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Post by sepia on Sept 18, 2010 2:04:22 GMT -6
As she stepped out of the hired trailer, flashing the driver a grin as she went around the back to check on Grit, Pelliwen Archer had to wonder if this detached send-off she was getting was her parent's final attempt to get her to come back into the family fold. Sliding open the side door of the trailer, she was greeted with a nicker, the Dales Pony that stood inside raising his large head at her entrance.
"Well," she said, softly, out loud. "If it is... it's not working. I'm not going back there." Not until they accept me for who I am, and not as who they want me to be, she added, mentally, then shook her head to dispel such thoughts. Deep, thinky thoughts were not her forte, and she wasn't going to waste her time on them when she was being faced with the adventure of an entirely new school!
Whistling to heel the tan, curly-tailed mongrel that had hopped down out of the van after her, Pel advanced towards the office doors, stride as confident as ever, stocky frame moving determinedly over the ground towards her goal. It is said that you can learn a lot about people from their walks, and Pel was no exception: she walked surely, short legs stomping along at a good tempo, gaze as forward as her thought processes. Opening the door and letting it swing shut behind her - Growl narrowly edging inside without being whacked - she forged onwards towards the desk, looking rather like the commander of an invading army, despite the fact that she was only walking across a room.
Seeing no-one at the desk, a frown creased her brow - and then she noticed the little attention-attracting-bell-thingy, and rang it, firmly, the noise ringing out into silent room. Then she waited, tapping her fingers impatiently on the top of the desk, and shooting a look outside to where the trailer, and Grit, waited.
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Post by skyler on Sept 18, 2010 10:56:53 GMT -6
 
Andy was walking from the broodmares barn he just got done checking up on Ford. Now he was heading to the office to let the office lady know that one of his horses would be arriving today. Andy’s mother had called telling him that Demon would be arriving. He didn’t have the time today to sit around waiting for the guy to come. So he thought he should ask the office lady if she could call him when he came. Andy looking around he hadn’t gotten used to where everything was at yet and he wanted to remember where everything was at no matter what he was doing.
Andy knew his way from the barns to the main office. He had gone there a couple times to ask where something was located. Andy walked through the office doors to find a young woman standing at the desk. He raised his eyebrows; Andy knew she was probably new. If she thought she was going to stand there and wait wasn’t a smart thing to do. “You might as well sit and relax; I think the office lady is on break, or she could be helping another student” said Andy. He knew the office lady was always at the desk like any office person should be; so if she wasn’t she was on break or like he said was helping another student.
Andy sat down in one of the chairs. He sat patiently waiting to see if this girl was going to take his advice. He wasn’t sure if this girl was the kind to take people’s advice or not. He looked at her with intent in his eyes, waiting for her to do something, anything that would interest him. Andy studied her body language something he usually does. He could see that she was starting to get inpatient.
Tag: Pets:Crystal, Samurai Words: 296 Notes: hope you don’t mind me joining ^_^ Also sorry it’s not as long as yours. Outfit: hereCredit: This template was created by DAN at CAUTION 2.0 |
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Post by sepia on Sept 19, 2010 8:18:30 GMT -6
Surprised by the appearance of someone from the opposite direction to what she'd been expecting - through the exterior office doors, as opposed to the door leading deeper into the building - Pel spun around at the voice, eyes seeking out the speaker and her initial somewhat aggressive stance - 'aggressive' being her default reaction to anything - settling into a more relaxed one as she saw that the voice had come from someone who didn't look like they were going to yell at her for some breach in etiquette she might have committed by loudly ringing a bell. The man looked a bit old for a student, so she was guessing teacher, though what he was doing also hanging around in the office she had no idea. Well: new school, new things to get used to.
"Oh, right," she said, even as she took the man in. "Thanks for the advice." And she might as well take it, she decided, wandering over to a chair and dropping herself into it, continuing to eye the unexpected arrival with undisguised curiousity. "So, I'm Pelliwen Archer - but call me Pel, please. Just arrived, obviously, or I probably wouldn't be chilling out in here." She ended that sentence with a gesture outside to the waiting trailer, frowning as she wondered how much longer she'd have to wait for all the admin stuff to get out of the way. She didn't want Grit to have to stand in the trailer any longer than he had too...
