After a few minutes, Caleb was pretty sure he had gotten the hang of these centaur legs - well, as much as he was going to. He knew he was never going to be totally comfortable with four legs, but all he needed to do was get through this lesson soooooo...yeah. And now it was his turn to take a shot at the shooting range!

Caleb had never shot a bow and arrow, but he'd seen more than enough muggle adaptations of Robin Hood, so he knew the gist of what he was doing. Getting his bow and placing an arrow, he pulled back on it, taking a few more minutes than he would have liked to really get it in position, he prepared to take his first shot, aiming right at the target, and...

RELEASE!

SWOOP. That was the exact noise the arrow made as it made contact. It hit the target, not on the bullseye as he would have hoped, but towards the left side, about 10 inches from the middle. Well, that was pretty successful for his first shot ever!

Actually, no, he shouldn’t be optimistic about this activity. He was not a centaur, and his archery skill isn’t that good. If it were a skateboarding obstacle, then he was sure to ace it.

Carefully walking-slash-strutting sideways, and with much difficulty, Ethan eyed his fourth target, not feeling pressured or anything, and prepared himself to be disappointed. He just knew that he won’t get to keep his lovely bow, even as a souvenir. Centaurs aren’t so sentimental, are they? They’re too proud to show such emotions...like his own father, so he totally gets their kind.

Drawing his bow and arrow, Ethan stood still, with his four legs apart, and aimed his arrow carefully.

*Swooosh THUD*

Oh hell no. That’s the kind of miss that he didn’t want to see! He’d rather miss the target entirely than be teased by an almost bull’s eye shot.

Thank Merlin he’s not a centaur. He’d probably cry if he were right now.

Somewhat moving forward on not so stumbley legs anymore Hady accepted the satchel from the person ahead of her. She was getting a little better at this or so she thought.

Lifting her legs up one at a time she made her way forward carrying her bow with her taking care not to harm it. It was her go and she removed an arrow lining it up with the center of the string on her bow. Pulling it back she aimed as best she could and released on three again.

...

... TWACK!

BULLSEYE!

Hady blinked at the target not at all believing that she had gotten a bullseye. This was awesome! Smirking slightly she passed the satchel on to the next person and made a go at moving on to the next target.

It looks like he won’t be earning his bow this time. His fourth target was a miss, and even if hit the last target in the center, it won’t be enough for him to take home his bow. Such a waste of good wood if you ask him, but he guessed, Centaurs aren’t bothered by this fact. What mattered more was their worthiness to carry such elegant weapon.

Again, thank Merlin he wasn’t a Centaur. He’d put his whole family in shame if ever.

Slowly but surely, he moved to his next target almost stumbling. After four targets, he sort of, forgot he’s got four legs to work with. Sighing, he got his bow and last blunt arrow from his satchel, and aimed at his last and final target. 3...2...1...

*Swooosh THUD*

Another miss. But nope, it didn’t matter to him anymore. Ethan turned back to his starting point and gave the satchel to the next student.

Can someone now transform him back to his old self? He was done being a centaur.

Eep!

Stumbling was happening again and she didn't like it. Hady wobbled around feeling like it was her first time on roller skates again. It took a few moments to keep herself from falling flat downwards on her face.

Collecting the satchel from the person ahead of her she "pranced" towards the next target. Right foot. Left foot. One foot. Two foot. Three... ect. It wasn't exactly working well and she probably looked really terrible but hey she was used to to feet not four! And not to mention she was higher off the ground then when she had been transformed into a fox.

Inhaling slowly and letting the breath out she pulled an arrow from the satchel and aligned it with the center of the string. Taking aim of the target she pulled back before releasing it.

SMACK!

Certainly not a bullseye but at least she had hit the target. Hady grinned passing off the satchel to the person behind her in line before carefully moving on to the last and final target.

Paul wanted to give up.

Merlin, did he want to give up! This was so hard and these damn legs! HOW Centaurs ever managed to gallop anywhere was BEYOND him--however, when born a certain way, you get used to certain things. If a centaur suddenly had to walk on two feet, it would surely be....hard for them. At least he told himself this.

He was rounding the next target, ready to go! Ready to shoot! The sight of the centaurs at the edge of the forest, though--MERLIN! He was distracted for.......three seconds, maybe, and when he shot his arrow, he completely MISSED THE TARGET. LIKE. WORSE THAN ANY OF THE OTHER TIMES.........

