Adapting [Open]

[Noa Clarke]

It had been a hard time for Noa so far, trying to adapt to her new life as an agent of Division 42.  So far things weren't going very well for her, but she had no choice.  It was to either do this, or to be killed by the Division.

Why did she pick up that belt?  If she'd only ignored it she'd be able to live her normal life.  She wouldn't have to focus on alien technology, otherworldly threats, life and death situations.  She could be sitting at home in her annoyingly small flat and be sketching clothes and things like that.  But now she was at the firing range, holding a handgun in shaky hands and trying to line up the shot.

She started to squeeze the trigger, but stopped and checked her hands again, just to make sure the slide wouldn't rip her hand.  Satisfied for the fifth time that her hands were indeed properly placed, she aimed again and pulled the trigger.  The shock of the recoil and the sound of the fire shocked her, making her squeal and jump.  Her shot went far off to the right; she had taken all this time and still not gotten it even lined up properly.

She set the gun down and stared ahead.  She was glad she was alone so nobody else would have seen her failure here.  She was new, but still.  She should be doing better by this point.

[Deleted]

James went over a check list in his head.  He had done his logic strengthening exercises, with ease, and decided he needed to get better puzzles next time he was going to do it.  He had already worked out with the weight set, gotten a shower, and now he was here.  James felt his gun, strapped to his waist and nodded.  He could work on his aim.  After all, using a gun was needed in his job, and would need to be used if need be.  In fact, he had shot and killed before with that very gun, but a recent memory of a mission where he had missed his target floated to the center of his focus.  He couldn't let that happen if he was going to be defending the Earth, and its people.  No, he had to get better at aiming.  It was probably one of his worst areas now, that he consciously thought about at least. 

He made his way to the shooting range, hearing someone firing a gun off inside.  He placed his hands in his black jacket pockets and pushed through the door, seeing a lone woman in there.  Of course he knew about her, one of the new recruits.  He looked at her target sheet seeing no hole in it.  Of course.  He knew he heard a shot, but she hadn't hit the target.  At all.  Which meant the new recruit could aim very well.  It didn't mean a lack of intelligence though, so James wasn't quite annoyed by this fact. 

"You," James said calmly walking up behind her, stopping when he was next to her.  "Make sure to look at the top of your gun.  The bullet will come from the barrel.  I would suggest you move the target closer if you are firing it for the first time."  James pulled out his hand gun from his belt holding it in front of her.  "Either that, or you could try aiming with your arm first, then lining the top up with your arm."  He extended his left arm pointing to the target, holding his gun with his right, and lining up the gun with his arm.  "Then you just... pull the trigger," James said, pulling the trigger several times, hitting near the center of the target, though his aim on one was closer to the edge than he really would like it to be. 

[Noa Clarke]

With each shot that he fired, Noa flinched. She didn't pick up her gun, even after he had finished firing. His advice was good, and it all made sense, but she wasn't cut out for this. She knew all of this, and tried. She looked down the end of the barrel, lined up the sights, but she hadn't been able to do it.

"I tried," she told him, "I tried...I just can't," she said. "I'm not cut out to be an agent, to use a gun."

[Deleted]

James looked at her almost amused at her reaction, before returning to a sort of serious, emotionless, expression.  He tucked away his gun and crossed his arms.  "You're right.  You aren't," James said simply.  He stared at her, not really understanding what was quite so hard about firing a gun, but remembering when he first entered the Division, and how he had to spend hours practicing in this room until he was good enough with a gun. 

"If you keep that attitude about it, then you aren't," James expanded upon his previous simple statement, "Things like this take practice.  If you keep that attitude, you'll die on your first time out."  His determination had been what had trained him up to be able to not flinch at the sound of a gun going off. 

[Noa Clarke]

"I know...," she said. She knew that if she didn't get better, she'd end up dead. At the same time she knew that if she didn't get involved in the Division and work harder, they'd probably kill her. I was a lose-lose to her, unless she tried harder to learn.

