savetheearth | The devil and his had me down

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The devil and his had me down

Who: Tony and Shou
What: Some de-stressing in the form of a shooting targets.
When: A bit after this talk.
Where: Some shooting alley somewhere? Or something?
Warnings: Use of guns, language, some heavy conversation?

As promised Tony waited at Richard's house to be picked up. He knew better than trying to go out on his own, that would only be asking for trouble at this point. Thankfully he didn't know anything about Twitter or how to follow it, otherwise he'd probably be in even worse shape.

For some reason he and L just couldn't help but rile each other up. It wasn't helping either side, that was for certain, and by now Tony desperately needed to let off some steam. Shou understood that there were some kinds of steam you couldn't release through talking or arguing, sometimes it needed a more satisfying route.

Another facet of being what they were, perhaps?

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And there he was, in that ridiculously expensive car of his, pulling up to the sidewalk and Shou popping out of the driver's door. He understood where Tony was coming from, although he hasn't exactly reached the full abandonment to danger as his other had.

"Ready to get down and dirty?"

Always so flashy, but Tony could appreciate it. Hell he'd have a flashy car if he could, too. And if he wasn't terrified of driving but small details. At the sound of the car pulling up he was already heading out the door, halfway down the steps when Shou popped out.

"Been ready. So, what's our agenda anyway?" He asked as he slid into the car, buckling up. Still he instinctively hunched down to avoid seeing too much out the windows, even after that whole ordeal with the mafia cars were not his favorite.

Shou understood, that was all he needed. And someone aware enough to know when to pull him back when he did reach that point of reckless to the point of self-endangerment.

"Well, I know a couple places to blow off some steam and then there's a greasy fry place in the neighborhood for some downtime afters," he replied, popping back into his seat and buckling up. Hey, he might be a crazy ninja gunman, but he also was never going to drive his car without buckling up. It's like a rule with him no matter what mind was in the lead.

"I've checked around and found a couple places for target practice that aren't too worried if you have a license or not. You just gotta keep your head, okay?"

Safety first was very important if you wanted to continue being stylish for years to come. It wasn't glamorous to die in a car accident because you thought you were too cool to wear a seat belt. It's a good rule, Tony definitely supports it.

Oh yeah, licensing was a thing, wasn't it? "I'll do my best. If I do start getting funny just... I don't know cover my eye for a minute that seems to do the trick." If he can't see it he can't be pissed off at it? Maybe he'd just trained himself into that being a calm down method, hell if he knew.

Dying in a car crash was not on the agenda ever. Shou was willing to die doing crazy stuff, but never ever in a stupid automotive accident that could have been prevented by buckling up. Besides, he has crashed so many vehicles in his time that the instinct to buckle up is automatic.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he replied as he pulled into traffic. The place he was thinking of was on the other side of town, safely behind the lines of the Japanese controlled territories and not a place where the Italians can march on in and demand them to go with them. Of course the yakuza might make waves, but Shou had thought about that as well, and got a hold of a shady relative on the other side of the ocean. Other factors might come into play, but the mob wasn't going to be one of them.

Good, one small fear Tony didn't need to worry about, then. Of course that didn't stop the things that wearing seat belts couldn't prevent, but that was a different story entirely. Stop crashing, Shou, it's bad for your health.

As was typical, Tony hunched down to avoid having to watch too much of the road as they drove. He was doing better, all things considered car rides were slowly falling off his list of things to be afraid of. Mafia goons, however, were taking over that place. Tony didn't know anything about mafia lines between the Italian and Japanese, but he trusted Shou to take them somewhere where they would be safer. "Shouldn't be a problem, targets don't fight back. If they aren't dangerous I don't seem to lose my temper." As if it were so simple as a loss of temper, no it was more some kind of furious, animalistic instinct, but Shou hopefully understood.

"They don't have to look human either. We can just start out with those shaped like circles or something."

He did understand. He has seen Hajime lose his temper on more than one occasion and he had problems controlling his own instinct of shooting first and maybe kicking the corpse after. It wasn't at the same level as Tony's, but he still had his other's instincts that everyone was a target if they were enemies.

They soon pulled up in front of a long, low building that was part of a strip mall. It sat at the end of it next to a bowling place and there were a number of teens standing outside, seemly more interested in their phones than the fancy car that just pulled up.

"I'd appreciate it."

It wasn't easy, especially with no point of reference for an idea of even where to begin on knowing how to control it. How to quell that hunger and rage, though at least Tony was doing fairly well at keeping it pointed in what he felt was the right direction. The thing that worried him, however, was what would happen if he wasn't able to do that?

