How Do These Things Work, Again?
How do these things work, again?
Summary: Barnabas fires a firearm for the first time since his accident. Epi bounces in for morale boosting.
Date: PHD129
Related Logs: None
Players:
Epi..Barnabas..

Small Arms Range

It's the small arms range! It's also pretty late, not that time means all that much. It's also occupied by only one person right now. Barnabas. Barnabas with a sidearm, some eyewear and the stylish avant-guarde accesory that is the ear-protectors. His hands are on the flat surface of a booth, sidearm beside them, and he's just standing. Looking at a target set up downrange.

Into the range comes bouncing Epi. She checks herself out a sidearm and some rubber bullets, gets her gear, then stops dead. "Ohshit," she says quietly. "Pull the trigger. But face that way."

The bounding of Epi makes Barney jump. Just a little. Barely. Ok, so it was a much bigger shock than he expected. His head titlts rather quickly to eye the new arrival to his little moment of zen. "Trigger? I thought it was obvious that I'm trying to stare the target to death." He's smirking, but it's on the left side of his face. WHO KNOWS IF IT'S REAL.

Epi's head cocks a little to the side, then she grins and sidles up to the next lane. "That's ok," she tells him, nodding solemnly. "It'll come back to you eventually." Pause. "Especially since we're using rubber bullets."

"Yeah. Probably. Hopefully." Barney gets a little weaker on the speech with each successive word. "Little nervous, is all. I mean, if I don't pass certification, I can't go back on duty." He sighs softly, sliding a magazine into the grip of the pistol, but leaving the slide in place and the hammer down for the moment. "Which isn't really what I want."

She considers him for a moment, then puts her weapon on the ledge and moves to stand a step behind him. "Do you not want to go back on duty or do you not want to fail your recert," she asks quietly, looking past him to the target.

Barney strokes the side of the pistol with a thumb momentarily before adopting a proper grip on it. Right hand around grip, left hand around right. "I don't want to fail the recert, Epi. That'd just be outright embarrasing." Ok, so now he's grinning.

Epi laughs softly and looks up at his face. "Alright then," she tells him quietly. "Let's work on your aim. Don't forget to look down-range and sight your target. It's just like cheerios when you were a kid."

Barney nods, releasing the grip to cock the pistol before bringing it up to get a sight profile on his own little target. It's a sillhouette, of course. And he's aiming for the head. Ballsy, considering he just picked up a gun for the first time in over three months.

"Deep breath," Epi says quietly. "Watch your elbows. Come on, you can do this," she says quietly from behind him.

Barney calms his breathing, exhaling softly as he sends a single round downrange with a soft squeeze of the trigger. The noise rocks him a little, but the first bullet he's fired in 105+ days rocks that paper target a hell of a lot more, catching dead centre of the silhouette skull. A deep inhale from the Sergeant, and another exhale follows as he lowers the pistol slightly.

Epi watches past him then dips her head. "I can see this isn't going to be an issue," she says with a quiet laugh. Maybe a little disappointed? She turns away and starts back to her own lane.

"Huh." Volker tilts his head to one side, canting it just enough to glance past his pistol and arms as his eyes narrow to look at the target. "Y'know, I was expecting a lot of things to happen right there. That wasn't one of them." He shrugs a little, grins to Epi, and then raises the pistol once more.

Epi laughs quietly and starts to break her weapon down. Apparently she's not going to shoot until she's sure her weapon's well and truly primed.

Getting a little more comfortable, Barney just starts the breathing excercise again before resuming the peppering of the poor paper target. Yup, that confidence is coming back.

The little Marine is quite happily cleaning her gun and preparing to put it back together. Of course, she's keeping one eye on Barnabas and his progress. Yep, she's happy with it. "How're you feeling?"

The next round hits a little lower. Ouch. Gut shot. That's just cruel. "Better. I had myself scared for a moment." Barney would look around the booth to grin, but all eyes are downrange right now, considering the loaded weapon. "It's just like falling off a bike."

"Mmmm. Just don't let the bar catch you in the nuts," she comments, tone a little dry. She puts the weapon back together with impressive ease. Yes, she and her weapon are one. Then comes the hardship of loading rubber bullets into the magazine.

Epi laughs quietly and just shakes her head. "Yeah, me too," she murmurs. "I walked crooked for three days. People think only boys hurt when hit there. Trust me, they don't."

Barnbas keeps on firing, settling into a pattern of pull, recoil compensate, pull, etc. There's just one little pause as he grins. "I probably would have known that if I had a sister. Five men got to find out how much it hurt the normal way."