Ugh.

The centaurs probably thought they looked so STUPID.

So.. Rooney absolutely hated this whole thing. He didn't even want to consider it a class, because he wasn't learning anything except how to upset himself a lot easier than usual. Had anyone else heard that if they didn't hit at least 4 targets, their bows would be BURNED?! Anyone? No, just him? Maybe he shouldn't have been such an avid listener, because then he probably wouldn't have been worrying about everything and feeling almost sick. This was a recurring theme. The sick. This time, though, he didn't have a little bag to be sick in, but he was certain that his new height and the strange feeling of having all of these legs was enough to bring everything he had ever ingested up. The poor, poor floor. Poor, poor, poor Rooney.

He wasn't repeating any sort of thing next year, if that was what was being hinted.

He had already accepted that he wasn't going to hit the targets at all, and whispered a very polite goodbye to his bow as he waited for his time to come. Whilst waiting, though, he tried to trot on the spot and get used to stretching and bending these legs of his and working out how to spread his weight evenly without ending up flat on the floor like a ninny. Crumbs. This was much harder than he thought it would be. He was actually quivering just a little bit and he was lucky his legs hadn't given way yet. Especially as if they did, he wouldn't be getting up from the ground and nor would he be kind to anyone who suggested that he needed to.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. Another person had finished and -- oh. More crumbs. No one was in front of him. "Me?" He asked quietly, willing his legs to go right now. To just disappear to-- this was so not ideal. SO. NOT. IDEAL. But, Miss Sophie was here and so was Miss Charlotte, which meant that he had to be all grown up about this. Taking a deep breath, the boy started forward, his speed nothing comparable to that of even a tortoise. He was taking one step at a time and didn't care too much about whether he was supposed to or not. He wanted to SURVIVE this activity, okay?! Falling head first under four legs was not how he wanted to go. Trot, trot, tr--oooh that stick had crunched under him! Now that, was new. He felt somewhat powerful now, teeheehee.

Inhaling when he was in view of the first target, Roo brought his bow and arrow up and thought about how very ridiculous it was that they hadn't been taught to use these things first. He'd been to a camp one year and they'd used bows and arrows for about five minutes, so he at least knew not to aim the arrow in his direction and to squint and releASE------- OH. Maybe a little premature of a release, but whatever. The Ravenclaw watched his arrow whizz past the target and grunted his disapproval before heading on.

This was ridiculous.

Benny managed to add some speed to his movements as he moved on from the second target to the third, his legs cantering in multiple positions as his hooves alternated their movements and pairings. One...two...one....two...one...two. The things you thought of when not running naturally on two legs but four. That and the wind rustling around you as you moved since you felt it more with centaur hind legs not covered by clothes but sensative fur. It was like the air through his scales and he enjoyed it, the Gryffindor supposing that be part of why it didn't seem sooo awkward for him.

And then there was the target and the seventh year loading the handmade bow to be ready for his move as he came up to it. Come on...come on, he spoke to himself trying to encourage as pulled back. 1..2...3...let go!

Bullsye!!

Elated from her first bulls-eye, Paulina felt almost as if she was more graceful now.

Almost.

There were still three more targets for her to shoot at, and she had no idea if she would 'pass the test' so to speak...but she was trying to have FUN. If she didn't make it as a Centaur that didn't really matter because well...she wasn't a Centaur in the first place. The transformation would only last for a little while and then she would be a Paulina who doesn't constantly stumble. She was missing her two legs badly right now, so that was something that she looked forward to.

Nearing the next target, she pulled out an arrow and readied her bow to make the shot. As she reached what she felt to be the perfect position, she let the arrow go. Eagerly she watched it soar...

...off into the distance.

Now the best she could do was three out of five, and that didn't really bother her. Paulina just wasn't cut out to be a Centaur.

With the disappointment of his first arrow looming on his shoulders and in every fibre of his four legs, Rooney had moved on in the direction of the second, noting the appearance of other four-legged things. He squinted a little and recognised that they also were centaurs and....were watching? WATCHING?! Well, that was daunting. He expected they would all retreat to their..whatever later and laugh about how awful they had all been. Or, how awful he was. He had to admit that some of the others were okay at it and had at least hit the target - whether that was luck or pure talent, he would never know.

