Side-story: A fond farewell

...Remember this?  ^^
Well, I couldn't just let chelissima's dear Simon leave the Zdarloch grounds without a proper farewell, now could I?  
So here goes my checklist:
   - Make Yelyzaveta look like a confused giraffe
   - Fail at drawing chelissima's Simon
   - Phuong should look like a kid. No Zoub, trust me, it'll be great.
   - DIDO THE DOG, INCLUDE DIDO THE DOG FOR ONCE
   - Make Annie look like an evil queen plotting to overturn the world
   - Make Andy look like a total jerk. The kind who drives recklessly and flips you the finger for not accomodating his reckless driving needs.
   - Heck, make Azaria look like a jerk too! But the insists-on-playing-music-without-headphones-in-public-places kind of jerk.
   - Just to mess you all up even further, how about a Kaisa-smile?
   - Make Connor look more evil than Annie
(= Aka Zoub tries to make a cute scene; makes it look like some kind of shady business deal instead :'D  whoops. )

...actually, all my kids look kinda... evil? Imma start calling them the The Zlesdin Mafia, heh.
Also YES, Andy is totally wearing that orange scarf on purpose - fling it over one shoulder like Con is doing and he'd essentially be wearing that Leukemia Awareness ribbon, heh :'D //zoubtriestobeclever
ALSO also, I am totally amused by the height/build difference between Phuong and Con, haha.


..anyway. Here's a continuation of chelissima's and my li'l storyline/stable interaction. Continued (ish) from Che's:





