Pairs Jumping Arrival

Finally finished

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Show: Fox Run Farm's Winter Extravaganza
Host:
Stables: Lakewood Farm Misty Mountain Stable
Horses: Lakewood's Walking With Angels and CS Angel Dust
Class: Pairs Jumping; Day 5
Number: #04

Relevance: Arrival Image
Setting: Fox Run Farms;

Entry will be a collaboration between *LeavingNeverland and myself.


Training Pic 1 - done by *Tattered-Dreams


Training Pic 2 - done by *LeavingNeverland with a fun story about the hazards of pairs riding

Previous Showing:

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Note: No, they're not dressed in competition clothes. They've arrived earlier in the day so they have plenty of time to sign in, get checked over and settle before warming up and doing their class. During that time, any of a thousand things can wreck your show clothes, so they'll change before its time to compete. Plus, I love inventing all Chess' crazy clothes

"Peanut! Pea; come here."

The little tricolour dog yapped in response, darting around a young woman in pale jodpurs and skidding through the snow to Chess' side. The blonde girl smiled down at the dog and collected up the rope lead that had been trailing behind her.

"Honestly," she muttered, turning back for the field where all the trailers were parked up. "I look away for two minutes and you abandon me for a two year old in a pushchair weilding a lollipop - where's your sense of loyalty?"

Peanut didn't appear abashed at all by her betrayal; her tail was practically curled in the air - not a usual sight - and her ears were turned forwards as she jogged through the trampled snow, tongue lolling and trying to look at everything. She was usually quieter, but a combination of a lot of snow and not much exercise due to the long roadtrip had been pushed over the edge when she smelled the heady aroma billowing from the burger van.

Hooking the rope securely around her wrist so Peanut couldn't take off again, Chess lowered her eyes to the papers in her hands. She'd received them moments before from the sign in table and was quickly going over everything.

The vet inspection slips were there - yet to be filled out - along with numbers, a list of rules and good practice for the stable, a handy map of the Farm, scoresheets, a running list and a brief competitors questionnaire.

Chess navigated her way back to the trailer. Lakewood's new lorry stood out back home, but here it was lost amongst the other transport vehicles. It comfortably housed three horses and had a compact but homey living area behind the cab with a door through to a small storage room for tack and bedding where they could look through a window to keep an eye on the partitions at the back. Becca's parent's had splurged for her birthday, since their little two horse trailer was falling steadily apart, and the even older wide load trailer was Kiwi's converted loose box.

The ramp at the back was down, the partitions open and Chess could spot Malachi moving around Dusty to the side. Chess found herself smirking. When they were both focusing on their horses, they got along okay, but there had been a fair few arguments during training for this event. Chess highly suspected Mal enjoyed winding her up - and she couldn't blame him for it considering she found it entertaining to yank his chain, too. As a result, they had a rather snarky dynamic that Becca told her she was crazy to put up with.

But what was new?

Aphie looked up as she approached, whickering in greeting. Malachi lifted his head from picking out Dusty's feet, his face set in his usual expression - straight but edging on a scowl.

"You took ages." he said in lieu of a hello.

Chess refrained from rolling her eyes. "There was a queue. We're signed in."

"I hope so, considering that's what you went off to do," Mal grouched, returning to his work. Chess stuck her tongue out at the back of his head.

She headed over to Aphie, smiling lightly. He was in one of *those* moods again, which was highly entertaining for her, though Mal never let on whether he was in fact wishing he could strangle her at these times.

The liver chestnut mare was stood patiently in her travelling fleece and rope halter, tethered to the side of the lorry. Chess climbed inside to the store room to fetch her tack, whilst sending Peanut to wait in her spot; one of the plush booth seats surrounding a fixed table. Chess didn't have time to go racing off after her if she made a break for the burger van. It was as she was pulling down the side saddle, that there was a ringing from the living area of the lorry.

Frowning, Chess set the saddle back and wandered through. Both her phone and Malachi's were resting on the small kitchen counter, out of the way while they worked. Mal's was lit up.

"Mal! Chess sing-songed. "Your phone!"

"I'm busy! Tell them to fix it or go away."

Chess shrugged and picked up.

"I've been told to tell you to fix it or go away - who are you?"

"Who am I?" Came a female voice. "Who is this? -Oh, wait - Chess. You're Chess."

"Apparently," Chess answered, reeling. "Are you one of the voices in my head or is this Marianne?"

"The second one. And forget what Malachi said; it's being fixed, but it's an emergency and he sort of runs the place so he sort of needed to know. Chris has been hurt."

"Who's Chris?" Chess asked. The name rang a bell - maybe Malachi had mentioned him.

"Chris works here, with Spawn, mainly. That's what I was calling about."

"Spawn?" Chess latched onto a name she'd recognise anywhere. "What about Spawn?"

"She sort of broke something," Marianne hedged.

Chess felt her jaw drop. "What do you mean 'she broke something'? Is she okay?"

"Oh," Marianne responded, sounding harried. "She's fine but Chris isn't. He's broken. Hurt, anyway - we don't know for sure yet. We've sent him off."

"Where's Chris been sent?" Chess asked, amused despite herself.

