The New Girl [open]

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford

Rosalie had gotten up early, earlier than usual, and taken a nice, hot shower to wake her up. It took her the usual time to do her makeup, around an hour. Hey, a girl has got to look good. After blow drying her wavy hair to perfection, she grabbed a muffin on her way out of the apartment her parents had rented for her and hopped into her silver lexus. Bandit, her great dane, hopped in beside her. Smiling, she petted his head. "Well today is the day, boy," she said to him as she made the trip to Vision Springs. It didn't take long and soon she was stepping out of the car and looking at the stable building. Quickly she moved into the stables, Bandit following right behind her, and searched for the familiar face. A whinny to her right caught her attention and she grinned. A tall, dappled grey stallion stood looking at her, ears pricked. "Hey boy," she cooed as she approached him and scratched his ears. "I guess you made it here okay," she said as she looked around.

She had memorized the map a day ago and so she knew where to head to find the tack room. It only took her a few minutes to find her tack box and carry it back to Stormy's stall. He watched her attentively and pranced happily out of his stall when she took him out to tie him in the cross ties. Surprisingly, Rose had seen no one yet and she wasn't sure if she wanted to. She was still working on her catty attitude, but she had been getting better, thankfully. And so she worked
diligently, grooming her beloved grey stallion.

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[!!.Curtis.Axel.!!]

Curtis had been up since five that morning, and ti was about seven now and he was just starting to make his way down to the stables. He had taken his early morning shower, eaten breakfast and gotten fully dressed. He was wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans, that were tighter at the top but not too tight, the type of jeans that most skaters wore now, even though he wasn’t a skater. He had on a black t-shirt with a random design in white and red across it. His usual converse shoes. He wore a thin line of eyeliner, on the inner rim of his lower and upper eye. Just enough to make his gray eyes pop out even more at people, but not enough to call him a girlie type of boy. His lip ring was bright red today, as were his gages. His nose ring was a silver color. He yawned and stretched as he entered the stable.

He grabbed a halter and lead rope from the tack room and slipped silently into Seduction’s stall, a tall 18.2 hand bay cross between a Clydesdale and walking horse stallion. He slipped the halter onto the stallion and clipped the lead to the end of it. Seduction yawned and Curtis laughed as he rubbed the stallions chin and slipped him a peppermint. He understood how tired the horse felt, it was too early.

“You and me both big boy.”

He led Seduction out of the stall and shut the door behind him. He cross tied him in the center of the hallway. Seduction whinnied sleepily a greeting to another horse and Curtis looked up to see a girl with a dappled stallion, doing the same thing he was. He waved a friendly greeting and hurried to the tack room. He grabbed a grooming box and his tack and went back to Seduction.

He brushed the stallion with both the curry comb and the body brush until the bay stallion shone brightly. Taking a comb he got the knots out of the stallions black mane and tail and white feathers. Grabbing a hoof pick he quickly cleaned out all four of Seductions hooves. He stepped back and looked at Seduction. Good enough for now, he would give him a good bath when they returned. He put the grooming bucket back together and simply placed it inside Seductions stall, he’d put it back when he got back. He looked up before beginning to tack Seduction up, wondering if the girl was still there.

Word Count: 423

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford

Rosalie hummed quietly to herself as she groomed Stormy. She laughed when he put his head down to sniff at Bandit and give a low nicker. The two had always been close friends. She groomed him thoroughly until his dappled grey coat shined. She was just finishing his mane when he pricked his ears and snorted. Rosalie turned around to see a massive bay stallion being groomed by what looked like some skater boy. 'Ew,' Rose thought to herself as she gave him a onceover. She wasn't a big fan of converse and guys wearing eyeliner. They just creeped her out a bit. But Bella had been trying to teach her not to judge people at first glance for years. Something about 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. And at least some of that lecturing had kicked in. So Rosalie forced a smile on her face and walked to the guy, Stormy nickering at her to come back and give him attention. Bandit followed at her heels, a little tense because of her apprehensive mood. She stopped short of the guy and flicked back her glossy black hair. "Hello, I'm Rosalie Stratford," she said, extending her manicured hand to him.

