War and Peace

The girl had been watching while trying to get her shadows to become the coins, perking up when he got up she shoved the coins in her pocket and wandered over. Standing next to him just after he'd let the red mare back into the paddock she flicked her gaze from the horse to the man a few times before finally asking "Teach me to ride pleashe?" it was a quiet question, the close vicinity of the mare who had yet to leave helping her. Rose had by the time he'd gotten off gotten mostly used to his balance at a walk, walking off a short way when released the first thing she did was roll before starting to stuff the hay into her mouth hungrily. Hearing the girls plea, the cantankerous mare lifted her head and shot Jules an amused look before resuming her eating. Hoping that the man would teach her but getting the feeling that he wouldn't, Karliahs green gaze soon focused on the horse and her hand slipped into her pocket to play with the coins.

Renee obeyed and soon enough was fast asleep in her husbands arms, snuggled close to him her gentle features were relaxed and without worry for she never had to fear nightmares when he was there. His comforting warmth let her subconscious know that she wasn't alone, she always missed him when he went off for hunts and it wasn't just because his wife Rochelle became a monster. He was part of her, and she was never happier than when he was by her side, her hand in his. Someone was waiting in Killians office when he finally returned there, Dani sat perched on the desk filing her nails, blonde hair framing her face, pale blue eyes sharp and the ever present slight smirk on her features. "Hey Dad" she greeted when he entered the room, over time he'd become like a father to her although she refused to acknowledge his children as her siblings."Keep yourself hidden and scarce, I've got a lovely man who's wooing your Wifey, i'll let you know when the moments right and you can walk in and catch them red handed, or for more accuracy, bare handed" snickering to herself, the girl looked up from her work and smirked up at the man, she had unusual cunning and a gift to manipulate others with ease.

Hearing him speak, a broad beam spread across the girls face, a happy exclamation escaped her before she followed him closely, fetching both brush and bridle. She'd never gotten to do anything like this before and so even before she got to sit on anything the little girl was thrilled. Managing to keep up with him as he headed out to the paddock, she watched him catch the old thing and bring her over, "Hello Memory" Karliah murmured offering the donkey her hand to sniff like she'd been taught to do with bagel. Nodding when she was told to brush the old thing first, she set to work without protest, seeming to genuinely enjoy brushing the donkey. The green eyed girl soon lost track of time, becoming very focused on moving the brush through Memorys fur, taking in the sound of her brushing, "Why doesh she have shush long ears, Julian?" she eventually asked while reaching up on her tip toes to brush as much of the animals neck as she could. Her shadows where hanging about keeping themselves hidden, eagerly studying the donkey while some of the younger ones tried to shape themselve sinto one and failed.

Dani shrugged "Going my own way, places to go, things to learn, manipulation to perfect" that and it would be fun to outwit ice and several of the other big guns that played their wretched games on a global scale. Naturally she'd come back to visit him, he was family after all although she tolerated Renee she wasn't exactly close with her. Crossing her ankles and remaining perched upon the desk, she continued to wear her usual smirk across her face, Rochelle had tried to slap one of the children earlier and had not been pleased when Dani had intervened and had used her shadows to trick the woman. As of yet she was not one to physically harm ones, she'd rather play games and manipulate them or use her shadows to do things like turning Rochelles hair a disgusting shade of pink that had been quite amusing.

Scrambling up onto the donkey a little clumsily she clung to the donkey a little nervous, petting the fluffy neck of the creature she didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say, this was the first time she’d ever sat on an animal before, silent as she was led around the little girl had a huge smile on her face, once it was time for her to get off, she accidentally fell off. Getting up off the ground without complaint she smiled up at the man and donkey “Thank you Memory” the donkey was different to the red pony that she knew. She’d never found out what kind of creature the red mare had been, just that she’d been allowed to leave her room if she was good and go brush the mare. Wondering if the pony was okay, the little girl watched as the bridle and saddle was removed from the animal before brushing her again, she liked brushing them and she was aware of where the red mare had always liked to be brushed so she brushed the donkey the same. She was clearly happy, relaxed and with a great big beam on her face, not appearing to mind that she was now dusty the child hummed softly to herself, knowing that her shadows and dragon were hiding keeping an eye on her, they’d keep her safe. Perhaps when the nice man came back she’d tell him about the red pony, “I like you Memory” she whispered to the donkey as she brushed the gentle thing smiling revealing her dimples.