"Mmm," Epi says quietly. "See, men only have to worry about the crotch. Women have to worry about crotch AND chest. Girl I went through basic with had a hell of a time. Got a nipple caught in the door."

"Ooooow!" It's a miracle that his last shot was on target, considering how much Volker just flinched at even the NOTION of that happening. He shudders a little. Then a lot. There's the sound of his good cheek flapping as he shakes out the thought from his head. "….. OW!"

"Tell me about it," she mutters with a sigh. "We had to check that damned tit every day for a week to make sure infection didn't set in. She refused to go to the infirmary. One of our squad told her gangrene was setting in, just to get her to go." She's not kidding. This is scary.

Barney can't fire a firearm when he's still clutching his own man non-boob with a left hand. The sympathy pain is terrifying. "That's it, Epi. I'm totally pulling rank. No more stories about nipples and doors. Ever." A beat. Two. "Seriously. OW!"

Epi gives him a beaming smile, looking a little deranged behind those goggles. "Oh, then you'd hate what we did to the guy who tried to take advantage of one of my squadmates. Or what Mom did to Dad."

The sound of a pistol being fired downrange is all that can be heard from Barney's booth. Well, that is up until the "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"s start up. He's so focused on the targets, he starts forgetting to compensate for the damaged cheek during his yelling. It sounds… funny, but off.

The little Marine falls quiet and focuses on her own firing for now. She's done torturing him. Likely. Either that or she's got something on her mind.

"LA LA LA LA LA LA…oh, you're not talking." Barney lowers the pistol, setting it to one side for the moment. You're damn right he's leaning around the booth to take a look at Epi's form. …Form with the pistol, damnit.

Epi's concentrating on her target for the time being - and ignoring the Sergeant. She doesn't even glance in his direction as she pulls the trigger.

Well, that's certainly an approving nod from the sergeant. He was even watching the pistol, and not other things Epi might have of interest to view. See, that's dedication. "Alright. Remind me never to piss you off."

Her lips quirk slightly at one corner, though she doesn't otherwise give him the satisfaction of a response. Fingers continue to pull the trigger, her stance steady, relaxed. The gun is an extension of her body, no matter how tiny she is.

Barney watches the next couple of shots, and where they land. His eyebrows do narrow inwards, just a little. "Give it a little time, Corporal. Less bouncy, more aim-y." Ok, so she's not bouncing at all. Barnabas is willing to bet that she is. Just on the INSIDE.

Epi just looks at him, briefly, as if over the top of glasses. Her lips purse slightly before she turns back to her target. "My mother ripped my father's left testicle off. With her bare hands," she says quietly, conversationally. "And she passed that skill down to her only child. I was raised in a Marine platoon, Sarge. By wolves."

"Then shoot like one, Marine." Barnabas steps to the side of her booth, crossing his arms over his chest as he watches her last shot go wide. This probably isn't the best course of action, as he's trying to teach her. Sadly, he's a crappy teacher.

Epi's jaw sets slightly. Oh, she's not going to give him the satisfaction, damnit. Her chin comes up ever so slightly as she gently squeezes the trigger again.

Barnabas moves back to his booth, chuckling at the last round perforating the groin of the target. That's right, he's actually chuckling. Good way to be proven wrong, that. "That's shooting like someone getting annoyed at the guy staring over her shoulder, but it'll do, Corporal." He's planning for a hasty retreat, removing the rounds from his pistol and getting it ready to go back in the locker.

There's a quiet click and she's disassembling her weapon. "Time to go back to racks," she says with a quiet sigh. "Night Sarge. I've apparently got a date with Randy soon."

Barnabas takes the safe weapon with him as he starts to head out. He's stopped in his tracks. The Sarge's head swivels, and he outright PEERS at Epi. "You… Randy.." Blink. "What happened?"

Epi glances up at him over her shoulder. "What do you mean 'What happened,'" she asks, curiously. "Randy asked me out, just to go and have fun. She knows how bad shit went with Gunny and that it…stings a little, still. And, well, sometimes a girl can get her head turned by someone who treats her well, compliments her and makes her feel pretty." The last is said with her face averted. Look, it's a gun!

Barney shrugs. Seems like a pretty good reason to him. "Huh. Fair enough." She's given a smile, and he begins to duck out of the hatch. Of course, he's a jerk, so he has to try and get the last word in with "That doesn't explain why you sighed! NightEpisleepwell!"

Poor Epi, she just glances over her shoulder as he leaves and says nothing. Just watches him go.

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