[Flashback] Catch that Horse!

[Arianne]

Spring 2nd, 505AV Arianne had spent the morning down in the stables, rather than attending to her studies. She technically wasn’t employed, but nobody ever batted an eyelid when they saw her tending to one of the horses. Though she was young, she was smart. She had observed and read, and she knew as much about horses as anyone who worked there. It helped that her father was one of the managers too. She was standing outside of one particular stall, watching it’s occupant curiously. The gilding within seemed to be acting strangely, almost like it was on edge about something. She beckoned it over, and the horse cautiously stuck its nose over the stable door. She gently stroked it until she felt it relax a little. Maybe he just needed to go outside? Arianne attached a rope to the horse and opened the door, leading the gilding out of the block and into the sunshine. The horse snuffed at her shoulder as they went, the agitation it seemed to have been feeling apparently gone. The serenity was not to last for long however. No sooner had they started on the path to the fields when a dog came rushing over, barking at the top of its lungs. The horse spooked and reared up, ripping the rope from Arianne’s hands. She gasped in pain as the coarse material burned her palms, then cried out in panic as the horse started to race down the track. Abandoning all sense, the young girl proceeded to run after the gilding. She was quick, but the horse was quicker. It left the stable boundary, with Arianne following at a sprint. She knew she wouldn’t catch it, so she called out to anyone ahead of her who may or may not have been within earshot. “Help! Catch him!” She hoped that something would block the horses path, forcing it to stop so that someone could grab the rope hanging dangerously close to its legs.

[Leigo]

“You’ll have to be able to pay us back Mitch” the boy began openly “father won’t be content with you stalling the payment. You DO owe us the money and you WILL pay, won’t you, my good man?” it wasn’t like Leigo meant to be an ass, at least not completely. Perhaps a bit intimidating, but that was never quite his angle. Still, it was true that Igrodoth held significant swing within the docks and the general area of Mathews Bay. Like it or not, this Mitch character would have to fess up and get the money somehow or the family would arrange for all other employers to boycott him. Maybe the patriarch never even had that much influence, but the sailor before him was surely scared enough to believe such quickly thought of gibberish. Giving the stranger another look, Leigo started thinking that maybe any further ‘persuasion’ was unnecessary. The sea wolf was a wreck after all. Intertwining his fingers nervously, this other man kept muttering to himself while pulling out a small sack of coins. If he wanted to get on the blond’s good side, it was a good start. “You gotta understand, I’ve got a family. Mouths to feed…” the man sounded apologetic, but the boy cut him off before he could get too far ahead “My family was poorer than yours when my father started his shipping business; that’s never an excuse” pausing thoughtfully, Leigo tried a bit of diplomacy like every good trader’s son ought to “I’ll tell you what; You get us the money by the end of the season and I promise that father will rehire you again come next shipment. How’s that for a deal?” just before the man could answer, Leigo added hastened “Oh and we'll still require at least half the debt to be paid off by the midbell tomorrow.” Finally the boy nodded as if to show his satisfied with his terms and that he was done, finally. Before the sailor could answer, he cursed something unintelligible and ducked to the side before the boy had any idea as to what was going on. Suddenly he could hear someone screaming before he saw the stallion. The time it took to look at the animal paralyzed him long enough to make the stupid mistake of dodging towards the middle of the street. As the enraged horse tried to find a way, it turned just before Leigo and headed to the right. That Side being closed off, the horse just began prancing in place. Something Leigo would soon recognize to be reins dangled dangerously close to the animal’s hooves and there was no doubt someone else would have to do it. The blond hated horses after all. Then he saw the girl that was running after the horse and in a foolish attempt to impress this new character he went for the reigns. Grabbing them came surprisingly easy, but the next thing he knew was pain as the horse managed to scoff him to the side calming down only barely.

[Arianne]

Arianne was breathing hard, still racing after the runaway horse whose hoofbeats clattered down the street before her. Please don’t trip, please don’t trip... The thought rushing round her mind was as much for the stallion as it was for her. If she tripped, she would cut something. If the horse tripped it could quite easily break given the speed it was traveling. There were people up ahead, that she could see now. As someone leapt into the middle of the street, she started to panic. She silently prayed that the horse didn’t plough into him, and relief overcame her when it turned instead to be blocked. It was by no means stopped though, instead dancing in place still very much agitated. The boy who had jumped into the road made a dart for the hanging reins. Arianne had slowed, and she jogged over to him just before his hands closed around the rope. “Thank you!” As soon as the words left her mouth, the horse skittered to the side pulling the blonde with him. Arianne quickly moved around to the side of the horse, the side it was trying to travel to, her hands reaching out before her. She shoved roughly against its shoulder to stop it, hoping that the boy had managed to stay standing. She could feel the muscles of the animal quivering against her hands, tension and anxiety rolling off it in waves. The stallion snorted angrily, pulling its head up hard. It almost hit Arianne with its nose and she was forced to quickly step back. She hoped that the blonde was still holding the reins, for goodness knows what the animal was trying to do. ooc : I'm sorry if this post is a bit...blah. My browser kept crashing every time I tried to post so I had to write it from my phone.

