Bowling For Seven Stars Academy (Susan & Maria)

As per the norm, Susan Groves was utterly and completely anxious. Although this time she had a perfectly valid reason to be. This was no small venture, no business meeting, no big presentation, no formal event. This was of the utmost seriousness. The woman had found herself yet again at Seven Stars Academy but this time long after the moon had risen. Unlike last time there would be no trial, this was improvement just as Prince Julius had requested of her. She was one to take it gravely. As Susan pulled her Audi into the utterly vacant parking lot and stepped out she was dressed vastly differently than she was known to dress. Durable cargo pants, thick combat boots, an all-weather blouse with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, and a nondescript black baseball cap to top it all off. Not to mention the tactical vest filled with ammunition, knee and elbow pads, the earmuffs dangling around her neck and the first aid kit bouncing on her hip. She had pulled out all the stops as soon as her Cadet trial had run its course. Julius had thrown her a gun, just a piece of metal that could kill a man, no bells and whistles but that was not as efficient as it could possibly be.

Susan had poured through websites long into the morning about guns and visited the sporting goods store the next day, filling out online priority shipping orders and playing with her new firearm. She had outfitted it with a barrel extension, compensator, laser sight, LED optic, flashlight and a fast-deploy sling. Susan had purchased all new clothes, ammunition, a tactical vest, ear protection, fast-pull magazines and covered the gun in grip tape on every surface she believed to be relevant. As Susan adjusted her shooting gloves she peered around the empty lot uneasily, breathing a shaky sigh as she popped open the trunk and pulled out a long black briefcase. Her P90 was nestled within it. That's right, Susan had a very real reason to be nervous this evening.

She was about to bring an automatic weapon into a public school.

Even in the cool of the night she could feel the sweat pouring off her. If she were caught she would be questioned, and Susan had a good reason but very little faith that she could communicate that reason before things got out of hand. It wasn't as if the gun case left anything to the imagination, it was obvious what she was carrying with her outfit. Her heart wouldn't stop racing and her body wouldn't stop shaking yet she powered forward with a purposeful gait, terrified eyes straight ahead to the entrance of Seven Stars. Luckily there was no one walking the streets to witness, she was dressed more for war than for anything else. Rumors spread. People talk. And this would likely reach back to her in a negative way should anyone ever find out. Her trembling hand reached out for the gate, finding it unlocked as promised. Susan entered the school as quietly as she could.

The darkly lit hallways were of no comfort nor were her echoing footsteps, sending chills up her spine. It felt as if something would jump out at her from the black of night and as much as any rational mind would dismiss that possibility she knew that it was still a very real threat. Demons existed. She had seen them at Penn State. She had slain one in that very school. It worried her that even though she had a firearm in her hand that if she were attacked Susan wouldn't know what to do and get killed for it. That was the entire reason she was here, in fact. Susan made her way to the basement down pitch black stairs, jump-starting her heart as she shakily crawled down the steps and mistook the last step for floor. At the end of the stairs was a long hallway with a large door, light shining underneath it. Swallowing back her fear Susan approached as dutifully as she had come this far. The door creaked loudly as the businesswoman turned the handle and pulled, it's weight thick and heavy. Shielding her eyes from the sudden overwhelming light Susan stepped inside...

It was a strange surprise when Julius told Maria to expect a familiar person. It was a strange twist of fate that seemed to never stop giving. Honestly, was this a sign that every person she met was going to become relevant in her life? That sounded very bothersome, if she had to admit. What kind of plans did the great Lord have in indescribable mind? She sat patiently on a stool at the underground gun range with her coffin nestling nearby. Her legs began to dangle thoughtlessly, at least until a door opened.

At first, she really couldn't recognize her and thought it might've been someone else with all that get-up. In fact, her first thought was to be suspicious of this person having never met someone like her in the first place. But it took another glance to realize it was who she was just waiting for. Maria hopped off of her seat and greeted her with a smile.


