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chaos_vincent ([info]chaos_vincent) wrote in [info]mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-09-05 21:35:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:complete, day 14, katara, vincent valentine

Misfire...
Who: Vincent and Katara
What: Fun with Firearms
When: Mid Morning
Where: Out in the Woods
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

Vincent Valentine's eyes slitted in the darkness that surrounded him. He felt warm, not in the uncomfortable way that one felt when it was too hot outside, but in the gentle sensation one gets from staying curled in bed for long after the alarm has gone off. It'd been a while since he'd felt this way, let himself feel this way. Normally getting up in the morning was a routine, something he'd forced himself into day in and day out when he'd been a turk. Being lazy often meant missing a target, or possibly screwing up a mission. And just as often one of his fellow turks would rouse him from his slumber so that they didn't miss out on a target moving or something happening with their assignment.

Even when he'd come here, the nightmares had plagued him enough that he'd not really gotten rest. Sleep was fitfull, and the one time he'd truly given into it to sleep completely, Katara had nearly found him dead and revived him. A small piece of him longed for that death, that sleep that he was denied, but he couldn't... no, he couldn't give into that. Especially not after what had happened last night with Katara. He could still remember the feel of her pressed against himself, the way she'd... wanted him... back. Vincent's sour mouth slightly turned up at the sides, until he heard a murmer and felt something shift against him.

Slowly the former Turk's eyes began to widen as he felt soft fingertips slide across his smooth chest, and warm breath shower itself down the side of his neck as someone curled against him happily. The sound of a half slumbered murmer taunted his ears in a happy purr, and Vincent, afraid to turn and wake the person sleeping beside him, finally cut his eyes around at the form beside him in bed. He could the soft chocolate skin of someone's shoulder shifting lightly, and then felt warm bare flesh press harder against him. Vincent's face burned like a brand.

Only after a long moment with his breath held did she turn away, still murmering, and Vincent, cautiously at first and with complete slowness, turned lightly to see the person beside him. As he did, he realized that this wasn't his bed at all, rather, it was someone elses. Far more comfortable than his own, yet foreign as well, for there were animal hides to make up the bed and the sheets, rather than any form of cushioning. But it didn't matter, what mattered was making sure that what he thought happened, had actually happened.

There beside Vincent, half covered in nothing but furs, Katara slept peacefully, gripping the tops of them with her left hand which boldly displayed a golden wedding ring.

Vincent's breath stilled in his throat, staring down at the water bender for a long moment, his crimson eyes drinking in her form. And he realized that all of this was okay, that it was going to be okay, somehow. He would keep her close to him, even if this damned planet decided to try to send him back. He would find a way. He wouldn't let things turn out badly this time. Quietly he took his hand and brushed the strands of hair from her face, watching her as she slept, leaning in to kiss her forehead. Hours might have passed, but time didn't matter here anymore.

As she began to stir heavily to wake herself up though, Vincent leaned in over her, like a dark haired prince charming about to wake sleeping beauty from her rest...


----------------------------------------------------------

It was the first good dream that Vincent could remember having since he got here. Which of course meant it ended at the good part, and caused Vincent in his bed, and his very normal sheets and comforters, to hunker down a little underneath them and give out an annoyed groan, glaring at the wall for lack of anything better to glare at and anyone better to blame. He was violently annoyed at the fact that he'd woken up, and it was for the best that the alarm clock near his bed hadn't been going off or he damn well might have shot it in fury.

The night before hadn't ended with a wedding, or even a proposal. Instead Katara and he had kissed under the moonlight for what seemed forever, only stopping when they both realized that they were out in the open and that it was very late. Unlike Vincent, the water bender had probably gotten up early and stayed up in order to meet him the way that she did every night. Vincent would have felt awful keeping her up half the night, so he'd walked her home, in part to make sure she was safe, in part to see where exactly it was that she lived. They'd talked and for once it'd not seemed... awkward. He'd made her a promise to show her what a gun was today, because she still seemed curious.

Shit! What time was it? Vincent suddenly pushed the covers off of himself, but a glance at the clock told him that it was still early. He promised to meet Katara after breakfast and take her out into the woods for target practice. Yawning, the former turk slid out of bed, and stumbled towards the shower lazily. He didn't feel dirty, sweaty, or even gross. He wondered if it were some part of what Hojo had done to him, yet with Katara he felt obligated to keep himself clean... just in case. His shower was efficient, the way that he'd learned to do when he was a Turk. Quick and dirty(no pun intended). Get the job done.

Stepping out of the shower, Vincent wrapped a towel around his waist and stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He was a shade paler perhaps than what he should have been, but not so much so that he looked undead... just... very fair skinned. His raven hair dripped water and clung to his chest there, sending streams of cooling liquid down his slender frame, over the light pecs that could be seen down across his flat stomach only to be absorbed by his towel. Despite it all Vincent felt like stifling a yawn as he stood in front of the mirror, then took his towel at his waist and brought it up to dry off his hair, before tying his headband around his head to keep the hair out of his eyes.

Walking out he saw that his clothes had been cleaned by the golems, or perhaps the planet itself. The real question was should he wear the suit from last night, or stick with his usual crimson outfit? In the end, he decided to go with what he knew and slid into his black trousers and tunic, fastening the mantle around himself which half covered his face when he looked downward.

Donning his golden gauntlet, Vincent grabbed a bag full of weapons and ammo that was by his door, in preparation for today's outing. A customizeable rifle or two, as well as a few handguns, and a machine gun if Katara really wanted to try it. He planned on starting her off with a simple .09 mm though. If she tried to fire the Cerberus, he feared, she'd probably wind up breaking her nose from the kick off of it.