Knowing full well he wanted to sleep she was about to leave when he told her to keep safe and to stay in touch, nodding in agreement, dani watched as he moved over to a draw and picked something up out of it. Pale blue eyes lit up with interest, a grin flicked onto her face as he told her what it was, taking up and fiddling with it nodded. Tucking it somewhere safe, Dani looked up at her father and gave him a quick brief hug “Sleep, I’ll start preparing your next hunt dad” he needed time with renee “Go be with Renee” although usually rather standoffish, she was willing to do anything for her father. Besides planning the hunts was good for her, it gave her something to do and was usually quite interesting and fun after all and was good practice of collecting information and manipulation. Not taking no for an answer she shoved her father out of the room, if he stayed hidden with Renee, Rochelle wouldn’t bother them and she’d keep Rochelle away from renee like usual.

Only young she hadn’t put two and two together that the grumpy red horse He’d been riding when she met him and the pony she’d brushed when she’d been good, once the donkey was let go she sighed softly watching it leave before watching the reclusive man move off. Wanting to go help she started to trot off after him before River pulled her up and told her to leave him alone, reluctant to as he was interesting, the little girl wandered off to sit in the shade somewhere and play with the coins she’d been given. Focusing on getting her shadows to mimic them, Karliah was unaware of the red mare watching her until Rose was standing at the fence studying her. Looking up at the horse, the little girl smiled and waved, dislodging her shadows who lost their shape and scurried off to go play as that was more fun than work, huffing softly at her shadows attitude towards learning the green eyed child watched the horse curiously wondering why she was so interested in her. Knowing better than to go up to the horse without being told she could, she continued to sit underneath the tree with River curled up beside her napping.

Watching Killian go, Dani shook her head and got stuck into working, loosing track of the time her stomach growling informed her that it was about eleven am, heading into the kitchen and stealing some fudge dani trapsed up the stairs again to sit at the piano. Renee had started to teach her how to play and although she wasn’t close with the woman she was picking up music with relative ease, it was soothing and some how freed her from everything. Her only frustration was that it was hard for her to put words to the songs she composed herself, it drove her mad, some songs felt like the words were only just out of reach, playing for a while as usual it was only so long before she felt suffocated in the house and escaped outside. Heading down the busy streets, Dani headed for the local park that was about a twenty minute walk from home, the park often felt like it was an oasis millions of miles away from the town that her adopted family lived in. She’d spent a great amount of time building selves, and lies to create a palace of sorts, It helped her cope as if she was preparing for something in her future. Sitting down on a bench near a fountain she watched the water cascade down the stone it was being forced out of, brushing her hair back out of her face she rested her hands on either side of her gripping at the edge of the bench while idly humming the song that she’d put together on the piano letting herself sink into her mind like a pool of water, one part of herself split off to keep watch for threats while the rest of her wandered through the palace put together in her vast mind.

Busy grazing the red mare looked up at the soft bark, her ears flicking forward, smelling the familiar male, Rose moved forwards a soft nicker of greeting leaving the normally silent mare. When she was within reach she affectionately grasped his coat with her lips and nibbled it . “Aye I pissed off Ice enough for her to send me to the kill pens. Kangaroo Jack saved me” Accepting the treats very happily, the mare started on the apples first as it was rare when she got the sweet fruit. Taking her time eating them, the mare changed where she should lining up his hand where she was the most itchy. Leaning into the scratches, she continued her feast, it’d been a long time since she was a human, and with every year she forgot more what it was like, something ice had done to her prevented her from shifting although she had a suspicion that it was something to do with her brand. The shoulder often ached, the brand itself was messy and hadn’t healed well, “The girl, She’s familiar” she finally commented, although she wouldn’t talk to Julian about it Killian was as always safe to tell her suspicions and thoughts. Still, Jules had been good to her, and was now finally starting to do things with her that were fun, she was keenly waiting for when he’d be riding her for longer and doing hard work. Sharp ears could hear the sound of the little girl, awake at such an hour raised questions on her part, but she kept quiet on that, instead just ruminating over the small child that despite all she’d been through was surprisingly happy and bubbly around the horses. Studying Killian, the fact that he and the girl looked similar was a surprise that she quickly realized made sense, however it was pointless to bring it up as what would that change? Nothing that’s what, so she just kept eating thinking things over “I knew her when she was trapped with me, Her mother would sneak her out to brush and pet me when the girl was good and Ice wasn’t around” her words were soft and quiet, the girl had often had wounds on her likely from ice’s training. She’d been tolerant of the girl, as to her the girl had been as much of a prisoner as herself, at least here the little child would be relatively safe from ice and her goons.


