Blue Ridge is a fictional town located deep in the heart of Kentucky. It is home to one of the most well known equestrian academies in the United States. Students and staff from all over the world join the academy for what it has to offer. Do you have what it takes to join us and learn from the Academy?
Smilys were made by Sapphire Heaven of LiveJournal.
The mini-profile hover follows a tutorial by Kagney of Adoxography.
Photos in the skin used under CC from Flickr.
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 2, 2017 19:43:02 GMT -8
After spending half an hour of running up and down the bleachers by the field, Finn sat down on the bottom step catching his breath while drinking water. As he was sitting there, he noticed a spider making its way across the top of the fence in front of him. He place the bottle down beside him and took his camera from his bag.
Keeping an eye on the location of the spider, he removed the lens cap and turned the camera on and aimed it toward the arachnid and clicked. He didn't normally take photos of bugs - but it had caught his eye. He lifted his attention from the spider and looked out across the field, to see if there was anything else he could photograph. Sure, it could be seen as a little creepy to be taking random photos of people without their knowledge, but there was something almost magical of capturing a moment in time, especially when the subject wasn't aware that their actions were being caught.
She had spent the entire day walking around the buildings, still trying to acclimatize to her new surroundings and ticking off the boxes for everything that she needed to settle before she could relax: unpack, get Finn settled, find out where everything is but now all the boxes were ticked she didn't know what to do with herself so she found herself strolling around the field.
Scout strolled around the track at her own pace admiring the scenery and looking around the sports field. She walked around to the bleachers when she noticed a boy holding a camera looking a way from her. She pulled her lips into her usual half smile as she got closer to the boy, now was a good a chance as any to make a new friend or acquaintance... or enemy but she truly hoped not- she couldn't be bothered hating anyone and b**chy fights were just not her thing.
"You know, some people really don't like the idea of some random guy watching them with a camera" She said jokingly as she sat down at the step above where the boy was, her body slouched casually on the steps as she looked around.
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 4, 2017 16:44:57 GMT -8
Finn smirked at the girl's words, though the smirk was gone before he turned around to address her. "That is true, but people are more natural when they don't know the camera is aimed at them." He gave her a wolfish grin. "And I've been around for a couple of years now, so I lost the random person title, and people that aren't new kind of expect me to be around somewhere with my camera."
He reached down for his water bottle and took a sip, pulling a face as he wished there was something a little stronger in there than just water. He looked her up and down as he assessed her from where she was sitting; she was the right height to be a gymnast, but not well enough toned to be one. Sure, she was in really good shape, she wasn't a gym-rat. "I'm Finn." He said with a smile as he extended his hand.
Scout nodded her head in agreement to the boy's reasoning. When he finished his explanation she laughed under her breath "Well...note to self- get used to the appearance of Camera Boy" jokingly saying the last word as if saying a superhero name.
Scout faced ahead and ignoring the boy eying her up and down in her peripheral vision and trying not to show her annoyance. Turning back to the boy when he finished assessing her with her eyebrow raised and her facial expression flickering between annoyed and amused as he raised his hand and introduced himself but she couldn't help the smile that flickered onto her face when he said his name; reminding her of the gelding that was most likely snoozing away in his stall at the barn.
"Really? cool. That's my boy's name" and added jokingly, wondering how this Finn would react "but he is way better looking." and she sat up to shake his hand "I'm Scout"
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 5, 2017 13:51:17 GMT -8
He grinned at her joke. "You're just lucky that a cape would get in the way of my other activities." He shot back playfully. "Spandex and I are well acquainted though."
He arched his eyebrows at the mention of her boy having the same name as him and smirked at her her next words. "Ah yes, but can he do an Arabian double punch front?" He flashed her another wolfish grin as he shook her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Are you liking the campus so far?" He'd already worked out that she wasn't a gymnast so now was the time to get to know her.
Scout let out a laugh at his humour but was slightly confused about what he meant about the spandex, her mind wandering to some quite rude images of what he could have meant.
Her eyes scrunched up slightly when he mentioned a double punch front, trying to remember where she had heard that from until she started putting the pieces together "Is that gymnastics?" she asked "and if so... well you never know, maybe Finn likes to impress the mares with his amazing gymnastic skills when I'm not looking." Her shoulders shrugged mischievously as the weird idea of a cartwheeling horse came into her mind.
"It's nice to meet you too." She dipped her head in politeness and answered him with a slight laugh of amazement "Oh yeah, I'm loving this place." adding softly "It's already starting to feel like home".
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 6, 2017 12:15:38 GMT -8
He grinned and nodded when she guessed the correct sport as, heaven forbid, she might have thought he'd been talking about cheerleading. He shuddered at the thought! And then laughed at the idea of a horse doing a tumbling pass while outside and no one was watching. "Maybe someone should suggest that Ms Carr has cameras installed so she can keep an eye on what the horses get up to." He smirked at the thought and arched an eyebrow as he tried to picture it and shook his head.
He grinned as he nodded. "Yeah, this place is far enough away from the real world to easily become home." He agreed with another nod. "English or Western rider?"
Scout laughed along with Finn. Moving her legs underneath her on the steps to get into a more relaxed position, making herself comfortable as she talked "Well, it isa good idea. You never know what they get up to when they're alone."
She sat back and scratch at the ground with her fingernail. Glad that she managed to talk to someone and getting along with him, hopefully everyone else she would talk to here would be the same. "I'm an English rider - me and Finn do show jumping and cross country but endurance is our thing. Before we came here we loved travelling and competing in endurance shows for fun. I just love it. What about you?" curious at what the boy would say and wanting to find out more about her new acquaintance.
