She smacks the table firmly.*

It still hurts, but it hurts... elsewhere? Still in her hand, sort of, but it's like an echo without a source sound. 

*Regrettably December does not know she is imitating Bongo Cat. 

"I think it worked. It feels... kind of echoey?"

She pumps a fist in the air. "Yeah! You got it! Now reinforce your ears like that."

She puts in some more dikes.

"Okay, I think I've got it."

"Great. Now to test that."

Ruby starts the process of checking the gun carefully, then loads it, performs a press-check again, then sights downrange and fires a round.

It's loud. It's every bit as loud as she'd expect a gunshot to be, but it doesn't deafen. It doesn't make December's ears ring. It just feels like a brief pressure that fades quickly.

Ruby smoothly unloads the weapon, clears the chamber, and sets everything down.

"How'd that feel?"

December doesn't startle, but it's fairly clear she supressed a flinch there. 

"My ears seem to be fine. No ringing."

"Okay! Time to get to know the rifle!"

The first thing Ruby points out is the barrel. "This is the barrel, aka the dangerous end. Don't point it at anything you don't imminently want a hole in."

Then she points at the trigger. "Finger stays on the guard, not the trigger, until you're ready to start putting holes in things."

She looks firmly at December. "Those, along with assume a gun is loaded until proven otherwise, are the three most important rules. Got 'em?"

"Don't point the barrel at anything that doesn't need a hole in it. Keep your booger hook off the bang switch. Guns are always loaded, especially when they're not loaded."

She giggles for a moment and nods. "Hehe, yep. Okay, next round."

She points out the safety, the magazine, the magazine release, the chamber, the slide, the semi/auto switch. She shows how to do a press-check (where you check the chamber for a round by pressing back the slide). She demonstrates how to insert the magazine, how to chamber a round, how to remove the magazine and eject the round from the chamber.

She makes safe the weapon, then sets it on the counter.

"Pick up the weapon, check the safety."

"Thaaat went by real fast, can you demonstrate again before I pick up the weapon?"

"Sure!"

She walks very slowly through it. Safety, near the trigger, easy to reach, this is safe, this is live. Magazine release, not far from that. Ejection port. How to do a press check and inspect the chamber. A reminder that removing the magazine does nothing to the chamber and that has to be cleared too.

And then the gun goes back onto the counter.

Okay. She picks up the weapon, checks the safety. 

Playing with swords and sabers is fun, but this... really drives home the fact that her job, as a Huntress, is to kill things. It's not comfortable.

Let me.

December sets down the weapon again, careful not to sweep with the barrel or touch the trigger.

"Lilian wants to come forward, but I haven't done enough aura practice to know if I can reinforce our ears while she's forward. Probably it's best for her to repeat the practice we did earlier?"

She nods. "Good plan. Do you need me to repeat the explanation of the Aura practice process?"

Lilian comes forward. 

"No, we share memories. I'll give it a try."

With the example of Decmber's dive in mindspace to listen to, Lilian delves deep...

What she hits is magma. Sluggish, slow-moving, burning hot. Scooping it is obviously foolhardy, but if she can... cool it, harden it to metal and stone around her ears...

"Okay, I think I've got my ear protection in place. It's easier with a direct example to work from."

"Great! Same instruction then: pick up the weapon, find the safety, check it, report its state."

She picks up the gun, careful of her trigger and barrel discipline. This is a weapon that can make even a trained civilian dangerous to a Grimm, or to a Huntress. It deserves respect and is not a toy. 

She's finally fetched up against something real in this whole wonderland. 

She checks the safety. "The safety is on."

"Good. Deactivate the safety and perform a press-check."

She deactivates the safety and pushes back the slide. "The chamber is clear," she reports. 

"Good. Pick up the magazine, insert it until it locks into place with an audible click, then chamber a round. Finally, perform another press-check, reactivate the safety, and put the weapon down."

She picks up the magazine, and presses it firmly into place until it clicks, still careful of the weapon's handling. 

Then she puts the safety on and puts down the weapon. "I only saw how to chamber a round once, and now it's out of my head again. I recognize this might seem excessive, but please show me again."

Ruby smiles at Lilian. "Excessive care for safety just means you take weapons seriously. You're doing great."

She picks up the weapon, checks it carefully, and then holds it where Lilian can see as she slowly chambers a round. Then she ejects the mag, ejects the round, performs a press-check, reinserts the mag, safes the weapon, and sets it back down.