Wordcount: 369 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Summary: A small sidenote on the military uniforms, for reasons.
NOTE: This is the first draft of a story, so it will most likely contain plot holes, retcons, and other inconsistencies. I’ll come back and fix things once the story (or arc) is complete!
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What Not to Wear
The uniforms were utilitarian, two sets of long and short sleeves. They turned in laundry once a day and got it back the next. There was enough linens and laundry to keep the wash kettles going daily.
The uniforms were a brown green gray tweed that blended with the forest much more quickly than the dress uniforms or the foxhawks themselves. They took wear well and there were only a few mended patches on the older trainees. It was tick like burlap, but softer. Not as nice as pure cotton or silk, but it wicked up sweat well and kept them warm in the winter.
It did not shed rain as well, but they had outer cloaks for that and they were not out in the rain much on purpose anyways.
They had field exercises out in the forest and once or twice outside the forest. There was a lot of bow work, which May was not too bad at, and swords work which she was. There was very little call for the foxhawk rider to dismount unless something horrible happened, so the swords work and knife work was more of a formality that anything else. It was focused on defensive moves, meant more to disable the opponent until the rider could run, rather than to win.
They were allowed jewelry that did not catch the light and did not make noise, which reduced the choices somewhat. They went for wooden beads and tightly knotted cords. Matte stones, and sometimes dull metals, thought that was rarer.
Rank was marked by dull grey bands around the upper arm. Thin and thick stripes, only visible once you were close enough to make them out. Rank you knew by the person, not the clothing. Since Oak Grove was smaller enough. There were maybe three rank of fifty riders here, at least one was out on patrols at any time.
In larger towns the rank was sometimes bright green or yellow so that it could be seen further. But the foxhawks had better memories so the riders tended to rely on them for information on the others. Which got them in trouble when they were by themselves, but people tended to be lazy.
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