Tweak

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Tweak says, "that everything you wish for"

Alessa Gillespie (bring_god_down) wrote in chaosunraveled,
@ 2009-09-24 13:38:00

Entry tags:

alessa, cuthbert

Who: Alessa Gillespie and Cuthbert Allgood
When: Sometime in the afternoon.
Where: The shooting range.
What: Alessa's heading to the shooting range, and Bert has offered to go with her.

Alessa had mentioned to Asgard that she was going to head on over to the shooting range to practice. She thought it a good idea to do so; well a good idea to practice her telekinesis. This was also why she had wanted someone to come with her; it would be a good thing to also practice her defensive skills. Now if she could convince Bert to throw knives at her, then she would be set.

She was now at the shooting range, waiting for Bert to show up. Upon waiting she remembered when "she" or rather Alex had been at this very location with Sal. Memories never left, and Alessa remembered how to handle a revolver, how to shoot it, and even how to stop the bullet.

That last part may have been luck; who would know? Finally when she saw Bert coming, she gave him a light wave. "Hey, Bert!"

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-24 08:53 pm UTC (link)

Bert, more used to constantly doing things than just sitting around or engaging in idle pastimes, had jumped at the chance to join Alessa at the shooting range. Besides that, not only was Alessa interested in learning to shoot, he couldn't help but want to show off his own skills a little.

And while he did still have some vague reservations in the back of his mind about putting one of his guns in the hands of someone who wasn't a fellow Gunslinger...well, Roland had handed his guns off to Susan, hadn't he? Though Bert decided that probably wasn't a very good comparison, all things considered. But there was precedent, and as he'd reminded himself earlier, there weren't any other Gunslingers. So he'd strapped on his gun belt and holstered his sandalwood revolvers and headed down to the range.

"Allo 'Lessa!" he called back, returning the wave. "Pretty nice training area we've got here, aye?"

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bring_god_down
2009-09-24 09:46 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, it is pretty nice!" Alessa stated a tad bit excitedly. "You brought your guns with you, huh?" she then asked him.

Without taking her eyes off of him, because she was feeling the need to be cautious; Alessa pulled up the left leg of her pants, and pulled out two throwing knives from the holster. She looked at them, then at Bert, and at once asked him, "So, how good are you at knife throwing, Bert?"

Alessa figured that after Bert taught her how to shoot, then she could convince him to help with the other thing that she would need help with.

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-24 10:02 pm UTC (link)

"Never supposed to leave home without'em," Bert said, grinning, as he dropped his hands to the butts of his revolvers. By now, the grips were worn and smooth and fitted to his hands.

"Throwing knives? Passing fair," he admitted to her question. "I trained with all sorts of weapons, but never felt the call of the blade, so to speak." Range weapons were much more his style. Guns, bows, his slingshot.... "I can hit a target most of the time, long as it's closer than forty feet away from me. But I'll be straight with you, I was worst in my class with knives."

Not that he didn't still brag of exceptional prowess on any given occasion, but he knew damn well now wasn't the time or place to boast or brag. Especially when he knew damn well he didn't have a cause to.

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bring_god_down
2009-09-25 08:06 am UTC (link)

Alessa had to smile at his confession over not being all that great with knives. "I may need you to do me a favor after we practice a little while with the guns; I hope you don't mind," Alessa asked him confidently.

She placed the two knives down on the counter, and added, "I also hope you don't mind me practicing my abilities." Not waiting for an answer, she turned back to her weapons, and caused each of them to levitate in midair. Then with a flick of her wrist she sent them both flying towards the target. They both hit just outside the center.

"Knives are easier to control with telekinesis; far easier than bullets."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-25 05:13 pm UTC (link)

At least Bert had some warning before Alessa sent eh knives flying. He whistled as they hit, impressed.

"That's some talent," he managed. He was certainly used to being around those strong in the touch, but even Alain hadn't had skills like that. And while he had seen Alessa do it before, seeing her do it with knives was a bit different.

