Six days later...
"I think we traumatized her for real..." Koko joked to Lehm during the crew's usual morning marksmanship practice. Dead Master, who was openly mocked by them all for her obvious hoplophobia, was hiding near the entrance to the firing range, peering around the concrete wall with a set of hearing protection on her head.
"Meh, after all the shit she put Rock through, I think this is fair compensation. Any more than this would be overkill." Lehm replied with a dry chuckle. None of the crew, not even Koko, bothered with hearing protection unless they were using particularly high caliber ammunition, such as Lutz's rifle of choice, the Blaser R93 SLR2 chambered for .338 Lapua Magnum, or the mighty .50 BMG. Dead Master immediately threw it onto her head even when they were using their respective sidearms, none of which were even loud enough to be heard from the house on on the property's main hill. Not even Ugo's .50 A.E Desert Eagle was audible at that range.
"True... but the damn 'muffs look so goofy on her head." Koko smiled at how Dead Master visibly flinched with each and every shot.
"Think we could scare her into using a .22?" Lehm suggested with a smirk as he lit a cigarette and politely took a few steps to the side. He blew out the lungful of smoke as Koko chuckled at his idea.
"I'll place an express delivery after practice for a suppressed Ruger Type 2, just for her." Koko suddenly turned her head towards Dead Master and locked eyes with her, curtly curling her index finger twice to signal that she was being summoned.
Dead Master quickly approached and meekly stared at Koko's smirking face.
"Take them off." Koko ordered flatly, her tone making it clear that it wasn't up for debate.
Dead Master visibly hesitated, but obeyed just as the last of the crew's gunshots finished echoing before they moved to reload.
"Now that you don't look completely stupid..." Koko stood up from the folding chair she was sitting on. "From now on, you are not allow to use these unless the rest of us are using them." She took the hearing protection away with one hand, the other behind her back giving Lehm subtle hand signals to hand over his H&K Mk.23 with his usual suppressor. "I sell weapons all over the world, and unfortunately, that means I have enemies that happen to use their own weapons to try and kill me. All these people here, including Jonah and Rock, are paid to protect me while I do my business."
"I've gathered at least that much of an understanding, Koko." Dead Master had only just recently earned the privilege of calling everyone by their preferred names, save for calling Rock by her full name. She was ordered by not only her, but by Jonah - whom she legitimately feared - and by Koko - the true leader of the group - to always call Rock by her former Royal titles, such as Princess, my Lady, and Your Highness, among others, of course. Failure to do so at any given time, was to be handled by Jonah - Rock's order - but thankfully she hadn't failed... Yet.
"So that means you need to at least know how to use one." Koko smirked as Lehm approached the table to flick some ashes off his smoke into the ashtray he'd brought with him. At the same time, he smoothly handed off his suppressed sidearm without Dead Master even noticing.
Dead Master gulped loudly. Although she didn't have the word - Hoplophobia - for what she felt towards their weapons, she knew this was going to be a painful experience. "I..."
"We have a word here for what you're experiencing." Koko stood up a bit straighter as she revealed what she had in her hand, making Dead Master flinch slightly. "It's called Hoplophobia. Firearms, otherwise known as guns..." She vaguely lifted the gun in her hand to indicate it. "Are what terrify you so much. Rightfully so, considering what Jonah did to put you in line. But, as daunting as the idea might sound, I want you to respect them. They are used to hurt and kill others, but sometimes, even for a casual day at the range, they can actually be an enjoyable experience. See that long one that Rock's holding?" She pointed her free hand at the resident royalty, who was in the process of loading shotgun shells into her ammo belt - unlike the rest of the crew's bandolier's on their stomachs, she had a belt with shell dispensers and a waistpack on her lower back for her gear and a canteen - at the other table, not even listening to their chat.
"I do, yes." Dead Master idly recalled that it was the one that Lehm had been pointing at her during her initial conversation with Koko on her first day.
"That type of weapon is known as a shotgun. The specific model of the weapon is called a Remington M870. I can explain things in further detail this afternoon, but for now... you're going to be using this." Koko took Dead Master's wrist and tapped the black skeletal gauntlets with her index finger of her gripping hand. "So off with the claws, the Princess is going to teach you."
That keyword caught Rock's attention, turning her head at the nickname's usage. "Pardon, Koko?"
"C'mere and show her how the bare bones." Koko casually held up Lehm's gun to show that it was what she'd be using. "Everyone, cease fire! It's time for a little show."
Everyone quickly lowered their weapons and clicked safety's into place before backing up to watch Dead Master - her gauntlets now placed on the table beside Lehm's ashtray - being presented with Lehm's gun and one spare magazine before Rock - and Jonah standing by her side - began to teach Dead Master the basics of a sidearm's usage.
"Hmph, lucky you..." Jonah commented quietly, in English. "You get the privilege of Lehm's suppressor."
"What? This thing?" Rock admittedly hadn't seen the object in use before, but surmised that it reduced the noise of the weapon's blast, given the name. "Huh. Cool." She briefly made a mental note to check with Koko about the possibility of shotgun's having one. "Anyway, so I know you're intelligent, so watch carefully, because if you're a dumbass with a weapon, you're gonna get hurt." She was of course tempted by the thought, but said nothing more as she taught the older teen what did what and where to hold the gun.
With visible unsteadiness, her tutorial complete, Dead Master was directed by a casual tilt of Rock's head to start firing at the unused target.
