InsaneJournal

Who: Veronica & Garrus
What: Target practice
When: Recent!
Where: Shooting range
Rating/Warnings: Low
Status: Complete!

Veronica had always been an independent girl. She wasn’t a huge fan of asking for help, she preferred to just do things on her own. However there were certain occasions where she didn’t mind the expertise of some of her friends. Now was one of them. The blonde was still getting used to guns. She had only been handling them for a few months really. She knew how to use a taser like nobody’s business. But guns were a different story. She had a somewhat decent shot, but it could use improvement. She had always been a bit of a perfectionist.

Veronica had been going to the shooting range at least a few times a week when she wasn’t working. Today she was meeting Garrus. She was confident he could give her some pointers. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, her blonde waves tied back in a ponytail Veronica headed into the range, her 9mm and ammo stored safely in their case. After paying her fee she headed back to practice while she waited for Garrus to arrive.

Garrus didn’t do much by the books. A silent rebel; he wasn’t loud (unlike his ship’s Commander), wasn’t obnoxious - simply acted like he listened, acted like he cared, shrugged off and did things his own way. In some cases a reaction like that was appropriate. Sometimes necessary, and he picked his battles carefully. But he’d never fuck with written gun protocol. Not usually - sometimes improvisation was required - and certainly not with someone who was starting out. It’d been ingrained in him by military training (both human and Turian, thanks to the gift that keeps on giving - dreams), when he joined the police force in Chicago years back. Public ranges had all sorts of regulations anyway, set for safety reasons - and he wanted to give Veronica good lessons. Preferably safe ones.

It was all about the accessories. He’d brought extra; pairs of light yellow tinted glasses for indoor ranges, sets of earplugs to help drown out the abrupt sound of firing bullets. Preferable over earmuffs, those things were distractedly tight on the skull. He called ahead, arranged a space for them, where the targets where the paper targets were human-shaped infused with a special ink to accentuate any bullet holes. Easier for feedback. Extra ammo in his bag, magazine clips too - Garrus was ready to shoot something. Cindy’s literal brush with death kept that quiet stress tightly coiled, and his previous bounty hunting career provided a physical outlet for that sort of thing. His current line of duty? Hardly, unless the OC had another demonic hiccup.

“Hope you weren’t waiting too long,” he greeted with a grin, dressed comfortably. Jeans he didn’t wear often, a light shirt that hung well to on his toned body. Weather outside was brutal, but these cages were often hot and sometimes lacked central air. Best to dress in a way that wouldn’t cause buckets of sweat. “Ready?”

“Just got here,” Veronica replied with a smile to match his. Veronica wasn’t exactly the most smiley person around but when the occasion called for it there was one on her face. She at least had a better attitude than her dreamself what with the fact that her best friend wasn’t murdered and there was no bus full of her classmates that had blown up. Or all the other fucked up things that happened in her dreams. But those were all over with now thankfully.

“Didn’t even have time to get started yet,” she had been hoping to be able to get a little practice in before Garrus showed up. Make herself look a little better. “I was born ready,” she added with a smirk. She just couldn’t resist.

“So you arranged a space for us?” she asked with an eyebrow raise. “You sure know the way to a girl’s heart Garrus Varkarain,” she teased. Although shooting guns was actually Veronica’s idea of a good time.

“You flatter me,” he snorted, pushing fingers through jet-black hair. Womanizing had never been in his skillset. He’d always done his best for romance but it’d come out awkward and his foot had this uncanny habit of being constantly lodged in his mouth. His wife probably found that charming; otherwise he’d never stand a chance. “Hope Logan knows this is the way to properly woo you.”

Guns, though. A language he spoke fluently. Big ones. Small ones. Spaceship ones. Handling the Normandy’s gun battery was cakewalk - he raised the efficiency to a percentage not even an artificial intelligence could beat, and everything after that came as easy as breathing air into his lungs. Range bag under his arm, strap on his shoulder, he led Veronica to the space he’d reserved - and yes, a more private one. Four stalls, but they’d only use two.

Carrier unzipped, he started pulling out the first items of business. Earplugs, glasses. Protective wear. “Save your receipt for this place, by the way - I’m expensing it. It can fall under training for work.”

Veronica laughed, shaking her head. “I’m not one for being wooed.” Logan sure as hell did try though. She had to give him credit for that. “Is this where you woo Cindy?” Though she could honestly see them coming here on dates. “Let me guess you reserve six stalls for her,” she quipped.

But time to get down to business. “Good idea,” she should have been doing that all along really. All the other times she had practiced. It wasn’t like Veronica was rolling in cash thanks to the fact that her mom stole her money. Something only Cindy and Sharon knew about.

