― thunder ―

park hojun | 25 | equine vet

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ unconventional

[hmnara-blog]

“Basically the same.” Nara replied and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Just a more clothed and dry version, I’d say.” she chuckled while replying, her lips in a crooked smile. It was a bit of a weird situation, but also somewhat funny to her. “It’s a nice day for a walk through the forest.”

If it was the other way around, the young woman would probably die of embarrassment, but since it wasn’t, she felt like teasing him a little – even if that was a bit contradicting.

“I saw the horse and thought someone had abandoned it, so I came over.” Nara said while shifting her gaze from him to the horse. Even though she did want to tease him, she also didn’t want to be overly rude.

[hmhojun-blog]

‘more clothed…’ oh, she knew, and hojun sighed. he wanted to dip his head into the water again to cool off his heated cheeks, but thought it might come off as rude that he wasn’t listening. he knew embarrassment well even if it didn’t happen often to him, but he was also the kind of person to live up to it rather than avoiding the situation at all costs.

“no, that’s my horse,” he answered with a chuckle. hojun had two options from the looks of it: he could either stay where he was and continue talking, or he could swim back to the shore to be a little more decent, but there was still the problem about the distance between him and the shore and a woman watching. still, he didn’t regret his decision doing this when he felt a little more refreshed.

he looked over at jojo again when he had gotten an idea, whistling it in more into the water and hojun swimming closer to it. it was probably the best way to use his pet as cover to make his journey back to his clothes. “i hope you don’t mind me asking but, could you turn around for a little bit?”

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ back horse rider

[hmten-blog]

the thing about ten was that he’d do anything to look at flowers; an obsession of his that truth be told he prided himself in. he’d gone up to hojun, had tugged at the elder’s arm while going, ‘take me out to see the flowers hyung, please!’ and hojun had done just that.

though he was starting to regret it now – the horse going out of control and while ten didn’t know much about horse riding (his step-father only having taught him a few times when he was younger), he at the very least knew that whatever jojo was doing, it wasn’t right.

“hyung!” he yelped, arms around the older boy’s waist, “i don’t think! this is! good!” 

but then the slide and ten quickly closed his eyes, body awaiting the impact of the hard ground only to feel something soft instead. he’d been lucky, hadn’t injured himself or lost a limb in that crazy ride. 

his eyes widened and the feel of a cut against his cheek has him wincing. “ow,” he whined, “see hyung! this is what you get for naming your horse jojo. now he’s angry at you and –” though he stopped nagging the moment he laid eyes on jongdae, lips instead parting in shock. “oh my god!”

with whatever strength he could muster, he walked towards the older boy, hands reaching out for his seemingly injured arm. “hyung are you alright? that looks terrible!”

[hmhojun-blog]

everything sounded muffled at one point and hojun had to wonder if he might have suffered a concussion too. great, so he had his arm to worry about and his head. everything started swimming back into place and ten’s voice sounded clearer in his ears; the shadow looming above meaning he was close as well.

“no don’t touch it,” he groaned, trying not to move. shifting also hurt his joints more than they should, and he was pretty sure the blood pumping through his veins and his heart racing was a sign that his body was on high alert from the fall. his first thoughts were him wanting to panic because his mind was sending signals to move his fingers, but his body wasn’t responding.

“i think my arm might be broken,” he tried to say as calmly as he can, still trying to figure out his right from his left and the events from before. “help me sit up?”

he was probably able to do it with one arm, but his side felt heavy, and he didn’t trust his strength enough to hold himself up. another weak arm meant hurting his other arm even more, but now that he was upright, he hissed and groaned trying to cradle it into a comfortable position. “jojo’s a great name for a horse, by the way. and we have to get back on him because i might need to go to the hospital.”

