Dec 11 12:34:45 105 PA

From Chronicles

The current game time is: Fri Dec 11 12:34:45 105 PA.

The mixed sound of weapons fire fills the indoor section of the firing range, only partly muffling louder booms and roars from the exterior ranges. Within, many of the stations along the firing line are occupied. And within one of them is Desmond's large, armored frame. Settled nearby are a stack of energy clips yet to be emptied, the big feline handling a generic practice laser as he takes aim at a distant target. Harmless laser and electronic target make for an easy and cheap means of practice and he takes advantage of it, cooly snapping off silent shots at the target. Ignoring the noise about him from projectile and louder energy weapons, his ears flicked back slightly to muffle the sound.

And it happened in the days of December something amazing, something awesome. It happened elsewhere, however, so nuts to that. At any rate, Valerie strolls into the firing range, looking over her shoulder to where she had been following some power armors. At a distance. She turns her attention back to the range, taking in her surroundings and orienting herself. Noisy, she decides, which no doubt means interesting. She begins to head further inside, but is addressed by an employee regarding monetary issues; she's taken to a sign, which she squints at until the aforementioned employee simply tells her to cough up 10 credits. She does so, and then she finally heads inside. The abridged version: Valerie comes from outside and heads into the indoor firing range.

Midday at the firing range sees the usual round of scruffy mercs, average citizens, military and miscellaneous, all at various points of target practice. Desmond himself empties his current clip, lifting the practice laser in hand to glance at the small monitor in his station. Inspecting the figures on it, gauging his accuracy. He gives no outward reaction to the stats, lifting his hand after a moment to casually reset the system. Afterward he half turns, popping the clip, which he catches and lays aside before picking up the next. Glancing outward as he goes about these actions casually.

Valerie does that wandering thing. She walks around and sees what each shooter is doing, much to the dismay of some, but she doesn't linger anywhere. Not until she comes across the kitty cat, and heads directly towards him, skipping the next few stations. As she's not a particularly sneaky person, it's probably unlikely that she'll be able to approach Desmond unnoticed, but if this is the case anyway, she will announce herself by laying a hand on his shoulder.

Desmond turns his head as someone touches his shoulder, firmly sliding the next clip into the practice laser. Takes a slight downward shift of his eyes to meet Valerie's, which he does a moment after his half turn. "Valerie," he rumbles deeply, the name spoken in the manner of a greeting. He lowers the practice weapon as he turns fully towards her. "I will say, I am not surprised to see you here. Given your.. curiosity after weapons."

Valerie gives a nod in return, accepting the statement. "It's an interesting place, but I didn't plan to come here today," she admits casually. "I was watching some powered armors, but they flew away." She pauses and looks at Desmond questioningly, as if to receive confirmation that, yes, this is normal. Power armors fly all the time.

Desmond nods his head once, perhaps fulfilling that with the gesture and the casual reaction to such a thing. Not all that out of the ordinary. "Powerful weapons, but not something I know a great deal about," he replies. He pauses, considering her for a few moments before he moves aside just a bit and motions for her to move into the station he was just in. "As you are here, perhaps you would like to practice firing again? Intended or not, this is a proper place for it."

Valerie nods eagerly, perking visibly at the offer. She begins to edge into the station before he even finishes the sentence, and then looks around in an effort to figure out the purpose of everything around her. Nothing is simple around here, after all, at least if one were to ask her.

The station is rather simple, with a small display built into one side of it, with some buttons and controls. The rest of it is just a walled stall with a platform, the other end being the deadly no man's land of the range itself. At the far end, an electronic target unit extends from the ground, retractable for when actual damaging weapons are drawn out. As she enters the station, Desmond will offer her the practice laser. "The weapon is a low power laser. Harmless, but as accurate as a true weapon. The clip is new. FIre at the target down the range as you will and we shall see what your accuracy is in the now." He takes a position slightly behind her, where he can easily observe both her and the monitor to the side.

Valerie accepts the practice laser with no less enthusiasm than one might expect, although it dims considerably when he mentions it's a low powered device. "Very well." She once more resumes an archer's stance, forgetting herself, left foot ahead of the right, and with the pistol held in her left hand, with her right, dominant, hand merely providing support. She aims the pistol and snaps off a shot. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't hit much.

Desmond considers Valerie as she handles the weapon and once the first shot is fired, he rumbles, "Don't feel disappointed in the now, at your accuracy. It takes time to gain a steady hand and the precise coordination to aim properly." He pauses and then asks, "Which is your preferred hand? Your handling is awkward.. if your right hand is the dominant one, it will be the one you shoot with, your weaker hand for balance and steadiness."

