Click, Click, Bang!

[Symbiot Spider]

It was a fairly early morning for Gemma, she laid out all her cleaning supplies and then Bolt n'Kisses on the table. An hour passed before she was able to place the blasters back in their holsters and attach them to her hips. She then spent the next half hour switching the contents of the table from cleaning solvents to the regular electrical components of her career. She hummed as the table was then scoured with servos, trinkets, motors and wires.

Gemma tried to calm her mind as much as she could in order to prepare herself for her day. Since her last mission and how it didn't exactly end as Arok, Jaz or Gemma had thought, but thankfully, Jaz had offered to teach her how to shoot so it wouldn't happen again. She left the Dust Runner and walked to where Jaz and her had arranged to meet. It was confusing to Gemma; she was standing outside a racetrack but she was going to be trained in shooting.

There was a fleeting thought about the weird red-headed man and his tactics, but who was Gemma to judge. She walked up to the front entrance and knocked on the door. There wasn't a response, so she knocked again, but still nothing replied to her knock.

“Kriff, Jazi! Open the damn door.”

 

[Naruto667]

“Kriff, Jazi! Open the damn door." Jaz who was in the process of modifying his swoop that he had used to win the racetrack he heard somebody familiar calling for him to open the door, unfortunally with the sounds of other people fixing their swoops so it took awhile for Jaz to actually realise that Gemma had arrived at his racetrack, for some shooting lessons, since their last mission, Jaz saw that Gemma wasn't really comfortable with her blaster, and when she shot some of her shots missed her target, the solider decided that she needed some help otherwise she would get into trouble the next time she was caught in a firefight.

"Coming!"and with that Jaz pushed himself out from under his swoop and headed to the front, making sure the members of the Black Seraphs weren't do anything stupid that might set the place on fire or blow it up, opening up the door Gemma would see Jaz's face and clothes covered in black smug and that Jaz...if she hadn't heard the roumers before meeting Jaz, he was wearing a kilt, which to Jaz wasn't anything unusual because whenever he was off-duty he wore the kilt along with combat trousers, besides Jaz wouldn't tell anybody what they should wear when their off-duty..unless it was a combat situation.

"Hey Gemma, welcome to the Inkabunga Chawa racetrack, how are you today?"

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Gemma moved to walk inside but was caught by the sight of Jaz in a skirt. It was something she didn't expect from the man. She couldn't keep the smirk from her mouth as she gave him the once over. It was... strange to Gemma. Skirt and pants; the man clearly couldn't make up his mind this morning. Shaking the thought from head, but clearly not the smirk from her mouth she stepped inside.

“Jeez Jazi, I don't even wear skirts that short.”

She let out a quick laugh before taking the time to observe the racetrack for the first time. Inkabunga Chawa racetrack was in need of an easier name to pronounce. She suddenly forgot why she was there and began to look at the different swoop models and people working and tinkering away. It reminded her of her own workstation.

“Is this where you get all your hairbrained ideas to modify my baby? You don't know what your looking at do you Jazi, just like workin dem hands huh...”

Again she laughed and placed her hands on her hips to turn back, and again fail to conceal a laugh about Jaz's skirt; it didn't even match anything else. He looked like a superhero with their underwear over their pants.

“So, where are we going to shoot things if this place is full of people?”

 

[Naruto667]

Jaz looked on as Gemma teased him over his kilt-trousers combination laughing at him and even going as far as to say that she didn't wear skirts that short, stepping aside allowing Gemma to enter the building itself, watching the woman as she observed the area then proceeded to tease him once more

“Is this where you get all your hairbrained ideas to modify my baby? You don't know what your looking at do you Jazi, just like workin dem hands huh..." this caused Jaz to laugh hairbrained? most of his ideas actually served a perpose, and with that in mind he saw a astromech by his swoop and smirked slightly..ohh time to tell the droid to do something useful

"Hey Beat, make yourself useful and get some more schematics"hearing the droid making a few beeps and bobs it then extended it's third wheel and made it's way out of the building towards his fighter, then once Gemma wasn't looking headed towards her ship and proceeded to scan it, since it didn't have that on record, oh how Jaz will have fun seeing what modifications he could put on her ship