[hmxhaley-blog]

smaller animals?  haley didn’t mind those.  sure, it had taken some time to get used to seeing animals literally everywhere, but she had conquered most of her fears with the help of a friend.  in the beginning, even the sight of a squirrel running around was unsettling, but now she could let one approach her without wanting to scare it away.  yeah, small animals were very simple now, and she was proud of herself for getting to that point.

but bigger animals like horses and cows?  those creatures were still a little terrifying for her.  even though hojun promised her a million times that a horse would never hurt her, she still had reservations about stepping near one.  what if it went crazy out of nowhere and decided to kick her in the stomach?  she’s seen the damage a horse (or donkey?) could do with a single kick in movies and cartoons.

she supposed that if she had to encounter a horse at some point, she was glad that the younger was with her.  hojun was probably the most qualified person in town to teach a person how to behave around these animals, and his presence was comforting for her.  “he’s got those giant teeth!  how do you know that he won’t use them to, you know, bite me?”  she grasped the apple slices tightly in her hand, holding them away from the horse so that it wouldn’t try to take them before she was ready.

[hmhojun-blog]

“do you have any kind of pet like a dog or a pet you tried to hand feed? they might nibble at first but then know that your hand isn’t part of the meal. you have to trust animals to get them to trust you.” hojun looks down to the other’s hand again, sensing her hesitance. this wasn’t the first time he’s seen people act like this in front of animals, but this is why he was with her, to show her how she should.

“i hope you’re not trying to make applesauce like that. you might have a hard time,” he joked, pointing to the food. “horses are emotional sponges and they can tell when you’re nervous, like right now.” so that the horse wouldn’t feel nervous too, he reached up to stroke its mane and keep it calm.

“just do it like this.” he was running out of apple slices now, but he shouldn’t be feeding his horse that much anyway. hojun spread out his palm with the food right in the middle, holding it at his chest level and in front of his horse to sniff and take. mostly it was its snout that tickled his hand, and he felt no pinch at all as it grabbed the food away. “but if you aren’t able to get it down this time, there’s always next time to try it out.”

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ wrong side of the bed

this was the absolute worst timing for hojun to be sleeping in, berating himself for thinking that he would wake up after a few more minutes when his body shut down for another thirty. his mother being the saint that she was woke him up when she noticed he hadn’t gone out of the house yet, and he swore to himself, complaining every which way as he got dressed. he delayed himself even more by forgetting his notebook for one, dropping his breakfast for another, and almost incorrectly cinching the saddle on as the last straw.

just breathe, hojun. he had to remind himself, leaning against jojo for a long moment to compose himself. he can’t ride when there was a sense of false urgency, lest he’d be worried of jojo feeling the same.

today there was a meeting with his professor about researches and new experiments and hojun was to go to relay new information to his family. he’s been reliable enough to arrive on time on most days, but if only there was some way to tell his professor that he was going to be late. alas, he couldn’t and hoped he could make it in time before his professor had to lecture.

he traveled as quickly as he could through marigold, easier said than done when most people would move out of the way when the spotted a horse. there were still people who did not, like this kid who was running into his path instead of out of it.

“woah woah woah!” hojun pulled on the reins hard enough for his horse to whine, but with a kid right there along the way and not knowing where he was going, it was the only way or else there was no telling if he’d get hurt or not. the horse reared, standing up on its hind legs so suddenly that hojun slid down from the saddle, but he was still right there, trying to calm his horse down until it finally did.

now his attention was on the kid, seeing an adult appear right next to him which he presumed was his father. “i’m so sorry i didn’t see--... is he alright?”

