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Post by shane on Feb 7, 2010 20:53:48 GMT -5
Like most January days, it was cold and crisp, ice crystals sparkling in the air, and a good foot of fresh snow covering the earth. Unlike most winter days in West Virginia though, the sky was as clear as could be, the brilliant blue sky and the rocky mountains were clearly visible in the bright sunlight. On days like these, the stable was always quite busy. From bushing long blanketed horses to going on a trail ride to working in the arena, there were people everywhere you looked. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the nice weather, despite the bitter cold of the winter. One of those people was Shane Martin... though the ever silent boy was there very nearly every day despite what the weather might be. He knew his horse was hardy enough to endure any weather, and he loved his horse enough to want to be there every day.
Today had been a rather rough day for him at school. Even though he was a senior, he was often the victim of "bullies" because of his lack of athleticism and shyness. Today was one of those days when he was. There was a group of about ten new guys that had gotten kicked out of their last school and sent here, and they were already starting a reign of terror. Shane had managed to avoid them all week, and since today was Friday, he was certain he would be able to go all five days without getting picked on... unfortunately, he was wrong. He'd stayed away from them all day, but as he was heading to math class... the last class of the day, they caught up to him. He ignored any and all taunts they called out at his back as he walked down the hall... he was used to them... and he couldn't say anything back anyway.
Of course, not knowing that he was incapable of verbal response, the guys were rather annoyed with his silence. They took pleasure out of other people's pain and a verbal response was the best way to tell when they were hitting a nerve... but Shane just said nothing. Finally one of the guys grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and planted a fist in Shane's ribs, sending the eighteen year old reeling back. Of course, there was still no verbal response or even a sound... sure the pain registered in his expression, but they wanted more than that. Just before they could descend on him though, a teacher came down the hall, and noticing the rather suspicious group of football player sized guys surrounding Shane proceeded over to ask if everything was alright.
Not wanting trouble, Shane just nodded his response, and after hesitating a moment the teacher moved on down the hall. Before he was gone from view though, Shane scratched out "the pen is mightier than the sword" on a Post-It Note and stuck it to the leader's chest and slipped past them and down to his math class. He knew he'd just pissed them off more, but even though he couldn't talk, he was still a guy, and he took pride in coming out of that with nothing more than an ugly bruise on his ribs... not to mention probably pissing them off even more with what he'd "written." So he might have made an enemy... what was one more to add to the list of people who would come after him just because he was different from everyone else? He was used to it, and it had very little effect on him anymore.
As soon as school was out, he made a beeline for the parking lot to avoid another confrontation, and headed for the stable, where no one would bother him. As soon as the light bay mustang saw Shane a low and boisterous nicker rumbled in the horse's throat in greeting to his silent companion. That "adorable" smile turned up the corners of Shane's mouth as he stepped up to the horse and placed his hands on either side of the animal's face, conveying through touch what most people would have spoken. Life was a lot harder when you couldn't speak, but he didn't have to worry about that when he was with the horse. He had named the animal Rubik's Cube, because for the period of a year and six months when he didn't have a horse, he had spent the majority of his free time figuring out the Rubik's Cube because he had nothing better to do. The horse had gotten rid of the need to do such horribly boring things as teach yourself how to solve a Rubik's cube.
After a moment or two, Shane grabbed the halter and lead rope and slipped the halter on the horse's head, and lead him out of his stall down to the cross ties, where he clipped the horse in and hurried off to go get his brushes. Today was the day to try out the tack. Sure, he could ride the horse around bareback easily, but trying to put tack on a mustang was a whole different story. He returned shortly after, and set about brushing the horse's extremely fluffy winter coat. He had tried blankets on Rubik before, but the horse despised them and always just ruined them... besides, he was wild, he could live through winters in a nice warm barn quite easily. Rubik was definitely good for Shane, he gave him someone to talk to without having to write everything down. Horses understood silence a lot more than they usually understood words. [/size] |
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Post by { ; violette indigo. on Feb 9, 2010 16:56:30 GMT -5
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Dripping icicles hung from the bloated wood, snow resting upon it's roof. A sigh was released, lungs collapsing and expanding. A puff of smoke lingered at her plump lips from carbon dioxide being released. Today was the day, her first day at Pinewood. Ginger eyes shifted from one object to another-pasture to pasture to pasture. Wow, thoughts scattered in her brain as onyx converse crunched on the gravel on her way to the stables.
