2020-04-03 - Guns Go Pew Pew

Bennie literally squeed when she opened the package from Easton at the Firehouse, making everyone obligatorily ooh and aah as she twirled around clutching the blue dress (whether they liked it or not). Date night was so on.

Then why isn't she wearing the dress or the dangly earrings as she walks into the apartment? Granted she's carrying the dress on a hanger, just in case, but it seems the Blonde had a sudden dose of inspiration before it came time for their shenanigans. "Okay, so don't kill me..." Which is probably not the way to start out Date Night?

Easton is dressed! He's learned his lesson that Date Night doesn't actually happen if he's still in a state of semi-dress when Bennie walks in that door. And so he's on the couch with Gunner under his legs which are propped up on the cardboard box coffee table. He really should replace that. On the TV is some sports highlight show with hockey highlights currently playing.

Looking up from his place on the couch he raises his eyebrows that she's not wearing the dress, but she has it. See? Dangerous because there's that whole undressing step thing that happens.. "I promise to not kill you." He gives her a suspicious look though as to why that's on the table tonight.

"I can totally go and change real quick and we can go do normal happy couple things. Just say the word, and boom! I'll go change." Which isn't really getting to the murder part yet, but Bennie gets there eventually. She's wearing her dark blue work pants and boots with white tank top, so whatever she has in mind doesn't call for heels, but no doubt those are in her purse too, just in case. "But. What if we hop in the jeep, head out to the woods, and you teach me how to shoot?"

Easton's look at her from under quirked brow goes more curious as she starts off with option A of a traditional date. But then his eyes light up and he is on his feet with an "Oh fuck yes!" He carefully steps over Gunner and bumps the American flag on the wall that drops down. He can't decide between pulling off his dress shirt or picking guns, he's too excited. "I love this idea." He wiggles his fingers in front of the array of weapons before selecting an over under shotgun, a nice light 9mm and a .22 pistol as well, setting them on the box and nodding at them and then looking up to Bennie with a big grin, starting to unbutton his dress shirt.

Bennie looked a little trepidatious, like he might refuse, but when he rising so quickly she gives a little, "Yeah?" Like, 'this is a good idea?' And then he's going so exuberantly for the guns her smile beams wide. "Yeah, okay! Great!" She's laying her dress over the back of one of the counter chairs and busies herself by pulling her hair up into a ponytail while he picks out their arsenal. "I just thought, after the other night...well. I just thought we could bond while I also learn to protect myself a little bit better. Without risking Dark Men wrath."

"Babe, I would feel so much better if you knew how to shoot. But I didn't want to push it because I get that not everyone is all 'yay, guns' but ..." He looks at her somberly for a minute and then grins, "Yay! Guns!" He heads to the bedroom where he changes in near record time into a soft fleece over a pair of canvas work pants, carrying a bag. He loads up the guns and says, "Did you want to grab burgers on the way out?" Who needs fancy dinners when you can grab burgers and shakes and shoot things? Not Easton. He does offer a slightly more serious, "And if you decide you'd rather just have a taser, just know I'm fine with that." It's good to show that you're open minded and willing to compromise in a relationship he's heard.

"Okay. Only one rule. No yelling at me or I might accidentally shoot you in the foot. And I totally already got a taser from the station house." Presumably from across the hall at the PD. "I'd how it to you, but again. Might accidentally shoot you in the foot. Or worse. A bajillion volts to your baby maker is not a good start to Date Night." Bennie holds open her purse, creating an opening for him. "Burgers, shakes, the whole nine yards. Okay, load me up baby. Make fun of my purse all you want, but I can fit at least two cartels in here."

"Okay, no Marine voice tonight. Got it." Easton readily agrees to not yell at her while she wields loaded firearms. He grabs a box of Captain Crunch from the kitchen, flips it open and shakes his head before putting it back for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Kix and Frosted Flakes. He puts the two pistols in her purse, "Please not doing things with weapons to my guy parts, but I'm gonna have to ask for a rename on baby maker because big ol' nope on that." He puts the shotgun and ammo in the duffel bag he brought out and leads her outside. "We'll start small, just a little twenty two that can barely stop a very angry squirrel. And then we'll work up to the shotty."

