31 Plays in 31 Days, #3 - "Learning to Shoot"

[breakinglight11]

This is actually NOT from Mrs. Hawking part 4. It's just an idea I had that I scribbled down, for possible use sometime down the line.

It occurred to me that after deciding Nathaniel had better talents than learning to fight in Vivat Regina, he never really picked up any combat skills. Honestly, with the danger they face, that's something that he'd likely have to do eventually just to keep safe. It also struck me that he's going to go through a pretty serious situation in his part in part 5. So maybe that bad thing happening to him is the impetus to finally get him trained in some form of self-defense.

It also occurred to me that maybe he'd be the one person on the team to use a gun. I'm not sure how I feel about it, as I've avoided including our heroes using guns for a number of reasons, but it seemed like it fit, like it was something he could train at even though he wasn't suited to close combat. Here's a bit of noodling on that idea.

Day #3 - "Learning to Shoot"
by Phoebe Roberts

VICTORIA HAWKING, lady's society avenger
NATHANIEL HAWKING, her nephew and assistant

London, England, 1888
~~~

  (Facing out towards the audience, as if that’s where the target is, MRS. HAWKING stands at NATHANIEL’s shoulder as he raises his gun to line up a shot.)

 

MRS. HAWKING: Sight along the barrel, with both eyes open. Squeeze, don’t pull, and breathe out as you do it.

 

(NATHANIEL takes a shot.)

 

MRS. HAWKING: Not bad. Your stance is good.

 

NATHANIEL: I got the basics in my year in the service. But that was almost ten years ago now, and I haven’t touched one much since. 

 

(He regards the gun.)

 

NATHANIEL: It feels strange. This thing in my hands.

 

MRS. HAWKING: It’s time you learned to handle yourself somehow. I won’t have you in another scrape like last year. 

 

NATHANIEL: I know. It’s only… I’ve never seen you use one. 

 

MRS. HAWKING: I've never had the taste for guns. The smell, the noise, the way they kick back at you when you fire them. They are anathema to subtlety and stealth, and they smack of the male establishment. A blunt, destructive approach, rather than a surgical one. 

 

NATHANIEL: Then… is this really what I ought to take up? Perhaps I should learning close combat after all. The way you and Mary do.

 

MRS. HAWKING: That way isn’t for everyone.

 

NATHANIEL: But if the gun’s so brutal—

 

MRS. HAWKING: Beating a man with your bare fists is a brutality of another kind. To feel a body break beneath your hands. 

 

NATHANIEL: I want to do the right thing. Even if it’s hard for me.

 

(MRS. HAWKING takes up the gun and carefully lines up a shot.)

 

MRS. HAWKING: This isn’t a game, Nathaniel. There are no rules of fair play. And you cannot run these risks without protecting yourself. 

 

(She fires a shot. NATHANIEL peers out as if inspecting the target.)

 

NATHANIEL: Bullseye.

 

MRS. HAWKING: You do what you must do.

 

(She hands him back the gun.)