more and more frustrated [wes/open]

[Anila Rain Conners]

[bg=ccccff][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,410,table] I don't know why I want you so 'Cause I don't need the heartbreak

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The large stallion moved around the round pen, hooves flying into the air with each flick of the lunge whip behind him, stirrups flying everywhere while a small gelding looked on, ears tilted towards the sound of the whip and intelligent eyes glittering with excitement, knowing that once his lady was done with the big beasty that she would ride him. The woman at the end of the lunge line jerked hard on the line when the stallion tried to rip it from her hands, glad she’d worn gloves even though she could still mildly feel the burn of the rope through them. With a grunt of effort, she was able to pull the stallion down into a nice, easy canter. It wasn’t that the stud hadn’t been taught what he was supposed to do, he was a stud and often enough, they had attitudes to go with it. Once he’d done a few laps of that, she pulled him to a stop and walked forward, bridle in hand and removed the halter only to replace it with the bridle. The young gelding looked mildly annoyed that she was going to get on the big beasty boy before she rode him.

I smiled as I pulled myself up into the saddle, keeping Midnight’s head turned to the side so that he didn’t try to do anything crazy before I was in the seat. I settled and looked down at my temperamental stallion and stroked a hand over his neck, reassuring him that I wasn’t going to do anything evil to him, then gently shifted my seat to ask him into a walk, which didn’t go over as well as I had hoped it would. The great bulk of my handsome beast, flipped it, jumping straight into the air before coming back down and shot off at dead run, I hauled back on the reins, sitting deep and using my weight to tell him he needed to slow down and not for the first time today, I regretted forgetting my helmet. Normally, I would have brought it along, but nope, today I just happened to forget it on the kitchen counter as I was dragging Lola out the door with me, now said dog was laying by the fence, peeking under the rail and backing up a little every time Midnight got a little too close. Lola let out a low whine as I fought with my stallion and lost.

This was not the first time, he’d managed to get me out of the saddle and I sat on the ground for a moment looking up at him. The bugger had decided to slide to a stop, sending me over his head. He was lucky I’d had time to cover my head as I fell or lord knows what would have happened to me then. Narrowing sapphire eyes on him, I rose from the ground and dusted my jeans off before getting back on again. This time, he walked forward easily with the slight shift of my seat. I was feeling braver now that he was actually listening, but I couldn’t tell you how long that would last. Midnight snorted which prompted Chief to whinny softly, as though he was begging me to be done with the scary stallion that had a habit of throwing me around like it was nothing, but I just couldn’t let him get away with it and so, I asked the already damp beast into a trot. He answered easily, almost too easily and I wondered what the devil was plotting. Horses, as I’d learned long ago, were smarter than we thought.

Not a moment after that thought, it happened and I was no longer in the saddle of a western pleasure horse, no now I was in the saddle of a bucking bronco who was bent on seeing me fly. I clung like a money to a swaying tree, but I couldn’t seem to drag his head around for the life of me. He kept pulling his head away, using his greater strength to keep his head right where he wanted it and I shut my eyes, bad move on my part and he ripped the reins right out of my gloved hands. My eyes shot open and there I was, in the air once more and this time, I didn’t have time to cover my head as I hit the ground and rolled, smacking squarely into a round pen post and laid there, cradling my head lightly as I watched Midnight come to a halt and looked at me with duel hued eyes, triumphant that he had gotten me out of the saddle once more today. Dammit all to hell and back, I sat up quickly and regretted it as my head spun and I was forced to lean against the fencing to keep myself steady and on my own two feet.

