Experience is a Form of Exploration

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan glared at the bay mare as she nearly stepped on his toes... For the third time since he'd taken her out to groom her. Tapping her on the nose, he shook his head, “Steh, du dummes Vieh.” The mare settled again, and he used that time to straighten the pad on her back, before lifting his close-contact saddle onto her back and securing the cinch. She stood decently, until the boy reached for the boots that he was planning to put on her. Frustrated, Stefan grabbed the lead that tied the mare, holding it for a moment, “Steh.” Once she had settled again, he tried once more, scratching just above the mare's chestnut when she stood still, “Meine Gute.”

Once he'd gotten the mare's least favorite part over with, it was only a short matter of minutes before he was ready to head out, helmet on his head. Grabbing the mare's reins, he led her out of her stall, where he had been grooming her, and then out of the barn. After using a nearby rail to boost himself into the saddle, he turned her in the direction of where he hoped the trails would be.

And indeed, he seemed to have found a trail head, although as he progressed further in the trail, he realized that it wasn't the most smooth. However, it wasn't too bad, and as they reached a slightly wider section of trail, he had to hold Lupus back, not wanting to go faster on a trail that was unfamiliar with him, on a horse that he, admittedly, didn't know too well.

Stand, you stupid beast. | Stand. | My good (girl). | Oh, and that quote's by Ansel Adams.

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn was bored! He had been working Casper in the arena and the horse was pretty much perfect at everything that was asked of him. No matter what Finn requested the tall bay Hanoverian seemed to always be one step ahead of him. Although the horse was a great teacher, Finn was getting a little tiresome of riding a "pushbutton pony", though he was worried that if he asked Ms Carr for another mount, she might contact his father and accuse him of being insubordinate, and Finn didn't want to cause any problems. He wasn't afraid of his father, per-sey, he was just worried about soiling the family name any more than he already, supposedly, had.

Leaving the arena, he directed Casper toward the more advanced trails and released a breath once they were beneath the trees. He was tempted to see just how school-masterly the gelding was and drop the reins and stirrups so Casper could guide himself, though Finn wasn't an idiot and knew that even the best train horse was still a fight or flight animal and anything amongst the trees could spook the gelding unexpectedly and he would hate to have to try and explain himself should Casper spook at something and him get left behind just because he was being an idiot.

As they went down the trail, he asked the gelding to move into a trot and it wasn't much longer before he saw another rider ahead of them on another bay. "Coming up behind you." He called. His voice wasn't a shout, but loud enough to be heard over the sound of a horse's footfall and the trees around them. It was when they got closer he recognised the fellow gymnast.

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan was starting to get used to how Lupus worked, her head high, ears pricked, as she looked around at the trail they were on, as though she was asking 'Where are the jumps?' He kept his hands firm on the reins, as while he had tried to find the best compromise between keeping the mare at a walk and too much pressure, he would rather err on the side of caution, if he had to err at all.

Lupus' ears flicked back only a couple of seconds before he heard the voice coming from behind him. After assessing the trail, which was currently going through a flat, broad area, distanced from the river, he asked Lupus to move to the right side of the trail before turning to cast a look at the person coming up, whose voice sounded familiar. Spotting the face, he knew from where, and a smile settled on his features, "Hey Finn." He turned his attention fully back to Lupus for a moment, making sure that the mare didn't get the wrong idea, then turned back to the other gymnast, "How is your day going so far?" He took the time to get a look at the boy's mount, a darker bay warmblood, although without seeing the brand, he wouldn't like to venture a guess about its origins, but it wasn't a horse that he had had much contact with before.

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn used leg pressure to get Casper to step over to the left when he saw Kai ask the horse he was riding to move the opposite direction. He grinned, relieved that the other boy hadn't completely snobbed him, and allowed the tall gelding to step up beside the lighter mare, liking the way that her black mane and tail were a complete contrast to her milk chocolate coat - unlike Casper's.

He shrugged at the question about his day. "Other than trying to break my neck on vault this morning, it's getting better." He replied, the joke about the vault was a half truth, .he was sure that he would have broken his back, not his neck, which would have been so much worse; more of a chance that a broken neck would have killed him, a broken back would have done nothing more than ruin any chances of competing at the Olympics and he'd have to listen to his father's lectures about how much of a let-down he was for the rest of his life. He mentally shook off his morbid thoughts, and rubbed Casper's nose as the gelding came to a halt and turned around to nose the toe of his rider's boot. "Sorry bud, I guess my hands got a bit tight there."

