Jaime Elizabeth Davies (finder) wrote in instorm, @ 2017-06-27 15:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | jaime davies, john spencer |
Lazy Days
Who: Jaime, John
What: Chatting
When: July 1, later morning
Where: Seastar Stables
Status: Complete, gdoc
While beach riding was fun, she could do without the sun. It seemed like no matter how much sunscreen she put on, she wound up missing spots and getting burned. Usually in weird patches that had sort of finger-trails through them. Clearly she needed someone else to do this for her, but ... well, at least she wasn't totally burned. This time, she'd managed to cover her face, but there was a pink streak along her forearm that she'd somehow missed. At least it wasn't a bad burn. Heading into the aisle with Rocket, she untacked him, reminding herself to bring her saddle home to clean it; they'd gone a little deeper in the water than she'd meant to and some of the leather was a little salty now. Once he was stripped, Jaime led him to the wash stall to hose him off, making sure to rinse the sand out of his feathers. Spraying off his belly, she washed the rest of his back before scraping him off. She figured she'd take him out to graze so he could dry, and in this sunny heat, it wouldn't take too long. Clipping his lead to his halter, she led him out to the grassy area past the parking lot, letting him graze while she looked around curiously to see if anyone was around. If not, she figured she'd watch the horses in the turnout paddock in case they were doing anything more interesting than grazing. _____ John had taken care of most of the things he wanted to accomplish earlier that morning. His hours were generally pretty flexible and on hot summer days, he found it was better to come in early and get the outside part of his job done while the sun wasn’t beating down on him. There was also the fact that he liked having the majority of his day free, but mostly it was so he didn’t overheat. He was heading towards the parking lot to throw some tools back into his truck when he saw Rocket and Jaime. He knew most of the horses better than their owners, but there were a few owners he knew enough to chat with. “Hey,” he greeted, lifting his hand in a wave as he approached. “Helping to make sure I don’t have to mow?” He asked teasingly. _____ Jaime glanced over to the voice and laughed faintly. “Figured I could shave a few bucks off my board if I put him to work,” she agreed. Given that, prior to owning her own horse, she’d been riding here most weekends, she was familiar enough with the staff. She’d only been a boarder for a few months, though it was nice being able to just come in whenever and have a guaranteed ride. Owning a horse was different from just renting them occasionally, but so far so good and she wasn’t going to complain about it. She hadn’t had any idea what he dad had had planned for her 30th, and she almost wondered if he’d been asking around about what sort of horse she liked or something. He’d made a good choice though. Rocket suited her. “Hear it’s supposed to be super gross tomorrow,” she replied. Talking about the weather was, admittedly, lame, but it was a topic to chat about if he was inclined to chat. For all she knew, he was on his way somewhere – he was working, after all. “Same temperature but with a spike in the humidity.” She grimaced. “I thought coastal places were supposed to be immune to that.” ____ “I’ll put in a good word for you when we hold our secret whose boarding price should we discount meeting,” he assured her with a light grin. He’d always thought it was sort of nice that Jaime wound up having a horse here after renting for so long. He briefly glanced around when she mentioned the weather, as if he might be able to see the rising humidity even as they spoke. “I guess we’re just lucky that it’s not snowing,” he replied with a soft laugh. “Although I might pick snow over humidity,” he added thoughtfully. _____ She grinned. “You know there are places in the world it only snows in winter?” She paused. “Well sometimes early spring.” Here though … random blizzards were just a thing that was part of the Stormvale way of life. She didn’t mind though; it wasn’t like anyone had to worry about shoveling if it happened in summer because it would just melt away, and snow in the middle of summer was kind of nice. “But yeah, I’d rather have the snow than humidity. You can’t breathe. Even on the beach when there’s a breeze, if it’s humid it’s still gross,” she continued. “Plus, snowball fights if it snows,” she added with a grin. She almost always got dragged into those by virtue of being the friend of the sister of the cryogenetic who of course loved the snow. She moved slightly as Rocket shifted to another patch