recolle | Day At The Range [Togusa and Bucky: Closed]

James books it over to the shooting range once football practice is over, so when he shows up it's with a full backpack and hair freshly wet from a shower. He wasn't sure if Togusa would already be there by the time he got there, so when he actually spots him, he picks up the pace a little.

James raises a hand in greeting to him too. "Hey. Togusa, right?"

Togusa nods. "Just Togusa's fine. So few people use my first name anyway."

He holds open the door for James. The inside of the range is a mixed range and store, with dozens of guns displayed behind tempered glass and in cases. He nods to the man behind the counter, who seems to recognize him.

"I come here sometimes, get some extra practice in when I don't feel like going to the Department." A little bit of a lie; it's when Togusa doesn't want to let his coworkers know how much time he needs to put in to keep up with them.

James follows Togusa into the building, looking around at the options in the store. It's weird for him to see guns openly displayed like this, as though tempting someone into a purchase. His only prior experience with shooting ranges has always only been on army bases, where there is no need for any shop at all and where all firearms are carefully stored and strictly doled out on an as-needed basis. It's bizarre, and he's trying not to look like he's ogling everything around him. Seriously, be cool, James.

"So you're already a regular here, then. How often you come here?"

While he's at it, James swings his backpack around towards his side to open up a small compartment and pull out the two raffle vouchers he won. "Here, I've got the tickets, by the way."

"I lose track," Togusa admits. "Try to make it every other week, though. Shooting is a skill, just like anything else, you've got to keep in practice."

The vouchers get taken, and there's a little bit of paperwork to fill out. Togusa hands over his ID, despite being a regular. "So we go back to my earlier question," Togusa starts as he's filling things out. "Not trying to get you in trouble, just asking so I know where to start. What kind of guns do you have experience with?"

"This is mostly a handgun range, although they have a few longer lanes for indoor rifle shooting. Can't get too high of a caliber on an indoor lane, though."

James stiffens a little as he fills out his own paperwork. The tension is partially because it's a little weird to be describing his experience with guns to a police officer, and partially because calling it 'experience' would be a bit of an exaggeration.

"I know how to load, hold, and aim an M11 pistol and an M107." By which he means they were demo'd to him a few times each and he actually held the guns himself so few times he could count it on one hand. But look, he just wants to save face at least a little.

"Oh!" Togusa waves a hand as if waving off a concern. "You're a military kid?" Only reason he'd be using the military designations for those guns. "Geez, why didn't you say so? That makes total sense now."

"I'm still gonna start you off with the basics, but at least you've got the dirt basics," Togusa reaches for the ear and eye protection that they hand out as loaners. "Ears and eyes at all times, it's actually going to be more of a pain on an indoor range." The guns are louder, and the smoke issues can build up faster in an enclosed space. "And the number one rule, the gun is pointed down range at all times. That sounds simple, but the one time you might mess it up is during reloading." He's probably had the safety lectures before, but even with experienced officers you sometimes want to say it out loud to remind them to please practice some muzzle control thank you.

Oh, well, at least he's off the hook now. In hindsight, he really should've mentioned being an army brat sooner.

James nods along to the explanation, following Togusa to the ear and eye protection. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I've gotten this lecture from army demos before."

Not that he's particularly annoyed by hearing it again here. While he doesn't like people assuming he knows less than he really does, James also realizes that his last time doing one of these demos was not even in Recolle, but at his dad's previous post over two years ago. (And honestly, he's kind of just grateful for the chance to actually fire a gun for once in his life, and he doesn't want to screw it up before he even gets to do it.)

"Excellent, then let's see here..." Togusa is looking between James and the selection of range guns they've got. "M11's an automatic," he mutters under his breath. "Here we go."

He points out one of the automatic handguns, which the assistant brings over. "Variant of the Walther PP, it'll fire a .32 cartridge. Not too heavy, but I'm not starting you out on just a .22. This thing's got a particularly low recoil, though." The mechanisms are also very similar to what James has seen before.

"Your usual?" the guy asks, but Togusa hesitates. There's something pinging around in his mind, not quite settling right with him. He usually fires automatic, same as his police issued gun. But that damn Mateba, the little ever-present question in a box hidden in his apartment, is a revolver...

"You know what, gimme the .357." The guy hands over a six-shot revolver, and Togusa looks at it carefully. "This should be fun."