Coming out of her thoughts when the sound of a guitar sounded, the highly intelligent girl looked up and around, not seeing him until she moved around the fountain a little. Hanging back warily, a smile wound its way onto her face when he began to play in time with his humming. Content to stay back and listen for a while, the blonde ended up closing her eyes and allowing it to wash over her, she’d learnt so much from her adoptive father and her time with ice, she could manipulate and use people. Perhaps she could use him, for what she didn’t know but it was a good enough excuse to move forward, walking around the fountain more she briefly considered how exactly she should approach him, he was an interesting looking kid after all. Sharp eyes picked out bruises new and old on his skin, the guitar was old and well used but in good condition never the less, his clothes were a size too big, indicating that whomever looked after him was either poor or didn’t care what size clothes he wore. Despite this he appeared to be wholly content with playing his music, it seemed, that he was like her, music was home, it allowed them to show how they felt and to feel safe and content. The bruises and ragged clothes added up to his caregivers being like ice, cruel and abusive, perhaps she’d get to know him and if her deductions were true then she’d see what he was like as a person and perhaps he’d be someone who understood how music worked. Sitting down on the grass picking daisies and putting them together into a flower crown, she had picked a spot relatively close to him, pushing her blonde hair back a little, the youngster flashed the boy a smile when he noticed her “I like your music” deft fingers worked with the flowers while she worked on keeping her general air relaxed, light and friendly. It would be good practice for later on in life after all, at this stage she had no clue that the simple looking boy playing his guitar quietly would end up becoming one of the most important people in her world. For now he was someone who perhaps was like her, someone who’d understand what freedom music was, after a few moments of quiet she spoke again “I’m Dani, I play the piano” the more she watched him out of the corner of her eye the more she understood, he was rather skinny adding to the mounting evidence that he was abused and not well looked after. Renee would wish to fuss over him like a mother hen, however thankfully that wasn’t her style, privately eager to see how well she could manipulate him into being a companion of sorts Dani waited for his reply to her few simple words.

Listening patiently as the assassin confirmed that she was jets kid, it didn’t surprise her that the girls shadows seemed to believe that Killian was her father, it’d make sense. Lifting her head when he commented that he was surprised that jet had snuck her out “Of course she did, cold bitch yes, but she loved her kid” she hadn’t seen jet after that last time when they’d almost gotten caught. Flicking her tail agitatedly, the orange mare sighed and leaned into the attention nodding her head when he queried if she was alright. “He’s not bad for a grumpy one legged man” her tone was rather light hearted despite the circumstances. He told her that he’d keep visiting as the little girl needed lessons with her shadows lest they become violent and out of control due to being suppressed. “he wont kick her out I don’t think, after all he didn’t shoot me when he heard me speak to him” after all the little girl perhaps would be good for him, he seemed to be rather the hermit. Annoyed with the warm muggy weather and the mosquitoes that kept bothering her, she kicked out at them angrily tired of their bites and noise. Glancing up at him in obvious surprise when he mentioned kids wanting him, Rose studied him curiously, from what little she knew about him he’d not shown any interest in anyone since his wife had gone missing. After all it’d been after that that he’d stopped visiting her, shaking her mane out in an attempt to get the pesky bugs to fuck off and leave her alone, huffing to herself she lifted her head and perked her ears hearing a noise from the quiet little house. Watching curiously she soon saw the familiar form of the one legged man making his way out towards the donkeys paddock, half expecting the man beside her to vanish as it was well known that he was not a fan of others company especially if he had a family of his own now to protect and tend to.

Listening as he told her his name was Jory, the girl resumed making her daisy chain, “Nice to meet you Jory, Do you compose your own songs? How long have you played Guitar for? Oops sorry for asking so many questions” it was easy to slip into a character who was similar to renee, innocent and sweet someone it was easy to relax around, finishing her daisy chain the girl lifted it up and rested it upon her blonde hair and looked up to smile at him. Able to understand his facial expressions it was clear to her that he felt somewhat uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond to her, tilting her head subtly she observed the various emotions that flickered over the youngsters face. So conflicted and unsure of himself, more than aware by now that Saoirse would be the perfect person to take the young musician under her wing, Dani made no advances to bring her up, why would she? As of yet she had only marginal interest in the boy she’d already figured out, there were a few bits and pieces that needed proving but she was certain that they’d prove themselves in their own time.