"Hope she won't be long," she found herself adding as her gaze drifted from the trailer - and her pony - outside back to the man. "I want to get my pony settled in ASAP, really." And, she considered, as she trailed off into silence, maybe she wasn't supposed to be talking with such familiarity to someone she thought was a teacher. One school she'd been too had been incredibly strict about propriety - probably why her parents had sent her there, and why she'd managed to get herself thrown out of the place. She just hoped Blue Ridge wasn't like that - though given that she actually wanted to be here, she could probably restrain her rebellious nature. Mostly. Some of the time.
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Post by skyler on Sept 20, 2010 7:24:08 GMT -6
Andy took his gaze off of the young woman and looked out the window. He saw a trailer and a pony next to it. To Andy the pony looked like a dales pony. But he wasn’t quite sure if the pony was that kind of breed, he did know the animal was a pony he’s too short to be a horse. Andy would ask when he had the chance; most likely if the pony came up. Andy looked back at the young woman; then at the animal following her. It of course was a dog “You have a beautiful dog” he said now looking at her. His one eye counseled by his hair; he didn’t do anything to move it he liked it that way.
Andy nodded when she said thank you for the advice he had just given her. Andy watched her as she sat down in one of the chairs. He smirked; she did take his advice but would this young woman take it any other time? He looked at her meeting her eyes; they were now making eye contact. His gray-blue eyes showing nothing of what he’s thinking. He moved his hair out of the way so he could see the young woman better. Andy could tell there was curiosity in her gaze.
Andy listened to her introduce herself and her explanation of why she was hanging out in the main office. He nodded “Pelliwen” he whispered, “That’s a very pretty name. But if you want to be called Pel then as you wish my lady” He quoted from the movie princess bride. While he said the line he bowed his head. He was going to respect what she wanted; after all she was the student and he respected every student. “Names Andy Gabriels, Pleased to meet you” he introduced himself and that was it. It wasn’t any of her business as to why he was here and he wasn’t going to explain himself to her.
Andy followed the young woman’s gaze outside to the trailer; where the pony waited for his owner to come back. “I’m sure she won’t be too long” Andy said trying to comfort her. He looked at her and nodded “of course you do, I understand” he said. Andy got up and walked over to the window past Pel. “If I’m not mistaken the pony is a dales pony, correct?” he asked, turning around and looking at her. It didn’t take too long for the pony to come up.
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Post by sepia on Sept 21, 2010 3:43:57 GMT -6
Pel beamed at the compliment to her little mongrel, who was currently sitting at her feet cocking his head with equal curiousity at the presumed teacher. "This is Growl," she introduced the animal, glad that someone was appreciating him for who he was, and not just looking down on him for not being some kind of purebred, finely refined, beautiful animal. To her, Growl outweighed most purebreds by a million to one in the things that really mattered - not looks, perhaps, but in bravery and loyalty Pel was quite certain that he could take on any other dog. And maybe she was a little possessive, yes. "Do you have any pets?"
Shrugging as he complimented her name - and somewhat taken aback, because she was fairly sure no-one else had ever said that before, or if they had she'd never taken any notice - Pel said, "Well, thanks! Just the name my parents chose for me. And yeah, I prefer Pel. Pelliwen makes me think I'm in trouble, or something." It also fitted her parent's image of her - a delicate flower that needed to be sheltered from everything, and Pel was quite determined to show the world that she was no delicate flower, but rather a tough, persistent sort of weed that wouldn't go away no matter what kind of weedkiller you sprayed it with.
"Nice to meet you too," she added, following that little rule of social niceties, but becoming more enthusiastic as he asked about her pony, rather glad that apparently it was perfectly normal for teachers to chat to students about horses and dogs. Heh, she really did think she was going to like it here! "Yeah, that's Bowland Grit - Grit for short - a Dales Pony right through to the bone. He actually came from that part of England, originally, before I bought him, so he's about as Dalesish as you can get, really." Peering past Andy at said pony, a smile creased her lips.
"And I think he's actually asleep out there, so he's probably not too bothered about waiting... at least until he feels that it's time for him to get something to eat, but hopefully things will happen before then." Turning her attention to Andy - oh, wait, should she be going for Mr. Gabriels if he was a teacher like she thought? - she decided to turn the tables and ask him some questions. "So... are you a teacher here? You look a bit old for a student.” Blunt as ever, Pel felt no need to soften the potentially somewhat rude observation.
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Post by skyler on Sept 21, 2010 9:04:37 GMT -6
Andy looked at her and saw how her face glowed from what he said about her dog. What he said was and is still true, the dog is beautiful. Andy looked at the dog and nodded, he made a mental note to remember the dog’s name. Although it was a very easy name to remember. Andy looked at her when she asked if he had any pets, “yes I do” was his simple answer. He then held up six fingers “I have six, four horses, one dog, and one cat” He said explaining his animals a bit better.
