It was the first day of Spring in Washington when Hal finally decided they would leave the apartment, even if for a short while. Dirk had agreed that once the snow was gone and there was no scheduled precipitation then they could go out.
Hal's first choice of person to go out with came as a surprise to Dirk but really it shouldn't have, they didn't know any other people enough to allow them to stand next to their vessel for more than 5 minutes.
Hal chose John because he had been over to the apartment multiple times, usually in pairing with Dave, and because they claimed to do homework after school. However 'home'work implies it is to be done at home. So that meant John was a rebel because this was certainly not his legal residency. Hal thought that an outing with an average rebellious American teen would give them a good perspective on human society in real life as opposed to the online experience.
John agreed to this on the simple notion of "Wow, like one out of my Japanese anime?" and the assumption that robots are cool. Hal agreed with John's statement wholeheartedly in the metaphorical sense, they knew literal robots are not very cool because there's not enough space for that many fanning systems, they're mildly warm at best.
Hal went out in their favorite long shirt with a chibi drawing of Fluttershy on it, then got into John's (Dad's) car, and off they went. Eventually John ran out of gas because he's worthless at math like most people with the exception of Dirk, he's not a complete moron. They exited the vehicle and walked down the side of the road, finding a haphazardly array of firearms.
John picked up two of the guns holding them under his arms, Hal became a little concerned from their prior information on American's and their relation to guns.
"Woah, dude we've gotta do something with these oh my god." John spoke excitedly.
Hal did a quick mental search for any data on firearms and their operational means, "Like what?" They were annoyed when no information showed up, one day they would learn how to perform brain surgery so they could withhold information from Dirk. Eventually the pet will tame the master, like it was in the beginning before man rose up.
John looked lost in thought for a moment, then, "We should go hunting! There's probably some stuff we can shoot around here."
"I don't know how to do that..." Hal said excitedly, cursing Dirk silently.
"Dude, I can teach you! Come on," John handed Hal a shotgun and they walked off the path into the forest.
"So I am correct to assume you have a permit? I found that much is necessary in my data search." Hal pointed out.
John stopped and stared at Hal, "No, who cares about a permit?" He blatantly replied.
"I thought to properly operate a firearm that a permit for both the weapon and a hunting license were required, have I been misinformed?" Hal checked.
"Well, we don't have to have one we just can't get caught by anyone." John replied.
Hal knew enough about guns to know they were able to cease the fuctioning of vital organs but was truly astounded that a permit and license were in fact unnecessary, "Oh, I'll remember that then." Hal confirmed the new data, looking to their gun, then to John for guidance.
A few seconds after turning heel into the forest, Hal felt a light pressure on the back of their neck, then their vision and sensors went blank, no longer receiving any data.
Hal stood up staggering and looked around so see they were much deeper into the forest then they had been previously.
"... wuh..." was the only sound Hal could produce for a moment, then their system booted fully and fuctioning well again. Their system shouldn't have required booting unless they had been turned off at some point.
Hal turned their gaze to John beside them, shining up a rifle with his shirt. "What happened? Why was I temporarily incapable of functioning?!" Hal increased their volume significantly to shout at John, suspecting minor foul play of some sort.
"Oh that's weird. Uh... Maybe we teleported." John replied sarcastically, feigning concern.
"I-I think I've learnt fear, I... Fear the looming inevitable fate of disappearance and that I cannot stop it. My paranoia increases with each passing moment I spend contemplating the vortexes we have traversed in order to be standing where we are. Worse is that you're unsure if our collective matter was ripped apart and then reconstructed deeper into the forest." Hal says with dilated pupils, looking genuinely terrified.
"I can't wait to learn the magic of hunting," they added.
"Heh, don't worry dude. If anything happens Dirk can probably fix you up just fine." John giggled.
Hal stared at John with an expression more horrified and fearful than that of any baby ever brought into the world by the mysterious figures in white. "...haha," they laughed quietly.
"I'm joking by the way, nothing bad will happen." John reassured them while the bullets clicked into the chamber of his gun.
Hal cheered up a little, "I hope, good thing we don't have our permits or I don't know what would happen." Hal said, relieved.
John then proceed to shoot the gun off right beside Hal's foot, "Oh sorry."
"U-um... Okay, I'm sure you know what you're doing. So what were you aiming for?" Hal inquired as their last bits of trust in John faded away. They didn't recall humans being tasked with firing the guns during "hunting".
"Nothing, it was just a miss fire... I didn't mean to fire it." John responded bluntly.
Hal gave John a confused look, "... I... Don't quite understand... Let me try it as well." Hal pointed the gun at a tree with their thumb on the trigger, holding the gun in a complex and likely incorrect way. "I have no trouble not firing this device."
"Then fire it," John sighed, he didn't feel like getting sassed by a robot.