Listening as he explained that he had two with someone and another was rescued from ice, wondering who on earth that could be the red mare shifted to put one leg at rest her brown gaze focused very firmly on the last few treats. However she was pleased to hear that he’d found Renee again, she wanted the best for her old friend and she knew that his wife made him happy. Snorting softly the mare retorted “Not going anywhere while I’m shaped like this” anyway she was more than well aware that not all humans were like the loner who’d taken her in. She owed him her life, she’d stay and work for him provided he kept that work interesting, half by following Killian to the gate she turned her attention to the donkey. The old long eared creature being the only one that she tolerated in her presence when it came to other equines, why had Julian shown up in the paddock of the decrepit creature. Harboring a suspicion that he had had some sort of memory relapse to do with the war and probably some ptsd, the mare remained near the fence watching everything as it went on.

She’d had the nightmare again and so had scrambled outside to escape the fear of the walls boxing her in and squashing her flat like a squished spider someone had stepped on. Distracting herself from the dream and the awful feeling of the dream being more real, the little girl was focusing on her shadows, she’d been practicing and practicing wanting to get it right. Hearing the chirp, the child giggled and very gently petted the large cat thing. “Huwwo Killi!, I’m doing good I think? Losh a pratishing” mangling her words as ever, the child abandoned her work of making the shadows look like coins and trotted over to him in the hopes that he’d give her some kind of attention. She missed her mother, and her hugs although they’d always been cold she’d always felt safe with jet, reaching up her hands and flashing him a bright smile. Her dragon had been curled up in the moonlight, lifting its head up the ocean dragon got up and padded over to the serval to sniff and investigate her rather innocently. It never really said much, even to its mistress, always feeling the tug of the sea that made her grow distant from others around her.

It was so fascinating how he relaxed when she portrayed herself as someone similar to her foster mother Renee, tucking that new information away she nodded in response as he explained that he had always played. Not saying anything after that she closed her eyes and smiled showing quite plainly that she was enjoying the songs that he played on his guitar. Hearing footsteps however pale blue eyes flicked open, studying the large heavy set woman it was so easy to get into the womans head, easily picking her as someone who was of the same ilk as Ice Danis gaze grew somewhat cold. Only letting the coldness in her eyes to show for a brief moment of time, she resumed her façade and smiled warmly up at the heavy set woman “Its Nice to meet you! I do hope we meet again Ma’am” loosing her façade as the woman marched off, the girls eyes narrowed once again. Many other times she wouldn’t have cared that much, however the other child liked music just as she did, and was in a bad place like she had been before Killian had rescued her. Time with him and Renee had softened her a little, allowing her to have some empathy, deciding that she’d definitely do something to help the other kid the blonde child sent a shadow after them. It’d let her know what was going on and she could work from there, turning and heading back home, she clambered up the stairs to the piano and got out her song book where she hand penciled in all of her songs. She had to keep it hidden or Rochelle would try and burn it, setting it down open to a particular page the kid began to play while listening to reports from all of her shadows that were spread throughout the place.

Awake and uneasy, the mare was up and wandering around her paddock the red mare snorted, hearing the familiar noise of the man and wondering what he was doing, moving around and over to the fence of the paddock that she shared with the donkey. Standing there with her ears pricked, the bright orange creature kept silent, more questions bubbling away in the back of her mind, lowering her head to grab a mouthful of grass she soon was leaning against the wooden fence with her head over it thinking about things. Intelligent eyes watched him while she munched on her mouthful of grass, although she didn’t call out to the man or make a noise, he seemed in pain and filled with memories it’d not be welcome for her to interrupt. After all she herself would have lashed out if someone had interrupted her during her memories of what had happened to her during the war. Opting to graze near the fence and keep an eye on them, Rose occasionally swished her tail to disturb the irritating bugs that insisted on landing on her legs and sides, thankfully her thick mane of some assistance. Her sharp ears could pick up the general sound of voices from the house, which informed her that scruffy was with the girl again, he’d provide some comfort to her as she’d observed that kangaroo jack was quite distant from her still.


Cuddling close into the man when he took her in his arms, she happily accepted the comfort having missed it, his hugs were even better than Jets, they were warm and she felt safe and protected from the world. “Okay, I hopesh sho” she hated the nightmares, they scared her so much, she didn’t want to have to keep going through them and didn’t want to bother the man who was taking care of her with it. Listening as her dragon and the serval greeted each other, she paid little attention to what they were doing too focused on soaking up the comfort and warmth. “Coinsh arentsh too badsh, but the shashowsh like the horsheshoes” she’d been able to find a couple of old shoes lying around and her shadows had been able to find that a little easier to form instead of the coins that had little value to her.