James pulls over the case with the Walther that the employee just set down to get a closer look for himself. Not like there's much for him to see: yup, that sure is a gun there alright. He doesn't know enough to be able to compare it to the M11 just on sight. He wants so badly to pick it up right now, but he restrains himself. Holding it before he's actually in one of the shooting bays sounds like a good way to get kicked out.

Instead, he just runs his finger along the open action until he sees the employee bring over Togusa's choice.

"A revolver? Really?" James sounds skeptical. He thought those were only used for cowboy shootouts, or reenactments of them anyway.

Togusa laughs as he picks up the two cases. "What? They're dependable. Some of the problems that you can run into with the automatic aren't there with a revolver."

"Less prone to jamming, don't have to depend on a clip that can fail you." The range instructor opens the door for them, and Togusa brings the guns and safety equipment along. "In theory, the automatic puts out bullets faster, but you can get revolvers with an automatic feeder mechanism, if it's got a sport configuration." You know. Like the one hiding in your apartment, Togusa. He completely hasn't done his homework on the thing he was given.

They get set up on a single lane, Togusa puts the guns down on the bench, and he gestures to a cubby in the back of the room. "You can drop your stuff there." The instructor brings up some boxes of ammo for them, and they're pretty much set to go.

"Yeah but the time it takes to reload must be killer." Quite literally. From what he understands of revolvers from pop culture, it had to be a tedious, time-consuming process that left one open to being shot themselves.

No matter though, once they're set up with a bay, James drops off his backpack in the cubby Togusa pointed out and heads over to the bench.

"Alright, are we finally ready to get at these things?"

"If you can't get the job done in six rounds, something has gone very seriously wrong," Togusa holds out one last defense for the revolver. But he'll get to that in a bit. He puts that one down on the bench, and picks up the gun for James.

"Yeah. We're going to do some practice before we start putting any rounds in this thing, make sure you're using the right form so you don't hit yourself in the face with the recoil." Things Togusa Has Seen Happen.

He speeds through the features of the gun, since James isn't a complete day 1 newbie. Safety's here, chamber is here, the hot metal casing is going to eject out of here. Please don't do that thing you see in the movies where you cock the hammer with your thumb, this is how the slide works, let the gun do the work for you.

So Togusa sets them up to go through the motions a few times, load up an empty clip, take the safety off, 'fire' a few rounds, even though he hasn't handed James any bullets yet. He wants to see how James holds himself, see where he needs more or less instruction.

He groans, but follows Togusa's lead and watches him explain. How else is he gonna ever get around to shooting a gun, if he doesn't? It's a necessary evil.

One that he shortly ends up finding useful, because while he knows the general concepts of how a gun works and how to operate one, this particular gun is new to him. He tries to replicate the motions Togusa just explained--loading up the empty clip and fumbling for a few seconds trying to make sure it snaps into place properly, sliding the safety off and double checking it along with the hammer, then raising the gun with both arms, adjusting a few times before finding a grip that feels right. Then he pulls the trigger--which feels really anticlimactic given that there's nothing actually happening when he does, but he's...fairly certain he got the motions right.

Once he's 'fired' a few shots, he turns to Togusa for the okay.

"So? Do I pass the test yet?"

Togusa smiles and nods. "That was better than I'd expected." He points out a few more things, focus on the front sight, make sure you see it clearly and sharply as you line it up with the back. Be ready for a recoil not just back but up when the gun actually fires. But, he shows Bucky how to load the bullets into the clip, itself, and loads up a full eight shots.

"The big trick. Don't completely tense up when you fire. If you grip this absolutely as tight as you can, it's gonna fly right out of your hands. Breathe in fully, breathe half-way out, and hold, right as you pull the trigger. You want your chest to be still, but you don't want your lungs to be full or empty. Just take it one shot at a time for now."

Ears and eye protection on, Togusa gives the thumbs up, and takes a step back to watch.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I got it." He grumbles, but takes the advice to heart. Gun loaded, but finger still pressed firmly against the side of the gun, he exhales fully and readjusts his feet, then his shoulders, then his (sweater than he'd like to admit) hands on the grip.

James breathes in, trying to hold as still as possible, then begins to exhale slowly. With his finger now on the trigger, he slowly applies pressure in agonizing suspense until, suddenly--

The gun fires, and his arms jerk up and he stumbles. It's not just the recoil--although that partially has to do with it--but more that strange feeling he's rapidly come to associate with oncoming hallucinomemories.