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 7, 2017 11:55:09 GMT -8
Finna laughed as she agreed to the cameras. "Until they work out they're being watched and start acting like us humans think they are supposed to be." He guessed he could put his creative mind down to being a gymnast, but who really cared?
He grabbed the towel from his bag and wiped his forehead. It wasn't hot, but he could still feel the perspiration building from his run. "English rider here." He replied with a grin. "I think my father would have an aneurythm if I told him I wanted to ride western." His eyes sparkled with mischief at finding out how his father would really react. "I am being encouraged" with the dinky air quotes, "to excell in dressage in case I flop in gymnastics..." He shrugged. "However, most people that flop in gymnastics, don't generally get to simply walk away from the sport and pick up another." If he left the high adrenaline sport, it would be because had an injury that prevented him form doing it anymore. Unlike the females of the sport, he still had a good ten years until he peaked.
Scout listened intently as he talked. Her eyebrow perked up amused when she saw a mischievous glint in his eye as he spoke about his father "Oh, is your dad one of those..." she trailed off in her sentence her tone bordering slight disgust before finishing her sentence when she realised he might not catch on to where her mind had went "you know, one of those pushy parents that fling their kid into some club or sport and then talk about their success with their parent buddies?" She noticed that she could have sounded blunt and forward but she honestly didn't care and she was glad that her parents weren't anything like that.
Scout listened to him as he talked about gymnastics "So Gymnastics is your thing, huh? Gotta say I've never met a male gymnast before" she looked him up and down like he had done to her previously, his body was all muscled but not in what she would consider a stereotypical jock body but now that she thought about it he did look quite 'gymnasticy' as stupid as that sounded.
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 7, 2017 12:47:34 GMT -8
He snapped the fingers of his right hand and nodded as she seemed to hit the nail right on the head with her assessment of his father. "Spot on!" He replied with a grin. "My father is all about looking good, so as you can imagine, I do my best to uphold his idea of what I should be, while planning on how I can tick him off. His grin deepened. "The best I've done is sent the car away that comes to pick my up at the beginning of holidays. Oh I'm such the rebel!" He rolled his eyes at his own joke, without laughing at it.
He shrugged and stretched his arms above his head. "Hey, I can take my shirt off if you want to check out my six pack?" He did laugh that time, as he had no interest in removing his shirt, it was way too cold for that. "What about you, what your thing, outside of endurance riding?
She nudged his shoulder to grab his attention away from talking about his dad, her smile becoming mischievous and even borderline dangerous as she let out a low chuckle "Well if you ever wanted to find a better way of annoying your dad come and find me and I'll write you a list." Scout said jokingly but in her head she was already making a list. The boy in front of her seemed like a genuinely nice guy and he didn't deserve to have, what her dad would call- "a total douchewad" for a parent.
She smirked at the idea of him taking off his shirt "Nah, maybe some other time" struggling to stay serious she let out a laugh, Lying back on her elbows as she thought- what was her thing?, sure she loved horse riding but it wasn't what she would consider her thing. Eyebrows scrunched up softly as she spoke "Erm.. I don't know. I mean I just like being up and about, you know? I do anything- riding, art, track..." she looked over at the boy beside her, her voice turning back to her using joking self "...or grace everyone with my presence and lovely personality.
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 8, 2017 11:15:49 GMT -8
His eyebrows arched at her offer and he nodded his head. "I shall have to take you up on that one." He said with another nod, his green eyes sparkling with unplanned mischief. He was still looking into photography courses, and wondered if he should have dropped drama that year and done art instead... he'd have to have a word with the art teacher at some point, put out feelers so to speak.
He grinned when she turned down his offer and then joined in with her laughter, so pleased that she had taken it the way he'd intended rather than raising her hands and backing away. Sure, he was cocky, but friends outside the gym were actually in need. He tipped his head to the side as she spoke, eyebrows rising when it seemed she didn't have any one thing she thought she was good at, or had been pressured into. He chuckled "You can grace me with your lovely personality any time you like."
Scout smiled at his offer and purposely repeated his previous words "I shall have to take you up on that one."
She started to feel a slight chill at the back of her arms from sitting still for too long and took a look around the field struggled to see anyone else walking around, maybe she could walk and talk with Finn, he seemed like a charismatic guy and she didn't want to leave him alone just yet. "I don't suppose you want to walk around a bit, my body will turn to stone if I sit here any longer." she finished jokingly but it was partially true, that was the thing about Scout she hated being still for too long. She stretched out her legs, groaning slightly at the stiffness of them before getting up.
She looked at her companion and put her hands in her front pockets casually asking "So apart from...you know, gymnastics, riding and 'Camera Boy', what else do you do for fun 'round here?"
Post by Fionn Paquet on Feb 8, 2017 12:12:53 GMT -8
He laughed when she used his words back at him, though he wasn't going to be corny enough to use the line from Casablanca about the start of a wonderful friendship... way too corny for him.
He arched his eyebrows at her next words. "That could be something worth watching." He replied. "Though I'm not against the idea of walking and talking." He returned his camera and towel to his bag as he shouldered it and rose to his feet, bouncing up and down to get the blood flowing through his legs once again.
He pressed his lips together and grinned. "Gymnastics is pretty much it." He replied with a shrug. "Except on Sundays, we get that day off." He gave another shrug, as he couldn't imagine life being any other way, and walked across the track to the grass of the field, where he dropped the bag to the ground; he'd pick it up on his way out. "The trails are really nice, good photo opportunities, good for endurance too. On or off the horse."