haolehothead | (no subject)

Danny's actually pretty proud of himself for this. Kate's got that gun of hers, but there's a lot of lessons Danny wants to review before she fires it. He wants her to study the medical side of it (wants her to do a CPR course, too, but one of those quick ones and not the lengthy version), and he wants her to understand the assembly of the gun. In addition to that, there's a lot of practical tasks that are associated with the weapon and he's bringing her to New Pemberley to go over one of them today.

"So, the family's not here," he warns. "But I may have contacted a friend, who's been sent ahead," he says, taking hold of one of the water guns he's borrowed from Alistair -- at this rate, it's a whole-island-wide production. "Your job, today, is to clear all the rooms of the house and find the bad guy, me, without me 'shooting' you, first. So, remember what I talked about. When you clear a room, back is always to the wall. You move swift and you follow the edges of the walls to the corner, always keeping your eyesight clear of any blockages. You announce the room as clear the minute you finish it. You move into the house, clearing all checkpoints and ensuring there are no exits behind you, otherwise you need to set down a little flag," he says, wiggling one of the orange flags in his hand, "and we'll pretend that's a uniform to hold down that exit point."

"If I squirt you where a flak-vest goes, you can keep going," he says, gesturing to her torso. "If I get you in the neck, leg, head, arm, or otherwise, then we start over. If you find me, you announce 'freeze' and do not shoot unless there is a clear and present danger of being shot on. Your goal is to find the hostage and get them out without being shot at. Clear?"

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"Yeah, doesn't the IPD require that you patrol with just one other person?" she asks. And at this point she isn't doing it just to push his buttons or make things tough on him, she's genuinely curious about this. "How's it possible to make sure there are three people with you when you're only sent out with one?"

She knows there are call boxes, but even those aren't everywhere.

"And that's where good instincts are gonna come in," Danny advises, offering Hermione a proud smile. "Look, would I love to say that I followed the book every single time? Yes, but, that's not true. I've gone on a limb, I've been hotheaded." He shoots them each a wry look. "No smart comments. I've been doing this for a long time and I know that I need to make sure someone's aware of my whereabouts and capable of enforcing what I'm doing. Nothing's ever going to be perfect, not ever. Instincts and judging the risks are key, they're critical. I just want you to realize that you need to be safe. You need to make sure you make the best possibly choices for your situation."

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Hermione nods at Danny's next words, shooting a small smile Kate's way. To be told that there are occasions when going against the rulebook is acceptable calms Hermione somehow, because she's never really known herself to learn well from a teacher who demands such an unbreakable amount of order. Hermione herself already struggles with the ability to know when to peel away from instructions, tending to err in the favor of sticking to the rule; she's pretty sure that she doesn't need any more pressure in that direction.

"I understand," she nods again, shifting until she stands closer to Kate's side, the smile on her lips slightly wider than before.