The Distance

[Carina]

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Searing 3 123

Some distance in the countryside near Gel'Grandal — but not so far that the roads were left unpaved — were a number of boutique farms and in between the boutique farms was a shooting club. It was different from the one that Carina had gone to before, but this time she had paid for her membership (under a false name, of course) and dimmed her aura considerably. She was Jane Everywoman with a sniper rifle and she preferred to keep it that way. Now she was out in a field with their longest-ranged targets, a strong breeze blowing through the trimmed grass and fucking with the trajectory of the caster shells.

She had been attempting to shoot with pure mundane skill, but she was not too skilled in the art of gunslinging. Carina loaded another two caster shells into her rifle and looked through the scope, aether pooling in her runed eye. Nigh-instantly she had the windspeed and direction in her head and the exact distance of the target from her, judging by the span of earth and grass between her and it, and by the length between the spatial coordinates. It was close enough that she would only have to align the pathways between here and there, rather than a string of them, but it was far enough she would need to aim well to even hit the target, let alone in the right spot.

Carina shifted in her grip and adjusted her hearing protection, and with semblance-assisted aim, managed to hit the target this time. It was not nearly good enough, but at least she hit it. She cursed under her breath in Synskrit and aimed again. BAM! Another mediocre shot. This time she sighed, moving her finger off the trigger and lowering the rifle to her side. "Fucking wind," in Kathalan this time, if anyone else on the range was even around to hear, though she knew it was just a matter of practice. Magic could not compensate for skill, but she was well accustomed to practicing the mundane. She turned back to the table where her featherlight bag and a box of caster shells were waiting, and started to load two more shots into her gun.

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[Zora]

With a low growl, the engine of Kira's motorcycle kicked to life. She sat astride the lean machine, feeling the familiar rumble beneath her, a sensation that never failed to bring a surge of anticipation. A fingerless-gloved hand gave the throttle a little twist, and the beast responded with a throaty roar, its eagerness mirroring hers.

Her destination, a shooting range in the countryside, was a considerable distance away, but it was a journey she relished. The ride offered an opportunity to shed the tension of her life and clear her mind. It allowed the world blurring into abstract patterns of color and movement.

Eventually she arrived. She’d never been here before, since there were plenty of pistol ranges throughout the city. But today she had the idea of using her newly purchased sniper rifle and there was no chance in hell she was finding a huge range in a dense urban environment. Hence why she was here.

She saw a woman and Kira’s gaze was drawn to the sniper rifle cradled in the woman's arms. She had never operated such a weapon before, always favoring the feel of a pistol. She would have left the woman alone except for the fact that Kira needed advice and also wanted to make a friend.

"Mind if I set up a few targets?" Kira asked, her voice steady despite the unfamiliarity of the situation. She gestured to her own weapon, namely the half assembled sniper rifle in her hands and the two sleek pistols nestled against her body, one at her thigh and the other at her hip. "I'm more used to close combat, but I figure it's high time I broaden my range."

"I've never used a sniper rifle before," Kira admitted, her eyes straying to the distant targets. “I'm Kira by the way," she said.

She’d take this time to figure out whether she was welcome or not. If she wasn’t, well, Kira figured she would just go down a ways and start shooting on her own.

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

[Carina]

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Carina, alone on this particular shooting range at this particular hour, immediately noticed when someone new began to approach her. It was enough that she had looked at her with more than a passing glance; the prickle on the back of her neck told her that someone was near before she had even looked up from loading the rifle. She turned around with it in hand, finger off the trigger. A very slightly taller woman who have easily passed as her sister with their matching dark hair and pale skin. The pistol at her hip and her thigh were loaded, but the half-assembled rifle was, of course, not. She had just driven in on a motorcycle, too — Carina had wanted to get one of those, but she'd never so much as ridden a horse, let alone driven a car or a motorcycle like they had in Gel'Grandal.

And she could teleport, which was a bit faster.

"Feel free," Carina said in Kathalan, "It's not my range." She half-turned, and then as if a switch had flipped, she decided not to be standoffish. An itch in the back of her mind told her that she should not so readily brush off a friendly stranger, and there was nothing in her early impression of the woman's aura that made her think she intended her harm. Unless she was hiding it, like Carina was. She turned her head back to look at Kira.

