Who: Hayley Marshall and Jo Harvelle What: Girls with guns When: Friday afternoon Where: Madison Shooting Range Warnings: None Status: Completed gdoc
Hayley had been sticking to going to work then home. Work. Home. With very little inbetween. When she realized how much of a rut she’d stuck herself in she was more than a little surprised. When had she become so boring? Yeesh! Time to fix that.
Her first thought was to go grab a few drinks at a bar...but that wouldn’t be any different than where she’d been before. Going for a horse ride was right out. They weren’t exactly fond of her kind. She wasn’t a casino kind of girl, but then she spied something in the yellowpages that could be fun. With her day off, she left a note for Hope about where she’d be then headed out.
The shooting range wasn’t something she’d really done before. Anytime she’d shot a gun it had been in earnest. This would just be for fun, Hayley just hoped they had something she could rent since she wasn’t sure what the gun ownership laws were in Madison Valley. They could probably tell her here, though.
She approached the front counter with a smile for the blonde woman who obviously worked here. “Hi,” she said not quite meekly. “I’ve never done this before. Can you tell me how this works?”
When the door opened, Jo looked over and gave a friendly smile, moving to mirror the woman on her side of the counter as she approached, even while studying her. Her own life had been blessedly quiet lately, and honestly Jo was glad to see someone new in the target range, because if there was one thing for sure, she occasionally missed a life of action.
Sure, that life had gotten her killed, but still - she liked having something to focus on.
“Yeah, sure. I’m Jo Harvelle, and welcome,” she told her while straightening just a little. “You pay here to rent a session on the range, and you can bring in your own weapon - which gets checked out by one of us - or rent one here. Before you get started, there’s a brief safety video to watch if it’s your first time, and if you’re very new to it, you’ll need an instructor, whether it’s me or Carl or someone you bring in. If it’s one of us, we go over the basics with you and set up up on the range and walk you through the weapon you chose or what we pick if you leave it up to us to decide what suits you best.” She gave a quick grin at that.
“It’s not difficult to go through, and when we’re not busy we take walk-ins, or you can make an appointment.”
“Hayley,” she answered the introduction. “Hayley Marshall.” She may come across as hesitant, but that was only because she was in a new place, meeting a new person. There was that about her body language that spoke much differently. She was an alpha, and that could never be diminished. “Nice to meet you.”
She listened to the instructions Jo listed off, the options and requirements. Hayley smiled a bit knowingly by the end of it. “Uh. I’ll need to rent. Do you mean my first time shooting a gun or first time here? And this wouldn’t be my first time shooting a gun.” She chuckled as she shrugged.
“Good to meet you too, Hayley,” Jo replied. While she herself wasn’t a werewolf, there was no mistaking the confidence with which she carried herself as she pulled out a clipboard that had some paperwork on it, and a pen.
“First time here. A lot of people around have used guns before, but since we don’t know your skill level or background, this is for your safety and ours.” After all, it would be bad if she let someone who claimed to be an expert marksman use the range, only to have them make a stupid mistake like shooting themselves in the foot, or someone else.
“It doesn’t take long. If you want to go for it now, just fill this out and then you can watch the video and I’ll take you back.” Jo offered with a smile.
That made sense. No doubt insurance on a place like this was pretty steep and had a ream of requirements. Hayley wouldn’t argue about it. She pulled the form to her to start filling it out. “I assume you’ve watched it? How boring is it that you have to make a point of how short it is?”
She grinned to Jo then finished the form. Signature in place she slid it back over the counter. “Alright. Lead me to the viewing room.”
“It’s pretty boring, unfortunately. But part of the legal stuff.” Jo flashed a grin of her own as Hayley finished off the form and slid the clipboard back. Picking it up, she checked over a couple things, slid it into a scanner so it would go into the database and make sure nothing got flagged while Hailey watched the video.
“Come on back,” she motioned for the brunette to follow her down a short hall into a room with a few chairs and a TV and dvd player. After getting it set up, Jo straightened. “It’s about 15 minutes long. I’ll be back in before it’s over, but in the meantime enjoy,” she told her with a smile, before ducking back out.
Hayley chuckled as Jo made a run for it. She recognized someone enjoying someone else’s minor misery when she saw it. She sat down with a resigned smirk, a sigh and pushed her fingers through her hair. Oh, well. No help for it. She was here now, and it was only 15 minutes.
The longest 15 minutes in her life! By the time Jo came back in to check on her Hayley had made a gun with her index finger and thumb, held it the proper way with her other hand and was making pew noises as she “shot” the dumbass who had just talked at her as if she were a child.
Jo used the time to add Hayley’s info to the range’s database and do a basic quick check for the legal side of things. By the time she was finished, the video would’ve been ending and she headed on back again, only to chuckle when she walked in to see what Hayley was doing.
“Yeah, I know, it’s boring as hell,” she said with a grin, walking over to turn off the TV just as the safety guy finished off his lecture. “Ready to try the range? Got any ideas on what kind of gun you want to start out with, or do you want to leave it up to me?”
Hayley’s smile was entirely unrepentant when she got up from her chair. “You seriously need to reshoot that. Maybe a little background music. Some sound effects. Get a familiar face as the spokesperson. There’s enough of them around.” It could be an award winner!
At Jo’s question Hayley’s brows lifted in hope. “Got a Desert Eagle?” One of the strongest handguns created. It could put a hole the size of a golfball into a person’s skull. In the wrong hands it was dangerous. In the right ones, it was deadly. But you had to be pretty strong to handle one without the recoil putting the gun into your own skull.