Carrying his duffel bag with his left hand Vincent stepped out into the light, looking around cautiously. He didn't usually venture out around this time, so he wasn't sure if he'd run into another guest at the Mirage, and so he kept himself alert until he came to Katara's room, calmly knocking on the door. He worked out what he was going to say, offer her a light smile, a kind hello, try not to say anything about what had happened last night... it could have been a fluke... or... something...

But when the water bender opened the door Vincent's breath caught in his throat and he dropped his duffel bag. Why was it that every time he saw her she somehow managed to look more beautiful? Thoughts seemed to blur and before Vincent could get a handle on what he was thinking he'd crossed the distance between the two of them, pressing his lips to hers as hungrily as he had the night before, pressing the water bender against her door as he kissed her with sweet abandon.


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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 03:04 pm UTC (link)
Katara rolled over, wrapping the pelt around herself like a cocoon. A soft murmur left her lips in her sleep. Lids fluttered open, revealing silver eyes, unfocused at first, but they gained clarity as the haze of sleep drifted away from her mind- along with it that night’s dreams. A yawn opened her mouth wide, and her limbs stretched languidly.

Last night had been so peaceful. It had begun with a bit of awkwardness before becoming upsetting, but after she’d taken the initiative, everything had turned out all right. Now that it was another day, though, and Vincent wasn’t here with her, she began having doubts again. They weren’t necessarily about Vincent himself, but she just felt confused. What if Aang was brought here? What could she possibly tell him? “Yeah, Aang… I was only here for two weeks, but I figured I’d never get home again, so I decided to test my options…

Katara really cared about Aang, but she simply wasn’t sure to what extent any more. In truth, she hadn’t been one hundred percent certain about her relationship with him even when she’d lived in the same world as him, when she’d been with him, helping people. She sat up and put her face in her hands. Why did life have to be so complex? True, it was a lot simpler than many people’s lives, but it was still a pain.

It couldn’t be denied last night had been elevating, though. Vincent’s lips pressed against hers had been altogether better than the first time. Her lithe figure had molded to his like clay in a person’s hands. Katara hadn’t been thinking logically then, but in some situations logic wasn’t necessary. It was like she’d given her body to him or anything. A deep blush rushed to her cheeks at that thought.

Okay! Time to get out of bed! Katara thought suddenly and leaped out from under her covers, headed straight for the bathroom. Vincent was going to show her how to use a gun today, and he was going to show her exactly what a gun was. The way he’d described it had just been confusing.

The waterbender showered and dressed in the light fabric of the Fire Nation, but the colours were the earthen greens and browns of the Earth Kingdom. Her hair was styled in a half bun, hair loopies attached to it with beads while the rest of her wavy hair cascaded around her shoulders. It was a favorite style of hers- simple, yet attractive.

She proceeded to leave her room to go get some breakfast in the kitchen. She never ate a huge breakfast, so there was no reason to go to the restaurant for it. Some fruit and water- maybe some bread- were good enough for a morning meal. Katara ate it slowly, savoring the fruity flavors. She wondered- if she ever returned home- if food would be as enjoyable there after she’d had the food here.

After breakfast she returned to her room. To bide her time until Vincent arrived, she tidied the place up by hand, dusting a little, laying the pelts out so they weren’t wrinkled or crooked. It didn’t take long. She wasn’t a messy person with which to begin, so there wasn’t much to do. She soon found herself looking through some waterbending scrolls that had popped up a couple days ago. It occupied her time, and the “illustrations were quite stylish” as Wan Shi Tong would have said.

Finally, a knock at her door sent her flying to her feet, knocking the scrolls askew. It was as if she’d completely forgotten about them as she smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her clothing, and quickly moved to the door. Pushing the hanging pelt aside, she opened the door and crossed over the threshold, smiling at the sight of Vincent. Beautiful as ever, he stood there in his now-usual attire.

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 03:05 pm UTC (link)
Before she even had time to speak, Katara felt his lips on hers, and her back pressed against the door. She could feel her earlier doubts melting away, ceasing to exist as if they never had. Her hands moved to cup his face as they kissed, a comfortable excitement of sorts washing over her. A small murmur left her lips just before she remembered herself, and she recalled Toph was just behind the door across the hall. A deep blush coloured her cheeks, and the waterbender gently pulled away from the kiss, warmth lighting her eyes as she looked at him. She didn’t want him to think anything was wrong because it wasn’t. She simply didn’t want to hear Toph smart-mouthing her if she saw this. The earthbender would never let her live it down, and she might even be angry about it.

“What’s in the bag?” Katara inquired, her eyes looking pointedly at what he’d dropped on the floor just before kissing her.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:09 pm UTC (link)
VVincent hadn't paid close attention to what Katara had been wearing, for in all honesty he thought that Katara was beautiful regardless of what she wore. But this particular outfit she was wearing gave him a special start, for as his hands rose to rest at her sides he would feel nothing but the warmth of her skin beneath his palms. Which in a way made him sad that he was wearing gloves at all, and in an entirely different way was alluring in a fashion that Vincent couldn't quite describe. A light blush rose to his cheeks in the kiss, but he didn't break to check out what she was wearing, instead let himself fall deeper into the softness of Katara's mouth against his own.

As she broken from it though he paused, and looked at her, following her gaze to the room next door. That was strange, why had she glanced over to the other door like that. Was she afraid of something? Vincent glanced at it for a moment and then back at Katara. She was smiling brightly at him now... maybe... maybe he was just being silly. He'd pulled a gun on Kadaj the other day, for no other reason. And Katara wouldn't do that to him, her pulling away was just... well, maybe she was really impatient to find out what a gun was. That was probably it, he reasoned, there was no logical reason to think that Katara might be afraid of something behind that door.

