The cursed chill within the church had been enough to make the male go outside to try and bask in the sun. While originally, the sun had been out when he had found himself outside of his home, it had been replaced by dark, angry clouds that made him think about going back to his home and hiding up in his room to avoid the impending storm that seemed to be rolling in. Something had stopped the male from going back in just yet, and part of it happened to be that he had to move his horses out to Marrgerd to shelter from the storm. The male thought to do it a few days prior, for it seemed to be more stormy this year than the last ones and Coaxoch was afraid that the makeshift stables and corral that they had on the Church's land would collapse if too much snow got piled on the roofing. Sooner or later, he would have to possibly commission the Proctor to make him a barn, even though Coaxoch would regret every moment of interaction between himself and the man who Coax believed lied his way to the top of their ranks.
Coaxoch shook the thoughts from his head as he walked with Korosk and Nightmare in tow. He would have to go back for Kurogane, or tell Dirge to bring the horse with him whenever he got back from whatever he was up to, but for now he simply took Korosk's reigns and tied them to the saddlebag that was on Nightmare's back, and the two horses obediently trudged through the snow with him. It honestly was the worst trip he had to deal with in some time, because the depth of the snow.
By the time he and the two horses had finally made it to Marrgerd, Coaxoch was huffing and puffing breaths of frozen air. Am I getting fat or something? Jeez, that trip was so hard. he muttered to himself as he looked at the two horses who were also breathing pretty heavy from having to not only carry themselves but also the saddles and whatever else Coaxoch had in their saddlebags. Coax felt bad for making them carry things, but he honestly only had one arm and could only carry so much on his hips. Coax patted Nightmare's neck and sighed lightly as he moved down one of the hallways of the stables, searching for an open stall to put the horses in.
He thought about making the horses share a stall but they both were much too big to be crowding each other and while he knew Korosk would not be so bad, he was sure that Nightmare would act like a brat and probably try to hurt the Percheron.
Coaxoch sighed once more as he found one empty stall but would have to look around more for another open stall. I guess I wasn't the only one who had the same idea. Ugh. This is so annoying. I don't want to have to go all the way to Grimrun to board Kurogane. he huffed as he plopped down to rest a few minutes on a bale of hay that was in front of the empty stall. Nightmare nickered lightly as he came to nibble at Coaxoch's shoulder and Coaxoch flinched away because of the still healing wound that lay on his stumped arm's shoulder.
That damned coyote. growled Coaxoch as he sit there and rubbed his hand over the wound that seemed to be having a hard time healing.
Quote:Work with one of Salsola's horses, either by breaking a wild one or teaching another something new--refer to training tips for examples.
[html]
(567)
<3
_____________________
The temperature around her appeared to be dropping fast as the chill settled in the early morning air. Stretching her fingers out before herself and flexing them back and forth trying to instill some blood flow into them before they became completely stiff with frostbite. She brought her hands to her lips and blew hard into them, before turning to rub them together as she bobbed up and down in place trying to get some warmth back in her body. Unfortunately, there were a few jobs in the barn where if she wore gloves made it that much more longer then to just let her hands freeze for a little while, and it would be done and over with.
The thoughts of the warm fire crackling within her hearth at home made Evelyn almost skip out on her chores early this morning to bask in its warm embrace. The Ulrich child would do no such thing, as it was her sworn duty to make sure the horses were each turned out for the day and fed well in order to survive the harsh winter. For some reason, she did not remember the previous winter being quite this chilly, although she also spent most of her time inside during it and only played out in the snow with Eden when the days were warmer and the sun was shining high above. Everyone had tended to their every whim at that time, therefore, leaving them with nothing to want for, especially the warmth of the hearth in the church.
The sound of hooves on the cement floor of the barn snatched Evelyn out of her reverie as she popped her head out of the side of the stall to see who it was. A flash of dark fur disappeared around the corner to the other side, curious as to who it was, Evelyn slapped her dirty hands across her apron as she tried to get rid of some of the dirt from brushing out Icarus off her hands before jogging lightly down the hall to catch whoever it was. Rounding the corner, she nearly collided into the backend of her father's horse and pulling back at the last second, Evelyn managed to catch herself before she went flying for surprising the animal from behind. Sidling up alongside the large creature, Evelyn's glacier orbs came to rest on her father's face. She frowned but for a moment because he seemed to be working the part of his shoulder where his arm had once been attached.
