[color=D6CC88]Amuné was mostly appeased by Norman's reassurance.  "I try to be."  She looked away.  She didn't feel very brave lately.  The unknown weapon in its huge box made her take a step back.  Most crossbows weren't nearly that big, and she was sure it'd be far too unwieldy for her to use.  What was he thinking?!  But the thing he showed her was recognizable as a crossbow, and it wasn't so big that she would have trouble using it, she didn't think.  At least, not once she knew how.  Suddenly she didn't feel so good.  This crossbow, it wasn't just for scaring bad things off.  Nor was it just for monsters.  Could she really try purposefully to hurt someone?  Even to kill them?  The girl knew sometimes there really wasn't a choice but the idea of actually doing it....

When Gage scooped up the weapon and shot a bolt right through the wall -- and who knew what might've been beyond it?!  How could he be so /careless/?!  Even a kid like her knew better than to go shooting bows off willy-nilly where someone might get hurt.  Wasn't that the first lesson of any sort of weapon?  Know what you're using, and don't be careless?  And then he threw the thing at her and she had to jump out of the way, yelping in surprise and pain as it clipped her arm and side and then clattered on the ground.  "Owww!"

Wyth had been keeping a wary eye on the gruff man, and his girl's noise of pain brought his hackles up.  It didn't look deliberate, but all the same he placed himself very deliberately between them.

Amuné devoted a minute to glowering and fussing about the injuries, but eventually she picked the contraption up.  It wasn't too heavy, and she thought maybe she saw how the string got pulled back, and how the thing with the bolts would put another one in.  It was funny having a bow sideways like that.  She'd seen some crossbows before and they always looked silly to her.  But there was no point in messing with it to much right then.  For one thing, they still weren't in a good place for using it, so she shouldn't, and for another she didn't want to break it by doing the wrong thing.  Not to mention she was here to keep Cecil company, so she shouldn't leave until he was done.  And she'd meant to go eat after that, not practice right then.  She didn't really want to be spending time with Gage and nobody else.  Maybe she could convince Cecil to stay too, if the man was set on teaching her now instead of waiting.[/color]