Katarena | Aaron, Reggie, Tim, Viktor

Katarena kept her gelding focused by walking him in circles, all the while observing Aaron and his mount. He was a good rider, she felt pleased to be participating in a lesson with someone of his caliber. She didn’t like to admit it, but she was extremely competitive. Something about being here and riding at this level on a project horse she had completely trained herself made her feel elite, it made her feel superior to the others. She had done this, she had earned this. All of her hard work had brought her somewhere money had purchased for many others.

Though quite competitive, she hated that part of herself. She turned it off, reminding herself that it meant nothing without humility. Her hard work and her riding talent would speak for itself--she wouldn’t have to. She was so excited to be here, and though she was naturally introverted she was like a completely different person in environments such as this. She was so eager to befriend people, to gain popularity, to have a group of friends to do fun things with. She had that in Romania, but Romania was so far from Virginia. It was time to start over and make a name for herself here, and she was quite excited to do so. Even as she watched him, Rena made a mental note of what she was going to say to Aaron when he came back--he seemed like someone she might want to befriend.

In the meantime, she had taken up a light conversation with Tim. She was quite intuitive and found a nice balance between taking him from paying attention to Aaron and making a good impression on him. She had always been the rider who felt like the second coach on the team, the one that would stand next to the coach at the in-gate and discuss the rider’s ride. It was something about her--she was extremely knowledgeable and professional, yet unobtrusive. She knew when to step in and when to give someone space. She had always been a fast favorite of her coaches in the past for that very reason, and she felt as though she was doing just as well with Tim. She had asked a few clarification questions on the exercise and explained her horse’s background to him loosely, stopping every now and again to mention something obscure and technical that Aaron did to Tim in a quiet and complimentary manner.

“That was so nice,” Rena complimented Aaron as she gathered her reins, feeling the softness in Hugo’s short neck as she created contact between horse and rider. She kept her leg on him but not pushing, her body stiffening to create a noticeable shift in posture. From an elastic, swingy walk, Rena used a direct inside rein and outside leg to ask for a canter, which Hugo jubilously obeyed. She went from a collected, smooth canter where she remained seated to a gentler, more encouraging half-seat position where she let him cover ground more eagerly. Before she reached the bounces she had resumed her sitting canter, Hugo’s stride-length just a touch longer than perfectly medium because the bounces were set long for a small horse such as he. Katarena just barely came out of the saddle, allowing Hugo to jump to her as she remained still. She had decided on an automatic release rather than crest to help her hands follow his mouth more, and her leg remained still and unmoving through the exercise. Finally, she had finished, not rushing through any part of the exercise including the end. She had watched other riders in other lessons here just throw their reins away and walk at the end of an exercise, and she was determined to do better--to impress her coach. From the medium canter, she sat, allowed him to do a few strides of a collected canter that had a very dressage-esque quality to it, then sunk her legs down and used her voice, letting her gelding melt from a collected canter to a soft walk as smoothly as he had completed his upward transition. She walked back in to the lineup that had formed and parked Hugo next to Aaron and his horse, and though she had been praising him and rubbing his neck since she had come back into the bubble everyone was congregated in, she continued while she sat there. Once Aaron had looked in her direction, she smiled gently at him. “You’re Aaron, right? I’m Katarena, but since I hate when people call me Kat I’ve pretty much just shortened it to Rena. How long have you been riding here?”

After some amount of time had passed, Katarena’s phone buzzed and she checked it, realizing that it was Viktor and he was inevitably lost and in desperate need of her conversational and directional skills. She excused herself from the lesson, explaining the situation to Tim and Aaron and giving them each a business card with her contact information on it before she left. As she led Hugo back towards the barn, Katarena saw a glimpse of a man of Viktor's stature wandering around. He seemed extremely lost, and certainly fit the description. She began speaking to him in Romanian, but to her surprise, the man that turned around wasn’t who she was looking for.

“Oh...my god, I am sorry. I thought you were my friend Viktor.” She gave a pleasant smile, her eyes meeting his. He had very beautiful eyes, they were bright blue and almost intense in the color of them. She made Hugo stop so she could properly converse with the man, even if just for a moment. “I am Katarena, this is Hugo. And, I don’t mean any offense but you look lost. If you would like I can help you find where you are going. I need to find Viktor anyway, it would be no trouble.”

Katarena | Alexander, Reggie

Katarena had been rinsing Hugo off, glancing up to ensure Reggie was still nearby every once in a while. They had been talking lightly as she quickly worked to take care of her small gelding, just doing enough to provide him temporary comfort until she could come back and properly bathe him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man slinking into the opposite entrance of the barn, and she wondered where she had come from. At first glance, she hadn’t thought much of him--plenty of riders came in and out of the barn. Yet, she heard an odd sound and her curiosity got the better of her.

