& OPEN NSFW POST ( i. )

[aeneia]

NSFW OPEN POST ( I. )
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[komarran]

[ He stares at her for a long moment, considering the weapons. He had known about the first one, but the other two are a surprise. ]

So that's what happened to my kitchen knife, [ he remarks dryly. ]

That came with a set. [ One he greatly enjoyed using when he had time to cook. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She manages to look a little - guilty. Leaning over him to place them on the bedside table, neatly as possible. ]

I - thought just one wouldn't be... too missed.

[ Settles back, perching back on his chest, pressing her face into his chest a moment with a guilty laugh. ]

[komarran]

I thought it was misplaced after it was cleaned. [ He glances over at it, but he doesn't reach. That could be replaced in the kitchen later. If-- ]

Do you need it? Or are your others sufficient?

[ Because if he's judging this right, she took it to feel safer. ]

[mahalakshmi]

It was the... first day you went back to work. [ Alone in the house with not so much to do. Her own paranoia had gotten to her, she did not suit being idle. Glances over at them and considers. A moment to double check it's range. ]

It will be better with you here - but no good if you didn't know they were there.

[ She draws her fingers in an idle pattern in his shirt. ] I think when we have the time. I should like to use the other weapons they keep.

[komarran]

[ He finally admits after a small moment of hesitation, ] I keep my own weapons nearby.

[ He reaches into the drawer on his side of the bed and withdraws a stunner, holding it up to show it to her. Nonlethal and easy to use. It was the easiest way to ensure he'd have the upper hand in a fight. ]

I can show you how to use it.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She watches him reach for it. Watching him dig around for the weapon and - she's seen them, on many of the guards at the party this evening. Been explained how they worked - "nonlethal" however that was meant. It wasn't something she completely understood - but then, that seemed to be much a product of her own time. ]

I would like that. I'm told that they are far more efficient than any firearm I know.

[komarran]

[ He offers her the stunner carefully to let her get a better look at it. ]

Its goal is to incapacitate. Whoever you aim and fire that at, it should knock them on their asses.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She pulls herself up a little. Not far, her legs still tangled with his, hair still tumbling over her shoulders to settle around her in a mess. But it's enough that she can take it from him and test it properly in her hand. Turning it over in scarred fingers, testing the weight and grip of the thing. The first time she's been permitted to touch one, in truth. Tosses it from one hand to the other and sighs a little mournfully. ]

I cannot argue with that but... [ a little frown, as she tries to figure out what doesn't sit right with her. ] It just does... not feel right. There's no... weight to it.

[komarran]

[ He frowns. A lighter weight was meant to be a good thing, not a mark against them. He watches her as she examines it and hopes that won't be so off-putting that she won't want to learn it. ]

It's meant to be easy to use. What weight are you used to?

[mahalakshmi]

[she let's it settle in one hand, and like anyone used to handling something made it injure, she keeps her finger off the trigger and directed away from him. Nevermind that she doesn't know the first thing about using the damn thing. ]

More than this. It feels almost deceiving. Any weapon I know, I pick it up and know it's cost in that moment. Whether it was a... blade like my shamsher or a Enfield rifle, like my soldiers used. It was a good weight to have, I think. Just in handling it, you would begin to understand how to use it.

But this? [ she shifts her grip suddenly, all her fingers around it, angling it and gripping hard. The tense line of muscles that stand out in her arm. Testing what it could hold up to. If she used it to punch someone, would it break under that force. ] It gives you nothing.

[komarran]

Perhaps not in the way you're used to. It makes it easier to wield for those unaccustomed to weaponry, meaning more have access to protection should they desire it. [ Not that many walk around carrying stunners, but they were the allowed nonlethal option to be carried.

He shrugs and holds out his hand to take the stunner back. ] I can show you a vid tomorrow that demonstrates what happens when it's used.

[mahalakshmi]

There is not much argument to be made against that, is there?

[ It's said in grim satisfaction, more protection for people so that they don't have to rely on people like her, or him. Were she younger, there might be a tip of objection to it. But time hadn't left her that naive anymore. ]

Tomorrow then. [ She gives it back to him, before she settles back to his chest, her eyes shutting and finally it seems, she yawns a little. Exhaustion catching up to her. ]

[komarran]

[ The stunner is deposited back into its drawer, still within easy reach. He'd have to get one for her side of the bed if she decided she wanted to use the weapon for self-defense. ]

I could show you how to use our firearms too if you prefer the heft of those.

[mahalakshmi]

[ she thinks about it for awhile, and if it came down to preference? ]

Whatever there is to learn, I wish to know it. Politics doesn't seem to have gotten kinder in a thousand years. I do not want to be left defenceless in the wake of that.

[komarran]

[ He nods, understanding. ]

I have smaller firearms issued to me that I could demonstrate the basics with. Anything else we would have to borrow at the firing range.

[mahalakshmi]

A ... firing range?

[ She scrunches her nose up, a little confused. ]

Is this to do with the... laws about the kind of weapons that can be carried? [ that she both appreciates but not when it's applied to her. ]

[komarran]

It does. It's a place one can practice or use firearms safely, [ he explains, fingertips idly stroking down her arm. ]

[mahalakshmi]

... Well, if that is where we must go, then that is where we must go.

[ Stupid security guards that don't let her carry her sword around. Ruined an otherwise nice afternoon in a museum. ]

[komarran]

It is. I assure you it makes for safer travel.

[ He squeezes her shoulder in what he hopes is reassuring. Laws were there for a damn good reason. ]

[mahalakshmi]

So you say. I have yet to feel so.

[ It's a mild grumble, as polite as she could be - because she couldn't lift a finger right now to true discontent settled right now. ]

I must be very strange to you, sometimes.

[komarran]

As strange as I must be to you. [ Which is to say yes, he does find her strange at times, but doesn't mind it. ]

I wish I could do more to have this world make sense to you.

[mahalakshmi]

I belong to a time that does not exist anymore. [ Her fingers smooth against him, looking to explain something that settles so odd at times. ] But it is no more or less than anyone else will go through in a lifetime. We are all born to world's that don't exist anymore.

[ Not her words, Sir Bor, when she had asked him how he managed such length, so many centuries. ] It is those that help us, that make those changes bearable. Believe me, Duv, you make such things very understandable, even when you are as prideful and stubborn as someone like myself.

[komarran]

Wise, but not as applicable universally as you may hope. [ Even in his lifetime the Nexus around him had changed greatly, but not nearly on the scale she had experienced. The sentiment however is understood and he's smiling softly. ]

Anything I can do to help, I will. All you need to do is ask.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She sighs, - he needs to stop saying that to her, it curls warmth so low in her limbs, she was going to get drunker than the champagne on it. Pressing that little more into him, stretching out over him. ]

You will make me dizzy, if you keep saying that.

[komarran]

So I should take care not to repeat it while you're standing? [ A light tease as she tucks her beneath his chin. It's a comfortable fit and it's surprising to him how quickly he could grow accustomed to this. ]