Geek-Girl With Gun

[Nathan Spriggs] All it takes is one simple call from Molly, calling in a favor so to speak, more a promise than anything else, and Nathan's setting off shortly after for her place. The first thing that Molly might notice when he arrives is the familiar black trombone case slung across his back, it'd been a more common sight when they first met than in recent days oddly enough, considering the way things were now. As to the contents, well, they were things that most Magi in the city wouldn't want to see because it'd meant things went to the shitter, but today they were necessary tools.

Guns. Lots of them.

Hitching a ride in Molly's TARDIS, most likely, Nathan leads out of the city margins by about two or three miles. An abandoned factory hidden by the roadside, with overgrowth and vegetation that would suggest it's been this way for a good decade or two. Once there, he slips out of the car without a word, just a gesture for Molly to follow, takes hold of the bag and slings it across his back again before proceeding to climb over the vine-covered wire fence that covers the place's perimeter, most of it rusted and the razor wire half-broken or taken down by now.

After that, it's a short walk down to the center, about five minutes from where they entered and there it stands... A makeshift, very ghetto shooting range, if one were to have a really creative mind anyway. Most of it was just old junk and places to put broken bottles which, taking a small plastic bag out of his bigger bag, Nathan provides at intervals, forming a small three bottle line at each. The first's 50 meters, the second's 100 and the last is 150.

"Right. This should work," he says as he slides the trombone case into his hands and undoes the zipper, laying it down on a small wooden table that's half-rotten and proceeding to line up the gun selection. Four handguns, one has a sleek black-on-white metallic design, another simple black polymer, the third also polymer but smaller than the second and the last is much the same except this time it's so small that it doesn't even look like a gun, just a toy. Next to them are placed three black cylinders that're easily recognizable as silencers if one watches enough Mafia and/or spy movies. Next to the handguns, Nathan also sets a weapon reminiscent of a rifle in shape and looks, before placing a shorter but much thicker cylinder next to the others, clearly meant for it. "M1911's off limits, that's the metallic one, too much kick. SPAS-15 too, that's this," he points at the rifle before adding, "it's a shotgun, by the way. In case you didn't know."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly does, indeed, pick Nathan up in the TARDIS, though she sounds a little ... hesitant when it gets brought up. She does try to reassure him, "Oh, no, she's running fine. Just ... yeah." The reason for this hesitance becomes clear when she drives up in the Beetle, which is making some noises that suggest that the muffler needs work (it is, in fact, scraping a little). The paint job is scratched to hell, there are some serious dents in the hood and there are broken Christmas tree lights stuck in the front bumper. As for Molly herself, she's got facial bruising and her glasses are currently mended with electrical tape at the bridge. Clearly, someone had an accident. She's not particularly keen to talk about it while driving, though. In fact, while driving, she doesn't talk at all, preferring to keep her eyes on the road and her ears on the noises her car is making. Explanations will have to wait.

There's curiosity about the guns, obviously, and she eyes them carefully. Clearly, she's impressed. "Well. Wow. Cripes. I mean, great Google, I saw this stuff while I was sort of comparison shopping but ... I'm pretty sure you're an ATF agent's fondest dream. Or would be, if you weren't good at what you do, I guess. Any recommendations? This is all new to me, remember."

[Nathan Spriggs] Putting behind the fact that Nathan had watched the car with a worried sort of wariness most of the ride here, he seemed to be much calmer now that they've reached a point where he's in control (and out of the car). In response to Molly's question, he slowly paces across the table, tapping each of the guns laid there once as he gives information on each.

For the first, he says, "You already know this one, M1911A1, .45 caliber, old but reliable." Then to the first of the polymer handguns, "This one's the FN Five-SeveN, caliber's 5.7mm, unique rounds. They're designed to pull off a Hollow Point round effect by pure impact and force alone, and though I've never tested it out, they're supposedly capable of punching through body armor at certain ranges. Mild to low recoil." Another few steps before he taps the third, smaller one, "Glock 29, 10mm caliber, ultracompact weapon, not much recoil but carries one hell of a punch. Reliable too, as most Glocks. A personal favorite."