A moment later, he seems to recover from the brief daze, although breathing a little harder than expected.

"Whoa."

He looks at the target, where he sees that, at a 3 yard distance, his shot only managed to get him into the outermost ring of the bullseye.

Togusa automatically puts a hand out like he's going to try to steady James. "You all right?" He is speaking a little louder to make sure that he is heard over their ear protection. For a second, he worries that maybe they jumped into this too soon. But James looks okay. Maybe just startled. "Not quite how it looks on TV, hunh? Other reason I was making sure you didn't tense up."

Even Togusa can't quite just laugh it off. There's something weird about James' reaction. But he also isn't going to call it here. "You did you get the target. Now that you know how loud it is you should be able to hold it steadier this time."

He eyes James carefully. "Whenever you're ready, go ahead and try again."

Maybe a few seconds ago, seeing his shot there on the target would've been a satisfying sight to see. But now, processing the new memories of handling pistols with the same ease as breathing, it feels like a mockery. Togusa's advice, too, suddenly feels like a taunt--basic advice for a total newbie, as if he doesn't know what he's doing. As if he doesn't have this practically seared into his brain and his muscles.

(Which, on a level, James does understand. After all, 30 seconds ago, he really did need all the help he could get. But the wiring in his mind has shifted now, and it all feels different.)

"Quit worrying, I got it," he grumbles, waving Togusa away as though he's hovering over him.

This time when he raises the pistol again, it's with the smooth, practiced confidence of someone who's done this their entire life. He lines up the sights, makes sure he's got the sight picture just right, and then almost immediately, fires off three rapid fire shots. The recoil this time almost looks nonexistent, his grip and his aim held perfectly after each shot.

All three of them hit dead center, the holes in the paper target looking almost as if he had only fired one bullet with perfect aim. James lowers the pistol slightly and grins. Now that is satisfying.

Togusa was watching James more than the target, but his eyes go wide at what he sees. In an instant, James has turned into a professional with a steadier hand than half the guys on the force. His eyes carefully track over to the target. Beginner's luck? Or something else? What just happened here? This defies any kind of explanation.

Togusa looks like he's about to say something but then shuts his mouth. He gets a smile on his face that's almost sly. He explains nothing, but sets the revolver down on the bench in front of James, with a box of bullets beside it. He has explained nothing about how to load that gun, let alone shoot it.

Then the little asshole reaches for the wall besides James and hits the switch twice to send the target down to 25 yards. Target shot distance, not realistic for training, but Togusa wants to see what will happen.

When Togusa sets the revolver in front of him, he looks over at the man and waits for some kind of explanation. But then James realizes, in the ensuing silence, that there isn't going to be one. He grins smugly.

"No tutorial on this one, huh?"

Suits him fine. James checks to make sure the safety's on before setting the Walther down to the side and picks up the revolver. This one doesn't feel as familiar as the Walther does to him now, but he understands the general concepts of how a revolver works and should be operated. It takes some fumbling, some examining it from different angles, but soon enough, James gets his bearings. Once he finds the cylinder release, he moves his fingers into the most comfortable position to load the cylinder safely with the gun braced against his hip for stability, and he's able to load it up fairly smoothly and close the cylinder.

From here, he knows what to do--this part is pretty much the same across different guns. He raises the revolver, cocks the hammer, and takes aim.

"Wow, moving the target back? Real sneaky."

He takes it as a challenge. His first shot, as before, is off--it hits the paper target, but not even inside the bullseye. Damn that recoil--it's much stronger than on the Walther. That's fine, though, because now he knows. The next three shots, all fired rapidly again, land in the center and the two innermost circles surrounding it. He grunts a little. Not as good, that time.

Togusa can only stand back and watch as exactly what he was worried about starts to happen. James wasn't lying. Togusa knows what the mark of a rookie looks like, and he was doing all of those things. Minutes ago. And now he handles the gun smoothly. You can't fake what James was doing. And you can't fake this.

What in the hell just happened here?

Togusa holds up his hand, signals for James to take off the ear protection, and looks at him in concern. "How did you know how to do that? Really think about it for a second, where did you learn that?" Because this is the first that Togusa has ever heard of something like this happening to people on the application.

He sets the gun down and removes the ear protection in time to hear Togusa's questions.

