Two Of A Kind (Open)

[Briar]

Briar liked the stables. Honestly he liked anywhere that was quiet and filled with the reassuring countryside smells and animal noises that he was so used to. It was a shame to see the horses penned up like that, but the ones who didn't get as much exercise (the bigger, fiercer stallions or those less beautiful than the others) he enjoyed taking out into the paddock to get some fresh air. The staff, for their part, were happy to have someone to take the more lively animals out, Briar had more than enough strength to deal with them, and even the normally bad tempered animals seemed to behave when he told them to. They thought it was because they bowed to his stronger will, he privately suspected it was because they were bad tempered for a reason, and if anybody understood being misunderstood, it was him.

This was, after all, a school for villains as well as heroes, so amongst the glossy steeds fit for heroes and the dainty mares for princesses to delicately ride, there were assorted huge, ugly and vicious animals - villains needed a ride too. His favourite was a horse that almost nobody ever rode, even the villains, it dwarfed the other animals in all three of these popular villainous areas. It was a massive, black, ill-tempered brute, with scarring across his muzzle and a knotted mane and tail that he never let anybody even close to with a brush. He bit, kicked and rammed anybody that came near him, and he refused to stand still to be saddled. 

Briar, however, he liked. Sure he still snapped half-heartedly at the big man, and he would lash out with a vicious kick if he saw sight of a brush, but he'd let Briar feed him sugar lumps and pat his flanks, and today Briar was going to try the ultimate test.

He let the animal out into the paddock, waiting for it to work out some of its energy with a run around first, before whistling it over, waving a sugar lump in the air. Once it was close enough, he handed over the sugar lump and stepped aside. He'd never allowed a saddle before, but Briar didn't need one of those. He placed his hands on the animal's back and hoisted himself up quickly, throwing his leg over and clinging (carefully) to the beast's main. Now it was simply a case of holding on for dear life as the animal took off around the paddock.

[James Florian]

        When it came to hobbies here at Seacombe Halpworthe they were probably about as diverse as you probably could get. Take for example the gentle giant, James' best friend, every spare moment he had there was a piece of wood in one hand and a whittling knife in the other. For the resident fishes, you could always find them in some sort of body of water, either the pool or the lake. (It honestly depended on how bad the weather was.) James suspected that little brat Cyrille spent his free time perfecting his sophomoric pranks and the villains probably got together to brew potions or curse students, whatever evil souls tended to do in their free time. However James was a little different. He wasn't the type of student of that when you heard his name you attached a favorite pastime to it like the others. He was just Prince James, Son of Snow White and the kid who won second place in the Winter ball court. Maybe you thought about was the fact he was naive, believing he could track down a troll to prove his friend wasn't ugly. Or perhaps you jumped to the now infamous fight between him and the villain's sidekick that resulted in one of the library's grand windows boarded up until they could replace the glass. Regardless you never thought of the Prince's favorite pastime. Horse Riding. 

    There was just something about feeling the wind barrage the prince's face while on the back of an animal that was far more powerful than he would ever be that excited James. Perhaps it was the fact that riding was the closest he could get to danger when he was younger, only if you went fast enough though. Or maybe it was the fact that some of the fondest memories James had created with his father had been racing through the palace grounds instead of regurgitating some new boring list his tutor crammed into the Prince's brain. Perchance it was something completely different that the Prince wasn't aware of. Whatever the reasoning, James loved it. The horse riding class was the only one he asked if he could could double up on, and whenever he had a half hour or so to spare. the Prince would make his way down to the stables. Unfortunately that happened only once in a while because of other things getting in the way, such as pointless essays, math problems without numbers, and of course there was the fact that his best friend was terrified of the creatures. So James could only climb into the saddle when he didn't have schoolwork to do and Grove was off doing his own thing. To the Prince's delight this was one of those days. 

    With a giddy little grin in his face, he made his way down the beaten, cobbled path from the dormitories to the stables. Once he got there, he went straight for where the horses were kept, oblivious to the fact that he wasn't the only one who wanted to go out riding in the paddock today. At least his choice of steed wasn't as dangerous as the one as the one his roomate was attempting to clamor onto that very moment. As a prince, James got to pick his choice of the fabulous stallions fit for the heroes of Seacombe when he first arrived. Granted the horse he had chosen, a chestnut colored Arabian dubbed Chaos of the Stars, wasn't exactly his horse technically. Anyone could take him out into the paddock or on a few of the trails reserved for classes, but during the Horse riding lessons, James always took out Chaos and everyone else took out the horses they've been riding since they first arrived at Seacombe. It was an unspoken rule here, don't mess with somebody else's horse. Who knew how the creatures would react to a new rider in the saddle?

