Afternoon on the grounds [open]

[Amber Dawson]

Amber sat under a tall tree, her homework was nearly finished. She looked up from her work and watched her surroundings. She had also brought a book to read once she was finished. All of her classes were done for the day. Just as she put her pen and homework down her cell phone vibrated. She picked up her Blackberry and looked at the screen. 'Mom' it said "Hey mom. Whats up? Anyone around Amber could see her scowl. "What the.. What do you mean a horse got loose in Mia's paddock?? She's pregnant?! Which stallion is it mom? Hm? I'll castrate him myself" Amber listened to her mom. The area around Amber started to slightly heat up"I don't give a bloody rat's ass if it were the best Stallion you have residing at our stables. Who the hell was leading the bloody horse? Amber listened, brushing her hair from her face when a breeze blew it in her face. "Why in devils name was my 11 year old sister leading a fully grown 17.3 hand Thoroughbred Stallion?" Amber once again listened to her mother's response. Slowly she started to calm down. With a defeated sigh she asked"When is she due? and you need to get more help. Seriously... an 11 year old shouldn't be leading a stallion around the property, and It doesn't matter if Jasper has a giant teddy bear temperament.

Amber's head hit the back of the tree with a loud thunk. The hand not holding the phone started to blaze with fire, before going out quickly. "You waited for 7 months to tell me she was pregnant? Do you not trust me enough? Why wouldn't you tell me MY horse is pregnant as soon as you found out? Why didn't you tell me when I came and visited two months ago?! Screw it. I can't talk right now. I have to calm down before I scorch the ground I'm sitting on." Amber didn't wait for her mom to answer before pressing the end button a bit harder than necessary, before throwing her cell phone in her bag. Slowly she started to calm down. The air around her cooled back down to normal temperature. ''oh great. this is just great'' Amber said softly bowing her head, a few tears streaming from green eyes.

Picking up her pen, she started up finishing her homework. Amber finished it within 25 minutes. She got up from her seat, gathering up her stuff and ignoring the vibrating phone that has been vibrating for the last 15 minutes she left there to go to her favorite tree. She climbed to a tall branch and settled down. She got her book out of her book-bag and started to read from where she left off. Only to find herself getting distracted, thinking about Mia, and how her mother waited 7 months to tell her, HER horse, Mia was in foal to Jasper. Feeling totally betrayed, the hand holding her huge Stephen King book slipped to her side, dangling, the huge book slipped from her fingers, she stared off into the distance for a few minutes before noticing her book was on the ground below her. With a sigh she climbed down the tree, grabbing her book, she climbed back up the tree again, and got comfortable again, and this time getting absorbed into her book.

[Tyler Stewart]

Tyler strolled the grounds outside Peck Mansion. It was sunny out today. The sky was the brightest blue Ti had ever seen and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was almost as if some force out there was trying to say something cheesy like 'have a nice day' or 'just wanted to see you smile'. However, today would have been more accurately described if it was raining. No, wait, scratch that. How should the weather be the day Tyler's family comes in to town? A tornado would be nice. If a tornado hit down in Prevalence right now and picked up her families 'top-of-the-line' BMW off the road and tossed it into another state...that would be wonderful. Or maybe if something impossibly happened...like a tsunami. A tsunami right in the middle of Oklahoma would be wonderful as long as it washed her family far away from here.

Ti passed by a tree as she was walking. Or, at least, she would have passed the tree, if a book wouldn't have come falling from the sky. It wasn't that the book hit her or anything. It was simply who wrote the book: Stephen King. Tyler's mouth dropped open in disgust. Suddenly a girl climbed down the tree picked up the book and returned to her perch. Ti crossed her arms underneath.

"He's against soldiers!" She shouted up suddenly.

