Training day, maybe? (open)

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Training day, well every day was a training day when you still were in the legion. That was one thing that Yasmina really didn’t mind. She got to practice and protect New Rome with all her might. It was why she was one of the oldest people still in the legion. It didn’t help that she had no idea what she actually wanted to do with her life. Everyone who reached their time served all moved on and didn’t bother with the legion anymore. For Mina though it was something she struggled with every day, she didn’t mind it though. Why? Well it was because she got to help out her younger siblings and make sure they were trained right, that was the ones who were in the same cohort as her.

Today she was helping out some kids who had never fired a bow before. How was it they could be in the legion their whole time and never fired a bow? Sure swords were cool but shooting a bow? There was something to it that she just enjoyed. Her eyes moved to one of the kids and she quickly rushed over to him. “No, do not hold your bow like that. When you shoot your bow string is going to come back and seeing as you do not have a wrist guard it will sting when the string slaps your forearm.” She helped him adjust the bow and then smiled. “Now focus on your target and when you’re ready let your arrow fly.” She watched as the boy let the arrow fly and she smiled. “See, you are getting the hang of it. Now keep practicing.”

She left the boy and headed over to where her personal belongings were. Picking up her personal bow she looked it over and smiled, they really did an amazing job when forging it. She had it specially made and there were intricate designs all over the thing. She was a hunter, a deadly hunter when she had her bow in her hand. Walking over to a free spot she pulled an arrow, knocked it and then let it fly once she had her eye set on the target. She quickly reloaded and fired arrow after arrow splitting the shafts of each one as they landed on target. “Maybe one day with practice you will all be that good, but for today and your first time you did well. I will see you all back here next week for more training.”

That was the thing about being an older legion member, you had been here and practiced and trained so much that others came to you to help train them. She was proud of herself. She was doing New Rome a service. Not only that it was her duty to protect Rome and its citizens from all harm. Once the kids were all gone she went and collected the arrows from their targets and the one arrow that remained from hers. Oh the smiths were going to yell at her for destroying more arrows.

Walking back to her things she placed the bow down and then picked up her sword, her skill with the sword as above average but she was no expert like the children of Mars were. They were the ones who were really made for war. Heading to a training dummy she started attacking it, her strikes quick and on point. After years of training you were well aware of how everything worked and how you needed to train to make yourself better. Bringing her sword up she made a quick hard strike and split the dummy in half, a satisfied smile on her lips.

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Ah, archery. Probably the best thing ever. Okay, actually, it was the best thing ever. And music. And stuff like that. Oh, and family. Big emphasis on family. And, speaking of which, there was one right there. Big sis Yasmina. He liked to call her Q. Why? There really was no reason. ‘Yasmina’ sounded too pretty and formal to call your big sis, especially when you were just hanging out. Q was quirky – probably why that word started with that letter – so it was very him. No, she wasn’t quirky much. She was an inspirational leader sort of person. Role model. He was… well, he liked to be a role model, but for obvious reasons he couldn’t do that much here at the moment. Considering she was about a decade his senior and there she was teaching kids on the bow.

He watched her from a distance. Well, her and the kids she was teaching. Gods, some of them were awful. He was tempted to come over and help, but he didn’t want to steal the limelight. He was just kind of like that. Q was getting much deserved honor here, and he wasn’t going to spoil it. He had his gladius at his side, seeing as he really needed to work on that. So he couldn’t exactly join her even if he wanted to. So he stayed where he was as she finished up her stuff with the younger ones. Actually, hold on, that one looked almost his age. Ouch. That was almost physically painful to see.

He watched as they all walked off and he sighed for the sake of humanity before looking back to Q, who was picking up the last arrow. Before she headed for the dummies. Ah, now he could join. No kiddies and no bows. He carefully approached, seeing as it was stupid to surprise someone who was beating the tar out of a dummy. Once she did her damage, he cleared his throat. “Nice work, Q.” His gladius still in its sheathe, he was able to take a moment to clap and grin. He cared about his sister, just like he did all his family. And other people – like Jessy, but they didn’t need to know that. “Though, you know, if you’re looking for a challenge…” He grinned all jokingly cocky and rested his hand on the hilt of his gladius and straightened up tall to add to the overall humor of it.

Words: 410
Tag: @yasmina
Notes:

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There was nothing wrong with these kids wanting to learn some archery, sure they were going about it all wrong and she had to correct them a lot but it was fine. She was here to train the new generation and show them how things were done. If this camp was going to thrive they needed the knowledge that the previous generation had so they could protect New Rome and Camp Jupiter both. It wasn’t long before she noticed him on the hill, William. One of her younger brothers…who was she kidding all of her siblings were younger than her. Even though she was older than them it didn’t mean that she was their boss. She liked not having to tell her siblings what they were doing even if it was all so wrong in so many ways.

Once everyone was all packed up, everything was cleaned up and she was done abusing the dummy she felt his presence. Her brother was there. Yes, she could feel the shift in the air; it was something she gained during the war when in combat. Turning around she looked him in the eyes and smiled. “Little brother are you sure you wish to spar with me?” She looks him over and then nods pulling her sword back out. “Give me a second to clean and sharpen her and then I will be your opponent. “

Heading back to her seat she gently places her sword on her lap and grabs her oil rag and slowly cleans the blade off. After a few minutes of cleaning it she pulls her whetstone out and sharpens it for about ten minutes to make sure the deadly edge is returned to her blade. “There, perfect.” She takes her oil rag and cleans the blade once more before standing up and making her way over to her brother. “So, shall we go change into armor or would you like to use shields? I do not wish to actually do you any harm little bother.” Her eyes return to looking at his sword and then her sword, two wars and seventeen years in the legion she learned to take care of herself well.

She moves to her side of the field and waits, if he wanted to get a shield or some armor on she was going to let him. She could be harsh during training but she wasn’t that harsh. Though being her brother she should make him train against her without armor on. Talk about a good incentive to not get hit. When he was finally ready she stayed on her side of the field only taking a few steps forward, she would let him come to her. Time for him to learn from a pro.