Subtle sniper

[MAJ Patterson]

OOC: hope you don't mind it outdoors, I'm just tired of most of my neutrals being indoors.

IC: It was a lovely morning, the rain had finally died off and the clouds didn't seem to be coming around. "Giles!" the Captain called out. A chair could be heard shooting out from behind a desk just outside the office. After a few short footsteps Henry's door crept open briskly as his closest Sergeant in HQ appeared. "The Corporal, just got back from sniper school...pull his file, meet me out front with the jeep in twenty, eh, ten minutes." a nod and the Sergeant vanished off down the corridor, the door closing slowly. Patterson stood from his cushiony chair and stepped up to the window, snatching the blinds open. These are the kind of days you want to hit the range and vent a bit, then sit and enjoy the morning. Well the range was in the order of the morning, but it was the venting that had the Captain letting out a dull sigh. He wasn't a people person, but this new idea the army had of making people be nice to the weak ones was getting on his last nerves, none the less he liked his command, liked it a lot, had one hell of a unit as well, this was just one of those menial tasks he had to address, but it beat paperwork any day. HE grabbed his cover and headed out the door.

"What's rolling around in your head sir?" Giles asked as the Captain got into the jeep.

Was a good jeep, been carrying the pair around for a long time, strange it never caught a stray artillery round so they could get a replacement. "That file, you get it?" Giles reached behind his seat and pulled out the file pertaining to a Corporal Pearson, Owen MNU. Patterson flipped it open and sifted through it. "Head for the range." and with that the jeep twisted into gear and off they went. Hmmmm, orphanage, bad way to come up, no success at adoption, they said he was a little creepy, and attempted suicide, this is just working up to a lovely combination, now we've taught the little bastard how to kill...well.

They sped on down the semi paved road into the little bit of country side the base had alloted for everything that went boom, it was crowded often, let's face it training was well worth it in this part of the world. "Remember that young guy just got back from sniper school?" Patterson asked as they passed through a long archway of blooming trees.

"Vaguely, what's he have to do with anything, so we have a Corporal, big deal, so we have a new sniper, nothing new, what's special about this cat?" Giles had usually never spoken before he knew the story, he was smart enough not to ever put himself in a place to shove his own foot in his mouth and Henry respected that about him...must have been a bad night for him though, ever since he got the dear john letter from his wife Kim, he's just been on edge all the time.

"Well that's the thing Dean, it's not what's special about this 'cat', it's what isn't special. This guy was brought up in an orphanage because his parents ditched him, he was a little on the evil side, got picked on a lot, never was adopted, tried to kill himself with...let's see here..." Patterson flipped back a page, scanned it then another "...says he tried to kill himself with a phone cord. That just sounds desperate to die. And now this little brat carries a sniper rifle, and he can freakin use it, which I think is fan-fucking-tastic, let the guy sit out in no man's land and create chaos for the krauts, but no!" He stopped there as they passed a platoon of men out for their morning run, it was Ealing, the man had enough new guys under his belt to drown three pubs, least he was doing something with them. "Come to find out the Colonel has a retarded nephew, now he's on this kick about caring about soldiers feelings and all that nonsense, so instead of putting a loony with talent and nice equipment to use I have to hold him back here and 'talk' to him, this is getting ridiculous, I feel like I'm turning into more of a baby sitter than a commander."

To say Patterson was upset would have been an understatement, but then Giles realized what was going to be very annoying. The guy is a sniper of sorts, and they are going to meet him at the range, gonna be one hell of a time trying to find him. Giles just let out a nice laugh, Patterson would be fuming mad before lunch hit the trays in the DFac.

[⊕ Owen Pearson]

The air came out of Owen’s lungs, creating a small clouding of fog to appear-a slight contract to the normal polished wood of the butt of the gun. His heart beat at a steady pace. One beat...Two Beats. He pulled back the trigger just after that beat, a straight pull back towards himself, his disturbed mind, his hopes, his dreams, his hate.

As his heart slid into that third beat, a shining piece of metal had slid out from the metal barrel. The bullet spun through the air gyroscopically, propelled only by the minimized explosion that had set it off on its journey, leaving the one who had fired it behind with only a slight kick to remember it by. It spun, holding the course set out by Owen towards a target that awaited 400 meters from the instigator of the flight.