    After taking care of what needed to be done before leaving the stables and Chaos had a saddle secure on his back, James lead the horse out of the barn and towards the paddock where to his surprise he saw his roommate riding the brute. Of course that probably wasn't the horse's name, but to James it was a nickname that fitted the monster like equine. It was huge, scared every living creature, and let no one, and he meant no one, near it. Not even the villains. However apparently it was not only letting Briar go near him without bashing their face in, but the fairy/terrifying man was riding around the paddock on it's back. Now that was something James never expected to see while he was here. However at the same time it didn't surprise James that it was Briar that managed to climb on the brute. The dude was downright scary. With his tattoos, gruff attitude, and the sheer amount of muscles on him, any of which could snap the prince in half like a twig, it wasn't a shock that James had misidentified them as a villain the first day. It was a shock though when he learned that Briar was actually a fairy. I mean in what story is the fairy a guy with tattoos and looked prepared to start throwing punches at any moment? Not a single one of them. Regardless it was very difficult for James to fall asleep those first few nights when he knew just a few meters away a giant lay snoozing. It was very unnerving to say the least. 

    Though James wasn't even sure if Briar had control of the animal or not, the glare from the sun made it hard to make out if the giant or the monster was in control here. Regardless though James was going to wait a few moments before bringing Chaos out there to practice jumping and a few laps around the perimeter. There was no way he was putting himself in a dangerous situation such as a wild and untamed horse running around in the paddock, he was already in a hot water with Grove for getting into a fistfight after swearing up and down that he would stay out of trouble. So as Chaos protested just standing outside the paddock, but James hushed the horse by scratching the horse's neck and saying "Would you please be patient, I don't want to get kicked by a beast if you don't mind." Call him crazy for talking to a horse, but hey it was the truth. Chaos needed to wait, and he didn't want to go back to the infirmary; even though he couldn't remember his first trip there. They would just wait until it became clear if Briar had control of the horse or if he didn't. Once he deemed it to be safe the two of them would venture in. Not until then though, he didn't want to give Grove a reason to be mad at him. 

[Briar]

Briar had maybe overestimated his own abilities for control over animals, or maybe he'd just gotten on too early and the horse still a lot of energy to work out - it didn't get to go out nearly as often as any of the other animals after all, so it probably had a lot of pent up energy. He was still managing to cling on for dear life, and the horse didn't seem particularly intent on removing him so much as just running around the paddock much in the same way as it had done before, so as long as he could hold on he was sure the horse would tire out eventually. ...Right?

On one particular loop past the entrance to the paddock, he noticed his roommate standing hesitantly at the gate with a horse, clearly waiting to enter but apparently too cautious to do so - Briar didn't exactly blame him.

"Just," he started, unable to finish his sentence because the horse was moving too fast. As it looped round again, he tried to carry on "wait," he continued, once again having to wait "a moment," he sighed deeply on the next loop, knowing he'd have to keep this up until he got his sentence out. "Nearly... got him." he finished on the fifth loop, he was pretty sure it was accurate, the horse seemed to be slowing down.

[James Florian]

    James was impressed by the level of control Briar seemed to have over the brute as the duo raced around the paddock. After all this was the stallion he warned to stay away from at all costs unless of course he wanted a horse shoe impression on his chest. Now that one probably wouldn’t heal as quickly as the checkerboard Cyrille left on him had. Though the raven haired lad might have faced the risks himself to have the same experience the fairy man thing was having now. After all he never seen a horse go so fast before. It zoomed around the paddock as if it was chasing down some glorious treasure or running away from some hideous monster. Jame had no doubt in him that if it was instead him riding bareback like his roommate was doing, James would have been thrown off and he would be a broken and mangled mess regardless if he lived or not. Yeah he was just fine with Chaos, he would like to walk at the end of the day.