"Heheh as much as I would like to say yeah...it was from the navy that I got my ideas from, oh really then what do you think I should be looking at then?"Jaz said looking at her before playfully winking at her, before hearing her ask about where they were going to practice shooting at

"That's simply...I made myself a firing range just to the side of the building, here this way"Jaz said leading her through the workshop heading out of a side exit and out into a long stretch of land that wasn't being used for racing on but rather a dumping ground for burned out wrecks...and target dummies hidden amongst the wrecks waiting to pop up and surprise Gemma

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Gemma has a feeling that she knew where the small astromech was going, but didn't stop it.

“I hope you know I speak binary, and if that droid even thinks about touching something on the Dust Runner, I'll know. I don't care if you want to know about my ship, but you will build one for yourself here first and modify it before adjusting a mirror onboard the Dust Runner.”

It was a playful threat before Gemma allowed herself to be brushed off through the racers pit of the track before coming to the outside junkyard where Gemma could see various engines, scraps and on occasion an entire pod racer. Scattered across the distance were things that Gemma couldn't discern which species they were meant to impersonate, but she could tell that they were meant to be shot at.

“You need to get out more if you classify those as friends Jazi.”

She stopped just short of a bench that marked the makeshift range and placed her blasters on it before turning to lean on it and stare at Jazi, still fighting the dumb smirk his dress put on her mouth. She crossed her arms and peered through the sunlight; it was either blind herself with the light or blind herself with Jazi's inability to dress himself in the mornings, and to be fair to Jazi, she forced her head to look up.

“So what's first? I know how to clean these things and which end to point at the bad guys...”

 

[Naruto667]

"..."well that was a first for Jaz not knowing that Gemma knew how to speak binary however he could only shake his head hearing her playful threat causing the red haired man to smirk slightly, Beat knew not to touch anything without expressed permission from the owner of the ship, it was just moving around inside and outside the ship scanning away, which would allow it to show a layout of the ship and it's wirings, that was how Jaz worked on his modification in the military, having a droid make schematics, then at a later date, using a holoprojection work out the best ways to modify the craft

"Oh...then I guess you hadn't notice that you ship travels just abit faster than normal on the last mission? Why do you think I took abit longer than normal getting to the cargo bay?"Jaz replied back at her playful threat

“You need to get out more if you classify those as friends Jazi." looking at the targets downrange from them he could understand what she was saying, before poking her side gently

"Heheh who knows maybe they've done something annoying to me to the point I made target dummies of them"Jaz spoke looking at the dummies, knowing that at least one of them was from somebody who had done something silly...like letting everybody know of Jaz's inability to speak huttanese, and severally embarrassed the soldier..what was the guy's name against

"Damned..Dice..I think that was the person's name"Jaz muttered quietly without even thinking that Gemma might actually wonder why he said that, but shaking that out of his mind he focused on the task ahead teaching Gemma how to shoot properly

"Well first things first..your posture, most of your shots were off target because you weren't balanced so we'll work on that first"and with that Jaz pulled out his blaster pistol and held it with both hands turning so she would see how he looked before he took the posture that Gemma had been using on their previous mission then fired off a shot aiming at the center dummy, watching as the shot missed and struck a pod racer's engine instead of the dummy that was positioned just behind the engine.

"As you can see the posture you were using isn't good, rather you should try it like this"Jaz spoke as he straightened his back, bending his arms slightly and moved his right leg back slightly to keep his balance, then shot once more hitting the dummy's center

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Who was Dice? Gemma raised an eyebrow as Jazi's moment of mental weakness and wondered if they happened before and she just never noticed. Gemma closed her eyes for a second before hearing the swish of Jazi's blaster being removed from its holster. She watched as he mimicked her bluntly and shot downrange. She didn't need to turn around to hear the awkward ping of the metal crunching slightly under the blaster bolt. She shook her head slightly more at the memory of the situation.

“I did not look...”

