Out for a run. Back in an hour. [open]

[moro]

There was nothing quite like an afternoon run. The sun had just set the sky ablaze with faded oranges and purples, and the wind swirling throughout the sky. Moro's breath exploded from his trembling lips in misty bursts as he jogged lap after lap around the massive tract, never once breaking his long-legged stride. He always loved this time of day, when the track was empty of other students, when the first stars were just beginning to blink to life. His heart pounded in his ears as he crossed the starting line yet again, but his pace didn't ease up in the slightest. His hair, despite the chill of the air, was slicked to his temples with sweat, and his legs burned with a delicious fire.

After another successful lap, he slowed to a semi-trot. He reluctantly stopped, his hands instinctively resting behind his head as he deeply breathed in the cold winter air. He felt exhilerated, alive. He never could've tolerated the desk job his mother longed for him to have. Nor the strenuous physical activities of the football player his father wanted him to be. All he wanted to do was run. Their sending him away had been the best day of his life. He was free to follow his own dreams, not those impressed upon him by overly strict parents. He smiled to himself. He only had one more year before he would be out in the real world. Yet the Academy felt like his home. He considered taking a teaching job, but he was so terribly awkward around other people.

Moro crouched, pondering his options for the future. Well, he though idly, What better way to do that than with another run?

He stood back up and took off circling the track once more.

[confetti]

Carter was walking towards the track for cross country, for no apparent reason. Sometimes she just liked to walk around and see what she could take pictures of. She was wearing jeans with a rip on the right knee, and a black tank top, a black fedora with a white band placed on top of her head. Yes it was a bit chilled out, being early winter but it was still nice and sunny. She had little elephant earrings and some bangles on her left wrist, simple black pumps completing the outfit. She had her messenger bag slung over her left shoulder, full of the regular essentials: pens/pencils, sketchbook, a book or two, a water bottle and a little Nikon Coolpix camera in candy apple red. She liked her Canon better, but she couldn't take it everywhere, so she relied on her iPhone and the Nikon. Personally, she liked her phone better because she could edit more easily using apps, but that didn't mean she didn't have Photoshop on her computer.

Electric blue wired emerged from her pocket, going up to her ears and filling them with a Pink song. She had a bounce in her step, keeping in time with the rhythm as she walked onto the field, paying attention to little details and stuff that would make good pictures. Because of that, she didn't notice he obvious, i.e., the other teenager running laps. Getting an idea, she crouched down, taking her phone, also candy apple red and clicked the camera on, waiting till it focused enough. "Where, oh where, have the smart people gone? Oh where, oh where could they be?" She sang absentmindedly, smiling as she looked at the picture. Sure it was just grass, but it was at ground level with the sun hitting it, and it was focused like a macro shot. That usually didn't happen.

[moro]

Moro's hair dangled wetly in front of his face, obscuring his view of everythings save for the concrete oval before him, the triangles and lines flashing by with agonizing monotony. He glanced up at the sky, which was quickly losing it orange and pink hue and becoming brushed with the violets and cobalts of dusk. It was saddening knowing his evening run was soon to be cut short by the approach of night. But he had been running on and off for a few hours. A break until the morrow wouldn't kill him.

He slowed to a steady jog once more, coming to a stop on the inside of the track at the starting line. He wiped his hands on his grey wife beater, the muscles in his arms rippling as he placed his hands behind his head again, his breath coming out in controlled, labored exhales. After his breathing was under control, his hands came to rest on his knees, occasionally sliding off his sweat-soaked gym shorts.

Slicking his drenched bangs out of his face, he looked up and around. His dark gaze landed on a girl who was steadily snapping pictures and singing softly. Her melody carried to his ears, but he did not recognize the song. He felt a wave of embarrassment sweep over him, and he ran a nervous hand through his blond locks. He slowly began making his way toward her, his gait awkward and slouched slightly as he watched her. But she was completely oblivious to him, lost in the images on her bright red camera. He could only hope she hadn't noticed him and that the images she was so transfixed with were not of him.

Approaching even more slowly and cautiously, he walked toward her until he was just a foot or so away. Clearing his throat loudly, he asked uncomfortably, "Uh, can I help you?"

