Chapter 5 of SVOS out now!!
Kryozgaming/SMii7Y + background ElasticDroid/Pezzy
“We gotta get you your own horse soon,” Smitty said only a couple of minutes into the ride. “Give Octavia here a break.”
“I’ve never ridden a horse neither,” John admitted, and Smitty whipped his head around to glare at him like he was crazy.
“Seriously? Jesus, what have you done,” Smitty said before looking back to the road.
“I told you, my life was boring till you got here,” John chuckled.
And hell, he didn’t have to tell Smitty twice. From what Smitty picked up, John had barely left his house in The Heartlands until he got dragged around by Newman doing God knows what. Who knew what he’d actually seen in life, in the world. Had he even been to Ambarino? Smitty wondered what John would think of Canada. He seemed to like flowers, maybe he’d enjoy that sunflower field just as Smitty had when he was younger.
Eventually they passed a clearing between trees fit for a horse to wander, and without warning Smitty turned into it sharply, forcing John to yelp and grab onto Smitty’s arms in a panic so that he wouldn’t fall off.
Smitty chuckled and began circling the clearing, deciding on whether or not it was safe enough for amateur horse-riding. There weren’t many obstacles, spare a fallen tree and its stump a little to the side, and the space was open enough to ride comfortably, so Smitty figured it would be fine. At least, he hoped so. He didn’t want to be losing John or Octavia anytime soon, least of all to something easily avoidable.
And it wasn’t that Smitty doubted John’s abilities, of course. He just very much didn’t want to risk either of them getting hurt.
“What are we doing?” John asked finally.
With a grunt Smitty hopped off Octavia and stepped back to watch them both, only to have to quickly gesture for John to stop as he moved to follow Smitty off the horse.
“Woah, no! You stay on!” Smitty said with a laugh. “Get on that saddle, cowboy.”
“What?” John looked at him with confusion. “Why?”
“Because,” Smitty said as he looked for a good place to stand. “You, my friend, are going to learn how to ride a horse.”
“Now, yes! Stop asking questions and get on that saddle already, you ass. We’re losing precious daylight here.”