Damian Here!

[Damian Lancing]

Hey everyone! So this here is Damian. He's the coach of the hunt team here at Rowanoak, though his personal favorite is jumpers, he has to admit. Either way, all Rowanoak students would know him very well.

Now... well, Cori and I have a "See what happens" plot with Missy and Damian as they are ex-fiances and all that fun stuff, but we don't know where that is going to go or what's going to happen with that so there are a few other things open. He would never show romantic interest in a student because he refuses to let himself think of them in that way.

As for friends, he needs them. He is close with students, yes, but doesn't part with them or anything like that and is also very, very strict when it comes to his students as well so watch that. Just because you're all chumming with him doesn't mean he'll give you any more slack than someone else.

Enemy-wise... watch it when it comes to students. He keeps their life in his hands. They can't show unless he gives the go ahead so... yeah lol. It wouldn't be do bad to gave a few people enemy-wise, though lol.

Something to know about Damian? He can't ride. A few years ago he broke his leg on a fall from a horse and now can't ride unless he wants to lose his leg completely. He now walks with a pretty bad limp.

I'm open for almost anything, and I did say almost, but throw it at me anyway! What's the worse I can say? No? lol I love to get a few plots going with members and the like to please let me know!




_{Damian doesn't interest you? PM me about my other characters. I have a 21 year old ex-con, a 23-25} ^{year old single father and actor, a 22 year old pro rider and a 21-22 year old girl. Take it over PM!}

[xxfillyfoalxx]

Hey,

Ok, I know I haven’t officially joined yet but this really interests me. I’m hoping to have my character, April Connors, accepted with as little problems as possible.

The idea is she has this green youngster, a 16.2hh Chestnut thoroughbred called Oliver that has potential to become a decent show jumper, however perhaps reflecting on his price he is not easy to handle although not nasty at all. April doesn’t have a lot of choice, for he isn’t even her own horse and is her only chance to get away from the old farm she grew up in. This is one of the reasons she came here (on scholarship?) to get help with the green gelding and to go further with him.

So here is the idea, you say that Damian will not allow any of his students to show unless he says so, well how about if April was to have come pretty disastrous lessons with Oliver so Damian decides that they are not ready to compete, however April ignores that advice and goes ahead...

I’m always one for drama (shock horror!) so I don’t know, maybe she could take a fall or something at the show and that’s how her coach finds out...

Just an idea, what do you think? I’ll try and get her bio up as soon as possible.

Hailey<3

[Damian Lancing]

Though I am not completely against the idea of her having a greeen horse, you have to realize this is a school for riders, not horses. This is why Rowanoak has horses for the students to ride. Damian would be happy to work with a green horse (though, if the student is an undergrad it will also tell that what he thinks about them owning instead of leasing) but April would still be taking lessons on the school horses as well. It is a requirement for to be at the school.

Also, showing refers to NCAA showing, where you do no ride your own horse. You travel to a different school and "pull out of a hat" the horse you are to ride. There will be other shows around, but Damian has no say if you go and show your own horse, though he will give students ideas of if they are ready for that, of course.

So, long story short, yes, the basic idea works but she would not come here for help with the gelding because that would actually be a good bit of extra money as it is not covered in tuition to have a horse trained so think about that and, showing-wise, Damian has no actual say if she takes her own horse to a show (and if he did and she went to the show anyway, she'd be kicked out of Rowanoak lol). So let me know your thoughts on that.

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[xxfillyfoalxx]

Ok then let’s work on that. Right so the whole idea of April coming here is to advance further with her dreams along with her horse (who is not actually owned by herself because she wouldn’t be able to afford him despite him not being worth a lot at this current stage, but her old farm owner who hooked her up with the idea of the academy) rather than having someone else bring on and train her horse for her.

Right so say she comes and has a lesson with him that turns out to be less than successful, especially with such a close goal in mind to go to a small local competition, however considering how the lesson went in Damian’s professional opinion the pair are not yet ready and should take a different approach, and also he maybe suggests leasing one of the schools horses which is something April has never considered before.

Maybe April could take that as a personal attack being pretty stubborn herself and has a disagreement and decides to prove him wrong and goes to the show without his permission. For some reason or another it turns out to be a disaster, the pair get eliminated or April takes a fall and it turns out that Damian was actually right in the first place and she is left to come back, only to find a less than welcoming Damian...?

