[FIN] Guns and Roses

[Tori Honoo]

While the past few days had passed uneventfully for the most part, and she had finally begun to settle, Dove found herself wanting to be busy, needing to stay out of her home more than ever. The comfortable silence of her apartment was almost stifling, and again, she made her way to a shooting range, though this time she opted for a new location, hoping to make the experience a little less routine.

Calling Lovey back to her ball and not thinking twice that she might look a bit out of place amidst such retail, the young woman stepped into the store and range, a large glass case catching her eye almost immediately. With a glance around at the other customers, she made her way over to the case, her eyes leisurely appraising the firearms it held.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

An elbow specifically intruded in Dove's line of vision as someone behind the case leaned lightly on the glass case. "Man, I didn't ever expect to see you in here," Abel said with a curious smile. He hadn't pegged her to be someone that interested in guns, being a model and all that, but he knew quite well that people weren't always as they appeared. He removed his elbow and straightened up, instead opting to lean his palms on the edge. "What brings you in here today?"  

[Tori Honoo]

With the elbow blocking her line of sight, she sighed, then lifted her gaze to whoever had decided to approach her, confused when the words they chose weren't that of a pestering salesman, but rather something much more familiar.

It took no time to recognize him, and after a small start, she shook her head, her cheeks flushing a light pink as she smiled up at him. "I told you I was feeling dangerous," she said easily, only half joking. "Do you work here, then?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His smile widened to a grin as he chuckled at her reaction, but quickly faded back to a smile. "I do," he said, half-raising a thumb at the nametag on his shirt that indicated his employment there before lowering it and giving her a curious look. "And when you said 'dangerous' I didn't think you meant it in this sense," he admitted with a brief chuckle, which he thought was completely understandable given the circumstances in which she'd claimed to feel that way.  

[Tori Honoo]

"I didn't really, at the time," she laughed, lowering her eyes away from his face. Dangerous indeed. More like in danger. "Not this way." She much preferred the dangerous mood she had felt while clubbing.

His gesture to his tag was met with a smile and a lifted gaze. "That's really awesome...I didn't know you were into guns," she ventured, intrigued. Then again, there was a lot about Abel she didn't know, and it could have been that he knew nothing of guns and had just been seeking quick employment. Either way, it was nice to run into him again, in what she considered a more normal situation.

...Though she didn't really consider this so normal either.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At the time, huh? Well that begged the question... "What's changed?" He asked, tilting his head slightly and watching her curiously.

Her question made him grin lightly as he leaned back. "Yeah, my dad taught me how to shoot when I was a kid. That and guitar, to 'offset all that girly s**t your mother's learnin' you'," he said, complete with gestures, a different intonation and a different, vaguely countryish accent to properly convey his father's opinions, then chuckled as his hands returned to the counter and his voice returned to normal. "But yeah, I've been shooting since I was little, and I've worked in ranges before. Actually prefer them to other jobs, honestly. I didn't know you were into guns, though," he countered, turning it back to her. Did she have similar reasons, or was her interest in the firearms more recent?  

[Tori Honoo]

"Just a different kind of dangerous," she answered, hoping he would understand. There was a large gap in similarity in feeling dangerous with a boy at a nightclub and wanting to be armed and formidable when faced with enemies. "I didn't exactly feel the need or desire to shoot you." Though said with a smile, she realized the words were more than just a tease... and that thought was a little unsettling.

"Oh yeah..." She vaguely remembered something about his father wanting to offset his mother's teaching. His restating it, along with the gestures and switch in accent drew a fond smile from her, and she tucked her hair back, looking down to the guns again as she assembled an answer to his question. "I never was, really. A lot has changed since I moved here, and I figure I should at least try not to be...completely defenseless." For her and her friends, she thought, the fingers of one hand absently trailing over her side.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Alright," he replied with an easy smile, though he wasn't entirely sure what she meant by a different kind of dangerous. Maybe she wanted to seem dangerous by having a gun or something? Possibly that was it. He didn't have time to ask though before she commented on not shooting him. His eyebrows rose and his smile vanished in his surprise, and even though she smiled as she teased him... "That's not something to joke about," Abel didn't hesitate to point out in a serious tone, eyebrows still raised. That was not cool. Not in the least. "Don't ever joke about shooting anyone."

Obligatory reprimand over, he relaxed again and nodded, adding a smile, "Yeah, I don't think anyone should have to feel defenseless. So you're looking into using guns for protection? D'you own one, or not yet?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Her smile quickly vanished as his did, and her eyes widened, her easygoing, relaxed mask evaporating immediately as she was reprimanded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it at all," she apologized, looking properly abashed.

Her eyes stayed low, even as his tone changed. "Yes...I hope I'll never need to, but it would be nice, at least, to know I could protect something if there is a next time," she answered, risking further embarrassment by looking up at him again. "And no, I don't have one yet..."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"If you don't mean something, you shouldn't say it," he advised, "and that goes for more things than just this." He could think of a bunch of examples, but he didn't want to dwell on the topic when she obviously was apologetic, so he smiled and waved a hand as if to dismiss it. "I hope you won't either, since it's only supposed to be used as a last resort, but yeah, you never know if something bad's gonna happen. It's always good to be fully prepared in case something does," he agreed with a small nod.

