How To Shoot Straight, Monday

[suitably_heroic]

"Right," Atton said.

They were standing in a classroom. A regular, nice, simple classroom that wasn't going to turn into something weird on Atton unexpectedly. "Welcome to How To Shoot Straight. We learn how to shoot things here. That's it. No weird philosophical angle or anything."

He waved at the table in front of him, which supported an impressive arsenal of... nerf guns.

"Today, I want to know how much you people know about aiming," he said. "Give me your name and a drawing of someone you'd like to shoot in the face. Then shoot them in the face. There, that's your assignment, go."

Comments

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[suitably_heroic]

"Nobody you're angry at?" Atton said. "Huh. That's new."

The kids were all teenagers, after all.

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[that_oldsaying]

She blinked at him, confused.

"Is, is that bad?"

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah, just unusual, I guess," Atton said, scratching at the back of his head. "Okay, go shoot your made-up person."

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka was still confused. She didn't see how being not-angry at anyone was unusual or why he'd want them to shoot at people they were angry at in the first place.

Wouldn't that be a bad way to learn? Whenever she got upset, back when she'd first started with her ATs, Ringo had waited until she'd calmed down before going over the basics again.

But Alluka didn't know him, so she just gave him an another look, but no, he still didn't make sense. She didn't have the heart to tell him her picture wasn't even a person.

She fiddled with her nerf gun for a moment, then took the steps back she was supposed to take, and took aim and fired.

It was a nerf gun, which wasn't ever going to be the best and most precise thing ever, but Alluka had very good hand-eye coordination to go along with her ridiculously good balance, so she hit the target. Then again. And again. Not dead center, and sometimes barely touching where she'd drawn, but every time she hit the paper.

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[suitably_heroic]

There was a whole thing involved about teenagers and hormones and catharsis, but Atton hadn't been lying when he'd said up front he didn't want to deal with any philosophical angles.

And she hadn't asked, anyway.

"Nice," he said approvingly. "Not your first time shooting something?"

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[that_oldsaying]

Shooting targets shaped like people went a bit far for mere catharsis, no matter how angry most teenagers were.

Alluka shook her head.

"No," she said, though there were hazy half-memories from when she'd been very, very young that said maybe differently. "I've never shot anything before."

Re: Pin Your Target To The Wall, Grab A Nerf Gun, Shoot

[suitably_heroic]

A drawing of someone's face and a nerf dart were a long way away from bullets and real people-shaped targets.

Not that Atton would've had a problem with that, either, but he was well aware his own moral compass was kind of dingy.

"Well, you've got good reflexes," he observed. "We can work with that."