Getting cleaned up

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy would never admit it, but he was close to being exhausted when they finally returned to the barn, though he knew that Kai would feel it worse since he had walked back leading the mare. He swung out of the saddle and laughed when Dragan dropped his head, it was clear to see that the gelding was also tired.

The whole ride had seemed great while he was planning it, though he never actually expected to find a ghost horse, that would have just been silly. What he hadn't expected was for their horses to bolt and for Kai to slip down an embankment and then find... He thought the thought off, not wanting to finish it right then. Not when he had his horse to tend to.

Leading the flaxen liver chestnut into the barn and down to the grooming stalls, where the whole horrid ride had started. He clipped the crossties onto the gelding's halter and look over the horse's back to Kai. "I bet you wished you'd chosen to work in the arena now?" He laughed as he undid the rest of the gelding's girth and took the saddle off his back. However, things could have gone so much worse if Tommy had been out on the trail by himself. He could have been the one to have fallen down and if he'd been knocked unconscious, who would have known where to look for him? Especially if Dragan had returned to the barn alone. Reni would have known where to find him. Now all he had to hope was that the marker he had left would still be there when he had to take others back.

"How are you feeling?" He asked his friend, knowing that the adrenaline would be wearing off by now, if it hadn't done so earlier. "Will she need the vet?"

[Stefan Eder]

Kai followed Tommy back onto the campus proper, rubbing Lupus' neck slowly, "Beinah da, meine Feine." He was tired, exhausted even, and he knew that his mare couldn't be feeling much better. However, as he'd told her, they were almost there.

The last couple of steps to the barn seemed the longest of the entire walk back, but they managed it somehow, and Kai led Lupus towards the grooming stalls, clipping her into the cross-ties next to Dragan. As he heard Tommy's question, he chuckled, "It might have been a little less dramatic, yes." Just a little bit, although he wouldn't have known that starting out, "It did have a nice beginning, though."

He undid the girth on his mare's saddle, setting it aside along with the saddle pad before he took to doing a more thorough examination of the mare, running his hands along most of her and seeing where she seemed tender. "I'll live." Barely, his shoulder was still hurting, and he didn't want to breathe too deeply for fear of trying his ribs, but it could have been much worse. He could have broken bones, and then where would that have left him?

He was quiet again as he finished examining the mare's legs, then rose, shaking his head, "No, I don't think she'll need the vet. She's got a bit of a tear on her lips, probably from that bush that she was caught in, her legs have some cuts on them, but overall, thankfully, she seems alright. I'm going to let her rest for a couple of days, though." Luckily, his schedule worked in such a way to allow that, he wouldn't need to ride more than once, "I can ask Katja to borrow Mukki for show jumping, our classes don't overlap." Sure, the gelding wasn't a jumper primarily, nor did Kai like the black much, but that couldn't be avoided, and it would give him the chance to rest Lupus. He didn't want to ride her and hurt her mouth even more.

[Thomas Oliver]

"The ride had an awesome beginning, and your fall was Hollywood worthy! It's almost a pity I didn't get it on film and you could aspire to be a stun rider." He grinned, trying ever so hard to keep the mood light and carefree, at least until they had to speak to an adult.

He bit his lip as Kai answered his question. His sister had done gymnastics for long enough that Tommy knew she was in a great deal of pain, but didn't want to be a bother when she answered with the words: I'll live. "You probably don't want another gym brat to know about it, but you should talk to Reni. She's amazing with her homeopathic remedies and she'd know exactly what to do for the bruising and the scrapes." And if Kai let his sister see some of his injuries, the girl would be able to tell how serious they were and possibly give him a little magickal boost.

He cringed as Kai spoke about his mare. "We should see if they have any bag balm in the feed room." He suggested. "It's stuff farmers use to put on their cows' udders when they are sore, cracked or inflamed, works wonders on cracked lips too. Or emu oil." He rocked back on his heels a little as he picked his tack up. "You could ride Dragan here? He's trained in hunter jumping, but I use him as a show jumper too. I've got Amber, so there's no worries if you and I both need to ride at the same time." He looked at Lupus and gave a wicked grin. "We could see if she can handle being ridden bitless."

