The Game is On | Tag - Aphrodite

[ilyas aylin]

It was barely past 7am. The sun had only just started to light all the remains of the stone ruins when a tall man walked through the high grass in the direction of the decayed building. He carried with him a bag, but what would most likely catch anyone eye first was the bow in his hand and the arrows on his back. As a matter of fact, he looked quite like a medieval traveller, one you’d see at fantasy fairs.

He’d prefer a forest to go hunting. That was more sheltered; he could find a quiet place. But so far, he hadn’t found anything that fitted that description. There wouldn’t be many animals around this place, but he figured he could give it a try. Perhaps, he’d be lucky.

That thought almost made him laugh out loud.

During his entire life, he’d never been lucky. Not once. Why would today be an exception? For a short moment, he studied the stone constructions ahead. It looked like a place that was frequently visited by many people; one of the reasons he’d gotten here so early. That way, no one could ‘accidentally’ be hurt. Besides, a guy strolling around with bow and arrows would raise a few eyebrows. Maybe they’d call the cops on him.

The man hid behind a part of the ruin, his eyes scouting for anything that moved. Since he spotted nothing, not even after a couple of minutes, he decided on something different. Even if he couldn’t find any animals here, perhaps it would be useful to practice his aim. He placed an arrow on the bow and aimed for the furthest tree. It had a single branch, hanging down. A perfect target for his human eyes. A second later, he released the arrow and it landed perfectly in the middle of the thick twig. A smug smirk played on his lips. Until..

The sound of footfalls drew closer.

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

There was a reason Aphrodite was here. Well. There was a reason why she went everywhere she did. She wasn’t really the person to go out one day for an aimless wander; she needed to have some sort of direction to go in or something to do. It was pretty pointless and boring if there wasn’t. Aphrodite moved the strap over her shoulder, tucking a strand of escaped hair behind her ear. Usually she wasn’t out this early. But seeing as it was one of those days where her father had shoved her out the door with her bow to be able to practice, she had little to no choice in the matter. It was just as well. She had practiced in a few weeks and if she didn’t her skills would eventually get rusty. Aphrodite hadn’t known where to go at first. There weren’t any wooded places around here for a few miles and she didn’t fancy walking to them. She generally preferred to hunt in a more secluded place, but seeing as there weren’t any places that fit that description, she came here instead. It was the quietest place she could find.

Keeping a firm grip on her bow, Aphrodite moved her way through the ruins, many of them now tangled in weeds. “Why they don’t clean this place out is beyond me. It’s not like it’s doing anything here.” She muttered to herself, kicking a piece of rock out the way. It was only gathering dust and she couldn’t see any decent reason for it to be here apart from growing old and crumbling into nothing. “The town could do with the space.” The amount of space the ruin was taking up be used to do something more constructive. That was her view on the place anyway. Aphrodite wasn’t the biggest fan of architecture and didn’t see the reason a musty old ruin was still around. She sighed and moved her way through the ruins; trying to find a decent enough place to set some sort of target up.

Seeing as she hadn’t been able to get ready properly this morning before being shoved out the house, Aphrodite hadn’t had much time to dress as she deemed fit. Her hair was pulled into a neatly tied bun, though she would’ve liked to have spent more time on it. She had a black and red jacket over her torso with a cream sleeveless top on underneath it. Around her legs with a pair of plain black jeans and then her hunting boots were strapped to her feet. It was something she’d usually wear out hunting anyway, but she didn’t feel like it was enough. Her makeup felt off since she’d only had time to apply the most basic of things. Aphrodite had soon found a good enough place to start practicing. The only problem was that there was someone else there. Surely by now he’d heard her coming and was probably too late for her to blend in with the small shadows that were there.

She came to a halt a little further back from the ruins that were between them and started watching. Aphrodite noted the various things she could from the back of him, taking a quick note on his bow and arrows. She watched him fire an arrow straight into the middle of a branch of a nearby tree. He’s good. She thought. Stepping forward a few paces until she was roughly two metres behind where the man stood, Aphrodite pulled her bow up and strung an arrow on it. Aiming very carefully for the arrow, she shifted her weight in the way her father taught her and pulled back. Looking down the shaft of the arrow, stroking the feathers at the end of arrow, she aimed. She had only been able to split an arrow down the middle on two occasions. One of them had been a lucky shot, the other had taken her about 5 minutes to be able to do. She looked at the arrow again, wondering whether or not it was thick enough to be able to split. It seemed like it. She’d seen people split arrows much thinner than that one. Aphrodite sighed, took one last aim and moved her bow a fraction upwards before releasing the arrow.

It landed with a thump just above where the previous was. From what Aphrodite could see there wasn’t even a millimetre between the two. A small ‘Hmph’ made it’s way out of her mouth.

[ilyas aylin]

The footsteps stopped just a couple of feet away and Ilyas glanced over his shoulder to find a girl. Disturbing, what a child would come to do here at this early hour. Even more disturbing was the fact she, too, carried weaponry with her. Then again, the latter answered his wonder what she came to do here. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who found this place the only fit area for a bit of practice.

But still, to sneak up on him like she did; it proved the child had little manners. He was about to scold at her, when she readied herself to shoot. Somehow, the blonde man’s interest was perked. He was curious about what she was trying to pull off, and perhaps also how well she’d do it. The scolding could wait; he’d teach her not to walk up to tall, lonesome strangers later. Clearly, she aimed at the same spot he had previously.

