Summary:Roy helps Kelly work on her shooting skills while they talk. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The shooting range. Not Kelly's favorite place. By contrast, it likely is one of Roy's. See, proof that living in each other's heads doesn't mean they've become one person!
Despite her marked preference for her lab, if she's going to be leaving it to support Roy, Jemma's right. She's going to need to be better at the field skills. Even if she's mostly doing Overwatch from a distance. Because sometimes she's not.
Kelly's taken to learning to shoot the same way she does learning most things. In detail. While she's gotten better at putting walls between the three of them in their sort of mini-network, the one between herself and Roy is more of a curtain that he can easily pull aside if he wants to. It's mostly there so the constant buzz of her thoughts doesn't distract him. At the moment it's like her brain is stuck on repeat as she goes through the motions of loading and clearing the weapon to both memorize it in her head and her body. There actually is something to that whole never forgetting how to ride a bike.
"« You are totally a D.Va. main. »" comes the voice in Kelly's head. Standing behind her, Roy's watching her - well, and her shooting too. "All you need is the mecha to go with it." There's a teasing tone to his voice.
But he's not pulled out any of his own weapons, instead he's watching her for a moment. "How'd you do at the Academy with your scores?" he asks curiously as he comes up beside her. Slipping on the ear protection, he peers down range, before lifting his arm. Opening a panel on it, a small camera angles, and they can see her target without having to pull in back to them. "Handy, that." Because it came from his hand, see?
Kelly's lips curl into a warm smirk at his 'voice', though she doesn't turn towards him. "« I wouldn't turn down the mecha. »"
The question gets a short chuckle. "I passed." Because she had to. But they were really just scraping by. It's gotta be embarrassing for Mr. Sharpshooter to have such a poor shot for a girlfriend, right?
The pun has her pausing to give Roy a Look, her groan echoing in both of their heads. "Have you eaten lately?" She demands, glancing down over him. The eating isn't just because of the puns, of course. He's still leaner than he should be. It really doesn't help that Kelly can access Jemma's records on his last physical.
Kelly's doing better, but still not great. Definitely nothing on Roy's level, and a handgun is EZ mode, right?
There are so many other ways that Kelly makes up for in the girlfriend department that being a poor shot has /nothing/ to do with being a bad thing.
But he does have an idea. "Link to me." he offers to her. "I want to see if I can guide you a little and help out?" He's completely ignoring the eating question. He's not. Something's going on. Probably not drugs, there's none of those tell-tale signs.
Kelly gives Roy another of those Looks, lips pressing down into a serious line as he avoids the question. But she doesn't go digging just yet. If he doesn't want to answer, he should be allowed that bit of mental privacy. At least for now.
Linking to Roy is easy. His thoughts become hers. He can sense her as though his mind is a room that she's stepped into, her presence coming with a caress of warm emotion. The other links she has are put on 'mute' so the background computer chatter doesn't distract him.
"Does this mean I don't get your arms around me for the classic 'help the girl shoot' scene?" Kelly asks teasingly.
"That's totally my move when I teach you pool." Roy responds easily. As much as she may feel that he wants to hold her - he's behaving. Instead, he focuses on the monitor on the back of his hand, and in her mind.
He feels that flush of warmth, and the smile is warm in response. She can feel it in the return wave, as he starts to guide her, just a little. "Set your stance a little further apart. Everyone watches those cop shows." he smirks. "At least you didn't have it turned all 'gangsta'."
Once he feels she's settled, he helps to guide her hands towards the target and nods. "Okay, I want you to breathe. And catch your breath before you squeeze."
"And I totally won't fake being awful at it to keep you showing me how." Kelly says, smirk still curving her lips. She's actually not too bad at pool. She's pretty great at the geometry, but her stick control is lacking.
Roy's felt Kelly 'hijack' his body a few times. Never against his objections, but he's aware that she can directly manipulate him. As he starts to 'show' her, the words as much filler as actual direction since that comes from his mind, there's the sense of a pause. And then a warning, the mental equivalent of a 'hold on' and then Roy feels himself drawn over into her mind. He's gotten the echo of her physical sensations before but now he can 'feel' her body around him. "« Show me. »" This time, he gets to do the hijacking.
There's a moment of discomfort as Kelly pulls him over. There's a moment of intimacy there - this is so much deeper than the physical or the few emotional times they've shared.
"« So weird.. »" he murmurs, but he concentrates, working on making the small adjustments he wants her to make - and to his credit, he's not crass about it. When he actually puts his mind to it, he can be decent.
Then finally, when he's satisfied, his 'hands' cover hers, and he squeezes off the first shot, holding her breath for her as he fires, and then relaxes, letting them both look at the target on his arm..
Kelly doesn't apologize, but she does keep an 'eye' on Roy to make sure it doesn't freak him out too much. She honestly doesn't have the experience to realize it might adversely affect others. She only has herself to go off of and her mind isn't wired quite like other people's. "« Hey! »" Her objection is playful, to try to put him more at ease.
While Roy's first reaction is often silly or innuendo, Kelly knows first-hand that there's much more to him than that. She keeps 'hands off', so there's no 'fighting' Roy for control of her own body, watching as he makes the adjustments and listening back to see why he makes them.
As the shot is made, Kelly lets him gently back into his own body and leans over to look through his sights. "Well look at that. You're better at me than me." She teases.
