Shooting Challenge [OPEN]

[standalonehuman]

WHO: Fynn Izunia, Hitori Togusa, and anyone who feels like testing their shooting skills against the Department champ, Fynn.
WHERE: The Deadeye Shooting Range
WHEN: 6/21
WHAT: Fynn takes on all comers (and teaches Togusa some lessons in the meantime.)
WARNINGS: Being nerds about guns again.

Now that Togusa was back on his feet, he had finally taken Fynn up on his offer for some off-hours shooting lessons. Their evaluation is coming up, is has to be soon, but the Department has kept absolutely silent about when it might be, so Togusa is nervous. He has been practicing here on his own, to try to hide the fact that he needs so much practice to try to keep up with everyone else. But he has hit a bit of a plateau of how much he can improve on his own. So, he'll accept instruction from anyone that's willing to offer it.

Little did Togusa know that this day at the range also turned into an open invitation, for people both within and outside of the Department. When he notices that there are far more people here than he had expected, he realizes this might be a much better opportunity than originally planned.

(OOC: All are welcome! Open log, please feel free to make your own threads, take this any direction, especially if you want this to turn into a competition, I love it.)

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Togusa

[standalonehuman]

Once he is inside, Togusa hands over a familiar-to-some grey duraplastic case to the range officer. Inside is The Gun. The Mateba M2008. Togusa manages to keep a straight face as he produces a registration card for the gun, as well. But that's the part that is absolutely burning him up inside. This shouldn't be legal for him to use. But, thanks to Retrospec, now it is.

So, time to get better acquainted with the thing. It was actually Koutarou's advice that inspired him to do this. A lot of time and energy has gone into this gun, it's very specific, almost idiosyncratic to be using a gun like this. But Togusa can see the logic behind why someone would prefer this gun. And maybe it's the closest he can connect to this "other Hitori Togusa," if that's really what's going on.

Besides. Togusa promised Fynn he could play with it.

[rygdea]

Sure enough here comes Officer Izunia rushing over to get the chance to see that gun in action. Fynn is all but salivating for the chance to get his hands on that impossibly legal firearm. "Boy oh boy! Look at that baby!" He says loudly with such untamed excitement once he finds Togusa at the firing range. Those bright blue eyes are down right glassy with unbridled enthusiasm that cannot be controlled for sustained by anything in this world or the next. His fingers are just itching for the chance to test the Mateba's capabilities. The kick back is going to be a bitch and a half but Fynn can take whatever punishment comes his way.

"Just look at this beauty." He says with such uncanny reverance as his gaze lingers upon the wooden finish of the stock. "Deadly but beautiful. The perfect little mini-cannon for anyone gun enthusiast. If I wasn't living at my brother's home, I would have one of these my damn self." He pauses for a moment as he turns to Togusa. "Wait but this firearm isn't legal in Recollè County, right?" Fynn scratches the back of his head looking somewhat puzzled now. Izunia is out of uniform for once sporting a button down navy blue shirt and a pair of ripped up blue jeans. Of course he's wearing a pair of red converse sneakers that don't match a damn thing. He looks like college student in this attire, a little young looking despite his age. That probably explain why he got carded when he first entered the firing range. He had to flash his badge to get the guys out front to leave him the hell alone.

"You know, I got a crazy ass theory about Retrospec, Toga." Here comes that catching nickname again. "I bet they're government related."

[standalonehuman]

Togusa is all too happy to hand over the case. There is an amused smile on his face as he can see Fynn is just as excited about this as he is. He is reluctant around the gun, but his best friend made a good point that using it might be the best way to connect with this other self. So, okay.

Togusa hands over the registration card. "Think again." He pitches his voice down a little, steps them away from the range officer so they can keep this slightly more private. "Apparently, it's just okay. Now, any version of this gun would be legal in Recolle. Even the autorevolver mechanism, it's totally fine, if you imported it the normal way." Togusa jabs a finger down, touches the grip of the gun. "This gun, specifically?"

