The Soul Riders (old and dusty version)

Bobcats ✺

[Edited 2020-04-06]

You couldn't say Jenna saw right through Lilly but she definitely knew something weird was up with her riding.
You could see it in the way she eyed Lilly inquiringly while they spoke. Like she was trying to see what was wrong but couldn't quite spot it.

This made Lilly very nervous as she all of a sudden anxious to be separated from her horse.
Not that it really was her horse, Lilly told herself sternly. She was just borrowing it. And yet...
As Daisyblaze met her gaze with his big dark eyes Lilly knew that he too felt that feeling of unease knowing that they might not be together forever.

Jenna had told Lilly to find someone called Bobcats just outside the northwest gate.
She found that to be a simply weird name for a person but this was Jorvik after all, perhaps a lot of people there were named after animals.

Lilly and Blaze made their way outside in a slow trot.
This seemed to be more of an exclusive area for the more skilled riders.
To the right where a small forest being shadowed by a long range of cliffs, overlooked by a castle tower, barely visible in the distance.

To the left, Lilly noticed with excitement, laid an even bigger oval shaped paddock. And she could hear the calming sound of water splashing on rocks nearby.

Everything was so green, she though cheerfully. Nothing like the grey and black concrete she had been surrounded by before.
It felt peaceful and calming.

She was awoken from her blissful daydreaming, however, by a loud crash.
Looking up, Lilly saw a dark skinned girl with tiny shoulder length braids and a pink riding jacket dismounting a dun horse, who'd just ridden over a cardboard box full of metal trash.
Really looking around for the first time, noticing more than just the nature, Lilly spotted several girl, all dressed in pink, all looking extraordinarily beautiful and bore themselves with an air of importance.

In the center of it all stood a girl with her blond hair flung over one shoulder and long expensive looking riding boots.
She was in the middle of lecturing the girl with the braids, who seemed almost tearful by now, when Lilly came to an halt a little bit behind her.

"Excuse me? Are you Bobcats?" Lilly asked tentatively in a weak voice.

The girl turned around to look at her. She had piercing blue eyes and her makeup job looked almost professional.
"Huh? I'm Loretta. Obviously." She added with a swing of her hair.

"And I'm a member of bobcats, yes, and who are you? Not because I care..." She told me with a voice that left no room for argument.

"Lilly" She replied and to sound just as nonchalant.

"That's your name? Really. Well it sounds very... very pretty and intelligent. Oh my Lilly! I bet your horse's name is just as lame. I bet it's like... Puffyheart or something?" Loretta giggled.

"His name is Daisyblaze." Lilly answered coldly.

Loretta laughed again. "Ha, I'm psychic!"

"I'm not here to get your opinion about my name." Lilly told her. "Jenna sent me, she said you can teach me how to compete."
She exaggerated a little on what exactly Jenna had said but Lilly wanted to do anything to prove Loretta wrong in that instance.

"Ha! Really? Great." Loretta began in a voice of mockery. Then she furrowed her eyebrows. "
Actually I'm kind of bored right now, so why not. You and Puffyheart should try racing someone in the paddock. Who knows, maybe it'll make me smile."

She smirked towards me. "At your fantaaaaaastically faaaaast speed. I can already tell that you'll never make it into our club. As you would fit in Bobcats riding club anyway. Ha!" She laughed just like my middle school bully as she examined my clothes with her eyes, like they were to dirty for her to touch.

"Maybe Charlotte..." Loretta mused. "Yes... CHARLOTTE!"

A red haired girl with two pigtails froze as Loretta called upon her. Slowly turning she spotted Lilly and Blaze.

As Charlotte came closer, Loretta tossed her hair again, in what Lilly suspected to be a dramatic habit of hers, and said; "Laila here wants us to show her how to compete."
Charlotte giggled at Loretta's superior voice.
"Well of course she does." She said in a bad attempt to sound as just as mockery as Loretta.

"Beatriz lend Charlotte your horse." Loretta said bossily.
Beatriz, the girl with the pretty braids looked rather reluctant to hand over the rains of her dun horse to Charlotte but quickly did so when Loretta impatiently clicked her tongue.

Lilly was too angry to say something just then and simply turned Blaze towards the paddock away from those self absorbed girls.

Blaze picked up an easy trot leaving Loretta and Charlotte to follow in my wake.

Lilly and Charlotte stood ready at the starting line as Loretta ordered two young girls to set up three low fences.

A new girl with brown bangs and an equally spotless attire as Loretta climbed over the fence to the paddock.

She walked straight up to Loretta, took a quick look at me and Charlotte and whispered something in her ear.
Whatever she had said I knew it couldn't have been nice, judged by the laugh that followed from Loretta.
I could hear Charlotte nervously moving around in her saddle besides me but fought the urge too look.

As the brown haired girl left the paddock along with the two girl Loretta smiled broadly. Let's see then." She said mockingly "Three, two, one... Go!"

As soon as she'd said go Blaze threw himself into a gallop. He passed the first fence, then the second, before Lilly had even had time to think.

She couldn't spot Charlotte or the dun in front of her and secretly smiled to herself. "Let's show Loretta what Puffyheart can do." She leaned forwards and whispered in Blaze's ear. And just like he could hear her he pun in aa extra spark of energy and practically flew over the finish line.

Loretta looked positively dumbfounded.

To be fair, Lilly was just as astonished. She'd barely had any time to even try to 'ride'. This had been all Blaze.

"I guess that wasn't too bad..." Loretta spoke reluctantly when Charlotte finally catched up.
"I'll admit that I wasn't super good when I first came here, either." Charlotte gasped quietly, which only seemed to boost Loretta's confidence as she continued. "But, you will never be a Bobcat girl thought, that's for sure."