No going back now

[Tyler Kurucz]

Well, at least she seemed to like the dog. He'd ended up getting a few people pretty upset with him because of the dog's friendly exuberance. He nodded when she asked if the dog was his, "Since he was a puppy." He said in response. He'd bought the dog during that long period when he had been completely avoiding the horse world. While he wasn't the most social person in the world, no one could be alone for forever if they were in their right mind, and a dog had seemed a suitable companion at the time. It had given him something to do in his spare time anyway...and it seemed he had had a lot of it back then since Jigsaw was evidently quite well trained and mannered.

"It's fine." He added at her apology, he was sort of an animal person himself, seeing as how he owned both a dog and a horse. "I feel about the same way." At the attention he was getting, Jigsaw's tail was wagging excitedly, causing his whole body to wriggle back and forth. He was only a two year old, and even though he was full grown he still was a puppy at heart, just a very well trained puppy.

[Carrie]

She laughed, still scratching the dog behind his ears. She thought of an idea. "Does he fetch?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. She loved to play fetch with dogs. It was so much fun! Especially when you throw a ball into the water, and they go running in, splashing water everywhere.

Carrie always wanted a dog, but her parents always thought they were dirty, smelly, and not-trainable, which was not true at all. She promised her parents she would take care of everything, but no.. They didn't let her.

[Tyler Kurucz]

At the word fetch, Jigsaw leapt to his feet, and danced around them excitedly which was answer enough, but Tyler decided to answer just in case. "He does," he replied, "quite well." He looked down at the overly excited canine, and one glance at Tyler's expression instantly calmed the dog...for a moment. He promptly sat down at Tyler's feet again, but couldn't contain himself for more than a minute. He jumped up again, and kept going upwards. He planted his big paws on Tyler's chest, looking at him intently before Tyler pushed him back down. It wasn't really a bad habit, just something the two of them did. Tyler was the only person Jigsaw ever jumped up on, and Tyler intended to keep it that way. When the dog's feet reconnected with the ground, he took off into the pasture, and returned with a good sized stick between his teeth. He dropped it expectantly at Carrie's feet since she had been the one to say the "magic word." Tyler smiled slightly at the dog, that made twice in one day...it was nothing short of a miracle. "I guess he does a little too well." He said at the dog's insane antics.

[Carrie]

Carrie laughed at the dog's sudden energy. She watched him run off, and get a stick, before he came back. She smiled, when he dropped the stick at her feet. Carrie knelt down, picked it up, and then threw it into the pasture, making sure she wasn't aiming at any horses. She turned back to Tyler, and then saw him smile. Wow.. that was the first time she saw him smile. Before he was all serious. "Hey you smiled," she said, smiling herself.

[Tyler Kurucz]

The dog took off like a rocket as she threw the stick, only had failed to watch the direction she had thrown it, and ended up going the wrong way. He turned around quickly when he heard the stick hit the ground, and launched towards it. He grasped the stick in his jaws and came hurtling back towards them at a tremendous speed.

Tyler wasn't really sure what to say in response to that, he hadn't even realized that he had smiled. He did know though that she was the only person left alive, besides the woman he had widowed a year ago, who had ever actually seen him do so. He realized that since Jigsaw had showed up, he'd become much more at ease and by far less tense. The dog was good for him in more than one way then. "Is that so strange?" He asked, knowing full well that it was, but it was the only thing he could think of to say.

By that time Jigsaw was getting very near to them, and came charging up full speed. He passed within inches of Tyler's leg, flew past them, whirled around, came back, dropped the stick at Carrie's feet, and promptly sat down, tipping his head to the side and watching her every movement.

[Carrie]

Carrie turned back to watch Jigsaw. Wow.. he was runng really fast. She laughed, when he ran passed them. Euro, who was grazing, noticed a running dog, so he followed. He galloped after the dog, and whinnied, stopping beside Carrie. He bobbed his head. "Ahh... You wanna play fetch too?" she asked her stallion. She shook her head, and patted his neck, and then knelt down to throw the stick once more.

When she threw the stick she turned back to Tyler. "I don't know.. I never saw you smile the whole time we talked. Or maybe I'm blind. Who knows..," she said, casually. Looking to see where Jigsaw was, she scratched her horse behind his ears.

[Tyler Kurucz]

Jigsaw took off like a shot again as the stick was hurled through the air again, this time though he went the right way and caught the projectile in mid air. He seemed a bit surprised by this, and when he turned to look back at them, he just stood there for a while, as if trying to figure out what had happened.

"I don't think you're blind." Tyler said in response as Jigsaw raced away again. It was sort of his way of saying that he hadn't really smiled at all in a long time. "I haven't got much to smile about these days." He added. Why was he telling her this? Already she knew a heck of a lot more about him than most people ever would. Maybe he just had a feeling that she wouldn't judge him for it...although he wasn't planning on telling her that he had murdered someone. No, that would be too much for her to bear. She'd have to tell someone eventually and then it would get out and he'd be sent to prison again, only this time it would be for life.