Silence.

Complete, and utter silence, as if even the sounds of nature had been muted for a moment. The loose locks of the girl’s red hair danced in the light morning breeze, as did Ilyas' blonde hair. The morning rays of the sun weren’t yet too hot to be unbearable. It was a perfect time to hunt; the animals would use these pleasant temperatures to graze and quench their thirst. Even the largest deer would show themselves, vulnerable and ready to be made into a decent steak. The man's stomach even slightly grumbled at the thought. If only he was in the forest now..

She took a lot longer to aim than he’d done, which could mean a couple of things; either she was aiming for something else than he’d been, or she was a novice to the sport, and way out of her league here. Either way, the truth would soon be revealed, because the young lady launched the arrow and it ended up in the exact same branch, nearly the exact same spot. Ilyas’ lips slowly curled upwards. Something told him she’d been trying to pull a ‘Robin Hood’, and attempted to split the arrow already sticking from the wood. That would've explained the little noise she made, her disappointment shining through.

Like a five year old, about to throw a tantrum.

Maybe he could rub it in a little more. “Well, well,” he started softly, a hint of sarcasm already shining through in his voice. Sarcasm, his biggest weapon. “You’re a big girl, aren’t you?” He threw a glance at her weapon. Her bow was very different from his, smaller, newer, more modern. He’d been using his for over a decade now, and judging from his previous shot, it still worked perfectly fine. He wouldn’t trade his for a newer model in a million years.

The smirk was still on his lips when he addressed the young lady again. “You need some more practice.” Had his tone of voice been different, he might’ve sounded sincere. Now, he simply seemed to mock her. If she was hoping for a compliment, she’d tried to impress the wrong guy.

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

Aphrodite’s lips pressed into a thin line as she heard the guy start to speak. It was soft and a little difficult to make out, but she could hear it. It took all her concentration to not aim an arrow directly at the guys forehead. Just because he was older than she was, which was pretty obvious from his build and face, didn’t mean that she should be treated like a child. If only he knew the influence she could have over his life, that statement would’ve changed. Aphrodite chose to ignore the guys comment and walked towards the tree. The arrow seemed pretty much undamaged and could probably be used later on for something or other. It depended on how it struck the tree and if it was damaged in anyway. Pulling the arrow out of the tree with her free, she inspected the arrow from different aspects. It had left a mark above the guy’s arrow and she was impressed on how close she was. If she had just let the bow hang a further down just a tad, it would’ve gone straight through. The arrow seemed perfectly fine so Aphrodite placed it back in her quiver.

Hearing the man speak again, Aphrodite sharply turned around, eyeing up the man now a few metres in front of you. “I’ve had more practice than you realize, old man.” She sneered, her lip curling upwards, a note of coldness in both her eyes and voice. Clearly he hadn’t realized just how close she’d been. There was no way for her to indicate that she’d had 11 years of archery practice unless she outright told him, but that could wait for further along in the conversation. If it ever got that far. “Anyway. I don’t need your praise. I didn’t come here to try and impress you. I came here to make sure my skills don’t waver.” Aphrodite told him, waving her hand in a way to brush off his earlier comment. Taking her quiver off her back, she pulled out a rolled up piece of plastic and a spare arrow and a pin. Wherever her bow and arrow went, this makeshift target went with her. It wasn’t as good as the ones they had at home, but it was good enough for both her and her father to work on. This one, thankfully was new, which meant it was virtually unscathed.

Completely ignoring the man now, Aphrodite walked over to a different tree that they had fired onto which was behind a bit of the ruin. Unrolling the plastic target, snapping it into place, she pinned the bottom onto the tree with a pin and pinned the top half with the arrow. It curled slightly at the corners, but not so much that it would cause any stress. The target was big enough that it wasn’t blatantly obvious and unnecessarily but not so small it was impossible to hit the center. Aphrodite smoothed it out once more, placed the quiver over her shoulder again and walked back to roughly where the man was, but a little way over. She looked over her shoulder to see the ends of the arrows. She currently had about 21 in it at the moment and was sceptical as to how long it would last her. Sure they had plenty at home, but she didn’t really want to make the journey back if all her arrows broke. Aphrodite sighed internally and pulled two of the quiver.

Placing both of them in the bow, Aphrodite pulled them back, making sure they were both in perfect line with each other. She aimed directly for the top and bottom of the center circle. Releasing the arrows, she heard the two second whizz and then two thumps. The two arrows landed directly where she wanted them too. With no second thought about a second or two after they’d landed, Aphrodite shot a single arrow between the two which landed near enough in the middle of the center of the target. “Close enough.” She muttered. It looked like she’d had to do that shot again until it was perfected. Aphrodite glanced at the man standing a few metres from her, her eyebrow raised. “Good enough for you yet?” She asked, a mocking tone edging its way around her words.

[ilyas aylin]

The girl’s tone was sassy, but Ilyas had expected no less from someone bold enough to interrupt his practice, who approached without even a hint of apology and who seemed quite full of herself. She called him old; was that supposed to hurt his feelings? The smirk didn’t fade from his lips. He wasn’t just older than the girl age wise; the lines on his face and the dullness of his eyes gave away life had been all but kind to him. But a stranger with little interest in that probably wouldn’t notice. They’d probably just think he was somewhat older than he truly was, without being able to put a finger on why that seemed so. And he wasn’t one to enlighten them on that matter. It wasn’t their business. It wasn’t anyone’s business.