Vargus enters in from the landing field to the west. He moves over the slightly-squishy ground, wet from all the recent rain and snow, and moves over toward the weapon stations. He stops a little ways back behind on the stations and looks around, then spots and open stall and quick-steps over to place himself in the mini-bunker.

Valerie frowns as she follows the kitty's instructions, shifting the pistol into her right hand instead before she takes aim once more. She waits for three breaths before she shoots again. This time the shot is noticeably closer. It manages to hit the edge of the target. Still far from dead on, but at least she winged it.

Desmond nods his head once as she shifts her handling and sees an improvement. "Yes, better. You should come here often to practice, as it takes time to perfect a steady aim." He lifts a hand along her arm, holding his own out steadily where she can see it. "The slightest waver in the barrel can foul your aim. At the moment of firing, you must be very still." His own arm quite steady. "Empty the clip. Focus on trying to steady your aim and strike the same spot on the target as near as possible. Not the center, but a tight grouping."

Vargus moves a hand up to remove the revolver that sits in a holster strapped against his chest. It looks like an old-west large .45 revolver, but, plugged into the end of the barrel is the single-terminated point of a crystal. He braces himself and discharges the weapon, emitting not a bang or a pop, but a zot. An energy bolt streaks from the weapon and strikes the target wall, a considerable distance from the center of the target. No damage seems to have been inflicted on the military-grade armor plate of the target.

The helping hand does indeed have a steadying effect, and when Valerie squeezes the trigger the next several times, each shot is considerably closer to the center. Although she thankfully keeps her mouth shut, she smiles faintly, briefly, each time the beam makes a decent hit.

Desmond watches as Valerie snaps off those shots, his head nodded once more as she places them much better. "You have a good eye," he rumbles, his arm lowering as he glances down towards the top of her head. "The grouping is a bit loose, but not too poor. Now.. another important thing to learn is how to unload and reload the weapon. It's slightly different for every weapon, but not too much so. Turn the pistol on its side, you'll see a catch inset into the side. Recessed so as not to be accidentally hit. Press it and the clip will release. Remove it."

Vargus peers downrange and frowns at the pitiful shot grouping. He takes a deep breath and sighs, then looks around, seeing Valerie and Desmond. "Either of you know how to use a revolver?"

Valerie turns the pistol on its side, albeit slightly at an angle, but it takes a few moments before she sees the catch inset. She presses the catch firmly, and the clip slowly slides out and then falls. As she's focused on the catch, she doesn't notice it immediately, and while she attempts to catch it, she merely succeeds in bumping it with the result that it lands in the corner of the station floor. She looks down with a dismayed look on her face, but is distracted when Vargus addresses them. She looks towards him with a quizzical look on her face. "What's a revolver?"

Desmond turns his head slightly, his height allowing him to easily peer over the wall of the station, towards Vargus. The question gets a brief moment of thought before he rumbles, "If you mean smaller projectile firearms, I am not trained with them. Only energy based weapons." Said as Valerie is working at unloading the pistol. The girl is in one of the firing stations, with the big feline standing behind her and Vargus nearby. At midday, the firing range is busy and on the noisy side between talk and weapons fire. His attention returns to her at the clatter and he notes the fallen clip. "Place the empty clip next to that one and place one of the fresh ones in. Press it in until you feel it click into place." Indicating the single empty and the handful of charged clips to either side of the station's counter.

Rath'tklan approaches the firing range at a slow walk, a little bit perhaps more heavily loaded than he normally is. There is the ever-present staff across his back, but today Rath'tklan has chosen to carry a matched set of weapons. A rifle and a pistol, each are sleek and black with a very wide barrel -- very clearly not terran in design. Plunking down his money, the assassin heads towards his own private range only to see Desmond, Vargus, and someone that he does not recognize. And so he alters his course and approaches them all. "Brother Desmond. Human Vargus. Unknown Female." A greeting to each, although the last is a little odd.

Vargus wrinkles his nose and nods to Desmond, "Yeah, same with me. Only really got into the energy weapons. But I ran across this thing somewhere, and it comes in handy.. when you don't want to blow through a mountain>" He looks over to Rath'tklan and looks him over, eyeing his weapons. "I imagine you probably only use energy weapons as well, huh?"

Valerie kneels and picks up the e-clip, and then rises, straightening her back before she places the empty clip where indicated, and takes one of the full clips. She slides it in. How successful she is depends on the design. Can they be inserted the wrong way? Because if so, she most certainly will. She's focusing on that. Strange kitty and insect dude later.

