[Mari]

A small elven girl with a bow of her own stood near Arle, waiting patiently for the arrival of their teacher. Arle was holding the Hawkeye Bow she'd gotten from Pit for her birthday, a rather odd and magical bow by most people's standards. Not even Archan had been able to figure it out. Nearby, several Life Sphere citizens were hanging out around a simple bullseye target they'd set up for target practice. It looked to be propped up by scrap wood. "I asked him to meet us here. Hopefully he shows up~!" "I still think that's a staff~" the small elven girl replied, mocking Arle's efforts.

[TartoonHand94]

In the grey mourning skies above the Life Sphere, the clouds parted. Down through a beacon of light, a handsome, studly winged figure gracefully descended from on high down upon Harvest Acres to meet the summoning mage and elven girl and grace them with his holy presence.
His wings flapped with the strength of a mighty albatross, his muscles glistened, his abdominal rippled, and in his powerful arms... he carried Pit.

 

“Thanks for the ride 'Donis! See you at dinner!” 

Pit waved goodbye to his Centurion Strongarm.

“No problem Captain Pit. Enjoy your date!” 

“I told you it's not a date! It's an Archery Lesson!” 

Pit barked at his winged troll who was already up and out of sight.
He could only sigh wistfully before turning to greet Arle and Arcan.

“Hey there Arle, sorry to keep you waiting. 

We're a little...understaffed at the office right now.” 

Pit explained regretfully.

“So now that I'm here...” 

“You two ready to know how to bow like a pro?”
Pit asked them encouragingly.

[Mari]

"...Can do~!" the small elven girl remarked, promptly leveling her bow and arrow at Pit as if to shoot him. Arle promptly rushed over to her and grabbed the bow, pushing it down. "Stop what you're doing!" Arle snapped earning herself a pout from Archan. "...But that pun was awful." Archan whined in reply, earning herself a flat look from Arle. "I don't... care. We're not going to see how this bow works if you start shooting people." Arle went on to scold, dangling Archan's own curiosity in front of her face. This seemed somewhat effective, rendering the elven girl silent. "Alright then. How's this bow work, Pit..? It doesn't have any arrows, or string. Archan wanted to attaching a string to it, but I didn't think that'd work very well..." Arle explained

[TartoonHand94]

“Besides, with your stance and form, you were gonna miss me anyway.”
Pit coughed disgruntled at Archan who almost shot her instructor.
“They say the big difference between movie shooters and game shooters, game shooters know how to Aim.”


“Well first off, the Hawkeye Bow doesn’t use ordinary arrows. And it doesn’t have a string because it’s not just an ordinary bow.”
Pit began to explain.
“It’s a Divine weapon; a bow of the Gods.”


“Just look at its heavenly design! Its golden stabilizers! The way its risers and limbs curve beautifully to resemble wings!”
Pit admired the bow he gave to Arle as if he were gazing at it through a window display.
“Plus the grip’s as comfortable in your hand as an expensive controller!”


“A sacred bow like this was designed to fire arrows made of... Photos?...No wait... What was that word?...”
Pit scratched his head trying to remember what the scientific word for the arrows he used was.
Lady Palutena had told him once long ago but he couldn't remember to save his life.
“...I'm just gonna say Light. Y'know, like lazer guns? Pew Pew?”

[Mari]

A bow of the gods... "Like Viridi~?" Arle replied rather cheerily, starting to put two and two together. "I think I get you. It's time for a change of outfits~!" Arle remarked, beginning the trademarked magical girl transformation sequence when--"Woah! Don't change here!" Archan blurted out, cutting the transformation short. Arle gave the smaller girl an annoyed look."...Why? Are you afraid you'll to see a girl prettier than you~?" Arle teased, unable to help herself. "No! There's a boy right theeeere." Archan pointed out, earning a moment of bewilderment from Arle. She shook her head. "...I'm not getting nude. I'm using magic." Arle corrected rather flatly. "Suit yourself~! If I see a booty, I'm shootin' it~!" Archan warned. "...Just shut up." Arle retorted rather lamely, annoyed by the other's childish nature. The mage then continued and finished her transformation, striking a pose and flourishing for Pit.

"If it's a bow of the gods, then this form will do just fine~!"

Arle seemed a little proud of herself, only to flinch and her expression to twist with alarm as a sharp pain found it's way to her behind. Archan had just shot her. YYY--OW!" Arle shrieked, spinning to confront the smaller girl. "Hahaha! Lotta good all that armor did you!" Archan quipped. "...Do you know how hard it is to fly with lots of armor on?! Maybe I should beat some sense into you!" Arle angrily threatened, but only seemed to make Archan burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Pfffffftahahaha! You have a tail! Ahahahahaha~" Archan responded, doubling over and falling to the ground. Arle hesitated a moment, glancing behind her. Sure enough, it looked vaguely like she had an arrow for a tail. The mage-knight wiggled her hips a bit. ...Yeah, she guessed that was pretty funny. But not when it happened to her! She promptly proceeded to grab the shaft of the arrow and incinerate it in it's entirety in a burst of holy fire. She then promptly stepped over the fallen Archan and ever so casually sat on her.

