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Post by Kiersten on Mar 11, 2024 17:50:33 GMT -6
Cosette frowned, raising an eyebrow, she didn’t understand what that meant as she tried to say the words in French in her head. “So, a family member was hurt?” She assumed he might have someone else, relative or even a close friend that was injured, but is that why he stopped?
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Post by Bri on Mar 11, 2024 23:51:23 GMT -6
Silas nodded, quiet for a moment as he thought of his brother and sister in law before sighing, "yeah, before the accident I started coming home more but..." he shook his head, "after my brother and sister-in-law passed away I couldn't bring myself to leave." He admitted to her. Before the accident he had started to settle down, longing for more than the life he had with the rodeo circuit so he'd bought a house in Graymore and spent more time in town and less traveling but when his brother passed he gave it all up completely.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 12, 2024 11:31:56 GMT -6
Cosette’s mouth dropped open when he admitted that his brother and sister-in-law had passed, “I’m sorry,” She didn’t mean to bring up something that might have been painful to remember, she had assumed someone had injured themselves at the rodeo, she didn’t imagine it was a death. She didn’t realize that she had closed the gap between her and Silas and reached out to place her hand on his arm in comfort. “That must have been hard.” She understood though, despite what Henri had done, it was hard for her to leave everything she had ever known.
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Post by Bri on Mar 14, 2024 22:08:36 GMT -6
Silas nodded, hating the way his throat tightened but he refused to let himself shed any tears. He'd done enough of that in his own opinion after late nights with Samuel or his parents. He did look at her when he felt her hand on his arm, his expression a little shaky as he nodded. "Yeah...it was, but we made it through."
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 15, 2024 19:03:26 GMT -6
Cosette frowned and wondered who was in the 'we', but she quickly realized it had to be Samuel, if it was five years ago. “If it’s too painful,” She felt her chest tighten, feeling her own sadness even though she didn’t know his brother and sister-in-law, but if felt similar to her own pain it wasn’t hard to understand how he felt.
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Post by Bri on Mar 16, 2024 17:37:23 GMT -6
Silas looked over at Cosette, the expression and sadness on her face making him freeze, feeling like everything was coming crashing down and hitting him, like the night he had gotten the phone call about his brother. He reached up, resting his hand on hers. "It was hard and it still hurts," he admitted, "but I still have to look after Samuel and I try to focus on the good memories."
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 16, 2024 18:09:20 GMT -6
Cosette couldn’t stop her lips from curling into a smile at his words. “Samuel is very lucy to have you as a dad,” She was sure he looked up to him, and she was glad he had someone, though she couldn’t help but wonder about who his mom was. “If you could go back, would you now?” She wasn’t sure if that would ever be an option, she knew that feeling, since she wasn’t sure she’d be able to compete again. She couldn’t help but realize he still had his hand cover her’s and she pulled away slowly. “Does the desk have files? Maybe it’s in there.” Though she didn’t move, feeling partially odd about going through his desk, and not wanting to move away from the warmth feeling she felt from him.
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Post by Bri on Mar 17, 2024 16:12:35 GMT -6
Silas softened a little, "I hope so." He said, voice a bit softer, he always hoped that he was doing enough for his nephew to give him as good of a life as his parents could have given him. "Back to the rodeo life?" He asked, "maybe, but I don't think I'm made for that roaming life anymore, I like having some roots put down." He said then looked at the desk, ignoring how empty his hand felt without hers under it. "Yeah, those I use a bit a more but there's some cabinets built into the wall." He said, pointing to the space behind the desk where cabinets sat under a window.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 17, 2024 21:24:08 GMT -6
Cosette wondered if she might as well get used to putting roots down, though if Henri found out where she was, she’d have to pick up and move again. To another part of the country, maybe, but she figured they might push her out of the United States, despite how big it was. “So, the cabinets haven’t been touched in a while?” she asked, turning towards them as he pointed them out, figuring she could tackle that since the bookshelf was done and they had found nothing.