She wanted to mention a word about all this... this get-up. But the Cadet would bite her tongue for the moment until the right time arrived. Never did she think anyone would come to the job looking so over-furnished like this. Maybe Maria did have her work cut out for her. Perhaps she wouldn't be the most over-equipped-looking Cadet anymore now.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the gleam from the dark and gloom of the basement stairs. You think there would be an OSHA complaint about not having even an EXIT sign to cast off light but that really wasn't her business. Wincing and covering her face Susan stepped through the door and into the cavernous echoing shooting range. That... existed beneath a school... for some reason... Well, there were those old shooting teams back in World War II that had ranges built beneath their schools but wasn't this building fairly new? Did they re-purpose it? She would think they would want to run water filtration or the furnace down here but needs are needs... As Susan lowered her hand she would be met with the last person she was expecting: a nun. Specifically the blue-haired nun she had met the other day at the charity event.


Susan tried to mask her shock with a friendly connotation but her jaw was firmly on the floor. Maria would have been the last person the businesswoman would have guessed for a Cadet. Weren't nuns supposed to be nonviolent? Maybe those were monks... It would explain the stereotype at Catholic schools. But regardless she just... she just didn't seem the type! Her brain simply could not process that the helpful nun that she had most likely accidentally offended could pick up a gun like she did and lay down her life in the name of the city. To be perfectly fair Susan didn't seem like the type either, looks could be deceiving in that way. She wasn't certain whether or not she was relieved or anxious that someone she knew would be assisting her this evening. It was... conflicting. On the one hand training with an acquaintance could be comforting as she doesn't have anyone she particularly needs to impress or who would be overly hostile. On the other hand she could embarrass herself in front of Maria and wouldn't live it down.

After her B.S.O.D. moment where stunned silence blended with anxiety Susan managed to force herself to speak once more when she realized that asking a question that had already been answered was asinine.
"Sorry, y-you already said why," she would mutter staring at her boots. Susan returned with a very apprehensive smile with clear panic behind her eyes.
"B-but it's so great to see you! I would not have thought that someone I knew on a first-name basis would be a Cadet. I'm sure we'll make a great team!" She did her best to sound friendly and reassuring but it could be easily seen that something was bothering her. It wasn't Maria, if anything her presence here was neutral in this matter despite earlier fears. It involved what Maria had said, that Prince Julius had requested her. She had known beforehand but this was a fresh strike of the hammer. Susan could see a pattern emerging and didn't like where it was going.
"S-so shall we get started? I don't want to keep you here all night," she chuckled in a nervous attempt to be friendly, hefting her gun case. She certainly did not want to keep her there all night, that was the problem. That was the pattern that was emerging.

Maria waited patiently for the new recruit to manage her bearings. She couldn't blame her for the shock. Nuns aren't exactly known for being warriors in the first place. The Church kept a very tight lid over their more unsavory nature for such a long time. But then again, there had been a few leaks here and there. Though that was a story for another time. "I'm sure we will. I'm looking forward to working with you, Susan. But yes, let's get started. Right now, you can take off most of that gear... It's really unnecessary. We want to focus on basics, so get comfortable. First, could you hand me your gun? Please be careful to have the barrel aiming at the ground away from either of us. Yes, like that..."

After obtaining the gun, she began telling Susan of the four basic rules of handling a gun. Treating it as if it was always loaded, keeping it at a safe direction to take into consideration of possible accidental discharge, learning trigger safety, and being sure of the target. They were the first things Maria began to talk about. As she did, the Cadet reached for a nearby rifle that she borrowed from the Church. Maria noticed the gun that her fellow Cadet used was of the P90 variant.

"It's a nice choice of a firearm. Small and compact, best used for urban close quarter environments. Its made for ambidextrous handling with magazine releases, the charge, selective fire switch, and handle, on both sides," She pedantically spoke as she made each observations. Her body began to shift into a stance that may seem rather familiar to Susan if she saw a certain genre of movies. "You've probably seen the bladed stance like this in a lot of media. While it has uses for precision, it is not ideal for tactical situations requiring rapid shots and to keep from the gun's muzzle rising. Though you may not have that much of a problem with the P90's bullpup design, but you'll see. Now I'm going to fire, but first..."