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[!!.Curtis.Axel.!!]

Now that he could get a good look at the girl, Curtis wasn’t sure if he liked her so much or not. Sure, she was pretty. Drop dead gorgeous to tell the truth, but she looked like she had that rich bitch look to her. Like she had all the money in the world and wanted to flaunt about it to everyone she met. He unhooked Seduction from the cross ties to get ready and take him out for a canter on the trails.

Turning around, the girl, and her huge dog, where standing right there beside him. ‘Hello, I’m Rosalie Stratford.’ Curtis grimaced slightly as she held out her hand to him. Her manicured hand at that, now he was sure she liked to flaunt her income on others. What equestrian has manicured hands? Most work too hard to keep their manicures looking nice so they didn’t even bother. He tried to put on a smile as he took her hand and firmly shook it, but he didn’t know how truthful that smile looked. One of his faker ones, he was sure of that. He scratched Seductions cheek slightly.

“I’m Curtis Axel. This is Seduction.”

Hearing his name, the stallion whinnied slightly. The stallion stepped forward and extended his nose out to smell the dog slightly. He snorted his approval and nudged the dog softly. Then he moved his attention onto the girl and nudged her hand, once he realized there were no treats there he turned to Curtis and nibbled at his pockets until Curtis pulled out a peppermint for him, which he took eagerly. Curtis swore sometimes that the stallion thought he was a gelding, too soft hearted to be a true stallion.

Word Count: 286

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford


Rosalie smirked slightly at his grimace. Yes, she was pretty in tune to people's feelings. To him she probably looked like some rich girl who loved money. Sure, that was true, but it wasn't all she was. Now she sort of liked that saying of Bella's. 'Don't judge a book by it's cover.' She felt like glaring at the guy. How dare he just judge her like that! He didn't know her at all. She almost laughed when he saw her manicured hands. She was quite used to this by now, though, so it didn't faze her. 'It's called a touch-up every night,' she thought to herself. That was the truth. Every night all she had to do if there was a chip was take some polish and dab it on. Not that hard.

'I’m Curtis Axel. This is Seduction.'

Rose smiled slightly at the horse's name and the pointed back to where Stormy stood, pawing the ground and snorting at her. "That devil right there is Calm Before the Storm, or Stormy as I like to call him," she said as she watched him. "Calm down boy. I'll be over there soon," she added to the stallion. Rose watched as the big stallion, Seduction, nudged Bandit. She had no worries about Bandit and others. He was the friendliest dog ever. Bandit looked up at her with a whine, as if asking approval to like this horse, and then proceeded to give him a friendly bark when Rosalie nodded at him slightly. Her forced smile melted a bit as the bay stallion nudged her hand. "Sorry boy, no treats here," she said with a small laugh. "Stormy ate them all."

She looked back at the guy, Curtis, and wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Somebody with such a sweet horse was sure to be nice, weren't they? But then again, he hadn't seemed all that nice before. And so she just put on a neutral smile, waiting to see what Curtis would say next. It seemed he was going out for a ride and Stormy needed to get used to the area. Would he invite her along with him? Or did she even want to go on a ride with him?

Muse: Good

[!!.Curtis.Axel.!!]

Curtis smiled for once an actual smile. She spoke in an affectionate tone for her horse, she couldn’t be that much of a ‘rich bitch’ if she actually cared for something could she? He had known those kinds of horse owners before, but they normally had stable hands parading around doing their hard work for them and then all they did was get on, ride, get off, and give the horse a treat and leave. He had no respect for them. But this girl had done the work herself, so was she that bad. He gave an apologetic smile to apologize for his actions, even if she didn’t know what he was apologizing for.

“Your horse is gorgeous, he seems well cared for as far as I can tell.”

His respect for her grew even more as she talked to Seduction. Anyone who treated his horse with kindness always grew on respect meter. Now don’t think he was softening down on her, he still had his first thoughts about her, but that didn’t mean they had to change were they? He felt a tiny bit of remorse for himself when he had been hesitant before. He probably sounded like a prejudice jerk, but that was in the past now and there wasn’t anything he could do but try and make it up to her now.

