B05- New Girl (Eliza)

[penguin8er19]

Elizabeth Summers

Eliza openned the door to B05 slowly. She peaked inside and was surprised at how airy and bright the room was. She stepped inside and knew immediately what it would take for it to feel at home. She instinctively made changes to the room in her head and smiled at the result. This place was going to feel like home in no time at all.

Eliza stepped further into the room and put all of her luggage down on the floor and began unpacking. She carefully started transferring her clothes, being especially careful with her riding gear. She hung up her show jacket and dressage coat and folded her show breeches carefully.

While she unpacked Eliza began to imagine what her new roommate would be like. She had never boarded before but she had heard some horror studies from her relatives and friends about nightmare roommates. Eliza hadn't thought about it too much before, she had been so worried about making the riding team and succeeding in her classes that she hadn't even thought about making friends. She was naturally quiet but she had always got along with people in her class.

After a few minutes, a ginger cat made its way over to her. Eliza automatically put her hand out and began stroking the animal. It reminded her that her own kitten, (Mini) was probably on her way to Blue Ridge now. She had been a bit sick when Eliza was leaving so Eliza's uncle had offered to drive up when he was finished with the vet. Halfway through the four hour drive to Blue Ridge, Eliza got a call saying that Mini was alright, she had just eaten something funny, and she would be following a few hours later.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda left Tanya in the nursery yard, deciding that the weather would probably hold until the time that they usually brought the foals in. She held out the last piece of carrot to Beauty, and then left her charge under the care of the nanny mare. Deciding to take the time after her 'rounds' to grab some time to study, Miranda headed back towards the Red Ribbon house. After she had unlocked her room and opened the door, she stopped in her tracks, surprised by the suitcases on the floor and the girl by the dresser on the other side of the room. Trying to make light of the situation, she asked, "I'm guessing I've finally been assigned a roommate?" She smiled at the girl and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She noticed the ginger cat beside the girl and frowned for a moment before recognizing it, "Oh, and if Kalle there, the cat that's enjoying your affection, is annoying you, feel free to shoo him off." She smiled and crossed over to her desk, draping the windbreaker she had been carrying around over the back of the office chair and dropping her backpack onto the desk. As she sat down on her bed, she smiled at her new roommate, "I'm Miranda, Miranda Florin."

[penguin8er19]

Eliza looked up at the girl and smiled. "Hi, Miranda. I'm Elizabeth Summers and I guess we're roommates." She got up from unpacking after giving Kale a final rub under his chin. The cat looked up longingly but Eliza just grinned and looked back at Miranda. "Have you not had a roommate before now?" it seemed odd that Miranda would be left on her own. Eliza continued to unpack her small backpack. She took out her favourite picture of Paris and herself. It was taken at their first show together when Eliza had only been thirteen. She sat proudly on the five year old mare who was posing in the sun. There was a red ribbon and a blue ribbon clipped onto Paris's bridle and Eliza was beaming with pride. "Do you ride?" Eliza asked Miranda before realising what a stupid question that was. Everybody at Blue Ridge rode. And that made Eliza think, would Miranda be competition? Would Eliza be trying to better her own roommate? It was hard to tell. By the look of things Blue Ridge was intensely competitive. Eliza shook her head and tried to focus on just making friends with Miranda, at least for the moment. "What events do you compete in?"

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda shrugged, "Well, I had one last year, for about two months, but then she left the academy again." She held up a finger, then added another one to it, "And then I had a roomie at the beginning of this year, but she left after a few months as well." She wasn't all too sorry to have seen the girl go, as the girl had had a rather volatile temper, and Miranda had enjoyed spending time outside of her room more than ever during that time, "But most of the time, I've managed to get overlooked." She smiled, "Which was probably in the best interests of everyone." She frowned slightly, "Fair warning now, I do get calls early in the morning sometimes." She loved getting up to help Dr. Carr, but she knew that some people might not appreciate the early wake-ups, "But I keep my phone on vibrate, not really loud."

At the girl's other question, Miranda grinned, "Yeah, I ride a bit, here an there." However, as the follow-up question came, Miranda realized where her roommate's thoughts were going, "I don't really compete, unless my parents choose to show up. If they do, I show in show jumping and cross country." She smiled, "I'm more into the rehabilitation and health of horses than winning ribbons." She glanced at Elizabeth, "What do you compete in?"

[penguin8er19]

Eliza nodded, interested in what Miranda had to say. She was slightly taken aback when she said "Which was probably in the best interests of everyone." Eliza frowned at this but did not mention it again. She knew that she was starting the year late and was glad that she had a roommate and wasn't coming back to an empty room every day.

Eliza smiled when Miranda mentioned her rehabilitation, she herself was very interested in the subject, but frowned again when she said "winning ribbons." Eliza was slightly angered. She did not say anything immediately but instead took a deep breath and answered Miranda's other question. "I usually compete in eventing but I also do pure Dressage on my horse Paris. And I hope you don't think that I compete just to win ribbons. The bond and the trust that I share with my horse is a lot more important to me than the ribbons." She didn't mean to snap but there was an edge to her words.

