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 Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:54 pm
Wraith shot Midori a dark look and she became quiet, her expression becoming somber after the playfulness of a few minutes before. "Midori-- test his skill. You can decide if he passes." After those brief, abrupt words, he strode out the door of the room, leaving the door open behind him.
Midori knew there was something wrong. Wraith was unusually terse; no mean feat. She'd had the sense (this time) not to ask. She knew she'd find out soon enough. It seemed important. She blinked a few times, eyes coming to rest on the man sitting before her. Right.
"Follow me. Target practice should test you." She waved for him to follow her as she exited the small office and walked out into the large studio of a training facility. She looked around for something to use as a target. The room was spotless with nothing in sight. Ducking quickly back into the office and running out with a roll of tape, she ran to a door that lead out from the main room. "Even I'm not allowed to shoot walls."
They were now in a small shooting range, although there were no targets in sight, explaining the Japanese woman's previous actions. Midori plucked a glittering butterfly from a string of them dangling off her arm and taped it carefully to a string that was hanging from the ceiling; a real target had once been in its place.
"Hit that from here." She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly; her Okinawan accent did not hide the challenge in her words.
((Imagine the butterfly as a half-foot square. Asmadai is shooting from 10m away.))
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:21 pm
That certainly had not helped assuage his nerves, though he doubted it had been intended to, and instead of saying anything he stood up to follow Midori. The idea of shooting at walls had his eyebrows threatening to merge with his hairline; surely if that sort of thing had happened, the recruits would have been in there patching it up? He watched her actions with the butterfly, trying to school his face into something a little less incredulous. The thing was purple. And it sparkled.
And it moved around a bit on the string.
The priest pursed his lips and let out a deep breath through his nose. Doubtless if he did manage to hit it, he would have to do something even more unbelievable, but if it was what he had to do, then he'd do it. Taking careful aim, he loosed two shots; the first burnt a hole through one of the gossamer wings and he winced at that, but the second hit the body of the glittering butterfly. Lowering the gun, he watched it drift towards the floor with an expression of slight bemusement.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:59 am
Midori clapped her hands and grinned at Asmadai. "Good job! Now you buy me a new one."
She walked over to where the butterfly had fallen to the floor and picked it up, examining it with what appeared to be curiosity. "I didn't know if that was gonna work." She deposited the broken butterfly into a trash can near the door. "But I'd forgot we didn't have any targets. I was mad, see, and I like shooting to relieve tension."
Midori was standing beside Asmadai again, looking his way with a grin. She would have put an arm on the man's shoulder, but gauging his height at about five or six inches more than hers, she settled for moving an arm around the man's waist. The grin suddenly disappeared as Midori's expression grew serious. "I was serious when I said you have to buy me a new one. Otherwise I'm not going to let you pass this test."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:02 pm
He almost didn't manage to wipe the smile off his face before Midori turned back to him; she acted rather like Maria, or at least she seemed to now. And that left him time to wonder why she'd attempted to use something she didn't think would work, but he caught himself in that uncharitable thought and added, it did so what does it matter?
It was probably just because she was young. Asmadai had to wonder, then, if this made him one of those disgusting old men ***** he had heard of.
The rather unexpected physical closeness brought a forcefully quashed attempt at fleeing; he did not want to risk the bad opinion of any superior, but especially not one that was now reminding him rather blatantly of his dead sister. "I never dreamed of not buying you a new one," he said.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:13 pm
"Good." Midori nodded her head, satisfied with the answer. "Then you pass. And now that you're level one, you can leave base, and that'll make finding stuff for me much easier."
She had originally been planning to force the man to take a walk around the gardens with her, but remembering Wraith's previous demeanor, abandoned the idea. She retracted her arm and patted Asmadai lightly on the arm. "OK, if you don't have any more questions, you're free to go."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:46 pm
Asmadai couldn't help the smile that time; her tone was so matter-of-fact and Maria-like. Finding stuff for her indeed! Though he would get her the butterfly, it was his fault that it was full of holes and in a trash can after all. He didn't mind the abrupt dismissal, and after a polite half-bow (it was more of a nod that included his shoulders) he excused himself.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:12 pm
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