The female passed various cars from old, beat up trucks to shiny new automobiles. Cold digits grabbed the handle of her worn down indigo halter, closing it tightly around her palm. Lids closed for only a moment, then opened, realizing she was still walking. Finally, reaching the stables she walked into the aisles, studying the dusty stalls closely for that very special equine of hers. A fuzzy sienna muzzle poked through the freezing cold metal bars, lips parting to release a high and quite ear deafening whinny.
Cringing, lips pulled into a smile as she rubbed the velvety nose, hot air breathing on her rhythmically. Hey girl. Sweet words flew from her mouth, a smile still plastered onto her facial features. A small nicker was sent in return. Noticing her halter was still in her hands, she slid the cumbersome stall door open and put the halter onto Sidka. The mustang followed happily, practically prancing to the cross ties. She clipped on the cross ties and grabbed a curry comb.
Violette brushed the equine's bushy coat in rough circles, knowing it wouldn't hurt the mare. Sidka bobbed her multi-coloured cranium, ears swiveled forward. Another nicker was released, this time a little louder. Huge brown eyes lingered at her owner's pocket, seeing some orange carrots sticking out of her jeans. A chuckle was emitted from the human. She grabbed the carrots and held them up to Sid's muzzle, watching as pearly whites crunched madly on the food, like she hadn't eaten for days. Actually Sidka had gain a few pounds, it being so icy and harsh in Connecticut she never could ride her, not having an indoor ring.
She pulled a wad of hair from the large, rubber spikes and put the curry comb down and grabbed a body brush, soft bristles polishing her rain-washed coat. Muscular legs shifted, getting pretty antsy. Almost done. She cooed to her beloved animal. Violette dusted the dirt off her half-wet hocks and reached for the hoof pick, blowing a few strands of her russet tendrils away from her face. Biting her lip, Vi began to lift Sidka's leg from her stubbly feathers and began scraping away balls of snow mixed with mud. Sid shifted to the side and snorted, not exactly liking the idea of her leg being lifted. After doing the first, she continued with the rest of the three. See, it wasn't that bad. Violette whispered in her horse's ear, lips curving into a smile.
Once done with her battle to make sure her equus was well groomed, she noticed someone else in the barn. Sidka noticed, too because her ears flicked into that direction, wanting to hear more. Another nicker was released, a call to the other one of her species. Wanting to at least know one person here, she shyly walked behind her horse and made a small wave towards the male, a rather tiny smile on her facial expressions. Hi, uhm, I'm new. Do you know where the indoor and outdoor ring is? She asked quietly while fiddling with her fingers.
[/blockquote] - - - - - - - - - - - - TAG Shane Martin, Violette Indigo
WORDS 624
NOTES Sorry it's rather small, I haven't roleplayed in a while.
TUNES heaven help us , my chemical romance.
CREDIT template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0[/center] |
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Post by shane on Feb 10, 2010 13:36:23 GMT -5
Shane was currently so preoccupied with his horse that he hadn't realized that anyone else was in the barn. He was used to seeing other people around, but most of the time they didn't bother him, and he didn't bother them. It was a live and let live situation. He had only been in West Virginia for a period of about six months now, and he hardly knew anyone. Sure, he knew who people were... like Chey, she owned and ran the place... Sebastian, he was Chey's husband and the top English trainer... Anthony and Alex, they were the two jockeys... Charlie was a cop, and was often seen around the stable with his two kids and occasionally Peyton, who Shane assumed was his girlfriend and her son. Vivian came around occasionally, and he had seen her at school, though she always seemed pretty... not social, and for a girl like her to be that way it had to mean she was going through something tough. Then there was Liz and Logan who he'd seen together a time or two, and Austin and Lexi... well, you get the idea.
Shane was extremely observant, and he always seemed to kind of get to know who people were before they ever even noticed him. Because of his silence, he tended to just sort of blend in with the scenery, or so it seemed, and he was able to watch people without them even realizing they were being watched. It sort of fascinated him... the way people interacted with each other. People who could talk (which was all of them here as far as he knew), were capable of so much more than he was. The could have long conversations about important things or not so important things. They could call to people who were a ways away from them, they could talk on phones... they could do countless things that Shane could only imagine ever being able to do.
When suddenly another horse nickered and someone was talking to him, he very nearly had a heart attack. When he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him, the sudden presence of another person always about made him jump out of his skin... mostly because he hadn't had a chance to plan out what he would say to them when they approached him. He never really knew what to do when people who didn't know tried to talk to him. He was torn between just bluntly writing it out and saying something else that might lead into an explanation later. He didn't like to be blunt... especially when people asked him a question that he would obviously have to respond to with words... which in his case were written. Since her question was two fold, he couldn't very well just point in the direction she should go... so he had to do something.
