Willa | Sawyer, Su-Jin

“Where are you?” Her voice was hushed as she dodged the swarms of riders milling about, trying not to draw attention to herself. The only thing worse than being incompetent would be to have people notice her incompetence. She dodged an older-looking clique in favor of a handful of pony kids, and she was right in assuming that they were far too captivated by talk of show names and matching tack sets to even notice as she walked past them. After all, on the outside, she appeared just as any other rider did that was headed back up towards the dormitories. They hadn’t seen her walk this stretch of path twelve times before this.

The static on the other end of the line crackled. “Who am I? Pocahontas. Didn’t you see the wigwam out back?”

Willa rolled her eyes, burying her face in her free hand. “Wigwam, really? What fourth-grade classroom did you pull that gem out of?”

“Take a left. I mean, unless you want to get more steps in. What is this, lap fourteen?”

“You’ve been watching me this whole time? You’re an asshole.”

“Language.”

She turned left, nearly running right into her brother. He looked the same way he had two hours ago, just a bit more run down. His strawberry-blond hair was curly, longer than he usually kept it. She wondered if he was growing it out. They never discussed that kind of stuff with one another.

“Where’s Nash?”

“Am I not enough for you?” He grinned a wry, mischievous smile. “Let’s find out.”

He hung up his call with Willa now that they were together, walking towards a different barn. He dialed a different number, pressing the phone to his ear and waiting for the person on the other end of the line to pick up.

“Hey, brother. I’ve got Willa with me, and we’re looking for you. I reckon it’s about time we get some lunch, now that the horses are settled. We can finish doing that office-y, paperwork-y bullcrap after.”

Willa rolled her eyes again, Sawyer’s presence was especially annoying her today. If he wasn’t going to actually swear, why even bother?

As they approached the barn, the cowboy hung up the phone, leading Willa towards a man who was meandering around. “Look at that nice boy. Puppy-dog eyes, head in the clouds, dressed like he’s not sure whether he should be outside or in bed. Let’s make a friend. And by let us, I mean let you.”

He dragged his sister along despite her constant and increasingly aggressive protests. Sawyer seemed to be itching to get on her hitlist today, he was in one of his rare, antagonistic moods. He sauntered up to the guy, his demeanor soft but underlyingly comical.

“Hey, man, I’m Nash Brooks and this is my sister Sarah. We’re new here, and my sister is really shy. Very non-confrontational, hates conflict.” She glared at him, her face a few shades redder with rage, but stayed silent. She knew better than to speak up, if she tried to clear any of it up he would pour on more until they drowned in it. “She’s terrible with directions, and she needs to meet our other brother, Ron, at the front office. He’s finishing up our paperwork. Do you mind taking a few minutes to walk her up there?” He gestured to Willa, “see, she’s even blushing. That’s how much social interaction bothers her. Thanks, man.” And with that, Sawyer strode away, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. He shot off a quick text to Nash as he made his way towards the dining hall, following the map he’d saved to his phone.

[Sawyer]: if anyone asks, your name is Ron okay

[Nash]: typing…

[Nash]: Copy that!

Heather Proudstorm | 22 | Eventer | Titanium "Storm" and Open | School Horse: WO Descendants Of Khan "Khan" | M: Livvie, Tryst, Open

Ben | Arlette

Ben jumped at the sound of applause, his pale complexion getting flushed and unevenly blushy. He had his back to the fence, and when he jumped, he turned his head to see who was there. He almost felt stupid, considering how unfocused Celeste had been during the last few moments. She had no reservations about strolling up to the fence and shaking her new friend down for cookies.

“Oh, uh, hey, thanks,” his body language was rigid, tense. He didn’t like that kind of attention, he didn’t like praise or recognition or being picked out of a crowd. He was perfectly content blending in and being just another guy, despite the attention he received online and the doors that had opened because of it. Despite the well-manicured exterior he’d created to become that guy, Ben spent most nights anxious about the amount of people that knew of him and gave him that unwanted attention. Sure, it kept Celeste and the mini ponies paid for, but at the expense of his sanity.

He studied the girl for a moment too long, a leery gaze connecting them. She had mousy brown hair and beautiful green eyes, a stark contrast to his whitish-blond hair and ice blue irises. He was a shade or two off from albinism if he didn’t possess it, and he had always envied people with more pigment, more color. He was almost envious of her bright green eyes before he realized that if they were his, he would be unable to gaze into them. He offered a bashful smile. “This...is gonna sound suuuper conceited, but do you know me? I’m sorry, it’s a stupid question, I just...yeah…”

ISC | Reggie

HP nodded cheerily as if unrivaled amounts of placid enthusiasm would completely obliterate any language barriers they encountered. “Yes, Brielle has lived here for many months when before she was recruited by Danish horse owners to compete in Europe. She suggested that we spend the summer in America competing and invited us here.”

“Yes, a few years before when I was a young rider I rode and lived here. We don’t have many American connections, so we decided to take the summer away. And you? What about yourself?” Brielle turned away from the whiteboard to add to the conversation. Heidi glanced at her to confirm her suspicions, that the board hadn’t been updated in quite some time. “We need to go to the office to find horse and living arrangements.”