Maria paused a moment to point at the earmuffs at Susan's neck and gesturing her to put them on before putting her own on as well. It was only then she began to fire down the range. It was a controlled burst. It was like an explosive string of staccatos flooding the entire space. If there was one thing for Susan to notice, the muzzle of the gun rose a couple of times. When it stopped, Maria pulled down her muffs to ask her, "Any questions so far?"

The businesswoman nodded at the request of the nun and removed... not a whole lot of her equipment. Just the elbow and knee pads and her hat, being indoors and all. She would keep her vest on since it would carry most of her magazines and the first aid kit wasn't going anywhere, if there was an accident it wouldn't be wise not to have it. The gloves she kept on as well, she didn't want her hands to smell like gunpowder at work tomorrow. People would ask questions she didn't want to answer. She did as instructed and clicked open her case to reveal the very much customized weapon that Julius had thrown her the other night. Susan cradled it in her arms carefully, afraid of what it could do until Maria told her to point the muzzle of the gun at the ground and not off toward the ceiling as she had.
"R-right," she would answer, turning it over and holding it out to her at arm's length as one would a used diaper.

Susan would listen intently to Maria speaking about how to safely operate a fire arm, though with a glazed look. Not that she wasn't listening but Susan had to imagine herself doing these things herself while at the same time wondering how she would actually hold her gun. It was a strange state of comprehension and utter disregard at the same time but Susan did her best to pay attention, she just couldn't imagine following all these rules without any sort of visual aid. Mental or otherwise.
"I guess..." she would softly affirm the nun's comments on her firearm, "I didn't actually choose it, I'm using what the Prince has assigned me. B-but I've done a great deal of research and I believe it to be a fitting choice." It was true, she did do a fair amount of homework once she was assigned this firearm in order to learn how it works. How to charge the handle, what ammunition it fired, the safety. Susan's issue and the reason the two of them were here today is that study and application are two entirely different things.

Her eyes gathered a little more light after taking a moment to register that Maria wanted her to do something. The businesswoman nodded meekly and shuffled her ear muffs over her head, focusing her gaze to take in Maria's firing stance and how the weapon was held. She would find herself hovering around her and eyeing her up and down to see just how she should hold her own weapon when suddenly Maria pulled the trigger. Susan jumped and her hands flew to her head, wincing in the sudden cacophony. It was unbearable even with the hearing protection. She took a moment to observe the  ringing in the range and the smoke coming from the weapon along with the pungent scent of powder before looking to Maria again when hearing her muffled voice.
"Hmm...?" she hummed a little louder with the hearing loss. Susan pulled down her own ear muffs and responded with her question, unaware that's what the nun had asked her for at all.
"Could you plea-Oh, sorry. ...could you please shoot my gun, Maria? I would like to see how that is performed."

She nodded in agreement with Susan. She remembered when the Royal Guard simply laid out their weaponry on the ground at the time of their awakening. It was common sense that people on the field knew what type and make of firearms best suited newcomers of their respective ranks. But it was Susan was the first, out of all the Cadets recently recruited, to necessitate further firearm training. Frankly, most of the Cadets seemed to acclimate using a gun much quicker than most civilians that she got too used to the idea that every Cadet knew how to use it.

After firing the gun, Maria seemed to grimace a little. The Cadet wasn't too pleased with the result, too much spread and not enough grouping. It spoke volumes of the training she needed, but then again, her reliance on Andraste was mostly for suppressing fire with fellow team members in the first place rather than focusing on lethal shots.