Desmond half turns as he hears the voice of the armored feline. "Rath'tklan," he rumbles in reply, his head dipped in added greeting. "I trust you are doing well." Though he doesn't look away from his charge for too long, sure she'll need further attention. Fortunate for Valerie, clips are designed to go in no matter how they're turned, which makes things a lot easier in the heat of battle when one doesn't always have time to make sure its going in the right way . So it will slide right in, requiring just a bit of pressure to click into place. "Good." She'll feel his large hand on her shoulder briefly. "Spend that clip as you like, though you should focus on a steady, constant aim in the now." His hand moves away and he'll keep an eye on her as she fires for now.

"This one is, Brother. He finds himself invigorated today. There is much to be done." And he is not an alien insect dude! He is an alien feline dude! Most certainly he would take offense to this if he knew. His head turns towards Vargus and one of his amored hands extends, clearly asking for the weapon. "This one is capable of using almost any ranged weapon with appropriate skill. It has behooved him to familiarize himself with the workings of projectile weapons in a world where with but a thought, so many may become resistant to the effects of energy weapons. This one carries a pistol made by your local arms corporation for such purposes. I am not much of an instructor, however."

Vargus straightens himself out and flips the revolver around, placing it in Rath'tklan's armored glove. "It's a tee-doubleeue pistol. Fires the equivilent of the energy bolt spell. Good to carry around the city. Most municipalities don't take kindly to stray shots cutting buildings in half." He smirks a little. "It's fully charged, feel free to burn through it. We're close enough to one of the ley lines I can recharge it easily.

Valerie listens to the click of the e-clip with satisfaction, at which point she can deal with other concerns. "Are there weapons that can 'blow through a mountain'?" she asks, echoing Vargus' words. Rath'tklan is given a momentary glance, but she quickly returns to the task at hand. She aims the pistol and begins to blast the low-powered beams at the target, spacing each shot with a calm breath. She isn't doing quite as well as she did when Desmond helped steady the weapon, but only one misses the target, and a few merely wing it, but the majority are relatively centered. Not a particularly tight grouping, mind.

Rath'tklan tosses the weapon slightly up and down as though to get a sense of its weight. "This is primitive in construction, but servicible. It will do." From the small of his back he draws the sleek little number that was mentioned before and hands it over to Vargus. "This one believes that fair is fair. The safety is at the bottom of the barrel, ahead of the trigger guard. That is an Atorian weapon, utilizing particle beam technology." Head turns and he looks at Valerie for a moment. "There are, Unknown Female. There are even a few upon this world. But you may console yourself with the knowledge that such things carried in one's hands are impossible." One handed, he lifts the pistol towards the target and pulls the trigger a couple of times. Vargus' pistol, that is.

Desmond arches a brow slightly at Valerie's question. "Perhaps there are, but none that shall find their way into the hands of such as we," he rumbles thoughtfully. "Powered armor and vehicles can have strong weapons, but I doubt any could truly do that much damage to a mountain, short of carving into it somewhat."He pauses as Rath speaks of his own experiences, considering the possibilities of weapons with such power. Though what his thoughtful moment of quiet brings about remains unknown as he focuses on watching Valerie at work. He nods his head quietly in response to her latest shots. Letting her empty the second clip before he speaks again. "Good. Reload and fire the third. This is what will garner you the most skill. Steady practice, that you can grow used to your stance and train your arms to steady."

Vargus hefts the offered weapon, turning it over a few times in his hand. He looks it over once more and flips off the safety, taking a braced stance. Sighting down the barrel he gradually squeezes the trigger and lets the discharged particle beam streak across the distance to strike the target plate. His eagle familiar hops off of his shoulder and moves to the counter area of the firing stall, peering down at the impact point. Vargus closes his eyes, and after a moment nods his head. "Hummm... tight charge grouping, good burn pattern. Pretty powerful." He smirks and looks over at Valerie and Desmond. "A Wilk's pulse laser, if you get a max discharge, could easily blow a hole in the side of a mountain. Hit the peak and I'm pretty sure it'd remove the top."

Valerie looks just a mite disappointed. No mountain killers for her. Maybe. She taps the catch, removes the clip, puts it down carefully before she slides in a new one. No mistakes this time. She doesn't return to the shooting immediately, but instead turns around and takes her time to study Rath'tklan carefully before she addresses him. "You seem a little mad," she tells him casually, in the tone one might use to order a beverage. "Are you a holy warrior?"

