estoria | [OPEN]

Who: maruko "marco" reiji (

drinkscola) and you!!!
When: 08.02
Where: various places
What: marco being uncool... also guns, soda, and a football
Rating/Warning: mild language, but otherwise nothing for now!

a.

[ welcome to the gun show

or a gun range, more specifically. here's a guy dressed in a pinstripe suit (actually a school uniform, thank you), lifting a sig sauer p226 towards a target. he's done his homework such that his stance and grip are correct, but... experience tends to trump textbook knowledge. he sweats, manages to keep his hand from trembling, and squeezes the trigger.

BANG.

and holy shit, even with protective earmuffs, that's loud as fuck and the resulting kick is even more startling. while the bullet's hit its mark, marco doesn't quite notice as he yelps and drops the weapon; it clatters to the floor wherein it sets off again.

BANG.

whoops. at least that one hit the wall and not a person. he's immediately looking around to make sure no one heard that, much less witnessed it. ]

b: shopping district.

[ well that had been rough and embarrassing— time for some caffeinated, sugary calories. after fishing out his wallet, selecting coca-cola and swiping his card, a single cola tumbles out.

except, after that's been retrieved, the sodas don't stop coming. they continue to cascade out of the machine one-by-one, rolling on the surrounding pavement in a variety of directions. ]

What the hell, I'd say—!!

[ the vending machine continues until it's empty of every can. ]

c: shopping district, part 2.

[ during his hour of waiting for a maintenance bot to show (it won't), marco's taken to building an elaborate pyramid structure. he kind of half-expects something to come along and obliterate it, so he won't be too surprised when that happens. it's been a painful waste of time.

he fixes another can to its side. ]

Geez, what is up with CERES lately...

[ he gets being forced to live in a dystopia, okay, but an inefficient one sucks. ]

d: entertainment/pleasure district.

[ as someone who usually practices alone, even back home, it might be useful to scope out talent. temporarily useful, as marco knows none of this should actually stick. once he's spied someone that looks physically capable of regularly withstanding tackles and somewhat unoccupied (by which he means, unoccupied hands), he's raising his football. ]

Here. Catch, I'd say.

[ whether you like it or not, it's beamed toward your torso. hey, be grateful or something that at least he didn't beam it at your head!! ]

e: boutique; closed to kashuu.

[ okay, in-between being broke (a relative adjective) and newcomers and gross cybuddies and avoiding the hell out of everyone due to those memory shenanigans, marco's finally traversed somewhere beautifully expensive with intent. upon entering, impressed already, he'll approach someone that looks to work there. ]

Hey, I'm Marco. [ potentially useless information, okay. moving on: ] And I'm looking for someone named Kashuu Kiyomitsu...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ ah, a girl... and shiho, to boot. this is what he feared...!! hastily picking his gun off the floor, he casts a glance to the target— the bullet hole actually remarkably close to the target's center. and the second shot... well, that's nowhere near.

but, alas, "near" and "close" only counts for horseshoes and hand grenades. agreeing, he nods at the criticism. ]

... Yeah. I'll do better, next time.

[ really, he won't be satisfied until he's put in countless hours of practice to hit a bullseye every time. but now he's giving her a look over, eyes still wide. ]

You're okay, right?

[Shiho takes one step into the gun range, satisfied that he isn't going to accidentally shoot her again, meeting his eyes with a raise of her eyebrow.]

No, I'm like totally rolling around on the floor after being nicked by a stray bullet.

[Be glad she didn't decide it would be funny to pretend that she had been hit.]

I'm fine. Besides, you actually did pretty good, didn't you? [She waves one hand at the target where it's obvious that his first hit actually managed to connect and everything.] Until whatever happened for your second shot.

[Psychometry tells her that he most likely panicked but she's not supposed to know that as a self-proclaimed normal (but very cute) high school girl.]

[ lord, accidentally managing that is kind of a horrifying thought. if she wants to see him freaked out— well. that would be a decent start. he almost laughs at her sarcasm, but it's cut short to instead take the form a thin, awkward smile.

his gaze follows her wave, once more back to the target. ... and he'll mirror the gesture, pointing to where the bullet is in relation to the center, as if that should somehow make it clearer to her. ]

"Pretty good" won't cut it. That took me thirty minutes to line up... [ blatant honesty accompanied by a humorless chuckle; he doubts intensive, real life situations would give him that sort of leeway. ] You're probably better at this, huh?

