open , , only here in body

[Othello Rile]

It was surprising to Othello how monotonous his life had become, but then not very, since that was how he lived. Maybe he was less surprised and more so depressed at the fact, but Othello wouldn’t allow himself to admit to such a week emotion. It would only be a year until he was going back to school and back to doing something interesting. Elmendorf paid his bills and in a year he would’ve been on the pay roll long enough that they would pay for med school as well, but the work held little interest for him. He had never wanted to be doing this, caring for scrapes, bumps and allergic reactions. Othello had wanted a lab of his own, to do his own work, to research and find new things, not to be suggesting dietary plans and stitching wounds. He’d also found that people didn’t care as much about their animals as they liked to say, they just liked to see them remotely healthy and ride-able, yet as of late he had been euthanizing one too many lame horses. That had only added to his sour mood which had been mounting over the last few weeks.

The young, yet terribly efficient vet was cleaning up for the day, having just sent off his last call of the day, which had simply been a horse with sweet itch and only needed this week’s round of shots. Mundane work, more or less, with a very annoying owner that found it fashionable to chatter the entire time as if Othello wanted to talk to her. If Elmendorf didn’t provide him a place to live Othello probably never would have taken the job when Headmaster Blackmore had offered it to him fresh out of grad school, since Othello found he had grown a divine disliking for most everyone that was younger him, especially the students. Most of them were rich and irritating, and though one side of his family happened to be full of rich and irritating cousins, Othello had never gotten used to their selfish and wasteful antics. It was often very difficult for him to restrain poking some of them in the eye. It was the reason Othello had chosen animals over people at first, since they didn’t talk back or complain about treatment or his behavior.

To say the least, it was a very good thing that Othello was incredibly proficient at what he did.

The cross ties stationed in the middle of the mare barn, between the rows of stalls and two tack rooms where he worked at today were now as spotless as they could have been without Othello spending an extra hour to sanitize the rubber mats on the floors. The chain links of the cross ties had been sterilized, all shavings, leavings and blood from the day cleaned away, the walls washed and the equipment cleaned and organized and Othello was for the most part alone. A rare occasion, especially in the mare and foaling barn, though due to the season there were no new foals that needed tending. The androgynous, dark haired young man pulled off the latex gloves he’d been working in so that they came off inside out and his skin didn’t have to meet any of the germs he’d encountered that day. He dropped them into a trash can, and then moved to pick up his medical box sitting a bit precariously atop the computer and camera he used to take x rays. However his sour mood made him that much more unlucky, and just as he reached for it, it toppled from where it was perched, all the cleaned and organized contents spilling over the dirty rubber mats.

“Damnit!” Othello hissed, pulling on a new pair of gloves and going over to start picking up everything that he’d dropped, having to sterilize all his tools again. Othello glared at the floor accusingly as he collected his supplies.

This day was not going to get any better, he just felt it.

[Tabitha Jones]

Tabbysloped down the isle between the stalls, expression dazed, it was too much all to much. Her shoe scuffs were the only noise to break the peaceful haze of contented equines, the steady munching and the slow swish of a lazy tail, Tabby was as ever an outsider, a spaceman, alien to this land. She wasn’t sure what she doing here, in all senses of the word. What was she was doing in this stable block, what she was doing at Elmendorf, if that was its name – what she doing anywhere. As she wandered she attempted to sort these questions out, she was in the stable block because… You like horses. She rejected the suggestion off hand, yes she had liked horses but no not anymore, besides you had to be fit to ride and this place was posh, they wouldn’t want her here.

Do you care? No of course not, it wasn’t as if it mattered, she was happy to drift, no one could hurt her anymore, it was so much nicer being safe. The soft whiffley knicker caught her attention, cutting through the haze, bringing back memories; her eyelids flickered as she focused sheaving and unsheaving bizarrely pale blue eyes.
The horse confronting her was certainly a fine one, maybe sixteen hands, with a long regal head and delicate fluted nostrils, something rose in Tab, something suppressed. The emotion was desire, no, maybe envy, the feeling startled her and her eyes left the animals regal form as hurried on. Where was she hurrying to, ah that part she hadn’t planned just away, away from where? That too she wasn’t so sure about, nervously she reached back for the emotion that so startled her, but she’d lost it. Never mind it was easier that way.

One large hand tangled itself in her thick, red hair the movement was unconscious, habitual, the other hand rested in her large, navy, shapeless fleece’s pocket, clenching and unclenching the key to her new home; or well the dormitory where her minimal possession had been dumped. Suddenly, or probably not that suddenly, the stables came to an end where a clearing in the barn made space for crossties and wash racks. Tabs stared blankly at it all, a spaceman exploring a foreign planet, unsure how to react or if the air was breathable, safe in her suit. The sound of a hissed out expletive caused her to start, staring blindly round, only to spot a skinny person, boy, girl, she wasn’t sure gathering up a pile of split equipment. It looked complicated, Tabs liked complicated, complicated was a glorious distraction as long as it wasn’t complicated illogical people, she didn’t like that. Dreamily she’d stepped forward to gaze at the dark haired figure, she suspected that figure would soon tell her where to go, but for now she could watch, she liked watching it was easy.

Occ: Excuse the naff post, its been about four years since i've played a girl, so i'm having new charactor teething difficulty's