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 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:44 am
((OOC: I just noticed something. Where is the gelding love in this RP? >.<))
"Phoenix? Well, he's not afraid yet, but he knows we're up to something," replied Roman, doing his best not to raise a brow at Kahlilia's model pose since she was so obviously unaware of it. Gently, he rubbed the big stallion's neck. "It's all right. See, boy, Ben's coming with us. You'll be okay. Come on now." Phoenix snorted warily, but followed Roman, his muzzle resting lightly against the boy's shoulder as they walked.
He glanced back at Kahlilia, noticing the thoughtfulness on her face. "It's probably not the water itself," he told Kahlilia, guessing what was bothering her. "He jumped that pool without a problem, remember? I think it might be the hose, and the...the spray of the water that bothers him. And that might just be because no one ever taught him to be bathed, because no one ever thought he'd be worth much of anything once he started running away and being violent in the paddock." He smiled weakly. "I bet we'll find the same exact problems when we try to teach him loading and jumping brightly-coloured fences and all that sort of thing."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:10 pm
(-shrug-)
Kahlilia followed Roman and Phoenix with Benvolio at her side. The stallion seemed a little surprised to go back by the bathing area but didn't make a sound or try to run - just stood there and twitched his ears. Kahlilia smiled a little and nodded, petting Ben subconsciously. "Oh yeah," She thought out loud. She looked up at Roman again and her smile brightened a little. She led Benvolio so that he was a few feet adjacent to the actual bathing 'platform' that was actually a large rectangular platform of concrete with railings for possible rope. Benvolio looked over at the three of them, looking curious.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:44 am
Phoenix, however, grew more and more tense as Roman led him towards the bathing platform. His ears went flat back against his skull and he snorted, shaking his head violently. Just in front of the platform he stopped dead and tossed his head up. Roman sighed.
First contest.
"Come on, boy," he soothed, stroking the horse's neck. He didn't try to make Phoenix go up - the horse had several hundred pounds on him, and Roman knew he would lose. "Step up. It's all right."
Still the horse refused to move.
He gave a light click with his tongue and took a step forward. Phoenix pulled back with an angry whinny. Sighing, Roman led him around the platform a few times.
"Come on, Phoenix," he reassured the horse. "Here, I'll go first." Carefully, he stepped up on the platform - which, luckily, had dried. It wasn't slippery. Phoenix watched him for a minute or two as he walked around on the platform, before finally stepping up to join him.
Roman smiled wearily at Kahlilia even as he stroked the horse. "This ought to be fun," he told her, before returning to petting and praising.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:18 pm
Kahlilia observed the two of them curiously, not realizing that she was holding her breath in anticipation. She let it out slowly when she saw that the still very wary Phoenix had got onto the platform, but they still had a ways to go as she knew. The question was how they were going to proceed...
Kahlilia returned Roman's smile and said very quietly, "Want me to get the hose, or should we wait?" She could see that Phoenix was still very uncomfortable, but Benvolio was in an opposite mood. He pawed at the dirt with his hoof lazily, and snorted nonchalantly when he heard Phoenix's whinny. Then, he shook his head, shaking out his slightly damp mane and sprinkling Kahlilia with water again, but made sure not to spray Phoenix because of his reaction last time.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:25 pm
"Might as well get it over with," replied Roman. "He's not going to get any more comfortable up here if we stay all night." Tightening his grip on the rope, he mentally blessed the railings that hemmed in Phoenix's escape routes. To get out, the horse would have to leap off the platform and either jump the railings - difficult without a running start - or get past Benvolio, who blocked the way out.
Gently, he stroked the big horse and whispered soothingly. His eyes, however, were on Kahlilia as he gave her the barest hint of a nod. Go for it. I'm ready.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:14 pm
When Kahlilia got approval to get the hose, she walked off and returned with it coiled in her arms. Keeping her eyes on Phoenix as she slowly got closer, she began to uncoil the hose and start running the water slowly, so that it was just a tiny bit of water exiting the nozzle, just a teeny bit...
