Fandom Island and Town

Dani was not ready for fall. If you wanted to be technical about it, she still had a few days of summer left before the official start of autumn. She was determined to enjoy it as much as possible by lounging beside the swimming pool and working on her tan when she wasn't working at the barn.

But the sharkicane had dampened her enthusiasm for water-based activities, so she had the pool drained and covered for the season. And then she spotted the cutest blanket scarf, which she had to buy even if she had a ton of them left over from last fall. Dani drew the line at the pumpkin spice maddess -- until she stepped into The Perk for her morning macchiato and got a whiff of cinnamon and cloves.

By the time Dani got to work, wearing her blanket scarf and tall boots while sipping her pumpkin spice latte, Dani wanted to kick herself. Stepping into the barn, she took off the scarf and left it in the office. It would be too warm to wear while doing chores. She went to let the horses out of their stalls so they could move into the pasture, and that's when Kally struck. The mare somehow ripped the lid off the coffee cup in Dani's hand, then plunged her snout into the coffee. "Okay, then. I guess the pumpkin spice latte is yours now," Dani said with a sigh. She was keeping her boots, though. Working with horses meant that tall boots were always in style.

The Gig was open!

Dani walked into the barn with a handful of carrots and started handing them out. "Looks like the weather will be pretty decent for a picnic, even if it's still December," said Dani. "Who wants to go for a ride and check out all the newb... Whoa."

She came to a halt in front of an empty stall, even though she was sure the barn was full the last time she left. Dani did a head count. Then she counted one more time, to make sure all the horses were accounted for, even the new one. She walked out of the barn, then walked back in. Yes, there was still an empty stall. She took one more shot and walked out. This time, she went all the way to The Perk and came back with coffee. The empty stall was still there, and the horses were in their correct stalls. "I swear, this place is just messing with me," she grumbled.

The Gig was open.

The horses still hadn't gotten over the screaming sun from a few weeks back, even if the island had moved on. They still weren't willing to leave the barn during daylight hours. Dani resigned herself to another day of having to wait until sundown to get anything done that involved moving horses around. For now, she pulled up her usual seat on a hay bale and fired up a video stream of the equestrian events from Rio. Today was the cross country, and Dani had a bet with Kris and Junior over how many riders would get thrown from their mounts.

The Gig was open for anything except riding, unless you could talk the horses into stepping into the sun.

Dani really would have liked to be a pony. It would have been exhilarating to gallop on her own legs for once, and the strange gravity of this place would have made it memorable. But she still had her arms and legs for now, so Dani was taking advantage of that. She made calls to her suppliers to get extra horse feed delivered, she ordered another shipment of hay, and she climbed up to the hay loft to bring down all the hay bales she had stored up there. With so many people around town turning into ponies, she realized that they were going to need her supplies.

The Gig was open, and every pony is welcome to stop by!

Dani had gotten up early and rushed over to The Gig to get the daily chores out of the way. With that accomplished, she changed into her riding apparel (thankfully free of glitter) and started saddling the horses. She wasn't sure how much of the planetoid was suitable for exploration on horseback, but she was going to give it a shot. She'd go alone if she had to, but she was hoping for enough paying customers so she could lead a group.

The Gig was open!

It was a nice day. Dani had stripped down to just her riding breeches and a tank top. She sat outside on a hay bale as she polished her brand-new riding boots. And if she had positioned herself so that she could keep an eye on the boys of the Fandom Fire House as checked their hoses, it was just a coincidence.

The Gig was open, and there were plenty of extra hay bales if someone wanted to join her.

While the restaurant at the end of the causeway seemed worthy of exploration, Dani had spent the weekend at Pimlico racecourse. It was the first time she was able to attend a major stakes race since her racing ban was lifted. The weather could have been better for the Preakness, and it was disappointing to see the Kentucky Derby winner lose -- no Triple Crown this year. But Dani's handicapping skills were as sharp as ever, and she won big.

So her first order of business this morning was ordering new riding boots to replace her missing ones. Her second was to order new bridles, saddles, and other goodies for the horses. Her third was to put up a sign outside the barn entrance.

Need cash? Love animals? Now hiring extra help for the summer! No experience neccesary

The Gig was open.

The problem with talking to the horses about her problems was that the horses didn't talk back. So once Dani had gotten the horses settled in the paddock, she called Junior to get some brotherly advice.

"Dad is trying to buy my affection by getting me tickets to 'Hamilton,'" she blurted out as soon as Junior answered his phone.

"Wait, what? Is Dad even cool enough to know what 'Hamilton' is?" asked Junior. "And how many tickets are we talking about here? Is there one for me?"

"No, it's just one for me and he's got the other one for himself," said Dani, wincing. "Do you want to go in my place?"

"With Dad as my date? No thanks," replied Junior. "Are you going to go?"

Dani sighed. "I hate the idea of giving up a ticket for 'Hamilton,' but my gut feeling tells me not to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Because horses bite," said Junior.

"Well, yes they do, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a Trojan horse. Dad's gifts always come with strings attached," said Dani. "I'm not going. This is just another prelude to Dad getting me involved with one of his schemes. I'm not going to take the bait."

The Gig was open. Once Dani hung up on her brother, she'd be happy to talk to any visitors.

The horses were all a little restless today. Dani normally would have turned them loose in the paddock, except today the paddock was full of little chickens in capes. Cute little chickens, but Dani feared that it wouldn't be so cute if one of the horses stepped on a chicken. "Sorry, guys," Dani tried to reassure them. "I promise you are all going on long rides tomorrow, even if I have to take each of you out one at a time. I have to work off these deviled eggs somehow… Oh my god, stop bringing me eggs! I shouldn't be eating so many of them."

The Gig was open.