"Still giving you some trouble huh?" she asked, approaching closer before dropping down on the hay beside him. "I may have a salve of some sort in the tack room that we use on the horse's legs when they seem to be paining," she offered, motioning with her thumb out towards the tack room around the other side. The young pallid female could not help but admire her father and everything he had accomplished. He did more with one arm, than most people knew what to do with two. It made her all the more proud of her old man as she sat there and wondered what life had been like before her and Eden had been thrown at him to raise almost entirely on his own. But, he hadn't been alone, and there had been a fair share of everyone's hands in that pot.
Her words had surprised him as she had walked up to him. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his large ears heard her words as she bounced up to them. He honestly should have known that the girl was messing around in the Stables, for it seemed as if this was the one place she was born to be. Maybe he should have had her come out and board the horses for him, but he did not even think about having his daughter come out to gather the things to make sure the horses and their gear were safe from the storm. He sat there with a frown on his face as his hand had rubbed his aching shoulder. He should have covered it better, especially since it had been so cold out, but he did not know how much time they had before the storm was to come, so he wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible, and not have to sit there and struggle with putting a wrap, or having Sebastien put a wrap not only over his entire stump but onto his shoulder as well.
She smiled to his baby girl as she had dropped down to sit next to him. She asked him if he wanted to rub a salve on his shoulder and he cocked his head to her and his ears turned back lightly on his head. Oh uhm.. he started to speak to her as he thought about if a salve might even work on the wound but he decided he was more than willing to try if the girl might of thought it would work.
Yeah, we can try the salve. he told her as he smiled to her, and thought about how she might want to exercise her horse before they are cooped up because of the snowfall and wind. I know it's not particularly nice outside, right now, but I just thought of maybe having Nightmare and Icarus out for a few rounds of spear practice. What do you think? he asked her, waiting for her to go get the salve and think about his suggestion. He wondered how long they would be able to practice before the clouds would get too dark for them to feel safe on horseback. It would be good practice for the two young stallions, and it would also help with teaching both himself and his girl about how to fight on horseback.
Even though Coaxoch's arm still pained him, he did strive to better himself to where he did not have the problem like he had run into with Kiamkillen. He didn't want to be seen as some weaker individual that was an "easy target", he refused to be seen that way, even though he had a very big disability to overcome still.
Let me know if the little powerplay is not okay and I will change it! Also, feel free to powerplay Evelyn getting her horse ready and outside to move this thread along! c:
_____________________
Even though Evelyn was not quiet with her approach by any means, her footsteps were still light enough that she normally was not heard around the barn and she had a habit of surprising people accidentally. Which was why this day was no different than any other and her father nearly jumped out of his skin when she piped up, her soft voice breaking the stillness of the barn as the only sounds were the rustling of the horses in their stalls as they had mostly been put away before the winter storm landed. Everyone could feel it in the air and the tenseness that filled Salsola before this storm seemed to only increase as they could not predict how bad it could be.
When she plopped down next to him he agreed to try the salve, now it was just a matter of finding it and hoping there was some left buried in the back. It worked well enough she thought for the horses, especially the ones that suffered from some kind of joint stiffening and paining before their joints warmed up, so why should it not work for him? Her eyes looked over the spot where he was rubbing and she smiled softly, it was the least she could do for everything that he taught her and had done for her in her short life so far. Truly, she would never stop needing her father or the rest of her family for that matter, she thought she would be a little more independent by now because that's just how things were supposed to be yet she never wandered too far from home because even her new house was still within striking distance of her fathers'.
"I'd love to! I'm sure Icarus will enjoy it as well because he will be cooped up for a few days until this storm blows over I'm sure," she nodded, it could last a few hours, it could last a day. Little did she know that it was going to be the storm of the century and they would be lucky if they did not suffer any losses during it. Hopping up from her spot beside him in the hay, Evelyn skipped along jovially through the barn, rounding the corner into the tack room. After searching and digging around for a little bit, she found a small jar that housed the cream and after giving it a little sniff, knew it was still good to use. Of course, it was a little frozen and would need to be worked a little bit.
"Found it!" she exclaimed, bouncing back around the corner with delight, she dug her fingers into the salve and tried to warm it up in her hands by rubbing it together awaiting him to remove the covering to it. "Here, dad, I will rub it in," she said, and when she had warmed it up enough in her hands that it felt more like a butter she gently massaged it into the shoulder as best as she could, careful not to apply too much pressure to it because she did not want to hurt him any farther. "Y'know, Eden might have something that will work a little better than this, he is always fiddling around with plants and learning all sorts about healing. I'm sure he would be thrilled to help," she said with a quirk of her brow, knowing that Eden would love to have the opportunity to help their father because they relationship had always felt a little strained at best.