To the last, he hesitates a moment, before shrugging as though to admit a fault of some kind. "This one, I have roughly no idea as to the specs, except I can tell you the recoil's not bad. Atlas made it and gave me the ammo, so I don't know the specifics." Nathan gives her a wry smile that carries some amusement before adding, "Some teacher I am, huh? Anyway, the last, by process of elimination's the SPAS-15, combat shotgun. Semi-automatic with magazines, 12 gauge. Though it can be used pump-action for custom rounds such as bean bags. Highly illegal, while most of the rest of this stuff could get away with a gun license."

[Molly Quincannon] "Oooooooooh." Cue indecisive Molly. On the one hand, Atlas-made gun. (Mental note: Ask Atlas about that later.) On the other hand... She goes for Nathan's 'personal favourite', the Glock. At least she knows enough not to point it at anything she doesn't want to put a hole in, and keeps her finger off the trigger. "These things are always heavier than they look," she muses as she hefts the gun. Then, with a grin, she adds, "Well, who looks in trombone cases, right? It looks very ... destructive, and I'm not allowed to use it. Damn." She's teasing, but maybe not entirely joking.

Speaking of destruction, she glances back at the path towards the car, then looks at Nathan with a wry expression. "I'm not sure whether to be grateful or not that you didn't ask about the car. Or the face. Or the fuming desire to blow holes in things. Not that I wouldn't have asked for the lessons anyway. I mean, it's a good thing to know, and you've got the expertise, and the company doesn't hurt. I'm going to learn to shut up and let you teach any second now, honest."

[Nathan Spriggs] Pointing at the Glock as Molly prepares to shoot something, there's a momentary look of amusement on Nathan's face as he says, "Gotta turn off the safety first." It's spoken with that unique tone, like when someone tries to jump head straight into a task without remembering to handle the very basic action to make it possible.

"So, how much experience do you have shooting things?" As he speaks, he's slowly pacing forward to position himself close to where Molly is, in case she needs any assistance with the task of shooting stuff up. "If you've never fired one before, lemme know before you do. There's pointers to give. 'Cause I don't think 'point and click until empty or dead' is a fitting lesson summary today."

[Molly Quincannon] For the record, Molly had no real intention of shooting anything; she was really just examining the gun. So when he talks about the safety, she just nods, bends her examination efforts towards finding the safety and flicking the switch.

The question gets a bit of a sheepish look and a query of, "Um ... water pistols, laser tag, the occasional paintball gun and every eff-pee-ess from Duck Hunt to Silent Scope. But real, bullet-firing guns? No experience whatsoever. So ... y'know, that depends on what you consider 'experience'."

[Nathan Spriggs] Pivoting and taking hold of the Colt, Nathan slides the magazine in and pulls the slide slowly in an attempt to show Molly how it's done, the obvious bits of this process. Then, flicking the safety off, his grip on the gun shifts slightly as he levels it in the direction of one of the middle-range bottles. "I mean experience in how the recoil feels, how to adapt to it and how to grip the gun," he says as he closes an eye and gently begins to put pressure on the trigger.

Before pointing the gun down, flicking the safety back on and taking a step towards Molly, his right hand extending to grab the Glock and try to straighten her arm up to level with the bottles as well. Meanwhile, his left hand taps different places on the grip and back of the slide, where she'd seen his hands go before, as he positions himself next to her. "Put your hands there and there, hold it out carefully, then steady your hands. Do it with both hands too, it's better for the recoil obviously. Then aim for a moment, take a deep breath and hold it, relaxing your body before pulling the trigger. Y'know, basically how they make it sound in movies except a bit more complex than that."

[Molly Quincannon] "In which case," she responds to the thing about recoil, "no clue. I'm going to make such an ass of myself." Though she sounds relatively cheerful about it - either she doesn't expect to or she figures that's how she'll learn.

Then she follows directions. She's good at that; listening, remembering how things are supposed to go. The 'doing' part ... well, that's down to a combination of directions followed, physical factors and a little bit of pure dumb luck. Since she hasn't arranged for the latter, she'll just have to hope. So she runs through Nathan's instructions, as well as every 'teaching the rookie to shoot' speech she's ever heard from movies and TV, tries to relax (not so easy in the current mood, but she tries), takes the deep breath, sights and pulls the trigger.

[[Dex + diddly-in-Firearms, +1 for 'ce-ci n'est pas un SuperSoaker', WP for 'I do not want to fuck this up'.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] [[*ahem* That would be 1 success. Forgot my modifier.]]