"Hey. It has the potential to make babies. Not our babies, but some babies! Wait. Strike that. I don't want you to become a sperm donor either. I've seen too many movies where all of a sudden dozens of pretty eyed children with perfect abs show up on your door step calling you daddy. Man bits it is." Bennie locks up the apartment door, do-do's to the elevator music and down at the care something strikes her. "This is Gray Harbor. Angry Squirrels are bound to happen."

There are burgers. Fries. At least one black and white shake. Easton gets away with it by eating like a weird fitness person most of the time. But he mows down the food as they drive out to the trail and by the time they are unpacking the bags from the Jeep he's quite full and ridiculously happy. He hefts the duffel bag and sips at his milkshake as they start up the trail. "You've shot a gun before though, right?" He is pretty sure she has? Maybe. "I mean, at least a paintball one, but also like a real one too?" He walks close to her, their shoulders bumping as the walk along the trail.

Thank heavens they started running in the morning so Bennie didn't feel guilty about heaping fries onto her burger before chowing down. That and she has a terribly physical job. So that side of onion rings she also had doesn't count, right? "A rifle?" Bennie offers of her shooting experience. "I used to go hunting with my dad, until he got tired of me crying every time we actually managed to clip anything. Which thankfully wasn't often? And laser tag totally doesn't count, right? But I promise not to make pew pew noises. Much."

"I will not hold pew pew noises against you, I promise. But if you have shitty trigger discipline or point anything in my direction, I reserve the right to bust you back down to a bb gun." He gives her a sideways look that shows he is very serious about that. "And I think it's adorable that you'd cry if you hit anything hunting. For the record." He didn't exactly grow up hunting, unless you count upland bird hunting. (ie rich people hunting) Coming to a spot in the woods he sets things out and walks her through the finer points of loading the 22 pistol, checking the safety, understanding what having a round in the chamber means. He stands behind her to show her the right stance, his body pressed against hers, "So just nice even breath, relaxed wide knees, and you are just giving the trigger a gentle squeeze, not pulling hard. It's barely any force." He takes a step back and says, not as loudly as he might otherwise, "Aaand, send it."

"It's not adorable!" Bennie squeaks, "It's traumatizing! But wouldn't you know, half the time when we got up on the felled animal, the damn thing would just get up and run off." Bennie grins impishly then, no doubt some childhood glimmer use involved long before she ever realized what it was. "Those ones I secretly named."

The blonde gives a little bob of her head, ponytail wagging as he mentions weapon discipline. "Don't point the business end at anything I'm not willing to shoot, and don't put my finger on the trigger until I'm ready to pull it."

A deep breath taken, neck loosened as he steps behind her, unable to stop herself from quipping. "I suddenly get the appeal." As she wiggles into nearness of his frame, only a bare nod as he tells her too 'send it'.

"It's adorable trauma though." Easton counters with a smile and then laughs at the tale of the 'amazing recovery' of some of the prey.

"Oooh look at you with knowing some good foundational things." Yes they sound like the rules you would explain when bringing a kid hunting, but they are very true and many adults would do well to remember them in Easton's opinion. As she readies and fires off a few rounds he stays nearby, just a few feet away. He grins proudly at her shots and says, "There ya go. Nice and easy." He offers, "Why don't you finish out the magazine and then we can move up to something bigger." With a mischievous grin he admits, "I may or may not need a video of you shooting a shotgun... for reasons."

"It feels so...weird." Bennie admits as the gun barely twitched in her hands, "Like something that feels like nothing could literally stop a life." A little unsettled, she gives a wiggle again, this time settling into her spin before glancing over her shoulder with just her head, not pivoting her gun towards Easton, just her face. "You mean for your spank bank, don't you. I mean, if that's the case I should've brought some lingerie and posed with an AR." She smiles and then turns back to the tree she's using as a target, and fired off a few more rounds before she stops suddenly with a yelp. "Hot brass in the cleavage! Hot brass in the cleavage!" And sure enough she's shaking out her shirt to try to get one of the expelled shells to fall out.Not wearing a low-scooped shirt should have been part of the briefing.

