Ellie perked up as she saw the yellow taxi take its rest on the gravel, followed by Sam's departure. "Don't you know? Its the newest trend around here." She teased with the biggest grin as she stopped in front of him, Frost on the end of the rains lazily. "I would welcome you with a hug, however I don't want to soak you," She chuckled before giving a small smile, "So on that account, welcome back. Did you have a... Decent time?" She asked with a hint of concern across her face.

Sam crossed his arms, smiling "thanks for your consideration, not sure if i want to get cannonballed by a very wet Ellie." he chuckled lightly. "yeah, i mean it was'nt so bad, pretty boring i guess. I hate the city." He added, a slight frown crossing his face. "but i'm back now, so thats what matters." he said, wiping the dark look off, and striding over to see Nero. The sight he saw shocked him. Nero was thin, no water in his bucket and no hay in his net. He neighed weakly as Sam ran his hands worriedley over his neck. Turning to Ellie, he said "quick, can i get some water and hay? Nero's in a bad state." He said, quickly grabbing a leadrope and taking his horse slowly out the stable. He clearly had'nt been groomed, his coat dull and unloved. Sam ducked into his stble quickly, which was a mess of unpicked poo and wee. Whatever stablehand was supposed to care for him clearly had not done so. When Sam had asked the manager to tell a stablehand to do the job, he didnt know who it was. But he knew he was devestated.

Ellie followed Sam into the barn, a little more than delighted to have him back. But the mortified expression that crossed his face left her confused and worried. She took her pace up a little to peer through the bars of the stable and the sight she layed her eyes on made her face drain a pale shade of grey. She nodded swiftly to his request and grabbed a bucket and started to fill it before going to get a large amount of hay. She returned swiftly with the two and handed them to Sam. "I'm sorry, I hadn't the slightest idea-" She said quietly with her head against the stable wall. She felt responsible for not checking but it wasn't entirely her fault. She hoped not. "Why don't you put him out and- and I'll muck out for you-" she said swiftly.

Sam thanked her for the food and water, and slowly introduced it to Nero, watching him hungrily eating and drinking. "woah there, not so fast." he said, taking the bucket away so his horse could pause between gulps. Sam knew it wasnt Ellie's fault, he had only asked her to check on him a couple times, and she couldnt have seen what was going on. Once Nero had finished, sam walked him slowly out of the yard, and into a large pasture, where he let him off. Walking happily away, Nero tore up some grass like his life depended on it.

"Thank you." Sam smiled gratefully at her offer, shutting the gate. "i'll clean his buckets and stuff." he said quickly, grabbit the feed and water buckets and heading to the pressure hose, washing the grime off them. "i just want you to know." he said when he had done. "i don't blame you, for what happened." he said, a slightly apologetic look on his face.

"I should have checked on him more..." She murmured lightly as she watched the stallion grazing hungerly. " I'm sorry," Ellie repeated with her head resting on her hands. "I'll uhm... I'll go talk to whoever was meant to be sorting him out. See what happened." She noted as she took a step away from the fence. "And then the manager. Then I'll sort his stall out and an extra one for him, assuming he won't want to go back into the one he was in." She stated a she started to get her phone out and typed up a number.

"Thank you." Sam said again, a grateful but worried smile on his face. He really was grateful for what she was doing. Walking over to Nero's fence, he drew a carrot from his pocket, watching Nero trot up weakly to eat it.

sorry short!

(It's fine! <3)
Ellie gave him a nod as she disappeared into the barn, talking rapidly into the phone, clearly having some sort of a go at someone. She got off of it again, and when she dialed up the next number, she was clearly a little more careful with her words. But not careful enough, as she had to take the phone from her ear. She hung up and shook her head softly before going to find a wheel barrow.

Sam finished with Nero, and walked over to Ellie. "what's up?" he said, noticing her pulling the phone away from her. "nero's doing OK, thank god." he said, grabbing a shovel to help her with the mucking out. Ducking into the stable, Sam started shovelling up the mess inside. god, Nero must have hated this..he thought bitterly. "hey, did you find out what stable hand was responsible?"

"No." She grumbled flatly as she dumped the wheel barrel on the ground and started chucking the worst of the bedding into the barrel swiftly. "I'll find out for you though." She promised once she paused.

(Short, sorry >,>)

(no problem!)

Sam nodded thoughtfully as she said this. "well, he's OK now so that's what matters i guess," Sam said, shovelling more poo into the wheelbarrow, and taking it once more to the muckhep, which was stedily growing in size due to the amount of dung being shovelled onto it.