“Stay put,” she told her gelding, walking a few steps to get a better look. Her casual walk turned into a jog when she realized the rider had crashed into the hay bales. She knelt down beside him, though she was already quite small beside his tall, lanky frame. “Hey,” she looked him in the eye, trying to get him to focus on her. Since they were in a barn, it was most likely that the reason he was acting like this was because he had gotten a concussion from a fall. “Are you alright? Look at me, okay? Focus on me.” Once she had gotten him to focus his gaze on her, she got up and stood beside him, rather than on the ground next to him. “What happened? Should I go get the medic?”

Rena | Alex

“Hey, shhh,” Rena’s coffee-colored gaze met his eyes again, trying to calm him down. His eyes were a pleasant color, a blueish-gray. She always noticed the color of eyes before she noticed anything else about a person, it made them unique to her. She had always been enamored by eye color. “I’m not gonna bring you anywhere you don’t want to go.” She raised her hands in a defensive stance, as if trying to de-escalate the situation. She resumed her position beside him, watching him in a relaxed manner and letting her body language loosen. In general, she carried herself rigidly. She always had, she carried the stress of achievement and success with her everywhere. She put enormous pressure on herself to always be the one and it showed. Yet, she knew that if he picked up on any sort of anxiousness she might have, he would shut down. She had to be the strong, relaxed one.

“I’ll make you a deal. I won’t tell anyone about this incident if you go somewhere with me tonight. You can pick--just nowhere stuffy--and you’ll tell me what all this is about?” She stood up, brushing hay off of her black breeches. It seemed futile, considering it was everywhere around them. There was some in the man’s hair and if she had known him any better she would have made mention of it. “I’m still concerned about you, you’re still pretty pale.” She sighed gently, “but I trust that you know what’s best for you, and if you want me to be the only one to know, I will respect that.” She extended her hand, partially to shake his and partially to help him up. “My name is Katarena, you are?”

Alexander Littlewood | R/E | Rena

Alex breathed in deeply, slowly calming his heart rate from a frantic staccato back to its regular beat. She wasn't going to tell anyone. He was okay. He would be okay. He felt the tension that had been building in him loosen its grip as he pulled himself into a standing position. The slight blurring of his vision reminded him that that may not have been the best of ideas, but he clung to the noises around him to tug him back - Katarena's voice, the horses' snorts, small murmurs as a person at the other end groomed their horse. This was where he was, where he was supposed to be. It would be alright.

Taking in a slightly shaky breath, he rested his arm as nonchalantly as he could muster on the wall. His white grip of the wood, however, belied his pretense at calm. Alex forced a steady voice as he spoke, tone low. "Not sure how much you want to be in the presence of this-" he gestured towards himself "-for more than a few minutes. But I won't stop you. Just be warned - it's very good at malfunctioning." He ignored the voice inside his head that incessantly followed this remark. If you took care of yourself properly, none of this would have happened. But that was a lie - if he'd been healthier, it still wouldn't have stopped Majik from spooking, or prevented his broken bones. No, that voice didn't know enough.

He almost refused her offer - as much as he didn't want anyone to know how weak his body truly was, he also wasn't exactly keen on being vulnerable to anyone, at any point. He knew too well where that twisting road led. But admittedly, it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Better survive a conversation and let one person know, rather than being forced to have the whole bloody center find out.

At her remark about his pallor - were all the other students this inquisitive? - Alex's jaw clenched subtly. "I'm fine," he repeated yet again, in a tone that contradicted the statement but still seemed to close the matter.

"Alexander - Alex." He used his free hand - the one that wasn't clutching the wall for dear life - to shake her outstretched one, his colorless skin contrasting with the tan of hers.

Reggie | 24 | Dynamic Gamble + Fierce Credit | Rena, Alexander.

Reggie had been intensely staring at his phone for the past five or so minutes, occasionally twisting his phone or turning his head in an attempt to figure out where he had to go next. The map he had downloaded of the centre wasn’t exactly hard to decipher, but fate did not gift Reggie with a good sense of direction. The sudden sound of a woman speaking made him jump slightly and he looked up in her direction before looking around him. As no one else was around, presumably, she was talking to him.

Meeting her eyes, he smiled and shrugged, “Not a problem – don’t worry about it.” Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced away briefly, “I would be pretty glad of some help, thank you for offering. Kinda stuck where I am. Pleasure to make your acquaintance though.” Reggie was rather embarrassed to be needing the help, but the girl’s smile was warm and inviting. Perhaps this place would serve a nice experience and the change of scenery he needed.

