#cormoran 001.

[evesyoung]

where: decker ranch who: @cormoranboone

"Hey, Mo -- give me a hand, would you?" Eve called out to her boss from the window of grooming stall, waving him over. "Ruthie here's still feeling a little feisty, she's not letting me get anywhere near her tail. Think it's because of that kid I had to kick out earlier who kept pulling it during lessons." The trainer let out a scoff, glad that those sorts of interactions were few and far between. Nothing worse than doing lessons with a disrespectful kid -- and, even worse, with their equally disrespectful parents. "You think you can try and calm her down so I can get a brush in back there? For reasons beyond me, you're her favorite." Eve remarked sarcastically, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow.

[colemonroe]

Despite how drained he felt, Cole still managed a small, half smile as Mo settled down next to him with that familiar two-syllable curse that for normal folks, was only ever meant to be one. It was practically how he knew it was the Enforcer without even turning his head to look, and right now? That familiarity was a comfort. “Some sorta weapons charge,” he murmured around his Marlboro, head shaking. He knew so little thus far, but what he did know was enough to set the whole clubhouse on edge. “ATF, from the way it sounds,” Cole supplied, glancing over at Mo, “Sawyer’s headed there now to find out what’s goin’ on. She’ll head here soon as she knows, an’ we’ll go from there.” Until then, all he could do was speculate, but that was enough to send his mind into overdrive about what to do next. “Til then, we need our shit on lockdown– if they’re lookin’ at him, this place is next.” 

who: @colemonroe where: sons clubhouse

"Well, shee-it," Mo declared, shaking his head as he plopped his ass down in the stool next to Cole's. "What the fuck did Theo get himself into now, anyone know?" As soon as the news had filtered through the ranks of Theo's arrest, Mo had made his way to the clubhouse, not sure if his specific brand of services would be needed, but wanting to be available just in case. "Are we talkin' normal shit or was this the ATF pricks?" He had heard about one sniffing around the ranch, and their sudden movements were making him suspicious. It felt like something big was coming.

[evesyoung]

“Seems like those two go hand and hand, more often than not.” Being intimidating and successful, that was – an ambition that Eve simply just…didn’t have in her. For years she thought grinding her way to the top of her class, her field, would be exactly what she needed to finally feel like a winner. To feel like she wasn’t constantly treading the ever-rising tide on the verse of drowning completely. It took her parents finally passing for her to realize that a career wouldn’t make her happy, that she preferred a slower life where she wasn’t defined by her success or lack thereof – and honestly? It was freeing, yes, but the ‘happiness’ part of that equation was still fickle. 

Eve narrowed her brows, letting out a scoff. “Okay, old guy. Whatever you say.” She remarked, giving Ruthie a light pat on her side. “You got any plans tonight?  I was thinkin’ about heading to the Outpost, but…I know Decker’s over there with a bunch of the other ranch hands, and I’m not sure I’m feelin’ up to that kinda socialization.” Sully was definitely the gregarious type, something that hadn’t changed much since high school -- but her? Well, she often preferred the company of horses for a reason. “Though, if you came along, I’d have an excuse to brood in the corner with another person…”

“Sociopathic, not psychotic,” he confirmed, eyes roaming Ruthie to see if any other upkeep needed to be taken care of today.  “And Sawyer, well…She’s scary as fuck, don’t get me wrong, but she’s a good person.  She just likes to win.”  He wasn’t about to blow her cover and reveal that she was soft for those she cared for, but it was the truth.  She found a raggedy ass kid stealing sleeps in the hayloft of her family’s ranch and she got him a job rather than calling the cops.  And she looked out for him until she left for New York, which was a hell lot more than his own family had ever done for him.  

He knew his abrupt correction wasn’t helping his case, and he was entirely unconvinced that he smoothed that over, but he knew it was important to draw that line in the sand.  They both had decided once he got the nod for president that they couldn’t fuck around anymore, and the last thing he needed was either the club finding out he was fucking around with a Dimopoulos, especially when the plug had already been pulled on whatever it was they had started..  And while he didn’t think Eve was one to run her mouth, it was better safe than sorry.  “If you say so" he answered, brows furrowed, utterly confused. Who the fuck is named Dua Lipa? "Blame it on the misspent youth."

[evesyoung]

Eve offered a soft grunt of agreement, deciding to leave it that. Of course she could relate, with adoptive parents who wanted nothing more than to give her a good life and yet she still managed to grow up riddled with issues -- how incredibly stereotypical of her. She'd never been one to pry, especially given that her curiosity could be turned back on her at any given moment. No, she preferred to live on the outskirts of vulnerability, finding it was the only way to keep herself safe even if that was at the expense of many potential friendships, relationships. In Eve's mind, no one needed the sob story of the little girl whose entire family was lost to a terrible accident, who froze up every time they got into a vehicle -- and honestly? She figured other people, like Mo, felt the same about their own respective traumas. So, why even go down that path?"

"Don't you gotta be kind of psychotic though, to be a lawyer?" Eve teased, arching a brow quizzically. She didn't know the Decker daughter very well aside from being a few years behind her in school, but it was always notable how the very air of the ranch seemed to shift when she came on the premises. Eyes couldn't help but widen ever so slightly at his firm denouncement of he and Tori spending much time together, holding a hand up innocently. "Noted." Eve nodded, suppressing a laugh then. "Duo Leep? You mean Dua Lipa?" An incredulous look crossed her face. "I know we've known each other a long ass time, but you still manage to surprise me every day with how wildly out of touch you are for your age."

