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 Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:14 pm
He had heard through passing whispers in the halls of LOTUS that one of his comrades, Shane, had made it to Rank One. He was happy for the Irishman, but also a bit worried for himself. Those same whispers spoke of having to fight with Wraith, Shee's brother, in order to test your skills and see if you are fit to move on. That was what worried him the most. Lai was more on the gentle side and he had no real fighting skills other than his cousin showing him how to throw a punch. All in all, Lai was not a brawler, but after some thought he figured some self defense couldn't hurt to have, even if he would ever only use it to rank up against Wraith.
It was afternoon and Lai was talking the long walk from his room to the training grounds, thinking of how he should start his little workout regime. He hadn't looked for books or anything on physical training, but he figured a little trial and error and just leaping into something wouldn't hurt too much. He was dressed in what he thought would be good for training; a clean pair of pajama pants, his slip on shoes, and a loose, solid colored long sleeve shirt. Due to the cold he would fold the sleeves up when he got to his destination, the training facility was heated a lot better than the window lined hallways of the compound.
"Just around here I believe...Ah! There it is." Lai hadn't been down to the facility since that time with Einar and he had just about forgotten where its exact location could be. Of course, the room was easily miss-able, the wall was far back and the doors were sunken in a bit as well, plus there was no sign directing those doors as the ones to the training room. There was a small plaque, but those not looking for it could and would miss it.
Lai was looking at the plaque as he opened the door, wondering idly if a large one was going to be made to replace that small one. He shrugged and turned to shut the door, believing no one to be there right now.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:26 am
At the end of the practice field was a horse and beside it a person. The figure was standing on the left side of the horse and in his left hand he was holding the reins. Placing his left hand near the withers of the horse, he slid his foot into the stirrup then placed his right hand on the front of the saddle. Then springing lightly he slid into the saddle with ease. Once upon the saddle Abel gently applied pressure against Cosette with his right leg, immediately she began turning left. Then giving a gentle pull on the rein he brought her to walk, her steps gave off a four beat pace. About halfway around the training ground the equine automatically began to speed up to a trot and then a canter. He made no motion to stop her. It was her fun day anyways; he had left her alone in that despicable stall for the past two days.
The horse was a French Trotter. Thus she moved with grace and Abel hardly bounced in his seat. Her strides were long and gentle, akin to that of a mild wind. While appearance wise she wasn’t very aesthetic, that was quite alright with Abel. In fact, little things like her slightly larger than normal head made her all the more endearing to the male. After all, the French Trotter was bred for function, not appearance. If he wanted a pretty horse he would have bought himself one, not picked one off a battle field.
As Cosette was nearing her second lap, Abel drew her to a stop. He had seen the door open to the training ground that meant someone was entering. He had planned this evening such that he could ride her in solitude; spend some quality time with her. The sudden stop Abel had drawn her to agitated the equine. Who was quite full of energy. Flaring her nostril she stamped her hooves against the floor, her ears flattening against her head ever so slightly and pulled in protest against the rein. The male’s attention had been so focused on the opening door he was caught by surprise when the rein was ripped from his hands. To the lack grip Cosette took joy and immediately began to trot once more.
Abel fumbled with his hands until he caught the rein again and instead of stopping her again, he simply let her have it her way. She was enjoying herself immensely, almost like a convict released from jail. He would feel horrible if he took that away from here. Better to let her tire herself out. As they passed by the door he caught sight of the person responsible for ruining the quality time he was going to spend with Cosette. His ice blue eyes gazed coldly at the usurper. It was a male, he was tall, like himself, yet his hair was a mouse brown and his eyes grey. Turning his head he looked in front of him as the horse passed up Lai.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:58 am
Even before he fully entered the facility Lai was perfectly aware he was not alone there today. The sounds he heard were peculiar but he had heard them before. The thing was, what were they doing in the LOTUS compound? Clearly that sound was hoof beats, and though he had not been around a horse in a long time, the sound was unmistakable.
