From The Dust Returned a Titan--OPEN

[emiliaalexander]

^{This is the end of everything we know, my darling,
This is simply the end
Such safety finds us
Trembling lambs environed by wolves}

Emilia Alexander would have been the first to admit that Diablo d'Oro was indeed maturing into a stunning creature. He was slowly, slo-o-o-owly growing out of his crazies, but the black colt's temper was more vile than ever. Nonetheless, his success on the track was exactly what Emilia had hoped it would be. He had come in second at the Pimlico, and as thrilled as she had been about that, his deciding to go after Ashton Sharpe's Tree Hugger had undoubtedly cost him the race. Diablo was a titan; a warrior, and that was exactly what was both his curse and blessing. It was times like this that Emilia wished she had a retired Thoroughbred who she could run alongside Dee and try to stop that habit of turning kamikaze out on the track.

Figuring if it was a filly, it wouldn't be that bad, and since so far, the only retired Thoroughbred she had was her stallion, Poltergeist, Piccatune was the only option. The idea of running both Geist and Dee side by side was very much null and void, because the moment they got out there it would be a nightmare. For one, Poltergeist hadn't been run in almost three years and was no longer trained to be a racehorse. The moment he got out there she had a feeling he would just throw a complete and utter fit the likes of which probably not many people had ever seen. But more importantly, the two were very similar, and that was a very bad combination. So instead, Emilia hired a young bug jockey to ride Piccatune, the chestnut filly who was closer to Dee's age. Not to mention she was relatively wise beyond her years, and so was the jockey, for that matter, known as Abigail Cluny.

"You're sure you've got him?" Abbie had asked her as the two headed out on the track. This time around, Dee had been put in a hood. Emilia figured the less he saw of the horse next to him, the better, and this was just a test run. She nodded quickly, reaching up to fasten the buckle of her helmet.

"Yeah, it's fine. Trust me, you're better off. I'm one of the few people he gets along with." Emilia responded, drawing a breath as they started toward the gate. Emilia had hired a gate crew of two people; both to man the gate and also to be there in case something went wrong. Which, unfortunately, Emilia was half expecting. She had never paired Dee up with another horse like this. It wasn't a match race. Abbie's instructions were to run Piccatune in back of Dee, then to pull up next to him for a few meters. They were doing everything from making a horse passing Dee to stalking him him and even running the horse right long side him so they could get him used to it and not let him the he could take a chunk out of his competition's face.

Emilia wasn't a jockey, but she had worked her horses many times. That and she knew Diablo and how he would react. With Anthony Lovasz not available that day, Emilia also wanted this chance to be more hands on with the colt, not to mention the fact that she didn't trust him with anyone else on his back. In the meantime, she was killing two birds with one stone, teaching Piccatune, who tended to find a place in the pack and stay there rather than listen to her jockey try to steer her through the pack and find a leg type that suited her. This was, as long as Dee didn't try to kill Pica, it would be beneficial to both of her horses.

They were loaded in the gate, planning on running the first four furlongs. Piccatune was becoming quite the long distance horse and Emilia already knew Dee was like a freight train. The minute they were loaded, Emilia could feel every muscle in Dee's body bunching; withers and flanks shuddering as well. He tossed his head, snorting and rumbling in the gate, his vocalisations reverberating off the sides of the metal chute. Ears glued to his jet black skull, he reminded Emilia of a caged predator. Or Leviathan, whichever seemed to suit the devil colt the best.

"Is he always like this in the gate?" Emilia asked, looking at one of the crew members, who chuckled.

"You mean sound like a raging bull? Yeah, pretty much. Mommy's little monster." The guy remarked.

"Alright, Abbie, you know what you're doing. Just flank him, pass him, stalk him, do whatever you can. This isn't a race, I don't want to blow either of them out. And for the most part, just make sure you keep Pica out of the way if he decides to react violently, I'll keep my focus on him and try to stay out your way. Only four furlongs, don't push her." Emilia instructed. Abbie nodded, looking in her direction before pulling her goggles down on her face. Emilia drew a breath, winding her fingers through Dee's black mane. She looked to the gate crew and have a nod.

