Completed [Windmount Stables] A day at the Stables

[Crypt]

Crypt gently removed Hisoka's hands from the saddle's knots. "No need to do that, the groom in charge of her will see to that." Said groom came by seconds later and led Aewin back to her box stall. Crypt spoke again in a lower voice, holding her with both hands on her shoulders. "Hisoka. Look at me. You were wrong to do something like that, do you understand? I know that traveling at such a high speed can be exhilarating - even I sometimes do that. But you're just a beginner. You're just starting to learn the basics of riding. You can't do something stupid like that, it's dangerous. You need to take things slowly. I know that sometimes you can't resist the temptation, but you have to try. You're lucky nothing happened to you. If Aewin suddenly stopped, you would have been ejected from the saddle, and at such a high speed the impact would quite possibly be fatal. If you had fallen off the saddle, if you and Aewin collided with something or someone... If something did happen... It'll be my fault. I've taken responsibility for you, and so please don't do something like that again. You're my friend, and I don't want to see you hurt."

[Hisoka]

If horse had stopped, I change form, she thought stubbornly.
But.... friend would feel bad.... and horse be afraid... and Lady be angry...

Hisoka looked down, ashamed. She nodded slowly, but refused to meet his eyes.
Hisoka walked away quickly, and if she had been in her lupine form, Crypt would
have seen her tail between her legs, and her ears drooped.

[Crypt]

Crypt watched her walked away for a few moments, then he dashed towards her, and pulled her into a hug. “Hisoka... Please understand. I'm not angry at you for doing something like that, I'm angry at you because you're risking your life. If you had more experience I would have let you ride faster than you already did in the exercise area, but you're not. Let's... Let's just forget about this for now, and do our job, okay, Hisoka?”

[Hisoka]

Hisoka froze from his sudden touch, initially, but then tucked in her chin, and nodded in agreement. She peeked up at him hesitantly.

"What... do I do...?"

[Crypt]

Seeing her finally calm down, Crypt relaxed and smiled at Hisoka. “If you'll just follow me...” Crypt grasped her arm and led her to a box stall a few feet away, then opened the door, revealing a large white stallion, slightly smaller than Maras. Crypt gestured for Maras to move off for his breakfast, and Strider eagerly trotted away. “Hello there, Eolfin... How's it been since I last saw you? Oh? You want this?” The horse was already trying to push its nose into Crypt's pocket in an attempt to get at the treats it knew were inside. “Alright, alright, have some carrots...” While Eolfin was occupied with the pieces of carrot, Crypt knelt down and opened a wooden box that had already been lying there on the floor of the box stall. “Let's get this started. This...” He lifted what appeared to be some sort of circular comb. “Is a currycomb. Don't know its name's like that. This is used to loosen or dislodge dead hair and dirt from horses' bodies. You use it to brush the horse's body in a circular manner, like so...” Crypt demonstrated the technique on the right flank of Eolfin, then held the currycomb out to her. “Try it out on the other parts of his body. Remember, don't brush too hard, use less force on the bony parts of his body, like his spine and his legs, otherwise it'll be painful for him.”

[Hisoka]

Hisoka took the currycomb, placed it gently on the horse's flank, and began
rubbing in circular motions. Eolfin turned his head slightly to look at her, but after
that, payed little, if any, attention to her. Copying Crypt's technique, Hisoka
began to slowly relax, slowly making her way from his shoulder to his hind
quarters. She alternated hands only once, and made sure to not use too much
pressure.

As she got more comfortable, she began to use her free hand to make similar
circular motions, and started to massage using only the required amount of
pressure. Hisoka had done a similar thing with Aewin, and it always seemed to
relax animals. She had been taught this by her mother, and she sometimes used it
whenever her muscles began to ache.

Eolfin leaned into her touch, enjoying her touch, even closing his eyes.

[Crypt]

While Hisoka worked on the right side of Eolfin, Crypt used his own borrowed set of grooming tools and went all over his left side with the currycomb, ensuring that no area was undone. He took care not to curry the face, for it would quite uncomfortable. Once the duo had finished, Crypt stood up, holding a rectangular comb, this time with long, stiff bristles, having placed the currycomb back into his box. “Alright, Hisoka, take out one of this from your box. This is known as a stiff brush, or what we grooms call a dandy brush. After currying a horse's body, this is used to remove all that dirt and hair that you've made easier to take off. First things first, don't brush his hair down, or all that stuff will be packed in again. Now, the best way to do this is to make a flicking motion like this.” Crypt demonstrated by flicking off a small bit of dirt. “Flick off the dirt and hair from the front of Eolwin to his back, to prevent causing any discomfort, and use the stiff brush only on the areas where you loosened the dirt with the currycomb. Now, try it. Follow what I do and you should be fine, it isn't terribly hard.”

[Hisoka]

Hisoka did as Crypt had demonstrated, finding the simple task, quite
easy, and efficiently finished it. To make sure she had not missed anything, she
ran a careful eye over her work, pleased when she found nothing.

"Master! I mean, Friend...?", she quickly amended,
"did I do well?", she said over at him.

[Crypt]

Crypt had finished his side of Eolfin a few minutes before Hisoka, being more experienced, and was now watching her clean Eolfin while feeding the stallion a few pieces of carrot as a reward for his excellent behaviour. Must remember not to feed him too much, he's old and can't handle a lot of food. Still, a few more won't hurt. Hisoka is doing well for a beginner, but she's missed a few areas. Once she had finished, Crypt used his dandy brush and flicked off some dirt in the areas Hisoka had missed, and then spoke to her. “No need to be so formal, just call me Crypt. Quite a nicely-done job for a beginner like you, but you've missed those areas. Don't worry, they're quite hard to see or spot, even though Eolfin's white all over. Next, this is the last step where you'll be brushing his body. See all that hair sticking up? We don't want that.” Crypt knelt down and took out a brush similar to the stiff brush, but had much softer bristles. “This is a finishing brush. You'll be using this to remove any other dirt that remains and to smooth down his hair to make it presentable. I assume you know how to go with the 'grain' of his hair, so I won't do a demonstration this time. Try it by yourself.” He folded his arms, after passing her the brush, then stood back.

[Hisoka]

Hisoka smiled, thinking about how she might like to have someone groom her fur
like this, and began the task of brushing Eolfin down. Using her knowledge of
grooming herself in her lupine form, she brushed the the direction the horse's hair
grew naturally. Her smile grew when he moved for her to get certain areas.

"Can I use brush on horse's mane?", she asked Crypt as she worked.

Finishing the first side, this time making absolutely sure that she missed nothing,
she moved to Eolfin's other side, absently rubbing his muzzle as she did. He
nudged her shoulder as she passed, blowing her hair. She giggled, since it tickled
a bit, and started on his other side.