Sunday Morning Shootist

[Twitch]

It was early for Joe. He was still on central time, so it felt like six. His feet dragged. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes anyway. Joe, unlike most of the student body at Cullens, had his own car, and his own garage door to access it. After a quick rinse and some hastily thrown on clothes, he plodded down to his Trans Am. He removed a large backpack and two small bags, one from the glove box and and one from the spare tire well.

He'd had a small tour of the grounds, but when he asked how much land they were on, he was informed it took up much of the surrounding area. That was good enough for him. Woods on hils made up most of scenery, which suited his purpose perfectly. He walked for ten minutes, straight back into the trees.

He opened a small blanket from the backpack, and laid it carefully on the ground before placing ten boxes of Winchester White Box of 9x19 ammunition evenly across the blanket. Next, four empty magazines.

In the two seperate, oiled zip-loc bags were a field stripped Glock 17C. He used to keep it complete, but since crossing into New York State figured it would be a good idea to have it in seperate pieces. It took him 10 seconds to re-assemble the weapon. Joe was in good practice doing it. A loaded magazine slid neatly in, and he racked the slide, making sure a bullet fed into the chamber. It did.

He loaded the remaining magazines. The first 12 rounds went in easily, but the remaining five were more difficult as he began to fight the tension of the spring feeder. Joe set up the durable, spring-reactive metal targets
at various distances and angles. Most importantly, he set up a catch tarp, so any spent brass could be recycled, but more important still, he put on his saftey goggles and earmuffs.

Joe lined up the first target at squeezed the trigger carefully. The slide kicked back, threw the empty cartridge free, and fed in the next round.

BLAM-spingthe bullet slammed home against the round metal plate.

He waited for the recoil to subside, and lined up the next target.

BLAM-sping
BLAM-sping
BLAM-sping
BLAM-sping BLAM-sping BLAM-sping BLAM-sping BLAM-sping
BLAM-spingBLAM-spingBLAM-spingBLAM-spingBLAM-spingBLAM-sping BLAM-spingBLAM-sping

The spent magazine fell free, and Joe shoved the next home. He racked the slide as the empty one hit the tarp.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul left his two counterparts who were busy pressing the flesh with other people at Cullen, and began to walk the grounds. It was very beautiful in it's own way. The colors were not as bright as some of the more picturesque areas in Dehli, but they were austere, earthy, and the look of oaks, ivy, grass, and brick edifice was distinctly American.

He heard something in the distance that made him pause on his walk.

ptow...ptow...ptow...

He'd heard enough gunfire from Bollywood and American cinema, but this sounded so much louder. Well not really, as it seemed to be a distance away, but from the echo of the noise, it seemed very rich. Logically, it would not be wise to go near the sound of gunfire, but Vipul was curious. Perhaps it was a cowboy or something.

[Twitch]

He emptied the gun nearly rapid fire, only pausing to line up the next target.

Joe's biggest problem with the gun had always been heat. When he really got into it, it began to sound like sub-machine gun fire, but he would try and reload and burn his hand. He'd been contemplating adding some kind of plating to the slide so he could rack it while it was hot.

Like now.

"Fffnnnnnn ow ow sonofabitch." He shook his left hand and sucked in air from between his teeth. He wiggled the gun hand back and forth some too. Maybe the darn thing would cool some.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

It became clear that it was no cowboy as Vipul approached the clearing in the woods. There, he saw a black fellow shooting a pistol like in that movie with The Ice Cubes.

"Hello!"

Suddenly forgetting the potential threat of live firearms, Vipul waved energetically at the man, eager to make a new friend.

[Twitch]

"Hello!" Joe racked the slide, barely noticing that it was still hot. He was turned around in a blink, and then realized that it was "Hello!" and not something else more threatening. The gun was down at his side nearly as fast as he turned.

Vipul blinked.