"Hey Lehm, it's got thirteen, right?" Rock checked over her shoulder to the older man, and he nodded. "Alright, so unless you can't count, you can only do this thirteen times before we move on to teaching you how to reload. Which is why I'm still holding this." Rock indicated the spare mag in her hand. "So try to hit the target at least once."
With that, Rock and Jonah took a step back as Dead Master gulped one last time before taking aim and pulled the trigger, expecting a huge blast, only for it to make much less noise than she'd expected when it jumped back and upwards.
Looking over the weapon for a moment, she realized she'd hit the target in about the collarbone area, amazed she'd even done it.
"Twelve more. Keep going." Rock reminded her, and she snapped back to focus on her task.
Once finished and the slide stayed locked back, Rock marched past Dead Master - with the same finger curl gesture as Koko from earlier for the older teen to follow her directed over her shoulder as she passed - and began evaluating the placement of her shots from about thirty feet.
"See these ones?" Rock pointed at some of the outer holes in the humanoid torso shaped board of wood. "They'd have only wounded the person. But these two here... that'd be a kill. Heart shot and your only headshot. Huh. Practice enough and maybe I'd be impressed." Rock smirked at the callused comment, but stepped back to where she'd made Dead Master originally shoot from. "Now that the weapon's empty, you need to learn how to reload. Come here so I can show you."
Dead Master backed up to her side and watched with rapt attention at the process of reloading the gun in her hand. After witnessing Rock use her own - very different, but quite similar - gun as an example, Rock handed over the spare mag for Lehm's gun and said. "I won't make you do anything complex, just repeat the reload a few times until it makes sense. Then shoot the whole magazine at the same target. Oh yeah... take note of the weight difference when it's loaded or not. Might actually save your life to know if it's got anything in it or not."
With that, Rock's tutorial was complete and she backed off to watch Dead Master's first few fumbling attempts at reloading the magazines, alternating back and forth between the loaded one and the empty one. Finally, after making sure to load the full one, Dead Master racked the slide back into place and with only a slight increase to her confidence, carefully fired the thirteen rounds at the target, still rough placements, but for what it was worth, she hadn't missed a single shot on her first nor her second magazine.
"Hmph, good enough." Rock held out her hand for Lehm's gun and the empty mag. "You're not as bad as I expected."
Shortly after they'd finished practicing, while everyone was just sitting down to eat, Rock was just about to whistle for Hans in the living room when she realized he was waiting at the front door, a sign that someone was coming.
With an excited bark, Hans sat near the base of the staircase, his tail waving back and forth as Rock heard a car door closing. She moved to answer it and was met by the trainer from the pound, a warm smile upon their face at the sight of Hans' restrained excitement just behind the bespectacled teen.
"Hello there, lass, seems we're right on time." The trainer greeted her. "So, what was it like? I hope Hans wasn't too much of a responsibility."
"I really enjoyed taking care of him, it's way better than just reading about owning a puppy in all my books. I... really learned a lot from this."
"That's most excellent. Now, I did recall you'd intended to write down how things went? Or was that more so a schedule of sorts to assist yourself?"
"It was that, yeah. Make myself a routine, make sure to keep him fed, full water bowl, y'know, everything." Rock was actually proud that she'd managed to keep up with Hans so easily. Of course, she wasn't foolish. He was trained especially for first-time owners like herself, so she doubted that taking care of the Corgi she'd fallen in love with would be quite as easy.
"Brilliant!" The trainer was very pleased. "Now, if you could be a dear and fetch his leash and your mother, I can say you've done an excellent job with Hans."
"Right here." Koko had caught the sounds of their chat, so she'd come from the bustling kitchen with Hans' leach in her hands. "Now, Blake, you go grab some food, unless she's still needed, of course." Koko turned to the trainer, who shook their head, allowing the teen to kneel to say her goodbye to the training dog - earning a very pleased slew of licking on her cheeks in the process - before she and the pup parted ways, leaving only a set of documents in Koko's hands and a few lingering bits of dog hair.
"Now then... Once you're done eating, you, Jonah and I are going to the pound to pick up the dog you really had your sights set on, that adorable Welsh Corgi." Koko smiled knowingly as Rock's face went from shocked to excited in less than half a second.
"So that one was just for practice?" Dead Master commented under her breath in Old Speak. She was still unclear on the whole idea of the creature even being present, let alone the fact it was being replaced like that.
"Yes, it was." Jonah didn't even look up from his plate when he spoke in Old Speak. "Same rules apply for Rock's Corgi. If you hurt it, you're dead."
Later, after things were all sorted, signed and purchased, Rock and her female Corgi - whom she'd named Roxy - were absolutely brimming with happiness. Interestingly, Roxy's cage at the pound had been right near where Hans' was, so she had made very little fuss about Hans' lingering scent around the house as she sniffed and explored her new home's every nook and cranny.
Rock was right by her side the entire time, enjoying every second of it. Of course, everyone else was pleased too, especially Valmet, who thought Roxy was much cuter than what Rock had described.
That evening, after dinner was cleaned and dealt with, Rock, Jonah and Roxy wandered upstairs to sleep. With Dead Master's arrival, the house no longer had any spare rooms, but Rock in a surprising twist, gave up her room entirely - save for her clothes, books and various possessions - to instead sleep with Jonah in his room, since in all honesty, she'd spent more time in his bed than her own. The change was completed within two hours, having moved her things with the assistance of their clearly shared enhanced strength and fluid teamwork.
So, after they'd gotten ready for bed and climbed under the blankets, Roxy - with a wisely placed wooden step stool - quickly joined them, curling up against Rock's torso while Jonah laid behind her, gently kissing the back of her neck before they finally went to sleep.