"No paperwork came with it, so I tried to register it, and the Public Safety Office confiscated it. As they should have. But then I get it right back in the mail, along with the card. So, you're right, there is some relation to the government." Togusa shrugs. "But it also means you get to shoot this baby off guilt-free, so have at it."

[rygdea]

Once the case is handed off, Fynn clings to it like a child on Christmas Eve. "The Mateba M2008 in the flesh..." He mutters more to himself than to its owner. He takes a moment to embrace the case and even comically gave it a smooch before taking the registration card from Togusa. "...The heck?" Fynn can't help but look downright baffled now. "You mean this city suddenly decides to loosen the restrictions just to accommodate for you?" A bad feeling pools at the bottom of his stomach as he tries to make sense of all this.

"That's downright disturbing, Toga." He admits with a frown once the case is opened. Much like last time, the beautiful firearm looks just as lovely as it did when he first saw it. If the Mateba had been a woman, she undoubtedly would've been some blond haired, blue eyed bombshell that Fynn can't tear his eyes off of. It's that fricking gorgeous.

"Better believe I will!" Fynn shouts enthusiastically enough to get hushed by a passerby. He let's a sheepish laugh and apologizes quickly before glancing back at Togusa. "Have you gotten any practice with this beauty though?" A cheeky grin settles upon his lips as he regards his colleague.

"Don't tell me you haven't!"

[standalonehuman]

It is impossibly amusing to see Fynn like this. It's more than just appreciating craftsmanship, he truly loves his guns. It's the kind of energetic enthusiasm that marks somebody who has put a lot of time and effort into a path. Maybe the other Hitori is closer to this, and that would actually be a good thing. There are far worse role models out there than Fynn Izunia.

" I have no idea what changed their minds because the gun returned to me through Retrospec not from the PSO," Togusa clarifies. " I haven't fired it off here yet, because, cop or no cop, the range officer wouldn't let me bring this thing on the premises without that happy little card."

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "What changed my mind was the spiders. We all shrunk down, my service pistol was still the same size, but for some reason that thing was small enough for me to hold. So I brought it along and it got its life fire test when me and your brother decided to go snooping underneath the city." Togusa's tone loses some of its grim seriousness. "And it is amazing. You need to see how fast this thing can spit out six shots. You's expect this kind of thing out of a sport shooting gun, but it doesn't sacrifice the power." Now, without thinking about it, Togusa is starting to sound like Fynn.

[rygdea]

It would be pretty hilarious if Hitori's true self is actually someone likened to Fynn. As much as Ardyn makes fun of his brother for being horribly abrasive and loud, he can't deny that Fynn is a rather shockingly fun and intelligent fella. He's rough around the edges, jagged even like a can opened via can-opener but he's a good man. He might not be the best well-suited to be an officer of the law but he does his best. That's all he can really do and he does give his all.

"Can you blame them, though?" Fynn replies with a faint grin upon his face. "I know I wouldn't let your ass fire a single shot without the proper documents. Hell, you lucky I know you. I might not always play by the books but I would've beaten you with it." He snickers.

Record scratch. "Wait, you went snooping under the city with my brother?" Fynn cannot help but look surprised. "Ardyn didn't mention any of this! Man, you two are having adventures and stuff around town now? Shoot, where was my invite?" He rolls his eyes a little at that. Of course his brother wouldn't tell him any of this. Of course.

"Really?" That annoyed expression changes lightens into one of pure wonder and awe. "Oh, man! I can't wait to try it! This is going to be so fun! If I like enough, I'm going to purchase one for my own collection."

[standalonehuman]

But there's something familiar about Fynn's roughness, it lets Togusa fall into a less formal manner, but keep his respect for both Izunias. He respects them for very different reasons, but can be pretty relaxed around Fynn, in contrast to his stiffness around Ardyn. There's no impressing Fynn, but it makes things easier.

