2024-12-02 - Yes, His Name is Rhysand

Horses don't typically like boats, but thankfully the Spellbound working ferries are big enough to somewhat insulate them from the experience, at least when the weather is okay. Drea and her trope-bait black stallion have travelled this particular ferry run many times, going back and forth between the arena in the River Village and the Queen's Stables. Now she leads the big grade horse into the stables for a checkup and some time in the warmth, giving his wavy mane a tousle as they move toward one of the big heated stalls.

Drea wears riding breeches and boots with a gray hoodie and a jean jacket, although her horse isn't saddled, just wearing a simple lead rope. "Come on you big beast," her tone is dry an affectionate, "You don't get to look at the ladies this time."

There is one very important rule when it comes to owning horses.....there's no such thing as a day off.

Unless you've got a lot of excess money to pay others to do the work for you....which at this moment in her life Spencer does not. So that means that she's always busy, even when she doesn't have a performance there's a requirement to train, to practice, to care for the horses. Today has found her with one of the four she uses in her performance, the big bay, Aurelio, is out of his stall and on a lead attached to the outside stall wall as she works on cleaning his hooves. It's hard work, but she's still wearing a sweatshirt and jeans so that she's not at risk of freezing when she stops moving around. Although, currently, Spencer looks rather like she's regretting her choices as she works on making sure everything is clean and secure.

Drea leads Rhysand into the paddock next door to Spencer and Aurelio and over to the wall as well, giving him a couple of scruff at the shoulder and neck and then tying off his lead. Offering a smile up to the other blonde, she gathers up her own tools, "I hate doing this under the Arena, you know? Even with the ferry ride, it's better to be above-ground." Taking the little basket of tools back along Rhysand's side, she checks him over briefly before looking up and over her shoulder to Spencer, "I've seen you around here before, but I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Drea. I do the jousting and fighting shows over at the River Village."

There's always people around, it's a busy place, so until Drea started talking to her Spencer was content to stay in her own world, because that's what secret workaholics do.

But the talking causes her to pause, looking up with a huff of a laugh, "Something about being able to run out and scream to the sky when frustrated...." She then turns back to the hoof she's holding between her knees to give it one finally once over before putting it down and moving aside, patting Aurelio's side before tossing her tool into her own plastic tote. "Spencer...trick riding." She then gestures towards the horse, "This is Aurelio, who thinks he's the star of the show, even if we're an ensemble performance."

Drea turns toward the tail of the stallion, running a hand down his front leg and patting his fetlock lightly to get him to raise his hoof so that she can start cleaning it out too. "Nice to meet you Spencer, and Aurelio. This is Rhysand, High Lord and ruler of the Night Court. If he could carry a lance himself, I think he would try to skip me entirely." The black tosses his head and whickers softly, and Drea pats his shoulder with an empty hand before getting back to picking his hoof clean. "I know that's not true. But it sounds good."

Looking back across to trick riders, she studies the pair, then nods, "I always liked the idea of trick riding, but never had the cash for two good saddles, and a jousting saddle is no good for jumping at all. You work out here on Fable Island then?"

"Spellbound Island....I'm with the circus out there." Spencer replies with a quick shake of her head, tugging the sleeves of her sweatshirt up a bit past her wrists but not all the way up to her elbows, "Two shows a day during the week, three on the weekends." She waggles a hand a little in the air, "Although that's prone to change if needed, for whatever reason....sometimes there's just not the demand for it, or we're tired...or there's another show that's a front runner."

She could probably go on listing reasons the line-up might change, but she doesn't, instead tilting her head, considering her own horse for a moment, "I think we've got...more saddles than horses at this point. Need driven which one is being used...but we'll sometimes also not use one." She glances back over towards Drea, "Astro and Aurora are a matched set, and can dance...so I don't always even bother saddling them. Doesn't jousting hurt?"

"Oh yeah! I love all the gearwork and cogs and top hats and stuff out in the Midway. And that's about what we do at the Arena of Champions too. Although at least it's not all the same show -- we have equestrian games, melee fights, and the joust at the end of the day." Drea straightens up at the mention of having more saddles than horses, looking around at the sprawling facility they're working in, "You know, I always forget that we're working for a giant entertainment corporation and actually have a budget now, compared to whatever I can scrape up after a tournament."

