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Post by lenore on Jul 14, 2011 22:46:42 GMT -6
Nora could feel Jaeden's muscles work rhythmically beneath her. The saddle squeaked with every movement in the crisp morning air. That combined with his steady breathing and the soft thumps of his hooves hitting the dirt were the only sounds she could hear. Most sensible people were still asleep at this hour of the day with their covers pulled up over their heads in denial of the new day. Not Lenore Gonzales. She was up before the sun grooming, feeding, mucking, and her favorite past time, riding. Jaeden was one of her favorites. He was young and full of energy, but he had a good heart. Making a soft kissing noise and shifting her weight slightly, she touched her right heel to his flank and tightened her grip on the right rein, asking him for a lead change which he executed brilliantly. There was no break in his stride, no change in pace, not even a hitch in his breath as his feet changed what they were doing under him.
Lenore cantered in a few loose circles before repeating the process, making a figure eight in the center of the arena. With another shift of her weight, she sat down hard in the saddle, pushing her feet forward and driving her body down into the saddle. Jaeden stopped on a dime without the slightest pressure to the reins and Nora smiled widely. He was coming along much faster than she'd hoped. She could tell he was one of the special ones. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind then all hell broke loose. One of the stable hands came running out of the barn, carrying a bag. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but Jaeden was young and the plastic bag was unfamiliar to him. He snorted at it, his eyes and ears trained on it with excruciating accuracy which was the only warning Nora got before he bolted.
She kept a firm grip on the reins, gripping him with her legs as he lunged under her. Thank Luna he didn't buck, he just ran, heedless of anything she did. He was blinded by fear of the unknown and she was just along for the ride. Lenore moved with him, nearly feeling his fear as a tangible thing as she warily eyed the arena fence which was rapidly approaching. Despite the wild ride, she whispered to him soothingly as she thought about how he might react. He had three options. He could jump the fence which was more unlikely than people thought, he could turn at the last moment and run alongside the fence, or he could simply stop. It was difficult to prepare for all three events, but she did her best. The last thing she wanted to do was fly through the air and land on the hard ground. Broken bones and gashes would heal faster now that she was a lycan, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
The fence approached rapidly, and Lenore raised herself in the saddle, still shushing him soothingly. At the last second, he skidded slightly and turned ninety degrees, nearly tossing her out of the saddle as he began to move parallel to the fence. Knowing the worst was over, Nora let out a sigh of relief, her arms and legs shaking from the adrenaline rush as she slowly started to coax Jaeden into responding to commands once more. His shiny black coat was covered in sweat and he was staring wild-eyed at everything as he pranced. Ignoring the stable hand who had instigated this incident after making sure he put the bag away, she slowed Jaeden to a walk and kept him at the far end of the arena until he calmed down.
Ten minutes later, she dismounted and walked him back to the center of the arena where the stable hand waited, looking sheepish. Lenore's temper flared, but she kept herself in check for a moment longer. Jaeden needed looking after first. Without speaking, she unsaddled him and rubbed him down, paying special attention to his legs to see if he'd hurt himself in his flight. Snapping her fingers at the idiot standing before her, she pointed at the saddle, then at the barn where the tack room was located. The boy gulped once and took the saddle away. Nora turned back to Jaeden, patting his neck soothingly. "Don't pay any attention to that idiota. He thinks like a man with no care for anything else."
Jaeden went back into his stall with a few carrots for not killing her. It was a beautiful ride that had been ruined by a young stable hand who acted like he'd never been around a horse before. Latching Jaeden's stall, Lenore turned around to find the stable hand in front of her once again. Without waiting for him to speak, she shoved his finger under his nose. "So help me, if you ever do something that completely stupid again, I will personally string you up and show you how painful a riding crop can be. Of all the things you could have done, you bring a bag... a plastic bag out into the arena where I'm working. What were you thinking!?" The stable hand withered a bit more with each word until Lenore thought he might cry. She sighed as he anger left her and she shook her head slightly. Her voice a fair bit kinder than before, she tilted the pup's chin up to meet her gaze as she asked him, "Will you at least tell me what was in the bag?" His hand shaking slightly, he pulled the bag out of his back pocket and handed it to her. Inside the bag were two apples and a package of sugar cubes. Nora sighed. "Next time, wait until I come back inside, cachorro."
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Post by crystal3 on Jul 17, 2011 22:29:46 GMT -6
Brandon also was well used to getting up far earlier then what most people would call normal. The sun had just managed to peek out over the horizon. It was about seven in the morning. Most people were still in bed with the covers over their heads griping at the prospects of the new day, but not the Canadian. It was out of pure habit that he found himself up this early today. He remembered the many mornings he had spent cleaning out the stalls and then grooming, taking care of and training the fiery tempered horses for the rodeo competitions. Brandon smirked softly to himself as he remembered how many competitions there had been (the area they lived in was a hot spot for rodeo) but the Calgary Stampede. The 10-day event was the thing they all worked toward and a pretty big deal for his family. They earned a lot of money. He couldn't help but wonder what they were doing now...and how they were doing and getting on without him...