"It's just a twenty-two, you could probably take like five or six shots from that and still keep going." It is not exactly a 'stopping power' gun by any means but a headshot is still a headshot. He grins when she references posing in lingerie with an AR. "I wouldn't hate some boudoir shots of you and firearms babe." The yelp though gets his attention and he's there to gently take the gun away so that she doesn't loose track of it in doing what's necessary to get the burning hot casing out of her shirt. He does his best not to laugh and says "That's why I stopped shooting naked." No, not really.

"You ready to move up to a nine mil? Or straight to the shotty? Or do you need a break?"

Bennie relinquishes the gun easy enough, glad to have a second hand free to fish down her tank top and presumably into her bra until she finds the culprit, holding it up between forefinger and thumb by pinching the ends between them. "I'm totally trusting you to kiss this and make it better later." Palmed and then pocketed, she gives a little shrug. "Gimme whatcha got, baby. Let's see what I can handle!"

"A duty I will be all too happy to perform. Again. And Again."

Easton forgoes the Glock for now, she already seems comfortable enough with a pistol honestly. She did just fine and a little bit more kick is probably not going to be much of a big deal in his mind. So he pulls out the shotgun and cracks it open. He snags some slugs and shows her how to load them in. "So a shotgun is a fantastic gun for stopping just about anything at a nice close range. It'll punch a hole right through a door if you need to." He instructs her on how to close and cock the gun. "And this is going to have a lot more kick so brace it against your shoulder, bend your knees slightly it's going to want to push you on your ass, don't let it."

The heavier weapon placed in her hands, Bennie seems definitely Less Comfortable, not only because of the weight of the shotgun, but the power that he's telling her she now wields. She braces herself like she's told, putting the butt up against her shoulder and lifting the long barrel to aim down range. He warned her about the kick, but she clearly wasn't ready for it, because as she pulls the trigger she makes a little Meep! sound instead of a Pew! followed by a much more muted, "Ow." Of pain as from her shoulder jerking backwards. Probably not the sexy video he had in mind? "Yeah. Don't like this one." She says, but pulls the trigger again to the satisfying splinter of wood in the distance. "So. Is now the time to confess I had an ulterior motive for wanting to do this?"

"That's okay.." Easton reassures her when she gets taken by surprise. He probably should have shot it first to show her just how much it was going to push back. But he smiles when she goes back for more. He takes the gun from her and picks up the shell casings but stops when she confesses to an ulterior motive. "I think now's a good time?" He looks around as if expecting someone else to disagree, "Unless you are going to tell me- " He starts to crack some joke about something outlandish and terrible but stops, something in her posture and tone quieting him for once.

"Sorry" He looks at her earnestly, "What's up?"

It's not that Bennie's holding herself tense and serious, because once he takes the gun from her hands, her weight shifts to one hip and her thumbs hook in the pockets of her utility pants. There's a coy bite to the corner of her lower lip, and her elbows swing back and forth slightly as the toe of her boot worries into the ground in an almost cartoonish look flirtation. "I was sort of hoping to see you shoot again? I was kicked up on adrenaline the other night, but...babe, the way you handled things? Was kinda hot."

Easton's face is contorted into a questioning look while she toes the earth. But then she asks him that and his eyebrows shoot up. "Oh yea?" He takes the shotgun and loads in two rounds before grabbing it by the pump and jacking it up and down in the most ridiculously unnecessary and great way to cock it. He then pulls a beer out of his pocket... which what? It's a thing. He throws that up into the air and blows it out of the air with the first shell, the second goes into a tree dead ahead. He then drops the gun, pulls the nine mill out of his waistband and advances on that same tree unloading a clip as he walks, reloads midstep and finishes off another without batting an eye.

With that little demonstration done, he walks back, pistol in his waistband and wraps his arms around her. "So uhh.. that do anything for you? Or is it only when I'm menacing the crap out of idiots who are dumb enough to mess with someone I love?"