The gates blew open. Dee broke like bullet, but just as Emilia had him straightened out, Dee veered and bumped into Piccatune, who stumbled and almost unseated Abbie. Pica quickly caught herself and Abbie regained her seat. Emilia straightened him out quickly, glancing under her arm at Abbie behind her to make sure the girl was okay. Thankfully she seemed to be, and Pica surged forward. The two thundered down the track and Emilia could hear the hoof beats behind her, knowing that Pica was stalking Dee just as she had asked. Dee's ears buried against his skull, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a horse's head appear next to her. She switched the whip over to her other hand quickly, knowing immediately what Dee was going to do, and the minute the black colt snaked his head and rolled a blue eye in Pica's direction, mouth agape, Emilia, with her whip to the inside of the track, swung the end upward so it was aligned close to Dee's head, growling "Oi!" at him the minute it happened, because it felt like Dee was trying to shift to a higher gear while simultaneously turning the nasty face onto Pica. The minute the end of the whip came into his view, however, Dee straightened out. He didn't really have anywhere else to go, and he was too smart to go over the rail. Emilia knew this, which was one of the reasons she kept Dee hugging the rail, and that way it was Pica who had somewhere to go if she ended having to run for her life.

When Pica pulled toward the front, Dee tried to grab the bit in his teeth and go. She was in his line of sight now, and when Emilia realized that trying to hold him back just wasn't working, she had an inkling of a moment where she started to fear for her life. Dee could be easily baited with a drive like that, and she didn't want that to happen. Pressing her hands to Diablo's withers, she pulled up, standing slightly in the stirrups. After a few seconds of still fighting her, Dee throttled back, much to Emilia's relief. After a few minutes of doing the same thing for four furlongs, Dee felt mentally burnt out, but he didn't seem bothered by Piccatune passing or running alongside him anymore. Maybe he was just fried for now, but with a horse like that it seemed like that was the best way to go about it. Leave him in a state where he just could care less.

"That's my boy," While pulling him up, Emilia slapped his neck affectionately in praise, bringing him to a canter and a trot then brought him onto the far end of the rail, seeing as other people were starting to come out and work their horses. "Love her up and walk her out, Abbie, she did brilliantly." She instructed the jockey, who slowed Pica as well. Once Dee came out of his shock that he actually hadn't been able to have his way, he seemed back to normal, a light sweat breaking out along his neck and chest. Wanting to avoid him getting chilled in the cold, Emilia kept walking him, feeling for any unsoundness or injuries. She dismounted him, walking him along the entrance onto the track to stay out of the way, and to at least keep her colt going, unfastening the helmet before kneeling to run a hand along each leg. He looked good and felt good, which made Emilia consider this a successful training session.

^{Well, it is far too late to change our ways,
Now that the curtain has been raised
Events we've witnessed can never be unseen
We walk alone
To atone
Into the unknown}