"Well...." drawn out while Togusa tries to figure out how to put this, chuckling at Fynn's very legitimate point about Togusa keeping the gun. "Our third participant in the subway was your favorite little shithead, Dante Rantanen. He was our initial wheelman in the RC car, which, when I say that out loud," Togusa props his head up on his hand. That is probably the strangest part of this entire thing. "But Dante got us out of there safely. I could at least watch my own back, between the both of us, we could keep Ardyn safe. Rats in the subways, not an urban legend."

But, he starts to lead them into the actual range, he will be so happy to let Fynn have a crack with the Mateba.

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo hadn't consciously given thought to trying to force a memory to happen. Rather, he'd been trying to avoid it, to no avail. But when word filtered from the precinct to the lab that Togusa and Izunia were going to the range and anyone was welcome, it sparked an idea. Others on the app were 'remembering' how to use swords and spears and knives. Why not guns? His other-self clearly knew how to use a gun well. And since his Wednesday nights were usually free, Tatsuo figured he might as well test this out.

When it was his turn at the check-in desk, Tatsuo surrendered his ID and paid for an hour on a pistol lane, an extra target, and ammo. For a gun he rented a Beretta 92. If asked why he picked the Beretta 92, Tatsuo will just smile and say it was at the top of the list. In reality, it's the gun he remembered his other-self using. Ear protection firmly in place, Tatsuo entered the range and located his assigned lane.

[ooc: Come be his lane neighbor! Or chat with him when he takes a break.]

[rygdea]

In the neighboring lane is none other than Officer Izunia in plain clothes gearing up for some practice. Unbeknown to most within the precinct, he's this year's second runner for the National Police Firearms Competition. This man would've won gold if his accuracy wasn't off by a smidgen. The officer he went against, this hotshot from Texas, beat him by just the skin of his teeth. Fynn is a deadly shot. There's almost no one on the force that can top him competition wise. He just seems to have this uncanny ability with firearms that most lack. Whether or not that's because of his surfacing memories or just a laden talent has yet to be determined yet. Armed with his customized Smith & Wesson M&P 9 and those funny looking red ear protectors on, Fynn gets right to practice.

Say what you will about this lazy bastard, Fynn certainly knows how to get to work at the firing range. His shots are controlled and steady with absurd accuracy. He takes out seven targets consecutively with clean headshots each without so much as breaking a sweat before needing to reload. It's when he reloads the magazine that he notice his neighbor. "The classic Beretta Model 92c?" Fynn questions with a faint smirk to his lips. "Talk about 'standard issue'. That gun type has been around since the 1970s but that current model was made in the 1990s, I think." This is just him spouting out some random knowledge here. It's a known fact that when Fynn gets into something he likes, he turns into a walking encyclopedia with cliff notes.

[thisloveisjustice]

See, using the lane next to Tatsuo just makes Fynn look even better. For one, he's using a standard target with squares and circles instead of a human silhouette. Not nearly as exciting as headshots. And for another, Tatsuo's shooting is slow and deliberate. He takes a moment to breathe between each shot as he lines up the next one. But even though he's slow and his accuracy is a little off, his shots cluster close together.

It's kind of relaxing, in the same way going at a punching bag is relaxing. That moment of air between each shot, almost like a vacuum of silence, the sense of anticipation as he squeezes the trigger, and then the slight kick of the gun in his hands. Still, dropping by the dojo is a lot cheaper than an hour at the shooting range, between the lane rental, the gun rental, and the ammo.

Tatsuo ejects the Beretta's magazine as Fynn comments on his choice of weapon. "I suppose some people like the classics," he says as he starts pushing bullets into the clip. "There must be something good about the design if they keep making it in some form or another."

[rygdea]

There's nothing wrong with using shapes instead of cutout silhouettes. It's commendable that the man is even out here trying to brush up in his skill today. Besides, this isn't a competition. Fynn is just training. If he really wanted to show off, he would've fetched his rifle. The only reason SWAT is interested in this Fynn is because he's really accurate with a rifle, ridiculously so. Recollè honestly don't have a need for guys like him, at least not yet.