"I dunno…" While Roy may have slipped into innuendo, he keeps himself in check. He's taking it seriously for a change.
"Okay. I want you to try. On your own this time. I'm still here." He pauses, "And by the way, for pool? Short skirts, totally for you." Now he's teasing her back, since he's back in his own comfort zone and no longer afraid of breaking something while 'in' her.
"I think in the interest of not getting thrown out of wherever we're playing pool, I'll skip the short skirt." Kelly replies back drolly, a smirk playing over her lips. "I'm not like the standard-issue telepaths that could make the room totally ignore or forget what might end up going on." Not to mention the cameras.
It might be better for everyone if Roy never teaches her how to play pool.
Kelly isn't getting totally sidetracked. She multitasks really damned well, so teasing banter as she checks the weapon and starts again from a normal pose isn't actually a distraction for her. "« You're not going to 'break' me. »" Kelly promises that unspoken anxiety of his as she brings up the weapon and sites down it. Breathe. Hold. Fire. Exhale.
"Why do you think I'd try anything like that?" There is just a hint of a frown at the thought. "I mean, yeah. You don't quit, but I mean…" he shakes his head." Nevermind. He just adds it to the pile of guilts he gets sometimes - that his girlfriend thinks he's only sexual attracted to him.
Focus on the training. He watches the next shot and nod. "Good. Don't let your wrist go limp with the shot, you'll be all over the place."
Kelly resets, glancing over at him as the guilt gnaws at him. "« Something's eating at you. »" She tells him. Though he can probably guess that she's noticed, sometimes it helps to bring it up. Those weird things that you learn to do being in a relationship with a telepath. Or being the telepath in a relationship.
It's still easy for Roy to 'feel' how she moves as well as watch, even without being 'in' her skin. She brings up the weapon again, her mind replaying the steps and how they should feel. Breathe. Hold. Fire. Exhale.
She glances to him again as she finishes. This time, not to see how well she did.
"« Just a lot on my plate, Kels. »" comes Roy's response. He's trying to handle a lot - and he's ignoring himself to handle it. Between the mission, the drugs, trying to be right in his own mind, even her.. he's feeling a bit of personal burnout.
Though she's not the root of it. He's worried. That he's going to screw up. Again. As he always seems to do. And it's going to end up getting her hurt. Or worse.
Like Lian.
Not needing to physically talk makes it easier for her to run through the motions of firing and still keeping up the conversation with Roy. She continues to work through the clip, an occasional 'ping' out to Roy for him to check her while she talks to him.
"« How can I help take some of it off, then? Just because you're in charge of the op doesn't mean you need to handle every detail. »" Which might be something Roy's forgotten, so wrapped up in trying to make sure it's Done Right. Or maybe even hadn't really thought of, if he hasn't worked much as part of a larger group. "« Lay it out for me. »"
The clip is ejected. The gun is cleared and set down. She glances over to him, dark green eyes that see so deeply into him. But she doesn't call him out on that worry. She can only convince his head, and his heart needs more time.
"«Just being there does a lot for me.»" Roy responds, reaching up to rub the back of his head where she implanted him. "«I've never been much of a leader, vigilante doesn't lead to leadership well.»"
Selling himself short is a fine art when it comes to him. "You're doing really well." he offers her in encouragement. "Want to go another round?" His own lighter green eyes meet hers for a moment.
Kelly slips the ear protection off while she reloads. "Practice, practice, practice, hmm?" Just like with learning piano.
"Vigilante is sort of the opposite of team player, isn't it?" It's not like Kelly has a lot of experience with groups like the Bats or the Spiders, and 'vigilante' tends to evoke a different image than one of the hero teams. "I could play Leadership audiobooks in your head while you sleep." She volunteers, flashing him a grin that doesn't quite reach her eyes. Her gaze slips down to where he rubs at the psisteel under his skin.
"So c'mon. Talk it out for me. Sometimes that helps to organize your thoughts, see things you didn't before. As the leader, you're in a position you should be familiar with, in a way. You're the archer. The rest of us are the bow and arrow. You decide what head you want to use and where to point, but once you let go, it's out of your hands. And that's OK."
"It's one thing to you know.. say all that. But it's another to know that it's not gonna be easy and people are gonna get hurt." Roy drops his hands into his lap. "So far, we've been lucky. But let me tell you, when luck runs out.." he reaches up and rubs the area just above where his stump begins.
"We're not going to a fun place. This isn't gonna be a cake walk. If I could tell you to stay at home and actually expected you to listen? I would. But I know that's not gonna happen. So I'm gonna worry. About you. And anyone else. If I could do this own my own, I would."
"But I know I can't." Acceptance. The first step on the road to recovery.
Kelly sets aside the weapon so she can free up her hands, reaching out to place them over Roy's and squeeze, trying to be reassuring. "I know." She agrees softly. Logic doesn't always make sense to the emotional part of a person. In fact, it rarely does.
"Luck is a capricious bitch." Kelly agrees. "And yes. People are likely going to get hurt." That makes her expression go tight. Like him, she's not a fan of that bit of the job. "So we do our best to mitigate it. That's the best we can do, Roy." They can't *not* do the job, because then more people get hurt. People that haven't chosen to accept the risks. "I know I can't tell you *not* to worry. Just… try not to let it eat you up between now and then." Once things start, he's usually focused on the mission. But until then?