Crossing the small distance between them, Reggie stretched a hand out towards the gelding, looking at the girl – Katarena – for permission before stroking the gelding’s cheek in thoughtful silence.

“He seems cute. Is he so in temperament as well?”

The buzz in his pocket alerted him to a message and he stepped back with an apology, pulling out the phone. Eyebrows furrowing in brief confusion, Reggie frowned. “You’re Rena, no? Is that what you prefer to be called?” He turned the screen in her direction for a moment and continued, “Seems that we’re a pair for tomorrow. I look forward to our teamwork!” Inwardly, he hoped to his toes that she wasn’t an overly excitable person. Those kinds of people were hard to work with, and usually tended to be rather distracting.

While she hosed Hugo down, he settled close by, occasionally exchanging words. He introduced himself in brief. Reggie, from Germany, one brother, two equines – one cute, one not, and not much else to know. At one point she went off and his eyes followed her. But knowing he probably wasn’t welcome, he settled on continuing where the female had left off, washing him down, removing water from his coat, still keeping an eye on the pair. The gelding was admirably well-mannered and very tolerant of him, despite Reggie’s awareness that he probably had a very different routine to Rena.

More-or-less finished and mildly bored, he led the gelding over to the pair. “Do you have a cloth somewhere to rub him down?” Reggie directed the question at Rena, offering a small smile and a handshake to the younger male. “Reggie. I pretty much just arrived. And you are?”

Rena | Alex, Reggie, Viktor

“Pleased to meet you,” the short brunette smiled softly at her new friend. He seemed very gentle and soft, and she admired that in him. She could deal with anyone but she actually enjoyed interacting with people like Alex. Letting her hand drop back to its place by her side, she watched him for another moment as if doubting whether to leave him or not. She felt responsible for his safety having found him and having little awareness of exactly why he was behaving the way he was, but she also wanted to respect his words and wishes. After all, she would want someone to respect her words and not walk all over her if she was in such a situation, and she wanted to give him the same courtesy. She wanted him to trust her with whatever was happening to him rather than feel forced. She wanted whatever relationship they formed from this point forward to be built on trust and choice, not obligation or coercion.

“Kat,” before she could turn to face him, Viktor had already wrapped his massive frame around her, hugging her from behind. She accepted it for all of three seconds before squirming out of his embrace, dusting herself off with her hands. The tall, dark-haired man grinned down at Alex. He looked quite similar to her in a general way, both tan and dark-featured and attractively placid. Something about both of them demonstrated a quietness that people were drawn to, and they used it to their advantage.

“I am Viktor,” he slung his left arm casually around Katarena, his right extended for Alexander to shake. Rena picked up his arm and dropped it back at his side, giving him a sideways glare. She didn’t like to be touched, and Viktor was a very touchy-feely individual. They often antagonized each other like siblings in that regard, but it was all love. Rena hoped that Alex and Reggie could see that, and they didn’t automatically assume Vik was some overprotective boyfriend that was asserting his dominance. He was such a good person, and she hoped that they would come to see that even with his inability to speak good english.

Before long, Reggie had come over with Hugo, who was shiny and happy as ever. She didn’t necessarily like the fact that he was handling Hugo without her, but she recognized it as an act of kindness and nothing more. He wasn’t being controlling or obnoxious, he was just trying to help her. She could appreciate the sentiment without appreciating the act, and she would. She was glad that Hugo had been tolerant, too. He had a very placid, loveable demeanor until something triggered him, and he could be just as dangerous as he was incredible. It was an alluring part of the rescue pony charm for her, getting to learn all the buttons and never having the same horse. She craved the flexibility and the challenge of it all.

“Oh, thank you,” she smiled softly at Reggie, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She hoped she didn’t come off as ungrateful. She didn’t want to, so she threw in a few extra words. “He seems to like you.”

Taking the gelding from Reggie, she stayed in place for a moment, almost protective over Viktor. “Reggie, Alexander, this is my friend Viktor. He is from the same town as me in Romania. You will have to forgive him: his english is not very good and he refuses to try to say something if he doesn’t have it completely correct. He will learn quickly, I hope.”

Walking back to the stall, the petite brunette finished drying Hugo off and left him with a few flakes of hay. She wasn’t sure what the feeding routine was in the barn, but she reasoned that it would keep him occupied and not antagonizing the barn traffic that milled about. Returning to the small group, she idly placed her hands in the pockets of her breeches and smiled at the two men they had just met. “I think we were planning on exploring the property,” she glanced intentionally at Alex, “would you like to come? You can say no…”

“It will be fun,” Viktor gave a big, boyish, lopsided grin. He glanced to Reggie and assumed that he had already accepted his friend’s invitation, then glanced back to Alexander. “You should come with us.”