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Description

Note: these are all posts that were originally created and uploaded for instagram in 2020/2021 and have been sitting waiting to be uploaded on here for months lmao. May not necessarily be representative of my current content and they take place before any other story posts in other galleries.

The floodlights were dismantled, the stands ready to be taken down, and the sequin skies above fluttered with stars brighter than Lance had seen before. GLD 8 was over, the awards ceremony done and gone, and a soft silence had fallen over the Temple of Luxor as people prepared to leave in the next few days. Some would go straight to the location of the final venue, others popping home for a breath of familiar air, both strained by all the travelling the tour required of them.

The horses seemed to have handled it well, something that couldn’t be said the same for the people. He’d ran into Jason Astor the other day, distempered and frantic. Lance had little time for him, the arrogant prick, but he couldn’t imagine being away from your child for that long.

Well. Maybe he could, but certainly not in the way Jase did, because Jase actually knew his fucking child. Lance didn’t want to think about that now, worried the mood he was in would tip from pensive to downright depressed, so that thought was filed away for later. He was pretty sure that the filing cabinet of his mind would be bursting by now, almost three decades of “that’s a future problem” or “I’ll deal with it soon” shoved into it and forgotten about, locked tight with the key around his throat.

Breathing in in the warm night air, hand against his neck as if he could feel the metaphorical skeleton key sitting there placidly, he almost forgot about the stallion by his side.

Hyde stood with his ears perked, expression confused and almost wary. Lance didn’t blame him, it wasn’t like he’d given him much reason to like him, nor was it in character for them to embark on midnight rambles together like Lance didn’t threaten to sell him to Tesco not three weeks ago.

“Nice night, huh?” Lance mused, as if Hyde could understand a word he said. The stallion snorted in response, warily eying one of the construction workers in a yellow vest, neon even in the night.

The man gave the pair a perplexed up-and-down, eyebrows knitted. “Sorry Sir, but the arena is closed right now since it’s being taken down tomorrow. Maybe you could-“ the man started with a timid smile, only to be cut off by a familiar alto voice.

“Let him in, Tariq. I think he’s having one of those moments. Easier for us all if we let him get on with it.”

Lance turned, already grinning, to face one rather tired-looking Cher Casiraghi. Even as the clock neared midnight and the day had taken its toll, she looked as elegant as ever, entirely at home surrounded by the history of Luxor. He’d always loved that about Cher - any room she enters falls silent, and every word she says leaves people hanging onto its last thread. The two had formed a curious friendship over the course of GLD, the foundation being their mutual love of learning - Cher and her history, Lance and his books. They’d taken to sending the other postcards, notes, Polaroids, little things to stay in touch and to pacify the others' curiosity.

Cher gave him a small smile, looking both him and Hyde up and down.

“You two did well today. Better than the last venues.”

“That’s not hard.” Lance snorted, inadvertently flexing his fingers, mostly mended by now but still a little sore at times. “The Tolstoy cover photo you sent, was that actually a first edition?”

“It was. Rare find.” She mused, signalling to the worker with a slight wave of her hand. He took notice and left, and Lance was forever glad he somehow ended up with friends in very, very high places.

“I’m not going to regret letting you into the arena, am I? I would rather not get sued.”

“No, not at all. As you said before, just having a moment.” Lance said, the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.

“What sort of moment?”

“... An irenicon, I’d say.”

“That’s rather religious, especially for you. I’ll leave you to it. If I don’t see you before the finals, good luck.”

He gave her a nod that she returned, and she waltzed off to be powerful and enigmatic somewhere else.

Holding Hyde’s leather reins, he led the black stallion into the arena. His ears perked in familiarity, eyes darting around the empty space that had been bustling with jumps and people a few hours earlier. The emptiness was almost eerie, and the dark didn’t help. On horseback, the statues and pillars were impressive. On foot, they were colossal and terrifying all at once, four stone walls towering over the pair like Gulliver in Lilliput, leering down at him. He felt small. The universe sat above him, galaxies and light years and the never-ending patchwork quilt of the universe spread out between earth and whatever came after. Nothing up there cared about him. Nothing up there cared about his mistakes, or Hyde, or anything he busied his time with. In a strange way, it was relaxing. To know that there were things larger than he could imagine, structures that were built by people whose names he’d never know, lives he’d never live.

“Hey Hyde. Is it nice being an animal and not having existential dread?”