[ @hmxeric ]

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ like old times

if it’s one thing he learned throughout the years, is that they all balanced each other out in one way or another. if hojun was the daring one, junmyeon was the voice of reason (or at least tried to be). if junmyeon was the flirt, baekhyun would be the one with the info. if baekhyun was unsure, hojun would be the enabler. of course there were many other ways their ties held them together; the trio could sit down in a circle and talk about all the experiences they shared together for a whole day if they wanted.

but they had no time to do it when they had the carnival to take advantage of. the only time hojun would want to sit around was when they decided to eat, but otherwise, he was up and about, dragging the other two along until he or one of the others suggest one of the attractions.

hojun pouted at junmyeon’s desire to go to the shooting range, but they flocked over to it despite hojun’s whining. someone had brought up a challenge to see how many each of them were able to shoot which caused hojun to whine even more. “we all know who’s going to win here!” he said with a pout, “but curse both of you because i could never back down from a challenge.”

it was a double-edged knife, his pride, but he still looked down to what they had to work with and back up at the targets. “should we let junmyeon go first then, since this is right up his alley?”

[ @hmjunmyeon + @hmbaekhyun ] 

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ practice makes perfect

“i gotta admit though, whatever marigold lacks, yongdam makes up for it.” he shouldn’t be doing this, he told himself, but he did it anyway. the pros and cons of the situation stared him in the face ever since the opportunity arose, but hojun was not the one to miss opportunities. he learned that throughout the years: take chances! he might whine about a broken bone or a sprained ankle in the aftermath, but chances are he’d regret it more if he decided not to be daring.

sure, some kind of injury would hold him back at work and his parents would shake their head at such behavior, but in the future, hojun wanted to be that kind of person who had interesting stories to tell, and and so far he had quite the repertoire!

except this wasn’t somewhere he’d break a bone at or at least he’d hope so. and his daring decision was more towards his feelings than anything physical. as opposed to any kind of abuse he might endure from nature, this self-inflicted emotional one might actually hurt him more.

as he walked next to mingxia, he reminded himself that, while they might have called this something else, he tried to convince himself he was just spending time with her, so he pointed over to some of the rides where one of them brought up some fond memories. “i really like swings, but i guess this one is a little different from what i used to. my friends and i tied a rope to one of the trees close to the river, and we would take turns to jump into the water.”

[ @hmingxia ]

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ back horse rider

it was just supposed to be a simple trip to look at the flowers under ten’s request, and hojun was kind enough to grant it. as the other slid off the horse, he pat the horse’s head to praise it for a job well done. that part was easy enough, but what they both didn’t expect was a bird to be flying low from the ground, spooking his horse and was now jumping away from the area.

“jojo, it’s alright!” except the horse continued on walking sideways. hojun tugged on the reins gently, but it was having none of it, and it failed to be aware of the decline close by. the horse lost its balance stumbling down a hill, and with hojun on top of it, started to lean more onto its side enough that hojun was having trouble staying up.

he slipped off the horse a couple meters from the ground, and what does he do so his head wasn’t the first to hit the ground? his hand extended out for impact, but he overestimated the distance and braced himself earlier than planned. his hand slipped from the angle, elbow making an impact with the earth instead while the rest of his body had yet to hit the ground. his arm received more pressure onto it than he wanted.

crack!

everything went black for a moment, and the next time his vision blinked back, the ground was against his cheek. the pain in his arm that followed and inability to move definitely wasn’t a good sign.

[ @hmten ]

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ notice me

[hmingxia-deactivated20160818]

it’s always a good day when hojun shows up to give her a way to relax. mingxia generally feels guilty whenever she finds herself unable to keep quiet about disliking all those blind dates, but hojun’s never been one to be bothered by it, from what she can tell. she’s grateful for him, honestly; he’s like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the men she’s been set up with. what would she do without friends like him to keep her from getting a short temper over things?

“the plaza sounds perfect,” she says with a beam, swinging her arms as they walk. she has a few love letters to review in her bag, so she knows she has something to hold her interest even if what stalls in the plaza today don’t have anything particularly nice to browse through, but she’s hoping she won’t have to fall back on that backup plan. “i usually like wandering around to skim through everything vendors have on display. is that fine with you?”

a sudden breeze blows then, and mingxia can’t help but to gasp at the scent that reaches her then. “actually… would you happen to recognize what that smell is? i can’t pinpoint it, but it must be delicious, because i can’t bring myself to ignore it.” she lets out a giggle, averting her eyes as she covers her mouth with one hand. “i feel like a kid, asking this, but could we look for whoever’s selling… whatever that is i caught a whiff of?”