[Carrie]

When Jigsaw came back, she threw the stick once more, and listened to Tyler speak, watching her stallion chase after the hyper dog. He whinnied, bobbing his head, eager to take part of all the action that was going on. Carrie smiled slightly, and looked at the ground, when she heard his reply. She was dying to ask why he was all depressed, but she wasn't going to butt into his business, since then it would be rude, and may have consequences for herself, but if he wanted to tell her, then oh well.. "I understand," she replied.

[Tyler Kurucz]

He wasn't so sure she possibly could understand, though how could she know? She didn't know what she was trying to understand, and he hoped to keep it that way. What he would do if she asked...probably just leave out the part about killing the guy. But unless she asked, he wasn't going to say anything about it. Who was he to burden her with his secrets? He watched as the stallion chased after the overly energetic dog, the two racing about the pasture with insane speed. Jigsaw glanced back at the horse, and leapt forward. In a bound he grasped the stick, turned back the other way and came tearing back towards them once again. This time though, when he returned, he plopped down on the ground beside Tyler, put the stick between his paws, and gnawed at the stick, his way of saying that he was worn out and was now content to just chew on it for a while.

"I'm not keeping you from anything am I?" Tyler asked, realizing that he could very well be detaining Carrie from some pressing matter or another. The last thing he needed was to get her in trouble for something when they'd only just met. That would only increase the red marks on his record. Plus, Carrie had been a heck of a lot nicer to him than most anyone had, and he wouldn't want to cause her problems that wouldn't have come about without his detaining her.

[Carrie]

Watching the dog take off again, Carrie didn't speak. It was beginning to feel really awkward, and she didn't speak as much. What was making her so quiet? Usually she is the talkative one, like she was ten minutes ago. Listening to him talk, she smiled slightly, when Jigsaw came running back, but this time, plopped down beside Tyler. Euro, noticed all the fun was over, so he went back to grazing. "Umm.. I don't think so.. why?" she asked, confused.

[Tyler Kurucz]

A sudden change seemed to come over Carrie as they stood there, and he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He was terrible at reading people, a flaw which he detested, and wasn't sure what to say. The silence was worse than when they had been talking though, and he wanted to end it. Once again he suddenly realized that she was talking to him, and he forced his attention back to the present and what was going on.

He shrugged slightly in response. "I wouldn't want to keep you from something important." He said, trying as he spoke to come up with something else to say, "Seeing as how I just met you it wouldn't be very kind of me to detain you from some pressing matter of importance." He was still trying to figure out what had changed so suddenly between them, though made no visible sign of his struggle.

[Carrie]

Carrie shook her head. "No.. I don't know... I'm just curious about people, and always want to know things, which really bugs me sometimes. And.. it feels like something's bothering you.." she trailed off. She turned to watch her horse, really wanting to change the subject.

[Tyler Kurucz]

Ah so that was it. That little hankering of curiosity was gnawing away at her, so much so that it was getting to be too much. Tyler was quite for a minute or so, debating on what to say. Should he just out and tell her, or should he wait? He didn't want to burden her with his problems, but it seemed like she was more burdened not knowing. He glanced down at Jigsaw, as if hoping for some sort of answer from him, though he knew he would get none.

With a sigh he looked back up at her. "If you want to know," he said, hesitating a moment before going on. He'd never told anyone about his life and all that jazz, and he wasn't so sure on how to do it, "just say so and I'll tell you." He wanted to leave it open. He wanted it to be her choice. He didn't want to go off and tell her if she didn't want to know. It all depended now on how she answered. He knew he'd have to tell someone at some point, might as well be now.

[Carrie]

Carrie shrugged. If he wanted to tell her, then he can, but if he didn't want to, then that was fine with her, since she didn't want to be rude. "Well.. if you want to, you can. If not, then I can hold my curiousity problems," she said, with a slight laugh. She watched Jigsaw, still gnawing on his stick. Life must be good, being a dog..

[Tyler Kurucz]

Tyler was silent for a moment, still forming the story in his mind. If he was going to tell someone, it might as well be someone who didn't seem to hate him at first glance. "My family," he started, "wasn't exactly what you would call perfect. We lived in Mexico, and down there pretty much anything is legal, including beating your kids. When I was 15, I was intending to kill myself when I got shot by a drunk cop who then killed himself." He paused for moment, it only got worse from there, and these wounds weren't exactly healed yet. "They thought I killed the cop, and carted me off to a full scale prison where I spent five years waiting for a trial. When I got the trial, they simply told me they'd made a mistake and let me out. When I returned home, my parents were divorced, and my mom had a two year old daughter with another man. A few months later, he killed her and I got custody of her daughter."

He paused once more, still getting the details sorted out in his head, and getting the strength to reiterate the story with as little emotion as possible. "We moved up to the states, and the Social Services decided I was 'too dangerous' to take care of a kid, and they put her into a foster home. Her foster dad beat her to the point that he killed her. The law decided that it was an accident and he got away with it..." He broke off abruptly, almost going into the part about killing the man. He wasn't sure how to come up with a different ending, and so just left it at that. There was obviously more to his story, but he said no more. He wasn't sure he trusted her enough to tell her the one part of his story that no one alive except himself knew.