[Leigo]

Leigo thought he could hear the girl thanking him, but that was beside the point. Stupid horse and his jumping around had his hand tangled in the reins, whole body twitching at the animal’s whim. Trying his best to stay up, the boy had it good so far. As much as the stallion pulled, it never made its nudge strong enough for the blond to fall. Cursing his sad luck, the boy wondered if Mitch would even take this conversation into consideration given how it ended. Father would be furious to have him fail at every step. Mathematics was never interested him, but perhaps he could make up for it in other places? At least that’s the thought his father had when he let him run around and deal with people. It was his turn to do something, the boy knew that. After seeing that silly girl, who got this whole thing started, darting around the horse in hopes of calming down the animal it was fairly obvious he too should try and calm the thing down. His version of calming the gilding down consisted of pulling the animal down each time it wanted to jump up again. Surprisingly, the boy’s arrogance would soon just how lacking his strength was. Every pull only half done, his scrawny arms couldn’t hold it down. More ashamed than anything, he just wanted to untangle his hand at this point. Untangle it and go home yell at someone for being too weak when it was in fact him who lacked strength. Alas, the hand was still stack albeit less entangled. The animal might have been calmer, but Leigo could never be sure as his relationship with most animals always ended at the point end of a fork. “Do something! Calm it down!” the boy said louder than intended while cursing himself for loosing cool because of a mere horse. Hopefully father’s men wouldn’t laugh at him when he got back home dirty and sweaty…and weak.

[Arianne]

Arianne took a deep breath to calm herself down. There was no point in trying to fight fire by chucking more oil onto it. Every time the horse had gone to pull its head up, the blonde boy had tried to pul it right back down again. Just as he spoke, telling her to do something about it, she had stepped to the front of the animal. He sounded frustrated, and she glanced over at him. “You need to calm down yourself! You’re just freaking him out even more!” Her own voice was soft, not exactly quiet but there was no element of annoyance in it. She understood why the boy was getting wound up; spooked horses are certainly no fun. He was holding the reins near the end of their length, though his hand seemed somewhat caught up in them. Arianne too took hold of them, though she gripped right underneath the horses face. She waited for a pause in the animals jerking head movements and then pressed her other hand to its forehead. She quickly started to rub in circles while murmuring things like ”It’s okay” and ”Steady now boy” under her breath. After a few, smaller jerks of its head, the horse appeared to stop fighting against the pair trying to hold it down. Arianne continued to stroke its forehead and looked over at the boy again. ”You need help with those reins?” She hoped that the rope hadn’t burned his palms like it had done hers.

[Leigo]

When the girl spoke, the only thing stopping Leigo from trying to smack here were the damned reigns. How was he making it worse? He was trying to help, wasn’t he? Well if she didn’t want the help then fine, but she shouldn’t have let the stupid beast run around the city for apparently no reason at all. For a moment he felt furious with this ungrateful imp (even if she did thank him). Then something happened that got him wondering however. Almost at the girl’s first touch, the dumb thing piped down and became obedient even. It was only when she asked him about helping with the reigns that he noticed those shackles still clinging to his hand. Trying to remove them came surprisingly easy once the stallion was calm. The awkwardness his hand could feel was another story. Not quite pain or numbness, whatever it was, it made his fingers respond at a much slower rate. Adrenalin passing and feet back on solid ground, the whole situation started feeling terribly uncomfortable. Pulling back a bit when she wanted to help, he wasn’t sure he wanted strangers touching him that instant. “I’m well” he began, but then paused unsure how to phrase his next question “Why was it loose?” he was speaking of the horse, but since he couldn’t deduct genders for squat on their species it came as safe bet.

[Arianne]

She stopped stroking the stallions nose, instead just leaving her hand resting in the centre of its forehead. She watched as the boy untangled his hand from the reins, giving him a small smile when his simple statement came. "If a rope burn shows up just put some aloe or honey on it." That was what she was planning to do with her own hands. They still smarted from where the rope had been torn from her grip. As for his next question... Arianne looked sheepish. She had no reason to be, since it technically wasn't her fault. "I was leading it out to pasture when some dog appeared out of nowhere. The stupid thing was making all sorts of noise and scared the life out of this boy." She patted the stallions forehead. Arianne had no idea whose dog it had been, or if it was still there. She only hoped that someone had taken it away. "You felt for yourself how hard he was to hold on to. That rope tore my hands up." She gave him an apologetic smile before her next words. "I'm sorry if he...and I interrupted something."

[Leigo]

Looking at her a bit better, Leigo became aware of just how young she was. Pretty, yes, but young. Looking up at her was starting to make his neck awkward, so he finally stood up completely. He was looking down at her now, but if anything his neck stiffened even more. Why people had to be so short, he wondered as he dug his fingers into the back of his neck. The pressure did well and soon the muscle tension started to fade away. She seemed to mention something about putting honey on the reign marks, but the blond wasn’t sure what it was he heard. Recalling the rest of her words, he smiled at the mention of a dog. Poor animal must’ve been frightened when faced with this equine monstrosity. There was no reply however, only a nod of understanding. “No, Mitch wouldn’t have wanted to…” he stopped himself in time. Most certainly he had no intention of speaking of his father’s business with strangers – or anyone for that matter. They were so bloody boring that it was a wonder his father kept sane. “You weren't.” he shortened for conversation’s sake. “So where did you get the horse, anyway?” Leigo didn’t really care, but he didn’t want to go home empty handed so soon either.