And the accuracy... well, he knew it was easier to be accurate when the hand wasn't involved in things at all. Gunslingers were trained not to rely on their hands, to act as though their weapon was part of their own flesh and blood.

Speaking of, Bert gripped his guns and lifted them from his hips, spinning them with a bit of a flair before settling them into his hands.

"These are my guns."

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bring_god_down
2009-09-25 10:37 pm UTC (link)

"Thanks," Alessa responded softly, but with a smile.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you have to practice a skill since you learn that you had it, since age 4 or 5." she explained

She watched as Bert lifted his guns from his hips, spun them around, and settled them into his hands. From where she stood, Alessa could tell that those guns were Bert's, and no others. "So, those are your children, huh?" Alessa asked.

She remembered well how Sal treated his guns, and wondered if Bert was the same way.

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-25 11:51 pm UTC (link)

He had to laugh a little at that. "Nah, they're more like...my partners. My best friends. I take care of them and they take care of me and that's how it'll be till I die. Again, I s'pose." He flipped one around, holding it with the grip facing Alessa.

"Once upon a time, a very long time ago, these belonged to my great grand sire, a knight of Eld's court. But when Arthur Eld lost his guns in battle with a giant serpent, he had his sword Excalibur melted down into a pair of revolvers with sandalwood grips. And all his knights did the same, with their own swords. And ever since then, the guns have been passed down from father to son." He wet his lips, hesitating a moment before continuing.

"They're as much holy artifacts as they are weapons. All of'em, I mean. The guns of Eld and the guns of his knights. My da passed these on to me when I was fifteen." And he still remembered how stiff and strange he'd felt in the formal uniform of Gilead, wearing the tabard with his house sigul for the first time. He remembered gripping Alain's hand, both of them scared and exhilarated and not sure whether they were boys or men.

But that was then and this was now, and Bert flashed Alessa a grin as he held one of the guns out to her.

"When I said yeh'd be learning with the best, I wasn't having you on."

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bring_god_down
2009-09-26 01:28 am UTC (link)

She chuckled, "Well at least I now have no reason to imagine you tucking them into bed, and singing them lullabies."

When Bert proceeded to tell her that story she listened attentively to every word that he spoke, and when he held out one of his guns to her. She carefully grabbed hold of it, and looked at the thing. She remembered handling a revolver, but not one like this. As if in a trance, she stated, "Hold the gun with both hands while aiming, one hand supporting the bottom, and beware of the kickback,"

Now she waited for Bert's next instructions.

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-26 01:43 am UTC (link)

Bert just blinked when Alessa seemed to be reciting some sort of lesson - she had a similar tone to the one Bert remembered issuing forth from his classmates reciting the Gunslinger's creed. But this was one that made no sense to the young Gunslinger.

"Who taught you that?" he asked, frowning. "You only use one hand, s'a revolver, not a rifle. Besides, it leaves your other free for whatever you may need - another gun, a knife, a rock if'n you're real desperate... Here." He demonstrated, bringing up his left arm and pointing his remaining gun at the target. He fell into a shooting stance without even thinking, the years of training bypassing the brain altogether.

"Arm straight, gun level, only shoot from the hip when you've got no other choice. And what's a 'kick back'?"

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bring_god_down
2009-09-26 02:52 am UTC (link)

Alessa frowned, and said, "Oh, umm, it was nobody important." She was not about to say, 'Well you see, one time I was a guy, and one of Niflheim's members taught me how to shoot.'

Yeah, like that would go over well.

Instead of saying anything else, she just watched Bert, and then copied his pose; abit not as smoothly as him. She wondered when would be the right time to shoot, but for now she just answered his question. "You don't know what a kickback is?"

With another question of course.