[confetti]

Carter was just standing up when the guy walked up to her. "Hmm? Oh, sorry 'bout that." She chuckled a bit and pulled out her earphones and strung them over the back of her neck so she wouldn't have to spend ten minutes stuffing them into her pocket just to have to untangle them later. It took a few seconds for her to discern his question from the music, but when she did, she shook her head but smiled anyway. "Nah, I think I'm good. Just taking pictures." She said and adjusted the strap on her shoulder. She finally actually looked at him, and recognized the signs that he'd been running. A lot. "How many laps did you run?" She asked, her eyes flicking up for a split second as she caught the sight of a bird flying over at the edge of her vision.

She gave her attention back to him and smiled friendlily, sticking a hand out for a hand shake. "I'm Carter Roth, by the way. I just got here a few days ago. What about you, I haven't seen you around campus yet." That as Carter, always willing to make friends no matter who they were. She didn't judge people that much, and when she did, it was usually by their actions or 'vibes', as she called them. When she first met someone, she normally didn't get any vibe. They were just your regular person. And when she did get vibes, they were either extremely good, or extremely bad. But, on rare occasions, they were in between, good with a bit of bad, or bad with a hint of good. She didn't get any actual vibes from this guy yet, but she did have a feeling that he'd be a good friend.

[moro]

Moro sized the girl up, his liquid amber gaze flitting about all over her person, taking in every last minute detail. Which she seemed to have an eye for. She noticed how intensely her eyes, friendly though they were, regarded everything, as if she was constatnly on the search for something. Either she just noticed things out of high curiosity, or she was just as wary about her surrounding as he was, which he doubted. People were rarely, or even had reason to be as wary as Moro.

He couldn't help but grimace when she concurred with his idea that she was taking pictures, and he sent a silent prayer skyward hoping he was not apart of them. Surely something would answer that prayer, right?

His eyes flew wide with shock when the girl asked how many laps he had run. He realized his breathing was still labored from his run, his hair still slicked to his glistening face despite the cold. It was obvious he'd been running, but he didn't think anyone would care enough to ask how long he'd been running, let alone how many laps he had run. He tried to remember, and he felt his awkwardness growing heavy. He never usually bothered to keep up with his laps, just allowing to evening sun and sky to keep track for him.

"Er...well, I, uh, probably...around twenty or thirty, I, um, guess," he said shyly, running his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit of his.

Sticking out the hand not currently embedded in his hair, he took her extended hand, her petite fingers dwarfed by his muscular ones. He shook her hand, commiting her name to memory and flashing a weak smile.

"Michael Lycaeus. But call me Moro. I mean, if you want to. Almost every does. But you don't have to, I mean, if you don't want to." He silently cursed himself for tripping over his words as usual. "I've been here awhile, I guess."

[confetti]

She couldn't help but let her jaw drop a little and her whiskey colored eyes to widen a bit when he gave his answer, before promptly shutting said jaw, letting her eyes go back to normal and whistling lowly. "Dang." She said at first, and since she drawled it more than actually said it, her faint, country/southern accent entered her voice. "I could never run that much unless something was chasing me." She admitted, chuckling a bit. And it was true, too. Sure, she liked to run when she had more energy than she knew what to do with, but twenty or thirsty laps? Dang.



"Michael Lycaeus. But call me Moro. I mean, if you want to. Almost every does. But you don't have to, I mean, if you don't want to." She didn't pay attention to the stumblings and got the message. "Moro it is then." She said, and though her phone buzzed once in her pocket, signaling she'd gotten a text, probably from someone back home wishing her luck, she ignored it. She hated i when people paid more attention to their phones than the person they were currently talking to, unless they had a good reason of course. If they were expecting some news or something like that, than she was all for them paying more attention to their phones. "So, any teachers I should watch out for?" She asked, assuming that Yen Sid, like any school, had nice teachers, mean teachers, creepy teachers, and just plain disturbing teachers. Everything after the first she wanted to know about before hand so she wouldn't be so thoroughly freaked out when she finally met them.

[moro]

Moro's head tilted slightly in suprise at the girl's reaction to the number of laps he had run. It brought a small smile to his lips and was almost comical when she realized how she was reacting and visibly forced her jaw and eyes to contract to a normal expression. But the shock was still there. He suddenly felt the need to explain so she didn't believe he was some super-human runner.

"It's uh, not that big of a deal," he admitted quickly, "I run track and cross country here at the, uh, Academy. This is normal for me. And since it's, uh, cooler out here than during the day, I can, uh, run a lot longer." Damn his incessant stutterings!