The massive pile of acorns that had blocked the barn entrance last week was now scattered all over the ground. They gave a satisfying crunch as Dani stomped on them with her boots. Hopefully business would be good this weekend with extra visitors on the island, and having an unobstructed barn entrance would help.

The Gig was open!

Dani had barely made it to work this morning. There were sick-looking gremlins everywhere, and she had nothing to defend herself with as she made it from her home to The Gig. It took a little while because she had to double back a few times to avoid the gremlins, but she eventually made it to the barn. There, she arms herself with a pitchfork. "Maybe it's time I considered taking one of these home with me, for emergencies," she said to herself as she took note of how many extra pitchforks she had available.

The Gig is open, but it probably wasn't the best day to go horseback riding.

[Fair warning: pings will be very slow today, but anyone is welcome to take shelter from the zombie gremlins or grab a pitchfork. SP is love.]

Dani's ankle was mostly healed up from when she got thrown from her horse. Still, she was going to take it easy today by keeping her ankle elevated on a stack of hay bale as she browsed the Sephora app on her phone. She was sure that buying new eyeliner would really make her feel better in the long run.

The Gig was open, and Dani was totally willing to comp anyone who wanted to exercise the horses for her.

It was Belmont Stakes day. Normally, Dani would have dragged a small TV to the barn or put up a live stream on her laptop in the office. But today, she just couldn't do it. Dani wanted to finally see a Triple Crown win. But she knew that sending a horse that had run two big stakes races in the last 5 weeks against fresh horses did not bode well for American Pharaoh. So Dani was trying to keep busy by cleaning and rearranging the tack room to keep herself from dwelling on the race.

The Gig was open!

Dani was eager to get out there for a ride today. She quickly saddled Kally for herself, but decided to keep the other horses tacked up and ready to go. If any customers happened to stop by, she'd be happy to guide a group on horseback on a tour of the island.

The Gig was open!

It was the wrong day for Dani to be opening The Gig, but Dani figured it couldn't hurt since she was around anyway. With all the strange things happening on the island, Dani had temporarily moved into the barn. That way, she was less likely to get cut off from the horses if things got worse. And, being Fandom, she was sure that things would get worse.

So Dani was getting ready. She took delivery of extra feed, just in case, and was currently building a semi-circle of hay bales around the barn entrance, in case she needed a barrier later.

Dani didn't sleep very well last night. That might explain why, after finishing with her regular chores, Dani was curled up on a pile of hay with her eyes closed. After all, the barn could be very cozy when you spend most of the night tossing and turning.

But The Gig was still open for business. You just might want to bring some coffee for the owner.

It was a new year, and it felt like it was time for something new for Dani. So after going through her regular chores, she put the horses out in the paddock and got settled in the office with her laptop. She had some online shopping to do for some new boots, new gloves, a new jacket, maybe some new dresses…

The Gig was open, and it would be good for Dani's wallet if her shopping was interrupted by paying customers.

Dani was not having a good day. She had a headache, a backache, and a strange craving for peanut butter M&M's. Sitting around the house was not helping her feel any better, so she was doing the next best thing. She was currently at the stable attacking hay bales with a pitchfork. The horses needed fresh hay anyway.

It would probably be best not to get in her way unless you were bringing her more M&M's. Either way, The Gig was open.

The tack room needed to be reorganized, there were hay bales outside the barn that needed to be moved, and Dani's riding boots really could use some polishing. But all those tasks were set aside for a moment. What Dani really needed was a few moments to browse the deals on Sephora's website because she ran out of eyeliner this morning, and making a trip to the mall was out of the question.

The Gig was open, and Dani could use a second opinion on which lip gloss to purchase.

Dani wasn't sure if it was a full moon or if Mercury was in retrograde. All she knew is that the phone in her office was ringing off the hook, but no one was calling about services that The Gig offered. People wanted to know if she had alpacas (no), if she sold lambs wool (no), if she sold fishing permits (what?), and if she carried St. Louis Cardinals calendars (no!). The questions got more bizarre as the day wore on, and eventually Dani left the phone off the hook to get some peace and quiet.

The Gig was open, as long as you walked in rather than calling ahead.

The weather was fairly nice for once, so Dani wasted little time. After rushing through the daily chores, she got the horses saddled. She couldn't possibly take all of them out for a long walk by herself, but hopefully she would get a few riders to drop in and help out.

The Gig was open, and Dani would generously take 10% off the usual horse rental fee.

It was a good thing Dani showed up a bit earlier than usual to feed the horses. She noticed along the way that the town seemed full women with very few men. It was looking suspiciously like another one of those weekends. So when she got a chance for a break, she ran home and returned with a box of women's jackets, shirts, breeches, and other gear. All she needed to do now was to add to the sign in front of the barn.

20% off riding lessons if you woke up in a different body
We have women's riding outfits available for rent

The Gig was open!

Dani had spontaneously decided to take one of the horses for a ride along the beach. However, it turned out to be impossible to saddle a horse while wearing mittens, and every time she pulled off a mitten, she found another one underneath it. So instead of taking a horse for a gallop, Dani had to settle for hanging out around the barn with the horses.

Dani may have been physically located in her barn on Fandom Island, but her mind was more concerned with racing in Santa Anita. She had figured out how to access a livestream of the Breeder's Cup races. So after hurriedly feeding the horses, she settled down with her laptop to watch the races.

There was nothing Dani loved more than spending a day of the races. Unfortunately, her ban from racing meant that watching streaming coverage online was the closest that she could get to a racetrack these days.

[Open!]

Dani was taking it easy in the stable. She wasn't expecting any visitors, and she'd taken the horses out for extra gallops through the week. She had really needed the extra workout with whatever was in the air over the past few days. Thank goodness it was over because the horses needed a good rest.

[Open!]