. life guidelines [open!]

[Damian Lancing]

Damian spent a lot of time going through his house that morning trying to find some DVDs that he knew to be there… somewhere. He went through boxes that were never unpacked, ones that he had recently repacked and everywhere in-between before he finally remembered that the specific DVD he had been looking for had been placed under his bed when he had first arrived, along with a few others that didn’t have labels, which left him guessing as to which was which but he thought he had finally gotten it right as he finally pulled on his work boots, called Bourbon and grabbed a hold of his coffee before leaving the house. He was surprised by how nice of a day it was and, since it was Saturday, the barn would be filled with people. Teenagers mostly. Saturdays were always his most hated days around the stable. He got tired of telling people to get off their horses after three hours of riding and intense jumping only to tend to their lame horse the next day. Talk about annoying but what was he to do?

After driving the less than one mile drive to Five Star from his house he parked in his normal spot, put the DVD in his office and went straight to get Squire. He was later due to trying to find that DVD to show it to some students and his gelding was pacing and pawing at the pasture fence to remind someone that it was his time to be fed. Damian took the gelding inside and left him in his stall with the door closed, knowing the gelding would break straight through the stall guard right now, and went to pick up his Ultium and Amplify from the feed room. He mixed the two well, knowing his horse would never eat the thirty percent fat Amplify supplement if he actually tasted it, before bringing the feed pan to his stall and, after making Squire be appropriate and polite, set it on the ground away from the automatic waterer and left his horse to finish his breakfast before going about some other work around the barn. He checked messages left for him by Madison or others around the barn and answered a few e-mails they had received before going back and letting his horse back out to pasture once he had finished his grain. It was only then that he went back to thinking about the DVD that was sitting in the office. He grabbed it and took it to the lounge where they had a player he could put it in.

Once in the lounge he slid the DVD in the player and started it before turning on the television. It TV flickered on and at first showed a man on a large, bay, warmblood mare cantering around an obvious jumper course. For a second the TV didn’t have sound and Damian looked around for a moment before figuring out that it was muted. Once he got the sound turned on the man and the horse had just cleared the second fence. It was almost obvious they were riding a jump off with the speed the man was pushing out of his mount and how tight the turns were being cut, and now that the sound was on it was obvious that the announcers knew it too. “Yes, he is known for having a few more refusals than most in a jump off, but if he rides clean he almost always wins it,” a female voice said as Damian took a couple steps back to sit down on the couch, using the bend in his right leg and his weight to force his injured left leg to bend.

Damian meant to only make sure this was going to work then to pause it until the students me meant to show it to came in but now that it was on he, as he always seemed to, had a hard time turning it off. Once Damian settled into his seat and had Bourbon lay down at his feet a male announcer came in. “Yes, and everyone who hires him to ride knows of the refusals he’s known to get, but he almost always rides a clean first round and, when it comes to a jump off like this it’s almost all about speed, especially when you’re the last rider after clean rounds,” the man’s voice almost tapered off as he spoke when the rider approached the only combination in the jump off. About four strides out the rider asked for a drastic slow down from the mare, who threw her head defiantly but did give him the slow down he had asked for, putting her weight on her back legs and was easily about to push herself up over the fence. Anyone could tell that this mare was talented beyond all means. She put power into every stride and snapped her legs up firmly after every jump, easily clearing the five foot plus fences. She was one of the few horses that did need the belly guard she was wearing to keep her studs from beating up her stomach as she jumped and every jump she took you could hear her bell boots snap against her feet.

