tyro
or tiro
[tahy-roh]
1. a beginner in learning anything; novice.
*****************************************
Ted triple checked his gear.
The clothes were simple enough.
Really, it was just stiff, heavy clothing and a full face mask. Nothing special there. But the gun was different. He needed that if he was going to get
anywhere. He looked around at the other
members of his team. They all had high
end guns. Some of them even looked
custom made. Not like his. His was a cheap, store bought number that looked
like it would break at any moment.
“First
time?” One of them said. The man was not
that much taller than Ted was, but he had a lean, wiry build that Ted lacked.
“Is it
that obvious?”
“Oh
yeah. Don’t worry rookie, you’ll be
fine. Just stick with one of us and
we’ll show you the ropes.”
“Thanks.”
Ted said shakily.
“That
your gun?” The other man asked.
“Yeah. I know it’s not much. But the guy at the store said it’s good for
beginners.”
“It’ll
get you through a game or two. But top
feeders like that one can block your line of sight if you don’t know what
you’re doing. They’re fine once you get
the hang of them though. Bottom feeds
are more expensive, and the balance can throw you off at first, but they’re
easier to aim.”
“Oh. I’m probably not going to do this very often,
so this is probably fine.”
Ted
took another look at his gun. He
imagined holding it like he had been shown.
Sure enough, the hopper full of paintballs could be tricky to see
around. He looked around again. Most of the other people had their ammo
mounted onto the bottom of the guns. He
was not even sure how that worked. They
were not like real guns that fed bullets with springs and such. They were paintballs in plastic
containers. Maybe some kind of vacuum?
“If that’s
how it is, then that should do fine. But
if you like it, invest in a better gun.
Some pistols might be good also.”
“Pistols?”
“Sure. Here, check it out.”
The man
pulled a plastic pistol from behind his back and held it out. It was lighter than it looked, and the top of
it had a long tube instead of a slide.
“They
don’t take a lot of ammo, and they don’t have the best range, but they’re great
if you’re main gun runs out. Plus,
there’s nothing quite like nailing a guy between the eyes with one of these
things. It’s great with the main, but
this gives a special feeling.”
Ted
handed the sidearm back and was very glad they were talking about paint instead
of lead. But there was no question this
guy knew more about the game than he did.
He could probably do worse than sticking nearby, if only just to learn
the ropes. He knew he was probably going
to botch the game and make them lose, but this was his first game. He just hoped that meant he would not get
blamed too badly when it was all over.
*************************************
Just so you know, I've never been involved with paintball in any way, and my research mainly involves image searches. I have no idea if anything I've written here is even slightly accurate. I hope those who actually participate in paintball matches can forgive any inaccuracies that may be present.
No comments:
Post a Comment