fall is here :: aran

Amerie had changed from her overloridian clothes into something a bit less formal. She and Aran were going to Annerb Island to pick pumpkins and do other fun fall things.

They arrived at Annerb several hours after their initial agreement to go, having taken an air balloon all the way over to the island. Even though it had been a long ride, the time had seemed to go by quickly as she and Aran watched the world below them float by. Whenever they took balloon rides together the two of them would watch wonderously at the tiny clio and landmarks, pointing things out to each other. It was a windy trip, the fall air blowing all around them. Her scarf kept blowing in her face, so Amerie had to keep holding it down.

After arriving, they walked along the dirt path that led into the market district. “This place is beautiful!” Amerie said, looking around. Golden cornfields surrounded them on every side, with beautiful, giant barns sitting in the distance. Amerie had never seen anything like it.

Annerb really was incredible. It was like the complete opposite of Stonecraft in every way. Instead of ugly gravel roads lined with derelict old buildings, the roads were dirt and surrounded by acres of land with only the occasional barn or farmhouse here or there. Even the barns were much nicer than the houses in Stonecraft. Whereas Stonecraft always seemed gray and dreary no matter the weather, this place seemed golden and welcoming.

"It really is," Aran agreed. She looked up ahead and saw something that made her perk up. "Hey look!" She pointed off into the distance and then ran off without another word. There was a fenced-in field with several horses penned in it. "I never seen a horse up close before," she told Amerie once she'd caught up. There weren't any horse-drawn carriages in Stonecraft, but she saw them every once in a while in Solas and on Theodore Lane from a distance. Here, though, some of the horses were walking right up to them.

Amerie squealed when she realized what Aran was running towards. Horses! She took off after Aran, running behind her until she got to the fence. “Oh my gosh!” she cried, climbing up onto the wooden fence so she could see better.

“I love horses,” she said, holding out her hand and giving her best impersonation of a nicker. The horses wandered over towards them, their ears perking at Amerie’s call. “Come here,” Amerie said softly. One horse, a pretty red one with a white nose, came over and nuzzled into Amerie’s hand, looking for food. “Hi, pretty girl,” she told her quietly, running her palm over the horse’s smooth nose.

Aran watched Amerie carefully, the way she held her palm out flat for the horse to nuzzle. She did the same thing for a solid brown horse that had walked over to her looking curious. "Oh hey, this feels weird," she said with a slight laugh as the horse nosed at her hand. She saw Amerie run her hand down her horse's muzzle, and once again imitated her. "Sorry dude, I don't have any food for you," she told the horse, who seemed to be offended when it turned out that Aran wasn't holding anything tasty in her hand.

"On the way back we will bring you some carrots," Amerie promise the horses with a smile. There had to be a market seeking carrots somewhere. They were on Annerb, after all.

Amerie stepped off the fence and the continued walking towards town. "You know, I've always wanted a horse," Amerie said. Her parents had always said there was no time for pets, and now Amerie supposed it was actually true. "I've only gotten to ride them a few times, but I always loved it." She felt free on a horse, strong and powerful.

"Why don't you get one then?" Aran asked. Amerie had the money and the space, not to mention plenty of employees who could help take care of it. There was no reason she couldn't get a horse, honestly. Gah, how weird. Aran was best friends with someone who could just go out and buy a fucking horse anytime she wanted. Crazy. "I never rode one before, but it sounds pretty awesome."

Amerie shrugged. “I just don’t know if I have the time,” she admitted. Thing were getting easier around the estate, sure, but she still didn’t have a lot of time that wasn’t spent with a specific purpose. Overloridian work, her workouts with Aran, hanging out with Luka… She didn’t have much time to just relax by herself. Though she supposed she would actually enjoy being with the horse, so perhaps it would feel like relaxing to her. “But it would be nice, wouldn’t it?” She wondered if there was anyplace to ride around here.

"I'd help," Aran offered at once. "I bet everyone else would, too. It'd have a whole estate of clio taking care of it." Now that she thought about it, she actually had absolutely zero ideas how to take care of a horse. Maybe if Amerie was iffy it actually wasn't a good idea, after all. It just seemed like it'd be really cool.

"Yeah," Amerie said. She guessed that was true. "Do you really think I could do that?" Obviously she could--technically she could do anything. She could even hire a new stable hand if she needed to. Build an entire stable. Fence in a field. Sometimes her ability to do absolutely anything made her feel really weird. She just wanted to know if Aran thought it was really a good idea, or if she was just saying that.

"Er, I mean yeah, I think you could," Aran replied. "Though I was just thinkin'...I don't actually know anything about horses. So I guess I don't actually know if you really should or not." She laughed. "It would just be cool, I think!"

Amerie paused. "Let's do it." The more she thought about the fact that she could hire clio to build that stuff for her, the more she wanted to do it. And hey...it would create more jobs. Or something. Okay, she just wanted the horse. But at least it would be beneficial for more than just her!

"Okay," Aran grinned. If Amerie could handle running an eilemaiden, there was no way she couldn't handle owning a horse. They could go to the library and get books on how to take care of 'em and everything.

"Oh hey!" she said suddenly, noticing a sign outside of the gate that lead to the farmhouse near the horse-field. It was a sign inviting visitors to come and ask about horseback riding, with some prices listed by the hour. "If we want we can go ask the owners about riding 'em."

"Yeah!" Amerie said excitedly. Maybe she could ride that one that had let her pet it. Together, she and Aran walked (okay, maybe Amerie ran a little bit) towards the farmhouse. The exterior of it was so rustic--Amerie loved it. She wished she could live in something like this instead of her obnoxiously formal estate.

She knocked happily on the door before she realized the sign read 'Come on in, ya'll!'

Aran and Amerie walked inside, where a pair of cute old clio greeted them. Amerie did most of the talking, asking them about riding the horses, and before long they were heading out to the horse-field, each of them holding a carrot.

Aran noticed the same brown horse she had pet before, and held the carrot out to him (her? Aran had no idea.) "Got something for ya this time," she told him. He took it happily, which was kinda cute. Aran then studied Amerie as she climbed up onto a different, smaller horse.

"Like this?" she asked, imitating what Amerie had done. She clambered up onto the horse, who seemed mostly okay with her being on his back. "Oh wow," she said, looking down at the ground. This wasn't something Aran had ever imagined herself doing before.

"Just like that!" Amerie encouraged. She hadn't been on a horse in forever but she already felt like home on this one. The nice lady who had let them come out to ride had said its name was Clover.

"Hi, Clover," Amerie said softly, leaning down and reaching to pat the horse's cheek. "hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjRTTTT"

The girls spent the next hour or so riding the horses, having a great time out in the field. "This was a great idea," she said, after the lady had led them out of the house and they were back on their way into town. "Today was a great idea!" Now they were gonna go into town and do other fun stuff because YAY, FUN.