Home away from Home [Opal/Open]

[Tiggs]

Basking in the sun beside the wide shallow river was a young woman in boots, jeans and a vest-top. Her flannel plaid shirt draped from her shoulders, allowing the sun to warm them. Nearby, a dapple grey mare grazed; her reins over her head and held in the hand of the woman. The honey-brunette woman had fished an apple from her pack and supporting herself on one elbow, mostly reclined, she bit into it. The mare looked over hopefully, and the woman rolled her eyes. She finished the apple hastily, and rolled the mare the core which was snapped up greedily.

Glancing around, Molly Johns was content here. The High Country was a home, a turbulent home, but a home nonetheless. Both elbows supporting her, legs crossed at the booted ankle, she looked around for Harvey, her kelpie herder. The brow-tan and white dog was a constant companion, but if left to his own devices, often caused trouble. Molly had let him have some freedom to sniff about, but she had not seen him for a few minutes. Sighing, he put thumb and middle finger of her right hand to her lips and let out a loud shrill whistle.

“Harvey!” She called, brown eyes glancing around, straining for any sound of movement. Moya’s – her horse’s – ears flickered, and Molly knew she had heard something she could not. As the grey mare had not bothered to lift her head from grazing, it was probably Harvey. Then again, the mare was a gentle creature and unlikely worried by any critter that didn’t nip her. So really the sound could be anything. Molly huffed. Harvey would tell her what it was – he was an intelligent canine – but as he currently wasn’t here, he could not. Molly got to her feet, called again for her dog and fussed about with Moya’s saddle. She grabbed the canteen, unfastened it and took a long drink.

[{ Opal }]

Harvey's tail swished back and forth excitedly, a look of eager concentration plastered on his face. He had just caught scent of something... and it smelled dog-gone good! The salt-and-pepper stench of old dead hare swarmed up his nose, and after pacing back and forth through the bush, Harvey finally found the source of the reek. A delighted yip escaped him, likely what Moya had heard, but before digging into the petrified thing Harvey made sure to look around greedily. There didn't seem to be any competition, but he supposed most creatures would prefer fresh kill. To him, however, anything dead was sure game.

Harvey was sniffing around the corpse, wondering where to start (there wasn't much but sunken fur and bones at this point), when he heard a piercing whistle. His head instantly jerked up, big fox-ears pricked, nose trembling slightly. That was Molly! Harvey's yellow eyes brightened at the sound of her voice; it was faint, but it told the way. Eager to obey her (there was little reason to not), Harvey snatched up the stiff hare and bounded in the direction of her voice. Ordinarily, his lithe and wiry frame would have made good time, but the hare was big and cumbersome, mummified so its rigid limbs caught on bushes and snagged on the ground. Several times Harvey set it down, frustrated, but he only picked it up again. Molly would love to see his catch, after all, and he didn't want to disappoint her.

Eventually the bulky figure of Moya loomed out of the snowgums, with Molly alongside. Harvey tried to let out a bark of greeting, but his carcass muffled the sound completely. To get it this far, he had to prop his head up awkwardly, ensuring the body didn't drag. Eager to show his prize, and relax his neck, Harvey dropped the hare. All the while he was staring keenly at Molly, his jaws parted in a lop-sided grin, tailed thumping against the ground. Still, the kelpie was ready to wisp his loot away, just in case his master decided to take it away; something very undog-like, but Harvey had learnt to expect such things from humans.

[tingara]

Along an old and worn brumby track a bay stallion walked, a spring in his step at the prospect of being out and about in the High Country. He and his rider lived for the mountain air and the thick sally scrub and ti-tree whose perfume filled the air. Both man and horse weren’t on the hunt for brumbies for the first time in a long time. Sam had all the horses he could want and handle at the moment with another one on the way, well that was only a hopeful assumption. The vet that hung around the cattlemen was as of yet to confirm it but Sam had a good feeling that both Nutsy and Marie had been successfully covered by the bay stallion underneath him.

Cas moved at a steady pace along the track, snorting at the dust that rose to greet him. He wanted to run and hunt but the signals he was receiving from Sam told him today was not the day for a hunt but there was something a little way up ahead. The bay stallion began to grow antsy, straining at the bit in the urge to investigate whatever lay ahead. Sam felt Cas begin to grow excited and he slackened his hold on the reins, giving the stallion enough room to break out into a steady canter.