Slowly Vincent took a step back and drank in the sight of her in her outfit. As he'd felt before her midriff was bare, and Vincent blushed slightly at the sight of it. He wasn't used to people dressing like that where he'd come from, and for some reason the image of her slightly exposed like that reminded him of his dream where she was curled up in the furs beside him, wearing a wedding ring. Was that a vision of the future, or simply the wishful thinking of a gunman who'd been alone for way too long. Vincent didn't have the slightest clue, he reflected honestly to himself. What he did know was, as he'd assumed, Katara looked...

"You look beautiful." he said softly, not content to leave such a thought in his mind.

His gaze followed hers down to the bag, when she asked what was in it. "Guns." he said simply, and there was almost a cheerful tone to his voice. Unlike most things in life, guns were something that Vincent Valentine was actually well acquainted with. Not that he was all trigger happy, but he'd learned that keeping a gun handy could get you out of most situations in life, as long as you were careful to only draw it when it was absolutely necessary. Plenty of newer Turk recruits had met their ends by trying to be overly tough once they had their first assignment where they could draw a gun. Sometimes you waved it in the face of the wrong local, and got a shotgun shell through your head to show for it.

"You ready?" he asked, and waited for her to get ready to come with him before he slung the bag over one shoulder and lead her out of the living areas. As they got outside his gloved right hand lightly touched the side of her bare hip, and then slid down to find her hand, taking it with an almost relaxed grip this time, as if he was no longer nervous about touching her. Why would he be nervous, after all, she'd kissed him last night, and in Vincent's mind, that'd been an indication that she really wanted things to succeed between the two of them. Too bad things weren't always that cut and dry.

Once they'd gotten far enough away from places where people might be, Vincent stopped, and lightly lowered the bag to the ground, opening it up as he began to fish guns out of it. Katara would see the long sleek barrel of a large high powered rifle, as well as a machine gun that looked akin to Earth's Tommy guns, though Katara herself wouldn't be able to make the connection. There were also several boxes of shiny things that she would later learn were bullets.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:10 pm UTC (link)
"Mmmn. The first thing to know about guns is that you never want to point them at someone. Always up in the sky when you're not pointed in the direction of your target." he said. It wasn't a rule of thumb once you were a gunman, but he doubted that Katara was going to start fighting with guns, so giving her the 'shooting range' version of gun safety would be okay for now.

Vincent picked up out of the bag a small silver gun, and lightly presented it to her. "This is what we would call a 9mm. A fairly standard low powered hand gun. It'll be easier to learn on. And this..." he held up a golden looking bullet, though Katara might recognize it was made out of brass rather than gold. "is a bullet. this is what is fired out of the gun, and will go into someone when you aim and fire at them."

Quietly, Vincent stepped around behind Katara, and lightly showed her how to hold the small pistol. Pressing up against her back, he rested his hands on her forearms, so the kick from the gun wouldn't make her lose control. "Now, it's going to make a loud noise when you pull the trigger, and fire the bullet at that tree over there..." he said softly into her ear. "Give the trigger a light squeeze, and remember to grip the gun firmly because it's going to jump a little when you fire it..."

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 04:27 pm UTC (link)
Even as Katara wished to feel the warmth of his skin when she felt his hands on her sides, she felt a thrill of excitement at the interesting feel of the leather gloves and the cold metal of his gauntlet. This was Vincent more than the warmth of his flesh of his palms would be, but that thought didn’t bother her. It made her feel strange in a way she couldn’t quite describe, though.

Katara noted that he’d followed her gaze to the door she hadn’t realized she’d glanced at, and she felt a knot in her belly. She hoped he wouldn’t ask about it, so she smiled warmly at him to show nothing was wrong, and he didn’t let her down. The knot eased itself, and she felt better.

That is until he blushed while looking at her. It made her feel something was wrong, and she looked down at herself, not really understanding what the problem might have been. Then he told her she looked beautiful, and it was her turn to blush. Nothing had been wrong, he was simply admiring her she supposed. “Thanks.” She said happily.

Katara noted the tone of his voice when he disclosed what the contents of the bag were. He was in a familiar element, she realized. Of course he should be. He said he’d once been a gunman. She doubted one got to be in that role without familiarity with the weapons. “Yes.” The waterbender responded, closing her bedroom door behind her. As they walked, she felt the soft leather of his glove against her skin before it sought her hand. She smiled softly at him before linking her fingers through his.

Dark brows creased together once she began to catch sight of the weapons. They looked so strange. They looked better suited as bludgeoning weapons. When she finally saw there was a hole in the longer parts of them, though, she realized they might work like spit-darts- spring loaded ones, maybe. Then he presented a silver gun to her. It was simple, but again she thought it looked less than deadly. Her brow rose skeptically as she looked at the little metal bullet. “That doesn’t look like it could do much. It’s not even sharp.”

She watched curiously as he showed her how to load the pistol. It still seemed unlikely that this thing could do any damage. Katara allowed her limbs to move as he directed as he pressed behind her. This wasn’t so hard. A loud noise seemed just as unlikely as the little bullet doing anything other than bounce harmlessly off the tree she aimed at. Her aim was good, though. She’d had to develop good aim with many of her waterbending moves, after all.

It felt good to have Vincent behind her, directing her. She didn’t mind that he kept his hands on her arms, even though she was already steady. Her finger pulled back on the trigger softly, but nothing happened, so she pulled it a little harder. The explosion was maddening. Suddenly a huge boom echoed off the trees, silencing the birds, and hurting her ears. The gun kicked back much harder than she’d thought possible, but thankfully Vincent kept her arms from being thrown back and hurting herself. Silver optics were only vaguely aware of the wood exploding from the side of the tree she’d been aiming at, only to plant itself in the one behind and to the side of the now wounded one.