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-28 04:44 am UTC (link)

"Not in those words," Bert said, watching Alessa. He guessed he probably knew, just by some other term. It was strange, really. Mostly everyone talked the same way, but he'd gathered that to most people, All-World low speech was 'archaic'. Odd, as he'd say most of the machines and whatnots around here were archaic.

"That's just about right!" he went on, smiling. "Just...ah, here." He stepped closer to Alessa and brought his hand up under her elbow, adjusting just a small fraction. "There. Now keep your eyes on the target. Don't even bother looking at your gun. Remember, it's just a part of your hand. The bullet may as well jest be coming out of your finger."

It really was strange, he reflected, to see someone else holding one of his guns. Oh, sure, Alain and Roland had both used them on occasion, in emergencies, and he'd watched his father use them countless times, but that was all different. Clearly, though, there was no immediate preternatural retribution for letting someone else handle them.

"When you feel ready, shoot. It'll make a damn big noise, but's a smooth shooter."

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bring_god_down
2009-09-28 05:08 am UTC (link)

For a while, Alessa just stood there, arm raised at the target. She didn't say anything, but did remember once more, when she was here with Sal. "Want a pair of headphones? It may help with the sound." Alessa muttered, as if in a trance.

She never once took her eyes off of the target, and when she felt ready she fired the revolver. True to Bert's word, there was a loud noise, but the smoothing was smooth. The first bullet hit the second ring outside of the orange target. She adjusted her aim just a touch, and fired off the remaining bullets. This time they hit closer to the target, with one actually hitting the bullseye. Alessa lowered the gun, and turned to face Bert.

"I may have lied. I think I have used a gun before."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-29 01:25 am UTC (link)

"Well shit." Bert stood stunned for a moment and then laughed, unable to help it. He'd been hoping Alessa hit the target at all! If it had been an enemy, it'd be dead or at least fatally wounded.

"I'd say you say true, milady! That or you've got some hell of beginners luck!" It looked as though he didn't have much to teach her. Not as far as basic shooting went, and he wasn't about to train her as a proper Gunslinger. One, he didn't have the authority - or maybe he did, he had essentially been Roland's right hand once Roland stepped up as Dinh - and two, she wasn't of All-World. She probably understood more than anyone else what it was to be a Gunslinger, by virtue of Bert telling her, but he didn't think anyone raised outside of that culture could really understand.

"You handle that gun well, Sai Alessa."

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bring_god_down
2009-09-29 02:07 am UTC (link)

"Thanks," Alessa chuckled.

She stared at the gun, wondering to herself if she could ever be masterful with the gun as Bert and Sal were. She couldn't deny that these tools were excellent for murder, and for injury, but there was always something so cold about them. It scared Alessa that she preferred knives because of how passionate she could get with them.

"I used to have a twin brother," Alessa suddenly admitted without warning. "We were never actually close, but I think it was him who taught me. Only once though."

She handed the gun back to Bert, then pulled out at least three throwing knives. "Is there anything else you wanted to teach me, or can we move on to something else?"

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-29 02:13 am UTC (link)

"A twin? Really?" Alessa seemed to get more and more interesting with everything Bert learned. Twins weren't very common at all where he came from - he couldn't recall meeting any, though it was rumored that Cort had had a twin sib once upon a time.

"And I'd say there's not much else to be taught. You've got the basics, and iff'n you had to defend yourself with one, I wouldn't be worried." He holstered his weapon, still a bit stunned. He'd expected her to be practically green.

And now he was curious as to what else she had in mind. He gave her a sweeping, dramatic bow.

"I'm at your service, milady! Your most fleeting desire is my command!"

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bring_god_down
2009-09-29 02:40 am UTC (link)

"Yeah," she said dully.

and actually he was my evil half, and he tortured people, and then I killed him, so we could reunite! she thought to herself.

She proceeded to hand the knives over to Bert, and said, "I want you to stand over there," she pointed to a spot that was twenty-five feet away. "And I want you to throw these knives, one at a time, at me."