Hyde blinked back at him, vacant. The only thing going on behind those eyes was gentle jazz rhythms like the ones you hear waiting for your Starbucks. Lance could respect it. He knew it was stupid and a little weird to be talking to a horse, but the silence was starting to bother him.

“We did good today, huh? Great round. Best we’ve had, without a doubt. What was it? Did you like the sights?”

The stallion's dark mass shifted slightly, and Lance felt Hyde’s muzzle rest against his chest. Softly, he brought his right hand under it, cupping it gently, and let his head rest against the sharp white blaze on his head.

“Sorry for being a dick. I was unfair to you.”

Hyde breathed out with a huff, as if to give a disgruntled took you long enough, but didn’t move a muscle.

Hyde would never be his sort of horse. He was temperamental and uncooperative, hard headed and flighty. But he was a good horse. Seeing Val ride him around a 1.60 course perfectly while he was on injury leave with his hand made him actually stop and look back at everything that had happened. Much to his dismay... it was mostly his fault. He had it out for Hyde from the start, the poor bastard never even got a chance to prove he could do well in the tour, and Lance had been blinded by his own arrogance for so long it never occurred to him to give the horse another chance.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still hate riding you, and as far as I’m concerned the second this tour ends you’re being thrown out to pasture where I don’t have to look at you-“ Lance quipped, the horse snorting and throwing his head back almost like he knew what it meant. Well, to be fair, that was probably the tone of voice he usually used with Hyde, and what followed wasn’t normally pleasant... so he probably understood in his own way.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, don’t be a brat.”

The stallion glared at him. He didn’t even know horses could glare. How was this animal both so stupid and so expressive all at once?

“But... I do have plans for you after GLD. Don’t worry. They just... don’t exactly involve me, I suppose. I think you’ll like it better. Well, that’s if she agrees. Ok, it’s a work in progress, but I got sidetracked. Let’s end this stupid tour strong, like today. Where everything worked like it should. You agree?”

Tentatively, Hyde took a step back towards Lance and rested his chin on his shoulder, breath tickling Lance’s neck in the warm air.

What a weird fucking horse. But his horse, all the same.
-
Ref: paula2206-photo

Description

Note: these are all posts that were originally created and uploaded for instagram in 2020/2021 and have been sitting waiting to be uploaded on here for months lmao. May not necessarily be representative of my current content and they take place before any other story posts in other galleries.

The floodlights were dismantled, the stands ready to be taken down, and the sequin skies above fluttered with stars brighter than Lance had seen before. GLD 8 was over, the awards ceremony done and gone, and a soft silence had fallen over the Temple of Luxor as people prepared to leave in the next few days. Some would go straight to the location of the final venue, others popping home for a breath of familiar air, both strained by all the travelling the tour required of them.

The horses seemed to have handled it well, something that couldn’t be said the same for the people. He’d ran into Jason Astor the other day, distempered and frantic. Lance had little time for him, the arrogant prick, but he couldn’t imagine being away from your child for that long.

Well. Maybe he could, but certainly not in the way Jase did, because Jase actually knew his fucking child. Lance didn’t want to think about that now, worried the mood he was in would tip from pensive to downright depressed, so that thought was filed away for later. He was pretty sure that the filing cabinet of his mind would be bursting by now, almost three decades of “that’s a future problem” or “I’ll deal with it soon” shoved into it and forgotten about, locked tight with the key around his throat.

Breathing in in the warm night air, hand against his neck as if he could feel the metaphorical skeleton key sitting there placidly, he almost forgot about the stallion by his side.

Hyde stood with his ears perked, expression confused and almost wary. Lance didn’t blame him, it wasn’t like he’d given him much reason to like him, nor was it in character for them to embark on midnight rambles together like Lance didn’t threaten to sell him to Tesco not three weeks ago.

“Nice night, huh?” Lance mused, as if Hyde could understand a word he said. The stallion snorted in response, warily eying one of the construction workers in a yellow vest, neon even in the night.

The man gave the pair a perplexed up-and-down, eyebrows knitted. “Sorry Sir, but the arena is closed right now since it’s being taken down tomorrow. Maybe you could-“ the man started with a timid smile, only to be cut off by a familiar alto voice.

“Let him in, Tariq. I think he’s having one of those moments. Easier for us all if we let him get on with it.”