[Daniel Christian Jenner]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #413c36 solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] Chances are Ill never be the same tagged tags words words muse muse notes notes credits template by irish! Lately, Danny could not have been more pleased with how MOST of his horses were going. Most of them were either in the money or close to it, which meant right now he was actually making a profit, rather than the normal financial situation of all race trainers where more money is lost than won. He was especially pleased with Boy's performances as of late. He'd had five starts and had been in the money in three of them, most recently winning his last start. He wasn't quite sure why he hadn't thought to equip the horse with a hood before now, but it seemed to have done the trick, for now. He figured as long as Anthony could get him out of the gate first and keep him in front, he'd do just fine. On the other side, though, was Tuff. The three year old had been nothing but disappointing. He'd been in the money only a couple times in the two years that he had been racing and Danny was beginning to think that the colt would be better off gelded and re-trained for something else. He couldn't quite tell if he just lacked the desire or if he just wasn't fast enough, but whatever it was, if something didn't change soon, he'd have to find a new career for him. It was a bit disappointing, really. He liked Tuff. he had a good racehorse-esque attitude, but he was beginning to realize that attitude didn't exactly translate into good performance. There was always the option of pawning him off on Beth or Jo to retrain then sell. It wasn't as if he really could ask for much for him without any re-training, so if one of the two of them wanted him, they were more than welcome to have him. He'd already pawned Mac off on Beth who had then pawned him off on Nate, who seemed to be doing quite well with the exuberant horse. If he did it that way, he would at least know that the horse was in good hands. Granted, if none of them wanted him, he'd just put him up for sale until someone came along to take him. Today he was hoping to see if Tuff would show any improvement after having a week completely off from work. He didn't have his hopes up... he never did... but it would have been nice to see just a fraction of a second shaved off of his time. Normally Anthony rode Tuff, but Danny wanted to see if a rider change would do the trick, and had Jo astride him today. She was his favorite, after all, and could practically do no wrong in Danny's eyes. He had very little instruction for Jo, except to do whatever she could to get him to the peak of his speed. He didn't care how long it took, just so long as she got there. He didn't tell her that he didn't want the speed to be artificially induced by use of the whip, because he was well aware that she already knew that. He'd been working with Jo long enough that he rarely actually had to tell her anything, which was good, considering if he were ever... indisposed like he'd been a few weeks ago... he didn't need to worry that his horses would miss out on training. He trusted her, so much so that if she were ever unable to continue riding, he had more than half a mind to ask her to be his training partner. Just as they arrived at the track, he noticed Emilia with her black colt and another horse which he believed to also be hers headed for the gate. It appeared that she was intending to remedy Dee's attacks on his competitors. Beth set off onto the track to warmup, and for the moment, Danny let his attention drift off to Emilia and Dee. The stud's gate manners certainly could use some work, but Danny wasn't one to talk, considering it took him months to even get Boy into the gate. He could swear that Boy was the bane of his existence. Almost every other one of his horses were practically perfect, but not Boy. Boy seemed determined to ruin Danny's reputation. Danny watched Emilia work for a while before returning his focus to Jo and Tuff as she started letting him out. As he watched the clock and furlong after furlong flashed by, Danny was less and less pleased. After a while, Jo started gearing him back down again, just as Emilia and Dee came off the track, and Danny knew that was it. There was absolutely no improvement on his time. "Shit." he muttered, glaring at the stop watch. Now he would really have to start considering finding a new career for the horse. With a sigh, he turned to walk away, before he saw Emilia. Danny wasn't sure why, but he liked Emilia enough that he often felt obligated to at least say something to her when he saw her... which was saying a lot, since Danny didn't like many people that much. "He looked..." Danny started, though had to consider how to finish that sentence, since "good" wasn't exactly the word he would use, "better." He finished it, unaware that to most people that statement might come off as offensive, but if Danny gave someone the time of day it was should usually be taken as a compliment, especially other racehorse trainers. There were enough trainers out there who did things that were just downright stupid, that Danny tended to not like many of them... so if you were lucky enough to be one of the few that he did like, it was definitely a good thing.

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[emiliaalexander]

^{Ancient name whispered in the darkness
Lost words spoke from chattering teeth}

Being focused on her two out on the track, Emilia had been vaguely aware of what the other riders were doing except to just keep her Leviathan of a horse out of the way. Walking Dee to make sure he was still sound, which he seemed to be. Glancing over, she watched as one of the horses finished a workout, recognizing him as one of the ones in Danny Jenner's shed row. She could only guess Danny was out there as well, and her assumption was confirmed when she heard his voice near them by the rail. Dee heard him as well, and when Emilia turned, trying to keep Dee away from the rail so he didn't act up, Dee craned his head around, blue eye rolling in Danny's direction, and resorted to pinning his ears, and with facial features wrinkled, he bared his teeth in his best example of an equine version of a snarl that he could muster.

"Yeah, you're terrifying, we get it," Emilia muttered to Dee, swatting at the black colt's muzzle before looking back at Danny with a brief roll of her dark eyes in regards to her colt, returning to acknowledge what he said. She knew Danny just well enough to know that it was indeed no secret what he thought of something. Emilia respected his sometimes almost brutal honesty. Hell, when it came to racehorses, it a better than hearing you've got a winner when you had a horse that had no business being on the track, simply because people were trying to humor you. Hearing his words, she had to take it as a compliment and did exactly that. It was something if the other trainer; who Emilia knew didn't like her horse in the slightest, said he was looking better, then that definitely told her something.

"Hey. Thanks, that's actually a really good thing to hear," She responded with a light, brief grin, exhaling slowly. "Still hasn't broken his maiden, but hopefully soon."

This was one of the few times she had actually gotten to talk with Danny. It didn't hurt socializing, and with Beth being a friend of hers, she hoped to get to know Danny a bit better. They were civil, if not acquaintances, which wasn't a bad thing at all. Emilia a very focused on her own horses and their success and knew what they were capable of, confident in her own abilities as a trainer and with Darius' help and guidance, but it didn't hurt to be in Danny Jenner's good graces. "How've you been? I saw Tuff out there but didn't get a chance to watch him work." Once again, it was no secret what Danny thought of something even if he didn't speak about it. She knew that look, had seen it on trainers and even on Darius himself when one of his horses had performed poorly, or put in a workout that a less than ideal. "How're things going with him?"

