#i had such a mare with the colouring on the third gif

[charliespoorasshole]

geralt + yennefer: *parent mode activated*

[flysafepapi]

so much to say pt 4

First part here, it won’t make much sense otherwise.

Second part here

Third part here

Warnings: None.

Pairings: Isaiah/Michael, sort of. You’ll see what I mean.

If you want to be tagged in any new installments, let me know!

tagging: @the-makingsofgreatness​

The reason why he's here, and why he seems to be the only one, is still a mystery that he's no closer to solving. Maybe it was the universe's way of giving all of them a second chance, even if the rest of them don't know it, or maybe he's dead and this is his eternal punishment, doomed to relive the same years over and over no matter how many times he tries to change it. He's stopped thinking about why and focused more on what he can do to make sure it doesn't go the way he remembers. It's hard, to act like everything is fine. Everywhere he looks, he sees death, and loss, and pain, in the faces of people he personally saw dead, and broken down.

He spends the rest of the day sitting on the grass near the creek, listening to Michael talk, painfully aware that this one isn't his and still torn about it. The last time he'd seen his Michael, before he'd woken up in whatever this is, he'd been asleep next to him, wearing one of Isaiah's shirts, and he looked perfect. Not that Michael isn't perfect always, in his eyes anyway, but there's something different about seeing him so relaxed and unaware of what waits for them outside the small bedroom. Isaiah knows that, regardless of the time, whether or not he does anything now or watches and waits for the day that Michael comes to him, that he's playing with fire.

If he'd been born someone else, in a dozen different ways, he knows that no one would look twice at them together. You can't change who you are, his dad had told him when he'd finally admitted that his tastes in people ran both ways, and you should never be ashamed of it, but sometimes, he is. Not ashamed, exactly, but aware that it's never going to be accepted. If it's not because they're both male, it's because Michael is white and he's not, and people are always going to look down on him for the colour of his skin.

“This must be different, compared to the city. Quiet.”

“Sometimes the city gets a little too noisy. This is better.”

He doesn’t say that it’s because the city, as it is now, doesn’t have Michael in it. He shouldn’t even be here, because doing everything too fast is bound to backfire on him, but he couldn’t help himself. Even if the boy sitting beside him isn’t the man he remembers, not yet, he still looks exactly like him and just looking at him is calming. 

“If you’re not a runaway, then what brings you this far from home?”

Back in his own time, or the original time, whichever it is, he probably would have been back in their shared apartment by now, sitting and watching Michael trying to cook dinner without burning something, and Michael would frown at him whenever he laughed but it wouldn’t last long. It never did, when he crowds Michael against the wall, or the cupboards, and cups his face in his hands, holding him like he’s something precious. Years, it’d taken Michael to work past the trauma in his past and understand that Isaiah would sooner hurt himself than let anything happen to Michael. When he eventually managed it, those had been the greatest eight months of his life.

“I should be getting back. My father is probably worrying something’s happened to me.” Unlikely, his father is used to him staying at Finn’s house for days at a time by now, but the boy sitting next to him, his Michael but not his Michael, doesn’t need to know that. “Thanks, for spending the day with me.”

“Will I see you again?”

For a second, he’s tempted to tell him everything, about who he really is, and where he comes from, and that he doesn’t know it yet but compared to all the girls Isaiah’s ever been with, Michael is the only one he’s ever loved. He doesn’t. Instead, he shrugs, and says maybe.

Always maybe.

He kicks the mare into motion and doesn’t look back, until he’s at the end of the road. When he does, he sees Michael standing near the hedge around the house, watching him, and has to stop himself from turning back and never leaving again.

[anisanews]

Senegal’s savannah jockey dreams of international glory

NIAGA, Senegal – A head shorter than his peers, Fallou Diop quickly vanishes into the crowd of jockeys preparing for early morning drills in the western Senegalese village of Niaga.

When the racing begins, however, his crouched silhouette is far ahead of the field, aided by an effortless riding style.

“When I start riding I get a bit stressed, but after a moment, it’s over,” Diop says. “At the time of the race, I’m only thinking of victory.”

Diop is one of Senegal’s most promising jockeys, having won the country’s top racing prize when he was just 17. He hopes to begin racing in France next year, realizing a dream coveted by some of Senegal’s foremost riders.

Horses are an integral part of life in Senegal. Horse-drawn buggies are ubiquitous across the country, and over the past 50 years competitive racing has developed into a national pastime.

“It’s a passion in my family,” Diop said. “Since my grandfather we’ve supported horses, then my father after him.”

In villages like Niaga, where Diop lives, horse feed and supply shops line the main roads, and fields are dotted with men on horseback.

Adorned with colourful ceramic tiles on a busy back street, the house Diop shares with 12 family members is getting a new roof thanks to the money from his winnings.

Depending on the number of horses in a race, Diop can earn up to $600 dollars per victory. Average monthly wages in Senegal were estimated at around $180 at the end of 2019.

Diop’s success is a source of pride for his father, who spent much of his life driving a horse and buggy around Niaga. His older brother, who also hoped to be a jockey before a growth spurt got in the way, boasts of Diop’s achievements to visitors.

Fallou Diop, 19, a jockey, holds onto a young mare called Raissa Betty, whom he is currently training to compete with in the future, as they cross a road after a hack along Lac Rose, also known as Lake Retba, in Niaga, Rufisque region, Senegal, January 27, 2021.

Reuters

Fallou Diop, 19, a jockey, prays at the Lambafar stable in Niaga, Rufisque region, Senegal, January 27, 2021.

Reuters

Fallou Diop, 19, a jockey, carries hay to be fed to the horses at the Lambafar stable in Niaga, Rufisque region, Senegal, January 27, 2021.

Reuters

Fallou Diop, 19, a jockey, adjusts another jockey’s saddle as he rides a horse during a training session on a field in Sangalkam, Senegal, January 28, 2021.

Reuters

Fallou Diop, 19, a jockey, rides his horse during a training session on a field in Sangalkam, Senegal, January 28, 2021.

Reuters

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“It’s the elders who taught us everything since we were young, and that’s how I became passionate about horses,” Diop said.

Diop, who has dropped formal schooling, was 12 when he left a tailoring apprenticeship to pursue racing. According to his father, he was so determined that he walked 10 miles to enroll in the nearest training program.

Today, Diop and other jockeys in Niaga are taught by Adama Bao, whose family has maintained a stud farm near the salty shores of Senegal’s Lac Rose for three generations.

“[Diop] is very gifted,” Bao said. “He could compete up to 50 years with his weight and size.”

Bao plans to send Diop to France for three months in early 2022 to race for a French-Senegalese breeder. He would have travelled last year, Bao said, had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Diop’s skills were put to the test at the racetrack in Thiès, Senegal’s third largest city.

Dressed in vibrant yellow and blue, Diop calmly mounted his steed and led it towards the track.

He went on to finish first in three of his five races that day, taking home nearly $1,000 in winnings.

“I want to be the best jockey in a country other than mine,” he said. “In Morocco or France, anywhere there is horse racing.”

from Anisa News https://ift.tt/2OVcPyQ