The Russian entered slowly, in case there was such an animal in there as a prank from someone, he did not want to spook it. He could hear it pick up speed which made him freeze up a bit, it sounded like it was coming towards the door which would be bad luck for him. Then he heard it come to a stop, snort, then move again but slower. Lai decided this would probably be a good time to go in there, assess the situation, then report it to someone if it was a tack-less horse romping around inside. The Russian stepped in but recoiled as the horse passed in front of him. He got a good enough view to see that it was saddled and bridled and that there was a rider on it. The horse's rider looked at him with cold blue eyes that appeared to call him 'intruder'. Lai flinched but did not leave. Afterall, he had come down here to use the facility's training and exercise area (which was free for anyone to use whether anyone was there or not) and there was the fact he was curious as to how the light haired man got the horse in here with no one noticing. That was quite the puzzlement.
He shut the door and slipped off to the left and close to the wall since it appeared that Abel would be going around in a similar passing fashion and Lai did not want to be accidentally sideswiped by the animal. He still couldn't believe LOTUS had a stable, let alone horses, but then again Lai still hadn't covered the entire compound on his walks. Lai paused at the door to the exercise room just to watch horse and rider. The man seated astride the dark colored animal was young like he was, maybe aged a year or few months younger or older than he, but Lai was sure he had never seen this man before anywhere in LOTUS. His manner of dress was odd, and the Russian had a feeling he had seen an outfit like that somewhere before...
Hm...Maybe in a book. A history text most likely.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:29 pm
With the reins held firmly in place between his little finger and third finger, across the palm of the hand, and out over the top of the index finger. His thumbs placed upon the top of the reins. This time Abel was properly prepared should Cosette decide to do as she willed. This certain grip was actually the proper way to hold a rein and when done properly could prevent the reins from slipping out between one’s fingers no matter how hard an equine pulled.
They were half way around the facility from the door now, a good fifty feet away from Lai’s current position. While Abel did not try to show it, the brooding of his mind quietly crept up onto his face. He was bothered by Lai. His clothes were nothing he had encountered before and his expression upon seeing Cosette was not a welcoming one. It was one of… what was the word? Surprise and confusion. In fact, if the man attacked right now while he was riding Cosette there was no way he could ensure the safety of Cosette. It was obvious that the man did not have a musket, but if he possessed a small knife or pistol that would surely be more than enough to kill the pretty little equine [especially a pistol].
Cosette as if sensing the unease of her master took a few steps backwards snorted and then threw back her head to shake her mane, her obsidian coat shining against the artificial lights. Quickly emerging from the crevices of his mind Abel tightened his grip on the rein. Gently rubbing the horse on the withers, he didn’t stop until he felt her at complete ease under him. As they rounded beside Lai once more, he gently squeezed the reins and applied small pressure with his legs. This brought her to a halt. Taking his booted feet out of both stirrups, he put the rein in his left hand and then gently leaned on the equine’s neck for support. Leaning forward slightly, he put his right hand on the pommel of the saddle, and quietly swung his right leg over the back of the horse so that he landed squarely on his feet on the nearside of the horse.
Then standing beside her with the reins in his hand bowed. This was his introduction. It was not verbal, only action.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:55 pm
The Russian could not make out the expression on the newcomer's face, but something about the way he sat made Lai think he was not pleased the brown haired man was there. The horse seemed to sense this feeling about its rider and it acted as horses do, sensitive animals that they were. He turned slightly to see if the door to the room was locked, but the movement of the rider calming his mount drew him back.
He has a good hand at horsemanship it appears. It calmed right down.
Again he made to turn to the door and go into to start his own exercising, but the approach of the horse drew him back to it. Lai moved back as the animal drew near, now that he had a good look at it, it was quite a large one and probably big for its breed as well. Lai slipped into the doorway just as Abel halted the horse's gait to a full stop and dismounted. He figured the man would ask him why he was here and his intentions, maybe ask not to tell about the horse or say that Wraith already knew of it. Whatever it may be Lai would explain he would just be going into the other room and not bother this man and his horse in the slightest. In fact, he would even shut the door just so his workout noise would not cause the animal any distraction.
