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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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."

"I don't feel the same way I did when we practiced in class," Karla said, thinking. "My stance feels off and I'm not sure how to fix it."

Triela stepped closer to look Karla up and down slowly. "There are a couple of different stances you could try, but..." She frowned thoughtfully then nodded to herself.

"Move your right foot back a little so that your hips are turned just a bit. And let your right shoulder shift back the same amount. Hold the pistol with your right hand first, then bring your left hand up underneath to support it. You're not going to hold onto it with your left hand, just use it to reduce the weight."

Karla did as instructed, adjusting herself until she felt a little more comfortable. "Okay, this feels closer to how I was standing. I knew that holding the gun didn't feel the same as it did when you showed me, but I couldn't remember enough to do it again."

She reloaded and shot. Both bullets were firmly within the outermost ring. "Yes!"

"That's what practice is for," Triela laughed. "You do it over and over until you don't have to think about your stance or your aiming, you just feel it. It becomes a habit."

Karla's excitement at hitting twice had Triela suppressing a grin. "Not bad," she allowed mildly.

Hey, baby-steps.

"If I can empty an entire clip with all of them hitting the inside of that ring, I'll be satisfied with today," Karla decided, reloading the gun.

She took her proper stance and fired. Not bad, three out of ~~a number that might be~~six.

"You're getting better," Triela pointed out. She didn't tend to give out all that much encouragement when she was teaching someone to shoot. Because, really, three ~~out of eight~~ wasn't bad at all considering how new Karla was to all of this.

~~Eight. I totally knew that all along. It was a test.~~

Karla accepted the comment with a nod, determined to do better. She reloaded and fired. Still three, but two others had hit the line.

She rested for a moment, letting her arms loosen. As Triela had said before, she wasn't used to holding something so heavy with her arms fully extended. Then she reloaded, and tried again.

Triela watched Karla closely. She always waited until the other girl was reloading before she made any sort of commentary or pointed out any problems with technique or stance.

"If you're in a hurry to get good at this it might be worth getting some light weights and doing arm exercises." She grinned. "The human body isn't really designed to hold something anything straight out in front of it and maintaining precise control for long periods of time." Which, she smirked to herself, she was sure Karla had noticed by now.

"I was beginning to notice that, yes," Karla said dryly, noting some of Triela's amusement. "Thank goodness I've already made some soothing oils already. I'm going to need it."

Still, she didn't let that stop her from trying. She just kept her arms down longer before reloading. After another few clips, however, she could feel her muscles protesting. They hadn't begun tremling enough yet to interfere with her aim, but they would, soon.

"I should stop," she said, disappointed. She'd only gotten six bullets into the outer ring.

"You're right." Triela's voice held a hint of approval that Karla had recognized that before she lost any semblance of control.

"And six out of eight is respectable considering how new you are to all of this."

The Range [Early Monday afternoon]

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