[Nathan Spriggs] [...Ouch, my ears; Stamina, -1 diff for actually taking a moment to plug them with my fingers]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 2 (Botch x 1 at target 5)

[Molly Quincannon] [[I should probably do that too. -1 diff for being used to heavy metal concerts.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Nathan Spriggs] First things first, as Molly prepares to shoot, Nathan steps back and... covers his ears with his fingers. Even then, he can still feel the reverberations of the massively loud BOOM in his ears as he turns his head to look at the bottles, it disorients him and creates a horrible screeching sound in his ears. It was why they always showed people with earplugs in enclosed spaces, perhaps he should've mentioned to in order to avoid burst eardrums in the aftermath. Or maybe he didn't on purpose, teach by experience and all that. Some times, you had to be mean. Too bad he'd forgotten his own in the process.

As he gestures for Molly to lower the gun, the screeching still not faded so he doesn't speak, Nathan heads towards the bottles and checks the one that's dropped to the floor behind their resting place and thus out of sight from where they'd been. It's top is shattered, though most of the bottle is intact... a successful shot, no less however. With a thumbs up, he turns to Molly and rushes back, nearly falling on his side from disorientation as he does. Damn, it was embarrassing.

"OKAY, TAKE A MINUTE!" He... well, yells at the top of his lung over his own screeching, a little piece of shellshock. Then, shaking his head and taking a moment to close his eyes, with deep breaths, he tries to center his mind and level the Colt, this time taking some plugs out and putting them on beforehand. He still felt woozy, but it was already embarrassing enough so he pushes on.

Everyone's gotta show off some times, and he was aiming for the furthest of the bottles. And so, a gentle squeeze later, there's another explosion of gunpowder in the factory inside.

[Dex + Firearms, +3 for VERY FAR, +1 for disorientation; WP 'cause he can't look bad here]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 10) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] The massively loud BOOM comes, and Molly ... blinks. She knew that guns were loud, but then again, she has a habit of standing next to the speakers at concerts and nightclubs, and that BOOM is the sort of thing that she hears/feels at something approaching 100 BOOMs per minute at some gigs she's been to. Molly glances over at him, and when he gestures at her to lower the gun, she does so, flicking the safety back on in the process. He's a bit staggery, and she looks concerned, and the yelling makes it more so. It's more or less instinct that prompts the next series of gestures - she points at him, then lifts her left index finger to her ear, then her chin just under her lip, and then points at him again, her expression querying as well as concerned. She's familiar with the volume vacillation that comes from someone having lost their hearing (though she's used to people who've never heard their own voice), and the sign language comes naturally when she reasons that Nathan can't hear. Never mind that he might not know that she's just asked him if he's gone deaf.

When he puts in his earplugs, Molly gives a wry little grin and steps back and away to watch him take the shot, with the distance and her own fingers in her ears to make sure she doesn't end up the same way. When he makes his shot and the bottle falls over, she smiles at him, removes her own fingers from her ears and gives him a thumbs-up of her own. She'll wait to actually talk until he's given some indication that his hearing's back (and the earplugs are out).

[Nathan Spriggs] Waving away Molly's concerns, literally, he cants his head for a moment to figure out what Molly's signaling might mean asides from the obvious. She seemed to be doing a lot better than he was with the sound... Boy, was he even more embarrassed now. Still, his actions are brought to halt.

Nathan has what can be described as a one-track mind for many things, this is one of those things. Even as he hears the screeching persist well after the earplugs are on, his mind is wiped clean by the thought of the gun and his target. With the squeeze of the trigger, the slide jumps back as the explosion propels it and a round is shot forth in a dazzling flash of light in the dimly lit factory. At the edge of it, a bottle breaks and falls over like with Molly's shot, though he can notice it's a glancing hit that does it rather than right down the center mass.

With a 'tsk' that can't be heard by himself, he turns to Molly and, after a few moments pass and the plethora of sounds fade from his beaten up eardrums, the plugs are brought off. A few seconds more pass before he speaks, voice still a bit higher than normal but not as much as before. "Fuck, my ears. You okay? That wasn't a bad first try, could do better though. Wanna go again?"