A timid smile played at his features, and his eyes glittered warmly when she looked past his mumbling and agree to call him Moro. That warmth faded when he saw her fumbling with her phone. He watched, crestfallen, as she read the text message from the tiny, high-tech device, expecting her to answer it. His eyes widened in shock when she didn't and the phone disappeared back into her bag.

"Teachers? Um, well, there's Professor Jinn, the performing arts teacher. He...at least it think it's a he, looks more like a 'she'...is kinda cooky. Then the chemistry teacher is kinda crazy. But the rest of them are just kind of your standard teachers."

[confetti]

"It's uh, not that big of a deal, I run track and cross country here at the, uh, Academy. This is normal for me. And since it's, uh, cooler out here than during the day, I can, uh, run a lot longer." She nodded. "Yeah I can see why you'd run at this time, but still. Twenty or thirty laps? That's good. See, normally, I only really run when I have a lot more energy than I know what to with. Other than that, sports wise, my heart belongs to riding and the occasional soccer game." She laid a hand over her heart for dramatic effect and closed her eyes, shaking her head and sighing.

"Anyway, I have drama, so I should have Jinn sometime or another. She sounds like she'd be a fun teacher. As for the chemistry teacher...well, I'll make sure to drink coffee before his class so I don't fall asleep or something like that." She laughed. Yup, she was right. Moro's was gonna be an awesome friend. "So, what classes do you have?" she asked, hoping to have a class with him. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?" She asked, figuring that if he didn't, she could teach him. Gidget was calm enough...she hoped. She did have mellow moments, and was relatively good with other riders, she just acted up with Carter because she knew she could handle it.

[moro]

Moro smiled. He wish he could impress upon her the joys he felt when he was able to run, how he had to limit himself to his twenty to thirty laps simply because his body couldn't endure past that number. He would happily run from sun-up to sun-down if the feat were physically possible.

As she commented on his description of the few teachers he had listed, he wanted to point out that the chemistry teacher's eccentric hair was enough to keep any student awake, let alone his highly engaging lessons. When she asked about his schdule, he had to ponder it for a moment.

"American Literature, Japanese II, Trigonometry, Chemistry, World Cultures, Health, Gym, and Adventure Class," he rattled off, ticking each class off his fingers as he listed them. "But not in that, uh, order, you know," he added.

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Moro froze. He didn't want to admit that he had never been on one of the great beasts in his life, but he refused to look stupid. "Uh, yeah, sure. Uh, all the time."

He wanted to deflect the conversation from that particular subject, so he quickly asked, "So what classes do you have? Obviously drama since you already mentioned it, but, uh, I mean the other ones."

[confetti]

She smiled. "Awesome. I have adventure class and world cultures too. The rest are," She had to pause for a beat to remember, but she remembered. "Biology, photography, cooking, creative writing, Spanish, and I either have computer science or chemistry, can't remember which." She snorted. "As for clubs and that, Adventurer's club and me and my mare Gidget are on the equestrian team." She smiled again, imagining Gigde -one of her many nicknames-'s reaction to so many other horses.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Uh, all the time." She had to resist snorting, instead opting for a nod and an amused smile. He was a terrible liar. "Well then, if you don't have a horse here at the Academy, I'm sure Gidge'll let you ride her. She can get a little hyper though so don't be alarmed if she starts prancing or going in circles. She can be ridden both Western and English. Oh and heads up, if ya'll are out on a trail ride or something like that and somethings blocking the trail, she'll most likely jump it whether you tell her to or not, so I suggest you hold on. Especially if you ride Western, that horn can do some damage if your a guy." She warned him with a bright smile. It was all true, too. Gidget was a hyper thing and that saddle horn really could make a guy's day hell down there, if you know what she means. It wasn't like she enjoyed scaring people, but hey, it was all in friendly jest. After all, the more she teased, the more she loved.

[moro]

Moro was highly pleased when he discovered they shared not one, but two, classes. Though they weren't his particular favorites, they would be much more tolerable if he had someone familiar to share them with. He was quite dumbfounded by the fact that his mumblings and the constant tripping over his words didn't seem to phase Carter in the slightest. Either she was just that friendly, she was used to stuttering, or she was a brilliant actress. He desperately hoped it was one for the former rather than the latter.