This was the longest he had causally talked to a student. He liked it though being able to just talk to his students and get to know them better. Although they were talking about their animals it was still the same. Before his students only came to him for advice or they just needed help with an assignment he had given them. He wondered if all the students at this school would causally talk to their teachers or if it was just her.
He looked at the young woman and nodded. “Well even so it’s still a very pretty name. Ok then Pel it is” he said after she made her statement. Andy didn’t want to make his students uncomfortable by any means. To Andy she seemed pretty confident in herself. Which she probably was, and this was a good thing but too much of it can make them seem or have themselves become stuck up. Andy always made himself appear to have confidant in himself; when fact was he had very little confidants in himself. He now wished he had as much confidants as she does or seems to have.
Andy nodded yet again to what she said about meeting him. Andy looked out the window to the pony. He listened with much interest which he did with anyone talking about anything. He was a listener, but he did have his talking moments and this was one of those moments. He was amazed at what the girl had said about the pony. “Hmm you don’t see many purebred pony’s here. Yes there are horses and ponies that have purebred lineage but never do you find a horse or pony that was born in the country it was first bred in” Andy said at least that was what he thought.
He looked at the girl then at the horse “Well it seems you are right” he said about the pony sleeping. He then nodded his head and looked back out the window. With what Andy wanted to see has been answered he moved back to the chair he was sitting in. “I’m sure you’ll get everything done before he’s ready it eat” he said trying to reassure her, he wasn’t sure how he was doing though. Andy smirked when she changed the subject and asked if he was a teacher.
“Yes I’m a teacher, I teach Home economics and creative cooking. I’m glad to know I look too old to be a student” Said Andy. The last part he was being more sarcastic then anything and to make sure she knew that he smiled at her. One of the rare things you will see from him. He wasn’t hurt by what she had said, he didn’t see anything to it other than her just stating so.
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Post by sepia on Sept 22, 2010 9:06:26 GMT -6
"Four horses, huh?" Pel repeated, latching on to the most interesting part of Andy's little menagerie. "That must keep you busy!" Would she like four horses? The thought of what her parents would do was rather amusing - maybe they would actually disown her at that point - but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to give four horses the love and attention they needed. Grit seemed to take up quite a lot of her time anyway... though she probably wouldn't say no to working with some other spunky pony.
Pel was, in fact, pretty confident in herself, a confidence born out of a lifetime of rebellion. Unlike some others who grew up with very controlling parents that they managed to disagree with at every turn, Pel hadn't bowed to their will - or even gracefully managed to subvert them - she'd just met them utterly head-on at every opportunity, and so had ended up confident more through sheer stubbornness than anything else. Simply put, she didn't know how not to act confident.
"I guess so," she agreed, with a shrug. "I don't know that much about his past - I got him from an auction, not from the actual owners - but I think he was only sold because his original owner, the one who'd brought him out from the UK, outgrew him. Lucky for me, I guess, or I might never have bought myself a horse!" That day at the auction there hadn't really been anyone else suitable, though Pel had been so determined to buy a horse that she probably would have happily returned home with a Shetland Pony, but Grit had been - to sound cliche - the perfect match.
"Huh, cooking," she said, wrinkling her nose in an expression of distaste... and then realised that that probably wasn't the most tactful thing to say to the teacher of that subject. Heh, oops. She hastily attempted to make amends. "Uh, not that I've got anything against cooking, really, just, uh..." She shrugged (again) with some eloquence. "I'm not very good at it. I can burn salads if I try hard enough!" And, truthfully, she really did dislike it, probably because her mother had forever been pushing her to be 'the perfect housewife' which involved cooking. Unsurprisingly, Pel had hated it, and had resolved when she was about seven that whoever she got into a romantic relationship with would be the person to do all the cooking, be they male or female.
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Post by skyler on Sept 22, 2010 12:32:26 GMT -6
Andy looked at his hands. He had scratches on his hands and fore arm. Andy’s kitten was using him as a scratching post earlier today. Which was really his fault, he was messing with the little kitten and she was scratching him. They were merely playing, and as a means of defense she scratched the hell out of his arms. This proved difficult to ride his one horse earlier. But he wasn’t mad at his little kitten. Turning his attain back to the young lady in front of him. She had asked if he had any pets, he didn’t need to ask unless she had another horse she owned two pets.
