Way of the Colt pt 2

[Eralam]

Another day, another student.

Eralam knew his teaching was a little rough. Definitely needed some polish if he was going to get an academy started. But at least people were finally taking his brand of fighting seriously. That was something, he supposed.

It early in the morning. The sun had barely risen over the barren desert that would play host to the training site. He had chosen this location for two reasons: firstly, it was isolated enough that stray bolts or projectiles wouldn't place anyone at risk. Secondly, it was near enough to a small town that his prospective student would be able to find lodging.

As a Shard, he didn't need to eat or sleep, so it didn't really bother him to spend a night out on the sands, listening to the sounds of the wind and the creatures who lived there. It was a rare moment of peace in a life so full of violence. Of course, every now and again the sharp crack of a predator's jaws crunching through bone would remind him that life was far from peaceful, even for those beings blessed with no more intelligence than it took to hunt and screw and raise their young.

It was winter here, which meant that, while the nights could get bitterly cold, the days wouldn't get too hot. Desert training was all fine and dandy, but in the Shard's experience, it was never a good idea to overcomplicate things from the start. Mastering a new skill was hard enough without having to worry about passing out from heat stroke.

As he waited for [member="Lily Hex-Volsh"] to arrive, he began the task of setting up the training area. There were several targets, as well as a weapon rack, table, and other odds and ends that would come in handy.

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

"Ok! Lily! You can do this!" Her voice was determine and excited.

"Maybe I can...No! I don't need any help!" Her voice optimistic but shaky.

"I just need to check the map one more time..." Her voice growing weaker.

"And another....Left?" Her voice shaky and discouraged.

"FORCE SENSE!!!!" She shouted as she used her ability to seek out her new trainer.

"Oh....THERE IT IS!" Her voice with rekindle strength!


The young girl found herself yet another master and from what she understood, this would be different from the average training from the regular jedi. She had to be ready for anything and everything, she closed into the destination and saw a cloaked figure in the distance was that shadowy figure her new teacher? Most likely. She cruised over to the man, skipping, showing how dangerous she really was before stopping in front of [member="Eralam"] . "I am Lily! I am here to learn everything!" She said with a smile gripping her handing of the straps of her backpack filled with her gear. Her belt holstered a basic pistol made for the use of of Silver Sanctum.

 

[Eralam]

Eralam twitched, ever so slightly.

He knew is new student was a bit on the young side, but he didn't expect a child. Or skipping. Skipping was bad. Evil, even.

The Shard towered over his charge, a robotic monolith standing in front of a tiny little ball of hyperactivity. Yeah, this was going to be fun.

"Hi," he said, his voice a basso rumble. "My name's Eralam, and I will be your instructor."

In the blink of an eye, he drew his old Colt revolver and placed all five shots into the center of the nearest target. Despite the pistol's age and antique design, it functioned flawlessly. The old Iron Knight took care of his weapons, and they took care of him.

He pointed to the pistol on the girl's hip.

"I want you to do the same," he said, stepping out of her line of fire. "Draw and fire, quick as you can. Let's see what you've got."

It was extremely rare that any sort of novice would hit the target more than once or twice, and even then it was usually an accident. But it was important to get a feel for her natural abilities. Her latent skill level would inform the rest of the training regimen.

[member="Lily Hex-Volsh"]

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

The young girl's eye locked onto the man's slightiest twitch, her lorrdian father taught her to hone into body language to help her truly understand another without the need of words. The way they were, their skills, the lorrdian language was truly an art if applied properly. Still she had much to learn, did he twitch due to her overly active appearance or was it a natural tenancy cause by years of muscle memory through battles or sort of deception. She press a finger light on her lower lip as she thought. "Mr. [member="Eralam"] ." She started off calmly. "You're so weird! But so cool!" she said happily.

A blink of the eye was all she needed, she watched the motions of the man was fluent and skilled as it was fast. She mesmerized his style quickly and took a breath. She dropped her backpack and did the same mimicking the man's moments almost flawlessly. But she could feel the difference, her unskilled hand wasn't as firm, so there was more kick. Thought she was just as fluent, she had to take a step back from the shots to make up for the kick She fired the gun five times at the target put up for her and looked over. She missed four shots while one hit far off of the center barely on the target. She stared for a moment and pained to see such failure but notice the one on the target. "Ha! Got one...Ish....Not really?" She exclaimed. As she said that, she quickly anaylzed herself and her footing.

