Typhoon rain, Ikoma grumped to himself, carefully swabbing out the barrel of Kurusu’s steam rifle. The rest of his maintenance kit rested by his right knee, vibrating as the Koutetsujou moved and the sortie car floor thumped from bushi practicing how to fall. Branches, leaves – suppose I should be glad he was up on the prow, or there’d be mud, too.
Aha, there was that last leaf shred he’d glimpsed with a careful look down the muzzle. After he’d double and triple-checked the rifle was unloaded and not attached to a cylinder. Better safe than sorry, he’d had to work on too many weapons on too little sleep to take shortcuts.
Bit of seared green in hand, Ikoma wiped it on a rag, and breathed out. Now for the oil.
Kurusu could maintain a steam rifle himself. And had, all too often over the past few weeks. But the samurai had been dealing with Elder Dogen and panicky Kongokaku bushi for days. That kind of headache did not lend itself to good firearms maintenance.
Besides. This was one of the guns that would be shooting past him the next time he had to dive into a horde. It was just common sense to make sure Kurusu’s weapon would be as accurate as possible.
And fixing something always made Ikoma feel better.
I’ll have to catch him at a good time, I want to check how the coating on his sword is holding up….
There was a disturbing lack of falling bodies.
Did Hozumi arm-lock somebody so hard they sprained something? Again?
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
AWW! Good friend Ikoma! And the line “A disturbing lack of falling bodies” is a gem, thank you.
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*G* Thanks!
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Thanks.
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“Disturbing lack of falling bodies”. Snrk. I have to admit, these turns of phrase are a bit part of what keeps me coming back here, even to stories in fandoms I otherwise would never have touched. (Which is good, because sometimes those fandoms turn out to be darned interesting.)
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Given how Mumei tosses Ikoma around in canon, it’s when you don’t hear thumps that there’s a problem. 😉
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Ah. Yes, I suppose it would be. The question here, of course, being what kind of problems, which I imagine depends on who or what she’s supposed to be thumping here.
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Maybe Sam Carter has shocked the Bushi by being better at breaking her fall, and/or making others fall than they expected? Or, more likely, tensions have just risen because Kongokaku Bushi have gotten into a snit?
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Maybe Sam Carter has shocked the Bushi by being better at breaking her fall, and/or making others fall than they expected? Or, more likely, tensions have just risen because Kongokaku Bushi have gotten into a snit?
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Or a combination thereof…
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After he’d double and triple-checked the rifle was unloaded and not attached to a cylinder. Better safe than sorry, he’d had to work on too many weapons on too little sleep to take shortcuts.
FINALLY! Someone who actually GETS it!
(I imagine Jack would have a snicker or two at this sort of thought.)
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Firearms safety! It is a thing.
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In order to be a Special Forces legend, Jack’s pre-SG1 experience would surely include pretty much all the ways that things can go horribly wrong with equipment.
It wasn’t just the loss of his son that would have made him extremely twitchy about stone-age kids playing with firearms.
-Albert
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There was a disturbing lack of falling bodies.
That sounds a lot like a parent going “why are the kids quiet?” Except more…Hozumi.
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Oh yes. Dead on.
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