The bullet flew only a small distance above the ground, a mass of grass, dirt, sand, and those of its kin that fell far short of their targets. These all were moved faintly by the speed and propulsion of the small piece of metal during the backlash provided by its journey.

Owen had already began to move his hand over to the Springfield Bolt, peculiarly placed from where most soldiers had theirs positioned as left-eye dominance came to this sharpshooter. His hand had just started to grip around the bolt in order to get the empty casing out of the encasement that it gave rest in.

Down the field, a bullet came to its target, thrashing through the paper front and tearing a hole, weakening the once powerful fibers of the page. Pulling through the backing with the same ease, the bullet had come slightly off its straight path due to the obstacles and tumbled with great speed, embedding itself in the face of the hill that was positioned by nature to catch the remains of these practice shots.

Falling back into his normal time, in contrast to the slow-motion void that he had just experienced, Owen watched as the casing came out of the gun and fell to the ground through the corner of his eye. The lungs began an attempt at bringing his breathing back to a normal pace due to his letting oxygen to continue to flow freely into his body. The gun was set against the sandbag, collapsing itself onto the cushion in a “safe” position.

Owen rose from the dirt that he had been laying on, and he began brushing the substance off his shirt and knees with his hands. The small particles fell back to the ground and resettled among their kin. A brief stretch came after, both a farewell to the particles and a welcome to movement’s return.

Liir Havisham sat on a bench behind and slightly to the left of where Owen had been laying. The soldier had binoculars held up to his eyes as he searched for the remains of the shot on the far away sheet of paper. The man had been brought in for Owen as a spotter, a reward for a recent trip to the army’s sniper school. Another man with ties to Canada, Liir had originated from Prince Edward Island, a small and relatively unknown portion of the French-Speaking areas in the large country. The two of them were the same age, and Liir’s birthday fell on the same day as the one that the orphanage had given Owen, although Liir looked slightly older than the sniper. The man also had a look much like that of Owen: A body structure built of lean muscle instead of bulky short term muscles and very artistic hands. Liir had been a celebrated writer back in North America, and had written a bestselling series of books about a detective and the many mysteries that the man had set out to solve. The man had strived to help out with documenting the events of the war, but was instead given a position as a spotter for his own keen eyes and deduction.

Liir brought down the binoculars to his lap saying of the last few shots, “On dirait que certains hits avec succès sur la cible. Vous avez choisi une taille bien que difficile, je ne voudrais pas trop d'espoir pour beaucoup.” The binoculars fell onto his lap on the final syllable of the dialogue.

The two had decided to speak in French to each other as they both could speak the elegant language and so that they felt slightly more private, an important thing to have when you are surrounded by others at all times. Owen responded to the man after a short period of thought about his shooting saying, “Tant pis je ne peux pas aller et de retrouver la cible. Apparemment, le commandant a voulu parler de moi et il est assez proche de l'époque, on m'a dit qu'il allait arriver ici.”

Owen sat on the bench next to the spotter and continued to chat as the two waited for the head of the 3ID to come to the shooting range. On a nearby road, a jeep came towards the pair bouncing against the dirt road.

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Translations:

Looks like some successful hits on the target. You chose a difficult size though, I wouldn’t hope for too much.

Too bad I can’t go and retrieve the target. Apparently the commander wanted to speak to me and it is quite close to the time I was told that he would arrive here.

[MAJ Patterson]

OOC: hope you don't mind a slight bit of god modding, but I can only say hello so descriptively before it becomes annoying.

IC:Patterson squinted as they topped a small hill at the range used to separate large firing lanes then perched his sunglasses upon his nose and slid them behind his ears. They had just heard a shot ring out in the distance, hoping it was their boy getting some practice in. Giles just kinda snarled, he was hoping to see the Captain get flustered, but as they topped the last berm of earth...there they sat, the Corporal and his newly appointed spotter, special appointment too. The spotter was of the same heritage as the Corporal, they were trying to keep him from going off the deep end I guess.