Because he wasn't about to ask them why he wasn't able to.

He was too busy trying not to trip over the four legs he was moving. Seriously, he couldn't even SEE the back two when he was walking. How was he supposed to manoeuvre them without them being in view?! Preposterous. He was very happy with his normal TWO legs and his normal height and his normal way of learning that DID NOT INVOLVE SHOOTING ARROWS AT TARGETS WHILST MOVING AND POTENTIALLY BEING IMPALED IF SOMETHING WENT WRONG. Had. No. One. Thought. Of. That?! Nitwits.

Roo had sped up just slightly and was actually going to attempt this one whilst moving. So he lined up his bow and arrow, gave a cautious look in the direction he was headed and set off. And then RELEASED HIS ARROW. GO GO GO. GO GO G--oh for the love of creatures! He groaned again, biting back a swear and just vowing to be better at this one day and moved on again.

One more to go. That's what she kept telling herself as she attempted to 'gallop' her way over to the target. Only other looked more like she had hurt herself and was hopping along rather then gallop. By no means was Hady Lynch at all graceful right now.

One twould three four. One two three four. She was getting it now! Finally getting a hang of it she carefully trotted onwards taking the satchel of arrows from the last person. Plucking an area from inside the bag she positioned it just so, pulled back on it firmly and then let it...FLY!!!!

TWACK!

The arrow sailed straight through the air hitting it's mark dead on. Another bullseye! YES!

Hady beamed proudly passing the satchel to the next person and line. She was finished. Having gotten two bullseyes out of five wasn't incredibly bad. At least she didn't believe it was.

Did anyone else hear that? The sound of approaching hooves? He didn't think they'd be having more guests this lesson and suddenly wished he'd already gone because right there among the trees stood MOAR centaurs; all the more people to see him miss the target.

WHERE WERE THEY WHEN HE CAUGHT THE TIP OF IT JUST NOW??? Why wait until he started missing? Shoddy timing if you asked him.

Okay, now he really had to focus. He needed to make a choice; his legs or his aim. Considering the possibility of him tripping on the two pairs was VERY likely, the boy couldn't help but think that missing wouldn't be so bad as long as he could stay upright. Surely the centaurs would be impressed he could pull this much off, yeah?

Trot trot trot. STOP.

Steady now. In the back of his mind something told him he was getting this exercise all wrong but really, did they WANT an injured kid they had to pretend to care about? He didn't think so.

Draw. Hold. Releeeeaaasse--fail. Wow. Ouch. Talk about way off. He'd just...keep moving.

There was movement but not from him even as he cantered away from his first successful bullseye. Benny turned his head to look around before tentatively trying to turn his whole body in the direction it seemed to come from, nearly tripping over his forelegs in the process. But as he caught himself and resettled his balance he saw them. More centaurs...out at the edge of the forest.

And were they watching him....them? He pawed the ground in nervousness, his actions almost unconscious. One centaur was proud. Many could be...complicated.

Focus Atreyu...you need to get through this.

Benny reached into the pack for another arrow as he started moving again, heading towards his latest target. He'd done it once...he could do it again...right? Except now he was nervous. So as he pulled back the silk strand and sent the arrow flying, it was brought up short by not enough power, hitting the grounda couple of feet prior to the target.

And now they saw humans fail...sigh.

Oh? There were only two targets left?

WELL, if he never got another hit, he could at the very least be consoled by the fact he'd gotten a hit on his VERY FIRST TRY. It might have only been a tip shot but so what? It was much better than the stray arrows he shot off after. Mr. Centaur Guy wasn't gonna make him go looking for them after, was he....'cause....Blaise didn't really...remember where they went.

If he tried looking now, he'd only distract himself further and right now Blaise needed to be focused on the upcoming target that had him slowing down. Didn't care if he was meant to be moving while he shot these. That obviously wasn't working out well so he was reinventing the game in order for it to suit his needs.

Only problem was...another loose arrow, another wide shot that sent his arrow Merlin knew where.

Was there no winning strategy? It was because he cheated when picking a wood, wasn't it????

Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoaaaaaa buddy.