Katara was trembling against Vincent, her eyes wide as she stared at the tree. “Ho-how is that possible?” She breathed at last, confusion flooding her. Her ears were ringing.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:31 pm UTC (link)
In an ideal world Vincent would have wrapped his arms around her, however, this being her first time handling a gun he knew it was somewhat dangerous. He could still recall with clarity how one hot shot girl in his training had broken her nose showing off with a .50 mm handgun. The thing was rather huge, almost as much so as the cerberus, and everyone had been awed when the girl had leveled it, grinned at the rest of them and then fired off a round. The next thing they all knew, the gun was on the ground and what had been one of the prettiest girls in their class was clutching her face as blood gushed out of her nose. Then they'd heard about it, the instructors had shaken their heads sadly and told the class that it was what happened when someone wasn't careful with a gun.

So, there was no question that Vincent was going to hold Katara's arms. As he waited for her to pull the trigger he reflected on how funny she'd looked staring at the guns, like they were some sort of magical instruments that she didn't quite understand. He guessed that to her, they very well might be, especially if things like gun powder didn't exist in her world. What would it be like to go back to time when all fighting was hand to hand, Vincent wondered idly. To know that having numbers didn't mean the outright winning of a fight if those you were fighting against were highly trained. Then again, the things he could do now could probably wipe out an army, so perhaps things weren't quite so different as he'd expected them to be.

As Katara fired off a round his hands suddenly gripped her arms as he felt that she'd not nearly put enough of a hold onto the gun to keep the kickback under control. He'd tried to tell her, but she'd not actually believed him, it seemed, and now after the fact she was staring blankly forward as if Vincent had somehow broken everything that she'd believed in, in a matter of heartbeats. As she trembled against him, Vincent lightly reached up and pulled the gun out of her hands, afraid she might fire it again without meaning it the way she was shaking. Sliding it into the back of his trousers he let his arms slide around her bare waist in order to comfort her, pressing his face against her shoulder.

"Calm down..." Vincent said softly, nuzzling her neck lightly, holding her firm against his body until the trembles in her body ceased, and held her a moment longer then before calmly sliding around and looking at her. She looked a little frazzled and suddenly Vincent felt guilty as if perhaps this had been a really terrible idea afterall. He had a melon in his bag, where he was going to show her what a good sized gun could do to someone, but seeing the look on her face now, he could tell that it was definately a bad idea.

"Well..." Vincent paused and tried of the best way to think of it. "You know martial artists who can break boards with their hands, right? Because they can throw a punch so fast and hard, that it just breaks it's way through." he made a punching motion with his hand to try to demonstrate. "And I imagine in martial arts there as well they tell you that it's best to try to focus the force of your attack on a single point. We can't actually get much more forceful than the size of our fist... but what if instead, you could concentrate it down into something this small?" he said, holding up a bullet. Then lightly he pulled it apart with his fingers to show her the inside of it. In the casing was the gun powder, in his other hand he held the actual tip of the bullet itself.

"I don't know if you have... explosives where you come from. Or fireworks, maybe... but the powder inside of these bullets makes an big explosion, and all of that force has nowhere to go but straight out the barrel of the gun. So this little thing... " he held up the bullet again. "Goes flying out with several thousand times the force that you could punch or even throw a rock... that's why it breaks through the wood of the trees..." He looked at her then to see if any of this was clicking... it seemed like he wasn't going to be giving a very long speech on guns, from her initial reaction Vincent wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to touch one again...

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 04:32 pm UTC (link)
It wasn’t so much that Katara hadn’t trusted him not to lie to her; it was more that she didn’t understand the enormity or the possibility of what he’d told her about guns. How was it possible that a tiny piece of metal could shoot from a spring loaded spit dart sort of thing so fast that it could make that ear ringing sound and tear through wood like that? Metal was strong, yes, but it had never been made into something that seemed so useless, despite how obviously destructive it was.

Suddenly she realized her hands were empty of the gun, and Vincent was holding her in a comforting, yet protective, way. Katara hadn’t realized she was trembling until now, but the soft words on his deep voice calmed her. Nothing bad could happen while he was with her.

A sudden thought occurred to her. In his world, people used guns against one another. If it could damage a tree like that, how badly would it harm a human being? A shudder went through her, but she didn’t tremble more. If a person were shot, would her bending be enough to heal it? Katara desperately hoped so, but she couldn’t be certain. Some wounds simply couldn’t be healed by bending alone.

The waterbender didn’t see much of people breaking things with their body without the aid of bending. “The martial art masters I’ve known weren’t really the type to use their body to break things. They’re benders who use their elemental style to attack or defend. It is possible for someone to be so strong they could do that, though. I’ve only ever cut through boards with water.” It suddenly occurred to her that she’d seen something akin to a bullet before. “In my world, the Dai Li had these gloves made of rocks, and they could shoot them fast enough that they could penetrate stone walls, but I don’t think they could go through metal. They weren’t this powerful, though.” She said, indicating the gun.

What he was saying was true, though there were other teachings on that subject. She remembered when Aang, Sokka, and her were trying to take out that horrible drill that was trying to get through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. Aang had told them that Toph had taught him never to put one hundred percent into a single attack, to hit a series of points to break an opponent’s stance before delivering the final blow in which his weight became his own downfall. Focusing the force of an attack wasn’t exactly the opposite, though. If the force of an attack wasn’t focused it couldn’t do much. One simply didn’t want to put every ounce of their energies into a single attack.

With guns, though, it wouldn’t matter. One hit would likely take someone out. If guns were ever introduced in her world, bending would become obsolete. If she ever got home, she would never tell a soul about this weapon, no matter how fascinated and excited she knew Sokka would be about it. He would likely end up inventing it with Teo’s father. That would definitely not be good.

