Carriage tour

[Miach]

Sacramento truly was a city full of life, and surprises. Miach had lived here for a couple of years now, and had never realized there was a horse expo until a flyer blew into his face during a walk.

Puzzled by the flyer, and the gentle nudge of Fate, the Acanthus had decided to attend the night event: a tour of Sacramento by carriage.

Walking between the horses, the carriages, and the other participants, the blonde doctor hummed the smell, patted the horses, and otherwise hanged around for now. It promised to be an interesting and enjoyable evening, to say the least...

[Alessandra]

It was one of those nights for her, out and about, learning the layout of the city. But tonight she took a different route, and found herself at the expo center. Not having much planned, she decides to pop in, never know, she might find someone interesting, or not. Having horses in her mortal life, she still had a fondness for them.

Tonight she wore a pair of jeans with an over-sized concert t-shirt, which feel off her shoulder, exposing even more of her body art. Her hair had a dark blue color to it, depending on how the light shone on it. Steel toed boots completed her look, cause you never know if you had kick someones ass or not.

Walking near the horses, and pausing to admire the beasts, she spots the two men.

[InvertedMonkey]

Her reputation in the equine industry had taken a few dings after that incident in the spring. Nobody really talked about what happened at that ranch, but everybody got the sense that it was ugly, and if you gossiped enough, Ramona's name came up as 'involved.' Most subcultures are a little superstitious, from Hollywood to blacksmiths to horse folk, and it's easy for a bad incident to taint by association. Get labeled a troublemaker or bad luck or incompetent.

Which is the main reason why Ramona is here; damage control. Since she broke off from her old blacksmithing master, Rick, and went independent, farrier work has become a much smaller portion of her business. It's just too much fun making weapons, and armor, and tools, and curios, and statues, and jewelry. But hand-made horseshoes are where she got her start, and she loves horses. Being outcast from the equine industry is not an ideal situation for her. So she's kept on with the work now and then, visiting ranches, working with horses and horse owners, trying to make a good impression, compensate for any damage she did in April.

She could probably have set up a stall somewhere, been one of the Expo's exhibitors, show off her work with shoes and tools and the other bits and bobs a blacksmith can contribute to the horse trade. But it made a little bit larger impression to come to the Expo and work, rather than come and show off. She's practically volunteering her time here, so long as materials are provided. Mostly she does handy(wo)man work, helps out the grooms, does some lift-and carry and some go-fer. There's some shoe work too though, and on-the-spot carriage maintenance and repair.

On the whole it's been a pretty solid day's work, and now it's a nice cool evening. Refreshing. Without light to see by, most of the big, active horse events have shut down. No races or obstacle courses in the dark. Now it's mostly the pleasure rides, the carriage tours, things like that. It feels good, having worked well today, some of it physical and some of it challenging, and now having the chance to slow down and take a breath. It'll be nice, when she gets home, to kick off these work boots. They've gotten pretty dusty, and while she's careful to wipe off any muck that might get on them, sometimes you miss things. Her jeans are pretty dusty too, and her shirt has a few spots on it. She's got a bit of the rancher smell; sweat and horses. There's a reason people use to wash up from the road before having civilized conversation.

She's standing next to a pair of Clyesdales, unhitched for a breather themselves after a long day and a few carriage pulls, tied up near where the rides are going in and out. She's helping out a groom, brushing down one of the big animals, especially where the tack sits across their back and shoulders. Nobody's being really demanding of her time now, and this is nice to do, relaxing. These big girls are pretty friendly, and pretty tolerant. There's a small, content smile on her lips as she makes long strokes with the brush, looking up to people-watch now and then. People are coming and going, some of them she knows, some of them she's worked for. Not everyone though. There's a ton of people just visiting the expo. Couple of dudes over there. Her smile twitches up half a notch when she sees the woman with the tattoos. One of the unexpected perks of going to expos and fairs and the like is the chance seeing cool ink. Just a bonus when it's on a sultry hottie like that.

[Miach]

Hearing a familiar voice hail him from the rear, Miach stopped. Damn... not a step without meeting "one of us"... And to say there were people around here who stood out, and probably had myriads of interesting - and refreshing - stories to tell. The sultry lady with the tattoos, or the muscular woman caring for the animals for instance, looked like people who "lived". People with a passion, a spark of life in them that made them stood out from the dullness most Sleepers were content of.

On the other hand, if Fate had nudged him toward this place and time, perhaps he was meant to meet Ermac.

Stopping his course, the Acanthus stopped, and turned, looking as the Mighty geek strode toward him. "Hey, fancy meeting you ! How are you ?" he inquired politely, but guardedly. Too many ears around here to speak safely.

[Alessandra]

Seeing the smile from the muscular woman brushing the Clydesdales, Ale moves closer.

“Beautiful animals.” Says the Italian with a smile of her own. “Are any yours?” inquires the Savage.

She sees the guy with the friendly smile looking over and she shots him a smile, along with his friend. Looks like tonight is going to get interesting, she muses.

[InvertedMonkey]

The question makes her smile, half-chuckle. "No, I'm not an owner," She'd need a couple more zeroes added to the end of her income to make something like that happen. Oh if wishing made it so. The ears of the draft horses flick and rotate, like little radar dishes, as they monitor the approach of first one stranger, and then two more. They're pretty used to humans mucking about though, even strange ones, and in a pretty restful mood in any case.

"I'm just helping out some friends of mine," she continues, noticing the approach of the two guys too, and nods to them, shifting her stance slightly to imply an open invitation to the conversation. Body language is important. "This is Holly, and that's Molly," she introduces the Clydesdales. Most people are here for the horses. Most visitors, anyway. But not all of them, "I'm Ramona."

[Miach]

Shrugging at the Obrimos's explanation, Miach nonetheless gladly complied to his idea of 'fun'. Meeting people who lived was meaningful.

If body language could be any indications, the women wouldn't mind them barging in in their talk, so it looked good. Catching only the end of the opening conversation between the two of them, Miach quickly took it in stride. "Hi Holly. Hi Molly. I'm Miach !" he said pleasantly, as he let his hand rest softly on their backs.

His head nodded toward Ramona, clearly implying he had heard her name, and toward the other lady with a more puzzled look. "Nice meeting you. I must say that being near those noble, faithful beasts is very soothing." and it was. They were pure, and honest. Proud and wild perhaps, but they were not malign.