[hmhojun-blog]

“that’s fine with me! we didn’t make any plans, and i did say if there was something--...” however, he couldn’t finish his sentence when her attention was immediately caught away from their conversation. thankfully mingxia wasn’t the kind of person to interrupt people too often, so he didn’t take any offense by the action. instead, he found it endearing and merely smiled back at her from her bashfulness and childish heart; both things hojun was completely okay with revolving her (besides, he could relate to one of those traits).

now it came to figuring out the smell. he couldn’t deny that something overwhelmed his senses a couple steps ago, and that merely meant that the source of it was close by. however, he didn’t need to think too hard on what was giving off such a pleasant aroma. it was the scent of freshly baked yeast with something else mixed with it. something sweet? maybe savory? his mouth started to water thinking of it. “bread? are you talking about the bakery close by?”

without giving it more thought, his feet directed them closer to the stalls, eyes peeled and senses on alert. he felt like a hunting dog tracking out a prey’s scent, but it worked out well enough when they had reached the items in question: a line of pastries. hojun chuckled. “ah~, a sweet tooth, are we? or are you just hungry?”

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ unconventional

[hmnara-blog]

Days off were always here favourite ones – as much as she loved her work. She finally had time to stroll through the woods or on the mountain or whatever she fancied that day. The last month had been hell with order after order, but finally everything had calmed down.

Nara had always liked the glittering of the sun on the water, so she decided to take a walk along the lake. Usually not many people were around this early, which was another thing she appreciated a lot and also why she was talking a walk now and not later. The silence was a nice change, just as nice as feeling the already warm morning sun on her skin.

Upon seeing a horse standing near the lake a couple of metres away, Nara decided to walk closer, to check whether it was there with someone, or abandoned. Not being able to see anyone, the girl sighed. She changed her plan to bringing the horse back to town, instead of continuing the nice walk. “Hey there horse.” Nara addressed it, as she almost reached it, but her glance shifted to the water again. Is that Hojun? The young woman wondered and tilted her head.

“Having fun over there?” she asked with a crooked smile.

[hmhojun-blog]

when hojun surfaced again, he shook his head hard enough to fling off the strands of hair that might have clung to his face. now he was treading water off the deeper end of the lake, floating and enjoying the view with the rows of trees and a mountain off in the distance. it was relaxing like this, being able to drift around, no responsibilities to handle; just basking in the sun. only nature, him, and a woman’s voice in the distance..

hold on, a woman’s voice?

his head lifted up and turned towards the land again, first spotting his horse but then seeing someone standing closeby it. oh. oh yes, that was an actual person there. by his horse. by the tree. by his clothes. in a place that hojun wasn’t near at all.

“oh… hi!” he still managed to say, wriggling and kicking his feet until he was upright again. “yeah, i’m… i just wanted to relax.” he really hoped that she hadn’t noticed his clothes yet or his lack of since he was just in the water. but if she had already, well, there was no excuse for him other than wanting to take a dive and wanting to be dry later. that was a rational decision! just… maybe not the most socially acceptable when he considered the location. “what about you?”

[hmhojun-blog]

➢ PET LOG  dates: july 14 - july 20 pets: dog(1), horse(1)

rocko (welsh corgi) location: home

just like any other babies he knew, they needed a lot more sleep as an average adult, making sure their bones grew and whatnot. hojun liked seeing them either way, like when his corgi just barely the length of his forearm carefully trekked through the grass to roam around (although he made sure he never let it get close to the other horses. goddess knows how easily it would get trampled around those large animals and heavy hooves), or when it was on its side sleeping in between the bundles of blankets.

the name rocko seemed like a fitting one to use with it being the first to pop into his head.