“You go, I’ll stay with the horses,” Heidi volunteered, mostly because she didn’t feel like socializing with anyone or being the quiet one in the corner. They all knew that the horses would be fine, but it was an easy out.

“Actually,” Brielle started, “I thought you might want to come. You know much more information than me.”

Heidi nodded, “HP, you can stay, then?”

HP nodded, turning to Brielle who had looked to Reggie. “If you are new, you can come with us if you do not have your housing and horse arrangements yet?”

Rena | Alex, Max, Viktor

Alex’s contribution to her antics only fueled more gas onto the fire that was sleepy smiles and childish giggles and a peaceful feeling that neither one of them had felt in a very long time, if ever. She couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face, melting the ice in her beautiful light brown eyes and filling them with warm, with healing, with the inexplicable feelings she hoped to God he felt too. When she glanced back over at him, he was smiling, and nothing could have made her happier than seeing him smile. She didn’t know him very well, but she got the sense that a smile from him was a novelty few could say they’d experienced. She didn’t say anything because she knew that drawing attention to it would make him uncomfortable. He was the male version of her, after all, in her mind. But she silently relished in the beauty of seeing him happy, even just for a moment. She wanted so much more of him, she wanted everything. She was performing a loving act by acting like she didn’t with the hope that one day he would allow her to love him the way she was capable. Without restraint, without fear, with the insanity of someone so deeply consumed by love that they cannot think straight. For now, this would have to be enough. She reminded herself of the progress of the day. This morning, she didn’t know if she’d ever speak to him again. Now, they were here. Blissfully.

When her gentle gaze landed on him again, she watched him study her midsection with what appeared to be curiosity. When she caught him staring, his eyes fell back into hers. It felt like home. Glancing down at her own abdomen, she softly said, “nobody explained it to you, did they?” She frowned slightly, continuing. “All you saw was the blood.” Her tone was sympathetic, completely selfless and unworried about herself. She was only worried about him. About his perspective. About what she’d unintentionally put him through. She considered touching his arm, but didn’t show any signs of it. She hated those small touching gestures, they were so miserable and pointless and uncomfortable. Besides, the next time she touched him, she didn’t want to settle for some meaningless gesture. She wanted it to be something novel, something incredible.

“I have a blood disorder, my blood doesn’t clot normally. When I bleed, I bleed,” she laughed softly, but it wasn’t emotionally charged or blissful like it had been before. It was somber. “That’s why I’m so careful, so organized. Most people don’t think twice about a papercut, I don’t have that ability.” She glanced over at him, her eyes falling back into his like they were always meant to be there. Maybe it was for moral support. He was so quiet, but so understanding, so supportive in a way that didn’t make her throw her walls right back up. “I was stupid, I was careless. I tried to climb a tree to get a view of the road and the fence crumbled underneath me. I thought I was fine and then we crossed some water on the way home and Hugo splashed me. All the water turned red and it just went downhill from there.” She was quiet for a moment, thinking. “I vaguely remember the state Hugo was in when I left, though.” Her gaze fell onto him, contemplating if what she was about to ask was going to scare him away. “You couldn’t have possibly thought I would be back so soon. So what brought you down here in the middle of the night?”

Before he could respond, footsteps sounded at the other end of the hall. A tall, handsome figure cleared his throat. He was wearing a sweatshirt that Rena had loved dearly and had stolen frequently during their time together. Her demeanor shifted in less than a second and every wall she’d taken down for Alex went right back up.

“Max,” she didn’t seem as emotional or as angry as she had the morning prior. There were no tears, just standoffishness, distance. “What are you doing here?”

“Just...I need to get something off my chest. Can we talk?”

She looked over at Alex apologetically. “I should probably talk to him,” she conceded. “Thank you for coming to check on me, I needed it more than you know.” She smiled softly at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes the way it had for those few blissful moments they’d shared together in complete peace. Without looking back, she let Max lead her down the corridor towards a different stretch of isolated hallway. After they’d stopped, she looked at him expectantly, arms crossed.

“First of all, thank you for helping me today. Despite everything that’s happened between us, you really did save my life today to some extent. Second of all, what do you want?”

His expression was hauntingly and unmistakably pained. “I’m still not over you, Katarena. I never was, as much as I pretended to be. Anger was easier than coming to terms with the fact that I ruined what we had. Today, with everything that happened, I couldn’t let another day go by where I didn’t tell you how I feel. So, I love you. I always have. I always will. Seeing you with Alex just now, it didn’t feel right. I can’t let someone else love you, I have to be selfish.”

He came closer to her, his hands cupping her face. His eyes were lost, panicked, full of emotion. She was still paralyzed by his words, by the pain they caused her. If he had just said it a few days sooner, or maybe right after he destroyed her heart and the life she had built around him. If he had never scared himself to the point of forcing her to cut him out. Yet, life had a way of kicking her in the face, of allowing her greatest desires to come to fruition a second too late.

