Post by Ranger Ken Murphy on Sept 20, 2020 23:32:43 GMT -5 |
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Post by Rikki Boehm on Oct 11, 2020 23:05:00 GMT -5
Everything was shaping up to be a normal day at work for Rikki. She’d brought in coffee for all three of them–her, Ken, and her baby brother. (Not so much a baby anymore, but try telling Rikki that.) Ken wasn’t at his desk, so she left his waiting for him there, and sat down at her desk to look over her to-do list. She was midway through her third raspberry-jelly donut when she heard Ken’s voice crackling over the radio. She was on her feet already, headed to hover over Cam while he answered. Send her to my coordinates, huh? Ok… looked like he was up over the western ridge. She could head that way, then follow her nose.
Ken wasn’t the best communicator, so you learned to read between the lines when he was talking. Med bag? That meant an emergency. Missing limbs or something. The man was a living version of the Monty Python ‘flesh wound’ guy–he’d sooner eat a lemon like an apple than admit that he needed any kind of medical care. If he was asking for first aid, he was in rough shape. She was already moving before she heard “get her ass out here” and she took off at a run to the other vehicle. She’d have gone out on her own, in four-legged fashion, but she couldn’t risk it—if he needed real medical attention, she’d need a way to transport him, and throwing him over the back of a wolf wasn’t going to cut it.
She gunned the engines until she spotted the overturned vehicle and smelled blood mixed with Ken’s usual bar soap smell. Shit, shit, shit.
She was off the thing and sprinting towards him before the engine was even all the way off. Damn. It was on his leg. She wasn’t even looking at the deer until she nearly tripped over it, and she had to stop and do a double-take. What the actual fuck?! Those things were well known to be the meanest things in the woods. Whatever had done damage to a white deer was a major threat. She swallowed hard and forced herself to turn back to Ken.
“Good morning, sunshine!” she chirped to Ken in a singsong voice, forcing a smile like everything was just peachy. “You know, these things work a lot better right side up? They’re funny like that.” This was a trick she used on her scouts all the time–staying chipper helped distract them, and it kept her from showing any emotion about whatever was wrong and freaking them out. Very useful when extracting fishing hooks from kids’ fingers, or taking a kid in for stitches after an accident.
Internally, she was freaking out. Ken was all scratched up, and his leg was pinned under the ATV. She was going to have to lift it. And reveal her not-so-ordinary strength. Well, Ken couldn’t stay in the dark forever, not if something was fucking with the deer. She’d just have to play it cool and hope he was as stubborn as ever even when he was losing serious amounts of blood.
“I’ll get this off of you, but it might cost ya. Like… calling me Rikki for the rest of the day, instead of Erika.” She squatted beside the vehicle and squirmed her fingers underneath, shuffling slightly to get a better grip. “Can I trust you to get your leg out of the way once I’ve got it up?”
Ken wasn’t the best communicator, so you learned to read between the lines when he was talking. Med bag? That meant an emergency. Missing limbs or something. The man was a living version of the Monty Python ‘flesh wound’ guy–he’d sooner eat a lemon like an apple than admit that he needed any kind of medical care. If he was asking for first aid, he was in rough shape. She was already moving before she heard “get her ass out here” and she took off at a run to the other vehicle. She’d have gone out on her own, in four-legged fashion, but she couldn’t risk it—if he needed real medical attention, she’d need a way to transport him, and throwing him over the back of a wolf wasn’t going to cut it.
She gunned the engines until she spotted the overturned vehicle and smelled blood mixed with Ken’s usual bar soap smell. Shit, shit, shit.
She was off the thing and sprinting towards him before the engine was even all the way off. Damn. It was on his leg. She wasn’t even looking at the deer until she nearly tripped over it, and she had to stop and do a double-take. What the actual fuck?! Those things were well known to be the meanest things in the woods. Whatever had done damage to a white deer was a major threat. She swallowed hard and forced herself to turn back to Ken.
“Good morning, sunshine!” she chirped to Ken in a singsong voice, forcing a smile like everything was just peachy. “You know, these things work a lot better right side up? They’re funny like that.” This was a trick she used on her scouts all the time–staying chipper helped distract them, and it kept her from showing any emotion about whatever was wrong and freaking them out. Very useful when extracting fishing hooks from kids’ fingers, or taking a kid in for stitches after an accident.
Internally, she was freaking out. Ken was all scratched up, and his leg was pinned under the ATV. She was going to have to lift it. And reveal her not-so-ordinary strength. Well, Ken couldn’t stay in the dark forever, not if something was fucking with the deer. She’d just have to play it cool and hope he was as stubborn as ever even when he was losing serious amounts of blood.
“I’ll get this off of you, but it might cost ya. Like… calling me Rikki for the rest of the day, instead of Erika.” She squatted beside the vehicle and squirmed her fingers underneath, shuffling slightly to get a better grip. “Can I trust you to get your leg out of the way once I’ve got it up?”