As the two rounded one last bend in the track Sam spotted what had gotten Cas so eager to run. A woman and her horse relaxing by the creek. As the pair got closer Cas slowed to a walk, his eyes on the dapple grey mare more than the new human and her dog. Sam on the other hand had his eyes on the woman, unfortunately he couldn’t get a good look at her from his vantage point so approaching further was a must. He dismounted and tethered Cas to a nearby snowgum. ”G’day miss, can’t say I’ve seen you out here before,” Sam called, striding confidently over to the new woman. Now he could well and truly see her properly and she was something else.

”I’m Sam and it is a most certainly a pleasure to meet you...” the man winked at the girl and trailed off towards the end of his sentence. He didn’t know her name but he sure as hell wanted to find it out along with a lot of other things about her.

[stormsnow]

A timid, pretty young filly stood on the opposite side of the creek to the humans; she had come to the creek to drink of the cool, clear water. Eria, a silver filly with big brown eyes, froze in fear when she scented man and heard their voices. She quivered slightly, and started to sweat. Now she could smell their horses too. She wanted to run, but fear kept her glued to the spot.

OOC: Hope you don't mind me joining in!
modified!

[Tiggs]

OOC: Noop, we don’t mind you coming in but have a read of the PM I’m gunna send a little later Two metres is impossibly close for a wild brumby to get without the others noticing, so I’ll assume she’s on the other side of the river for now. And also, Eira cannot have greens eyes. They’re described as brown in her profile, so that’s what hey should be

Molly was relieved to see Harvey returning at her call, but the sight of something in his mouth dismayed her. His tail wagged with every swaggering step, and the dog exuded pride. Whatever he had, he thought it was wonderful. Unfortunately, the difference between what dogs and humans found wonderful was quite great, and Molly knew it was unlikely she would deem it so perfect.

She eyed it as the dog put it down, noting his wary stance as if she could look but not touch. Molly wrinkled her nose at the horrible desiccated thing, and decidedly did not praise him for it. Instead she squared up with the dog, looked him right in the face and said clearly, “No.”

To soften to blow, she went to her pack and rummaged for some jerky. Asking him to leave it in the same authoritative voice, she offered the dried meat as a bribe. “C’mon, Harv, leave it.” She implored to the Kelpie.

Moya lifted her head from the grass and looked hopefully downstream. Molly frowned. She wasn’t much keen on company, and only a few things could distract Moya from grazing. This time it was a bay stallion, handsome to boot but unfortunately carrying a man. Molly watched him approach out of the corner of her eye, keep her eyes on her pack as she tightened buckles and straps.

Molly sighed as the man slowed up and tethered his horse. She had been hoping he might just go straight on past. With her hand on the reins under Moya’s chin, Molly turned to face the approaching man. That typical chauvinistic look on his face was enough to put her off his good looks, and that wink really didn’t help his cause, but she paused enough to politely reply. “I don’t usually summer here.” Grudging her held out a hand for him to shake, eager to get that formality out of the way so she could continue on her way. “Molly, Molly Johns.”

Thankfully, a cue from Harvey allowed her to snatch her hand back before he could take it as she followed his gaze to the opposite bank. A filly, Silver nonetheless, seemed just as surprised at their presence as the woman felt about hers. The brumby looked frightened, so Molly looked away from it and called Harvey to heel.

She glanced to Sam, surname unknown, to see what he was intending. As a cattle-worker, Molly’s first instinct was not to chase the Silver down. Moya was not trained for chasing brumbies, only cows, and while Harvey might be enthusiastic enough to try herding it, Molly knew all about the superstitions surrounding Silvers and was inclined to believe them. If Sam was going for it, he was going alone.

[{ Opal }]

"No." Harvey knew that word. His ears flicked back, showing his displeasure, and admittedly his confusion. However, those big ears pricked up again at the sight of dried meat. Harvey's brown nose twitched, taking in that delicious scent, and his eyes lit up. He had a good idea of Molly's motives, but when he weighed an old, rotten carcass against fresh jerky, the latter sounded more appetizing. Wagging his tail, Harvey bounded up to her and, in the swift motion of a practiced food thief, snatched the meat and swallowed it whole.

