It Changes every Day, You See

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina grinned as she walked into the rec center's lounge, pleased to see that it was empty. Of course, it was a stroke of luck, since she was pretty sure the campus was filling up. Seemed like everyone was coming back from summer vacation, judging by the amount of people that had shown up to the show, at least.

She walked towards the couch, grabbing the remote before she sat down, then leaning forward to undo Derecho's leash, "Go play." She knew the dog wouldn't go far, after all, she'd closed the door to the lounge room. When the shepherd padded off to sniff around the edges of the room, Sina turned her attention to the remote, first figuring out how to turn on the TV and receiver, and then navigating over to the guide to flip through the channels.

Finally, after debating over being a good citizen and watching the news, she found a channel playing just reruns of It's Me or the Dog. Well, there was no choice there. Grinning, she hit 'Okay' and then dropped the remote back onto the table before she glanced around, although she needn't have. Derecho had finished his brief inspection of the room and was returning, where he settled at her feet, leaning against her legs. Absently, Sina reached out to scratch the dog's head, "You're a good boy, Der."

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    Hanging out in his room was probably one of the most boring things ever. He had done his classes, had already worked on his homework, and had lunged Pie. Now he was bored. Very, very bored. He was laying on his bed throwing a ball at the roof, like those kids do in the movies. He groaned, trying to figure out what to do. He reached over and grabbed the map, noticing that there was a place called the rec lounge. He was sure there would be kids there. He jumped up, and left his room, heading to check it out.

    Oliver arrived and opened the door to it, glancing around inside. It looked empty. He sighed and stepped in, before he realized there was a dog, and a girl sitting on the couch. He took a moment to process, and then remembered that she was the girl with the service dog from his English class, watching a TV show. He raised his eyebrow, before moving over towards her. He stood a few strides away from her. "Hey, I'm Oliver... Mind if I join you?" He asked, trying not to be rude and just jump in. From what he remembered, she seemed nice enough, although he hadn't really talked to her. He glanced down at her dog, grinning. Dogs were so cute. He had never owned one, but he had always wanted to.

[Sina Aleardi]

So absorbed was she in the TV show that she was watching, Sina didn't register the opening of the door, or the entrance of one of her classmates. Even Derecho's ears pinpointing the boy's location, and the head turn to regard the boy, didn't seem to fall into her field of notice. However, when she was addressed, Sina turned to look at the boy, “Oh, hey!” She fumbled for a moment, “Sorry, lost in my own world for a moment there.” She grinned sheepishly, “I'm Sina, and please, do!” She gestured at the empty seats, then saw the boy's glance down at Derecho and smiled, “He's not working, you're welcome to pet if you'd like. His name's Derecho.” Turning her attention to the dog, she nodded towards the boy, “Go play, Der.”

Sure, the dog had technically been off-duty already, but he tended to revert to sticking to Sina when unsure if he could greet or not. Upon the command, however, the dog could make friends, and approach he did, his tail wagging just about as fast as he could get it to go. Turning her attention back to Oliver, Sina asked, “So are you new too, or just back from summer break? It's really hard to tell sometimes.”

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    Grinning as the girl fumbled for a moment, Oliver realized that he had probably interrupted her show, although she didn't seem annoyed or upset. She actually seemed quite friendly. "Pleasure to meet you, Sina," he offered a warm smile, happy to be talking to another student. He sat on a seat on an angle from the couch she was on. Then he was told that he was allowed to pet the dog, and his entire face lit up. The dog, Derecho, as she called him, came over, tail wagging. "Hi buddy," he cooed, scratching the dog behind the ears. "I've never had a dog. Always wanted one though," he said, lifting his head to look at Sina, but still petting the dog. He was grinning from ear to ear.

    "I'm a new student," Oliver replied, not realizing that she had been new. For some reason he just assumed that everybody had been here way longer than him, which clearly he was wrong. "How do you like it here? I'm enjoying it so far but I don't really know anybody, so it's kinda lonely," he laughed, and then stopped petting the dog, sitting back in the chair. It really was quite lonely, and he was noticing that he was missing his home a little bit. Of course, that would change, he was sure, as he settled in, but it was still hard as he was still in that transitioning stage.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina grinned as she saw Oliver's face light up, letting her know that it had been the right decision. She watched the two interact, watching her dog's face, before Oliver spoke again, but to her this time, “They're alright, I guess.” A smile gave lie to her words, “Okay, I grew up around them. My mom's a dog trainer, so we always had a bunch in the house.”

As the boy added that he was new, Sina smiled, “It's hard to tell sometimes, sorry.” Especially since he appeared to be older than her, which would again lend itself to the possibility of a continuing student. “I really like it so far. It is strange, not knowing people, but almost everyone I've met is really friendly!” The cheer captain, perhaps not. She felt as though the girl might have taken an instant dislike to her. The rest of the people, though, “I was lucky, I've been here for a few weeks, so I've had a chance to meet people before classes started.”

She grinned, thinking of her first day on campus, “Also got to meet my horse, since I didn't have my own to bring along. Did you bring your own horse, or are you using one of the Academy's?” She had no issue admitting that Rolo wasn't hers, because it wasn't some big secret. She could get her own horse at some point, but the adorable paint was wonderful just as he was.