Lance turned, already grinning, to face one rather tired-looking Cher Casiraghi. Even as the clock neared midnight and the day had taken its toll, she looked as elegant as ever, entirely at home surrounded by the history of Luxor. He’d always loved that about Cher - any room she enters falls silent, and every word she says leaves people hanging onto its last thread. The two had formed a curious friendship over the course of GLD, the foundation being their mutual love of learning - Cher and her history, Lance and his books. They’d taken to sending the other postcards, notes, Polaroids, little things to stay in touch and to pacify the others' curiosity.

Cher gave him a small smile, looking both him and Hyde up and down.

“You two did well today. Better than the last venues.”

“That’s not hard.” Lance snorted, inadvertently flexing his fingers, mostly mended by now but still a little sore at times. “The Tolstoy cover photo you sent, was that actually a first edition?”

“It was. Rare find.” She mused, signalling to the worker with a slight wave of her hand. He took notice and left, and Lance was forever glad he somehow ended up with friends in very, very high places.

“I’m not going to regret letting you into the arena, am I? I would rather not get sued.”

“No, not at all. As you said before, just having a moment.” Lance said, the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.

“What sort of moment?”

“... An irenicon, I’d say.”

“That’s rather religious, especially for you. I’ll leave you to it. If I don’t see you before the finals, good luck.”

He gave her a nod that she returned, and she waltzed off to be powerful and enigmatic somewhere else.

Holding Hyde’s leather reins, he led the black stallion into the arena. His ears perked in familiarity, eyes darting around the empty space that had been bustling with jumps and people a few hours earlier. The emptiness was almost eerie, and the dark didn’t help. On horseback, the statues and pillars were impressive. On foot, they were colossal and terrifying all at once, four stone walls towering over the pair like Gulliver in Lilliput, leering down at him. He felt small. The universe sat above him, galaxies and light years and the never-ending patchwork quilt of the universe spread out between earth and whatever came after. Nothing up there cared about him. Nothing up there cared about his mistakes, or Hyde, or anything he busied his time with. In a strange way, it was relaxing. To know that there were things larger than he could imagine, structures that were built by people whose names he’d never know, lives he’d never live.

“Hey Hyde. Is it nice being an animal and not having existential dread?”

Hyde blinked back at him, vacant. The only thing going on behind those eyes was gentle jazz rhythms like the ones you hear waiting for your Starbucks. Lance could respect it. He knew it was stupid and a little weird to be talking to a horse, but the silence was starting to bother him.

“We did good today, huh? Great round. Best we’ve had, without a doubt. What was it? Did you like the sights?”

The stallion's dark mass shifted slightly, and Lance felt Hyde’s muzzle rest against his chest. Softly, he brought his right hand under it, cupping it gently, and let his head rest against the sharp white blaze on his head.

“Sorry for being a dick. I was unfair to you.”

Hyde breathed out with a huff, as if to give a disgruntled took you long enough, but didn’t move a muscle.

Hyde would never be his sort of horse. He was temperamental and uncooperative, hard headed and flighty. But he was a good horse. Seeing Val ride him around a 1.60 course perfectly while he was on injury leave with his hand made him actually stop and look back at everything that had happened. Much to his dismay... it was mostly his fault. He had it out for Hyde from the start, the poor bastard never even got a chance to prove he could do well in the tour, and Lance had been blinded by his own arrogance for so long it never occurred to him to give the horse another chance.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still hate riding you, and as far as I’m concerned the second this tour ends you’re being thrown out to pasture where I don’t have to look at you-“ Lance quipped, the horse snorting and throwing his head back almost like he knew what it meant. Well, to be fair, that was probably the tone of voice he usually used with Hyde, and what followed wasn’t normally pleasant... so he probably understood in his own way.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, don’t be a brat.”

The stallion glared at him. He didn’t even know horses could glare. How was this animal both so stupid and so expressive all at once?

“But... I do have plans for you after GLD. Don’t worry. They just... don’t exactly involve me, I suppose. I think you’ll like it better. Well, that’s if she agrees. Ok, it’s a work in progress, but I got sidetracked. Let’s end this stupid tour strong, like today. Where everything worked like it should. You agree?”

Tentatively, Hyde took a step back towards Lance and rested his chin on his shoulder, breath tickling Lance’s neck in the warm air.

What a weird fucking horse. But his horse, all the same.
-
Ref: paula2206-photo