fandomhighdorms | The Range [Early Monday afternoon]

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The Range [Early Monday afternoon]

Triela had been thinking quite a bit about her last session on the range with Karla. Those shields had been very impressive, and while she didn't think of the other girl as a direct threat there was always a little voice at the back of her mind whispering that she had to know how to take down anyone she encountered.

And she thought she had a solution.

The gun case in front of her was in the sort of pristine condition that suggested it didn't get used very often, but the weapon she pulled out had still been very carefully cared for. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd choose for most missions. Too unwieldy and too little ammunition, but for the very specialized situation of the shields Karla had demonstrated this should do nicely.

Triel didn't normally bother with ear protection despite how often she insisted on it when others were on the range, but today she was wearing it. Which was a good choice, she decided, because the sound of two ten gauge rounds firing virtually simultaneously would have hurt even her ears.

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The rhythm of Triela's firing was steady. One abrupt explosion before she had to reload the gun. She'd snap it open and eject the shells before sliding new ones into the back of the two barrels.

This time she left the gun open with the spent shells sticking out the back unextracted. She pulled her ear protectors down around her neck and waved back at Karla with the hand not occupied holding her gun. "Hey," she grinned.

"Hey Triela," Karla greeted, heading over. "Kiss kiss." She eyed the new gun warily. "That one's very impressive," she said cautiously. "And loud. What is it?"

"Ten gauge double-barreled shotgun," Triela answered with a savage sort of grin. "I've been thinking about it and I think this is the best solution for taking down one of those shields of yours."

Even with the gun unloaded and open she was careful as she swung it around for Karla to see the two side-by-side barrels. "It can fire two rounds at once. I think the first one will shatter the shield and then the second one hits whatever was behind it."

She frowned a little bit. "At least I think so. The slugs in these things are much heavier than stuff we were using last time, so they should work."

"Would you like to try?" Karla offered. A Sapphire shield appeared over the target. "I ate breakfast this time," Karla offered with a wry grin.

"Might as well see if it really works," Triela grinned back and tossed Karla a set of ear protectors. "You're going to want these."

"Are you kidding?" Karla asked, quickly inserting them. "I think I wanted a pair back in the doorway!"

"It is a tiny bit loud," Triela agreed with a smirk as she inserted a fresh pair of shells, snapped the shotgun closed and raised it to her shoulder.

"You ready?"

"Just a smidge," Karla agreed. "And ready."

The shield didn't have a chance in Hell.

[In case you wanted to describe Triela's awesome.]

That was enough for Triela. She pulled both triggers.

The ten gauge shotgun slug wasn't really considered all that useful by most people. It was too big and too powerful and that meant that it had incredibly heavy recoil and that you couldn't carry that many rounds. But for this it was actually perfect.

Pulling two triggers was a single motion, but they were offset enough that there was half a heartbeat between the two rounds. The first to slam downrange was a solid lead slug bigger than any bullet had any right to be. It shattered the shield on impact which opened the way for the 12 lead pellets behind it, each the mass of a bullet all on their own, to slam into the target.

Some of the pellets missed. That was inevitable as they spread out wider than the target itself, but the gaping holes the ones that did hit left behind made it clear why people didn't tend to use the ten gauge for much. It was kind of hard to imagine a human being surviving a shot like that, after all.

As she lowered the shotgun Triela grinned savagely. It had worked pretty much exactly like she'd hoped it would.

"..."

Karla blinked. Several times. That had been really scary. "Wow," she whispered. "Umm, looks like that's successful then."

Triela was still grinning when she turned to nod at Karla. Then she frowned slightly. "You were telling me that there are different colors and they have different strengths, right? Are there stronger shields than yours?"

"The Sapphire is ninth out of thirteen. There's the Red, the Gray, the Ebon-Gray, and the Black," Karla said, ticking them off on her fingers.

There is also the Ebony, but since no one even knows that's possible, it doesn't count.

"When I make the Offering to the Darkness, I'll most likely wear the Ebon-Gray," Karla explained. "You can descend down to three Jewel ranks from your Birthright."

Triela nodded thoughtfully. "Is there any way we can test this on one of the more powerful kinds? To get a feel for what limits we're working with here?"

"Not unless someone wearing a Darker Jewel than I do shows up," Karla answered, shaking her head. "There's no way to reach a Jewel rank Darker than yours. Though, one day, if I ever bring people back to Kaeleer, we could test it. Both Jaenelle and Saetan wear the lack."

Jaenelle wore the Birthright Black. Karla still could barely believe that, and they'd been friends for eight years.

"Then we'll save that for later," Triela nodded.

"Is there anything else you think we should try while we're here? Or anything you want to start learning?"

"Well, I'd like to keep practicing my shooting," Karla said shyly. "Though not with that monster. And...if you have some time later, there are a couple of things I'd like to talk to you about. Over lunch, since it's my treat today."

Triela laughed. "Practice is always a good idea," she agreed as she began putting the shotgun away and moved toward the other cases she had with her. "You want to keep working with the P7?" she asked over her shoulder.

"And lunch is something I think I can manage."

"Sounds good," Karla said, agreeing to both lunch and the gun. "Let's see if I can hit the target more often than not, today."

Triela pulled out the pistol, checked to make sure it was unloaded, and held it out for Karla to take. Her eyes were sharp and critical, watching to make sure the other girl remembered all the rules.

Karla went over the different parts of the gun, muttering the names to herself; "Slide, trigger, safety system..."

"Don't pull the trigger, squeeze it," she recited a bit louder. "The gun won't work if the safety is engaged. Never, ever, ever point the gone at anything you don't intend to shoot. Guns are not toys."

She checked the chamber to make sure it was empty and slipped off the safety. The gun had been pointed towards the floor, and she pulled it up, attempting to mimic Triela's shooting stance. Then, empty gun pointed at the target, she squeezed the trigger, slid the safety home, and pointed the gun back at the floor.

Then she looked up at Triela, the faintest hint of 'did I do good?' in her expression.

Triela kept her face serious as she nodded in approval. And if there was just a hint of a smile playing around the corner of her lips, well, she liked having a good student.

Without saying anything she held out a box of ammunition. Time to see if Karla could improve her accuracy some more.

Karla inwardly cheered when Triela nodded. "Okay," she said, taking the box and carefully sliding a single bullet into the chamber.

She pulled back to make sure the bullet had entered the chamber, thumbed off the safety, and raised the gun again with the same care and precision. Looking through the sight, she aimed and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet tore through the target, but was still outside of the outermost circle. "Damn," Karla muttered, lowering the gun and slipping on the safety. "I was hoping I'd gotten magically better."

"There's no easy way to get better at this," Triela smiled a bit indulgently. "Just hard work and lots of it."

Karla heaved a great sigh, but was grinning anyway. "I guess I'll just have to keep coming back here until I'm good at it."

She went through the process again, this time loading two bullet. The first one went wide, but the second one shot through the line delineating the first circle.

"Remember," Triela said as she watched Karla, "it's important not to get tense. You have to stay relaxed. But you also have to be in control."

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