Private Target Practice

[Arris Windrun]

WALALLA
Vess Sadragen
​

Arris had invited Vess without much context. Only said it was important and went so far as to rent her a ride if she needed one. But when Vess arrived, she'd find herself out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a campsite to indicate the presence of life at all - besides the birds in the sky and the small animals that roamed the shrubbery. The plainslands of Walallia were beautiful; peaceful.

The cyborg herself was parked, ass down in the grass, back against a large boulder which shaded her from the evening sun. Across the field there were a number of other rocks, some larger, a few smaller than hers. On each of them rested bottles and cans.

She looked up as Vess approached, tilting her head slightly and sipping a beer. "Well, took ya long enough." She patted the crate of alcohol beside her. "Grab a bottle - have a seat." Another sip, followed by a sigh.

There was another crate beside the booze. That one was loaded with slugs and power packs. And beside it, more unmistakably, was a large rifle.

Whether or not Vess accepted a drink, Arris held hers and stood up.

"You ever used a gun before?"

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess's eyes swept over the campsite as she approached, lingering only briefly on the bottles balanced atop the distant rocks before settling on the rifle beside the second crate. It didn't take much imagination to work out why Arris had invited her all the way out here. She reached down, plucked a bottle from the crate, and settled onto the grass beside the cyborg. Popping the cap free, she took a small sip before looking back toward the makeshift range.

"Nice spot."

When Arris asked the question, Vess gave it a moment's thought. "Once or twice," she admitted. "I won't pretend I'm any good." A faint smile touched the corner of her mouth. "Business end toward the enemy, safety off, squeeze the trigger." She glanced sideways at Arris. "But I'm guessing you're about to tell me there's considerably more to it than that."

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen
​

Arris snickered. "Honestly?"

She set her bottle down on the boulder and picked up the rifle. In one quick motion, she entered a shooter's stance, but notably ignored the very large scope that otherwise seemed essential to the whole sharpshooting thing. Instead, she scanned the horizon with her eyes for only a second or two before pulling the trigger.

The rifle erupted - firing a metal disc that spun rapidly and screamed down the stretch. When it seemed to approximately reach the bottles, the disc (guided by the Force) began to curve, slicing through two bottles before fishhooking back in the shooter's direction.

"Not really."

Arris set the gun aside, holding her hand out to catch the violent projectile. She honestly tried to halt its momentum just right but was a little too late. The disc ran deep into her metal palm, and nearly out the other side. But hey - it stopped, right?

She looked at Vess, shaking her hand violently until the disc ripped out and clattered against the grass.

"I just don't want you getting into a fight with nothing but a lightsaber, y'know? I recommend a slugthrower. Personally. I find Jedi really struggle to wrap their heads around it, and everyone else will just be pissed off to see a 'forcie' fighting with something conventional. Really wrecks their whole plan."

She gestured to a small box on the ground. "Open it up. Got you a gift."

Inside was a .48 pistol. An underworld weapon, and in many ways, an ancestor to the design Arris herself ran with.

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess crouched beside the box, lifting the lid with quiet curiosity. Resting inside was a sleek, compact pistol, the finish worn smooth along the edges where years of holster wear had polished the metal. Small scratches and nicks caught the evening light, each one hinting at a life spent being carried far more often than admired.

She lifted it carefully from the box, surprised by the weight settling into her hand. Without thinking, her thumb found the magazine release. She caught the magazine as it slipped free, giving it a quick inspection before glancing through the empty magazine well. Satisfied, she worked the action once, listening to the clean metallic movement before easing it forward again.

Only then did she really look at it. A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "It fits." She brought it up into a natural two-handed grip, testing the balance before lowering it again. There was nothing flashy about it no unnecessary ornamentation, no attempt to impress. Simply a well-made tool that had clearly earned its wear. She grinned at the forcies comment. "Yeah, Jedi don't tend to like anything that goes against their formula. A gun is just another tool."

Her hazel eyes lifted to Arris. "...Thank you." The words were simple, but entirely genuine. She looked back down at the pistol, turning it over once more in her hands. "I think I'm going to like this."

​

TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen
​

Arris whistled low. "You know your way around it," she remarked.

She returned the woman's thanks with a smile. "Yeah - you can thank me after you learn how to fire it without breaking something," she was only half-joking.

Though it wasn't as powerful as her customs, the enforcer still required some solid training to be fired properly. At best, you might just miss. At worst, you'll tear a muscle.

The cyborg drew one revolver, 'down' etched into the songsteel frame, and took a stance aimed down range.

"Mirror me," she said before holstering her weapon and stepping slightly behind Vess. "How strong are these arms?" She placed her hands on the apprentice's shoulders, making sure her posture was right.

"You work out, or are these just occupational muscles?"

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess glanced down at the pistol in her hands, then back toward Arris with the faintest hint of a smile. "I can take it apart without embarrassing myself. I have fired blasters before, but not much weight or power to those." At the instruction, she shifted her stance and mirrored what she'd seen, feet settling more firmly beneath her as she brought the weapon up.

