Taking Aim - [ OPEN ]

[carrieswar]

Jr. didn't use too much imagination for his trip to the Sensoriums today - at least in terms of landscape and specific places. He settled on an empty field and a blue, cloudless sky, because his focus was more on setting up things in his immediate area. He knew Howard would probably be starting on basic things, and if anybody else dropped by who

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[i_sell_drugs]

Howard shows up a little late, not because he's actually held up in any way, but because he can't help but feel self-conscious. As much as he teases Jr., he's not dense enough to think he could possibly impress Jr. in a combat or sharpshooting situation. A lot of Howard's bluster is just a desperate attempt to cut people down to his own size and feel less vulnerable.

Going to shoot things will be an admission of a very evident weakness of his.

"Whoa. You've really got the whole shebang set up in here." He bites his lip a little and leans from foot to foot.

[carrieswar]

"I figured we'll see how far we can get in one session, but if anyone else wanted to learn too or just drop by and do their own thing, they'll have their own areas." He pointed down toward the more difficult and wacky set-ups. "Since even I couldn't have made it down to that area in just one day!"

He figured he'd try to make this fun while keeping a proper teacher approach about it. "Cause it is tough to master on levels like that. But the basics aren't too hard to get a hang of if you're just looking to, you know, be able to shoot if you have to protect yourself."

[i_sell_drugs]

"Yeah, I'm not planning on carrying a gun around or nothing. I just, you know. Zou taught me how to disarm someone but that doesn't do me any good if I can't fire back, if it comes to it." From a technical standpoint. Howard doesn't know if he could do it from a mental standpoint anyway.

"So, where do we start? I only kinda know how to use a glock, and I've never fired it at something before."

[carrieswar]

"Hmm, you know you can disarm people with a gun, too," he decided to mention, just for the hell of it. "And not in the 'just shoot'em in the arm' way, but you can actually get the gun out of their hand. Of course, that's the more advanced class."

Jr. motioned a hand toward the closet full of weaponry. "That's why we're starting here! You can always come back to another one later, but for starters it's always good to get a feel for the kind of weapon you'll be better at handling." He patted one of the holsters at his side with his other hand. "I tend to stick with two of the same kind, mainly so they can make up for each other in terms of speed when it comes to firing. But there are all different builds

[i_sell_drugs]

"That's what I mean. Getting a gun out of their hands, but that's not much good if I don't know what to do from there."

Howard takes a breath and steps up to the closet. He doesn't even recognize half the guns here, although he knows he has a few similar models in his basement.

"Smaller, probably. I mean, I specialize at running away." He's only half-kidding there. "And I need to be able to keep a hold of my med kit in most situations. Maybe one of those?"

He points at but doesn't touch one of the pistols, waiting for Jr.'s permission.

[carrieswar]

"Good choice. Hey, you're pretty good at this so far!" Jr. looked over the different kinds that he thought up, adding a few more to spread the choices out a little more.

"I think you'd be pretty well off with a semi-automatic pistol if you think you'll have your other hand full often. It's a type that more or less sets up the next shot itself automatically when you fire a first, so you don't have to do all that yourself. You just have to set up the first round yourself obviously, so it's not hot to go off by accident beforehand or anything. How's that sound?"

He reached into the closet and pulled out what was more or less a Beretta. Holding onto the nozzle, he held it out to Howard to take.

[i_sell_drugs]

"Sounds good." Howard takes the gun a bit gingerly, pointing the barrel at the floor. "You're sure there's no way this can go off without me loading the first shot? Like, I mean, could I maybe just to forget to unload it after something and it could go off then?"

The rest sounds good to Howard, and he trusts Jr. well enough (as much as he trusts any acquaintance), but he can't help but be nervous about this entire thing.

[carrieswar]

"Don't worry, it's not loaded yet ... but, they do say to always treat a gun like it's loaded whether it is or not. So there's some wisdom to keep in mind, too."

Jr. stepped over close to Howard, since now they were dealing with the more specific parts of the gun. He moved his hand up and over where the safety was located, pointing to it. "That's the safety. So long as that's engaged, it won't go off by accident, even if you pull the trigger. See that little red dot? That means the safety's off right now. So slide this part here," a quick poke at the mechanism, "down so it covers the dot-- it'll make a clicking noise."

[i_sell_drugs]

"Yeah. That's the one bit of gun advice I don't forget." He's grateful that Jr.'s respectful of Howard's caution. Plenty of people probably would have laughed or found it stupid that Howard's that nervous about an accidental discharge.

"Okay, so no dot, safety on. Makes sense." Red's a pretty universal danger color. "How do you load it?"

[carrieswar]

Jr.'s never shot himself in the foot or anything, but damned if he never thought about similar things when he was a kid. Though he never voiced the concern as much as just focused really hard to get it right the first time. Back then he figured the leader doing it right would help everyone else take a less timid approach about it

[i_sell_drugs]

Howard does exactly as Jr. does. He's a very visual and tactile learner, and good at mimicry, so he gets it right the first time. "You still need to cock it, right? I mean, get that first bullet into the barrel?"

He gets the earmuffs on. Even if the Sensoriums would protect his ears from any major damage, tinnitus doesn't need to get added to his current list of problems with getting to sleep.

"Okay. You first. I learn good from watching." Secretly, he wonders exactly how many sorts of guns Jr. knows how to use. Maybe all of them. Probably all of them.

[carrieswar]

"You just pull this slide here," in a fluid movement, he pulled it back with a small clicking sound. "And that loads the first bullet into the chamber. Like I said, these guns are set up so after this, you won't have to do that again to reload what you've currently got in the magazine, it does it automatically with each shot ... and we'll deal with the releasing thing later

[i_sell_drugs]

"And how do you know when you're out of bullets?" He imitates Jr., loading the first bullet, and steps up to the shooting range. He squares his shoulders, cracks his neck, and takes a deep breath.

He fires. It hits the target, but nowhere near the bullseye. He doesn't shoot again, instead looking again to Jr. for commentary.

[carrieswar]

"Well, these've got ten in each magazine," he said. "But when you get a real one, it might vary if it's a different type. But it's pretty easy to tell! There'll either be a number somewhere, or a bunch of lines inside to show you how many fit." He quirked a grin. "Of course, if you mean when you're in the middle of shooting, it's a good idea to keep a mental count. Or have extra magazines and be ready for a fast reload when you run out of what you've got."

Howard got a thumbs up after that. "Good job! How's it feel?"

[i_sell_drugs]

Howard pauses for a moment before answering, trying to organize his thoughts some. "Intimidating. A little unnatural. Like I never want to have to be doing this under pressure."

He's only a baseline human kid. He shouldn't be able to have enough destructive power to punch a hole through wood. Something about it just seems really wrong. He didn't mind the gravity gun back when shooting zombies with Zouichi so much, because that was a (simulated) high-tension situation, and he didn't get much of a chance to reflect on how strange it felt.

"Okay. So should I keep shooting at that target until I get better with my aim, or you gonna teach me something else and trust I can practice on my own?"

[carrieswar]

"One last important thing." He fired off a couple of more shots before pulling the gun close to him again. "Say if you wanted to empty it after you were finished." He pointed to a small, round button between the grip and the trigger. "First you put the safety back on. Then you press this, aaaand," demonstrating, he did just so, and the magazine slid right back out of the grip as easily as it had went in. "Out it comes. But! There's still one round in the chamber, since this one's an automatic reload. You can either shoot it to empty it, or do this." He pulled the slide back-- the same movement to load the first round, and the remaining bullet came tumbling out.

"And there! Now it's totally empty."