Funny, how she mentioned she didn’t need his praise. Out of all the trees surrounding the stone ruins, she decided to practice at the same one he’d picked out. That couldn’t have been a coincidence. But maybe she had a different reason to be here; maybe she was trying to get on his nerves. He hadn’t yet given her a reason for that. Well, not before he’d opened his mouth, that was.

She went on with her business, placing a target on another tree. Ilyas slowly followed her movements with his eyes. For one who wasn’t trying to impress him, she was busy trying to rub every single thing she did in his face. He had to hand it to her: she was amusing. But she didn’t manage to hold his interest for much longer. The man kneeled down by his bag and dug into it, with his back now facing the young lady. She didn’t try to awe him anyway, so he found there was little reason to stay so focussed on her. Instead, he settled down, his back against the stone remains, a bottle of water in his hand and his face now turned slightly to the sun. His piercing blue eyes closed for a moment. He trusted the girl was too busy to take this moment of ‘vulnerability’ of his to rob him, or shoot an arrow through his chest. And even if she attempted, he still had his hearing; it might’ve not seemed that way, but he was still on his guard. Ilyas wasn’t usually a fan of the sun, stayed away from it mostly, proof of that provided by the lightness of his skin. He bore the heat of the daystar badly. This morning, though, the rays were still gentle. They wouldn’t tan or burn him, the mild warmth was still enjoyable.

The whizzing noise of a flying arrow made him open his eyes again. Initially blinded by the light, it took a moment before his vision was clear and he spotted the young lady had shot at her target, and hit. And not just with one arrow, but two. At the same time, he figured, because there’d only been one noise earlier. Another dart followed swiftly, ending precisely between the previous two. She was good, and he’d spotted that much from just her first shot. Just because he hadn’t instantly glorified her didn’t mean he didn’t recognize someone to have decent skills. His lips parted slowly, perhaps a bit reluctant, to comment on her effort when she beat him to it.

‘Good enough for you yet?’

That comment made him silently snicker to himself, and refrained from saying what he wanted to say. Perhaps any other would’ve been offended by her tone of voice, by the way she stood there, with that smug look on her face. But this man wasn’t ‘any other’. She seemed to mistake him for someone who cared. The bottle of water was brought to his lips and he considered a moment whether or not to respond to the comment, but it was too tempting to resist. “Thought you weren’t trying to impress me?”

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

Aphrodite looked back towards the tree as she waited for the response from the male who was now sitting down. She pulled the middle arrow out of the target, placing it back in her quiver before walking back again. She still needed a bit of practice with hitting the center of it. It would take about twenty to twenty-five minutes to do so, maybe even less, to be able to perfect it. It really depended on how distracted she got and how her aim was today. Standing back in her previous stop, Aphrodite turned towards the man when he spoke. She wasn’t sure whether she heard a small snicker before hand from the question she asked or it was just the wind. Either way she just ignored it. “Well from the previous ‘comments’ you were making, it seemed like you were trying to give me some ‘advice’ on my shooting.” She explained, putting air quotes in when necessary. “It just seemed necessary to ask how I was doing to a complete stranger who thinks I need more practice.” A mocking smile appeared on her lips for just a second before Aphrodite turned away. This situation was grating her in the wrong way. More than it usually should. If her temper raised then the Greek accent she had really made itself known.

Letting out a small breath, she drew another arrow out, placing it firmly in her bow. Taking aim, Aphrodite fired the arrow straight at the target. It seemed closer than last time, but it was still a little off. That irked her like nobodies business. Managing to stop herself from grinding her teeth together, she went and got the arrow back from the middle of the target. If only there was something alive and moving she could shoot at. That truly would be some practice. Plus it would mean she could bring something back that evening. Then a thought popped into her head. It wasn’t a nice one really, but it brought a smirk to her face. “Is there any way I could convince you to take the target and start running around so I can shoot at you?” Aphrodite asked, turning towards the male. “I promise it won’t hurt much.” A small, slightly sweet yet creepy smile made its way onto her face. She wasn’t expecting him to say yes, just to see what his reaction would be like. It wasn’t common for her to have other people apart from her father around her as she practiced.

It might have been a little fun if he’d agreed, but at that moment, something in the corner of Aphrodite’s eye caught her attention. There weren’t many trees around the ruins, so there wasn’t really anyway for them to hide there. But she guessed that rabbits were some sort of a common site around here. Rabbits were common it most places anyway; it was just a matter of whether or not you could find them. If anything she was lucky that they were around the small town in the first place. As quietly as she could, Aphrodite pulled out an arrow, making sure it didn’t startle the rabbits. She knew how jumpy they were. It was amazing they hadn’t noticed the two people yet. All she wanted was that the man near her didn’t make a sound to scare them away. Aiming the bow and arrow at one of the rabbits there, Aphrodite made sure that they weren’t going to move before releasing the arrow. Thankfully her bow didn’t make that twanging sound some others could make, even if it was a couple of years old. It was smooth, yet still made some sort of noise. Yet by the time the rabbits heard, it was too late for one of them. Aphrodite stood there for several seconds, just watching the other rabbit stare at them before turning and started to hop away.