She looked at him, wondering if he would reject her proposal, so she added in, "I have a couple of abilities that aid me in blocking long distance attacks."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-29 02:56 am UTC (link)

Well. That wasn't what Bert had expected. He straightened up and ran a hand through his hair, eying Alessa just a touch warily.

On one hand, it just wasn't done to throw knives at your friends. On the other, combat was perfectly normal for training and he'd gone up against most of his classmates with real weapons. And he did trust Alessa, but...

"I can't say as I'm thrilled at that idea," he admitted. He knew she could move things without touching them, and she'd said she could handle knives well... But he wasn't sure he could gear himself up to the point where he could accurately attack her like that. He'd never been like Roland, able to find that dead calm and killer's coldness at will. It came when he was angry or terrified, when he had need to fight. But at such a relatively short distance - as far as he was concerned - it probably wouldn't be a problem. Probably.

"S'not that I don't think you can protect yourself, I just...don't make it a habit of hurling deadly weapons at friends. Well, alright, we did it in training o'course, but...well, you go into that knowing there's a pretty good chance you're gonna kill someone else in your class." He sighed and shrugged, knowing damn well id didn't make a difference.

"But if that's what you want, that's what we'll do."

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bring_god_down
2009-09-29 03:28 am UTC (link)

Alessa listened to everything that Bert said, and started to wonder if this was a good idea. Maybe she should have asked someone to help; someone that she wasn't particularly close to. But in the end, she wanted to, had to get this done.

"Yes, this is what I want. I promise, I won't make you do this long. In fact, I'll only have you do it this once." Alessa wasn't entirely unsure of herself. Afterall, she had stopped a bullet at ten feet. Would a knive at 25 feet away be any more difficult, or less?

She stepped over a few feet, and waited for Bert to make his move. "I'm ready whenever you are."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-29 03:37 am UTC (link)

Bert just lowered his head in a properly respectful gesture and took up the position that Alessa had asked. He took a knife in his hand and took a deep breath. May as well try and make it useful for himself, as well.

He reflected once more that, in many ways, he'd been cheated out of his training. Normally, he'd still be just a 'prentice at his age. He tried to clear his mind, to drive everything but the knife and Alessa. Which he did manage to do, but he couldn't get his mind to accept her as an enemy.

"Here goes," he said, giving up and drawing back his arm to throw. She'd just said throw it, not where. The least he could do was aim at a non-lethal spot. The shoulder seemed the best bet. He exhaled and snapped his arm forward, releasing it at the extension.

He sent a quick prayer out that she knew what she was doing.

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bring_god_down
2009-09-29 04:15 am UTC (link)

While Bert was readying himself, Alessa was watching his every move. When he drew his arm back, Alessa prepared herself; she prepared her mind. Her focus was on that knife and only that knife. As soon as Bert snapped his arm forward all Alessa could see was the knife; her focus. When the gunslinger released, the knife came hurling towards her.

Never once taking her mind off of the knife, Alessa made a mental grab for it. The blade stopped just a foot away from Alessa's shoulder. She physically reached out to grab it, and at once returned to "reality".

She at once placed the blade back into it's holster, and stood up right. "Throw the next one."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-29 04:26 am UTC (link)

"Ah...that got pretty close..." Bert didn't drop his stance, but his expression was one of hesitance. It just didn't feel altogether right. And he hated to admit it, but it came down to the simple fact that Alessa was a woman. Hurling knifes at a girl was just one of those things you didn't do.

But he'd agreed, and obviously she could handle herself. So he'd just have to ignore his own All-World sensibilities and get this over with.

"But iff'n you're sure..." He drew back the second knife, aiming for her opposite shoulder this time. He threw once more, resisting the urge to swallow hard. It was just like training. No different than sparring with Roland, really. If Roland had breasts.

Which was a disturbing enough mental image in and of itself to take Bert's mind off of exactly what he was doing.

