Dark Crow Rising

"Aaalright, Faaailed Delivery, pick thaaat ane an tap up. Daaamaaaged Returns, taaake ane af the athers." I quip to the pair as I lean against my musket. Waiting for them to get to it, I eye the crate as its lid is shoved carelessly to the ground with a thud.

"So now what?" the human asks as he points the barrel about. The barrel passes by me, right as his finger nears the trigger.

"Baaarrel dawn!" I snap, already infuriated by their lack of trigger discipline. Trying to force his finger up and away from it, I walk past the pair and pick up one for myself. I have yet to look them over and I might as well get to it now. At least here I can explain and show off my findings to the pair.

Whatever this brass-decorated weapon is, it is certainly no bolt-action smoothbore like my lifetime trusted friend. The customizability of the weapon is also quite limited, as such, I hate it immensely. A good weapon should at least offer some kind of modularity, like my good friend. But, I cannot deny that the weapon is still of a quality make, it is a trustworthy weapon.

Stepping away from the pair, I turn to the targets I had set up before. Lifting the barrel up, I inspect the stock and pick away at the ammo drum to loosen it. Snapping it out of its holdings, I twist the rather bulky disc about. I had my suspicions but seeing this just confirms it, it is a magic-based firearm.

The disc is framed by a dark material that seems to make everything around it darker. Across both of its faces are six circular, wide sockets that without a doubt rotated to feed the barrel. In the middle of the disc is a cog-like mechanism. Moving its weight around once again, I hook it and take it out of the weapon a couple more times.

Firmly placing it back in one final time, I move my hand away and towards me.

Rubbing the pad of my thumb along the rear-end slope that leads to the stock, I figure out how to hold it. Bracing the butt-end, inwards-going curve of the stock against my upper arm joint, I stare back at the five exposed sockets. Turning to one of the targets, I place my finger on the trigger once I finish fiddling with it. Firing it once, I adapt the way I hold it as while it is heavy, it lacks recoil completely.

Firing a second shot, I fire a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and a final tenth one. The disc rotates with a loud, distinct almost snap-like noise. Bringing my eye away from the sights, I look over the weapon and at the spent socket. Steam's escaping it and the air around it darkens as it takes in the nearby light.

"That was a lot of orange. Is this some kind of fire-shooter?" the human guesses incorrectly as I inspect the socket more closely. The area is brightening up again, but it's a slow process. Nodding to myself, I look up at the daylight and then at the mountain. A weapon that feeds itself with light is a terrible choice for our upcoming endeavour...

Admittedly, I can't fault the makers of the gun for building something like this when they live on mountaintops and plateaus. I could, though, still grumble over the fact this weapon will be nearly useless once it is spent outside of those places. Even if I give them the benefit of the doubt, that does not help me here. Sneering at an imaginary gunsmith, I walk towards the target.

"Na, Arbitaaal-Haaala gun. Shaats maaagicaaally cancentraaated light." I explain to the human as I put the hefty firearm down. Crouching before the crisped-up piece of airship hull, I inspect the burns. Confident that the heat is mostly gone, I run a paw along the soot and rub it between my finger pads. Letting chips of just melted metal fall from them, I get back up.

What the gun fires is actually quite useful. These superheated magic bolts will either cook the target to the melting point or cripple them reliably. I suppose it explains why I have come across several 'sib corpses with melted body parts. It makes me 'hmmm' out a thought and my left foot starts to bounce.

Six sockets with what seems to be ten shots before a rotation. Sixty shots of metal melting deliverance that comes with the benefit of also being an impromptu light source as well. However, reloading is a slow business, especially with these two clueless idiots. Either we go through the hive dangerously slow to allow the guns time to recharge and for them to reload...

Or we take all the guns with us and dump the spent ones.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head for the moment, I turn back to the pair, "Aaalright! I waaant yau twa ta hald thase guns up aaas if yau are aaabaut to fire."

The human does well enough, clearly, he has at least seen guns used before. The oxfuine, though, she is clueless and too prideful to even at least emulate the human. The human's grip is subpar, sure, the finer details are just not there at all. But at least he makes a point of holding it properly!

"Humaaan, staaart shaating the taaargets. Switch every secand shat." I say as I stand before the oxfuine, shaking my head as I do so. Watching them growl at me with a rising tail, I rub my lefthand's pads on the fur of my forehead.

"What? Got something to say?" she growls as she shows off her teeth. Plenty of sharp canine teeth are on display.

"Yes, tighten yaur grip." I say as I knock her gun to prove a point.

