<> <> <> (Yeah! That.) (Or rather, Mini? :P) * Katherine is totally at the range, getting down with her military self. She's aiming at the range targets and just squeezing off shots in a solid rhythm, with very little emotion on her face. * Leopoldo walks over to Kat. He looks somewhat upset. "This is unacceptable. My alternate self can't even break stuff properly." * Katherine takes another shot, then turns to Leo, then looks him up and down. "Uh. Hey, Leo. Loss of body mass gettin' ya down?" Yeah. It feels like I'm missing part of myself. Because I am. * Katherine chuckles a little and rests the gun over her shoulder. "I know the feeling. It's like I'm hearing through cotton." * Katherine frowns slightly, then says, "So, man, just here to sympathize? Because while it's annoying to have my ears busted and not cut myself open whenever I forget I've got deadly weapons on my fingertips, we're on a very deadly timeline." I know. I just, really, have no idea how to use this thing. Other than point and click. * Katherine smiles a little, but it's not feral in the least. "Oh? Well, we can fix that. It'd probably be a good idea, since we've probably got a long shift on the front lines." She makes a small 'annoyance' face. * Leopoldo sighs and takes a position on the range. He takes a few shots. "One thing I did notice, though..." * Katherine winces a little at the shot spread and says, "Yeah?" Whenever I hit anything, it, well... got dented. It's like I knew exactly where the breaking point on that table was, even though I just slammed my fist on it. ... Huh. *eyes the targets* Well, that's not so helpful on, uh, targets that get blasted well. Why would my alter-self know that, and not keep his body in good condition? (What's your body?) (One lower than before. He notices it, given that the max human is 8 and average is 4.) (Well, I _mean_ what IS it. You can judge a body by appearance. Kat saw him in the mirror.) (If he's complaiing he has a 6, Kat's going to smack him in the head.) (Ah. Formerly 7, now 6.) (He's getting smacked. :P) * Katherine laughs loudly. "Not good condition? Are you kidding? Except for Thren, all of us are built like rocks! Even me. I haven't been in this sorta shape for..." she trails off for a sec, then inserets, "A while." Maybe you're just used to being, you know, really big and really... really strong. Play old American Football sometime. It'll do wonders for keeping you in shape. * Katherine reaches out to touch his head, about where the TSM jack is, and nods. "... I'll keep that in...mind." (Feel free to react at Kat reaching out and touching someone. ^_~) * Leopoldo fires off a couple more rounds, actually hitting one this time, then looks strangely at Kat when she does that. "What, are you doing?" * Katherine grins. "Checking something. You know, those TSM jacks ain't for show. Not around here." I know that. Having one still... bothers me, though. * Katherine babbles a little, seeming excited. "No, but... It's really something. Normally you'd need massive replacements and wiring and all sorts of tricks just to, but they've got it all in the exosuit. It's pretty damn cool." (Feel free to be confused. ^_~) Yes, well... * Leopoldo looks around, making sure nobody's looking. "I'm pretty positive we'd have technology like that home if we had hostiles breathing down our necks too. Ever notice how spontaneous advancements are always most evident and used in times of war?" * Katherine nods. "You betcha." * Katherine continues, "I mean, just the Europa Team displayed that... with.... " she starts to look confused, then finishes, "You know. Stuff. Vernon. But I meant that if you jack into the suit, it'll make shooting a lot easier." * Katherine chuckles a little to herself. "Well, if you're OK with that." She goes down to a mutter. "God knows Thren wouldn't be." * Leopoldo looks uneasy at the prospect. "Uh... Well, I guess I can give it a shot. They've already attached it to my nervous system." * Katherine nods slightly and says, "Don't worry. It's nothing like an exo." She smirks and grabs the armor's plug. "But you wouldn't know that, anyway." She plugs it in. "Look where your gun is pointing." * Leopoldo plugs in. "Yeah? And I know what an exo's like, although mine is more like an overglorified space suit." << Where the gun is pointing is a small aiming reticle. Right in your eyes. If you move the gun it moves. >> * Katherine shakes her head, "No, I meant the feeling when you plug... ah, forget it. Do you see the aim point?" I might say that's cool and creepy both at the same time. * Katherine walks to Leo's side. "I'll take that as a yes." She taps his non-trigger hand. "You don't need to strangle the gun, you know. It's not gonna bite you." Small grin. "Or are you just tense, Leo?" Both. I... I still don't know what I'm doing here. * Katherine quirks an eyebrow and her nonexistant ears twitch. Her voice gets a little less boisterous. "I get the feeling you mean more than, 'Anders and Roch haven't mentioned anything useful yet.' Try firing a few rounds while you talk." Big I, no we. Sorta clues me in. * Leopoldo does so, his accuracy markably improved. "I still mean with the group as a whole. You're each useful in this kind of thing, while I have no idea how me knowing the rules of waterball will help us out at all." * Katherine smirks a little. "Hey, who knows. Maybe next time we... uh... jump dimensios, we'll be a championhip waterball team." Unlikely. I just know the rules, not really how to play. Ah. * Leopoldo squezes off two shots, obliterating each target. "And there's no music here to speak of. It's annoying me to no end." (You can't actually oblitarete. But if they were destroyable, by god!) * Katherine chuckles. "Really a part of your life, huh?" A faint smile. "I guess I can