Don't Lose Your Way 2
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Don't Lose Your Way 2
[X] Tour the Grounds and Do Some Shooting
Going clothes shopping, hitting up the zoo, or checking on Jayce and Viktor all sounded like fun, but none of them compared to getting to check out a shooting range. From the way Caitlyn was talking about it, it sure didn't sound like she was talking about something like the one at the old arcade. Did this mean I would get a chance to use a real gun?!
Touring the grounds was nice and all. I'd never seen so much green in my life, we didn't exactly have a lot 'natural beauty' or whatever down in Zaun. Part of me couldn't help but wonder why the Kirammans deserved to hoard it all to themselves. Yeah, having their own private little forest was cool and all, and the nature-y stuff was nice, I guess, but why should they have this huge chunk of land all to themselves while other people had nothing? Why couldn't everyone enjoy all this green stuff? Didn't seem fair to me.
Maybe that was what made me say something. Caitlyn was in the middle of telling me about how this big tree was hundreds of years old and had been planted by the first Kiramman in Piltover when I hit her with a sudden change of subject. "Why do you wanna be an Enforcer anyway? You seem ... I dunno, a bit too nice to be into beating up Zaunites just for existing, getting in the way of rich Pilties, or daring not to bow and scrape enough."
Caitlyn stared at me for a long moment, then sighed. "Is that really what you think the Enforcers do?"
I frowned and crossed over my chest. "It's what everyone in Zaun says they do. Everything that's going on right now started 'cause someone stood up to them when they were being jerks. What makes you wanna join up with a gang of thugs who beat people up for no reason?"
"That's not—" Caitlyn caught herself, clenching her teeth and shaking her head. "Okay. Yes, I acknowledge that there have been times when the Enforcers have failed to live up to the ideals that they're supposed to represent. Even before this latest incident, I've heard enough conversations between Mother and Sheriff Grayson to know that there are times when the Enforcers make mistakes and get things wrong. That doesn't mean that the principles they are supposed to represent are completely without merit."
She cleared her throat and stood up a bit straighter. "The Enforcers are supposed to serve and protect the people of this city, and I feel like that's something worth doing even if there are times when the organization isn't perfect. The Kirammans have always believed that we should use our position of privilege to help others. My mother invested in developing a ventilation system for the undercity to contain the worst of the toxic air. I'd like to do something like that for the people of our city, to make the place where we all live just a little bit better. I don't know how to go about building grand public works projects, but when Sheriff Grayson talks about how she needs more good people who want to do the job for the right reasons ... that's something I can do."
I stared at her for several seconds before slowly shaking my head. "You really believe all that nonsense you just said? Have you ever actually seen what the Enforcers do? They're the reason Vi and I don't have parents."
Caitlyn flinched. "Yes, I'm aware. Your sister told me as much." She sighed and put a hand on that old tree, taking a deep breath before she continued. "I know things were … bad during the undercity riots years ago. Mother supports Sheriff Grayson because she believes that's the best way to stop anything like that from ever happening again. If you think the current Enforcers are so terrible, wouldn't it make sense to replace them with better ones?"
"I'd rather just not have any," I shot back.
"But that's anarchy!" Caitlyn scoffed and shook her head. "Who would stop everyone from thieving, murdering, and breaking the law?"
I shrugged. "I don't see any bluebellies out here. What's stopping you from killing me right now? Even if there were, you're rich, and your mom's friends with the Sheriff. You could definitely get away with it."
Caitlyn let out an offended gasp. "I would never just wantonly murder someone for no reason! Especially not one of my friends!"
"You think Zaunites are different?" I looked up at the big tree, trying to figure out how I'd climb it if I wanted to. It seemed like something that might be fun. "I've never seen Enforcers stop a murder down in Zaun. They didn't stop me and Vi from breaking into Jayce's lab either, that was all you. I do hear a lot about them causing trouble and hurting people who didn't deserve it."
Caitlyn let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "Isn't the undercity in such bad shape because there aren't enough good Enforcers? Wouldn't things be better if someone was there enforcing the law fairly and protecting everyone equally, regardless of whether they're a poor orphan from the undercity or a rich girl from Piltover? What's wrong with wanting to put a little justice and decency into the world?"
"Nothing." I tried to jump up to grab the lowest-hanging branch, but I couldn't reach it. "I just don't think the Enforcers care about that kinda thing."
"Well, perhaps in time I'll prove you wrong." Caitlyn declared with a satisfied smile. "Now, did you want a boost to help get up into that tree, or shall we head to the range?"
"Range!" I answered at once, completely forgetting about climbing the tree. "What kinda guns do you have, anyway? What do you use for targets?"
