Alexander Littlewood | R/E | Rena, Max

As much as Alex tried to dissuade it, day was inevitable. He'd rolled into bed at the earliest 1am, to try and catch a handful of sleep before morning, but after being unable to switch off his brain for over an hour he'd admitted defeat. And so, on no sleep other than some fitful dozing, he ignored the new day for as long as possible. Some small part of him felt that maybe, just maybe, if he ignored it for long enough it would go away. Denial was a very comfortable state of mind. If only all his thoughts would disappear as easily as they did in his mind - but then, they rarely did, even there. He tended to push them down, but they were always lurking somewhere. Wasn't that their nature, after all? Wasn't that everyone's? Or perhaps, some were lucky enough to escape without that. It went against the very grain of humanity, but it was possible, surely, for some blessed few to live a picture-perfect life. Some would argue it was a choice. Lies, he thought. All lies.

Alex tossed on some fresh clothes, splashed water on his face to give him some illusion of energy, and stalked out of the room without a word. His roommate - according to the sign on the door, which had been finally updated to his disappointment - was either already up or hadn't arrived yet. The latter was more likely, judging by the completely unused bed opposite his. Still, he was quiet. He didn't work silently for others - it was for himself, to avoid distraction or at worst, an overload of everything around him. That had happened too many times already.

Today - or at this exact moment, which was apt to change at any time - he felt stronger. It was almost amusing, that he could have no sleep and be better equipped to meet the day, than on a few hours rest. He would manage his lessons and rides, and the scavenger hutn if he couldn't wrangle out of that one. Which reminded him - he had meant to tell Kholo he wouldn't make it, but after the exhausting outing the night before, he'd completely forgotten. Was it too late? Probably. Was he still going to either let her know, or more likely ghost the event entirely? Definitely.

Once he'd reached the barn - barely a stone's throw away from the house, out of yesterday's perspective - Alex immediately walked to the tack room. There were multiple, scattered throughout the property, but Kholo usually posted the exercise assignments and general announcements in this one. It wasn't necessarily the busiest, but since it was closest to the main yard, it was given the honour of having too many students crammed into a small room to squint and see who they were riding. Certainly not his cup of tea, hence his early rising. According to the messy scrawl on the noticeboard, he only had two mornign rides, plus three in the afternoon. Alex almost could have smiled. In his time at the farm, the assignments had never been updated from the scribbled handwriting on a scarp of paper. Kholo always promised to update it to a table, a chalkboard, but in the last almost two years, nothing had changed. Fair enough. She ha dplenty else to do, but it was slightly comical nonetheless.

As he exited the room, silently repeating the horses he was riding to himself, Alex almost crashed into a lithe woman rounding the corner. "Oh, Rena. Hey." As was often the case, his body langauge was emotionless, except for a slight change to his face. The difference was so small it was indecribable, and it disappeared a moment after his words. "I can wait a sec if you'd..."

He followed her gaze to Viktor - or, the man he had asumed to be Viktor but clearly wasn't, since she was addressing him as Maximilian. Plus, Vik came across as much more down to earth than this man. The man put him on edge. Whether it was because of his true personality or Rena's reaction to his appearance, it boiled down to the same thing. Maybe out of this context, Alex wouldn't have noticed it. But regardless of that, his presence made him want to cringe into himself again, and also maybe break his nose. Whichever one presented itself soonest.

He hovered outside the exchange, unsure what was best. Should he stay here, as some warped form of moral support, or leave before his emotions overwhelmed him? Already, Alex was sure that his feelings were tattood over his face. His eyes were closed partially, shoulders tightened, and every cue said the same thing: stay away. But would it be wrong to leave Rena without a word? Sure, he'd long since lost the meaning of 'wrong', but at least he could try. Couldn't he?

Finally, Maximilian left. The conversation - verbal attack, he thought - must have been less than five minutes, but the strain of sentiments was painful. One look at Rena's face - he opened his eyes fully once the man was gone - told him that he wasn't the only one who had felt that way. Space was what she needed, and her words confirmed it. Space was always needed, though. "Sure," he replied. "No worries." But befor ehe could finish his uninflected words, she was gone.

-Heather would be cleaning out a stall that's next door to Storm's stall as it use to belong to her mare, Mystery, before she was sadly put down from the result of the car accident. The colorful gelding would be happily munching on his morning hay, the red brunette was finally finished cleaning the stall out before placing new hay bedding inside, getting things everything cleaned up and put away before slipping into Storm's stall to check if he needed anything. She gently patted his shoulder while he ate, even though she has recovered over the lost of Mystery a bit, she also knew that maybe getting another horse would do her some good since Storm probably needs a buddy after all-