"It's okay, Susan. I will, but first I'm going to try a squared stance. So watch when I do it. I won't shoot right away this time. Be sure to watch carefully. Alright?" Maria said as she began to shift her body posture once more after carefully taking Susan's gun from her. Her feet were shoulder-wide apart and her torso straight as the rifle seemingly was placed near the very center line of her body as she aimed. Her elbows were kept down as well. "Generally you'll want to take this stance. When your body is focused forward, it helps to take the recoil better compared to the bladed stance. And because your body is straight, it helps to extend your range of motion and to help track a moving target better because of it."

She began to swivel her body left and right slightly to show what she meant, but still trying to keep to the same rules of firearms safety. The barrel moved along with her allowing her to keep line of sight and the gun aligned with the aim. She warned Susan. "I'm going to start shooting. Earmuffs on."

Just after she put hers on, Maria waited for Susan to do the same and gave a thumbs-up once both of them have their ears secured. The Cadet quietly focused her aim down the range again, this time trying to zero in with the center of mass was on the sheet. A rapid line of staccatos filled the range with lead spitting out of the gun.


The stench of gunpowder returned as her body took the recoil effortlessly as if it there was none in the first place. Maria was supposed to have gotten used to it by now. But it didn't make it any easier for her enhanced senses. She stopped and glared down the range like a hawk... Better. It was a slight improvement, but very minimal. She clicked her tongue in disappointment. Perhaps more trips to the gun range could help remedy this in the future.

Maria began to lower the gun and looked over to Susan after pulling down her muffs and carefully handing the firearm back to her.

"A-Alright," Susan would meekly nod in return. She would do her best to listen but as Maria launched into her explanation the businesswoman would find herself checking out again and instead hovering around the nun. She took in all of the information that Maria had tried to tell her through her eyes instead. Blanked eyes observed every little detail, every muscle twitch, foot position, tenseness of the shoulders, controlled breathing, finger placement, hip movement, and everything else she could possible observe. Susan did care about what Maria was telling her but in the grand scheme of things it was relatively unimportant. She needed an example instead.

"Hmm? ...o-oh, yes of course." The businesswoman stepped away from peering over the Cadet's shoulders so close that she could breathe down her neck and pulled her hearing protection on as she was told. Susan watched incredibly closely as Maria prepared to fire her weapon, whincing with every shot. She didn't think she would ever get used to that noise. She drew down her ear muffs without prompting and hesitantly took her gun back from the blue-haired girl.
"I'll try..." she mumbled without confidence. Susan in fact did not want to start shooting. She never would if she had the decision to do so, she wasn't a fighter. But she didn't get to make that choice, she had to practice this or it could endanger herself or others. When she signed up as a Cadet she made an obligation and that obligation now had to be met, and all basic Cadets know how to shoot a gun.

The businesswoman hefted her weapon and attempted to mirror how Maria just held hers. Feet parallel, back straight and forward, weapon in the shoulder.  It took her nearly two minutes to get comfortable, fumbling with her P90 and shifting her hands and feet until she felt adequate and still was uncomfortable. The final product wasn't pretty. While the gun was in her shoulder she wasn't pulling it there, it just sat up to it. Her breathing was erratic instead of controlled and Susan had no clue on how to actually look down the sights other than to point the dot at the target and pull the trigger. When she did finally get around to pulling the trigger she jerked it, flinched, and the jumping of the weapon nearly knocked it from her hands.



Somehow. Some way. ...Susan managed to skip a round off the floor and ceiling. When she freaked out she had accidentally held the trigger down too long. The mousy woman took a step back from the range scrunched up and cradling her weapon at a particularly dangerous angle but fortunately retained the safety information that Maria had gone over, quickly fumbling with her safety before placing her weapon on the firing bench faced toward the targets.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," she thought she mumbled under her breath, not so with her ear muffs. Susan nearly ripped them from her head, making a half-attempt to catch them as she accidentally threw them to the ground.
"I-I... I-I think I need a break...!" she gasped, not even attempting to hide her shock. As she marched toward the back wall her chest rose and fell quickly as her heartbeat thrummed like raindrops on a windowsill. The shock had hit her immediately that she could have potentially shot Maria or herself and unlike some people who didn't understand that guns were machines made for killing that was why Susan feared them. A healthy approach maybe, but it didn't make learning this any easier. The frightened woman leaned against the wall, nearly doubled over at the waist as she tried to catch her breath. From her front vest pouch she would produce... chewing gum. Susan always made it a habit to always have gum with her, there was science behind it that proved it eased anxiety besides being healthy after meals. She popped a stick into her mouth and held the pack out at arm's length as if to over Maria a stick, though she didn't look up at all. Even if panicked she wanted to be polite.