It’d been some time since she’d seen the boy with the guitar again, curious about him she’d done some mild stalking and with help of the shadows had discovered where he lived following the information the shadow had given her. Finding that her original conclusion had indeed been correct, she’d changed the shadow that was keeping an eye on him to an older and more mature shadow that wouldn’t let itself be seen. Daniella often returned to the quiet park since then in quiet hope of meeting the other kid again, Sitting on the lip of the fountain listening to the sounds of the water and the various birds chirping in the trees. Upon her lap was a book, inside it lines, every single page had them and at the top of some was the name of presumably a song with notes written upon the lines. Currently she was humming to herself a tune and writing down notes, although sometimes when she went through it again she’d screw up her features and shake her head erasing the notes and starting again. Song writing was a serious business after all and she preferred to do it outside, it was a good place to clear her head and get really into it with little distractions. The only down side was that she couldn’t drag the piano out here with her to compose, so humming had to suffice, tucking the pencil away behind her ear while she hummed out what had been written down when the time came to add more notes she couldn’t remember where she’d placed the pencil and started looking around for it.


Growing subtly tense when he suddenly came over, the mare stayed still as she knew his hands were gentle although there will still times where she couldn’t help but wait for the gentleness to end. Moving herself so his hand was near her wither she hopefully glanced at him, if she was lucky he might pick up on the hint and give her a good scratch, ‘yeah fairly good’ saying nothing about her friend who’d visited rose shifted her weight and leaned into the hand a little ‘scratch’ not caring that the ginger mare was being fairly demanded her brown gaze watched him. Once he was scratching her and her lips were quivering happily, Rose decided to do a little digging ‘bad dreams too? That makes three of us’ when he found a particularly itchy spot she jerked her head up and tilted it to the side happily and began to groom the air, she was always itchy no matter what and got proper enjoyment out of being scratched. Covered in dirt and dust from her earlier rolls, Rose was more than used to being a horse these days, however life as a horse had become better these months while belonging to Julian although she often still defied him or did her own thing, highly independent and intelligent often meant she was more likely to test the boundaries just to see how far she could push and what she could get away with. However the mixed bred mare was growing more tolerant, accepting a bit, bridle and saddle as well as his weight as he’d recently discovered, the more they got to know each other the more she let him do with her. Sometimes she couldn’t cope and would explode, or completely shut down, yet she’d stopped going out of her way to try and hurt the stockman.


She felt safe cuddled in with the man, closing green eyes Claire listened as Killian told her that her bad dreams would settle and go away, hopefully they would they were so scary making her feel like she couldn’t breath and she was trapped. Turning her head to lean it against his chest, the slow rhythmic thudding of his heart was unexplainably soothing, he told her that the horse shoes were something that she could try to get her shadows to mimic. As long as she could get them to do it before trying to do anything else, the warm hug and soothing heartbeat was starting to lull her back to sleep, she was safe when she was in the dark haired mans arms just like she was when she was in her mothers arms. He asked her a question which saw her green eyes opened to look up at his mismatched ones “I like the horshesh and helping! I got to ride the donkey! Shesh very nice” from her perspective this place was good, she’d never been able to have lots of company, used to being on her own a lot this place was wonderful to her after all she could be outside and be with horses. Having little idea that life could be completely different to this, she yawned and closed her eyes once more quite content there in Killians arms feeling safe and sound.

patting her pockets and the area around her it wasnt until she reached up and touched the pencil behind her ear that she'd been looking for, touching it to the paper and wrote down the notes that had sounded nice together. A quiet voice made the girl look up in slight surprise, usually she was left quite alone as most that lived around here knew exactly who her father was, the owner of the voice was a boy about her age. He had brown hair and rather nice green eyes despite the fact that he was skinny and wore clothes that didn't match, had patches and were either too big or too small. A smile wound its way onto her face "Hey Jory, Its been a little while since I've seen you, how are you?" the pencil was tucked behind an ear again where it was likely it'd be forgotten about again. It was good to see him again although it was a shame to see that he was as she'd thought in poor care, coming from a background of poor care herself it was somewhat irksome that he was clearly not being given what he needed. Noticing the lack of guitar she hid her frown, tapping her chin with a slender finger she gestured to the space next to her "Sit with me? I want your opinion on a song" she'd already decided previously that she was going to manipulate him into either being a 'friend' or some sort of pet that she could use, at the very least his music was nice and there was something that just clicked. Not a hundred percent on what exactly it was for now she was content to play with him, both music wise and manipulation wise and so already she planned to set up the boy with a useful shadow and use her influence to get his parents to lay off.


