open.

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Adrianna's eyes wandered up to the sky, slightly fascinated by the beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds that floated above her. At home she would never be able to see this. There was too much traffic and too many houses. The skies there were nearly black with smoke, and the clouds were so thick and harsh that they nearly rained acid. Her brow furrowed heavily as the image flooded in her head and she looked down, her fingers buried deep into her companion's thick mane. Aftershock, also lovingly called Sunny, snorted and dropped his head slightly, pulling on the reins and chewing on the bit, a sign Adrianna recognized immediately. She smiled softly despite the disgusting memories overflowed her mind and tilted her head to see the side of his right eye. He stopped and raised his head, turning to look at her as he walked.

'Come on, we've been walking the whole time.' His dark brown, almost black eyes seemed to speak to her, and it was as if Adrianna understood him. That was what you got when you spent so much time with something. You begin to come accustom to what they're thinking, even though, well, you clearly don't know what they actually are thinking. Adrianna shifted herself upon the geldings back and looked away, pretending to contemplate. As she did, she felt Sunny sigh underneath her and she laughed inwardly, but then suddenly he became tense underneath her and she knew he was waiting for her signal as her feet dangled on each side of him. Adrianna always usually rode bareback when she was on trail rides, just because it was more... natural to the horse, she figured. Plus she had a better sense of what Sunny was feeling.

The young girl gathered up her reins and brushed her heels on Sunny's belly, then clicked her tongue. Almost instantly, his ears flicked backward and forward then he pushed himself into a canter, easily hopping over fallen trees. His long legs carried them far in a short period of time, until they eventually came to a fork in the trail. Adrianna became unsure. She was new to the trails and she figured that they only had one way that took them back to the barn. Biting down onto her lip, she began to look around. Maybe someone would randomly show up.

Of course Adrianna had been stupid enough not to look for a sign. She did that usually, when she was on trail rides. Most of the time Adrianna didn't even watch where she was going, she would lay back on Sunny's hind end and just look up at the sky as he wandered off anywhere he wanted to, but that was back at home. Wrinkling her nose, she figured she'd soon have to start paying attention. One of these days she'd get lost so far into the woods that they would have to send a search party after her. She sighed softly and looked ahead again, silently contemplating which way she should go. Maybe if she let Sunny's natural horsey instincts take over, then they would find their way back to the Heartland stables, but she somehow doubted it. She was very new to the place; she'd even got lost going from one side of the barn to the other. Her eyes darted down to Sunny's head as his ears began to flick back and fourth and he turned his large head to look behind them. He snorted and stomped his foot and Adrianna felt him tense slightly underneath her, but it wasn't like when he'd been anticipating her next move.

She ran her hand up and down his neck, then looked over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of an incredibly tense horse, and a young male around her age leading him. Immediately Adrianna knew why Sunny was getting so tense. He'd never liked people, especially male. Ever since he was a little baby, he would shy away from them or, if he felt as though he was trapped, he would kick and flee, not really caring who was in his way or who could be potentially hurt. "Whoa," she mumbled as he sidestepped when the boy came closer. Her thighs squeezed his sides and she grabbed onto a handful of his mane, just in case he decides it was one of those times when he needed to run away. "Oh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking down and just noticing the sign. "I.. didn't.. see that," she stuttered, slightly embarrassed that the way back home had been right in front of her all along. Her lungs heaved another deep sigh and she looked away, furrowing her brows. Way to go.

Turning back, she noticed that the horse he was with was sweating and clearly petrified. He nearly made a move as his muscles were tense and his joints locked up, watching their every move. She'd seen those kind of horses before; Sunny had been one of them, but Adrianna was the only one he seemed to trust from the very beginning. Her blue-grey eyes trailed over the stallion's body and she smiled. "He's beautiful," she said, surprised by her easy-going attitude despite just being embarrassed.

She leaned forward and slid off Sunny's back, who had calmed down only a little bit after noticing that this boy was not a big threat. "It's hard on the bum if you don't know how to ride bareback properly," she grinned and tilted her head, eyes darting from the horse to the boy and back. "I'm guessing he's not a.. people horse?" She nodded her head toward the stud and raised an eyebrow. She walked away from Sunny, trusting him not to spook and take off. He's done that before, but eventually he does come back. Walking to the front of the horse she pushed her hand into her pocket and pulled out a carrot. "Hey gorgeous," she cooed, not taking a step toward him until she saw a sign of him calming down in her presence.