Davie was NOT prepared for all four of these legs, nor was he AT ALL READY to start running and shooting arrows at targets. Why couldn't they stand still and have some target practice first? Centaurs probably spent YEARS aiming at targets before they ever tried to hit a moving one, or before they tried to move while shooting at a fixed one. Bet this guy failed to mention THAT, huh.

Still, Davie was willing to give this a shot.... or five. He took off at a gallop, then nearly tripped over a tuft of grass, and slowed down to more of a walk-jog-shamble. He got his arrow ready in his bow and pointed it at the first one, holding the bow straight up and down as best as he could, even if that meant the bow was now too tall and almost hitting himself in the horsey part.

Nope nope nope. He needed to aim sideways, in a kill shot crossbow manner. Davie readied his arrow, pulling it back as he approached the first target, but then released his arrow too quickly.

Ah, poo. He was never going to mature to centaurhood at this rate.

One more left, only one. This was literally his last shot at redemption before he had to pack it in and call it a day. The boy didn't know how to feel about this. On the way hand, his fingers and arms were starting to hurt from all this bow and arrow usage but on the other, he wasn't doing as well or as majestic as he would have thought. Quite the fix it was.

By now he was tired of telling himself to focus. Whatever happened would just have to happen because clearly repeated the word was doing him zero favours.

The little boy did his best to ignore the ache in his arms as he drew the arrow toward him. Centaurs were tough, he could be tough too.

Upon release, the arrow whistled through the crisp air like it was nothing, seeming to be drawn to the target he was approaching. Blaise came to a full on stop when he saw just how close the arrow had gotten to a bull's eye this time around. It wasn't like a stripe away or anything but it was still MUCH closer than it had been in his first shot. Was this improvement? Luck????

He didn't care, the point was his last shot was something of a success and the boy happily trotted back to join the others. Kid was ready to be inducted.

The second year had accepted his fate already. Not that the centaurs were forever going to laughing about the Ravenclaw who couldn't do something, but that he was going to hit none of these targets, no matter how much he tried. The defeat was weighing on his four legs and with a huff and another grunt, he started to moved once more in the direction of the third target. Nothing in this gave him hope and he was almost tempted to just fire randomly to make a point, however he was too worried that he would hit someone or a centaur and it would all be a mess, he wasn't ready to deal with a mess at all.

His bow and arrow raised to an accurate height and he aimed, adjusting to count for the movement he was going to make and then thWAAAAANNNGGGGG. It was gone. SOARING. IT WAS GOING! IT W-- No it wasn't.

This had to be a joke, right?

Whatever.

On he went.

Stubborn, stiff and stumbling, as usual.

He just wanted this to be over at this point, really. This was nothing but EMBARRASSING. The poor STUDENTS who had to do this! He felt so bad! THEY probably felt bad and thus--he was a little sad for them! He hoped they didn't feel too awful because HELLO LOOK Professor Myers here COULD HARDLY BLOODY WELL STAND RIGHT NOW.

But anyways.

TO the fourth target. He had lost faith in himself by now and when he aimed for this target, he didn't think he would make it...at all. But he let the arrow go--and OH WOW. GHFERIUHGFUITHGIH! Paul FIST BUMPED into the air in success! He had hit the outer ring of the target! He had made AT LEAST ONE! Goal: REACHED!

Now he didn't feel like a complete failure.

He had one more target and he really wanted to get another bullseye. Benny already knew he hadn't made it in the test but he'd take 2 out of five. Which meant he had to relax and focus and ignore everything else but the task at hand. Well and his legs and feet to keep from creating danger while trying to shoot an arrow on the run.

The Gryffindor took his final arrow out and prepared for the run. With a deep breath leading it, Benny was off in another canter, moving quickly towards the last target he had to aim for in this run. One...two. One...two. One...two. His hooves hitting the ground as he moved and the seventh year was using the rhythm to count and get ready for the final pull of the bow's string. Before he knew it he had gone through the motions and the arrow had been released. Now all he could do was wait...

...and wait.

THWACK!

Benjamin Atreyu got his second bullseye, the centaurian man-boy pulling himself into a turn after passing his success. It was good enough for him and with his satisfaction he took off in a faster trot as he was in the all clear, coming to a stop to hand off the satchel.

It seemed a few students were able to haphazardly make their targets, and some even got lucky enough to make bull’s-eye, but there was no real skill; this was in agreement among the group of centaurs.