He squeezed the gelding forward again. "Nice looking horse." He commented, trying his best to keep his tone bright. "How are things going with her?" He hadn't spent a lot of time with the other boy outside the gym, but he had heard that Kai had received a mare when he arrived here.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai chuckled at Finn's comment about the vault, "Yes, that would certainly put a damper on your day, I am sure." Or it would end it relatively quickly, but that wasn't something he wanted to think about... It wasn't a very comforting thought when one was hurling themselves towards the vault. Sure, he knew he could possibly hurt himself, very, very seriously injure himself, even, doing gymnastics, but that was a thought best pushed aside. Fear was the thing that would lead you to slow, to falter, risking even more, and it wouldn't change anything. He enjoyed the sport too much.

As Casper stopped, Lupus halted as well, curious about why their companion had suddenly dropped away. Kai turned to check on Finn, although as he heard his comment, he looked back to the front and urged Lupus on, not wanting Finn to be embarrassed about lack of experience, which seemed to be his issue, rather than a will to harm his mount.

When the boy commented on Lupus, Stefan smiled, "Thank you. She is doing well, and we are learning to deal with each other quite decently." He patted the mare's neck, "She has a lot more energy than most of the horses I rode back home, so it was an adjustment for me, to know what to expect of her." He nodded at Casper, "How are you and he getting along?"

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn chuckled, pleased that the other gymnast could see the macabre humour in what he had said. There again, most equestrians should understand what that was like too, since they put their lives in the hands of their horses every day, kind of like what they were bother doing now.

Once he got Casper moving forward again, his mood feeling a little lighter, as they made their way down the trail. He listened to Kai as he spoke about the mare he was riding, not surprised that she was full of energy - it was more a young Warmblood thing than just an issue with the mare herself. He shrugged when the question was turned back at him. "He's a great teacher." He replied and then blew out a long breath. "I just don't know how much I'm learning from him anymore." He rubbed the gelding's neck to show that he had no hard feelings. "And I'm worried what my dad would say if he saw me on him. He's a Hanoverian so the breeding's good, but he's also a schoolmaster and dad'll flip his lid if he ever found that out." Though he knew the real kick in the gut was going to be what his father was going to say when Finn confessed that he had no intention of showing.

His parents were due to come down for a weekend soon, his mother had said something about her father campaigning, and he thought that visiting his son would be good for the votes. And Finn had no idea what his father was campaigning for, let alone the fact that he was doing it at all. "How long have you been riding?"

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan nodded as he listened to Finn's response, knowing that the older gelding probably was a good teacher, but as one got more comfortable in the saddle, it was only natural to move up. "If you feel that way, maybe you should approach..." He paused, fishing for the name, "Ms. Carr about being assigned another mount? They must want their students to learn while riding, no?" He thought the barn manager assigned horses, although unsure, as he hadn't gone through that process... Maybe he should have, he thought, rather guiltily.

As he heard about the boy's trouble with his parents, he smiled slightly, joking, "You could say Lupus is your assigned mount, if you'd like." The mare, as though knowing that they were talking about her, suddenly crabbed sideways, ears pricked and head high, as she spotted a piece of ribbon, left over from some sort of activity, fluttering on a tree. After he'd gotten her settled again, glad that she hadn't run into Casper, he shook his head, "There's no way anyone can accuse her of being a schoolmaster." He didn't want his teammate - Friend? Maybe eventually - teammate for the meantime, being the subject of any trouble because of his horse, although he knew the academy would probably be better equipped to deal with the issue.

When Finn asked about how long he'd been riding, Kai shrugged, "About nine years, I guess? Only five of those actually training, before that, my uncle's family had a pony that I would walk around our hof." He had liked the pony, who had been put down shortly after both of the Eders had started riding properly, due to issues in his legs that would have made it abuse to keep the poor equine up on his feet, no sort of life for a horse, "How about you?"

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn shrugged his shoulders. He had also thought about approaching the barn manager, but he also didn't want to cause a fuss, as he'd learnt in the past that when he stepped out of line the first thing his teachers did was report back to his father... well at least that's what happened at his last school, maybe things were different here, though he knew it wouldn't be beyond the senior Paquet male to check up on his son, but as Finn hadn't received any lecturing phone calls lately, he obviously hadn't done anything to upset his father.

