Through the Grapevine (Open)

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Finally choosing to get out of bed, because the sun was peeking into her eyes from the window, Sara groaned and sat up. It was a beautiful weekend day, and the weather had finally been taking a turn for the warmer. Slipping out from under the covers and stepping onto the large sheep-skin rug that she had covered her floor with, Sara debated what to do with the day. As she approached her wardrobe, she heard Cinder's muttered 'Wroo?' and smiled at the dog's antics, "Wake up, come on, up and at 'em." The red and white dog dropped his large head onto his paws, staying resolutely on the foot of Sara's bed where he slept.

Rolling her eyes, Sara turned back to her dresser, grabbing a pair of her blue riding jeans and a screen-printed t-shirt. She changed into the clothes, then headed into her personal bathroom. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she applied a few strokes of makeup, just the tiniest bit, then walked back out into her bedroom. Seeing that Cinder had finally gotten off of the bed, Sara nodded, not surprised at the dog's choice to follow routine. Grabbing his vest from where it lay on top of the dresser, she walked over to where he was lapping at his water bowl, kneeling to buckle the black mesh cape into place. After standing, she slipped into her light-grey sweatshirt, then grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

Calling for Cinder to walk at her side, she headed out of her room and down the stairs before walking onto the newly defrosted campus. Instead of walking along the paths, she cut across the grass, moving directly towards the cafeteria. As she entered the building, she could hear the conversation die down, causing a slight confusion for her, but she moved on without stopping to consider it. As she headed towards the line, she caught a number of sneering looks thrown her way, along with quite a few at Cinder. However, it was almost her turn in line, so Sara turned her attention towards her choices, limited to fruit, scrambled eggs, or Chex cereal. Making her decision, she paid and then headed towards her table. Sitting down with her bowl of cereal, Sara started eating, but the silence of being alone at her table, unusual enough, failed to cover the conversation of the next table.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Andrea told me, she said that the whole cheer team knows."

"No way! That poor dog, having to follow her around."

"I know, and he doesn't even have a point."

Sara chewed her mouthful of cereal quietly, thinking about the segment that she had just heard. It wasn't too hard to deduce who they were talking about... Namely, herself. As she thought about the name mentioned, she thought of the freshman who had enough cheer talent to make the team, but was a first-class pain to work with. Noticing that her appetite had vanished, she stood, picking up her tray and murmuring to Cinder at the same time. As she passed the table where the two girls had been chattering about her, they suddenly fell silent, not too much of a surprise. As Sara walked away, she heard one of the two whispering, "Do you think she heard us?"

Leaving the cafeteria, Sara felt aimless. As she walked, she found her way towards the White Oak Barn, to Balian's stall. Deciding that she didn't want to spend the day at the academy, Sara took the gelding out of his stall and walked him into the sunlight, tying him to the hitching post before walking to the tack room to grab his grooming kit. After she had finished grooming, and seen many more dirty looks cast her way, Sara had finally finished saddling the gelding, and was now deciding what all to take with her.

While running away was said never to solve things, she thought that putting some distance between herself and the problem, some time to think, would be a good thing, before she attempted to dig to the root of what was happening. Finally, she tossed a box of snack bars that she kept in her locker into her bag, along with a waterproof windbreaker, just in case the weather acted up. The two things joined her equine emergency kit and a few bottles of water in Balian's saddlebags, while her own first-aid kit, including her Epipen and some multipurpose equipment for both herself and Cinder, a long leash, and a portable bowl and a Ziploc bag of Cinder's food stayed in her own backpack.

After securing the saddlebags to Balian's saddle, Sara grabbed her helmet and clipped it on, then mounted the Thoroughbred. As Cinder trotted at the horse's side, tongue lolling and plumed tail waving, Sara moved Balian in the direction of the river trail, planning on visiting the waterfall, which had slowed to a trickle over the winter, and should now be almost at its peak. As the trio followed the trail through the thick forest, Sara sat silently, listening to the conversation she had overheard spooling through her mind again and again. There was no doubt about whom they had been talking about, and their silence at seeing her and Cinder had only confirmed it. However, who had started the rumour, and what had driven them to it?

[Ben Hall]

Ben had been planning to explore on the campus trails the first chance he got. He really liked going on the extensive trails connecting to his past barn's property, and he had pretty high expectations for those here. Lady tended to like it too as long as there were no dogs or anything with wings around, so he did have to be careful. He'd learned her warning signs though when she got close, and knew how to handle any situation that could arise well enough. He decided to spend a good part of the day exploring, and after eating a good breakfast, he made his way down to the barn.

Finding Lady in her stall, he placed her equipment outside of her stall and entered with his grooming box, greeting her enthusiastically. Her nose immediately went to his pocket, and he laughed, pulling a thin slice of pear from a sealed plastic bag and giving to to her before beginning to groom her. He groomed her well and tacked her up, knowing that by the time he got back her white legs would probably be covered in mud, since the ground was still pretty wet from the melting snow. Putting on his helmet, he led her out to the mounting block and mounted before guiding her out to where he had been told the trails were.

There were a couple of choices, but he chose the one that seemed to follow a river. It wasn't too rocky like one of the others looked, but it would certainly be interesting. He let Lady on a looser rein than normal so that she could judge her footing since she seemed relaxed enough. The rocks got a it trickier to maneuver as they got further down the trail, and he let Lady have her head, though collected her in certain spots so she wouldn't trip.

Lady had been at ease the entire time, and was in a good mood, so Ben was a bit surprised when she began to tense up, clearly uneasy and nervous. Collecting her reins, he closed his legs on her and held her firm, letting her know that he was there. Her reaction was most likely in response to a dog, since she stayed nervous. With birds her fear usually subsided as they flew away, as they didn't often stay on one place, so he grew more confident that there was a dog nearby.