At least, that was what he figured. As the man bowed, Lai followed a moment's hesitation after with a bow of his own. Even in his makeshift exercise outfit, he could still be as formal and polite as the uniformed man. The man did not give a verbal greeting but Lai did as he stood back up.
"Good afternoon comrade." He tossed in a small smile for good measure, hopefully the man before him would not see him as a bother or whatever he determined Lai was then.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:17 am
A small frown formed upon the Frenchman’s face as Lai spoke. It had never occurred to him that he might not understand what the other male would say. In fact, Abel had never considered the fact that in this whole compound he might be the only one who spoke French! Let alone understand the gibberish this man was speaking. Reaching into the coat pocket of his uniform he pulled out a small note pad and a pencil whose eraser end was in splinters. Flipping the cover of the pad, he opened to the first page. The page was cream in color and about two by three inches in dimension and covered in various detailed doodles and elegant writing. Quickly flipping through the first couple of pages he finally found a page that wasn’t marked. With the pencil he wrote light crisp letters. They of course were in French.
Je ne vous comprends pas. Je m'excuse. Vous êtes le nom est Geau D’Afeterneaux de la Comrad ? Je suis Abel Lahorie.
The phrases’ translation was a rather simple one. Not that Lai would understand what the blue eyed dandy was trying to ‘say’. It read simply: I do not understand you. I apologize. You’re name is Geau D’Afeterneaux de la Comrad? I am Abel Lahorie.
Taking the pencil and notepad he held it out for Lai to read and maybe even write back a response. If the male understood the writing that meant he could read and write in French even if he couldn’t speak it, it would still be a means of conversing even if it was a bit inefficient and slow. If the brown hair man’s face showed an expression of curiosity or frustration, he probably could not read, write or speak French. In that case they would end up with having a slight problem.
Since the real reason he had confront Lai was to request that the man not report Cosette being in the training compound. He wasn’t sure of the rules of the building regarding animals but it was the only area he saw fit to take Cosette riding. The library was definitely out before it even entered the list of possible areas, certainly not the garden as there would be too many people, and he had wanted to look inside the facility since he had been given a residence in LOTUS.
After all, ever since he had been discharged from the army about eight months ago [give or take a few weeks], he had never gotten around to restarting his practices for improving his aim with a musket. In fact he was a quite terrible shot [often shooting several yards to the left or right of the mark]. Of course, his lacking skills for firearms was easily backed up by his genius with a sword. His expertise lay with the slender rapier, a skill taught from the man who was his father and yet was not. He had in fact inherited General Lahorie’s rapier when the man was executed for plotting against the Napoleon… but only because that was all he could give him. Victor Lahorie could not give Abel a title, wealth or even a sign of affection; instead he had taught the boy how to survive during a war. Of course that rapier was not something he had on him right now. It was instead with Juliette to help her feel closer to him when she was lonely… He would have to somehow procure another one later.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:12 am
He saw the frown and automatically thought he had done something wrong. The man probably did come over here to assert that he had been here first or some such thing. Or, maybe, he did not understand him, understand English. Automatically Lai's mind went to Hyo, the little Korean girl who was currently under his tutorship for the English language. She had been making progress and they were already stepping into Lai's curriculum, which was three-fourths planned and one-fourth make up as you go along and improvise if need be. He was brought back to the person at hand as the man pulled out a note pad. Maybe it was like Hyo's cloth scroll and had simple phrases in English and whatever language this man spoke. Somewhere in Lai's mind a little voice said 'I hope so'.
He watched the man write something down and Lai was polite not to try and lean over to see what it was. It wasn't long as he was handed the pad, Lai gently taking it with a smile, turning it around, and trying to read it. It wasn't this man's handwriting that caused his expression to fall, it was the language the writing was in; French. Lai did not know French at all, save for the names of a few French recipes and meal names. Not to leave the man curious as to what his reply was, Lai looked up at him with a sad smile and shook his head.
I do not understand, I cannot speak French.
Lai looked back down at the paper, maybe he could find some words that looked the same or similar to English words and he could possibly roll with the punches on this one. He looked over the note in his hand once more.
