X Marks the Spot

The lollipop stick sticking out of Karma's mouth switched from one side to the other as her hands worked, piecing together the monstrous weapon she'd decided to specialize in. Nolan hadn't let her actually shoot it until she had known the mechanisms inside and out, and could put it together with her eyes closed. Sliding on the scope, Karma twisted the rifle this way and that, her eyes searching for imperfections. When she found none, and was quite satisfied with what she had in her hands, she began loading it with trained patience. Once that was done, she did a final examination of the weapon and grinned.

It was ready.

Lying down on the ground - heedless of the dirt or how it stuck to her clothes - she brought the rifle up and gazed through the scope, aiming around before stopping when she found the target she'd placed. It was maybe 75 meters away from her position, and it looked kind of small through the scope, but she lined up her shot anyway, positioning it to his the target in the middle of its paper forehead.

Adjusting the shot slightly for the wind, she took a deep breath through her nose, the lollipop stick switching sides again. As she exhaled, she pulled the trigger.

She barely reacted to the loud sound, nor to the slight kick the gun gave. She merely lined up the shot again and looked.

The bullethole was through where the nose would have been. Not good enough.

She lined up another shot, pausing to reload before shooting again.

The empty bottles stacked next to her betrayed her - she wasn't using her powers.

---

[OOC: Gun]

Spoiler:

Outfit!

Curiosity was a very dangerous thing. Ksenia realised that a few years ago herself. The young witch kept too many of her own secrets to not realise that some needed to be kept hidden somewhere deep underground in order not to cause any harm, to the the people who actually kept those secrets as well as people who sought to find those secrets.

In a place like the Mafia Mansion she knew that she should be very careful. She already spent one summer in their library searching for something that she did not find, but uncovering a lot of information in the process which included information on her father's side of the family that she had no idea about before. And that was meant to be like that for a reason. The Slushatel was starting to understand more and more about how this place functioned every day.

The reason she found herself at the Mafia training ground was quite simple. It was not simple curiosity that brought her there. She came there to learn something. To observe the best masters of combat there were. Ksenia hasn't convinced herself fully yet of the fact that she needed to learn the art of fighting and hoped that the visit to the training grounds would make her decide faster.

It was after a meeting with Azazel where he wanted to find out more about a particular piece of information that she had reported on earlier that week and give her further instructions concerning it that Ksenia made her way to the grounds of the Manor. Quite happy that the manwhore of a new guard was not following her here, the witch was in higher spirits then usual when she spotted the only person training.

Ksenia stopped about ten feet behind the girl with the gun, watching her silently. She stood unobserved as the weapon fired a few times, hitting the target, her calculating eyes taking everything in.

"It's impolite not to say hello to someone when you arrive." Karma observed dryly, spitting out her lollipop stick and replacing it with a new one as she reloaded. She didn't spare a glance at the girl, instead looking through the scope again and aiming at a target further away. She took a deep breath once more, acknowledging the new scent of Ksenia and the training ground around them. She tossed a lollipop behind her toward the girl in greeting, lining up the shot at the target's head.

She pulled the trigger on her exhale, growing more accustomed to the kick of the weapon and lining it back up faster.

It had hit the target through its forhead, a clean shot, all the way through. She grinned around her lollipop and glanced up at the girl for the first time. "Hey."

"Well it's rather hard to greet someone when you know that half of your sentence is going to be drowned out by the sound of the next shot," Ksenia remarked rather drily. She was surprised when she recognised Karma in the girl in front of her. Although by this point she knew that she shouldn't be surprised by anything.

The Slushatel caught the candy that was flying at her, taking a few moments to observe what it actually was. She never had one of those before. Must have been a muggle sweet. Though she would never have been one to try something like that, the girl proffered chocolate to any other kind of sweet any day, she decided to try this one. She would be facing a lot of new things and experiences in this place. Why say no to a small candy? Unwrapping it, Ksenia placed the lollipop in her mouth. A slight sound of approval escaped her closed lips as the taste overcame her mouth.

"Hey," she said in return, her voice devoid of any judgement that had been present during their previous meetings. There were a lot of layers to the girl in front of her, just like there were a lot of layers to herself. "I haven't seen you around here before."

"I'm officially the Carde heir." she said, taking her eyes off of Ksenia to examine her weapon. "I was adopted." She sat up from her lying position, holding the rifle in her hands once more. She flicked the lollipop back and forth with her tongue, causing the stick to switch sides a few times before coming to a stop on the right. She started dismantling it again, as she was ordered to do after every three shots. Once the peices lie before her on the grass, she paused to reach for her napsack, pulling out a box of ammunition, and a seperate, simply wrapped gift.