Quickly, Eliza decided to change the subject. "Actually, I was just going to head down to the stables and I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction?" Eliza took out a pair of her old, comfortable jodhpurs to change into as well as a comfy hoodie and her paddock boots.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda could see her roommate's frowns and felt that this was another roommate that she might not be completely happy with. Then again, why should she? She spent little enough time in her room, since she left early in the morning and usually only spent time in the room during the rainy days, to do her homework. She listened to the girl's answer, feeling the tension in the room, and as she added a rather curt sentence to the end of her answer, Miranda understood that her answer had been mistaken for criticism, rather than the metaphor that she had intended it to be. However, tired of all of the work she had to put into making roommates she didn't spend too much time with anyway be friendly, she didn't bother trying to set the girl right. As Elizabeth tried to change the subject, Miranda bit down her planned edgy reply, waiting a few seconds to get control of her tongue before she spoke, "You head past the White Ribbon house and keep walking until you see the barns." While it wasn't the most thought out answer, and definitely not the most polite way of introducing a student, it was surely better than, 'Maybe the bond and trust that you share with your horse will show you the way there.'

Turning away from her roommate, Miranda grabbed her windbreaker again and shrugged into it, "I'm going to be passing the barns, if you'd like to join me."

OOC;: Woo drama. I'm sorry, I didn't think they would dislike eachother. :- P -pets-

[penguin8er19]

Eliza tried to ignore the tension already rising between herself and her new roommate. How had things go so wrong in the first ten minutes? But Eliza just pushed the feeling away. She would make more effort later but for the moment she just wanted to go and see her beloved Paris.

"Thanks, I will. I'll just be a minute," Eliza thanked Miranda when she offered for her to join her on the way to the barn. She quickly changed into her jodhpurs, hoodie and grabbed her hat. "Ok, I'm ready when you are."

Inside her calm exterior though, Eliza was tense with nerves. Would she and Miranda ever see eye to eye? She couldn't help but be irritated by Miranda's manner but she knew that it would be a long term if she couldn't get on with her roommate. Not a great start, Eliza thought to herself. Please, oh please, let things get better once we get to the stables.

Eliza looked over at Miranda quickly and stood up. She made her way towards the door and tried to act calm. "Are you ready?" She didn't mean to be impatient but she needed to get out of the room, which suddenly felt small and stuffy.

OOC: :- / I know! Ah well! It could make it... interesting!! ;- )

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda nodded as the girl took her up on her offer. She stood by the door, tapping her fingers on the frame in a rhythm that she had managed to copy from Kent's drumming on the steering wheel whenever they had gone somewhere. She watched the world outside of their window go by as she waited for the other girl to get dressed in more appropriate clothes. Since she had just come from the clinic, Miranda was still dressed for working with horses, although not especially for riding.

As her roommate finally stood over and asked if she was ready, Miranda stifled a sigh of exasperation, "I'm not the one that we were waiting for." She led the way out of the door, trusting Elizabeth to close it properly behind her, then led the way down the stairs and out into the slowly darkening evening. As they walked, Miranda realized that she didn't know to which of the two barns she was supposed to be shepherding this girl to, "Which barn is your horse stabled in, anyway?" She knew her way around the school well enough, and no matter which barn the girl kept her horse in, she would be able to find a place to stay away from her.

[penguin8er19]

Once again, Eliza ignored what she Miranda's rude tone and just followed her out the door, closing the door carefully behind her. She quickly caught up with Miranda but didn't bother trying to start a conversation. Instead, she began to wonder about how Paris was settling in. She knew that the horse had arrived a few days ago and she had missed her like crazy. Usually when Eliza was nervous about something, like going to a new boarding school, she would spend all her time in the barn, either training and riding or just keeping herself busy throughout the barn. When Paris had been shipped out earlier in the week though, Eliza had had no where to go or nothing to keep herself busy.

As they made it closer to what Eliza knew were the barns Miranda asked her a question.
"Red Willow Barn," Eliza answered. "What about you?" Eliza secretly hoped that Miranda would say the White Oak Barn even though she kept her tone light and friendly. "By the way, what is your horse's name?" Eliza said it before she thought about what she was saying. What if Miranda did not have a horse? Eliza mentioning it would surely seem like she was rubbing it in.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda nodded as Elizabeth answered her question, changing course slightly that they would pass by the White Oak barn and go straight to the Red Willow. As her roommate batted the question back to her, Miranda laughed, "There's no one answer to that." She smiled slightly, "My own two horses live in the White Oak barn, my vet projects live in the Equine Clinic barn, and I check up on all of the academy's horses once in a while." She didn't list her Equine Reproduction mare, since the horse was only hers to bond with, and the foal later hers to raise for the beginning of his or her life. As Elizabeth asked about her horse's name, Miranda laughed, "Again, long list. I have Sye, my official competition horse, trained by my father and my brother in their hopes to get me interested in competition. Then there's Cray, my other personal horse." She made a point of not referring to Cray as her mount, as the mare was only starting her backing training, since any of her old training had been lost, if it had ever existed. "Then we have Fingal and Tanya at the clinic." She decided to ask about the girl's horse, since she knew she would be seeing her sooner or later, "What's your horse's name?"