WELCOME HOME wrote:“How did he do?” A woman asked, hurriedly putting her platinum hair into a messy ponytail as she quickly paced out of a large barn. The sounds of animals were easily distinct as a white truck cut off its engine; horses, dogs, cats, chickens, goats… it was a busy time as fall faded into winter on Adelaron property. The barns would become more active for certain members of the grounds family, the elders wrapped up snugly alongside the youngest members, the more hardy and healthy kept eyes on as they wandered between barn and fields.
But a new member had arrived this particular afternoon, later than expected. And it worried Serris Marks, owner of Adelaron Ranch and proprietor of all things beast. Her brother, Sam, stepped down from the cab with a gruff groan and arms stretching up, his shirt lifting above his jeans briefly before he straightened it.
“He was a pain in my ass. That guy has gotta be the most finicky thing I’ve had to haul across three states, Ser.” Mark complained as he followed his sister back toward the hitched trailer. Serris smiled despite the complaining, shaking her head a little.
“So you like him.”
“Of course I like him. Our personalities gotta stick together.” Mark confirmed, jumping up onto the wheel hub and peeking in at the occupant. Serris was up next to him, lips twisted sidelong as she studied the Crowntail they had acquired from a rescue center in Mississippi.
“He looks run down, Mark. Did you keep him sprayed down?”
Mark rubbed the back of his neck after he popped down from the hub, sighing in clear aggravation. But Serris could tell it wasn’t at her question, just the situation.
“I tried most of the way, 'til he nearly bit my fingers off. That was at the Tex-Lou border though. I figured he would be okay for the few hours it took to get back home.” Serris hummed as she jumped down herself, smiling at her brother; the horse would be okay, Serris was familiar enough with them, more so than Mark.
“Let’s get him into his paddock, he’ll live. Once he gets into one of the ponds he’ll perk right back up in no time.” She told him, heading toward the back of the trailer. “It’ll be easier to get him down there like he is now, if I’m being honest. Less likely to have him lash out if he gets upset.” She told him, and Mark nodded as he grabbed a long lead from his truck bed and joined her.
Opening the door and lowering the ramp didn’t so much as make him move, his tail hanging limp against his hindquarters. His mane-fin had flopped over as well, and Serris carefully made her way in to back him out after taking the lead. Looping it around his neck near the withers, wide and without putting too much pressure on his fin, she made a smaller loop over his nose that she tied in place swiftly, using it to gently back the stallion out.
He complied with a rumbling warning, but otherwise seemed too tired to do much else, luckily. “He was pretty snappy, so be careful, Ser.” Mark said quietly as they passed him off the ramp. She nodded but otherwise kept her attention on the Crowntail, not wanting to give him an opportunity to strike without her notice. Even the walk down to the paddock that had been assigned to the stallion was fairly uneventful. In his current state, just a bit dehydrated, Serris wasn't as concerned with his snapping at her yet.
“So, you keeping his name?”
“Tyke?” Serris asked, curious about what her brother was fishing for. “I hadn’t planned on changing it, no. Why?”
“He’s not a little guy. It’s just odd.”
She chuckled softly before responding. “Tyke doesn’t just mean small, Mark. It used to be used when referencing a stray dog.”
Mark hummed as he thought on that tidbit, obviously thinking as his pace slowed just a step farther behind Serris. “You could call him a dog, I guess. A giant Rottweiler, if we’re voting on breed.” He mumbled the last part, looking down at his right hand and stretching the fingers a few times.
“Then he lives up to his namesake.” Serris laughed, pausing when Tyke lifted his head higher than the placid, tired set as they had been walking. He sniffed the air as they stopped, obviously finding something interesting. She smiled as she stroked down his neck carefully, peeking under his jowl at the paddock they were passing by.
“Think he’ll like his neighbors?”
“That swarm will be the death of him.” Mark said, clearly unimpressed as they stopped to glance at the far side of the paddock; four crowntails were in the large area, all mares. They weren’t particularly ill-tempered, but Mark wasn’t fond of the band himself. He preferred the new predictable horse breeds, or species, to working with the often vicious Crowntails. “The only Crowntail you’ll get me to stick with is Tarnish, you remember that, Tyke.” He told the stallion, who stomped a hoof, not interested in Mark or Serris over the scent of mares he had picked up.
Moving him along was a bit difficult, and Serris chastised Tyke firmly, pulling down on his nose when he tried to snap at Mark. When he stepped back as she wanted she released his head, and they moved along with Mark taking the far side of the path.
