Tricks Up My Sleeve

[Elizabeth Toman]

She nodded about people still being away on vacation, though that was probably a good reason for the pranks not to start just yet, as fewer people on campus made it a little easier to track the whereabouts of each person at any given time, and that crisis councilor, who had arrived on campus after the shooting, was still sniffing around campus so they would need to watch for that too. Thinking of him made her think of the fact that he had a dog, and returned her thoughts to Sina and her dog. "Would her mutt be able to out us?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

A smirk touched her lips. "I'll ask Finn if he knows if Sina has any Quicksilver, say mine has run out and while my horse is more grey that white, he's still prone to getting really noticeable green stains on his rump." She was sure that the stupid horse slept in the manure intentionally!

She shook her head. "It's more like laying off the heavy carbs." She replied. "I need to start focusing on what I'm eating again, as this morning's little session shouldn't have wiped me out as much as it did. I need to pick up running again and watch what I eat." She gave him a soft smile. "You on the other hand? I'd say the jet-lag is killing you." Because unlike him, she hadn't traveled around half the world to get here. Though a nap sounded like it could be a doable thing, if she didn't have a horse who needed her attention and gym clothes that needed washing.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

With Sarab due to arrive any day, Khalid realized that he would have to go out and buy Quicksilver for himself. His mare was just about the definition of white, and in her mind, that meant blank canvas for poop paintings. Buying an extra bottle or two would be no big deal.

He couldn't help but give a tired smile to her comment about jet lag. Waking up early for Fajr never helped. Food was never really a concern for him beyond Ramadan. His falcon on the other hand maintained a strict diet designed to keep her in the best condition possible. Just hungry enough to make her work hard to catch her quarry. Even his horses were on a better diet than he was, though the boy could eat a truck and still not gain a pound. "As much as I'd like to sleep, Nasr still needs to be cared for, and I'm expecting my Arabian mare soon, Inshallah."

Khalid was not terribly thrilled with the idea of waiting. But, it would be far easier to trace the culprit of a prank if he tried something over the break versus during the school year. And well, having Sina turn her own horses violet would be that much more amusing. "Well, keep in touch and best of luck with gymnastics training. In Arabic, we say Hazz saeid."

[Elizabeth Toman]

She rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm sure your tank of a horse would survive another couple of hours without attention." She said, and it would get the barn hands to do their job if the big bay did indeed need the attention. She leaned forward in her seat. "Ooh, new horse? Tell me more?"

She could see that he didn't like her suggestion to leave the pranks for a bit. "If you make sure to leave enough time to let the water settle, in case she was pathetic enough to go bawling to a teacher, then you will slip unnoticed under the radar. Try and swing too soon and you're likely to strike yourself out of the game on your first bat." She shook her head. "And what's the fun in that, when we have more than one inning planned." She didn't even play baseball, but her father had a lot of sayings, annoyingly so, to do with the game

She bowed her head to keeping in touch and groaned at the mention of gymnastics, wondering what Coach had planned for them that evening. She could only hope that it would be a routine training session where they were pointed at an apparatus and told to work. She liked sessions like that, where she was free to do her own thing and work on the skills that needed polishing. "Thanks, you too." She said with a smile. "If you need any help with your new horse, let me know."

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid grinned. Her description of Nasr was spot on. It was nothing short of a miracle that the gelding could jump as high as he did. Of course, he would love it if the barn hands actually did work. That's what they were being paid to do, after all. "Her name is Sarab, and she looks like the classic white Arabian. She's my first horse, and I'm hoping to turn her into a hunter. Originally, she's trained as a show jumper, but I'm moving past her ability. Best personality in the world. She doesn't spook at anything, and she's the perfect school master."

He thought her reasoning was sound, and he couldn't argue with it as much as he wanted to. The goal was to get a good laugh at Sina's expense and well, it was payback for their disagreement over dogs. It wasn't like she asked why he was so against anything canine, though to his mind, it was common knowledge that Islam condemned dogs. At least, that was true in Qatar. Other sects of Islam held a less strict stance and permitted dogs as pets or working animals. The only dogs he tolerated were the bomb sniffing dogs that worked for the military. He only saw them once a year, and they were muzzled and kept a good distance away on the Corniche.

"I certainly will. Back home, I never had to worry about things like preparing stalls or cleaning. Though, Sarab is much less horse than Nasr, Alhamdulillah."