Veronica put on her protective glasses and ear plugs before getting her own gun out of it’s case although it seemed as though Garrus had brought more than enough. Some she had never even seen before, it was like they weren’t from this universe. “I’m not shooting all of those am I? I’m still getting used to my 9mm.”

Well, he wooed his wife wherever the hell they pleased - though not in a shooting range, not yet. Assuming Veroncia was referencing the kind of pervy, naked wooing that came to mind (she probably wasn’t), but it wouldn’t be a terrible spot.

A thought for another time.

“No, we’ll stick with what you’re comfortable with,” Garrus huffed a laugh. “For now. You’ll learn to properly handle other ones. Broaden your horizons, figure out which ones are best for you.” Sniper rifles were his preference. Precision, accuracy, biding time and positioning that perfect shot when you only had a certain window of time. His aim was practically flawless, and he never wasted a bullet. “You’ve been practicing before this? How long and who with?”

No that was not the type of wooing Veronica was referring to. That was also the type of wooing Veronica didn’t mind. All the romantic crap though? That wasn’t really her thing. But they didn’t need to get into that.

Yeah Veronica was not about to become a sniper. She just wanted to know what to do if the situation called for it. Now that she was part of The Agency it was likely she was going to be put in situations where firing a gun was needed. She couldn’t always get by with just her taser. “Yeah. Sharon’s been training me and I come on my own sometimes.” She wasn’t completely clueless when it came to guns. In fact she had a pretty damn good basis but she wanted to be better. “About a month now. Since I joined.” As in The Agency but Garrus knew that. “I figured it was time I step up my skills.” And he seemed like the perfect person for that.

Garrus knew, clearly - he and Carter were rolling out a plan to bring in more life within Agency walls. Recruit those who’d been around long enough, who knew the ins and outs of this place. Many outside of the Agency had helped when disasters hit; either right in the fray of action or helping civilians who didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on. That’s what they needed. More dreamers, those who didn’t run at the first sign of dream trouble. Cindy would join their ranks soon, too. After the reigns of Shoegasm were put in reliable, shoe-addicted hands.

“Firearm training’s good to have under your belt,” he agreed, glad to know that Veronica was being proactive about actually honing the skill. The eye gear was slipped on, tinting everything yellow, but he waited on the earplugs. Not that he exactly needed it (he participated in enough gunfire action for a couple lifetimes), but he wanted to set a good example starting out. “Us non-magic users need something to fuck things up with. Self-defense, protecting others. All part of the business we’re in. You’re comfortable with the grip, by the way?”

“I’m quite skilled with a taser,” because well she was. Had even been taken in for tasing a cop back when everyone was under some weird ‘be an asshole’ spell. But it was also how she got out of pretty much every sticky situation in her dreams. However there was no magic in her dreams. No supernatural things she needed to get away from. Veronica would much rather keep her distance and shoot any of the supernatural beings than get close enough to tase them.

“My thoughts exactly,” Veronica replied taking her place in front of one the target. Well not directly in front obviously. She was a good distance away, but still it was a straight shot. She gripped the gun, finger on the trigger. “Pretty comfortable, yeah.” And then she pulled the trigger, bullet hitting what was made out to be the shoulder. Lowering her gun she glanced back over at Garrus. “Well?”

Huh. Not bad. Veronica’s stance was decent; she didn’t seem to jerk at the recoil, and it looked the shoulder was the intended target from what he saw. Ink around the bullet hole spread wider, and Garrus motioned to it. “That bloom around it - it’s supposed to represent the shockwave of being impacted with a bullet. As a tip, if you’re ever in a situation where your intention is not to kill, but to immobilize and the gun’s the only way to do it, stay away from the upper arms. Legs too. You’ll run a risk of hitting major arteries and bleeding out to death can happen in seconds.”

He stood behind her, arms crossed over his chests. “Start practicing your aim at the hands or feet. Smaller surface area to hit, but those are the best spots to nail if you want to make sure you keep your target alive.”

Learning how to handle a gun was only part of it; knowing where to aim was just as vital, and finding the best non-kill spots was a good place to start. He didn’t know if Veronica had ever even killed anyone - it wasn’t as easy as people thought - so he’d take it slow for now, until he figured out what pace worked for her best.

Veronica had never killed anyone. Even in the dreams. She had come close once in the dreams. And the guy deserved it too, but Logan had talked her down. Reminded her she wasn’t a killer. The thought of actually killing someone here? Well it was just something Veronica had no desire for. She would like to avoid it if she could. But knowing how defend herself better, that she needed.

It was as if Garrus was reading her mind with how he mentioned where to target without killing someone. “Got it,” she replied. Veronica made a lot of good decisions in her life, and going to Garrus was just another example of that. Not only was he skilled with the whole shooting thing but he had good advice about it too.

