Lithuania | Tolys Laurinaitis

[Poland waves at Dr. Brennan with a bright smile, sticking close to Liet.]

Hey, Dr. Brennan! How's it going?

From:

[She smiles. Tolys seems more shy than Feliks, but still just as genuine. She finds she rather likes him already.]

Nice to meet you, too.

[And then there's Feliks. She doesn't generally like teenagers, but she is quite fond of this one.]

I'm well. Excited for my lesson today. How are you?

[She gestures toward the horse.]

And who's this?

From:

[He would be a lot less shy normally, only calm, but - not these days.]

Her name is Danute. She will help us to cover the basics - depending on how much you like it, you can ask a closet for a horse for yourself, if you want.

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[She smiles. Her own horse would be pretty cool.]

So where do we start?

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First of all, I'd like you to come over here and approach her slowly, and please talk to her. Not too loud, but loud enough to hear it. Something friendly. Also, please offer her a carrot - Poland will give it to you.

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[Glances at Liet, a little sheepishly, and switches to Polish for a moment.]

Liet, babe, I didn't exactly tell her we weren't human...

[Aaaaand back to the shared language!]

Here you go!

[Liet's trying to get interacting with people again, so he's just here to be his lovely assistant/emotional support, right now. Have a carrot!]

From:

[Brennan tries not to roll her eyes at Tolys calling Feliks "Poland". It really is rude. She would not like being called "America" or "US".

But she shrugs it off and takes the carrot from Feliks. She turns and slowly makes her way toward the horse, carrot outstretched.]

H... hello, Dantue. I would like to ride you today, if that's okay. I, um, like your... mane. It's a nice color.

[She really does feel foolish speaking to a horse. The horse cannot understand her. But she realizes it's the tone of voice that is important. Though she has no idea what to say to a creature that can't understand you...]

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[The horse looks alert when she comes closer at first, watching her with a bit too much attention to believe that she is confortable, but calms down a bit when the human talks. She huffs expectantly and extends her head a bit, bowing down to inspect the carrot.]

You're doing well.

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[Watches, with an encouraging little smile]

From:

[She smiles to the boys nervously and extends the carrot for Danute.]

I hope this is to your approval, Danute. If it isn't, you should blame Feliks. He brought it.

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[The horse takes the carrot, and once it is eaten pushes against her hand slightly, demanding more or saying hello, it's hard to tell which one.]

From:

Aw, she likes you~

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[Brennan smiles and strokes the horse's nose, which she seems to like.]

Okay, what do I do now?

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She should accept you on her back now. You'll just sit there and get a feeling for it, and... Poland? Would you walk with her and correct the way she sits and moves?

[He gets a bit pink at this and slightly uncomfortable - it is a male saddle and she is wearing "male" clothing, and this is not back home, but it still seems indecent, and Poland most likely has a lot less qualms about that.]

From:

[In that he's so void of attraction to The Ladies that he hardly notices impropriety from them up to a certain level? Yeah, that makes it easier.]

Sure, no prob! [He squeezes Liet's hand a little, because Liet's just been so nervous lately and he seems worse all of a sudden and he wants to comfort him. Then he lets go and goes over to Bones, offering her a hand up into the saddle.]

From:

She nods to Tolys and mounts the horse, a la cowboy style, with no need for Feliks' help. She's seen it in movies, and if she's seen it she can probably do it at least fairly well.

She settles onto Donute's back, finding she's more comfortable than she thought she'd be. Smiling and unaware of any possible "impropriety" in the situation, she looks to Feliks, ready to be towed about.

And she has noticed that the boys are clearly in an intimate relationship. This is no issue for her, of course. In fact she finds their "chemistry" sweet, even though they're far too young to really know love. As far as she knows, anyway...]

From:

[Lithuania calls something to the horse in Lithuanian in a low, affectionate voice and pulls at the rope slightly, and the horse starts to walk slowly. While she hasn't been with Lithuania for years, he has spent more time with her than he would normally spend with a horse due to the lack of duties in this place.]

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[Poland walks along at the horse's side.]

Okay, so like, you're gonna wanna stay balanced--back straight, shoulders back, but not too stiff or tense or anything. Don't put your feet too far into the stirrups, just to about... there, and keep your balance more through your hips and thighs. You're doing good so far!

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[She follows Feliks' instructions as he gives them, mentally cataloging every word.]

Thanks, Feliks. This is easier than I thought it would be.

[After a few minutes of riding around.]

So how does steering the horse work?

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I would rather not let you ride alone on your first day; usually it takes a while until the body really gets used to the movements. Only then we will move on to the next step, so you will be able to fully concentrate on that.

What we can do today, maybe in a few rounds, if you feel safe enough- I can let the horse trot and maybe even gallop, depending on how you do with the trot.

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[Poland nods in agreement.]

It's like, super important to get really comfortable with what you're doing! Horses can kinda tell if you're not sure, so like, it's good not to rush.

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Oh, okay. Whatever you two think is best...

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