The jeep churned to a halt as a small cloud of dust drifted off passed there feet as they exited the vehicle off toward the radiator. Giles just leaned against the side of the driver's door as he closed it, lit a cigarette and motioned toward the pair to come closer. As they stood and took a few steps so that the Sergeant could finally see them separately he threw his hand up to stop and then exhaled the cancerous puff from his lungs. The Captain's personal assistant then point distinctly to the spotter and motioned for just he to come join him at the jeep, Giles had a feeling the spotter would make for a horrible bit of conversation, but he had no one else to speak with as the Captain needed to talk to the Corporal alone.

Patterson walked around the back of the jeep and nodded to Giles as the pair out in front of him separated. In passing the Captain nodded to the newly acquired spotter, never even looking to see if he saluted, hopefully not, the Captain may have been strict but that was only on matters that...well actually mattered. Henry closed the gap to the fresh sniper and took his hat from his head. "Pearson." he said, extending a hand for a shake, this wasn't anything formal and he was specifically instructed to 'conduct the encounter with great enthusiasm and empathy'. When Patterson had first read that he rolled his eyes, this would be an encounter all right, but as far as the big wigs were concerned it happened by the book, that's what the report said, Patterson had already written it, he'd just sign it when he got back and drop it off in the mail room to head toward divisional headquarters.

"Out here early I see, good man." He said with a smile, and he really did mean it, those that displayed a great sense of responsibility and initiative were always his favorites. "Heard you blew the socks off of sniper school, I'm most impressed, I could use more men like you, honest to God truth." he swallowed hard, this is where the 'fun' stuff started. "So, out of curiosity, what's on your mind...Owen if I may?" he asked with a lifted eyebrow and a widened eye, he didn't want to upset him if he didn't feel they were on a first name basis, let's face it, there were just too many men in the unit for them to all know everyone else that well. "It's come to my attention that you pulled a couple of red flags up with your application to sniper school, glad it didn't hold you back but I just wanted to see if there was anything going on I might be able to help with is all." Patterson stepped off toward the end of the range and motioned for the Corporal to follow, he figured he might as well check how true of a shot this 'cat', as Giles has put it, was while he had the chance to witness the results first hand.

[⊕ Owen Pearson]

As Owen’s gaze traveled back towards his companion, coming back from their attempts to somehow see the far away target down the range, they were caught by something different on its way down the dirt road. A Large cloud of dust was flanking the small jeep that flew down the worn out dirt that led to the range. It appeared as if the cloud was a large beast attempting to consume the small vehicle on its way to some larger target of desire.

The vehicle was not going to show up for a few minutes, so Owen sat down on the bench that Liir had been situated to rest his feet. Liir moved over slightly to make a bit more room. The two chatted lightly as they waited for the arrival of the vehicle that came down the road.

A vehicle screeched to a halt behind them, just after a question about the menu for dinner. The cloud of dust flew towards the front of the vehicle before settling back on the ground. Two people came out of the car, stepping into the drifting cloud. One quickly chose to light a cigarette after exiting, then motioned to Owen and Liir to come towards the car. The second man, a captain, landed on the ground just as the two already at the range stood up.

As the pair made their way towards the vehicle, Owen answered Liir’s question, “Heureusement, la valeur de manger quelque chose en fait pour une fois.” Liir laughed a bit at the comment, although it wasn’t so funny—probably more due to the idea of having an inside joke due to the language barriers then something being funny.

The Captain became recognizable as the gap closed between the two parties to be the Brigade Commander, Henry Patterson. Seeing Liir’s reaction to this gave Owen a slight smirk on his face for a moment. Liir passed by the important man—likely both stunned that he was there and knowing that he wasn’t needing to talk to the man. Liir continued over to the man waiting by the car, while Patterson continued towards Owen.

Saying Owen’s last name, Patterson had extended an arm for a handshake, which Owen accepted trying to be as polite as he could towards the significant man. After a short greeting in return from Owen, the man continued to speak seeming slightly rehearsed, "Out here early I see, good man. Heard you blew the socks off of sniper school, I'm most impressed, I could use more men like you, honest to God truth. So, out of curiosity, what's on your mind...Owen if I may?"

Owen realized quickly that the man didn’t completely care about the answer, but he decided to tell a portion of the truth, “Well, the usual. I am happy to be back.” Just a short and sweet answer to make it seem like the two were seriously bonding, although Owen expected that the man would forget the encounter by the next day along with anything else that was mentioned.