She picked up her gun and lifted it in both hands. She tightened her grip and lined up the sights, aiming for the chest of the target. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, firing once. The shot hit a bit below and to the side of where she had aimed, but at least this told her that she was getting closer.

After she had fired, her aim had gone up from the recoil, so she had to lower her weapon and prepare to fire again. "The recoil is a problem," she told him.

[Deleted]

James actually smiled slightly at her reaction to the recoil, moving his arms from his chest and placing them at his side. "You'll get used to it. That takes time, and of course, if you work on strengthening exercises it may speed it up." James was mildly impressed by the improvement she had made already, but not too very much. It took a lot to make him very impressed.

"In the mean time, you need to act more confident. It will help, even if you don't actually feel confident. Sometimes enough confidence wins you the fight before it begins, causing the other to lose confidence themselves," James noted, remembering a passage in one of his strategy books he had read not too very long ago.

[Noa Clarke]

She just laughed a little and shook her head, "Trust me. If I'm ever in a firefight with someone, and it comes down to confidence, I'm going to lose that one," she told him. She didn't think she could put up a confident front in the life or death situations they were sure to encounter in the field.

[Deleted]

James looked at her, before cracking a bit of a smile.  She had actually gotten him to smile, which was really odd, even if it was barely a smile at all, it was still a smile.  "It doesn't have to be actual confidence.  Sometimes its just acting," James replied, crossing his arms once more, the tiny smile tempting to disappear, but not at the moment. 

[Noa Clarke]

"I'm hardly an actor," she said, "If you would point your gun at me right now and tell me to act confident, yeah, let's just say it's not happening," she informed him, crossing her arms.

[Deleted]

James raised an eyebrow and let a soft laugh sneak out, before his small smile faded and he looked at her mostly expressionless. "You can learn," James said watching her carefully to judge her actions. He had never been good with other people's feelings; then again, he never cared enough, and this was no exception. Her feelings matter nothing right now, she just needed to train or she would die. He didn't want her to die, just as he didn't want any of the others on the team to die because they were helping him out with his goal to make a world where senseless killing didn't happen. "Usually you will also have others with you, and they will also help you out. For now, stick to the other agents, and you should come out alive, until you can survive on your own, of course."

[Noa Clarke]

She shook her head, "Even with others around, I'll be the one in the back terrified out of my mind. Tell me, what did you do before you came here?" she questioned, "What sort of job did you have? Because I'm sure it was something that prepared you for this. Nothing in my life prepared me for...government and aliens and the paranormal and all of this stuff."

[Deleted]

James now frowned at the question. Before he can here. That was always a touch subject and always reminded him of the one he loved, that he could not save. Unconsciously he moved his hand to his wrist where the bracelet Anna gave him was, though covered by the fabric of his jacket, he could still feel it. "My life before I came here is not important," James replied with a hard tone, "I hadn't been prepared... I didn't even really know what it was until I entered my training." James watched Noa for a second before he added, "I was a messenger for the people around my village."

[Noa Clarke]

"So...," she said. Well, that wasn't what she had been expecting of him to have said, "So...you came in with no skills, like me?" she asked. She didn't know if being a messenger would have given him anything. Maybe it had, but by the sound of it he was indeed like her; coming in with nothing.

[Deleted]

James forced his arms apart, as his hand had gone to his bracelet, and placed them in his pockets. He continued watching her, though his expression had hardened and he wasn't planning on telling anything else. "Yes. I suppose so. I did not originally come here. First I had gone to training, before they gave me this job because I impressed them." This woman didn't seem to care about his distant and cold attitude, which was a first. Normally people called him out on it. Then again, those people always tended to rub him the wrong way. Being nice and close was not required, and he was not planning on it any time soon.

[Noa Clarke]

"Oh, I see," she said, looking down a little before she looked back up at him, "Um...is something wrong?" she asked him. She wasn't sure if she was misreading things or not, but it looked like there was something. She wanted to see if that was right, and if she could do anything about it, but she doubted she could. She also doubted she'd get an answer.