    He also managed to piece Briar’s message together as the horse looped around the paddock, James was sure if it was blowing off steam, attempting to get the Fairy off of his back, or it was just showing off. (Just like people, animals could be vain too.) He shouted in response, “Alright, just get that horse under control!” Though he wasn’t sure that he could hear him, it had taken several loops for the scarier version of his best friend to pass on his own message. Hopefully the wait wouldn’t take too long, it appeared that the horse was slowing down a bit as they looped around one more time.

---

    Chaos was becoming agitated. It didn’t like the monster running around in his paddock. (James didn’t realize it yet, but his horse was one of those vain creatures.) It needed to leave now so he could go in and race around himself. However the human he had this year was just standing there. He should be opening the gate instead and let Chaos show this intruder who really was in charge of this paddock. Chaos nudged the pale kid -he really needed some more sunlight- towards the latch, but they didn’t get the message. So he tried again, and still no response other than the mumbled gibberish those foolish people spoke. Honestly they were at a school, you would think they would teach them language skills. He tried to break the language barrier one last time, but alas this new human still didn’t understand what the Arabian was demanding.

    So fed up with this fool’s incompetence, the horse moved forward, breaking free from their grip on the reins and nudged the lack up and over with his nose -honestly they needed to invest in a better security system- and nudged the gate open. Once he had created a large enough berth for himself to get through he trotted into the paddock ready to show just exactly who was king here.

---

    James didn’t understand what the horse was doing at first when it went up to the gate. He reached once again for the reins, but before he could get a good grip on them, the horse went through the opening. The prince panicked a bit, since when could a horse open the gate? “Hey!” He shouted as he chased after the horse determined to get to it before the beast made another loop. Who knew how the brute would react to a new horse there as well. Luckily since Chaos was being his conceited self, James was easily able to catch up and get a firm grip on the reins. He tried to steer the horse back to the entrance just to get them out of the brute’s way, but like James he was stubborn and refused to go back. James nervously looked towards Briar and the Beast, preparing to run if the horse decided it wanted the paddock all to himself. That would be bad, really, really bad.

[Briar]

Having got his message across, Briar turned his attention back to the horse, it was the kind of ride that required your full concentration, and he wasn't going to let James distract him when he was so close to gaining control.

With his focus on the horse underneath him, he didn't notice when the other animal came trotting into the paddock, James hot on his heels to try and drag him back out of harm's way - he certainly noticed them when the black horse wheeled around and he was suddenly bearing down on the paddock's new arrivals.

Briar couldn't really tell what the big horse really thought of the other animals, he mostly stayed away from them and they always stayed away from him, so Briar never really got a chance to see. Privately, he suspected the large animal experienced a similar thing to him, that other horses were just scared of him and stayed away, but he wasn't necessarily inclined to attack them. He hoped.

He tried to tug, gently at first and more firmly soon after, on the horse's mane to try and encourage it to turn, to avoid the animal - and person - in its way, but it didn't seem to have any such intentions. At the last minute the horse came to a sudden stop, far enough away that he didn't cause any damage to Chaos or James, but unfortunately it was accompanied by rearing backwards, causing Briar to lose his grip and fall, landing heavily on his backside.

Apparently satisfied, the black horse flicked his mane almost derisively and trotted off casually to the corner of the paddock to eat some of the grass there. Briar sighed deeply, climbing gingerly to his feet and rubbing his bruised rear.
"Nice try," he sighed

[James Florian]

    As the beast turned again and began to run straight at the terrified prince and vain horse, James learned what mortal fear was. It was a terrifying experience to feel one’s heart pounding so fiercely that it seemed that any moment it would break it’s cage and escape from their home. Not to mention the fact that although he knew he was breathing, but for some reason he just couldn’t get enough air in his lungs. His eyes widened and for a moment he stood deadly still just staring at the threat like a deer in headlights. He was frozen where he was, coming closer and closer to his death with each earth shattering clomp of the brute’s hooves.

    However death was not visiting Seacombe Halpworth today for the monster skidded to a halt just a few meters away from the terrified prince and headstrong arabian.

    When the dirt that the hose kicked up settled once more,, he was surprised by the fact that he was not a splattered mess on the horse’s hooves. He was in fact still whole and very much alive. He laughed nervously as he looked around him. Chaos was strutting around the paddock, believing that once again he had proved himself to be king. The brute was grazing in one of the corner’s. but Briar wasn’t with him. The prince looked around with a worried expression, where did Briar go? He silently thought as looked around for where his roommate had gone when he noticed him shakily stand up not too far off from where James stood.

