Into the light

WOOOO!

This took forever But I am so proud of it!

Story is out of order - there needs to be a plot picture put up to explain the stuff about Karina and Aaron and what he said at the barn dance. Because that cliff hanger hasn't been hanging for long enough as it is

Anyhow, this is Jemima Martins riding BH Punk Drunk in *Littlehorselover's showjumping event.

Training for this event is here - [link]

Jump and arena design are by *Littlehorselover, Punk's original design is by ~x-spirantcougar-x, and the art is all by moi

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Jemima shivered. It was unhealthily cold today.
It had been unseasonably warm for the past few weeks, with temperatures you'd expect in September rather than November, and she'd got used to riding wearing just a woollen jumper rather than the all-weather jacket she usually wore at this time of year. So it wasn't actually unhealthily cold, just unhealthily cold if you were riding in one of the outdoor schools wearing just a t-shirt and an old cashmere sweater.
That said, her jacket was still packed up in a box in Marion and Jason's house. Almost all of her clothes were, along with shoes, jewellery, stuffed animals, photos... everything.
She hated living at the B&B now. It had been fun at first, having her breakfast made for her, coming home to her little room in the evenings, chatting to Mrs P about the day's events. But now? All that she thought about was how much it was costing her, how she could only have breakfast between 7.30am and 8.30am, how she had to be home before 10.30 or the door would be locked, how much she missed her freedom.
There was another option. Despite what Aaron had said at the barn dance, she didn't want to move into Karina's house or impose on Aaron and his girlfriend, so that wasn't the option. The option was the bedsit.
Bedsit was probably an unkind way of looking at it, as it did have a kitchen and bathroom as well. It was just a tiny, dingy little studio flat on the outskirts of Brighton in an ex-council block with a lift that smelt distinctly of cigarettes and dog wee. Or at least she hoped it was dog wee.
She shivered again at the thought and Punk reacted immediately, tossing his head and dancing sideways from the nice tidy line she'd set him up on for the oxer she'd set up.
"It's the only option, isn't it?" she said quietly as she straightened the stallion up and tried to collect him enough that he wouldn't jump it flat.
He did jump it flat, and sent the top poles flying. That was enough of a comment as it was.


"So.. this is nice.."
"Shut up, Aaron. You saw it before I even moved in," Jemima replied with a tired smile.
"I know. But it was empty then. With furniture it's even smaller," he said with a broad grin, before slapping the tall girl on the back.
She tried to smile back, but all she could do was grimace miserably and pour herself another glass of wine. It was probably a good thing that Jason couldn't make the housewarming, she thought as she glanced at her guests. It was cramped enough as it was with Aaron, Marion, Charlie and Jim. Tom and Emily ought to be coming a little later and there actually wouldn't be enough room for them. She was interrupted from her train of thought by Charlie mincing over and clinking glasses (or in his case, a mug) with her.
"You ready for the weekend?"
"Hmm?"
"Slovenia! You remember that, right?" he replied with a laugh.
"Oh.. yes."
Aaron scrunched his face up and shook his head at that, seriously doubting her reply.
"What! I do remember, ok, just thinking about things."
"Pfff, whatever. Just remember that we're flying out tomorrow afternoon, ok? And that you're riding Punk. And remember your show gear."

She did remember everything. As she was warming Punk up, she kept trying to convince herself that her life had hit a turning point - everything was getting better, wasn't it? Except she'd forgotten to bring a vest, and was shivering under her shirt and the light jacket Aaron had bought her for the OVEC event back at the beginning of the summer.
It might be getting better. She hoped it was, anyway.