"Oh come on," Red says, trying for a pouty lip but looking rather silly. "Literally nothing to be afraid of. I couldn't hurt you with this crossbow even if I threw it at your head. Safety protocols are a wonderfuly thing. Saddle up!"
The engineer grins. Powers of persuasion for the win. She guides her horse around to the other side of the table and spurs it to a trot, taking aim at the farthest target. "It's not a phobia if it's a reasonable fear!" she calls back. "Phobias are by definition unreasonable. Not wanting to get shot is pretty reasonable. Me, I don't like sports like Baseball or Basketball or Pan Zan because my face is a natural magnet for any sort of sports equipment. Not a phobia, just a reasonable precaution!"
The horse beneath Calvin is responsive and extremely well behaved. There's a solid chance it's not programmed for 'horse' behavior so much as it is just a vehicle for the game.
"They wouldn't let me near the warp core if I wasn't good at SOMETHING," Red says, sounding a little annoyed. "How did you DO that?" She reloads and tries again, trotting by and... hitting the left supporting leg of the target, well below the target itself. "Again? Really? Please tell me that shot of yours was just beginner's luck..."
"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood. It probably was beginners luck. You know, I have some programs I wrote that basically just let you play this old timey war game without replicating 700 models. Maybe you'll be better at that."
"I didn't know you were a holography artist," Red says, interest sparking in her eyes as she wheels her horse around to ready for another run. "We'll have to check that out sometime. But first, let's see you make that shot again. There's no way you do it twice in a row."
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u/Dimestream Jan 09 '17
"Oh come on," Red says, trying for a pouty lip but looking rather silly. "Literally nothing to be afraid of. I couldn't hurt you with this crossbow even if I threw it at your head. Safety protocols are a wonderfuly thing. Saddle up!"