Let it Ride

@rxzberries​

*ﾟ:*:✼ ❀ — As per usual, Laney dragged Georgia out of her house to go dress shopping with her for the ball. She could trust her honest opinion, even if their styles were a bit different. The blonde had a general idea of what she wanted to wear, but it was still worth it to get a chance to catch up with Georgia. 

“So you’re not going to the ball?” Laney pulls a dress from the racks, takes a quick look over it, then puts it back. “It’s for a good cause, you know.”

“Not that I’m forcing you to, but it might also be a good opportunity to get out there, meet new people~ While Muku is good company, I think he would like to see his owner talk to people for once, hehe.”

But even if she hadn’t planned on going, Laney of course had to drag her out for dress shopping, anyway. Thankfully, none of the dresses would be for Georgia... though she had a feeling her friend would find some way to fit her into one of them.

“Nope. I’ve got too much work... life on the ranch is hard, especially when you don’t have a lot of helping hands to help lighten the load.” She crosses her arms, golden eyes traveling over racks of dresses with slight disinterest. They were cute and all, but not really her style. “I’ll send some donations in, though.”

Trent smiled encouragingly at her little sigh. “Eggs take time to master. You’d think they’d be simple, but there’s so many ways to cook them that it really can take a while. Don’t be too put out.”

At her question, he took another bite, thoughtful. “The rice is a bit overcooked, I suppose. You do want it to retain some substance when you’re eating it in a dish like this, instead of going to a mushier state. But again, the flavor is good - and that’s an impressive thing to say. Rice absorbs flavor, but doesn’t usually have much of its own. It’s far too easy to have bland, tasteless rice, and yours is actually quite tasty.”

🐎 - He wasn’t kidding. For something so seemingly simple, eggs sure were a lot of work. But a few not-so-great comments had been hardly enough to get Georgia down---if she hadn’t hit the mark this time, that just gave her all the more reason to knock it out of the park on her next try! The doctor’s reassuring words had done a great deal for her confidence, too.

Mist giggled in response to Georgia’s words, and Bea licking her fingers. She turned back towards the pony, patting her with one hand while feeding her with the other. When she was all done, she was stunned to hear what the adult woman said next.

“I can ride her?” Mist asked, her eyes wide and sparkling. “I’m not too big for her?” She sort of did a little excited squirm. “Do I need a saddle?”

🐎 - “Hey, hey, hold your horses! One question at a time, there’s no rush. But to answer you? Yes.” She chuckles, as she takes the girl’s hand, leading her to where the saddles were kept. Georgia had been having so much fun that she’d practically forgotten this kid was once an adult woman, transformed by her food... somehow. Definitely something she would have to look into later. For now---

Georgia grabs a youth saddle that looked to be a good fit for the girl, and heads back out to where Bea is. She lets go of Mist’s hand, leaving her not too far behind as she fits the saddle onto the pony. Once it was secure, she turns to Mist, offering a hand to help her up onto Bea’s back. 

Soseki was only teasing but found himself unable to stop. “No, no, it has to be a fish smoothie. I’ve heard they’re very delicious and nutritious. I saw one recipe that uses sardines, celery, an onion, jalapeno peppers, and a beet.”

Was he joking? Soseki would actually drink that, but mainly he wanted to see Gigi’s reaction to such a concoction. 

🐎 - As he launches into his ramble about fish smoothies in excruciating detail, she begins to envision it in her mind’s eye, even the taste and smell, and Georgia yells, covering her ears. Not today, disgusting thoughts. “La-la-la-laaaa! I can’t hear you! Nope. Noooope!”

She shakes her head, but doesn’t remove her hands from her ears. Still, they weren’t clamped on so firmly enough that she couldn’t hear. “Seriously, Sosi, what’s with your taste? What does Evie think about those weird food preferences of---” 

“Oh I’m always ready for sweets.” Jill beamed, hopping onto her feet. She brushed off the stray blades of grass that wanted to stick around. Speaking of-

“Ah, you’ve got a leaf stuck on your leg.” She pointed out the little stowaway and brushed it off for Georgia.

“Do you wanna go to a bakery? Or are you up for making stuff from scratch? There’s no going wrong either way!”

🐎 - She giggles, “Oh! Thank you kindly.”

Soseki grinned. “How about fish?” Soseki very well knew of her hatred against the scaly animals, which is exactly why he asked. “A mark of a true chef would be able to cook something delicious out of a dish you don’t like.” He didn’t really expect her to cook something with fish but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t tease her. “How about a fish smoothie?”

