6/25/1 AME
Ranger training is swinging into the near high-gear as we’ve gone into horse riding.
Originally, I didn’t think this would be a part of the training and would be something of an ‘elective’ in the training. I know that some of the Rangers rode horses but those were few and far between because a) the amount of horses in the town were pretty small, b) the amount of people who could ride was probably smaller & c) many of the horses (something close to 2/3rds) aren’t trained for anything more than the basic ‘children birthday walks’ in terms of complexity.
As I stand now; I really don’t know enough about horses to make any judgment. I was right on maybe 10% of what I thought but the rest was more about time and effort. Effort that came from my thighs and back.
It’s been maybe 5 days of training with the horses but it seem that I’m the best adapted to horse-riding out of my small troop. In a funny twist, Lana was actually horrible at horse riding. She’s not bad at the balance bit but whenever it comes to commanding the beast, she has better chance of learning to fly than manage to get the horse to go in the right direction. I honestly don’t get how she’s having trouble but it’s sort of refreshing to be helping her out instead of being the other way around during training. As is, I’m apparently the only one who can get a decent pace going on a horse without help. I can’t do it as near instinctively as Davith can, telling his horse to stop, go, turn around and walk backwards without any additional tugs or motions, but I’m getting to the point where I can tell Dexter to stop, go and turn, without acting like a ramp agent.
Apparently I got lucky too. The Stable Master; Jarry, says that Dexter is one of his more unruly and uncooperative horses. I don’t really see it; Dexter is definitely a bit stubborn at times when we’re not moving but he’ll listen when it’s time to move. Maybe I’ve just seen his good side. It’s only been a couple days and seeing how it looks like he’ll be assigned to me if I pass the tests, maybe I’ll see more of his bad side later.
All we’ve really learned at the moment is the basics of riding and Range Master Davith has mentioned that we are going to learn the other parts of horse care because all rangers will be asked to take care of the horses when they are in reserve. So it’s really only just started, with Davith saying that us recruits aren’t going to be authorized for horses until maybe a month after they see if the training goes well and we pass the tests that they’ll have to make up. Lana is secretly hoping she fails the horse tests and I laugh whenever the test is brought up cause she gets a scrunch in her face that’s hilarious and cute.
Outside of what I found was a bump in training schedule due to future operations, it’s been going smoothly. Lana’s help has done me some good and while I’m not as amazing as her, I can at least keep up with her and some of the other better Rags. We’ve been given actual guns to shoot too. We only some 65 rounds each but it was good to finally get some actual gun training in. Surprisingly, I was actually a pretty decent shoot after all that work. Lana was definitely better but I was second best in the small troop of Rags and while that was a bit of an ego boost, Davith was quick to remind us that our shooting was under sterile conditions and that actual shooting would be a lot different. Good to get the ego-check even if it does hurt.
The town has had its second harvest and the farmers in the area are beginning to understand the nature of this new cycle. I haven’t be able to understand much from what I pick up from the farmers that frequent or at least act near the Ranger’s Office (the section of building next to the police office) but I did get that while it was not a normal cycle, the plants acted as though it was and there didn’t seem to be any real issues with the harvest in terms of product quality. From how I get it; it just seem like an dilated growth cycle which would mean that although the it looks like its shorter in terms of time, it undergoing the same amount of growth normally.
This is good since a lot of the Range Masters are talking about how this might be a bad winter. I’ve been through bad winters before, but this was usually in my cozy little house just off New York City with central heating and easy access to roads and restaurants. This is probably going to be my first winter dealing with actual threats and not having the many luxuries I’m used to. I can’t lie and say I’m not scared but I’m also morbidly excited. I can’t really explain it well but it’s that same feeling you get when going to tackle a large challenge. Just the anticipation to see if you can actually do it. I don’t think I’m explaining as well as I could but I hope I got across something.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I actually asked Davith how he and some of other Range Masters were able to tell how it was going to be a bad winter. He told me that it was just a feeling right now but that he would show me some signs to look for when fall would be coming around. Said the signs would be easier to see then. I don’t get it but experience is probably key in these areas. Probably a lesson to impart on whoever reads this later; “While Knowledge is important, Experience is application.” Maybe not as profound but it gets the point across.