"Oh h-h-hey. Hello." he said as he pulled the orange mufflers off his ears. Joe moved his finger away from the trigger. He didn't want to scare the guy.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"Hello I am Vipul Chandrashekar!"

He had raised his voice even though the gunfire had stopped. His ears were ringing a little. Still with a polite smile, his eyes drifted down to the gun.

"Did you get him?"

[Twitch]

He was Indian. Or Pakistani. Joe couldn't really differentiate. It was always better to ask.

"Uh... no. I'm just shooting targets." Joe was still a little nervous. He wasn't expecting anyone to show up, really. He slipped the gun into a belt holster.

"I'm Joe. Nice to meet you Mister Chandra, uh, shekar. Where are you from?" He offered his hand.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul paused, looking in the distance. Sure enough, there were a series of blue metal discs standing up.

"Ah good yes very good yes."

Inwardly, he wondered how it was safe to shoot at such things without having a ricochet, but this Joe seemed to know what he was doing.

"I am from India but I have come to the United States and America for learning purposes at the Cullen Institute."

Still smiling politely, he wondered if Joe would be also a student here. It was a very exciting thought. He grasped Joe's hand, shaking it with enthusiasm.

[Twitch]

Joe had seen this sort of enthusiasm before, on one of his summer trips he took with his mother. India was handling it's burgoning population speckled with Mutants about as well as everyone else was: not very. He waited Vipul's bouncy response out.

"I just started a few week at Cullen's. Wasn't really expecting anyone to be up at this hour on Sunday. Lotta the students stay up too late for me." He cracked a smile but he was still a little sleepy and yawned.

"Well, uh, you an early riser?"

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"Yes I read the newspaper and enjoyed a breakfast."

Vipul was used to long work days, and it was habit for him to be an early riser, even now when he clearly did not need to be. Truth be told, having three of yourself to do various things also meant that you could maximize your free time potential. He'd read the paper at the same time as he ironed his clothes as well as prepared a breakfast of mango slices, paneer with mint sauce, and pakoras. He'd long-since stopped eating pre-packaged food, now that he could easily cook his meals from scratch without worrying about finding the time.

He looked at Joe, obviously telegraphing his question.

"If I may be so bold sir as to ask what is your genetic aberration that brings you to this place?"

[Twitch]

Joe smiled a little. It was sort of the thing around here. Some were obvious, like that new girl Tayas or Damien's, and others were obvious in practice, like his, or Banner's.

Banner was a little scary.

"I've got superhuman reflexes. When I last had my reflexes tested I was within the margin of error."

"What brings you across two oceans and three continents?" Joe asked.
He remebered to count India as a subcontinent, since, techtonically, it was.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"Oh so that is why you are shooting with the bullets you are like that Dirty Harry Eastwood gunslinger champion guy."

Vipul nodded, seeming to understand. Now that he recalled, the shots were very fast.

Aware that Joe was asking him a question, Vipul wore a sheepish expression.

"My aberration is such that I can create multiple duplicates of myself and control them as one."

[Twitch]

"That's... that's really cool." Joe nodded. It was probably a lot more useful than his. He could thread a needle with a small enough bullet rapid fire but how often was that handy? Vipul could get a lot done, Joe was sure.

A smile came across Joe's face. "Must be hard on the water bill, with a bunch of people showerin' and all." He hoped the joke didn't go over Vipul's head.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I am used to a large family so we all put in work to make meat ends."

With a confident smile, Vipul gestured to the school.

"At this very moment I am filling out paperwork with Professor Bertrand as well as watching some youngsters play baskets ball."

[Twitch]

"Daaaaaammn. That is so dope." He said, his drawl coming in full force.

"Hold on." Joe dropped the magazine and tossed it into the open backpack. He pulled the slide open quickly, throwing the loaded round into the air. Joe's hand popped up into the air, snatching it. The pistol seemed to slide into seperate pieces in his hands. He slipped them back into the oiled zip-locs.

