//------------------------------// // 7 - Investigations // Story: Dawn the Derby Horse // by Meadow_Dawn //------------------------------// Jarod Pepper was mildly annoyed. Erin had been ignoring his calls now, and while he knew that his attention should be on his brat of a daughter and having some harsh reality lessons for her, Erin and their mystery horse ate at his business instinct. The idea that they raced was of little concern, he could benefit just as much from gambling proceeds as he could from having Victoria win the race. No, what bothered him was the opportunity that a new horse with unprecedented abilities was right under his nose and waiting to have its potential untapped. He considered reporting this directly to some of the government agencies, but that wouldn’t help him in the slightest and would hurt any possibilities of garnering profit from the situation. He needed that horse, and more importantly, foals from them to profit from their sale and their offspring overall. It would be hard to do that if it was locked away or worse, dissected for some reason. He also knew he was on a timer, because it was only going to be a matter of time before zoologists and other biologists took interest in her unusual nature and the payments from research grants or to purchase her outright will come. A knock came to the door and he called, “Come in.” A darker skinned man in a business-casual outfit opened the door and walked in, his dark hair only serving to make his blue eyes stand out, even more than the gold watch on the wrist that supported his briefcase. “Nice to see you again Mr. Pepper.” He said as he set the briefcase down on the chair and offered his hand for a shake. “Good to see you too. What do you have for me on Erin Gothard?” Jarod asked, getting straight to the point. He had told this investigator that he had concerns about the experiments being done on the horse and wanted to potentially establish a case to recover and ‘treat’ the animal back to health. It was the cheapest option and let him gather more information. “Nothing out of the ordinary beyond how she had gained her GED at 16, yet still attended school until recently. Much of what they do is standard fare for any person who owns and rides horses... save one thing.” He said, opening up the briefcase and pulling out a stack of printed photos, setting them on the desk. He slid the topmost one out from under the rubber bands that kept the stack together and held it out. “What do you make of this?” Jarod took the picture and gave it a casual glance at first. The land was nothing special, and the stable was mildly rundown but serviceable. “There’s something about it if you’re having me see it first.” Jarod said, using it to prompt more information out of his investigator. The P.I. snorted and then said, “It’ll be more clear when you see this.” Jarod saw him drop a new photo on the desk, and it showed the same nondescript stable for the horses, except there was a lime green light that hit the top of the wood. “Okay, they had a light on in one of the stables.” “It was a flash of light that lasted a second and rolled around like flame.” he answered. “Interesting... so a brief chemical fire?” “That’s the best guess... until you see this.” He said, pulling out another picture from earlier in the investigation. Jarod looked and hummed. It was the same shed, same land, almost same perspective, but showed the horse in the stable, head poking out the window. “What do you make of it?” Jarod asked. “I think it’s an experimental animal or in danger from improper care from this.” “At this rate, while interesting, we don’t have enough for a valid case for endangerment and need more solid evidence for mistreatment.” The P.I. answered, “Having said that, I do know that the subject is already planning on attending the medieval faire for the area as one of the performers and according to a few of the people there, they’re bringing the horse with them. We can do more inspections for signs of abuse or chemicals on their fur then.” “Well, that’s something at least. I’ll have to see them there in a few days then.” Jarod said before pulling out the payment for the P.I’s services. “Something tells me we might not have much more work to do before I can act.” The P.I. nodded and took the payment before leaving. Jarod hummed, looking at the pictures that were left for his recordkeeping on this ‘case.’ He had wondered if something was going on, and experiments on the animal would make a degree of sense, but she didn’t have the education for that, and as far as the P.I. had discovered, she didn’t have the horse for much more than a few months. It couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere... A chime from his phone reminded him of a business lunch meeting with one of his partner companies, and someone he knew who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Perhaps he could mention this to them, though if they got too much interest beyond what he’d be willing to pay Erin for securing the horse, they might keep it for themselves. Maybe he should keep it to himself a little longer… ===== Dawn rode in the trailer for the truck in her horse form, their human equipment being stored in the wooden trunk at the front of the trailer. Erin was driving them both to the faire early. It opened to the public at 8am, but they aimed to be there at 6, just to prepare. Dawn was barely awake, sleeping on her hooves as Erin drove. Meanwhile, Erin was as cheerful as a decent sized coffee would let a normal person be. ‘It figures that I, the ‘pet’ am matched with an owner that is an early morning person... though I shouldn’t be surprised, farmers and ranchers always did have that reputation.’ Dawn thought, recognizing her body was still almost asleep. Despite having adjusted to keeping a relatively active mind even in sleep for maintaining her hive at any time, her body still required proper sleep in order to heal, relieve stress, and otherwise help her mind function effectively. They pulled into their staff parking area and Erin got everything unloaded before helping Dawn out of the trailer. The tent they had was a general white fabric tent, secured well by cord and deep wooden stakes. They walked inside and put everything away, enjoying a small break and breakfast in the tent. Their practice runs last week confirmed that she could retreat to this tent to transform out of sight, since no one but employees could go to this area, and then they would go to their stall where they would meet and greet other members and visitors in their roles as Lady Erin and her druid, who happens to be nice enough to offer rides occasionally. Dawn was going to be selective on who would ride her. No one too overweight, just for safety concerns for both herself and the ‘rider,’ and if she stopped and stomped her front hooves at someone who is being belligerent or inappropriate, hitting her too hard or the like, she was done and the free ride was over. As much as Erin wanted Dawn to be a unicorn, Dawn was adamant that she would not allow that to take place. It added too much risk if someone could find out that it was part of her, and it was still fairly sensitive should someone try to break or pull it off. She confessed it had broken once and it was a miracle that it could be fixed. She would not risk it breaking again. Erin finished feeding them both, having learned that Dawn’s food needs can be met in either form and her meal as a human was far more enjoyable and easier to prepare and pack, even if it was similar cost. They then got dressed into their outfits and began their work as performers. The event started with a parade of everyone walking up to the entrance, where the people who had paid and were waiting to come in, would watch them come by and only once they had gone by, the crowds would follow. Erin rode on Dawn’s back as agreed, the members on horse being in the back of the column. When they walked by the crowd of modernly dressed people, the crowd pointed out their favorites, though most noticed the odd colorings of the horse of a different color. Erin smiled and waved at the onlookers, fully expecting them to walk over to her tent to visit them, bringing more shoppers to the crafts store she partnered up with for the event. If Sir Aaron got enough extra sales compared to before, she’d get paid a little for it. They walked along and took their places, Dawn standing in the nearby tent across from the crafts store and Erin standing next to her, grooming their coat and mane. As predicted, they got a lot of attention, various visitors coming and asking about them. Erin played the part appropriately, saying her druid dyes her coat green to hide from predators and prey. Dawn entertained many a curious hand who wanted to reach and touch her despite Erin’s repeated warnings and the sign saying ‘do not touch the druid without her permission,’ visitors still tried. She simply treated it with patience, considering a green horse was a rare sight. They spent some time relaxing, preparing themselves for the events they were going to visit. They were scheduled to roam three times through the day for an hour, allegedly just as much to help Dawn get her exercise in so she wouldn’t be restless, and they had two fighting events they would take part in today as well. Their walk was uneventful and Dawn considered it a decent warmup for the fight, and a decent sized crowd of several hundred came to the stands to watch the knights and ladies fight early on, while there was still plenty of shade over the stands. The fight was mostly done for entertainment, playing at mass combat as various performers were called for the crowd to cheer on or boo at. After a couple of warm up fights of three versus three to get the crowd warmed up, the ‘king’ surprised many by saying that he was looking for his ‘royal child.’ The squires went forth and looked around for an eager child who was ready to be royalty for the tournament, and the young boy they chose was taken to a front row seat by the king with free baked chicken and kettle chips. Erin and Dawn fought for performance value, making larger sweeping attacks for much of their attacks while doing what they could to stay alive. After many bouts, Dawn and Erin did not place well enough to get the king’s favor, and they were released early back to their staff tent. “Phew.” Erin said with a relieved sigh as she got into the tent, the flap closing behind them. Dawn simply nodded her agreement, only mildly tired, but quite warm. She had no intention of fighting as hard as she had at practice the first bout when she still had the rest of the day to go. “We’ll go for your walk once I get a drink and we get you a bite to eat and rest.” Erin said, using a towel to wipe herself off and cool down so she could change back into her ‘lady’ outfit. Dawn paid it little mind, her ears picking up faint sounds of something that could be cause for worry. “What is it?” Erin asked, noticing Dawn’s attention to a side of the tent. Dawn pulled out her notebook and scribbled, -Sounds like someone is trying to come in to the staff area.- ---------- James, the P.I. hired by Jarod had dressed up casually to continue his paid investigation work. It was one of the rare times he got to have where a bit of fun and work could mix. He didn’t care a great deal for the medieval setting itself, but there were often crafts or other nick-knacks that couldn’t easily be found that he did like without paying a higher price tag. He dressed in a red shirt and jeans, having his camera equipment in its bag, going to the event early so he wouldn’t have issues with parking and hoped to get an early look at the site. He wasn’t quite early enough. Even though it was half an hour early, he struggled to find a parking spot and then couldn’t see anyone, opting to go the route of waiting for their parade to end and following them to their tent or booth to know where they would be. He saw the parade, taking pictures of Dawn as they passed by like many of the others around him were doing, and then followed to see where they would have a tent. He was intrigued, since the horse was never seen up close before by him. It was a thorough dye job that reached down to the root, assuming it actually was dye. He made sure to get enough pictures while he could from what his spot would allow, but he soon had to focus on walking with the rest of the attendees and followed over to the tent where his target of investigation was staying. As expected, there