Time For A Little Beauty (Cara, Rissa!)

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Hmm, very impressive, Jessica thought as she stopped a short distance away from the entrance to the vet clinic, the large animal one, and observed the facilities. The stable block, though she couldn't see in it, looked very nice externally, and the paddock attached to the clinic looked beautifully green, though no horses were in it today.

Spinning on her heel, she looked for Cara, the pair of girls having arranged to meet here so that Cara could take her to see Beauty and so that Jess could go talk to Doctor Clarkson about becoming a part-time vet assistant. It was the latter part of that she was somewhat nervous about, but Cara had convinced her that if she didn't get in soon, someone else might take the spot and, as she kept reminding herself, asking never hurt at all.

Hoping to be prepared, she'd stuck a small notebook and a pen into the small bag she wore slung over one shoulder, as well as a couple of carrots and a few other odds and ends. She'd debated bringing her riding hat along, but had concluded that really wasn't necessary, given that probably the only consequence of this visit would be that she got to see the horse Cara had been telling her about.

Hoping that Cara turned up, soon, before she attracted odd looks for loitering around in front of the clinic, she scuffed her feet, clad in her usual riding boots, across the ground, watching the dust rise behind the movement. Taking another glance at her watch, she reassured herself with the fact that she was in fact early, so it was no surprise her friend wasn't here yet.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara knew that she should be at the vet clinic meeting up with Jessica, but she had got a little caught up with her activities in the Evening Primrose Barn. Today she was working with the pretty jet-black Hanoverian filly, teaching Mirrhi how to walk nicely on the lead without either the filly pulling or the handler having to drag her along.

When she had realized the time, the young teen hurried on her way to the vet clinic, leading the small filly as it was time for the young horse to get to know the smell of the vet clinic again. "Sorry I'm late!" She said as soon as she saw Jessica, and it looked like the girl had been waiting for some time. "Oh, this is Mirrhi. She was in the pasture the day that you came across me walking Chasing Daisies. One of the two foals with the Clydesdale mare."

She led the way around the back of the clinic, released the filly into the pasture and walked into the barn that housed the horses being vetted and the two that lived here. "This is Flame." She rubbed the nose of the sorrel stallion, a smile both softening and lighting her face as the horse leaned into her affection. "He belongs to Dr Clarkson." She walked further along to the stall of a stunning bay mare who's ears were pricked forward, her eyes shone of health and her coat glowed from daily care. "This is Beauty."

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"Oh, no problem," Jess chirped, brightening instantly as Cara appeared - leading an adorable little pitch-black filly. "I wasn't waiting long," she added, then turned her mind to more important matters. "She's lovely - not a Clydesdale though, surely?" She held out a hand for Mirrhi to investigate, then gently stroked the horse before she fell in beside Cara as they rounded the back of the clinic, watching with delight as the Hanoverian kicked up her heels at the freedom.

Trailing after Cara as they entered the barn, eyes still half on the now prancing foal, she resisted the temptation to stop at Flame - she'd say hi on the way out, maybe - and came to a stop in front of the gorgeous bay mare, instead. "I can see why she's called Beauty," Jess breathed, and promptly tried to make friends, moving closer so that the mare could breath in her scent before she reached a tentative, friendly hand out. "She was the first horse you and Doctor Clarkson looked after here, right?"

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara laughed and ducked her head as she felt her cheeks heat up in a blush. "No, she is not a Clydesdale." She confirmed. "As far as Dr Clarkson and I can tell, she's a purebred Hanoverian. I found a picture of a Brumby mare who was for sale online. She had to be purchased sight unseen, and she was to be delivered. This little girl here was delivered in the middle of the night. You can imagine my surprise when I walked onto the stock truck and found the three day old filly."

Cara watched the younger girl make friends with the bright mare. "Her name was wishful thinking when she first arrived." She explained as she stepped forward and kissed the mare's nose. "She was so underweight and neglected that we were afraid that she wasn't going to make a recovery. Yes, she is the first recovery case that I have worked on with Doctor Clarkson. Mirrhi out there can't really be counted as I only bottle fed her for a week before I went and asked Daisy if she would take on another baby. If our calculations are correct, Mirrhi and Keiskei were born on the same day."

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"Why would anyone neglect someone like you?" Jess wondered at the mare, once again baffled by people. Never having undergone any hardship in her own life, she really didn't understand people who were cruel, either to horses or humans, and in her naivety was frequently surprised by the things that some people did. Especially to animals - why anyone would want to hurt a horse - or dog, cat, fish or budgerigar - was utterly beyond her.