After the mare landed on the other side of the combination she immediately picked up the speed she lost before the fence and her head was snapped around not even two strides after landing and was heading straight towards the next fence, when the rider asked for a slow down soon before the fence again, which he got without shortening the mare’s stride at all. The rest of the jumps seemed to go just as smoothly, though a couple of jumps were taken at scary angles but were still ridden clean. The rider released to brace himself against the mare’s neck if it was needed and in the air it was obvious his eye was always on the next fence. Finally when the last fence was jumped clean the rider quickly snapped around his whole body to look up at the time board and upon seeing it a smile jumped over his face and he leaned down to pat the mare’s dark neck as he gently pulled back on her mouth before taking his reins in both hands again to seesaw gently at her mouth to take her back from her very quick canter. Damian, however, was sitting there watching and wondering why he was torturing himself but not longer after it was obvious this rider had won he heard someone else enter the lounge and quickly turned to look. It really could be anyone. It was Saturday around lunch time, after all.

((OPEN to anyone!))

[Alexa Walker]

At eight o’clock in the morning, a familiar song was playing on the radio as an alarm. Alexa yawned and turned her body away from the clock radio device leaving the music to play. It was Saturday. How funny, she thought. I must have forgotten to turn that blasted thing off. Her hand reached over and shut off the radio. For a couple of minutes Alex had lay in her bed half asleep. She had been undisturbed for quite some time, well that is until Kip had entered the bedroom. The beagle jumped up onto his master’s bed, attacking her with his cool nose and whimpered. She raised her hand, and then plopped it back down on the bed. Her eyes finally opened, and the first thing she had seen was that little dog. Alex scratched the dog behind his ears, and then proceeded to get out from underneath her duvet; Kip followed her. She went into the kitchen and went through the cupboards and took out a bag of dog food. After filling the dog’s food dish, it was time for her to pour herself a bowl of food too. Her eyes quickly glanced at the clock, and barely five minutes had gone by.

It didn’t take Alexa any time at all to eat her breakfast and to plough through her morning routine. When her backpack was full of snacks, she headed out the apartment door leading Kip on his leash. They walked down to the underground parkade and got into Alex’s small car. She placed the backpack on the passager side of the vehicle. Kip was placed in the backseat; he would eventually lay down on the way to Ridgefield. Suddenly the car hummed to life and then they were on their way. With the radio turned on they drove down the highway towards the stable. If there was a song that the driver knew she would quietly hum along to it keeping her eyes on the road ahead.
She flicked the signal, and then turned into the familiar driveway of the stable. They cruised along the road around twenty kilometres. Alexa had a feeling that there would be a lot of students in today. Either they would be having make up lessons, or participating in practises some may even be headed out on the short trail. The car came to a stop after it was guided into a parking space. As Alex had predicted, her dog was laying down quietly in the backseat of the car. She grabbed her bag, and then manoeuvred herself to un-clip Kip from his leash. The dog hopped out of the car, and then she was able to lock it and slam all the doors.

When they entered the barn, there had been barely anyone there. All the young adults were out of sight, more than likely still asleep. She greeted a few of the other people in the barn before she went into the tack room to grab a few things. Alexa grabbed a leather halter and grooming kit out from its designated area before heading out to the green pastures. Almost all of the horses were out today, including her Dutch Warmblood mare named Sweets. The mare had been lying down in the pasture, basking in the early morning sun. The gate opened, and there was Kip running down into the pasture. He wasn’t intending on chasing any of the horses, he was enjoying the fact that he was able to run about for once. A sweet stared at the dog, and was annoyed by his sudden appearance. With great effort, the bay mare got up and walked away from the pesky dog. He had been annoying the other horses too, which is when Alex had to call him back. After she had put the halter on the horse’s face, she began to walk back to where the barn was. It was turning out to be a very nice day, it was just nice enough outside to wear a very light jacket or even a sweater. She tied the mare up on one of the posts outside of the barn. Nearby, there was a hose and a couple of buckets for bathing a horse. Now wasn’t the time for a bath but a good grooming of the coat would suffice.
Alexa picked up a rubber curry comb, and began to go over the mare’s body in a circular motion. Soon enough, the mare would relax.

