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+--- Thread: Of Pasts and Presents (/showthread.php?tid=10767)
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 03-27-2015
Vaughn nodded and saw Eva out.
The next day came to Vaughn in an unusually foul mood. His hair was plaited back with the few strands partially covering his face. He wore his snug cotton pants and thigh high riding boots. A flowing shirt clinched at the waist and open up top kept his scarification covered, but a gentle breeze still made it seen, as well as the little bird charm on his pierced pec.
The range he set up was a long board strattling four crates, lined with various bottles, figurines, and barrels with painted targets. fifty fulm from the setup was another crate with two simplistic pistols, gunpowder, and a few boxes of bullets, waiting to be used.
He was setting up the last target as Eva came over the sand dune.
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 03-30-2015
Evangeline strides up, "Morning Vaughn... you really went all out."
She looks over the practice area with appreciation. "Thank you for this, truly." She off her blue blazer, leaving her in a starched white shirtwaist, "However you look a little troubled Vaughn."
"Not your usual flowery self."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-13-2015
Vaughn put on his best practiced smile as he waves a hand to the range, attempting to keep Eva on topic. "What I have set here is a basic training range. What I want to see is how good your eyes are." He tilts his head and brushes his stray locks aside before taking up one of the pistols and rapid-firing three of the bottles and two figurines. The tiny targets. Of course...
He hands Eva the pistol with one round left, nodding back to the range. "Hit the barrel."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-16-2015
Evangeline takes the pistol eagerly, like a child being given a sweet-roll. She holds the gun, pointing it vaguely downrange in one hand, "Heavier than I would have thought."
Closing one eye she looks down the sights, though slightly unsure how to use them properly. "So I just..." She adjusts her glasses, as the gun wavers, her finger tugging at the trigger.
"I just pull this rig.. *CRACK*"
A gunshot echoes over the range, and the gun jerks back in Eva's hand, nearly missing her face. She holds onto it, smoke drifting up from the barrel, across what is perhaps the largest grin Evangeline has ever worn. Far off in the distance, there is a puff of dust as the bullet hits a sand dune.
"That was..." She laughs ecstatically, "Fun."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-16-2015
Vaughn rolled his eyes as he hands her the full pistol. Before letting go, however, he looks straight into her eyes. "Lady Evangeline, if you want to learn this, you'll have to follow instruction. Is that clear?"
Before he gave her a chance to answer, he reaches for the empty pistol. "Keep both eyes open, bend the elbow, and keep the wrist loose. We don't want any fractures, understand?"
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-16-2015
She nods, though a stupid grin is still plastered across her face, "Yes Master Vaughn~"
Taking a deep breath she steadies the butterflies in her stomach and points the pistol downrange. Her arm is straight at first, but she pulls back slightly, bending at the elbow and wrist to give some flex.
"Heh... heh heh...." She gets out the last of her giggles before looking down the barrel again, this time keeping both eyes open, and not worrying overmuch on the sights. Instead she just looks points it at the target barrel, and, after exhaling once more, squeezes the trigger.
*CRACK*
The gun jerks in her hand, her wrist and elbow bending at to absorb the recoil, and she slowly draws it back down level with the barrel. She smells gunsmoke, and the sensation sends a cool shiver down her spine. The Bullet goes wide though, creating another small puff of dirt.
She continues, firing more rounds
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
Until finally, with the last.
*CRACK*
Is followed by the splintering of wood, as the heavy bullet impacts the barrel. Evangeline is silent, only breathing for a few moments.
"Fun..."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-16-2015
She nods, though a stupid grin is still plastered across her face, "Yes Master Vaughn~"
He shook his head. "No Master please..."
He watches Eva's form, taking notes of her posture and seeing if she was heeding his advice.
*CRACK*
Good. She listened. That was a first...
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
The old barrel splintered and Vaughn smirked. "You think this fun, hmm?" He reloads the other pistol. "Let's keep going until you can shoot everything off its mount. Without missing."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-17-2015
Evangeline scoots over, watching him reload the pistols with delicate fingers. There is a strange inconsistency in the viewing, Vaughn's graceful hands, moving with practiced ease over hot steel, blackened with burnt powder. He rotate's the pistol's pepperbox barrels, deftly packing powder and balls into each.
"I have to call you something more than Vaughn..." Evangeline examines a stray ball with a critical eye, wondering at the alloys used in it's construction. "It's something of a rule of mine. If I have respect for anyone in this world, it's those that teach others."
"I call all those who teach me Masters. Master Wolfsong, Master Vann... I even call Orrin Master Dragoon when I am being taught."
She tilts her head, "Does the word rankle you so?"