"As you can see the posture you were using isn't good, rather you should try it like this"

Did he just cut her off?! Gemma huffed as she watched Jazi switch his stance, drawing back one leg in his ever ridiculous skirt-pants. He bent one arm, which Gemma could now see would absorb some of the shock. Before she missed it, she glanced over her shoulder and watched the bolt bounce off the centre of the target.

She quickly adopted a similar stance, noting her slight bend in the elbow and weight held forwards instead of on both feet equally. It felt more balance, more casual. She fired her shot and watched it speed passed the target, it was accurate, but off target slightly.

 

[Naruto667]

Watching as Gemma switched over to the new stance then fired off a shot, this time it was a lot better but it was still off target by little bit and so moving behind Gemma he gently held onto her hands glancing at how she was holding it, before lifting the blaster up abit, letting a hand go so he could point at the sights

"That was a good shot, now aim down the sights this time of course there might be times when you can't take your time aiming but at least this way you'll be able to keep your target's heads down"and with that he let go of her hands and backed off so he can watch both the woman and the target in the hopes of seeing if she needed anything else that needed to be improved

"..." as he watched and waited for Gemma's next shot the red haired man thought about what next he could teach her...maybe the usage of blaster rifles like Jaz's E-11, since it was doubtful that she would use anything bigger than that..but who knows

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Gemma hissed almost loudly as her bolt whizzed passed the notsoreal target. She was about to fire another round when Jazi stepped in and reached for her blaster almost through her hands. It caught her so off guard that there was clearly some heat in her cheeks.

"That was a good shot, now aim down the sights this time of course there might be times when you can't take your time aiming but at least this way you'll be able to keep your target's heads down"

She tried to contain what he was saying in her mind, but had to fight against the proximity of his presence; skirt-pants or not, Gemma suddenly found herself seeing Jazi slightly different. She shook her head as Jazi let her go and backed off. She retained enough information to readjust to look down the sights a little easier. Another shot rang out, this time the target kicked back from the force of a direct shot and Gemma let out a slight laugh of awkward relief.

“Alright, so I can effectively shoot something if its not paying attention. That's useful stuff Jazi. What's next?”

She adjusted her arm and aimed farther downrange, taking her time to look through the sights and reposition herself so her weight was forwards slightly and her arm bent. She fired at the farthest target possible and could practically hear the sizzling of the bolt whizz by and graze the target's head, or what appeared as a head.

 

[Naruto667]

Nodding Jaz could see that Gemma was slowly getting used to firing her blaster, seeing that her next shot managed to hit the target dead on which was a great improvement from the last time where it had missed hitting the ground or one of the wrecks, Jaz then listened to Gemma as she teased him once again about how now she could shoot at a target that isn't paying attention to her, then asked about what was next

"Heh yeah they would be struck dumb dead when they realised they got shot by a cutie"Jaz said before he played around acting like he was one of those people who might be shot by her

"How can this be...shot by this...this cutie the shame of it all blergh!"after saying that he slumped onto the ground dramatically playing dead for a few seconds before sitting up from the floor rubbing his chin slightly smirking slightly, before getting off the floor and hitting a button on the wall causing the targets to move, as if they were moving from cover to cover

"This time I want you to shoot the targets as they move..but remember that you might have to crouch to get a better shot than if you fired while standing"and with that he moved his posture to suit shooting while he was crouched and hoped that Gemma was paying attention, rather than being distracted by his weird combination of fashion before standing up to watch how things would go

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Ignoring the floundering Jazi as he teased her from the ground, Gemma focused on the targets now that they were moving. Some moved slowly, others faster, but the timing was the same. She could read the timing and understood that it was something only in a simulation and that it wouldn't occur in the field. She aimed quickly and fired, the shot sailing over the first targets head by several feet. Sighing with clear irritation, Gemma took a slow breath and adopted everything Jazi had said. Another shot that would have connected only if the target was stationary; understanding, Gemma nodded.

"So I need to fire at where they are going to be... makes sense."

Another burst from her blaster nailed the target in the bulk of its mass. The target stopping in place for a few seconds to show it was hit before moving back on its course. Gemma took another few minutes to set off another couple targets before focusing on the more difficult ones and stopping them as well.