When Arris stepped in behind her and placed her hands on Vess's shoulders, Vess went noticeably still for half a second. Her eyes flicked sideways, checking Arris almost on instinct before she relaxed again and allowed the correction before she visibly relaxed again.

"Occupational, mostly." Vess flexed one arm slightly, as if checking the answer herself. "I climb things. Crawl through things. Carry things I probably shouldn't. I don't have a gym membership, if that's what you're asking."

Her attention settled back downrange.

"How bad is the recoil?"

​

TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen
​

Arris noticed the hesitation.

She laughed at Vess's joke about gym membership. But climb and crawl? That reminded Arris of her days as a runner for the Sneaky Shens. She considered saying as much - telling a little bit about herself - before Vess asked about the recoil.

"It's intense, but won't wreck your arm if that's what you're worried about. But you don't want your back too tight, either, or you might pull a muscle."

Truthfully, there were many ways in which the young woman might injure herself, and Arris had been out of the organic game too long to give great advice, but she tried to rely on what she remembered.

"You should give it a try, I think. That'll help me know where you're at, and what kind of input you need."

She thought for a moment.

"So, I asked Lily the same question, but why the hell do you two beat around the labels? Will-they-won't-they in the 10th century? C'mon."

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess listened carefully, adjusting her stance as Arris explained it. She loosened her shoulders a little, settling both hands around the grip before raising the weapon toward the collection of bottles downrange. She took a moment to line up the sights, finger resting alongside the trigger rather than on it.

Then Arris asked that.

Vess lowered the pistol slightly and looked sideways at her.

"What?"

There was just enough genuine surprise in the question to buy her a second before she realized exactly what Arris meant. Her expression shifted, somewhere between embarrassment and annoyance.

"We're not doing a will-they-won't-they." She brought the pistol back up, perhaps a little too quickly, focusing very intently on the sights. "We're together. We just haven't..." Her brow furrowed. "Actually called it anything."

That sounded considerably worse once she'd said it aloud. Vess sighed and glanced back at Arris. "Why the hell did you ask Lily too? Are you taking a survey?" She shook her head, returning her attention downrange and tightening her grip. "Can I shoot the gun now?"

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen​

Arris chuckled and threw up her hands at the elbow in mock surrender.

"And they were shipmates," she teased in a tone best reserved for ghost stories, before returning to her usual dry demeanor. "I asked because if my apprentices are gonna be knocking boots, then they should at least be clear about it, and what they want."

She took a few steps back, watching Vess' form. She jerked her head in a motion that said: Steady.

In a way, it all reminded Arris of her time with Roxana. Did they ever label it themselves?

"Yeah. Go ahead. Impress me."

Arris smiled... faintly... while Vess was too busy looking down sight.

She missed what they had.

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess rolled her eyes, but the color creeping into her cheeks betrayed her far more than she would have liked.

"We are perfectly clear about what we want," she muttered, though Arris had managed to make her suddenly very interested in the bottles downrange. "And I'm pretty sure whatever Lily and I are doing isn't covered under your responsibilities."

At the gesture, Vess caught herself and relaxed. She adjusted her feet, loosened the tension in her shoulders, and brought the pistol back into line. The weight felt comfortable enough; it was what happened next that she wasn't entirely convinced about.

"Impress you. Right. No pressure."

She took a breath, let half of it out, and squeezed the trigger. The recoil hit considerably harder than she'd expected. Vess rocked backward a step, arms kicking upward with the weapon before she managed to bring it under control. Whatever happened to the bottle she'd aimed at was almost secondary to the startled look she gave the pistol.

"Okay." She flexed her fingers around the grip before looking sideways at Arris. "You could've emphasized intense a little more."

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen​

"No - I couldn't." Arris stepped forward and gave Vess a pat on the shoulder. "Only way to learn, right?"

She didn't forget what Vess said when Arris asked how she learned mechu deru. They were both intuitive learners.

"Think about what went wrong. Replay how it felt in your head, then give it another try."

She took a step back again and waited.

What Arris never mentioned to Vess or anyone, really, was that she wasn't some uber-talented gunslinger. She had powerful cybernetics, technopathy, and a co-processor that tracked targets for her. It made everything she did with a gun impossibly easy.

Vess was learning how to use a gun in a way that Arris couldn't really comprehend anymore.

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess gave Arris a look at the pat on her shoulder, but there wasn't any real irritation behind it.

"You're enjoying this."

She looked back toward the pistol and rolled one shoulder loose before raising it again. This time she didn't immediately aim. She thought about the first shot instead, replaying the moment the weapon had gone off. The sudden kick through her wrists, how she'd stiffened against it rather than letting her arms absorb it, how her weight had been just a little too far back when the recoil hit.

That she understood. Take something apart, figure out why it didn't work, put it back together differently. Vess shifted her footing, leaning slightly forward this time. Her grip remained firm without strangling the weapon, shoulders looser as she brought the sights onto another bottle.

"Alright..."

She breathed out and squeezed the trigger again. The pistol bucked hard, but this time Vess moved with it. Her arms rose before settling back toward the target, and she stayed exactly where she was. A grin immediately tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh."

She glanced toward Arris.

"That's better."

Then her attention returned downrange as she brought the pistol up again.