[Molly Quincannon] Again, Molly looks a bit bewildered by the question. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm a veteran of loud noises. It's what you get for doing the mosh pit thing and getting nudged towards the speakers all the time. Believe me, after being shoved right up to the speakers at a em-ess-eye gig for twenty minutes, you either get used to it or go deaf in self-defense." She doesn't say anything snarky about the lack of warning; she understands, more or less. She also doesn't voice any more worry over Nathan's ears. He probably wouldn't take it well.

Instead, at the mention of going again, she makes another gesture: all four fingers of her right hand touching the thumb, making an O with her fingers, then the index and middle finger pointed at him with the other two fingers still touching the thumb. "Okay," she says as she does it, translating the sign. "Am I trying the one in the middle, or waiting until I can actually hit the close-up one dead-centre first?"

[Nathan Spriggs] [How're my Kung-Fu master impressions? Cha + Expression]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] With a chuckle at her continued use of sign language, he gives another wave to say that it's fine before turning his head slightly to look at the array of bottles. After a beat, he answers, in an ancient Kung-Fu master impression, "One must learn to walk if one is to run, young grasshopper." A bow later to complete the performance, Nathan's set the M1911 down on the table again and taken hold of the shotgun. Checking the magazine first before sliding it in and cocking the weapon.

Then, slinging it on his shoulder, he steps behind Molly and, over her shoulder, points at the next of the closest bottles. "Shoot that one. This time with one hand."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly chuckles at the kung-fu master impression; clearly, her mood is improving. The shotgun gets a raised eyebrows, though, and she says, "If you use me as a tripod to hold that thing steady, I want warning. Just eff-why-eye."

Then she shrugs and nods. One-handed? No problem, says Molly's rampaging overconfidence. Again, she takes aim and fires.

[[Dex, no Firearms so +1, and there goes the WP again.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] [[And Stamina for the wrist...]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[WP; "I am not going to wince!"]]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Perc + Alertness; That twist of the wrist didn't seem particularly pretty]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] Carefully, he studies her stance and sees how she grips the gun before firing. Naturally, the earplugs are now back on as he prepares for the eventful shot which ends up shattering another bottle though only by a margin more than her last shot. It was somewhat like his own earlier.

Pulling the plugs off again, he steps forward and looks down at Molly's arms, to see if there's any marks left by the way the gun was fired. Given her magnificent performance in not wincing, and the lack of visible bruising, he gives an expression akin to 'eh...' before moving in front of her.

This time, however, he's not aiming at bottles. That'd be useless. He's aiming down at an old, broken down assembly machine, and it isn't a test of aim. It's just him feeling like shooting something. "I suggest you really cover your ears for this one." That's all the warning she gets, as he takes a moment to put on his plugs.

Then, a blast. A good few times louder than the handguns.

[Dex + Firearms; -2 diff, 'cause hitting shit with a shotgun ain't hard]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Molly Quincannon] That ... actually hurt. How she managed to hit a little bit better than she did the last time is beyond her. However, she chooses not to question it and while he's got 'eh', she's actually quite pleased. Never mind that now her wrist aches to match her face and the unseen seatbelt-shaped bruise across her chest. "I'm improving! Woo!"

Then she gets her warning and takes a couple of steps back and away even as she plugs her ears with her fingers. She watches, fairly amazed, as the old, broken-down assembly machine becomes ... well, rather more broken down. Shotguns are fairly destructive devices, after all. When he's done, she surveys the damage, still from that distance, and asks, voice raised enough to get through his earplugs (but projecting rather than yelling), "...If that's as cathartic as it looks, are you sure I don't get to try it? 'Cos it looks like it beats the hell out of building a better walking bomb."

[Nathan Spriggs] With a smirk, he turns back to Molly while slipping the earplugs out yet again, it was becoming too frequent now. "Make you a bet then. Hit one of the far off bottles on your first try, and you've got a deal. If you miss, though... You owe me a favor of my choosing at some point. Deal?" Not quite a deal with the Devil, because he wasn't gonna abuse it, but he certainly meant it. Besides it made things interesting.

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a snicker. "What, you don't think that preventing me from building a walking bomb in this mood isn't worth it? But okay, you're on." Of course she's not going to fail. Noooo. Molly doesn't particularly consider failure an option. Besides, even if by some chance she did fail, she would find out what kind of favour someone like Nathan might ask for. (And it's not likely something she'd have turned down anyway. Molly's generous that way.)

Then something occurs: Nathan never hinged his bargain on an unenhanced first-time hit. So as she takes her deep breath and raises the weapon again, she does a little bit of mental mathematics - one of her specialities.

