So I'm Not Great At Apologizing (Kyte)

Jaiden quirked her brow, but let Rose do the talking. Not remembering if they had actually covered anything about this when they were talking before. Besides, she was just giving her the cue to show her how it worked, right?

Whatever. Rose went to the counter and worked her magic with Felix, saying that she was vouching for her. When Felix asked about Jaiden's experience, Rose answered for her. It didn't bother her or anything. Felix laid a few 9mm handguns on the counter in front of her, asking her to pick one. They had a few different designs, but they didn't really seem all too different, mechanically. She would simply select the one closest to her dominant hand, unless there was a red or red-looking one. Then she would pick that one. "Are any of these actually different, or is it just styles?"

After Felix or Rose had filled in the information for her, Felix made a joke about how if Jaiden was able to shoot straight, she might win over Rose. She didn't even open her mouth to respond before Rose had pulled out a gun and shot him in the face. Jaiden was caught off guard, and hadn't been able to disarm her, but... Felix didn't fall back or even flinch, really. The bullet spun on his forehead before dropping to the counter. She took a breath. "Fucking Christ Rose, can we go somewhere without you shooting someone? We're two for two!" Maybe it was alright to shoot a guy if a bullet couldn't harm him, but she hadn't known it. She'd probably laugh about it later.

Felix passed it off as just mean, and said she'd be taking it out of Rose's contracts. Well, no questions about that one. She was fairly familiar with how contracts worked. And considering Slade's work, one didn't have to think hard to guess what kind of contracts she might be taking. She took her gun of choice and held it down at her side, careful not to point it at anyone. While she didn't ahve any experience shooting a gun, she had herself been shot at plenty, and dealth with them on a regular basis. She knew not even as a joke to point a gun at someone. Not unless you wanted to make a very bad impression on the person. ...and maybe blow their face off.

Felix shook his head as Jaiden picked the black painted handgun closest to her. "Nah. No aftermarket parts until you know a thing or two. Last thing we want is you getting caught off guard by kick and dropping it or something." He threw the rest back onto their displays and brought the mag that matched her gun over, along with a box of about 100 rounds. "More than enough to get you started. If you need more, come get me. And uhhhh." He crouched down and pulled out some hearing protection, sliding it across the counter to her as well. "Don't take after Rose. This is recommended, since you haven't shot before. It hits different when its a few feet from your face as opposed to across the room."

Rose proceeded to lead Jaiden through an old door and down the stairs, checking the belt feeding into the LMG. Yup, loaded up and ready to go. Once they reached the range downstairs, she placed hers on a table nearby before drawing her 10mm instead. She grabbed two paper targets and passed one to Jaiden. "OK, set this up on the clips there. The button on your left is used to send it down range. Red number is feet out." She attached hers and sent it about 100 feet down range, turning back to her. "Maybe don't go as far as me. I've been doing this a long time, you haven't."

Once she got it down range to her preferred distance, Rose got behind her and started showing her how to load the clip. "OK so with this, the best way to do it is to push the previous bullet down and back. That will force the rest down. It'll get harder as you put more in. The mag holds 14, and you can sorta see them on the side."[/color] She gestured to the side of the clip, which had various small vents in it where you could see how many bullets were actually in the mag already.

Once it was all loaded, she took the actual firearm from her and showed her how to load it up. "Alright, slide that in, then cock it back." It clicked, and she wrapped Jaiden's hands around it properly. "Hold it with your dominant hand around the grip, and your other hand underneath. Grip it tight. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire. Misfires mean you're wasting bullets." She blinked and thought about what she said. "Also they're dangerous."

She took a step back and crossed her arms to watch. "Alright, whenever you're ready. Use your dominant eye. See what you can do."

She blinked and nodded, letting Felix know that she understood when he told her that there was nothing different about the guns he put in front of her. She held the gun down at her side, careful not to point it at anyone, and took the ear protection and bullets in her other hand. "Thanks Felix," she said before heading downstairs with Rose while she was examining her LMG. At Rose's direction, she set up a target on the clips, and then sent it down range to about 30 or 40 feet. She was new to this, but she figured that was as good a place to start as any.

