“I mean,I dunno.” She shrugged. “You don’t choose your home.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Jerica wrapped her arms around herself protectively, scowling a bit. "Of course I am."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
“Of course I do,” she snapped, feeling strangely defensive. How dare he imply that she didn’t have a home. Just because she was an orphan didn’t mean she didn’t have people who loved her or a safe home. She was fine. And yet. “I mean, I dunno. Probably. It’s where I should be... but depending on how exhausting this trip is, I might go back to Aerik for a bit after. Be lazy a while before I have to go back to training. It feels kind of nice to be fat.”
She patted her stomach. “Fat” was a strong word, since there was no fat readily apparent anywhere on her entire body. But the creases between her abdominal muscles weren’t quite as pronounced now, and the bottom of her ribcage connected smoothly with the rest of her stomach now instead of jutting out a bit. It felt nice.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Elias laughed through his nose. "Sounds like a vacation," he said, and decided to just leave it at that. He sat, staring across the creek as the sun started to rise up in the sky.
"Yeah, I guess..." She hesitated. "I mean... I don't really know what vacations are like. Levin takes Lyiaza and Levi to his summer manor most years, but I've never really... been. I always stay back at the palace."
She rubbed her arms, briefly insecure at how freakishly muscular they were.
"You know, training and all that." She gave a half-smile but was staring at her knees instead of looking at Elias. "Takes a lot of time."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Elias tried to repress a yawn as the sun lazily crawled up to the sky. "That's okay," he said gently, trying to give his full attention towards her, but finding himself distracted. "As long as you're at peace and happy, that's all that really matters."
Jerica looked at him for a moment, becoming increasingly more convinced that he didn't actually listen to a single word she was saying. Well, maybe he caught single words -- that's how he'd gotten so hung up on the fingernail.
How he'd managed to think she was "at peace and happy" when she'd just said she had to do rigorous manual labor instead of going to vacation with her family -- ?
"We should get going."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Teaching Elias how to ride a horse was getting exhausting. It'd been a few days of trying to teach him how to trot and now he didn't look quite as close of falling out of the saddle as he had at first. But, she didn't trust him to be able to get the horse up to a trot by himself and she didn't want to deal with him getting bucked off.
She decided it was time for him to learn to canter. She also decided that he didn't need to know that quite yet.
"Remember, just lean into her movements." And then Jerica dropped her reins on Evan so she could move better, and broke into a run, clucking to Mellie. In a few steps she got Mellie to switch into a slow canter. She looked back at Elias, and he looked like he was one unexpected step away from falling over.
And he did exactly that after Mellie came to an abrupt stop. He groaned as he rolled off Mellie and tumbled on the ground.
Jerica took a deep breath and sighed. She patted Mellie's face. "Be nice to Elias. He needs all the help he can get."
She looked back at Elias and nodded towards the saddle. "Come on, let's try it again."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
They repeated the move, and although Elias was learning, it was clear that his technique was sloppy and unfounded.
"I've heard it can take years to perfect riding a horse," he said with frustration when he kept falling off. He repeatedly got up and dusted himself off, staring at her with annoyance. "Isn't it a bit much to condense it all in a few days?"
"Would you like to stay here for years, Elias?" She inhaled as she turned to look at him, barely keeping in an impatient sigh. She tried to remind herself that she couldn't really remember what it was like to learn to ride a horse. But, then she thought about the fact that she'd learned at such a young age she couldn't even remember it, and yet he still couldn't manage it.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I'm just saying," he said curtly, seeming to take the frustration out on the stirrups when he lifted himself back on top of Mellie. "I can't possibly become a master literally overnight."
"We don't need you to be a master," Jerica answered, patting Mellie's face again. "I just need you to not fall off if we need to go quick again. Because we almost definitely will need to outrun someone again before this is over."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Then what am I doing wrong?" he asked with obvious irritation in his voice. He seemed to detect this and then sighed, looking down to grip the reins. "Sorry," he said more gently. "I'm just frustrated."