“The form…they can hardly trot at a pace equal to our own…” One chirped.

“We should have brought our own young…to show them how it is done,” another said. There was a few chuckles from the group, and another centaur stepped forward to mock the humans.

“They wouldn’t pass our coming of age ritual! None of them would! Thereos is teaching them in vain! This is of no use!” There were many nods of agreement.

The head of the group said nothing of the poor form of the humans, but instead stared straight ahead at the scene, watching each of the humans attempt to succeed.

“We will never teach the humans how to behave like a centaur because humans are not centaurs. It is unwise to mock those unlike us, especially those we consider inferior in many aspects,” he said softly to his companions, his demeanor calm and collected as he observed the humans. “Many of them have made their targets in the very center…perhaps only once or twice, but it is not our job to teach them how to do it correctly, only to get the humans to properly understand our ways.” His voice was not harsh, but it made some of the snider centaurs hush instantly.

Distraught didn't actually cut it. He felt personally victimised (by Regina George) at the fact they had just been let loose with a bow and arrow and not even taught how to properly use them. They were HUGE. Much bigger than Rooney had ever seen and he was 12 with no prior experience. He'd spent so much time and love making his bow only for him to be two targets away from having it BRUTALLY MURDERED. BRUTALLY. MURDERED. All because he wasn't born into the world of four legs and centaurism. Was that really such a bad thing?

He decided that he would use very little energy in the rest of this course, slowing to a very slow trot, careful not to let his legs buckle under the weight of betrayal, disappointment and tired. Working four legs was a lot more work than just two. He wanted to know why no one had actually just lay on the floor yet and stayed there.

Reaching the fourth target in the trail, he lifted his bow and arrow once more, drew back and let the arrow sOooOOOoOOooaAAARRRRR...

...right past the target and into a nearby tree. "SORRY!!!" To the tree, to any creatures that may be nearby. Whatever. Whatever, whatever, whatever. Why was he even still trying?

He hated this.

His last target...and then he would be BLOODY DONE. Thank Merlin. THANK. MERLIN. He had made his one target goal and he was now happy and could die a happy fellow, yes yes. He would have to write to Milton as soon as this was over to tell his partner the good news....

'I shot arrows today, and I didn't kill anyone! And better YET I actually made a target! Like...almost missed it but yeah! Hugs and kisses!' .....Milton would be so pleased with him.

He rounded the fifth target and took aim and FIIIIIIIIIIRED! He completely missed.

Utterly missed.

It was a sad miss. A miss that he was SURE those centaurs over there would laugh at.


......sigh.

Angel was starting to get used to this legs, seriously she was glad she had decided to try and give it a better go and she was concentrating even harder now because otherwise she would never get the hang of this, she wanted to try archery some more now though because it looked so much fun, maybe she would take a few friends next summer if her parents would let her.

Angel came towards the next target, she concentrated harder than she would normally do, she breathed in and out before she aimed at the target.

*smack*

Angel couldn't believe it she was sure it had to be a fluke. She had some how managed to get the arrow to hit the bulls-eye or whatever it was called.

Last one. And he could hear the muttering in the trees. He could HEAR just the murmurs, nothing solid so he wasn't aware of any comments made about them, but he most definitely hated the idea of just knowing someone was talking about him. He loathed this situation, feeling like he was in some sort of dog fight. Cattle. This wasn't a lesson, it felt like a punishment to him. And it was a really crappy punishment if you asked him.

There. He had no intention of doing this one on the move, and so he stopped in line with the target and shot his arrow towards it, and watched it fall short and stab hard into the ground. How embarrassing.

That was it. He headed back to join the group with a huff, looking less than happy with the entire situation that was happening right now. In fact, he looked like someone had taken a dump on him. And that was definitely what it felt like.

Was this over now?

Could be go back to being himself?

Could this carnival just END?!

Angel had been so excited about getting her first hit and a bulls-eye at that... that she was now feeling very confident in herself as she slowly walked towards to target, she was trying her hardest not to stumble and she was concentrating on putting on a great show for the centaur that she had realise was watching them.

Angel got to the next target and she started to aim at the target when suddenly something caused her to fall off balance, she was shocked with herself as she sneezed and let go off the arrow, which went flying off about a few inch from the target. well it missed the target that was for sure but she couldn't see how much by.