Moro's eyes widened and horror overtook his features and the sophomore described her horse's seeminly bipolar tempermant. He could picture himself with saddle sores in places no guy wanted them, flying through the air and being splattered against a tree after being thrown from the spooked beast. And he thought mares were supposed to be gentle, almost dumb even. He gulped and felt an echo of pain in his nether regions at the thought. Now he felt stupid for lying about his experience. And the fact that she was smiling as she described it all made it even worse.

"To be honest, Carter..." He paused, not really sure what he wanted to say. He decided to be bluntly honest. "I don't know crap about horses. I've never ridden one in my life. I didn't even know the school had an equestrian team until you just mentioned it," he finally admitted.

[confetti]

"To be honest, Carter...I don't know crap about horses. I've never ridden one in my life. I didn't even know the school had an equestrian team until you just mentioned it," She listened with a knowing, amused smile and raised eyebrows. "Why do you think I made her sound like a lunatic? She only does that with me! With other riders, especially beginners, she's as docile as a kid's horse on a pony ride." She laughed. "But really, horses can sense when people don't know what their doing. Gidget, like most horses, takes advantage of that when she has a beginner rider and tries to eat all the grass she sees rather than walk. And don't worry about her spooking, she's practically bomb proof." She told him, quite pleased about hopefully teaching him a lesson. If anything, the face he made was freaking hilarious. "Also, just a warning, she has a nasty habit of stealing hats off of your head and has to have a chain on her stall latch because she has Houdini tendencies. I've had to compromise to get my hat back many times and chase her more than once, but hey, at least I know that monotony will never be a problem." Typical Carter, always on the bright side. Well, most of the time.

"And I'm really not kidding about the compromising part. It makes me wonder what the heck happened to world or if the universe just hates me when I have to bribe my own horse to get a hat back." She sighed, as if it was a real drag. "But then again I've never met another horse who can pull off a fedora so well." She said with a smirk. yes, her horse was weird as all get out, but hey. Whatcha gonna do?

[moro]

Moro couldn't quite suppress a twinge of agitation at having been tricked. It was bad enough that jocks made a mockery of him every day, fronting at him and laughing like the dumb buffoons they were. But to be tricked by a girl? That was just flat-out insulting. Mostly because it showed Moro just how big of a pansy he really was. But his fear of horses--and everything else, for that matter--was rational, was it not? Horses were big animals, and they had been known to drag people or kick them or bite them. They probably even sat on people that made them mad.

Instead of letting his frustration show, Moro just offered one of his hesitant, sheepish smiles like he thought it was the funniest thing in the world. "Oh, um, well that's good. That she's not totally retarded, I mean," he said, laughing softly. It was a rarity to get a laugh out of Moro, and even more so for him to laugh at his own jokes. He'd never thought of himself as particularly funny.

When Carter began describing her horse's hat fetish, his mind instantly went to a mental image of a horse prancing about sporting one of those big, feathery hats that rich ladies wore. Then it switched a fedora. A yamaca. One of those funny little helicopter hats. He started laughing at the thought. And laughing. And laughing. The laughter erupting from his vocal cords seemed so out of place that he had to wonder if it was even his own voice producing the sound. Eventually, he was doubled over and clutching his already burning sides as wave after wave of the sound erupted from his body.

[confetti]

"Oh, um, well that's good. That she's not totally retarded, I mean," Carter snorted. "We hope, anyway." Gidget did have her stupid moments, like anyone, they were just usually amplified. By the power of ten, usually. Because of that, it usually ended up with Carter and/or Gidge getting a lecture depending on what she did. The worst lecture to date was the time that Gidge let herself out of her pasture by unhooking the latch, and not only that, but let her neighbor out of his pasture as well. Sending both of the owners on a wild goose chase around the grounds to catch the two escapees.Now, since Carter and the other owner were friends, they were laughing about it afterwards, though one of the other patrons of the stable got mad at them because apparently Gidget and Luka -the other horse- let his horse out as well. And because he was as snooty and snobbish as they come, he threw a hissy fit.

When Moro started laughing, she chuckled as well because that was the usual reaction when she told people that her horse was obsessed with headwear of all sorts. And when he started laughing harder, she started to laugh with him as well, figuring e was no doubt picturing her horse parading around in a giant, feathery top hat. Though that would be a good look for the sooty buckskin around Halloween time.

After she calmed down a bit, though her breathing was still labored from laughing as hard as him, she asked, "So, does that mean that you'll let me give you some riding lessons?", still chuckling a bit and hoping he'd say yes.