The company of animals is always a great one [end]

Annie bit her lip out of guilt, but laughed that she was distracting him from what he should be doing but he didn't seem to mind. "If you're sure." She nodded as he left. "Fair enough. Your true favorite color is of the utmost importance," she chuckled. Annie lay back on the grass again, closing her eyes. Dusk came over to cuddle, and Annie stroked her head gently, murmuring the occasional 'who's a good girl? yes you are' and 'such a sweet puppy' and whatnot as she did so. She wondered how long he'd be gone, although she was content enough to lie under the sun in the grass with animals all around her. For the time being, she just enjoyed the familiarity of the quiet and thought about nothing. It's such a lovely day.

Soon enough, Derald was returning triumphant with medical supplies. Annie sat up again to wave at him, smiling and awaiting his anwer. He started to try to treat the cuts on her hands, which was extremely polite. :Thanks, but I can do that myself, you know," she pointed out, even though her hand was extended to he could put medical supllies on more easily.. He responded and Leda nodded, "Orange. A wise choice," she said, feaning forward. "So you're the kind of guy who likes sunsets?" She shrugged. "Makes sense." Annie smiled at him, thnking of how adorable his confusion over favorite colors was. "Favorite food? Hm... hard to choose, but I'm partial to raspberries, I must say, although I do love sugary breakfast food." Annie stretched, pulling her left arm over to her right and then switching. "Hmm... let's see... how old are you? I'm 17, almost 18 myself."

Annie smiled at his continued distrust of her assessment of him as a sunsetty-kinda-guy. "I don't know. Optimistic, I guess. Bright. Like... the sun's going down, but you know it's gonna come right back up again soon enough, because that's just what it does," she tried to explain, getting lost in her words. "I have no idea what I'm talking about, to be honest. It's really just a general sense of sunsettyness, you know?" Annie chuckled as she watched Dusk play with flowers. She's such a cutie. He said he'd forgotten what raspberries looked like and her eyes widened. "That sucks; they're quite lovely. I'll have to take you out to our old house some time. Uh... they're small and red and sweet and kind of soft and delicate, I guess. A little juicy, almost... hm... cone-shaped. They'll fit on the tip of your finger like little hats, and they're made of little tiny near-spherical cell things... you must have the weirdest mental image right now, sorry," she apologized. Raspberries were more difficult to describe than she'd expected, and she realized she probably sounded like a total idiot. Annie noticed that he seemed touched by her wishing him a happy birthday, which made her wonder if he hadn't been told that a whole lot, at least this year. She figured if he had taken place during the games, though, he and his friends and family would have had bigger things to worry about. She nodded at his mention that passing the age limit for the Games was coming up soon. "Thanks," she said with a smile. It wasn't something she really thought about all the time. It was always just hovering over her head like an anvil that she generally tried to ignore. Luckily, her family had avoided them so far, but there was a fairly large chance that one day one of her siblings would go in, just because of the sheer number.

Annie put the thought out of her mind and laughed when he pointed out that she fell off a horse and was clearly not graceful. "Exactly." He finished patching her up and she examined her hands, which seemed to be doing better. "Thanks. Really. It's sweet that you care," she teased, and ran a bandaged hand through her hair to see if it hurt, which it didn't. "That's much better." He added that he had no middle name and she shrugged. "Well, it suits you." It registered in her brain that she'd spent the whole day with him and that she should probably be home soon, but she wasn't too bothered. She didn't want to keep Tess waiting, though. He asked what she liked and Annie pondered this for a second before replying. "I like horse riding, too, actually... usually it goes better than my performance today, so don't judge by that. I like to make breakfast, so we'll see how those omlettes go, and... well... like I kinda said, giving advice." Annie realized all the things she'd mentioned had already been brought up. "So I guess I've got nothing more to offer. That's cool that you play guitar, though. I've never seen a real one up close. One time my brother tried to make one out of wood and some wire, but it only made one horrible note and he would play it all the time. I guess it sounded like a real one to him." She laughed. "But I bet you're great at guitar. Hmm, next question... any significant other? Boyfriend, girlfriend, whateverfriend?" Annie asked casually. "The answer's pretty obvious for me, since you are essentially the first person my age I've spoken to for more than five minutes at a time outside of my family, like, ever. So, uh, not even close."

Annie nodded at the idea that the next time they ride, she should try a different horse. "I don't think she likes me that much." He asked if she was a certified psychiatrist and she laughed. "No, not even close. But the guitar thing sounds great." She raised an eyebrow at his explanation of his marital status and that his dog and he were going through a divorce, apparently. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure you two were a lovely couple," she said with a playful smile, adorable images of dog weddings on her mind. He mentioned farm chores and she solemnly shrugged, looking up at the sky and watching the sun start to set. "Yeah, I guess we should probably go." Annie had enjoyed their time in the fields and didn't want to go, but she had to put some of the animals to bed and she was kind of tired. Besides, she didn't want to keep him.

Derald suggested she ride Sephy again, and she eyed the horse warily. "You're trying to get me killed, aren't you?" she chuckled, taking a step closer to Sephy. "Well... can't hurt, right?" she teased with a touch of sarcasm, lifting her hands to emphasize the cuts he'd bandaged up. "I'm kidding, of course I'd love to try riding her again if she doesn't mind." Annie stroked the horse gently, staying in her range of vision she wouldn't get spooked but making it clear she wasn't trying to invoke a fight for dominance. Derald asked her a somewhat vague question and she paused, puzzled. "What do you mean? Are you a mass murderer who I should recognize from WANTED posters or something? Do you lure people onto your horse and then have her injure them repeatedly? Because we didn't get many posters out at my old house," Annie joked, poking him lightly on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "But yeah, we should do this again sometime. For breakfast, guitars, raspberries, venting, dogs, riding, whatever. And I should probably branch out as well, try to make these so-called 'friends', pshhh." She stood next to Sephy, preparing to hoist herself up onto the horse. She called the corgis with a shrill whistle and they bounded over, well rejuvenated from their little dogpile nap and ready to follow the procession home.

Annie rode for a little while on Sephy until they were out of the fields. She looked down at Derald. "You sure you don't want to switch off? I feel bad that you ended up walking the whole way," she apologized with a laugh. "But, uh..." Annie paused, far from excited about the words she knew she had to say next. "My place is over this way," she said at last, gesturing off in the distance. "Not far, of anything. Definitely walking distance, and I'd hate to tire Miss Sephy out too much..." Annie hoped Derald kind of got the message. She was pretty sure that when he'd left to get bandages he'd gone off in the opposite direction, and it was getting to be time to head home. "Sorry, I'm bad with goodbyes, even simple ones, apparently. Never really had to do any before." Annie giggled and tucked her hair behind her ears for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past few hours. "Until next time, I guess..." she trailed off, carefully dismounting from Sephy. "Annie Gallagher, about 800 meters yonder. Keep in touch?" She shrugged and patted Sephy lightly on the neck. As she turned to leave, Annie smiled and Derald and waved goodbye. "See you soon."