He sighed softly as he stared at the walls to his room and his small house. Why was he even going that route? Why? Why? Why? He wasn't going to be able to go back to that and he knew it. He didn't even want that for him...so why did he constantly keep thinking about it?! He did miss the animals of course. Horses had always been and would always be amazing and beautiful creatures in his mind. Just because he didn't want to work with them didn't mean that he didn't like the animals. But he had hated how controlling his dad had become. The family business was all that mattered to him--the only thing that mattered. He didn't care what his son had wanted. And did anything he could to stop Brandon from doing anything that wasn't even remotely related to what he wanted. Brandon hated that. He couldn't have handled that. And he was sure that he did the right thing in leaving. At least in his mind. Okay maybe he could have left in a better way but--he just had. There was no changing anything....right? Right.
Brandon sighed softly as he got to his feet, wincing softly as warm skin touched really cold floor. His joints popping in semi relief as he stretched out. He really thought about things too much. He really did. Perhaps his guilt over leaving the way he did was getting to him again. He knew he shouldn't have but he did. And he wasn't about to go face his father again. Not after almost seven years away. Knowing his luck, his dad would barricade him in his room only to let him out to work and eat. He then walked over to his closet and picked out a good pair of jeans (slightly worn but not ripped) and a forest green t-shirt. Getting dressed, he then headed out letting his feet guide him to where they wanted to take him.
Maybe he ought to have been thinking about leaving. Going to his next random hole-in-the-wall or otherwise place that he wanted to explore. He did travel from place to place...a nomad if you would. He just like it. He wasn't sure what it was about the going, going, going...but he enjoyed it. It gave him something to ponder on other then the entire mess with his dad back in Canada. Was he running from it? Maybe. Hiding? Perhaps. But he didn't want to think about it...it was a tense time. Times that really irked the hell out of him. So why would he want to think about it. That wasn't so bad? Right? Right.
He got to the stables just as he saw the woman taking the horse back to his stable. He kept himself hidden for now but he couldn't help but watch. Wow...he didn't know there was a stable here. huh he just couldn't seem to get away from it today could he? But this was a world away from the rodeos, so he could deal for now. He took a deep breath and the hay smell hit his nose, making his smile softly. That scent would never get old...never. It only reminded him of how long it had been since he had left again, but he shook that off as he heard someone approaching. It was the woman who had been handling the horse...he walked towards the arena fence with a welcoming smile, "He was gorgeous." he said nodding back towards the stable...then he trailed off for a moment before speaking up again, "I'm Brandon." he said in introduction...
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Post by lenore on Jul 18, 2011 21:24:28 GMT -6
Lenore yawned into the back of her hand as she gave Jaeden one of the apples from the stable hand's bag. The adrenaline rush had worn off and left her feeling drained despite the hour of the day. In truth, she hadn't been paying much attention to the time. She woke up when she woke up and did her job first thing after getting dressed. Half the time she didn't even eat first. Her stomach rumbled as if to punctuate that thought and she seriously considered eating the other apple in her hand. No, she couldn't do that. Well, she could but she wasn't going to. The apples had been meant for Jaeden and he was going to get them. Especially since he'd done the smart thing and turned at the fence rather than jumping it or tossing her to the ground. She scratched him on the neck a bit as she gave him the second apple. The sugar cubes could wait for another day. The last thing she needed was to have a horse all hyped up on sugar.
Nora tossed the sugar cubes in the box in front of Jaeden's stall before making her way down the main aisle. That's when she smelled it. No... him. She sniffed the air again without slowing her pace. A human male upwind somewhere out there. Humans were uncommon enough on the island to get her attention and human males even more so. For a moment, she thought about following the scent to find out who he was and why he was up so early, but her stomach rumbled again. She didn't know why she was so hungry this morning of all days, but it was starting to get on her nerves. That was until she looked at her phone. Only then did she stop in her tracks and stare at the numbers on the screen. It was after seven in the morning? Where had the time gone? Too often it was like that. She got up on a horse and time flew by. Shaking her head, she continued walking, leaving the barn completely and strolling out under the rising sun.
She didn't live too far away and walked to the stables most days, so it wouldn't be all that hard to go home for breakfast. Then again, she was already inside the palace grounds. She could just get something from the bakery. While making up her mind, she didn't notice the human's scent getting stronger until she saw him approaching the arena fence. She eyed him up and down, wondering what he could possibly want. There was no way she could have put it into words, but something about him told her he was accustomed to horses which just made her more confused. Instead of flat out asking him like she normally would, she leaned against the arena railing casually, eyeing some of the horses who had already been let out to graze in the adjoining pasture. "I agree. It's too bad I don't own him." She sighed, squinting slightly in the morning light as she studied the guy next to her. There was something about him that she couldn't figure out, but she looked away, not wanting to seem like she was staring.
After a quick moment of silence that almost became awkward, he introduced himself as Brandon. Her lips quirked at his accent briefly as her gaze roamed over the pasture. She turned to him and held out her hand, realizing belatedly that she'd moved entirely too fast. What was wrong with her? Part of her wanted to blame it on her recent endeavor with Jaeden, but she knew that wasn't it. Well, if he didn't suspect that she was a lycan before, he would now. It was astounding how much different it was from being human. Shaking off the thoughts, she introduced herself. "I'm Lenore. If you stick around long enough you might even get away with calling me Nora." She grinned again as her stomach gave an audible rumble. Fighting the urge to tell her hunger to shut up, she shrugged apologetically. "No breakfast yet."
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