Katara listened as he spoke, watching as he easily tore the bullet apart. She wasn’t weak, but she wouldn’t have had the strength to do that. It made her realize how superhuman his strength was again, but she tried not to react to that outwardly. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the powder within the brass encasing. Her hand lifted, and she pinched a bit of it between her thumb and index finger. “Spark powder?” This stuff was exactly like the powder people used in fireworks and bombs. That meant it was entirely possible that someone could think up a gun and invent it.

The waterbender resolved that she would definitely need to learn how to use one if it was possible for guns to come into existence in her world. If she ever made it back, it would definitely be useful, despite the fact that she would keep it to herself. If she didn’t go home, it would still be a good idea to know. After all, if something that small could travel so fast she couldn’t even follow it with her eyes, how could the Planet stop someone from shooting her or someone she cared about?

“Will you teach me how to keep it steady? The kick of the gun when I shot it threw off my aim.” Katara made her request. She only hoped her reaction wouldn’t provoke him to deny it.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:39 pm UTC (link)
Vincent knew full well what a gun in her world could mean. But if Katara had shown him one thing it was that she thought about things like that. If he had bothered to worry about it, Vincent was sure that the thought of it probably terrified the young water bender. It would have been something akin to Shinra's dream though. He could only shudder in horror at the idea of what Hojo or President Shinra would have done if they had found a world they could get to, that didn't know anything about guns. They would plunder that world with abandon, never really thinking about the ultimate consequences of their actions, and when the world had been used for resources they would pollute it with their production factories... that was if they couldn't figure out a way to tap into the life of the planet the way they had with Mako energy.

He was glad though when Katara stopped trembling. That was a good sign, at the very least. Would she think badly on all of this though? He used a gun, and now she understood what that meant. Would her fear of guns transfer over to him as well? It was something that troubled Vincent, but he supposed he needed to have faith in Katara. She hadn't been scared of him when he'd been a monster on the outside... he just hoped that this didn't make her think that he was a monster on the inside too... even though Vincent himself had some doubts about whether or not that was really the case.

He tilted his head to listen to her as she talked about martial arts masters in her world. That was strange, in his world it was a sign of strength and efficiency to be able to smash through a board. Even before Vincent had gained his abilities he'd been able to break one with his foot and with his elbow. They were just moves that one learned in self defense. A part of him had wanted to study under a great master in Nibelheim when he'd been there protecting Lucrecia, but it seemed that the man had gone traveling to see the world, especially the lands of Wutai to perfect his art. Vincent got by well enough with his claw and guns, he supposed, but it would have been the opportunity of a lifetime. A part of him wanted to see the famed 'meteor strike' the old man had invented.

"Sounds like it could be a name for it... you definately want to wash this off your hands before you go near an open flame... " Vincent advised her, with the light turning of his mouth which passed for a smile as far as he was concerned. Yeah, gunpowder wasn't something to get carried away with. But as she said that a sudden sense of fear overtook him too. If she knew what it was, then that meant in her world they already had gun powder. Canons were likely not that far behind, and from there they would get smaller, and lighter, until one day they would fit in the palm of someone's hand.

Vincent's eyes widened in surprise though as she asked if he could teach her how to keep it steady. He'd been ready to put away the guns for the day and do something else. He'd not expected that she would ask him to teach her anything more about them. He paused for a minute and then nodded slightly, his red eyes looking into her silver blue ones. "If that's what you want..." He said softly, pausing for a moment to make sure that she did indeed want to learn about how to hold a gun. A part of it did seem odd to Vincent, but he would go with it for now. Slowly he stood in front of her and drew out his own gun, which made hers look like a childrens toy. Indeed, the Cerberus was massive, and closer to a sawed off shotgun than a handgun.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:39 pm UTC (link)
"But... there's not a real way to stop the kick of it. Think of it like a bomb exploding... some of that energy has to go out the barrel of the gun..." he said, sliding his hand along the barrel of the cerberus. "The rest pushes back, and makes it go back like this..." he mimicked the recoil of his own gun. "The trick is that you steady your aim after each time. As long as you are aimed properly when you fire, it doesn't matter if the gun goes up afterwards. The bullet will still fly straight."

"What you do after is just lower your hands back to aim again. Watch me fire the Cerberus...." he said, then paused softly. "You may want to cover your ears though, it's a bit louder than your gun." He waited for her to decide one way or another and then pointed his cerberus, holding it with one outstretched hand at one of the trees. With a pull of the trigger suddenly smoke plumed lightly from the gun, and the tree that had gotten a small chip out of it suddenly had bark exploding from it as the three bullets buried deep into the bark. As he fired Katara would see the recoil of the massive gun was enough that it affected him, and his arm went up slightly with it, not trying to fight it so much that it didn't move, but not letting it smack him in the face either. Then he lowered it and fired again. Bark flew once more, but she would see that the shot had landed in almost the exact same place as before.

With a sudden spin he holstered the gun, and smiled at her lightly. "That takes years of practice though."

He reached into his bag then and pulled out a little piece of paper with a colored bullseye on it, and went over and attached it to the tree, walking back to her, reaching behind him to take the 9mm she'd been using earlier and handed it to her. Quietly he he slipped behind her once more, this time not putting his hands up so far on her arms. He would be able to catch the gun if it came towards her face, but he had the feeling Katara would be more careful this time. Looking over her shoulder he guided her hands to hold the gun up at eye level.

"If you look over the top of the gun you can see the sites. One of them is two pronged, the other is a single prong. You want to make sure that to you they look like they're the same height... and that the middle prong is centered in between the two of them. Then, whatever that middle prong is in front of should be where your bullet goes... see if you can put one in the bullseye."

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 04:41 pm UTC (link)
“In my world that is the name for it.” There was no doubt about it. This powder that filled bullets was the very same used in her world for other purposes. His advise wasn’t completely necessary, as she knew spark powder and fire didn’t mix when coating human skin. It was appreciated, though.

