20:44 <Crion> The weather's unseasonably warm for the middle of November. Or maybe it's becoming seasonable. Either way, high fifties/low sixties without much wind or rain as Thanksgiving approaches, still a few weeks away. The biggest thing Stewart has had on his plate since meeting John of the Falls from the court itself has been Santander nagging him to get over to a DMV location with his birth certificate, 20:44 <Crion> social security card, and two pieces of mail establishing residence to satisfy the federal REAL ID program -- and of course getting that documentation means going through some hoops on Santander's end, so social security card is just arriving now. (His old number is currently in the care of Stu.) 20:45 <VoxPVoxD> A fun way to fill yourself with grief over nothing is to suddenly be made to realize you have to build your credit rating from scratch again. 20:46 <Crion> Santander will tell him not to worry about that too much. He seems pretty certain that industry's going to completely collapse real soon, though he's extremely vague on why. 20:47 <Crion> Lauren's moved in extremely lightly, with only her rig, a small suitcase, and an overnight bag full of Chup's stuff. 20:48 <VoxPVoxD> Since Stewart had to start caring about paperwork all at once, he's actually stayed on top of it. One of his first purchases after moving in to this place, even before his computer was built, was a little filing cabinet. 20:49 <Crion> She's doing a good job of hiding that she's very carefully making sure not to spend all day in the same room as Stewart, to leave him alone for large portions of the day except around meals and bedtime, and so on, without also seeming weird and freezing him out. It's hard to tell what she's worried about, precisely: being perceived as clingy, or being perceived as too into this temporary 20:49 <Crion> arrangement. 20:50 <Crion> Or maybe those are the same thing. 20:50 <Crion> So that means a lot of hours sitting crosslegged in the chair at her desk, working through IT tickets. 20:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart initially took this as her being unused-to or uncomfortable with sharing a living space with someone, since he knows she deeply values privacy and not being bothered. But as her anxiety, whatever its cause, reveals itself in bits and pieces over the first several days together he feels more comfortable popping in on her while she's working from time to time. Just to ask her what 20:55 <VoxPVoxD> she's up to, make joint trips to the fridge or out for groceries, and make some physical contact like a kiss on the cheek or a brief shoulder rub. 20:56 <VoxPVoxD> It's not not meant as a subtle signal that he's happy to have her around... but it's a signal he wants to send because he is. 21:06 <Crion> She appreciates those. And more often than not, and more often as time goes on, she's sabotaged anyway by Chup warming up to Stewart and showing it in the way cats know how: by being incredibly annoying, especially when he's streaming. So far she's avoided being more than glimpsed in the background of a stream as she tries to get him back into the main living space, and her face hasn't gone 21:06 <Crion> out over the stream at all, but it's going to be pretty clear to the regular viewers that the living situation has changed a little bit. 21:07 <Crion> Lauren has given him permission to lie or tell the truth about it as he sees fit...perhaps knowing his general inclination will be towards mentioning it as little as possible either way. 21:07 <VoxPVoxD> So far Stewart's completely no-sold the reaction of the chat to these moments. 21:08 <VoxPVoxD> It's more comfortable and also, somewhere, there's someone writing LOTS OF SPECULATION??? on a whiteboard in Stewart's mind and circling it several times. 21:10 <Crion> So does Stewart have a gun in the house? 21:11 <VoxPVoxD> But Stewart's stream has changed subtly in tone over the last several weeks. Part of it's Lauren, part of it's the work, but he's also slowly and subtly burdened by all the things on his mind that he's loath to talk about, for good and bad reasons. The Twitch reaction clips are a little more actually-angry than wacky-angry than they were in September. 21:11 <VoxPVoxD> He brought it home the day after Lauren moved in. 21:12 <Crion> Good. Generally Lauren would be neutral trending towards apprehensive on having firearms around...but circumstances are a bit different at the moment than they are for most. 21:14 <VoxPVoxD> This is a Glock 17 - the gun Gerald handed him that night he was broken into the Court - with its attendant accessories. 21:15 <Crion> What's his next day off streaming? That Thursday, right? 21:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's schedule has been a little erratic lately between the wind-down of the current PoE league and all the shit that's happening in real life, but yeah, he's taking Thursday off. 21:16 <Crion> Gerald will call Tuesday night, then. Unlike the rest of the court, he doesn't seem to communicate via Ravens and the message client. 21:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's grateful for that. Now that it's not his main way of talking to Lauren he's starting to associate pings from the autumn box with stress, bad news, and fear. 21:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Hi." 21:19 <Crion> "Stewart!" Gerald's voice is his usual jaunty growl, which is an odd combination you don't usually hear outside of action movie guys trying to do lighthearteded scenes in character. "How's things? How's the new roommate?" 21:21 <VoxPVoxD> "Hey Gerald. Things are pretty good. Lauren's fine." 21:22 <Crion> "Good. Good, good." There's the sound of a couple gunshots in the background; they sound practiced, not chaotic. Gerald's probably-- "I'm at the range with Stu, and a thought occured to me. You've got...what, three weeks before our friend comes on back, yeah?" 21:24 <VoxPVoxD> Sixteen days makes a full lunar month. "Give or take." 21:25 <Crion> "Was thinking it -- if you wanted to -- it might be good to have you come down here a few times with me and shoot a bit. Just you and me, Stu doesn't have to be with us. Unless you'd prefer it. Make my schedule easier." 21:26 <Crion> "Get you a gun of your own, just in case." 21:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I just got one, actually. I was meaning to call you myself." Not a lie, but 'meaning to' is such a wonderfully vague phrase. signifying intention but totally concealing the amount of force behind it. "Are you free Thursday?" 21:28 <Crion> Gerald makes a surprised little noise but recovers quickly. "Thursday? Yeah, all afternoon. What'd you get? So I can bring ammunition, figure out a lesson plan, so on." 21:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I got a 9 millimeter. Glock 17." 21:28 <Crion> "...Well, that solves a lot of those problems." 21:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Feels good when the number of problems goes down instead of up." 21:29 <Crion> Gerald noted Stewart's lack of response to the Stu situation; unless Stewart actively asks, he'll slate the two for different days. 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> That's fine. Stewart likes Stu quite a bit, but it's still hard to be around him. Or look at him. Or think about him. 21:33 <Crion> He'll give Stewart an address -- Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, out on Marriottsville Road -- and tell him to drive up around 1 PM. 21:33 <VoxPVoxD> How does Lauren react when Stewart tells her Gerald's taking him to the range? 21:35 <Crion> Suspiciously like she might have already known that was why Gerald called. Or perhaps she's just good at guessing, and Gerald doesn't do much else for fun. She tells him to be safe and try to have fun, and that Canterbury will make sure someone's outside the front door while he's out, just in case. 21:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Good. Chup needs protecting," is what Stewart says before kissing her goodbye. 21:37 <Crion> She appreciates that joke. 21:37 <Crion> Does he want Gerald to drive them out, or to meet him there? 21:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart'll drive. With Lauren working from home and on tech support calls a lot, he doesn't get much chance to listen to music. And he's not comfortable running his car playlist unless he's driving alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrRi-2nokM&list=PLqoVwH1yoXtUaAPpwMN3eX6ralHeb0TEv&index=25 21:40 <VoxPVoxD> Now would you break before you twist the knife~ 21:47 <Crion> The gun club is in a sort of desolate, forest-y exurb of the city -- lots of woods full of tall spindly trees, lots of brown-green fields, lots of old post-war construction starting to fall apart, lots of stuff that used to be farms but is now stalled-out housing developments. The facility itself is a big parking lot full of the expected pickup trucks, a main hall -- Memorial Hall -- that 21:47 <Crion> looks like it was built sometime in the 70s, and then a bunch of outdoor ranges. Most of them look like rifle ranges, but there's an archery range in there too. 21:47 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah. Yeah, this feels right. 21:48 <Crion> The lot's mostly empty at 1 PM on a Thursday except for some old retirees playing with their toys; cops have their own range just up the road, so they don't come down around here except to shoot the shit with the weekend warriors, and few of those guys are here during the work week. For better or worse. Gerald's leaning against his Escalade, waiting. 21:48 <Crion> He'll waive once when he recognizes Stewart's car. 21:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart waves back when he gets out. He's wearing a sweatshirt with the Path of Exile logo (part of a gift basket the developers sent out to big streamers) and jeans. He's holding the case the gun came in like a lunch box. 21:53 <Crion> One of the old-timers gives him a dirty look, then looks away and hurries on to his brand-new truck when he sees the look he's getting back from Gerald. 21:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart idly wonders how that guy'd react if a pack of briarwolves was bearing down on him. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> "Hey," he says to Gerald when he gets close enough not to have to raise his voice. 21:56 <Crion> "Hey, kid." He cracks a slight smile at the case. "You even taken that thing out yet?" 21:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I opened it to make sure nothing was missing from the box, but other than that, no. How should I be carrying it?" 22:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart only knows about guns from video games and movies, so he's coming at this as if he knows nothing about guns. 22:03 <Crion> "The box is fine, though you'll get looks for having the factory box and not some custom thing with, I don't know, the Confederate flag on it or something." There was one of those on that brand-new truck, which is where Gerald's eyes are now as it pulls out. "There's actually fewer of those around now than there were five years ago. Go figure." 22:05 <Crion> "But you'll want a small carry bag or something to put ammo with or something. Especially because Maryland's only an open-carry state with a license, and while legally you're fine with it locked in the case, the fewer opportunities you give cops to be shitheads, the better." 22:05 <Crion> "Just a generic tote bag, nothing special." 22:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "What about if I'm carrying it... not to the range." 22:08 <Crion> "The expensive way are the three-clip safety holsters that cops wear to prevent anyone from being able to just, go for your gun. But those take some practice to draw smooth from -- they're best for security people who are going to at least be practicing their drawing a decent amount. Shoulder holster doesn't seem necessary. So I'd go with a standard belt clip-holster -- it clicks in there, 22:08 <Crion> and then comes out when you pull it but doesn't jostle around. Easier to grab off you, but...that's not really the kind of situation you'll be using it in." 22:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods, and takes the gun out. It doesn't feel as heavy as he remembers. 22:11 <VoxPVoxD> Oh right, it's not loaded yet. 22:12 <Crion> "Put that back in for now. These guys kind of fetishize the gun safety thing." 22:12 <Crion> He frowns. "Less for the safety, more for the gatekeeping." 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart obeys. "Right." 22:12 <Crion> "Come on, let's head over to the high power range. It's the best one for pistols." 22:13 <Crion> The guys who are here are all on the longer, more expansive rifle ranges, firing all manner of souped-up hunting rifles and straight-up military weaponry. 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> It puts Stewart in mind of invaders from another world. 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> But of course, here, that's him. Here as in the range and, arguably, now, Earth. 22:15 <Crion> Gerald briefly introduces Stewart to the range safety guy, Pete, who is friendly but professional to Stewart but downright enthusiastic when it comes to Gerald. He just nods and tells y'all to have fun when Gerald says he's taking his nephew shooting for the first time and wants to show him around a Glock, so they'll be using close targets, would he mind making sure to announce anyone else 22:15 <Crion> coming in just in case he's down range? And that's the last you see of Pete, really, as he ambles back to his rounds. 22:16 <VoxPVoxD> He seems nice. 22:17 <Crion> For his part, Gerald does do the basic range safety stuff -- barrel downrange at all times no matter if it's loaded or not, always ask the range observer if the range is clear before firing, so on. 22:18 <Crion> In his own tote bag, which is an outright rifle bag, Gerald's got a pump shotgun and that FAL from both Halloween and the night on the dock -- but also the Glock 17 he gave Stewart that night, which he'll be shooting. 22:18 <VoxPVoxD> Commonsense stuff people will yell at you about if you fuck up or haven't intuited? Brother, let me tell you about a little something called passive tree pathing. 22:22 <Crion> First he goes out and sets up some paper targets at about 35 meters. Then he shows Stewart how to load the magazines properly -- it's intuitive, but it does require a bit of force the first time you do it on a new magazine with a stiff follower spring -- hands Stewart ear protection, and steps back. He'll motion to Stewart to keep an earmuff off so he can talk until the shooting starts. "So 22:22 <Crion> first, I want you to take your time, aim the gun, and empty the magazine at the target down there, one at a time. We're not looking for accuracy here, or good form, really, though I'll help you with that -- I just want you to get used to what firing a gun feels like." 