'Ne' I think is 'no'. 'Comprends' could be 'comprehend'. Okay, so this man does not understand me, he does not speak English. Fair enough. 'M'excuse'....Hm...'Excuse' as in 'Excuse me'? Maybe... The third sentence confused him, he couldn't figure out what the Frenchman was trying to say there. Though judging by the way he has that 'Geau' part capitalized he may think that is my name. Last sentence...I think that is his name, his introduction.
Lai looked up, and pointed to Abel. "Abel...Lahorie?" Best to clarify, just to be sure. He waited for the man to give some sign and when he did Lai nodded. The Russian held the notepad out and with the pencil gently pointed to what he figured Abel thought was his name, before pointing to himself.
"Geau D`Afeterneaux de la Comrad?" Do you think this is me? Lai shook his head, hoping he did not entirely butcher this man's language, before placing his hand on his chest, like with Hyo, to signify himself. "Lai Gorgonroff."
There, maybe that would help clear something up. He knew of French members of LOTUS but he was sure they could speak English as well. Wasn't one of the Elites French? Maybe if Lai could find this Elite he could enlist said person to help Abel and translate or teach him. But Lai had to wonder, why was this man writing on paper when he could have just spoken what he had written to the Russian? There was a whole list of possible reasons, but with the language barrier it would be hard to find out.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:38 pm
Abel waited patiently while the other male read the pad. When he was met with a sad smile and the shake of his head, Abel only nodded knowingly. He had expected this. Besides this wasn’t like something he couldn’t handle thought it might get a bit complicated and have both end up with misunderstanding each other… maybe even insulted. No. He could handle this.
He was deep in thought when he heard the brown haired one call his name. The pronunciation was little off but fairly good for a foreigner. When he saw Lai’s hand pointed at himself he nodded immediately. At least this one appeared to be able to put two and two together. He was pretty sure he would have simply walk out the exercise facility if he was asked to clarify to a dumb ape [which this man obviously wasn’t… so far]. In fact there wasn’t even a good valid reason for him to get aggravated over this man, in the end he would be the one stressing out over it in his room. Nothing would be accomplished with that and so far he was pleasant… almost. The thought was a bit inconsiderate but Abel had met his fair share of egg heads in the army. They were easy to get irritated with and there was no use trying to explain to them. They were too stubborn to admit that they might be wrong. Besides, usually he tried to explain he would brush it off and make him suffer for it in the end. Quite literally.
They had thought him quite attractive for a guy. While normally he would have taken that as a compliment on his appearance and maybe given them a strange look. Not that time.
While the other’s pronunciation of his name had been passable when he said Geau D’Afeterneaux de la Comrad… well he could no longer say the same. He had unintentionally winced at Lai’s pronunciation. What was supposed to be said Goo D’Afternu deh la Comrad came out… well… came out strange. He wasn’t even sure that he had said the same thing written on the pad until he saw Lai lift his hand and place it on his chest. Then he said more words. Lai Gorgonroff. Since he had shook his head when saying Geau D’Afeterneaux de la Comrad, perhaps this even stranger word was name. While he wasn’t quite sure he nodded anyway to Lai’s clarification of his identity.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out another sketchpad. This one was somewhat larger. Quite a mystery as to how he even got it to fit in that small pocket. Opening it randomly to a blank page he began to sketch. It was a rough sketch under detailed but one could easily tell what it was. A horse, the one he had written. It was only an image of Cosette’s head but that was fine. It was hardly third-rate art work, closer to something that might have belonged in some famous artist’s notebook. Abel held it i[ for Lai to look at, when he was somewhat sure that the male had gotten a good look he flipped the page over. Looking around the facility he drew another sketch, a man on a horse riding in the facility. This image was more detailed than the first one, but it was necessary or else Lai wouldn’t be able to tell what it was. Once again he held up the image, slightly longer so that male might be able to make the connection that the horse rider in the sketch was the artist himself.
Then for the final image, flipping the page over, he drew a horse being led away by a vague silhouette. The message of the three was simple. DO NOT TELL ANYONE THAT I WAS RIDING COSETTE IN THIS BUILDING. The expression on Abel’s face wasn’t a threatening one it was rather… a pleading one.