"She's really friendly, given that she was neglected," she added, this time to the other person present rather than the horse, "Are you riding her, or is she still under care here?" To her eyes, the mare looked pretty fantastic, but then she was well aware that her eyes were fairly uneducated, the main reason behind her predilection for asking questions.

"I didn't realise that mares would take on foals not their own. I guess Mirrhi was pretty lucky that Daisy was willing to do that." She'd always thought that horses were as fussy about their own young as any other animal, and it rather warmed her to learn that they'd actually look after the children of something else. it was - well, nice.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

"Because people find power out of hurting those that can't talk back." Her voice was deadpan serious. Afterward she felt guilty for her words as she pressed her lips together, pleased when Jessica's questions continued. "She's friendly because we showed her that she can trust again. I also used herbs, aromatherapy and Bach remedies to help her moved beyond the past. No, I'm not riding her. I haven't even suggested riding her to Doctor Clarkson, but I think she would be a really nice mount."

She looked through the door and could see the filly grazing near the fence, every now and then she would look up to see if anyone was watching her or not. "Horses are picky on their babies, but Daisy is a really good mother. I helped her through the foaling of Keiskei. If Mirrhi had smelt of the truck she had arrived in or her own dam, I feel that Daisy would have chased her away. However, she smelt of me when I took her through to the new mother and baby. Daisy was quite curious but didn't stop the filly from nursing."

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Not quite knowing what to say to Cara's reply to her mostly rhetorical question - she'd guessed, at some point, that Cara hadn't had nearly the loving childhood she'd had, and had followed Cara's lead of not talking about it, but from the vehemence in her words, she had to wonder if her mental worst possible scenarios were actually far short of the mark - Jess was quite glad when the older girl moved on to nicer matters: horses!

As Beauty nudged her, softly, for a little more attention, Jess happily obliged, taking in Cara's words as she did so. "So lots of natural treatments then, for her - is Doctor Clarkson supportive of those?" She hadn't known if a scientist would approve of less technical things like that. "That's really nice of Daisy... Does she have much to do with Mirrhi now she's weaned? At least, I assume she's weaned, given that she's grazing..." Which might be her erroneous assumption of the week, of course.

You really are involved with everything, aren't you?" She said, spurting off on an entirely different tangent. "Papillon, and Phoenix, and Shiloh, Mirrhi, Beauty," she looked at Cara, awe and admiration clear in her eyes. "How do you have the time?"

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

"Doctor Clarkson has never said I couldn't use my own remedies and is keen to know what I'm doing." She smiled at the hesitation in the girl's voice. "Daisy likes to keep a close eye on her daughters, even though she blatantly refuses to allow either girl to nurse anymore."

She turned back to Beauty. "You're not in any need of most of those remedies anymore though are you, ma Belle? She still has, garlic, kelp, rosehips and dandelion added to her feed once a day."

"How do you have the time?"

Cara bit her lip and ducked her head. "I make time." She replied, before offering the girl a slip of information she held close, but would explain how she could rattle off anything without a cheat sheet. "I have a photographic memory, so school work is never a problem. I live off as little sleep as my body will cope with. I don't work Phoenix every day, yet I work with all the others at least once a day." She shrugged again. "I have always been taught how to manage my time very well since I used to run from one training session to the next." Thus why dust-bunnies were terrified of being caught in her room.

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Garlic, kelp, rosehips and dandelions, Jess thought, making a mental note to look those up, later, as well as going out to the fields to see if she could find Daisy and her two foals at some point, just to watch them and see how they all behaved together. Horses in groups always fascinated her with the way they behaved around each other: grooming, and grazing, and keeping an eye on each other.

"That's useful," she acknowledged with a nod, contemplating the benefits of just being able to remember anything you saw. No wonder Cara seemed to be so good at rattling of facts, figures and useful information about anything under the sun."Very useful! I guess I'll just have to learn how to be super-organised, if I want to get involved involved in more things around here." She shrugged, unconciously mimicking Cara's gesture. "And attempt to emulate your level of time management... are you involved in any other of the extracurricular things, or just horses?"

She, personally, would always stick horses right at the top of her list of things to be doing, but Cara had mentioned something to her about dancing at some point. "What does being a vet student here require? Are there certain days when you're supposed to be helping out?" Her next questions skipped onto a different topic, rather, though it was tangentially related in Jess' mind - honest!

