Unsuspecting Target

[Elizabeth Edison]

Hunting alone wasn't fun, but Elizabeth had been itching to get her hands on a gun and shooting non-moving targets at the gun range just wasn't cutting it.

The weekend proved to be the perfect time for her to set out with her gear, and the weather was just nice for her to just be in a dark green tee and cargo pants. She was glad to get out of her apartment, especially since last week had been a lonely disaster of a Valentine's day. Sure, Alex had made her night a damn sight better but it still didn't let her shake off the feeling of loneliness once Alex went home.

Today was going to be all about her, though. Her, the wilderness, and hopefully something to bring back and eat.

Setting up was easy enough and almost thoughtless as she hummed to her latest musical obsession. Before she finished the whole song, she was cleaning out her rifle and getting ready to scout the territory.

Unfortunately, hours went by before she saw any activity. She mostly came across rabbits and little critters and like hell she was killing any of them for food. And then something big caught her eye. It was a little far away from her so she didn't really know what it was. Stepping a little closer, making sure she didn't make too much noise, she still couldn't really make it out.

Somehow certain that it was an actual animal, Elizabeth took aim and shot.

[Richard Buckles]

Richard was out in the woods of course enjoying one of his communes with nature in the form of what some would call torture. With nothing but his combat knife and the clothes on his back. Some how the struggle with nature for survival just made him enjoy life so much more. The contrast of spending days without modern convenience or shelter helped to invigorate him. He offered for people to come with but for some reason there were never any takers oddly enough. He thought about dragging Poppy out once but he would imagine he might be ready to die after all the complaining she would do. She was a sweet girl but if running a track once a day was so rough to her. Then this would seem like death.

There were hunters out this way, Richard being one of them at times but he didn't really think about a run in with one. He was enjoying himself immensely after having recovered from landing in the hospital. That injury kept him from activities like this far far to long for his taste. He was dressed in a long sleeved green shirt with blue jeans as he held the wooden spear he carved to go hunting with. He then heard a small shimmer of noise as though something was ruffling the foliage. He stopped and turned in the direction of the sound. He stepped out and heard the snapping of a twig in the direction of Elizabeth.

He turned towards her and as his mind registered seeing a weapon he had his eyes bulge slightly and then the click of the trigger occurred. He knew the weapon and his mind went over the specifications and turned to the side a little at the last moment. He ended up with a graze on his left forearm. He grunted in pain then turned back and threw his spear at the woman's weapon. She would find it lodged itself perfectly in it going down the barrel as far as it could go. He breathed a bit hard as he narrowly avoided a serious wound there. He reached over with his right hand and gripped the graze grunting and sounding in pain as he clutched it tightly to apply pressure. "Put your gun down!!!" he shouted.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Getting the end of the spear lodged in the barrel of her gun knocked Elizabeth right off her feet. Out of surprise, her gun fell to the ground beside her and she looked around to where the voice was coming from.

Did she just shoot at a person? What the hell?

Scrambling to get on her feet, she grabbed her rifle, stomping on the spear to break it and ran across to where she had shot to find a man with blood on his arm.

"Oh shit! Oh shit I am so sorry! Oh shit." She kept repeating, putting her gun down beside her as she pulled at her sleeve, letting it rip at the seams before looking down at the guy with the bleeding arm. "Hey, buddy...I need to stem that blood flow. Do you mind?" She asked, concern filling her eyes.

[Richard Buckles]

Richard winced after following through with the true as it was only a scratch but a bit painful still. He was surprised when he accomplished his goal how it also knocked her down so readily. More to the point it was a woman which he knew women hunted but hadn't seen any before. He moved up some seeing how he disarmed her now.

He stopped dead as she picked up the gun again and moved towards him. He ducked behind a tree again. "It's alright just calm down." he instructed her "It's just a graze no reason to get all worked up." He said that knowing full well how small this scratch was in comparison to what could have happened.

He was again surprised as she ripped part of her shirting talking about stemming the flow. While true it wasn't a bit injury he still felt the warmth of his blood slowly trickling out. "Yes it's fine go ahead." he said bracing himself for what he knew would be a very unpleasant sensation.

[Elizabeth Edison]

His dismissive manner was pushed aside as Elizabeth wrapped her torn sleeve down under his armpit and over his shoulder. She tightened the knot before rummaging through her pockets for the small first aid kit she always brought with her. Silently working on him, she couldn't help but look down at her gun, wondering how the spear could have even fit in the barrel.

"What the hell were you doing, hunting around these parts with a spear?" She demanded, a little annoyed, partially with herself really.

[Richard Buckles]

He had been far more injured on my occasions than what a graze was, a strong friction burn. He saw how worried she was and didn't find it entirely funny because if he did what she had just now done he would be scrambling to make it better too. She was a nice girl that was for sure she was quick to sacrifice her shirt to aid him. "Guns are to easy to use and I survival camp. Go out for a weekend with nothing but a knife and the clothes on your back."