Rath'tklan continues to toy with Vargus' pistol for a moment. "Your weapon is adequate. Once I have finished some tasks, perhaps I may find the time to train you adequately in it's use if you would wish, Human Vargus. This one would not do it for free however, and renumeration in the form of shared knowledge would be required." One of his armored hands holds the weapon out to him. "Your weapon, Human Vargus. I am glad you appreciate such things. This one finds irony in killing Atorians with their own weapons." While his hand is held out for his own pistol, he looks at Valerie and there is the odd sense that he is smiling beneath his armor. "An interesting observation. I am not angry, nor am I a Holy Warrior. Though there is a cause that I devote myself to that might be similar. I come from am imprisoned people."

With Valerie turned away from her practicing, Desmond takes a slight step back and to the right, allowing a more conversational situation, without him obstructing anyone. Though near enough to watch over Valerie if she turns back to shooting. He looks to Rath and tells him, "Valerie seems to have a path similar to Kesslan. She seeks weaponry for her people," he rumbles, motioning to you young woman. "I have considered if they might do well to seek such things together, though I know not his plans for how to pursue his goals."

Vargus retrives his pistol and returns Rath'tklan's to him. He holds the revolver by the side, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Humm, got most of it's charge remaining." Then back to armor-cat, "It's a good chunk of metal. Sometimes the TW weapons get a little sketchy.. all the extra strange stuff compromises the integrety. This came from out west, they make solid stuff. Well, not like a Wilk's weapon." He nods toward Desmon'd sleak pistol. "I really just love their stuff. Light, sleak black ceramic and great balance." He turns around a little and shows the rifle slung over his shoulder. "One of their pulse rifles. Yum." As he's talking, the metal birdie seems to get bored with all the weapon talk. It moves to the edge of the counter and flares its wings out, then flaps a few times to get it up off of the surface and then gives a strong downflap to push itself backward, and the action also causing a few darts to streak out and slam into the target. Peering down, one can see a few metalic feathers imbeded into the thick armor of the target.

Valerie watches Rath'tklan curiously. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it when Desmond speaks. She flexes her free hand before turning away, at which point she resumes shooting at the poor, defenseless target. The result is little different from last time. A little more irregular, owing in part to more rapid shots. She reloads.

Rath'tklan studies Valerie and her practice for a moment as the weapons change hands between he and Vargus, briefly looking at Desmond to nod at his words. To Valerie, he makes an accomodating gesture with the arm that now holds his own energy pistol again. Tucking it back into the holster, he wordlessly offers Vargus the rifle version of the aforementioned pistol and he will find it easily to be the equal of most any Wilks Pulse Weapon if he should deign to try it, albiet single shot. "This may perhaps be more to your taste, Human Vargus. Be careful were you point it." Back to Valerie, though! "If you are curious, you will find this one to be accomodating in conversation despite appearances. This one is often found in the park, upon this range, or a little distance outside of the gates themselves.

Desmond nods his head once to Vargus as he speaks of Wilks weaponry. "Very well balanced," he agrees simply, focusing in on one of his own personal preferences. He does notice Valerie's sudden silence and return to her practice, though response to that is stayed by the metallic bird showing off just a bit. Des' brow furrows slightly as he eyes the metallic feathers thoughtfully. But his attention drifts after a moment and he tells Valerie, "You should come in at least twice a week to keep up your practice for now. At a later time, I shall look to aid you in practicing more mobile firing. That is where true skill is needed."

Vargus's eyebrows quirk up and he holsters the revolver and accepts the rifle. "Ooo, nice weight. I can respect something that just feels solid." He moves the rifle to his left hand and unslings his own oddly angled black ceramic rifle, offering it to Rath'tklan. "Five settings near the back of the handle, with the thumb switch.. each setting releases another base-line laser pulse. Sure, it's just a laser.. but superior range and balance." He looks back to his range and eyes the eagle, then looks down at the target and he shakes his head, chuckling. "Showoff."

Valerie aims the pistol at the target, but then lowers it. She looks over her shoulder at Rath'tklan. "I think I would like that in the future, uh, 'that one'." Sadly she totally missed the bird offering that display of powah. She aims the pistol at the target again and snaps off a shot. Decent. Not great. "I will do as you say. Do you mean hunting, Desmond?" Yes, hunting with energy weapons.

Rath'tklan makes an observation to Desmond and Valerie as he exchanges rifles with Vargus. "Your NTI corporation has a firing range that may be more fitting to your desires, Brother Desmond. Whilst more expensive it utilizes dynamic technology to create moving targets and changing environments." Armor's eyes pick on Valerie again. "This one is called Rath'tklan. You may seek me whenever you wish." He dials Vargus' setting up to the maximum and squeezes off a rapid pulse, grunting as he offers it back. "This one is not as much of a fan of pulse weapons. Equal they may be, but it is preference personal. Tell me what you think of Atoria's finest."