“God, even well meaning parents fuck up their kids, huh?” The words were mumbled, more as an observation than an actual reply, as if they were meant for himself and not her.  Well, maybe for Ruthie too.  The horse let out a snort, and while Mo knew it was most likely due to Eve catching a tangle or getting to a bit Ruthie didn’t like, it almost felt like she was agreeing with him.  God, he needed to stop talking to the horses and talk to humans more. ---  Mo had never felt the feeling she was describing himself, if anything, he had felt the opposite.  Sometimes he had felt like lashing out, showing his mother the poor behaved boy she had raised with her actions.  But he never did, honestly too far concerned with his own survival to worry about doing something like that, leading him to be, for the most part, a fairly well behaved kid, flying under the radar.  That is until he joined an outlaw bike gang, of course.

“I’m sure she’d let us get the horses out.  She may be a cut-throat lawyer, but she ain’t a psycho.”  He didn’t know Sawyer well, but he was fairly certain of that.  And as odd as it sounded, that was practically a compliment in Mo’s book.  --- He couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped at Eve’s description of Tori.  But the smile quickly dropped from his face at the woman’s next words, ‘hung out like that’.  “We don’t.” His words were firm, not to be argued with.  Not only was it the truth, but he also didn’t need anyone thinking otherwise, especially guys in the club.  Owen and Tori dated years ago and he didn’t need that smoke.  “I ran into her on the way to get a drink and she was yellin’ at me for not knowing who the hell Duo Leep was when the storm hit.  That’s all.”

[evesyoung]

"Can't fault you there. That's why I make 'em sit over in the gift shop. Gives me a little more control over them -- and, 'sides, half the time these kids are more nervous of disappointing their parents than they are falling off the damn horse. Getting them out of the picture helps with that." Eve could surely relate on that front. Her adoptive parents were saints, the cream of the crop when it came to people who were genuinely kind, but through no fault of their own the brunette found herself constantly working to prove her worth. Perhaps there were other kids that felt the same, that simply needed the space that would allow them to thrive. "Fair," Eve let out a snort, carefully untangling a small section of Ruthie's tail, "better hope we see the smoke ahead of time, then. 'Else we're toast."

Eve couldn't help but roll her eyes at her boss' quip. "I'm just thankful you shower at all." She remarked, gliding the brush through once more before offering the horse a pay on the rear. "Stop what? Talking?" Something akin to a cackle fell from her lips as she considered the idea. "Let me put it this way; if Tori isn't talking, then something is very, very wrong. Or my ears've stopped working. None of which have ever happened." Eve stepped back from the horse, removing her gloves. "She mentioned you helped her out. I didn't realize you two hung out like that."

"I used to, actually." he revealed. "But I couldn't deal with the parents no more. I get more upset with them than the kids." He practically raised himself, yet you didn't see him pullin' stupid shit. So he never understood how kids with parents who'd pay for them to have horse riding lessons ended up as complete and utter fucking shits, and the parents just let it happen. "Sawyer?" he laughed, "Pretty sure she'd as soon let this place burn to the ground than try and save it." He could count the number of times she had been by the ranch since her return to Tonopah on one hand. He didn't blame her. Home was often the first place you ran from. He knew it was, in his case.

"I prefer to call it Eu de Cowboy, but whatever floats your boat." He continued to give the horse in front of him gentle grazes of his hand, working his way to her mane slowly and carefully, knowing she was always fussy about it. "I did. And I pulled that roommate of yours to safety because she was too busy yappin' to pay attention. --- Does that girl ever stop?" While it might seem like a rhetorical question, he was curious. Whenever Tori came up to the ranch, he was tempted to look and see if there was an off button, only 'cause for something to go and go like that, it had to be battery operated.

[evesyoung]

Eve couldn't help but scoff. "Good point." As far as even tempered horses went on the Decker Family Ranch, Ruthie had surely proven to not be one amongst them, which meant that Eve tended to give her more attention on the day to day (whether the old girl wanted it or not). ""Which is why you're not allowed to give lessons -- you'd get us sued to shit," she joked, adding then, "though, maybe Decker's daughter would come in handy in that case." Not that she ever saw the blonde walking amongst the ranch grounds, barely at all even in all her years working there. Frankly, the owners' family dynamics were none of her business. "So, poop. You smell like poop." Eve remarked, smoothing out Ruthie's tail with the brush. "Whatever, Mo. All's I know is you're getting a Bath and Body Works gift card for Christmas now." Or, at least she could re-gift a coupon. "By the way, you end up going to that festival last weekend? I was gonna go with Tori but I got sick, and god am I glad I did. Could barely see out my damn window."

"When is Ruthie not feeling feisty?" he called back as he meandered over to the stall. Without a thought, his hand immediately began to stroke her from forehead to muzzle and back up again, just as she liked it. "If it were me, I'd give those little shits a good kick. Nothin' hard, just a good one to the stomach to knock the wind out of 'em. Don't know why you don't." His words were muttered, more so speaking to Ruthie than to Eve. These horses got more words out of him in a day then some people got from him in months. "S'cause I smell like a barnyard animal, I'm familiar." he shot back. "You on the other hand smell like body wash 'n shit." Words were said with a scoff, as if it was unbelievable.