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    Oliver chuckled as Sina attempted to pretend that dogs weren't as awesome as they obviously were. How cool would it be to have a dog, nevermind multiple? Of course, he wasn't a fan of those tiny rat dogs, but dogs were cool all the same. He found it quite funny that she had tried to lie, considering it was clear that she clearly loved Der, as she called him sometimes, a lot. It'd be like a fat kid who was stuffing his face with chocolate ice cream saying that he didn't like ice cream. Oliver smirked at his analogy, although didn't say anything out loud about it.

    "No I totally understand. I've been having a difficult time recognizing if they were or not," he grinned, sympathizing with her. Being that he had only really talked to her, he couldn't exactly agree with her about most of the kids being friendly. She was right in saying she was lucky to have come a few weeks before classes. He had only come about a week before, and had spent most of his time trying to get to know the place, and didn't run into hardly anyone. "I wouldn't know," he laughed, "You're really the first person I've actually had a conversation with that was more than a few muttered words." He looked up and grinned at her, a glint in his eyes, "You seem alright, I guess." he winked, teasing her about her comment earlier.

    "How do you like the horse you're assigned to? From what I can tell the school horses seem pretty sweet," he replied. Her question that reminded him of Pie caused a warm, loving smile to slip across his lips, although the glowing happiness appeared to spread across his whole face, the smile reaching his eyes. "I brought my little mare along, Pie. She's a grey arabian. I've been working with her since she was born, but she was given to me for my seventeenth birthday to bring her here with me. Maybe you could meet her sometime?" he suggested, smiling whole heartedly. Sure, he was probably oversharing, but he liked to brag about his little mare. Plus it didn't hurt. He really liked this Sina girl so far, and it'd be nice if he got to know her. It was nice to have a friend.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded at his agreement, “From what I figured out, at least, in Language Arts, Kall, the boy sitting next to me, is new. Julius, the other one, has been around for at least a while, although I'm not sure how long. I don't know the other people in our class, those were the only two that I'd met so far.” She laughed aloud as he threw in that she was the only one he'd talked to yet, and she was apparently alright, “Oh, alright, now, is it?” She mocked turning her back on Oliver, then turned back to the boy, “You're okay yourself so far. But I'll reserve judgment about your humor.”

As Oliver asked about her horse, Sina grinned, “I love him! His name's Rolo, and he's not technically one of the school's horses. He's on indefinite loan, while his owner is in Kentucky for college.” She shrugged, “She used to go here. Anyway, he's great. He's the cutest little paint.” Her father had tended towards actual quarter horses, although Sina found the paints adorable. Good thing she had two pintos now! When Oliver started talking about his own mare, Sina listened, grinning, “She sounds like a really neat horse, I would love to meet her at some point.” She smiled, “You could meet Rolo, too. Is she in Red Willow or White Oak?” Just because Rolo didn't have a proper registered name didn't mean that Pie was the same, “What do you do with her, discipline-wise?”

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    Searching his memory to try and put names on the people she was talking about, Oliver could briefly remember some of them. Briefly. Although he'd have to pay more attention next class. He grinned and chuckled quietly as she returned the remark about just being alright, and gave a mock offended expression. "My humor is lovely I'll have you know. At least I have fun. A lot of people are so uptight," he sighed, shaking his head, mockingly, "I'm offended that you wouldn't believe so."

    Oliver smiled as Sina boasted about her horse, even if he wasn't truly hers. Obviously she cared about Rolo as he cared about Pie. "Paints are pretty adorable. I've always liked them," he said, still smiling at her, "I used to ride paints in the rodeos around Nova Scotia." he explained. Although he definitely enjoyed rodeo, he wouldn't give Pie up to go back. He loved that little mare way too much. He got lost thinking for a quick moment, hoping that one day he'd find her something she truly excelled at. "Pie's in Red Willow. Her registered name is Pioneer Business. I do a little bit of everything with her. The lady who gave her to me had me training her as a hunter horse, but now that she's mine I like to try and find what she's good at. I rode in the rodeo growing up, so I like to kinda teach her the basics of stuff I used to do," he grinned, before continuing, "I just like to have fun with her. She tries her best at everything, but since she only has one eye, I don't know how she'd show, so I don't worry about it. I hope that one day I'll find something that she truly excels at. But for now? It's a little bit of everything."

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina grinned at the boy, "Okay, fine. I guess I'll give you that one."

As she heard that Oliver had ridden in the rodeos in Nova Scotia, Sina raised an eyebrow, "Nice! What specifically did you ride?" There were so many things that could be done at rodeos, and she didn't know enough about Oliver yet to guess. She listened as he talked about Pie, grinning at the thought of a grey Arabian among all of the quarter horses. She didn't doubt that they could do it, but it still stood that most of the western sports were dominated by quarters!

However, there was something even more amusing to imagining the same Arab showing up all the quarters and only having one eye... Sina might have a thing for underdogs, "As long as she enjoys doing everything, maybe the variety is what she likes." She grinned, "That sounds like a pretty cool life for her, though. Rolo and I are mainly doing reining, because that's what I grew up doing, but I did sign up for a trail class too, we'll see what that's all about, I guess." Because the gelding wasn't trained in trail either, they didn't really have any reason to be going, but hey, it had sounded fun!