Bennie doesn't even have time to wonder where that beer came from before it's being tossed in the air and picked from the sky like a clay pigeon, and then he's unloading the nine mill like that tree kidnapped his family and he has a particular set of skills. She's already nodding brainlessly as he approaches, before the question is even asked. Only adding verbal confirmation when he has her all wrapped up in his embrace. "Ooooh yeah." She's grinning from ear to ear as her arms sling around his neck, arms straight out behind him where she hooks her thumbs together. "Definitely got a tingle. I dunno how I got so lucky to find you, but I'm darn grateful you're on my side."

Easton grins and leans in to kiss her as she just nods with that slight dreamy look in her eyes that makes it clear she's into it. He kisses her hard but briefly before moving his mouth to her ear, his beard scratching against her face as he laughs, "I don't know how we found each other. I'm just glad we did." His hands roam over her back, lightly rubbing at her in the cooling evening air. He pulls his head back and says, "I've thought about it." It? He is apparently switching topics here, "I want to move in. I mean I know we haven't even figured out a place for you.. but.. I want to." He needed time before and he didn't want to jump in, but obviously somethings changed.

Bennie curls an arm, toying with the back of his hair through that firm kiss and lingering there on the back of his high and tight. At the mention of co-habitating again, officially, her eyes light up like he flicked on the high-beams. "Yeah? I mean, you're sure? I know we go back and forth a lot, but....yeah?" She looks so hopeful, not only for some permanence in her life instead of 'spending the night' between couch-surfing and the station, but for living with him again.

"Yes." Easton nods, firmly not taking his eyes off of her. "I'm starting to.. " He stops himself and just smiles, not wanting to get into it. Still. "I think it's time." There we go, much safer. He grins and says, "So maybe this weekend we can drive around and look at places?" He starts to pull back so that he can pick up the rest of the brass. As much as he likes shooting the way she's looking at him means he's not going to be able to focus on guns for much longer, nor is he going to want to.

"I still think one of those cabins sounds great?"

Bennie's eyebrows go up as he starts a sentence and switches half way through, curious but not pressing as to what he's 'starting to' do or think. "Okay." She says quietly, pleased and sated at the same time.

As he starts policing their brass, Bennie picks up the handguns and after a wiggle of her nose, ejects the cartridges and clears the chambers like he taught her to, to make sure they are quite unloaded before she stows them back in her purse. "The cute little A-Frames, or somewhere out by Ruiz and August so we always have a posse near by?" She grins, but then sobers a bit. "So, um. I'm going to have to play devil's advocate here. This ...does this have anything to do with Katherine?"

"I was thinking the A Frames but it would hardly be a bad idea to be close by Roen and De La Vega." He frowns a bit and says, "I also wouldn't mind a bit of land to do some shooting or stuff.. on." Like exploding things. With a grenade launcher! But that can come later. He answers quickly, "No." To the question about Katherine but then pauses and ammends, "Maybe." He shakes his head and says, "Not like that though. Just.. I want something with you that I didn't think was going to be possible." He stops and tilts his head, "I feel like I might have a future.. we might have a future."

It's amazing what clearing up some things from the past that are haunting you and getting out from under some addictions can help uncover.

Bennie pauses in tidying up from their lesson, resting back on her haunches with her rump perched on her boot heels. "Aw, babe!" Bennie tries to keep from gushing so the elusive Easton Emotional Turtle doesn't go back into his shell. "Does that mean..." There's that hopeful look in her eyes again. Uh-oh. "That we can get a brother or sister for Gunner? Maybe smaller dog this time though. Or a monkey! And don't forget my hammock, 'cuz my birthday is like super soon. I thought maybe ...oh hey, if we get a place out by De la la and August, we could have a party out in the woods there! Camping, bonfire..." Bennie starts rattling on about birthday plans, and fuzzy animals and basically talks Easton's ear off all the way home. Until he makes her shut up in the best possible way ever. Because that shooting was totally hot.