Dicidia Riding Academy

(Okay, that title is so totally lame, but... oh well. xD)

Liam Alexander Lawson & Country Remix

"What?" Liam leaned against the stall door and set his pitchfork aside as he watched the light colored gelding stare back at him, standing peacefully in cross ties while the sixteen year old cleaned his stall. After a few moments of Liam staring back at him, the gleding turned his head away with a flick of his ears and a soft snort. Liam frowned ever so slighty and nodded. "Yeah, I figured," he muttered, finally smiling a little as he grabbed his pitchfork again and turned back to his work. "Don't you worry. I'll let you out when I'm done." He heard the gelding snort softly again and figured the horse was probably watching him again, but didn't turn to look.

It took him only a few more minutes to finish with cleaning the gelding's stall by spreading the fresh, clean bedding evenly throughout the stall and he turned back to find that Remix was indeed watching him, one ear angled towards the boy and looking almost expectant. The teen shook his head in amusement. "Yes, yes... I'll let you out in a sec," he promised, moving to put his pitchfork away from cleaning the stall and watching as his horse flicked his tail, looking away towards the end of the barn towards the pastures as he kept an ear angled towards his leaving rider. It was the typical show the gelding gave as Liam cleaned the horse's stall. Patient and quiet, yes, but... impatient and hilarious all the same. He returned after putting away his gear and offered a pepermint to the gelding in a flat palm. Clearly happy with the treat, the gelding swiped it off his master's hand as Liam unclipped the crossties from his halter, holding onto the halter as he reached behind him on the stall door for the lead rope so he could take the gelding outside to his field.

(Blaah... okay, that's totally not my usual length and seems almost lame, but... I'm not all too used to academy/riding students as my characters. xD Sorry!)

(Perfectly fine! Well, let's get this show on the road!)

Charlotte sighed as she shouldered the black and blue leadrope and rope halter, head down as she looked around, looking over the well-known room. The scent of horse sweat, leather, rope and oil lingered in the room like a haunting ghost, as familar as her father's voice. "Now to go and attempt to catch the blasted thing," the blonde grumbled to herself, letting herself out of the tack room with brisk, precise strides and closing the door behind her. Her hair swayed with her movement, flicking her head to the side to try and rid herself of her sight-blocking fringe as she attempted to twist the handle. "Why must hair be such a nuisance..." After securing the tack room, the lanky teen turned and strode off towards the pastures, completely unaware of Liam as she hurried out a few lengths in front of him.

Making it to Torch's pasture, which he shared with no one due to his grumpiness wth other animals of most varieties, she lent on the fence and gave a long whistle. Without another moment, the squeal of a stallion and the thundering of hooves answered as the grulla Quarter horse made his appearance, stampeding across to the fence. He moved well, legs reaching out to eat the ground and locks flagged like tattered war banners, nostrils flaring. He threw in a few back-wrenching bucks, tail splaying everywhere as his hinds kicked out at thin air. The movements were sure and precise, almost intimidating as he carried on his charge to the fence. "Seems we're feelin' good today." Charlotte chuckled, sighing contentedly as Torch slammed on his brakes, sliding so he halted neatly in front of his blue-eyed handler. Vaulting the fence, the teen slipped a peppermint from her pocket into the palm of her hand, offering it to the temperamental stud who took it as she slipped the rope halter around his handsome head. "C'mon then, you soppy tart." Charlotte looked up the path to see another walking up, drawing in a deep breath as she lead Torch towards the gate, wanting to wait till the others past to lead the animal to his stall.

(Blaahhh... Sorry it took me so long. to get back to this, but yes!!! Party time is upon us! :lol:)

Liam clipped the lead to Remix's halter before turning and leading the gelding with him out towards the pastures. They were following a blonde, and Liam got the feeling quickly that he noticed her, but she did notice him. That was alright with him. No need to get nosey, after all. The gelding walking almost lazily beside him pricked an ear at the long whistle the lanky-looking blonde let out, which brought a loud squeal and thundering of hooves on the ground announcing the approach of a stallion from the depths of the pasture. Liam smiled a little and proceeded to stroll along with Remix walking quite agreeably at his side as the girl lead her horse towards the gate.