"Don't look so impressed. You'll ruin your reputation." she grinned before squeezing the trigger a second time.

​

TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen
​

Arris chuckled.

"My reputation? What - genocidal maniac, or Nar Shaddaa's biggest loser?" She clicked back.

She watched as Vess turned her attention downrange again. Okay, Arris thought... How could the young woman do under pressure?

"You think seeing you use a gun like that will get Lily hot?"

She waited until just before Vess pulled the trigger to say it.

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess had just settled the sights back over the next bottle. Her stance felt better now. Weight forward, shoulders loose, both hands firm around the pistol without fighting it. She drew a breath, let it slowly escape and began squeezing the trigger.

Then Arris spoke.

The shot cracked across the field.

It wasn't even close.

Vess's head snapped toward Arris, the pistol remaining pointed safely downrange as the tips of her ears immediately turned red.

"What the fuck, Arris?"

There was a moment of complete disbelief before she realized exactly what the woman had done.

"Oh, you did that on purpose."

Vess stared at her for another second, caught somewhere between wanting to be annoyed and reluctantly appreciating the trap. Her eyes narrowed.

"Also, for the record, I don't need the gun for that." A smirk pulled at her lips as she turned back toward the targets before Arris could respond, cheeks still noticeably warm as she reset her stance.

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen​

Arris felt a guilty pleasure when Vess missed her shot. More so when she turned around, heated and embarrassed in response.

She nodded once when Vess guessed that it had been on purpose.

Then she laughed again, this time at her quip. "Yeah?" She asked rhetorically. "If you think what you did on Kashyyyk was hot shit, then you might wanna guess again... It was impressive," she grinned. "But also annoying. Though..."

She pretended to muse a little longer than it took.

"Some women go for that."

Arris snapped her fingers twice and pointed her finger, almost scoldingly so in a shaking motion, back downrange. Of course, Vess had already directed her attention that way.

"What do you like about her?"

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess caught the gesture from the corner of her eye and kept the pistol pointed downrange, refusing to give Arris the satisfaction of looking at her again.

"You're really committed to making this difficult, aren't you?" The question caught her differently, though. Her finger eased away from the trigger as she considered it, and for once there wasn't an immediate sarcastic answer waiting.

"She's fearless." A small smile tugged at her lips. "Not the stupid kind, either. Lily knows exactly how bad an idea something is and somehow decides she's doing it anyway."

Vess adjusted her grip absently.

"She's clever. Funny. Absolutely impossible when she wants to be." Her smile grew despite herself. "She makes everything feel... easy, I guess. I spent most of my life assuming I was better off handling things myself. Then she showed up and apparently decided that wasn't happening anymore."

She paused, realizing she'd said considerably more than intended as he cheeks flushed.

"...And she's hot."

Vess raised the pistol again, settling the sights over the bottle, aiming, and before Arris could distract again, pulled the trigger, shattering a bottle downrange.

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen​

Well...

Arris was just expecting her to be more flustered. She didn't think Vess would say something so sweet. Reminded Arris of... Well, Arris. At least the Arris that Roxana knew and described in similar words, once upon a time.

Rox, on the other hand, was serious. Brave. But quiet. She made the best of a terrible situation, and honestly, in hindsight, in the moment, Arris wondered if Roxana knew. She saw the world for what it was well before Arris ever did.

The joy slipped from her grip. Might as well have been a gun clattering to the grass. Of course, from Vess' perspective, the Sith Lord froze as her mind went inward.

She only snapped back to the world when Vess cracked another shot.

"Good..." She exhaled. "Great job."

 

[Vess Sadragen]

Vess lowered the pistol after the shot, a small satisfied smile appearing when she saw where it landed.

Then she glanced back at Arris.

The smile faded.

That hadn't been the reaction she'd expected. Arris had been having entirely too much fun getting under her skin a moment ago, and now she'd gone somewhere else entirely. Vess didn't know where, but she'd spent enough of her life watching people to recognize when someone had been dragged into a memory they hadn't meant to visit.

She didn't ask.

Instead, Vess looked back downrange and turned the pistol slightly in her hands, giving Arris whatever space she'd stumbled into.

"Thanks."

There wasn't a joke attached to it this time.

She checked her grip again, letting a few seconds pass before bringing the pistol back up. When she spoke again, some of her usual ease had returned, though she didn't try to drag Arris back into teasing her.

"Alright, what am I doing wrong now?"

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TAG: Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen​

"Nothing wrong." Arris shook her head. "You just need to practice... that's all."

Hell, she was fucking glum.

"I think that's enough shooting for me."

Arris turned back to her makeshift camp. She packed the rifle up and tidied her things. Then, she grabbed another beer and cracked it open. Though it wasn't for her. She left it atop the large stone and lit a cigarette for herself instead.

She took a long, needy drag, pulling a third off the top. The ash crumbled when she exhaled.

"You need to learn how to fire when distracted, too. You don't have the opportunity to stand still in a fight."

There was noise. Life-or-death. Unpredictable opponents. Sometimes they shot back. Other times they threw the Force at you. To be able to fight with a firearm like Arris could, you had to be able to fire on the move. You had to get creative.