When he kissed her, she didn’t kiss him back. She didn’t pull away, either. She was just there, frozen in the moment, paralyzed by the emotions of it all. When he kissed her, she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she wished it was Alex. She had spent the last three hours wondering if something more would happen between them, and now she was in another stretch of hallway being kissed by an ex-boyfriend she didn’t love, but wasn’t fully over. Finally, she pulled away, her face blank, indifferent. “You need to leave,” she whispered, walking back out of the hallway and into her room.

The sun rose an hour or two later, though she hadn’t slept any. She went down to the barn at six to lunge Hugo before she could be inundated with questions and concerns and empathy that made her deeply uncomfortable, and to pull the saddlepad she’d covered in blood the afternoon prior so she could wash it. Hugo was perfect as usual, which gave her hope for the weekend. In two days, she still fully intended to go to the schooling show she’d signed up for, granted that nothing catastrophic happen in the time between now and then. She wondered if anyone else she knew was going, it was a random little event Tim had invited her to following their lesson the other morning. For all she knew, she could be the only one invited. Either way, she had her sights set on keeping herself and her gelding as fit as possible without doing anything to endanger their capability of going. She had spent more time down there than she thought she had, and by the time she had gotten her food to go at the dining hall and headed back to her room, she had a text from Viktor.

[Viktor]: call me

She dialed his number.

“Hey.”

“What’s up?”

“Did you hear about what happened last night? I guess a couple riders are getting penalized for various things, Alex included. I figured he might have been with you.”

“Viktor,” she started, her voice showing increasing levels of anger, “how exactly do riders get caught for things like that?”

“Anonymous tips,” he replied, “why?"

“The only person that saw us together was Max.”

Dublin | M: Table

He'd been happy with the contact before. This time, it was paining. By now he knew Louis wouldn't have meant it to be that way, but it surely was. Some guilt about various things, and such. It intensely hurt what little part of him was still willing to think about it all. Dublin held his stare distantly opposite of the group, hiding his feelings behind a blurry sort of expression. Not his usual anger, which could raise caution.

The more lively of the group around the table would chatter in what seemed to be aimless or forced, in his view. He tuned it out well. His arm was folded across his chest guardingly, nestled under the one which played with the burning cigarette. The fact that no one mentioned the cursed thing held a heavy thankfulness in his quaky heart, though he knew at least someone was bothered. Every so often he'd sneak a glance back at Louis, regrettably so. He hated that disgust the teen carried in this, in an aching sort of way.

After playing the silent treatment for quite some time, Dublin had begun to toy with the idea of trying to say something again. Something calmer than before, something someone could actually enjoy, maybe. The unwillingness to survive in this environment had been growing awkward and uncomfortable. But he was awfully awful at all this social junk, and ages of attempts tore a pulsing frustration through his every inch. Work, damn it. He rebuked himself internally. Just fucking work. The anger was increasingly desperate.

It built up worse and worse, boiling inside, until it just cracked, shattered, then dissipated, some sort of sickly sigh escaping in a small sense of relief. Dublin knew he had nothing to say that'd feel worth while. Wasted breath, maybe. Yet, he tentatively decided to try speaking anyway, knowing also that silence could hurt his chances of ever getting to try these relationships again.

"Astrophysics.. Do you care about that?" He wasn't totally sure who he directed that toward, though it was quietly done enough where you'd have to be close, or paying specific attention. The root of the strange, off-topic question was not only Dublin's desire of forcing him to include himself, but also the hope that talking about something he enjoyed would make him less inclined to shout or take offense. It was such a boring thing to most people that he'd immediately began to scold himself inside for mentioning it. No way was that a good conversation starter.

Sinking back into his walls with an obvious distate for himself, he glared distantly away from everyone again. This was getting pathetic. It had to end soon, right? Surely, cause he was getting nowhere.

Louis Wright | Dublin.

“Hmm?”

Louis glanced back towards the solemn, unsmiling figure, who had firmly wrapped himself into the cocoon spun by his own mind. The pale face was staring aimlessly into a blank space of air, the previously accusing eyes now soft, inhibited by the nicotine. Uncertain whether Dublin had spoken, Louis held back, leaning against the back of the chair, arms loosely crossed. As usual, unable to stay mad or upset for any length of time, Louis inquired further, “Is that one of your favourite topics?”

The small nod gave every answer to every question Louis asked, freeing up any hesitation. There was an element of forgiveness – an obvious step to resolution. Biting his lips to hold the smile back, he gathered everything he had back onto his tray. He had finished his breakfast by this point and had saved the numbers of the others into his contacts, so by logic, he was free to leave. And to his knowledge, he still had a gelding to exercise, and presumably, Dublin had one as well. Figuring that they could use that time to talk, Louis bade his farewells and got to his feet.

Tapping the other’s shoulder, Louis indicated his thumb toward the exit. Dropping off his tray, the two made their way out. “Let’s go out onto one of the trails and we can discuss astrophysics there. But to answer your question, I know a fair amount.’ Simultaneously, Louis was drawing out the tall chestnut gelding, his tone neutral as he continued, “I had a school research project, so I read through a university book. Cost me money, but I can still remember the pages. You can bring me up to speed though.” Frankly, astrophysics wasn’t exactly a favoured topic, but he could easily make it so to hold a conversation.