Politely, he gave a nod in greeting as he passed the fence gate with Remix to the pasture his gelding shared with his father's horse and the academy owned horses. The academy horses were an agreeable lot, consisting of a bay Hanoverian mare named Mirage, a young chestnut Arabian mare named Annabelle, and a single black gelding named Bentley. The trio nickered a greeting from the small hill that was somewhat in the center of the pasture and Liam lead Remix into the gate before slipping the halter off of the Appaloosa's head and smiling as he watched the light colored bay trot out to greet his friends. His father's horse, Mask, would join the band later, as Liam recalled that this was lesson time for his father. He was most likely up at the outdoor deep footing ring working with his gaming students at the moment, trying to prepare them for the gaming held every weekend at the academy and typically outdoors, if the weather was allowing.

Which reminded him... He wanted to get some time in working on his own times with his father. They always had a good time trying to beat times, although his father rarely lost. It was something his horse-aholic father recognized, but usally waved off in good humor. Times were nothing of too great importance to the older man, but... Liam still enjoyed picking at him for the sole purpose of a good laugh from his expression. He shook his head slightly, turning now that Remix had joined the trio of lesson horses and shutting the gate behind him as he exited the field. He could speak with his father over the matter later, when both had some free time.

Charlotte offered a small smile and a nod back, but her eyes were focused on the grulla Quarter horse beside her. His ears slipped back and lips drew back over his teeth. He seemed to hold for a second, quivering before he struck out with his near front, almost hitting her on the back of her thigh. "Pack it in!" She hissed as he danced back, pulling the leadrope taunt and rearing. Avoiding the flailing hooves beside her head, the girl swung the leadrope for it to thwack against his shoulder, tugging down. "Oi!" The blonde snarled, shaking her head as she moved with the hopes of Toxic following her.

After a few more moments of his hi-oh Silver act, Toxic calmed enough to follow his lean handler out of the gate and up the well-worn, dusty, pale path to the stable block. He pranced and jogged beside her, ears flicking and twitching to imaginary sounds around him, snorting and blowing loudly. His hooves flicked up in paired unison, neck arched and trimmed tail swishig and flicking against his mud-flecked flanks. "Stupid cursed animal." Charlotte grumbled, her hand firm on his haler as she attempted to make him walk like any normal horse, but the stud insisted on flexing his muscles and poncing about like a big girl. However much Toxic infuriated and irritated Charlotte, she would always cherish the temperamental male as long as she lived. It was obvious that she did. The two were quite comical to watch while she was on the ground, bickering and arguing how a horse and rider could. But when she was in the saddle, and he was agreeing she should be there, the duo were fantastic to watch. Charlotte was glad her father had let her have him, and not made her wait another year for another foal.

Charlotte came from a working ranch that bred top-notch cattle horses, working and otherwise. Her father, Alfred, had given her the option to breed a stallion and mare together so she could raise the outcome of said pairing. Coupling one of the older, but much better, mares to one of the best of her father's homebred studs, Charlotte was lumbered with Toxic Rush. The foal who would quite frankly take over, and possibly, ruin her life. He'd left dents in her, her pride, and many cars. But the blonde kept with him, not wanting to seem a let down to her two remaining brothers and adoring father. And here they were, the stunt double duo, at Dicidia Riding Academy.

Liam watched the frantics of the stud with one eyebrow slightly raised. The horse's lanky handler wasn't fazed by the grulla's act. In fact, Liam dared to say she scolded him for it as she lead him back towards the stable. Something of an amused smile slipped into form as he watched the pair - the horse putting on a theatrical show as the girl at his shoulder grumbled at him, trying to get the stud to settle down.

He remembered working on training Remix, his father's tips helping him through the young colt's training to get him to where he was now. An Appaloosa like his father's mount, Remix was a companionable being who was bombproof in almost every sense of the term he could be. He was content to please Liam, and the gelding would usually take his time coming to the gate unless he was already there. That content little trot of his was his preferred pace of travel, but the gelding and his rider wouldn't turn down a good speedy game show.

Giving the stud and blonde handler space, he soon strolled down the path behind them, making sure the blonde would have room enough to handle the stud who seemed to have an overly-big personality for his body. He didn't want to give horse and handler any more trouble, so he made sure to give both space.

Charlotte looked back over her shoulder as Toxic decidedly leapt to a halt, turning his head and whickering throatily to Liam, ears pricked. While a nuisance to Charlotte and most animals, he quite liked most male humans for some bizzaire reason. This of course, earned him a slap across the rump with his leadrope. She nodded once, tugging a few times to signal for the stallion to walk on, who didn't bother to listen and whickered again to Liam. "Move yaself, Toxic." She grumbled again, watching as he squealed and lunged forward quite gracefully and she moved with him, catching his rope halter again. "If ya just kept forward, ya wouldn't get a whack. Simple as. Plus I warned ya." 

Charlotte, once Toxic had thought over this all seemingly and had decided that yes, walking beside her was the best he could possibly do, sighed in relief and absently trailed her fingers over his neck and stroked the slightly mud-caked hide fondly. "Good boy." She smiled, giving him a hearty pat on the neck as she began to hum a merry tune. 

Reaching the stud's stable, Charlotte lead him in and tied him short. She daren't use the cross-ties in case someone else lead a horse past and lost a chunk of flesh. Or multiple chunks. "Behave. Please." She sighed, spinning quickly on a heel to whip out the stable and walk smack-bang into Liam, tripping herself clean over and slamming down into the ground, rolling onto her back with a surprised squeak.

Liam smiled slightly and watched as the the energized Quarter Horse turned his head with pricked ears and let out a throaty whicker. You better behave yourself, he thought, watching as the blonde tried to convince the stallion to continue walking, which, eventually, worked because the stud followed after his handler into the barn. Liam smiled a little and shook his head shortly, continuing to the stables until the blonde handler of the rowdy grulla horse walked right into him, tripping herself up and making him stumble himself, although he did manage to keep himself on his feet.

He turned around quickly though, eyes already concerned. "I'm so sorry!" he rushed to apologize, seeing her on her back and offering her a hand to help her back up to her feet, "You okay?"

Charlotte held dead still for a few moments, clean out on the floor, before she slowly eased herself into a sitting position and rubbed the side side of her pale face. Glancing up as Liam apologized, she took a very soft and gentle hold of his hand and pulled herself up. Her hands were dainty and smooth, but had a slightly rough workmanlike feel to them. Promising that she'd never turn down an honest days work, and she some prissy snob like at least half the females on the ranch were.

"No no! It was my fault, are you alright?" Ignoring the question about her own wellbeing, the blonde managed to stutter out said sentence, swiftly retracting her hand from his as soon as she had her balance. Though it did take her a few good moments to regain her balance, having to lean into his hold a little before letting go of him. Her pale, stormy eyes flitted to his, c checking him over for any tell-tale signs that she'd done some damage.

Liam allowed the blonde to take her time, somewhere in the back of his mind noting that this was an honest girl - a girl who was not afraid of getting a little dirty, much unlike his mother. She had been way too stuck up to ever stick around with his father and her son; they were both way too into horses for her, and Liam still was amused about that whole idea.

But he could laugh at that whole thing later. "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her with a small smile. "I didn't see you coming out, or else I would've moved," he added with a small shrug, "but what's done is done. Both of us are alright, so that's what's important, right?" he asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood between him and the girl. The first time he properly meets with her and they run into each other. That was a great way to start off... "Uhm, my name's Liam, by the way..., Liam Lawson," he added after a moment.

(Shoot I've been calling her Charlotte not Lesley >.< Gah I'm sorry! My brains so befuddled)

"I-I'm Lesley. L-Lesley Quinns." The poor girl was stumbling over her words like a blind dog through a forest, offering her hand for a shake. The first time she meets anyone who doesn't insult her and she falls straight over them! Literally! There was a graze across her palm, but apart from that, she appeared to be unscathed. "I'm a stunt rider, I can take a little knocking." She smiled, bowing her head a bit and rounding her shoulders, glancing sideways at Toxic. Just to make sure he wasn't up to any mischief. The stallion was just standing, one hind leg cocked, head down and tail swishing lazily. The picture of perfect innocence.

(I noticed that yesterday, but I figured I'd just go with it. xD It's okay! Don't worry about it.  I got braces on today so if my replies start to reflect my deeper misery over the matter, I'll apologize now. xD)

Liam gave her a polite nod and returned her smile. "I do gaming and training myself with my father," he replied, vaugely motioning back to the paddock where he'd put Remix, "I fell off a couple times trying to train him and still do, so I like to believe I can handle such knocking myself," he explained, accepting her hand for a handshake. He then followed her glance to see that the stallion was standing quietly now. "Seems he's one to have two personalities," he commented, lightly joking about the matter. The grulla stud looked rather harmless now, but judging from his temprament just before their little run in, Liam judged the horse to be somewhat far from that in the right situation. "What's his name?" he asked, looking back to Lesley.

(Bless you. If I do daft stuff, just point it out. I'm a tad dopey like that.)