He smiled at her and went around to Seductions left side and mounted, the stable was really tall, so it wasn’t dangerous to mount in here like it was at most stables. He looked back down and Rosalie was still standing there, looking expectant. He felt a need for words, once in his life. He was trying to be nice to her, but it was still kind of awkward. But hey, he could try to make friends!

“Do you want to ride with me? I’m taking a trail through the woods and possibly going over a cross country course or two for practice.”

Word Count: 328

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford

'Your horse is gorgeous, he seems well cared for as far as I can tell.'

Rosalie felt herself soften a little bit towards Curtis. His compliment went a long way, probably further than he knew. Rose had always prided herself on taking the utmost care of her horses and apparently it had paid off. Yeah, she was a rich girl, but she was a rich girl that did all the work for herself. She smiled a genuine smile, a huge genuine smile at that. Sure, she still wasn't digging the whole skater clothes and eyeliner look, but maybe this guy was actually pretty nice. "Thank you," she replied warmly. "So is yours." Her light blue eyes traveled over the massive bay stallion, taking everything in. She was about to ask Curtis what breed he was but before she had the chance, he walked over to the other side of Seduction and mounted.

Rosalie felt a bit awkward just standing there, a feeling that she rarely felt. Should she walk off? Or would he ask her to join him wherever he was going? Before she had time to figure out her next move, he solved her problem for her. 'Do you want to ride with me? I’m taking a trail through the woods and possibly going over a cross country course or two for practice.' Rosalie's eyes lit up at the mention of cross country. It was by far her favorite event, Stormy's as well. But she hesitated for a moment. Was he asking her just because he was being nice? Or was he asking her because he actually wanted her to go. Rose would never let anyone pity her, that was for sure. And he had been a bit cold and judging before, but then again, she had given him the exact same treatment, whether he knew it or not. And so she made her decision. "I'd love to! Cross country is my favorite," she said excitedly. "Just let me get tacked up," she said as she turned back toward Stormy and hurried to the tack room, Bandit at her heels. She scooped up her tack and walked quickly back to Stormy. He pranced in place the whole time she tacked him up, apparently as excited about going for a ride as she was. Once she was finished, she led him back to where Curtis and Seduction stood, stopping a few feet short of them. Stormy pinned back his ears and pawed at the ground. "Oh stop it!" Rose commanded him, shooting Curtis an apologetic look. "I'm sorry about that. He's not too fond of other stallions..."

[!!.Curtis.Axel.!!]

Curtis couldn’t help but smile as she complimented Seduction, the stallion seemed to know he was being appraised on by his looks and curved his neck, standing as tall as he could and nickered softly. Curtis laughed and patted the stallions neck. Seduction was by far the most oddball horse he had ever owned or ride. He was a goof off, he was sensitive and he was sweet. By far too sweet to be a stallion, but he was. Curtis had hopes of breeding him someday, he wasn’t so sure just yet though. He didn’t want to think of retiring Seduction, even though his new mount would be half Seduction. He had a few years, about eight or nine more years, to put forth on nothing but Seduction.

He watched the girl as she accepted his invitation to go riding with him. He nudged Seductions side and had him walk a few strides forward. He sat patiently as he watched her quickly tack up. Once ready, Seduction seemed to realize they would be riding with this stallion and extended his nose forward to sniff the stallion calmly, but the other stallion had pinned his ears at him. Seduction’s head snapped back and he looked a little beaten, like his feelings were hurt and he snorted.

“Oh it’s alright. Seduction needs to learn that not everyone is going to like him. Its sad really, he’s a stallion, but even the majority of other stallions will accept him because he acts like such a gelding. He wont even mount another mare unless he is 150% sure that you want him too. Strange stallion.”

He patted Seduction’s shoulder affectionately as he spoke about him and the stallion turned his head to look at him, the hurt seemed to leave his eyes as he realized that even if the other stallion didn’t like him that Curtis still would. He knew that anyways, but Curtis guessed it was just a bit of reassurance. He nudged Seductions sides with his heels and trotted him out of the barn. Once outside, he slowed Seduction to a walk then a halt and turned in the saddle to look at Rosalie.