For a minute or two he just sort of stood there with a bit of a blank expression on his face as he bit his lip without even realizing it... a nervous habit. After a moment of indecision, he grabbed his ever faithful stack of sticky notes, and quickly wrote out "There isn't an indoor arena... or if there is, it must be underground because I haven't seen it." and beneath that, "the practice rings are out and to the left, but they might be a little icy... I don't know." When he had finished writing that he bit the inside of his lip and peeled the note off the stack and offered it to her, hoping she wasn't going to be one of those people who thought he was being ride or something of that sort. In hopes of completely banishing that thought from her mind, he let his horribly awkward crooked smile play across his face, only adding to his shy and reserved appearance. You couldn't help but love it.
He was still undecided on whether or not he should just bust out with an explanation or not. It would seem really random if he did without something leading up to it, but then again... she was probably wondering why in the world he was writing his response instead of saying it. Most people would never assume he couldn't talk because he just looked so normal... weird people like him weren't supposed to look normal. Most people would just be completely thrown off when he handed them a sticky note with his response to them on it... it just wasn't normal for people to write instead of talk. Shane was all too well aware of this. People had been reminding him all his life that he wasn't normal. He hated it when people started treating him like a child when they found out he couldn't talk. Many of them would talk slower when they found out or try to use really simple English as if he couldn't understand. It irritated him to no end. Just because he wasn't capable of speaking didn't mean he wasn't capable of understanding like a perfectly normal human. He could hear just fine, he could understand just fine... all he wanted was for people to see him as a normal person with an unfortunate inability to speak, because that was what he was... unfortunately, most people didn't get that... especially teachers. Maybe one day when he was considered an adult because of age people would treat him the same way they treated everyone else. |
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Post by { ; violette indigo. on Feb 10, 2010 19:01:17 GMT -5
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She inhaled and exhaled, parting her lips to let out carbon dioxide. Sidka shuffled impatiently, letting a snort rumble her fuzzy nostrils. Ears flicked sideways, listening to the other low nickers and hoof beats from rows of stalls. Violette's sienna eyes flicked sideways, watching Sid from the corner of her eye. Sidka was very well behaved but being in a different environment, she wasn't quite sure. Well, horses were animals and they could be quite unpredictable. The blue roan pawed at the ground, her sleek neck arching. Vi chuckled mentally. She was liking Pinewood so far, but hey, she only saw one person here. She couldn't judge just yet, Violette had to keep an open mind.
It was hard to leave Connecticut, especially when her father was alone in the house now. Vi just hoped her sister didn't give him any trouble, asking for money. Or worse. She pushed those thoughts away. Violette knew her father would be just fine, but would probably call him a couple times a week. She shifted her thoughts back to Pinewood, and hoped for the best. She was shy and didn't like to go out of her comfort zone, and going to a totally different state and not knowing anybody was a big step for her, but she had to do it.
Coming back to reality, she grabbed the post-it notes slowly, very curious to why he wrote them down. There isn't an indoor arena... or if there is, it must be underground because I haven't seen it. The practice rings are out and to the left, but they might be a little icy... I don't know.
[/b][/u][/color] After reading it carefully, she raised an eyebrow. Shoving the paper into her pocket, she said, Just curious. . but is there a reason you uhm. . wrote it down? Still keeping an open mind to his response, she patted Sidka's now brushed clean rump. Violette noticed he was sort of uncomfortable, just like she was feeling. Her tiny smile reappeared again, and her eyes moved to the ground, watching her feet squirm in her converse. She glanced up again, and then it dawned on her. Her porcelain cheeks flushed fuchsia. Vi kind of figured what the dilemma was, but just to make sure she asked anyways. I-is it because you can't like. . talk? She asked quietly, I'm perfectly fine with it. Being in the city, Violette had met many different people. Some different than others. So Vi didn't care. I mean, why would she? Her shy smile grew a tad, and she began fiddling with her fingers again. Sidka seemed to calm down and realize that she was going to have to wait, because she stopped moving around and snorting. Violette shifted her weight, getting tired of putting it all on one side. She let out a quiet sigh and began biting the inside of her cheek, a horrible habit that if she did too much of it always hurt. Suddenly realizing her hands were freezing, she shivered quietly and shoved them into her pockets, pushing her iPod out of the way to make sure her hands fit. Vi pulled her hoodie up higher, watching silvery flurries drift with the frigid winds and gently fall to the ground, adding more to the thin sheet of snow and probably ice. Winter was one of her favorite seasons, she loved to watch birds linger near the frozen pond back home. Violette loved cold weather but if it got too cold, she'd dislike it. Christmas was her favorite holiday, not because of presents but she always loved to decorate the house with little snowmen and elves. Sidka nickered, interrupting her thoughts. Glancing over to the mare, her ebony tail swished at her hocks lazily. The bitter air burned her cheeks, and every time she breathed, clouds formed. So far Vi was not liking the temperature. [/size][/blockquote] - - - - - - - - - - - - TAG Shane Martin, Violette Indigo
WORDS 675
NOTES - - -
TUNES heaven help us , my chemical romance.