"Cool. I'm here for the stunt course, though it's all still pretty basic." She chuckled, smiling warmly and shoving her hands into her jean pockets, head bowed slightly and shoulders rounded. While her stutter had disappeared, Lesley was still showing signs of shyness as she returned her gaze to the questioning teen. "I fear he has more than two, devil horse. And a temper to match the devil." She huffed, shaking her head so her fringe swayed in front of her pale face. "Toxic Rush. Though more commonly known as Toxic, he has a few nicknames. Pratt, brat, idiot, anything like that."  She grumbled, shooting the stallion a glare. Toxic snorted, stamping his foot down and tossing his head slightly, ears angled towards the conversing pair.

(Perfectly fine with me! xD I'm like that sometimes. And I'm sorry again this took so long. I had the worst two days of my life - today and yesterday. xD I got braces yesterday and turnt around to spend a couple hours in the ER because of an allergic reaction to, today's verdict at least, the nickle in the brackets and wire. It wasn't serious serious, but... It was soooo horrible. I am never getting braces again in my life, I don't care what the orthadontist says. xD)

Liam smiled, noticing Lesley was a little shy around him yet. It was no bother. Maybe a little friendly conversation could open it up between them and she'd feel a little more comfortable. He laughed a little when she explained her stallion's personalities, and the idea that he might have two. Not to mention it was amusing that she had such nicknames for the stallion, and that the horse seemed to be quite aware of who and what they were discussing.

"My father actually runs this place," he explained, somewhat shyly digging the toe of his work boot into the ground as he shrugged a bit. "I grew up here, actually," he added, smiling just slightly and nodding back to where he'd left Remix. "I got him four years ago, when I was twelve. Dad helped me train him like he'd trained Mask, his horse." It was a bit of a rebellious smile that next showed on his face, "Mom never did really care for us horsey guys. She lives in the city. Wanted nothing with me, really, when she had me and left dad when he got into all of this. So... I've been here since this place started, really... I love it. And I've been doing gaming with Dad ever since he got me in the saddle, I guess... It's been what I do for as long as I can remember." He then nodded back to where his gelding was with the lesson horses. "His name's Country Remix, although we call him Remix. He's an Appaloosa, and typically lazy and laid-back until you get him running games."

(Yeah, I'm fine now. They got me on medication for it. Not the most pleasant tasting stuff, but it could be much worse. There's all kinds of theories up in the air about what it was. Now they're thinking it was the chemicals used during the actual putting on of my braces and it somehow got into my blood stream and somethin' like that. I don't even know. xD It's just a crazy old mess.)

Liam smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I would've picked this place over the city every time she could've asked," he said, then listening to her own sad story quietly and respectfully. "I'm really sorry to hear about your mother, but it is great that she got you into all of this," he said, smiling a bit. He then looked back to Toxic as she explained how he came to be and what all he did as a colt. "Well, it wouldn't be much of an interesting place if there wasn't a devil or two to wreck chaos, huh?" he asked with a smile as he studied over the grulla stud for a few moments longer before looking back at her. "In the kitchen?" he asked with one eyebrow slighty raised and his smile turning amused, "How old was he when he pulled that stunt?"

(You and me both! It was so nuts... so, so nuts...)

A trace of a smile showed on Liam's face before he did catch note of her nervousness and took very seriously that she was, whether she knew she showed it or not, affected by losing her mother. And it was a damn shame that the responsible people had never been caught for the act. Deciding to not push the subject, he went on their conversation about Toxic, and smiled at the stallion's actions and her explanation that the horse not only broke into the kitchen, but had taken a fond interest in cake. "He's got good taste then," he commented with another smile, "Although I hardly think that it was any kind of good for him to be eating cake. I'm not sure that that's the greatest thing for a horse to be eating."

Liam smiled warmly at the joke and the explanation of how the devil child could be an angel... if he wanted to, it seemed. He was a cute thing to watch though, you had to admit that much for the dear thing. "I have to tell you no there," he said with a chuckle, "Probably more of the opposite. He's pretty content to do whatever. A little on the lazy side, but he's willing to please," he explained with a smile, "I could probably sleep on his stomach when he laid down if I wanted to. He probably wouldn't protest that at all and just sleep and leave me be until he wanted up." He smirked just slightly at the idea. It was an amusing thing to picture. "But he is a little speed demon when it comes to me doing gaming with him. Not fast enough to beat my father, but... We still run against each other for the humor of doing it. And he runs just fine for me. I couldn't be happier with his runs."