"Alright, I think I have the hang of this, but what about other blasters or slugthrowers... let's have some fun now, Jazi"

 

[Naruto667]

"Alright, I think I have the hang of this, but what about other blasters or slugthrowers... let's have some fun now, Jazi" Nodding Jaz watched as Gemma shot at the moving targets, noticing that she missed a few times because she fired at where they were and not at where they were going to be, and her next burst of shots was exactly the same so Jaz was about to go up to her and help out when Jaz noticed saw that she was now trying things different taking in all that Jaz had told her about, then once she calmed down and fired once again this time hitting the target as it moved.

"Yeah, now you're getting used to it"Jaz spoke before listening to what else she had to say, hearing that she was asking about the other blasters and slugthrowers, rubbing his face he was trying to think of how to answer that, before he realised that he could teach her how to handle blaster rifles like his E-11...even if it was abit inaccurate at times...but that would be a good challenge for Gemma

"I don't have any slugthrowers unfortunally, but I think I have a challenge for you"Jaz said as he pulled his E-11 blaster and handed it over to Gemma smiling

"Try using this, and you can use the blaster one handed or two handed"Jaz said before he extended it's stock then looked at Gemma smiling before looking back at the targets smirking slightly wondering how Gemma will handle Jaz's weapon

"if you need help just ask, but for now try shooting at the targets with the E-11" and with that he stood back and watched wondering how long it would take before she complained about his weapon and then question how he even used it

 

[Symbiot Spider]

"Isn't this a stormtroopers gun?"

Gemma rolled it around to study it before attempting to put it against her shoulder. The butt of the rifle resting more on her arm then in the groove of her shoulder. She looked down the sights, or more or less tried given the awkward holding. She tried pulling it tighter to her body to look through the sights, but still not enough to work the rifle properly, but she pulled the trigger anyways. The kick of the rifle sent Gemma's arm rolling in its socket like a ragdoll. There was a loud curse as she tested for injury; nothing major.

"Damn this thing!"

She put the E-11 rifle on the table before turning to Jazi, her face clearly trying to hide some of the discomfort. She rolled her arm around the shoulder and then the elbow and finally her wrist before stretching each finger in turn.

"Why do you even have one of those things anyways."

 

[Naruto667]

"Isn't this a stormtroopers gun?" Looking at Gemma as she asked this question, he was just about to answer the question when she decided to fire the blaster either way and it was clear that it was a touch more powerful than the weapons she was used to, as when she tried to shoot the rifle it looked as if it had hurt her, and so Jaz stepped forward to help out when she said "damn this thing" placing the E-11 on the table and turned to face the red head, trying her best to hide the discomfort, rolling her shoulder,stretching her wrist then stretching her fingers

"..."Jaz listened to Gemma as she asked why he even has the weapon smirking he simply shrugged his shoulder

"I don't know why I have it to be honest, besides you never know what sort of weapon you might have to use, and for me I was much better with blaster rifles than anything else, so I chose the E-11 even if it was a antique in all senses rather than getting a more modern weapon, so who knows"Jaz replied looking at Gemma smiling before rubbing his head slightly great he would have to take Gemma to a weapon shop and then let her choose the weapons she wants.

Walking over to the table he picked up his E-11 and then unfolded the stock, aiming at a moving target and fired a shot hitting the target around it's waist area

"Since this weapon isn't really known for it's accuracy people generally use the blaster as a means of suppressing targets, by shooting at them even if they were going to miss"Jaz said as he reloaded his weapon, taking the object he replaced into his belt, so he could dump it off somewhere else.