"I'm gonna put this away. It's really bad for your hearing without these." Joe tapped at the orange muffs hanging around his neck and put them into the bag. The tarp with the casings was folded carefully and put into the bag, along with the rest of the miscellany. He decided to leave the targets. No one would touch them, since he was about a half mile into the woods.

"Listen, I haven't had breakfast yet so I'm gonna go. Not much for conversation on bingo fuel."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul was a bit disappointed that Joe decided to put away his gun. He had always wanted to try such a thing and be like an Action Hero. Still, it was probably too dangerous and he would shoot his eye out. Not that it really mattered to him, but he imagined that it would be impolite to commit suicide in front of a new friend.

"Wait friend I have much food left over from my breakfast if you would have some of it."

[Twitch]

Joe's face lit up as he slung the backpack over his shoulder.

"Serious? I love Indian food. Whenever my mom was in town we'd go to this place downtown. I also was in New Delhi once for a bit. It was... surreal. But great food."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"You know of New Dehli?!"

Vipul lit up. Of course, the city was monstrously huge, but Vipul felt a swelling of pride that an American would know of and speak well of his home.

"You must tell me of your travels I have many friends and family there still."

He walked with Joe back to campus, meeting one of his dopplegangers midway, who fell into step with the two.

"I am afraid I am not a gourmand and my cooking may not be the best but I am recovering from living off of fast food and the ramen noodles which were my staple when I worked for a living."

[Twitch]

Joe looked at Vipul blankly.

"It's been more than a few years. I don't think I met anyone from your family. It's just a blur now."

Joe grew a bit distant.
"And I can't really tell you. I have to be vague."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

As the Vipuls and Joe walked to his new room, passers-by occasionally did a double-take at the two identical people who often completed each other's sentences. Vipul paid it no mind. By now, he'd begun to take it for granted.

He wondered what Joe meant about not being able to say? At any rate, he was not about to pry.

"That is well and good since I do not wish to dwell upon the past either."

The three entered the room, and the other Vipul immediately got to work reviving the leftovers from breakfast. The pakoras and paneer were still warm, and there was not much to do other than to arrange them on a plate and slice another mango.

"I can make some hot chai or coffee which would you like?"

He'd already put on a pot of coffee for Vipul and himself. The other Vipul sat across from Joe at one of the small, generic tables that were present in each room.

[Twitch]

"You've got Chai? Word. Living in Wisconsin you miss out on a lot of the good stuff a real city has. They have Starbucks but it's not right. I dunno man, there are so many things you miss when you don't have them. No one knows how to do fried chicken up there at all. An' they call soda pop." Joe said, diving into the food. It was good, and it was food, and he didn't have to make it.

"This is good. And mango? Haven't had that since I was in Miami."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I found a decent grocer on the taxi ride over here and was able to find many things if that is your taste."

As requested, Vipul put the kettle on. The other Vipul was given his coffee, and admired the aroma before sipping.

"You are still young I assume you are still in your studies?"

[Twitch]

"Yeah, I'm a Junior but I have AP courses for college credit. I travled during summers with my Mom. She goes to a lot of conferences and stuff." Joe shrugged. "But yeah. I have a car. I can give you a ride, no cab, and I can pick up some stuff too."

"So I learned about all kinds of food and people. I mean, we're all just people, right?"

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"It is a good thing to be world-wise and open minded because I do not think it will get any easier for those who are not."

Vipul thought about the situation the world found itself in, with the rise in these mutations. People were already so quick to isolate themselves by geography, culture, religion, and race. Now there was another layer to further obfuscate the harmonious existence of man.

The second Vipul brought Joe a light spread of breakfast.

"College is your secondary studies yes?"

"They offer this at the institute from what I know as I am seeking a teaching position in mathematics and chemistry."

Vipul returned with a piping hot cup and set it in front of Joe.

"I hope to be able to be your teacher you seem to be a very intelligent man."