🐎 - Georgia had been pretty high on pride from her recent culinary feats, but the mention of fish is quick to bring her plummeting back down to earth. She makes a face, but finds that she can’t outright deny Soseki’s point. A good chef would be able to make a dish out of anything, even foods they didn’t like...

“Ugh. Why do you have to be right...?” She gives him a halfhearted glare, but gags at his next comment. “Wait, no. I take that back---a fish smoothie? That sounds SO wrong.”

Trent saw the moment she realized something was wrong, and admired that she went for it anyway. It said a lot about her character.

“First, the flavor is good,” always lead with a compliment, if you had one. “The eggs are just a bit undercooked, see the texture here? You almost had it, perfect eggs are an art. You’d want this texture here all over.”

🐎 - She nods, listening intently. The flavor is good, alright. That was the most important part of a dish, basically, so that was a good start. Georgia was still wary though, and felt as though there might be something off.

And it was. When he brings up the texture of the eggs, she sighs. Ahhh, she knew it had to be something!

Monopolizing transport for all the ranches on the island was difficult, but not impossible, and well worth the hard work. Vaughn had his share of shortcomings– far more than he would ever admit– but was an incontestably sharp businessman, tempered in the early years of his career when a bad deal had meant a missed meal, or worse, that still dogged his subconscious. If scheduled effectively, there were often weeks where he had more free time than he knew what to do with, and was forced to find ways to fill it, lest he be left alone with his thoughts and a bottle of something strong instead.

It was during one such week that he wandered into Barley’s Animal Shop for the first time, the front through which Sunset Ranch did most of their business. He knew that Georgia dealt with more than just farm animals, and several of the pets for sale raised an eyebrow, or two– but when he came upon a pen of what he was positive were wolf pups, the trader’s idle curiosity turned stone cold. 

Storming out of the building, he stalked across the property, face flushed from the biting winter wind and fury both by the time he found the owner of the establishment. Despite being a man of few words by nature, he had a mouthful of choice ones for her.

“The hell kinda business you running here, selling wild animals out of a damn pet shop?!” He demanded, jabbing an accusatory finger at the woman. Content as they appeared, clambering over each other and romping about their enclosure, wolves of any age had no business being kept by humans, least of all treated no differently than dogs.

Their partnership be damned. He wasn’t about to compromise his morals, no matter how much money he made through her ranch.

“I oughta turn your ass in to the PWRC.”

The previous night had been a pretty late one for her, as she spent most of it tending to one of the sick horses. But her morning---as it always was, working on a ranch---remained an early one, despite the subsequent lack of sleep. So she was tired, and her patience understandably short, when Vaughn suddenly rushes in and starts ranting at her.

Georgia looks at him with widened eyes, part of her surprised to see him so worked up, but when his words start to sink in, she understands. Understands... but starts to get annoyed herself. Did he just threaten her? This guy was pretty damn ballsy, to be stepping up to her like this. She’d almost be impressed, if she wasn’t so pissed.

How dare he imply that she was mistreating those wolves!?

“I run a perfectly legitimate business, thank you very much!” She fires back, “And for your information, I’m not yankin’ monsters out of the wild and sellin’ them to the highest damn bidder. Those pups are born from wolves I’ve tamed, and are always sent off to healthy, loving homes.”

Soseki accepted the glass and took a sip, letting himself relax. He had been running himself ragged lately. 

“Ohh, those sound really nutritious.” He followed her to the dining table. It was too bad he wasn’t a fan of smoothies. “Dr. Trent? I do, yeah.” Soseki had seen him a few times, though he couldn’t say he had a chance to really just chat with him. 

“I suppose it’d be a little hard to mess up making a smoothie.” He grinned at Georgia and couldn’t help but tease just a little. “You’re not adding any strange ingredients to them, right?”

🐎 - “W-what? No, of course not!” She protests, almost immediately. Was her cooking really so bad that people thought she’d do something so weird to her food? Yeesh. “I’ve been followin’ the recipes by the letter, and they’ve honestly been comin’ out pretty good.” 

“Noted!” Jill nodded. “Thank you, Georgia. I really appreciate it.”

Following Georgia’s gaze, Jill lets her head fall back so that it’s faced up towards the sky too. “Yeah, it’s getting a little late. I guess there’s a limit to how much I can loaf off during the day.” 

“Remind me about those lessons, okay? I’m liable to forget things.” She admitted sheepishly. “But I’m looking forward to them!”

🐎 - She grins, playfully nudging the other girl in the side. “Hey, anytime! I’m always happy to help my friends.”

