[SS 2.91] Keep Your Eye on the Target (Part 1/2) (Patreon)

Angelica tensed with each shot fired. She knew guns were loud, but damn. Even with her ear protection, it was like someone full-force screaming right into her head each time. Maybe her boosted Demon hearing was making it worse, though at the same time, it felt like there was no chance it could actually permanently damage her hearing. Annoyingly, Divining Ear ignored her request to lower the volume, it could mute the noise entirely, but that was it. And she didn’t want to turn that off, just in case she was ever actually shot at. 

Her mother, on the other hand, apparently didn’t mind the loudness at all. She was the one actually shooting the gun, and was doing so with a stupid grin on her face. It was rare to see the woman so enthused about anything. After emptying her magazine, Corticia set the pistol down on the counter in front of her, and pressed the button to make the target fly close. That’s when her face twisted to the annoyed one that Angelica was more used to seeing.

“Tch, I’m a bit rusty,” she complained despite having hit the target every time. “I definitely need to get back into a routine but haven’t found the time. So thank you, Angelica, for the opportunity. It’s still a bit surprising that you were the one to suggest this. I never would have.”

“Yes, well, there’s guns in a commission request I have,” she answered honestly. “So I figured it would be best to have more experience with them.” It was true that someone had made such a request of her, but that had also happened plenty of times in the past. Angelica had drawn them just fine without ever actually touching one at the time. Angie was probably back home working on one such commission right now, since she’d reached the gloomy, only-wants-to-make-art phase. But saying it was for art was the easiest explanation, much better than saying she now owned a gun that she wanted to know how to use.

It was difficult to say what her mother’s reaction to that would be. Whether the woman would chew her out for being so irresponsible, or to forcibly sign her up for a full lesson on gun handling and etiquette, as well as a self-defense course. Corticia turned back around and began loading up a magazine for the next round, performing the task like a pro. Angelica had also been given a box of bullets and empty magazines with instructions on how to fill them while sitting in wait, but she’d only gotten halfway done before giving up.

The act was surprisingly difficult, or so she should believe. Really, she had no problem with it. Her natural dexterity coupled with her Demon worth, and she had no issue at all after the first bullet, but Angelica the starving artist should be too much of a failure to handle something like that effortlessly. If her daughter suddenly started being competent at everything, that would likely make Corticia unnecessarily suspicious. 

“This morning’s sermon was actually surprisingly relevant,” the woman mentioned unprompted. “It was about taking charge of your own life, and not relying on Vissiem for everything. While I can’t say the preacher was particularly referring to this, there is something empowering about it, and makes you feel like you can tackle anything. It really was a good sermon, I think you would have liked it.”

Ah, yes. Guilt-tripping Angelica about her church truancy. That definitely had to be up there with shooting in her mother’s favorite hobbies. Now that they had started seeing each other more regularly, the woman was beginning to slip back into some of her bad habits. Angelica did her best to let the comment slide, not going to let such a thing ruin her day. And her mother was helping her out after all, finding time out of her busy schedule to indulge her whimsical request.

On top of that, it would seem she was silently going to even greater lengths. While it hadn’t been stated explicitly, it would appear her mother reserved the entire shooting range for just the two of them. Given the fact that there was no one else present at what was apparently one of the typical busiest times. Maybe she was just flexing her wealth or power, though Angelica guessed it was more likely that she was being accommodating to her daughter’s anxiety. 

Having a crowd of people all firing loud guns at once likely would have sent her scrambling out the door in just minutes. But since it was only the two of them—no one staring or judging the scrawny girl who definitely didn’t look like she belonged. It was definitely thoughtful, assuming that was the intent. 

“Alright, you’re up.” Corticia set the loaded gun down and took a step back. 

Ugh, despite it all, there was still nervousness in Angelica’s stomach as she approached. She had the equivalent of a magical ice gun that she had fired tons of times, and she had been shot before and survived. Yet the idea of actually shooting the real thing remained as a weird mental hurdle she’d had for her entire life. It was hard to say why she was so actively against them. Maybe it had something to do with her mother’s enthusiasm, and the angst of her younger self wanting to be contrarian in any way possible.