She got back in position, this time her gun aimed at a hand. Pulling the trigger the bullet flew at the target, but hit the forearm. “Damn,” Veronica muttered disappointed in herself.

They were the ideal spots anyway. In the chance of emergency and self-defense was necessary, he’d recommend to do all she could to keep herself alive - but for once he’d go by the book. Guns were weapons, they needed to be taken seriously, not just something to go trigger-happy with. Veronica would learn from experience too at some point; living here made it inevitable.

“Just keep practicing,” Garrus chuckled, not wanting her to get too worked up. “How else do you think any of us got any good at it?” Sweat, work, dedication. They all sorta sucked at some point in their careers; he had military training, Leliana had taught Cindy a couple things before she entered the FBI field. Handling guns became part of their lives. “Cindy could probably give you a couple of her tips, too.”

“You mean you didn’t always have perfect aim?” Veronica teased with her gun lowered. “And this whole time I thought you popped out of the womb shooting a gun.” Of course Veronica knew everyone had to start somewhere. But she was a perfectionist. There would be a lot more practicing in her future.

“What are you getting sick of me already?” more teasing. But it was definitely a good idea to get some tips from Cindy too. She would take all the tips she could get. And having a female perspective was a good idea too. She had Sharon but Cindy had FBI training which Veronica was somewhat jealous of. “Did I ever tell you I wanted to be an FBI agent in the dreams? That was my goal before things got derailed and I ended up as a lawyer.”

If only he popped out of the womb shooting a gun, that’d be damn convenient, wouldn’t it? Alas. Garrus was (somewhat) lucky to have had a reality soaked in firearm expertise and a dream-reality of similar nature; meaning he had training, a lot of it, as Turians were trained for the military their entire growing lives. They definitely had the biggest one in the Milky Way Galaxy. Skills, tactics, even training carried over like muscle-memory. Not as ‘in your face’ as those with more abnormal capabilities, but still useful.

“Well, you’re part of a government organization that is relatively top-secret to the rest of the world,” Garrus arched a brow. “I’d say you’re close now. You’ve got the argumentative streak for a lawyer - almost makes me even wonder if the Agency has some legal department on the backburner.” It made sense of it did, realistically, but legalities and that sort didn’t interest him. A bit hard to apply law in a place that defied the common perception of how the world worked. “You’ll have field work training. Hands-on experience. If you’ve been around here long enough to stomach every single horror and still have no plans to uproot and get the hell out of dodge, you’re on a good track.”

“My dreamself would be so jealous of real me,” Veronica quipped in a mock teenage tone. “At least the high school college version.” Grown up dream!Veronica seemed perfectly happy just being a PI, once she dropped the lawyer thing.

“I’ve thought about it,” she was pretty sure everyone that lived in this insane place thought about leaving at one point or another. “But leaving my friends to suffer this place alone didn’t seem very polite. I don’t think Miss Manners would approve.” She smirked but then got serious. Before they got back to the target practice she did have one question for him. “What was it like? The first time you killed someone.” That was what Veronica was more afraid of than the actual shooting and getting shot at scenario.

Now there was a question he wasn’t exactly prepared for. It was a good, valid one, and Garrus had to think. He remembered his first kill - everyone did - but to decipher it with coherence was a challenge on its own.

He sharply inhaled.

“I was overseas,” he began, brow creased. His memory reeled, like a tape. “It wasn’t long after I graduated. I come from a military family, signing up was what my father expected. We were in enemy territory.” Fuck, it was long ago. Over ten years. But for him, the moment was succinct. Probably worthy of a drink. “Turns out one of our own had set us up. A traitor in our own military - he got members of our squad killed, and there was only one way out.”

Perhaps this wasn’t the best setting to bring the whole first kill thing up considering the look on Garrus’ face. She should have know that really, but it just seemed so natural with what they were doing and his tips on where to aim as to not kill anyone. “Sounds like he had it coming,” Veronica replied casually. She had a feeling it still left a lot of emotional scars though. “Now let’s get back to practice before our time is up. After I’ll buy you a beer.”

Dreams mirror the waking life wasn’t unusual - seemed like the story of everyone’s life, and that incident was the closest thing that paralleled with incident with Sidonis. Once a teammate turned traitor with decisions that killed his entire squad, and he’d waited until it was the appropriate time to exact revenge with the use of one bullet thanks to Shepard’s help. An eye for an eye. “He did,” Garrus agreed, shoulders rolled into a shrug. It was one that stuck, though, but he figured it was like that for anyone’s first time of taking someone’s life.

Dead bodies dropping to the floor because of his gun wasn’t unusual. He’d gotten used to it, but it all came at a price that ate away at you - it wasn’t something he wished other people to experience.

A beer sounded promising, though. He’d never deny a good, full-bodied Guinness on tap. “Just keep your back straight, Mars,” he smirked.