Trajectory ... distance ... aberrant factors ... odds of success equal X where X is equal to...

[[Rote = Deadaim. Diff 5 -1 practised, -1 focus so diff = 3]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 9 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Dex only, +1 for no Firearms, +3 for VERY FAR AWAY, -1 for rote, -1 for time taken to aim, diff = 8 and yes, another WP gone.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) [WP]

[Nathan Spriggs] [Pure innocence, yep; Manip + Expressions]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) [WP] Re-rolls: 3

[Nathan Spriggs] He knows all about cheating on a deal, in fact he's the master at it. So when Molly's Resonance suddenly spikes, all he does is give a wry grin and turn to look for a spare SPAS magazine in the case. It was already a pretty sure thing that the bottle'd be blasted apart, so what the hell.

Instead, when he turns back to her, he's taking the current magazine out and sliding the new one in before re-cocking the shotgun. A brief look down the sights and all just for show before he flicks the safety on and deftly flips the gun around to let the grip be in Molly's direction. "Beautifully done, even if with magic to cheat. Kudos to that."

Of course, what she doesn't know is two can play that game. The new magazine is blanks, which he carried around in case there was a time when decoys and empty guns were necessary. In fact, all of his weapons had one spare of blanks.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Cha + Expression. Pure effect.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 7, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly gives him a supremely innocent look when he talks about 'even with magic to cheat'. "What? You don't think that enhanced shooting is part of any valid firearms lesson for folks the likes of us? I thought it was less cheating than ... extra credit."

After that, though, she takes the gun and asks, solely out of curiosity (and maybe a little to get used to the weight of the gun), "Why'd you change the magazine? It's not a one-shot wonder, is it?"

[Nathan Spriggs] [...Again, totally innocent. Lie? What lie? Fair exchange...; Manip + Subterfuge]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Perc+Aware-as-Empathy: there's a tiny chance she might catch him out - his successes = her dice pool.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] Without skipping a beat, without so much as looking away or considering it... Nathan knows the answer to give, and it comes out in a voice that's all too real, convincing and smooth like velvet. "Those were with bearings, these are slugs. Less valuable to waste, and more pure 'umph' which I figure you want if you intend to blow shit up."

Then he gestures to the machinery around them, inviting her to blow shit up at leisure. Which would, naturally, not be occurring. But he had to take some small sadistic glee in getting even, didn't he?

[Molly Quincannon] "Aww, that's sweet," is her response. "Thanks." Of course she believes him. Why wouldn't she?

(Of course, when she finds out, given the mood she's actually in...)

And on that note, she raises the weapon the way she watched him do, aims at a bit of machinery she doesn't deem good scavenging fodder at a glance, and pulls the trigger.

[[Dex, +1 for no Firearms, -2 for not very hard to hit things with a shotgun]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 7 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Nathan Spriggs] Earplugs at the ready, Nathan's prepared for what comes next. Molly aims, centers herself like he taught her, which earns a small smile from him, and she squeezes the trigger. An enormous blast is what follows, louder even than the one shot he'd put out with it. There's a muzzle flash too, dazzling as can be, and the recoil is exactly what's to be expected, which might account for why there's no damage to the machinery. For her, that is.

In truth, the projectile just didn't exist. There was a real cartridge but no 'round'.

For all it seemed, it was a very big miss given the round was a slug rather than the usual bearings that shot everywhere. It acted more like a normal bullet, except with much more force and kick for it. When it's all said and done, Nathan's pulling the earplugs off and clapping with a proud sort of smile on his face. One that is, in fact, not fake. It isn't that she fell for it, it's the fact she remembered all the tips.

"Right, that was actually a blank. With a little extra gunpowder to add to the flash, so it actually had more kick than usual. You should be ready for the real thing," he says with a wry yet oddly innocent grin. Before... a beat, and he adds, "I'd like to think we're even now."

[Molly Quincannon] There's a moment, after she unbraces (she knows at least enough to brace for a serious recoil where a shotgun's concerned), in which Molly just looks entirely confused. This is, of course, before Nathan explains. Once he has explained, however, it's a different ball game. The last few practice shots have got her used to deep, calming breaths and she takes a few.

(I am not going to hold it against him. I am not going to take it out on him. I am not going to blow up at him. There is a difference between an innocent joke and bullshit. He does not know. Calm. Down.)