"Hey!" she lets out as she steps towards me.

"Tighten. Yaur. Grip." I reiterate to her.

"It is tight!" she lies before I slap it again.

"I waaant ta maaake sure yau knaw whaaat yau're daing. Paaay aaattentian." I groan as I am beholden to her continued stubbornness.

"Don't touch me..." she threatens as the gun is placed against my gut. Staring back into her eyes, I raise a brow.

"Paaay aaattentian." I say once again as she struggles to pull the trigger. Forcing it up by the disc, I flick and press what I need to and point it away. A bolt of orange bursts against the mountain's hide. Her eyes widen at its trail, then narrow at me.

"Don't touch me!" she hisses as she shoves me away with the gun. Rolling my eyes, I watch as she stands near the prone human. Which, when I am done with her, I will need to get that behaviour out of him. Possibly her, too.

"Hald the gun claser ta yaur chest. In aaa pasitian thaaat feels like yau cauld rest yaur chin an it." I explain to her as I pick up my musket so I can demonstrate with it. However, she keeps her eyes locked away from me and towards the target. Though, her weapon is not following her eyes, and it will be causing us issues...

"Why? All that matters is that the barrel is pointing at the bugs!" she sharply snaps before she starts to fire the heavy weapon. Snapping out of the way of the bolt with a raised blade, Vapooliar glances back at us.

"Aaapalagize." I demand the oxfuine to do.

"Sorry..." she mutters quietly as Vapooliar goes back to what I can only describe as a dance. Whatever it is, she's being very acrobatic and overall, she is just rubbing in her skills. Admittedly, the Valkinvar impresses me, she does impress me quite a lot. Thankfully, she passes no comment on the far-flung shot either.

"Aaas yau caaan see, it helps ta be aaable ta see where the shat might laaand." I point out as I approach the pair. Coming around on the oxfuine's right side, I grip the barrel of my gun with one paw while the other goes against my hip.

"Don't speak down to me, you're the one who made our targets smaller than the bugs themselves!" she whines.

"Yes, ignaring the missed shat. Da yau knaw why I maaade the taaargets smaaaller thaaan they aaare?" I ask as I take the moment to inspect the human's efforts thus far.

"To rub in how good you are in comparison to us!?" the oxfuinei exclaims with a quick groan as she throws her hands up.

Contemplating a non-confrontational answer, I keep my focus on the human. He isn't doing that bad all things considered. He's a bit slow on the target swapping, but his weapon is also far heftier with the internal-magic buff it got. The shots are also coming out with a domineering green tint, interestingly enough.

Twenty-one missed shots altogether, with about nine of them grazing the target.

"I maaade the taaargets smaaaller becaaause if yau caaan hit them reliaaably. Then yau'll hit the 'sibs even better." I explain to her as she looks away with a shaky nose and lips. Pointing a finger up at her, I make sure she understands completely that she is at fault. Regardless of the fact me and Paps made her but one more transaction. I owe her at the very least for the help she has given us thus far before the other two arrived.

I am able to look after Paps properly because of what she did after the 'sibs retreated to their mountain hive...

Keeping the stern gaze on her, I watch as her ears droop, "I'm sorry... I'll do as you say..."

"Gaad, capy him." I tell her for the moment as the human finishes emptying his weapon.

"I squeezed it dry." he comments as he tries to pass it to me for inspection. Placing a paw up, I let him keep the weight-buffed weapon.

"Yau getting the haaang af it?" I ask as he continues to move his grip about the weapon.

"I think? I've seen the guards back in Tobaballe use their guns before so I've been trying to copy them." he explains as he starts to fiddle with the disc. Pondering his strength, I look back at the gun-brimming crate.

"Haw maaany guns da yau think yau caaan caaarry?" I ask as I return my focus to him and the strength oozing from him so blatantly.

"In my hands?" he asks back as he looks at them. Rough and calloused, they tell me he is a labourer. Which means he won't mind a bit of back-using lifting.

"Aaanywhere, maaaybe an aaa sled, even." I clarify to which he just shrugs.

"Honestly, I feel like that is a question better suited to your harness or sled." he answers as he applies his bare hand against a thick tree branch, snapping it with casual ease. Rubbing my chin, I dismiss his concerns.

"Nated, naw. Praaactice relaaaading thaaat until yau're perfect." I tell him before I walk away to the crate. Letting out another thoughtful sound, I glance about at the airship debris. Considering what tools I have at my disposal as well, my left foot bounces. Yeah...

I can work with this.