Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Mar 27, 2020 11:02:42 GMT -5
It was a nice place, she wasn't just flattering him, that wasn't her style. She said what she meant of she didn't say anything at all, schmoozing people was far more her fathers way of thinking. Se walked through to his kitchen, taking a seat once offered. The room smelt of strong coffee, and she found her fingers gently dancing across the surface of the table, worn smooth by years of family dinners.
"So long as you don't mind." She noted the way he said lorry, it was one of the British terms her father had picked up and it had stuck. As he mentioned speaking of her horse, complimenting him as he did so, she couldn't help but smile. Like any animal lover she enjoyed talking about her horse, her partner. "What would you like to know?"
(Sorry short post)
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Post by Mohr【☁】 on Mar 27, 2020 12:27:14 GMT -5
Once Amelia had taken her seat, Jax put himself in charge of pulling all of his coffee fixings out. He checked the pot, found a fresh batch, and went out of his way to pull the thick doily out to put it on the table with the coffee pot following shortly. He went to the fridge, plucked the milk, cream and the last batch of almond milk (previous client had left it, he couldn't bare to throw good food out) and put those out on the table to.
"I don't mind, swear it." He told her over his shoulder as he went to the cupboards and pulled two mugs out. They looked old - not dirty, just age worn. The patterns on either mug were faded/worn down completely, and the inside was permanently stained darker from the tea and coffee drank from them over the years. "I'll be able to get you settled in once we have Mooncake in." He put one in front of Amelia, then one where he would sit, and moved to grab the tin of sugar and the box of sugar cubes. Before he took his own seat, he snatched the matchbook and cigarette carton from the counter, and found himself sitting adjacent to Amelia.
"How'd you get him? How's his lineage? Has he always been nervous around sounds like that, or is this new?" Jax knew a little of the horse from what Reg had told him through email and over the phone, but he wanted to hear it from someone who rode the animal, from someone who spent her time with him, as Reg clearly didn't do either of those things. He plucked a long cigarette from the carton, struck a match, and lit up at the table.
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Mar 27, 2020 13:13:16 GMT -5
She watched as he gathered items, so intent on what he was doing that she didn't have the heart to say she just took her coffee black, no frills. She poured herself a mug, wrapping her hands around it as the liquid began to warm the ceramic. She thought on his questions for a moment.
"Well my father bought him from Germany. He seemed to think I had outgrown my other horse, by which he meant she didn't have what it takes to event on the level he wanted me to. So he went out with my trainer and they picked him out as a three year old. I'm sure the first thing he told you in his emails was about his lineage." Reg had no idea what linebreeding and outcrossing meant, all he knew is Mooncake had a long name and a big sheaf of papers that told the equestrian world he was worth a whole lot of money. "He probably made it really complicated, but all that matters is it's good, no history of bad habits, vices. It's one of the things Hanoverian get graded on before they can be registered. Only those who grade highest get to remain a stallion." She took a moment, and had a sip of her coffee. It was strong and dark, the best kind of coffee. "I trained him, he's not like this. I mean he was always highly strung but he's not aggressive." It was like she was trying to convince him, as though seeing what he had of the horse so far he wouldn't believe her.
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Post by Mohr【☁】 on Mar 30, 2020 21:38:10 GMT -5
Like everything else he did, Jax listened thoroughly.
Reg had in fact given Jax the rundown of Mooncake's history. Most of it felt like the same thing he had heard many times before. What was interesting, and not completely expected was the fact that Reg believed people grew out of horses. Sure, a child would eventually outgrow their pony, rarely did someone ever outgrow their horse. They weren't just racers. Just dessage pieces, just anything. They were companions, and creatures deserving of a long life even after 'retiring'. Jax took another drag off his cigarette, nodding. "Hanovarians are great horses." He agreed, letting Amelia once again take control of the conversation.
He made his coffee - a splash of cream, a sing sugar cube - and put his cigarette out on the ashtray to his left. "Highly strung?" Jax asked. "Activity never slowed him down, correct? Did it ever turn into anxiety while travellin'?"
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Mar 31, 2020 14:45:07 GMT -5
She smiled softly. "All horses are great horses when you treat them right, bloodlines and fancy papers only matter to people who don't know better." She studied her hands, avoiding eye contact. The argument she had with her father when he had broached the subject of selling her mare had been monumental, yes she was ageing and despite her being willing to please Amelia was unwilling to ask her to jump the heights required for the level of eventing her father was pushing her towards. She'd won the argument thankfully and been allowed to keep her.
She let the silence hang for a moment as he stirred his coffee, until he spoke again. "He likes to do things, to be active and he knows his own mind. I like a horse that can think for himself." She took a sip of her coffee, inhaling the rich scent. "He has never been anxious before now, always travelled easily alone or with other horses. He gets excited but would settle down to work as soon as I asked it of him. I have some videos of him before if you think that will help?" It was Reg's idea, to gather a collection of videos of Mooncake before the accident, probably the only idea Amelia had actually agreed with.
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Post by Mohr【☁】 on Apr 2, 2020 8:43:59 GMT -5
"You aren't wrong," Jax laughed. He had worked with 'muddied' horses, those who allegedly came from right racelines with histories bigger than his own, who ended up accidentally pregnant by a feral horse. 'They're ruined', clients would moan. Horses were rarely ruined. He took a drink of his coffee, already beginning to think of ways to re-introduce Mooncake to gentler behaviors. As Amelia spoke more about him, Jax realized that this wasn't just a case of a horse acting up or acting out.
Amelia adored him. His behaviors were hurting her, too. "I don't think I need to see them quite yet." He glanced once more to her injured wrist, and made a vague motion to it. "Did that happen recently?" Jax asked, one hand wrapped around his coffee mug. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to bring attention to it, but it seemed important enough for his atteniton.
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Apr 2, 2020 9:10:18 GMT -5
She nodded as she listened, glancing up at him. She could see in his eyes he was thinking as he listened, planning and assessing, he had kind eyes, a horsemans eyes. Her focus returned to her coffee taking another sip. When he asked about her arm her eyes shut for a moment. She'd taken to saying it was a recovering injury from the accident, lord knew she still had enough of those. When she told the other trainers her father had dragged them to what really happened it had only hastened their assessment that Mooncake was aggressive and couldn't be fixed. Somehow she didn't think Jax would subscribe to that school of thought.
"One of the first times back at the stable after leaving the hospital, one of the grooms at the facility where Mooncake is kept was lunging him. He had a vet assessment and I had gone along to watch." Her father had told her by this point that the horse was misbehaving, but she had assumed it was due to boredom and box rest. "It started ok, but he turned and charged at the groom, a little bit like he did just now. Only he didn't plan to stop, at least until I ran and got between them. It wasn't his fault, he only clipped my arm but it was enough to break my wrist again." The bones had been healing from the fall so it hadn't taken much, but everyone had seen it. It had been the beginning of a slippery slope.
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