It's all about horses.

[Will Wright]

Will had finally got out of her dorm. She had made an improvment, she didn't smell anymore and her hair had been tamed a bit. She still hurt like mad.
"Well at least I can come here," she sniffed as she lifted Kilty's poo. It didn't stink...well not as much as picking their hooves as she had found out.
She dumped the lasat of it in the wheel barrow and moved onto the next stable which happend to be Clarisse's. He was a Clydesdale, which were massive. He was about 20.5 hands and he was white withe huge brown patches over him. He was beautiful though. He was one of Will's favourite's.
"Phew, he doesn't have anything to clean," she wiped her forehead as she carefully walked around his stable.
She moved onto the next one which happened to be her most favourite horse...Oscar. He was a Cob and he was about 16-17 hands which was about average for that type.
She had just started when she heard movement behind her. There were some horses in their stables but they were either lying down asleep as Kilty did quite frequently which was a pain in the butt cause it took forever to get him up, but apart from that there was nobody in the yard except for her.
"Hello?" her voice rang out.
Nothing.
"Must be my imagination," she muttered but she heard it again. She stood upright and listened, "Who's there?"
She hated when people snuck up on her. She found it creepy for lack of a better term.

[Jude Dorrian]

Okay, so Jude was a big ol' softie. He shouldn't have let Farmer Heckles talk him into helping him muck out the stables- nor should he have pretended to be enthusiastic about it, because that would just encourage the old coot. Jude hadn't meant to get cornered by him- the guy had pounced the other day after Macy had headed on back to Orchid.
That gal was great. Really, really great. He really liked her.
And looky loo, another Head was now poking about the stables!
He recognised this one well- it was Will Wright, Head of the Carers. What he didn't understand was what she was doing here. Anton Gordon had died less than a week ago- brutally murdered on the battlefield. He'd been her boyfriend... and they'd been tight.
Jude could only reach one conclusion: Macy and him weren't the only one who found the stables a good distraction.
He watched her progress curiously, following her around until she stopped angrily.
"Hello?"
Her voice echoed towards him, and he jumped. He didn't know how to reply. People accused others of stalking all the time...
Will muttered something darkly, then stood bolt upright. "Who's there?"
Jude couldn't hide any longer. Gulping, and ruffling his hair nervously, he stepped out sheepishly from the shadows.
"Hiya, Will."

[Will Wright]

A boy stepped out sheepishly from the shadows.
"Hiya, Will."
Will looked him up and down trying to place his face to a name. She had seen him about with Ailith and Kira but that was it. She was sure she had heard his name before.
"Hi?" Will tensed up a bit. She hadn't been around a boy since...since...
She picked up the last wet patch in Oscar's stable and put in the wheel barrow, which was about to overflow.
"I'll be back in a minute or so..." she picked up the wheel barrow and walked out of the yard to the left and up to the muck heap.
God, this stuff is rank! Will shivered at the smell of it.
She put the wheel barrow where she had found it and came back over to the boy.
"I'm sorry, I can't remember your name..." she said sheepishly.
"I'm Jude," the boy replied helpfully.
"Hi Jude, it's nice to finally meet you," she shook hands with him.
She walked over to the tack room and took Kilty's tack of the saddle rest and the reins of the peg which was just below the saddle. She would've used Oscar's but he was lame at the minute, so no one was allowed to ride him.
She heaved the saddled over to Kilty's stable and set it down beside the door. She walked in and surprise, surprise...guess who was lying down.
"Kilty," she groaned, "So have you been riding long?"
Will took about five minutes to get Kilty up and groom him again. She was trying to talk to Jude at the same time, while making sure Kilty didn't lie back down again.

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude folded his arms and looked on in amusement as Will did his job for him. She was a gem, she was. He'd have to find some way of paying her back for this.
"So, have you been riding long?" came her slightly exhausted call.
He grinned. "Ages. Ever since I was... oof. Five? Six? Haven't really kept count. And yourself?"
Will seemed to know her way around the stables at any rate, and she also seemed to know the horses pretty well. She was a Carer too- their Head for chrissake- which probably covered caring for all walks of life, from human to animal to bleedin' plants. So... she was either an enthusiastic beginner, or someone very experienced.
Or he could be wrong, but he was rarely wrong about stuff like this.
Wait... did that sound smug?

[Will Wright]

"Class. I've been riding since I was 6 years of age," she smiled slightly. She finally got the reins on Kilty and went out of the stables.
"Would you do me a favour, and make sure he doesn't lie down?" she ran back to the tack room and got on her helmet, body protector, whip although she didn't really need it for Kilty and her boots. She walked back to the yard with all her gear on and went to Kilty's side again.
"Good boy," she cooed, "You wanna come and catch some horses with me and Kilty?"
She led Kilty into the open yard and mounted him with no difficulty.
She loved Kilty.
"Clarisse should be in Frost's stable," Jude stared at her with a questioning look, "His stable's been leaking and they're trying to fix it. After all Clarisse is your favourite horse and I tacked him up for you as well,"

[Jude Dorrian]

wanderous said:

"Clarisse should be in Frost's stable," Jude stared at her with a questioning look, "His stable's been leaking and they're trying to fix it. After all Clarisse is your favourite horse and I tacked him up for you as well,"

ooc: How does Will know that if they've never actually spoken before...?

