use your thumb to stabilize the arrow like this. Hold the bow with the 'V' formed by your index finger and thumb and keep your arm locked straight, with your elbow rolled slightly out. Now, you can lift your head to find your target and raise your bow arm, keeping it in a locked position. Draw the string back until your thumb is against jawbone and your index finger is almost touching the corner of your mouth but make sure you use your shoulder and back muscles to pull the string. Take a moment to aim - some find that it helps to visualize a line between yourself and your target but if the target is moving then it helps to lead it a bit - and take a breath, holding it until you release the arrow."

The movements were so practiced and so ingrained to him that Domeki found himself having to slow down what he was doing to make sure that Shannon could see just how he was holding his hands and just how he was performing each act. As it always had been, performing with the bow was almost a sort of meditation for him and it calmed him to have a moment to practice - even with the cold and the snow all about them. He seemed hardly surprised at all when the arrow struck home in the soft plush of the bear but he knew there was a bit more to the lesson yet. "Now, relax your fingers from the wrist forward and just let the string slide from your fingers - which would be easier if we had gloves but I couldn't find any archery gloves in the thrift store."

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