fandomhighdorms | The Gun Range [Sunday afternoon]

The Gun Range [Sunday afternoon]

After waking up and rolling onto some kind of weird crystal that had dislodged itself from his stomach, Four had a powerful need to hit something today. After knocking the bags in the gym around for an hour, he'd settled down enough to practice his knife throwing--a deeply stupid skill, he felt, more flashy than effective, but with Eric in leadership now at Dauntless, flashy was in.

So Four practiced.

Knife up. Focus on the target. Breathe. Release the breath. Release the knife.

Bullseye.

And again.

And again.

And again.

[OOC: Open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Not bad," Kaylin said from where she stood leaning in the doorway.

Four snorted softly. He knew he was better than not bad. "Thanks," he said a little dryly.

So did she. And so was she.

"How long have you been practicing?" she asked. Her throwing knives were in sheaths in either side of her hips.

"A few months," Four said, "but in an environment where missing wasn't an option." He glanced at her hips. "You?"

"Little over two years," she said. "Same sort of environment. When missing can mean your death, you learn fast, huh?"

Four nodded once, then threw the knife again.

Another bullseye.

"My teacher was effective," he said. "I'll be taking his place with the next round of initiates in the spring."

"Initiates?" Kaylin asked. "What's that?"

Hey, book learning wasn't exactly a priority in the fiefs. She could read and write - some - but a lot of fancy words were still beyond her.

"The sixteen year olds who choose to join my faction," Four replied. "Either from inside of Dauntless or transfers. I'll be in charge of the transfers. They need more help."

"They won't start learning any of this till they're 16?" Kaylin said with some amazement.

They must be like the children in the city who were protected and cared for. But then it seemed odd that they'd choose to go to a place where 'missing wasn't an option'. It was one thing if that was how life was where you lived, but otherwise?

"I guess you'd have to be good to help them if they're starting so late."

"Well, Dauntless-born are handed a knife along with a pacifier," Four said a little wryly, "but the other factions aren't nearly as military-minded. Dauntless is charged with protection, so they need to learn it and fast."

Kaylin grinned. "I wouldn't say people in the fiefs are military minded, but most of them learn to use a weapon quickly if they want to survive. And once I became a Hawk - or started studying with them anyway - well, you learn even more then."

She'd learned a lot more during those six months she wasn't talking about, but, yeah, not talking about it. Suffice it to say, she could hit pretty much anything she wanted to.

Four nodded, then gestured toward one of the targets. "Let's see if you've forgotten anything."

"In a couple of weeks? When I still practice every day? I doubt it." Kaylin was already moving forward, hands going to the daggers on her hips.

"But I guess you can judge for yourself." She barely paused in her motion, just sent them flying one after the other, landing them edge to edge, dead center in the bullseye.

Four watched closely. "Can you do that again?" he asked. "I want to see if I can replicate it."

"Sure." She retrieved the daggers, went back, and threw them again the same way. And I've again they landed dead center in the bullseye, as close as they could be to each other.

"In the fiefs you'd better be able to throw on the move, and better yet, on the run. If you want to live, that is." Her tone wasn't showing off, just matter of fact.

Four nodded. "That's why we normally use guns," he said. "Knives are for showing off."

"Guns?" Kaylin said curiously, "What are those?"

"Projectile weapons," Four said, heading to the weapons locker and pulling out his firearm. "They shoot bullets. Much more efficient."

Her eyes went wide. "Projectile weapons? Like what? They shoot small stones or something?"

Big stones certainly wouldn't fit and she wasn't sure that this metal thing would be much more useful than a good slingshot.

"Basically," Four said, loading the gun with rapid precision, then holding out an extra bullet for her inspection.

"Metal," she said musingly. "Was this made with magic? It would take a fine metal worker to make something like this at a forge, though I suppose they could cast it."

"We don't have magic," Four said with a little snort. "We have factories."

"Not sure how whatever they are can be better than magic," Kaylin said. "But then I've seen some very strange things here. Can you show me how that... thing... works?"

She pointed to the gun, her curiosity overwhelming.

"Sure," Four said, giving her a quick but comprehensive rundown of the weapon, ending with "and it'll recoil, so don't lock your knees."

Oh Four, surely you wouldn't just hand Kaylin a weapon like that. She is not the most careful person in the world. Though if she accidentally shot you, she could at least heal you after?

"Recoil?" Kaylin said, blinking at him. Gods, one day she'd understand more than half the words people here spoke.

"The gun will push you backwards when you shoot it at the target," Four said, readjusting the gun so that it was facing the target. "This is much more dangerous than a knife. Be careful."

Kaylin shrugged and pulled the trigger as he'd showed her. The shot went wild as the noise and recall had her pulling the gun off target and then dropping it to cover her ears as she dropped down to her knees.

"What in all the hells!?! Even dragons don't make that much noise!"

She couldn't really hear much of anything at all, honestly, ears still ringing from the noise.

"We don't have dragons either," Four said dryly. "You get used to the noise."

"And other than making a gods' hell full of noise, what do they do?" Kaylin asked, too distracted by the ringing in her ears to have seen what happened.

"Major damage, if you aim correctly," Four said, pointing at the bullseye.

Kaylin looked at the gun and the target. "Right."

She picked the gun up, braced herself, and tried again, ready for the godsawful noise this time. The recoil shook her a bit, but she still managed to hit the center mass of the target - not a bullseye, but at least somewhere nearby.

"That little hole?" she said when her ears stopped ringing again.

"In someone's chest," Four pointed out. "You're not walking away from it and you don't have to go retrieve the knife afterwards."

Kaylin considered that and her eyes widened. "That would kill them most likely. And from quite a distance. Wow."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Gun Range [Sunday afternoon]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject