trans_9 | Target Practice

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Target Practice

Since living in the new castle with Ruffnut, Mindy had done her best to maintain upkeep, even "borrowing" a few things from the wreckage of Grand Central to spruce up the place. It helped, especially since the events of the homecoming, to keep her head busy. On the one hand, yes, dad had appeared: he wasn't dead, he was proud to know they won, and for just a little bit? She got to be a little girl again, to crack wise with her dad, to show him how far she'd gotten.

But then he was gone again, and the new pod pop didn't bring him out. She shouldn't have hoped for it, but she had, a little. Once that was a no go though, she was either training or helping Ruffnut patch up some of the frayed tapestries or fix up carpeting or overall making sure there were no holes for them to fall through anywhere. It had been good, but even Ruffnut had sort of side stepped asking her about dad. It was something she appreciated: Mindy wasn't known for easily delving into her feelings.

This naturally led to another thing on her mind: what had happened on the mission, where the Castle gun shootout had almost taken her out- SHOULD have, if it was anyone else. She had severely underestimated what she could do: the way she;d moved, the accuracy in each shot, the sheer carnage: that was akin to a limit break.

And now, she wanted to control it.

She emptied herself of all thought: that was how a fight in the dark was, if you had no edge. There were only a few precious seconds to gather your mind, and then you opened your eyes and all hell broke loose. Your eyes and your hands had to work in tandem then, and you pulled back and took out people one by one until you got the job done or you were dead.

Like now: it was those gun slingers from the castle, and she started with ten at first, taking them out easily. The background was the saloon again, only she made it bigger to accomdate the increase in shooters.She cursed to herself (it was too quick!) then brought the number to fifteen, then twenty.

Each took less time, and Hit Girl nodded: she HAD gotten better. She wasn't even using Zetta's gun or her artifact, and she was still taking these bastards down.

"All right: switch it to forty, and place them all over the bar."

Ok. GO.

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The drink was nowhere near as satisfying as something at Kang's (although it did lack the dizzying effect after having to much) but it felt good to at least be able to bathe in this victorious moment with her best friend on the ship.

"Yeah well, speaking of family, I saw mine pretty recently. It was only for a day and everything, but it was good: I mean, now I know that Stacy CAN bring some people back from the dead. Dad was totally proud of all that I was able to do so far. It;s just too bad you weren't around: I think you would have liked him, you know?"

She took a swig, looking out into the distance a moment. "If he could only have seen me moving with that speed..."

"Duuuude." Ruff's eyes boggled at the idea that Stacy could bring back the dead. She knew how important Mindy's father was to her so even the typically goofy viking knew it was a big deal.

"Wow that's...I mean wow. What did you do when you saw him? Did it totally freak you out?"

"It threw me off, yeah, but I was too happy to freak out. I just missed him so much, you know? The last time I saw him he was burned alive and dying, so...I need to talk to him about everything that happened that day, what we did and all. A part of me...a part of me still wishes a little that he was here, so I could show him everything that's happened since, how strong I am."

She sighed. "But I guess I also know why that wouldn't work too."

"Whattya talking about?" Ruff threw her hands in the air in confusion, "He'd love to be here and see all the cool stuff you could do. I mean...you and I do really awesome together but if he was here I bet you'd be even MORE of an ass kicker. You guys did everything together right? So why wouldn't it work?"

"Well yeah, of course he'd be glad to see the stuff here, all of the technology, the superheroes and especially seeing me grow. But I'm also growing up, a lot faster than I would have back there, and there are some things I think he wouldn't understand. Like, me being an Overlord, or Overlord Zetta and all. A part of me really wants him here, always did. But a part of me also needs to be without him, just so I can learn where I'm going, what it is I want. When I know that, and I'm far enough, I want him to see me and see what I'll become. He wants to see me as a little girl, and even I don't know how much of that I am, you know?"

Ruffnut tilted her head with that puzzled look on her face. "How old are you supposed to be again?" That was meant as a little joke. They both knew Mindy was more mature then most people her age.

Hit Girl was tempted to yank the girl's pigtails, but of course she knew that her friend was making light of something they both knew was honest truth: Hit Girl had been forced to grow up early, and that had an affect on her, even now.

"I'm probably thirteen now, you dolt," she said, purposely shoving the viking's helmet down on her head. "And what about you? You're what, maybe eighteen by now?"

Ruffnut laughed out loud "Dude you think I'm that old?" She pushed her helmet back up on her head. "I don't even think we're aging anymore. Time's all screwed up."

"I dunno, aren't we?" Hit Girl asked. "I sure feel older, and I don't think I'd want to not age. There are some cool adult things to look forward to, you know, besides looting and pillaging and drinking all the time. Besides, you? I'm thinking what, sixteen, maybe seventeen?"

"Close enough, I mean when I was in Birk I was 15 but...yeah whatever. Time travel. Magic. Don't care." She waved a hand dismissively, "We can do whatever we want, why wait?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right," Hit Girl said, watching Ruffnut carefully. She had a point: what the hell was the point of age and shit, when time barely seemed to make sense all around them? The universe seemed to be making its own rules anyway: the idea they had any control over shit was laughable.

"So now that we know that, what grown up thing did you want to do? You know I'm always game."

Ruffnut shrugged "When I was back home I wanted to grow up and fight dragons. But I got to do that, and I've fought scarier things too. Soooo I'm good." She gave a thumbs up. "What about you?"

