Teaching Moment

"Alright, fine," Ori mutters, grabbing his revolver and tossing it at the kid. "Try this, ain't like the sniper but it'd definitely put one of those ninjas down... And no, I do want it back."

David barely catches it with how heavy it is and looks over it sceptically as if it was the first gun he'd ever seen. Timidly, he raises it, firmed shoulders, legs spaced apart, and aims at the remnants of a car in the distance.

*BANG!*

*Thud!*

Ori bursts into laughter as he looks from the target, seeing David flat on his back with his arms still straight and aiming at the sky, the barrel of the revolver smoking. "Hahahaha! Nice one!"

"Fuck off." he grumbles in response, dropping the gun to the side and rubbing his arm all over, from his wrist to his shoulder. "How do you shoot that thing!?"

Ori takes it and spins it on his finger, gracefully dropping it into a holster, "If you want it to do damage, you gotta expect some downsides. These can dome pretty much anyone, but have enough recoil to make pigs fly."

"Right... That's out then, until I get some chrome at least." he mutters, "That knife we bought snapped by the way."

Ori shrugs, "You show me you can handle a sword and I'll give you one of the ninjas. I'm not about to let you go running around with a monomolecular edge without knowing what you're doing. Scissors are one thing but that?"

"Ah, right..." he mutters, having forgotten about that. Come to think of it, he'd not bothered to loot anyone ever. It wasn't because he was squeamish about dead bodies, since he'd had that Cyberpsychos Sandevistan installed so, it was probably just him not wanting to klepp someone else's loot.

"So big guns are out for you right now, and I'm not letting you touch a sword without at least a basic training BD.

"Can we practise hand-to-hand then? I think I'm getting the hang of it?"

Ori shrugs, "Sure, feel free to use your Cyberware too." he challenges, wanting to see if he could handle it.

David crooks a brow, "You sure? Not that I'm being cocky, but it's kinda strong..."

"Stop fretting and bring it."

"Alright..." David mutters, activating the Sandevistan and running over. Ori's all but frozen as he winds up a haymaker, throwing it directly at the merc's fac-

*Crash!*

David slams face-first into the floor from a sudden leg sweep he'd not seen coming. Time resumes as he groans on the floor, looking up at Ori who was rubbing his eyes?

"You weren't kidding, that shit's REALLY fast." his eyes had been extremely strained, along with his brain that'd been working overtime to process the information. To be honest, if David was more experienced Ori wouldn't have been able to counter him as he had.

"Ugh... Still got me though..."

"Barely." Ori drops on his heels next to him, "Guess this is your first lesson, don't get cocky. You threw everything into the punch and forgot your feet." he flicks him in the forehead, "I've noticed you're always attacking the side too. Bad habit."

"No...?"

"'No', yeah, you do." Ori snickers.

David shakes his head, "It's on purpose, I only have so much time in slow-mo, and the more time I spend in it the worst it hits my body. Going all the way around to your back is less efficient."

"That's fine, if you don't make it a habit. You're fighting one on one here, go for the back. Unless you're against one of those weirdos who get those weird spider-leg implants the back is a guy's most vulnerable point... Also, I'm not sure how momentum works with your Cyberware, but throwing all of your weight into an attack is kinda dumb, I get you need it with your noodle arms but your speed if your best offence and defence, putting yourself off balance might just get you killed."

"Got it..."

"Get up, we've still got all day and I wanna see what else you can do."

--------------------------

"Ugh, grab me a beer would you?"

"Grab your own beer! What do I look like, your housewife?" Rebecca quickly retorts.

"If I say yes will you get the bee-ow!" he yelps as a wrench bounces off of his head, "Hey! That's dangerous!"

"You got your head blown off, a rinky-dink wrench ain't gonna do shit!" she exclaims from the corner of the room where her 'temporary' workshop now sat. Apparently, the storage lots hadn't appreciated the explosions she'd been causing.

"Be gentle, I'm sore from training the rookie..."

"Sore? Yeah, and I'm accepting a scholarship for Arasaka."

"Mentally sore," he corrects, "Guy's a quick learner. Once he gets some chrome he's gonna be scary."

"Ah, speaking of chrome, you wanna see my new shit?" Rebecca perks up.

"Er, 'slong as you don't destroy the apartment."

She grins and throws a handful of bolts up, then draws her pistol to accurately shoot each of them out of the air. She blows the smoke from her gun and holsters it with a flourish, "How's that?"

"Does it only work on inanimate objects?" he jokes.

"Dunno, you want me to try on you?" she sniffs.

"No thank-" *Beep!* "s... Huh," he pauses, turning on the TV under Rebecca's confused stare.

Turning on the news channel, they're greeted by an eagle-eye infrared vision of someone going crazy in Pacifica, shooting or tearing apart a bunch of innocence before running off out of sight.

"-criminal has evaded NCPD patrols by entering the Combat Zone East of Pacifica. Commissioner Jerry Fawlter has blockaded the entrances until further notice, civilians are ordered to stay at least fifty feet away at all times. More infor-*Bzztch!*"

"Am I missing something?" Rebecca questions dubiously.

He nods, "Looks like I'm going on vacation, to the combat zone..."