"There! All done," she said, rubbing the rest of the salve off her hands onto the apron that she wore around to do chores in the barn as it had plenty of helpful pockets that she could fill with the tools she needed. Untying it from behind she hung it up on one of the hooks in the barn and awaited to see how Coax felt before she followed him along to get the horses geared up.
At his suggestion of going out to the pasture to train, he was more than happy that she had been willing to, now that she had her own stallion to train with. While she had been beautiful upon Nightmare's back, there had been some things that Nightmare needed to learn from Coaxoch's boy cues that were different than someone who would always have an extra hand to keep on his reins. I knew you would. he simply commented to her as she had then decided to get up and look for the salve.
While he should have been getting Eden to look at his wound to make sure it as not infected or getting worse, he decided to train with what time they had before the wind shifted. He did not know why it had seemed so urgent to get the horses dealt with, and why the air had felt so much different today versus the previous days, but he could say that today had felt quite a bit colder than the previous days, and the air had a wetness to it that was also different than the days and weeks prior.
He sat back and sighed lightly as he rubbed subconsciously at his stump, and he looked up at his pain in the ass horse. He had been lost in thought when his ears flicked to the sounds of his daughter telling him that she had found the salve and she had. When she had said that she would rub it in for him, he nodded lightly and started to take the wrapping from the stump as to reveal the stump and it's wound.
He didn't know why, but he still felt ashamed when it was uncovered, and when he had unwrapped it and wiggled the appendage, he suddenly looked away from her and it. He had a sad look on his face, and it was obvious that he had been so scarred by what had happened to his arm, and the lies he had been told that he didn't even like to think about his disability. He hated needed to depend on others, and he hated the physical and emotional pain that came with the missing arm.
He had lived with this for most of his life, and one mind wonder when exactly he would embrace his fault, instead of just feeling sorry for himself.
At the mention of her brother —and his son— he nodded lightly. It's not the day that I normally visit him, but the last time I went by, he had little to say about it really. It is healing very well, I think it's the cold that is making it ache more. he told his daughter, though the salve that she had been putting on it was tingly and a nice feeling on the wound. She had finished up rubbing the salve on him, and once she had finished, he put the glove-like wrap back on the ball of his stump before he slowly wrapped it back together himself. He did not ask for help, because his wrap had been made this way for a reason. All of his clothing had been made the way it was to facilitate his lack of second hand to help himself.
When he had finally finished, he went to where Nightmare was, and he grabbed the reins from Korosk, untied them from Nightmare's saddlebags, and then he led the Percheron into the empty stall. Then he took the bridle and reins from the horse's head and hung it onto the side of the stall. He then looked to Nightmare, grabbed at him and then looked back at Evelyn. I'll meet you out there with Icarus. he told her before he walked out towards the training pasture with Nightmare.
Her father's muscles felt tense under her hands as she rubbed the salve on after removing the wrappings from his shoulders and what was left of his arm. Once she finished he re-wrapped it and Evelyn nodded as he went to get Nightmare ready for their small training session. There was something in the air that had them all on edge, and maybe a shift in the weather and in the air had been the culprit. All they could do was be prepared because nature was not something to simply be trifled with from what she could tell.
Evelyn disappeared towards the back of the barn where Icarus was stabled presently and prepared him for their small training exercise. He would enjoy the work and if he had to be cooped up for a few days it would make him a little more settled than if she did not get him out. After taking a few minutes getting him ready, the Ulrich woman began to lead her mount outside and met her father a little farther off away from the barns and as she looked up she noticed small bits of flurries already beginning to fall around them.
Brushing it off as it had been snowing off and on for the past month steadily Evelyn quickly hopped atop her horse, using the reins to steer Icarus over towards Nightmare and her father.
"This will be Icarus' first time, but I think he must have had a little training because he is pretty sturdy from some of our own horses that I am used to," she said, patting the beautifully painted stallion below her. Her father and grandfather had sure done a good job in finding a mount that would be perfect for her and it did not take long for Eve to get used to his little quirks that would send inexperienced riders running for the hills. All he needed was a firm hand and like most animals, just a little bit of extra incentive in the form of fresh apples and other treats to persuade him to listen to her.
"Let me know when you are ready to begin," she stated, giving Icarus a firm nudge in the side with her heel and using the reins to direct him towards the other end of the field, far enough that they could get a good run in before passing their to-be opponents. The spears were dulled, and they had adorned their typical protection in order to save themselves a new piercing, but Evelyn knew she would still be sore tomorrow just from the impact alone at times.
