SSOWeek - June 2015

Desire

Today, Rebecca had led Midnightwarrior to the winery to help The Baroness with the various tasks that came with running a profitable winery. Midnightwarrior was less than thrilled, but did not mind the break as Rebecca walked up and down the terraces collecting grapes. He had been left at the stable, although she knew he would wander off into the nearby field if he felt so inclined. The Jorvik warmblood always came back when she called, she would not be upset with him for walking off.

She was out of sight but the horse knew she would return before too much longer. His tack had been left on, as it would have been a waste to take it off and put it back on when she would not be riding him for such a short period. This did, however, make his sniffing more difficult.

He was reaching back toward one of the saddle bags, he knew she had gotten apples today as a reward for helping someone. He could smell the sweet fruit, but he couldn't quite reach it. If she had taken the saddle bags off of him he would have stuck his nose in and smelled out the delicious treats, but as it was he would have to be inventive. But first, he needed someone with opposable thumbs.

He located one of the stable girls and did his best to look pitiful, putting his head down and whinning weakly at her to get her attention. The girl, currently trying to muck out the stalls, looked at the horse in confusion, not noticing him before.

"Where did you come from? Aren't you Rebecca's?" she asked, extending her hand as he stepped closer, making sure that his hooves barely left the ground and letting them scrap up the floor.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" the horse huffed into her hand and turned his head to the saddle on his back, trying to bite it.

"She left your tack on? How long have you been standing around with your saddle on! She didn't even loosen the girth! No wonder you are miserable, poor baby..." the girl got angry and dropped her tools, loosening the girth and unloading the saddle bags. The stable girl seemed surprised by the weight and made a little yelp as she dropped to the ground along with the saddlebag.

"Ugh, I'm going to find Rebecca and give her a talking to! What kind of idiot makes her horse suffer like that! That is such a newbie move..." the girl declared after recomposing herself, storming out of the stable. If horses could laugh Midnightwarrior would have, and with the girl out of sight he stuck his nose into the saddlebag, sniffing.

After managing to spill the contents of the bag, leaving clothes and random tools strewn across the floor, Midnightwarrior happily munched the apples stored in the bag. The dark horse only flicked an ear back when he heard the stable girl lecturing Rebecca, their voices coming closer. Rebecca sounded defensive at the girl's aggressive scolding, and Midnightwarrior hoped she wouldn't be angry once she realized what he had done. If anything, his human had a sense of humor, and he hoped it would apply to this case.

"Ah yes, I can see my horse is suffering terribly," he heard his human cut the girl's lecture short, and he lifted his head to look at them. The stable girl looked confused at the mess on the floor.

"You really wanted those apples, didn't you? You little trickster. Maybe you should have been called Trickster, or Loki. A name like that," Rebecca chided her horse, reaching down and stuffing her clothes back into the bag. He nuzzled her, getting her hair covered in apple bits and slobber.

"Wait, he used me?" the stable girl stammered in shock as Rebecca batted away the nose.

"He knows what he wants, and it's fine you doof just stop slobbering on me!" the first part was directed to the girl, the second to her horse that was drooling on her. Midnightwarrior shook his head, looking away innocently. He stood still as Rebecca placed the tack on him once more and tightened the girth, behaving for her after that little stunt. She patted his nose and walked out of the stable, her horse falling into step behind his human.

"You were going to get those tonight, you know, I thought you'd want to wait until after your bit was out before you ate," Rebecca joked, smiling when her horse rested his head on her shoulder.