***

During that empty space of time, Alex had thoroughly groomed her horse. The mare had finally relaxed by the end of that session, which was a good thing. After the horse had been turned out to the paddock, Alex had decided to go for a walk on the small trail with her dog. It was short, and very relaxing. She thought Kip had spent enough of his energy and he was now beginning to calm down. When the two had finally returned to the stable, it was eleven fifteen in the morning. The parking had been filling up since the last time Alexa had noticed. And when she had entered the barn, she had been right. Students were quietly going along minding their own business. Some were carrying tack; others were leading their horses into the indoor arena. Her stomach growled, so she decided it would be a good time for a snack.
Alex walked into the lobby, her dog Kip following closely at her heels. She sighed, and looked to where there was a seat. There was a table that was surrounded by chairs, and there was a big comfortable chair that sat in the corner. With her backpack in her right hand, she threw it gently towards the big lounge chair. It fell with a light thud a foot or so away from its original target. She walked to this chair, and plopped herself down, closing her eyes. After a few moments of silence, she looked around the room and saw someone else. She knew exactly who it was. His name was Damian Lancing, he happened to be one of the managers and one of the coaches at Ridgefield. She had been told who he was, and had seen him a few times around the stable. She just stared at a wall for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to say.

”Good morning,” she said just loud enough for him to hear.

[Damian Lancing]

Damian was actually surprised with how many Rowanoak alumni had stayed around Lexington after graduation, or at least turned back up here before he got out of the bottle and came back around. He honestly wasn’t a huge fan of the large number of the people who knew him way back when being around. He enjoyed seeing them, of course, and talking about how everything had happened and how they ended up where they were and how their professional life in the show ring was going, of course, but he hated going to dinner and have them ask why he didn’t order anything to drink. He had been known as the drinker of the group, the drinker and the one who slept around and he deserved the title if anyone did. He had been an alcoholic long before anyone saw it and even longer before he ever could admit it to himself. He always had to answer with the truth, that he simply didn’t drink anymore, which was usually met with some odd looks and he knew some assumptions that were right. Then there was the whole thing that he wasn’t married to Missy at the time, which drew suspicions from everyone as to what had happened but that was one conversation he refused to have. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but Missy was a tender subject with him.

Even with the number of alumni wandering the stable, and even the school, it was the students he had been planning on interrupting his old video watching but when he turned to see Alexa he still wasn’t surprised. The two had gone to school together but had never really known each other all that well. In all honestly, even though they had even been in the same graduating class, he knew so little about her. She rode hunter and her horse was a little downhill and shorter than many liked but still a good mount. Good Lord Damian, is that seriously how you know people anymore? Through their horse? Even your old classmates that you competed with for four years of your life and were sad to leave at the end of it, that was just a little sad and he knew it as well as the next person. Horses were so much simpler to deal with, and remember, that people were. Even though Squire had been the only horse he had ever ridden out of the current string of horses the team would use he knew they all and all their quirks better than he knew any of his students, even the ones who would come to him for the hard parts of life. He supposed it was just the way his mind worked, both before and after his accident. He liked people well enough, bur horses were so much preferred.

Either way, when Alexa came into the room he fumbled to grab the remote to pause what he was watching. The woman didn’t need to know his old trip down memory lane that was causing him to really go into a stint of self loathing. It may have been a good thing that she showed up when she did before he was calling his sponsor just to talk about how much he could use a drink right about now. No, it was better this way, get his mind off what he had just seen and back to the present. When he finally managed to get a hold of the remote it took him a while to click pause and he finally did when they had scrolled over the rider’s face for an interview with him, but his hand was up to take off his helmet so most of his face was in fact covered by his arm. When he finally did that he set the remote back down on the little coffee table just as the woman spoke to him for the first time. He smiled and pushed himself up, noticeably wincing as his bad leg had to be straightened by the force of gravity so he could set it on the ground.