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart squares up, legs slightly apart, and holds the gun with both hands up at face-level and arms fully extended, and pulls the trigger once. 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Fucking OW-- 22:27 <Crion> Gerald doesn't laugh or smile at his misfortune; as long as Stewart doesn't physically drop the gun, he won't intervene until Stewart's either emptied the magazine or decided he wants to stop. 22:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't drop the gun, but he takes a few seconds before his next shot. And then again. And again. By the time he's done, his arms are sore from the shoulders to the wrists, but he gets the last three shots off without a pause in between. 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Ear protection off: "People do this for fun??" 22:29 <Crion> Has he re-engaged the safety? 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Yes! That's the one gun thing he was already taught. 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> By Gerald. 22:31 <Crion> Then Gerald is casual, and smiles for the first time since the shooting started. "Believe it or not, yes. We could have started you off with a .22SR pistol, but since you already have your own I figure you might as well get used to it on its own terms. While training with low recoil guns can feel better, it can give you some bad habits in terms of grip and posture that lead to bad aim or 22:31 <Crion> joint soreness down the line. Speaking of which..." 22:37 <Crion> He spends the next five to ten minutes adjusting Stewart's stance, demonstrating with his own gun the proper way to hold and look down the sights of the pistol; whereas Stewart was kind of doing the cop stance from all the movies -- it's called the Weaver stance, apparently -- Gerald has him turn a bit more, lock his firing arm instead of leaving it bent, use his firing arm sort of like a 22:37 <Crion> rifle stock by pressing his cheek to it to aim, and having a more exaggerated bend in his non-dominant arm since the gun's now off to a side rather than in the middle of his body. This should make the recoil easier to handle and control, and locking the joint should actually help disperse the force of the shot, leading to less soreness. 22:37 <Crion> Or so Gerald says. It's still a handgun. 22:38 <Crion> He'll have Stewart reload the gun for the first time, then go through the second magazine with his new stance, from memory. 22:41 <VoxPVoxD> It's hard to tell if this is helping, but that might just be because his arms are already a little sore. They don't feel much more sore after this clip is empty, which also takes significantly less time. Safety on, ear protection off, left cheek slightly reddened from being pressed into his left arm: "How was that?" 22:44 <Crion> Gerald nods. "Good form." He's still not concerned about accuracy. When the range is safe again, he crosses his arms. "You're going to be sore a bit the first few times, but you'll get used to it quickly enough. My main question now is, really, one you need to ask for yourself: how much do you want to commit to this? Is this a last-ditch defensive weapon that only comes out in a home invasion? 22:44 <Crion> If so, I might advise you get rid of the handgun and we train you on a shotgun with a stock. Less accuracy needed, less bullet penetration so people the next apartment over don't get through-shots, much more stopping power. Or is this going to become part of your standard Hedge kit?" 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've been walking around as if summoning a thunderstorm that will indiscriminately try to kill everyone but me was a workable plan. And it's just not, for the situations I end up in. Either I'm in the Hedge with the others or I'm in the city with bystanders, or Lauren. I'm not trying to become a backup Gerald but Fae Cunning only protects *me*, and if someone's hunting me and 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> of a mind to hurt me... or hurt someone else... then it's just a matter of time until I'm slow or late." 22:51 <Crion> Gerald nods. "Right. Sensible." Then, wryly: "...I think Stu's already got the backup Gerald position locked down anyway." 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah? So he's really taking to it, then." 22:52 <Crion> He nods. "Still doesn't want to have anything in the house other than the shotgun, and he's still a bit leery about that. But he's had range time on some of the longer rifles, and he's a natural for it. Not sure if that's...you know. A thing we have. I somewhat doubt it." 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't know. I mean sample sizes and all, but of the three of you guys I know anything about, one's a firefighter, one's a tier one operator, and one's a professional athlete. Maybe it is a thing." 