Velma Kelly (jazzkiller) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-06 00:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, neena thurman (domino), velma kelly |
Who: Neena Thurman & Velma Kelly
What: Training Velma
When: 8/2
Where: The shooting range, then Neena's house
Rating/Warning: PG
Status: Complete!
Despite the bullshit that Neena felt stuck in at the moment, she was looking forward to her classes with Velma. For one thing, she was in control during those. It helped balance out all the time she wasn’t in her regular routine. Velma was a pretty good learner, too, so Neena was also pleased with her progress. Velma was spunky, but not a pain in the ass like the teenagers she’d trained in the dreams.
She pulled up to the shooting range where they were meeting and grabbed her pistol and rifle. She figured Velma should get a chance to use some heavier weapons, since she was doing pretty well with handguns.
Velma had gotten there a little ahead of time, bringing her shotgun if only for Neena to look at and dismiss. She’d done okay with it at Lo’s, but even she knew a shotgun was probably not a good idea on the move.
She got up from her perch when she saw Neena show up, waving to get her attention. “Hey. How’s it going?”
“I’ll be fine if nobody else has an emotional moment all over me.” Neena noted, a little grumpy. “How’ve you been?” She slung the case for the rifle over one shoulder, holding her hand out to examine Velma’s shotgun. “This what you’ve been using?”
“Pretty good; glad the damn house will be finished any day.” Velma didn’t go into the thoroughly dirty night or two she and Logan had just had. When Neena asked about her shotgun, though, she handed it over. “Yeah, this is what I’ve had. I know it’s shit, but at least I can operate it without blowing my hand off.”
“It’s not bad.” Neena said with a nod. “I bet you’ll be happy to get back to your own bed.” She handed the gun back. “I brought some new toys to play with, ready to go?”
“I’ll be happy to get into a bed that’s behind steel walls, next to a panic room.” Velma rolled her eyes. She was surprised when Neena handed the shotgun back. “Really, it’s not bad? I’d have expected it to be shit. I guess I need to get better at telling the good from the bad. But yeah, I’m good to go for now.” She fell into step next to the other woman.
Neena laughed. She couldn’t blame Velma for that one bit. “Nah, and any gun’s better than no gun, unless it’s empty.” She led the way back to the firing range, stopping just before the door to put her ear protectors around her neck, and her safety glasses on. “Why don’t you show me what you can do with that, then we’ll move on to the stuff I brought. Have you decided if you’re going to get a pistol, yet?” That had been her immediate recommendation.
"Yeah. I think I will, just for practicality's sake." Velma followed suit with her safety equipment. "Honestly, I just haven't had time to sign up for the CCW classes." Which would seem to be a big part of owning a pistol to begin with. "Also wasn't sure if a .22 or a .38 would be better, but I'm sure you'd have an opinion on that." She didn't mean that in a bitchy way; Neena would just know better than she would.
With the shotgun, she was decent but not excellent. Velma put on her ear protectors and stepped up to the line. She tended to either be slow and accurate, or fast and all the fuck over the place. At least it was a start.
Neena did have opinions on nearly everything, and she definitely had opinions on all things gun related. She watched as Velma shot, and occasionally corrected her stance a little. Mostly it was just going to come down to practice. When Velma was done shooting Neena nodded and handed over her own revolver, rather than her practice pistol. “This is a .357, see how you like it. You’re used to a shotgun, so I don’t think you’ll need to worry about kick too much. With a handgun, as you know, accuracy becomes more important. The pistol I’ve been having you use is a .22, but if you’re comfortable with something a little more powerful then I’d go with that, considering the purpose of all this is self-defense against crazy shit.”
Velma nodded, taking the gun, making sure the safety was on before she turned it over, examining it. “I wasn’t sure about size if only because I know .22 bullets don’t exit. A .45 or something would make a big hole, but a .22 might stay in there for the grand tour. But this one’s nice.” The .357 was solid, but not huge. She stepped to the line again, taking the safety off. Without turning back around, she chuckled. “Sorry in advance for the lack of accuracy.”
“If you didn’t need me to teach you, I wouldn’t be here.” Neena pointed out. She stood back a bit to observe, hoping she was right about the kick not being too severe.
