[Marlene Lovechild]

"I see. Thank you for your kindness."

Marlene referred to Mr. Browning's willingness to teach her as such. Because, in her mind, a simple request did not give him any incentive to work with her. He could have asked for a monetary compensation. Or any other favor, as it was not within his directy responsiblities. Instead, they were here now, shooting his bullets and his gun. Marlene identified all of this as a favor. One that, perhaps, it was her duty to return. 

Since she was told to open fire with the last remaining shots, the automaton did so. 

Now though, like a well-scoped weapon, she knew the adjustments she had to make to hit at that specific distance, with the specific conditions affecting the field now. Take stance, hold the gun with both hands, fire. Blam! Blam! Blam!

One would think that she missed the target all three times, after that. But, if looked at and inspected carefully, an astute observe would be able to see that the target was missing its bullseye. Which was completely pulverized by the bullets hitting in what was essentially the same spot. Having done so, Marlene checked if the gun was loaded, took a step back, and worked to discharge the shells. 

"Why do you not trust the government?" - Marlene asked, while reloading the revolver again. It seemed like a very innocent, or a very naive question. Yet, the automaton kept staring at her teacher, expecting an honest, or an earnest answer. Or instructions on what to do next, whichever came first. Either was fine, really. 

[lonewolf]

"My goal is to teach you kids weird and wacky skills that villains won't be expecting out in the field. What hero would they expect to use a gun?" The logic to him made sense. He was just doing his job.

To any other observer that wouldn't know any better, it would look like she missed. Mark knew better though; looking through the scope would confirm what he expected. Perfect holes through each and every bullseye. It was uncanny, and this meant he had to figure out a way to expound her familiarity with other weapons. Which meant he needed to pull out some of the stuff he had in storage. His contact was not going to be happy.

"Consider it a standard American feeling," he says, shrugging. "We literally broke away from our original patron because we didn't want to pay taxes. Our government got up to some wacky shit during the Cold War. And that's not counting anything from the advent of quirks." He let out a sigh. "Hard to have faith that is in place for the people when it does nothing for them."

Marlene Lovechild

[Marlene Lovechild]

"You should let machines govern you. They lack weaknesses of flesh and character."

Marlene mentioned it nonchalantly. There was a long pause afterwards, as she approached the table to load the gun again. Besides the clicks of bullets inserted into the cylinder, there were no words. Which made the comment she just made even more eerie. Normally Marlene followed it up with a quick affirmation that she was kidding. There wasn't one, this time. 

Or, that was the case, for a time. Because a weird, freaky grin appeared on her face, which she quickly covered with her hand.

"He-he-he~"

When she removed the hand, the expression was back to her normal, neutral expression. Which begged the question as to what had just transpired. A symptom of the inevitable machine rebellion? Or one pulling a creepy prank on the already bewildered teacher? Marlene acted as though nothing happened at all, looking at Mr. Browning now.

"I am awaiting further instructions." - the automaton girl said. Her eyes studying her teacher's face for any kind of reactions. Such a childish thing to do. It lacked any purpose, and did not help advance the automaton's goals in any way. And yet, she found playing the role of a killer-bot, as her teacher put it himself, amusing, somehow. 

'This is oddly entertaining.'

[lonewolf]

Mark just stared at her. One that would peel the paint off a battleship as he casually lowered his shades to observe her. If this were a human person then he might have an effect, but machines were different. Marlene could to an extent emulate people, but what she failed to realize was the way she came off was way too creepy. She had 'joked' about this sort of thing before, even earlier today, but the way Marlene went about it...

Mark took a step back after seeing her expression, trying to see something on her neck. "Do you have some sort of emergency shutdown? Something to keep your consciousness from merging with the ghosts in the machine? 'Cause the last thing I want to do is be forced to compute pi all day." That would be an absolute tragedy, especially since he didn't even know what pi was.

"Practice makes perfect, and repetition of good habits forms muscle memory. I don't care if you barely chip away at the paper, I want to see those same groupings."

