The final furlong

Wren is a psychologist that writes romance novels in his spare time, in his newest book he intends to base the story of his novel in the world of horse racing. Unfortunately for him most of the racing folks seem to believe he's a reporter and refuse to talk to him apart from one jockey named Cas. The two form a friendship that eventually leads to something more.

The idea had been bouncing around in his brain for a while, he’d been watching some movies one evening after work and it’d come to him then, after that he’d spent time musing over it wondering if it’d be good enough to turn into something worth publishing. After a while he’d decided that he’d at least see if he could collect some information and go from there, so here he was, in some rather casual clothes for someone going to the races. His note book was in his pocket and his pen tucked there as well, he’d picked a rather small race meet, not that keen on trying to deal with a heap of people, his hope was that a smaller race meet might mean they would be more alright with talking to someone. Alas that seemed to not be the case, frustrated but unable to say more except that he wasn’t a reporter, he was always hesitant to tell people that he was a writer as they always asked what genre he was in and it was a little embarrassing. Lifting a hand to push his curls out of his face, the shifter sighed and listened to some of the local birds that were warbling away, although he was drawn out of his thoughts when he sensed another creature. Glancing around he spotted someone who appeared to be that said creature, watching him interact with the horses his suspicions were confirmed, still he hesitated a little unsure if h e should go over and get rejected again.

He’d watched a couple of the races and had jotted some notes down, so far his only real experience with racing had been when he’d watched Secretariat and Pharlap, as usual, once the idea was in his head it’d been hard to get it out. Picking the pen out of his pocket to fiddle with it, a bit of an anxious habit of his but it was something that was more positive than some of the old tics that he’d grown up with. Telling himself to stop being such a wuss, Wren took a big breath and walked over to the lean stranger “Hi, my name is Wren, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions? I promise I’m not a reporter!” dithering a moment, he decided to admit that he was a writer and hope the fact that he was a creature as well would help “I’m a writer and I’m collecting information for a story, well trying to nobody wants to talk to me which is fair” shutting himself up and starting to click the pen on and off rather anxiously. He’d done some research online first and had found a lot of articles of reporters trashing racing as abusive, so it was hardly surprising that if people thought he was a reporter they wouldn’t ay a word.

Realizing he was being eyed warily, Wren tried not to show the panic on his face instead have swallowed hard and nodded "I'm completely sure, I'm a fiction writer. I write fake stories but I like to be able to weave some real elements into in them so they feel realistic" you're babbling he told himself, stop that you sound like an idiot. Closing his mouth he rubbed his face  "Sorry, I'm blathering away. I don't like that the articles on racing are all one sided and bashing. That doesn't interest me for my book. I do not intend to put in my book anything that peta has coughed up" speaking with more composure, he sighed this wasn't going to go anywhere. His free hand was still fiddling with the pen, although a little less now he'd tried to get some control of himself, he didn't need to panic and come across like a nut case even if he felt like one.

Flushing pink he closed his mouth and flicked his gaze away, "A true writer will take things from the real world and weave them into their stories to give a feeling of at least semi realism." speaking quieter than what volume he'd been speaking at before. Brushing some of his curls back out of his face he turned his pen over in his fingers, he could name several fictional books that had plenty of real-world elements in them. "But, if I can't get anyone to talk to me, I can't change that, I'll have to shelve the idea and come up with something else" musing more to himself he rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand looking fairly resigned. His free hand slipped his pen behind his ear, this wasn't the first place he'd come to try and get information about this topic.

Visibly perking up at the question a genuine smile that showed off the dimples in his cheeks, "A bit of everything really, if I'm basing a fictional story in the real world i want it to be as realistic as possible. It's hard to find non biased resources on the internet so i figured coming here to get information from the horses mouth as it were would give me a more fair picture of how things actually are" flushing a little at his verbal diarrhea he looked down and took out his notebook and pen from behind his ear "How involved are jockeys in the training side of things?" he hadn't really decided whether or not the character would be a jockey or if they'd be working at a racing stable. So he'd get information on the jockey side of things first and see how he went from there.