Terminal Ballistics

[trustycrowbar]

[Action]

[Being as it is a permanent fixture of the Hold, the mareketplace has manifested several trappings of a mall-like nature. Like, say, an arcade. Well, actually it's just a few "antiquated" game machines stuffed into a corner, but with the training routines disturbed by the VR shenanigans they'd reached a level in popularity again.]

[One in particular, "Superah-RealCombato Sim 3000" has a ring of holographic projectors no more than six feet across, that cast flickering red shapes in parallax for characters standing in the middle to aim a virtual weapon at and shoot. The resulting sea of red gradient that they loosely call a "firefight sim" is hardly realistic, somewhat headache-inducing, and kind of flickery thanks to the wear of years.]

"HEADSHOT. DOUBLE-KILL. MULTIKILL. SURVIVALIST. NEW HIGH SCORE..."

[Wait, is that Gordon in there? Where did he learn to shoot like that?!]

[Watch? Comment? ...Try to beat his score?]

Comments

[shoesfitperfectly]

[After a while Gordon might notice someone standing behind him. Oh, lovely, it's either a refugee from that Oscar Wilde production across town or a time traveller. Not sure which is worse. He just watches, a mildly amused look on his face.]

[trustycrowbar]

[After a long while. Games beget tunnel vision, or in this case, cylinder vision. It really isn't until the round ends and he lowers the false weapon that he actually notices the man in the sport coat thing. At first he's just a little winded and merely angles his head as a greeting.]

[shoesfitperfectly]

Hullo. Is this part of your training?

[Oh, jesus, he's /NATIVE./ His voice is soft and he's looking at the projectors like they're just the quaintest little things he's ever seen.]

[trustycrowbar]

What, this? Hm, hardly. [His accent sounds American enough even though his word choices suggest otherwise. He gets out from under the projector ring now.]

IT hasn't quite fixed that VR system, so far as I know there is no training right now. I'm just playing this because I thought it looked interesting. Wanted to blow off some steam.

So are you a transport, or...?

[shoesfitperfectly]

[He nods] Yes, as a matter of fact. I only just got here yesterday... [sighhh] Technically yesterday.

[He does look a bit jet-lagged--er, time-lagged. However, he cracks a grin at some thought or other.] Let's hope your virtual reality system is a bit better than this old thing...

[An idea strikes him and he reaches into a pocket, producing what looks like nothing more than a tyre pressure gauge on steroids. It's a silver rod with a strange round dish-like thing at the end. Hunkering down next to the thing's CPU he points the device at it. The thing emits an odd warbling buzz of varying pitches as he presses the button on it.]

[The demo graphics suddenly get a lot clearer... but still red.]

[totallytrustworthy]

[Chloe's eyes don't miss much, even on the worst of days. So considering the noise coming out of that particular section of the arcade, it doesn't take her more than a few seconds to spot-- wait, Gordon?

She watches him carry on for a short while, arms folded, standing directly behind him. When she finally chimes in, her tone of voice isn't particularly cheery.]

You weren't joking about that 'path of destruction' business, were you?

[trustycrowbar]

[He leans back, the motion hiding him behind a large (red) block while (red) shots ping off the side in a scattering of (red) particles. He glances over his shoulder with a very memorable snarl of focus that dissolves as he recognizes Chloe.]

I told you it wasn't my academic, hold on--[BAMM! BAMM!]--my academic achievements the Initiative wanted!

[totallytrustworthy]

No, no you're definitely right about that.

And just how exactly did you manage to hone these particular un-academic skills?

[trustycrowbar]

[He glances between her and the game, briefly.]

It's a long story... Let me finish up here.

[It takes him another five minutes but eventually the rising difficulty does overtake him. A stray red "bullet" finally finds his head and a creepy red silhouette of him lurches to the side and sprawls to the ground. Game over.]

Okay. The smartass answer would be that I learned them playing games like those, but I guess I owe you a better explanation than that. [He ducks out from under the projector ring and joins her.] C'mon. I need some coffee, and I think I may have finally found a place that HAS some around here.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam's no stranger to VR training, but he can also, ocassionally, be a nerd--currently he's passing through the Hold because of some ~business~, but Gordon's little 'training session' is really loud enough to be noticed and pause for a moment.

So for a while, Adam's just watching, and maybe frowning. This thing looks terribly rudimentary too, but it somehow still manages to stir his competitive spirit awake--but he's still considering.

And still watching. It's kind of impressive, really, but he doesn't say anything because words can make you lose focus really easily. ]

[trustycrowbar]

[It does indeed. That's one thing that's noticible about the whole display. Most violence junkies would be yelling their heads off, but while this guy's in the middle of a round? He falls completely silent.]