CREDIT template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0[/center] |
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Post by shane on Feb 13, 2010 16:00:34 GMT -5
Ah school... why people put themselves through 12 years of torture just to maybe do something with it after half their life is over was always beyond Shane. As far as he was concerned, he was never going to use anything he learned in school. Math... he was good at, but hated. English... he was already well advanced beyond the classes he had to take. History... why would he care about a bunch of dead people? Every class seemed totally worthless to him, considering he was sure that he was never going to be able to do much with his life. It seemed no matter what job you had, you needed to be able to speak well, and Shane couldn't say a word. Odds were he was probably going to end up being a bum on the street. He didn't really have any well pronounced talents, and he secluded himself so much from the world that he never really got out there and experienced things to find out what he liked.
He spent the majority of his time off away from the rest of the people... too shy and insecure with his disability to put himself out there and interact with other people... just doing homework or busying himself with trying to figure out what he would say to someone if he was confronted. Even though he was 17... a junior in high school... he was still about as timid as a freshman in a new school. Deep down, he really did want people to hang out with... people who would understand him and wouldn't judge him for his inability to communicate the same way they did... but he was horribly afraid of being rejected by everyone, so he didn't put himself out there. Besides, if he never tried, no one could reject him, and his world could remain in statuesque. He lived a rather lonely depressing life, but it had always been that way... he didn't know anything different.
Perhaps if he'd had siblings it wouldn't have been so difficult for him to interact with people, but being an only child... not being able to talk... his parents both working full time... it had sort of driven him back into a cocoon of comfort that he was unwilling to break out of. Sure, he'd gone to school ever since kindergarten, but out of everyone, little kids were the most cynical and mean, and in his younger years everyone only picked on him because he couldn't say anything back. For that reason, he withdrew himself even more. At recess he would always just wander off by himself to some little hiding place he'd found where no one else could find him and make fun of him... and the teachers remained clueless. The playground attendants and teachers never noticed when he disappeared. After all, he was the mute kid... because no one ever heard him no one ever missed him when he was gone.
Even to this day, Shane was possibly one of the least outgoing people on the planet. Despite how long he had been here and the size of his class, he had no one he could really call a friend. He was in desperate need of breaking out of his shell, but until someone forced him to, he was perfectly content with staying safe in his comfort zone where he wouldn't be put out on a limb. For that reason, uncomfortable was a bit of an understatement. He was nervous, awkward, and had no idea what to say... the mustang standing beside him was a little comfort to him, since he knew the horse understood him despite not being able to say anything... but even so, he was straddling the line between that separated his comfort zone from everything else. So when she asked if it was because he couldn't talk, he simply nodded, not making eye contact for more than a brief moment.
He did find it strange that she added "I'm okay with it" most people didn't think of that... He had found that some people were okay with it, and some weren't... but either way, they generally never stated their standing on whether they were or weren't and just let him find out on his own. Even when he was around people who didn't change their minds about him when they found out he couldn't talk, he still felt like a misfit. Sure, he'd met deaf people before... but he'd never met someone who was incapable of sound. Deaf people could still sometimes talk, they could laugh, they could do all those things... but so far as his experience went, he'd never met anyone who couldn't make a sound no matter how hard they tried. Sometimes he felt like half the people who were okay with it were just pretending. He could always tell when someone just didn't want to be mean and so acted like they didn't care.
He wasn't really sure what to say to her after that... what could he say anyway? A moment of indecision followed before took another note and wrote "Thanks... I'm Shane Martin." a little more slowly than normal because he was trying to decide if he should say more. Nothing came to mind though, so he just settled for that, and peeled the note off the top of the stack and offered it to her again, still awkwardly. He was unnaturally timid for a guy his age, but when he got to know people better the timidness wasn't so prominent... it just took time is all. |
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