As she cleans the hoof, she checks it over for damage, pausing here and there to get a better look at what's going on with Rhysand's moneymakers. "I've always loved the look of dressage and the Lipizzaner Stallions and everything like that. But, well, just one horse, and I need one who can handle the shock of impact and is super-steady when he's charging." But the question draws a little smile, "It doesn't tickle, but it's not too bad unless you do something wrong. And now that we're here, it's really, really not too bad. The bruises sort of just fade away."

There's a bit of a whimsical smile that follows the mention of a budget, but Spencer doesn't really speak on the saddle situation, or the budget situation.

Instead she addresses the other, nodding, "The Lipizzaner Stallions are nice, certainly. When I was younger I had the great privelage of getting to watch the dancing horses at the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre in Spain, and then the Cadre Noir in France. We never made it to Vienna though, to see the Lipizzaner perform." She reaches up a hand to give her horse a pat, nodding at the explanation about how bad jousting really hurts, or not. "I'm not sure that I could have done something like jousting...getting knocked off on purpose?"

Drea makes a soft 'oooh' sound at the mention of seeing the European performances, "Those sounds like killer shows, I'm jealous." She lets Rhysand's hoof down and moves to his back hoof, running her hand down the back of his leg and then giving his fetlock a pat to get him to raise that hoof to be cleaned in turn. "I've seen a lot of that stuff online, but nothing like it in person." The half-question about jousting is met with a gentle laugh, and she shakes her head, "I try not to be knocked off when we're jousting, especially since that part's mostly scripted here. I'd really much rather the other guy falls off. And it was much worse before coming here. I've broken... a few bones," that's probably a solid understatement, "but there's nothing like the rush."

Pausing in her cleaning a moment, she looks over to Spencer, "Do you do performances like the Real Escuela or Cadre Noir," her accent in Spanish and French isn't great... maybe some Italian influence rather than quite proper, "or are you doing tricks on the horses? I used to work alongside a show that did horse archery and acrobatics on horseback at some of the Ren Faires across the Midwest."

"Oh, it's scripted? So...you fall on purpose but like...stunt men?" Or women. Whatever it is, that seems to make a lot of sense to her, and also to put some of her concerns about being knocked off horses by big sticks to rest.

The accent not withstanding, she understands what Drea's asking perfectly, nodding in reply, "Yes. I do both? It just depends on the performance....so sometimes for the morning or noon shows I'll do something smaller, quicker. Like the performances there, the croupade and the mezair. But then for the evening show, which tends to be a little bit of a longer show sometimes, I'll do a little of that, but then also ride, and do acrobatics...or uh, vaulting sometimes. Depends?" It evidently depends on a lot.

Drea holds up one hand and waggles it back and forth, "It's scripted-ish. We know what's supposed to happen, but it's really hard to joust, so sometimes it's not possible to do what you want to do. The melee is much easier to script." She wrinkles her nose is distaste, "I wish we didn't have to script it, that we could actually spar out there, but I know it wouldn't look as good, and it would be harder to tell a story with. Because it's way more fun trying to stay in your saddle than trying to be knocked out of it."

But the notice that Spencer does acrobatics on horseback brightens her eyes, and she sets Rhysand's hoof down to turn toward the other woman with enthusiasm, "That's amazing! I would love to learn to do that. It always looks amazing, and it looks hard too. And like I said for vaulting, my saddle doesn't really work."

"Scripting probably also makes it more fair? That way everyone can play the hero at least once." Spencer doesn't quite understand how these types of roles might work, and that largely someone is always cast as the villain. But she's trying!

The saddle thing causes a nod, though, "You've got to have specialty saddles for it all...I can ride some dressage in a regular saddle of course, but doing tricks requires different things, and what might help with a death drag isn't going to help with sitting pretty over a jump." Usually, at least. "And it is hard work..but I think anyone could learn to do a little of it if they tried hard enough."

"Some people really like playing the heel -- that's what they call the villain. I'm not sure I like it so much though, because I like to win, and the heel doesn't usually win unless there's a chance for the face -- the hero -- to win bigger later. I like it unscripted so anyone can with with talent and sheer guts." Drea seems to realize that she's just standing there talking and guiltily urges Rhysand's rear hoof up again so that she can finish the work there.

"Maybe once I've got the cash for a new saddle -- since there's just not as much to spend on out here and I'm finally getting paid steadily -- you could show me how jumping works. And what a death drag is, because that sounds awesome."

