Fire Away

Tori snuck a glance at his phone in between customers at the register.

'Can you come over after work? Got something cool to show you.'

Tori smiled to himself, slipping his phone back into his pocket. Zin never lied about the coolness of new things he got.

-----

"So what kind of axe did you get this time?" Tori called into his friend's house as he shut the door behind him.

"Not an axe!" Zin shouted back from somewhere further away. "Come out back!"

Tori quickly checked the time, knowing he had to pick his kids up from school later. He had about an hour, so he joined Zin in the yard.

"That's a cannon," he said bluntly, pausing his movement. "Why do you have a cannon? Is that thing real?!"

He had never been more glad that Zin's house was on several acres of land.

Zin snorted, patting the cannon in much the same way a car salesman would pat the hood of a used vehicle.

"This baby is a replica, but it packs all the punch of the real thing," Zin explained excitedly. "It's on the way to the city museum, but they wanted me to film a video that can play as part of the exhibit."

"Are you gonna fire it?" Tori asked, eyes sparkling.

"You're damn right I am," Zin grinned. "Just hope we're far enough away from the windows."

Tori glanced back and shrugged.

"Should be fine. What do you need me to do?"

"Would you mind mannin' the camera?" Zin asked. "Shouldn't take long. I just have to say my spiel and then fire the thing."

"Can do," Tori replied with a nod, walking over to the camera on the tripod and crouching down behind it. Once he had it all set up, he gave Zin a thumbs up and hit the record button.

Zin's spiel was very informative, and Tori found that he was actually learning something.

"...with all of today's modern weaponry, it can be easy to forget the weapons of yesteryear. But weapons like this Flemish giant are just as impressive."

Then Zin stepped to the back of the cannon and Tori zoomed out the camera before covering his ears with his hands.

"Fire!"

The sound was huge. Tori was caught off guard even though he knew what was coming, and he had to stop himself from making any noise and ruining the recording. The stone ball that had been loaded into the cannon went flying somewhere far away from them, and Tori waited until it was well out of sight before he stopped the recording and stood up.

"That...was amazing," Tori said loudly, his ears still ringing from the noise. Zin started laughing, obviously proud of himself.

"Hope the recordin' was good; I don't think the windows will handle me doin' that a second time," he chuckled. "Thanks for your help!"

-----

It was about a month later that Tori took his family to the city museum. They of course ended up at the 15th century exhibit, after Ominus had begged and whined to see the cannon. Tori immediately spotted the informational video that was playing behind it, and he grinned.

"Your dad helped film that, y'know," he pointed out to his three kids. Illyia snorted.

"Liar. You're not that cool."

Tori's husband Hakim immediately doubled over in hysterical laughter. Tori sighed.