Wisteria moved to Alister’s side and gave him a squeeze on his arm of support, “Could I try too? I know this is for him to level up, but I’d love to try shooting a gun. I shot one before when I was little, but they’re expensive if you want something decent. I’m a good shot with a bow.”

“Of course! I’d love to see how you do.”

Alister took a deep breath and nodded, half to himself. This was just another thing he had to learn. Morgan was right. He had a head start above other humans, it wasn’t some hopeless pit. He squeezed Wisteria’s hand back before he let go and reached out for the gun, “Let’s get going already. Do I just press this little lever?”

Morgan snickered, “Hah. No. You have to load it first.”

“It doesn’t just shoot out magic?”

“Nope. There are some that sort of do that, but that’s just a fancy wand or staff. Guns use bullets. They’re pieces of metal shaped for the barrel, which is what we call this long part. Take one of these paper packets. Tear it, pour in the gunpowder… then put the paper in and ram down the bullet with this rod… and you have to be careful and purposeful about it. You don’t want to light it off prematurely,” Morgan handed it off, an evil grin alight on her face.

The weapon was taller than Alister. It was at least five and a half feet long, a full foot and a couple inches taller than he was. And it was heavy! Ten pounds or so. Heavier than he imagined it to be. Alister had to lean it over to get to the tip of the gun. He tore open the packet like he was told to, pouring in the gunpowder, stuffing the paper in after it, and then came the bullet.

This little round piece of lead - which he still had a hard time believing could do that sort of damage without much magic - was supposed to fit into this grooved tube. But then this lead ball was nearly a perfect fit for the barrel. It was the reason why the rod was necessary and it couldn’t just slide in.

Alister leveraged the butt of the gun against a rock to be able to push the bullet in, and to begin using the ramrod. It was a struggle. Even using the weight of his body his progress was slow as the rifling of the barrel carved into the lead bullet. Morgan was, of course, thoroughly enjoying his struggle, and even Wisteria was trying not to giggle at him.

Only half way through the process, Alister let out a frustrated huff and stopped. There had to be a better way. With a glance around, Alister had an idea occur to him. Hefting up the rifle, he slammed it against the rock so the ramrod shoved with more force, missing one very clear problem in his ignorance of guns; not only had he left the flint in, but sparks were a terrible thing when they happened too early.

The spark set off the powder and paper already deep down the barrel when the ball struck the flint with force. Letting out a yelp of surprise, he was knocked off his feet as the rifle tore it's way out of his hands and sailed through the air.

Morgan was clearly ready for this, as she was still grinning maniacally, looking like the cat that got the cream as she checked on her dazed relative. "Told you to be careful. You alright?" She asked as she hauled Alister to his feet.

The boy was bright red with embarrassment as Morgan broke into laughter once it was clear he was okay. Wisteria looked less amused, even a bit angry. "Hey! That was really mean! What if he got hurt?" She asked with a pout as she ran up to Alister herself. Her concern only made Alister blush harder.

"I'm fine! The stupid thing… how was I supposed to know…" he muttered, trying to piece together what happened, ego more bruised than anything… though his hip was certainly bruised too, "Why aren't these things easier to load? It doesn't seem worth the bother when you could just use a bow if the reload is that hard!"

This just got a tsk from his elder cousin. "Well, for one, they're really cool and you’re just small and have noodles for arms. For two, they pack more punch than bows can, and it's easier to carry more ammo. By the time a non-magic bow even gets close to the same power, the thing is huge and the arrows aren't reasonable to carry in large amounts," she said as she hefted the bag of ammo that appeared on her hip when the gun was summoned. "This thing holds forty shots."

Wisteria let out a little huh of surprise, briefly forgetting her anger, "That's a lot… it'd be hard to carry that many arrows… that would be good for defending yourself…"

Alister's grumbling continued, "Well… I guess that's fair… but it's still not worth the drawbacks!"

Morgan nodded at the words. "Many feel that way. It's a work in progress. But there's some cool stuff coming out. Here, check this out…" she said before quickly summoning another weapon. This looked similar, but the trigger guard was a bit far from the gun. With a twist of that guard, a screw was lowered to reveal the back of the barrel.

"So you put the powder back here, put the ball in the rear of the barrel here, twist it back into place… and voila! I'd shoot it but uh…" she coughed discreetly, "The last time I shot it… I kind of didn't fully seal the screw so the hole lined up? It sorta shot the screw and took part of my ear off, so I'm a little scared of it. Anyway, this thing is way faster than breech loading, but it's also much harder to clean, more delicate, and more dangerous. But we're making progress!" She explained, muttering a spell to send it away shortly after.

"Meanwhile," she said, holding out a hand, and her rifle returned to her palm from the brush, "this beauty can take a beating. It's not my main weapon, but I've used it as a bludgeon or spear quite a few times now. All you have to do is attach something called a bayonet to the tip of it. It’s multifaceted.”

“Okay okay. Whatever. I get it. You like your gun. That doesn’t help me actually shoot it, and this is going to take way too long if I use that thing,” Alister argued. “Let Wisteria try it, but I’m going to just use my magic. It's reliable and doesn't take an hour to use twice.”

Morgan shrugged and loaded the weapon again, then handed it off to Wisteria. The young girl pulled her hair back behind her ear and knelt down, cheek resting on the stock. Resting the barrel against the same stone that Alister had tried using as a battering ram, she used it as a point of stability.

Wisteria loved how it felt. As worried as she was about what just happened to Alister, she was so excited to get to shoot something like this. Before her mom and her had to move, she had a chance to fire one before. It felt strong… powerful. Morgan gave her a bit of guidance, and she felt the thump of the butt of the gun against her shoulder.

She winced, but the bullet carved a hole through its target. It was more off center than Morgan’s shot, but it killed the crab all the same.

[Tidefisher Crab - Level 3 has been killed.]

“Wooh, that’s so strong,” Wisteria said, chuckling as she watched the crab slump over with a sad smile on her face, “I’ll collect the bodies as we go, so you two can focus on fighting. Just try to end each one quickly please, Alister. A slow death is a cruel one.”

“I'll make it fast. Promise,” Alister replied, climbing over the rock, “I’ll try to leave the meat edible, too.”