Her question was nothing more than conversation, showing interest in what was going on with another person. It was just in Emilia's nature, and she and Danny seemed to get on pretty well in the sense that their personalities didn't clash. Emilia found him pretty easy to get along with, at least from when she had interacted with him. There was a mutual respect, and Emilia definitely respected what he had accomplished as a trainer as she did Darius, though her relationship with Darius was far more than just business. Who knew, maybe a friendship could eventually build from this. It couldn't hurt if the four of them got along well.

^{Bloody runes forbode the arrival
Of the beast that no longer sleeps}

[Daniel Christian Jenner]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #413c36 solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] Chances are Ill never be the same tagged tags words words muse muse notes notes credits template by irish! Danny's horses were lucky, really, especially Tuff, that he'd been in a particularly good mood as of late, due to his recent engagement and even more recent marriage before a judge to Beth. Even as poorly as his horses had done in the recent meets, he found himself unable to stay angry for long. Sure, they hadn't had a real wedding, and they had hardly publicized it (though he was fairly sure everyone knew by now), but he couldn't help but smile when he thought about it, and he thought about it basically all the time. "Elisabeth Jenner" was basically the best sound in the world if you asked him. That was probably most of the reason why Tuff was still on the track and hadn't already been sent off to a new career. Dee's antics produced no reaction from Danny. "He will. In due time." he said, watching the horse with mild interest. Dee had talent, he just didn't know how to use it. Danny was well aware that most dominate horses didn't like him because their personalities were all to alike. He had a few of his own that he didn't really get along with, but they'd long since learned that even if they didn't like him, they had damn well better obey him. Danny couldn't be intimidated or pushed around by anyone or anything. It wasn't just stubbornness, it was training. He'd been an officer in the army, and as such, he couldn't let anyone stand up to him. He'd had that trained into him so aggressively that it translated over to his civilian life. No one stood up to Danny, ever... except maybe Beth and occasionally Avery when she was feeling bold. Other than that, everyone just sort of stayed out of Danny's way and did as he said. "Hardly going at all." he answered her inquiry into how the colt had been doing, "Unless he shows some drastic improvement in the next week he's heading for a new career." Danny was not one to waste time. If a horse stopped producing good racing results, they were sent off to somewhere that they might be more successful. He was not exactly a horse person. He didn't ride. He didn't really even particularly like horses. He wasn't someone who just wanted to spend all of his time with horses because he just loved them so much. He trained horses because he was good at it and it paid the bills. If he had something better to do with his time that would still provide income, then he would certainly do that instead, but as it was, he was sticking to race training. He'd made a name for himself in it and was relatively successful, thanks in part to his lack of attachment to his horses. To him, they were an investment, and when you had a bad investment you got rid of it. He took care of the business part, and let Avery do the loving on the horses. So far, it had worked out well.

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[emiliaalexander]

Emilia could feel Dee's neck flex under her hand as he tossed his head, her eyes still on Danny as he spoke in regards to Tuff's progress; or lack thereof. She could understand that frustration of wondering just where your horse's progress was going and no matter what was attempted it just wasn't benefitting at all. For whatever reason, the horse just didn't want to try, and Emilia had gathered Danny's feeling for horses. In this business, you didn't always get involved in racing because you loved horses. It was a business, and although it was known just how well cared for Danny Jenner's horses were, Emilia couldn't imagine he'd be jumping on a horse bareback for a ride anytime soon. There was nothing wrong with that. There was a lot of money invested in racing and these animals were athletes, not pets. Especially if training racehorses was someone's livelihood, a horse that didn't run could mean ultimate failure and debt.

"I'm sorry to hear that, truly," Emilia said, brows furrowing. "I know how frustrating that can be. I'm considering that option with Elysium if she doesn't at least step it up a bit, so I can sympathize."

She looked over her shoulder at Piccatune still being cooled down on the track and her bay filly soon being led out of the barn to be worked. She hadn't really thought about it until speaking with Danny but Emilia was coming to realize that the possibility of retiring the two year old filly and finding her another career. Looking back at Danny, she tried to think of another subject, perhaps one of a lighter nature.

"I talked to Beth a bit ago, she told me of me of your recent nuptials. Congratulations." She said with a light smile, genuinely thrilled for both Danny and Beth. She could see in Beth's face that she was happy every time she saw her.