Then on Tuesday, an Earthquake hit.
It wasn’t a big one, although I haven’t been in too many earthquakes to really tell. This was actually my first. I say it wasn’t a big one because Range Master George said it was probably a 3.5 which was to his estimation, wasn’t big but getting there. We are lucky in that while it was definitely noticeable and caused some panic, it didn’t destroy or disrupt anything to a major degree. Some of the livestock were spooked and ran out but nothing beside that happened. What was noticeable was the fact that we were in part of the country where earthquakes weren’t a normal phenomenon and we got an earthquake that was right on the cusp of being a serious one.
It happened just some time after midnight which meant that the town hadn’t really been prepared for it when it happened. Most everyone who could, had ran out of their respective buildings in preparation for the worst. It probably took 5 minutes for the earthquake to pass and by then, everyone was panicking to some degree, less about the earthquake itself and more about the fact there was one on this area. From talks with others later, earthquakes of basically any size larger than a 1.0 in this area are uncommon. There might be the occasion shake or so but those are minor and mostly attributed to small avalanches in the mountains than anything else.
After the whole situation had subsided and everyone had been relatively calmed down by the lack of anything, we all started to head back inside. I wanted to get some sleep too but it seemed as though this event was serious enough that Rangers should be notified about any development in the wilds. Understandable. Doesn’t mean I wanted to stay up for it. I did but it was under duress of duty.
The meeting was less of a meeting and more of a round-table to attempt to think up of things to look out for in wilds outside that might have been startled and displaced by the earthquake. I was a bit confused at first seeing as this was less about ‘what to look out for’ and more of ‘what might be out there to look out for’ when the realization of what the past two attacks had been. They had been monsters, actual monsters. While it was something to say those monsters had a resemblance of stuff you might see in a D&D book or fantasy movie, the disconnect of them being real hadn’t hit me. I attribute some of this difficulty getting the connection as to me not being there when those monsters had struck. I had seen the aftermath of them but never the actual monsters themselves moving, breathing and acting. Some of these rangers might have which makes the threat to them all the more real to them and in turn, to me.
I had elected then to try pick up a D&D Monster Manual somewhere and see if I couldn’t try and put together something similar to a bestiary for the Rangers. I had noted down some of the things I had seen about both of the former monsters so it was now more about trying to get it down like in those books, in a way that one can easily digest the information and then possible plan accordingly. I didn’t tell anyone yet about this plan of mine, mostly because it might not pan out as well as I hope. Making a bestiary required you actually go out and study them alive and I had yet to be let out to do more than walk in easy sight vicinity of the town.
The meeting had been about to end after another hour of discussion when the mayor and the chief of police came in. It seemed as though they wanted to talk to all the rangers but the Head Ranger dismissed us to get some rest, electing to talk to what was becoming the town council himself.
I was thankful but maybe if he had more support on his side, the next decision wouldn’t have been forced upon him. Two days after the event and the meeting, all rangers were addressed by the Head Ranger. Turns out, they needed to increase their patrols for the next week or so and due to lacking man power among the Rangers, the Rags would be stepping up to help.
Many of the Range Masters argued against this but it turned out to be a decision made by politics. Or at least it looks that way from where I’m standing.
To cut it down short; the Mayor and the Chief of Police want to get more patrols out to show the people that the outside is safe and that they can keep them safe. The Head Ranger agrees on ideals but not in principal due to lacking man-power. Mayor and Chief Police say they can push him to do it since they outvote him. Head Ranger thinks he can pull the Head Doctors vote in but due to hospitals worries, he can’t/hasn’t voted and so can’t be counted. Unless done so otherwise, the other two council heads could vote out the Head Ranger and, within the temporary lack of leadership and authority, can use their own authority to get it done.
I don’t get how you can get what can amount of to political abuse of power in only two months of civilization but this is just stuff I’m getting from the other Range Masters so it’s probably a little biased.
What this all means for myself and other fellow recruits is that we might be bumped into field work earlier than we anticipated.