[ilyas aylin]

“I apologize. I just told you the truth.” This time, he didn’t seem to make fun of her. His tone of voice was different. That didn’t mean his apology was sincere, though. Actually, there was a hint of annoyance in his voice. He just thought she was whining, like many people did when being told the truth, and this wasn’t even a very painful, ‘up in your face’ truth. He hadn’t told her she sucked, he’d just said she needed some more practice. And frankly, he still thought he had a good point, and something told him she didn’t disagree with him that much. “Isn’t that what you’re doing? Practicing more?” he pointed out. “So either, I had a point, or you, too, realize that you can still improve your skills.” His blue eyes rolled. He should’ve known better than to give advice to someone. People were unappreciative, always. This young lady was no exception.

But the man shook his head slightly, shaking off the annoyance; he wasn’t going to allow himself to get upset over a spoiled, foulmouthed child. His eyes shut again, he decided to enjoy some more of the sun’s rays, before they’d get too hot. The girl released another arrow, but this time, Ilyas didn’t open his eyes when it whizzed off. And since she didn’t cheer for joy, nor forced him to look at her achievement, he figured she was still not satisfied with her own result. That was a good thing, actually, and one of the little things he could appreciate in certain people; their strive to be better. His first impression of the girl was that she was spoiled and entitled, but at least she wasn’t a quitter, nor afraid to get her hands dirty.

It was her voice that woke him from his thoughts again. And he had to blink his eyes a couple of times to realize she truly meant what she was saying. That smirk on her lips made her look both innocent and eerie at the same time and he knew immediately he wasn’t the first one she’d used that smile on. Her request was rather strange, but he’d play along. “Oh, sure. I’d do it without the target, as long as I can keep my clothes on and you promise to aim for my head.” A little test to see how well she recognized sarcasm.

He didn’t have to live up to the part, though, because something else caught both their attention. Little movements, near a small group of trees, just in front of a part of the ruins; rabbits. Small, useless rabbits. There was hardly any meat on those tiny animals, so Ilyas usually didn’t waste any arrows on them. Despite hunting being one of his hobbies, it was a win-win situation if he managed to shoot something big. That would also contribute to another hobby of his; cooking. But the girl seemed all too eager to swoop one of them. Of course, he could’ve acted like a toddler and chase off the rodents; it would’ve been fun to see how she’d react to that, but he decided to behave. He was an adult, after all.

The redhead aimed at one of the bunnies, but they’d caught her scent; the wind was in her back and she wasn’t exactly moving around soundless. In two seconds, he grabbed his bow, an arrow and stood ready to fire as well, just as the rabbits hopped off. He released his arrow the exact same moment as the girl did, and it must’ve been the strangest coincidence ever, but both of them had aimed for the same animal. The poor thing was impaled by two arrows, one piercing through both sides of its small body. Ilyas raised both his eyebrows, but he soon started to smirk as well. “Nice shot, red.”

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

“You might have a point, but the fact that you fail to realize is that I’ve had more practice than you realize.” Aphrodite explained, rolling her eyes a little. “I always practice my skills, even if they’re completely perfect.” She shrugged and looked back to the scene in front of her. Even if hadn’t told him how long she’d been doing archery, how good her shot had been earlier should’ve been enough to show him how good she was. Taking her gaze of the man as he closed his eyes, Aphrodite focused back on her archery. It would take a few more shots to be able to perfect this target and she didn’t see anything else for her to practice apart from the shot from before. Other than that, there was little else for her to do here today. Only her father would be able to give her something to do after this, for he always had something for her to do. It might have been annoying at first, but when she had little else to do, it was something to do.

Aphrodite let out a small chuckle at the hint of sarcasm in the guy’s voice. “Perfect. Though it would be better if you took your shirt off. That way I can aim for your heart as well as your head without anything getting in the way.” She said, sarcasm playing in her voice as well, the smirk still playing on her lips. Whether or not there was sarcasm in her voice, Aphrodite always liked playing with people’s heads. If they played right back, it was still fun, but if they looked freaked out, then that was better. She docked another one of her arrows; not for shooting the guy but if she wanted to fire it again. She was having a little fun playing with the guy. Moving her shoulders round to make sure that the strap was firmly on her shoulders before drawing her arms up and fire the arrow into the center of the target. This one hit the target straight in the center and Aphrodite, for the first time since yesterday, genuinely smiled a bit.

Hearing the movement before seeing it, Aphrodite heard the familiar sound of another bow being fired at roughly the same time she did. It was only after seeing a second arrow being impaled on the same rabbit that she looked over at the guy. Hearing the comment made her lips twitch. “You’re not bad yourself old man.” She said, chuckling ever so slightly. Walking over to where the rabbit lay, the girl knelt down beside its unmoving body. Clearly seeing the different between the two arrows, she gently pulled her one out of the body, being careful as to not dislodge anything else. “Do you want this? There might not be much meat on it, but I think my mother can make something with it.” She asked, turning around slightly. Her mother had an unhealthy way of being able to make something out of anything that Aphrodite or her father brought back from their hunting trips. No matter how big or small, there was always something later on that evening. In some ways it creeped her out a little.

[ilyas aylin]

If it was possible, the young lady had more snappy comments up her sleeve than Ilyas did. Or at least an equal amount. People usually weren’t levelled to his sarcasm skills. And although he struggled to admit it inside his own head, he found himself amused by her counter attacks. He enjoyed the fact that someone dared to stand up against him, and someone who wasn’t over 6 feet tall, like he was. He’d been in some bar fights, with buffed guys; they dared to speak their minds when drunk, but luckily, the haziness the liquor caused also made their aim very lousy. But a young lady, with a big mouth like this one had; that was rare, and therefore, all the more priceless.