Story
Again, this takes place immediately before my Season 1 storyline ^^  


It was a bitterly cold morning despite the spring sun's valiant attempts at poking through the syrupy candy floss-like expanse of clouds above. Every so often a ray of golden light burst through the green overhang of early spring leaves to dapple the cobbles at the stable yard in sunlight, and every so often it was a short burst of rain that found its way through the branches instead. 
A drop of such fell on Dido's nose - the dog shook her head which eventually turned to a full-body shake once more droplets drizzled onto the brown fur.
,,Shake it, girl!" Azaria yelled as she approached, which caused the dog to immediately cease her shaking activities and instead return to her previous occupation of sitting guard next to her master.
,,You shake it!" Andrzej yelled back, quite obviously joking.
,,Don't encourage her," Connor spoke deadpan. ,,She will only embarrass herself."
,,Bold words from a guy who can't hold his liquor."
Andrzej's remark hit home like an arrow to the mark and granted him exactly the response he had intended. Azaria snorted a short laughter while Connor folded his face into something intended as offended, but which very clearly bore the characteristics of amusement. Not allowing Connor the time to reply with one of his infamous dry-wit retorts, Andrzej pressed the next question:
,,You have one hell of a hangover, don't ya?"
A scoff and a shrug.
,,What gave me away?"
,,Frankly, Con, you look as if you're either about to die or down to kill a guy. And since I'm soon to be the only other guy around here, I figured I'd address the matter before you start getting any ideas, zrozumiano?"
,,Eh?"
,,Figured as much! ...zrozumiano, eh, ''understood'? 'Farshteynst?'
,,It's 'farshteyst', but yep, I get the general idea. Absolutely. I promise to dispose of your corpse in the most environmentally safe way possible." Connor sent his boss a smile that somehow came across as both insolent and courteous at the same time. 
,,You're one to talk, though," he continued after a while. ,,You look a bit worn yourself, old chap."
Andrzej shrugged at that.
,,Just didn't catch much of my sorely-needed beauty sleep. Kinda feel as if I tumbled down a flight of stairs, and I don't even have a hangover to blame."
,,Hmm," Connor thought on that for a bit. ,,Caught a cold, have you?"
,,Probably."
Azaria had been half-way paying attention to their conversation and decided to join in:
,,Both of you look terrible; it's nothing out of the ordinary, boys."
The familiar sound of iron-shod hooves against cobblestones got their attention and Simon Carr, the visitor from Central Autumn Stud, arrived on the scene. He was accompanied by Phuong with whom he was currently speaking, and the silver bay mare Yelyzaveta on a lead behind him. The mare was all tacked up and ready to be loaded into the waiting trailer - the trip back to their home stable in Canada was a lenghty journey, but hopefully it would be a comfortable one.
,,Sad to see you leave so soon," Azaria smirked at Simon. ,,I didn't even have time to come up with an inappropriate nickname for you!"
,,I... guess that's my luck," Simon answered with an edge of nervous hesitation - he was still mildly scared of Azaria and her abrasive manners.
,,You have inappropriate nicknames for all of us?" Phuong asked to relieve the pressure on Simon somewhat.
Azaria gave a shrug.
,,What a question. 10 points to whoever guesses who 'Snout' is."
Connor sighed loudly.
,,I hate you."
,,Hah! Snout is the dog. But hey, if you wanna insult yourself, be my guest."
Annie and Kaisa joined the group that were there to see Simon off. While Simon was still overwhelmed by the presence of everyone at once, he was visibly more relaxed now than compared to his first day at the stables... well, somewhat. Kaisa still held an intimidating air, but today at least she made an effort of trying to smile - granted, her smile was no less terrifying than her regular expression, but Simon supposed it was the thought that really counted.
,,Before you leave, Simon --" Annie interjected. ,,We have a small parting gift for you - Phuong, if you please?"
Phuong sent Simon a brief smile before dashing off to fetch something. Simon, meanwhile, nervously fidgeted with the blue lead rope attached to Yely's halter. The mare seemed unimpressed with having to wait around in the stable yard, but she tolerated the stalling.. for now.
Phuong returned with something draped across her arm.
,,It's a sha-dez," she explained with a smile a presented the special piece of tack to Simon. ,,A traditional Zlesdin collar we commissioned custom made for Yely."
,,Inspired by your shirt." Andrzej added with a smirk.
Simon fought the overwhelming urge to flourish into a full-on blush. He hid his overawe by looking down at his shirt - the same AC/DC shirt he had worn on the day he arrived - and studied the Sha-dez Phuong was holding up. 
How he managed to make sense as he thanked his hosts for their gift was beyond him, but somehow it worked. 
Further pleasantries were exchanged although they eventually turned to farewell greetings:
,,Simon - I will refrain from making jokes at your expense, since I feel we should part ways on a good note." Andrzej said with his usual smile.
,,Trust me, Simon; coming from Andy that's a very generous concept!" Phuong grinned.
,,Next time stay a bit longer," Connor smiled amiably at the guest. ,,And, ah, bring a dressage saddle."
,,Or next time we'll have to come to Canada." Phuong mused - and with 'we' she probably meant 'I'.
,,I'm sure you're more than welcome," Simon smiled back. 
Eventually Yely grew tried of waiting and started tugging on the rope - that meant it was time to go. Simon left the Zdarloch grounds shortly after and started his long trek back to Central Autumn Stables.

The car and trailer disappeared from the tree-lined driveway and was gone - it was back to everyone's normal routine. Azaria checked her list of spring-time chores and stumbled across one particular point - fixing up the paddocks.
,,Connor, old boy, old chap," she addressed her friend with the kind of joviality Connor had long since learnt meant she wanted something - the answer came readily:
,,How would you like to help me with some paddock-checking?"
,,Not particularly," Connor sighed but knew it was a lost battle beforehand. ,,This hangover is killing me."
,,Not today - I was thinking Sunday. Sunday's cool, yeah?" 
,,Sunday's my day off and--"
,,Great! It's settled then. They promised it'll be sunny like a real spring day. What a concept, right?"




...and from here we can actual make a direct transition to episode 1, lol: 1.1: One terrible phonecall 
Circle complete ^^



Yes, there are hints about Season 2 here.






Simon Carr and CAS Yelyzaveta belong to chelissima
Phuong, Annie, Andy, Azaria, Kaisa, Connor and Dido the dog reside with me
Ground texture: cgtextures
Background is an abused and blurred photo :'>