“That’s not a bad idea, but I’m not sure how many of them would want to be recognized from the shooting range’s safety video,” she said with a laugh. Jo led Hayley through a different door, which proved to be the actual gun shooting range, fully set up with different stalls and targets, along with safety glasses, ear coverings, and a fully stocked first aid kit that hung on one wall.
“Not quite, but we have something similar.” From a pocket, Jo pulled out a set of keys and opened a different door, then cut on the light and stepped in. “Wait out here a sec,” she said before shutting the door so she could select three different guns and their ammo. A couple minutes later she returned with a tray with it all set up, and locked the door again while she stepped out, moving to one of the shooting booths.
“How about one of these?”
Hayley was beginning to like Jo. They seemed similar in personality. Jo was easy to talk to, not too stuffy and not too fly by night. She took her job seriously, a bonus for working with guns, but her attitude invited participation. Some gun buffs had a clique manner that turned Hayley off...or made her prove she could out-shoot them.
“That’ll do,” she said as she picked out a gun. “So you shooting with me or do I have to be the only estrogen on the range?” One corner of Hayley’s lips quirked up to the side in an amused smirk.
“I’ll watch you for a few minutes to make sure you’re handling it right and not doing anything to hurt yourself, but I might take a few shots, too.” Jo returned the smirk with a grin of her own as she set the tray down and handed Hayley the safety glasses and ear muffs before picking up a pair of each for herself.
“Are you new in town?” She asked curiously. That would probably answer the question on whether or not she was a refugee or a native, at any rate.
Hayley donned the glasses and muffs as required. Her healing would have compensated, but she understood things like Liability, Insurance, and Lawyers. Then she checked the chamber, the magazine, safety. All of the usual check points one went through before firing a gun. That done, Hayley sighted at the paper target for half a second.
“I’ve been here a little while.”
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!
Three of Hayley’s shots grouped head, face, neck. The fourth had gone outside the body on the paper.
“You?”
Jo put on her safety gear as she watched Hayley check over the gun and everything and nodded her approval. Once the other woman had taken her shots, Jo picked up her own chosen weapon from the tray, did a quick check, and turned towards the targets in the next booth over from Hayley. Lifting her gun and sighting easily, she took a few quick shots, emptying the chamber.
When she lowered the weapon, it was obvious that five of the shots had hit center mass, and the other had hit dead center in the paper traget’s forehead. Smiling, she looked at Hayley.
“I’ve been in town for roughly two and a half years.
Hayley’s brows lifted to see Jo’s groupings, then she chuckled. “Remind me to warn any boy or girlfriend you have to not piss you off. Won’t be a warning about any of your friends going after them. You can obviously take care of that yourself.”
She fired off another few rounds, taking better care with her aim. Being wolf she couldn’t help but be competitive. But the last shot missed again when Jo told her how long she’d been here.
“Wow!” Hayley pulled the gun up for safety. “What’s that like?” She couldn’t even imagine being here that long!
She had to laugh at that. “John knows I can take care of myself,” she replied with a smile. After all, he had seen it in her thoughts and memories thanks to his powers, which had taken some getting used to, but now she was fine with them and him.
Her dark eyes watched as Hayley took her shots, and Jo set down her own empty gun before walking over to the other side of the booth. “It’s pretty weird sometimes, but usually it’s….kind of nice. Been a while since I’d stayed in one place for this long, but I like this town and the people.” She reached out to tap Hayley’s elbow.
“Don’t lock this in place when you shoot. The kickback from the gun is making your tendons jump and throwing off that last shot each time. Try bending it just a little so it’ll better absorb the jerk,” she advised, then stepped out of the way again.
“John?” Sounded like Jo had a relationship. Hayley smiled. It was evidence that happiness could be found here. Then again, she already had since she was reunited with Hope.
Hayley nodded at the instruction, kept it firmly in mind then fired off the rest of the bullets in the magazine. All of them hit in a satisfying grouping. She grinned. “You know your stuff.”
“My boyfriend,” Jo explained, even though the word ‘boyfriend’ somehow made her feel like a teenager instead of close to 30. Still, she smiled and watched as Hayley fired, and gave a light nod at the words.
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” Jo said jokingly before passing over another ammo cartridge in case Hayley wanted to continue. It looked like they both might just walk out of this with a budding friendship, and that was just fine with the blonde.
“Is he someone you met here or from home?” Hayley gave Jo a smile of thanks for the magazine then exchanged it with the empty one. Her mind went immediately to Elijah. All that time dancing around each other’s hearts, and when they finally managed to connect they had to go their separate ways for safety’s sake. She had been hoping he’d show up here. That hope was beginning to fade.
“I met him here, early last year. We had fun for a while, and then became official a few months later.” It had been after speed dating, actually, when they’d both realized that they wanted to enjoy the time they got here in Madison Valley.
“A lot of people come and go here, but sometimes, some people stick around awhile. It’s nice to enjoy it while you can,” Jo said as she adjusted her ear mufflers before stepping out of Hayley’s way.
“Makes sense,” Hayley said as she stepped back into place. “Connections are important for a lot of reasons.” The wolf in her was starving for connections, she realized. She needed a pack of some kind, even just by association. No wonder she’d been feeling off.
“Thanks,” she said. Jo may not realize why Hayley was thanking her, but she owed Jo for making her aware of this. “You really are a good teacher.” Then she took aim once more.