Katara could hear the hesitation in his voice when he agreed. Was he waiting for her to tell him that she didn’t really want to learn how to use a gun? The waterbender was more determined than ever to learn how to use one to protect herself when Vincent wouldn’t be around to do it. “I’m sure. I want to learn.” Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of his gun. That had been in a holster at his side, so she was certain it was his own personal weapon. Had he been using that gun since he became a Turk?

The Cerberus. That was the name of his gun. She didn’t understand what Cerberus meant because in her world Greek mythology didn’t exist. She only knew that his gun looked like it had three barrels, and each one was decorated with the head of some sort of dog-like creature. It was huge.

Katara cupped her hands tightly over her ears when he mentioned it was louder than even her gun had been. She watched him carefully as he aimed, and the next thing she knew a loud explosion sounded, louder than fireworks, and his gun was smoking while bark exploded into the air from the corner of her eye. The kick of the gun looked no worse than the kick from her own in his hands, but she knew she would probably end up breaking her face open if she tried to shoot it. Then he shot again, and, when she looked, the bullets seemed to embed themselves in almost the same position as the first shot. The waterbender was in awe.

She wouldn’t be able to shoot like that for a long time, but she would try her best to do a good job. The weight of the smaller pistol was in Katara’s hands once more after it had been reloaded, and, with Vincent’s instruction, she aimed it carefully at the bulls-eye that looked remarkably similar to those used in training archers.

Her aim was nowhere near as good as the Fire Nation’s Yu Yan Archers. After all, she couldn’t pin a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away without even killing it. Her eyesight and judgment simply weren’t that acute. Even so, her aim was decent. Katara suspected she’d only hit the side of the tree because she hadn’t held the gun firmly enough in her hands. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Holding the weapon firmly in her hands, she gazed over the top of the gun, trying to align the sights with the bulls-eye. This time, she pulled the trigger carefully, but firmly enough so it would actually shoot. The bullet exploded from the barrel, and a hole appeared in the paper just outside the circle. Katara aimed again, taking more time and care. She was grateful he held her arms when the gun kicked while she was still learning, but eventually he wouldn’t need to do that any more. Her ears rang a little. The second shot made it into the second ring from the outside ring of the circle, and the waterbender found herself smiling. The third shot made it into the same ring on the other side, though. A fourth shot wound up in the exact same ring near where her second shot had made it. “I guess the bulls-eye isn’t for me right now.” She was only slightly irritated. She couldn’t quite calculate this properly. This was a lot more difficult than waterbending.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:44 pm UTC (link)
Vincent could see the look of determination in her eye even before she'd said her affirmation, and knew that she was determined to learn this, probably with the same level of determination that she trained. It was an impressive quality, to say the least. The desire to better herself. Vincent, on the other hand, had let his skills decline, and through whatever had been done to him had miraculously been given a second chance at them. It seemed almost unfair, his body was nigh tireless, and he imagined he could learn most anything... but on the other hand he'd never have the strength he saw radiating in Katara's eyes.

Vincent tried not to blush as he saw Katara eyeing the length of his massive gun, his eyes cutting around to hers as he saw her eyes widen as she took it all in. He didn't think it was really that impressive, but, the fact that she marveled at it still caused a light smile of pride to adorn those usually dour lips of his. Hopefully she'd be just as impressed with how he used it.

He hoped Katara wasn't too daunted when he slightly showed off the way he could use the Cerberus, and he was glad that she had never asked him what he could really do with it. He felt like a braggart just with the small demonstration he'd given her, he wondered how Katara would feel if she realized he could have that level of accuracy firing 4 times in the middle of a cart wheel. Then again, with the determined way she took the gun into her hands again, perhaps knowing he could do that would be something of a challenge to her, that would cause her to only want to learn more. Vincent was continually impressed by how little she let get to her in terms of her lack of skill. If it'd been him he might have gotten daunted and hung his head, but she keeped on wanting to try.

And to her credit, she did get better, with each shot. Vincent was impressed, though it would be hard to see on his face seeing as how he was behind her. And as she began to hold her hands the right way he lightly let himself drift away from her, the way a parent might after they were letting their child ride a bicycle on their own for the first time, watching her with his arms crossed as she aimed at the target. He was envious of her natural ability, though he could tell by the look on the water bender's face that she didn't exactly feel the same way about it. Vincent paused for a moment to let her reflect on what she'd done, and then lightly touched the small of her back with his gloved hand.

"It's actually a good thing..." he said lightly. "Being consistant with your aim is harder than hitting the middle of a bullseye. So once you learn how to shoot in the same place every time, then all you have to do is compensate for how you were off... It's hard to believe, but it's a lot better to get two shots closer together even if they're not in the bullseye, than to have shots all across the paper and get one lucky bullseye shot." Vincent lightly came around in front of her and pulled her up into his arms. "You're a natural..." he said lightly. "I wasn't nearly that good when I first started shooting. I'm going to have to start practicing again, or soon you're going to wind up better than me."

He leaned in lightly and brushed her lips with his own then, having wanted to for a while but wanted to make sure that she'd gotten a good lesson like he'd promised her. But he paused in the kiss and remembered how she'd pulled away from him this morning, and lightly pulled away himself, looking away from her face for a moment before he looked back at her, wondering if he should ask her the question that was on his mind. "Katara..." he said, gently pulling himself away from her for a moment. "Why did you pull away this morning?" he asked cautiously, his crimson eyes studying hers for some sort of reaction there.

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 04:47 pm UTC (link)
Katara wasn’t daunted by Vincent’s skill. After all, he had said it took years of practice to become as good as he was. If anything, his skill made her even more determined to succeed herself. Practice, study, and discipline were the only ways to succeed in a test of skill. She hadn’t become one of the greatest waterbenders in her world by luck, after all. She practiced daily, and she used her abilities to aid in every day life.