Another thing he valued in her was the fact she wasn’t afraid to kill. Most girl wouldn’t even consider to end an animal’s life, definitely not for ‘sport’ purposes. He thought of his sister Yaira for a moment; he’d banned her from his hunting trips once, because she’d purposely chase off the animals. Even when Ilyas needed to hunt, providing the two of them with food, she was still very reluctant to accept it. It was hypocrite in a way, how she refused to watch how an animal was killed, yet didn’t complain when she found it cooked and seasoned on her plate a few hours later. But he could hardly blame his sister for being a hypocrite; it ran in the family.

Ilyas came over as well, to check the kill and, more importantly, retrieve the arrow. Luckily, it wasn’t damaged; that would’ve been a terrible waste, to damage an arrow on a silly rabbit. The weapon was safely stored again for future use and the man glanced to his fellow hunter when she spoke up. “Keep it. I’m sticking around for the deer to come,” he said playfully, jokingly. He was no fool, he knew no deer would come here. It had been a miracle in the first place that the rabbits had shown up. And giving the animal to her, he supposed it was a kind of peace offer. She seemed to have eased up a little; she wouldn’t possibly have shared the kill with him if she hadn’t. And he wasn’t as uptight as he was in the beginning anymore either. Even though she claimed she wasn’t trying, she’d managed to impress him a little, but it was still too soon to admit that. She was already full enough of herself without him complimenting her.

“So, where’re you from?” Yes, he had noticed that accent of hers a little earlier. It was just a hint, but still quite easy to hear and it sounded slightly familiar. He’d visited many countries during his travels, heard many different tongues. Although he didn’t recognize most of the languages, he could mostly pick out who wasn’t native to a country.

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

Their banter had proved to be amusing for a while, it not a bit annoying to start off with. Not that it wouldn’t be annoying in the future. Aphrodite was a little sad that the guy didn’t say anything else, it was fairly entertaining trying to come up with something to counter what he’d said. But then again, depending on what was said would depend on her reaction. While she could remain cold towards people, her anger could raise its head on the odd occasion. She didn’t care who the person was, whatever would come to mind for a good comeback would get said. Aphrodite didn’t care who got hurt in the process of her saying these things as long as the other person backed off and left her to do whatever she pleased. Deep down, she knew it was one of the reasons why she had trouble finding people who managed to put up with her. Some of her comments weren’t the nicest of things to say, but as long as it stopped people annoying her, Aphrodite didn’t care. In fact she rarely let herself care for other people which often put her in a good position. She could talk to people who she might be able to use to her own advantage later on, without getting attached to them easily. This also went for animals too and was often commented on by her father when hunting.

Aphrodite watched the man walk over to the rabbit and retrieve his arrow. It didn’t look damaged at all and she was wondering about his bow and arrows that he had on him. They were of a different make to hers and while she barely knew the guy, her interest in archery had piqued when she saw the instruments he was using. She would have to ask later, this wasn’t the time to be asking those sorts of questions. Aphrodite couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the piece of information that came out of the guys mouth. “Oh, good luck with that endeavour, I’m sure you’ll find deer a plenty out here in this wonderfully, small town.” Sarcasm was definitely tinged on her words this time. Truthfully, she had no idea why her father made them move out here in the first place. There was literally no where to hunt, the shops all sucked to high heaven and there was hardly anyone worth speaking to here. Aphrodite, of course, had protested when they first arrived here and wanted to go back immediately. Unfortunately, no matter how much she had protested, they hadn’t budged and she had been stuck here for over a year. She’d managed to get some hunting in, but most of it was uneventful apart from the few times she’d gone into the forest.

Wrapping her free hand around the rabbit’s ears, Aphrodite picked it up as she rose from her kneeling position. She looked at the man with a blank expression for a second before answering. She hadn’t expected them to get to that sort of conversation so soon, if at all. “Greece. What about you? You don’t seem like a local sort of person.” The one thing she had never been too good on was compliments. Something people had learnt about her was that if Aphrodite said anything remotely nice, take it and run. She wasn’t one to exactly compliment someone on what they do. The man didn’t seem to be a local type of guy either. She’d met a few people in the town over the year she’d been here and he stood out like a sore thumb. She couldn’t pin point it exactly, but there was something distinctly off about him.

[ilyas aylin]

Oh, she tried to be a smartass again. Better to nip that in the bud. “Well, there are plenty of pigs too.” He emphasised the word ‘pig’, but he didn’t mean her with it. He also wasn’t meaning the actual animal. Rather the humans, the townsfolk, but he figured she’d understand his point; she was quite good at this sarcasm thing too, after all. All of them were arrogant, selfish, power-hungry; there were a million words he could come up with to describe humans, but none of them would be positive. Humans cared about little else but themselves, and the absolute worst part of them was they couldn’t even admit that much. He hated them. He absolutely hated humans, but in this world, it was hardly possible to stay away from them at all time. ‘They’re not all like that’, his sister would’ve said. Even hearing that sentence inside his head made him roll his blue eyes. Yaira still had hope, somehow. Hope for mankind, even after all they’d been through all of these years. For reasons unknown to him, his sister was still fooling herself on a daily basis. They could probably not be more opposite, and yet, they were so similar.

