shoot straight | melanie

The morning started early for Deacon. It was colder than he liked and that made it harder too bet out of bed than usual. Once he finally convinced himself that it would be worth it to try, Deacon rolled over and pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. The sky was still dark telling him it was entirely too early. Was there a reason he decided to wake up this early? Oh yeah, training.

Nothing about this new place had settled with him, despite the five years they had been here. It was strange and foreign and lonely. He brushed his teeth and pulled a plain grey hoodie over his head to cover his bare chest. Orange basketball shorts with the Camp Half-Blood logo were hanging loose around his waist, worn from age.

It didn't take him long to run from his small apartment in the residential lot to the archery range inside the Garrison. He swung a quiver over his shoulder and curved his finger around the handle of a silvery bow. There were scratches in the shining paint showing the weapons age, and a part of Deacon's heart panged, upset about the situation they had found themselves in.

The range was empty; not surprising considering the hour. Deacon faced a target and pulled an arrow into place, his eyes trained on the center of the target, ready to loose.

- --- - --- -

@accaila

Melanie sighed as she paced the room for the hundredth time since she had arrived home. Her latest recon mission hadn't been as successful as she had hoped. No news was never good news in her line of work, and the lull in activity concerned her greatly. With dawn quickly approaching, Melanie knew that she wasn't likely to find any peace that night. Briefly, she considered heading to the barracks in search of the Commander. The likeliness of finding him at this time of day was low, not to mention that she had nothing to report. No. She would wait until their meeting later in the day.

Changing out of her clothes from the previous night, she donned a black tank top, jeans, and a light jacket with the intention of heading to the food court before the morning rush. Maybe some caffeine would help her clear her head. After pulling back her hair and grabbing her keys, she made her way to the front door. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something sitting beside the hallway table that she hadn't thought of in quite some time. A bow and quiver stuck out from under a discarded jacket, where they had lain since the last time she had found a moment to practice.

Leaning down to remove the offending article of clothing, Melanie had a better idea for how to spend her free time before the rest of Concordia greeted the day. With the quiver in place on her back, Melanie began jogging towards the Archery range, a place where she once spent most of her time. She hardly needed the practice, but it could never hurt to spend some quality time working on her marksmanship with any weapon.

As she neared the range, Melanie noticed that someone was already there, setting up a shot. From this distance she couldn't quite tell who they were. Deciding that practice would bring her more peace than privacy, she continued on to her destination, despite the inconvenience of her mystery companion.

He loosed and watch the arrow wedge itself into the target at the end of the range. It was just off the center, not enough for it to affect a battle scenario, but enough for it to bother him. He turned his head the lay his eyes on the source of his distraction. It was that Hades girl. He didn't know her name or anything else about her, honestly. He knew that she was in the Garrison, and she knew that she often had meeting with the Commander, but honestly that didn't bother him much. He just assumed she was special ops and left it at that.

Pushing the sleeves of his grey hoodie up to his elbow, Deacon trained his back on the ruffled feather of his arrow, making the mental note to practice shooting with distractions. It wasn't going to be quiet on the battlefield. Deacon lowered the bow and turned so he could lean his body on a pole that was nearby, "You know, it's too early to be out and about." He grinned at her and pulled the quiver over his head to rest it on the floor at his feet. He took this opportunity to look over the girl.

Her eyes were darken from lack of sleep which made him wonder if she was worried about something. Perhaps a mission that hadn't gone well or a bad meeting with the Commander. Not that it mattered much. His real curiosity was in the reason why, if she was so tired, she hadn't chosen to go to sleep.

Melanie smirked at the man as she joined him to examine his work. The shot was good, and probably would've been perfect had she not alerted him to her presence. His greeting was more familiar than she was used to, letting her know for sure that she had never interacted with him personally before.

"I prefer to think of it as too late, actually. Early would assume that you've slept." She replied, moving to a target on his right. A small part of her wanted to use his own target, just to show off. Today though, she decided to be nice. There was no need for conflict this early in the morning.

Mechanically, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and loosed it. Melanie was greeted by a satisfying thud as it hit dead center. She almost smiled, but instead chose to turn to her companion in order to gauge his reaction.

"Ah." He grinned mischievously, "And what keeps you up at night? I assume it's not a broken heart." Deacon reached down and yank a bow out of the quiver gracefully and botched it on the string. From his position to her left he loosed an arrow at her target.

Thud. He couldn't keep the relaxed grin off of his face as his arrow sunk into the target exactly next to hers. Her arrow was now askew and didn't look at all like the straight shot she has actually made. In Deacon's opinion, this was as close to the real life adaptation of that cheesy Robin Hood shot as he could get. If he had even thought himself capable of splitting her arrow and hitting the center mark like that ginger chick on Brave he would have been all over that.

He reached his hand across his chest and offered it to her, "Deacon Jacoby."

"Unfortunately, that's classified." She replied with a small chuckle. Great minds must think alike. Her perfectionist tendencies were slightly annoyed with the now crooked arrow on her target, but she now had an idea for how to pass the time before her meeting with the Commander.

"Melanie Thorn." she added, firing another arrow. It landed precisely where she intended, slightly below and to the side of the first. The offending arrow straightened slightly, much to her satisfaction. A few more should almost put things back to where they should be. It was a tedious task, but it would pass the time much faster than simply trying to hit the center.

"And what about you." Melanie inquired. "What brings Deacon Jacoby to the range at this time?"