He chuckled at the other boy's offer. "As generous as your offer is, I couldn't put that on your beautiful horse." He said. "She's too nicer looking stock and dad would want a history check done on her to work out why she's a school horse, rather than a personal mount." He rolled his eyes at the thought of the lengths his father could go to. After all, he'd hired a PI to do a background search on Coach Hoefflin. "I'm sure dad will take things into his hands if he feels that I'm riding a horse that is beneath me." He rubbed Casper's neck, knowing that the Hanoverian had to have great bloodlines that his father wouldn't disapprove of, but the fact that he was a schoolmaster might infuriate the man a little.

"Hof?" He repeated once Kai finished speaking about the lifetime of his riding experience. He chewed his lip when the question was redirected at him. "I started riding almost two years ago." He said honestly. "I... um... needed another avenue that wasn't just school and gymnastics and photography and then horses became that avenue." He rubbed Casper's neck. "Which explains why I'm on Casper here, and not something with a little more steam." He didn't want to go into the drugs and other things he had tampered with before he picked up his first camera.

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan laughed at Finn's response to his offer, "Fair enough." It made sense, although he would never have guessed that a parent could be that overbearing... But obviously, Finn's were, and he trusted the male to know his parents better than anyone else could. As he heard Finn's resignation to the fact, he nodded, "Sounds like he would." The gelding looked well enough, but he was obviously a schoolmaster, used to training all from beginners to intermediate riders, which wasn't bad. Just, sometimes, hard to accept for the rider, or in this case, their parents.

The boy's question made him realize that he hadn't really clarified, and he considered, trying to translate it, "Our home... It's complicated, I guess. The back was a barn, we had a horse and a pony. I'll show you a picture when we get back, if you'd like." He hadn't seen anything similar around the US, so he couldn't really compare it. Photos would be the easiest to explain. As he heard Finn's story, he nodded, not wanting to pry into the boy's own matters, "That's understandable. It was the opposite for me, I guess. But I have no real ambitions in the direction of gymnastics, I simply enjoy them, and hope to learn more from it, even if I don't plan on going to the Olympics." Not for that, nor really for riding, if he was honest. No, he would rather go into medicine or research.

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn had never been particularly close to his parents. As a child, while he hadn't been daycare, he'd been coddled by nannies or the housekeeper. And then he was raised by his coaches.

"I'd love to see photos when we get back!" He replied, knowing that he probably sounded a little too keen, but the other boy's home sounded really interesting, and Finn had never cared for his own. The thought of home made him wonder where his parents would ship him off to for Christmas.

He nodded in agreement about the Olympics. "I agree with you on that one! Sure, I like the sport, but I'm not willing to kill myself over it." Ok, a little dramatic, but he knew how hard Olympian wannabe's trained and he wasn't passionate enough about gymnastics to want to work that hard. "Do you have any plans for after graduation? Even though that's still a few years away for both of us. Finn really hadn't thought that far ahead, though he knew that he didn't want to spend his life living under his father's thumb.

He rubbed Casper's neck as the gelding stretched out his neck and gave a long heavy sigh as they continued down the trail. "Do you want to trot?" He didn't make any move to cue the gelding to speed up in case Kai said that he'd rather keep walking.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai grinned at Finn's obvious excitement, again thinking that it would be nice to call his fellow gymnast a friend. He didn't seem to moderate his responses, which Kai was happy with, there were plenty of people who bit down their emotions, and that didn't really help anyone.

He smiled as Finn agreed with him about the Olympics, although he would have pegged the boy as being far more elite than he himself. But then, yes, the boy was better than him, but there was something to be said for experience, and natural talent as well. Kai was perfectly happy with gymnastics as a way to pass the time, but he would never really want to make a career out of it. Speaking of careers, "I don't really know yet, I've been thinking about it, but at the same time, there's so many options. I might just go into medicine like my dad, it seems like it would be interesting, something different every day." He shrugged, "I have some time. What about yourself?"

When Finn asked about picking up the trot, Kai glanced at Lupus, decided that she was probably safe enough to trot, as the trail seemed to stay relatively flat and clear for at least a little bit, and nodded, "Sure, let's!" With that, he nudged the mare forward, careful that she only went into the trot, and not the canter she was pushing for, before relaxing into the gait, "So what are your plans for the break?"