Hit Girl shrugged. "Dude, I've told you I had a vendetta to take care of. All that training and fighting was to finally kill off the biggest crime lord bastard of all, and I did that already. I was supposed to lead a 'normal' life before I was brought here. It's not like I know what kids my age do that its normal. I'd rather just fuck around, doing crazy stuff like you because its fun. I mean, you always seemed so sure about the stuff you did, whether it was training to be Zetta's apprentice or charging like a maniac into battle. I'm a strategist: I try to figure the best way to do things, to plan ahead. If I acted reckless or nutty, its because I've been hanging with you too long. But that's not always a bad thing."

Ruff rolled her eyes, "Not what I asked. Come onnnn did you really only want to kill that one dude? There's NOTHING else you wanted to do back home that you couldn't because you were too young or whatever?" Mindy's explanation had flown right over her head.

Hit Girl elbowed Ruffnut. "I was TRYING to give you a compliment, you dumb ass," she said, shaking her head. "Just getting to that one dude meant killing a shit load of people and fucking up his operations. You think that happens in a night? Lots of planning, REALLY good skill, and intelligence was needed. What the hell could something as a kid compare?"

She sighed. "But I guess...you know, a date would have been ok, where I could forget about being Hit Girl for just a little bit. An insane wish, since really, who dates killers? That was the thing: you can't get close to people because all the bad guys need is that little space, and that person is gone. So maybe, for once, I thought it'd be good to be with someone that could enjoy my company and just...be, I guess."

"Oh...is that all?" Ruff leaned on Hit Girl more or less lording the extra inches of height she had on her. "Alright let's do that then. We'll find you a date. After all it's not like there isn't a ton of people around here who don't kill and can't hold their own against the bad guys right?"

Hit Girl sighed. "Dude, you make it sound like its easy. I'm like thirteen and aside from Negi for the stupid Pactio, I haven't even done more than that. Nobody looks past the age or the height or anything. Just forget what I said, all right? It was stupid anyway, thinking of dates and shit. Who the hell would date me?"

Ruff promptly slugged her in the arm, "Oh shut up! Anyone would be lucky to go out with you. You're a total ass kicker! Your height and age got nothing to do with why you're awesome."

"Well of course I know I'm awesome!It's not like its my fault I'm young and lacking fucking boobs or whatever! But everyone's got expectations, and of course I've gotta be either playing with dolls or doing training. I'm waaay to young to even be thinking about a date!"

Bitch please. She felt older than a LOT of the crew.

"You...really think that though, Ruff?"

"Of coarse. I may not be that smart, but I sure as hell know you better then anyone else around here. Have you even asked around or did you just say that stuff because you think you know how people would act huh?"

Hit Girl scoffed."You're joking, right? The last person I was into like that was Negi, and he's all saddled up with Sasami. After that its, who, maybe Hana, and he doesn't really turn my crank, as awesome as he is. If there were a guy running around that was like you, then I would go after them."

Wait, scratch that. She didn't want to date her brother!

Ruff grinned, "Oh you met Hana? Awesome. He's cool right?" She shook her head to clear it, "Anyway, so I was right, you haven't even really gone looking. There's gotta be plenty of cool people like me. Well...not like me, I'm the best one." She grinned smugly at Mindy.

"Yeah, he's pretty sweet: he introduced me to my Holy Spirit and everything! We should have him over more. But nah, no one really interests me that way. I like extraordinary people, and I'm kinda shooting for them to be my age. That's a lot harder."

She rolled her eyes. "well if you think you're THAT awesome, why don't you take me on the stupid date?"

"Huh?" She looked perplexed. "Yeah alright if that'll make you happy. We'll do whatever you want to do." She shrugged. "I dunno what people do where you come from for a date so take the lead." It didn't seem too weird to her, after all they hung out all the time anyway. And it wasn't like a real date.

Right?

OK maybe it was weirder then she thought.

Ok, so she was having a date. Yay for that. Now, a date? Which she had never been to before. What did people do on dates? Well, no point in trying to make some stupid, idealized crap for a date: why not just take Ruffnut to a place she wanted to go?

So they were in CBGB's, and Mindy was all decked out in this (http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoTDJI5FO5V8Aw0CJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dgirl%2Bpunk%2Boutfit%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26b%3D271%26tab%3Dorganic&w=1024&h=768&imgurl=images2.fanpop.com%2Fimages%2Fphotos%2F6300000%2FGothic_anime_girl-anime-girls-6399836-1024-768.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.otakuzone.com%2Fclub%2F1858%2Fdiscussion%2F1129969%2Findex.htm&size=70.7+KB&name=Clubs+-+OtakuZone.com&p=girl+punk+outfit&oid=b051bc76bee3d26cdbd89c6dca226604&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=Clubs+-+OtakuZone.com&b=271&ni=30&no=284&tab=organic&sigr=11vf7nul0&sigb=137evikls&sigi=12rhee8jm&.crumb=Ynp.oUUBx8m) outfit. Ruffnut was likely to choose something casual, but here there were seated at the lower end of the bar, a few feet away from the smoking section, the benches rickety and graffitied. It looked divey, and definitely not for children. Even the wings they were served looked suspect.

The band blared out nonsense punk rock, with a bass enough to leave you with headaches. Yet Mindy was up on the table, pumping her fist, grinning right along wit it all.

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