-Heather reached over the stall door, grabbing both his Grey halter and lead rope that's on the other side of his stall door before slipping it onto his face, clipping the lead to the head collar in the process then the red brunette started to lead the Roan Grullo Tobiano Splash White Frame out of his stall, down the barn aisle to where the wash stalls are. The gelding started to act all studly as he pinned his ears in a aggressive manner towards either other geldings or stallions but he was soon corrected when Heather sternly pulled the lead, meaning to pay attention. Her large Shepherd came padding over, wagging his tail all excitedly while trailing both the young woman and her horse since he's all for going anywhere-

-After a while later, Heather would be brushing Storm's white tail while the gelding just stood there, his ears flicked around a bit to listen to basically everything around them while her dog, Toby, would just be having a light snooze for today. The red brunette's gaze quickly flicked over to her phone that's resting on the seat of the small stool, she finished brushing his tail, managing to get the tangles out before going over and picking her phone up as she checks to see what caused her phone to go off. The young woman raised an eyebrow, she got a text from...Olivia?, a puzzle expression settled on her face before opening her phone to silently read the text message, not long for the gelding to get nosy about what his rider is doing. Heather let a sigh escape her lips, running her right hand through her hair a bit before replying, simply agreeing to go riding with her and the other person before putting her phone back down after hitting send-

-She started brushing his black and white mane then his black forelock before giving him a gentle boop on his pink snoot, placing the brush back into her grooming kit before quickly walking off to the tack room, gripping the handle of her kit in her left hand while Toby stayed right with Storm to keep the gelding some company. Stepping inside the tack room, she walked over to her locker before opening it, placing her grooming box in it's original spot before grabbing her already cleaned tack carefully. Turning sharply on her heels, closing the locker door shut with her left foot before leaving the tack room, heading back to where both Storm and Toby are to obviously get her horse ready for the trail ride since it'll probably be good to just clear her head from everything that has happened. Setting the tack on the right side of the wall, she scooped her phone back up into her right hand before slipping the item into the right side of her riding boot then she starts the process of tacking up-

Max | Devyn, OPEN [pls bother them]

"I feel bad," he vented to the smaller girl beside him, though she appeared to only be half-listening. She was doing something on her phone that she was fully absorbed in, her bright blue eyes locked on the screen.

"Why? I wouldn't." She looked up briefly to put a carton of chocolate milk on her tray, then pressed send to whatever message she had been typing up. Max's eyebrows were furrowed in thought, his demeanor sorrowful and dejected. For the large, muscular, hulking figure he was, he sure was a gentle giant.

"Are you fighting with people on the internet again?"

"And what if I am?" She sighed, putting her tray down and sliding into a booth opposite Max. She checked her watch. 07:03am. She'd been up since five-thirty, and couldn't understand why it felt like they were the only ones in the dining hall. She glanced back to Max, trying to care about his problem. "Look, Max. Isn't she the one who cut you out?"

"But..."

"No buts. I don't care about whatever twisted narrative you have in your head. You tried to help her, she cut you out. Anything after that is just a bullet hole through whatever masculinity you have left, okay? Straight up. Now let's eat, these eggs look disgusting."

Not feeling any better, Max played with the food on his plate before getting up, throwing it away. He sat back down, restless and emotional still. After little thought, he sent a text to Viktor, who he was sure wasn't awake yet. He typically slept in until at least eight or nine.

[Max]: You might want to check on Katarena when you get a chance...

Evander Blake | Sullivan, OPEN

"Early start, eh?"

"Yeah, something of it. Morning, Sull, how'd you sleep?"

"Like hell," though it was a complaint, the most mischievous grin danced on his face, his gray eyes glittering boyishly. "Hell of a rager next door, wasn't it?"

"Not that you'd know," the older of the two men returned Sullivan's smile with a gentler, knowing smile of his own. "Right?"

"O'course," he responded quickly. He loved this man dearly. "Have you heard from Amara?"

"Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"No."

"Good, I haven't. Her mother is really something."

"Evan," he clasped his hands on the man's shoulders, though they were nearly the same height. Sullivan was just barely shorter. "Permission to speak freely?"

He gave the man a skeptical look, then nodded, surrendering. "Always."

"You're too damn nice. Val is a lot of things you wouldn't appreciate me saying out loud, so out of respect for you I won't. But damn it if I'm gonna let you get pushed around again. You've lost way too much money in court battles, you've gotta start acting like you want to see your daughter. No more of this," he gestured up and down Evander's lean frame, "Mr. Nice Guy. Time to play to win."

Walking down to one of the main barns, the instructor listened thoughtfully to what his counterpart had to say before responding. At least that counseling degree could have some use. "I appreciate the sentiment, my friend. I'll have to reflect on what you have to say and reply thoughtfully once it sinks in."

"God, you're such a therapist sometimes," he whined, "what needs done, anyway?"

"I just came down to inspect the horses and get the student files to look at over breakfast so I'm more prepared for the day ahead."

"Ah," he replied distantly, looking off towards the other end of the aisle.

"Anything you need to do?"

"Just figure out what horse I'm riding in the lesson today and where they're located. I'll do it after breakfast, I have time."