"Bwah! What are you doing?!" Archan gasped out, squirming underneath the mage-knight. "Babysitting, apparently! Now, you're in time out!" Arle would reply rather sassily, leaning back and getting comfy. She then ignored the smaller girl's protests, focusing her attention back on Pit. "So uh--Now what? Do I just... Is there a thing I do to channel the bow?" she asked.

[TartoonHand94]

“Yep…heh gods like Virrrrrr.”
Pit started to answer before losing his train of thought as Arle began the trademarked magical girl transformation sequence.
Pit broke from his mesmerized trans into a flustered realization he was indeed there.


“Wha-what? No sorry! G-go right ahead! I won’t look I promise!”
A red faced Pit buried his eyes in his hands and turned around for good measure.
“Is… Is it over yet?”
Pit asked nervously before peeking through a finger.


“Woah.”
Pit gasped, stooping twofold back into the mesmerized trans at the sight of Arle’s new transformation.
“You look so…so… Woah!”
He slowly gasped ending in a yelp as Archan shot Arle in her butt.


“Hey that’s enough of that!”
Pit sternly barked at Archan in Arle’s defense, having already produced a Palutena Bow and aiming it at her.
“If you can’t learn to wield a bow responsibly maybe you shouldn’t learn how to fire it.”


“Besides it’s true; too much heavy armour’s murder on your wings. That’s why most of us wear togas.”
Pit explained, lowering the bow and cancelling the shot.
It seems Pit didn’t have to threaten Archan anymore as Arle was already ‘on top’ of the situation.
“This is gonna be a long mission…”
He thought to himself.

[Mari]

"Sorry, she's a little bit of a brat. Y'know come to think of it I'm having a hard time getting the hang of this flying thing too! I always feel like I'm going to crash. I don't suppose you could help with that too~?" Arle would reply, striking a pose and fluttering her wings in demonstration. ...Wow Arle, wow. Rude! She, of course, couldn't have known that Pit couldn't fly. It was just sort of the obvious question for the rather clumsy flyer.

[TartoonHand94]

“Aw that’s okay I guess. I’ve had my own fair share of-”
Pit’s eyebrow twitched a little upon hearing Arle had trouble flying of all things.
Preaching to the choir on that one, but could there really be someone else out there that was flight challenged?
It was one thing she didn’t know how to use a bow, but she hasn’t mastered flight either?

“R-really? …Well uh…”

“Lucky for you, it just so happens that I am an Ace at aerodynamics.”
Pit remarked with a proud stroke of his toga strap.
Just because he couldn’t fly on his own didn’t mean he didn’t Know How to.
That’s the way he saw it anyway.
In all of his past flights Pit was also responsible for maneuvering himself in the air along the flight path, dodging obstacles and enemy fire all the time.
But how was he going to show her how to fly without being able to demonstrate?
He was an ace at aerodynamics, but he was not an ace at lying about it.

[Mari]

" . . . Well, it seems we've got a day cut out for us then. Good thing Jack was kind enough to promise us lunch! I feel like we might be here for a little while." Arle mused aloud, seeming very content with Pit's answer. "How're you going to fly without getting your butt off me, huh??" Archan sassed. "That depends. Are you going to behave, or are you just going to shoot it again?" Arle remarked rather flatly. "Well maybe if it weren't such a massive target..." "What was that?" "I'm just saying, it has it's own gravitational pull. My arrows are literally curving through the air to meet it~" "...Uhuhu--You didn't learn your lesson, did you? Sounds like it's nap time!" Arle remarked before incanting a spell to knock Archan out. She then got off the smaller girl and brushed herself off. "So uh--Where should we start?"

[TartoonHand94]

Jack and his lunch couldn’t come soon enough for Pit. Arle was right, where Should they start?
It’s been so long, decades even since he had to teach anyone anything like this.
For so many years it was just the same centurions practicing archery they already knew.
Pit himself had been using a bow for as long as he can remember.
It’s become as natural to him as breathing. How do you teach someone to breathe?

Where would Lady Palutena start? Turning left? Pit had to learn archery the hard way.
But After archery, all Pit’s other weapons training began at level 1.

“That’s It! We’ll start at Level 1! Basic Archery.”
Pit finally snapped out of his deep contemplation. About as deep as Pit can get.
“Gotta learn how to shoot before you learn how to noscope.”
Pit quipped as he produced a very plain looking wooden bow and a quiver full of training arrows.
The arrows looked more like mini plungers than armour piercing ammunition.

“Arle, I'd like you and your friends to meet an old friend of mine.”
Pit introduced as he presented her with the plain bow.
“This is κανονικός.”

“I know he doesn’t look like much now, but we started from the bottom together.”

“Now, I wanna see how much you already know. So try your best to hit that target, ”
Pit pointed to the bullseye target while pacing backwards with Arle.
“From….Here. Whenever you’re ready.”