The fact that she was so great with waterbending helped with learning other skills, too. She was doing remarkably well with a staff, and she knew she would do all right with a gun, even if she wasn’t particularly fond of the explosive weapon. It reminded her of something with which firebenders would do incredibly well. In fact, they would probably be the ones to invent the weapon if it ever came into existence in her world.

The waterbender was aware that he slowly released his hold on her, and moved away the more obvious it became that she was holding the weapon just fine. It wasn’t so hard once she realized the full capabilities of this weapon, what it did, how it felt. After her fourth shot, she paused, spoke, and contemplated the reasons behind her inability to hit the center. Katara was about to raise the gun again and take aim, but she felt his hand on her back. What Vincent told her made perfect sense, of course, but there was a flaw in his logic. “I was aiming at the bulls-eye the entire time, and I never hit it. I think it would be better to actually hit where I’ve aimed than consistently miss. I do understand that it’s good to hit in the same spot rather than be all over the place with it, though.”

A grin moved over her lips as he pulled her into his arms. Katara was mindful to keep the gun pointing up in one hand while her arm moved to drape around his shoulders. Her fingers curled through the hair at the nape of his neck. “So long as you’re able to shoot that Cerberus of yours, I’ll never catch up.” The waterbender said teasingly.

She leaned into the kiss, but she only felt a brush of his lips before he was pulling away again. The look on his face told her something was on his mind, something she probably didn’t want brought up. Then he asked the question, and her stomach clenched. Katara averted her eyes from his and gently pulled herself out of his embrace. “I was afraid Toph would be furious with me if she saw us. I mean, she doesn‘t really see with her eyes, but she can see by feeling the vibrations through her feet, and she can hear. She would have known what was happening. Her room is right across the hall from mine.” Her voice was quiet, low toned.

She felt ashamed, and she could feel the colour tinting her cheeks, but she wasn’t ashamed of being with Vincent. Katara felt terrible because she knew he would probably think she wanted to keep him a secret. That wasn’t completely it. The waterbender was still partially confused about things, about Aang. She didn’t want to think about any of that, though.

Katara raised the gun, aiming at the tree. She shot off three bullets without really thinking or taking care with it. The first hit the circle just outside the bulls-eye, the second hit the tree, but it didn’t hit the paper, and the third missed the tree completely. There was the major difference between bending and guns. Whenever she was upset her power was increased. A similarity was that during both the amount of control over the ability was lost.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:55 pm UTC (link)
"Yes, but really your aim was pretty good for where you were hitting. That just means that when you shoot again, you need to aim a little higher and to the right a bit. Aiming is all about learning where something actually is, versus where your eyes think it is..." Vincent said, hoping she would understand. She seemed like she was a little stuck on the idea of trying to aim for the bullseye, which was what everyone did at first before they realized how important a consistant aim was. It wasn't a concept she was likely to get overnight though. Still, her frustration was cute, and it made him only step a little quicker as he moved to close the distance in between the two of them.

He was a little surprised at how easily she took to holding the gun, even when she wasn't firing and holing it behind his back, and it made him glad. She would get the hang of the weapon someday if she really wanted to. Maybe she wouldn't, but that would be okay. Even in the Turks there were those who used other styles of weapons. Combined with her water bending, something that was exposive might not wind up being the best thing anyway. She'd mentioned there were fire benders there, and Vincent could only imagine what they might do with it. To be able to perfectly control the explosion was something of a dream of gun makers. The idea of it was a little frightening.

But then all thought slowly faded away as he was in her arms and he felt her fingertips running into his long hair, a light shiver going down his spine as she touched the nape of his neck, watching the playful smile on her face as she teased him about the Cerberus. "Mmm, with enough practice you might be able to shoot it someday..." he said honestly, even as he found his face slowly drifting down towards hers. "They use magic to... help... reduce... the kick..." he murmered and then all things were forgotten in that wonderful embrace that was so akin to the one that they'd shared last night. Not quite though, last night his heart had soared, now, it felt as if there were a lump inside of it, something heavy, to take his mind from where he was and what he was doing. He couldn't really hold back his question anymore, it felt wrong to do so.

"Your friend... from your planet..." he said softly, and blinked. He'd never thought about it before, but if Toph were here, then it could be fairly good odds that Aang would not be that far behind. Was Katara hoping for that? Vincent had assumed that when she'd embraced him so deeply last night that she had truly decided that he... that there was something worth persuing there. Now when he looked into those silvery eyes all he saw was doubt, uncertainty. He watched the color rise to her cheeks and could see that she was embarassed. Probably at the idea of having to introduce Vincent to her friend from the other world. He couldn't imagine that it wouldn't be awkward. 'Guess what, I've decided to dump our mutual friend for some monster I met here.'

Vincent's eyes looked away from her so that he wouldn't betray the hurt he felt, and he stared at the distance. As she fired off her gun in anger he didn't even flinch, having long been used to guns going off around him, he'd developed nerves of steel. Besides, it was easy to be cool when you didn't really care so much if you lived or died anyway. His head bowed slowly, and he didn't say anything for a long moment after Katara's shots had rung out in the air, the light breeze causing his cape to waft back and forth slowly as his crimson eyes stared at the ground. Then ever so slowly he lowered himself beside his bag and carefully began to slide the weapons back into it. Sure, they had been made by the planet, and he could just as easily have tossed them in and wished for new ones, but Vincent had a love of guns that made him not even want to scuff up these ones. Better to be careful.

"... Let's call it a day." Vincent said softly, uncertain what, if anything there was really left to say anymore.