 

[Eralam]

Instinctive grasp of how to use a weapon?

Eralam would have frowned if he had a face.

No, that wasn't it. She had seen what he had done and copied him perfectly. Definitely a Force user of some kind then; normal reflexes couldn't keep up with the Shard. He wondered if the ability to copy something seen once was a Force power or something mundane she was born with.

Either way, it was a system with advantages and disadvantages. Sure, she could perfectly mimic his actions, but his actions were suited to a single action revolver held by a massive mountain of a war droid with the strength to bury the considerable recoil. Definitely not what a preteen with a blaster pistol needed. They could cut down on the time it would take to train dramatically if they could find her a pistol suited for the style she had just instinctively learned.

"Hmm," he said to [member="Lily Hex-Volsh"] as he rummaged through the various boxes. "That's a neat trick you've got there. Takes years to get the form right for most folks. Won't do you any good with that pistol though. Let's see how you do with this."

The pistol in question was the little cousin of Eralam's own Colt. It was a slightly newer model, also cartridge converted to take conventional cartridges rather than a cap and ball. Instead of the Shard's heavy slab of iron and its .45 LC cartridges, this pistol was smaller, lighter, and took a smaller bullet too: the .38 special. Instead of Eralam's 5 shots, her pistol held 6. He wagered she'd have a lot better luck with this thing than the blaster pistol.

"If you don't like it, we'll try something else," he said. "I had you bring your own pistol so I could get a feel for your skill cold, without any interference from me whatsoever. However, it's important we find a gun that fits who you are and what you can do before we really get started."

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

The young girl took a moment to let what he said sink in, was that a compliment or was he just trying to teach her something? A little of both, maybe? She pouted a bit then she shook her head slightly when he mention that she got the form right. "No sir, In comparison you my form was way off, from my hip rotation to my footing and stance." She blinked and point the droid on the chest now realizing that it wasn't human. She giggled a little bit, "You're all metal." she said taking a step back. "And shiny." She took a breath and took the gun he handed to her bowing her head in thanks for the tool. "Hmm.." She said as she put her blaster pistol away and weighed out the gun. She took a good firm grip on the gun to get a better feel for it. It was lighter, less clunky, and well taken care of. She looked up to him and gave him a smile. "It's shiny like you." She said jokingly to him. "I like it, it feels right. Thank you, Mr. [member="Eralam"] ."

 

[Eralam]

Eralam nodded gravely.

How she had managed not to notice he wasn't human was, well, kark it. She was a kid, and it was still early enough to be kinda dark, and he had on his usual heavy duster. Maybe she thought his head was a helmet? Who knew?

The Iron Knight called on the Force to pull a box of .38 Special safety slugs out from under the table and walked his student through loading the pistol. It was pretty simple, though a bit more involved than a semiautomatic would have been. Slide open the loading port with the thumb of the right hand, cock the hammer back to half cock, which would allow the cylinder to rotate freely, then slide a bullet into each chamber. Once that was done, he showed her how to store it safely. A weapon like this had no safety, so it was important to make sure that, when it was in the holster, the hammer sat in the safety notch in between the chambers.

After walking her through the process the first time, he let her try it on her own. The safety slugs were inert. They'd make a loud popping noise if you tried to fire one, but it was just a spring and a striker inside the thing to let you know it was triggered. It didn't take long at all for the girl to figure it out, so Eralam brought out a box of live ammo.

"Load it up, then try again. Your blaster's holster is the wrong shape for a tight fit, but it'll work well enough for practice until we can get you a custom one made. There's a guy in town who does this kind of thing. We'll place the order tonight. Now remember, this thing is a single action. Means you have to cock the hammer back all the way for it to fire. Takes a wee bit longer, but it's more accurate than a semiautomatic. The trigger break is a lot more crisp."

[member="Lily Hex-Volsh"]

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

She did as instructed with a quick nod of her head. "Alright, Mr. Shiny." She said to [member="Eralam"] having already giving him a nickname. The droid was so serious was he programmed to such way. Or did she....it...he, develop his, her, it's own personality? "Going too deep there, Lily!" She thought to herself with the thought making her head spinning from all the questions. "Oooo....." She moaned with the shake of her head, the young girl's focus maintained on the target. She went into the stance and cocked the gun with a deep breath, she thought of her form before from mimicking the tall droid man. She held firm as he he did, legs planted and deep rooted, her hip turned slightly to attempt to take the kick of the gun, she stretched out her arm with the release of her breath, she puller the trigger. The gun fired and the guns kick still flew back despite her firm grip and her stance, barely grazing the target far to the right. she grunted out of frustration, see the it graze further to the right she adjusted herself once more her aim point further left and did the same and fired once more letting the kick happen again another miss. Again, a slight groan of frustration left her lips again before firing the other three, she looked over to Eralam with a sigh. "Am I doing something wrong, Mr. Shiny?"