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bring_god_down
2009-09-29 04:43 am UTC (link)

"I intended it to," Alessa said calmly.

For the second knife, Alessa had something else planned. Once again, as soon as Bert readied himself, Alessa readied herself. When Bert snapped his arm forward, Alessa immediately placed up a telekinetic shield. When the knife was released it traveled for ten feet before it hit the shield, and bounced off.

Alessa watched as the blade fell to the ground, and instinctively brought it to herself, catching the handle when it came to her.

"Are you ready to throw the last one?" she asked.

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	kaswhippingboy 2009-09-29 04:05 pm UTC (link)
	Bert had a feeling that, unlike when he said he meant to do something, Alessa meant it. It was clear after the second knife that she did know what she was doing. Which eased the young gunslinger's mind some. Instead of verbally answering this time, he only nodded and threw the final knife with little other warning. This one went low, towards the hip. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bring_god_down
2009-09-29 06:07 pm UTC (link)

At the third and final knife, Alessa focused on herself and the knife. She was phasing if you will. When the knife reached it's destination it passed right through her, and ended up who knows where. The young woman examined her hip; no markings; no cut; no wound. It had worked.

But she was tired, because while she was oft good with the whole telekinesis thing, she hadn't much practiced the whole phasing thing. When she thought about it, it was almost the same as teleporting; just more controlled.

"Alright, I think we're done with throwing knives at me."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-09-30 02:32 am UTC (link)

"Say thank you for that!" Bert didn't know what to think of what Alessa had just done. Magic, clearly, but none that he'd ever seen. At least it was magic that looked damn useful. But he was glad that he didn't have to hurl deadly weapons at her anymore.

"But I've got to say, that was pretty damn impressive." And he wasn't exactly an easy person to impress, at least when it came to abilities and fighting skills.

He had to admit he was curious as to how, exactly, she did it, but he bit his tongue. He wasn't sure if it would be considered impolite to start asking questions.

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bring_god_down
2009-09-30 03:18 am UTC (link)

Alessa just smiled, and said, "Thanks. And I have to thank you for doing what you did." She smiled at him, and walked back over to the target range.

She placed the knives down on the counter, and for a long time she just stared at them; as if she were fascinated by them. "When I was 14 I once sent a grown man flying at least thirty meters away from me. I had to do it; I mean, I didn't mean to hurt him."

Great, was she now thinking about Harry? The stress wound up sending all the knives towards the target; each of them hitting it in various places. Alessa turned around, and explained, "I still have difficulty controlling my powers."

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kaswhippingboy
2009-10-02 04:21 am UTC (link)

"You're welcome." Bert shrugged. He still wasn't sure what to think of her powers, so he decided just not to think about it. And he couldn't complain about lacking excitement.

He listened to her with a thoughtful air. He supposed he could tell her that when he was 14, he'd killed his first man directly and then helped lead a couple hundred others to a rather painful and messy death...but he chose not to. It was different for him - he'd been trained since he was a young boy to be a killer. He'd meant to kill those men. And it hadn't been so long ago that he'd forgotten who first suggested killing anyone in the first place.

It hadn't been Roland who'd advocated killing the old wyrd woman Rhea. It had been him. And while he had hesitated, he'd been willing to stand behind the suggestion. And probably should have, all things considered.

"S'allright," he finally said. "No harm done, target's are meant to be hit. And I'd call this a success, aye? How 'bout a cup of tea?"

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bring_god_down
2009-10-02 04:40 am UTC (link)

If Alessa knew his thoughts she would have thought of how she had practically been trained since age 6 to become a weapon, and how she had killed her first victim at age 6 as well. Not only that, but she had caused an already troubled to man to kill for her.

And if her mom had had her way, Alessa would have become the one to destroy the world.

These thoughts were instantly wiped away when Bert mentioned getting some tea. She smiled, and answered, "Yeah, that actually sounds pretty good!"

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