    Immediately he went over to the man fairy and began to apologize profusely while explaining just why the two of them had made their way into the paddock, “I’m so sorry. I have no idea what got into him, one second he was fine waiting, then he just opened the gate and paraded in like he owned the place. I didn’t even know the horses could that! I tried to get him to go back, but he wouldn’t! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” James’ hands were shaking though he didn’t know if it was just an aftershock from the fear he had experienced just moments ago or if it was the fact that he may just be about to face the wrath of the terrifying man fairy. After all didn’t James just cause him to be bucked from his horse and land roughly in the dirt. Although James was trying to remain optimistic about the situation, James had a nasty feeling that Briar was about to live up to the image the prince had in his mind when he first met the soldier that called himself a fairy.

    Oh how James wished he could disappear, because if Briar decided to hit him, the raven haired lad already knew that there is no way he would be able to hit back.

[Briar]

Briar was still feeling a little dazed from his fall, so it took him a moment to reply. Of course, with the combination of his frustration and his normal grumpy look, that was a moment of him looking positively thunderous (to most people, anyway, for him it was a fairly neutral expression). Just as James was probably gearing up to run, Briar shrugged.

"Horses," he said dismissively. He reckoned people forgot that even domesticated animals were still animals, and they had their own ideas and desires that they often went along with, regardless of what a human was telling them.

"No harm done." he added, even though he could still feel a bit of a throbbing where he'd hit the ground, James just seemed so apologetic that he felt bad, he wanted to assure him he hadn't done too much damage (and he wanted to avoid a repeat of that terrible encounter with Azalea that had ended in her getting so angry).

He glanced over at the horse peacefully grazing in the corner, then back at James and his horse awkwardly. He wanted to let them use the paddock, but equally he felt the big black brute was not going to be particularly amenable to moving any time soon.
"um..."

[James Florian]

For a few tense moments James was almost convinced that although he had been spared from the brute's hooves, instead he had jumped right into the path of an even more dangerous situation. After James could just feel the waves of annoyance radiate off his room mate and not to mention the nineteen-year-old's face was contorted into an expression of pure hatred. James screwed up, oh he really screwed up this time.  He was convinced that at any moment the terrifying man fairy was going to suddenly lunge forward, wrap his large muscular hands around the prince's scrawny neck, and squeeze the life out of him for causing so much chaos. It wasn't his fault! It was the stupid horse to cause this entire mess. However James had a notion that maybe logic wouldn't be a deciding factor here. Especially when the opposite party was quite possibly in an excruciating amount of pain.

Which is why James was surprised when Briar responded with a small shrug and a nonchalant comment about how it wasn't really the raven haired lad's fault.  James breathed a sigh of relief at this. He wasn't going to be pounded into the grass on this fine day. He was working himself up over nothing. Although it may have seemed foolish, in retrospect his reaction did make sense. After all this school was basically the first time he was constantly around people that he didn't already know inside and out, which included villains and Briar looked like he could be a villain thank you very much. Fairies don't have tattoos. Fairies are nice kind grandmothers who help you when you're caught in some sort of trouble. Briar was quite the opposite of that and where he came from you were supposed to conform to what ever role you've been assigned whether it fits your personality or not. Maybe that's why James was so wary of Briar, perhaps it wasn't the tattoos, resting bitchface, or just the general way Briar was because minus the tattoos, Grove and Briar were scarily similar. In fact if his best friend and room mate switched places for a day, James probably wouldn't notice at all. So why was he jumping to conclusions about Briar so quickly? Was it because he hadn't known him all his life? Or could it be that Briar was defying all the notions of how he was supposed to be because he was a fairy? Could it be that James is so afraid of not fulfilling the duty that had been destined at birth to have, that he's instantly afraid of all those who don't care about it that they go in the complete opposite direction and so blatantly disregard what they were supposed to be?

Wow he really zoned out didn't he? Forcing his thoughts back to Briar, James nodded in response to the horses thing and added as well, "Are you sure you're okay? That was a pretty nasty fall." Ah it was so clear James was Snow White's kid. After all who else would be scared out of their minds of a student, and yet rush to their side to see if they need help? Snow White that's who and it's pretty clear as well that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. 