22:57 <Crion> Gerald: "You know, Bob made a joke about that once. Fetches are jocks, changelings are nerds, it's why we're predisposed not to get along. Even so I think the other reasons are more convincing." 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...yeah." 23:00 <Crion> "Alright. So, we're sticking with the Glock, and we're going for everyday carry and use. No trick shots, no long-distance pinpoint target shooting, no special hunting nonsense. Bullets in center mass on human beings." He pauses. "Maybe we'll do some hunting stuff after all. They do like to look like wolves from time to time. But that's later." 23:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. 23:03 <Crion> "For now, we're going to keep that target right where it is, and we're going to move to focusing on accuracy." 23:03 <Crion> "Let's go through your two magazines one more time with some fresh paper out there, look at the results, talk about them, then call it a day." 23:03 <VoxPVoxD> "Okay." 23:05 <Crion> When the range is clear, Gerald goes out and switches the papers, nodding to himself. "Good. Now do it again." 23:07 <VoxPVoxD> It's loud and heavy and it still stings, but Stewart takes to this pretty quickly himself. 23:09 <Crion> He brings the second paper back. The results look pretty similar on the hits...decent but not tight groupings. "These are the same," he says, touching them. "But these...these are different." He taps some of the misses. On the first one, they're a lot more scattered; his second not only has the ones on the sheet closer, but it has fewer complete misses. 23:09 <Crion> "This is good work. Maybe it's not just Stu." 23:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Can I ask you a question?" 23:10 <Crion> Gerald. "Sh--" 23:10 <Crion> "Go ahead." 23:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "When, uh, when the King got back. How long did it take for you guys to..." 23:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Feel... normal around each other." 23:16 <Crion> Gerald: "...Not until I was all the way out of the service, and not until after our parents died." He pauses. "They never knew. He still got to see them, you know -- he only had to change his Mask a little bit, to look like me. So I'd get some holidays, and he'd get others. You see the movie The Prestige?" 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "About the magicians?" 23:18 <Crion> "Yeah." 23:19 <Crion> "If you have, you know where I'm going with this. The bit where twin brothers are pretending to be one guy, married to one woman. And they look exactly the same, and she doesn't believe they're different people on a conscious level, but she can tell -- some days her husband loves her, and some days he's just pretending." 23:20 <Crion> Gerald grimaces. "Thankfully I never got married. So it never went that far. But while they never knew, in a way, they could tell." 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah." 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Like... I don't really... want that stuff back. I'm fine, honestly, not seeing my parents anymore, and Stu's got an entire job and set of friends and life that I couldn't handle and wouldn't like." 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> "But it's still-- and he's felt like shit for so long, just for being the one who lived. I can't put that on him. I can't put it on him." 23:23 <Crion> "You didn't put it on him, and you can't take if off him, either." He pauses. "You can help make it fit easier, then. Not easy. Easier. After they passed, we didn't have to trade off an identity anymore. We could be each other, not just to each other but to everyone else. That helped. And he took over as King from old Ten-Pound Crowley, which brought me sort of, into the freehold. Which was 23:23 <Crion> good socially." 23:24 <VoxPVoxD> "Ten-Pound Crowley." 23:24 <VoxPVoxD> "Man every day I spend in this freehold I get madder at myself for not working harder on my new name." 23:24 <Crion> Gerald chuckles. "Apparently it's in reference to the currency, not the weight measure." 23:25 <Crion> "And it was originally an insult." 23:25 <Crion> "You know. Cheap knock off wizard." 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right." 23:26 <Crion> "Well." He stands. "Good work today. I'll get you set up with a range pass if you want to come out here yourself, or you can find a range of your own and expense it. But you should shoot once every couple weeks, if you don't get active service in." 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thanks for your help." 23:28 <Crion> "Not a problem. You ever want me to come out and teach you longer distance shooting or move up to rifles, let me know." 23:28 <Crion> He'll pack up and head out now unless Stewart's got other questions. 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Well... 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> ...nah. Nah, that's enough for Gerald tonight. And for Stewart.