ooc shoutout to flo for giving me somewhere to show off my equine knowledge

"Veni! Arion, desinas dolor!"

Hazel had well and truly done herself a favor in befriending a certain Thoroughbred colt. That was to say, she hadn't. At all. The young horse was as stubborn as he was ignorant and egotistic - which, given his age of two months, was expected - but honestly, Hazel felt like a babysitter instead of his companion. He was huge compared to her, which gave her a very limited amount of control. She was often reduced to verbal commands, which usually came out in Latin when she got frustrated with him.

Speaking of...her frustration and anger were starting to poke through their confines, which hadn't happened for several months. There was a discomfort, a restlessness in her soul, that made made her itch with with apprehension. She had always been sure that she could lock it away and keep it there, but...Now she was weary of her outburst with Bastille while he was completely sloshed; her words to him were molten hot with veins of solid ice, fear reacting with anger and mixing a lethal, unstable cocktail.

There was a guilt that lingered on her chest for going off so completely, knowing that it was so opposite of how she usually acted. It had surprised her, too. Her trigger plate was a sensitive one, granted, but she hadn't realized just how sensitive it had become. The longer she had lived with Mother, the more she shut down. That much she knew. When she joined the Ascendants, things slowly started to unravel. Maybe a little...too much. And it was starting to scare her more than she cared to admit. She'd have to come clean about her past some day, and while the day was rapidly approaching, Hazel was terrified of what her clan mates might think of her afterwards.

The cocoa colored feline was currently watching Arion dance in circumnavigate her every attempt to get him to stand still, until she finally gave up and decided to just take a seat. "No problem," She said passively, loud enough for the colt to hear. "I'll just tell them how ridiculous and unhelpful horses are. It's no biggie." Arion hardly slowed in his prance, though he tossed his head and whinnied with great satisfaction. Hazel stuck her tongue out at him, pouting as he tossed his head back and kicked up his back hooves.

Hazel sighed at the sky before calling out: "Everyone, colligentes circuitu! Gather around! It's time you learned a little bit about horses, since we have two living here." She grinned. "Might be useful in not getting stepped on."

(veni! - come!
desinas dolor! - quit being a pain!
colligentes circuitu! - gather around!)

★ — hazel — "speech" — seven months — the ascendants — tags — ★

Bastille was finding it difficult to spend time with Octavia, lately. For the most part, her stall was positioned across from Arion's -- which meant that the risk of running into Hazel was high, and he had absolutely no desire to see or speak with her. In fact, he would be happy to never interact with her ever again, thank you. But even when he wasn't tracking O down to her stall, the filly was constantly with Arion, either because the colt was following her around like a lovesick puppy or because she was actually entertaining him and playing for once. Bast rarely had a clear shot at Octavia sans Arion or Hazel, and it was starting to irritate him just as much as... well, most things did. She shouldn't be getting in the way of him relying on O, too.

As it was, he'd managed to catch O on her own this morning, and let her nose at him while he checked for apples. The Arabian's head went up, however, at Hazel's bright voice -- and Bastille closed his eyes in annoyance when he realized the exactly moment O caught sight of Arion. The filly took off, the bengal a few steps behind her with a scowl as he tracked her down to the other side of the Observatory. He found the filly prancing in circles around Arion, predictably.

"O," he said, fighting back the slight edge to his tone as the filly regarded him primly. He resolutely ignored Hazel, and shot Arion an annoyed look when the colt vied for Octavia's attention. "Let's go. They're busy, and you're going to interrupt," he said, jerking his head as he turned away just as quickly as he'd joined the group. The Arabian snorted skeptically at him, but trotted after him nonetheless as he headed for the borders. She might not be happy to leave Arion, but Bast was willing to compromise and take her on a patrol, instead. Anything to get the fuck away from Hazel immediately.

Hazel beamed as her friends began to show up, tail lifting in her excitement. It wasn't a large crowd, but that didn't particularly bother her. She sighed at Margaery's comment, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. "On enim est aliquid iniuriam facitis titio quando hes." She replied, shaking her head.

Her attention was stolen by Bastille - as it was the norm now, apparently - and Octavia as they crossed paths with Hazel's lesson. She almost ignored him; got very close to carrying on like she couldn't see or hear what he was doing. That was, until he sent an annoyed look at Arion, and a very protective flare rippled in her aura. She knew he hadn't said anything, but she could just about hear the words that would roll off his tongue. Arion didn't seem phased by it, instead prancing over to Octavia and succeeding in ignoring the small tom cat. He got a nip at the pretty filly's short mane before Bastille was leading her away. Arion called after her with a loud whinny, upset that she was leaving. He almost started to follow her, too, before Hazel was whistling for him.

Begrudgingly, the colt walked over to the group, snorting at Hazel. "Watch your language." Hazel told him, electing to act as if Bastille had never been present at all and shove the anger down towards the base of her spine, where it belonged. She turned back to the group, shaking her head.

"So...admittedly - and obviously, to be frank - I've never held a class about horses before, so this is a first," She smiled sheepishly. "I'm not going to make you ride or anything, so no worries if you're afraid. I'd rather find a more stable horse than eruca over here. He'll take you into next month if you don't know what you're doing.

"I guess for the first part of this, I should let you know that horses are herbivores. Common knowledge to some, but to others, they seem pretty scary for plant-lovers. But they've got flat teeth because of it, so. Other attributes of herbivores are that they are, in most every context, the prey instead of the predator. That's why their eyes are set on the sides of their skull: they can see nearly three hundred sixty degrees around them, with the exception of two blind spots: directly in front of their nose, and directly behind their tail. If you can help it, never stand directly behind a horse. They have other ways of detecting you, and will more likely than not send you flying if you spook them." She reached up to pat Arion's foreleg.

"Their main defenses against predators are their hooves, size, hearing, sight, and speed. Given the option, horses will flee instead of fight. They easily spook, as well. Loud noises, sudden, unexpected contact and movement are all prime ways to spook a horse. You can use this to your defense, though. If a horse is doing something you don't like, wave your arms and make as much noise as you can. It might send them in the other direction." She grinned. "It does with this coward, anyways." Arion snorted at her again.

"Any questions so far?" Hazel asked.

(on enim est aliquid iniuriam facitis titio quando hes - he's only chipper when he's doing something wrong
eruca - rocket)

★ — hazel — "speech" — seven months — the ascendants — tags — ★