Fair, of course. Velma just worried; she didn’t want to look like a complete unredeemable amateur. She aimed and fired - the kick was more than she expected, but she did keep her wrists steady. She did better with the next shots, but she had to tighten her wrists to keep it steady. Pulling the target close, Velma made a face. Only three shots hit the target with any degree of accuracy. “Decent first try, I guess?”
“I’ve seen worse.” Neena noted, eying the target. “Three out of five’s not bad. Your first shot doesn’t count, either.” She took the revolver and reloaded it. “Do another five.”
Velma nodded, repeating the process, keeping her wrists tighter. Four of five hit the target in a narrow area, all scattered around the head. It wasn’t tight enough, she knew, but it was better. “Just need some practice, I guess?”
“Looks like.” Neena noted, smiling at her results. “Learning to shoot is a good beginning. We’ll need to go on a camping trip sometime and work on your reactions to danger. That’ll make or break you in the field.” She took the revolver back and replaced it with her rifle. “This is a Avtomat Kalashnikova, but you’ve probably heard it called an AK 47.” She checked the rifle before letting Velma take it. “It’s on semi-auto now, but if you move this,” she indicated a switch on the rifle, “it goes to full auto. In full auto mode it fires until you let go of the trigger or run out of bullets. This is the most ubiquitous rifle, because it’s cheap, easy to produce, and it fucking works.” There were better rifles, for sure, but this one was good for this purpose. “Go ahead and try it out.”
Velma nodded. “Whereas in semi-auto, you have to squeeze the trigger each time you want to fire, right?” Just to make sure she understood.
She took the rifle, making sure not to take the safety off until she was turned away from Neena. “Which mode do you want me to try it in, both?”
Neena nodded in reply to her question. “Yeah. Do a couple rounds on semi, then finish off with full auto. You’ll need to know how that feels. Full auto is the option you want if you’re not great at shooting or you don’t have time for nice things like aiming.” Or if you wanted something big and mean very, very dead.
“Gotcha.” Velma waited until the target was in position, then opening fire in semi-auto. It had a hell of a kick, though she got it under control after a couple shots. “Goddamn.” After a few more, she stopped, flipping the switch to automatic and placing her feet a little further apart. Still, the kick surprised her, and she almost staggered, amused. “Jesus! Gonna have to add some pounds of muscle.” Still, she kept everything in the range area, and most of them hit the paper somewhere, which she’d take for now.
Neena moved behind Velma to make sure she didn’t shoot things that were out of bounds. “Yeah, it’s a bitch to get that under control at first. You’ll need lots of practice with that, but for now I’d recommend you buy something you’re comfortable using and practice with that.”
“Can do. I’ll probably go for the handgun.” Velma flipped the safety back on the AK, handing it back to Neena. “I’ll try the .357 - I seemed to do okay as long as I kept my wrist tight, and if I can strengthen it it’ll be even better. You recommend anywhere specific to buy it, or just wherever?”
Neena shook her head. “They’re all about the same. There’s a guy in Irvine I like, but most gun stores will have what you want and be happy to provide.” She made sure the rifle was unloaded and tucked it away. “Wanna work with the pistol you were using the last couple times, or do you want to move on to the hand to hand combat portion of the lesson?” She could use the workout, with everyone being so sensitive she was tense everywhere and yoga could only help so much.
“I’ll try hand to hand. With the guns, I’d like to get my own and start practicing on that before we go any further.” Velma removed her safety equipment, stowing it back in her bag. “You’re not showing yet; I’m guessing it’s business as usual?” If Neena needed her to avoid a certain area, she’d obviously tell her.
Neena doubted Velma could hit her with sufficient strength to hurt the baby, but she knew Thomas would frown and grumble at her if she did anything remotely dangerous. “I’ve got a bulletproof vest in the truck, it’ll disperse your hits enough to be safe. I need to get used to wearing the thing, anyway. I can’t fight terror with my tits hanging out everywhere.” Even if it was fun.
Velma nodded, though she had to laugh. “What, big nasty monsters aren’t distracted by nice tits?” She followed Neena as they headed toward the truck.
“Not as many as you’d hope.” Neena said with a fake sad sigh. “You wanna go to my place or yours for this? I’m fine either way if Logan promises to leer quietly.”