[Amber Dawson]

Amber looked down in shock, gasping startled when she heard someone shout up towards her. Seeing a girl under the tree, with her arms crossed. "Ehhh!. Sorry. That didn't hit you did it? I know he's against soldiers. I don't like him that much. I just like his books. His books are my type of genres. When my mom’s busy training racehorses, and my dad working in the ER, one has to deal with what’s in the house. I picked up one of his books when I was twelve, got hooked in it, straight away.'' Amber said shrugging. Sighing she put the book in her bag, checked her cell phone, which had been vibrating. "I'm just about ready to scorch my bloody blackberry. It's been vibrating for the last forty-five minutes. Dumb mom waited 7 bloody months to tell me my horse is pregnant. I got so pissed I hung up the fu- damn phone on her...'' she said picking up her cell phone. Once again the hand not holding the phone flared with fire. Tilting her head, debating on whether or not to fry her phone. Sighing in defeat, the fire faded away. She quickly picked it up “Please. Mom. Stop. Calling. Me. Please. I’ll call you tomorrow.’’ Rolling her eyes she said ”yea, yea.. Love you too. Bye.

”Eh. Sorry bout that. I sometimes tend to start blabbing about stuff, to people.’’ she said softly. Amber got up from where she was perched comfortably, climbed down from the tall branch. She leaned her back against the giant tree. Looking at the girl she gave a slight smile. “My name is Amber. Amber Dawson. I’m a junior here.” Hesitantly she held out her hand.

[Tyler Stewart]

Tyler made no move to this other girl. Instead her arms stayed crossed. She simply looked at her, and not any too kindly either. "Then why do you read him?" She answered, clearly not interested at all about the horses. "If you are against his cause, why support his bank book?"

And what kind of parents do you have that would buy such rubbish for their twelve year old to read? Though she kept that part to herself. "You know in one of his books he promotes underage sex? He describes it in as much detail as possible. It's disgusting. Men like that should go to jail if his mind is so preoccupied with the sexual lives of twelve year olds. God only knows how many he's raped in his day."

[Amber Dawson]

Amber shrugged her shoulders. Dropping her hand. The area slightly started to heating up around them. Glaring at the girl, she tilted her head, and was getting annoyed. "I'm allowed to read whatever I damn well please. And I don't care if you don't approve. Please. My cousins are bloody soldiers. All of them are in Iraq. They are there right now. And yes. Everyone's allowed his or her own opinion. But it's just that. A bloody opinion. I just grabbed a book out of my dorm. I only have this one Stephen King book. because it's my favorite one. Dreamcatcher. I don’t read his books that often. But if it makes you oh so happy” Amber said, she took out the book, lit it on fire with the blaze on her hand, and watched it as it burnt into ashes. She watched the ashes blow away in the breeze "Oh and underage sex. It happens whether or not he promotes it. It's not just him. Millions of underage teenager have sex every day. It happens, it's not good that it happens, but it does. But it's not the end of the fucking world. If they want to fuck up their life having sex at such a young age, then let them. I didn't come out here to have a bloody fight.''

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to get another book from my dorm.'' Amber walked off quickly not even waiting for an answer from the girl. Putting her bag in her dorm once she got there she looked through the books she had, which was quite a few, and pulled out J.R. Ward’s ‘Lover Mine’. Leaving her bag in her dorm she walked back out to the tree, Hair blowing out of her face, still annoyed she glared at people as they walked by. Getting back to the tree, seeing the girl still there, She ignored her, climbing back up the tree. “I hope Vampire smut doesn’t bother you” She called down from her perch, looking down at the girl before opening up to the page she was on in that book and started reading.

[Tyler Stewart]

Ti smiled to herself as she watched to hater's book burn to ashes. Then the girl...Amber...walked back to the mansion. Tyler brushed the ashes away from the base of the tree and sat down pulling out a very thick book (('The Bureau of Reclamation’s Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy: 1933-1942')) and began reading herself. When the other girl finally returned to her perch on the tree, Tyler set her book down.

"That was a highly impressive demonstration. The world needs more women like you that have the guts to speak out." She paused for a moment before adding. "My name's Tyler. Tyler Stewart."

[Amber Dawson]

Amber's eyes widened when she heard a name. She looked down ''Uh nice to meet you. I suppose it could have been under better circumstances.'' She said shrugging a shoulder. "I usually don't have outburst like that. Only when I get really annoyed do I... I'm normally a rather quite person.. I detest drama, which I cause earlier. Suppose I was more annoyed from earlier than I thought. Still don't know why she didn't tell me when I went to visit 2 months ago.'' Amber said scowling again, saying the last part mostly to herself. Taking out the bookmark from her book, she proceeded to read 2 chapters of her book.