She expectantly watched Susan begin to take up her stance as she told her to. There was a little bit of stiffness and possibly how uncomfortable she was from taking up a firearm like this for the first time. It was the same for Maria. Remembering it caused her eyes to widen in realization. It was best to help her or else someone was going to get hurt. The Cadet began to quickly hop towards her direction with her arm outstretched. "Susan, wait a minut--!"

It was too late. The uncontrolled staccatos filled the range. Maria instinctively recoiled back as a round evidently hit the floor and the ceiling almost miraculously. She could've sworn it was just the expended casing, but the slight indentations of where they hit said otherwise. There was an astounded wonder as to how this was possible. But she shook herself out of the reverie, never mind the odd impossibilities. There was someone she had to worry about.

Maria was already painfully aware that she wasn't exactly the best teacher around. But Susan's recent attempt at pulling the trigger was an excruciating reminder as the Cadet flinched. All her life she just learned from whatever who taught her. The lack of interaction with many other people outside of the Church and being cooped inside the establishment for so long made her to some degree less mindful of others than she truly intended. At the same time, it made her become more aware and respectful of Father Jorge of being such a good teacher. Could she ever be more like him?

The Cadet quietly and patiently watched Susan try to gain her bearings. Watching the newcomer trying to calm herself and try to remain courteous out of all of it made it painful to watch as the guilt began to set in. It was Maria's fault, that much was clear. A teacher should take responsibility for her inability to teach. There were a few things she should've gone through with Susan, but no. She believed it was all the newcomer needed. At least, to have her experience what firing a gun was like. And obviously, she paid the price for that poor decision. Instead of accepting the bubble gum, Maria carefully slid off Susan's and her earmuffs with an apologetic expression on her face.

Susan shook her head, eyes still fixated on the floor. She allowed Maria to remove her ear protection without resistance.
"I-I'll be f... f-fine...!" she panted in a reassuring tone the complete opposite of her body language. Her shivering and hunched shoulders spoke of absolute terror. Susan could have shot and injured someone. Not only someone, someone she knew. It dawned on her that she may be required to so in the future and the thought absolutely horrified her. H-hopefully she could carve out her own niche to fit into her specialties like she had in the past and stay off the front lines. As much as Susan wanted to be a Cadet and make a difference she was ill-suited to function as a soldier and she knew this. It would be best to help in other ways. That being said she had a basic competence to meet.

The businesswoman brought herself to her feet proper though she was still visibly shivering with adrenaline. The gum was working wonders. It engaged the parasympathetic nervous system and elicited a psychological response, that being if I'm eating I can't be in danger. It was a mental trick she picked up in college to get through the rougher times.
"I-It's no one's f-fault," she answered the nun. "I-I'm sorry, I won't act without your clearance again, I'm sorry..." It was a strange position for her to be in yet one she had found herself in numerous times, especially this week. As a grown woman Susan should not be submitting to a schoolgirl in any regard yet she would yield to knowledge and experience. In the manner of firearms she had none. Despite her fear Susan was insistent, she would only need a break. She wasn't about to quit. The woman had come here to learn how to shoot and she wasn't leaving until progress was made, with Maria or alone.