"Hey, hey! I'm not knocking it." Fynn replies with a larger grin upon his face. "The Berretta is an old classic that most of the cops on the West Coast still use. The handgun I'm wielding is a bit of rarity outside of states like Arizona or Texas." He says before getting ready for round two. Truth be told, Fynn certainly has a slight Southern accent to him. If he wasn't Ardyn's brother, most people probably would think he's a small town hick.

"I learned how to shoot using a Beretta, so I can't talk too much smack about it." He admits with a hint of fondness in his cheerful tone.

[thisloveisjustice]

"Huh, I didn't know it had a history like that," Tatsuo admits. "Usually the only time I handle firearms is for test purposes, and the pedigree of a particular gun isn't pertinent for that."

He finishes loading the bullets and lays the magazine on the counter in front of him. "What do you like about your Smith & Wesson?" Tatsuo likes asking cops this question, especially the ones that have a preference for a non-standard firearm.

[rygdea]

Fynn arches his brow some at that. "Really? They never ask you about the history behind the firearm itself?" Excuse the incredulous look upon this avid gun enthusiast's face. He's a little surprised that not everyone shares his love for guns, especially since these weapons helped sculpt the modern world they see today. While he doesn't expect everyone to own a firearm, he does expect people to understand their concrete place in society.

"For better or for worse, these firearms do require a level of understanding and respect." He more or less mumbles to himself before the man could pelt him with a question. "The lack of recoil and the speed." Fynn answers quickly as if the answer was just on the tip of his tongue.

[vendettastool]

Yoon-sung didn't like guns. True he had been around them before thanks to his father's associates and a weekend here and there in a hunting lodge, but he really didn't like them. He only handled one long enough to show that he wasn't afraid of the thing but he never went out of his way to get comfortable with anything like them.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his hallucimemories were determined for him to accept that his other was all-too familiar with them.

Which was why he showed up for beginner gun lessons. Yoon-sung felt that if he was going to wake up knowing what to do with the weapons his other had been so casual around, he wanted to at least get a jump start on whatever hallucimemory was waiting to kick him in the teeth. He told the teacher that he wanted to at least know how to use the things for his business hunting lodge trips and that seemed to settle whatever question they had but still, he was not exactly comfortable with the whole thing. Given the state on how he really couldn't even point the small .38 he was assigned, he is going to need all the help he could get learning this skill.

[standalonehuman]

There's a slight surprise to see Yoon-sung here, but Togusa understands once he thinks about it for a minute. There is some likely violent stuff waiting in the man's memories. So Togusa smiles good-naturedly as he approaches. "And here I thought you were purely a hand-to-hand guy," Togusa comments. He remembers Yoon-sung's dilemma with his personal assistant, a man who was helping teach him sparring, but also woke up one day forgetting everything about Retrospec.

Togusa nods towards the .38, "Have you ever fired one of those before? I can at least point you towards the basics, if you need it. Fynn," he smiles, "his tips might be a little more advanced."

[vendettastool]

"The closest I've gotten to any gun are the target ones I carry around whenever I'm roped into business trips to hunting lodges," Yoon-sung replied with a grimace. "I usually don't even load those, but this is my attempt to hack the system."

As much as it bothered him, he knew that sooner or later guns were going to come up in his hallucimemories. He wanted to be ready for it, especially since the last few he had gotten were not exactly visions from a simple kid. Simple kids did not grow up on drug farms or rescue people by nearly killing gang members while rescuing people from getting their hands cut off.

"I've gotten a few more of those hallucimemories. I think guns will be next and I want to be ready."

[standalonehuman]

Togusa's head tilts slightly to the side and he mouths 'business trips to hunting lodges?' in utter confusion. "No no, time out," holding up a hand, "is that a thing in America?" He gestures around them, motioning to Fynn and the other cops that have shown up, "Shooting things as team-building is a necessary part of the job, for us. But what?" The culture surrounding guns in America is still the biggest clash of living here that Togusa encounters.

"Better to be prepared, I agree," Togusa nods in agreement. There's a slight hesitation as he struggles to remember what he has and hasn't discussed with Yoon-sung before. He hadn't initially pegged Yoon-sung as someone who might need to know that random injuries can appear, too. But this information changes things.