I don't know what addictive hold
You have on me I can't shake

• complete: yes • muse: good • comments: none • word count: 818

ANILA RAIN CONNERS

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[Wesley Keelan Lawson]

The redhead braced his chin in one hand as he stared at the almost empty calender before him. He knew that he really needed to get started on his lesson plans so that he could get them turned into before the upcoming semester but it was the last thing on his mind. He pulled the barely burning cigarette from between his lips and snubbed it out in the ash tray that was skillfully balanced on his knee. He considered lighting another one for a moment but one glance at the many butts that littered the ash try convinced him otherwise. He would be the first to admit that he had a smoking problem and he would be the first to admit that he had never tried to stop it. Instead, he had just found ways around it so that he could avoid going through withdrawals. Pulling another cigarette out of the pack, he sat it between his lips and then went back to work. He didn't bother to light it but instead just left it sit between his lips as a sort of pacifier. It was his theory that his addiction wasn't completely from the nicotine but was also partially from the need to be doing something with his hands, mouth or even his feet to stay focused and on task. The theory was backed up by the fact that he could go an entire school day with just a short cigarette break when he went for a lunch. Ever since his internship he had picked up the taboo habit of chewing gum while he was teaching his lessons and there were few times that he could be found teaching from behind his desk. He was more likely to be found roaming from one part of his room to the next while lecturing with practiced ease. On the days his body didn't quite feel up to roving around the room, he was found on his trusty stool at the corner of the board but the gum was still found in his mouth and his heel tapped almost constantly against the rung it was propped up on.

He gave a growl of frustration as he erased what he had thought was a good lesson for the first week of classes only to realise that he had forgotten to factor in the time it would take him to go over a syllabus and pass out text books. Add in the fact that he'd probably decide to do some kind of introduction activity and probably even a quiz to judge how much the students had retained and he figured it would be at least the end of the second week or even the third week before he was ready to start any real teaching. A sigh and the thump of bone against wood was heard as the napping puppy on the couch turned over in her sleep and ended up dumping herself onto the floor. Wes could only watch as her head shot up and her too big paws scrabbled against the flooring until she was in a sitting position. "Did the big bad floor get you? Hm?" He asked the puppy before chuckling at her and calling her over to him. She responded with a hearty tail wag and was soon crawling into her persons lap with all the grace of a new born deer. The teacher gave an eye roll at Brooklyn as he put his empty lesson plans back into their proper folder and tossed it onto the coffee table before grabbing the pup and helping her up into his lap. As a last thought, he took the ash tray off his knee and slid it onto the coffee table as well. The next few minutes were spent tugging playfully on the shepherds big ears and fiddling with her paws while all the while she just as playfully open mouth whined at him.

He gave one last playful bat to the side of the pups muzzle before nudging her out of his lap and standing up to start towards the door. "Who wants to go for a walk?" He asked the pup on his heels as he looked back at her with one hand on the door handle. Plenty of tail wagging, a lolled tongue and pricked ears was the response. Wes promptly gave her the hand command to sit before giving her the one to wait as he dropped the slip leash around her neck and opened the door. He paused a moment to make sure that she followed the wait command before stepping out the door and bring her with him. Pulling open his car door, he let her climb across his seat and into the passenger side where she went straight to the floor and curled up under the dash with her head on the seat. "Good girl," He praised while rubbing between her ears. Wes had never specifically trained her to stay on the floor in the vehicle and instead had just let her figure out where she was most comfortable in the car while it was moving. Backing out of his drive way, he considered taking her to the local park but eventually decided on visiting the barns at the school. He had been forced to leave his own horse behind in Alabama when he had come to the school and some days it got to him that he couldn't just go out to ride when he needed to get away.

Pulling up to the barn, he crawled out of the car in the same instant as Brooklyn and was forced to wait until she squirmed to the ground. He gave an eye roll and took the slip leash off of her to leave it sit on the car seat. He wasn't worried about her running off from him or getting onto the road or getting under the horses feet. Ever since she'd managed to catch her ear on an electric wire back home she had been keen to avoid the pasture fences just in the off chance it tried to bite her again. The gravel shifted under his happily bare feet as he crossed from his car to the barn only to have a movement in the round pen catch his eye. Turn his upper body, he was just in time to see Anila hit the ground while the horse who had just unseated her watched. Both of his eyebrows shot up as he went to the round pen and crossed his arms on the top rail to look down on the girl bracing herself against it. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to stay in the saddle. I mean, I could be wrong...but I'm not," He teased lightly as he ran an eye over her to make sure there wasn't any obvious injuries or blood spots on her before he turned his gaze back onto the hulking beast of a horse in the pen with her.

tagged - Anila/Elise<3
comments - none
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[Anila Rain Conners]