"Not like you are going to catch a rabbit with your bare hands right? So got to figure something out." he said nonchalantly as he looked over at her. "So carve a branch into a spear is the solution. You shouldn't worry about this so much accidents happen." He wasn't so much as mad about what happened as worried what might have happened if he didn't notice. If he hadn't moved a bit could have gone right through him.

"So what were you looking for what you found me?" he asked with a smile.

[Elizabeth Edison]

She merely grunted when he responded with what he did. Far be it for her to judge how people hunted. It wasn't her style but she wasn't going to begrudge him if it was his. When he said guns were too easy to use though, she raised an eyebrow and purposely tightened the makeshift bandage in response.

"Yeah, I kinda do. I mean I shot at a human being for crying out loud. Argue all they want about hunting animals for sport being cruel and shit but they're put on this Earth to give us sustenance. Human beings? They don't taste as good in a stew." She shrugged.

Once she was satisfied with the bandage, she looked up at him and chuckled lightly at the question. "Before you pretty much damaged my baby?" She looked over to her rifle with the small bit of the wood still sticking out. "Thought you were a buck. Would have done up a mean chilli for weeks."

[Richard Buckles]

He bared his teeth down on each other as she drew the bit of her shirt down tighter realizing he might of come off a bit rude "Sorry I meant to say for me guns are to easy for me." he cleared his throat. Richard shook his head "No no these things happen and I know people hunt out here really my own fault for not wearing appropriate coloring."

"Yes I should apologize there. I would be willing to pay to replace it. I might not have needed to do that but one of those things that I have to sure you stopped firing. Was a bit far I would though with some cleaning the barrel might not be beyond saving." he declared "You live over at Kalispell? Name is Richard." he said extending his hand over to her "I am a student over at Bellefonte. Well student teacher, still finishing up college and going through the paces."

While he might have been best not to announce he went to the academy of mutants he wasn't shy about who he was. Have to assume everyone is friendly and not racist. Though being out in the woods like this could find himself as prey to someone who didn't like his kind pretty easy.

[Elizabeth Edison]

His recompense didn't help him in her eyes but she kept quiet. He probably meant no offence to her but it did come off as a little pretentious to her. Guns were created for a reason, that was her philosophy.

Shrugging at his offer to clean up, Elizabeth wasn't above letting him do it so after making sure he was set, she leaned over and reached for her rifle, handing it to him. His question hit her as she was trying to tear off the other sleeve of her shirt because it was better to look like she was wearing a sleeveless top in the middle of winter in the mountains than a one armed tee.

She managed to rip the sleeve and nodded, eviscerating the cloth in a small puff of smoke before shaking Richard's hand. "Liz. And yeah. I was from BA, went out of the country for a bit before I recently came back." And almost as though the last five minutes didn't happen, a big wide smile came to the blonde's face. "Hey, since we're both out of weapons, wanna go grab a burger or a steak down at the bottom? I was going to set up camp to eat my spoils but..." she waved her hand over her weapon with a sly grin.

[Richard Buckles]

"Oh I see well I am sure little Kalispell must be a boring if a bit of a step back into nastalgia for you." he said smiling pleasantly "I couldn't help but notice you have one of those flashy sorts of powers." He tried to make and small pun off that but knew it was bad.

"Pleasure to meet you Liz." he said as they shook hands then drew it back "Well normally I would carve out another one and keep going till I found something. I guess I can make an exception though." Of course finding something to take down then the processing would take hours and he hated to turn down her gracious invitation. "Well I do have a camp set up with supplies for a fire ready to go if you like to join me instead." he suggested.

It was funny how spending time in the out doors with a pretty blonde made him think of Callie for some reason. He should take her camping once though more traditionally not like this.

[Elizabeth Edison]

She shook her head and grinned. "Not at all. Little Kalispell is exactly what I need after leaving it for so long." She responded before laughing. "Yep!" She opened her palm upwards and a ball of fire started to form. "Handy for campfires, don't you think?" She grinned cheekily.

Mulling over his invitation, Elizabeth nodded slowly before snapping her fingers as an idea sprouted. "We could always just continue hunting. Maybe a rabbit, while we go up to your site? I'm seriously craving meat so darn much right now." She nodded, realising she was starting to get really tired.

"Ugh...I really need meat."

[Richard Buckles]

Richard nodded as Kalispell wasnt that small to him being from a rural community. And over this time since mutants came out to the world it only got bigger. Though to many it was still a bit on the small side of things. More than a few called it some hick town. "Well it's always nice to return somewhere that is home." he said as she flicked her flame on like a human sized lighter "I would assume so. All I have is the old friction method on hand myself. Quite the time consumer it is." he said nothing her lack of heavy clothing "Is that why you are sporting this look in a rather brisk setting?"

"Suppose we could always do that." he said as to her "I just need a couple practices throwing the knife to sharpen up on that." He then pulled the knife up and held the handle in a loose fashion then threw it and hit a tree about 20 feet away. He went up and pulled the blade out from the tree before repeating it. back in the direction she was "Okay. Never had to try and hit a rabbit with that before so should be a bit more challenging huh?" he said keeping it out again as he slung the rifle over his back.