“Hey there Alexa,” he said as he limped over to where she was sitting and took a seat next to her at her table, letting his leg stay extended for a bit because it hurt enough already. “Not quite morning anymore, I’m afraid,” he shrugged his shoulders before looking over to Bourbon who had started to go over towards Alexa but was stopped thanks to the firm look from her owner. Instead she moved to Damian and sat with her head resting on his leg and he scratched her behind the ear gently. Damn did he love this dog, more than he would admit once again. “So, how’s the new job been going?” he asked, pushing hair away from his forehead, even though there really wasn’t any there to push away. He had given Alexa the job himself so he knew about it better than most. He rarely questioned the application of a Rowanoak graduate. He knew how good the schooling actually was.

[Alexa Walker]

After she had sat down, she noticed that Damian had got up from where he was sitting and began making his way over to new seat. One that was located closer to where Alexa had been seated. She also had noticed that he had winced when he had got up, and that he had a bit of a limp when he walked. Perhaps he was getting over an injury, she did not know. For starters, she didn’t really know the man other than his name. Alex had decided she wouldn’t pry or ask any questions, for the time being.

Alexa looked at the watch on her right wrist, and shrugged. “Ah, oh well,” she sighed. “I’m close enough, aren’t I?”
It was creeping around lunch time, and Alex hadn’t eaten since eight o’clock. She looked down at the floor and picked up her bag which was full of food. There was always a box of granola bars, and a couple of fruits she had taken out of the fridge that morning along with a couple bottles of water. Today there also happened to be a couple of ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches one of Alex’s favourite on the go lunch foods. For a few seconds, she had fumbled around with the zipper before she finally had got in open. Her hand reached in and grabbed one of the ham sandwiches.
A few moments had passed by before Damian had spoken again; he had asked her how her job was going. “Pretty good, I’m enjoying what I do.” She replied honestly. It was very nice at the stable, and really Alexa had nothing to complain about. The other barn staff and the students were quite respectful and friendly, which what made her feel relaxed in her place of work.

She had found it very strange that she was conversing with Damian. True they had both gone to the same school competed against each other (at some point in time) and graduated in the same class, neither of them knew each other. Alex knew who he was, just nothing really more than his name. During her stay at the University she only had really talked to her roommate, and really no one else. This of course, was totally out of character for her. Generally she enjoyed being around other people and she was very good at interacting with others, but for some reason she was too afraid to put herself out there during the stay at school. Of course she would admit that she had been afraid of interacting with the other students. It was because of what she had experienced in high school. She was afraid of being rejected by the student body, and she was unsure how she would be able to trust anyone.
Did Alex regret her decision of keeping to herself? Yes. She hadn’t tried hard enough to be social. She was to overwhelmed by the what-ifs that had faced her at that point in time to even bother.

Alexa had pulled out a sandwich that was wrapped in plastic wrap. She had begun to unwrap it, but was interrupted when her dog Kip had placed his head on her lap in high hopes that she would slide him a bit. All the dog had got was a poke in the forehead, and the order to go lay down. After her food was finally unwrapped, she took a bite of the delicious sandwich. Her eyes had looked over to Damian, who was seated next to her. A dog that looked like it had a lot of German shepherd was resting its well shaped head on his leg.
“What’s your dog’s name, Damian?” she had asked, assuming that the dog belonged to him.

[Damian Lancing]

Damian was used to people who saw him for the first time thinking he just had a recent injury. It was when they came back for lessons every week and he was still limping two weeks later that they started to realize that it wasn’t going to go away. It was then that he usually got the question of what had happened and that was a question he did not like to answer, especially to parents already nervous about letting their children start to ride horses, in the first place. It was a tough story to tell and one that he avoided telling whenever he could, especially since he had a, rather short, mind you, Wikipedia page and youtube videos that could be watched that could tell you more of a story about what had happened than he could. He remembered so little of the actual accident that lost him the use of his leg. He had fallen, there was a searing pain in his leg and his leg was wet, warm and sticky and that was about it. He couldn’t even tell you what had caused him to fall in the first place, but that’s what happened when you passed out, went straight into surgery and when you woke up were told you could never do your job again. Somehow, the reason you fell in the first place was no longer much of an issue.