[bg=ccccff][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,410,table] I see your face in strangers on the street I still say your name when I'm talking in my sleep

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I sat there a moment longer, drawing in breath after breath as the dizzy feeling faded from my now pounding head and kept a close eye on the monster before me. Midnight wasn’t really a mean soul, but sometimes he just didn’t want to do what he was told. When he was working for a crowd, he was amazing, when he was working just for me; he was a royal pain in the ass. I brushed loose strands of hair behind my ear as I contemplated what I was going to do about his attitude problem. Lola paced and whined, going around the circle of the pen and making Chief do a little dance as his eyes rolled and he pulled on his tether. He really didn’t like it when she did that, seeing as she did resemble a wolf when she loped around like that. With a snap of my fingers and a low whistle, Lola sat, young as she was she’d figured out that I could only put up with so much before my hand would met her bottom. She was a good dog when she wanted to be though and thus, we got along most of the time.

His voice sent a shiver down my spine and I turned my head and looked up from my spot on the ground. Well, no surprise he was here. “Yes. I know, but when you have a monster like that boy, you tend to have issues with that. After all, I’m not a monkey.” I rose from the ground then, dusting off my seat and pulling my ponytail tighter before repining my bangs with my bobby pins, catching any loose hair up in them as well before I stalked back towards the regally standing stallion, whose head was raised high with bi-colored eyes watching me coldly and I turned his head inward and remounted. I could feel it, that loose cannon energy in him as I settled into the saddle, keeping his head turned. Handsome features, contorted as the stallion was allowed to face forward once more and his elegant ears pinned back. Drawing in a breath, I asked him to walk and he did just that, nice and easy. Well, he’d been having nice and easy for far too long, plus he’d shown me he wanted to run and throw his weight around and I was pissed now because HE had had to show up.

Midnight went into an easy trot and I rode it well, eyes locking with Wes as the great stallion lumbered around the ring with an easy grace born of his breed. Gripping the reins in my hand tighter, I asked him into a canter, which he ignored and I was unsurprised by that, so I gave a firm kick and he just twitched an ear at me. Drawing in a breath, my free hand lifted the dangling part of the split reins and I snapped it against his flank. The beast, arched his neck, lowering his head ever so slightly before rolling his hind legs into the air, sending me forward for a moment and then I sat back and then he was cantering as though nothing had happened and I drew in a relieved breath. “See, I can sit it when he doesn’t do anything crazy.” I rolled my eyes and leaned slightly to one side, asking Midnight to turn and we did a quick figure eight and I grinned like a wolf as I pushed him forward to a gallop. Now that he had someone watching him, Midnight was all for showing off.

“If you want, you can ride my gelding.” I tipped my head towards the sorrel boy who was now watching with interest, ears tilted forward and large brown eyes following our movements. “He’s a young fellow, but I don’t think he’ll send you on a flying adventure.” Personally, I didn’t think that Wesley would take the offer, after all Chief was rather young and looked to be a frisky fellow, which he was, but he was more or less the most well behaved horse I had ever owned in my life. With a shift in my seat I asked Midnight back down to a trot and he did, even if there was a rather aggravated chick of a hind leg. So far, so good now that someone was watching us, but luck had never been something on my side and once more, without even knowing what was going on, I was air born and then I realized what had happened. Lola, feeling rather mischievous it seemed, had rushed into the pen and spooked my stud. I hit the dirt on my side and narrowly avoided flying hooves as Midnight raced around, bucking and squealing like he was some newbie to the saddle.

And in the limelight, I play it off fine
But I can't handle it when I turn off my night light

• complete: yes • muse: good • comments: none • word count: 803

ANILA RAIN CONNERS

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[Wesley Keelan Lawson]