She was hoping that Phoenix wouldn't freak out or try to do anything at a random second, such as rear up or try to run. She sincerely and truly hoped this would work out and they could make him comfortable or at least to a point of tolerating bathing, and that they could move forward. Maybe, just maybe...
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:20 pm
Phoenix eyed the hose and tossed his head violently a few times, but did nothing else. Roman began to relax.
Too soon, as it turned out. The instant the stallion felt the trickle of water on his legs, he actually shrieked. Roman had never heard any animal make that noise before, and he began to wonder if it really was just that Phoenix wasn't used to it. Then he had no time to wonder, because the horse was dancing away from the spray and trying to hide behind him. "Easy, boy. Easy," he said sternly, before stepping aside and letting the water hit the horse again. Phoenix did a sort of half-rearing jump, and then turned wild eyes towards him.
"Okay, okay. Kahlilia, turn it off, please," said Roman, resigned. "He needs a minute."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:39 pm
Benvolio's ears went flat back for a split second when he heard Phoenix's shriek, and turned to look at him in confusion. Kahlilia instantly turned the water off when Phoenix jumped and swallowed, her face pale. "Are you okay?" She asked Roman, tilting her head. With Benvolio, they looked like they had just seen a ghost or something. Ben shook his head again and snorted quietly, eyeing Phoenix nonchalantly as Kahlilia started re-coiling the hose without a sound. She had whimpered when she heard Phoenix's shriek, she hadn't ever heard that kind of noise either, and of course it scared her pretty badly.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:42 pm
"I'm fine," said Roman easily. "He was just trying to get away from the water - not to hurt me. Don't coil it up again," he added quickly when he noticed that Kahlilia was getting ready to put the hose away. "He needs to learn that this isn't going to hurt him." Turning to the horse, he stroked and soothed until the trembling stopped. "There you go. You'll be all right, Phoenix. Come on - you're a big boy. You don't have to be afraid."
He glanced over at Kahlilia. "We'll try it one more time - if it doesn't work, I'll try soaking sponges and washing him with those so that he gets used to feeling water on him. Then we can try the hose again later. Okay? You all right?"
It was really more of an academic question than anything - the way the bathing platform was built, only Roman was really in any danger here. And he didn't seem too worried.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:11 pm
Kahlilia looked up from her gaze on the ground and started to uncoil the hose again obediently, glad that it was only halfway coiled. After about five seconds, it was uncoiled and took on the appearance of a long, narrow green snake slithering around her and the ground surronding. She looked down at it and wondered briefly, Is that part of the reason?
Elephants were afraid of mice because of the significant difference in size, were horses afraid of snakes? It was another one of those questions she was curious about but didn't want to figure out for herself.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She replied airily, remembering the sound of Phoenix's shriek. It sounded like such a strange, new noise that had promptly startled her and almost caused her to drop the hose. She looked up at them and realized Roman didn't seem worried, which she was a little surprised by, but she mentally shrugged in the knowing that some people aren't afraid of things she was. It was a sort of admiration of the ones who were stronger, because you wondered how they did it - when people watched acrobats at the circus they were awed by their courage and talents, so on and so forth. Running a hand through her hair briefly, she nodded a little as though to confirm and erase her thoughts, then looked back up. There was a hesitant pause in her voice when she asked, "Are you ready?" It became obvious she was just beginning to be aware of the danger this might pose for both of them, especially Roman.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:47 pm
Phoenix was prancing slightly in place, eyeing the hose and Kahlilia as he shook his head. Roman placed a firm hand on the big horse's neck, stroking as he whispered to the stallion. Then he turned, hearing Kahlilia's question. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. Go for it. I think if I stand where he can see me and Benvolio both, he might feel a little better about it. So we'll try that."
Phoenix seemed determined to put the lie to Roman's casual words, however, as he watched Kahlilia with white showing around his eyes. The horse's dislike looked to be stemming from more than just not knowing the feeling of the hose, but there was no way to be sure.
"Come on, boy," Roman murmured, feeling the stallion tensing up again. "It's all right. You know I wouldn't let anything hurt you."