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn gave a wolfish grin when he was asked about his own plans for the future. "I'm going to join the mob." He said with a nod, trying to look serious before he gave a snort of laughter. "Anything that get's me away from my parents I guess." He honestly hadn't thought much about it, though he was tempted to go into something like journalism because he knew that it was irk his father, a twinkle entered his eye at that thought. "Photojournalism?" He laughed at the thought and would need to start looking into colleges that offered the courses, just so that he could apply for more information and have it sent to his parents' address. He knew that his father opened all of his son's mail.

He grinned when Kai agreed to the trot, and Finn studied the trail ahead of them. "Just up to the tree before the trail bends?" He wouldn't mind trotting longer, but with the weather, there could be anything waiting them around the bend and he didn't want to risk Casper by trotting him thoughtlessly around a corner to find themselves on sodden ground. He sat back, and asked for the trot, though with the horse he was riding, it didn't matter about sitting properly, he just had to ask and Casper would obey.

As they got to the tree, he asked for a walk again and then answered the question about the break. "I'm going to spend it here." He replied, even though his father had already told him that a car would be picking him up that weekend and he would be taken to the airport, where he was board a plane that would take him to his aunt and uncle.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai laughed at Finn's suggestion, "Sounds like a good plan." He wasn't as well-versed in what the mob did, but he knew enough to know that it was something to do with criminal activity, lots of money, and none-too-polite operating methods. However, as the other gymnast offered a more realistic career path, Stefan nodded, "That sounds like it would be interesting, and there are a lot of different areas you could go into from there."

Hearing their finish line, Kai nodded, making sure that he was sitting properly as he urged Lupus on. The mare surged forward, although she stayed in the trot as he had asked, and the stretch seemed far too short for both of them as he reined her in again at the tree.

As Finn revealed his plan, Stefan nodded, "I'm going to be staying as well. I'll miss the snow, but I want to use the time to get to know Lupus more, and I don't think my sister would want to leave Mukki behind for two weeks." There was no question of putting both horses through the rigors of transport twice in as many weeks, and it had never come up in their discussions as an option, "I wonder how many of the gymnasts will be staying, and if Coach Hoefflin will be easier or harder on those of us that are left." He grinned, thinking of the workouts they already did.

[Fionn Paquet]

At the mention of the gym coach, it suddenly gave him a great reason to tell his father why he couldn't possibly go on a plane, the coach wanted them there to get ready for their next meet... then he banished that plan, as he knew that Mr Paquet would just phone Coach Hoefflin and then Finn would get in trouble for lying.

He glanced at Kai. "I heard Serenity talking about going home for the solstice." Thanks to Percy Jackson, he knew what the solstice was. "And I doubt the Queen of the beam will remain for the holiday when she can go home and be pampered by her parents. So I guess that will leave you, me and Cara." He raised one eyebrow. "Coach Hoefflin? Go easy on us? Just because it's Christmas?" He cracked up laughing. "I get the feeling that Coach could be in a body cast and still push us as hard as he can." He pressed his lips together. "Unless of course, the coach is also going away for the holiday period." Now that idea sounded like the best one yet, though there was always the problem that without the coach, the studio would be locked, so it would also mean no training.

He thought back to their conversation about possibilities after graduation. "What kind of medicine would you go into?" He knew that there were so many different fields out there. He was seriously beginning to consider doing some serious research into photojournalism.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai listened as Finn listed the other gymnasts and their plans, raising an eyebrow at the other boy, "You keep tabs on everyone or something?" He didn't really mind, though. It was good to know what to expect, and from what he knew of the others, those plans suited them. He hadn't really spent much time with Libby or Cara, the two hardest to get to know, although for completely different reasons, "I really don't think that we'll have it easier, though." He chuckled at the mental image that Finn painted, "Quite possibly, or even harder. I haven't heard anything about practices being canceled, though, so I'm going to guess they won't be." The coach didn't seem the type to just leave a note on the gym door for his gymnasts to find, at least, Kai hoped he wasn't.

Asked about medicine, Kai turned his thoughts back to the earlier subject, considering before he shrugged, "Maybe something with surgery, I'm not sure yet. I haven't completely ruled out veterinary work either, but I don't know, I guess I'd have to decide that soon." At least he didn't have the question of where he'd end up. He knew he'd be back in Germany, probably in the Jena area, or somewhere near-by, because last name did play a role, and he knew better than to move away and squander that advantage, whatever field he chose, "So, photojournalism. How long have you been interested in photography?"