The instruction Shepard provides reminds him a lot of those given to him as a child upon graduating from training bows and blunt arrows to ones that would do real, actual damage. For good reason; it'd only taken one misfired arrow to remind him of what damage could be done even after growing up watching others use bows and taking that for granted. Having even that relatively small amount of weapon power in one's hands wasn't something to take lightly.
And so, despite his eagerness here in an environment where critical damage is likely to be avoided: Claude pays close attention to each thing Shepard shows him, following along with each step and carefully filing all of that information away to save for later. While he can't picture a gun making it into his day-to-day usage, he keeps a sharp gaze on everything. At the reminder to assume he can do damage with this at any point, intentional or not, he nods solemnly. Horizon or not - and ability to be completely serious or not, as it's often the latter - this much he'll be sure to take to heart.
Soon enough it's time to pick a target and he selects the closest one, mostly because it means not having to take any longer for this experience. There's final instructions and some correction of how he's standing, more things he'll attempt to memorize, and then he's on his own. After one last mental run-through of all of Shepard's advice there's nothing left to do but pull the trigger and when he does, none of it is what he's expecting.
It starts with the recoil like the pistol in his hands is alive, not unlike a hero's relic moving of its own according but entirely more active than those weapons' twitches ever were considering this jolt feels like it goes through his entire body. Then there's the noise which even with Shepard's extremely helpful explanation of this being a small explosion Claude's still not prepared for, and the whole experience means his shot seems to clip the target. Maybe. He's a little too rattled to really properly look towards it since he's now examining the pistol in his hands once more (but not without all those safety measures in place, now even more aware of why they exist).
"Gods," he says when it feels like the shock's worn off a bit. The expression he turns Shepard's way is likely still uneasy but not without curiosity threading through it once more. "I know you said this is well behind what you're used to, but the only comparison I have to make is like I just lit a miniature cannon in my hands." A pause. "In retrospect, I probably should've asked what shooting was like before just... volunteering to try it. Now I really see why you wanted to give lessons to those of us who haven't the slightest what firearms are like."
no subject
And so, despite his eagerness here in an environment where critical damage is likely to be avoided: Claude pays close attention to each thing Shepard shows him, following along with each step and carefully filing all of that information away to save for later. While he can't picture a gun making it into his day-to-day usage, he keeps a sharp gaze on everything. At the reminder to assume he can do damage with this at any point, intentional or not, he nods solemnly. Horizon or not - and ability to be completely serious or not, as it's often the latter - this much he'll be sure to take to heart.
Soon enough it's time to pick a target and he selects the closest one, mostly because it means not having to take any longer for this experience. There's final instructions and some correction of how he's standing, more things he'll attempt to memorize, and then he's on his own. After one last mental run-through of all of Shepard's advice there's nothing left to do but pull the trigger and when he does, none of it is what he's expecting.
It starts with the recoil like the pistol in his hands is alive, not unlike a hero's relic moving of its own according but entirely more active than those weapons' twitches ever were considering this jolt feels like it goes through his entire body. Then there's the noise which even with Shepard's extremely helpful explanation of this being a small explosion Claude's still not prepared for, and the whole experience means his shot seems to clip the target. Maybe. He's a little too rattled to really properly look towards it since he's now examining the pistol in his hands once more (but not without all those safety measures in place, now even more aware of why they exist).
"Gods," he says when it feels like the shock's worn off a bit. The expression he turns Shepard's way is likely still uneasy but not without curiosity threading through it once more. "I know you said this is well behind what you're used to, but the only comparison I have to make is like I just lit a miniature cannon in my hands." A pause. "In retrospect, I probably should've asked what shooting was like before just... volunteering to try it. Now I really see why you wanted to give lessons to those of us who haven't the slightest what firearms are like."