"I got you something for Christmas." She said, holding it out to her. "From girl to girl." She winked at her before beginning her reconstruction of the gun, not looking up. "You know how we need protection, and we can't always depend on the boys to do it - I'm not a damsel, and I figure you aren't either." The fully reconstructed gun was lighter in her hands now that she'd used it a few times, and she twisted it this way and that in contemplation.

"I'll even show you how to use it, if you want."

---

Gift:

Spoiler:

"So that means I will be seeing you more of you?" Ksenia raised an eyebrow as a smirk played on her lips. The least benefit she would get from seeing more of the half-vampire girl was having a little fun, which she didn't do very often. And she was sure that there was potential for plenty more there. "How is Nolan treating you?" she asked, more out of politeness than anything else.

"Oh," the Slushatel said as she took the gift. quite surprised to receive it. "Thank you," she said as she unwrapped the paper. A sliver knife slipped into her hand as the wrapping fell away. She chuckled slightly at the other girl's words. "No damsels in this place. But the boy don't necessarily need to know that," she smirked slightly as she examined the blade more closely.

"Thank you for the gift. It was quite unexpected," she said as she met Karma's gaze. "I am afraid I do not have anything to give you in return. For now."

"You know I have been contemplating to start learning some defensive skills," Ksenia said, continuing to study the weapon, feeling it's weight in her hand.

"As well as can be expected." Karma said, setting the gun back into its stand and laying next to it. She peeked down the scope. "Training's crazy, but I can already feel myself getting stronger." She grinned around her lollipop and carefully scanned the horizon for the last target. "I'll show you how to use it in a second... I've only got one more... King Carde hid it..." She fell silent, searching for the target as Ksenia kept speaking.

She made a small noise of agreement, still searching. Nolan's only words had been 'check the horizons'....

She paused as she saw it, a small target, impossibly far away. The stick went back and forth across her mouth a few times as she focused, noting with an increasing amount of appreciation that not only was the target half-behind a tree, but it was also upside-down. Nolan only found Headshots acceptable...

"Shhh..." She hummed at Ksenia, focusing in on the difficulty of the shot. To hit the target directly on the forehead, that close to the ground, over this long of a distance.... She adjusted the shot for gravity, then slightly to the left for wind. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she allowed herself to recognize everything, Ksenia, the knife, a newer scent she'd get to later...

On her exhale, she squeezed the trigger.

It barely kicked at all.

She realigned the gun in order to see, and grinned. "Headshot." She said happily, before pulling back slightly and reaching for another water bottle. She downed it quickly, drinking it dry. The slightly enhanced senses she'd been getting back disappeared, as did some of her restless energy. She'd have to go on a run soon.

She sat back and began dismantling the gun, sliding the scope off and holding it up to Ksenia. "Check it out. Due west, 11 o clock." She continued pulling it apart, carefully stowing it away in a silver suitcase that fit all the parts quite nicely, then slid the suitcase into her knapsack, heedless of the fact it shouldn't fit in there. She had many other things in there as well.

Standing and brushing herself off, she held her hand out to Ksenia, grinning. "Sorry for not introducing myself properly the first time. I was researching." She shrugged her knapsack over one shoulder, the other strap hanging limply.

"King Carde?" Ksenia couldn't help, but grin at the girl's words. It was not something she did very often. "He seems to be doing a good job with you," she said as she observed the girl's shots. The last target was hard to see, she had to squint her eyes to actually notice it far from the others. "From what I have seen of him he is an interesting man" she said.

The Slushatel stood still, the wind blowing her robes around her feet. It felt surprisingly calm to be standing at the edge of a shooting range. The girl stopped talking for a moment as Karma focused on her target. The lollipop slid into her mouth once again before the gun fired.

She laughed at the girl's pronouncement, infected by some of her happiness. "Very nice. Quite precise. Do they like creativity in this sort of business?" she asked.

She took the scope, lining it up to her right eye as she turned slightly to face the direction that Karma had indicated. "I believe that is the gardener," she drawled as she continued to observe the man. "He really could use some lessons in coordination," she stated. He looked so weak compared to the other people of this Mansion. She shook her head slightly as she removed the scope from her face.

"Its quite alright. You can never tell who you can run into in a shop. Here, however, is quite a different context," the girl grinned in return as she shook the other's hand.

