As Verdandi moved down the hall her shoulders were killing her, the day had been nothing but meetings with old men who had no vision for the future. It was pathetic, why not just start building the damned obelisks themselves if they were going to be so slow to act. She stormed through the hallways of the base, her Belgian dress uniform a stark contrast to the JSDF fatigues that nearly everyone else was wearing. Not to mention, that the vast majority of this nation's military was testosterone laden boys, barely able to wipe their own behinds. She needed to calm down, and wanted to feel the recoil of cold steel, and the smell of oil.

Several minutes later she finally arrived at the range, and she could already feel her shoulders relaxing. A minute later she had requisitioned an old bolt-action rifle and was unloading into the centre mass of a target, her shots were loose today, after several minutes of ever worsening shooting she finally ran out of the bullets that she had taken. She somewhat reluctantly returned the weapon to the range officer.

Finally she was outside of the range, not entierly sure what to do with herself, she didn't want to go home quite yet, but it was still too early in the day for her to get drunk.

Ashley had been working on several projects since the leaving of Rishijo Matou aka Libra and had a slight spring in his step. As things were working a lot smoother since he was now free to proceed a few things that could give them a total edge against the covenant. Right now he wanted to work off some stress and came to the gun range. He was currently dressed in his labcoat and uniform under it and was holding a few cases with him. "Well well well Zelpher-san its been a few days. Bring over some toys to test at the range" said one of the soldiers with a laugh. As Ashley shook his head no "No.....but soon, I just want to shoot my new gun that's all" he said and gets the safty glasses on as well as the headphones on. He opens the first case and he pulls out a rather big handgun almost a hand cannon in the scientists hands.

"Oh please.....a labrat shooting a gun. He can't hit worth a damn" said a green horn spoke out and got a few laughs.

"Grow up you fool.....OK set up target" said Ashley as he brings his gun up and takes aim with it. Then as it was set up and he was given a green light. A thunderous bang could be heard after bang as the weapon fired off at the target and after a few minutes the target was brought Over to Ash and all of the shots were very accurate and were all bullseyes and made the greenhorn eat his own words. As he was about to take out his newist weapon a Magnum he spots a pecurelar female officer using a bolt action rifle which was a rarity as it was a rather arcaic compared to the other modern weapons that were in there arsenal. He fires off a few rounds of his magnum handgun. Enjoying the feel of the weapon although he was going to need one more thing to add to his collection.

As Ashley was getting done he sees the female soldier walk out and puts away the borrowed safety gear and weapons. He walks over to the girl "A rather interesting choice of a weapon to shoot" he said and was being rather friendly with the soldier.

When Verdandi realizes that this man is talking to her she blinks, the surprise clear on her face for a few moments. He clearly wasn't a soldier, that much was clear from his labcoat and friendly tone he was taking with an officer. She shakes her head after a moment. "What can I say, they won't let me take out the anti-mineral rifle." She paused for a moment, "Anti-Materiel Rifle, that is." She corrected herself, slowly settling into English with this man, even if her Flemish accent was clear to anyone with ears for English. She looked back to the range for a moment. "Were you the one using that noise maker?" She asked him, meaning for it to come off as a joke, though having a bit too much of a snide tone in her voice when she said it.

"I prefer stopping power when dealing with a covenant then noise. If you can put a bullet in there heads then all of the better. Plus I prefer a more portable weapon if I am in the field " said Ashley as he assumed she was poking at him for his more matcho manly choice in a gun. "Although I think half of them would piss in there pants if they saw you pull out that weapon" he said hearing lady speak with a accent and could not pin it down. He knew that she was from the same region of the world as he was. "I'm Ashley Zelpher, I am with the JSDF R&D area of the science department " he said introducing himself and held out his hand for a handshake. Since he figured that going with that would break the ice a bit with this woman. Ashley himself had a slight german accent to his voice when speaking English to Verdandi.

"All things being the same, I'd rather that they never see me, instead knowing my presence when the skies turn to steel and they find it falling on their heads." She gave a little smile, realizing just how weird that would sound to most. She was surprised once more when he offered his hand after introducing himself, she was so used to people greeting themselves with a salute when in these settings. Still she took his hand and gently shook it. "Lieutenant Verdandi Noël, Belgian Armed Forces, with the NATO Military Envoy to Japan." She said, the mouth full of a title.

Verdandi glanced back to where they had come from. "Where you headed somewhere? Or are you more closely related to a puppy?" She asked, feeling the eyes of a number of JSDF personnel watching the two of them talk.

"True, that is something I can not refute. As range always matters in a fight when you want to be safe from the enemy " said Ashley as he agreed with Verdandi on that matter but he was perfering a lot more compact weapons these days with the heavy urban areas within Japan. Then he got to know the girl's name and grinned slightly as she was in neibourhood as his country. He had a chuckle "If I were following you for a date I would have been over you like a bloodhound. I just found you interesting overall. I was more then likely going back to labs. But if you want you can see some of the things I have made. Plus a rather fascinating weapon that I just recently made. Unless you need the rest from the jet lag you have" he said and left his offer on the table. Ashley did not care with either choice as it seemed to him. That he was trying to hit on her for a date and then some. That would be rather foolish, plus he did not have the time for dating anyone. Due to his job and being the guardian to his younger sister.

Although if he did manage to get Verdandi to come with him, he would imagen the angry stares at him in the next day. But he was male and he had to one up the other guys. As it seemed to a instinctual thing built into them for whatever reason. Although he did not know if it was something biological or some kind of thing inprinted in there heads.