[Twitch]

"Even if someone's a slug or somethin' they're still people. I'm sure you're qualified degree wise. India has some first rate schools. My Mom always ranted about how America was screwed cause we're not spendin' any money on education." Joe said with a laugh and took a sip of his tea.

"But yeah I do ok, except for stuff like public speaking. I get nervous an I start studderin' like a scratched CD."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"Pardon me for the change of subject but I was wondering about your pistol are you also a trainee for the police or the army?"

Judging from the cut of Joe's attire, Vipul doubted it. He'd seen enough military and police in India to sort of understand the look, and if that didn't do it, there were movies. Then again, he knew that America had a sort of devil-may-care approach to what her people could and could not do. It was exhillarating and a bit bizarre at the same time.

[Twitch]

"Uh... no." Joe paused, trying to figure out how to best phrase a response.

"It's a f-f-family t-ttradition..." he paused collecting himself... "to go to the range on the weekend. My F-f-father was was a P-p-p-p-olice Of-f-ficer." He looked distinctly uncomfortable.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul, sensing the discomfort, distanced himself from the subject.

"My apologies I was simply curious as it is a unique experience for me."

He took a sip, and his duplicate continued as he cleaned up in the kitchen nook.

"We in India do not have cowboys and the NWA but we have cinema which is as close as I have seen until today."

[Twitch]

Joe became distant.
"R-R-Real gunfights are a-a-a l-lot... uglier." he said with a certain finality.

NWA? "NWA is west coast. I'm from the South. But nothin' like Eazy-E layin' it down."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"Ah yes the Filthy South Master P unananana."

On cue, the other Vipul finished the time-weathered meme lyric.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh"

[Twitch]

Joe began to grin, and then burst out laughing. It was like his cousin said: nothing is funnier than some older British woman saying rap lyrics, although this was pretty close.

"Oh man, oh man." he said as he started to catch his breath. The laughter caught him again, and his sides started to hurt.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul laughed along, not exactly sure of the joke or the punchline.

"I like most hip hop whether it is American British German Indian or otherwise."

The other Vipul flipped through an mp3 player, settling on Public Enemy's Rebel without a Pause.

[Twitch]

"Thats cool. But Chuck D man. Damn shame he couldn't hold it together in the 90s and Flava Flav turned out to be weirder than anyone could have guessed." They both listened to the song for a bit.

"Hey, you have any Goodie Mob?"

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul thought a second, and nodded.

"I do not have any of their solo albums but I have several tracks where they were featured with the Juveniles I think."

"Wait that is not right it was Outkast."

Before he could finish, Vipul flipped to the tracks in question.

"My catalogue is not definitive of course and I am always looking to add to it."

[Twitch]

"I have a whole bunch of MP3s. My friend has an SFTP and can get whatever I want off of it. It's hosted it Sweden or somethin'. Got nearly everything you can think of." Joe said with a grin.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I have some local tracks if you are interested in a swap."

As Vipul finished his coffee, his counterpart rifled through a stack of disks.

"Hajir Shirab Khata Cheepak Vaneeka 25 and others as well."

The doppelganger passed disks to Joe.

"It is not the filthy south but I think hip hop is universally spoken in that the music is felt."

[Twitch]

"Dirty South, and I agree." Joe said with a smile.

"Yeah. You Indian guys have those funky counter-beats. It's seriously cool. You can't forget the classics like Parliment, Earth Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone. Even the Scottish did Funk. It is truly universal, just as we are all brothers and sisters."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I agree funk is good to get the body moving."

Vipul could see that music was a strong passion in Joe, and they had very similar tastes. He rose from his seat, putting his empty coffee cup in the sink as the other Vipul handed him a few more discs.

"I must admit that I was apprehensive about coming here but you have helped to alleviate my fears."

[Twitch]

"Hah man, I just got here. I barely know anyone. I was going to school in Wisconsin until two weeks ago." Joe smiled, shaking his head.

"Thanks man."