 

[Eralam]

This time, Eralam was able to see the problem a little better.

"Not bad kid, but you're mimicking my stance a little too closely for your own good."

The Shard drew his own Colt, and adopted a stance more suitable to his student's slight frame. Right leg back, canted at a 45 degree angle. Left leg forward, pointed straight ahead. Both feet were spread a little wider than shoulder's width, enough to provide a stable base. Eralam held the gun in both hands, and as he drew it upwards, he pointed the barrel up, about 60 degrees above the target. He placed his thumb on the hammer and, using it as a base, brought the barrel in line with the target. This cocked the hammer back fully, and had the advantage of ensuring the barrel was pointing directly at the center.

"When you fire, you want your elbows to be slightly bent and relaxed, as well as your wrists. You're anticipating the recoil, so you tense up. Instead of letting your elbows and wrists absorb it, you're transmitting it to the rest of your body, which is why it keeps pushing you back. Your Colt doesn't have all that much kick, but you're acting like it's gonna break you in half or something. Work with the gun, and it'll work with you. Work against it, and it'll put you on your ass."

To demonstrate the correct technique, Eralam fired his weapon. Sure enough, with his wrists and elbows relaxed, the barrel kicked upwards, as it was wont to do. His body didn't budge an inch, and it was clear that the recoil wasn't reaching the rest of his body. [member="Lily Hex-Volsh"] was a tiny little thing, but if she followed his example, she should be able to handle the weapon with ease.

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

[member="Eralam"]

"Right."

She said with a happy nod, understanding what her instructor was telling her, she relaxed herself more and watched did what he did. She fired and it hit the target close to the bulls eye and when she fired again it hits directly through. Her eyes widened and glistened with happiness, there was a moment of silence before she let out a loud yelp of excitement as she jump up and don hitting the mark.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

 

[Eralam]

"Great shot, kid. I think you'll get the hang of this after all."

The rest of the morning was devoted to marksmanship training. [member="Lily Hex-Volsh"] was a natural with her Colt, and it seemed like she would do well in the coming weeks of training. However, there was only so much that could be learned from shooting targets. Eventually, they would need to integrate swordsmanship into the drills, and finally, they'd conclude with sparring with practice sabers and rubber bullets. But that wouldn't come for a while.

"How's about we go into town and get you a holster made for that thing? A good gunbelt is hard to come by, but if it's made right, it'll stick with you for decades."

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

A smiles appeared on her face widened from cheek to cheek when he gave her the compliment stating that she was a natural. It seemed that the kinetic language really had its perks when applied in a way other than for communication. Her smile changed to a somewhat smug grin, in which she felt like she earned as she was getting the hand of this pretty easily in comparison to her force training. She held her gun, unloaded the remaining bullets and looked at him, giving him a nod. "I want to keep training, but that would probably good idea." She said twirling her Colt. "I can learn how to do fancy tricks and quick draw and shoot things in the face."

[member="Eralam"]

 

[Eralam]

"Quickdraw is useful," Eralam said as he used a bit of Force energy to arrest the spin of her revolver. "But tricks? You're more likely to blow your own foot off than impress a bad guy."

He drew his own revolver in the blink of an eye and drew a smiley face on an unmarked target. By the time the weapon was back in its holster, less than a second and a half had passed.

"These things are great for getting the drop on an enemy. They're more streamlined than most blasters, and no one really expects you to be able to draw it so quickly. But they've got a hair trigger, and trying to twirl one around is a really, really easy way to fire it by accident."

[member="Lily Hex-Volsh"]

 

[Lily Hex-Volsh]

The young girls eyes widened when she witness the speed of the droid some things just can't be mimicked. Some things had to developed through practice just like what he did. She looked over and saw the smiley face on the unmarked target. "Wha- Wha- Whoa!" She exclaimed excitedly. After witnessing such a feat she was going to really focus on her quick draw, she could do so much with just that alone. "That was so cool, mr. [member="Eralam"] !"