A warm weight settled against the outside of his leg and he didn't need to look down to know that it was Brooklyn. It was very rare that the pup wasn't right at his feet or even leaning her weight onto him at any given moment. It bothered him on the rarest of occasion though considering he had been the one to mold her in that way. Ever since she had been old enough to be away from her mother, she had slept in his bed with him. She had sat on his chair with him and watched television with him. He tried to bring her everywhere that he was in the hopes that once she was fully grown, she had very few fears and a strong trust in him. He had wanted more of a pet than a protector and he had worked hard to make their relationship one of that nature. Even when she had catch her ear on the hot wire, Brooklyn had ran crying to him instead of running far away from the object who had apparently bit her. Growing up he had always said he preferred animals over kids and he had, of course, proven himself wrong but it didn't mean that he didn't consider the furry child one of his own. He loved the puppy just as much as he loved either one of his human children and he did all he could set the three of them up fo success. Absently, he dropped a hand to rub the puppy between the ears before pulling her head against his thigh so he could give her a gentle but sharp pat. This excited the puppy and the second he released her head she bounced away from his leg with a whine and a tail wag. An amused smile turned the corner of his lips and he only gave the shepherd a side ways glance before turning his attention back to the girl who was picking herself out of the dirt.

"Could've fooled me," He chortled in reply to both her comment about knowing to stay on and not being a monkey. Wesley could fondly remember the times he had picked her up from work and found himself wrapped up in both her legs and arms. She seemed pretty monkey like in those days, he had to admit. He didn't even try to stop his eyes from following her hands to her rear. He didn't even try and make an excuse for himself by saying he was just checking that she had gotten all the dirt off of her. He, instead, let it happen and thought nothing more of the matter. A vaguely uneasy feeling set in as he watched the big brute pull his ears back and Wesley was forced to bite his tongue. After all, Anila was a grown adult and easily more accomplished at riding than he was. She was able to handle her own horse, right? The redhead gave a frown and sunk his weight further onto his arms that were crossed on the top rail of the pen. The relaxed drooped of his shoulders soon tensed into a hard line though when the brute threw out another buck. It was at this moment that Wes decided he couldn't stand around to watch anymore and turned away from the pen. "I'll be back. Please don't get yourself stomped on," He told her before heading back across the stone to his car with Brooklyn sharp on his heels. The trunk of the old vehicle was thrown up and boots were pulled from the depths. He sat himself down on the edge of trunk and, after pulling them out of his boots, pulled his socks and boots on in turn. The trunk was closed and he began his trek up to the barn.

It was far from his first time in the barn and he knew his way around it easily enough. He always preferred to visit when there were fewer students to get in his way and more horses to hold his attention for. However, his attention was turned towards a rather familiar stall and the ruckus that was being caused inside of it. He shared a look with the pup at his side before shaking his head and picking the halter up off the hook. It was the jingle of metal that caught the weanlings attention and had him standing at the front of the stall. A small sigh was given and Wes braced himself as he shoved the door open enough to let himself into the stall. Of course, Dusty had other plans in mind and made a move to push out of the gap in the door almost as soon as it was open. The redhead had anticipated as much though and was quick to catch the gelding over the nose with a curved hand and push until he staggered backwards enough that Wes could get the whole way in. "Wait," He told the gelding and the puppy simultaneously with a firm voice and a hard half-glare directed at the weanling. The halter was slipped on with a small amount of head tossing that was easily combated by an arm and the lead was clipped. "Wanna go for a car ride, Brooklyn?" He questioned the shepherd from inside the stall and he watched as she bounced right up from her sitting position, tail wagging happily. "Go on. Get to the car," He told her and watched as she loped through the barn aisle and back to where the car was sitting. With the dog out of the way, Wes pushed the stall door back open and brought the rushing gelding out onto the concrete. The walk down to the pastured consisted of lots of walking in circles and stopping until the far too excited weanling calmed. No sooner was the lead unclipped from Dusty at the gate to the pasture was the six month old tearing off to bother his field mates. The lead was knotted snugly around a rail on the gate before Wes turned to return to Anila. At the distance, he barely heard the offer she posed to him but managed to work out she was giving him permission to ride the horse who was tethered along the pen.