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Post by Bri on Mar 17, 2024 23:33:42 GMT -6
"No they haven't." Silas grimaced but felt relief at the change in the subject. He didn't want to talk more about the past and having those feelings dredged back up when he'd done his best to tuck them into neat little packages to be left untouched in the recesses of his mind. "I'll still check the desk, just in case, something could have gotten smashed in there or something." He said, pushing his chair out of the way and starting to go through the drawers.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 18, 2024 19:02:18 GMT -6
“That’s a good idea, any thoughts on what you’d think is important in here?” Cosette asked as she pulled the first drawer forward and found files full of what she assumed were horses that used to stay here. The papers were old, crinkled, stained, and some had turned a little grayer somehow and she wondered if they were supposed to keep records for so long.
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Post by Bri on Mar 18, 2024 21:47:27 GMT -6
"Uh....there at least should be records of the horses, including their medical history." Silas said, at least that's how they were labeled and that where he had shoved in the new files. He turned to look at the drawer she had opened, grimacing slightly, "obviously there are a lot of files that we don't need to keep. I do have an updated list of current horses...." he trailed off, opening a thinner drawer at the top of the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper, brandishing it like some great treasure, "here!"
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 18, 2024 22:24:48 GMT -6
“I’m just going to close this one,” Cosette figured at least if someone needed the paperwork, it was here. She opened the next drawer and had no idea what was all inside. It seemed random, just papers sticking out everywhere, a book that probably belonged on the shelf, dust and dirt in every corner. “Oh..” She grimaced to herself before she grabbed the first file and started digging through, fining receipts from years ago.
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Post by Bri on Mar 18, 2024 23:01:01 GMT -6
Silas chuckled, shaking his head but couldn't stop himself from turning around in his desk chair he had sat in without thinking. With the way they were positioned Cosette was eye level with his knees and was almost between them but Silas was too concerned about what she had found to notice the position they were in. "What? Did you find something saying this is a front for some kind of embezzlement scam?" He joked.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 19, 2024 20:14:33 GMT -6
Cosette turned to tell him what she had found and caught herself staring at his crotch for two seconds before realizing it. “Oh, um. Old Receipts. I… think you can toss them.” She said, turning back to the file quickly, not wanting him to think she was staring at a certain spot, even if she had been.
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Post by Bri on Mar 19, 2024 20:36:34 GMT -6
Silas, oblivious to how they were positioned or whatever she was looking at, leaned in a little closer to get a better look at the the drawer she had opened. "Those look ancient, we should probably get rid of them," he nodded, "I think Aleah told me I only need to keep staff back from like, five years I think." He told her, finally leaning back to look at the ever growing trash pile. "I'm gonna need to have a bonfire to get rid of all this." He joked.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 20, 2024 19:39:42 GMT -6
Cosette felt the air around her grow warmer when he leaned in closer and part of her wanted to lean back immediately. Her heart pounded with the thought of leaning towards him instead, and wondered what he would do if she did, but she stayed where she was. “You going to cook uh, marshmallows on it?” she asked, smiling big at the idea of having a bonfire, which she knew the school had done them in the past, and she couldn’t help but hope they’d continue this.
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Post by Bri on Mar 20, 2024 21:55:21 GMT -6
"Well yeah, you can't have a bonfire without marshmallows." He chuckled, "and hot dogs too." He added, thinking he could take the papers back home and get the boys together as well as Thomas and his girls if they wanted-though he doubted the youngest would want to be part of something like that. Briefly he thought of Sunny and how...weird it felt to not see the couple together. His hand drifted back and he rubbed his neck, "it could be a fun night, I haven't done a bonfire in a while."
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 21, 2024 19:28:48 GMT -6
Cosette smiled at the thought of drinking around a fire, finding it slightly romantic, though she figured she could set a fire in her own fireplace, if she had wood to burn. She started shifting through another file and held up a piece of paper that made her heart race. “I think I found it.” She said softly, wanting to look it over again to make sure, but there it was. The barn, practice rings, and trails all drawn on several pieces of paper, and the lengths of them as well.