"We have a decent collection of hunting rifles," Caitlyn answered. "My grandfather was an avid huntsman who insisted on teaching Mother and me everything he knew. Personally I don't see the appeal of shooting helpless creatures purely for trophies, but there's no harm in developing marksmanship. Or a few of the more esoteric skills he passed on: I don't anticipate it coming up too often, but you never know when knowing how to make a yordle snap trap might be a vital skill."
"I know all kinds of random stuff that might come in handy someday," I agreed. "I don't think Jayce will ever want me to repair a damaged wire with chewing gum when we could just replace it with a fresh one, but it could come up at some point when we're in a hurry or something."
"I'm sure," Caitlyn agreed as she led the way to what looked like a house. Except this one was more of a normal house size for Zaun, compared to her family's mansion. "Grandfather's little bungalow. We keep most of the guns here, rather than in the main house. Along with a lot of his things. He always liked staying here whenever he got sick of Council politics but couldn't leave the city for a hunting trip. We keep meaning to go through and properly sort everything since he passed, but…" she trailed off with a sad sigh.
"Yeah, I think I get it." Vander had talked once or twice about trying to go through some of Mom and Dad's old stuff, not that they had much. We'd never gotten around to doing it, just like Caitlyn's family couldn't clean out her grandpa's shed.
Caitlyn stepped into the cabin and came out a few minutes later carrying two rifles and a box of shells. "Well then, shall we? I picked a lighter caliber for you, I wouldn't want you to get knocked down the first time you pull the trigger." She started to hand the smaller of the two rifles to me, only to pull it back at the last moment. "Before I let you handle a firearm there are a few simple rules we'll need to go over. If you break any of them, I'm afraid our excursion might be cut short. Firstly the gun in your hands is always loaded."
"But it's not." I pointed to the empty slot where the bullets were supposed to go. "See?"
Caitlyn bit back an annoyed sigh. "I'm aware, but you should always treat it as if it is. Far too many accidents have happened because someone was messing around with a gun that they were quite certain was unloaded, only to learn far too late that they were wrong. This leads us nicely to the second and third rules: don't ever point the gun at someone unless you fully intend to shoot them, and don't ever put your finger near the trigger unless you intend to fire."
"Feels like those three safety rules are really just telling a story," I pointed out. "Someone thought they could play around with an unloaded gun, except then it turns out it was loaded and BLAM!"
Caitlyn sighed. "Not a singular story so much as dozens of nearly identical ones, but yes. As the old saying goes, every safety rule is written in blood. Finally, you should always check your target and be aware of your surroundings. Make sure there's nobody in front of you, or behind your intended target who might be in danger before you fire."
"Got it." I nodded and reached out for the gun.
Caitlyn pulled the gun back, then lifted it over her head. "Repeat the rules back to me."
"Uh, you literally just said them. Even if I was a dummy I wouldn't forget them that fast, and I don't really forget stuff much." When that didn't convince her to hand over the gun I let out a long sigh. "Ugh, fine! Treat the gun like it's loaded. Don't point it at anyone. Don't touch the trigger until I'm ready to shoot. Make sure there's nobody in front of me or behind the target."
"Very good. There are a few other details to cover, but those are the four core rules." We arrived at an open field, where several paper targets had already been set up for us. I guess one of the people working for her family must've gotten that done while we were walking around. Caitlyn set the rifle down in front of me, walking through how it worked, how to load it, and everything else. Once she was sure I had that down she finally let me touch the gun.
It felt heavier than the ones in the arcade. Though I guess that made sense, the arcade guns were fakes made out of whatever was cheapest. Caitlyn's family had theirs made out of all the usual rich person fancy stuff. I scanned the area to make sure that Caitlyn wasn't in between me and the closest target, and that nobody else was around.
"Now, you'll want to—"
BLAM!
I grinned at the target. I hadn't quite hit the bull's eye, but it was pretty close.
"Powder!" Caitlyn had her arms crossed over her chest and was frowning down at me. "I didn't say you could shoot yet!"
"Oh." I sheepishly lowered the gun. "Was I supposed to wait for that? It wasn't one of your rules. I checked that nobody was in the line of fire..."
Caitlyn closed her eyes and bit back a sigh. "Let's make it a rule for today, at the very least. Not that I don't trust your judgment, but let's be extra-safe for your first time with guns, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." I glanced over at the target. "Still, I did pretty good, didn't I?"
Caitlyn checked the target and nodded. "Yes, that was a fine shot, but the key to marksmanship is to be able to hit your targets consistently and reliably. Now, before you try again let's go over a few things like how to aim, your stance, and how to hold a gun properly."