The cause of Lady's uneasiness soon came to Ben's attention as he spotted another horse and rider a bit further down the trail with a dog trotting next to them. He didn't want Lady to get too close and freak out, but also sort of wanted the other rider to know he was there so that she wouldn't be surprised by his presence. Keeping his distance, he called out, "Hello!" Lady's head had grown high and Ben could tell that she wanted to shy away from the canine ahead rather than continuing towards the group as they were.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

While she tended to keep her eyes on the trail for the most part, Sara continually scanned the trail, a habit picked up in the backwoods and fine-tuned by the driving practices and tests that she had attended. However, despite her paying attention, she managed not to notice that Cinder had drifted away from Balian's side and into the woods for a couple of moments. As she did, she whistled for him, and smiled as he jumped out from the undergrowth, his fur tangled into various leaves and branches now. She gave him a stern look and saw his ears tuck against his head. Turning her attention back to the trail, Sara once again focused on the route they were taking. However, even as she listened to make sure that Cinder was behaving himself, she saw Balian's ears flick backwards.

Only a moment after seeing the gelding's warning, Sara heard the voice behind her. While it sounded friendly enough, it was still unfamiliar, and she gritted her teeth, hoping that this new kid wouldn't bother her with any rumours today. Slowing Balian to a slow walk, Sara turned, giving the gelding a looser rein so that she could see who was behind her. As she saw the nervous horse and the boy, whom she really didn't recognize. "Hi." She turned to Cinder, who was drifting towards the brush again, "Calx." The dog returned to her side again, and Sara frowned as she reined Balian to the side and stopped him, "Would you like to pass us, would that be easier for your mount?"

[Ben Hall]

Lady continued to become more agitated the longer they stayed near the other rider and her dog. He gave a tight smile in return when the girl returned the greeting, mostly trying to focus on keeping Lady from freaking out. She'd be fine once they got away, so he didn't turn around, and was grateful when she offered to let them pass. "That would be great." he replied, and kept his eye on the dog as he guided Lady around the trio, giving them as wide a berth as the trail allowed.

He hadn't quite been able to make out what the girl had said to the dog, but whatever it was seemed to have made him stay close to the horse. This didn't make Lady any less nervous when passing, but she calmed down a bit once they were ahead of the others. She was still tense, but not nearly as worked up as she had been before.

It soon occurred to him that this must be the service dog he had been told about when he'd first come to the school. The girl certainly looked too young to be a teacher, and she was apparently the only exception to the rule about students having dogs. The curiosity got the best of him, and he turned around partially in his saddle to comment, "What a nice dog." Lady may not like canines, but Ben quite liked them. "I had to leave my own guy at home when I came here." They were far enough ahead that he wasn't too worried about Lady acting up anymore.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Sara nodded at the boy's answer, nothing that she hadn't expected, and moved to let him have as much space as possible. She kept an eye on Cinder, ready to call the dog back to her should his puppy side take over, but luckily, he seemed to notice how serious the situation was and didn't move from Balian's side. While she was very happy with the red malamute's progress in curbing his energy, she still felt the need to keep an eye on him, something that she knew would only fade from years of partnership.

Glancing down at Cinder, Sara debated leashing the canine, especially if the boy ahead of her chose to stay close and engage in conversation. However, she decided to test the dog first, knowing that he would respond to a command even if he did stray away. When the boy commented on Cinder, Sara smiled slightly, "Thank you." She glanced back down at the dog, suddenly more cautious than ever, with the nervous horse in front of them, before returning her attention to the boy in front of her, "That's too bad, what breed is he?" She liked hearing about other people's dogs, and the situation was awkward enough given that she was the only student on campus with a dog.

[Ben Hall]

Ben continued to play lightly at the bit in Lady's mouth whenever she began to get nervous again, but they seemed to have gotten far enough away for the mare to calm down a bit. Luckily for Ben, he was still within speaking distance of the girl behind him. Being quite social, he preferred speaking to someone than just ambling on at a quicker pace, alone with Lady.

When questioned about his dog's breed, Ben replied, "Seuss is a three year old Golden Retriever. What about this guy?" He gestured down to the dog who stayed dutifully next to the thoroughbred the girl rode. After years of begging for a dog, his parents had finally relented a couple of years ago, and had gotten Ben a golden puppy. They'd groaned about it at the time, and lectured on about how it was to test his responsibility, but Ben knew that his father had developed a soft spot for the dog, and that his mother appreciated his company when she was home and Ben and his father were out. None of them could have predicted that Ben would be sent away to boarding school, but he figured that Seuss would be in good company back with his family.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Sara nodded as she heard the breed, smiling at the name, "That's pretty neat, I like goldens." She actually had a soft spot for any dogs that weren't lap dogs, and goldens had beautiful fur to boot. She wondered briefly what colour of fur the dog had, as she knew from experience that goldens had a wide variety of fur colours. However, she heard the question about Cinder and smiled, "Cinder is a two and a half year old Malamute." She knew that the dog wasn't really mistakable for another breed, with his broad face and muscular build, but she was never one to withhold information about the dog. At the mention of his name, the dog glanced back up at her, crooning quietly. Sara smiled at the trait, but quickly rearranged her features and reminded Cinder to "Pax", be quiet.

As the dog responded, Sara looked back at the boy ahead of her, hoping that Cinder hadn't disturbed the mare too much with his action. She remembered having been told about the dog-shy mare when they had, presumably, arrived, but trying to remember the boy's name was proving elusive. She knew the horse was Lady, and the boy... Benton? No, just Ben. That was it. She smiled, looking forward again and slowly released her tight grip on Balian's reins, although she made sure to keep the same distance between themselves and Lady. "So how are you liking Blue Ridge so far?"