With a laugh, Georgia pushes herself off the ground, dusting off her pants once she’s back on her feet. She gathers up the flower crowns she made, figuring she could give them out to people, or maybe even drop some off for the kids at the orphanage, before turning to Jill with a smile.

Trent smiled at her enthusiasm, eager to see what she’d prepared. “Alright…”

He took his serving to examine, arching a brow when he prodded it with his fork. Still, he dutifully tried it with a quiet hum.

Oh. That was… interesting, texturally. He finished his bite and glanced at her. “How much feedback do you want?”

🐎 - Georgia watches eagerly as he tries her dish, looking out for any significant reactions. A smile? A look of distaste? She searched for any sign that could reveal his opinion of the dish, but unfortunately, he expression remained pretty level. Just what was he thinking...

At his question, she blinks. “Uhhh... all of it?” 

Mist laughed along with Georgia, finding her antics rather amusing. “Awright, I’ll keep my hands flat.” With that, she turned to the horse. True to her word, she kept her fingers straight without any trouble.

“Hehe… It tickles a bit~” she said, looking over at Georgia and smiling, before turning back to the pony. “…Bea is a very polite lady. You musta raised her good and made her happy.”

🐎 - “Aw, shucks, I’ve certainly done my best!” She chuckles, not expecting to feel so flattered over a kid’s comment. Georgia runs a hand through her hair, shoulder lifting in a casual shrug. “Bea should take most of the credit, though. She’s just that stellar of a gal.”

Another day, another potion. Ulyssa had been spending her time as usual creating new potions that could be used for various purposes. When in town the other day she had heard people speaking about a ‘Fall Tournament’ that had just passed. Assuming it was about battling, Ulyssa was inspired to create something that would ultimately make the user as buff as possible. A potion that created immense strength would surely sell for a high price, and a high price meant more ingredients for her alchemy.

She had been adding dashes of everything that she could find in her work shop, from minerals, to rocks, and even a few cooking herbs to up the flavour (not that she cared what it tasted like) of the potion. The cauldron bubbled, changing colours from a brown mush to what seemed to be a pale purple. Fantastic! Her favourite colour almost always meant that the potion was going to be a success! At least, that’s what she had convinced herself to believe.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, Ulyssa barely noticed when there was a slight creek of the front door. Believing it was just the wind, she paid no notice and continued on with her creation. However, when a breeze seemed to make its way in, her ruby eyes shot up, meeting gaze with a human that she had never seen before. Taken aback from the suddenness of events, the purple haired girl stumbled back off her stool, barely managing to catch herself before she landed on her butt.

“Who do you think you are walking into MY house!” she exclaimed, getting up from the ground and brushing her clothes off. She wandered over towards the door. “Don’t you know how to knock? I’m in the middle of a very important alchemical experiment! You could have been blown to smithereens!”

Ulyssa sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Plus, what are you doing so far up in the mountains? You’d have to get through the forest to get here in the first place!”

🐎 - Lately, Georgia hadn’t been feeling quite like herself. After facing the devastating loss of one of her horses, she had completely thrown herself into her work, barely leaving time for anything else. As a result, she had fallen a bit out of touch with her friends and happenings on the island, and after a fair bit of time wallowing in her own sorrow, the rancher figured it was high time for a change of pace.

So she takes a hike on the mountain, hoping to clear her mind and gain some new perspective. Hikes, camping... any sort of outdoor activity, really--- they brought her comfort, and tended to ground her when her mind felt too far away.

She breathes in the mountain air, sighing contently as she stares down at the gorgeous view of Arcadia below. For many years, this place had been her home, and she was sad that she had been feeling so... disconnected from it lately.

With a sad smile, the rancher continues on her way, only to stop when she comes across a curious little cottage. Had... this always been here? Did someone live here? Unable to hold back her curiosity, she walks closer to it, looking through the window to see nothing but darkness beyond.

Georgia clicks her tongue at that, deciding to try the door next. When she knocks, she doesn’t get an answer, so she grabs the doorknob and gives a gentle push---

Only to gasp when the door actually opens.

She stops for a moment, wondering if she should really be going in, but quickly reasons that if the house was unlocked, then no one actually lived in it... right? Right. Even if this place was in the middle of nowhere, there were still monsters from the nearby forest that liked to roam the mountains. No one would be that careless.

Pushing the door open further, Georgia takes a tentative step inside, wrinkling her nose at the scent of herbs that suddenly blasts her in the face. Before she could even wonder why, a loud thumping noise cuts through the silence, followed by someone suddenly jumping up and yelling at her. Panicked, Georgia raises her hands defensively as she tries to make sense of the girl’s rambling.