Jace, shooting at the targets

Jace is over by the row of targets, firing shots from his crossbow.{if SeenJace == False} Oh, so that's probably his weapon then, huh? That's cool.{endif} Why not go over and {if Weapon == 3}join in{else}say hi{endif}?

{if SeenJace == False}His armour is pretty simple -- it's just an armoured metal sheet which covers his heart and about a third of his chest, attached by a bunch of leather straps over his shoulders and under his arms. The straps look like they'd help to soften blunt **** trauma too, but the armour itself doesn't look all that protective overall, more focused on being light and protecting crucial parts like the heart and exclusively the left lung. Down with right lungs.

So yeah, Jace's weapon is a crossbow! You take a peek as you get closer -- it just has flight groove, and it's got a nice wooden stock at the back of it. That's against his shoulder right now as he shoots at the targets. There's also a leather satchel resting on his right hip and slung over his left shoulder, with the strap going over the top of that metal plate, and it looks like that satchel's what's holding all of his crossbow bolts.

{else}He's got that wooden stock from his crossbow against his shoulder right now, and he's taking his time about shooting at the targets. Looks like he's doing pretty well, too!{endif}

{if Weapon == 3}You take up a spot a few steps down from him, but don't say anything. You don't want to distract him while he's going at the targets. Plus, you sort of want to try your hand at the targets yourself with your pepperbox.

Okay, the chambers (you'll just call them chambers for now) are still all loaded. You carefully raise your arm up, closing one eye to look down its length, and point at one of the targets. You stick your tongue out of the corner of your mouth as you try to balance your hand. This is your first ever time shooting the gun, you want it to be good. Hmmmm...

You lift up your other arm and hold it sideways in the air, so that you can rest your gun on your shield for extra balance. There's a click as you slowly draw back the hammer and the chamber-barrels (damn) rotate into place. Alright then, here goes....

BANG!

Two birds in a nearby tree squawk and flap off into the air together, and Jace's crossbow bolt goes flying up into the air as the entire space ducks down and looks over to you after your gun (very loudly!) discharges its bullet. Your hand is still up in the air from the unexpected recoil, as the bullet rockets out of the barrel way too fast for you to see. Your eye twitches a little bit as you feel everybody looking at you, and you slowly bring down both of your hands to your side.

"Haha...." You nervously laugh, then look over at the target. Hey.... hey! There's a little hole right on the rim of the target now, that wasn't there before! You hit it! Good job, you!

Jace looks pretty happy for you, and it looks like he's just about to say something when another voice fills the courtyard.

{else}You take up a spot near to him, but don't say anything. You don't want to disrupt his concentration, especially since it looks like he's doing so well right now. At least you think he's doing well, because he's hitting the bullseyes each time, but you think that you remember that one time somebody told you that bullseyes aren't actually worth the most points on a target. You have no idea if that is true or not.

Well, anyway, hopefully it's good, because he just got another one! You clap politely for him, and he grins over at you as he slides in the next bolt and shoulders the crossbow again.{endif}

"Debbie!" Delilah shouts angrily{if@ Weapon < 3}, making Jace jump and shoot the bolt way off target,{endif} as she storms over towards you. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Eep! Why's she always so harsh with you?

You turn and start to run as she picks up speed. She chases you around the edges of the Courtyard. And she's gaining on you! {if Speed >8}Good thing you've practised for this a bit, but it's still really really scary, and eventually she does catch up with you and tackle{else}When she catches up with you, she tackles{endif} you with her arms wrapped around your back, sending you both tumbling to the ground. What'd you do? WHAT'D YOU DO??!

She takes up a position atop you and pins your shoulder down to the ground. You wiggle. No cigar.

Luckily, your saviour arrives in the form of Professor Phoebe, who pulls a thrashing and swearing Delilah up and off of you. You sit up in the grass, and Professor Phoebe effortlessly throws a still-raging Delilah off to the side like she's littering. She lands in the grass outside of your view. Professor Phoebe bends down and gently lifts you up like a baby, with one arm under your legs and the other supporting your back.

"Are you alright, poppet?" She asks, holding you close to her chest as she slowly sets you into a standing position and starts to dust you off.

"Ummm.... yes." You reply with a smile, lifting your arms so that she can finish dusting you off easier. "Thank you."

As she finishes getting the loose grass off of your back and pats you on the head, you see Delilah still on the ground off to the side. She takes a little bit before she gets back up, with angry posture, but she doesn't look over at you again. So that means you won!