Thinking of his sister was a bad idea. He missed her, although he had trouble to admit that, even to himself. And she couldn’t be further away; their ways had recently parted and she’d travelled back to Russia, their native land. That answered the question of the young lady present on this scene, but Ilyas wasn’t one to give out personal information, and definitely not on first meeting. “That’s none of your business,” he responded to the question, but he smirked, a teasing glint in his eyes. It was apparently easy to elicit answers from this girl, but he wasn’t as open as she was. Secretly, he wondered if she’d fall for some trick like that again.

The man had travelled to Greece; there weren’t many countries he hadn’t yet seen in his life. Most would describe him as a modern-day gypsy: he never stayed in one place for a long time, he preferred to outside mostly, even for sleeping, arboraceous environments were his favorite and most importantly; he was completely independent. Especially due to his hunting skills, he could provide his own food, most of the time. But here, he hadn’t managed that yet. Not that strange, seeing there wasn’t even a forest near here. If he were a deer, he’d not even consider attending this sleazy town.

“Greece,” he said, drawing his mind back to the present. He couldn’t comment on the people, because surprising or not, he avoided most of the living souls in the cities. But he did remember a positive point of his journey there. “I like it. The booze is cheap.” One of the little places where he’d actually paid for his food and drinks, as the people there were usually even poorer than he was. And when it truly came down to it, he wasn’t an evil person; just frustrated, angry and driven by past experiences. But this redhead girl, she didn't look at all poor. Perhaps she was part of the selected group blessed enough to never have to worry about money. “What made you come here?” He genuinely wondered what a girl like her would do here. Unless this town had a highly regarded archery school, he imagined she liked this place as much as he did, when it came to that part. And it wasn't exactly a place for the Greek royalty either, unless they came around to buy it, maybe.

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

Not being able to resist another eye roll, Aphrodite turned her gaze back to the tree with her target on it. Walking back towards the spot she previous stood on, she responded. “You just have to find one naïve enough to come closer before shooting them in the head.” Pulling an arrow out of her quiver, she hooked it onto the bow before aiming. Her three previous arrows were still stuck in their positions. Hopefully she’d be able to get her skill in splitting an arrow in half up a bit before leaving. There wasn’t much else to do around here apart from practice the skills she’d already mastered. “Though, it’s much fun playing with them first. Killing them straight off isn’t as much fun.” Releasing the arrow in much of the same way as she did the first time, just now it was a bit lower, the arrow landed itself exactly as before. Aphrodite had picked up that they weren’t exactly talking about animals now. Though her point still stood, whether or not it was about animals. Of course, she wouldn’t straight off kill someone, but she had her ways of ‘killing’ them off her radar. She sighed ever so slightly and went to collect her arrow.

If was only on her way back did she hear what the guy said. Letting out a small ‘hmph’ again, Aphrodite made a mental note to check a few things out with this guy. “Don’t worry, I’ll find out. Whether or not you tell me.” A flicker of what some people deemed ‘evil’ or possibly ‘creepy’ passed through her eyes as well as the small smile that made itself known on her face. She had a way of finding things out from people, places or her own way about people that piqued her interest. This guy certainly had in some respects. Aphrodite would have to be more on guard with things. Though where she came from was something she normally told someone if they asked. They were bound to figure out where her accent came from sooner or later and it would save them the embarrassment if she told them straight out. She placed the arrow back into the bow and aimed again, waiting to see where the conversation would take them next.

Having to wait for quite some time, Aphrodite had managed to fire another two arrows. The second one had managed to split the arrow. Not necessarily in half, but it was an improvement. Picking up the pieces of the arrow, she moved back to her spot when the man started speaking again. Placing the pieces of arrow on the grass, Aphrodite hooked another arrow in, firing it while she listened. Snorting at the mans description of a ‘positive’ trait of the country, she turned to him with her eyebrows raised, the arrow still her bow as she turned towards the guy. “Well that’s good to hear. While the food’s great, the quality of the theatre is fantastic, the beaches are clean as well as the water which can’t be said for most other places, you manage to focus on how cheap the alcohol is.” She knew how cheap the alcohol was over there. Hell, she’d bought alcohol over there before without getting carded because, well she was rich, powerful and could probably get the store closed down if they didn’t. But that wasn’t what touched a nerve. He has focused on something that wasn’t even worth saying in the first place. Aphrodite huffed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, holding the arrow in place with her other hand.

She was about to turn back around when she caught the next question. “I don’t see why I have to answer that. It’s none of your business after all.” Drawing a card from the males deck, Aphrodite turned back to her target, firing her arrow into the centre of the target without so much as a thought. Over the years she had learnt to always aim at the centre of something that wasn’t moving. Drawing another arrow and aiming at the centred one, Aphrodite aimed like she previously did and fired. The arrow whizzed through the air and straight through the centre of the other one, positioning itself in-between the two halves. A cocky smile appeared on her lips.

[ilyas aylin]

He agreed with her comments, although he doubted she’d ever taken a life, not counting animals. Actually, he was rather certain of that. She was harsh, but also stuck-up; if ever in need of it, she’d probably have people to do it for her. But maybe, despite her sarcasm and big mouth, she had more a heart than he did, although that was something she still had to prove. After all, she didn’t hesitate to kill the rabbit either. A human, however, that’s another story.

