STRONGER

@contessa

As much as she liked Hogwarts, it had been different there this year. She had been ready for the term to be over--ready to be home, and for the summer holidays. Everything was still normal at home. Nothing had changed there… but at Hogwarts, it was just hard. It was hard this year, to notice the spaces open at tables where the Muggleborn students used to be. Hogwarts hadn’t felt like Hogwarts without them there, and even though the change in Minister was… seemingly better for the Muggleborns, it still wasn’t back to normal. She hoped that maybe they could get back there, but she didn’t know. Maggie didn’t know how politics worked--she didn’t know if the Minister was trying to lift the registration slowly or if she was just going slightly easier on them but the registration wasn’t going to go anywhere. She didn’t know. She just knew that Hogwarts wasn’t the same without her friends that were now in Pyxis. It would have been better if she could at least go see them, but as far as she knew they were still at the school. She didn’t know if or when they got out for the summer and there wasn’t exactly a good way of figuring that out.

She was just doing her best not to think about all of that more than she had to. It was easier to do at home than at Hogwarts, surprisingly enough. Some people might say the opposite--that the changes in their society were obvious all around them, but that wasn’t necessarily true in Killarney, and being at home made it easier for her to stop thinking about all of that when she was around her family. She had missed them--she saw her brother at school obviously, but she missed seeing her parents and her sister, and just being home was… nice. But today, everyone was back to work and her brother was off with his friends. She hadn’t been sure what she wanted to do. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any friends to visit with, she did. Maggie just thought that she wanted to be alone for a little bit, and for some reason that had led her here. She liked animals, so having a stable to ride at was important. It wasn’t exactly close by, a country away actually, but she’d gotten her mum to apparate her there before she went to work, and she’d been able to get a horse to go riding with.

Maggie was hardly an expert equestrian, but she at least knew what she was doing. She had been here before, and she’d rode on plenty of the trails--but hardly all of them, just because there were so many. Sometimes, she’d pick a familiar one, and other times she would try something new. Today had felt like the day for the latter, so that was exactly what she’d done. It was peaceful out in the woods; with so many options for trails, and not everybody coming to the stables for open riding, it was usually pretty easy to pick a trial where she then wouldn’t see anybody for… nearly the entire time, if ever. It was just her and the horse, and the sounds of the forest around her. It was why she liked coming here in the morning for some reason. The forest was just different then. Maggie didn’t know how long she had been riding before she’d brought the horse to a stop. He probably didn’t need a break, but she liked to give him one anyway, especially at the prettier parts of a trail. There was a small stream, and she thought that it was as good of a place as any to rest for a couple of minutes.

Once she’d hopped down from the horse, she led him to the stream in case he wanted any water, and then took a look around. Maggie always had liked being outside and being alone in the woods was pretty much perfect for her. She wandered away from the horse for a minute and she felt what happened just a second too late. One foot went down way further than just to the ground, but she’d taken a step further and then she was falling. “Oh!” She caught her fall with her hands, wincing at the impact, and moments later realized that her ankle was throbbing. Shifting slightly, she realized that she’d stepped into a hole without noticing it… and clearly sprained her ankle in the process. “Shoot…” Her voice was quiet as she slipped off her shoe and rolled down her sock to try to see what she was dealing with.