Damian chuckled slightly at her words and shook his head. “Sure,” he said as he rested his back against the back of the chair. One good thing about riding is he hadn’t had back issues in ages, but everyone knew that any problems with his back were due to horseback riding so it would make sense that once he stopped that went away as well. Now most of his muscles were tight most of the time, but he did a lot of heavy lifting and awkward carrying so that only made sense as well. Since Damian had only been up for about two hours now food wasn’t exactly the first thing on his mind. His horses had been fed and that’s where his thought of food ended until about three in the afternoon when he would want something lunch-like. Sometimes he would go home for that, get away from the students who constantly needed him for something but there were also times he would stick around. It really just depended on the day and today, well, home sounded great seeing as he didn’t bring in any food for lunch.

“That’s good,” Damian said with a smile when she said she was enjoying her job. To be nothing but a trainer you had to really enjoy your job because the pay wasn’t all that great. Sure, it was better here at Ridgefield than it was at many barns he had been to in the past and it was something one could live on with a horse, especially since the stable workers would get free board, but it wasn’t something one could become lavish on. However, if someone like it why now? If his professional riding career could have continued and he was making next to no money he would have stayed in it in a second. He loved the job way too much to push it aside for money reasons.

“And your horse… Sweets, right? How’s she? Like her boarding?” he asked, making sure that was all right as well. He kept really in touch when it came to boarders and tried to make everything best for the horses, which is why they were outside all the time but if owners noticed anything with their horses he wanted to know right away. If their pasture mates weren’t working out or if weight was becoming an issue for whatever reason he wanted to know so he could fix it before anyone could start complaining about management practices because there was little that annoyed him more. Damian was happy that he could recall her horse’s name right away, but it was always easier for him with horses for whatever reason. Tell him a horse’s name once and he remembered it forever. Tell him about a person and he would forget it in less than an hour. It was annoying, sure, but just how he worked.

“Oh, this girl is Bourbon,” he said, scratching both sides of her face affectionately and looking down at her. “What about yours?” he asked, figuring he should flip the question around to be polite. “Is he… she…” he questioned, not sure about the gender and knowing he always got annoyed when someone messed up Bourbon’s, though he supposed he also understood. He did call her “ben” every once in a while, “friendly? Like, won’t attack Bourbon if I let her play?” he asked, jokingly. Now, this dog meant more to him than he would ever admit and if she was ever attacked by another dog he would not be a happy camper at all. In fact, he could see himself slipping back into old habits which would be horrible for both his life and that of Missy and Madison, both of whom he was trying to prove that he had grown past the whole alcohol issue.

[Alexa Walker]

She nodded when Damian had spoke of her mare. He had asked how she was doing, ‘Like her boarding?’ he had said. “Sweets is good,” Alexa answered his question.”In her mind, she’d be better off without her pasture mates though.” The reason why Sweets didn’t enjoy the company of other horses remained unknown. The mare liked to be by herself; but she never showed any violent behaviour towards the others. If another horse came along, she would pin her ears and walk off or just ignore them altogether. It was quite possible that the reason she acted this way because she never had really interacted with other horses before. If she had been kept in a stall all of her life, she more than likely could have developed a fear of horses. But these theories didn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever in Alex’s mind. “I wouldn’t worry about that though; she just ignores the other horses anyway.” She decided to add, taking another bite of the Ham and Swiss.

Sweet Thing, known as Sweets was Alexa’s first owned horse. Her parents had the money to buy her a horse when she was younger, but at that time no horse would be able to replace Sam her precious partner in crime. It was not until her last year at Rowanoak University did she buy her first horse. Sweets was bay in color, with black legs and two white coronets on her left legs. On her face, there was a white star, and the area around her nose was black. She was born in the Netherlands, sometime in late May of the year 2000. Two years later, she was purchased by a trainer and was imported into the United States of America. The lady who had trained her was the one who would begin pursuing the mare’s show career in Hunters, beginning with the Baby Green Division in 2005. The mare she trained had done very well, and would advance onto the regular Hunter Division in 2007. Later that year, she was sold to a man by the name of James Fletcher who had only leased the mare out to a variety of different riders. 2008 was the year that Alex had first set eyes on mare, and that year was also the year when she was purchased. Together the two had managed to compete in a majority of the interschool shows; usually never leaving empty handed.