of grass and she leaned lightly against his bulk. ______ “Only snows in Winter?” He gave her a doubtful look, sucking in his cheeks slightly. “Sounds like crazy talk to me.” With a soft laugh, he shrugged his shoulders. “Actually my dad reminds us of that fact every time it snows when it’s not supposed to. “There’s definitely more fun things to do in the snow. Snowmen, drinking hot chocolate, cuddling by the fire. No one wants to cuddle when it’s humid,” he shook his head solemnly. He watched her lean against her horse and grinned lightly. “Do you use a stepstool to get into the saddle?” He asked innocently. _______ “I thought so too but apparently it’s a legit thing,” she replied solemnly before she grinned and shook her head slightly. “I never mind though. It’s a nice break and fun for tourists to wonder just how it’s going on.” She shook her head. “No, definitely not,” she agreed. “I don’t even really like riding when it’s humid. I always feel bad making him work at all in the heat when we can’t even breathe right.” She always came over to hose him down though, and to turn the fan on in his stall. Shaking her head to the question, she grinned. “Nah. He kneels like a proper gentleman,” she assured him with a quiet laugh. ____ “No, I actually kind of like it,” he agreed. Sometimes it made things a little tricky, especially if the stable wasn’t expecting snow, but they usually worked it out. He’d always loved snow days as a kid and they were still pretty fun now. “That’s very polite of him,” he laughed quietly, giving a playful nod of approval to Rocket. “Are you going to the fair?” He asked conversationally. He should get back to work soon -- even though he was about done -- and he didn’t want to keep her if she had somewhere else to be, but she didn’t seem to be in a rush. _____ She nodded; she did, too. Despite getting dragged into snowball fights. A quiet chuckle crossed her lips. “Well, apparently my dad paid extra for him to go through etiquette classes,” she joked. Rocket, of course, was pretty much ignoring both of them as he assaulted the grass with his teeth. She nodded again to the question. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Friend of mine’s sort of dragging me along,” she replied. Not that it was really dragging - she wanted to go. But Cassi knew too much lately and she had a feeling she’d fallen firmly into the realm of Cassi’s match-making radar. That wasn’t going to end well, at all. So she was a little hesitant to agree to whatever Cassi was cooking up and she didn’t doubt she was going to be wound up in a position to hang out with Damon. She really should’ve kept her mouth shut. “Are you going? Or … fireworks?” Not that the fireworks were tonight but she figured the whole town turned out for the fireworks on the 4th. _____ “Maybe he’ll rub off on a few of the horses around here. I don’t want to shame anyone, but we’ve got some very unrefined horses,” he sighed solemnly, shaking his head lightly. “That’s tragic. I hate when my friends drag me fun places,” he teased gently, but he figured he knew what she meant and if she wasn’t really interested in going, then she wouldn’t. “But yeah, I am. Probably to both. Although I might just sneak up to the roof of my apartment to watch the fireworks unless someone drags me out,” he grinned, shrugging his shoulders lightly. _____ “Maybe, but I bet he’d make them pay for the classes. Only seems fair, right?” She chuckled, moving along as Rocket sought out another patch of grass. “If I hadn’t already agreed to the whole shebang, I’d probably do the same. I can see over the water just fine from my backyard. Not a lot of trees in the way or anything. But it’s … I don’t know. Nicer out with the crowd on the beach.” Or at the high school on the bleachers, too, but they were doing the beach this year. “Makes it feel more festive.” It only happened once a year, after all. _____ “Of course. He’s polite but still a wise business man. Business horse,” he corrected himself with amusement. “Well, maybe I’ll see you at the fair or the fireworks. I should probably get back to work,” he said with a feigned sigh. He lifted his hand in a wave before starting back towards the stables to finish up his tasks for the day. ____ “Maybe,” she agreed with a quiet laugh. And she didn’t doubt if she saw him at either place, she’d say hey, maybe hang out if he was inclined. Or drag him into whatever group she was roaming with; Cassi tended to attract all kinds of crowds though Jaime was rarely the big crowd sort. “See you later,” she offered, lifting a hand in a wave before shifting her attention to Rocket. Running her fingers over his damp fur, she figured she’d give him another ten minutes before tucking him away and getting on with her day. |