[closed] master and pupil reunite once more!

[flamberge]

Who: Lloyd Irving, Richard Locke.
When: 09/17 eveningish
Where: Shooting range.
What: Lloyd spots his favorite person ever carrying a gun and follows him. Training ensues.

[Various people had various methods of unwinding after a long, hellish day of dealing with puberty stricken high schoolers. Richard possessed several such methods, one of which was carried out several times a week. This happened to be training with his gun. Shooting practice. Some might say you never need to train after having used a gun, but such overconfidence was what brought carelessness. Given the current situation, one simply could not afford the luxury of carelessness.

This was why, with gun strapped at his side, Richard stepped out of his car (shutting and locking the doors) before heading towards the good old shooting range. How long had he frequented it now? Probably more than a good decade. Not surprising given the pleasantness of the atmosphere. Although loud, it rarely ever became rowdy or unbearable. Simply put, it was a peaceful location with soothing activities after a long day. Not to mention, he could get his gun looked at while there. No one possessed as extreme an expertise on firearms as the owner and since his had been not performing as optimally as it should, might as well have it checked.

The all too familiar door soon came into view. Same old, same old. Good. The lack of change here also felt oddly pleasant, an odd sense of normality among the abnormality, mused Richard as he went to open the door.]

Comments

[boredallready]

[Detention sucked. How was staying in school longer supposed to help him get his homework done, anyway? It was called homework after all! He was finally walking home, grumbling to himself about how stupid teachers were.

...But, it was just then that he spotted a very familiar jerk heading into a nearby building. And he was pretty sure he saw a gun at his hip. Lloyd froze in shock. Was...was that guy going in to rob the place? Or maybe something worse was going on... He knew from experience that the police here were useless, and the things he had found out since getting that number had done nothing to restore his faith in someone else taking care of crime. So it was his responsibility to do something, right?

Instead of doing something silly like looking for any signs or anything else to indicate what was in the building, Lloyd rushed after him. He also apparently hadn't thought over the whole "I could get shot if he really is up to no good." thing.]

HEY! What do you think you're doing?!

[flamberge]

[Right before entering this realm of relaxation, a cacophonous voice sailed through the air and rammed into his eardrums with an unpleasant force. A groaning urge was resisted as soon as the owner of that voice registered. Why had this kid come now? Why right before something somewhat soothing? Can't this have waited till tomorrow? The universe obviously didn't think so.

With no small hint of displeasure (unhappy was practically written on his forehead, Richard turned to look at Lloyd. An eye brow was raised in confusion because, really, what was he going on about this time?]

Excuse me?

[boredallready]

[It is all your fault he's here in the first place. Even though you don't know it yet.

Lloyd pointed at his belt.]

What were you gonna do in there, huh?!

[flamberge]

[An eyebrow gets raised as his eyes follow Lloyd's point only to arrive at his gun before looking back at the kid.]

What one normally does at a shooting range?

[Is that the answer the kid's looking for? Maybe? Maybe not? Really, what is up with this kid??]

[boredallready]

At a-?!

[He freezes, still point, and finally turns his head to look at a building until he spots the sign. Lloyd stares at it for a few moments.]

...Oh. Well...why are you going to a shooting range, anyway?!

[flamberge]

[A flat lineface replaces the confusion and a sigh accompanies it.]

Do find it enjoyable to constantly ask questions with the most obvious of answers?

[Really, he's going in their to get ear wax removed. Yup. Totally what happens at a shooting range.]

[boredallready]

I wouldn't ask if it was obvious! What do you need to shoot for, huh?! Guns are dangerous!

[flamberge]

[SIGH]

Guns serve as a means of self-defense. Learning and mastering their use can mean the difference between life and death.

[boredallready]

Yeah, and they can also kill people who weren't doing anything to you! Is that worth it?!

[flamberge]

You truly are naive.

[Whether it be refreshing or annoying, Richard couldn't be sure.]

Consider this: someone attacks an individual right in front of your eyes with the intent to kill. They are larger in stature than you and you have no way of defending the other individual, leaving you unable to protect them. Which is worse: having a gun to kill the attacker and save a person or watch the person die in front of your eyes with your own life potentially being threatened, as well?

[boredallready]

[You're just...giving him flashbacks to what he assumes happened to his parents. So maybe they aren't true flashbacks, but it still hurts.]

Well...yeah, anybody getting killed is bad. Isn't there a way to stop them but have everybody live?

[flamberge]

[Seeing that sudden shift in expression gets to Richard slightly. Naive as this kid may be, his heart is in the right place.]

Shooting someone does not necessarily mean killing them. With the right amount of skill, one can shoot to disarm or to disable rather than to kill.

[It's what he always tries to do, anyway. Bad cop he may be, but not bad enough to needlessly kill someone.]

[boredallready]

I know that! I watch movies and stuff! But in real life, other things can happen and it can kill somebody anyway, right? [Like puncturing a major blood vessel or getting and infection, but who has time to learn the details?] It's better to just not do it at all.

[flamberge]

Sometimes it's necessary to use a gun to save the life of another. Yes, accidents happen, however the right training can aid in minimizing those accidents and result in far more lives saved than lost.

[Which is why he trains so often, to make sure those accidents happen as infrequently as possible. Really, he doesn't like killing. At all.]

[boredallready]

[Huh. Lloyd hadn't thought of it like that before. Now he's wondering if the people who killed his parents even meant to. Not that it made it any better, but still.]

So...you think if people learned more about guns before they used them, less people would die?

[flamberge]

[The fact he seems to be getting is rather nice. Maybe guns aren't the greatest thing in the world, but they really can save lives just as much if not more than take them.]

I do. Knowledge is what keeps people alive, knowledge on how to handle guns properly even more so.

[boredallready]

[Well it's not like you lost your family to them.

...why are you staring like that...]

But if you were the sort of person that really wanted to kill someone, that would just make it easier too. It's like one of those double-ended fork things or whatever.

[flamberge]

[8| Not cool gosh!!]

Double-edged sword and perhaps, but knowing also makes it easier to protect others from those that might try to kill them.

[boredallready]

Same thing! [No it's not.] I guess, but it can't be easy to shoot somebody and know you're not gonna kill them. Can't you die from getting shot in the leg like that football player?

[Random-ish gun violence stories stick with Lloyd okay?]

[flamberge]

You can also die from choking on your own saliva.

[VERY bluntly said. What if death scenarios, especially rare scenarios are not worth the brain power to ponder.]

Death can come in many ways, we can only do what we can to prevent the most likely scenarios.