It took a good deep breath to calm down after she picked up the pistol. Her hands felt like they should be shaky, but they were cooperative. They had been firm the other night when she was literally pointing the thing at that mugger, but she had been in a different mental state then, so she was kind of surprised that such stability had carried over. Of course, she asked a million questions about the gun and what to do, despite having been walked through it already, anything that sounded reasonable to delay going through with it—whether the safety was off, if she had to pull the slidey thing, those sorts of basics she should have definitely learned by now.

“Angelica, just shoot it already.” Corticia lost her patience and made that remark callously. It wasn’t something atypical when she was getting annoyed, but it made Angelica clench more than anything thus far. 

She had just been given a Named Order by a Summoner. For the next few seconds, her mind honed in on every inch of her body, to see if it would forcibly react, but thankfully, nothing happened. Which was great, because it would be devastating if it had worked. Being able to be controlled by her mother on such a whim would cause her to sever all ties once more. And from what little experience she had on the Summoner side, there was a damn good chance that her mother would have received some sort of confirmation about the Order. Whether it was successful, or whether the unobedient Demon was trying to resist it.

But why hadn’t it worked? As far as she knew, a Named Order should be possible, even outside of a Contract, which is part of why it was so dangerous for a Summoner to know. Then maybe it had to do with intent. Since her mother hadn’t actually intended for her to dutifully obey without a second thought, it had been treated as banter instead of an Order. So far, all of Angelica’s own Named Orders had been delivered with the express intent of following through. Even her very first, though accidental, had been about motivating herself to pick up trash, so the genuine intent had been there. It was the best explanation she had right now, and it was avoiding her going into a crisis, so it’d have to do.

Though, she still obeyed—finding the ordeal less daunting now that she hadn’t been suddenly enslaved—and pulled the trigger. Angelica was expecting to miss wildly, but actually managed to hit the target, able to see the mark she’d made properly despite the decent distance. Her aim was actually pretty good since she now had way too much experience hitting things from afar. And because of her Might, there was no real recoil to speak of. It made her wonder if she should wobble her arms like she was struggling to control the gun, but decided her acting wasn’t good enough for that. It was too late anyways.

So she fired through the rest of the magazine and was presented with another problem. Her aim was too good. Most of the shots were quite respectable for a beginner, but that didn’t explain the three bullseyes she’d gotten with extremely tight grouping. Seeking Projectile was the culprit there. Even after the first, when she’d purposefully tried to make her aim worse, the Skill still triggered passively and nailed the mark. 

“Angelica, that…” Her mother was genuinely speechless for a moment after seeing the results. “You did extraordinarily well for your first time.”

“Uhm, I guess all that detailed art I’ve been doing has helped make my hands steady. Maybe I should have been a surgeon.” She did her best to make a joke of it, unsure how convincing it’d be.

“Well, I don’t think you’d do well in surgery,” Corticia disagreed. “But I do know that I apparently should have signed you to sign up for the shooting team when you were in college. Unless that’s pure beginners luck, you’re a prodigy. Why don’t you try again, and let’s see.”

Her mother had actually prepared a few full magazines for her, so after quickly changing out that and the target, she was ready to go again. Part of her wanted to fail spectacularly this time, to make it seem like a fluke. Maybe she could give herself an Order to try to make it look natural, as she had with dancing. But… that bit of parental praise had kind of lit a fire in her, and it made her want to achieve great things.

Of course, she wasn’t so careless as to hit nothing but bullseyes. This time, she engaged Seeking Projectile from the start, actively choosing where each shot would land. Although her artsy side wanted to make a pretty pattern, she instead chose specific spots on the target at random, hitting the mark every time. There was one bullseye and one complete purposeful whiff, but she was definitely still in the exceptional for a beginner category. 

[Seeking Projectile Lv.13]

She ate up the praise that followed, but made no actual effort to improve in any further attempts. If she suddenly got even better, that could be problematic. Maybe if they did it again, she could say she’d been practicing on her own time. But… honestly, Angelica likely wouldn’t want to do it again. After they traded off a few times, she got kinda bored. The purpose had been achieved. She now knew how to use a gun, and how it worked with her Skills, but as for doing it recreationally, yeah, she still had no interest. 