See what you think of that and if there are any points you like/dislike or anything you’d like to add. Maybe she’ll find herself having to prove herself again or something? What do you think?

[Damian Lancing]

Well, the basic plot idea works for me fine, but you may want to think about the character herself a little more.

Most pro riders, especially show jumpers, do not ride their own horse and Rowanoak is not a place to come to even try and bring a horse along, it is only and strictly to bring riders along. Her dreams should be to be a professional rider, regardless of the horse and that will be how she is trained. Yes, there can be lessons on Oliver that Damian would be happy to give (for an extra fee because giving private lessons for the horse's benefit is not something he does through the school) but that is not what the school is for, at all. As I said, the basic plot idea is fine and I don't fight the idea of a green horse at all (remember, all undergrads must have horses over the age of five) but think about it as a student at Rowanoak and find a way to make that work =]

Beyond that, the plot works well. That sounds just like Damian, but be prepared that, after she does that, he would probably never trust her fully again and make her life difficult on the team because there are plenty of riders who would love to take her spot who would obey him and trust his judgement.

[xxfillyfoalxx]

Well we can work on the horse, I suppose. Maybe Oliver wasn’t trained very well to start with, and is still young and at the moment the pair are not really clicking. However, April owes his owner and she feels as though she cannot just give up on him. This could be part of the reason why she takes it so hard when he gives her a home truth and maybe this is something he doesn’t quite realise how much it means to her...?

I was thinking that in the heat of the moment she could probably say something that was just out of line, the type of thing you regret as soon as you say it. Maybe something about him not being able to ride and the “what do you know” type of comment. I was reading you’re characters application and that was the type of thing that really pissed him off when students seemed to act in that way. This along with the fact that she completely disobeyed him would not help her case at all.

So after a pretty much failure she will have to come crawling back and Damian finds out about a rider being injured at a local event and of course it ends up being April and completely rejects her. So she has to try and prove herself by taking his advice and approach to training, but of course Damian would be less than impressed to say the least.

I have to admit I really like drama more than the whole fluffy bunny way that everyone loves a character and they will never get on someone’s wrong side, so this type of thing suits me down to the ground.

What are you’re suggestions?

[Damian Lancing]

That sounds fine to me. You have how Damian would react pretty much down. Just keep working in ideas for the horse, and remember it counts as her owning him for the rules if she's under twenty-three =]

Though, as her coach, he couldn't completely reject her but he would spend some time giving her less attention, not sending her to as many shows, putting her on the horses that just need ridden etc. and then she could try and get back on his good side by just smiling through it and doing the grunt work asked of her and the like. Then, maybe, she can think she would have gotten him back to a smile and then something else happens and she realizes it will never be quite the same etc. More can come out and be made more clear when the time comes lol.

How's that sound to you?

And any more ideas from other members?! I'm more than happy to up my number of plots lol.

[Samantha Griffin]

well. i haven't joined her yet but no matter what Madi & Damian must interact on some level - friends at the least xD. I will PM/AIM you about it though - i have no ideas that are quite right atm....

[Damian Lancing]

Well, of course. We actually have already discussed a few things lol.

Any other ideas? From other characters?

[Genesis Ward]

Well as you read in Gene's app, Denali has a little problem with rushing fences and over jumping. She wouldn't have a problem with him being strict as she's far too used it it with her parents but maybe he could try to work with her on controling him and getting him to stop rushing fences.

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[ADMIN DAYMI!]

That sounds good to me, it is his job to work with students, after all.

I can also see them getting a little pissy with each other. There is no way Damian would sit by and let her be all "paranoid" about other people touching her horse. If she wants him to help he will be working with the horse fromt he ground and putting some trusted riders on his back, period, point black, rather she likes it or not (remember, he is her coach at he will be handled by other people if he is at Ridgefield lol). He gets pissy when people think that their horse should only be handled by them, especially in an NCAA setting where people are allowing strangers up on their horses with no issues so I think that could be fun.

[Genesis Ward]

Oh yes. She would be watching the other riders like a hawk if they were on him. I could definately see that posing a very fun to play problem. After a while she might just implode though.

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