Contessa's Outfit

Tag: Maggie

stronger than yesterday

When she had come to England, she had been looking for her father. The man that had been the other half of her creation, the man that had been the reason that their people had looked down on her mother for so long. But he hadn't wanted anything to do with her, and yet, by the time that she had realized that, she thought that England was comfortable. Visits to America happened on occasion, but her no-maj Native American family was not opposed to the use of a cell phone to keep in contact with her across an ocean. It was simple enough to stay in contact, and they were much safer there than she was here. Being a werewolf was not something that they fully understood, but it was something that they had come to accept of her. She was not like them, she never had been, but that didn't make her inferior. Tess had been touched by their gods for some unknown reason. She had magic, and she embraced the life of the wolf that she had been blessed with. It was not as simple as right and wrong in her life, things were not as simple as magic, or no magic. It was far more complicated than that, the entire balance of the world was far more complicated than that.  The one thing that Tess did know, was that her passions had not changed. Not since she was a little girl, and the horses were a big part of that. She had her own mare, tucked away safely in the paddock by the house, and she had the stables. They were something that she was very proud of, and it was an accomplishment that she hoped that she would be able to continue to expand. Western Sky Stables were a place of more than just solace for her, and she wanted that to be something that others could find as well. Something that they could benefit from. Her knowledge, her care. She wanted to be able to give that to others. That sense of peace that she knew was incredibly hard for them to find. She was that way, she knew that she was. She wanted others to have the things that they needed, and she was more than convinced that she could give them to them. Being that way had made her who she was to her Pack. She was sister, and mother, and friend, but she was also leader. She was the one that they knew that they could count on.  Taking on that responsibility was something that she just had to learn to do. Well she hadn't had to, she knew that, but it was something that she had taken upon herself. Collecting those that she thought needed a Pack, but needed it in a way that was far less structured, far less condensed. Tess wanted things to work out for all of them, she wanted them all to be successful, and happy, but more than that, she just wanted them to be safe. Keeping her pack safe was what was important to her, and she thought that she accomplished that fairly well. No one was threatening them, and after everything that they had gone through before, after all of the anti-werewolf laws that had been prevalent, years of hiding, and not wanting to be detected, it wasn't safe now, but it was better. Things were better. No one was hunting them down, no one was running experiments on them. Tess thought that that was something to be grateful for, at least. Something that they could say was at least a small step in the right direction. Was it perfect? No. Were they still second class citizens? Of course, but it could have been worse. It could have been much worse.  When there were others on the grounds Tess kept an eye out. She knew that the girl that had taken one of the horses out this morning was rather experienced when it came to being around here, but still she worried. Maggie was smart, and she was horse sensible, but that didn't mean that things couldn't happen, and Tess thought that it was best to spend some of her time trying to see if she could instinctually sense which way it was that the girl had gone. Saddling her own mare she had ridden out in the direction that she had seen her disappear to this morning, and she was keeping an eye out. The girl had been gone quite some time, and she thought that it was best to make sure that she hadn't gotten lost on one of the trails that she hadn't been down before. There were some that were for more experienced riders, and Maggie was plenty old enough to be on them, Tess trusted that she knew what she was doing so as not to venture into areas that she shouldn't, but it was better safe than sorry to check it out. "Maggie?" Her voice carried softly through the trees, for she wasn't panicked to find her, merely curious as to where she had gone.