"Not as interesting as you might think," Nolan remarked as he strolled toward the two girls along the stone path lining the training grounds, "I hear you've officially joined our ranks. Congratulations."

His attention turned to Karma, and to the number of empty bottles stacked next to her, and mentally shrugged. Chances were, this would only make her stronger, "In my opinion, guns are one of the few muggle inventions that isn't completely useless. If anything, you can't say they aren't remarkable fun."

He looked at his apprentice with a hint of fondness decorating his features, "You seem to have a knack for them. Your marksmanship is excellent."

Karma laughed and gently adjusted where Ksenia was looking. "That is 1 o clock. I said 11." She directed the girl's attention to the target she'd just shot, shrugging. "Creativity ends up in everything I do anyway. Makes everything more fun, you know?" She grinned, cocking an eyebrow at the girl. "Gotta make being forced to do things fun somehow you know?"

"Context smon-text. I happen to be the same where ever I go." She grinned, before waggling her eyebrows. The question on her lips was interrupted by Nolan's entrance, and she grinned slightly, the look in her eyes promising Ksenia they'd talk more later.

Her eyes sparkled the slightest bit at Nolan's praise, but other than a small smile she made no other show of emotion. "Thank you." She said, resisting the urge to bounce on the balls of her feet. She really did need that run soon. Her energy was skyrocketing. "Will we be moving on to different types of guns next?" She asked curiously. "After I master the Sniper Rifle?"

Ksenia sighed slightly as the other girl corrected her. She really was not used to this time of work and theory was quite different to practice as she found out. "Yes, I have to agree. People who try to force me to do something do not fare very well generally."

She shook her head slightly. "I did not mean who your personality, I meant how much you are willing to trust a person, how reliable they are," she explained. It was extremely hard for her to trust a person that she knew close to nothing about. Jaelyn was the only exception from that, but she had known the girl for more than three years, ever since the Hitorst started studying at Durmstrang.

She turned when she heard as someone approached them. "Well that depends on what you actually see, doesn't it Mr Carde?" Ksenia said, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Thank you," she nodded her head politely. "Though it was more of an unofficial development," she said. She was certain that many were thrilled when they got the offer to join the Mafia, in her case however, she already had strong ties to it even before she was offered a job and while she was happy that she received the offer it was not as a significant change as it would have been to others.

Nolan nodded to Karma, "You can choose a new one tomorrow." He surveyed the dummies strewn across the field, "Just to get the practice in, why don't you try for some of the major organs? I'm assuming you're familiar with their location in the body?"

He turned to the other girl, "Well, I suppose perspective does play a part in it, but that's true with just about anything."

"In any case, at least Azazel will be off your case now that you're an active member of the organization. Any successful missions yet?"

Karma's focus went back to the dummies, and then her kit was out of her bag, and her gun was being reconstructed. Her hands moved over the familiar weapon with ease, clicking everything into its proper position before checking it, making sure that it was properly built. She returned to her position on the ground, eyeing the targets before turning her gaze through the scope. Her lollipop switched sides again, left then right then left again, then she was pulling the trigger, feeling little to no kick from the giant gun. She looked back through the scope, pleased to see that her shot had hit exactly where she'd aimed for - the left lung of the target.

She grinned, before going back to the half-hidden target, focusing on that instead. She took another deep breath as she aimed, exhaling as she pulled the trigger. When she checked, the bullet had chiped the bark of the tree, but still hit its target. Directly in the middle of the heart.

Smirking now, around the lollipop that was slowly dissolving in her mouth, she sat up a bit, glancing up at Nolan to gauge his reaction. The look was casual, more like waiting for further instructions than anything else.

"Not yet," Ksenia shook her head slightly, calmly as she continued to watch Karma. "You can never predict anything when it comes to Azazel," she said frowning slightly. Still, her demeanor remained calm as she watched the targets. She was not sure what it was about this place that put her in this mood. Perhaps it was the knowledge that the people here could protect her from just about anything.Or perhaps it was just her being feeding on the energy, on the emotions, that flowed through this place. This was where she belonged.

Nolan's eyes immediately focused on the small mark on the side of one of the trees. "Well, you hit them. Whoever it is is certainly dead by now. But bullets almost always travel in straight lines. Hit anything but your target in that one shot and any experienced marksman could find your exact location. Of course, I'm sure you won't make the same mistake again. You may end your training for today."

He looked at Ksenia out of the corner of his eye, once again analyzing the girl, "No, I suppose you can't." He was, of course, talking about her and not himself. Know a person well enough and you can predict just about any of their actions. Even Azazel.