Thorn. The name was familiar. Maybe she was that girl that everyone thought was a spy. In fact, he was almost certain that she was a spy. After all, she spent most of her time missing from Concordia, generally leaving after meeting with the Commander. To him, that seriously insinuated that she at least did some sort of special ops.

"Oh, classified, huh?" Deacon raised his eyebrows like he was impressed, even though he had kind of assumed that she didn't actually have a for really being here. Seriously, the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. This is literally the "butt crack of dawn" and here she is, chatting with him over arrows and sarcasm.

"Who me? Oh, me too. Top secret shit." He chuckled waving his bow around, "Can't you tell?"

Melanie rolled her eyes and lined up her next shot. He was sarcastic, a trait that she alternately enjoyed and loathed. Then again, that had been in the past and these days she really didn't keep anyone around for long. Friends either asked too many questions or got into too much trouble and then turned into a liability. She didn't have the heart for it anymore. The connections were too much.

Sighing, she loosed the arrow and then turned to face deacon again. "Guarding the range? It's a hard task, but someone has to do it." She retorted, mock sympathy written in her features. Normally she would try harder, but she was too tired. It would've been good practice, not that she needed it. Who was she fooling here, when people might actually stand a chance of knowing who she was.

Deciding that she had righted the offending arrow as much as she could, Melanie chose to attempt hitting the center again, which she achieved. Kind of. Instead of hitting the already placed arrow dead center and splitting it like in the movies, it glanced off and landed on the ground. It was almost funny, and she would've laughed had she been alone. Even now she had to suppress a chuckle and remind herself that she was being watched.

For a moment, she almost considered not turning back around to see Deacon's reaction. She wouldn't be herself if she didn't though, as she could here him moving behind her and she was almost sure he was laughing.

The noise of an arrow ricocheting off of another arrow was definitely a sound Deacon had never heard before. It was interesting. Like that noise the sasquatches supposedly make when they are beating a stick against a tree. He saw that of Discovery Channel one time. Those poor mortals aren't looking anywhere near the right places and make up signs just to try and prove a point. It's like the worst type of reality TV, He would rather watch Jersey Shore or, what's that new one? Snooky and Jwoww? Not that it mattered, he wouldn't be caught dead watching that either.

He shook his head and laughed, more at his thoughts than at the actual event. She had been thinking the same thing he had. Split the arrow right down the middle and make out like a movie star. Of course, not all things are magical and that didn't work even a little bit. So yes, he laughed, "Real smooth, Thorn." He grinned across the room.

"Someone had to run the daily physics check." She replied solemnly. Placing her bow back alongside her quiver, she turned to watch what Deacon was doing. She knew she shouldn't have done something like that with a spectator, especially one she didn't know. It wasn't professional. If only her brother could see her now.

From here, she could see that the sun had almost completely risen. She hadn't realized how long she had been gone and soon she would have to leave for her meeting with the Commander. She wasn't looking forward to it to say the least, but it was her job and it had to be done.

Instead of walking away like she should've, she made her way to the post opposite Deacon and rested her back against it. The sleeplessness of her night was weighing even more heavily on her now that she was almost relaxed.

He shook his head, grinning from ear to ear, "And we all appreciate it!" Deacon shrugged and continued, "What on Olympus would we do if the one day no one checked physics failed us?" He knew how Ludacris the idea sounded but it was such a funny thought that it didn't even bother him.

Watching her now, he could see how totally exhausted she was and wondered if maybe she had a prior engagement that kept her from crawling into her bed for the next two weeks. She must have a meeting or something. He couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't bothered to sleep last night. Was she even in Concordia, or had she been on one of those top secret missions everyone secretly wished they got so they could also leave Concordia? His thoughts were reeling from the idea of seeing the Empire State Building again. He wondered how much the world had changed, or it had even noticed that they were missing.

"Around here, you never know what could happen. One false move from the guys in research and suddenly...boom...physics is gone." She narrated, using her hands to make her point. Sarcasm was going to be her last line of defense with this one and she knew it. Melanie wondered what Deacon thought he was doing. Most of the time people disengaged her, intimidated by her solitary life and complicated job. This one, however, seemed intrigued by it. Maybe she should just leave, go on ahead to her meeting, and get back to her life. This interlude had been nice, but she was afraid of it going much farther. She didn't have friends, they weighed her down.

"I'll leave it to you then. If physics breaks, I'll know it was you and the issue will be dealt with accordingly." She stated with a halfhearted smirk.  She intended to walk away, but her instincts were telling her otherwise. Instead, she turned back to the range and observed her work one more time.

Deacon wondered if she knew how obvious it was that she was needing to leave. He grinned, wondering if he should test seeing how long he could keep her busy before she realized she'd become late for whatever it was she needed to do. Of course, his inner soldier knew there was no space for tardiness, especially if her job was as important as he had convinced himself it was.

So Deacon nodded his head toward the door, "You're welcome to leave any time you feel comfortable, Miss Thorn." He said, unsure of what her actual rank was. 

Melanie tilted her head in acknowledgment. The sun was rising and the Commander waited for no one. Without her watch or the phone she rarely actually carried, she had no idea what the time was. It would be a safe bet for her to go on ahead and head towards the office.

"Thank you for the practice Captain Jacoby." She said through a knowing smile. A real smile this time. She must've been exceptionally tired. Maybe she needed to stop by the shop so that her brother could slap her back into reality. Friends were against the rules and she knew that. Hopefully the Commander would have something for her to do so that she could get her head back on straight before she came back to the island.