(no subject)

[trigger_man]

In the late afternoon, the sun slants across the lake as it starts to set, the birds chirp in the trees as a light breeze ruffles their leaves and ripples the water of the lake--

BAM BAM BAM BAM

--and Jack's over at the range, getting in some target practice.  

(He's quite well aware of what American holiday falls on this day in bar time.  He's been avoiding Bar so far, just in case she wants to remind him.)

[ooc: open indefinitely, as I know some people will be busy today.  Feel free to tag later this week!]

Comments

[evilontheloose]

Cybernetic-armed teen, watching the man shoot.

Funny, how she has her own reasons to avoid the Bar today, and really, avoid any Earth world.

...

Some holidays hurt. That's why she decided a walk outside would be good.

[trigger_man]

Jack finishes a clip, then steps back to load another. Looking up, he spots the girl standing nearby and nods to her in greeting.

"Am I making too much noise for you?" he asks, though it's more to be polite than because he'll stop entirely if she says yes. He might make this his last clip.

[evilontheloose]

"Nah." Jordan shakes head, running the fingers of her cybernetic hand into her hair. "Noise's good. This place's too quiet sometimes."

Quiet enough for the voice of your subconscious to speak up.

That's never good.

[trigger_man]

That gets her a very small smile, as Jack grabs another bullet and loads it into the clip. "Quiet? We talking about the same bar, here?"

[evilontheloose]

"People talk a lot, but they're all closed up in their worlds." Jordan shakes head. "If everybody's talking to themselves, yeah, it's quiet."

[trigger_man]

Jack is...fairly sure he understands what she's talking about. "And provided there isn't some kind of magic curse or alien flu going around."

He holds out his right hand, the scarring on the back in shadow. "Jack Bauer."

[evilontheloose]

"Yeah, this place's full of weird and stuff." She extends her right hand, her human, organic hand. "Jordan Kennedy."

"It's almost scary how people keep coming back for more after being transformed, trapped, infected, changed..."

[trigger_man]

Jack gives her hand a shake.

"Yeah, though I guess it depends on where you're coming in from. It's a place to unwind, where the rest of your world really can't reach you, unless other people from that world come in here. And it's not so bad when someone isn't playing a joke on people in the bar and making them switch bodies or something," he says, his tone turning wry at the end.

[evilontheloose]

It's a small hand, but stronger than Jordan seems to be. "So far, nothing like that happened to me... just costuming on Mardi Gras and Halloween."

"I guess Bar doesn't wanna know what i'd do if I were angry." Wise thing, not upsetting her?

[starrydome]

He is being watched. A tall, grey-robed figure is standing at the edge of the range, watching the Man and his practice intently.

And curiously.

The long flowing hair and the flower wreath might suggest the watcher is female, but the broad shoulders rather indicates otherwise.

[trigger_man]

Jack finishes off the clip and holsters his weapon. As he cleans up, he spots someone standing nearby, someone he would have thought he'd noticed before in the bar...but then again, he's seen weirder, here.

Jack gives them a nod in greeting. "Hope I wasn't making too much noise for you."

[starrydome]

"Not at all," Elrond replies. "I was just admiring your aim."
He walks a little closer, now that the Man is done. Up close, he looks a little less human. It's. Something about the eyes or the ears perhaps.

"And your weapon."

[trigger_man]

The ears are a bit of a tip-off, but it's mostly the eyes that get Jack. There's something very...old about them. Not in the "seen-too-much" kind of way that he's seen before; it's something else, something he can't quite put his finger on.

Jack looks Elrond over, then asks, "I take it you don't have weapons like these where you're from?"

[starrydome]

Elrond smiles a little. "You are correct," he says. "we use bows and arrows on the distance; swords, spears and knives up close."

He sniffs the air. "So you - alight something that burns quickly and pushes an object at your target?" The scent on the air suggest burning of some kind, different than wood smoke or Olorin's fireworks. Still, the fireworks is what he thinks of now; hurling themselves at the sky, propelled by flame.

The Noldorin are thinkers - and tinkers. Understanding how intrigues them.

[trigger_man]

Jack nods. "So fast it's more of an explosion."

Opening the box of ammunition, he pulls out a cartridge, holding it in the palm of his hand. "The pointed end is a bullet made of lead, and covered in steel. Inside the casing is the propellant; the part that explodes."

He holds it out to Elrond, in case he wants to examine it more closely. "Sort of the same principle as arrows, really. Fire something pointed at someone from a distance and get it moving fast enough it'll pierce the skin and do some damage. The difference is in how it's launched and the speed and distance it travels."

[starrydome]

Elrond takes the offered cartridge and turns it over in his hands. "More like bolts for a crossbow. Not sharp, but deadly when fired with enough force and that they have, as you just pointed out," he says, thoughtfully.

He hands the cartridge back. "Thank you. One encounters many new and strange things when coming through the door at Milliways.This is another one for me." And then he gives a formal head-tilt."My name is Elrond.. Thank you for indulging my curiosity."

He wonders if they are hard to aim with. Crossbows can be tricky, due to weight and size - and they are not precise enough in his opinion. This looked like precision work. At least for a mortal.

[trigger_man]

Jack very nearly puts out his hand, before catching himself. Elrond hadn't extended his, so Jack's guessing the custom of shaking hands isn't a familiar one.

"I'm Jack. And it's no problem; I think everyone who comes in here--no matter when or where they're from--finds something in here that they're unfamiliar with."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen spent a long time getting used to shooting without her Pip-Boy's weight on her left arm after Raven Rock. Now that they've given her another one, she figures she'd better get used to shooting with that weight all over again.

She'll just wait until Jack goes to reload before taking up a lane of her own. It's only sensible. Oh, and she'll wave, too. Best to let him know she's there.

[trigger_man]

Jack steps back to reload and notices Ellen taking a spot at the range.

"Hey, Ellen. Getting some practice in?" he asks, ejecting the clip and pulling the box of ammunition toward him.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It seemed like a good idea," Ellen says. "I've got a Pip-Boy again and the extra weight on my arm is throwing my aim off. I'd like to get over that before I go home. How have you been?"

[trigger_man]

Jack nods, "Yeah, I'd imagine it's like using any weapon that's heavier than you're used to. I've been all right. I've been splitting my time between here and working back in my world. Have you been in here long?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Only a day or so," Ellen says. "Maybe more- I came in and realized I'd slept maybe two hours out of the past thirty-six, so I went upstairs and made up for that. I didn't really look at the clock."

[trigger_man]

Jack's mouth curls in a small, wry smile. "Yeah, in that situation, sleep sounds like a good idea. What kept you up that long?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We had to get from the Olney Powerworks ruins to the Citadel," Ellen says. "Olney, Maryland to the Pentagon, basically. And then I had to report in and turn over the stuff we'd been sent to retrieve from the ruins, and after that it was just one thing after another until I had time to lie down for a bit."

[trigger_man]

Jack thinks for a second. "Olney's north of D.C., isn't it? Not far from Gaithersburg, I think?" He seems to have a vague memory of seeing a freeway exit for a highway leading there while driving to Baltimore.

He huffs a short, mirthless laugh. "And yeah, I know how those days go. Twenty-four hours of going from one thing to another and just collapsing into bed when it's finally over."