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara pulled a slight face. "My memory isn't as wonderful as it may sound." She assured her younger friend. "It's not only facts and figures I remember. It's everything, and some things I would rather forget." She shook her head at Jessica. "If you want to look up to someone, please don't let it be me. I was trained to run my life like a well-working naval ship, and I wouldn't ever want someone else to so that with their life because the choose to." She gave a soft smile. "Being organized is good, but not so much that you don't have time to be a child. And other than self-disciplined training sessions, horses pretty much take up all of my time that's not spent in the classroom here."

"What does being a vet student here require? Are there certain days when you're supposed to be helping out?"

"I'm on call, so if I'm needed, Dr Clarkson just calls for me." She explained. "Other than that, I pop in every afternoon to see if I'm needed for anything and to spend some time with Beauty."

[.Rissa.]

Out by the paddock, a newly constructed pen and lean-to had been constructed. The twenty-five year old veterinarian shook hands with the company manager who supplied the materials and labor for the job, "No problem Dr. Clarkson," he was saying, "I'm sure Flame will love it. I watched him run once, of course that was before the old track closed down. How is the fellow? Up in years now huh?"

The vet chuckled lightly, "Well, he's way beyond racing years, but for the average horse, he's in the prime of his life. You're more than welcome to see him."

"Ah," the heafty manager waved it off, "Got other thingsto attend to," he dipped his yellow construction hat, "See you later." he finished folding the check up and stuffed it in the front of his shirt pocket before turning and walking to the white diesel Ford pick-up.

Kirk nodded his head, his brown eyes turning back to the pen. More than one stallion was going to use it, that was certain. But if would give Flame some more space instead of the stall he was kept in more than a normal horse. The vet hadn't voiced it allowed, but the main reason Flame was indeed still a stallion was becuase he wanted to get several offspring from the horse. Flame's sire was actually one of the old Clarkson's Thoroughbred farm, all before his parents passed away. He wanted to hang on to a little of it.

The big red stallion watched curiosly as two girls entered the barn. As Cara, whom he knew, patted his dome, his big head leaned out the door and he started to move his head up and down before she walked off. His nostrils flared at the scent of a new human, but she didn't pay him any attention. That should have been against the law. Everyone petted Flame. The stallion seemed almost hurt by the action. Oh well, there were other distractions out there. And after some time, the girls were still both down by the mare... and the food bucket. The red horse let out a rather high-pitched nicker.

Kirk glanced at his watch upon hearing a call from the barn. No, it wasn't feeding time, perhaps there was a visitor. Who needed a watch dog when a horse did the job? He shook his head with a grin at Flame's antics. He would turn the stallion out after the clients had been atteneded too. Making his way to into the barn, the man stopped seeing it was only Cara, with a freind perhaps? He assumed the student was showing off Beauty, which indeed, had they seen the state she was in before hand, was something to brag about. All the same, he walked up just to converse, "Afternoon ladies," he smiled.

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About to protest that she thought Cara really was a wonderful role model - and formulating a reply that reassured the older teen, because she seemed like she needed the reassurance, that she was having plenty of fun acting her age - Jess was just opening her mouth when footsteps alerted her to the sound of someone else coming up behind them. She turned just in time so that the words 'Afternoon, ladies' weren't spoken to her back, and then had to bite back a squeak of surprise, because she really hadn't expected Doctor Clarkson to suddenly turn up.

Which was a little silly, she told herself sternly, as she attempted to rearrange her features into something that looked slightly less nervous, given that they were in the vet clinic, and he was the vet. "Hello!" she managed to say, butterflies suddenly swarming in her internal organs, because as soon as she'd seen the man, she'd remembered that this wasn't just a visit to the gorgeous mare currently lipping her elbow, but also to this particular vet, to ask him about possible becoming a vet student.

And, somehow, and perhaps ridiculously, the concept of asking about something like that really scared Jess. It wasn't that she thought he was a horrible person, or anything, just that she really hated drawing attention to herself, especially if she wasn't certain if she would be doing the right thing. Teachers and other such authority figures she held in the very highest respect, and asking things of them that they might consider impertinent, or silly, always worried her, and she hated to be thought of badly by people. Despite the fact that she really did want to be one of the vet students, she was very aware that she was pretty young - she'd only been here a few months, after all - and so the possibility of rejection made the action of asking so much more difficult.