Andy looked at her and nodded. He thought about her statement. “Yes they do, but I’m happy taking care each of them and giving them the love they deserve” he said. He isn’t the type of guy who would spill his guts out to anyone. But no one had come to him and asked him about his life; although he liked it that way. Now there was someone asking although not in depth there was still someone who asked. He couldn’t help but want to have at least one person to share his feelings with and get a response other than a neigh. He knew somewhere in the future there will be a time where he would need that person to talk to.
Andy listened to her explain how she had gotten the pony. “I see, well I guess that’s a win for you. I myself have never gotten a horse from an auction” He said which was true. He had gotten three of his horses from his mother and the one he had taken from a man who was neglecting her. Andy had a special bond with each of them and wouldn’t trade that bond for anything. His horses meant more to him than anything else and at this moment he didn’t think he was ever going to love anyone or anything more than his pets.
Andy smirked when he saw her reaction to him being a cooking teacher. Andy shrugged and shook his head “it’s fine I know that most people either dislike cooking or aren’t good at it or both. It’s no big deal. I love cooking and I love teaching so being a cooking teacher fits me” he said explaining himself. He really didn’t have a problem with her reaction. But here he was explaining himself yet again. He shook his head; this young woman would probably be the first and last person he would explain himself to.
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Post by sepia on Sept 23, 2010 7:32:10 GMT -6
Nodding as Andy - Mr. Gabriels, a part of her brain insistently reminded her, he is a teacher, but remained mostly ignored by the rest of her. Having met him as Andy, she'd now be hard-pressed to think of him as anything but... which, maybe, was why some schools had very strict policies on how casual teachers were allowed to be with students, given that it was a little harder to take a teacher's word as gospel if you'd had long conversations about their pets with them - explained his reasons for his not so little menagerie, Pel decided that she agreed utterly with what he was saying. "Yeah. Animals - and especially animals that are yours - are special, aren't they? I don't get people who can be cruel to animals."
It was utterly incomprehensible, actually, that anyone couldn't do anything but love animals. And, alright, so some people didn't like bugs, and some people thought horses were scary, but most people at least liked some sort of animal, right? Dogs, or cats or goldfish, or something - and yet there were still people who could beat animals up and neglect them and it was just all incredibly baffling, especially given how ridiculously forgiving animals could be. Growl had been abandoned on the side of the road, and he was still loyal and intelligent and didn't try to murder anyone. The dog in question shifted in his seated position at her feet, and as if he knew what she was thinking, stuck his head under her hand: Pel obediently began to stoke his tan fur.
"Well, Grit's the only horse I've ever bought, so I don't know what auctions are usually like, but it worked for me, definitely! Right place, right time. Where did you get your horses from then?" Naturally curious, Pel was quite enjoying this questioning thing she was getting going with Andy - Mr. Gabriels that part of her mind chirped again - though she wasn't sure if he was as comfortable with sharing as she was. it wasn't that she was an incessant sharer, just that she didn't see the point in keeping things to herself, and so could always be counted on to share anecdotes and opinions. Especially the latter: Pel was very good at sharing her opinions.
"Well, that's good for you then, I guess!" She wasn't quite sure what else to say, so she did what she normally did and let her mouth motor on without much input from her brain. "What brought you in to teaching, then? You don't really look like your average teacher - no suit, tie or briefcase!" And, once again, Pel didn't bother to couch her question in anything remotely resembling tact - in fact, many people had wondered if she even knew what tact was given her propensity for ignoring it utterly.
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Post by skyler on Sept 23, 2010 8:41:40 GMT -6
Andy looked out the window and watched as a bird flew past. Andy listened to what she said and nodded. “Yes every animal in this world is special. None of them deserve owners who would just abuse them in the end. Most people who neglect animals either don’t have the time to take care of them or don’t have the money to” he said thinking about their conversation more in depth then he thought he should. But when it came to animals and this kind of discussion he naturally thought more in depth about it. This also was a kind of discussion he had no problem opening up about.
Andy thought about his one horse Heaven and how her first owner had neglected the poor Clydesdale from the moment she was born. Heaven was very skinny and her hooves were messed up. She was four years old when Andy found out about the situation his college teacher had put her in. Four years of being neglected wasn’t something Andy could picture. But thanks to him Heaven is very healthy horse. She is the weight and height she’s supposed to be. Heaven is also getting what any animal should get and that’s love from their owner. Even though she’s been through hell the first four years in her life she’s still a sweet heart.