[vendettastool]

"Some richer people like doing it, and it's rather common in England."

Not that it was just going hunting in England. Sure, it was the highlight of the trip but it usually was a week of hanging around and eating and gossiping and making business connections as well. The American ones were a little bit more about bragging rights and drinking as far as he could tell.

"I think that I may have been part of that group working in the village. It doesn't make sense otherwise."

[standalonehuman]

Togusa leans in a little closer. To the untrained eye, it looks like he's just observing Yoon-sung's technique, trying to teach. "I can't remember if I've mentioned it. But if your hunch is right, if the memories you're getting back are violent and dangerous, then there's something you might want to know."

"The physical changes. Some people have been getting different eye or hair color. It can include injuries. Stuff you don't remember ever getting. But it's there." Togusa's hand meaningfully drifts up to his chest, settles against the front of his ribs for a second.

[frostythehitman]

As soon as James heard about this little outing, he made it a priority to show up. There's only so many opportunities he gets to practice his shooting--in fact, this is only his second time. But if he keeps getting war memories in his head and guns in the mail, then he figures he at least ought to know what he's doing.

James was lucky enough to get Togusa to rent him out a Colt 1991 pistol at the range--he's too young to rent on his own, and definitely too young to walk in with an unregistered gun that was sent to him illegally in the mail. But the Colt is, as far as he can tell from the selection at the range, as close as he can get to the M1911 hidden in his closet.

So now everyone gets to be treated to the sight of this teenager, setting himself up at one of the bays and quite comfortably loading the gun's magazine.

[standalonehuman]

Togusa is going to at least pretend that he isn't unsettled by James being here. It feels like his fault, that James remembers what he knows about his other self, in the first place. There's already a question of what kind of childhood this James has had, army brat, with a father who is not antagonistic, but is at least only questionably supportive. Stack on top of it the question of what this other James' childhood must have been like. To be so good at shooting so young. Why did he need to be?

So Togusa keeps close, mutters to James, "At least make it look like you're picking up some instruction. Let's not get anybody else asking questions." If he can be a buffer between James and the other officers, too, he'll consider that a good thing.

[frostythehitman]

James looks tense as he turns around to see who's walking up to his bay and trying to talk to him, afraid it's going to be a police officer he won't have answers for. But thankfully, it's just Togusa. He relaxes a little and suddenly looks so much more at ease, even if he is currently holding a box of bullets. He gives a sly, easy grin.

"Yeah? Well if that's the case, then maybe you should give me a little lesson." He sets the magazine and bullets down, instead picking up just one and holding it up in front of him. "Before I try loading one of these through the front of the barrel."

[standalonehuman]

Togusa briefly gets a look on his face of stunned frustration. Is this what it's like to be confronted with himself? Deep down, he deserves this, doesn't he? Togusa reaches out to bat his hand down. "It won't fit down the front of the barrel, that's the point, smartass." And James knows it.

"You think you're good, let's see how you do at the end of that box," Togusa nods towards the box of bullets. "Keeping consistency when you're getting fatigued. There's a challenge for you." It's the aspect of his own shooting that Togusa knows he needs to work on the most.

[frostythehitman]

"Oh yeah? You're on."

It's amazing how little effort it takes to get a kid fired up and ready to take on a challenge. James immediately goes back to filling the magazine and slotting it into the Colt.

"We gonna bet on this or what?" Because James is only getting started.

[standalonehuman]

Togusa doesn't even hesitate. Oh, he's probably going to lose this. But there is zero chance that he is going to back down from a teenager challenging him to a shooting match. He digs into his wallet, and slaps a few bills onto the range bench. If it were Fynn, he'd be offering more, because he knows how much that guy makes.

But all right, they're doing this. Togusa grabs a pair of match targets, large sheets with ten mini-targets around the outside. "Ten shots per," he explains. Which will be a partial pain for him, but it's a proper match set.

Because he pulls out what is in that plastic case he's been carrying. It's another revolver, like what he was trying out the last time he was here, but this one is different. Customized.