[Stefan Eder]

Kai grinned at Tommy's concern for his future, “I think I need to work on my controlled falling a bit more, before I consider that.” If he sustained injuries every time he did a job, he might not be getting too much money. “Although it must have been funny to see, I wish you had gotten it.” He carefully began removing Lupus' boots, feeling worse about the adventure as she didn't even dance around, “Although I guess I'd rather you helped than tried to get a video.”

As the boy suggested he went and talked to his twin, Kai considered, frowning. “I guess I could do that.” He wasn't sure if he wanted another student to know how badly he'd been hurt. It'd be obvious to most for a couple of days that he'd sustained an injury, until the cut on his face healed up, but the rest, he would probably be able to conceal... But on the other hand, Serenity had never struck him as a gossip, and he would feel better going to her than most of the other gymnasts. “I'll see how I feel tonight.”

He was confused by the remedy that Tommy mentioned, before the boy explained what it was. Then, he recognized the item, if not the brand name that it had here, “That might work, I think I have some, actually.” Not 'bag balm', as Tommy had called it, but he did use it for small things. As Tommy offered his horse, Kai shook his head, “Thank you, but that's alright. Katja will probably be more than willing to let me use him in some classes in a day or two.” He knew of his parents' plan, of course, having arranged everything stateside. Seeing Tommy's grin at the next solution, he shook his head, “I don't think that I'm up for that, if your smile's anything to go by.” He had never heard of riding bitless, and he wasn't sure how that would work... What did one have to control the horse?

He left Lupus to return the tack to the tack room, although he would have to clean everything before he left the barn for the night. Returning, he had found his ointment and thrown it into his grooming kit. After setting the box down, he started carefully rubbing the mare, avoiding all of the areas that seemed like they might hurt the mare with anything but the soft brush.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy laughed. "I'm sure the stunt dudes have harnesses and wires when they have to make the dramatic falls that you did." He snorted as he pictured the way his friend had been ditched by the mare, though this time with him being attached to wires on a large crane and flying through the air dramatically.

He nodded as his offer of Dragan was turned down, after all the boy probably knew his sister's horse and he didn't know Dragan other than the rides they had done together. "Oh, my smile was for the thought of retraining your horse to respond to something other than the bit." He shrugged as he ran the brush over his gelding's dark coat. "Think of it as riding in a halter." He'd ridden a few horses for his parents that had had their mouths so badly abused by their previous, rider, owners or trainers, that there was no chance of even thinking of putting anything into their mouths. At times it was a slow process, but once horses worked out what you wanted without having the bit to pull them around, they turned into great horses. The only problem was the fact that riding bitless in shows wasn't allowed, so they eventually had to introduce the horse back to the idea of having a bit in their mouth.

He continued grooming, deep in thought before he looked over at his friend again. "So... put the horses away, shove their stuff in the tack room and then go talk to Ms Carr?" Even though he knew that they had done nothing wrong, the thought of going to see the barn manager still gave him the cold sweats.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai listened as Tommy explained the concept of riding bitless a bit more. He hadn't ever really considered riding in a halter, it certainly hadn't been done back home. But there had to be something to it, perhaps, if Tommy was talking about it with such confidence... At the same time, Lupus was a fine horse as she was now, and he didn't want to mess that up by playing around with her training, at least, not yet, “That's an interesting idea, but I think I'll just give her some rest.” He patted the mare's shoulder easily, “She deserves it anyway.”

He finished grooming Lupus and guessed that Tommy had reached about the same stage as the other boy asked about their plan. He nodded, “That sounds good.” He didn't really want to face the barn manager, but at the same time, he couldn't keep it from her. The sooner someone went to look at the body, the quicker there would be an answer, he hoped. And whatever consequences there were would come anyway, delaying it wouldn't bring them any respite.

“Meet you back here as soon as they're in their stalls?” That would give them a place to regroup, at least. After undoing the cross-ties, he led Lupus forward, out of the grooming stall, and down the short distance to her stall, where he left her to her own devices. After he'd brought the grooming kit to the tack room, he went back to the grooming stalls to wait for Tommy.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine walked through the barn, collecting empty haynets and doing the normal check that she did in on each of the horses in her barn, making sure they were eating properly, that their water buckets were refilling properly. As good as the automatic watering system was, there was always a chance for one or two of them to go haywire at the same time, some not filling and others over filling - and boy was a flooded stall fun to deal with in the winter months. Not only was it dangerous for everyone in general, it could be life-threatening for the horse in the stall.

