exsiliumlogs | [open] funny how fast things change

Date & Time: April 18, morning/afternoon
Location: The Hold, the police station
Characters: Saul & you!
Summary: It's not laser tag, but at least he gets to shoot something. Pissed off as Saul may be, he knows he has to go get Jesse's records. First, though, he's going to blow off some steam and finally get acquainted with his weapon.
Warnings: n/a at the moment.

[Early morning finds Saul, surprisingly enough, in the Hold.

He doesn't like this place.

Then again, that can be said about this whole place, not just the Hold.

Anyway, there he is, down in one of the training rooms with his weapon and a box of cartridges that look just like the ones his weapon is meant to use but aren't quite. They're not electrified, these cartridges — he doesn't see the point in firing those at a training dummy. It'd be a waste.

And because someone made the mistake of telling him this thing is supposed to be sentient, he's talking to it.

The dummy he's been firing at has few cartridges sticking out of its torso. The rest? Stuck to the wall behind it.]

Come on, you piece of junk. Be sentient, or whatever. Aim yourself. God damn —

[He aims, fires off another round. This one winds up jammed at an awkward angle in the floor.]

Son of a bitch!

[Here's the thing: he doesn't know how to fire a gun like this. He also started the day off mad — actually, he hasn't stopped being mad since he talked to Lisbeth — and he's just getting madder. Mad enough that he almost flings his weapon across the room, but stops himself before he lets go, so all he really manages to do is tweak a muscle in his arm.]

*

[Luckily, being angry takes a lot of energy, so by the time he finishes off the box of rounds and changes into a suit (a suit that's in dire need of tailoring and a splash or two of color, but beggars can't be choosers) for his field trip to the police station, he's much more subdued.

Still mad, though.

He has no idea what he's going to come up against, once he gets there. What he'll find out, what will change as a consequence of him finding out, yadda yadda, blah blah, shit sucks. And while it's true that he wanted the chance to do his job again, he wasn't really hoping for this.

After pacing on the steps of the station for a solid three minutes full of fidgeting with his briefcase and tie, he passes through the door and assumes as cool an exterior as any, then strides up to the front desk.

And smiles.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A split-second pause as she "counts" the days in her head. No, she's always known. She's a little obsessed, to be honest. ]

Nearly six months.

[There's nothing wrong with attention to detail. Saul's keeping tally, too.

He's never quite sure how to react to people saying they've been here more than a little while. Sympathy? Congratulations?

He settles on a neutral look, this time.]

Keeping busy?

[ She wouldn't blame him. She's often at a loss for words when she talks about it with others. ]

Trying, anyway. [ Even patrol is glum and boring. She had things to work on back home and being ripped away from it leaves her at a bit of a loss. She hasn't felt this unsettled since she got discharged. ]

With...?

[Saul could guess, but he wouldn't even attempt to at this point.

It's probably something weird.]

Anything. A bunch of us are helping to fix up a synagogue in the city. About two weeks back I headed out with another group to see what the outlands was like, too.

[ And comic book hero stuff, etc. ]

[...aw, he's actually kind of disappointed. That's not weird at all.]

That's... outside the city, right? How shitty is it?

[ She probably should have mentioned she went with a hobbit and a grumpy dwarf. ]

Pretty shitty. [ Her thumbs hook onto either side of her jeans. ] Quiet. Maybe too quiet.

[That would have helped.

Saul presses his lips together, lost in thought for a moment.]

What'd you find out there? Or is it what you didn't find that's giving you the heebie-jeebies?

Nothing. [ She pauses. ] Didn't even see animals.

But I'm a city person, so I'm not used to all this quiet.

Should I be surprised? This place looks like a wasteland. Can animals even survive out there?

[Maybe they can.

And maybe he never wants to run into any of them, if that's the case.]

Maybe not for long, but who knows what mutation's happened.

[ Then again... ]

Somehow the cats are alright.

[Saul makes a face.

All that cat hair? On his suits? No thanks.]

Something about their nine lives, maybe?

[ She smirks a bit. ]

Too stubborn to die. [ Cats are stubborn things, after all. ]

I know someone like that.

[SPEAKING OF...

Now, he thinks, would be a good time to actually apply what he learned while watching Kate, so he motions for her to take a step back.]

It's not a bad thing. [ Survival is just instinct. Kate herself was drugged, concussed, probably beaten beforehand, and then stabbed in the heart and like hell she was going to die.

She moves back several feet, raising her hands to plug her ears. ]

Sometimes it is.

[He feels calmer, now. Or — more comfortable, maybe. That's a better word. And he's loaded and re-loaded the gun so many times this morning that he can do it with relative ease, so once that's finished, he lifts it to roughly the same spot he saw Kate holding it, up near his shoulder.

Firm grip, ring and middle fingers, thumbs clear.

Weapon: aimed, steadied. For the most part. He adjusts his feet, levels the gun —

This shot's not off target, at least. He's still not sure what the ideal spot for this sort of thing is, but the chest seems good enough.

That was cathartic. Too bad he didn't imagine Walter's face on the dummy sooner.]

[ She doesn't flinch when the noise erupts. (It would be a terrible mistake in the field.) When he levels the gun, she lowers her hands and nods. ]

Not bad.

[ She doesn't ask yet about who it is he probably wants dead. Kate can only hope she hasn't given him tips on how to shoot someone.

Note to self: keep an eye on Saul. ]

[Well, technically, she has. But she doesn't have to worry.

Um.

At the moment.]

Thanks for the help.

[ Don't make her come after you in a bat suit, Saul!!

She waves a hand. ]

No problem. You going to be okay with it?

[HE WOULDN'T DREAM OF IT, MISS KATE.

wait haha yes he totally would]

Practice makes perfect, right? I'll be fine.

Just remember the bit about the thumb especially. Lots of little bones in fingers. [ She knows about the sort of pain that can come from an injured hand, she's broken the fingers of plenty of dirt bags herself. ]

See you around, I guess. [ She waves and pockets her hands, heading off to try and get a nap in today. ]

[He nods, then waves. He'll probably make an effort to see her again soon. Building bridges, yadda yadda.

And this is how she leaves Saul: staring at his thumb.]

[open] funny how fast things change

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