One thing about herself that she liked. She could read a book.. and she could picture it like a movie projecting in her mind. She looked down at the girl, seeing she was reading a massive book."What are you reading? It looks like a massive book?" She asked Tyler, she looked into the distance before looking down at the girl again.

[Tyler Stewart]

"The Bureau of Reclamation’s Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy: 1933-1942." Tyler stated in a matter-of-fact way. "I'm refreshing my knowledge on our government system. It's helpful reading when we protest."

She flipped the page over and began reading on the next. To be honest, she'd already read this several times. In fact, she'd read it enough to practically have it memorized. And, at the moment, she was just skimming over facts she already knew while listening intently to what Amber had been reading. It was an interesting book, what little bit she had heard read aloud in Amber's mind.

However the 'horse drama' kept getting in the way, and it was blocking out a lot of the sentences. So, finally, Tyler put down her book in defeat. With a sigh she looked up and asked, "So you have horses? They're one of my favorite animals. Do you have any pictures of them with you?"

[Amber Dawson]

She looked down at Tyler when she asked if she had pictures of her horses. "Yes I do. Well.. I have a horse. My mom is a racehorse trainer. So the horses she trains live at the stables on our property. Comes with a training track for the racehorses, trails for hacks, she built a jumping ring for me. As when I have free time, I usually event. Horses, too are my favorite animals. I grew up around them. Do you have a horse?" Amber said. She climbed down from the tree, sitting down a few feet away from Tyler, not wanting to get in her personal space.

Looking through the pictures, she got a picture of her horse, A pretty bay Thoroughbred, with a tiny star and snip. Standing next to Mia was a dapple gray Welsh Cob. She handed the cell phone to the girl, "The bay is mine. Her name is Mia. the Welsh Cob, next to her is Tay. She's my sister's pony. She looked on the grounds, waving at a few friends that walked by, smiling again. Her temper back in check.

[Tyler Stewart]

Tyler looked at them, "They're pretty."

She thought back to her horses at home. She had a whole stable full for her own amusement. That was, until she became more compassionate then the rich snobs she called family. Then the horses were passed down to her brother and she was shipped off to be happy somewhere...which only reminded her that soon her family would be within a few blocks away instead of a few hundred miles.

"No, I've never had horses," She finally mused. "But I like them. They are very majestic animals. You're really lucky to have them."

Ti handed the girl back her phone. "So, your power is to set things on fire is it? Is that all you can do?"

[Amber Dawson]

"No. Actually besides my Pyrokenetic, I have telekinesis, and Accelerated Healing ability. I get the accelerated healing from my mom. The Telekinesis from my dad. The pyro in me... I heard it came from my grandmother. Apparently, I didn't learn until I was a sophomore here, that having abilities runs in my family. I'm starting to wonder what mysterious ability my sister will have. Everyone in my family is.'' Amber said chuckling, taking the cell phone when Tyler handed it back. Amber thought for a bit.

"How would you feel that when you have a couple of hours free, when your not protesting.. Would you like to come with me to visit them? There are quite a few retired, retrained Thoroughbred in need of work. Do you know how to ride? I often go home when I get a chance, I work a few of the racehorses plus Mia, and Jasper. I work with those two out in the jumping fields. Jasper is a huge 17.3 Steel Grey Thoroughbred stallion. I helped raised him. His dam died about a month after he was born, seven years ago. I stayed up all night giving him bottles of milk when he needed it. Sneaked out of the house if I were grounded. It had gotten to the point he had gotten very attached to me, and me vise versa. I usally go out once a week, on Sunday, to work with them. But I've been so busy the past 2 months that I haven't been able to go. I can ask my mom if possible for you to get on one of them. If you like, that is? I find being around horses, for me anyways, I'm completely at ease, relaxed, happy. Don't get me wrong. I'm am happy here, but when I'm with horses, It's gotten to the point when I know I want to train them.'' Amber said looking into the distance, waiting for Tyler to reply