Desmond shakes his head slightly in answer to Valerie. "Moving targets are a further step we shall take in time." He pauses, considering. "Just how that shall be accomplished I am not yet sure. It isn't exactly safe to range too far from the city these days, without a proper guard." Not that he sounds fearful in the least. Then Rath comes up with a proper suggestion and Desmond looks to him with a nod. "This is so? Then perhaps I shall investigate such a possibility. We won't need a great deal to accomplish a proper basic lesson."

Vargus sites the new toy down and rips off a blast, leaning into it as the energy weapon kicks slightly. The beam streaks down, ionizing the air as it moves with a little zzzzzip. It leaves a significant dent in the replaceable target plate and Vargus nods his head, appreciativly. "Packs a good punch.. reminds me of the one Northern Gun puts out. Although, this one has a better style." He offers it back to Rath'tklan and then looks to Desmond and Valerie, "Hey, if you're looking to get some live-fire target practice in, I've got the impervious to energy spell... you could take some shots at me."

Valerie squeezes the trigger again with much the same result as before. "Rath'tklan," she repeats with another look over her shoulder. "I will look for you," she adds. And then! More zapping! "Is it because of those robots or..." she begins, but trails off when Vargus makes his offer. She turns her head to stare mildly at him, but then her lips part in a bright smile. "Can we?" comes her eager question, accompanied with a look at Desmond.

Rath'tklan is seen to shake his head; just a little. "There are other issues that this one faces beyond the Robots. Will discuss if you encounter him." He pauses and his left hand reaches to his earpiece and he holds his hand out for the rifle that Vargus holds. "This one has a ....work meeting. Must leave immediatly."

"There are many issues.. robots, some talk of the dinosaurs before, though I have not been watching that too closely," Desmond rumbles. "So too is the fog.. the attack of the dead things. If another attack comes, being outside of the city is an unenviable thing."Vargus gets an odd look when he speaks of the smell to render him immune to energy and Valerie's excitement at the prospect of being allowed to shoot him. He glances between the two briefly before, with deep furrowed brow he allows, "Perhaps." As Rath notes his immediate departure, Desmond turns towards him. "Farewell, Rath'tklan. May your tasks turn out clearly in your favor," he rumbles, head dipped slightly.

Vargus retreives his rifle and slings it back over his shoulder. He bow his head to Rath'tklan as the other prepares to depart. "Safe travels to you." He retrieves the revolver again from his chest holster and takes aim, firing off a few shots again.. none of which come anywhere close to landing near each other. "Bah.." he says expressivly.

"Glory to you," Valerie offers Rath'tklan. She lowers the pistol again. "Why don't you use these lasers in one hand instead? It would leave you with a hand free to use another, maybe." She turns fully to watch Desmond. Serious question!

Desmond looks to Valerie and cants his head slightly. "There are times I use such things in one hand. But my hand is steady enough for it. You are not yet ready for such as that, but we shall come to that topic in time. Patience is an important thing when one is learning any skill. Holding with both hands aids in steadying."

Vargus fires another couple of energy bolts at the target and scoffs at his own performance. He spins the revolver around on a finger and then reholsters it, moving to the end of his stall and folding his arms across his chest, watching Valerie doing her thang. "I usually use one pistol and brace it with both hands. Helps my aim.." he smirks, "..well.. when I know what I'm doing, anyway. But, I'm not all that coordinated to work a pistol in each hand. Then again, pistol is a backup since I'm a spellslinger primary."

Valerie nods firmly. Right. And then she turns to do her thang on the target. Oh yes, she does her thang. Her thang she does. Oh, how she does it. She does it indeed. "That is true," she admits. "I haven't much skill at the moment." She does not.

Desmond nods his head once. "But you will learn. None begin with great skill," he rumbles. A subtle frown comes to him as he glances to the monitor for the station and sees the small time display on it. "I think my time here is near to an end." He looks to Valerie and asks, "You may linger to make use of these clips. Make sure to return the lot when you are finished, yes?" He then looks to Vargus and rumbles, "Good to see you again as well."

Vargus bows his head to Desmond. "And you..." He looks back to Valerie. "Do you use any weapons at all? I think I remember you saying you used a bow or something like that? What about bladed weapons?"

Valerie lowers the pistol to offer Desmond a hand. "Then I will see you. I will return the clips soon." She waits for a minute, considering Vargus' question. "Yes, I can use a blade, but in a large fight I would prefer a spear." Tags: desmond, learning, rath'tklan, valerie, vargus