As all of that ran through her head, in convoluted, confused jumbles, she didn't manage to summon up the courage to say anything further than her initial hello, wrapped up in whether she should just go ahead and ask, or whether she should do small talk first, or whether she should attempt to say something incredibly intelligent, or, or, or... Instead, all she managed to do was bite the inside of her lip, worriedly, and look at Doctor Clarkson with a gaze mostly of apprehension, perhaps not the most sensible of things to do.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara looked over her shoulder as Flame called out, and shook her head at the stallion who was obviously feeling a little annoyed that the girls were giving all their attention to the mare and ignoring him. She then turned back to Jessica and Beauty in case the younger girl had anymore questions.

"Afternoon ladies,"

Cara turned at the sound of the Vet's voice, and offered the man a smile - the only man who was ever offered them I might add. "Good afternoon, Doctor Clarkson." She returned.

She cast a look toward Jessica, and when the girl didn't speak up, Cara thought she would save the younger girl the trouble. "This is Jessica Brown." She introduced the girl. "I invited her to the clinic to meet Beauty and she is more than a little interested in learning the ins and outs of becoming a vet." She decided to leave out that this had come about as Cara was already teaching her about herbs and alternative therapies, as that would come at a later date.

[.Rissa.]

Dr. Clarkson was not a scientist persay, maybe more like a magician for his apperaing and dissapearing acts. In all honesty, he was a equine veterinarian and would never see himself as anything otherwise.

His brown eyes quickly studied the mare, she was now totally filled out, and the only thing she was lacking was exerscize. Her spinal chord was even with the rest of her back now and she had meat on her rib cage. She looked like a ripe horse ready to be worked. The man smiled as the girl first seemed to acknowledge his presence. He noticed a shy air about her, or maybe, it was nerves. He didn't know, couldn't tell. He honestly didn't think he looked intimidating... except to his little sister's boyfreinds for some reason...

Kirk tilted his head a bit to the left as Cara began speaking. Her usual soft voice sounding like he was talking to a thirty year old scholar. He casted a glance to Jessica as her name was spoke and offered a small bow of the head, as Cara kept speaking. He nodded his head hearing the girl had came to see Beauty, as that was his original thoughts anyway. But then a spark of curoisty came to his eyes as he learned this girl also wanted to possibly work for him. His attenetion turned to the girl, "Pleasure to meet you Jessica, as you know, I'm Dr. Clarkson, most people call me, Dr. Clarkson," he added for laughs, as he did have a sense of humor, "But, the preference is yours." Now that he felt he made himself less intimidating and strict, he got down to business, "So, why are you interested in becoming a veterinarian?" It was just a simple question. He was looking for a simple answer. People normally just didn't decide things over night. Had she always wanted to help animals? Did she have a life changing expierence that maybe she lost a animal to an illness and swore, for their sake, she would become a vet to heal animals where's her's couldn't? He just wanted to know her drive. He was a curious person... or maybe just a bit nosy..

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Shooting Cara a grateful look when she apparently decided to get things moving - some people knew how to get down to business, she berated herself - she almost instantly found herself on the spot again when asked why she was interested in becoming a vet; or, if not going that far, at least learning more about the profession. She bit her lip as she thought how to phrase her answer in a way that would actually make sense to anyone that didn't live in her head.

"Well," she began, "I guess... I've always been interested in animals, and actually being with them and working with them, and when I was a kid my parent's had a friend who was a vet, and she was always telling me about how she was helping animals, and... I decided that was what I wanted to do. Well, that, or become a conservationist," she felt the need to add, honesty compelling her to inform Doctor Clarkson that it wasn't as if she'd definitely decided that being a vet was in her future, "Not really sure on that, but I definitely want to be involved in something where I'm actively working with animals, and helping them, too, because the world needs more people who help animals instead of just treating them as objects that don't need care and attention."

Her voice had become surprisingly vehement by the end of her - somewhat convoluted - little explanation, and she cut herself off sharply, hoping that she wasn't starting to flush with embarrassment, and hoping that that had actually all made sense. It had in her head, but then things that made sense in her head didn't always translate that well to real life. "So, yeah," she finished, rather awkwardly, "That's why." She shrugged, "I don't really have any better reason other than that I want to help animals." Which, uh, sounded rather romantic, and a little thin, when said out loud, she thought.