[If she was worried that he really would accidentally shoot her, she doesn't show it. (Not that she's worried anyway.)]

Then practice.

[That was the only way to make up for having to take so long to line up a shot, as far as she was concerned. Well, that and being able to actually shoot at someone without seizing up.

There was no question here that she was better, especially with the psychometry. She could line up trick shots if she was so inclined.]

That's not you asking for pointers, is it? [Though the way she actually steps closer is her way of saying that she really was going to help him. Or pinch him. (Just kidding, she's going to help him since she doesn't want to accidentally or purposefully touch him with her hand.)]

Oh.

[ ... for once, underhandedly wrangling someone's assistance from them hadn't been his intention. he tries to keep it cool with such a favorable reaction, though perhaps the way his eyes widen marginally hints to his surprise. ]

... Yeah, I mean, if you have anything to offer, that'd be great.

[ the tone says he's grateful for the very idea of it, really. he takes position into the proper stance, gaze lining up with the barrel of the gun as he aims it at the target. ... he doesn't shoot quite yet, though. she might notice is stance is too wide, with his feet set a touch too far apart.

really. though not too far off, it's like he's more in football position. ]

How about you start off by not-

[Shiho takes another step and then nudges one of his feet with hers.]

-standing like you're bracing yourself for an impact or something.

[She isn't going to touch him with her hands, but since she's going to teach him, she might as well do a good job at it, right?]

[ marco looks... fairly embarrassed by that accusation, mostly because he realizes it's probably accurate. he glances at her foot as his own is nudged— obliges, with his stance becoming somewhat narrower. he'll try to look less overly prepared for future kicks from the gun. ]

... This just a hobby of yours?

[ not teaching, per se, but shooting in general. ]

What, going to shooting ranges and finding someone who doesn't know what they're doing and then deciding to teach them before they shoot themselves in the foot?

[Or maybe he just means shooting, but she's going to tease him anyway.]

Awfully specific for a hobby, isn't it?

[ marco can't believe

he's the one being so relentlessly teased here???

he needs to step up his game, clearly ]

[ pointing out that purposeful misconstruction aside— ] Well. I didn't want to be so bold in assuming myself to be a special case...

[ if it's not a hobby, that's what it makes him, right???! okay, he's joking there. a light shrug of the shoulders; he looks sheepish again, eyebrows knitting and his smile a crooked one. ]

I meant shooting, though. [ needless to clarify, he thinks. ] Inanimate targets or not.

[Believe it, Marco. It is hard to out-sass a psychometer. They've grown up their whole lives having to sass people as a defense measure.]

Nah, lots of people have no idea what they're doing when they first start at the gun range. [That's totally what he meant when he said he'd be a special case, right? The way she grins as she says it though should be indication enough that she's deliberately misconstruing his meaning.]

And it is, kind of. Though I try not to shoot at anything but inanimate targets nowadays. [Though it had probably started off more as a way of giving herself, as a very young psychometer without any offensive capability of her own, a way to both protect the people she wanted to and to give her so-called caretakers something to be incredibly bothered by. Nothing makes people more uncomfortable, she had reasoned, like a ten year old psychometer with a gun.]

[ he doesn't doubt that ]

[ well, even if she's deliberately misconstruing him again... he's glad to see that she's smiling. grinning, to be more accurate, but a bright smile all the same (and still, at his expense). ]

True. ... I won't argue that much. [ even though he can!! he hopes she knows that much. he doesn't think lots of people have studied guns and gunranges and how to shoot as extensively as he has when they first start out. ]

"Nowadays," hm? [ he allows his lips to quirk into an easier smile. ] Well, if you'd rather not talk about it, then I won't press you for the details.

Pity. [Sure he can....she has no doubt about that. But he isn't arguing about it, and the way her grin only widens probably isn't reassuring.]

I didn't say I won't talk about it? Oh, but...how does that saying go?

[She taps a finger against her bottom lip because this isn't anywhere close to touching him.]

A girl never shoots and tells? [That's...not a thing people actually say, Shiho.]

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