"I think we need to visit a gun store..."he was about to head off to think of where to go, it was then that he realised what the real reason was, as he thought back to Gemma rolling her shoulder around

"Never mind that I've found out the reason you're having trouble with it"Jaz said as he took the E-11 off extending the stock once more then held it against his shoulder aiming down the sights, before moving it slightly off his shoulder, like what he assumed to be how she was holding it

"You're not holding the weapon properly "and this time he walked behind Gemma and placed her hands on it before moving it to how she was holding it

"Notice how the stock isn't against your shoulder? When you fired the blaster naturally it'll shoot back, and since you didn't hold it tightly against your shoulder, it ended up smacking into your shoulder and hurting you"Jaz said wondering if she took it all in before moving the blaster's stock against her shoulder

"Now try shooting at a target like this with the stock of the rifle tightly against your shoulder"and with that Jaz allowed Gemma to take hold of the blaster and stepped back to see if there was any improvements

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Gemma didn't want to go to a Gun Shop, why would she go to a Gun Shop? Then she saw that a similar expression crossed Jazi's face at the same time. He walked back over to her and began to tell her what really happened. Again, Gemma was positioned like a doll with Jazi's rifle. It did feel better in the groove of her shoulder instead of slightly down her arm and tilting the rifle; it also made looking down the sights easier as well. She nodded in silence as she looked down the sights at her first target. She waited until Jazi was backed up enough that she knew he wasn't trying to help anymore and then she pulled the trigger.

She didn't see where the bolt flew, but she didn't feel like somebody was taking a hatchet to her arm either. Instead of her shoulder eating the butt of the rifle, her body shifted back and she took a step backwards. It was here that the mechanics of it started rolling in her head. Without even commenting on it, Gemma stepped up to the counter, took her stance, but this time she leaned in before releasing another shot. This one she saw bounced off the target's assumed shoulder.

“I think I get it, but why wouldn't you use a more accurate rifle? Seems a little outdated Jazi – kinda like your getup perhaps?”

Once more she fired off a series of bolts, nearly all hitting their marks. Gemma focused and slowed down in order to remember everything that was said and how everything felt when she was standing there. She shot once more at the farthest target and watched it dance slightly from the force. She placed the rifle back onto the counter and turned to slug Jazi in the shoulder.

“Thanks, this helps a lot. I think I am getting the hang of it too! Tell you what, when I get some things up and running, come see me and I will have a nice surprise for you. As a thanks of course.”

 

[Naruto667]

Jaz watched as Gemma fired the blaster with the stock against the shoulder and smiled as this time it wasn't smacking against her shoulder each time she fire, nodding he could tell that the weapon wouldn't suit Gemma as the blaster was inaccurate, and hearing what she said also confirmed it as she questioned him about the fact he didn't pick a more accurate weapon, and then teased him about his get up saying that it was outdated.

"Heh who knows..but I guess I should replace my armour soon in that case since too many people have seen the armour I use..so it would be hard to remain unrecognisable"Jaz spoke wondering on what he should do..maybe...yeah maybe he could visit that shop from back when he joined the cartel...but the name of the store eluded him but the Hutt..he stood out as being the only hutt he saw with dreadlocks for a beard

"Oh you got something in the making?"Jaz asked watching as Gemma slugged him on the shoulder becoming interested on what she was planning, it was looking like she was planning something big

"Sure I'll do just that, and just so you know my armour's got me through some tough things"Jaz said as he then remembered the battle that he was apart of in Klatooine and sighed quietly shaking his head...he had to say somebody frakked up when they gave Jaz command of a small group...leadership roles didn't suit Jaz at all, but of course Gemma probably wouldn't have known that Jaz had been apart of the battle...and he didn't want her to know about it, at least for now..he wasn't ready to talk about it

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Gemma smiled through the chit chat and could feel that Jazi's attention had shifted slightly; the mood of the lesson was finished. Gemma would be able to walk away from the race track a confident shooter because of Jazi and she was happy with that. She quickly glanced over Jazi's skirt/pants and again shook her head.

“Maybe you need a whole new wordrobe, not just the armour department.”

It was a light jest to make light of his mood. She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek as another means to brighten the suddenly gloomy mood.

“Thanks for the lesson, I owe you... unless that droid has done something foolish.”

There was a playful gleam in her eye as she walked off through the race track and back to her ship. The droid was nowhere in sight, so she powered the ship up and after scanning to make sure nothing had been tampered with; not that she didn't trust Jazi, but Arok's protocol droid has put a bad stain on accompanying droids for a while. She smirked to herself about the stupid Tinman and pushed the Dust Runner back through space and aimed it for Nar Shaddaa once more.