"I don't know, I just did," he shrugs. "It's weird, one second I couldn't even tell if I was holding the gun right, and now it's like I know all the ins and outs of them. Especially that one." He points to the Walther.

"It's like--you know those fake memories we've been getting? Like that, except with actual, real information instead of fake memories." Which, now that he's thinking about it, is an entirely new spin to how messed up all of this is.

Togusa frowns sharply. "I don't know if I'm immune or just not doing the right things, but I have yet to see the same things the rest of you have." At first, it was a relief, but now it is starting to bother him a lot.

"But that's exactly what it's like, isn't it?" He gestures to the shooting lane. "One second it's not there, the next, you just know it all? Natural learning should take, what's the old saying? 10,000 hours of practice to get to master status?" Togusa's eyes go wide when he says that, and he looks at James in an entirely new light. If he is this good with a gun at his age, then what on earth has James been doing with his life?

And why does it make Togusa want to track down whoever was in charge of this kid's life and punch them in the face? Who took your childhood away from you?

"Where'd you come from, where are you living at these days?" His thoughts can't help but surface.

James is taken aback by the question--what suddenly brought this up? He doesn't get it, but he answers anyway, with a light shrug.

"What do you mean, where am I from? I live with my dad and sister, we go wherever he's assigned."

He's also a little surprised by the other parts Togusa mentions. "And, well...yeah. You haven't gotten any fake memories? This is always what they're like--just straight outta nowhere and now you've got this dumb new thing in your head you can't get rid of. Except this time at least it's something cool." He glances down the shooting lane at the target. "Even if I do need some more practice."

But then he looks over at Togusa again because, seriously: "You've really never had any of those fake memories?"

Military brat, right. That alone doesn't explain it all, and Togusa can't shake the deep abiding anger on James' behalf. He runs a hand over his face. "Your dad lives on base right now? You in with the military family housing?"

But James is not the first person to ask Togusa about his memory. He pauses, because he is actually considering what James is asking him. "I don't think so. There's nothing that stands out from my memory. My childhood in Japan, coming here, going to college and meeting Gentiana, Koutarou, Professor Izunia, a bunch of other people." He shrugs lightly. "My career here, it's all- just the same."

Togusa's gaze follows James' down to the target. "Some practice. But not nearly as much as you did five minutes ago. How does it feel? You all right with it?"

He's still not following Togusa's train of thought. "Yeah? We've always lived on post, for as long as I can remember.

"That's weird, though. Nothing at all?" James frowns a little. "I didn't even know there were people on Retrospec who weren't getting their heads messed with. Why didn't they bother doing it to you?"

At the last question, James looks down at the two guns on the bench in front of him. He picks up the Walther again. It feels so natural in his hand that it almost becomes unnatural--like nostalgia for something he's never seen before. Despite the oddness of it, he grins.

"You mean am I okay with suddenly being a gun expert with awesome aim? Uh, yeah, duh. If Retrospec's gotta shove stuff into my head, I'd rather it be something like this than the fake memories."

"We're not sure," Togusa admits. "For some people, the memories come back to them when they're asleep. So, the running joke has been either that I need to get on a regular sleep schedule," and then he looks at the revolver, "or that there's nothing there for me to remember." But then why did Retrospec send him a gun?

But the look of sympathy is back when James speaks up again. He is okay with it? Truly? "Does it ring true to the sort of person you think you are? If it fits with everything else and it isn't making you question yourself? Then okay." Togusa even smiles a little. "Looks like you got off easier than some other people."

James shakes his head. "I usually get mine while I'm awake, that shouldn't stop it. I guess Retrospec really did screw you out of any fake memories. They don't send you anything else either? No 'sorry we didn't mess with your head' consolation package?"

He also isn't sure why Togusa keeps grilling him about this but...the way the last few questions are phrased give him pause. "Does it ring true?" The grin falls off his face, sliding into an expression of concern--almost worry--and he looks down at the gun in his hand again. "I...I guess so."

God damn it, James. You had to ask, didn't you? At that question, Togusa's hand reflexively goes to his side without meaning to. He realizes what he just did and quickly tries to put it back down. He's still not used to the feeling of scar tissue on his chest.

He huffs a quiet laugh. "Consolation package. That's one way of putting it." He doesn't mean to scare the kid, but it's too late now. "Not everything that people have been getting is so benign," Togusa admits. His thumb trails up, indicates a specific spot between his upper ribs. "Scar from a gunshot wound to the chest. Docs say I'm fine, though."