But suddenly Harvey's whole demeanor changed. First, his head whipped around. Second, his body stiffened. Third, his hackles raised, accented by the softest growl. Stranger! Harvey froze that way for many moments, during which he saw the bay stallion plod into sight, a man positioned on his back. The man tethered his horse expertly, and his confidence was plain to see as he approached Molly and mumbled something, which ended in the touching of hands.

Touching was not in Harvey's acceptance book, and it took just that to trigger the aggression that had been building for the past minute.

Harvey sprang, snapping at the man's hand, but it was drawn back quick enough so that his fangs barely scratched the skin. As soon as Harvey touched the ground again, he exploded in a shower of infuriated barks and growls, emphasized by the baring of his yellow teeth. Meanwhile he had made his stand in between the man and Molly, ensuring he didn't come closer, not without permission.

But something else caught Harvey's attention, causing him to turn his blazing gaze onto the shadowed bush, where he now suspected something lurked. At closer inspection (he felt confident enough that the man had learned his lesson), Harvey caught sight of something large, something pale. A horse. Caught between showing aggression to the man, and delight to his human, Harvey only whined softly. His attention was drawn back to Molly at her command to heel, but Harvey stubbornly remained between her and the man, though he knew not to bolt.

[tingara]

”Nice to meet you Molly,” Sam said cheerily, moving to shake the hand she offered. He was not expecting the kelpie to launch itself at his hand. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the dog spring and quickly withdrew his hand and just in time too as canine teeth brushed against his hands. ”What the hell?” the man cried, tempted to give the dog a wrap around the ears. Normally Sam loved dogs but there was obviously something wrong with this dog and he hoped that it wouldn’t be anywhere around Lucas in the near future. ”Your unsocialized little mutt just tried to bite my friggin hand off, train your dog before you bring out in public, Jesus,” the man snapped at the woman whilst glaring at Harvey.

As the dog quietened so did Sam. The man followed both Harvey and Molly’s gaze and saw what had drawn the attention away from him. There on opposite bank of the creek was a bloody silver horse. It was tempting to go after it and Cas most certainly wanted to. The bay stallion pulled against the tree he was tethered to, he wanted to hunt, he wanted a chase but it seemed he wasn’t needed just yet. As the filly stood glued to the spot Sam moved slowly to Cas and unhitched the rope around the horn of his saddle.

As the man slowly approached the horse, rope in hand, he cooed to it softly, making reassuring clicking noises with his tongue. Everything around him was forgotten, all his focus was on the mare. Sam had always wanted to catch a silver ever since he’d first heard the stories about them as a kid. Nutsy, he’d discovered, wasn’t a silver brumby, just a dark palomino but the one in front of him could not be mistaken. As he crept closer he unfurled the rope and readied it. As soon as he deemed he was at a close enough distance Sam threw his lasso aiming for the mare’s neck.

OOC: Up to you Ballie whether the lasso sticks or not

[stormsnow]

Eira's gaze was riveted to the human standing in front of her. He was making noises that were strangely soothing, but the smell of man was so overpowering that she sprang forward, only to have something not unlike a snake noose around her neck. The filly squealed with fright and did her best to take of in the opposite direction, the strange thing half choking her.

[Tiggs]

Molly frowned at Harvey and snatched his collar, dragging him back. She gave the man a sideways glance, but otherwise kept her comments to herself. Harvey was just a little defensive; he was perfectly trained for his job. She patted Harvey, relieved that he didn’t instantly take off after the brumby when she released him.

The man’s horse seemed eager, though how much of that was because it was a mare, not just a brumby Molly was unsure of. To her surprise, Sam collected his lasso and forged the shallow stream toward the brumby. “What are you doing?” She hissed, glancing between the nervous horse and the reassuring man. He did well to get so close, but she refused to help. Sam managed to get the rope around the brumby’s neck, and Molly was astonished.

But then the brumby took fright, and took Sam along with her. Making a sound of exasperation and worry, she told Harvey to give chase, using the command to stop the target. They were used to herding cattle, but brumbies couldn’t be that dissimilar, right?

Molly scrambled for Moya’s reins and climbed up into the saddle in one easy step. She should really have led her across the stream, but with all the excitement, Molly didn’t want Moya to get ahead of herself and pull too fast through the water and risk laming a leg. The rancher took Moya to the creek’s edge, and directed her through the least dangerous path. Once on the other side, Molly looked up to check Harvey and Sam. Hopefully they had not gotten too far ahead with the brumby.