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[info]k_waterbender
2008-09-06 04:59 pm UTC (link)
Katara nodded. “I know. It will take time, though.” She was fairly patient, especially for her age. She would work to figure it out just as she’d worked to practice the use of the staff. It was the same way she’d worked at waterbending, though she didn’t really believe that anything would ever make her work as hard as she’d worked at mastering the element. She couldn’t exactly incorporate a staff or a gun into her every day life the way she could with waterbending.

“I doubt that. I don’t know magick. I only know bending.” Her voice was soft as her head inclined upward toward him, the smile never leaving her lips. It felt right, being in his arms like this. It made her feel happy, and she wondered if he felt the same way.

Then Vincent asked Katara his question, and she couldn’t lie to him. The waterbender had never been fond of lying, and the man before her deserved the truth, even if it hurt him. She could hear the pain in his gruff voice as he spoke. “Yes.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper. Toph was a friend from her world.

True, the fact that the earthbender was here could mean that Aang could show up, but she hoped he wouldn’t. He was needed in their world more than he was needed here. It would just be best if he were to stay there and keep the balance between the four nations, to maintain the bridge between the living world and the Spirit World. It also meant she wouldn’t have to make excuses for putting off marrying him because she wasn’t sure about wanting to do that.

She was aware of his slow movements as he carefully packed the guns and ammunition away, but her eyes didn’t move toward him. Katara stood there, holding the gun in silence, but it was pointed down by her side as her arm hung limp. Her other hand clutched the elbow of her gun arm. What could she do or say to make this better, to make him stop hurting, to make herself stop hurting? Then he said they should call it a day, and she panicked. He was done for the day, sure, but was he also done with her? Had she hurt him that badly?

The waterbender moved toward him, handing him her gun. Her hand moved to his shoulder as she gazed at his down-turned head. “I’m sorry, Vincent. I’m not embarrassed to be with you. I’m really not. It’s just that all of this happened so fast. If you like, I will introduce you to Toph, but would it be all right to wait a little while? I… don’t want her… to think…” To think what? That Katara was a floozy? She couldn’t bring herself to actually say it. What if it was true?

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:59 pm UTC (link)
"The magic is in the artifact, you don't need to know any magic for it to work." Vincent promised her with that faint hint of what passed for a smile on his face. "Magic on my world, is a little different from storybook magic. The planet has mako which leaks to the surface, and forms crystaline materia. This is taken and processed into materia spheres, which is how we use magic. We just simply activate them, the magic is in the sphere... if we didn't have the materia, we wouldn't be able to cast the magic..." he said, trying to explain it to her. "They say that it's the knowledge of the ancients stored inside of Materia, but I don't know if that's true..."

It was hard for the crimson clad man not to wince as her words hit him like she'd fired the gun in her hand straight into his chest. He silently started to put away his guns, simply because he didn't really know what else to do. Vincent hadn't ever really been one to face his pain head on, he was too much of escapist, escaping was easier than trying to deal with it all. The only experiment he'd ever done with NOT running away from what was hurting him was with Katara, and it seemed like every time he did that, there was more pain to follow it, more agony. Why did it feel like whenever he took a single step forward with her she would do something to shove him roughly backward again? Why... why would she do that?

Vincent felt the beast inside of him start to rage violently, angry against fate, and the pain that was in him, but he pushed it back, forcing it down like the lump in his throat as he listened to Katara's words ring inside of his ears. He had suspected as much when he heard the name. He'd recognized it from before when she'd talked about her friends. He caught the glint of her gun from the corner of his eye and he lightly took it, but didn't look up as he did it, those crimson eyes focused on the ground intently as if there were a way to transfer the fire in his chest through them and burn holes into the ground instead. His eyes seemed to study the ground fiercely, but never once did they raise to the water bender.

And as her fingertips touched the soft fabric of his crimson mantle they shut tight closed as hard as they could. Even now her touch made his body want to get goose bumps up and down him, even now he imagined what it would be like for her to brush her soft fingertips across his cheek. His body betrayed him in every way possible when it came to Katara, so it was probably a surprise to her as much as it was to himself when he lightly shifted to pull away from her touch. Even when he'd been a nervous beast he'd still let her touch him, only shying away from it a time or two. Never once had he intentionally pulled from her when she wanted to touch him. Slowly he rose up, still not facing her, not daring to look into her eyes.

"No..." he said softly, as she offered to introduce him to Toph, not waiting for her to finish her thought about wanting to wait for a little while before she did it. Vincent might have been naieve in the affairs of his own personal love life, but he wasn't exactly stupid. He knew well enough from observing some of the more suave members of the Turks what these sort of things usually meant. Vincent didn't know a ton about what he was doing, but... usually when one was ashamed to admit the existance of you to someone else... that said quite a bit.

A poisonous thought crept into Vincent's head before he realized it, and it caused him to freeze slightly. Maybe... maybe she just... didn't have any plans for the future with him at all. Maybe what she wanted was... some comfort while she was here and... No, Vincent refused to think any further on the thought. If that was the case he'd let it blind side him, he refused to think that Katara would do something like that. He adamantly refused in his mind. But the linger of doubt remained even after he'd banished the thought from his mind.

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[info]chaos_vincent
2008-09-06 04:59 pm UTC (link)
"It's..." Vincent paused at that. He'd been about to tell her that it was alright, that it was okay, or fine... something. But he didn't like lying either, and he'd promised himself that he wouldn't do it to Katara. She didn't seem like she minded the truth, even when it was painful, he would give her no less than complete honesty. So he cut himself off and lightly shook his head. "I... understand." he said, and that was, more or less the truth. Not that he completely understood, but he thought he understood enough.

"I... should go." he said quietly, and then slowly walked off in a direction that wasn't the way back to his room. It was pretty clear from the way he was walking though that he didn't care where he was going, he was just trying to run away.

He still hadn't looked back at Katara.

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