As she headed back to the feed room with the empty nets, she smiled and greeted the students that spoke to her and as she passed the grooming stalls, she slowed her steps down, especially when she heard her name. Her eyebrows arched, but she needed to drop the haynets off before she found out why two students needed to find her.

After leaving the items in the hay cupboard, she walked back to the grooming stalls, not surprised to find them now empty as the boys had said they were going to put their horses away. She leaned back against the wall, looking as casual as anything as she waited for them to return. "Why would two students returning from the trails need to see me?" She asked as they rounded the corner. "Obviously nothing seriously wrong with the horses, as neither of you are stupid, and wouldn't put an injured horse away with out taking him, or her to Dr, Carr."

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy nodded. "Of course, she'd need at least a couple of weeks rest just to mend her lips and make sure that there really is no damage to her jaw." He looked at the bay mare. "You might want to speak with Reni about stuff for her too." He rolled his eyes. "The kid's kind of a witch-doctor when it comes to healing animals." He pressed her lips together as soon as the words had escaped his mouth and pretended to smack his head against the wall. "She's good with animals and herbs." He tried again.

He nodded as he removed the cross-ties from Dragan's halter and clipped the lead rope into place. "Meet you back here." He said in a voice that was a little less enthusiastic than normal, though there was no chance that he was going to split on his friend - as would have happened in the past when he thought he was going to get into trouble. Clicking his tongue, he led Dragan down toward his stall and walked in.

Standing in the stall, he wrapped his arms around the gelding's neck. "Don't worry boy." He whispered. "You rest now, Amber can take me back out there if I'm allowed to ride." He had a feeling that going by horseback would be a hell of a lot easier than driving or walking.

Feeling like Atlas, with the world balanced on his shoulders, he headed back to the grooming stalls to put the rest of the things away. "Oh boy." He whispered as Ms Carr spoke as soon as he arrive back to meet Kai.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai nodded as he took in Tommy's advice. Asking the gymnast about his horse would be easier than asking for himself. No one looked bad if they were looking after their horse, after all. “I think I will go and ask Serenity about something for her.” He hoped the mare wouldn't have any issues after the race through the trees, especially with a bit, although if she did, he knew he would work through it somehow... He would learn to, at least. He had gotten the mare into this mess, he wasn't going to drop her if she worried about such a thing again. He didn't recognize anything wrong with Tommy's words about his sister, but as the boy clarified what he'd meant, Kai smiled. How nice of the other boy to make sure that he'd understood the colloquialism, right?

As he returned to the grooming stalls, he nearly stopped short as he spotted Ms. Carr already standing there. How had she known? He could certainly appreciate Tommy's sentiment right at that moment. “Uh...” He took a moment to think, “We wanted to speak to you about something I saw out on the trails, and what we heard out there. Perhaps not out in the open, though. I don't want to spread rumors in case I was mistaken, which is why we were coming to see you as soon as we'd put the horses away.” Hopefully that would get them off of the hook from fear-mongering, at the least.. And walking to her office would give him some time to regather the thoughts that had completely fled his head as he spotted her.

As she asked about the horses, he shook his head, “No, Lupus isn't seriously injured, although it factors into what we were coming to speak to you about.” He did feel slightly worried that he should have taken the mare to the vet, but he couldn't be running his mare down there just because he was worried about a couple of scratches. No, that would have been asking too much of the mare, the rest would set her right, and her mouth wasn't injured enough to where he, rationally, would want to have it looked at by another opinion.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine arched a thing eyebrow at first one boy's reaction to seeing her and the other rose to join it when Kai also gave a deer in the headlights look upon seeing her.

She pressed her lips together as she listened to Kai. The boy hadn't given her any reason for her to think that he was a troublemaker, but she did know about Tommy's previous records so she wasn't sure just how seriously to take the two of them. Though looking at how pale the two boys looked, and the cut on one's face, she had a feeling that neither of them were messing with her.

Her eyebrows rose again when she heard that one of the horses was injured, so she could guess that the horse's rider had a few more hurts then just the one she could see. "Come on then." She said as she strode forward and walked to her office, not bothering to check that they were following.