~
Esmeralda came back towards the barn at a smooth canter, her smile bright as the sun. Her fear was all but gone, and for the first time she was positive that this vacation was all going to turn out okay.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:36 pm
Kahlilia's eyebrows raised when she saw the white appearing in Phoenix's eyes, but she smiled warily at Roman and turned the hose on, focusing on the horse's reaction to the water. The hope that this would all work out was still floating around in her mind, and it was growing and turning into anxiety. Somewhere, at the back of her mind, she was still a little nervous.
Benvolio was still standing contentedly in place, his head up and turning to look around as would a curious child. He was already clean, for now at least, and he wasn't worried by the hose if a little confused why he was standing here.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:17 pm
Before Roman could so much as blink, Phoenix was rearing, shrieking frantically. As soon as his front legs hit the ground again, the horse began to spin wildly, looking for an escape route. Before he could find one, however, Roman threw his full weight on the lead rope and brought the horse's head against him. Hard.
"Easy, boy," he said firmly, keeping the horse's head resting against his shirtfront. He was taking a big risk, hoping that Phoenix's fear of the hose would not outweigh the horse's affection towards him - that Phoenix would stand the hose rather than run him over to get away from it.
And strangely, it seemed to work. Despite the horse's frantic trembling and shaking of his head, he didn't try to escape again. Nevertheless, after a minute Roman gestured to Kahlilia to cut the water. "Okay. We got him to stop fighting it. That's enough for now. All we're doing is tormenting him now - I'll sponge him down today, and we'll work on the hose thing."
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:22 am
minus infinity Xavier was laughing a lot by now, sitting upright with half his body in the water and half on the mud surronding it. The mud eventually gave way to the green grass Lady was grazing on, but on the opposite side of them. He looked at Summer with dancing eyes and saw that she had swallowed a lot of water. He raised his eyebrows, standing in the water so that he could go over quickly if it turned out she needed help. He was still chuckling, but it was fading quickly and quietly. Lady rolled her eyes, it seemed, and continued to graze. She wasn't worried about them. (sorry i haven't been on lightening hit my computer and i forgot about this rp for the moment had alot on my mind sorry) Summer managed to stop coughing up water. She stood up and walked over to where Xavier was and said, "Now i have to get you back for that." She then looked where she had landed in some mud and made a weird face and walked out into the water. "Come on out and swim with me if your not to chicken," she said with a mocking look on her face as she swam out to the middle of the river.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:16 pm
( Its all good, don't worry [: )
Xavier walked over to her, looking a little surprised. Hmmm, I wonder what shes going to do this time?
When Summer made a face in seeing the mud, he chuckled and said, "Theres a lot more mud where that came from, you know."
He crossed his arms and nodded simply, changing his facial expression to a casual "Oh really?" kind of look. "Okay, if you're up to it."
With that, he jumped into the water as a dolphin would, to show off of course, and swam after her.
After swimming for a while, Xavier surfaced and looked around. They had gone thirty or fourty feet, and the water was deeper and colder in turn. He remembered seeing some sort of salamander or tadpole in this part of the river, but he didn't mind. He wasn't afraid. He was tough.
"So what are we going to do?" He asked hesitantly, but once his mind caught back up to him he smirked roughishly. "Unless its something too dirty."
Kahlilia turned off the hose the instant Phoenix reared up, watching Roman stop him with pure fear running throughout her, even though she herself was in no danger. She stammered a little bit of jibberish with wide eyes until she closed them again, took a deep breath, and put the hose away once it was over. When she came back from the short walk, she had calmed down but still looked a little wary. Putting Ben's reins back on, she said quietly, "I can't believe you weren't scared." She realized that she admired Roman's bravery, even if he or anyone else saw it as anything small.
Benvolio had neighed when he saw Phoenix's reaction, the shrieking and the rearing, seeming very confused and possibly a little scared. Kahlilia looked at him and realized that after a second, petting him gently and hugging him by wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
The sun was shining down directly on the four of them, which would make drying much more quick, because Benvolio's slightly damp coat was already becoming it's normal lighter shades. Maybe, Kahlilia thought, just being dry and in the sun could calm Phoenix back down.
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