If she was going to shoot something, she’d much rather it be at a Training Room in Hell. Magic was way more fun. Of course, it was still nice to be competent with it, should she find herself in a situation where magic was no good or her MP was too low, she wouldn’t be defenseless again. But odds were, her pistol would likely live in Second Stomach for the foreseeable future.

Too bad she couldn’t try out Cyclone Sphere on the target with her mother around. Though that was probably better not used anywhere indoors. Angelica had embedded the Rune into her spare Runestone earring, which along with the Hydration one, was currently hidden by Transfiguration. 

She’d only tried it twice so far. Once in one of the spare apartments, which even that was a mistake. The force of the wind nearly tore up the carpet. The second time was out in a nearby field where she watched it uproot and shred a good patch of grass. That was all she needed to verify its destructive potential, despite just being a low Lv.6 Rune.

“How about a picture?” Corticia suddenly suggested as they were cleaning up.

“Uhh, sure.” Angelica agreed to it, a bit nervous at first, half-expecting her mother wanting them to pose with guns or something. But it turned out to be a very normal picture of a mother and daughter together, not even really showing where they were or what they were doing, only identifiable by a poster in the background.

“You are looking quite a bit healthier,” her mother commented when looking at the results. “I’m glad. Keep it up, and I won’t have to bug you about seeing the doctor. Speaking of, sorry we couldn’t make time for lunch too, but I have teleconference meetings all afternoon, so I’ll just eat something quick at home.”

That opened an opportunity for Angelica to be the nagging one for once. “It’s the weekend, mom. You’re working way too hard.”

“Yes, well, unfortunately things are a bit more chaotic during election seasons,” she explained. “Maybe after it’s all said and done, I can take a proper vacation. Actually, erm…” Corticia hesitated, as if she were debating whether to continue her thought. “In a little over a week, there is an important fundraising event, the most critical one. I know you’re not interested in such things, and it’s a bit sooner than our usual meet-up, but if you were open to attending, it would mean a lot.”

If she honestly finished that sentence, it would probably be something like, “it would mean a lot for my optics.” Angelica found it hard to believe there’d be any sentimental value after all this time. And yet… “Okay, I’ll go.” Since her mother was at least trying to support her art career, then fine, she could do the same and show support as well. At least just this once. If it became a regular request, then no way in hell. And she could use her fresh hatred of this event as a reason to point at. 

“Wonderful!” Her mother looked genuinely delighted, on par with the fun she’d just had shooting. “I really don’t have the time to go over all the details now, but I’ll text you later. In the meantime, it’s very formal attire, so you’ll likely need a new dress. Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a moment for us to go shopping, but I definitely can’t guarantee it. So if you wouldn’t mind either picking something out yourself, or at least finding something in the vein of what you’d like. I’ll pay for it, just double-check with me first, please.”

The woman hurried off after that, and Angelica poofed back to her apartment. “Hey Angie, take a break. I’ve got a new task for you.” She merely got a grunt from her Duplicate in response. “Gonna have you looking at dresses for an upcoming event with mom. Treat it like references for future art, just with us as the character.” 

Really, she didn’t need to pawn this off on her clone. While clothes shopping had never been a big interest of hers—especially deflated now that she could just Transfigure her own—it never hurt to look at pieces and styles she wouldn’t conceive of herself. If left up to her, she’d just make her own dress for this event. But since her mother had to buy something, it meant finding a real one that’d suffice. 

Mostly, though, she gave this task to Angie as an excuse to get this girl off of her art set up, having only allowed her to use it since she was out of the apartment, and Angelica wanted to unwind from the hour with her mother with a Merlina chapter. She’d bought the clone her own portable drawing tablet that she could use for art, internet, and communication, but it was definitely lacking in power compared to the laptop she’d gotten from her mother, despite it being damn near top of the line. Angie begrudgingly rolled onto the bed, and grabbed both her tablet and Cherub who was laying on it, then ended up using the cat as a pillow since he didn’t care at all.

Just when Angelica was getting into the groove, though, she was bothered by her mother once again. It wasn’t the promised text, however. This time, it went straight to her head. “Gelic, I would like to summon you. Will you accept my request?”

No actual edit, but it seems people weren't being notified about the chapter properly, so pushing it again.