“Yours, if that’s okay; I am not giving Logan the satisfaction.” Velma rolled her eyes indulgently. Besides, deep down, she had to admit that it bugged her that Logan still found Neena so attractive. At least she knew it was stupid, though.
Neena was well and truly over that nonsense from her own lover, so skipping it with Velma was fine with her. Thomas was less likely to be an ass, anyway. “Great, you know where it is, I’ll see you in a little bit.” She hopped into her truck, assuming Velma had driven herself there.
She had; it only took about fifteen minutes to get back to Neena’s from the range. Velma parked her bike on the street, heading up to knock on the door. Best to announce her presence, even if Neena knew she was coming.
Dante barked loudly, and Neena had to grab the elderly pit bull by the collar before she opened the door again. “There’s drinks in the fridge if you want one, let me get my fierce protector put somewhere safe.”
Velma chuckled. “I’m ok for now, thanks. Have you had him long?” A dog like that was either naturally wary or just protective of his mistress. Or both. “I never had any pets growing up, but Eli’s got a little dog now. He’s about a sixth that size, though.”
“Yeah, I’ve had this grumpy asshole since he was a puppy.” She rubbed his head. By now Dante was calmed down, and eager to sniff Velma, but that wouldn’t last long once they started sparring. “My first husband bought him for me to keep me company.” She didn’t like Milo very much anymore, but she could appreciate some of the things he’d done for her. “Is it a puppy, or one of those little tiny dogs?” Neena couldn’t have a tiny dog, it would get stepped on or kicked if it got underfoot.
“He’s some kind of wolfhound, but he’s as small as a corgi. She says he’s Swedish.” Velma shrugged. “She loves him, and she’s happy, so Logan knuckled under.” Never mind her, it was Eli that could get anything she wanted out of Logan.
Neena laughed. “That’s how kids are.” She shoved Dante out into the back yard and went to the kitchen to get herself a drink. “Sounds like a good dog, though. I keep saying I’m going to get a bloodhound or basset next, to keep track of the kid.”
“Weren’t pit bulls the original nanny breed?” She’d done some research when Eli had said she’d wanted a dog. “They used to look after rich people’s kids, I know that.”
“I know Dante’s well suited for it, and that wouldn’t surprise me.” She shrugged. “It’s something I’d need to talk about with Thomas, pits are high energy dogs and I don’t know how Dante’s going to take losing attention to the baby, forget about a puppy.”
Velma nodded. “At least he’s a little older, though; I imagine a younger dog would be ten times worse.” She sat down next to Neena. “How is your man handling everything? He’s not being all neurotic about the shit you do yet, right?”
Neena sighed. “He’s trying not to be neurotic.” She pushed her hand through her hair. “But I hang out with Nate more than I hang out with Logan, so you know, it’s hard.” She didn’t blame him, but it was a pain in the ass.
Velma did remember Neena and Nate having a history, at least according to Logan. She managed a smile. “Hey, at least you haven’t fucked an entire state.” If Velma could tamp down the jealousy, so could Thomas. “All joking aside, I hope it works out. You’re not going to hurt him; he needs to know that.” Even if the world did turn crazy one day and Logan dumped her for Neena, Neena wouldn’t leave Thomas.
Neena snorted. “Nope, just by proxy.” At least he had a healing factor. “He’s asked me to avoid doing anything dangerous until the baby’s weaned, which is smart I guess, but I hate that everyone around me has decided that I don’t know how to take care of myself all of a sudden.”
Velma could at least be honest. “I don’t know if that’s what they’re doing. I mean, I don’t know your man, but I know Logan. I think he worries the opposite - that you’re so capable of handling yourself, and you’ve done it for so long in a certain way, that when you have to adapt, it might take you a minute. It’s not a bad thing.” She tried to phrase it better. “If you move to a new place, after living somewhere for twenty years, you still might catch yourself turning toward the old place. Does that make sense? It’s a change, not a lack of confidence.”
It did make sense, but it didn’t make it less annoying. “I’m just not used to men making a big deal out of things about me, and I never took it well.” She felt like she’d made up with all the men who’d annoyed her over it, provided Logan wasn’t actually being a dick because he’d realized they didn’t apologize to each other.
“Your man’s gonna keep doing it, unfortunately. I’ll try to tell Logan to keep his pants on, though.” Velma smiled a little. “You know he means well, he just sucks at getting it across.”