Alright, so she didn't have one yet. "Were you coming in to look at getting one, then, or have you not shot before, or..?" He trailed off with a tilt of his head, trying to gauge her level of experience so he could help her out better. That kind of was the whole reason he was behind the counter, after all.  

[Tori Honoo]

She only nodded, voicing a small 'sorry...' again at his advice. He hadn't seemed to mind her teasing the other night, but she guessed it would make sense to be more sensitive to such jests while surrounded by the weapons in question. In any case, she would never do it again. His good wishes toward her safety and preparedness were taken quietly, and she chose not to pursue it further.

His questions drew her attention again to the case, her demeanor much more serious now, both from topic change and feeling of need to be more reserved around him than she had expected. "I don't know... I was actually coming in to check out the range here," she admitted. "I've shot every day since I got back from Kanto. Well, when I finally could," she explained. "I like the range I've been practicing in, but I thought a change of scenery might be nice."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While he wasn't sure why she was acting more serious, he kind of figured she felt bad about the joke - even if it had been in extremely poor taste and especially, he thought, in a firing range of all places - so he didn't question it. Instead, he maintained his easy smile and nodded, though was rather curious. "Yeah, the one on the edge of the city has the outdoor range, this one's just indoor," he said with a vague shrug, though raised a hand to scratch at his chin briefly. "Shooting every day.. If you're just learning to shoot for protection, which is what it sounds like, you really should just shoot two or three times a week. Live firing, it's called," he explained as his hand shifted to a palm-up gesture, then raised his other hand to signify something separate. "There's another thing called dry firing, but you can't really do that if you don't have a gun at home to practice with." Both hands lowered to hang from his pockets, and he smiled again. "Honestly it's way more important to practice dry firing than it is to practice live firing, especially -- well, not especially if it's just for protection, it's important for everybody," the blonde finished with a small shrug. He didn't want her to keep going and paying to shoot so often when she didn't actually need to, even if he figured she could afford it. Her place was certainly gorgeous enough, at any rate. "Anyway, what type of gun were you interested in getting?" He asked with another tilt of his head.  

[Tori Honoo]

Her brow furrowed a little, and she switched her gaze to another gun. "What's the point? Of dry firing, I mean... I'm guessing that just means without ammunition, though..." she said somewhat sheepishly, feeling even more out of place now that he had pointed out something she knew very, very little about. The frequency of her practicing went uncommented on, as she realized telling him that she actually enjoyed the short surge of power would likely be a terrible idea. While she didn't actually enjoy the act--and especially not the fact she was learning something like hands on offensive to defend herself-- or the practicing, it had become something short of an obsession-- her inability wouldn't be taken advantage of again. "I'm not sure, yet... preferably something that actually fits my hand, though..."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well," he started, switching to instructor mode, "you know what live firing is - firing it with ammunition --" he paused to tap a knuckle on the glass case to get her attention before twisting to the side to demonstrate, raising his hands to form a 'gun' and shifting to the standard stance for firing, "-- and you probably stand there adjusting the sights and aiming before shooting so you can hit the target as best as you can, right? Then reload and do it again." He dropped his arms and faced her again, slipping his thumbs into his pockets again. "Live firing is all about aiming and proper stance and procedure and stuff, yeah?"

He leaned forward to put his elbows on the case and crossed an ankle over his opposite foot, gesturing with his hands a bit. "So let's say you bought a gun and suddenly you had to use it - you've practiced a lot shooting at the range, but have you memorized where that gun will be when you need it? How fast can you load it? How fast can you pull it out from wherever you're keeping it, aim and fire it? Proper stance doesn't mean s**t when someone's life is in danger. That's what dry firing is, and why it's so important," he explained, holding up a finger as he straightened back up, his expression serious again because this was a very serious topic. "Practicing with live firing is all well and good, and can be fun, but if you're learning to shoot to protect yourself, you need to practice dry firing more often than you live fire - because when it comes down to it, if you haven't practiced dry firing enough then you'll be dead before you can even think to aim that gun. That bad guy over there," he gestured in a vague direction mostly for emphasis, "isn't gonna stand there and wait for you to pull it out and then stand properly, and hold it correctly, then aim it and fire. Unfortunately, he'd prefer to just shoot you as fast as possible. If you can't react faster, then you're pretty much screwed."

Once finished, he laced his fingers behind his head and smiled. "Sorry, that was a lot of talking," he admitted, his smile turning apologetic, "but does that make sense? What the point of it is, and why it's so important, I mean."  

[Tori Honoo]

She nodded. "Yeah..." she replied, her gaze now distant as she let the idea settle in. Knowing how to shoot was one thing... knowing how to shoot under pressure--like when faced with two members of team rocket, their pokemon, and an unsettlingly close Absol that had threatened to tear her apart.

While she was appreciative of his instruction and knowledge of the weapon and its use-- and told him his talking was no problem at all, with a soft laugh-- as defense, his professionalism with her was almost disheartening. She wouldn't ever voice that she had maybe expected more, though she hadn't expected more than at least a flirty familiarity. This is what casual nights like that were supposed to be like afterwards, she guessed. She certainly didn't have the experience to back up any assumptions she had had, and couldn't fault him for something she hadn't fully realized.

That pushed aside, she looked to him again, then to the case. "So any recommendations? On...which ones to look at if I do buy one..."