Dublin | M: Louis

The hard ground crunched and scattered beneath his naturally short strides, eliminating the chance of a sneaky approach toward the stable area. Not that he needed one; right then, at least. It wasn't unlikely that he'd wind up in some sort of troublemaking at some point, but for now the premises were at peace with him and his noisy footsteps.

Though he was meant to be searching for some sort of help, Dublin had mostly failed to keep his eyes off the ground ahead of him. His gaze was littered with a stern, judgemental look, as if he could make the earth run away from a burning stare. The view was far from interesting, yet somewhere inside he'd must have been able to convince himself it was, as he continued to scan the edges of the path over and over while he paced on. It was boring, but he'd never admit it.

In fact, he'd allowed the ever-so-incredible dust to distract him from noticing the call of a man from ahead. Only once he could hear the approach of long, drifting steps did he look up in a brief flash of startlement. The stranger was quickly right in front of him.

Dublin was noticeably caught off guard by the unreserved and talkative nature of how Louis spoke to him. A blank gleam of minor panic in his gaze expressed his loss for words. He locked on to the taller man's pale eyes with his head tilted down, as if that'd do him any good. After chewing his tongue and fidgeting with his fingers for a little longer than what'd be seen as normal, Dublin let out a speedy, empty chuckle as he finally found some words to fumble over.

"Didn't realize I was playing dress-up.." The smell of tobacco was loose on his breath as he spoke quietly in his Glaswegian tune. It was difficult to tell if he was being humorous or rude, which was far from unusual. A brief pause ensued before he went on to introduce himself hesitantly. "I'm Dublin... What do you have to know?"

He struggled to decide what Louis really wanted with this interaction. Was this just friendly chatter, or did he want something from him? Though most would see this as kind, Dublin wasn't so ready to believe that a stranger would be so fascinated without a hidden reason. His lack of confidence in the situation was evident in his demeanor as he tried and failed to analyze every little detail of Louis' gaze, his posture ready to become defensive. Though, after a moment, he found himself quite encapsulated by them, as well as a growing wonder in who this certain someone he was apparently so similar to was.

Olivia Lancewood | etc.

Livvie let out a delighted squeal when her phone buzzed, drawing a startled snort out of the horse beside her. Cirrus shifted, turning back to stare at her with a perturbed expression, before apparently deciding that all was well, and he could return to the empty bucket he was intent on sniffing. She replied with a long string of untranslatable emojis, followed by a simple "be there in a sec :))". As always, her texting style was erratic and all over the place - the only thing that was consistently used was smiley faces with too many grins. Partially endearing, and partially frustrating when she sent twelve different half-sentences to say one point. As if to prove this, she quickly tapped out another add-on, a few moments after pressing send.

[Olivia] heather might also join

[O] she's a girl i know that rides here

[O] just thought she might be lonely, ya know?

[O] plus you two can make friends!!! :))))

[O] need to finish tacking up

[O] then i'll be right there :)

Satisfied with her string of messages, she shoved the phone back in her pocket and returned her attention to Cirrus. The gelding had been standing patiently while she speed-typed, albeit fascinated with the afore-mentioned bucket. Still empty, judging by his choice to focus on something else. Olivia began to attack his coat with alarming ferocity that seemed incongruous with her light personality. This was contrasted even more with her soft humming as she worked, broken by a few idle comments at either her horse or the passing rider.

Soon enough, though, the teen stepped back to survey her handiwork. The product of her efforts was sufficient, judging by her pleased expression. Admittedly, Cirrus was surprisingly clean when she brought him in, so that at least had reduced the usual grooming time. She made quick work of tacking him up - for once, she'd had the forethought to get her tack out before grooming him. He lowered his head to accept the bridle, even though he was small enough for her to reach easily. He did, after all, have some manners - when he remembered them.

By the time the saddle was on and Olivia had adjusted her stirrups - the jumping lesson the day before had made her shorten them by a hole, and she preferred longer ones for trail rides - there was much more of a buzz around the stable. As the sun had risen, so had the various students, trainers, and people who she had no clue why they were here but was very intrigued to find out. A gaggle of new riders hung around by the grass, and already there were a few riders returning after a ride.

Clipping on her helmet with decided fervor, she led the cream-coloured pony towards where they'd organized to meet. Livvie was recognizable enough to notice anywhere - her bright personality and equally bouncy hair tended to do that - but it was easier to pick a place to meet up instead of trawling the entire farm. Plus, it was the closest to the main house.

Spotting two very familiar faces, her face broke into an even broader grin than the unconscious smile of before. "Tryst!! Heather! I'm so happy to see you!" It was irrelevant that she'd chatted to both the previous evening; minor details. Without a pause, she babbled on. "So I was thinking we could maybe do, like, the upper trail past the stream? But like, literally anything is cool. Ooh also, Tryst, this is Heather; Heather, this is Tryst!" She reached out to simultaneously greet the horses standing beside their riders, letting them sniff her hand before stroking their noses.