“Which trail? The one with the longest and more complex cross country course or the one with the shorter and easier jumps. There are others of course, but those are the only two I‘ve been on so far.”

Word Count: 400

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford

'Oh it’s alright. Seduction needs to learn that not everyone is going to like him. Its sad really, he’s a stallion, but even the majority of other stallions will accept him because he acts like such a gelding. He wont even mount another mare unless he is 150% sure that you want him too. Strange stallion.'

Rosalie watched as Seduction reached out his nose to Stormy, and sighed when the dappled grey stallion's hostileness affected the bay stallion's. To put it simply, Stormy had a serious anger management problem. Ever since she had gotten him, he had been known to lash out when he was angry, even sometimes at her on rare occasions. But she loved him anyway. "I wish Stormy would be more gentlemanly like Seduction," Rosalie said wistfully as she watched Curtis comfort Seduction. Stormy head his name and turned his head, still keeping an ear flicked on Seduction, to Rosalie. He nickered to her softly and bumped his head on her shoulder. Rose smiled in spite of herself and scratched his ears affectionately. She watched as Curtis trotted Seduction outside. Stormy strained against the reins she held in her hands, hating to be last. He had always been the leader type.

'Which trail? The one with the longest and more complex cross country course or the one with the shorter and easier jumps. There are others of course, but those are the only two I‘ve been on so far.'

Rosalie knew immediately which one she would prefer. A good, difficult course was something she needed right now. "The long one, if you're up for it," she said with a competitive glint in her eyes. Stormy caught on to her attitude and snorted, ready to get going and show the other stallion what he was made of.

[!!.Curtis.Axel.!!]

Curtis smiled, he was always up for anything. And before coming to Vision Springs he and Seduction had been in about five or six shows a week so they had the training needed for the course. He nodded his head and steered Seduction to the right once the exited the stable. A playful buck was given as Seduction realized where they were going, they had ridden this course only a short three days ago. Curtis laughed and patted the stallion’s neck softly.

The trails were a good two miles off and the course was about a mile and a half into the trails. Then the course was about six miles long itself. So they had time to talk before they got there. He slowed Seduction to a walk and brought the stallion alongside Stormy, not too close though so that he wouldn’t enter Stormy’s biting range, he didn’t need a depressed Seduction before starting a hard cross country course.

“How long have you been competing?”

Small talk, sure, but hey, that’s how a lot of people bonded. And they hadn’t really set off on the right foot, so they defiantly needed a little bonding right now, He hadn’t meant to offend her earlier if he had, he just couldn’t help it, he was a strange person and when he felt like he was being judged, and well he just judged right back. That sounded a little childish, but it was true. And it wasn’t like he was the only person who did that, everyone did! Even adults, they just didn’t admit it.

Word Count: 262

[Rosalie Stratford]

Rosalie Stratford

Rosalie watched as Seduction gave a buck and smiled. Stormy flicked his ears back and forth, trying to focus on her and Seduction. He shook his head irritably, but for the most part, remained under control. She patted his neck soothingly and murmed to him. "Be a good boy, Stormy or I won't take you on the cross country course," she teased. Both ears flicked back at the mention of cross country and she gave a chuckle. He definitley knew those words. The pair had always excelled at cross country. Stormy had both the stamina and the boldness to make them winners most of the time. It was both their favorite event, since Stormy was just trying to figure out show jumping. When Rosalie had bought him, he had had trouble in nothing but show jumping. He just didn't know how to judge his distances correctly and more than often knocked down a rail. So that's why cross country was so appealing; The jumps were solid.

"I, myself, have been competing since I was a little girl," Rosalie said to him. "Stormy here is only 5 so hasn't been competing for that long. Maybe a year or so?" Despite his youngness and the newness to the sport, Stormy had done exceptionally well at the shows they had gone to and Rose was very proud. "How long have you and Seduction been competing?" she asked in return.

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