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There was a lot for Liam to absorb at once, but luckily, he was a nervous person - not a dimwitted one. He didn’t really understand the exercise. He just had to be nice to the horse, right? Animals were a lot easier to deal with than humans. He just hoped that everyone else did well. But there was something more than that. He spotted a boy, one that was a new face - not that he did a good job with keeping up with them.

If he was lucky, it would turn out to be Abby’s son. If so, she was a lot more abusive than he had thought. But Liam knew he was not lucky. He stepped on cracks, broke mirrors, walked under ladders and once, just once he swore that this woman at Starbucks gave him the evil eye. That guy was obviously another resident, a new one. Which made him think back to his room, which had gone from a single to a double to a triple. Was it just inordinately larger than the other rooms? He hadn’t been in any of them. But he had a feeling, a creeping disheartening feeling that - at the end of the day, after they were done riding and talking about feelings, he was going to go back to the dorm room to find that his bed had been turned into a bunk bed as well, and the four of them were going to rub shoulders every day. What a nightmare.

He didn’t say a word. Instead, Liam simply lifted his hands to his temples, massaging gently. Everything was going to be okay, he reminded himself, breathing in and out slowly. This was all just punishment for something bad he did in a past life. ....Oh wait. It was punishment for something he did in THIS life. It was all coming together now.

((Heeeeeey Izzy))

Riding horses? It seemed like a joke - and a particularly funny one. Abby didn't seriously think she could just send them all off on their own with a horse they'd never met before and expect them to teach themselves how to ride, right? Haha! Good one! ... Oh, wait, she was perfectly straight-faced.

Gabriel shifted in discomfort, arms folding over his chest. He had considered taking up another muffin and indulging, but there was that haunting fear of creating a poor self-image. He didn't want to look greedy or fat, after all. Then again, with Aiden's careless display he really didn't have anything to worry about. Anyway, his weight was the farthest thing upon his mind as his blue-gray eyes scanned the barn, noting all of the blank or unhappy faces. Well, rather than stand there and look disgruntled.... Slowly, he lifted his hand into the air. He didn't wait to be called upon, more so signalling that he was about to speak than asking permission to do so. "Um, Abby... Isn't that kind of... unsafe?" He asked, frowning. "I mean, if they're going to be aggravating us, we're going to be aggravating them and..." He trailed off, brows knit. Hadn't he heard a story about a horse kicking off some guys head? Or was that one of those useless trivia facts that was more likely false? Either way, the last thing he wanted to be dealing with was a pissed off horse. He really didn't have the patience for it. And some of the other boys didn't look physically capable of holding their own against an angry equine. "It seems dangerous."

As he spoke that last part, his eyes finally landed upon the new kid. Their room was crowded as it was... though, him and Kindred had been the newest arrivals. It wasn't about to become the equivalent of a suite, right? That would kind of suck. None the less, he forced a brief smile to the bruised waif and then reached over to offer him one of the last remaining breakfast pastries.

[[Sorry for the late-ish reply, everyone. I'm on kinda the same schedule as M. That is to say... busy.]]


New Kid Number Two, as he was apparently dubbed (although he did not know that yet), flinched slightly as he saw someone reach over towords him, his shoulders twitching up to almost meet his ears. They lowered down to almost normal as he relaxed, seeing no threat in the offered scone. "Uhmm... thanks," he mumbled hesitantly as he took the pastry with one small, pale hand. He felt incredibly short when faced with this relitively tall teen. He tried to smile as he spoke, but he didn't exactly succeed. The corner of his lips kind of twitched upwards a bit, but other with nothing much happened.

He raised the hand with the pastry and took a small, slow bite before lowing it again. He swallowed equally slowly and winced slightly, feeling as if he had just bruised the inside of his throat. He had always had a small esophagus. Especially when he was nervous, and god was he nervous.

He glanced back up at Gabriel and mumbled, his voice very quiet and unsure, "Uhn.. I'm... Ean... What's... your name?" He wasn't so good at this whole 'connecting' thing. But he'd might as well try. His problem, he told himself, was that he had always barracated himself inside onion-layered walls of distant introversion, therefor alienating himself from others. And that was what caused his problems... right?

So he tried to reach out. He really did. But he wasn't exactly doing a good job of it, to say the least.

At Liam's attempt to placate him, Seamus grinned. "Yeah, I guess if four year olds can do it, I can as well, right?" He chuckled. "But then again, when faced with Horse-zilla, it's a bit intimidating for a newbie."

Seamus wondered what the horses would be like. Would they be old, would they be colts, grey, black, white? Suddenly, he had a jolt of inspiration.

"Hey, since you know what you're doing, when we get over there would you mind giving me some pointers, Liam? Y'know, so the horse doesn't Tekken my a** to the ground?"

“Um, yeah... sure...” Liam replied to Seamus, only slightly flustered as he did so. He had no idea what Seamus had just said, other than he wanted some help, but he didn’t want to show how uncool he was when it came to something other than television. “I... don’t know how much of a help I’ll be, but I’ll try.” His voice was timid, and although everyone knew that he was the spoiled type, his personality was far from the brash, demanding kind, but that had long been established. But something was bothering him outside of the social situation. He was feeling strangely lightheaded and slightly dizzy, so he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them wide and blinking a few times. He was willing himself to stay focused, as he didn’t want to cause himself to be the center of attention.

((Mie and Daanish know what I mean when I say that I'm bringing in the hormones, lol.))

"You know how to ride too, Orpheus?"

Ulp. He didn't mean it to sound kinky, but hopefully the other boys in the room would ignore the unintended innuendo. Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe the other guys were all asexual! That made a lot of sense, considering how horrible most of their backgrounds were, and how the subject of girls....or guys....had never even come up. The bisexual was curious to hear if anyone else here shared his inclinations ((since nobody has said it outright, and Aiden only said he was a prostitute, who could also hypothetically 'serve' women, Seamus thinks everyone else is straight right now)).

He made a mental note to ask everyone later if they had a significant other back home. That'd be an ice-breaker!

Seamus yanked himself back down to planet earth and mused aloud, "It seems like we've got two teachers, a horse, and a recreational center. I wonder who our Topenga would be...? Do either of you remember that show?"

"Holy s**t!" was all that Seamus could say as he lunged forward to break Liam's fall. The two ended up on the ground, with Liam's prone form pinning Seamus to the ground. Seamus then sat up and gently leaned the other boy against him. It was disconcerting to see someone else pass out- it was odd seeing someone else go down.

"Can someone call the nurse? Tell her she should bring a stretcher or a wheelchair or something." The Irish-Italian placed a hand on Liam's forehead and stated, "He's a little warm, but whatever made him pass out wasn't a fever."

Seamus was worried about what was wrong with his sorta-not-really new friend, but in a corner of his mind, he selfishly was glad that the day's activites had a chance to be canceled. Shoving those thoughts aside, he fervently hoped that the taller kid would be alright and would be able to avoid a hospital visit.