Content Liberation

---

Follows after: 

(there is a summary underneath; for all your quick read needs) 

    Riding under Pemberley's name came with a whole different set of standards. Whereas, RidgeRunner was much more lax and “play at your own pace”, Pemberley, however, had specific expectations from each rider. The luxurious quality of life on Pemberley's grounds didn't come free.
     Chris expected the training and amount of riding that was demanded. That was a no brainer. It was what he was here to do. He didn't expect to have to ride as many horses from Pemberley's stock, a hail back to when Tristan used to make him ride all the dumb horses before Chris bought his own and never came back for more. But he could get through them well enough so he could get back on his own to keep polishing up. While Jax was getting closer and closer to being a respectable mount, the others still needed more refinement in their own rights.
    The riding aspect was easy. Having to also attend clinics and seminars was more annoying but they did prove useful so long as he just went through the motions. Some of them felt so mundane and unnecessary to sit through; counting strides, slicing fences, various forms of collection, etc. etc. At the least, he could get exposure for his horses by attending with them.
    Riding, clinics, seminars: not really a problem. The hardest adjustment didn't come from anything to do with horses. Not even feeling isolated, not knowing anyone around. No, Chris could remedy that fairly easily too. He wasn't a complete rattlesnake and could make acquaintances fairly easy, picking out the competent people to be around. He had learned and honed his talent for faked charisma eons ago at the fancy dinners his mother and father would attend throughout his childhood. Smile and charm was easy. His social life wasn't in dire need of attention.
    It was the damn workout regimen he was expected to carry out. He had to look that over in the contract a good six or seven times, trying to find anything in there about it being optional or some kind of recommendation, not a requirement. Exercise. Regular, sweat inducing, heart pumping, lung shriveling exercise. Fuck. That was the absolute hardest transition.
    Chris wasn't “out of shape”. He was fit to ride. He was not fit to run on a treadmill for half an hour or lift weights heavier than a bale of hay from one end of the aisle to the other. Fuck. It took weeks to figure out if he wanted to wake up early and knock it out of the way as soon as possible or shove it into the evening, dreading to step into the private gym. Fuck. Absolute misery.
    But it wasn't enough to make him reconsider taking the position. No, even though he despised having to peel off a sweaty shirt and crawl into a cold shower, he still felt better here than he had back at home in a decade. Sure, he had eyes on him here too but nothing like at home. Here, he had something to prove. At home, he felt stuck under the shadow of his dad.

    Chris sighed atop the rhythmic canter from Jax. He adjusted his sunglasses as he pulled the stud down to a walk, letting him stretch out and catch his breath. He hadn't really talked to anyone back at home since he left. Texted his mom that everything was fine and he was settled in but further than that, not really. As he looked out across the sun setting over the ocean, he realized that maybe for the first time in… he couldn't even remember, he felt like calling his dad. He wouldn't even know where he was at right now, didn't know the show he was attending or the horse he was riding. Hm.
    Scrolling through his contacts, it wheeled too far down. Before he could scroll back up, he saw a name that snuffed out the warm and fuzzies. Fang. He had resisted contact thus far. Why? Because there was no reason to say anything? Clearly there was if every time he saw his name or thought of him - there was something underlying here nagging at Chris’s sanity. So he kept asking himself, why? What did he still want to say? Sorry? Are you okay? Did he deserve to know? He had been pretty clear he didn’t want Fang in his life. If anything, this was the first time Fang was really doing what he asked of him, no questions asked.
    “Goddammit, Fang,” Chris muttered and swiped the number to call. He just wasn’t getting this out of his head until he did something. Everything else about his life was moving on! Just had to figure out why this was the hang up…
    “The number you have dialed-”
    Chris lowered the phone and hung up. Straight to voicemail. Okay. Chris accepted this as his clear cut refusal from Fang. There was letting a call go until it naturally ended and then there was hanging up immediately. Two entirely different modes of ghosting.
    Okay.
    Chris looked up from his phone, tucking it away. That was that. As anticlimactic as it had been, that was the closure Chris was looking for. Any kind of sign. Message received. He was a lousy dickhead that told him to fuck off and he did. Case closed. Picking up the reins and pushing Jax into a trot, Chris felt liberated to pull his focus back in. He was free. He and his dad could move forward with their lives, he was out to make his debut as a rider under Pemberley’s name, Fang was cut out clean, Jax wasn’t being a moron - eager to get jumping, but under control, and Chris felt the dawn of a new day through the dusk of today.  
    “Don’t fuck this up for me, mkay?” He muttered to Jax, bouncing into a peppy canter. Contempt lurked where content settled. Chris smirked anyway. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like he was going to dread this round of jumping to end. There wasn’t anything waiting on his plate afterwards. It was just him, the course, and the dumb grey horse flying over the warmup jumps like they were two feet taller.
    No, maybe there was something waiting for him. Maybe he would make that call to home, after all.


(1064 wordcount)


tldr summary;
--Chris is settling into the routine of riding for Pemberley
--he has to do clinics and seminars and ride Pemberley horses
--he has to go to the gym and exercise
--this is disturbing terrible news
--he tried to call Fang and got rejected. Ouch. 
--moving on with life~ 

Previous: Early Retirement || Next: TBA

---

Long time no see Jax! <''3 Good to get him back out and jumping the jumps! He's been busy in the background, don't you worry lol He's been busy along with Chris and his new work routine! Hooray regular schedules~ Booooo frequent exercise. Still grinding to get Fangopher back. Don't think I'm giving up.  

For the jump, I went with "Miami Cyberpunk" as my initial inspiration xD I was like Light on the beach, it's in Florida, let's get some neons up in here and cool glowy water~ Two months later.... Woof, I watch ed a few cityscape tutorials just to get myself started and I'm so glad I started WAAAAAAY back in July(?) Maybe June xD There's well over 30 hours in this thing, might be 40, idk I didn't watch the progress video back yet xD I need to scrape this from my brain for a bit before I can look back on it :''D 
Glad I got through it! Did end up enjoying it after one meltdown crisis part of the way through it when all that I had left to do and the time I had left felt impossible. But I slapped my ass through it. Was gonna wait to post it closer to the date but I just need to get it out there and stop sitting on it xD 

GOOD TO HAVE MY BOYS BOINGING AROUND <3  

Chris/Jax/Dave/Fang/Art © Drasayer 
Pemerley Park © decors 
Tristan © Saoradh 
No specific refs for lads, cyberpunk city, or beach vibes~ 


Procreate/PhotoshopCS6