"Okay... Okay... let's review," she panted, trying to catch her breath through erratic breathing, "I-I don't know what I've done wrong s-s-so we should analyze things from the b-beginning. I will hold my w-weapon and you will walk me through the steps to ensure that nothing goes wrong." Susan was flip-flopping again. Though she was in the student role she was in command enough to demand training and the way in which it was delivered. The woman was too stubborn to allow anything else to transpire. With as much confidence as she could muster and through shaking breaths Susan marched over to her weapon and picked it up and began to take a firing position... yet she would not aim down the sight nor would she remove the safety without Maria's instruction. She was waiting for critique and command. Susan took a stance much like she had done before, she squared stance, awkward and uncomfortable where she held the weapon out of her shoulder.

It made her wonder at first how Susan was allowed in the Cadets. She seemed so nervous, something Maria could feel sympathetic for. Usually over time they get used to it. But in Susan's case, it feels as if she recoils from anything combat-related. At least that was the feeling the Cadet had for the recruit. This required very careful and patient instruction, much more than usually required. This is what Maria began to truly fully realize as she watched Susan struggle to remain composed through chewing gum. And that was when she began to slowly remember what Jorge taught her when she first used a gun. Maria's firm hand grasped Susan's shoulder, it wasn't out of nowhere, but it was there to help her remain calm.


Breathing was deeply linked to one's mental state. Breathing like this was just one of the ways to remain some kind of mental clarity. The memories of Jorge chuckling at Maria's initial apprehension flashed in her mind. It was an embarrassing one, to be sure. She began to heave in and waited for Susan to follow. When she did, Maria breathed out. They would both continued to do so until the postulant found it unnecessary to continue. It was only then that Maria asked the mousey woman, "Be honest with me, Susan. You're afraid of guns. Right? There's nothing wrong with it if you are."

Even with her chewing gum Susan could not prevent her hands from trembling. Her magazine vest rattled with the vibrating of the stock loose in her shoulder. It was scary but she had to persevere, her standing as a Cadet relied on her at least meeting the bare minimum standards. Even if she would keep away from the fighting most of the time she still had to be capable of it and thus she needed to know how. The businesswoman would jump at Maria's touch but would settle down quickly. She swallowed hard. She had no desire to be effective in combat for any reason, what she wanted to do was perform.
"O-okay.......*pheeeeeew*...Okay......." As the nun had instructed Susan would take a few shuddering breaths in an out and after about a minute her heart rate had slowed and the tremors had quieted, though her muscles were still twitchy. Deep breaths or not it wasn't easy to get over the fact that she had nearly blown someone's head off.

Her eyes widened and she stared at Maria with an offended expression when she brought up Susan's fear. She couldn't afford to look incompetent in front of her peers, especially with the age gap.
"N-no that's not it at all! I-it's...!" The meek woman didn't bother finishing her protest. She could tell by the look on Maria's face that she wouldn't believe her. It wasn't a very good lie. Susan sighed in resignation instead.


She didn't want to admit it to others even if it were obvious. It was like admitting that you were a failure vice just failing, it wasn't a pleasant feeling. But unlike the girl Susan thought there was a problem with that. Susan was supposed to be a Cadet. She would work at it and improve but right now she was not carrying herself as one nor was she fit for the title unless this could be fixed.
"H-how I feel is irrelevant, I'll improve, I-I promise, may we please continue...?" she pleaded. Susan didn't want to dwell on this feeling too long, while familiar inadequacy wasn't something she enjoyed experiencing.

Maria nodded along in satisfaction as Susan was following along and relaxing. It was the first step she needed. When something goes wrong, people need a moment to think or even get their emotions in order. And like always, she did remain patient with the recruit, but found herself giving a doubtful expression when there was protest. It was really easy to tell with her overall meek nature. But it was an empathetic moment for the Cadet. That drive to remain as composed and to appear in-control as possible. Despite her wish to gain power to kill demons, even she recoiled against violence once. It just took time and experience to get used to it.