"Why do they call it the heel?" Oh, how inquiring minds wish to know! "And why the face?" For someone who is clearly a performer, she doesn't seem to know much. But that is possibly because in her act....there's no heel or face. It's a one-woman-four-horse act where no one is the bad guy.

"Jumping? Like...just the normal horse jump over the fence jumping? Sure...that's easy." Spencer replies with a quick flash of a bright smile, her hand moving to pat her horses rump before she moves to grab a brush from the little container of tools. "And a death drag is basically what you do when you hang off the saddle head down....they call it that because you could get kicked if you're in the wrong spot, or fall and break a neck, or get stepped on."

"I... have no idea why it's called the heel. It's from pro wrestling. Maybe it goes back to the old saying about being a heel." Drea shrugs broadly, "The face comes from babyface, because you cheer for the person who looks like the boy or girl next door, especially if they look young and the person they're wrestling looks like a monster. I just think it's nicer than 'hero' and 'villain' because the villain part can be really fun, getting all the heat from the crowd."

Coming around Rhysand, she leans over the horse's shoulder to keep looking at Spencer, her eyes going wide at the description of the death drag, "I've jumped low fences and hedges on the Dark Fae here," she gives Rhysand a pat and a rub on the shoulder and neck, and the stallion tosses his head as he whickers. "But never anything like formal. Stringing them together or anything like that. And oh-my-gods I want to try the death drag. That sounds so amazing."

"Maybe." Spencer replies thoughtfully, clearly not really knowing why it's called heel herself, but she seems to eventually accept the concept from Drea that it goes back to someone being a heel. It's not worth too much thinking, evidently. "Hero and villain seems to make things very black and white, and reality isn't so easily described that way. So I can see how not using those terms might be better, and instead using face or heel."

Which still sounds weird. But whatever.

"It's dangerous." Spencer warns, but since she does it she can't really tell another grown ass adult they shouldn't risk death or brain damage by doing it. "If you're interested in it, I can show you how...but you have to be really careful at it."

Drea points over to Spencer with the tool, nodding her agreement on the point of 'hero and villain' being black and white. "The audiences like things pretty black and white. I like a little gray." She laughs softly at the mention of the death drag being dangerous, "Gods, I would hope so with a name like that. But you're also talking to someone who uses a giant spear to try to knock someone else off their horse. I can take a little danger, as long as all the proper safety precautions are taken."

She pauses, then pats Rhysand's hoof up so that she can continue her work cleaning his hooves, "I learned that lesson trying to joust on dirtbikes. Once."

Spencer's brows lift upwards slightly, "On a dirtbike? That doesn't seem very....easy." Or safe. But she doesn't mention that part because Drea just basically admitted that safety was probably not top priority on the dirtbikes. "At least horses are capable of being pointed in a direction and they mostly will go that way."

When they are the behaving sort.

"Or smart," Drea adds with a smile, "I broke my arm in two places." Gesturing over to Spencer, she laughs easily, "Exactly! They're smart enough to keep going and not crash into a tree or a rock or anything like that. It's why it's so great to ride something with a brain of its own." Letting her humor bubble down to a mere simmer, she gets back to working on Rhysand's hoof, "I'm definitely going to come by and check out your show at the circus sometime, and you should come by for our equestrian show at the River Village -- horseback archery, melon smashes, javelin throws. I would love to work some jumping and acrobatics in, maybe we could even practice together some time when we actually, you know, have time."

Well, she wasn't going to say it. But since Drea said it herself there's a bit of a laugh in agreement, "Or smart."

Spencer then turns her attention to getting everything put back away as she listens to Drea describe the show at the River Village. Once everything is put up she starts to unhook her horse with a nod, "I'd love to come watch the show sometime, and you're welcome to come by and watch mine any time you've got the chance. We try to do one a day during the week, and two on Saturday, but sometimes that changes depending on what else is going on." She then gestures vaguely behind her, "And....sadly, I really should be getting back to the rest of my chores today. It was really nice to meet you and get a chance to talk, though."

Drea lets down the hoof she's working on and moves around to the last one, nodding at Spencer's acceptance of the fact that they can indeed come see each other's shows, laughing softly, "There's always more work in the barn," she agrees, even if there are people whose job it is to do some of that work here. "I'll see you around, Spencer. And I'll come looking for you to teach me that death drag at some point. Or maybe just some better jumping. Have a good day!"