Perhaps it annoyed her he didn’t want to tell her where he was from, or she was irritated by the fact he’d managed to trick her. Either way, she sounded quite determined to dig into his business. He was lucky enough he spoke English accentless, so his speech wouldn’t give away where he was from. “If so, that means you’re interested enough in me to go through the trouble. Give it your best shot.” He wasn’t much concerned by it. Wherever he went, he never told anyone his name. He was known as the ‘stranger’, or other aliases such as ‘gypsy’, ‘jerk’ or his personal favorite: ‘prick’. One of those would do just fine, or, if someone was feeling extraordinary original, perhaps they’d be able to come up with a good one themselves. No one got to know his name, because he was rather paranoid. Even the smallest information, he kept to himself. No one needed to know. What would they do with it anyway? It would only be used against him. Yes, even something as simple as his name. So, he’d allow this young lady to call him ‘old man’. It was fine by him, because it could do little damage. And he was a lot older than she was, a decade or so. He could tell that much.

At least his piercing eyes didn’t seem to disturb the girl’s concentration. The blonde man watched her as she aimed at her target again. She was desperate to achieve what she came to do here, and he guessed it was hitting the exact middle. It wasn’t long before she achieved it and from her body language, Ilyas could tell her satisfaction was growing. But she did seem somewhat offended by his reference to her country. It made him cock one of his eyebrows. What she described were all things usually enjoyed by people with money, or people who enjoyed the sun; neither were applicable to him. He shrugged, though; it mattered not. It was all the more reason to believe she had a wealthier background than he did.

He sat there, watching and smirking at her answers. She was right; it wasn’t his business, not even a little. Apart from being sassy, she also was a fast learner. A good trait, as, as a woman, he felt she had to be careful giving out information to strangers. Despite his distracting questions, she managed to achieve her goal; the arrow hit the center of the target and only a few seconds later, it was split through by another one. A perfect aim. And although the look on her face was more smug and conceited than when he’d seen her when they’d met, he decided to give her some credit. In his unusual way.

He clapped his hands in a sarcastic manner. “Bravo, Robin. You did it.” It was a compliment, in a farfetched way; the closest to a compliment he’d give to a person he’d just met, or to anyone at all. Frankly, he thought it was a waste of a good, decent arrow, but this girl seemed not troubled by that. There were other ways to practice skills and perfect one’s aim, yet she chose this one. Ilyas guessed, back home, she’d probably had a bunch of quivers, filled with first class arrows. She might even have golden ones, for special occasions.

Judging from the stance of the sun, it was around 9am. Still early, but apparently not too earlier for the first tourists to drop by. A small group of people showed up in the distance, although, if Ilyas would concentrate, he’d already be able to hear them chat; their words carried on the wind. They were typical tourists, wearing photo cameras and tourist clothing; Hawaiian shirts and socks in sandals. That alone was enough to snicker. To top it off, they all wore a lovely coneflower. As they approached, they didn’t spot the man and girl yet, as they’d taken a good hiding place behind one of the ruin’s walls. Ilyas watched them with a smirk as he spoke to his company. “Shall we make this a little more interesting?”

[cynthia aphrodite georgiou]

There’s a million ways it could go

At least the man made no more idiotic comments and agreed with what she said. Aphrodite wasn’t the nicest of people and from the guy had seen, had no problem with killing fluffy little bunny rabbits for both sport and survival. Killing a human on the other hand was just plain wrong. Even Aphrodite knew that, despite how cold she might seem on the outside. Biting down on her lip for a brief second, she looked down at the rabbit before looking around for something to put it on. She didn’t exactly want to put it right down on the grass, all sorts of bugs might get onto it. Of course, when she’d pack up and go home, she’d wrap it in the target, but for the moment, she would have to place it somewhere. She could always lay it on her jacket. Aphrodite quickly shook of this idea. The jacket was new and she wouldn’t want to get it all dirty with a dead rabbit. Looking around for the nearest piece of ruin, she wandered over to it and placed it down on the cleanest looking part. It would have to stay there until she was ready to go home.

Aphrodite stared at the guy for a few seconds as she made her way back over, an unreadable look on her face as she sized him up. There must be some way for her to find out something about him in this measly old town? He must have to live somewhere which meant he probably rented out an apartment or a house somewhere in the town. If he did, then she could probably find out the person who let him live there and find out that way. She certainly had the means too, whether it be by persuading, blackmail, lying her ass off or some other way. If not, then there would probably be other ways in which she could find out information about this guy. “Whether or not I’m interested in you should not be of any concern. There are means to find out who you are and where you’re from and believe me, no matter how much you try to hide, I will find out.” Aphrodite explained briefly, her eyes steeled up as her blue eyes pierced into his. People made mistakes. They were only human, as was she. She had never let anyone that piqued her interest like this slip through her fingers. Aphrodite wasn’t someone to give up so easily. Even if it took her quite a long time.

She was just glad that the guy wasn’t putting her off in any other way other than speaking. Even though she wouldn’t directly come out and say it, Aphrodite was glad of it. She merely ignored the shrug, suppressing a desire to huff at his lack of conversation. Even if he didn’t like that sort of stuff, there were things in Greece that made it a fine country. He probably didn’t see that though, which was a damn near shame seeing as he didn’t realize what he was missing out on. What irked her that little bit more was the fact that he kept on smirking at every answer she gave him. Sooner rather than later Aphrodite would end up ignoring the guy completely or moving onto a different place. It was starting to get difficult to concentrate on what she was trying to with a constant nattering of endless idiotic questions and an annoying smirk. Keeping her face completely smooth of emotion, she walked to the tree. Placing the three unbroken arrows in her quiver, she put the broken one in the hand with her bow. Unpinning the target and taking it back over before responding to the old guys comment.