Seeing Briar look back and forth between the brute, James, and his horse, the prince could sense the question forming on Briar's tongue. (After years of being best friends with Grove, the prince had gotten pretty good at detecting what was trying to be said in just a few words.) What were they going to do about the two horses in the paddock who didn't seem like of them were going to leave anytime soon. After looking around and thinking for a moment James said, "Why don't I take the north side of the paddock and you guys stay over here? I think Chaos would be the easier horse to move." He added a small shrug at the end. It didn't really matter to him, just as long as he had some space to have Chaos run and jump. Besides judging by how the two horses where now avoiding each other, they wouldn't be repeating their perilous adventure today.

Before waling off to drag the vain beast to the north side he realized something and asked Briar with a puzzled expression, "What's his name again?" 

[Briar]

"Fine," Briar assured him gruffly, with a small nod. He was grateful for the obvious concern for his wellbeing, and wondered if that was what it was like to have friends, people who looked out for you and wondered how you were when you had been hurt.

At James' suggestion, he nodded in agreement. That made sense, quite a lot of sense actually, and it quite neatly solved the problem of getting the larger horse moved before he was good and ready to.

"Will move him, when I can." he promised, glancing back at the other horse and wondering how long it would be before he aquiesced to being shuffled back into the stables. Maybe he could find somewhere else to take him, it wasn't technically allowed but he doubted anybody was going to try and stop him.

"Huh?" he glanced back at James at the question, looking again towards the horse. He didn't actually know, he'd never really thought to ask and the descriptors assigned to him by the stable hands were... not exactly appropriate for polite company, he wondered if anybody had bothered to name him, or had simply been grateful to get him into a stable and backed away.

"Midnight." he decided, not wanting to admit he didn't know, and liking the sound of the name.

[James Florian]

"Are you sure though?" The prince questioned one final time, it was just his nature to make sure that Briar was okay. It was just genetic. He needed to ensure that whenever someone was hurt on his accord, they were alright. Otherwise James wouldn't be able to deal with the fact that someone got hurt because of him. James nodded in agreement when Briar agreed to James' idea of each of them taking one side of the paddock, "Yeah, don't worry about it though. I think that the flaring tempers have cooled." James said with a small shrug. Hopefully the two equines will now leave each other alone. James didn't know if they all will be lucky with the next near collision. 

“Midnight.” James repeated, trying out the name.It certianly fit the horse with it’s jet black hide and ways of staying silent even though it was a monster compared to everything around him. It reminded James of the steed that was always described to accompany death when he came for you. Large, mysterious, and quiet. Granted in the myths and stories he heard about this version of death, it was large enough to hold both heaven and hell on it’s back and death was about as large as some of the forest’s trees, more handsome than any soul alive or dead, and silent beyond being able to tell two stories, but every human on earth would only be able to hear one. If you were good you were granted access to sit towards the front of the horse and listen to the beautiful story. However if you had been wicked you were confined to the back and had to listen to a horrendous story full of death. The most intriguing part was, the story never ended it just kept going on and all you had to do was listen. Sure it was a romanticized version of what some believed would happen our mortal lives were done, but that kind of afterlife James would be content with. Eternally holding onto the mane of a magnificent beast while the words of a tale echoed in his ear. Why those were his two most beloved activities. If only that was the version he was supposed to believe in. He could see Midnight being that horse and Briar being it’s handler.



Shaking these morbid thoughts out of his mind, still with the reins in hand, James motioned to his horse. “This thing is Chaos. Appropriate name don’t you think?” He said referencing the near disaster that the roommates had narrowly avoided thanks to the death horse over there. With that James led the Arabian over to the North Side of the Paddock and in one quick motion he climbed up into the saddle. With a nudge of his heels into the horse's side, the Prince was soon once more galloping around the paddock once more. He held onto the reins, laughing like a maniac as he felt the wind barrage his face once more. If he closed his eyes he could almost convince himself that he was home racing his father, the palace guards, or who knows who. Maybe he wasn't racing anyone at all. It could've been anyone, hell it could've everyone for all he knew. All that really mattered though was that it felt like home, and regardless of how different his world could have become he was content to still have this major piece of home with him. 

[Briar]

Briar nodded firmly, privately pleased that James seemed so concerned about his well-being. Of course, it was likely just that he was that kind of person, but Briar still appreciated it.