After what felt like an eternity of her adjusting where my feet were, my posture, nitpicking the exact angle my arms were at, and even getting into how I was breathing, she finally decided to let me try again. "Now remember: breathe in, count to three, and squeeze the trigger as you're letting that breath out."
"Yeah, okay." I did my best to follow her advice, including the weird breathing thing. I wasn't sure it would really make a difference, but she was supposed to be the expert so I should probably listen to what she said. When all that was done, I finally pulled the trigger.
This time I didn't even hit the target.
"That's alright," Caitlyn reassured me, patting my back. "It takes time to get the hang of it. Don't worry about it, just take your time and try again."
After reloading three times I still hadn't figured it out. I hadn't even managed to land another hit on the target despite all my efforts. I was starting to get a little frustrated. Especially since Caitly had gone fired her gun some to show me how it was done, and was getting perfectly grouped clustered of hits around the bull's eye of a target that was twice as far away as mine. It just wasn't fair.
Caitlyn tried to give me a reassuring smile. "I've been doing this for years, Powder, but this is your first time. It's only natural that I'm going to be better at it than you."
"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd do this bad," I growled. "I always did really good at the shooting games in the old arcade. I could even get a perfect score!"
Caitlyn kept her 'I'm trying to be nice to the little kid,' smile firmly in place. "As I'm sure you've realized, there's quite a difference between shooting a toy gun at an arcade and using the real thing on a practice range. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it if you keep working on it."
I didn't want to eventually get better, I wanted to get it right now! Keeping all the stuff about my stance and how I was holding the gun and breathing was just ... too much stuff in my head while I was trying to focus on shooting. I'd done way better when I didn't try following all her advice.
Once I was done reloading, Caitlyn gave me the signal to go ahead and fire. This time instead of making sure the rifle's stock was properly resting on my shoulder or I was standing the right way I just did what felt right. I didn't bother breathing or waiting between shots either, putting out bullets as fast as I could work the lever to put a new round into the chamber. I kept shooting until the gun ran dry, and I think I might've been screaming a little by the end of it.
When I was done I noticed Caitlyn watching me with a faint frown, and when she opened her mouth that annoying nurturing tone I always hated hearing from Vi came out of her mouth. "Now Powder, I understand you're a bit frustrated, but if you don't focus you'll never..."
She trailed off as she noticed the target. I didn't have a perfect tight little grouping around the bull's eye like she did, but... yup, the numbers added up. Every single one of my bullets had hit, and after I'd completely whiffing it when I tried to do things her way.
Caitlyn stared at the target for a second, then chuckled and shook her head. "Well, much as I want to criticize your form the results are hard to argue with. I suppose I should've realized that what works for me won't necessarily work for everyone. Or maybe it's like your engineering, you have decent instincts already, and trying to teach you to do things the proper way involves a lot of time relearning the basics.
I shrugged. "I don't care why, I'm just glad I'm getting hits now."
"So am I," Caitlyn agreed with a smile. "It's never fun when you have a bad day at the range. Now, I think it's close to lunchtime. We should have something to eat, and then decide what we'll do with our afternoon."
There was a tough question. Some of the stuff she'd been talking about at breakfast sounded nice, but I was also feeling kinda bad about doing fun stuff while Vi might be in trouble. Maybe we could go find Caitlyn's mom and see if she had any news? I didn't wanna particularly go to a building full of high-ranking Pilties and Enforcers, in fact it sounded like an awful way to spend my day, but if the alternative was not knowing what was going on with my family didn't I kinda owe it to them to find out?
Current Stability: 0
Willpower: 2
What Shall Powder do after lunch?
[ ][Afternoon] Visit the Zoo!
Issues: Self-worth (-2), Other Side of the Pilt (-1), Vi (-3)
Failure Result: Powder is too worried about her sister to have fun.
[ ][Afternoon] Clothes Shopping
Issues: Self-worth (-2), Other Side of the Pilt (-1), Vi (-3)
Failure Result: Powder is too worried about her sister to have fun.
[ ][Afternoon] Write-in other fun things they could do
Issues: Self-worth (-2), Other Side of the Pilt (-1), Vi (-3)
Failure Result: Powder is too worried about her sister to have fun.
[ ][Afternoon] Head to the Council Building
Costs 1 Willpower
Issues: Self-worth (-2) Daughter of Zaun (-1) Abandonment (-2), Trauma (-2)
Failure Result: Powder is not shy about sharing her opinions of the situation in Zaun.
Willpower
[ ][Willpower] Spend Zero
[ ][Willpower] Spend One for +3
[ ][Willpower] Spend Two for +6