Wes was half way across the gap between the pasture and the round pen when Anila was unseated once again. His first instinct was to rush to the round pen in a dead sprint but he instead checked his emotions in favour of using his common sense. An easy, long strided jog was picked over bolting to the girls aid and he slowed to a quick walk when close enough to the pen. The climb over the top of the railing was smooth and he took a pause on the top rail to watch the stallion before dropping to his feet on the other side. "I thought I told you to not get stomped," He grumbled half heartily as he kept one eye on the stallion and one on her so that he could draw the small woman to her feet and bring her to the center of the round pen. "Your listening skills have not improved in the slightest," He grumbled at her in a slightly more playful tone while his gaze kept on the stallion as he carried on like he had zero idea what was going on with the whole saddle and unseated rider. It was in his experience that sometimes it was just better to let the horse bring themselves down from their fit and since he had little idea if the stallion would actually respond to him trying to slow him down or just run him down, he opted to just watch and stand ready to move.

tagged - Anila/Elise≪3
comments - none
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[Anila Rain Conners]

[bg=ccccff][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,410,table] I see your face in strangers on the street I still say your name when I'm talking in my sleep

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I saw out of the corner of my eye the tilt of Lola’s head as she inched closer to Wes, unsure of whom he was and I heard the low rumble of her growl before she went and hide beside Chief who didn’t take much comfort in having the wolf mix so close to him. That’s usually how this all went. Lola would be with me and would be very unhappy with being ignored and thus, she’d play with Chief until I was done with Midnight and then sit there looking bored out of her mind, but today was not like most days. We had someone watching us and Lola didn’t’ like that at all because she didn’t know who he was and didn’t know what he might do to me or my horses or even her. I let out a sighing breath as I thought about that and realized, not for the first time, that that was something I was going to have to work on with her, but to me, horses came easier than dogs and that was probably because I could always just chase them around with a lung whip and keep them well out of my way, but there was no way I could do that to a dog of all things.

“Yes, well, I’m not that... clingy anymore. If anything, it’s impossible for me to be that clingy. I’m getting too old.” I grumbled head slightly bowed over the back of my horse, watching the shift of his shoulders and the flex and pull of his muscles. I would admit one thing about Midnight. He was beautiful when he moved and when he was good. He had strong lines and a beautiful shape. He was literally poetry in motion when he wasn’t being completely insane and I grinned to myself as I thought about that, even when his heels flew up into the air and came back down. I was used to this and often times I would go flying, but even if I did, I always got back on. I wasn’t about to let him think he’d gotten the best of me and that he was top dog now. That was not what was going on now though, we were working as a team now and I just enjoyed the feeling of flying without wings. I barely heard what Wes said, but I nodded my head to whatever it was, not really focusing on him at all at the moment.

My mind wasn’t on that he was gone; it was on all the times he’d scolded me for my riding, told me to do this or do that and how I usually laughed him off or seriously listened to him. God, he’d been such a beautiful person back then, someone I had been able to get drunk off of when I was around them because I didn’t want to be away from him. The memories stung and I wanted to shut my eyes against that welling heartache. I remembered all too clearly the first time I’d been alone in my bed without any contact from him. I hadn’t been able to sleep there, I’d gotten up and moved to the couch and still I couldn’t sleep. I cried that night, so hard and long that I wasn’t sure I would ever be okay again. My Pandora’s Box, hidden within my heart, had been opened and I had lost everything that I had truly cared about. Thinking about it brought back that ache. I was learning to live again and that was all that mattered. I told myself that even as I felt the sharp sting of tears in my eyes, anger curling around me for a moment.

It lasted all of a moment that my thoughts were on those things before I was once more airborne. I bit my lip in and attempt not to scream in surprise before I came down hard on my side, gasping for breath and attempting to cradle my head which had hit the ground, but not nearly as hard as the rest of me. Oh, I was going to be one giant walking bruise. I could feel the ache of it spreading through my body, even as I tried to move to stand up, but it was like my body didn’t want to listen to my brain and instead I laid there, praying that I wasn’t about to be hit with hard, deadly hooves. I could hear the sound of moving feet, but I didn’t want to move for fear that I would shift and get run over by the beast I called a stallion. Azure eyes shut and I tried to focus on myself, on getting up off the ground and getting the hell out of the way so that I didn’t end up an Anila pancake.