There was a thing called "fear of the unknown". Maria barely remembered what Father Jorge had to say about it. But uncertainty and suspense were elements in it. You had no way of knowing what and how may happen and it unleashes a plethora of questions that may induce a kind of paranoia. It's by the illumination or even understanding reality that lessened the fear. But it wasn't so bad in Susan's case. "Knowing" here was just a matter of truly meeting the reality of what she fears head on. "...a gun is a tool. Dangerous, sure. But it is a tool when you really break it down. It has no will of its own. That's something you have to really know and accept. As long as you know proper handling, you will be fine. Alright?"

"*haaaa...* .......Alright." She was well aware of everything Maria was saying, it was nothing new. A gun was a tool, yes, it would not do anything she did not make it do. But what she wanted it to do and what she actually did with it were very different indeed. Susan did not elect to share the reason she was scared of guns because... there really wasn't one. There was no traumatic event in her life, no environment of terror towards them, no explicit reason for her to be as afraid as she was. She was raised in the city sure and at times there was gun violence but she was never around to see it except on the news. She'd never even heard so much as a gunshot in person until tonight. Susan feared guns because she knew what they were: dangerous tools that could hurt someone. And she had absolutely no confidence in herself that she could control them. The businesswoman could admit to herself that she was lagging behind as she often did, as a Cadet just like everywhere else. She could be useful but she was never average, she was only useful in her own little box where they made special rules that exempted her from needing to fulfill the bare minimum standards that others met easily. Just like at work where she didn't need to talk to people if she was having a bad day for it. Susan wasn't afraid of guns, she was afraid of what guns stood for:

Susan was afraid of a situation where her own incompetence would result in a serious or fatal situation for someone else. She feared not meeting expectations and someone else suffering because of that.

The first step to that obstacle, that special treatment, was to become a Cadet where there would be no more special rules and kid gloves. She would succeed or fail on her own merit. But even in the Cadets it wasn't true, she was still being treated as if she couldn't keep up because maybe she couldn't. Susan would rather fail herself than keep getting pitied.
"I don't mean to be rude Maria but may we please continue?" she pleaded some more, "I don't want to waste your time and it's already so late." That part was only partly true. Susan would be here until she felt she got the hang of it, alone if necessary. But after dredging up certain hurtful memories the timid woman was willing to put forth a greater effort.

She would really like to shoot something now.

Maria found it hard to figure out how to get Susan to share her fears. And why would she? They just met recently. It would be awfully strange if they shared something so personal, but it was worth a try to have some kind of inkling of understanding. In the end, she hesitated before finally relenting. Yes, she could. But the Cadet wasn't going to allow her to shoot right away. "Yes, we may. Don't worry about wasting my time, just focus on you came here to do, Susan. Before we begin, take up the firing stance. But don't shoot and put on your earmuffs yet, okay? There's some things I need to point out first."

She waited for the woman to perform the commands she was told. Or at least the closest to what she could do. When it was done, Maria carefully began to walk behind her. It was a good thing that Susan was remarkably shorter than her. The postulant carefully and gently grasped Susan's hands where they would be holding gun while also making corrective shifts in the office lady's posture with equal consideration. Once everything was in place and to her satisfaction, it was the closest to a proper stance that Susan could take up. "When you aim with a gun, there's several types of sights. The most basic open sights will have a rear and front sight aligned parallel to each other. When you're aiming, you need to align the front sight so that it's lined up at the middle of the rear. Can you see it? When aiming, your sights should be blurry while your target focused. You want to align your sights with where you want to shoot at."

She waited for some confirmation from Susan and wouldn't say anything until then. Or if there were any questions, of course. Maria was doing her best to mirror what Jorge did in the previous half decade. Needless to say, she was very unsure of herself and hoped this was enough for the new recruit, "And when you're firing, press the trigger, don't pull and don't jerk. Just squeeze it until you feel resistance. Keep pressing the trigger straight to the rear until the gun fires. Make sure you're pressing on the front of the trigger, not the sides. Don’t anticipate when the gun will fire. Just focus your aim on the target, the gun isn't going anywhere. That's why you're pressing the trigger, not jerking it or pulling. The bullet will only go to where you're aiming. When you're ready, fire. But first..."