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:42 am
Lai saw the wince from Abel as he tried to pronounce the longer French he had spoken. Lai gave him an apologetic glance, only wondering how bad French spoken with a Russian accent had sounded to a full blooded Frenchman. Gently Lai folded the notebook's cover back over the pages and held it and the pencil back to its owner.
He nodded, so I assume he knows now that Geau is not my name. Hopefully...His name should not be too hard to remember though.
Before he knew it Abel had produced yet another sketchpad so Lai brought the one in his hands back to himself, though holding it away from his body. He thought the man was going to write something else, but he was sketching instead. Lai watched with curious expression and was going to lean in slightly to see what Abel was drawing, but before he knew it, the picture was thrust at him. Viewing it he saw it was a horse's head and looked similar in features to the horse the Frenchman had been riding. Before the Russian could nod to show he understood the subject the pad was back to being sketched on. The next image was a man on horseback in what appeared to be the facility. This time he had the space between connecting the images and Abel pulling it back to nod.
Okay, so the horse and then both horse and rider in the training facility...That is both Abel and his steed of course....What is he drawing now?
As Abel held up the final image Lai was gently working the images together in his head. He looked at the horseman's face and saw the pleading look in the man's blue eyes. Lai put the pieces together one by one and came to the conclusion he did not want Lai to tell anyone that he had the horse in the building. The Russian did say he was going to tell someone earlier, but that was if the horse was not saddled and running loose. Since the new recruits had to visit Wraith or Shee at some point, Lai figured they already new of the animal and were fine with it. Plus he must be housing it on the LOTUS grounds, so if that was alright with Shee and her brother it was alright with him. Lai held out the pad he was given once more and put a kind smile on his face that reached his eyes. He nodded to the man, the action and his smile saying 'do not worry, I will not tell'.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:40 pm
Abel let out a sigh of relief as he saw the brown haired one gave off body language that said he would not tell. Closing the larger sketchpad he slid it into his pocket. Then reaching with pale slender fingers Abel took the smaller sketchpad and pencil from Lai and placed them into the same pocket as the first one.
Standing there in front of Lai he finally observed the male completely. He was almost the same height as him, give or take a few centimeters. He had brown almost reddish hair, a beautiful color compared to his rainy day grey ash shade. He felt slight jealousy at his hair but as quickly as it had come it left. He knew it was childish to be jealous over such trivial matters. Lifting his right hand he brushed his bangs with the tip of his fingers to the right side. He would have to get a hair cut soon. Not the back but the bangs, just short enough to get them out of his eyes.
This whole time Cosette had been patiently waiting on her master. Now she was simply agitated that Abel was not introducing her to the young man. Stamping her front feet she walked closer towards the stranger. She lowered her head and gazed at him with chocolate eyes, they were bright and lively. They also told of her high level of intelligence. Liking the warm kindly feeling emitted from this man she ventured closer and nibbled curiously on his clothes. Deeming it unfit for eating she stopped and sniffed his hair. When some of the strands entered and ticked her nose she snorted and hot air was shot at Lai.
Abel chuckled as he rubbed the Trotter’s flank. Cosette did not take to strange people easily, if she was this pleasant around him then he could safely say that this man wasn’t dangerous. Unwrapping the reins from around his wrist he held it loosely for Lai. He was giving the Russian a chance to ride Cosette. If he was an avid horseman the two might meet again, if not that was fine. He simply wouldn’t hold him as high regards as he would a horseman. That was simply the way these things went. In the military no one respected a general who could not stay seated on his equine. It was rudimentary.
He was perfectly prepared to help Lai up onto the horse for his ride even. The least he could do since the other wasn’t going to report Cosette. Sticking his hand into his pants pocket he found a box of sugar cubes, his last one in fact. Only about ten or so left. Opening the top flap of the box he took out two sugar cubes. Then closing the flap he stuck the box pack into his pocket. Reaching for Lai’s hand he placed the cubes on his palm and motioned for him to feed it to Cosette.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:34 pm
Lai was unsure how to continue this encounter, he could only get so far with body language and if the man was mute there was no way he could speak with him. Then there was the fact he could only guess what the writing in French could mean and even then he could guess wrong. He had a feeling that Abel would want to ride his horse again, so he was about to pantomime that he would go into the exercise room but the horse seemed to want to greet Lai as well.