Happy when he began itching her, rose leaned into it gently while she listened to him speak, she trusted him now. He wouldn't hurt her, and they could help each other and perhaps accomplish things they couldn't alone, working as a team appealed to her greatly. Tossing her head when Julian mentioned company the red mare snorted 'I have little interest in the company of horses, human' watching as he left, Rose wandered off again and found a place to sleep for the remainder of the night. Looking up at the stars she was struck by the fact that some of the constellations were once she'd never seen before, a pang of homesickness filled the red mare, there was no way she'd ever see the cliffs, fairy pools, wild moorland and the higgledy piggledty little towns and houses that were scattered over it. Where she was now was the opposite side of the world to where her island was, although at the same time was it even worth going back there? What was there left for her there? Unable to answer those questions she spent most of the night dozing a little jerkily. Awake when the world she lived in began to lighten, Rose stretched luxuriously before making her way over to the fence closest to the farm house and hopefully waited there for Julian to show up and make breakfast. Predictably he was there on time, the routine was one she was used to and enjoyed, it was nice knowing when everything was going to happen although admittedly sometimes it did get a little dull. Calling out when she spotted feed buckets, the mare pawed at the ground a little impatiently before prancing down the fence line to wait at the gate, ears forward and eyes focused on the buckets.


Happily snuggled into the tall man Claire was soon asleep the warmth pleasant and comforting, not waking as she was moved, the little girl curled up next to her dragon who'd also fallen asleep. Awaking with a start that morning she looked around for him before deciding he probably left after putting her to bed, sucking her thumb and petting her dragon the pale child got out of the warm bed when she heard the familiar noises of her caretaker getting up and heading towards the kitchen for breakfast. Eager nto to be left behind, she struggled out of the clothes she'd slept and returned to the clothes she'd worn the day before, trotting out with her dragon in tow, Claire followed Julians path and joined him in the kitchen with a sunny smile.

Watching him as he gave the automative answer that he'd been quite clearly trained into saying, not that bothered by his fiddling Dani continued to read him as easily as if he were a book. When he didn't sit where she'd offered the blonde just offered a smile uncaring if he'd be able to see it or not "Or Pick a place where you'd like to sit, I dont mind where you sit Jory" quite comfortable there on the lip of the fountain already a plan had formed in her mind of what she was going to do that afternoon once he'd gone back to his fosters. For now she'd share her music with him and see what he thought of it, once he had taken a seat she spoke "Will you listen? To what i've put together?" once she had some sort of a response she read over the notes she'd written down and hummed them no words had come to her for the music for now. It was haunting and sad in melody, yet despite her best efforts she'd not been able to find the words that worked for the song that'd been lingering in her thoughts and dreams for the past few weeks.


Scrambling up onto a seat the little girl happily dug into her morning toast, happy enough to do whatever the gruff but kind man wanted her to do. Finishing her toast she followed him outside wanting to do her best to help him so she'd be allowed to stay, happy when she was allowed to carry one or two buckets of feed. Deciding she knew better than to go into the paddock with the ginger female horse, Claire sat down with her thumb in her mouth on the safe side of the fence digging her feet into the dirt. Following him closely when he entered her paddock with the bucket of feed with her name on it, as usual her first mouthful was huge, shunting her nose through the feed and lifting her head she chewed happily and leant her head into his body for a few moments before moving it once again so she could continue eating happily, completely ignoring the kid that was sitting on the other side of the fence, listening as her human spoke interest in the idea of trying something new caused her to lift her head with a mouthful of food and nudge him 'That sounds like fun' she knew that new things with him although strange wouldn't end up with her hurt.

Happily brushing the pony and chattering away to herself until a familiar voice called her name, trying to see over the mares back "Mariush!" hopping down off of the stool she trotted around to hug the legs of the familiar man. Lifted up into his arms and hugging him, Marius wasted little time asking how she was and how she was doing, listening patiently to all her stories that she wanted to tell him about living on the farm with julian. However he picked up that something was the matter with her "What is it Claire?" the little girl looked down for a little while wanting to talk about it but being worried that she might get told off. "He's so grumpy all the time am i being bad? I don't want to be bad" Marius's gaze softened "Its alright, He's naturally grumpy its not you" the chestnut mare remained standing there looking bored with one leg at rest.