“He’s an enormous dick.” Neena noted with a smile. “But it works for him.” She stood up, stretching a little. “Ready to get back to work?”
“Yeah, all set. Lead on.” Velma got up, cracking her neck. She appreciated that Neena didn’t pull punches. It wouldn’t do her any favors.
It wouldn’t do either of them any favors. She went back outside to grab the vest from her truck, tugging it on as she went back inside. The living room was still cleared out from her yoga session that morning. The tile would hurt like a bitch, but bruises built character. “Alright, then.” She smirked at Velma. “Give me your best shot.”
Velma had learned enough to at least put all her weight behind it. Also, how to hold her thumb so as not to break the damn thing. She leaned into the punch, aiming for the solar plexus. In people not as strong as Neena, she knew it would sit them down or at least knock the wind out of them.
Neena let the punch land, to see if Velma was getting stronger. “Not bad.” She rubbed her stomach a little. “Definitely a lot better. I like the hook upward, going for the diaphragm is smart.” She stepped back and went into a better stance. “We’ll keep working on your defensive stuff for now, you need to be able to keep knocking me on my ass. Don’t worry about offense, just deflect or misdirect and back up.”
“Okay. So try to direct your weight off me. Right?” They’d been working on ways to use an attacker’s momentum against them.
“Yeah, exactly. Ready?” She was not looking forward to falling on her ass over and over, but it was the only way for Velma to learn. “I should make Logan do this shit with you, he’s heavier and his ass heals afterward.”
“Sorry to give you maybe TMI, but we wouldn’t get much practice done.” She’d been extra in the mood to jump on him lately, but she didn’t go that far into detail. “Come at me when you’re ready.”
Neena snorted. “No, that’s about what I figured.” She darted toward Velma, intent on taking the other woman down. She didn’t want to go face first on the tiles, that was for sure.
Velma was maybe a little slow, but she’d gotten better. She couldn’t quite throw Neena aside, but she got her weight on the right foot and managed to divert Neena to one side, figuring she’d stagger. “Shit, not quite.”
Neena did get tripped up, and her shoes squeaked on the tiles as she fought for her balance. She smiled, “Good job.” Then she began again, this time trying a more complicated feint to get Velma to improve her reaction time. She had to be fast, because being fast would make up for a lot of other missing elements in a fight.
They kept repeating the process. About a third of the time, Velma was quick enough to react and feint accordingly, but another third of the time, she was about half successful, and another third of the time, she hit the tile. “Ow.” She picked herself up after miscalculating, cracking her neck, but not complaining. Between Neena and Kitty, she’d gotten better at taking pain.
Neena was taking her fair share of licks, and after a few minutes she had to stop. She was having trouble keeping up to her normal level of activity. She blamed the baby for that. “I think I’ve been tossed around enough today. You’re getting better.” She smiled at Velma, rubbing her hip as she took her vest off. “This thing is hot as fuck.”
Velma chuckled. “If your man gets hissy at you for being bruised, either blame me or tell him to fuck off. Or both.”
Neena laughed. “I think he’ll be okay. We’ll see.” She hoped he wouldn’t get too upset about her being bruised up, sparring with Velma and Nate was the only thing keeping her sane until her bar opened.
“If I ever, God forbid, get knocked up, I’m gonna guess Logan will put me on the couch and tell me not to move for nine months. And then growl when I do.” Velma sighed indulgently. “I’m sure Thomas isn’t that bad, at least.”
Neena laughed. “Probably, yeah. I’d recommend shooting him if he gets too into that alpha male bullshit. You gotta keep these boys in line, sometimes.”
“Well, I gotta go buy the gun first.” Velma chuckled. “I should probably get home, speaking of the grumpy old man. Thanks for the workout.” It always felt good when Neena praised her, as silly as that probably would have sounded. Neena knew her shit.
Neena nodded and stood up. “I’ll get the door for you. It was good seeing you.” She meant it, too. They weren’t best friends but Velma was a good person and Neena liked that she was willing to learn to protect herself.
“Likewise. And I meant it, if Thomas gets shitty, send him to me.” Velma smiled a little before heading out.
Neena laughed. “I will.” She got the door for Velma, and watched to make sure she got to her bike okay.