Video

[theweakhavepurpose]

[The video turns on to show the outskirts of town, nearby is a fence of sorts made of junk Pratt collected from the Colosseum and some baling wire. It's encircling a fancy new shooting range complete with training dummies and targets and some other items that aren't immediately identifiable.

Okay fancy isn't the right word, everything is made of remnants he found and some of the targets are empty soup cans on sticks but it looks serviceable.]

This is Deputy Pratt. I know we're all busy freezing to death, but if you'd like to take your mind off that, I've finally got this all together. Range is up and running!

It's set up by the orchard, or well.. where the orchard should be anyway.

[He pans the camera towards the orchard to show where it is and then starts walking towards the range. The camera is surprisingly steady, this is someone who has filmed hundreds of Vine videos of him and other deputies doing stupid stuff on slow days. He's a pro at this shit.]

I've got training dummies up front for anyone who wants to get their melee fighting on. But uh.. try not to completely destroy them because I don't have a ton of wood to fix them up.

For the range itself I've got targets at 10 meters, 25 meters, 50 and 100. It's not perfect because I'm measuring this with my feet, but it's close enough. Spinner targets are for guns, and the bigger baled ones are dirt and wood so they shouldn't chew up your arrows too bad.

This thing is a work in progress.

[He sets a can onto a contraption off to the side of the range, stomping his foot on a pedal and sending it shooting down the lane and a little to the left. The camera gets unsteady here as he launches a knife that's far too big for this at the can and it tumbles to the ground.]

Keeps shooting them off to the side, but it's better than throwing something and then trying to hit it.

As for weapons... [He walks over to a large but very battered chest and opens the lid.]

I've got some throwing knives that aren't stupid like the hunting knife I have. A few bows. And some arrows in here. Keep them in this crate because the weather is not kind to bowstrings and you don't want these things snapping when you're shooting.

It's on the honor system because I'm not going to freeze my ass off monitoring this twenty-four seven. So try not to burn it down in the next two days.

[Please guys. He worked hard on this. Don't set it on fire.]

Comments

[requiemshark]

No time like the present to get it back.

[ Says Ephemera, who is not an example of healthy emotional processing. ]

I stay away from the gods. Besides, I need to recalibrate my equipment. Stationary targets are best.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Burning down the range is a good start to me never getting it back.

[Look he did something for other people, he's on his way to being good ol' Deputy Pratt. Protect and Serve. And not "Cull the weak".]

Does that suit of yours have gunpowder in it? Because that would be way more useful than napalm. The rest of us with guns are slowly dying from the lack of ammo.

[requiemshark]

Boo.

[ Ephemera actually sounds somewhat amused. ]

No can do. Believe me, it'd come in handy.

[theweakhavepurpose]

I'll have fun again when I'm not freezing and I don't have to worry about food.

[Take care of his basic necessities and then he can think about some amount of recreation funtimes.]

I knew it was too much to ask for. That'd be almost too convenient wouldn't it?

[requiemshark]

Might be waiting a while on that one.

[ He's not too concerned. He's survived worse and weirder. ]

Something like that. But we make do.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Then I'll keep on being no fun at all.

[No fun allowed at his range.]

Yeah it'll be fine. Besides this is more for recreation than really protecting ourselves. I don't think we're going to hold off machines with arrows. But people need a way to relax and blow off steam.

[You know who really looks like he could use that? Pratt.]

[requiemshark]

Hey, at least you're consistent.

You're telling me. Not a lot I miss from back home, but I'd kill to do a proper jump again. Maybe not literally, but still.

[ Ephemera might be an adrenaline junkie, a little. Or just wired funny. He's one of the few people who finds doing a free jump in zero g relaxing. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Jump?

Like from a plane?

Can't help you there, but if we ever randomly get a helicopter, I'm your man. I'm a pilot.

[requiemshark]

Something like that. You heard of jumping at zero g? That. Start out in space and land plane side. Best thing in the universe.

No shit? Me too. Not with helicopters, but I can fly a pelican just fine.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Back up a bit. Space? Like from orbit? Won't you burn up on entry or something?

[He's being very literal here. He also has no idea what a pelican is. They don't even have an airport that can hold a full sized plane in Hope County.]

[requiemshark]

Not if you do it right. Plus it's safer than taking a drop ship down. Harder to get a missile lock on individual targets.

[ Harder, but not impossible. But that's just flavor. ]

I'm thinking our tech is more advanced than yours. Your world do space travel yet?

[theweakhavepurpose]

We went to the moon about fifty years ago.

[ And even that's debatable according to some of his neighbors.]

A rich dude launched a car into space, not sure if that counts at all.

[requiemshark]

Cool. Let's just say you're a long way off from where I come from.

[ Debatable if that's good or bad. He's not even going to get into the whole aliens are real thing. ]

But yeah. Used to be ODST. Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Best thing in the universe if you survive it.

[theweakhavepurpose]

[He gets that enough from Larry back home, thanks.]

Does it involve free-falling through space because that sounds less like the best thing and more like a fucking nightmare.

[requiemshark]

Don't knock it till you try it. Best rush you'll ever find.

[ Ephemera sounds genuinely found. There aren't a lot of things he enjoys simply for the joy of them, but a good jump is one. He likes them even more when he doesn't have to dodge bullets or fight when he hits the bottom but he'll take it either way. ]

'course, my training officer kicked me off the drop ship the first time around and I might've screamed a whole lot, but man. There's nothing like it.

[theweakhavepurpose]

I like my adrenaline rushes where there's no chance of me splattering on the pavement at nine million miles an hour.

I've survived a helicopter crash and that's enough hitting the ground at high speeds for the rest of my life.

[requiemshark]

That just makes it fun.

[ Unfortunately, he's completely serious. ]

Damn. Those suck. Had a couple of those in my day. You get out in one piece?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Not for the person who has to clean it up.

Sort of.

[Physically yes, mentally; definitely not.]

Crazy cultists jumped into the blades and knocked everything out of whack. Fortunately we weren't that high up or there might have been more damage to everyone inside.

[requiemshark]

Maybe. But when you're good, and I mean really fucking good, then you don't have to worry about that.

[ There aren't a lot of things that Ephemera will brag about but at the end of the day, he's still a Hell Jumper. They get shit done. ]

Fuck. That's something else. They have a thing for suicide runs or whatever?

[theweakhavepurpose]

[He half smiles. That cocky attitude reminds him of himself before the whole cult thing turned him into a pathetic ball of neuroses.]

Only the best survive huh? Cull the weak.

[Or splatter the weak into the atmosphere. Same difference.]

They're all hyped up to die for the Father. Think they'll go right to Eden as martyrs. Crazy bastards.

[requiemshark]

Only the best make it through training.

[ if your instructor's got their shit together, nobody dies. Hopefully. ]

True believers fight harder. Doesn't make 'em smart.

[ He says. From experience. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Maybe not smart, but definitely a pain in the ass to deal with. It gets all up in your head, can't get it out.

[He shakes his head, he doesn't wanna talk about this.]

Does the armor come with the job? You're getting the good shit. All I got were shirts and I had to buy them myself.

[requiemshark]

Yeah.

[ It's - well, what it is. ]

Something like that. Got this instead of payment for a job.

[ Not that he'd been interested in money at the time. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Okay maybe that's worse.

You don't get paid? How do you get food or pay rent..

[Or take girls out to dinner or buy video games or any of the necessary things in life?]

[requiemshark]

Long story. Spent a couple years on a prison ship. Wasn't too picky about how I got out.