Well here is a reply after like, forever. And Wayne is jealous grumpypants. +5
The welcoming smile on the male’s face faded into a little perplexed frown once the Samoyed cross darted past him, launching herself at the wolf in one of her hugs. The sight of the pair embracing stirred old possessiveness within the cowboy, and the side of his lip twitched, threatening to reveal a tooth. Luckily, the instinctive growl was suppressed and only buzzed inaudibly in his chest. In fact, he might as well not have reacted at all if not for the flattening of Fern’s ears as she recognized the change in demeanor of her owner. She whickered sadly, but Wayne ignored her and only watched Saul with new eyes.
The introduction of the dark little cub distracted him from his thoughts, however, and a genuine smile returned to his squared-off muzzle as he looked down at the puppy. He hunkered down for just a moment, letting out a little “howdy” as the boy sidled closer to his father and greeted them with the uncertainty natural to less outgoing pups. He was surprised he hadn’t seen the child while he was at Ichika, though to be fair, he hadn’t met many of the adult members during his stay there either, too focused on his training.
Wayne turned an appraising eye to the brood mare, who looked like she’d be a handful to work with, when the news of Saul’s departure from Ichika caused the male to turn his had sharply. Perhaps he’d been blind to the unease in the pack during his short visitation there, as this was a total surprise to him. He began to shake his head but kept his ears pricked as the man went on.
The request had the mongrel’s rough features softening, and he looked at the pair of pregnant horses. In his heart, he knew he could not reject them—especially not the chance to bring Gypsy home. He loved Fern, and Fern was the sweetest creature any rider could ask for, but she was lacking in the spitfire personality that he’d come to admire in his old hardy friend.
“Spring’s comin’,” Wayne said after a moment, reaching up to scratch at his dirty-blonde hair. His old hat tilted askew before he adjusted it, clearing his throat. “Don’t see why they couldn’t stay, since feedin’ will be easier with the warm weather, an’ we’ll be able to build a barn. D’ya know if there’s any way we could contact you? If somethin’ happens?”
He wanted badly to just grab the mares and bring them into their new home, but he needed to be the more grounded of the pair. He needed to think, to reason, and he knew this might be a handful with the number of horses that were already part of Casa’s wandering herd. He knew that Hadley liked to help feed the creatures, though, and a few others could take some of the weight off the cowpokes by making sure their personal mounts were tended to.
“Don’t see why not,” he repeated.
.waysaddle b {font-weight:bold; color:#aa3821; letter-spacing:1px; text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em 0.2em #936f4a; }
.waysaddle p {text-indent:0px; padding:5px 16px; margin:0px;}
.waysaddle {margin:0 auto; width:500px; background-color:#daa46e; background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/CGa3P.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #000; padding: 300px 0px 7px 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#705338;letter-spacing:.6px; word-spacing:.9x; line-height:15px; text-align:justify;}
</style>
OOC ENDING: It's agreed that Saul will come to collect Maia and the foal at the end of June. They talk a little bit about other things, such as where Saul will be headed, and Wayne makes weird faces at him the whole time. :|[/html]