stronger Stand a little taller

Maggie had always liked coming here. It was peaceful--it always had been. It was the first thing that she’d noticed when she’d been out on the trails for the very first time. She hadn’t been alone then, but even with other people she had realized just how relaxing it was out there. At that moment, she knew that she’d be back and she had been. Again, and again, until she was able to go out on the trails by herself. She was hardly an expert equestrian, not even close, but she knew enough to be able to come out here without a group and she was pretty proud of that. It made her feel like she was good at this, and it was also just obviously a lot more peaceful when she was out here on her own. It was just her and whatever horse was with her. It always made her feel better, and it got her mind off of everything else that was going on in her life. That had been particularly helpful in the past year. Obviously everything was a lot… more stressful than it had been in the past. She was worried about her friends. She was worried about other Muggleborns that she didn’t even know. She was just… worried. She wanted to believe that everything was going to work itself out. She wanted to just trust that the government would eventually fix it and everything would go back to the way it was supposed to be. They’d put Muggle Studies back as a subject at Hogwarts, Dark Arts would turn back into Defence Against the Dark Arts… and more importantly, Muggleborns would be able to go back to their normal lives. They wouldn’t be stuck without wands, wherever they were stuck at the time. Whether they were back home, or in those apartments, it didn’t change the fact that they didn’t have the lives that they were supposed to have. They were meant to be back to their normal jobs, back to their normal lives. Maggie just couldn’t understand why the government would even let something like this happen--or, she supposed, she didn’t understand why the people running the government believed what they did. How could they think that Muggleborns were somehow less than them because of their blood? They were all people. Someone’s blood didn’t make them better or worse than another person. But she knew that sometimes the people in power didn’t always make sense. That was just something that had been seen throughout history. Not that she knew that personally. She had never been all that good at history or paying attention to long lectures--or memorizing facts. But she had talked to her mum about it plenty. She knew that there were plenty of period of times throughout history where people hated each other for reasons that didn’t make sense. There was just always going to be hatred in the world. That wasn’t something that she was sure that they could ever change. She just thought that there had to be ways to beat it and she hoped that they could eventually. She wanted to be able to see her friends again, to know that nobody was stuck in a situation that they didn’t deserve to be in. Maggie didn’t know how that was going to happen. Something would have to change, someone would have to change it, and she knew that could end up with war and that prospect absolutely terrified her. She just also knew that… that was how things changed, really. Especially when it came to taking back power from someone who didn’t want to give it away and didn’t deserve to have it. Coming out here and horseback riding was her way to try to get away from everything, and to stop thinking about it for a little while. It was sometimes easier said than done, but today she had thought that it would do the trick. She thought that it would make her feel better to just be out here in the forest for a bit. The woods were calming, she’d picked a horse that she’d always liked, and she had thought that a couple of hours would just help. She hadn’t expected to twist her ankle, and she wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to get back to the stables when she didn’t think that she could even mount her horse again. Maggie had no idea how long she had been sitting on the ground before she heard the familiar sounds of someone approaching. They didn’t come into sight, but she did hear a familiar voice. “Contessa?” She had certainly been here enough times to know the owner’s voice even from far away. “I’m over here. I think I twisted my ankle.” Maggie didn’t raise her voice all that much. She didn’t think she needed to--the forest was quiet enough to make it easy to hear.

stronger makes you a fighter

When she had been little, the only thing that she had ever said when someone asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, was a horse rider. That had been cute when she had been three, and four, but as she had gotten older, that hadn’t changed. She had gotten more eloquent in saying it. She had gotten better at saying that she wanted to own a stable. That she wanted to give riding lessons. That she wanted to be an equestrian. That was what she was. She was an equestrian, and she had gotten very good at it through her teenage years. And then she had been bitten. And in some ways, it had been like starting all over again. Earning the trusts of the animals was different now. She knew that. Her chemical makeup had changed. She was a wolf now, and she had thought that it was something that she was going to have to give up. For a while she hadn’t known if she was going to be able to do it. But she could. She knew that she could. She was stronger than her curse. She was stronger than that bite on her side. Because it wasn’t a curse. Not really. It didn’t have to be anyway. She could be something more than that. She could still be herself. There was nothing about her that had to really change. But it had. She had changed, and she had become a stronger person for it. At least, she was pretty sure that she had become a stronger person for the fact that she was their leader. She was the one that was going to have to make that choice. She was the one that had to make all of the choices, and that was something that she wanted to think about when she was down on herself. If she ever felt good enough, if she ever felt like she didn’t deserve the things that she had, or that she wasn’t strong enough, she remembered that she had to be. That she was their leader. That she had to be good enough for all of them. That was important to her, and she thought that it was something that they could tell. If she wasn’t herself, she thought that they would notice. And she didn’t want them to worry about that. She had taken them in because they had needed a Pack. They needed somewhere that they could go, and there would be no judgement, no one was worried about any of that. They weren’t going to have to worry about anything like that, Tess would keep them safe. She didn’t know how she was always going to protect them. But they were hers, and she would do her very best. That was partially what the stables were for. They were there to make sure that they had somewhere to go. They were there so that they had all of the trails, and the forests, and everything else that surrounded them, to make sure that they didn’t hurt anyone when the moons came. This had been her dream since she was a little girl, and she had gotten to do it, and she was using it in a way that she had never expected. But all by that one day a year, it really was a stable, and she had some of those that were regularly in attendance, and one of those people was the girl that had ridden out this morning. Tess didn’t think anything of letting Maggie venture out on her own. She was a good rider, and she didn’t have to worry about her on the trails. She never really took something that she didn’t think that she could handle. And so, when she hadn’t come back after a little while, Tess had whistled for her own mare, and swung up on her back to go looking for the girl. She had forgone the actual saddle, and was riding on a blanket alone, with the lead rope she had clipped on her halter for reins. Tess had been riding long enough that she could ride with her legs alone, and still keep an eye out for Maggie. When she called the girl’s name she was quiet for a long moment, waiting for the answer that she was sure would come. And soon enough it did. Her own name, echoed back at her through the trees. Clicking her tongue to the mare she changed directions and headed towards the voice. When she got close enough that she could see the horse, and where she assumed that Maggie was on the ground she hopped down and headed in that direction. Smiling softly as she rounded the corner and found the girl she crouched down near her feet. “What happened?”