"Hospital!" Marianne burst, making Chess' ear ring. "He's gone to hospital and the sirens made my head fuzzy and I don't know what I'm doing and this horse is derranged and-"

"Hold on a sec..." Chess interrupted quickly. She was trying not to laugh and didn't think that would go down well with Marianne. "MALACHI!" she hollered out of the lorry. "Someone called Marianne is on your phone having a breakdown because Spawn tried to kill someone called Chris who's now being rushed to hospital in an ambulance because he's broken. ...how do you know these people, again??..."

Malachi appeared in the doorway, looking thunderous and plain ticked off. Chess lobbed the phone at him and got out fast, snatching her tack on the way past.

Aphie was in a decent mood, so tacking up went quickly and she seemed to be even happier when no bit was slid between her teeth. Malachi finished his chaotic phonecall while the blonde girl was adjusting Aphie's balance strap. He looked exasperated as he fed Dusty her snaffle bit and Chess didn't want to ask. She threw a lasso about Aphie's neck so she could be untied and held onto the loose end while she retrieved the paperwork from the counter just inside the lorry. Move on quickly...

Mal was adjusting Dusty's girth as Chess checked over the map properly and then rifled for the vet inspection slips.

"Don't get her warm," Malachi said abruptly, throwing her a quick glance. Chess raised an eyebrow at him. "She can't be too warm for the vet inspection."

"No?" Chess gaped acerbically, expression the picture of innocence. "That's what I've been doing wrong all these years."

For an instant Mal opened his mouth, face dark, and then he seemed to register her tone. His expression cleared, leaving the usual near-scowl in place. "You're mental."

Chess beamed, then lowered her face to the papers again, mumbling into them, "Hark who's talking."

"I heard that!" Mal snapped, eyes narrowing. He snapped down Dusty's stirrups. "And I'm not mental."

Chess pulled another face at his back as he raised the lorry ramp and secured it with the bolts and padlocks. Clearing it before he turned back to her, she said, "No; not mental. Just not entirely emotionally stable."

He blinked at her. Twice.

Then, "Emotionally stable?! You're the last person I'd trust to give a diagnosis of emotional stability."

"Why not?" Chess asked blithely, locking up the lorry and using the set of steps - secured to the underside of the vehicle via an old bike lock - to mount Aphie. Mal was already settling into place in Dusty's saddle. She continued talking as she arranged her right leg over the leaping horn. "I graduated from the Garden Shed college with a PDF in prat psychology and my teacher was no less than Humphrey Ceramico the red-nosed garden Gnome. This was before I discovered horses and gave up my career as a shrink to learn to joust." She turned her weighted cane in her hand, hoisting it like a lance to demonstrate the point while Aphie skipped sideways. "I think I'm perfectly qualified."

Malachi's expression had gone slack and darkened at once. For a half beat, it looked like he might laugh, and then, without even cracking a smile, he shook his head and steered Dusty away. "How did I get here? Better yet - how did I ever let you drive us?"

"Oh, I can answer that, too!" Chess said, beaming and letting Aphie trot to catch up. They were going to let the horses stretch their legs with a walk about the Farm before their slot at the inspections. "I went to a driving sch-"

"If you're about to tell me that some kind of garden ornament taught you to drive in one of those yellow plastic smart cars with no floor for four year olds - I don't want to hear it!"

"But it's such a good story," Chess smirked, watching Mal descend steadily into a dark pit of aggravation. He'd get her back later, she was sure.

"Shut up!" He burst, rubbing his face with a hand. "Ride and don't bring it up again or I'll be driving later."

Chess gasped theatrically. "You don't trust me!"

He shot her a withering look. "Not in the least."

But despite the bickering, they were still here as a team, riding in a pairs class. Maybe that was progress. A little.

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First, to Nev - I really hope I didn't utterly botch Mal, though I think I did. He's such a faceted character so I don't think I got him right, but after our random chats, and your story of their training, I had to try. Do tell me if anything's really off and I'll fix it stat!

And yes... I had to add that bit in there about Chris after it was mentioned Though I figure Marianne's probably blown it a tad out of proportion in her panic and Chris is probably only a little banged up, rather than broken in half. That's up to you, Nev ^^

...

Another that wasn't supposed to take as long as it did (I'm good at these, aren't I? XD). I started it a while back and had to break to get other things done, so I'm glad this is finally finished.

It is fairly rough, still, so anatomy isn't too epic. Chess is also probably a fair bit shorter than Mal, but she's closer, so excuse the poor relative proportions Fox Run Farms is covered in snow by the time of Arrival, but I imagine it's probably been trampled fairly flat in the parking field, hence the grass poking through. And I've had the idea for Lakewood's new Lorry in my head for a while, but never really put it out there. I'm finally pretty happy with this design, so voila

As usual, I love designing crazy clothes for Chess, and Mal's scarf is there, because I love it from Nev's training pic. And I love Dusty, still. Just so much fun to colour!
A fewhours
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Art and left-hand characters, Chess and Aphie, copyright to *Tattered-Dreams
Right-hand characters, Malachi and Dusty copyright to *LeavingNeverland
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.