were a lot of visitors to her tent after that parade display. James waited his turn, wanting to stay within hearing distance for a while and readily let people get ahead of him after he got close enough for his liking. A quick conversation between Erin and the visitors showed a fairly consistent story that was clearly made up for the fair, how she was visiting from her lands and her druid wanted to see what civilization has become. He took his time, walking away from the tent as he explored the fair. It was doubtful they’d manage to get anywhere without him noticing and after fifteen minutes of hearing the same thing over and over again he wanted something to do. He wouldn’t have much he could ask without hogging too much time away from other newcomers and would be shoo’ed away. Perhaps later he could ask questions like how this druid gets its alleged power, only to lead into the real reason why the horse was green. He went around, looking at some of the crafts and games that some of the people displayed, then went over to the medieval fighting ring half an hour later. Much to his surprise, Erin and someone else with the horse’s hair colors at their side, using a white shield that had the same butt marking on its front. “Well, someone’s going all out for their cover story.” He mumbled out loud, thinking as he took out his camera and took more pictures of them both. The fights themselves were interesting, and he made the most of the front camera row were people who were clearly taking pictures were allowed to sit and watch as long as they still took pictures occasionally. He got his shots in and made sure he occasionally got action pictures of the other fighters, but as he watched, he noticed how Erin and Dawn both fought somewhat differently than the rest. Often times, the people who practiced together all had a shared ‘style’ in his opinion, despite each person sometimes having unique ones due to strength, shape, and size. Once they were knocked out, he decided against taking more pictures of the rest of the fight or events afterward. He exited using the deliberately empty second row to leave without disturbing anyone’s pictures and walked to the end of the fighting. The flyer had pointed out the schedule and said how the main tournament was later that day, so his side job he took up for providing pictures for the event was still covered. He followed them toward the staff area at a respectable distance, but was stopped on the way. “Staff area only, sir.” He was warned. “Ah, I was just wanting to conduct an interview with Erin, both for the faire coverage and for another subject she’s pursuing.” James said as a mostly-true interest. “Then you’ll need to reach her when she’s not in the staff area.” Came the response. “I wish I could. The difficult thing is because of how colorful her horse is, she’s been rather popular and we haven’t had the time without being interrupted.” James persisted. “And that’s something that you’ll need to arrange with her.” “That’s what I’m trying to do. How about this, you or someone else can relay a message to her asking for it, and I’ll wait here. I have a bit of time before I need to get my report in.” The staff member sighed before pulling out a radio and signaled for support. It took only a minute for the roamer to check in. “What’s the problem?” a shorter muscled male asked, draped in priest-like robes. “Reverend John, this gentleman wants to ask us to find out if Lady Erin would be open to an interview while he is here. “And just who is this traveler?” John asked. “I am James, trying to put together a report regarding Erin and her horse. It’s gathered a bit of attention and have to get in my report later today but she’s been swamped.” James explained. “Ah. I will go to her and ask.” “Thank you.” James said, checking his equipment to make sure it was still ready in case they do decide they will interview. He had low expectations of doing so, but it was worth a try. ========== Erin looked at the tent flap, mildly worried at Dawn’s statement, only to see John appear in the tent. The pair had re-dressed for going out in dresses, but Erin had their leather chest piece on just in case. “Ah, you are in here.” John said, “Lady Erin, I have someone who says they’re wanting an interview with you, something about your horse and their report.” “We will be leaving shortly to rejoin the faire.” Erin said, glancing over at Dawn and seeing they were cautious. “Tell him I don’t mind a couple questions when at my booth, but I’m not interested yet in having a full interview.” “I can do that. See you out there.” He said with a friendly wave before leaving, the flaps waving with a light breeze. Dawn got out her notepad and asked, -Should I go back to being a horse?- “No. I don’t want you tiring yourself out going back and forth. Stay like that till after the dinner tournament.” Erin said. -Yes oh master.- Dawn replied with a grin. “Oh buzz off with that talk.” Erin smirked back. “You’re not a genie and not exactly a pet either.” -Then let’s get going.- ----- James watched as the tent opened and his focus walked out of the tent. He had heard John’s answer, and while he wasn’t fully satisfied, it only would have helped more. After taking a few more pictures of the girl Erin had with her and the unusual hair coloring, he decided it was time to leave and make his report. It was a long hour driving back and he called his employer to pass the time. “I’ve finished all of my investigating I can do.” James told Jarod Pepper. “I’ll provide all the pictures and everything else that I’ve got related to the case and will be getting you those fur samples for your lab. At this point I simply don’t have enough reason to believe they are poorly cared for as you claim. The girl cares about her horse a lot, shy of a vet saying otherwise.” “That’s fortunate.” Pepper said, tone telling James that wasn’t at all the case. “I’ll pay your fee and consider why I had those concerns.” James frowned as the phone hung up and a few minutes later they received their final payment notification on their phone. “Well, something’s fishy about this job, but if it’s dirty, they’re not going to use me to get it done.” James said, gritting his teeth, “Maybe I should keep tabs on this just in case.”