"Seems so," he agreed regarding the tempers of the two horses, he glanced back at Midnight who was grazing peacefully as if nothing had happened at all, apparently content to ignore everybody else in the paddock now that he had found a good bit of grass to eat and nobody was trying to ride him. He was a lot like Briar in some respects, that large fairy decided, he was only really grumpy when forced to interact with people. Perhaps, given that, he was just as misunderstood as Briar was.

Unaware of the ideas running through the prince's mind, Briar glanced back at him awkwardly, wondering what to do next. He nodded in agreement at the appropriateness of the horse's name, lips almost almost quirking into a smile at the obvious joy on the Prince's face when he started riding again.

He made his way across the paddock to where Midnight was grazing, giving the other two as much room as possible. He placed a gentle hand on the dark horse's neck and sighed slightly.
"No more riding today," he confirmed to the horse in a low voice "But we keep trying, yes?"
The horse flicked his mane in what was almost a shrug and Briar chuckled quietly.
"Yes." he said again, rubbing a hand down Midnight's side affectionately.

[James Florian]

While Briar was having a nice little chat with Midnight, James and Chaos were kicking up dirt like a pair of wild west rebels. The Prince was testing the horse, seeing just what the Arabian could do, while he was also forging a trusting bond between the two of them by encouraging and praising the horse. So far, so good. The Prince thought as they closed their third circuit. Chaos could run and listen to directions almost instantly. Plus he didn't need to add much of an aid to his commands. If he wanted the horse to turn, he'd lean to whatever side he wanted the horse to go. Simple enough. Chaos was obviously well trained in that division. So it was time to move on to the next test; jumping. He turned the horse in the direction of the hurdles, guiding him through each jump from one meter up to four which was the highest jump available. Not once did James pick up on the sense that Chaos was going to slow down or suddenly stop. So he wasn't afraid of jumping, these were really good signs. 

After Chaos cleared the last hurdle, James led the horse around their section of the paddock for a moment. He was really pleased with the way that Chaos had listened to his commands with little to no hesitation, but it was a bit disconcerting for the Prince when he realized just how grand of a job the stallion did. After all James and Chaos had never really worked together before. Sure there were moments in the classes where they were told to follow a teacher's instruction, but that didn't last long and neither of them really got a feel for each other's personality. Normally a horse would want a little more trust to be present before jumping straight into the ring, but not Chaos. He was so eager to get into the paddock that the equine even put himself into harm's way. Which was a telltale of something that made James inwardly groan. Chaos was a pushbutton. 

A pushbutton was a horse that did everything you told it to do with no hesitation, no confusion, and no flaws. It was the ultimate goal for horse trainer's and it took a skilled horseman to turn a skittish thoroughbred into one. Normally this was a good thing, and it made sense that Seacombe would give out pushbuttons to their little leaders because it would be embarrassing to give one that was afraid of jumping. Plus there was less of  a chance you could get hurt on one of the Mary-Sue's of the horse world. However James didn't want a horse that was super easy to work with. He wanted a challenge. He wanted to find some flaw in Chaos and devote a good portion of his free time into ironing it out and mending it to suit a rider's needs. Since that's what he mostly did back home with his father because it gave them something to talk about that didn't involve politics. You know, like a normal family. It didn't look like that was going to happen though, which meant that since there wasn't a goal to work towards with Chaos. It would just be pointless cantering around a tiny fenced field. 

Trying to see if there was something he had missed earlier, James sent the horse through the obstacles once more. However his heart wasn't truly in it anymore. Chaos was just another pushbutton with no conceivable flaws. Perfect in Seacombe's nearsighted vision, but not so wonderful in the Prince's view. Finally, he slowed the horse to a stop, and slid off the horse's back. The whole excursion couldn't have been more than ten-fifteen minutes at the most. (James didn't have a watch so...) Which was pretty depressing when you compared it to the times James spent near the stables back home. Naturally out of sheer curiosity, James' attention became fixated on the great brute once more. He could only imagine how powerful a beast like midnight could be and the reasons for Seacombe keeping the animal nearby. 

James tilted his head to the side and asked after thinking for a moment, "Does he have a problem with other horses?" He was thinking of the incident earlier where Midnight had charged James and Chaos, but he did stop didn't he? Plus there was also the fact that Midnight was staying as far away from Chaos as he could reasonably get. Maybe there could be socialization issues with Midnight which could be the challenge James craved, and in time could turn the beast into a safe horse for anyone to ride. 