It's only after those few deep breaths that she hands him the SPAS back, most of the slowly developing light-heartedness gone from her face. "Yeah," she says. "I guess we are." Then, with a slightly wry (and slightly forced) smile, she asks, "So ... what would the favour had been? If I hadn't cheated?"

[Nathan Spriggs] [Perc + Awareness; There is something off with this one]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] Everyone has moments where they're pissed, he knows and accepts that. Has to focus on it to bite back the impulse to dig deep and ask what the root of the problem is. No doubt why she wanted to blow things up, but it seemed deeper than just that. Ultimately, he sighs and shakes his head before saying, "Look, I'm sorry, I dunno what happened but I don't think it was right to trick you right now."

A beat, before he walks up to her and tries to place his hand on her shoulder while his other hand's taken the SPAS by the midsection. "Whatever happened that's pissing you off and making you frustrated, you shouldn't hold it in. I don't mean therapy by explosions either. Call Israel or something, someone you can talk to, even if just about how you feel rather than what caused it."

That's all folks. He wasn't the hug-and-support kind like Israel, but to trick people, you had to learn how to be empathic at times. Even false empathy, though in this case it's more concern and caution than falsity for once. Something's up, and it ain't good. There's a guess as to cause too, consider all her ranting in the past few days... "For now, let's take a break and sit down."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly listens carefully to everything Nathan has to say, then nods at the suggestion of sitting down and moves to a convenient piece of machinery, hoisting herself up onto it - and this time, she does wince. That's more than the wrist; that's the rest of the bruises too. "Eh, if I'd told you I was pissed off, maybe you wouldn't have. And you wouldn't have had the fun of my probably really amusing bewildered expression. If it brought amusement, I can't really grudge you it. So accepted."

Then she makes a face at him and says, "But I like therapy by explosion. Still ... I know I ought to vent, and ... well, if we're only taking a break ... if you don't mind, maybe I ought to vent before I handle anything with more actual bullets. I mean, don't want to dump on you, but..." She thinks about it and says, "...It's not a wanting to dump on you, but it is wanting to talk to someone who isn't going to be ... I dunno, cuddly. Sometimes, you just need someone you can swear around. So ... mind a bit of 'Rage Against the Machine-Obsessed'?"

[Nathan Spriggs] Taking a seat on the machine, besides her, Nathan doesn't miss her wince though he doesn't say anything. There are other issues now, and besides, she'll be fine. They always were. No need to worry about it. "Sure, I don't mind." And he didn't, not that it was his favorite spot to be in the situation but if it helped... well, give a little bit?

[Molly Quincannon] "Well," she says, "Chuck called me yesterday evening. Said we needed to--" She makes air quotes. "--'talk'. I told him that we sure as hell did. So I spent an hour last night in a coffee shop listening to him..." Now she's ticking off on her fingers. "... A), give me shit for telling Ashley about his spot on the Technocracy watch list. B), Continue to give pathetic justifications for why he didn't want anyone to know in the face of all possible logic. C), Continue the pathetic justification train on why he went digging around through a friend's history in a bid to pull their details out of hacker range without said friend's permission. D), Dismiss my hurt and anger over his total lack of urgency during my art gallery basement stay with some comment about how I had no faith in his ability to deal with problems in a timely manner. Which is actually pretty rich given that if it had been left to his 'timely manner', there wouldn't have been a 'me' to save, one way or the other. Anyway. E), Accuse me of ignoring facts because of my quote-unquote 'lamenting the problems with our relationship that I hadn't let him in on', despite the fact that anyone with eyes could have seen I was unhappy and he never cared enough to ask. F), Blow off everything I told him about the problems with the whole mess and put everything from his inability to express any emotion but 'easy-going amiability' to his unwillingness to even listen to any world-view but his own off on me. So in short, I got him justifying ever crappy thing he's ever said and done where he couldn't somehow blame it on me. In public."

Then she sighs. "And then, because I was upset, I hit a patch of black ice, zigged when I should have zagged and ended up in someone's front yard. Specifically, in their outdoor, decorated Christmas tree. So I had a brief trip to the ER to make sure I wasn't suffering whiplash and am looking at a good hefty dose of bodywork and a replacement muffler for the TARDIS. At minimum." After running her hands through her hair, she finishes with, "So I guess you could say that I had a bad day yesterday, and my tolerance for anything the oversensitive bits of me see as bullshit is somewhere in the negative figures. So sorry for the fuming at you. It was dumb and over-reactive."