What doesn't kill you
makes you stronger
Stand a little taller

❧

Ever since the first time that Maggie had come here, she had loved it. It was peaceful, it was relaxing, and it was exactly what she needed from time to time. She couldn’t even imagine getting to live here--getting to know that everything that she saw belonged to her, and no one else. She couldn’t imagine how that felt but she imagined that Contessa liked it quite a bit. How could she not? It was beautiful here and it was hers. She just happened to let people borrow it from time to time, like her right now, and that was incredibly nice of her. It was nice to share something like this with everybody else. There was so much land, she supposed it only made sense. There were more than enough trails and forest to share. Maggie had learned that for herself when she had started to be able to come out here on her own. There was just… so much to see. It was nearly unbelievable how much of it there was. Even though she had been coming here for a little while, she knew there was still so, so much of it that she had never seen.

She had to wonder if there were any secrets hidden in these trees. It was hard not to think about something like that when she was out here on her own. It was daylight--it was always daylight, and it was beautiful here during the day. But she did think about what it would be like here in the forest once the sun went down. She thought that it would be a lot different. Forests just tended to seem like a different place once the it was nighttime. It wasn’t a place that she thought that she would want to be. Especially not by herself. Maggie knew that she was very nearly an adult, but she didn’t think that there was anything wrong with thinking that a forest at night was scary. Of course, it was. It was dark, there was no way of seeing who--or what else was out there. There were plenty of reasons to think that the woods at night was just… not a friendly place to be. And she knew that she had a long time until she had to worry about that.

It was still daylight, still morning practically, and she knew that she would likely be out of here before she had to worry about the sun going down at all. Surely, someone would come looking for her long before nighttime came along. Even if Contessa forgot that she was out here, her mum knew she was here. If she didn’t come home, eventually she’d find her way here and wonder where she went. Maggie knew that she didn’t really have to worry about that happening at all. But it was definitely something to think about, while she was here. She had never seen this place when the sun went down, she never wanted to. But worst-case scenario, she would. Worst, worst case. A case where Contessa did forget she was out here and her mum wrote off her absence as her spending the night at a friend’s or something like that. If that happened, though… if hours passed without anyone coming to find her, she thought that she’d manage to get back on her horse.

He knew his way back to the stables. They’d figure it out, if it came down to it. She thought that they would figure it out. That was at least what she was going to keep telling herself. But she had to admit to major relief when she heard Contessa’s familiar voice through the trees. Oh thank Merlin. That was a best-case scenario. Her finding her before too much time had passed was definitely what she had been hoping for. She just hadn’t wanted to get too hopeful, since she knew that Contessa was busy. It had definitely been a possibility that she hadn’t realized how much time had passed and wouldn’t even notice that she had been gone a long time. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened. “We were um… taking a break.” She couldn’t help but blush. She knew giving the horse a break after a ride that hadn’t been all that long was a little silly, but she liked to do it anyway, especially if they were passing by water. “I tripped in that hole.” She gestured in the general direction of the nearby hole. It wasn’t as if it had been all that large, she was just naturally uncoordinated with bad enough luck to happen to step into it.

@ contessa

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