Detective Ray Vecchio, IMP!

[speakscanadian]

"I can't believe I did that I can't believe I did that I can't believe!" Ray flapped his hands and high-tailed it out of the stable, hopping around in circles and visibly shuddering. "I can't believe I did that!"

There was a reason why horses weren't man's best friend and that reason was glaringly obvious to Ray. They stunk. And tried to kick him. And head-butt him whenever his back was turned.

Huffing out a deep breath, Ray pinched two fingers and pulled off his gloves, work done for the morning. He'd forgotten how sucky it was getting up early to tend to two spoiled sets of hooves, and he definitely hadn't appreciated the time in-between these stints enough, when he'd been able to sleep in and not smell of manure. He thanked God he lived alone, otherwise his roommates might have thought there was something wrong with his own bowels...

Tossing the gloves on the floor, Ray looked himself over, checking to make sure he wasn't too cruddy. He'd leave the saddling up and...whatever else needed to be done to Asher and spend the time psyching himself up instead. The faster he learned how to control those things, the less time he'd have to play care-giver.

"C'mooon," he called out, swinging his hands together and shaking out his legs, a clear sign of the nerves he was trying to disguise with over-confidence. "Don't bother with a seat, I'll do it bareback if I have to."

Comments

[asher_talos]

"Well, aren't you just the regular good samaritan?" Asher didn't try to make it sound like he was the least bit grateful, but decided to flip Ray off instead while he said it. "And would this be you dropping it like you said you were going to? Because to me it seems like you still have a pretty firm hold on it."

[speakscanadian.livejournal.com]

Ray shook his head at the finger in exasperation. "You are such a brat. Would you listen to yourself? You cover up a crime and I'm the criminal?" He'd much rather not be sitting on a horse while making accusations like that, and he'd get off Beau if he didn't think he'd look like a ridiculous moron doing so.

[asher_talos]

Asher did decided it was time to dismount, and he managed to do so just as smoothly as he'd gotten on. Keeping the reins in hand, he walked Belle along, passing Ray and Beau on his way back to the barn.

"Remember how to stop?" Asher asked, giving Beau a sharp slap on the hindquarters as he went by, sending him off on a full gallop and then simply continuing on his way.

[speakscanadian.livejournal.com]

Ray's panicked exclamation to the negative did him little good when Asher was no longer there to do anything about it. His feet hadn't even been in the stirrups when Beau took off, and Ray was sliding out of the saddle and up the horse's neck before he had time to register it. A split second before it happened he knew he was going to fall and the shout wasn't pretty or manly. One moment the ground was rushing by beneath him, the next he was hitting it shoulder first and tumbling to a stop, the thunder of Beau's hooves slowing after his unplanned dismount.

Face down in the dirt was actually how he'd imagined his first lesson but only in his worst nightmares. He groaned to make sure he was still alive, then rolled awkwardly onto his back, sucking in breaths while the world stopped spinning. "Fuck," he coughed and pushed himself to his elbows with a wince, gaze narrowed at the barn. "He did that on purpose."