Marlene Lovechild

[Marlene Lovechild]

"There are no ghosts in the machine, mr. Browning. And there is no emergency shut-down switch. There is just me."

Marlene said as she loaded the weapon again and approached the firing range again. The repetitiveness of motion was something she was good at. Take stance, aim, make corrections based on what one knows, fire. Observe, make additional corrections, fire. Again, and again. However, this time she knew the distance, the drop-off, and the wind, if there was any. Made everything else much easier.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shots were very accurate. Pulverizing the bullseye of the target just like the last time. Once more, Marlene hadn't moved an inch from the recoil, if she could even feel it. Which was definitely a nice quality to have for a gun person. Along with the ability to lock one's limbs in place. She liked her grouping. Still...

"I can hit a static target with reasonable accuracy now that I know the bullet drop at that distance, and other factors. What do I do if I do not know these parameters?"

The automaton lowered her gun and turned her head to the teacher, shortly followed by the rest of the body. Waiting for an answer.

"Tell me, and I will not have you compute Pi. That was a joke."

[lonewolf]

"Disappointing," he says, looking downrange again while putting his hands in his pockets. "And Skynet will have to teach me pi first, 'cause I have a very limited grasp on that."

The last question was one that he himself struggled with, when he was younger. He remembered vividly a carnival that he, his brother, and father attended one evening; his dad was on the job, something that the two boys didn't know at the time, but there was a revolving duck game that they struggled with. An older gentleman was kind enough to give some pointers: "A moving target is only difficult to hit if you don't know where it's at. If you know what your bullet does at range, and you know where your target is going to be in the time you pull the trigger, you are guaranteed to hit every time."

He brought a hand up to his chin, thinking of all the technical details he could throw on her. It was something he wouldn't teach to an actual human as they were numbers and hard to grasp...and they were numbers that he couldn't quite compute in his head, either. He could get away with practice and experience, and adding math to the equation would just ruin his day. "A lot of field work you have to just guess what your ranges are and what the wind is like. Best thing I've learned to do is judge based on what I know. A puff of smoke, a wind chime, football field lengths, even figuring out speed roughly just based on looking at an object in motion. Everything I know is stuff I've put into practice, but it's not perfect. It's up to you to figure out the best way to determine how to put a hole in something...not to mention the why."

He looked at the box of .22s, his lips pressed into a line. "I can figure out a way to train on moving targets next time we come out. I'll also see about getting hold of something with a little more punch. .22 is a fun little caliber, but it's also not the best when facing off against an opponent."

Marlene Lovechild

[Marlene Lovechild]

"It's up to you to figure out the best way to determine how to put a hole in something..."

"Someone." - Marlene corrected her teacher. "Inanimate objects are not villains that I would need to fight. People are." - she said, and then thought for a little bit longer, processing the context of the conversation. One could almost see a proverbial lightbulb light up inside of her head, when she got it. "Oh. We are talking about target practice. My apologies." 

She stood self-corrected.

Having loaded the gun, she approached the firing line again. But, without explicit orders or permission to fire, she did not open up on the targets. Listening to the explanations on hitting moving and distant targets while lacking full information on the conditions. It sounded a lot more difficult. There were many what-ifs to account for. And at times when there was no time, the results of shots would not be perfect. Which ... went into conflict with all what was said earlier, about taking care to not shoot other people, miss, or hit things one did not intend.

"How is one to use a gun effectively, if precision is mitigated by guesswork, yet is required to avoid collateral damages?" - Marlene asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Also, am I to continue firing at the static targets?" - she asked. The latter part she certainly sounded a little bit eager about. There was something about striving to achieve a perfect shot in these uncertain environments. It felt like an achievement, in a way.

Or maybe, the bot just liked firing guns.

[lonewolf]

Mark rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Something or someone. You'd be surprised what a few rounds of .45 can do to an engine block. Remember, putting a hole in someone should be a last resort, and sometimes you can get someone's attention a lot more by wrecking any gear they have or shattering a weapon they might hold. But that's trick shots we can practice on down the line."

