InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Ca ne se fait pas!"

Holly Jasmine Page (shewhodrifts) wrote in commandhq,
@ 2018-03-07 21:38:00

Entry tags:

holly page, p: mena, ~bear, ~p: bb

Who: Holly Page & Bear
What: Holly's letting off some steam
When: March 8th, mid afternoon
Where: The shooting range
Rating: PG13?

Holly adjusted how the goggles were sitting covering her eyes and raised the M-16A2 rifle, nestling it in the correct position. Narrowing her gaze, she focused on the target that was five hundred yards away from her. She took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, a few to settle her hands as she flexed them around the grips.

After doing a cursory check to make sure there was no one on the firing range - and there wasn't, as far as she knew she was alone - she adjusted the sight and put her finger on the trigger, bracing herself against the recoil and firing.

When the magazine was emptied, when all thirty rounds were expended, Holly lowered it and pulled her ear defenders off and pushed the button to bring the target closer so she could check her marksmanship. Twenty-five of the thirty rounds she'd fired had hit what would have been considered critical locations. She thought back to her training, worked out how many points it would be and nodded to herself.

Acceptable, but not good enough. That seemed to be the motto for her career right now. Acceptable, but not enough. Not enough. She hadn't picked up that Jagger's exhaustion was more than just tiredness. Eric had been masquerading as a Handler for an extremely long time under their noses and who knew what he'd manipulated them into doing, or believing. Acceptable, she thought, was not good enough. She had to be better.

Ripping the paper target down rougher than she needed to, she replaced it by clipping a new one to it and sending it back out to the five hundred yard mark.

Expertly putting a fresh magazine into the rifle, she put her ear defenders back on, raised the rifle and shouted Weapons live before she checked and fired once more.

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shewhodrifts
2018-03-16 01:34 pm UTC (link)

Holly stared blankly at Bear for a moment when he talked about 'giving sex' while watching a movie and she wondered if she hadn't been clear enough in the first instance when she'd turned the offer down originally. She might not have been, honestly, because someone like Bear often missed subtleties and the more nuanced inflexions in people's voices.

She wasn't a prude, far from it, but she was definitely not a huge fan of talking about it out loud. Blame her years in Afghanistan and Iraq and her reserved, British nature that meant sex wasn't something that she talked about much, even if it was more than occasionally on her mind.

"I meant-" she took a breath, "I meant a friend to watch movies with. Sex is off the table for us, Bear, but I appreciate your concern for my stress levels. That's a line I'm not gonna cross, I don't sleep with agents. Nothing personal."

She let the conversation move on from there: he was pretty pragmatic, it was hardly as if he'd register a rejection in the same way some others might. So she moved with the flow.

"Just a minute?" she asked, lips quirking upwards. "Now, Bear, don't you think we can try to get at least a ninety-second improvement? Bring the sledgehammer. You're gonna need it."

She rocked back on her heels and tilted her head, "So I can meet you in the Hologym in half an hour?"

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wildabandon
2018-03-16 01:54 pm UTC (link)

That blank stare of hers had the big man genuinely confused for a moment, but when Holly took a breath and clarified what she meant Bear chuckled for a second. There was no sudden look of shame, or even anger at being rejected. If anything he preferred when people were just straight forward with him; since the subtler things tended to elude him. With a warm smile he simply nodded his head, and spoke up again. "That's cool. Love watching movies with friends. Just was confused when you mentioned a mate." It was likely sad that most of what he learned about relationships came from either his friends, or the wild life documentaries that the mountain of a man watch. Yet his handler and the Regiment never really placed must value in properly educating a weapon like Bear. After all if he was content, why risk messing with that?

There was no wounded pride over her disinterest, no soured mood either. He had all kinds of different friends, and it made life easier just knowing what kind of friend they were. Some were just training friends and teammates. Others were drinking friends, or those he ate with. A few were friends he liked to watch movies with, and a couple were friends who enjoyed physical intimacy too. Life was simple that way, knowing where he stood, and what his role was in things. So the clear and concise explanation from Holly suited him perfectly.

When the conversation moved to the co op mission he chuckled again, nodding as she raised the questions. "Even with the sledgehammer I think a minute is good. I mean the extra thirty seconds seems like nothing now, but when those rocket launcher guys show up it'll feel like a lifetime!" Already his mind was racing with thoughts of all the fun they would have. The simulated missions were tough; especially the ones with objectives that required more than just sheer brawn. Still with Holly as his partner the two had always done remarkably well.

When she asked about half an hour he considered it for a second, before finally nodding once more. "Sounds good! I will bring Tina, and some beer, and meet you there!" Most people laughed, or smirked, when he called his sledgehammer Tina. But his teammates stopped laughing long ago. Especially when 'Tina' saved their lives or helped clear the way when the team was deployed in the field.

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