Maria quickly slipped Susan's and her earmuffs on just as she said it before just as speedily grasping the recruit's hands with firmness and as gentleness as possible while offering her chest against Susan's back to help deal with the recoil.

The businesswoman let out a breath, sounding a little more aggressive than she had intended. Frankly she was just happy to move forward. The negative thoughts she was dwelling on obviously affected her mood and she didn't want to be ungrateful. She had been happy for the assistance. But it was a bitter pill to swallow that she was much worse than previously thought. Susan had thought it was much simpler from what she read, just point it and pull the trigger right? But her magazines and online articles had not prepared her for the reality of the situation, that being that she was bad at shooting. And combat in general, she dreaded the day when they would have to practice whatever martial arts the Cadets used.
"...Okay..." she relented, doing as she was told. Rather than dive back into the shooting stance she had taken before exactly as she had done before Susan once again started from scratch and fidgeted her way into a firing position. The end result would be similarly uncomfortable, the squared stance as she had been shown beforehand. She would even keep her finger off the trigger until Maria stepped in to correct her.

The meeker woman bristled as the schoolgirl placed the submachine gun further into her shoulder and played with her hand positioning, uncomfortable with her touch. She was aware it was for her benefit but Susan still had to suppress a grumble, she didn't enjoy being touched. Especially when that reason was because she was terrible at what she was doing. As the nun went into her explanation about how to aim at a target Susan would take her cue and look through the open sight, though hers was a red dot. All you had to do was put the dot on the target... right...? Apparently not so, there was a special way of looking at it. Last time she was fixated on the dot to make sure it was centered, now she looked at the paper cutout. It didn't make sense to her how this could actually change her perspective although she wouldn't question it for the moment.
"*haaaa...* ...Am I doing this right...?" Susan would breathe a frustrated sigh. She didn't want to come off as difficult or ungrateful but the businesswoman would much rather work on this by herself until she got it right instead of looking inadequate in front of others. She kept chewing her gum to calm herself and tried to convince herself that this was only temporary, both the training session and her lack of ability. She wouldn't ask further questions, only wait for critique. Questions were for when you knew what you didn't know, Susan knew nothing.

She placed her finger on the trigger, fumbling with it until she could find a comfortable place for it. This was about the only thing she found comfortable about the entire experience, that being where she put her hands. She was quite fortunate Prince Julius had given her a weapon that fit her grip. She almost became too eager and squeezed the trigger before Maria put her headphones on.
"S-sorry..." she apologized reflexively though she hadn't done anything just yet. Her hands began to tremble as Maria pressed up against her back to brace her. As irritated as she was with this scenario it wasn't directed at anyone, her irritation was an aspect of her fear and now that she were expected to perform the annoyance gave way to apprehension. Susan needed the extra time granted to her to calm her nerves, quick breaths slowing as she clutched her weapon in a vice grip. It wasn't perfect but it was as close as she was going to get to it. Susan levered her finger on the trigger and held it for a quarter second before quickly releasing.



Her shots... were absolutely terrible but she managed to get one on the target. On the edge of it, not on the silhouette. She didn't take breathing into account when firing aside from relaxing, she may have pulled the trigger instead of jerking it but she flinched when the gun went off and tried to muscle the recoil back down. The end result looked like shotgun spread with a few high spots on the back wall. Maria would hardly even feel the recoil from Susan, the problem not being the recoil of such a low caliber more than how atrociously she was holding her P90 the first time. The businesswoman would pause for a moment to look at where her bullets went and frown before flicking the safety, placing her gun on the bench in front of her.

"I-I don't know how that happened. What did I do wrong...?" she shouted with her ear covering still on her head as she looked over her shoulder with a worried expression. It was a mystery to Susan though Maria may be able to recognize the cause: Susan had merely placed the red dot sight on her weapon. She never actually sighted it in at all. It was canted just slightly to the right. Though her horrible spread was the result of poor weapons training every round was far to the left of the target.