"Do not think of it." Vipul said.

"I room a few doors away from Batdude so I have to keep it down cause the brotha really is damn near a bat and he does not do well with the bump'n thump'n. He's more of a Doobie Brothers kinda guy, but likes old Dre so he's allright."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"A bat...dude?"

Vipul thought about it, and then casually shrugged. The beauty and absurdity is that the utterly ridiculous was becoming routinely acceptible by him. He half expected to see Durga, Shiva, and Ganesh playing Texas Hold Em in the next room, so why not a sonically-sensitive bat person.

"I will keep this in mind."

[Twitch]

"Yeah and Damien looks like a little furry demon too, and one of the other teachers said somethin' about a girl who looks like a cat." Joe shrugged. He'd been here for a week. That was just the way things were at Cullens.

"I dunno, they're just people."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"And these nicknames are they self imposed or do the others give them such names?"

Vipul found it fascinating. He was concerned that it might be the kind of schoolhouse mockery that plagued unpopular kids of all walks of life, but he'd heard others use such monikers with affection, and heard none with disdain. It was almost a badge of comraderie, if anything.

[Twitch]

"I have heard Damien describe himself as demon-like and it was mentioned that this girl looked like a cat so I have no idea about her. He has a tail, wings, fangs and pointed ears." Joe explained. "And he can fly."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"And do you have such a nickname as well?"

Vipul considered the possibilities, but could only think of the patently obvious like Speedy, Flash, etc.

[Twitch]

He shook his head.

"Heh, no. I'm just Joe. I just have quick hands n' feet. It's good enough for my folks, it's good enough for me." He smiled, and paused.

"What about you?"

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I do not have one of these names either."

He thought about it for a moment.

"Perhaps it would be a wise thing for me to make one of these as many Americans have difficulty with my name although I do not know why."

[Twitch]

"Naw it's not bad. Vipul isn't hard at all, an I just have trouble with speakin' as-is, so your last name is difficult for me." he said apologetically.

"It's different. The sequence of sounds isn't somethin we're used to, is all."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul nodded.

"Yes I can understand that pronounciation naturally differs across cultures but my name is a common one which should be simple in theory."

For emphasis, the other Vipul broke it down.

"Shan dra sheck harr you see it is like Smith or Robinson."

[Twitch]

"Uh, more like... Robinson. Smith is one syllable." Joe held up one finger for emphasis.

"Don't worry, man. Everyone will be able to say every name under the sun in twenty years, the way things are goin'. Well, cept the weirdos in the Ozarks."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul opened his mouth to ask about what Joe meant about weirdos and what were these Ozarks, but he reconsidered as it was probably too much of a tangent to travel on.

Something else Joe said was more interesting, and Vipul considered it.

"I think those who are resistant to change are far more resilient than many would hope for."

The other Vipul chimed in.

"While culture must be preserved where it thrives it is also culture which allows old prejudices to thrive and new ones to grow."

Vipul dug about to find the morning paper, which had an editorial in it about the "Mutant Menace".

"Or perhaps the world comes together for the purpose of tearing itself apart at times."

[Twitch]

Joe read the headline. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"It surely does. I think I need to go browse some newspaper archives. What a moron."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

"I must find a way to be optimistic every day because the alternative is this which must not be allowed."

Vipul rubbed his temples a bit before putting the paper away. He frowned, realizing that their otherwise pleasant conversation had hit a downer.

"My apologies we were having a pleasant conversation and it should not be spoiled by this."

[Twitch]

"Naw, it's no problem. I need to catch up on some readin'. Remember if you need a ride to that grocery store give me a shout. I have a car." Joe stood and offered his hand to Vipul, who accepted.

"It was good to meet you, Vipul. See ya around."

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul took his hand, a bit unsure of the gesture but he returned it confidently.

"Namaste." He unconciously said his goodbyes in sanskrit, put at ease by Joe's pleasant company.