[After a few more rounds of proverbial ownage he does take a hit and loses, and he briefly plucks off his glasses to run a hand over his eyes as he ducks out from under the light ring and practically runs into Adam.]

--Oh, ah, hey. [Glasses back on. Good god. He drew an audience, but he addresses Adam a little more than the crowd. Hard to ignore a cyborg after all.] How long were you watching?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Of course Adam has enough experience to be able to tell those skills don't just come from playing videogames. He's fairly sure if someone made a bet with him about whether or not Dr. Freeman here is good with a real gun too, he'd win.

Also he doesn't seem to particularly mind that he was just bumped into, Adam just nonchalantly steps to the side; and wasn't expecting conversation either. ]

Long enough to be able to tell you're a fairly good shot.

[ Obviously. ]

[trustycrowbar]

[Another short glance to the game machine, as though realizing it's just given him away.]

I know my way around a weapon or two, yeah... Hm, I'm surprised it came across in the way I played that.

[Although really, if it weren't for a youth misspent on violent, low-resolution games like those he wouldn't have made it out of that research facility in the first place.]

I don't think we've met yet, mister, ah...?

[square_cubelaw]

You didn't get out much as a kid, did you?

[He's just going to watch. It looks fun.]

[trustycrowbar]

[It IS fun, until the red-on-red fries a guy's color perception circuits. The comment deserves a backwards glance, at least, and he "hides" for a moment. With a quarter-muncher like this, there's no such thing as a pause function.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[Wait what? Is that a robot?]

[A robot sophisticated enough to be sarcastic?]

[square_cubelaw]

[Getting him to be sarcastic isn't the problem.

It's getting him to realize he should stop, before someone blows him up, that is.]

It means, there's good, and then there's "I didn't have friends in school so I filled the hole with video games," good.

I'm just saying, you're pretty good.

[trustycrowbar]

[And here, fascination collides head-on with a flash of irritation at the bot's observation. It's the kind of reaction that really wouldn't have been there if the observation weren't a little true...]

Thanks for the backhanded compliment, Deep Blue. Were you always programmed to be this tactful or is that a learned trait? [He jerks as a false bullet that looks real enough in peripheral vision ricochets off his cover.] Dammit... hold on.

[Emerge form cover, BANG BANG, two more faceless foes disintegrate.]

[helljumper]

[Once there was a bit of a lull in the game, Gordon will be getting a short, impressed whistle from the armored soldier currently leaning on whatever was convenient. Helmet canted slightly to the side as he watched the one moving around in the center of all that red data.

Though he's not making a point to say anything just yet, since he's curious to see how the game plays out and would rather not break the man's concentration more than he already has.]

[trustycrowbar]

[That earns a short glance over his shoulder, but he says nothing until the virtual foes finally overwhelm him after ten minutes or so of increasing difficulty. It earns a soft curse as his fake self falls to the ground in an inert red outlined heap, but then he remembers he'd been watched again and looks over.]

Hey... Rookie, right? [Jeez, doesn't he ever take that suit off? Gordon extracts himself from the game to greet him properly.]

[helljumper]

[Nope, not if Rookie can help it anyway. He'd feel far less comfortable without it, especially being so new around here.

Although he will move to stand up a little straighter, once he realized that the game was over and Gordon was heading in his direction. The question only getting a small nod of his helmet, before he was gesturing at the firefight sim with some amusement.]

You're not half bad, for a doctor.

[trustycrowbar]

[He smirks and rakes a hand back through his hair.] Physicist, technically, but thanks. Been playing these damn things since I was a teenager. Some things you never really forget.

[Or suddenly have to apply to the real world in the form of REAL guns shooting REAL monsters.]

[rota]

[Naoto is just checking around, really, and when she saw an arcade, she was curious if these games had some of those simulations that man with the sword spoke of.

She doesn't find them, but she's probably more interested in this man who's gotten some really great scores on a shooting game.]

Impressive. [Because she really is, especially when she herself is good with a gun.]

[trustycrowbar]

[That earns a brief nod to the guy while he "reloads."]

'S just like riding a bike. [BANG! BAMM! BLEEP BLOOP!] Only a bike doesn't come with explosive rounds.

[rota]

You have experience with explosive rounds and firearms then?

[He doesn't strike her as the law enforcement type, or even a soldier. Interesting.]

[trustycrowbar]

[Yup, he's a real wildflower of talent. He switches back over to semi-auto mode.]

I don't want to use them if I can help it, but yes.