"I'm Anna." It wasn't a lie of any stretch, simply her first name rather than her middle, but she felt inclined to give different people different names until she knew their intentions well enough for them to know her as Carina. "I'm not much of a fighter myself, I'm sure you can shoot better than I can. That's why I'm practicing." She rolled her shoulders and blew some bangs out of her eyes, but it was futile. The strong breeze was relentless.

"How do you like your pistols?" Carina asked as she took aim and shot at the target, getting just that much closer to where she aimed this time. She looked up and tilted her head towards Kira. "I've thought about getting one, but I'm not sure if I like being that close to people."

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[Zora]

Kira was glad that she’d met a friendly soul. Some people that were into guns were snooty and others had some kind of dark past that made them want to stick to themselves. Maybe things were different out in these more open parts? She didn’t know.

“Really? It looks like you know what you’re doing,” Kira said with a chuckle. She’d heard her shoot at least one shot which was more that Kira had ever done.

She had asked about her pistols so she glanced down at the one strapped to her thigh. "They have their advantages. They’re great when you’re dealing with a bandit. They’re quicker than firing an arrow or throwing a knife. Aside from magic I think they’re the best mid range offensive choice a girl could hope for.” Though, now that she thought about it, guns were basically magic because of how caster shells worked.

Kira set her things down on the ground and drew a pistol and asked, “want to give it a try? I need some time to finish putting my gun together anyways.” She noticed the wind now and said, “might want to set up a closer target. I don’t think anyone’s hitting anything that far away with this weather.”

Kira would offer the gun to the woman if she showed signs of wanting to take a pistol. Either way, she’d get to work sliding the large gun together and trying to copy Carina’s setup. Kira really didn’t plan on spending all that much time shooting because of the staggering cost of rifle ammunition. Today’s trip was just to get a feel of the weapon and to figure out if she wanted to start getting better at it.

Though it wasn’t brought up, Kira was happy to let Carina try out her motorcycle. She just had to make sure to ward it in case it got dropped. She’d only be mad if someone tried to steal it, but her pistols gave her some peace of mind that nobody would be that silly.

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

[Carina]

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Carina put her rifle on the table when Kira offered the pistol and looked at it curiously, and while the shooting range was empty, quickly teleported to a target and brought it closer with a step through another portal. She returned to Kira and took the pistol.

"Thank you." She looked at it, still fairly large in her small hand, but not nearly as large as the rifle. "Can you demonstrate for me? I'm not sure how to hold it." She somewhat remembered the man she had teased in a friendly competition the last time she was at the shooting range, but she did not remember how he had held his pistol. "And, I think you'd have good luck using that rune you have. Kinetics. You could get some use out of it with your pistols... might not even have to use a sniper rifle if you get the timing right."

Carina shrugged. "I don't have that rune, so I wouldn't know for sure. But I know a little bit about it." After Kira showed her how to hold the pistol, she'd take a shot at the closer target, though she missed, even with Semblance to guide her initial aim. The little tricks she had done before could be impressive, but not a practical replacement for regular gunslinging — but either way, she decided to demonstrate.

"I'm not a great shot, but I can compensate." With a wave of her hand she created a portal a few inches away from the pistol, with another small tear in the material a foot in front of the target. Carina shot into it, and the bullet ripped right through the center. "I still need to practice regular shots, it's not always practical to be waving magic around." She held out the pistol back to Kira.

"So you came in on a motorcycle, huh?"

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[Zora]

Surprise took hold of Kira as she watched Carina teleport and move the target in the blink of an eye. Her mouth fell open slightly, her gaze fixed on Carina as she reappeared, a flicker of awe in her eyes. Had she really just seen this woman use magic so casually?

Kira blinked, shaken from her stupor by Carina's question. "Oh, sure, I can show you," she said, taking a moment to process the request. She pulled out her other pistol and demonstrated the correct grip on the pistol and how to aim it. She fired a shot at the target Carina had moved and she grazed the edge of it.