he probably loved the little pup too much when he made the decision to sit on the floor and try to guide it into its lap to get comfortable. alas, with as much energy as it had, hojun pouted knowing how much more it wanted to explore his room and the rest of the house.

he managed to once in the middle of the day right when its movements were turning a little more sluggish, using this opportunity to pick it up gently and place it on the space next to him in bed. that way, the corgi’s cute way of sleeping was the last thing before he closed his eyes to nap.

mojo jojo (balikun horse) location: home

unlike dogs, horses had a lot more to tend to and a lot more tools to groom them with. rocks get stuck into their hooves that he needed to pick out before it caused any damage, but his favorite might have been the hair brushing. it was easier to understand why girls sitting in the plaza might just spend their time brushing each other’s hair after doing it for jojo; a horse’s hair could get tangled just like any other human being’s that was long enough.

it was… calming. the feeling as the brush ran down smooth locks of hair and the urge to repeat it. hojun’s own had never gotten so long, and on most days, he would use his own fingers anyway. jojo didn’t have its own limbs to be able to brush its own and he was kind of glad to be able to do this for it.

“there, all better.” he nodded to himself, placing the brush back into his bucket of tools. it was a special set that he used for his own pet rather than the ones at the clinic. then again, it was a constant learning process of what his pet would like, finding out pleasantly enough that it hadn’t gotten irritated so far with what hojun used on it.

[hmhojun-blog]

“Well, when you put it that way…”

harvest meme #1 - closed!

hojun nodded sagely at the other, knowing that there were some people who were able to see his way. either that or they were too nice to mention how strange of a topic this was. animal communication, could it be a real thing humans were capable of? there were always talks about a special bond between an owner and their pet.  he couldn’t blame the people who were skeptical, however, but he ruled them out as the kind of people who either lost touch in their animal empathy or just didn’t care at all.

“yeah, see?” he continued, ever so enthusiastic about sharing his unpopular opinions. he was alright this time when people didn’t see it his way, but he still tried to persuade them. “don’t you ever get that feeling when you pass by someone, that there might be something major in their life that you just don’t know about? i feel like with animals it might be the same way, because i can tell with the horses just which ones are good with people and which ones have really bad attitudes. i’m sure they have their own stories to tell, you know?”

[hmhojun-blog]

“I choose you.”

harvest meme #1 - closed!

“...really?”this was an answer hojun never thought he would hear from her in any setting, unless, say he told mingxia to choose between which brother she liked better (he already knew the answer to that when she had said it herself early on, so it would have only served as an ego booster). did she say it so suddenly expecting to see him frozen in place, processing those simple words and assuming that there was something more behind them? because it worked like a charm.

or was he overthinking this too much like everything else when it came to her. he couldn’t help it, really, the way that his day would brighten up when he was able to talk to her and feel like he was missing something those days he was too busy to visit. simple conversations and light teasing that made her smile caught onto hojun as easily as the common cold (figuratively speaking, since his immune system was pretty resilient), and there was no control over the way the corners of his lips would tilt up and show her his signature kitten-like grin. 

“i mean... are you just saying that to make me feel good about myself or...? not that i don’t like it.” the smile at her now threatened to split his face in two. he had to tone it down lest he was afraid to scare her off with his strange look, but that familiar rise in his chest from happiness and elation bubbled up faster than he could net it down. “but... i’d choose you too.” 

[hmhojun-blog]

“I won’t. I won’t, not ever.”

harvest meme #1 - closed!

“are you sure about that?” there was no going around the pout on his face from being disappointed with her answer. sure, what he suggested might not be something people would do on a regular basis (or maybe even ever), but he didn’t think it was that bad for her to refuse like this. with hojun being a younger sibling, he knew a thing or two about using his own charms to get what he wanted, but that didn’t mean it worked on everyone.

“please? won’t you try considering it again?” his hands clasped together, trying to pull off his best look, furrowed brows and a sad smile. it’s not one of his best moments, but strangely enough, he felt like this was the moment to use it. “i promise you, it’s not dangerous. and if you go through with it, then i’ll get you whatever i can that’s within my power to.” 

