mickilennial
AlteredTundra
BlazingBark
TokyoPewPew
Lemons
Carlyle
Majoraa
DruSM157
Anime_Freak
Phase
PERCY
HANGAR, NEW ANCHORAGEWhen everyone who was harassing him had finally left the hangar to do their own thing, he just stood there, continuing to stare at the junked NC in front of him, running over everything that was said in his mind. He didn't want to admit they were all right as he logicked away all of their criticisms on him.
He was not a wretched human being; he wasn't sadistic and kicking puppies, or kidnapping people. Or worse. He's not a coward; they have no idea how scary it is being a single father for the first time. Ana's not drawn to NCs, she knows it's dangerous, she knows the surgery is painful. He's not a coward. He is NOT a COWARD. Stupid? Definitely. You have to be to think you could just do this and be done with it. Insane? Probably will be before long. Scared? Yes. But there's a difference between being a coward and afraid. He could feel the anger start coming back, but it wasn't directed at any one person. He was more angry at the whole situation than any one person. He let out a huff of breath and went to the first place he could think of to blow off steam.
FIRING RANGE, NEW ANCHORAGE
As Percy got the targets he planned on unleashing his frustrations set up, he noticed Jingo starting to leave the range with some woman he wasn't sure if he knew or not. He frowned slightly - having a little friendly competition with Jingo would've been nice. He shrugged the thought away. No big deal, really; and took the pistol that belonged to him from the rack. He would have put it in his room, but decided that, since he didn't have a safe or anything, it'd be dangerous to keep it in the room with Ana. Even if she knows that firearms aren't toys, Percy didn't want to tempt fate and walk into his room and see-
No. Don't even go there.
He allowed himself a few moments to calm down before, after checking to make sure nobody was down-range, he brought the pistol's sights up to where he could line them up. The pilot then steadied his breathing in an attempt to steady his aim. Bullseye. As he breathed out, he smoothly and firmly pulled the trigger.
Not a bullseye. Close, though. Very close.
He couldn't really enjoy his accomplishment though, because he had a ringing in his ears that made it hard to focus; he forgot earplugs. Fucking idiot. He set the pistol down, barrel down-range, then stepped away so he could give his ears time to stop ringing.
God damn it I can't even do this right. What the fuck is my deal?
Percy huffed as he snatched up a pair of earplugs as the ringing ceased and put them in. He squinted and leaned towards the target to see where the bullet had landed exactly - it was just in the white, but very close to the red dot in the middle. He couldn't surpress the little grin on his face, dumb mistake of earplugs forgotten - he still had it.
With a touch of newfound confidence, he emptied the majority of his ammunition into the target, leaving five rounds in the chamber for a bit of reckless fun. He held the gun one-handed, looked through the sight, then fired off five rounds in quick succession, aiming for the head pictured on the target. Three hit, two missed. Percy just couldn't keep his big dumb grin from showing. He could do this right, at least. He was tempted to go for another round, but decided against it. As fun as it was, he was starting to feel like he left Ana alone for too long. Dinner was just around the corner anyway.
As Percy turned, he stopped as he noticed a woman about 5’8” with hair of crimson leaning against the wall that had been behind him— had she been watching him?
He felt his face flush red, hoping this woman didn't see that reckless one-handed gunplay he did. He didn't need to get reprimanded over that too, for God's sake. He tried not to think too much about it as he put away the pistol and started to walk past her.
As Percy exited the room— she did the same as was obvious by the echoing footsteps behind him. Once they were outside the loud clattering of gunshots of the firing range she only then spoke. “You aren’t awful, you know.”
The pilot stopped again, turning to look at her, unable to hide the uncertainty in his expression. Where was this coming from? "What do you mean?"
“I mean if you actually, you know, aimed, you might be pretty decent with a handgun. Then again you didn’t exactly come here to shoot and hit something— you seem kind of out of it. Bad day?”
Percy shook his head, shrugged, then nodded, still not sure about whoever this woman is. She was just poking fun at him about what he was doing, but something about her intimidated him.. which didn't really surprise him, he was intimidated by every-fucking-body in here. They were either stronger, smarter, or just more able than he was or ever dreamed of being. "I guess you could say that," he replied.
“I’m no therapist, but you look like you could use some more stress relief than your little torrid affair with that handgun.” She chuckled, “When was the last time you let off some real steam?”
The pilot didn't want to think too much on how suggestive that sounded, but it was probably evident in his expression that he definitely took that the wrong way. He dared to glance down at her chest in that moment before looking back to her face to respond, "Just now. In the range. I feel better now than I did coming in, so, I mean-" he stole one more look without really thinking about it, "I'm good."
“I’m guessing you aren’t so good by how you’re window shopping right now. My eyes are up here.” Despite her words her expression didn't seem annoyed but rather giving the man a “really? you’re going to do that?” look and given her tone was a bit sarcastic it suggested she may have been slightly teasing the pilot.
I'm such a creep, Percy just kind of smiled sheepishly like he knew he was being inappropriate, but.. she was rather pretty, like Eli and Stein... or maybe that engineer. Kat? Percy got his head out of his fantasies so he could respond properly, "Do you have other ideas?"
“But I’ve just met you. That's rather forward of you to suggest.”
"No, no, wait, that's not- I didn't mean it like that," Percy said quickly, his face the color of a tomato now, "I didn't mean it like- I'm not like that!"
The red-haired woman shook her head as she began to laugh, obviously entertained by his nervousness. “Man, I have not seen someone buckle as fast as you in my life. Are you sure you don’t have more pent up stress now?”
There was a pause as she extended her hand. “I’m Rebecca, by the way.”
"Percy." The pilot took her hand and shook, praying his hand didn't feel gross.
“A pleasure.” She smirked before she broke hands, “I take it that you’re still getting a handle on things. You don’t seem the type to have volunteered for this sort of thing outright.”
"I didn't really intend to stay here for as long as I have, I mean..." Percy stopped there. How could he articulate his feelings about this place without sounding like a spineless wuss, exactly..? "I thought I could just do one thing and be done with it, have enough money to last.. Months? But I guess I didn't read the fine print, or hell broke loose, or something, but I was forced to stay in the game."
“You didn’t originally sign up to play soldier. In for a penny, in for a pound? I see.” She tilted her neck, “If you burned some of that fat I think a uniform would suit you. But I imagine you probably don’t want your wife to get jealous with you flirting with another girl.”
Percy froze up when Rebecca mentioned his wife. He opened his mouth to correct her, but he wasn't sure how without getting emotional.
“Unless you like wearing wedding rings as some sort of anti-establishment ironic statement. So, if that is the case never mind then.” She added before he could make for a reply to her statement.
Percy just kind of laughed at that, "Yeah, uh.. I guess." He looked at the rings that he wore on his left hand, focusing maybe a little too hard on them to seem normal to Rebecca. Before she could comment on how weird it was, he decided he'd just be honest about it - he saw no reason not to be. "My wife isn't around anymore," he explained, his words coming out a bit slower than they were previously.
“I’m sorry about that. The world is a… cruel place.” She frowned.
"It's fine," was all Percy could manage to say. Really, it wasn't fine. If she was still here maybe things would be different. Ana would have a good mother. He'd have the closest friend he'd ever had back. Maybe he'd stop being so afraid of Ana getting hurt. Her death couldn't be used against him by a jackass commander-
“I’ve got to go. The higher brass needs to have a chat with me about my responsibilities on-base, apparently. Though I meant what I said earlier— you need to release the rest of your stress. Later!”
The red-haired woman bolted down the corridors without another word.
Did she just suggest I hook up with her?!