bang bang shoot shoot

[nofortunateson]

Who| North and Tucker, later open to others
What| Range time
Where| The shooting range
When| After Resistance is Futile
Warnings/Notes| Firearms, Tucker-standard double entendere cautions


[Closed to Tucker]

After the adrenaline of the mission, North's ready to relax - which, more often than not, means going back to routine as much as he can, as soon as he can. Showing a sim trooper around his rifle is hardly routine, but range time is, and there is something easy and almost nostalgic around the low-pressure act of blowing through ammunition with absolutely nothing on the line but vague intentions to keep improving.

He's there ten minutes before they're due to meet, out of his armor, gear in a long case tucked under his arm. Just enough time to put out some targets and get set up, he imagines.


[Open]

Maybe there's something infectious in the more constructive (or at the very least highly non-competetive) range time with Tucker. North's still there as much as he ever was, keeping sharp, but he's more likely to strike up a conversation, rather than get in, do his practice, and move on to the next item on the daily training schedule. After about a week of this he even puts up a standing notice near the entrance, around the time of his usual afternoon practice, which advertises the time slot as Unranked Marksmanship League. Not that he's actually going to point it out to York, but maybe there's something to his whole 'not everything has to be a competition' theory.

Comments

[nofortunateson]

"Choose your own, absolutely." He rolls back to seated, giving his shoulders a roll and stretch before reloading. Speed is not even close to his top priority right now, and if anything he's intentionally taking it easy, trying to lean into the experiment of intentionally not competing.

He's not sure if he likes it, but he's already come out the other side of a mission alongside the other Freelancers without a points tally waiting for them. Maybe the trick is just getting through to the end. Or maybe it's just harder when he can see Carolina's eyes darting between the targets, tallying the difference the way all of them had learned to.

"Might as well play to your strengths. Unless you have some new passion for the sniper rifle that I'm not aware of."

[brisance]

Competition comes easy to her, although it's markedly different to how she treated it before, and how she treats it now. The fact that North doesn't goad her means her shoulders relax a little bit, and she even gives a little, low chuckle.

"No. I'm still pretty much a fists kind of girl," she notes with a wry tone. "Rifle's just the second-preferred firearm." The first being the magnum, of course. She's still not blessed with the patience to work as a marksman or a sniper.

[nofortunateson]

"Hey, why mess with success." He reaches for the panel on his lane to dismiss the target, mulling over which new one to put up. ('Clay pigeons'? Are those even still a thing this far in the future?)

"Have you found any good sparring partners around here yet?" There are some impressive fighters around here, and he knows that she loves a challenge.

[brisance]

"You're still doing good," she notes as his target disappears. "Theta been helping you out at all?"

There's no jealousy, or judgement, in her tone about it. She'd relied on Epsilon to make her calculations as well, so she wouldn't think North odd for doing so. It's hard to explain, though, without admitting about Epsilon and what exactly happened to Eta and Iota. And she's kept some of that from North so far.

"Found a couple willing ones, and they're not bad."

[nofortunateson]

"I try not to monopolize him for basic target practice, but yeah. He's still great for missions and the more complicated training sims." He decides he might as well try the clay pigeon option, and rolls into a kneeling position, ready as the lane queues up his targets and counts down. "It's pretty amazing, actually. He's really coming into his own here. I guess there's a lot less to be scared of."

[brisance]

"That doesn't surprise me. All the monsters are real monsters and right in front of us."

It's the closest she'll admit right now that something was happening to the AI back in Freelancer. She doesn't know what North knows, if Connie's told him anything about what was going on - why the AI were so anxious.

She's a little amused at the roll, too. Why so extra, North?