(no subject)

[vance_prime]

They're leaving for Australia in less than twelve hours. Drs. Magnusson and Alvarez are at each other's throats, as expected. Ms. Soliz is throwing a fit because there's no salt in the galley. Alyx has been running interference between Kleiner and the Satere-Mawe tribespeople in the hopes of keeping the former from doing something they'll all regret. And on top of it all, it feels like the twins have been using playing kickball with her bladder.

Alyx is, in short, a Bad Mood. The sort of bad mood where the next person who talks to her might get their head bitten off Ozzy Osbourne style. Once she's this pissed off, meditation exercises aren't gonna cut it--she's got to burn off the irritation with good old-fashioned violence.

Thus, in the rapidly fading light behind Milliways, we find a very pregnant Afro-Asian woman at the firing range with a custom-made machine pistol. The fact that she can barely see the targets doesn't seem to concern her.

Approach at your own risk.

[ooc: Open until it scrolls and subject to slowtimes whenever I get too tired to keep typing.]

Comments

[acts_of_gord]

She has company.

Who is not going to say anything, but who is going to silently offer a shotgun come the inevitable pause for reloading. Because really, what's more therapeutic than a shotgun?

[vance_prime]

Alyx grunts a perfunctory "thanks" as she takes the shotgun. She'll talk when she's done making things go BLAM. Maybe.

[acts_of_gord]

She's standing next to Gordon. The day he expects somebody coming down from Angry Mode to talk is the day the universe implodes from hypocrisy.

He's just going to watch, and maybe go see about finding the gravity gun and some clay pigeons, because D0G gave him some good ideas.

[vance_prime]

Several double-barreled blasts later, Alyx lowers her gun, breathing heavily. That felt good.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon moves close enough to rest a hand on her shoulder, eyebrows raised. He has an idea of everything eating her; no sense aggravating it if he can avoid it.

[vance_prime]

"Thanks," Alyx murmurs without looking up. "I needed that."

(She's getting better at anger management, she thinks vaguely. There was a time when she would have burned through an entire box of ammo while venting her frustrations.)

[acts_of_gord]

"Thought you might," Gordon says. "Know the feeling."

Well, most of it. People being insane, people being aggravating, expectations beyond the dreams of mortal men, inability to sleep, yes, the bladder thing, maybe not so much.

[first-runihura.livejournal.com]

Tarik was hoping for a little target practice after his evening run, but the firing range seems to be a little... Busy.

He knows that kind of shooting and its highly therapeutic properties. He also knows that you shouldn't approach an angry amateur when she's in that kind of mood, but sooner or later she'll have to pause to reload.

So, when Alyx does, there's a tall man in an armored uniform and a red tagelmust offering her a rifle. "Fancy a flamethrower? Best recoil-to-destruction ratio you can find."

[vance_prime]

Amateur? Please. Alyx has been using guns to stay alive since she was thirteen. She is anything but an 'amateur.'

She eyes the rifle with interest. "What's the range on that thing?"

[first-runihura.livejournal.com]

In Tarik's mind, 'amateur' never implied she isn't good at it, but the way she handles herself speaks loudly of self-taught, not professionally trained.

"Official range for the rifle is nine-hundred to a thousand metres. Of course, that depends heavily on the shooter. The underbarrel flamethrower is satisfyingly destructive to about fifteen metres."

[vance_prime]

Alyx lets out a low whistle. "Nice."

[first-runihura.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, not as fancy as a Combi-rifle, but you can't E/M it into an useless chunk of plastic, either." He gives the rifle a slightly longing look. "Though I loved the older model, with the wooden stock. You can't properly break someone's face with one of these."

[vance_prime]

Alyx barely hears him. She's already grabbed the gun and is busy taking a bead on the paper target. (With the rifle function--the target is too far downrange for the flamethrower.)

[electro_kinetic]

One Asian girl with dyed bright blue hair. One control gauntlet big enough to fit over her forearm and hand, on the ground in front of her crossed legs. One screwdriver in her left hand, being stuffed into the dirt beside her with a sigh.

The next sight is slightly less usual for Milliways: the girl produces and holds a softball-sized glowing light, humming with a low, resonant sound like a distant diesel engine left on.

[vance_prime]

That is the sort of thing that gets Alyx's attention in a hurry. She turns to get a better look, gun at the ready just in case.

[electro_kinetic]

She's not doing anything dangerous with it, other than holding it; Nori's head is tilted to see the finer articulations of the fingers on the gauntlet she's still wearing, making a noise halfway resembling a raspberry when some of the joints stick.

"Really, really hate these things," she mutters, turning back towards the bar--and Alyx. She starts at the gun being pointed at her, but doesn't make any quick or jerky moves. That, she knows, is a good way to get yourself shot. And that's really unpleasant.



"Uh."

[vance_prime]

Alyx points the gun down at the ground but makes no move to put it away yet. "What is that?"

[electro_kinetic]

"The thing on my arm is a control gauntlet. I wear them every day..." she explains, or begins to. The whole explanation takes a while.

"The glowy thing you saw was me. I can channel electricity."

[vance_prime]

Blink. Blink.

"I didn't know humans could do that."

[boston_bruiser]

If Alyx looks to her left, she'll see Voodoo running another El Presidente drill against another unfortunate trio of silhouette targets.

He's still trying to get his time down to 4.5 seconds. The light's a complication, but he's shot this at night, so it shouldn't bee too much of a problem.

The machine pistol earns a glance, but not much else - especially when the owner seems this pissed.

He strides back to the firing line after checking his targets, then turns his back to them and raises his hands.

NOW.

The drill's long since become second nature to him - turn around, unholster pistol, double-tap each target, reload, repeat step three.

He glances at the range timer. 4.42 seconds.

"Fucking finally," he mutters.

[vance_prime]

Unfortunately, Voodoo neglected to inform the person standing next to him that he was going to be performing said drill. Alyx flinches and yelps in surprise, then glares. "What the hell, man?!"

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo glances over at Alyx's yelp, then saunters over toward the targets. He figured she'd be sufficiently distracted with her own target shooting, but he apparently figured wrong.

He shrugs as he checks the silhouettes for hits. "It's not the sound that kills ya," he says, tapping his plastic earmuffs.

He probably should've let her known he was going to run a drill, true - but then again, he would've been hard to hear over the gunfire, and it's generally considered unwise to tap someone firing a fully automatic weapon on the shoulder.

"Sorry," he mutters as an afterthought.

[vance_prime]

Unfortunately, Alyx is in a Bad Mood, and therefore disinclined to let the subject drop.

"Where the hell do you get off, sneaking up on people like that?! I could have fucking killed you! I still could! You should fucking know better!"

[boston_bruiser]

Oh, no.

Oh no she did not.

Voodoo sighs, loads a full magazine into his P226, and holsters it. He brings himself to his full height - about six feet - and turns to Alyx, then fixes her with a stare that could scare a crow off a telephone wire.

"Lady, if you're gonna threaten me, then you better be prepared to follow up on it. But I'm warning you right now: you point that pistol at me and so help me God, I will blow you right out of your fucking shoes."

[vance_prime]

Alyx just barely restrains herself from saying something unflattering about Voodoo's manhood. Instead, she just clamps her jaw shut and gives him a Death Glare.