[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan's quiet throughout it all, watching her intently but otherwise... quiet. It's much like he expected, right down to TARDIS damages, but that's not the point and he doesn't comment on that. Instead, how the hell did he talk his way through this one? It takes him a few moments of silence before he nods in, well, some form of understanding. "I expected it might be something like that... Well, there's not much that I can do except the obvious: Should've socked him in the face."

With a grin, he pushes off from the machine and jumps down back to the floor before pivoting in place to face her and gesture behind to the table with guns. "Now that the cat's out of the bag, let's help with some of the stress. Though I'm gonna have to put you on probation and watch carefully for Chuck-murder reasons," a beat, then he adds, "Israel'd be mad at me if I let you kill him." Then another pivot and he's headed back to the table of guns, picking up the M1911, slipping the magazine out and pulling the slide for that one last bullet before throwing it over to Molly. "Don't worry about the car, if you want I can loan you some money or just give it to you. Christmas present and all. For now, let's get you ready for anti-Technocratic warfare."

[Molly Quincannon] The bit about how she should've socked Chuck in the face gets a snort of laughter. "Oh, I thought about it. Actually, I came close to throwing my coffee in his face. I was trying to take the moral high ground. Or maybe the 'don't want to get arrested for assault' high ground. But one more bit of bullshit from him, and I'm thinking steel-toe to the groin. That's so much more satisfying than murder. So if I have to be on homicide watch, does that include groin-kicking watch?"

The mention of the cost of fixing her car gets a bewildered look. "Oh, thanks for the offer, but it's not the money. I can afford the parts to fix it and I'm going to do the actual work myself. I've done the maintenance on that car since I was sixteen. It's the fact that I trashed her at all, my second trip to the ER in six months and the humiliation in that someone in the house across the street saw the whole thing and had a camera. So there's a picture of my poor car smashed into this tree with a snowman's head mounted on the roof posted up on Failblog. I mean, I made Failblog. Gah."

She catches the lobbed gun, looking it over. "Oooh, this one's your shiny favourite, isn't it. The one that you can take apart with its own bits."

[Nathan Spriggs] "This would be one of those moments where Ashley would go 'You're a Willworker'. If you don't wanna get arrested, you don't. Simple as that! I still remain on socking the guy. It's an innocent enough gesture, and one that's already happened in the Chantry!" Of course, those were different situations. But the example remained, nothing said 'hi' like fisticuffs.

When she mentions the gun, he nods with a smile, and snaps his fingers. "Get to it, minion. I want you to take down every single one of the bottles, with no magic. Once you've done that, well... I'll leave the advanced course for later. But you get a fun gift."

[Nathan Spriggs] [Matter 2 surprise, vulgar; diff 5 (-1 focus, -1 resonance, +1 resonance); need 5 suxx]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Matter 2 surprise, vulgar; diff 5 (-1 focus, -1 resonance, +1 resonance); need 5 suxx]

[Nathan Spriggs]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 7 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Matter 2 surprise, vulgar; diff 5 (-1 focus, -1 resonance, +1 resonance, +1 extending); need 5 suxx]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 9 (Failure at target 5)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Matter 2 surprise, vulgar; diff 5 (-1 focus, -1 resonance, +1 resonance, +1 extending, +1 reroll); need 5 suxx]2
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] It's probably a lot of fun giving ideas like that to Molly, who's just about learned how to make herself less noticeable to the world at large (yay Initiate-level Mind). One can just about see the idea percolating. Though she does end up saying, "I might have to settle for punching him in the neck. He is a foot taller than me when I'm not in the stompy boots. And the stompy-boots don't help much."

The rest gets a bit of a smirk. "Fun gift, huh? You'll turn a girl's head, talk like that. And you still haven't told me where you want to do dinner next time. I mean, if you're going to call me minion, may as well order me around all the way across the board."

But that, apparently, can wait until she's cleared the field as best she can.