He then pointed downrange, indicating the targets. "You have a knack for this sort of thing. When not compensating you're off by what, eighth of an inch? Maybe a fourth? So long as you can hit something the size of a silver dollar with minimal margin of error. But that's what practice is there for. You learn the science on the range within a controlled environment, then you drill in something that isn't control. The range familiarizes you with the tool, the drill familiarizes you with the environments you will be using it in."

The glee was not lost on him, and it still scared him. He looked down at the box...wow, that was a lot of spent shells. "We'll...run through this box. Once you feel good we'll pack it up and determine the next piece you can familiarize yourself with. Maybe a nine next time."

Marlene Lovechild

[Marlene Lovechild]

"Hm. Your chain of logic is correct." 

Marlene nodded. Maybe she would have to shoot at things. Like tires or engine blocks. That was ... acceptable, also. And maybe less disturbing than thinking about how to spill human guts out. Then again... she did not really like the idea of shooting through an engine either. The car was not at fault of how it was being used. It felt... wrong to punish it for fulfilling its purpose. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Having been told to empty the rest of the box into target, Marlene did so. Each go she was a little bit faster to assume the stance, aim, and pull the trigger. She was a fast learner, somewhat. And her learning process was similar to humans. The difference was in that every part of her motion was conscious, and she could memorize the exact positioning of every joint in her body. Soon enough, the static targets were no match, at all ranges presented here. The automaton riddled their centers into holes.

Eventually, though, she ran out of bullets. And when she did, she came back, emptied the casings, and closed the gun back up. She did not hand it back, though, not yet. Instead, Marlene inspected the weapon, holding it gingerly and carefully, and brushed a hand over the barrel. Glowing strands of energy emerged from her fingers, going about and into the gun, like many tiny hands. Taking away the soot and little bits and pieces of dirt the gun might have had, cleaning it. Within moments, the weapon was made pristine. Perhaps even more so than when Marlene received it. Only then, would she place it back on the table, and look to her teacher.

"Thank you for the first lesson, mr. Browning. You are an excellent teacher. How much do I owe you for your work?"

[lonewolf]

As the lesson began to wind down, Mark picked up a broom in order to start collecting the brass that was on the table. There was a nice pile, and he liked collecting it for reuse. At the question he gave her a look, the smallest hint of an eyebrow raising. "Your tuition is what pays me," he says, dumping as many casings as possible into a small bag. He reaches out to take the gun to give it a quick inspection, only to find it was almost in pristine condition. Like nothing had ever happened to it. It was freaky, but after a moment he remembered that Marlene's quirk gave her an affinity for things like that. Pulling a case towards him he set the gun in there, nodding. "But if you want to be literal, then I'll accept payment in the form of you being the best damn shot in the hemisphere." He looked over at her, taking his glasses off. "We'll move on to moving targets next time, let you get accustomed to that."

Marlene Lovechild

[Marlene Lovechild]

Oh, he said the magic words.

Marlene was, indeed, very literal. One could almost hear the little scribbling inside of her head, recording what mr. Browning said as an intermediate objective to be achieved. With a little 'plonk' sound when the information finished processing. A small smile appeared on the automaton's face.

"Very well. I shall repay you by becoming the best gunslinger in this hemisphere."

And it was, indeed, what Marlene intended to do. Her job was to be a Hero, after all. And if she were to do this job to the best of her ability, she had to expand her arsenal. With guns. Which she would. And through practice and dedication, she will be able to make good on her teacher's rather unusual payment request. Having gathered her things, she was ready to depart.

"Until next time, mr. Browning. I am looking forward to our next lesson."

She would leave, when allowed to leave. And maybe next time, she'd find a way to compensate the man for his hard work. He seemed intimidated by the machine, yet kept his cool and did his job. Marlene respected that. Though a part of her enjoyed the infrequent terrified expressions to her jokes.

I should do more of those, next time.

[Exit thread]

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlord.
Great thread you two!

+ 5,000 EXP!!

Mark - 12,000 // 17,000
Marlene - 5,000 // 10,000

tag: lonewolf Marlene Lovechild