Andy looked at her and listened to what she was saying. “That’s always good, sometime auctions are good for buying horses. But the thing with auctions you don’t know if the horses are going to the right owner” He said making his statement. If he went to a horse auction he would probably buy all the horses there. Andy thought about her one question. He didn’t mind talking about his horses and how he got them. “My first horse my mother bought from a breeder who trained top horses to compete. My second horse was my mother’s foal really; his sire and dam were both my mother’s horses. I helped train him and we grew a bond together and my mother said I could keep him” Andy answered her question but only with two of his horses. The other two were harder to explain.
Andy thought about how he was going to explain the other two to this young woman. “My third horse was neglected for four years before I found her and took her in. And least but not least, my forth horse is an orphan, his dam was one of my mother’s horses, she died shortly after his birth. He’s now three weeks old.” Andy finished his explanation of how he got all his horses. So naturally he has a special bond with all of them seeing how he got all of them by different circumstances.
Andy listened to yet other question of hers. “Well I went to college and I looked up to one of my teachers and I wanted to be like him. Helping kids achieve their dreams. But I’m too young to be a college teacher. I decided to become a high school teacher. That’s about it” Andy said. There was way more to that then what he said though. Because he doesn’t like to talk about himself he didn’t go into detail about it and of course he was talking to a student. He also became a teacher so he could help the teens who feel like their alone in the world and help them get through high school knowing someone cared about them to help.
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Post by sepia on Oct 4, 2010 4:02:34 GMT -6
“You’re right, I’m not sure if I’d ever sell my horse to an auction, because you really don’t know where they’re going to end up,” Pel agreed, reaching a hand down to stroke Growl who was starting to get a little restless. “That was half of Black Beauty’s problems, after all!” What horse-lover hadn't read the classic book? Pel had been given it by a teacher, before she'd started riding herself, who'd told her precocious student - with some exasperation - that if she didn't sit down and read quietly, she'd be in some serious trouble, and then handed her the fateful book, which probably had a great deal to do with starting Pel's interest in horses.
Falling silent as Andy began to explain the long and convoluted manner in which he’d acquired his horses, Pel wondered if she’d manage to end up collecting a whole bunch of horses at some point, not by any particular purpose but just by being at the right place at the right time. Probably not any time soon, she acknowledged, reluctantly – for however much she adored Grit, she’d like to be able to work with more than one horse, just for the challenge… maybe she should enquire if she could help out with any school horses they had here? – figuring that it wasn’t until she gained financial independence from her parents that she’d be able to do so. Given the fit her parents had thrown when she’d come home with Grit, flushed full of triumph and rebellion, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to test her chances off survival if she tried to buy another horse.
While she’d been musing, Andy had finished, and Pel filled in the silence. ”That’s an eclectic bunch. Must keep you pretty busy, especially the foal… do you have a foster dam for him to feed him, and so on?” She supposed he could be handfeeding, but at three weeks old the support offered by an actual horse, in terms of antibodies in the milk, if nothing else, could only be a good thing.
She guessed that was a pretty normal reason to want to become a teacher, though personally it was down at the bottom of Pel’s list of potential careers – above housewife or nun, though – unless her teaching had something to do with horses... though she couldn’t really see herself as a riding instructor, either. It wasn’t quite exciting enough for her, she supposed, though the way it would annoy her parents was a plus point. Admittedly, her becoming anything but a trophy wife would annoy her parents and potentially get her disowned, so it wasn’t as if she had a limited choice in how she could drive her parents wild, something she was pretty good at already.
Not saying anything in response to Andy’s little soul-baring description of why he’d become a teacher, Pel just nodded. She didn’t really have anything to say, and wasn’t one for saying things she didn’t mean, though even she was polite enough to not state her personal opinion that she really wasn’t sure whether cooking lessons would help many people achieve their dreams. Admittedly, she might be a bit biased given that cooking was something her mother had attempted to force her to get good at, prefacing the sessions with ‘but no-one will want to marry you if you cannot cook!’ and so, naturally, something that she had soon learned to detest. Oh, the influence one’s parents had on you…
The silence that was beginning to stretch was broken by Growl who, for reasons known only to himself, though possibly because he'd spent the time while Pel and Andy were talking staring at the teacher and assessing him, decided that right now was the time to get to know Andy, and leaped to his feet, trotting over the the man, tail wagging, and thrusting his head against his thigh in a clear 'Stroke me now, please!' gesture. Pel let him go, assuming that Andy wouldn't have any problems with her dog given the number of animals he had himself.
((Sorry this has taken so long! Been run off my feet, lately, so as you've probably noticed my posting has decreased a lot.))
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