Jude nodded gratefully, and headed around past Graphite (who whinnied mournfully at the sight of him) and around to Frost, an old grey. Patting Frost cheerfully as he passed, Jude took Clarisse and led him out to where Will was and pulled out the saddle. As Jude worked, he eyed his own riding gear a little miserably. Bad habit as it was, he really did hate all that stuff. He quite happily would've just gone riding with nothing but a pair of comfy trousers, a top and a stetson for decor.
How he loved those stetsons...
Sighing, he ignored his desires, and put his riding stuff on, picking up the crop and hoisting himself up onto Clarisse. Kicking him in his sides, he followed Will out into the empty, wide, wild fields beyond.
Jude inhaled deeply. It always felt good to be home.

[Will Wright]

((Yes. Farmer Heckle's told her to do it...))

Will patted Kilty who was quite happily thinking about taking off but she was holding her reins in a certain way that he couldn't. She heard Jude let out a big sigh.
She twisted around her saddle to look up at Jude, "I know, I love the countryside it's just so freeeing," she called out as she gave Kilty a soft kick in the sides and she was away around the field, in a fast canter (you only need to give Kilty a short tap with your feet to get him going!).
The wind rushed past her, whipping her hair all around her. It was floating red hair.
"Woah, boy, whoah, calm down. There's a good boy!" Will pulled back on her reins and Kilty slowed down to a trot and then a walk. Clarisse and Jude pulled up beside her.
"So, you wanna do anythihng in particular?" Will eyed the huge horse beside her.

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude shrugged. He didn't really have anything in particular in mind. He was just out here for the hell of it. That was a bad habit of his, really. Doing things for the hell of it. It gave way to his more reckless tendancies.
Like that battle thing. The one and only positive thing he could find about Madeleine... not waking up. Except that was a pretty despicable thought.
He hated the idea of her... not being there.
"What y'all got in mind?" he asked her conversationally.
Y'all! Agh- he was never gonna kick the habit.

[Will Wright]

"Well, I was thinking y'all could do a jumping course and time each other and see if we could beat them!" Will tried to have a go at the Texan accent but her stupid German one got in the way.
Dang nammit!
"Sorry, I love the texan accent. Especially the cowboy ones...they just seem to emphasise it more and make all the more exciting," she laughed at her stupid brain.
Can't you think of something better to say or a better explanation?!
Shut it.
She faced Jude again who looked like he was trying not to laugh his lungs out.

[Jude Dorrian]

Suppressing a laugh, he tipped his helmet, and grinned at her. "Well, lil' lady, I am as full of wind as a corn-eating horse, but I would count myself as being pretty great at the whole 'cowboy' thing."
He was ruddy Texan, for god's sake!

[Will Wright]

"You're right at that," Will snorted. She did a circle in trot then she sat back in the saddle and kicked and Kilty was off into a fast canter, she looked for the jump and turned him towards it.
"Up," Will commanded as she went over the jump, she turned to her left and over the next one.
She went over six of them before she neded up in front of Jude and Clarisse.
"Yee Haw!" she raised her voice. "How'd I do?"

[Jude Dorrian]

"Everything was excellent except for the 'yee-haw!' at the end. Your time was... 3.35. Very good," he pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. Poor Will. But if you weren't a Texas girl, you weren't a Texas girl...
Though saying that, she really was a good rider. She excercised an amazing amount of control over Kilty, and the beam on her face told him that she was loving every second of it.
Kicking Clarisse into action, Jude cantered off and completed the same course as Will, trotting back around to her and Kilty with a breathless laugh.
"I'm too happy, that's my problem!"

[Will Wright]

"Being happy is not a problem, believe me!" Will snorted at that, "Your time was......3:20. Dang nammit you beat me!"
Will went again and this time galloped over the last one.
"How was I that time?"

[Jude Dorrian]

"Better," he appraised her. "3.32. Really good."
He sort of knew she wouldn't see it that way though, because his time had been better. It was just because of Jill. Really, he was at an unfair advantage to everyone else because he'd had her as his teacher. Jill was great. And he bet Will would be a heck of a lot better than him if she'd had Jill.
"Try again," he encouraged her. "Keep improving."

[Will Wright]

Will smiled at him. He was a lovely guy. But the best thing about him so far was his accent.
"Is Texas the same as it is in the movies? Are there a lot of brawls in the Honky Tonks?" Will started to trot of around the field again and Jude followed. She threw her hat aside and galloped off.
"Come on Jude, let's go wiiiiiild!" she shouted out to him.