Appearing satisfied by the answer the Captain continued to the real reason he had to come, "It's come to my attention that you pulled a couple of red flags up with your application to sniper school, glad it didn't hold you back but I just wanted to see if there was anything going on I might be able to help with is all.”

Owen felt his stomach shift to the right slightly and felt a small twitch in the back of his mind that told him to act normal. He responded with a practiced tone, “Yeah, I had a very…well, interesting youth, but that phase ended long ago.” He took a very short pause mentally congratulating himself, “Now, I am too busy with all sorts of other things, like saving up money for a trip to the states for my girlfriend’s birthday this fall.”

The Captain led Owen back towards the range—Owen assumed it was going to be some more well staged “bonding” time.



Translations:

“Hopefully, something actually worth eating for once”

[MAJ Patterson]

Patterson walked slowly enjoying actually being outside for a change. He smiled as he heard the Corporal saying he was glad to be back, but it was only half real, there are very few people on the face of this earth that would ever truly be happy to be back in the war, and most of the ones that thought they did more than likely hadn't seen the horrors of it yet. "Glad to hear it." he replied. The Corporal mentioned his past for a moment, but he didn't seem to stay on the subject, maybe this was indeed behind him. None the less, everyone had memories, whether they interfered with your role in the Army was a different story. "A trip to the states huh? Sounds like a good idea for some R&R. I hope the two of you are happy." If Patterson never said another sincere phrase while he was out there, he truly did mean that one entirely. Having someone special back home went a long way in the tough parts of life, having someone back home when it was all over was very rare, and very special. Patterson had only seen the file in his mail, but he knew that with the recent female turmoil in his Head-Quarters Sergeant's life he would be speaking with him as well before the week was out.

The wind blew gently through the trees for a moment, enough to rustle the leaves and scatter the shadows about for a few seconds. "Listen, Corporal, I know this is probably odd, and I'm not good with all this sort of stuff, but please know that even though I may seem a bit removed from the unit or the men, you guys mean the world to me. I would do anything I could for you guys. Without you all I would be nothing, and I'm thankful to be your leader." well he was sincere on that note as well.

He walked a bit without speaking, hoping his words might sink in a bit. "The thing is, we want you to be ready when you go outside the wire. That things aren't going to cloud your judgment. You've caused quite a stir in the higher ups, I tried to tell them that their fears were ill placed, but my statements fell on deaf ears as usual." he cleared his throat and wet his lips before going on. "Time on the lines can be very lonely for a sniper, often times thought turn inward, then you get the occasional guy that forgets why he is doing all of this in the first place...I don't want to lose a good man ever if I can help it, but I definitely don't want to lose one for reasons that could be avoided." with every sentence he realized that this part of the job may not be so bad, it gave him time to get to know some of his men, granted that could prove emotionally hazardous in the future, it was still nice. It is said that the only stronger bond between brothers in arms, is that of a father and a son. Maybe the guys that figured that stuff up were right, maybe they weren't, but Patterson knew that he would never forget the men he fought beside.

"So how is that new spotter working out for you?" he asked

[⊕ Owen Pearson]

OOC: Sorry that it took forever to get a post here, nothing was really working.

IC: It wasn’t long before the small chat turned into the “heartfelt conversation stage” when the leader would give the appearance of a true connection and appreciation for the soldier. Although it happened so many times with no exact feelings between the participants, it usually became the basis for a good reliance between people that could lead to an important time if a dire need for it came up. The Captain turned to a much longer speech on the appreciation for the unit and all its members. It appeared to be slightly rehearsed, as it was significantly longer than the small talk the two had been exchanging earlier.

It was obvious that the man had actually meant what had been said, and it was emphasized more by the slight appreciation on the man’s face while taking a pause after. Owen spent the moment of break from talking trying to decide whether Captain Patterson was expecting him to talk, but it wasn’t long before the man got to the main point of the conversation—a small talk to continue mentions of Owen’s past problems.

This had not been the first time that Owen had experienced this talk, as it had occurred in nearly every unit he had been a part of and it was more surprising just how similar they had become to the point where it appeared that there must be written-out conversations that commanders could just fill in a couple of blanks on to make them apply better to the situation.

