I Did It My Way

[Katherine Lorelia]

The blonde giggled. "You know, when I heard that boys have a one track mind, this wasn't quite how I interpreted it!" Green was a nice enough colour, of course; not her own favourite- one only had to look at her wardrobe to work that out- but one that she probably wouldn't mind wearing. It was supposed to be calming or something, wasn't it? And there were certainly times when she could do with a little more serenity in her life. She didn't know if she'd know in advance, though, and so she'd have to just wear green all the time on the off-chance, which... didn't sound too great.

"She's just a mare," Kitty responded with a shrug- so far as she was concerned, that was all that needed to be said. "Sure, you can knock down poles... But there'll come a point where I just decide to stop picking them up." Glancing back over her shoulder, she grinned at the boy. "Your choice."

[Caspian Collins]

Cass laughed, which turned into a grimace as he felt the pinch in his leg again. "I aim to please." She said with another laugh, doing his best to ignore his leg as he was enjoying the ride and ending it because his leg hurt sounded like such a cop-out to him.

He gave her a grin as she glanced at him. "Trust me, we'll do our best not to knock any poles. The quieter the better in my opinion, less likely to draw a crowd." He absentmindedly rubbed his leg, and when he became aware that he was doing it he sighed. "Oh, tour guide? Would we be able to make our way home?" He'd tell her about his leg if he asked, he just didn't want it to be an excuse.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty nodded solemnly. "And I assure you that you do," she returned with a grin, even though the boy couldn't see it. After all, you still smiled when you were talking to someone on the phone, didn't you? Although to be fair, the Irish girl generally used the video chat function in any case- she liked to see who it was that she was talking to. And ha;f the time it was her family, in which case it was the only way that she was likely to see them for months at a time.

"Hear, hear," the blonde concurred heartily. "The fewer you knock down, the fewer I have to pick up again." Not that Kitty minded it, of course- she'd done far harder things in her time. The tricky bit would be preventing herself from slipping into the teaching that she'd used to do with the child riders back home. "And sure, we can go back!" She applied a little pressure to her reins, turning her gelding in a tight circle until she could look her new friend in the eye and giving him a cheeky wink.

[Caspian Collins]

Cass arched an eyebrow, trying to work out whether she was taking the mickey or not, but then decided he really didn't care either way, her company was enjoyable.

"That too." He agreed with a nod, and as he'd said, the less people to notice what he was doing, the better. His shoulders dropped in relief when she made no fuss about heading back, and he halted Slick as she began turning her Mammoth around, ducking his head at her wink, as he could feel his cheeks heating up. "Lead on, McDuff." He said as he asked the Mustang to step to the slide ever so slightly to give the other pair the room to pass them and then with the other rein against the gelding's neck, he asked Slick to turn around, completely leaving the horse to do his job, and patted his shoulder when they were facing the other direction.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Of course Kitty wasn't being sarcastic; the thought never so much as occurred to her. Sarcasm, except of the friendliest and most benign type, was alien to her personality, and she frequently failed entirely to recognise it when it was visited upon her by other people.

"With pleasure," she returned amiably, moving Pride gently forwards past the other horse with a sociable nod to its rider and setting off back down the track. "Nice day for it, anyway." Well, it was no better and no worse than a lot of days that they'd had, but Kitty was in a good mood, and the whole world seemed beautified to her.

[Caspian Collins]

Cass leaned back in the saddle a little as he gave the gelding his head to work their way back down the trail, while also doing his best to make sure the Mustang wasn't following the other horse's path, as the ground would be less stable after one horse had stepped on it, let alone two. "It's a lovely day for this." He agreed with a grin as his eyes swept the area. "Again, thank you for being my guide." He kind of had the feeling that he'd be going on a lot of guided tours for a while, at least until his mother stopped feeling the need to check up on him every half hour.

He push his foot into the stirrup as Slick came to a sudden halt, seeming to have taken offense to a branch hanging out over the trail. "Dude! You passed that not too long ago going the other way." He rolled his eyes as the gelding stretched up to lip at the leaf and then grew bored of it as he returned his attention to the trail.

[Katherine Lorelia]

"Not at all," the blonde insisted, leaving the gelding to work his own way down the familiar track as she turned in her saddle to face the boy behind her. "It's always way more fun riding with other people anyway!" Otherwise, it could very much feel like a donkey ride at the seaside, and she felt that her abilities were just a little beyond that point by now. "And if you ever fancy coming out again, I'd love to come with you." She paused to duck under a low-hanging branch which Pride had evidently failed to spot, and laughed as the boy's horse took issue with the leaves. "But the other side wasn't scary..."

[Caspian Collins]

Cass rolled his eyes, of course the branch looked scarier from the other side. "Yeah." He replied with a nod. "It is a little more Loch Ness Monster-like from this side." He added with a twinkle in his eye.

It wasn't much longer before they were back at the barns and Cass asked Slick to halt. His leg ached more than he wanted to admit, though he guessed that riding his horse straight into his stall would be a hug no-no; as it was as most barns. This meant that he was just going to have to man-up and dismount. "Sound have taught you to lie down so I could dismount too." He joked as he rubbed Slick's neck and then worked his right foot from the stirrup and kicked the left free as well. Rubbing the gelding's neck again, he drew in a deep breath, leaned forward and went through the process of swinging his good leg over the back of the saddle and then rested over the saddle as he thought about how he was going to do this, and mentally kicked himself for not already removing the offending limb.

Dropping to the ground, he grunted at the impact and then with as much pride as he could muster, led the gelding into the barn and down to his stall.