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Post by Bri on Mar 22, 2024 21:54:57 GMT -6
When she didn't respond Silas got back to looking through the desk, frowning at a few things that he pulled out, most ending up in the ever growing trash pile. He felt like he was making some good progress when he heard Cosette from the her area, turning to look at her with a curious expression on his face. "Really?" He asked, feeling like they got really lucky if they had ended up actually finding it.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 22, 2024 23:00:33 GMT -6
Cosette moved towards him again, ignoring the pounding heart in her chest as she held out the paper to him. “It shows everything.” She pointed out, happy to know since they could also set up stalls along the barn and wouldn’t have to figure out how to measure the area. She thought about also offering tours of the barn, maybe even demonstrations from other students performing before the actual tournament as a form of entertainment.
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Post by Bri on Mar 23, 2024 23:13:51 GMT -6
Silas slowly took the paper from her and looked at it, eyebrows raising a little as he looked at it. "This is...amazing." He said, wondering if they could get a copy made since this one was so old and he'd hate for it get ruined. He rubbed his chin with his free hand as he considered it when something caught his eye, making him frown. "Now that's strange." He said softly, more to himself.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 24, 2024 10:35:51 GMT -6
Cosette felt happiness rush through her at the fact that they had found what they were looking for, though she frowned along with him when he noticed something. “What is it?” she asked, not knowing what he found since it all looked normal to her, she couldn’t see anything that was out of the ordinary. She leaned next to him, reading the piece of paper in his hand, still unable ot see what he was seeing.
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Post by Bri on Mar 24, 2024 15:48:18 GMT -6
Silas shook his head, angling the map so that she could see it better but with her so close his chest tightened a little at the smell of her shampoo from the hair tickling his skin. He cleared his throat and pointed out an extra line that seemed to stretch out from the fields and curled up into the higher hills that bordered the land used for the trails and field, this line seeming to come to a stop at one of the higher hills. "This looks like a trail but I don't think I've ever seen it."
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 24, 2024 17:00:44 GMT -6
Cosette stared down at the map, following the line he had pointed out, wondering if it was just the property line, but there was a small note at the beginning that was blurred from how old it was or maybe water damage. “Well, we could take the trail and see.” She suggested, shrugging her shoulders, and figured they could eat their picnic at the end.
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Post by Bri on Mar 24, 2024 18:14:43 GMT -6
"We could," Silas agreed but the new trail was still bothering him. "Unless it's overgrown, I haven't seen any hint of this trail since being here." He said, racking his brain for anyway he could have missed a potential trail and wondered if it would be better to take the side by side or four wheeler out to investigate instead of the horses.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 24, 2024 18:58:09 GMT -6
“Well then we can set up a day to spend clearing it if it’s overgrown, maybe make it a trail again,” Cosette said, not seeing what the issue was that there was suddenly a trail. It had probably just been lost to time with how many people have taken on this job, the barn being rebuilt and so on. She put the rest of the file back into the drawer before pulling out another, figuring they might as well finish the job of clearing out the office even after they found what they wanted.
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Post by Bri on Mar 24, 2024 20:02:43 GMT -6
Silas nodded, still wondering how he could have missed something like that. "I like the idea of that," he said, thinking it had been a while since he'd had a project to do around the place. "I wonder if this is the only map or if there's copies of it somewhere in here." He said, propping the map against the computer monitor then went back to digging through what else was in the desk drawers.
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Post by Kiersten on Mar 24, 2024 20:24:24 GMT -6
“If it’s a lot of work we can bring in some students to help,” Cosette knew Shannon wouldn’t be a fan of helping, but she’d promise her something, though she wasn’t sure what. She put the file she had been holding back in its place, picking up another, “I haven’t found one yet, but there’s a copy machine in my classroom.” She offered, thinking they could make a few copies, she could keep one in her desk in there in case they lost it.
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Post by Bri on Mar 24, 2024 20:51:40 GMT -6
Silas nodded but a frown pulled at his lips, "that depends on how over grown it is, if it's going to need power tools Aleah won't let it fly to have students help." He explained but figured they could cross that bridge when it came to it. He finished going through his drawers and turned to Cosette, "what's left to go through?"
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