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-17-2015
Vaughn finished loading the pistol, flicking the pepperbox back in its place. He then looked to Eva with a practiced smile. "All my life, I have called others 'Master' or 'Mistress' because they owned people. I do not own you, nor will I ever. To me, it is a vile term of placing power over others."
He tilted his head in thought. "It's why I prefer to use 'Sir' or 'Lady', as all are above me in the....as you say, social ladder, I suppose. So calling me 'Sir' would belittle you as well, so please don't use that either. I am simply Vaughn. Nothing more."
He held out the fully loaded pistol toward her while holding his other hand out, requesting the empty one.
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-17-2015
"One does not need to own another to be respected." Evangeline shakes her head, her expression growing serious. "That is the cancer of subservience Vaughn. To the free, respect is given and shared without thought of status."
Her face gains that stubborn bent that Vaughn has probably gotten to see far too many times. "Your past does not lessen you Vaughn. You can have pride without arrogance, power without tyranny, respect without servitude."
"I give you respect because of your words and actions Vaughn, and whether you believe it or not... it is deserved."
She takes the loaded pistol, her eyes serious, and she points over his shoulder towards the skyline of Ul'dah in the distance. "Worth does not come from those gilded domes, Vaughn."
Evangeline turns, unleashing a stream of bullets down the range, leaving a bottle shattered among the sand. Standing there breathing heavily she scowls.
"The hell did they do to you Vaughn?"
"And can I shoot them next?"
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-21-2015
He shifted uncomfortably as she spoke. He's heard the words before, but he just couldn't agree with them. It did, however, reinforce that he had a skewed view of the world and still had a long way to go to think like everyone else.
He snapped back to reality at her questions, actually giving her a small smile. "My former Masters are no longer part of this world. Mostly. And unless you wish to make enimies from shooting a Godsbow Sergeant, there is nothing you can do."
"But thank you for your concern. I appreciate it, Lady Evangeline."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-21-2015
Evangeline shrugs, whether from bravado or foolishness, "I care not what enemies I might make in this life Vaughn. I could not live a life of idle safety as friend suffered."
She hands him back the smoking pistol, concern written on her face, "The fact that you can think back on your past with a smile and a calm voice worried me most of all. It is no weakness to admit your scars."
Looking up at the blue desert sky she pause for a few moments, then sighs, "Sorry."
"I'm doing it again. Trying to tell others how to live."
Exhaling she leans over the table, "How about you show me how to reload?"
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-21-2015
"I only speak such a way that my scars do not become others'. Only Jaques knows, and has since been very protective." He smirks as he started cleaning the residue, moving slowly so Eva could follow. "Not that I mind, but I do not wish such a burden on anyone."
He nodded toward the metal pellets. "What about yourself? You mentioned once you were from Ishgard. It's odd finding one of their kind so far south."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - McBeefâ„¢ - 04-21-2015
Evangeline takes a free cloth, and begins polishing bit's of powder residue from her glasses.
"To live is to be a burden Vaughn." She smiles, "But I think you lift more than your weight, if the expression carries."
"As for Ishgard..." She makes a groaning grumbling noise, "I was exiled. You can call it youthful indiscretions. Call it a perfectly minor... very small, totally harmless, case of Heresy."
"I was training to become a barrister, for the high courts, I started off assisting a more senior member, interviewing the accused so we could defend them." She shrugs, "Or at least appear to. No one was actually interested in talking to the accused, or even cared what their stories may be. It was all for the display of justice."
Evangeline shrugs, "So I talked to them, learned their stories... and naturally I became curious. Ishgard has been locked in combat for so long, maybe it /was/ time for a change. Maybe the Heretics did know something we didn't. Eventually I actually went to the meetings, heard them speak, even Lady Iceheart herself. How they wanted to end the cycle, how they wanted peace and change..."
Evangeline re-seats her glasses, "And then I was found out. Only my family... and my experience defending others in such situations saved me from execution." She taps her cheek, "Instead I gained exile, and this fashionable brand. They were right though, in a way. Lady Iceheart was not interested in peace... the carnage at the steps of truth shows that."
She sighs, "Perhaps some day I'll be able to go back. We shall see how desperately Ishgard needs her daughters in the days ahead." She tilts her head, "You see I have a knack for annoying multiple governments."
"Perhaps in exchange for my tale... you can tell me how you obtained that pistol. Not these ones... the one you showed me before."
RE: Of Pasts and Presents - Antain - 04-29-2015
Vaughn thought for a moment. Perhaps a few moments. He contemplated how much information was necessary and how much respect he could stand to lose. Eying her closely, he finally responded, "They were the Captain's, but he doesn't need them anymore. A boring story, really."
He took another moment before making sure both pistols were loaded. "I've been to Ishgard once about eight cycles ago. Has it changed much? Like how Coerthas changed?"