As the horse approached Lai turned, unsure of what it was doing until it bent its long head and stared at him before sampling his clothes. When it seemed to find the fabric unfit to eat and started sniffing at his hair, a smile appeared on Lai's face. At the jet of hot air hit him he started laughing, he slowly reached up and out and petted the horse's face and nose. It was a smart animal, and quite pleasant, and the Russian found himself liking it.
"Hello there." He said as his laughter subsided into a soft chuckling. "You are quite the friendly one, are you not?" Lai looked back to the animal's master and found himself looking at the reins that were held out to him. Was Abel giving him the okay to ride his horse? It looked that way. Lai had no formal training for horsemanship, but he did go on a sort of trail ride one summer when he was fourteen and he did not want to offend the young man by declining his offer. The Russian smiled and took his hands from the animal to the reins. Since he was right dominant, he would have to be on the animal's left side to get on. Before he could walk to that side Abel handed him the cubes of sugar.
"...Oh!" He flattened hand with the cubes out and held it beneath the horse's mouth, memory saying that was the right way to feed a handful of what have you to a horse. When the cubes were devoured, he patted the nose of the horse gently again and moved to the left side. Before he put his left foot in the stirrup, he turned to Abel and pointed to him.
"Abel." He then pointed to himself. "Lai." Finally he placed a hand on the horse's withers and gave him a politely puzzled look, asking for the name of the animal. If you had the name, you could better control the thing the name was attached to, which would be good for this sort of experience.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:41 pm
Abel watched with a scrutinizing gaze as Lai flattened out his hand and fed Cosette the cubes. So he knew how to feed a horse without getting his fingers chomped off. So he had some knowledge of horses. He watched with an amused look as Lai moved to the left side of Cosette. So he was right dominant. He lacked the confidence exerted by good riders that was alright however. Putting on airs was dangerous especially around animals, especially around Cosette. She was a spirit beast that was up for any challenge her favorite being bucking arrogant riders. Abel however was not of vain nature and had no problems with Cosette regarding bucking.
Abel was checking the leathers to make sure that the saddle would not slide off when Lai called out his name. He looked up with a questioning look but smiled when he saw what Lai was asking. Of course, the equine’s name. Holding out his hand in a gesture of wait for Lai he tightened the leathers and rubbed Cosette’s hind quarters. The horse whinnied in response. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the smaller of the sketchbooks and wrote down a single word.
Cosette
When Lai placed his left foot into the stirrup Abel tapped the Russian’s knee in an attempt to signal him to remove his foot. He planned to lift Lai up onto the saddle. Like what he did for Juliette when she used to be able to ride Cosette. He was going to give Lai a ‘leg up’ as they called it. It was one of two ways to mount a horse for beginners. Abel’s way, ‘leg up’ was when someone helped lift you up into the saddle. It would take the strain off the left hand side of the horse’s back and prevent the left stirrup leather from being stretched longer than the right.
Placing his hands on Lai’s shoulder the Frenchman gently pushed the male closer to Cosette. When he was satisfied of the amount of distance between Lai and Cosette, Abel made gesture of holding the reins in one hand. The left hand. Then with his right hand he patted the waist of the saddle. Lai should place his hand there for support when mounting Cosette. Moving to the left side of Lai again he tapped the male’s knee to bring it up. He demonstrated by lifting his leg up.
When Lai was in position the Frenchman would grab Lai’s knee to push him up onto the saddle.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:26 pm
"Cosette" He spoke the name written down on the paper and nodded. So it was a mare. Okay, that made everything just a little bit better, mares were more docile and less high strung than stallions or geldings. Or so he had been told. Still, better to be safe than sorry, and since he didn't know the nature of Cosette, Lai would have to be careful when astride the horse. The young Russian was preparing to pull himself up onto the saddle when he felt the tap to his knee. He removed his foot with a slightly perplexed look that deepened when Abel pushed him towards Cosette's side.