Carina's next words caused her to pause. Her use of the term 'kinetics' threw Kira off. How did Carina know she possessed kinetic magic? She hadn't used it in front of her... had she? The thought was disconcerting.

"Wait, how did you know about..." Kira began, but decided to leave the question unfinished. She supposed it didn't matter how Carina had found out. “I haven’t thought about using kinetics to help with shooting. I honestly don’t see how it could help much.” She shrugged.

After watching Carina land a shot by manipulating the fabric of space, she asked “why even bother with a gun?" Kira found herself asking, her eyes focusing on the hovering pistol. "If you can make an attack appear next to the target you could easily slit their throat before they even realized you were there."

Kira was going to let Carina’s knowledge about her go but she couldn’t help but feel weird after the woman mentioned her motorcycle. She asked, "yeah I rode in on a bike. How do you know so much about me? Are you reading my mind or something? Because if you are then I’m soooo jealous. I wish I could do that…" She thought teleportation was impressive too, just not AS cool.

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

[Carina]

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"You need to think harder, then." Carina offered, in response to her dismissal of kinetics and shooting. To Carina, it felt like a natural combination — you could offer extra distance to your shot, change the trajectory, curve the caster shell around corners — and she only had a basic understanding of the rune. Kira seemed a bit younger than her, and so it made sense she did not think too far out of the box, but she still bristled at her advice being so easily shrugged off.

"I don't slit throats." She had never shot or killed another person, period. She wasn't sure she ever would, but she still wanted to know that she could, and from so far away that there was no hope to know it was her who did it. Truthfully, Carina hated being acknowledged or noticed as much as she enjoyed being the center of attention, but it was a convoluted, confusing series of caveats and exceptions that allowed for one or the other.

She didn't answer about how she knew so much, quickly becoming self conscious about it. She picked up her rifle again and stood in front of the target. "I can't read minds. Did you know," she paused as she pulled the trigger on her rifle, her mind funneling far too much aether than situationally appropriate into her Semblance rune to try and figure out the best way to adjust her aim. The shot landed a bit closer to the center this time. "That everything you do will leave an echo, an impression, on the things around it? Not every echo is equally important, and they can fade over time... but I don't know if echoes ever naturally, fully disappear from an aura." She thought of Hector's aura, who had an abrupt end to his memories of anything older than a year.

"It's pretty useful to know these things. You know, I think there's some magic academy in Gel'Grandal, but I've no idea how easy it is to get in or anything. And maybe it's better to figure out some stuff on your own. But you could stand to keep more of an open mind about these things." She was still a touch grumpy about the kinetics-advice-dismissal.

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[Zora]

Kira raised an eyebrow at Carina's response, feeling a mix of confusion and curiosity. She didn’t give kinetics much more thought and she certainly wasn't observant enough to know that this had upset her fellow gun enthusiast. She had never needed to do anything special with a shot that would have necessitated combining guns and magic.

As Carina picked up her rifle again, Kira listened attentively to her words, her eyes focused on the target. She had heard of aether leaving echoes or impressions a few times before and it piqued her interest. "That's interesting," she mused, "are you implying that you’re a sembler?" She had a vague idea about what each of the popular magics did but nothing very in-depth. Another one that came to mind was mesmer, but she didn’t know if that was exactly mind reading.

“I suppose I could check out the Academy… I only moved here like less than a year ago. I’ve also never been the academic type. I feel like I’d be too stupid to get anything out of it. Did you learn at there?” Kira didn’t really know how mages came to be in this part of the world. Her father had initiated her and with Carina being one of the only mages she’d met since moving here she figured it was a good chance to learn.

Kira finally finished assembling her rifle and she loaded it. She didn’t aim at anything in particular. She thought it would be nicer for them to just chat instead of interrupting it to walk out and set up a target. Kira fired a bullet and was surprised with how much the gun recoiled. She let out a sharp yelp of surprise then giggled to herself.

“It’s got some kick doesn’t it?” She had to take some time to aim again and when she pulled the trigger again she was ready for the kick back. She couldn’t even tell where the bullet was going but she was having fun.

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

[Carina]

+5 EXP Carina, Can be used for magic