[[Dex, +1 for no Firearms; let's try it without the WP]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 5 (Failure at target 7)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Okay, we'll blame that on the bruises. Trying again.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Bottle the second!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Bottle the third...]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Bottle the fourth!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7)

[Nathan Spriggs] While working, even with the earplugs on, Nathan hears five shots. One more than necessary, all in all, but a job well done no less. Still, he doesn't turn back from his little corner or react, leaving Molly to her practice while he continues to draw and focus his Will upon this little piece of machinery. The insides of it, to be exact. A special surprise being prepared.

Finally, it's finished and, Resonance flying in the air, he walks slowly towards Molly while watching the place where the bottles had stood, a small smirk on his face at the scene. "Good job. Now, from right there... Actually, take a few meters back... Shoot that machine," he turns his upper torso just enough to point back behind at a machine with sigils and runes drawn all over and around it, "Try for right down the middle."

Then, while waiting for her to take her position, Nathan breaks into a run and slides onto one of the machines that're on the opposite side of the one he's told Molly to aim for. His gaze shifting to focus solely on her for the time being. "For dinner... Hmm, we can go cheap. Your place, or my warehouse once I get it? I'll cook?" Why yes, he could cook.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Awareness - does Molly notice the Resonance?]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly can feel the Resonance on the machinery, and while she can't recognise exactly what the Sphere in use is, there's a finite number of Spheres she doesn't know, and even fewer that they don't share. She can make an educated guess. But she doesn't say anything, just takes a good long look at the sigils and runes to fix them in her memory. Who knows? Might be interesting for the day she decides to pick up that particular Sphere herself. Then she responds to the dinner suggestion as she takes her few meters back-steps. "Works for me. May as well make it my place. I've got a dishwasher on permanent payroll, after all. One less chore. And I'm really interested to sample your cooking skills. Bet it at least looks better than mine."

She could ask what's going to happen when she shoots this thing. But it's easier just to do it and see what happens. So she spends a moment taking caaaaareful aim at the centre of the machine, and then fires.

[[Dex, +1 no Firearms, -1 caaaaaaareful aim, and WP]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]

[Nathan Spriggs] It's a testament to what's gonna happen when Nathan sees Molly prepare to take the shot and dives behind his machine while, even with earplugs on, covering his ears and heads just in case. It isn't fear so much as extra precaution, since he's made sure it's only enough for a small... display. Part of why he told her to move back.

There's a bright flare of red, and orange, and yellow and all those other blindingly bright colors that burst forth as something explodes. An enormous BANG too, almost ear shattering for those not prepared for it though Nathan had luckily given that much of a warning to Molly and some earplugs, because it's enough, along with the shockwave, to shatter glass into pieces around the area. Whatever he'd turned the insides of the machine into, it had been low-yield but still rather powerful and explosive.

Little gift of fireworks for a perfect finale.

As it all fades away, and the smoke (which displays a rather large hole in the side of the factory now) clears, Nathan's propping up from his hiding spot and calling out to Molly, "Nothing like going out with a bang, huh?!" Then, he's stepping towards her to check if she's okay, given the lack of warning (improvisation's part of training). "I think we might need to rush out of here, even if this place is abandoned enough for gunshots to be missed, I think an explosion might be pushing it."

[Molly Quincannon] [[If it's enough to require a dive behind a machine, I'm rolling Stamina for shockwave just in case!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly doesn't so much as rock on her feet when the shockwave hits. Apparently, boots with four inches of platform are really forgiving of that kind of thing. Molly's surprised little shriek turns into balls-out laughter as she watches the fireworks display and the kerboom, and she turns around to Nathan with the most sincere smile she's shown today. "That was awesome, oh-em-gee! That so totally makes up for the shotgun thing! Thank you!" Clearly, she's fine, and better than.

When he suggests a speedy getaway, she says, "Good plan, and nothing says exhiliration quite like fleeing the scene of an explosion that's all in fun. I know from experience. Sophomore year in high school, chemistry project. I'll tell you about it when we're not fleeing from a disturbing the peace rap. Want some help collecting the military hardware?"

Whether he asks for help or not, there's collecting and stashing of the guns, and the aforementioned speedy getaway. And on the drive back, maybe Molly regales Nathan with tales of brick-sized chunks of sodium metal and the school swimming pool, and her fun with cooking trinitrobenzene (otherwise known as trinitrotoluene or, in its most commonly used three-letter acronym, TNT). But only a couple - tell too many of those stories on a getaway drive, and you run out of dinner conversation. And that would never do.