relate." Listen to music non-stop and it grows on you. * Katherine mms, then says, "Really, though, I don't know what to tell you. I'd rather be home or clubbing, getting pleasantly drunk instead of wishing Vera really hadn't taken the whole bottle. Hell, the only person I think likes this is Ian. And that's because he's nuts, and it'll make a great story." (Too many hells.) (Yeah, take one out.) Yeah. I wasn't kidding when I said I like lobster. * Katherine shrugs. "Well, who doesn't?" She smirks. "It all makes it damn funny what you said earlier though. About me never being happy." I'll be honest. You never seem happy. Even when we were meeting with people you knew, you were upset, pouting. Someone saved us, and you respond by being... well, grouchy. * Katherine blinks. "What, Ganky? That's 'tude, Leo." It's hard to tell the difference. * Katherine grins a little. "Well, that's the point. I mean, if just anyone knew, that'd defeat the whole point. But that's just Ganky." She looks down-range and quickly fires off a shot. "Besides. Do you want me to be cheerily wading through the guards, and the soldiers, and the psychotic alien-obsessed people, huh? You sure aren't." No, that wouldn't be very... I've just been stressed recently. It's getting hard for me to keep my bearings. * Katherine squeezes off another shot. "Yeah, I buy that. Both of 'em. Everyone's been stressed." She turns to look at Leo. "Which bearings?" The ones that tell me the hear and now. * Katherine chuckles and says sarcastically, "What about it? Evil aliens, ATC sucks, we're all stuck in this together for whatever it's worth. Uh. People wanting to kill us. Dorian's an asshole." Beat. "Missing anything, Leo?" * Katherine laughs a little weakly, looks down-range, fires another shot. "It's been a long couple of months." The ones that tell me I have two sisters and a home to go back to. Not to mention my parents. * Katherine blinks. "You... lost them? How can you lose that?" I don't want to lose them. People forget things. I don't want to get so caught up in this that I forget to check on them, make sure they're all right... When this is over, they'll need me most of all. Goodness knows the people back on Carner aren't going to accept them back with open arms. * Katherine turns towards Leo, seemingly struck. "Hey, hey... listen, Leo. You stick with us, you help out however you can, like tackling alien-posessed things, and you won't forget about your family." She smile a little. It's a very weak smile. "I bet you couldn't forget them if you tried." (You asleep, man? ^^;) (Mom called. ^^;) (Aha! Well, don't let me stop you. I was getting food and am now back anyway.) (A ha!) Yeah, you're right. Still... I don't want to try that theory out. That sounds like a damn good start. * Katherine chuckles. "Besides. The one's still got a good shot at ATC life, right, and that's still what she wants." Yeah, you're right about that. Espically after her display. I hope ATC doesn't hold it against her, though. Trish's always been a little sensitive about failing. Her grades are evidence of that. * Katherine waves her hands. "Ah, Ronnie's a big softie. Besides. After we come back, they'll owe us a favor so big I should ask her if I can be in charge of the whole damn place." She grins. Being in charge isn't that great. Ever try running a business before? Actually, no. * Katherine has a frown spread across her face. "Yeah. On second thought, this is enough responsibility for me for the rest of my life. And a few more after that." It's already more than I ever would wish on anyone. * Katherine says in an amused/sarcastic tone, "Yeah, well. That's life, more than you ever wanted." She gestures downrange. "More shooting?" * Leopoldo nods and pops off some more shots, trying to distract himself from the situation they're in. (It's a good habit!) (I know!) * Katherine eyes Leo's shots and nods. "Good. Maybe we do pick up a little from... the other us." Maybe we do. * Katherine mutters, "Well, if I picked anything up from her, it wasn't new. No surprise." * Katherine starts to circle Leo and says, "Well, it's pretty good, at least. Wouldn't set you up as a sniper, but you'll be doing some serious damage." Yeah, nice to know I can do something, huh? (I think this is winding down. How about you?) (Yeah, probably.) * Katherine rolls her eyes. "Hey, you're the first one to even bother. That's an A+ in my book." * Katherine chuckles and then punches Leo's arm. "And you did tackle that one alien. Don't be pissed just because you're not a psychic samurai or a bitchy detective." Hey, anyone can sit on an alien. (Ard's distracting me now. ^^;) * Katherine grins. "Roch can't. He'd throw her like a frisbee." A very pale frisbee who really wants to rob banks. Besides. I bet she feels socially accepted. * Katherine eyes Leo. "Roch?" Wait, you don't? * Leopoldo chuckles. "You remember how they regarded me back home?" * Katherine rubs her head and nods. "Sorta, yeah. Low number of 24s around there, right?" That's right. And you know how often a 24 will have a physical manifestation of their power, right? * Katherine shrugs. "Well, it's not that uncommon." I'm SCA minor, and you're SCA major, but that's not an issue. Not on Mars, anyway. Yeah. Why do you think I have the job I do? * Katherine blinks a few times, and then says with a small chuckle, "Getting away. I understand that, boyo." Yeah... (End here?) * Katherine turns back to the gunrange. "You're accepted around here, though. Don't let it smack ya around." She pulls the gun up to shoot. "Peptalk over, I think?" (Just about. Wanted to close it. ^^;) * Leopoldo nods and fires a lone shot off into the distance, hitting the mark. "Yeah." * Katherine nods, and fires herself, hitting, of course. She says sorta absently, "Good. Good." <>