Aim True, Kid [Liltotto, Daniel]

Heh, that was the response she was looking for, albeit he did his best to cover it up for posturing's sake. That child-like excitement in discovery and realization, it was a feeling that did best to motivate, celebration of even tiny steps of progression. Although, she wasn't expecting a life's story, but she let the boy speak - lord knows if she's the first or of a few to hear him get crap off his chest, and it wasn't like she was getting any older listening. Yeah, that was the typical course of tragedy and responsibility of the more dedicated members of any remaining families, ones that took the whole succession shit terribly seriously. Though the kid's mysterious death got her brow rose - she wasn't here prior to Cyrus' handling, so she hadn't a clue of how things were run. By a few veteran's experience, it definitely sounded like a rough experience, especially with the war and all.

Slowly putting a hand on his shoulder, she'd sigh, "Kid, you sound like you got a ton on your mind. I wouldn't be surprised if that's throwing your focus off, everything aside from your projectile's perfectly serviceable. Really, all I can tell ya to do is to find some semblance of peace with all of that going on, and work on your focus and control. You can do it, you just need to practice, aight?"

With a small smile and a thumbs up, she was hoping it was reassuring.

"Maybe you're right? A lot on my plate might be the understatement of a lifetime. Maybe what I need to do is focus on what I can do and not worry about the rest for a while. I am away from my family for the time being and I am definitely not handling any of my own personal business while I'm here undergoing training. So maybe I should throw myself into it fully?"

He questioned himself just as much as Liltotto as he spoke out loud his own train of thought. He wasn't the next head of house yet, so he shouldn't be too focused on the inevitable and instead focus on what he could do at the moment. And at the moment he had someone who seemed to genuinely wish to help him improve. Just how far that could go? He didn't really know, but if he wanted to find out then it would be better to dive head first and do all he could to make some kind of improvement. He rubbed his forehead, now in full focus mode as he began to think about what had happened in full.

His shot had ricocheted off the target, but had impaled itself on the ground after its initial impact. He took another look at the dummy and then back at the place the bolt had impaled itself. The dummy still seemed to be intact with no sign of visible damage. As if it hadn't been hit at all, this time he raised a brow, and then looked over to Liltotto giving him a thumbs up of encouragement.

"You've been at this longer than I have as to mentor others you probably have an insane level of experience. Have you ever seen a bolt just bounce off a target and leave no marks?"

He asked to kind of gather his thoughts in total as to what was going on and if he could find some kind of solution.

The blonde gently shrugged, "Yeah, worrying about stuff outside of your control's just gonna get you going in circles. You gotta focus on what you can do.. Else you'll just end up lost."

And you certainly don't have hundreds of years to figure your way out of that, was a thought she neglected to speak out loud, but it was one that rung true to her. He couldn't let himself get stuck on worries or pressure, he had to act in the moment. And, if 'in the moment' means perfecting his skill, then he should focus on that. She got a good look at the spot the bolt stabbed into, thinking for a moment til the young man spoke up wondering her thoughts.

"Well, you got two avenues here guy," She'd begin, holding up one finger, "One, you practice til your weapon stops doing that and fires normal bolts, or..."

Grinning, she'd raise a second finger, "You figure out a way to make that ricochet work to your advantage. Probably harder, but if you want some form of edge, tricky projectiles definitely are all that."

Her first suggestion was one that he had done several times over during the days when he first obtained his spiritual weapon, he had tried everything, and tried to compensate in any way that he could possibly to improve it. It never seemed to take. However, an epiphany did seem to spring up when she mentioned making the ricochet work in his favor. What if this was just how his spiritual weapon worked? He had seen his father control the velocity of his shots and his brother shared a similar gift, so he had wondered if his was similar in any capacity. Maybe it was. Instead of controlling velocity, maybe he was unconsciously controlling its' trajectory, and that the bouncing off the target was merely his spiritual weapon working as intended.

"I need to test something...you don't mind do you?"

He knew she probably didn't mind, but it was better to ask permission first than to just start firing at random, and seeing just what worked and what didn't. He had to focus now, use all of his past experiences with his weapon as a blue print for success as opposed to one for failure, and try as hard as he could to remember the exact feeling of what had occurred when he fired moments ago. He took the familiar stance that Liltotto had taught him and looked at his trainer for guidance and the all clear.

He seemed to decide something. She smiled with a small shrug and the gesture of a hand, "Go ahead guy. No need to ask; as long as you're practicing proper weapon safety, no probs here."

She wondered if he was trying for option two, but she didn't imagine that'd be something to be practiced upon all in one tutoring session.

As soon as he got the all clear, he was about to take his stance, and begin to take some shots to see if he could manipulate where his shot was going. But then his realization kicked in on just how much time he had with Liltotto left. He had asked for a certain amount of time, but not nearly enough to time to be spending taking random shots to figure things out. He left his stance rather quickly, let out a deep sigh, and then quickly settled for the idea that he had figured things out. At least with his spiritual weapon. He still had a long way to go if he was going to live up to his family name and that would require much more training than what he had time for today. Instead he turned around and looked at Liltotto, before rubbing the back of his head.

"Maybe I'm getting a bit full of myself. I'm sure you have other people lined up to receive your help and I don't want to take up your time with theories. Instead, maybe you can give me some pointers on better energy control and we can call it a day?"

He said shrugging his shoulders and making a mental note to make another appointment when time was available.