It was another few minutes before they had finally gotten him inside his paddock, the lead looped around Serris’ shoulder loosely as she leaned against the fence with Mark. It wasn’t so big, his new place, but Tyke had immediately gone to the largest pond in the middle of the grounds, all but diving into the water. He groaned and splashed, snorted and rolled in the muddy bank.
“I ain’t cleaning him up.” Mark deadpanned, Serris laughing aloud and startling Tyke into taking to the middle of the pond, disappearing briefly before his ears and upper head poked out above the surface.
FRUSTRATIONS wrote:“Grahhhhhh!” Serris shouted, obviously aggravated and frazzled by the way her hair stuck out away from her head in wisps while the majority was in a messy, ruffled ponytail. Her face was reddened as she huffed her irritations, all but stomping back to the barn. Visitors and employees alike moved out of her way, some much too quickly to be subtle in their disappearance.
“Sam, just get back here, alright? She’s losing it with Tyke again.” A tall man whispered into a cell phone, soon pocketing it when Serris strode by without noticing him. He whistled casually, obviously trying to seem like he was doing nothing out of the ordinary even while his pocket clearly had a voice rising from it.
“If that’s Sam, you tell him to pick up some more fencing while he’s at it!” Serris yelled before she disappeared into a doorway. It wasn’t long before she was back out in her wading boots, arms full with fencing equipment, and a satchel dropping down from her shoulder. She was muttering under her breath. “This’ll teach him to keep skipping the fence… when I get my hands on that horse, he’s going to wish he hadn’t dug that hole…”
Tossing her equipment onto the back of a small ATV, she sped off with a quick start. And then unloaded everything as she looked around the back paddock for the Crowntail in question, glaring at the pasture as she found it’s occupant missing.
Again.
“Tyke!” She called, looking for bubbling from the pond he was graciously given in the middle of the paddock. Nothing showed.
Serris looked to the neighboring paddock, spying the mares that made their home milling about near their own pond. Lifting a hand to cover her eyes, the sun not even at noon-height yet, she squinted at the water when she saw the swarm all on land.
And cried out in frustration when she spotted curled ears dart back under the murky surface. Taking a deep breath, though, she turned to her ATV and hauled what she had brought toward the gate to Tyke’s paddock, opening and closing it behind her before walking the shared fence line of the two sectors.
“Aha!” She shouted, looking up to Tyke and the mares and raising a clenched fist triumphantly. “I found it, you!” Then she began digging, water splashing from the hole as it went deeper into the ground. Sticking in a post in, she grabbed her mallet and pounded it down with more than a little frustration behind the action.
It wasn’t long before she had managed to slosh across a newly formed stream, deep enough that her waders were of little use and now both her pants and lower shirt were wet. It wasn’t so wide that she couldn’t have jumped it, but not knowing how wide Tyke had manage to make it had left her to walk through the boggy ground instead of risking breaking an ankle.
Once on the other side she did the same as with the first post, wiping sweat from her brow once finished and leaning against it tiredly. “You’ll have one nice surprise when that new fence gets here, Tyke. And when I hear you scream at it, I’ll just laugh.” She muttered to herself before leaping back to her gear.
She unrolled the deer-blocking fencing, metal but lightweight, before wrapping it around the first post. Grabbing a heavy duty stapler, she punched the staples in place from top to as far down as she could reach, making sure to push the fence down into the new hole before repeating the action on the far pole.
She was startled when she looked up to see the swarm, Tyke included, watching her just an arms length from the fence, though. Vint, the calmest and friendliest of the group, bobbed her head repeatedly as she approached, rubbing her head on the main fence; she seemed to be laughing, if Serris had to guess.
“Oh ha ha. You know, why don’t you girls just put him in his place, hmm? He’d stay over here where he needs to if you would, Vint!” Serris told the mare, looking back tp Tyke. The stallion lifted his head in challenge and Serris rolled her eyes before returning to her work.
It took almost two hours, but once Serris had the stallion back in his own paddock she sighed heavily. “This is what I get for taking you, huh?” She asked Tyke, who rubbed his head rudely against her elbow where Serris was leaning against the gate. “Manners, dude?” She told him, pushing him back and following him as he backed up. He snuffled loudly when she moved back to the gate, sniffing at her boots as they sloshed with her steps.
“If I find you in there again today, or tomorrow, I’m grinding you up for fish food.” She told him, but she smiled and shook her head as she scratched his forehead. Tyke rumbled appreciatively, not at all concerned over her words.
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