Then I heard his voice and I wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t prepared to do that right now while I was on the ground and in danger. His touch sent an electric wave through me as he lifted me and my eyes shot open to lock on his face even though I was still gasping for breath after my hard hit. “I didn’t get stomped, yet.” I said breathlessly as I leaned against him, head resting against his arm as I tried to catch my ragged breath. “Oh, they have, Midnight’s just an asshole or haven’t you noticed?” I finally drew in a deep calming breath and glanced around, spotting Lola, bouncing around the stud with ease. I snapped my fingers and snapped out a “Lola! Here!” which got the young female to come bounding towards me to sit at my side, but Midnight kept raging around us like his life depended on it. Turning sapphire hard eyes onto her, I glared down at her. “Lola, you are so bad sometimes.” I reached up with the hand that wasn’t against Wes to rub my temples before flopping my head back against his arm. “You know, you’ve always made a good pillow.”

And in the limelight, I play it off fine
But I can't handle it when I turn off my night light

• complete: yes • muse: good • comments: none • word count: 1012

ANILA RAIN CONNERS

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[Wesley Keelan Lawson]

Wes was a firm believer in getting back in the saddle after getting thrown. He was also a firm believer in sometimes getting thrown over and over again wasn't the solution to a rowdy horse. He had been privileged in the sense that all the few horses he had ridden and owned had been pretty well behaved. The occasional cow hop had been given and Wes had sat through those with little disturbance. He had worked through bracing and ignoring cues. He had even been thrown his fair share of times by horses that belonged to other boarders back home. Very few times had he actually feared for his life or another persons life though on account of a horse. "And for that I'm thankful," He told her with a distracted air as he kept most of his attention on the stallion. He knew that he wasn't letting her back on that horse for the day. He didn't really feel the need to share the new rule with her though and instead he just tightened an arm around her waist so that he could support her weight against him better. He wasn't sure when he had decided that she was unable to keep upright on her own but it crossed his mind that he probably didn't need to keep the hold on her that he had. She was probably fine to stand on her own if he could convince himself to drop his grasp on her. A frown flashed onto his face before disappearing as he tightened his grip around her waist ever so slightly. He wasn't ready to let go.

He almost scoffed at her when she blamed it on the horse. Wes had never been one to entirely blame the horse for any thing it did unless it was clearly, point blank their fault. Even when Dusty took to standing on his feet, Wes didn't blame the weanling only but also blamed himself. After all, it was supposed to be a partnership and not a dictatorship. A short glance was spared on her when he felt the head flop against his arm and he only quirked a brow but otherwise said nothing. A mental note was made to check her for a concussion after they weren't in the middle of the pen and he unconsciously felt with his free hand for the small LED flashlight that was clipped to his carabiner. It was in these moments that Wes was glad he had spent the extra time in college to get a first aid certification. Of course, he had known most of what they had taught him from the simple fact that he had helped his mother study for her own certification. She had figured that, as the owner of a public lodging, it was better to be safe than sorry. He shifted his weight from foot to foot for a moment before finally settling and going back to watching after Midnight as he continued his war path. He could only hope that it was a matter of time before the stallion finally calmed himself enough that Wes could be absolutely certain he could get Anila out of the gate without having to worry about having to keep the stallion in.

The snap of her fingers brought his attention back to her and he watched as she called the dog to her. It was then that he realised that his own puppy was probably still waiting by the car. His green eyes sought out her form and he wasn't surprised to see her loping towards the pen. He waited until to was close enough and he was sure that he actually had her attention before he gestured cleanly at her for her to lay down and wait. It took her a moment to work out that she wasn't allowed in the pen like the other dog was but eventually she took to sitting, not laying, just off the outside rail and looking in through the slats dejectedly. "Stop your pouting," He told her with an eye roll and a smile. He watched her a moment longer to make sure that she was actually going to stay and then spared a glance to locate the stallion. Yet again, he looked down to Anila when she thumped her head against his arm and he could only arch a brow at her words before replying, "No, I didn't know." He brought a hand to his hair so that he could push his fringe off to the side and out of his way. "Did you plan on us standing here much longer? Or do you feel up to trying to stop the monster?" He questioned her with a short laugh before shifting his hips so that he could nudge her lightly. "I'd try but I don't want to set him off anymore," He told her in a slight attempt to prevent himself from looking bad for not trying to stop the beast himself.

tagged - Anila/Elise≪3
comments - none
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