It’s not that Owen disliked the idea of commanders talking to those ranked underneath them, it was just that it was always the same conversations that would be had in an attempt to create a comfortable feeling that would be partially created, held back slightly by a small barrier of respective discipline that would remain in any cases.

The Captain switched back to a shortened conversation again, asking Owen about the new spotter that had been assigned to him. Happy to have moved back into simpler conversation, Owen replied quickly saying, “Well, it’s always nice to have a second set of eyes on the battlefield, and the man is good at what he does.” He took a short pause to look back to the spotter, who was talking with the other man that had come to the range. From the distance it was obvious that both of them didn’t really care to talk to each other, but for them there wasn’t much else to do while they waited. Owen continued, trying to lighten up the mood slightly, “Also, the man has a good head on his shoulders. That sometimes seems rare.” He took another short pause before putting out a query, “So, is there anything else you need to know? I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

[MAJ Patterson]

OOC: No worries man

IC: Doesn't want to take up too much of my time? He must have heard this lecture before. Patterson thought as he slowly walked along. "Great news about the spotter, I'm relieved to know he has his wits about him." Course the Captain would be enthralled if at least fifty percent of the men had the ability to listen well. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here, seems you don't really feel like talking with me, least not right now anyway. How accurate would I be with that assessment?" yes it was a bit on the blunt side, but a Captain rearranging his schedule to speak with a Corporal wasn't exactly something Henry felt ever needed to be done. He loved his men, but he had a job to do and putting that job aside for a single Corporal means that all of his efforts for that time would no longer be focused on the unit as a whole. Although there was the odd chance making good with the boy meant he didn't set up on the Head-Quarters building and start shooting whoever he felt like it, but this was the military, anyone that did something like that wouldn't get very far anyway.

The Captain stopped for a moment, the pair still weren't even half way to the target, impressive shot if the soldier hit anything indeed. Patterson pulled his canteen from the rear of his belt and took a long drink from it, swallowing roughly before lowering the container and exhaling abruptly before holding it out toward Pearson offering a cool drink of water before he would return it to it's rightful pouch. "Look, Pearson, to be dead honest with you, I didn't want to come down here and go through this whole talk with you, it's not anything against you, in fact if I had a favorites list it would be short and you would be on it, God's honest truth, but I have to do as I'm told just like everyone else." he paused as a small flock of birds passed by overhead and caught his eye, he just took a brief moment to admire them. "You see there, those birds?" he asked quickly before they were too long gone. "That's us, us as a unit I mean. We gotta be on the same page, we have to move and think as one. Yeah everyone has their own story to tell about how they got hear and maybe even what they plan to do when they leave. But when it comes down to the here and now, well that's all we've got, we are all here, now, nothing else matters and I'll tell you why. If the here and now isn't your main concern there may never be a story about what you did after the war, the only story you get may be a tombstone purchased by the government with your name, rank, date of birth, and date of death."

Patterson tilted his head toward the ground in front of him before rolling it back on his shoulders and taking a long breath "I just wanna know that whatever brought you to this place isn't gonna be an issue for you, or anyone else for that matter, that's all. I'm not here to shoot the shit with you or tell you how everything is gonna be just daisies and..." he looked around for a second thinking of the right word but threw his hands up a bit when he just couldn't find it. "...something else that sounds nice at the moment, because it's not. This isn't an easy job and we are the only ones here that can do it. If you have anything you wanna talk about, EVER, my door is always open to my men, always, I don't care what time it is, honest, at the end of the day my number one concern is you guys and nothing is gonna change that." Henry almost just seemed exhausted, all too many times he did what he could to pull this unit together and it just seemed like an impossible task. All his efforts seemed to barely keep them going, and the one man he had to talk to, Giles, well his life was falling to pieces.

Patterson looked at Pearson with almost as saddened face before looking up at the sky with his arms held out to his sides, palms up and turned slightly, sometimes he just felt like no matter what he did he never got anywhere, like he was stuck in a tar pit and going forward just wasn't going to happen no matter how hard he tried. He only gave a moments pause before he took a quick shallow breath and squared himself away. This was indeed no way to present one's self in front of a subordinate.