She would then begin to load the clip like Rose was showing her. She figured she would be a little more aggravated having her hand held like this, since it reminded her of the manor and everything Batman had taught her. She loaded each bullet into the clip, and then loaded the clip into the gun as Rose had instructed. Giving her a glance when she took her hands and showed her how to hold it, but didn't complain. Maybe even giving her a slight smirk. When she said that a misfire would waste bullets, and then tried to amend it by saying they were also dangerous, she just added, "Mhmm."

"Well, alright." She slipped on the hearing protection, took up the stance, and going over what Rose had said, took her shots. She didn't do horribly. There was always room for improvement, but, well, she was experienced with the grapnel, for example. A bit of natural talent didn't hurt, either. At first glance, her shots didn't seem accurate at all. She had aimed for the shoulders, the hands, the knees, all nonvital locations. "How's that?" She seemed pretty proud of herself.

Rose watched as Jaiden fired shot after shot, hand on her chin as she watched. Some of them were...close. Some whiffed, others didn't. But everything was landing on the shoulders and knees. OK, aiming for the center of mass, a little off center though. "Well for a first attempt it's fine. You're hitting the target."

She nodded to herself and walked over to hers, laying down the clip she'd just filled and pulling out her own handgun. "Here. With enough practice, all things considered, bet money you'll be able to do shit like this." She licked her lips and aimed down range, starting to fire pretty rapidly. As the slide kicked back Rose seamlessly dropped the empty mag, swapping out to the filled one on the shelf in front of her and continuing her shots. At the end, she let off one final shot one handed, before pressing the button to pull it back and checking her mags. Both empty, nothing in the chamber. Good stuff.

Once the target came back, Jaiden would see that the target now had a little smiley face drawn into its head with bullet holes, and a single round right between its "eyes." Rose gave a smug grin and crossed her arms. "And all that with no depth perception."

Jaiden couldn't help but smile lightly when Rose said that she was doing fine because she was hitting her target. It was her to adjust to the kick the first few shots, but it looked like all the shots she had made except for the first three had been exactly where she wanted them. Not that Rose needed to know.

She made sure her hearing protection was on securely again when Rose started firing rapidly into her target down range, and then when it was over, called the target back forward. Jaiden couldn't hide how impressed she was. Wearing a stupid grin when she saw what Rose had done. She might have hit everything she was aiming for, but she didn't know if she could get a grouping like that. "Yeah. You must have worked pretty hard, considering." She dropped the clip, loading it up with bullets again as she got ready to take another attempt at the target. She set it back by another 10 or so feet. "Well, here's for you winning money on me in the future, then." And she took another full clip's worth of shots, continuing to hit every nonvital spot she could. But this time, she tried aiming for things that would still incapacitate someone without killing them.

Rose watched, leaning on the divider between the two shooting stalls. "Dumb question." She said simply, pressing the button and recalling the target. She gestured to the shots that missed, as well as the ones near nonvital areas. "Literally what are you aiming at, dude? The points are all in the center." She gestured toward the center of the target, and she crossed her arms. "I mean, it's literally labelled. It's even color coordinated. Like...I don't understand what you're doing."

Jaiden listened to Rose as she tried pointing out all of the shots like they were misses. Granted, she wasn't an expert at this like Rose was. But she had figured even someone like Rose would recognize nonlethal shots when she saw them. "Well, I didn't ask a question. But I think I see where I'm confusing you."

She unclipped the paper from the rack, and then showed it to Rose. "You were taught to kill. But the way I was taught- I was taught to stop someone without killing them. Hurting them, definitely. Because not everyone can just get up and walk away from wounds." She pointed to some of the places on the paper. "A wounded shoulder or arm muscle makes it harder to aim a firearm or use a weapon. A wounded leg will slow someone down. Ligaments and tendons, stuff like that." She clipped it back up. "I can aim for what you want if you need me to, but I don't kill people Rose. I know why you do. But it's not me." There was clearly more behind that statement. She had seen people die before. But it's a line she had ingrained in herself not to cross. Not unless absolutely necessary.

Rose squinted in confusion at what Jay was telling her. "Yes, I'd much rather bleed out from 5 different gunshot wounds than just get put out of my misery. That sounds infinitely better." She began to reexamine the target and...yeah. If Jay was aiming for nonlethals, all of these were pretty on the money. It just rubbed her the wrong way. "That's well and good for some random jackass on a rooftop. Someone like me though? Someone like us? You'd die before the second shot." She said simply, shaking her head.