“Wow, thanks old man, for that sarcastic, hearting warming comment. I’m touched to the very depths of my heart.” A hand went over her heart in a mocking way, as the same sort of mocking expression came onto her face. What did this guy think she wanted? Praise from him? No way. She could get far better praise from far better people than strangers she’d just met. Heck, she’d have had to do a lot more to impress people like her father than a simple trick like that. And even then she might not praise from him. She had learnt to deal with what she could get and no complain about it. Now that she’d taken the target down, it meant she could wrap up the rabbit. Her hand fell from her chest and she was about to go wrap the rabbit up when something caught her attention. Για την αγάπη όλων αυτών είναι καλός. She thought, her eyes rolling ever so slightly. Even if she wanted to get a little bit of practice in, the tourists that flocked here every day were bound to be a nightmare. Aphrodite wondered why she had come here in the first place. It certainly wasn’t the ideal place. Maybe it would’ve been worth walking to the forest a few miles out. But any game she caught, she would’ve had to haul back herself and a deer wasn’t something she wanted to carry back on her own.

The nosie Aphrodite started to hear were voices. Her first thought was to blend into any shadows around her, no matter how small. She kept this feeling the emotionless mask she’d perfected over the years. While she loved groups of people and to a certain extent, playing games with them, she needed to see what she was dealing with first. It made things more interesting to pick out an easy target before going in for the kill so to speak. To Aphrodite, doing this was a lot like hunting. Lock on the weakest part of the pack and by sizing up the rest of them, she could tell which other ones to track down and kill. Though in people terms, play with instead of kill. Her interest was the taken up again by the males next question. “I depends what you mean by ‘interesting’. I’m sure we both have different ideas of what’s interesting.” She asked, complete with hair quote. From what they had previously discussed, the old guy probably wouldn’t understand what her meaning on interesting was. He would probably mistake it for something insane.

Ooc: The phrase she thinks translates into ‘For the love of all that is good’. :3 Will save you from looking it up.

[ilyas aylin]

“Alrighty, sweetheart. Let me know when you’ve dug up some nasty details on me.” He still wasn’t worried. Through the years, he’d gotten really good at erasing his tracks. Currenly, he was staying at a sleazy motel at the edge of the town, under a false name. It was quite astonishing how anyone would believe his name was Jesus Shepherd; Jesus Christ would’ve just been too obvious, although this one, needless to say, was rather evident as well. And unless this girl magically figured he’d used the son of God as his alias, she’d probably never put two and two together.

Her reaction to his comments made his smirk grow even wider. By the sounds of it, he managed to push some of her buttons, and in a strange way, that was quite a satisfying feeling, but not yet satisfying enough to not rub it in more. “Oh, you’re absolutely welcome. It was my pleasure,” he stated with that smile of his, but he decided to say no more on the matter. He did grow bored of games like this easily.

His suggestion to make things more interesting didn’t instantly perk the young lady’s interest, but he was ready to live things up a little. It was time to cause some mayhem around here. Those pathetic tourist would learn not to disturb the peaceful nature with their presence and loud voices. Their laughter echoed for miles and miles on end; even if there was a tiny chance another animal would show up here today, it was now decreased to absolute zero.

The blonde man got to his feet. The smirk that had been on his lips for quite a while had disappeared and his face now displayed absolute seriousness and concentration. He wasn’t going to give the redhead a description of his definition of ‘interesting’; he’d much rather show her how it was done. She shot at bunnies, that was hardly a challenge. In his left hand, he held his bow, and a single arrow was in his right. With his icy blue eyes, he peered just past the stone wall they’d taken shelter behind, at the group newcomers. They wouldn’t noticed him; they were taking pictures, chatting insanely loud, smiling, enjoying themselves. Even if freaking Godzilla would come stomping in their direction, they were too busy being oblivious. A few steps he took forward, his black boots not making a single sound as they moved through the grass. His eyes narrowed as he placed the arrow on his bow with care, not taking his eyes off his target for even a split second. They wouldn’t notice him, until it was too late.

Then came the time to wait, for that perfect moment, the perfect aim. When it came to hunting, patience wasn’t an issue for this man. When faced with the ignorance of others, it could prove to be quite challenging, though; the group of tourist fell in that category. It would be all the more gratifying to hit his prey in this case.

In the blink of an eye, the arrow was send flying in the direction of a chubby, middle-aged man, who stood in front of the ruins, two fingers up in the air (the ‘peace’ sign), posing for an equally chubby woman who took his picture. The big smile on his face would soon fade away when the arrow his its goal. Gasps and shrieks could be heard as the dart impaled the man’s hat and pinned it against the stone wall. The shock of this sudden attack had caused quite some panic, as the chubby lady screamed at the top of her lungs and some other members of the party even instantly hid behind other parts of the stone walls. The rest of the group frantically started to gaze around, desperately trying to determine what had just happened. They only noticed the arrow sticking from the hat seconds later. Questions such as ‘What just happened?’ and ‘Where did the arrow come from?’ were clearly audible. They were dumber than pigs, because had they looked in the direction the arrow’s end pointed to, they’d have easily spotted the man, who still stood in the same spot and snickered softly at their ignorance. He slowly vanished behind the wall again, before the group would remember they actually had a brain and would start to use it.

Strolling back over to his bag, his eyes met with the young lady’s for a second. He wasn’t smirking, though, not even a little. “Interesting enough for you?”