Togusa lets his hand drop again. "Which, like I said, it fits. It makes more sense for an injury like that to show up on me than on you." A weak gesture towards James. "I just wish I had any memory of how I got it. Same with you. If it makes sense that you know what you know now? Then don't worry about it. But it is curious as hell."

"Jesus," he says, almost dropping the gun onto the bench. "They gave you a bullet wound? Holy crap." This is an all-new level to Retrospec's insanity he could barely fathom. Fake memories, sure. New skills, sure. Weird books sent to his home, sure. But actually doing something visible, tangible to his own body? That's something he hadn't even considered.

"I mean, no duh none of it makes sense. You don't just wake up with a freaking gunshot scar and act like it's normal. And there's no reason for me to suddenly know how to fire a gun, I'm just some kid in high school! But at least my weird new crap is cool for once, that"--he points to Togusa's chest--"just sounds like a nightmare."

Togusa's back teeth grit in discomfort at the way James is looking at him. He'd just started to justify it to himself, that there was nothing that he could do about it now, but this is bringing back up all the worry that came with the change. "Didn't mean to scare you," Togusa mutters. But he breathes out a sigh, and runs a hand through his hair, floofing it in all directions.

"People have noted on the network that there have been physical changes. Eye color, hair color, for the most part it's things that are easy to explain. But this is a part of it. Just-" And then he lets that worry creep back into his voice, "I want people to be aware, without scaring the hell out of them. Don't go sharing this on the network, but, if there's somebody you really care about?" Somebody who should be warned? "You're right, it feels like something out of a nightmare. And I wouldn't want anybody else to get this as a surprise."

He crosses his arms and huffs a little. "If you don't want to scare the hell out of people, don't tell them about magical bullet wounds out of nowhere," he mutters. He doesn't really mean it--he'd rather know about it than be left in the dark, but it's not really the type of thing to say to avoid freaking people out.

"Alright, alright. You have my word I'm not gonna go around telling people about this. But, you know. Thanks for letting me know. In case." In case he gets something like that next. Which, between the guns and some of the more gruesome memories he's been getting, doesn't sound all that unlikely.

Togusa shrugs a single shoulder, "If the other option was outright lying? I'd rather tell people, but only when they ask."

He looks back up, and he looks down the range at the target again. "So what do you want to do from here? Wanna keep testing this out, or is this going to do it?" He turns to look back at James again, and even though he is reevaluating what he thinks of the kid, there's no fear of him. Just worry, and contemplating the big missing piece of James' life. Why does someone this young have to shoot so well?

James glances back over at both the pistol and the revolver. This whole conversation has cast a more sinister, doubtful light on why he suddenly knows how to operate guns so well, but at the same time...

He grins and turns back to Togusa. "Well, we're already here, aren't we? Might as well."

Suspicious as it is, he's not ready to give up practice time with a new skill that's this freaking cool.

(( Although, I think we can just handwave the rest of this since it won't be much different than what we already did. ))

(Sure thing!)

Togusa is glad to keep watch as they both get some practice in. He still has to be the 'adult' in this situation, but it becomes clear that James knows what he's doing, and doesn't need someone double-checking him. Frankly, Togusa needs the practice, himself, and starts out really well, but gets fatigued pretty easily.

Overall, it's a very successful day, and luckily for them, no one was paying close attention to them, so it doesn't even look suspicious to the range owners. When they're ready to pack it up for the day, Togusa turns the guns back over to the desk with a smile. He was far more relaxed by the time they were done, and he could get his mind off of the strangeness of James' sudden jump in skill.

"I'm glad we did this," he says as they head out to the parking lot. "The offer's still open, then. You ever need someone to come with you to come back? Just give me a call."

"Yeah? Alright, you got it," James replies as they leave. "When I want to head back over here, I'll let you know." When, because he already knows he definitely will--it's only a question of time.

"Anyway--I'll see you later." He pauses a moment as he takes his first step towards the street to head home but stops himself. "Thanks for taking me today."

And with that, he continues to walk out the parking lot to the bus stop home.

Day At The Range [Togusa and Bucky: Closed]

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can you tell i've never gone to a shooting range before or know anything about guns

Then please tell me if I start getting too nerdy

no please, at least ONE of us should know what we're talking about here

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