🟆001🟆

[71lines]

Who: Tenten and You
What: Various
Where: Varying
When: After a few days have passed.
Warnings/Notes: None so far.

1. Part of training involves firearms training. Jorgmund is, at least, intelligent enough to know that not everyone deals with slugthrowers on their homeworlds, so they've set out an array to try out. Assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, etc. Everyone's given a basic rundown and scored at the end of each day. The scores, they're told, don't mean anything. It's just for bragging rights. The only reason anyone might swallow that is because no one's caught the range crew laying down their bets yet.
   
   So far, Armstrong has the highest. That may be because he went first and Cayde-6 hasn't stepped up to bat, though.
   
   The New Hires are taken to the range in small groups, to more easily control them. Two to four at a time, only whenever there's a gap in the regular Rig crew's training. When they go in, the range master makes a comment about forgetting some paperwork and slips out, locking the door behind him. The other range personnel are making themselves busy. Tenten, in the meantime, is peering at the firearms with a critical eye. She picks up a pistol and flips it over in her hands a few times, testing the moving parts. Trigger. Slidey bit. Switch for something there.
   
   She frowns, then looks down the barrel, thumb pressed against the trigger. Was there something that was supposed to happen inside when the trigger was pulled? How was an arrow supposed to fit in here? Or did it throw tiny knives? Maybe she ought to pull the trigger and see what launching mechanism it had inside...



2. The Rig isn't very warm at the moment. In fact, even inside, temperatures don't crawl above fifty degrees. At least there's no wind to make things truly miserable. Even the gym isn't even that hot, at least when people aren't physically exerting themselves.
   
   But Tenten's soaked through with sweat. She's been sitting there, eyes closed, with her hands twisted into an odd shape, for almost the entire after-dinner period. Every now and then, she opens her mouth, exhaling harshly, but that's about it.
   
   There's quite a bit more warmth in the five feet around her.
   
   It was frustrating. Lee couldn't do it, sure, but everyone else had mastered two other nature changes, the techniques for infusing one's energy with an elemental nature. Tenten-well, she was about the only member of their circle of friends who hadn't managed it. Her control was just too sloppy, as much as she hated to admit it. But now... Now she wasn't having any more luck than back home. She exhales again, a thin creeping of a small cloud flowing from her throat, and then breathes in sharply, exploding into a fit of coughing when the ash flows right back into her lungs.
   
   Oh. She really should've brought a drink of water.



3. "Hey, you." Oh, look. Its your favorite person, Planker. He's kneeling on the floor, arranging some strings in a pattern. Strings, bits of plastic, some nuts and bolts, shoelaces, scraps of napkin torn into strips? "Lend me your shoelaces real quick, okay?" It looks like his are already down there.
   
   Planker hasn't looked up once. He's just holding his hand out. He opens and closes it a few times, slapping his fingers against his palm in an impatient gesture. On closer inspection, he's just very slightly... off. Something's weird about him. It might just be the strain on his face, though, it looks like he's undergoing an effort just kneeling there.
   
   Of course, there's a reason for that. It's Tenten, in disguise and forgetting for a moment that her fellow New Hires don't know about transformation techniques. The strain is pretty simple: Planker's a lot taller and heavier than she is, maintaining the transformation's taking its toll. She's spent the past while exploring the back halls, the stairwells, the access tunnels, trying to get a layout of the areas that the New Hires technically aren't banned from going, but aren't exactly allowed to go. It's been frustrating. All of the doors have weird locks, ones she can't pick. She's seen someone use a card of some kind to get in, but sliding a slip of paper through didn't work either.
   
   So now she's just laying down a map, trying to commit it to memory before everything fades, in case she can get through the doors later somehow.
   
   Of course, getting assistance might be easier if she weren't wearing someone else's face at the moment.

Comments

[71lines]

She's not holding it very tightly, it's pretty easy to move the thing away. Tenten blinks at him, obviously baffled. She doesn't know Dojima very well, but she's seen him about and he's been pretty calm and relaxed about things. Having him yell at her, well, it isn't exactly intimidating. But it is surprising.

"I was just trying to see how it worked," she protests. What was wrong with that? It's not like these things could be that dangerous, right?

[becauseimacoward]

"If you want to know how it works, ask someone to guide you instead of putting yourself in danger like that!"

There, she's not in immediate danger by having a cannon right to her face. True, she still has it in her hands, but as long as he's there she should be safe.

Or at least he hopes so.

"Firearms can easily be lethal. That's the first thing you must remember"

[71lines]

The look she gives him at his chiding is exasperated. Clearly she knew what would be too dangerous. And that's why she looked down the barrel of a gun. Granted, it wasn't loaded, but Tenten doesn't know anything about that.

Yet.

Still, it sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Still a little irritated, she sets the thing down. "It's not like it was trapped or anything." She would've noticed a wire, or if there was a blade hidden in there.

[becauseimacoward]

"That's because it didn't have any bullets."

Where are the bullets...oh, right over there. Dojima brings one -- just in case, any bullet that wouldn't fit, just to avoid trouble.

"These ones but with the right size go into the gun. When you pull the trigger, they come out at high speed and injure you gravely"

[71lines]

Tenten takes the bullet from his hand and gives it a close examination. It's... A piece of metal wrapped around another metal. Brass, maybe? Brass and copper? What's that little button on the flat part for? She holds it up to her ear, shakes it, then frowns and hands it back.

"I don't get it," she admits. "How's that supposed to work? There's no string or plunger or anything in there. What's supposed to make it go?"

[becauseimacoward]

"That's what the gun is for. When you pull the trigger, the mechanism inside the gun propels the bullet out"

Dojima proceeds to explain in general terms the mechanism -- and gunpowder, too. It's a pretty direct explanation! Dojima may not be very good at explaining things, but when it's about this kind of thing, he makes the extra effort. Making sure a novice doesn't get injured with their own gun is extremely necessary, after all.

[71lines]

He's going to have to go back a few times. Her irritated expression fades into one of interest as he goes into the details. Tenten gets the general gist, but she keeps wanting to know more about specifics like the engineering and exact makeup of the gunpowder. It's anyone's guess as to whether she's picturing things properly, but given the range here it's likely that they'll be taking them apart soon enough.

She opens her mouth to say something, but the range master looks like he's returning. Tenten frowns, then nods. "Well, thank you for the explanation. I'll try to remember." It was a good lesson, all in all. Not quite as full as she'd like, but it was fairly comprehensive as far as the important things went.

[becauseimacoward]

"Of course."

Dojima appreciates Tenten listened attentively. Her lackadaisical way of looking into the cannon had made him afraid she would be careless, but looks like now that she knows somewhat better, she may not be as disastrous with these as he feared.

Better let her catch a break, he figures.

"How's your aim like?"

Ninja should be proficient in aiming! But after everyone he has met around here, he has decided making assumptions is the last thing he should do.

At least outwardly.

[71lines]

"Well, if you wanted me to throw this, or shoot with a crossbow, I'd probably be fine." That's understating it some. But if these were powered by explosions, then aiming might be a little different. "I'd have to try with these to know where I stood here."