Though the Prince didn't stop to consider there wasn't a magical solution for each horse or maybe Briar didn't want his help. After all it was his horse. Or maybe there was another reason as to why Midnight didn't take to kindly to strangers. This was one of those moments where it would've been nice to inherit his mother's way of chatting with animals. 

[Briar]

As with many situations, Briar was content to be in the background, as it were. James was doing his thing with Chaos and Briar was content to stay in his little corner of the paddock with Midnight, idly wondering if, now that the horse was calm and outside, he might actually try the riding again... even though he had said he wouldn't. He was just trying to decide how to broach the subject with the horse (and absolutely didn't think that was strange at all) when James spoke.

Turning to glance at the other boy, his gaze was initially confused and startled, despite their previous conversation Briar generally assumed nobody wanted to talk to him, so every time anyway did it took him a moment to adjust. He was used to either being quiet enough to go unnoticed (which, admittedly, wasn't that often, he was quiet but he was very noticeable) or people being too scared by him to interrupt. He also didn't really understand the question or where it was coming from, but he wasn't the type to be so rude as to ask that kind of thing - not to mention that wasted more words than he was really inclined to - so instead he just shrugged and answered, placing a hand on Midnight's neck almost calmingly.

"I think the other horses don't like him," he commented quietly, not even sure himself if he was really talking about Midnight or someone a little closer to home.

[James Florian]

James strangely felt a little self-conscious when Briar turned to him with a deer in the headlights expression on his face. It was kind of similar to how Grove was whenever he was carving or even James himself if he was really into whatever project he was working on. It seemed like Briar was lost deep in his thoughts about who knew what and James just went and disrupted them without a even stopping to think on his part. It was rude and inconsiderate, but still James went and asked the stupid question anyway. He knew how difficult it was to get back into that frame of mind, being able to solely focus on whatever was commanding his attention without paying attention to anything else, after his train of thought was disturbed. Oh his mother would be so disappointed in her son...

He listened to Briar's answer and almost immediately he responded with, "Well did anybody try gradually introducing him to the others? That's what me and my father did whenever we received a new horse that was a bit antsy or made the other horses nervous." He said the last part with a small shrug of his own. It was a quite simple process actually. There was just three steps. First there was visual contact, all the horses could see each other, but they couldn't physically interact until the second stage; which was limited contact. Normally it was just putting the newbie in a central stall and letting the horses interact from one stall to another. After everything went well there, the final stage was basically the second one all over again, but with the leader of the herd so to say. By that point the horse in question should be an integrated member of the herd and sure it took some time, but it was worth it in the end. 

"Even if they did, it wouldn't hurt to retry it again. With a little time and patience it should work." James suggested not realizing that maybe Briar wasn't speaking of Midnight, but instead of himself. However who didn't say the same theory couldn't be applied to humans? Sure a couple of moves would have to be changed, but like he said with time as well as patience even the most gruff and terrifying of man fairies could easy find his niche where he could blossom instead of wilting on the sidelines as a wallflower. 

[Briar]

"Probably not," he conceded. Midnight lived in the stables along with all the other horses, but Briar barely saw the stablehands interacting with him at all, let alone letting him anywhere near the other horses. A lot of the other horses in the stables were glossy thoroughbreds like Chaos, Briar imagined the hands didn't dare let Midnight anywhere near them, he was vicious enough with people. Still, the fact that he appeared to be contentedly ignoring Chaos would suggest they might have been worried for nothing.

"Maybe..." he said slowly, slightly reluctant. It was part for Midnight's sake, if it all went horribly wrong it was just going to end up with the large horse being even more skittish and vicious, but if he was being really honest with himself it was for him as well. He selfishly enjoyed the time he spent with Midnight, felt like he'd met a kindred spirit in the brutish animal, if he was carefully socialised and became a comfortable part of the group with the other horses, Briar almost felt he'd lose some of that.

He immediately felt bad for thinking it, he should allow Midnight to be happy amongst the other horses if there was a chance of it - it didn't mean he was going to change, or be any nicer to the people necessarily.

"What do you think?" he asked, only he wasn't talking to James anymore, he'd turned his attention to the horse, looking into those big brown eyes thoughtfully.