After all, it could have just as easily been L in the snake woman's position.

He had to learn to keep that from happening, at the very least.

The building didn't look like much, not from the outside at any rate. Once Shou had stopped he climbed out of the car, paying the teenagers no more mind than they were paying Shou's shiny fancy car. As long as they left him alone he didn't care that they were there. "Never been to one of these kinds of places before, come to think of it."

"I've been around these places a lot when I first came to America. The whole idea of guns being so easy to get here had me visiting all sorts of places."

Gun laws were strict where he was from. He could, if he really felt like going through the whole process, get a license for sports shooting, but it always seemed like a huge hassle. He understood the need for the laws, he just didn't feel like wasting time.

The oldest kid looked up slightly at them before going back to his game. Shou set the alarm on his car, and, as he passed by the group, dropped a roll of money on the ground near the kids' feet. It disappeared fast and he kept on walking.

"You'll get a handle on it. Don't let it bother you so much, okay?"

"Heh, yeah that is something that's kind of unique here, isn't it? What was it like, anyway? Moving to a new country?"

Tony himself had never been out of the country, of course, so everywhere was a mysterious wonder to him. He couldn't even really imagine what that would be like, not even a little bit.

At Shou's somewhat strange gesture Tony tilted his head and watched, but said nothing. Had Shou just paid them to watch his car, or paid them to not vandalize it? Or maybe none of the above, he wasn't sure. Either way he wouldn't voice the question, just look on in mild confusion before trotting along after him.

"Easier said than done," He grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm trying."

"It's sorta weird. There are things I still can't understand, like giving people cold water when you go into a restaurant. Or keeping your shoes on when you go into someone's house. And you guys are noisy. Always screaming and yelling."

He got to the door and opened it, waiting for Tony to catch up. Once they stepped inside, a couple older Japanese-Americans looked up from a table, eyes narrowed until they saw who it was leading the way, and then they called out to Shou, who grinned. The three quickly fell into a mangled version of Japanese, Tony's name getting thrown in there a couple of times before Shou fell back to him, grabbing him around the neck and tugging him towards the targets.

"This place's got a clan here so they're okay with letting you shoot without a license. They understand needing a little practice and so long as we keep mum about it, they will."

"What's so weird about cold water?" Tony's not even going to dispute the rest of that because he's lived on the streets; He knows full well there's always someone screaming and yelling about something.

Tony trotted along not far behind, hanging back once Shou moved to join with the other men. While they talked he looked around, noting exits, others present, and places a person could potentially ambush from or move to for cover. After the whole problem with the Mafia he'd grown increasingly paranoid. His eye darted back to the crew when he heard his name come up, but other than that he had no idea what they were talking about.

If Shou were anyone else he'd have a hissing biting teenager on his hands, scruffing him like that, but as it was Tony only made a startled noise and trotted along with him. "A clan?" Oh, wait, yeah he remembered now. "Well you know I'm not saying anything. So we're pretty safe here, as far as that goes?"

"Where I'm from, you give guests hot tea to show how open and warm you are towards there visit. When you give them cold tea, that's like saying 'get out you ain't welcomed' so when someone gave me a glass of ice water I'd thought I did something wrong."

He let go of Tony as soon as they got over to the shooting range. There was a partition where a bunch of ear mufflers and safety goggles hung on hooks, and an assortment of braces for the wrists. One of the workers came up behind them carrying a couple cases. Shou nodded at him and rattled something off in Japanese, and the cases were set down on the table next to the safety gear.

"I told them you're cool and they know that I am as good as my word," Shou said, taking down gear and handing them to Tony. "I don't think you'll need a brace, but cover your ears and eyes; there's a chance to get ricochets in this kinda place."

"Damn, yeah makes a lot more sense now. Bet you thought you really pissed 'em off, huh?" Talk about a way to tell someone to get lost, and completely by accident, too!

Tony puffed in indignation once he was released, like a ruffled cat. Don't mind him, he just wasn't used to grabby people, especially grabby people grabbing him. Curiosity quickly washed away the huffing as he trotted over to investigate.

"Wouldn't want to lose the only eye I've got left," Tony agreed, half-joking. The goggles fit a little awkwardly over the eye patch, but after some fussing he made it work. He'd take it off for this but it was even more difficult to focus with one partially functional eye confusing the hell out of him then not seeing out of it at all. "So these are the guys you've been talking with?"

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The devil and his had me down

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