"I was taught to kill because when the cards are down, and it's you or them, you're going to pick yourself. You have to. There is no other choice." She grabbed another target, resembling an armed individual taking aim. She sent it down range with a press of the button, and stepped back. "It's you or them. You crash through the window. He gets up. He's aiming. Who are you going to pick?"

She chuckled when Rose talked about the obviously much worse death of bleeding out slowly as opposed to being shot and killed and getting it over with. "Well, when they step up, it's not really about what they'd like, is it? Besides, someone will show up." When Rose said it wasn't good enough for people like her, Jaiden quirked a brow. "Rose, I'm not trying to measure dicks here, but you forget that I already did edge out against someone like you. And a few others, honestly."

Then Rose gave her a scenario, asking her who she would pick in that situation. Her assailant, or herself. Her lips formed a line. She loaded her gun, before shooting a look at Rose. "When you're good enough, there's always another choice." She put on the ear protection again and took a few more shots. This time she'd play by Rose's rules, and hit the targets that she would want her to hit. Or at least tried to; if it was further back than before, then she would have more difficulty. When the clip was empty, she removed the protection, and unloaded the clip, getting more bullets. "And I was taught by the guy who used that same principle against your father."

Rose squinted as she watched the shots. They were mostly on the money. So why was it so hard to do for this kid? "Sure, whatever. But like...you realize that's paper right? It's not gonna scream and crawl for cover dude." As she brought up Rose's father, Rose could feel her fist clenching, and she rolled her eyes.

"I don't walk around pretending like I like my dad. And I'm also not going to pretend I'm better than him in some way. But unlike him, I tried doing things your guys' way. And what, that means I'm not good enough? That means I have to do it again and again?" She fumbled around in her pocket and came out with a Teen Titans communicator. She'd had it for months now, and outside of a GPS, it wasn't really doing much. No one ever asked her how she was doing through it. No one ever called her for help or asked if she needed help herself. It just sat there. Taunting her. It was a signal that she wasn't good enough for yet someone else. Again.

She crouched behind her M23 and switched off its safety. "So you wanna know what I have to say to all that goodie goodie shit?" She threw the communicator down the range, and opened fire on it with her M23, absolutely shredding it down to some gold and black metal and smoking bits. "I say fuck it. This is the method that gets results."

She knew she had made a mistake mentioning Slade again. But instead of beating the shit out of her or putting a bullet in her brain, Rose took out her frustration on... a communicator? Jaiden's eyes widened. But before she could even do anything, she put the ear protection on once more and watched as Rose shot it to pieces. When she was done, yet again removing the muffs and looking at the shredded gadget on the floor. If it were intact, she could have used that. Patched into the Titan's communications. See what they were up to. Or at least, see what Babs was up to. But now, it was probably useless hardware.

She looked over to Rose, putting the ear protection on the table. "Okay, so there's... a lot to unpack here. But look... I'm not judging you. And I don't think I'm better than you. I'm just doing well enough in my life that I don't want to have to kill anyone. It's okay if you don't agree." She was unsure if it was the right move, but she put a hand on Rose's shoulder reassuringly. "Even if I don't want to admit it, I probably share a hand in one of those deaths. But if I can avoid it, I will." She thought for a few moments. "That being said... I'm not skilled enough with these things to do it my way. So I'd still appreciate you teaching me until I am."

Rose rolled her eyes and continued firing down range inbetween Jaiden's ramblings. Admittedly she probably took that worse than she should have. But then again she had an excuse. "Yeah well, I don't recommend talking shit on someone's profession. Tends to piss them off." She finally emptied the belt in the LMG and groaned as it clicked. She'd forgotten to ask Felix for a second belt.

"If you wanna learn guns, then shit, I'm your girl. And that'll be an apology for trying to use you as target practice. Otherwise though, you keep your nose out of the shit I do on the side. Got it?"

Jaiden watched her as she took the rest of her aggression out against the target downrange, completely unloading her gun on it until she had run out of ammo to fire. "I wasn't talking shit about it. But let's move on from it. No use dwelling on a misunderstanding." She would get another clip ready as she loaded it, listening to Rose's conditions on teaching her how to use the guns more. She just wanted to be left alone.

"That sounds fair to me. Don't drag me into any of your shit and I won't drag you into any of mine. And if we feel like we're going to run across each other at some point... we let each other know." She looked to Rose to make sure that they had a deal.