[hmhojun-blog]

“Can I come in?”

harvest meme #1 [feel free to make this a starter!]

so maybe hojun hadn’t actually grown up yet, wanted to take a day or two away from his work while his father and brother took on most of the patients at the clinic. he could guess that one of the biggest advantages about working with his family is how lax they were about letting him go out and take a day off or two, especially when there weren’t a lot of horses under their care at the moment. that always tended to fluctuate.

as his own day off, he wanted to rest a little bit in the woods. and not just a ‘climb trees and relax kind of day.’ he was thinking more along the lines of his own survival practice: collecting sticks, rocks, and big leaves to make his own hidey hole to settle in and maybe take a nap for an hour or so. 

with this last-minute decision, his tiny shelter wasn’t the best, but he made it big enough for him to be able to lay down and have it cover his own body. what he didn’t expect was a familiar voice right at the entrance of it, so he smiled and sat up to make some space. “sure, make yourself at home. or… ‘at home’ as you can get here. what do you think of it?”

[hmhojun-blog]

“So the first thing we’re going to do —is push you off the roof.”

harvest meme #1

step one: deadpan. deadpan real hard at sungyeol. the guy really had some guts to say it to hojun when sungyeol himself was a lot bit more of a klutz from just walking around in general. it made him wonder why hojun was the one with the cast around his arm and not the other. 

which brings him to his second step: deadpan some more and put attention to said arm that was all splinted, wrapped properly, and cradled in a slung across his shoulder to heal. the events that lead up to his incapacitated state might not be as extravagant as some of his friend’s battle scars from fighting ninjas, but it was still something people don’t usually walk into, painfully experience, and be able to walk out of and share the tale. 

“i’m not sure if two wrongs make a right in this situation, buddy,” hojun found himself saying with a laugh. he looked up to the roof of his building two floors above his head. sure hojun’s spent time sitting on that roof for one reason or another, but he never jumped from it unless there was a loose bale of hay at the bottom. “i mean, if you think we could actually make a contraption where we’d be able to fly, sure, but i think your idea is something better left for when i have use of both my arms.” 

[hmhojun-blog]

“I can talk to fish!”

harvest meme #1

hojun was glad when people had a sense of humor because then it was a lot easier for him to get along with them. unless… she was in fact serious about being able to, then he couldn’t help but to be fascinated by her skill. he wanted to think of himself of being able to talk to horses considering how some calm down under his presence and his soothing words. she could have the same effect with water-dwellers, and maybe her talent went far enough to get them to do tricks?

or she could have just said something to pass the time, wanting to make someone look at her with a look of confusion. if that was her intention, it failed in front of hojun because any topic to him could be used for discussion. he didn’t know her very well, and if she did want to drop the conversation after his comment, he wouldn’t mind it either. still, it was an entertaining thought to bring up again in his free time.

hojun spotted a carp in the water, minding its own business like it was content in the world it was dropped in, and he pointed to the animal in question while turning his head to his company. “can you tell me if that fish is hungry then? i can probably throw some of this orange for it to eat when i don’t want it to go to waste.” 

[hmhojun-blog]

“I am a starfishhhh!”

harvest meme #1

“well i can’t argue with that.” 

it was a sunny day outside, the clouds generally clear and the rays beaming down onto their skin unrelentingly because of it. days like these caused a lot of sweat and a lot of energy to drain, but there was no better way to cool down than to take a dip in the lake. 

at least this time hojun brought dry clothes to change into once they exerted all their energy in the water. he hadn’t found the need to change just yet when his damp fabric was doing a great job in regulating his body temperature and whatnot. his hair clinging to his face was also preventing him from overheating.

his friend however, took an alternative route to cooling down, finding a boulder underneath some shade and spreading himself so that all his limbs pointed in different directions. he really did look like a starfish, and hojun had no choice but to laugh in amusement.