[Mari]

Arle shifted to take the bow from Pit, eyeing it curiously. How was a normal bow supposed to teach her how to fire a magical one? Weren't their firing mechanisms entirely different? ...Eh. He probably wouldn't be handing her one if it wasn't relevant. She decided to go with it without asking. "Alright..." Arle replied in a thoughtful manner. She moved to stand before Pit, striking a rather flattering pose for him with her legs spread firm against the ground and her body twisted at an angle, her wings flowing rather majestically past her arms. At this point she was just immitating what she'd seen others do when firing a bow, and her pose looked good enough. That, however, was where her seeming skill ended. She seemed very slow and awkward to fire the bow. One could tell she was going to miss even before she fired it based on the way her hands were shaking. Holding the bow seemed to be a difficulty for her. Arle fired the bow and, sure enough, the arrow didn't hit the target at all. Arle seemed to deflate a bit watching this. She was just glad she was wearing gloves. It felt like the bow would really hurt to pull back if she did it bare handed. "...Well--I got some good distance out of it." Arle mused aloud.

[TartoonHand94]

Pit stood back and watched Arle intently, taking note of her stance and her technique. It took a bit of discipline for him not to let her flattering pose and wingspread distract him from this. From the beginning he had noticed a few minor errors that would majorly jeopardise her accuracy.
Pit had to take immediate action to stifle a giggle at the inevitable miss.


“Okay, very n-… -Now we know where to start.”
Pit commented on her results.

“It doesn’t matter how far an arrow flies if it misses.”
Pit quoted unfortunately.

“But that’s just what I’m here to help you with!”

Pit smiled positively, ending his criticism on a high note.

“First things first, your stance. The kickback when you fire it will doom you to miss immediately if you can’t stand up to it.”
Pit began with inspecting her stance, again making an effort not to be distracted by her figure
“Your stance – where you place your feet when shooting – is the foundation for your shot.”
He explained as he bent down as if talking to her feet.
“Proper stance makes all the difference. Here, if you put your feet here, and there…”
Pit began laying out foot positions in tape at Arle’s feet.
“You’ll be solid and stable and have more control over your arrow. Like this, it can’t budge you.”
He then pushed at her knees to prove his point.

[Mari]

Arle watched Pit quietly and carefully as he got down at her feet. What was he doing down there? He was a bit too close for her liking, but she decided not to complain because he wasn't actually touching her. ...And then, that changed. Pit could feel Arle's legs tense and she promptly squirmed to take a step back, becoming uneasy. So much for a rock solid stance. Arle gave Pit a speculative look, waiting for a long moment to debate whether he'd made her uncomfortable for any particularly good reason before explaining herself. "...Sorry. I don't really like being touched." Arle replied rather simply, anxiously fidling with the bow Pit had given her. She shifted her gaze away for a moment in thought before once again attempting to immitate the stance Pit had shown her, pointing her bow back at the target. "Like ... this?" she would offer, pursing her lips. She was, of course, still watching Pit out of the corner of her eyes.

[TartoonHand94]

To Pit’s knee-jerk disappointment, Arle squirmed and stepped back.
This negated the purpose of the stance in the first place.
But it wasn’t an accident, she did it herself.
He looked up at her with a face as if to ask what was wrong, oblivious to what he almost did.
Only when Arle explained did he blush sheepishly in understanding.


“S-sorry about that.”
Pit was still very new to training girls, and everyone he had trained before wore a toga.
Dresses are just like togas, aren’t they? Pit had yet to learn the difference.
Arle, however was not just like a Centurion; she needed a bit more sensitivity and space.
Pit could sense that much.

Arle soon tried to shoot at the target again, this time taking the stance Pit showed her.

“Hey that’s it! You got it!”
Pit congratulated.

“And now that you’ve got a firm foundation, let’s build upon it with your form: How you’re holding the bow.”
He continued, standing back up and walking around her.
“Now that the arrow won’t push you, you gotta make sure you can push it.”

Pit reached out to adjust her arm, stopping short of the last inch to remember she doesn’t like to be touched.
He retracted his hand and took another beat to contemplate how to say it without feeling.

“You should keep your bow arm’s elbow rotated straight up or down while drawing the bow and releasing the arrow.”
Pit instructed slowly pacing backward.

“If your bow elbow doesn’t rotate straight, bad things could happen.”
He also warned.
“Like bruising your inner elbow, or arrows veering to one side like the controller’s broken.”

[Mari]

Arle took careful aim with the bow, this time allowing her body to settle into what felt like it offered the least resistance to what she was doing without moving her feet. She looked all set to fire that bow, except for one tiny detail... Arle let loose the arrow and immediately yelped as the string caught one her absent-mindedly stretching wings. The mage-knight promptly doubled over and clutched at her lashed wing in pain, hissing out some sort of incoherent complaint as she attempted to soothe the fiery rage racing through her foreign wings. She still wasn't spatially aware of them, and hadn't realized what she was doing until it was far too late.