shoot straight --- summer

When Seth got the notification that was was supposed to go meet some instructor, he didn't expect it to be because of archery. Again. Okay, maybe he might have expected it to have something to do archery. He had assumed, though, that his terrible archery skills were too far beyond hope for anyone to even try helping. And that everyone knew what happened to his very many archery instructors. Recently however, Seth suspected that it wasn't fully his own aptitude that was to blame for his inability to shoot straight. Never had he once hit the goal he had aimed for, but he was in fact, able to nock and draw an arrow quite expertly - due to the many times he had been forced to practice. Perhaps it was because Tyche liked her little jokes.

What he really did not anticipate was being chucked together with a bunch of nine to twelve year olds. Apparently Chiron was, yet again, trying to find another way of teaching him that might work. Seth thought that after the several dozen times, the centaur would have given up. But noo, he had to be forced to continue shooting arrows he knew he would never reach their target.

This time, his instructor was a girl from the Poseidon cabin. He had seen her around a few times in camp -shared an acknowledging nod maybe- but hadn't ever spoken to her. Finally looking up at the camper, Seth half expected a look of recognition to flash across her face before saying something along the lines of: Oh, its you. I do not wish to have an arrow stuck in me. Do get out. By the way, can I have your autograph?

Yeah. An eleven year old had once asked his autograph for being the guy-who-couldn't-shoot-an-arrow-to-save-his-life. Probably on a dare for someone else who actually admired him. He knew though, that when push came to shove, he'd stick an arrow in anything all right.

Seth flashed her a smile before going again into the basic archery stance that had been drilled into him. He had taken a recurve bow, like he always did - not that it was better than a crossbow in terms of accuracy or anything. But because crossbows went off far too easily -and powerfully- in his hands.

After the first few times he used it, it generally caused so much chaos that he was almost banned from holding one. That was when everyone still thought he had been messing around. Once they realised that he hadn't been, though, nobody bothered to unban him. Not that Seth minded. The thing always went haywire - even he had no idea how he would manage to set it off.

"Yes ma'am," Seth nodded innocently, lifting his elbow up as the girl passed him.

He suppressed the urge to raise his eyebrows in surprise. Go ahead? Not something anyone had said to him for a while; regarding anything. Looking around at the relatively full arena, he swallowed. This amazing plan of Chiron's was starting to get worse. Usually he would have gone ahead. But Seth was uncomfortably aware that there were ten year olds standing right there. An arrow to the head could hurt quite a lot.

He was about to pull the arrow back when he stopped and looked at the girl again. "You sure? It probably won't end up where you expect." Seth gave her a hopeful expression.

Seth had delayed to the last possible moment, then suddenly decided to just get it over with. Just as he was about to draw back the string, the girl lost her temper and started towards him. What just... Oh great timing.

"Hey!" He complained as she yanked his bow away, almost taking his thumb with it. Seth followed the girl to the side of the arena. "You know, usually girls only say that when they decide to break up," he said, eyebrows raised with feigned surprise. The touch of a smile graced his lips. "Starting off a little early, aren't you?"

Seth then backed a step away as she stalked angrily towards him. She had the right to be furious, trying to teach someone like him, but theoretically, so did he. Had he been a regular kid who simply needed more than average training to master archery, this much practice should have frustrated him to no end. But he wasn't. He also couldn't get on Chiron's bad side, not right now, so for the past weeks he had sopped it up without complaint. "You're right," he shrugged, "There's nothing to do in camp. Not that I'm planning to stay here any longer." His mood changed from admittance to casual.

Deciding to revert to the exact problem that caused this mess, Seth stared into her eyes and stated, "If you do want to see me shoot that badly, pun quite intended, then pass me the bow, and I'll do it."