Earlier that day, Alexa had taken Kip out for a walk on the small trails. The hound managed to run around, spending almost all of his energy. Now, the beagle lay at his master’s feet. His head was looking up at her, hoping that she might drop that little bit of sandwich that was now left. A low whine had escaped his mouth, and Alex looked at him. Usually she never fed him her food, only because she didn’t want the dog to get fat. Kip hadn’t eaten anything since earlier that day, so maybe a little bit of bread and ham would hurt. He watched as the food was placed in front of him. Then he licked his lips, and began to eat the bread and meat.

Alexa looked over at Damian who was scratching his dog on both sides of her face, looking down at her. Bourbon was her name. He returned the same question she had asked him. “This is Mudkip,” she let out sort of a nervous laugh. “I prefer to call him Kip though.” This was a name given by the breeder’s son, who happened to be obsessed with Pokémon at the time. Alex decided to keep his name; however she only would refer to her dog as Kip. “Nah, he won’t hurt either of you.” She assured Damian, smiling.

[Damian Lancing]

Damian couldn’t help but roll his eyes when Alexa mentioned her mare preferring to live without pasture mates. Yeah, that would happen when she was willing to pay double board and hay fees since Sweets would also be in nothing but a dry lot but he also did not feel that it would be good for the horse at all. Of course he knew that some horses did just seem to prefer to be away from other horses but, that being said, they were still herd animals. His quarter horse, way back before he had been to Rowanoak, had been the same way. Every other horse in his herd would be towards the front and he would be grazing in the back, not at all worried about predators or anything like that. That being said, he would never, ever just leave a horse alone because, hell, that was the last resort to try and work with an aggressive horse and why stallions could end up so crazy, and why poor little Skip had to deal with Desire. He was a huge supporter of stall buddies for stallions or race horses and, thanks to knowing how a horse’s brain worked knew he wanted horses to be pastured together, no matter what an owner may think their horse thinks.

“Believe me, I’m not worried about it at all,” he said, very matter-of-factly. She wasn’t coming up lame, none of the horses in her pasture were coming up lame, there were no overly scratched up horses and no chasing and every horse was still performing at the top of their game. He had learned to just almost ignore what owners had to say about their horses. Sure, if they said they had a gelding who acted like a stallion he wouldn’t put them in a mixed herd but if they said something along the lines of how they shouldn’t be in a certain pin because it was closer to the road he now just nodded and ignored that, putting them where he thought they would fit best. If it didn’t work then it didn’t work and he would change it but a horse would get used to a car faster than they would get used to a herd they shouldn’t be a part of in the first place.

Damian had actually only owned three horses in his life time and he had bought all of them himself, though that first gelding had been up kept by his parents. His first gelding had been an amazing animal and great for a first time horse owner. He jumped around three feet and he dominated the A-circuit jumpers with the gelding though the time they had been together, only about two years. Now he had Squire and Mack, both bought and currently paid for by him as well. Both geldings were great investments, he had found. Squire had started to bring in money a while back and Mack’s leasing alone during the show season paid for his upkeep for the rest of the year. He greatly enjoyed both of his current geldings, but had to admit that squire was the winner when it came to the two of them. He and Squire worked together so well and Squire, well, he wanted to work for you which was the one thing he really looked for in a horse. Any horse that had a drive to work for you could be trained to do something, even if it was just be the best child’s horse in the world or be the next Olympic champion.