What on Earth is he...Oh. As Abel's silent instructions came, Lai followed suit. The reins traveled to his left hand while his right lighted on the part of the saddle the Frenchman pointed out. When the tap came to his knee and Abel lifted his, Lai mimicked him. His pajama pant clad leg dangled in mid air, raising up the material slightly to reveal the off-white wool socks he was wearing underneath. He realized then his shoes probably were not the best for riding, but he couldn't rightly go off and come back, the walk would take too long and it was impolite to leave someone waiting.
After looking from his dangling leg to Cosette and then to Abel, Lai then remembered the expression 'giving someone a leg up'. He nodded as that dawned on him, the Frenchman was giving him a leg up onto his horse for whatever reasons. He could comply to that, he just hoped he wouldn't kick Cosette on his way up. Surely she, along with her master, would not be gracious if that happened.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:27 pm
Gently pushing the Russian up into the saddle by his knee, Abel watched carefully in case Lai’s foot or leg brushed against the mare’s rump. Cosette wouldn’t bolt but she would get spooked. If that were to happen it would be imperative that he be able to stop the mare from bucking Lai. He certainly did not want to deal with a paraplegic Lai. Abel waited patiently for Lai to situate himself on the saddle. It wasn’t a process one could rush. That would be dangerous to both the horse and the rider if the rider wasn’t seated correctly. Once Lai was seated comfortably on the saddle, the Frenchman would check the straps one last time. While someone might have thought him excessively worrisome, double or triple checking straps was no laughing matter. It was the difference of living or dying. By checking the straps after someone had sat on the saddle they were potentially lowering their risk of dying by fixing loose or twisted straps. It was a hazard to both parties to leave messed up straps alone. Particularly the horse and for that matter Abel had no intention of letting Cosette get hurt.
Rubbing the mare’s rump the Frenchman couldn’t help but stare at Lai. His appearance and apparel was of much intrigue. It was obvious that Lai was good looking maybe even handsome. Yet his clothes… they weren’t quite something Abel that encountered before. The shoes weren’t quite cut up for riding a horse but if Lai did as Abel ‘told’ him then he would be fine. However the pants and shirt were different. To some extent he found it hard to believe that such clothes would be the normal day to day wear of a certain country. It seemed too… comfortable. Coming from a country obsessed with fashion, Abel was staring at Lai with curiosity and mild disbelief.
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:45 am
As he was lifted up Lai was careful not to let his right leg or foot touch Cosette. He wasn't "classically" trained so to speak, but he could grasp the basic "do not kick animal while mounting" with common sense. When his leg was over he eased himself down into the saddle, shifting only a little to be comfortably seated in the center. When done, he thought about putting his feet into the stirrups but stopped when he looked over and saw Abel busying himself with the straps of the seat he was on. He kept his feet out of the man's way instead, turning his attention out towards the wide room that was the Training Facility. When he was last here he was on his bicycle and during that time he had sent himself flying over the handlebars because someone had left a bellbar in the way and he hadn't seen it. A horse was vastly different than his metal contraption, but still, getting her foot knocked with one of those could either spook her, injure her, or both and that would not be good at all.
He kept his eyes scanning around the room, finding no equipment or anything in the way or hidden in the corners. Abel had been here before him, so it was likely the man had gone through and moved or put anything laying around away. He did another couple of checks just to be safe. He had already gotten a scar from this place, he didn't want another any time soon. One hand left the reins and reached up just under his right eye, feeling the thin, ragged indent there before returning. As his hand fell he felt eyes on him and looked to his left. Dull red flushed his cheeks as he caught Abel looking at him, but for whatever reason he did not know. The look on the Frenchman's face made curiosity show up, but his was mixed with slight discomfort at being looked at like that. A moment or three passed before Lai cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Abel with a smile that ended up making him look more flustered.
"Ah...All set comrade?"
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