Once in the office, she closed the door behind Kai, something that never happened in her office unless it was really important, which meant that other would know to at least knock before they entered, and made her office as close to soundproof as she could get it, as long as no one raised their voice.

She gestured to the two chairs and walked over to stand at her desk with her arms crossed. "Ok, speak." Were her only words.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy could literally feel the colour drain from his face as he listened to his friend and waited for the barn manager's reaction. He licked his suddenly dry lips, and then wished he hadn't as he didn't want to feel guilty for them being there, he shouldn't have to feel guilty.

He jumped when Ms Carr spoke, and quickly hurried after her as she walked down to her office. Once in there, he jumped as the door was closed and took a deep breath as they were pointed to two chairs. He sat down, and his knees bounced up and down. He jumped as she spoke again.

He got sick of the nervous energy that was running through his body, got to his feet and started pacing, hoping to sooth himself before his sister caught on to how he was feeling. There wasn't any real psychic connection between the two of them, but they were so in tune with each other's emotions it freaked him out at times. This also gave him a chance to gather his thoughts. "There's a rumour going around campus about a ghost horse up near the waterfall, and I decided that today I was going to disprove it. Kai arrived at the grooming stalls and I was getting Dragan ready, and I ask him if he wanted to come with." He knew that this part was irrelevant but it gave the reason to them being where they were on the trails. "Everything was going great. My boy was chilling out along the trails, Lupus seemed relaxed and then it all went wrong. Dragan caught something in the wind and started playing up and we got them moving again and then we heard a..." His eyes widened and he became frozen to the spot as the clarity of noise they had heard suddenly hit him, and the rest came out in a shocked whisper. "Ohmigod, we heard a gunshot!" He looked at Kai with terror filled eyes. "Dude, it was a gun and that's when Lupus tore off down the trail with you."

[Stefan Eder]

Kai glanced over at Tommy, then followed Ms. Carr into her office. He entered, and was half-pleased to see that she had closed the door. At least she was taking them seriously... But the other half of him couldn't help but worry that they were in for quite the rebuke. He drew breath to begin as they were ordered to speak, but Tommy began, for which he was grateful. Parts of it would be his to tell, but at least not all of it would be.

He listened as Tommy recounted what had started the whole adventure. However, Tommy's revalation made him think back, and he considered, before nodding. Yes, that could be it. He'd only heard them on the television, but yes, now that he thought about it. But that would mean that... He didn't want to think about that possibility just yet. He took a breath and began telling the story from where Tommy had left off.

“There was some loud noise, I didn't really catch it well enough to place it, but Tommy might be right. Anyway, Lupus took off, running forward. I managed to stay on for the first start, but then she ditched me. I fell down one of those little dips that line the trail, didn't hit too many trees, luckily, and got to the bottom. After making sure I hadn't broken anything, I started getting up, and as I was looking around to reorient myself, I spotted something orange in the bushes.” He paused. Nope, if it was a body, and a gunshot, there was no way around it. He could have been very, very close to the line of fire out there, and that was frightening, “I looked closer at it, because it seemed to bright to have been there long, and then realized that it looked like a hand.” Another pause, to gather his thoughts, “I didn't go any closer to it, but we marked the spot, then went to find Lupus and make our way back here.” He looked at Ms. Carr, “I know it might sound made-up, but I'm sure of what I saw, Ms. Carr.”

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine watched the boys. When Tommy started pacing. part of her wanted to tell the boy to sit down like he was told to, but there was something about the teen that told her he needed to move.

She listened to one boy start the story and then the other continue it, her eyes widening as she listened. Yes, the story did sound farfetched, but she had come to learn quite a bit about Tommy since he was sent to work in her barn and then became a permanent part of her team. And though she didn't know a lot about Kai, she knew enough to know that he wouldn't be throwing around wild stories for the laughs.

Thank you both for coming to see me." She said as her mind ran a million miles and hours. "Both of you are dismissed. Please do not leave campus as I will need one of you to be a guide back to the spot." Marked or otherwise, there was still a lot of trail to check if people just went looking.

Once she was alone she pulled out her cell phone and used the landline as well and made two phone calls; one to the police and the other directly to Jennifer Hart, as the principal would need to know about this. If there was a chance that there was a shooter on or around campus, the woman needed to alert whomever she felt needed to know.