The only Pokémon Damian could remember anymore was Pikachu, to be totally honest. Sure, he had watched the show as a child, he had been a young boy at one point, but he supposed he had grown out of that one in the end. He didn’t connect the dog’s name with anything except a name he would find a nickname to as well. Sure, he couldn’t talk, his dog was named Bourbon, after all, but it had been the name of the dog that had perked his interest in the first place so changing it, in his mind, just wasn’t possible. Not to mention, she had been Bourbon since she had a name and he wasn’t sure how easy it would be to change. He knew it wasn’t too bad with horses, but he also would never say that he knew dogs very well at all. Right when he got Bourbon he had tried to train her like a horse and, well, that failed miserably. He took her to obedience classes more for him than for her and since that they had gotten on fairly well. Bourbon listened to him… but she was also obsessed with him. Oh well, it was just a dog.

When Alexa answered his question he nodded and turned down to look at his dog. “Okay,” he said, when she immediately jumped up and moved over to Kip, her tail wagging and her head down to say hi. He watched the two dogs interact for a little before turning back to Alexa. “So, what have you been up to since graduation? Have to admit, I haven’t been keeping up on my classmates as well as I should have been,” he half joked, pushing hair away from his forehead. Maybe it was time for a hair cut… naw. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, if he really thought about it. He had seen a couple pictures and articles by Missy, which killed him every time and a name or two from Madison and Jodi but only in passing. He hasn’t been looking, was what it really was. If he would look he was sure he could really find out what happened to them all, but he didn’t want to get on the internet that much. He really was not a huge fan when it came to the internet.

[Alexa Walker]

She had noticed that Damian had rolled his eyes. For what though, Alexa didn’t know. She thought that it was rude when people rolled their eyes; especially when whoever they were rolling their eyes at was right in front of them. Besides, he could have at least looked away or something. However there was no reason for Alex to get worked up about it. What would she do, tell him off or something? Not likely.

Kip had been laying down when Bourbon had come over to say hi. Her tail was wagging, and she also happened to have put her face down to the beagle’s level. Immediately he looked up with interest; happy to see another of his own.
Mudkip was the name given to the young beagle. This name was chosen by a little boy, around the age of seven. At that time, he had been somewhat obsessed with Pokémon and decided to name the pup after one of his Sapphire game starters. It was in ’97 that these Pokémon things had become quite popular; but that was more or less around when she was a teenager. Sure, Alexa had maybe watched a few episodes but she didn’t know all of those little animated monsters; Let alone the so called new generation ones.

‘What exactly have I been up to since graduation?’ She thought, trying to remember. Alexa had never really done anything at all interesting since she had moved to Kentucky. Back home in Florida she would spend a lot of her time riding and competing. Some days she had even been tricked into going to the beach with her only ex, Tom. Almost all of the summers since her enrolment at Rowanoak had been the same. She would work most of the time, and take group lessons at the local stable. After she graduated, her routine hadn’t changed too much except that she had moved into an apartment away from the University, bought Kip and started showing Sweets outside of the NCAA circuit and balanced all of that with her coaching job. Maybe she should have taken that offer to go home with her parents after grad, but who knows what may have been different. She more than likely would have stayed at home, or something.

“Nothing much, I moved off Campus, bought Kip and showed on the local circuit with Sweets and coached in between.” She told him, smiling faintly. Alex wished she could have said she had done something exciting, like traveled in Europe with her non-existent friends or something. Alexa wondered why Damian would ask her such a question; they never really had spoken until that point in time. She wanted to ask why, but she kept her mouth shut and pulled out a bottle of water and took a sip out of it.
“What about you? I mean, what have you been up to recently?” she asked, smiling. Alex pulled out another sandwich out of the bag and began to unwrap it. For a second, her green eyes wandered over in his direction and then back to her bag where she pulled out another Ham and Swiss and held it out to him. She felt rude eating in front of others, so she offered him a sandwich. “Here,” she said quietly. "I don't mind if you take it."

OOC;
sorry for the delay and the quality of the post... =S