Alice had gotten up stupidly early. So early in fact that the house staff were still bed before getting dressed. Normally she would be looked at to set an example and be a lady of elegance but she was sorting out the horses today. 

Many of the stable hands were off today spending time with their families as it was a sunday and many would be attending the church service. A couple had agreed to help for a couple of hours to tend to the horses before returning home.

Alice had gathered the fed bags and other food for the horses and filled the fed bins while listening to the sounds in the stable block. It was a large block that housed the horses for the entire polo team. It also consisted of two bothys and 4 cottages for stable hands and farriers. It was an impressive site. 

She heard a sound from behind and turned to hear someone retching from somewhere in the stables

Bumping this post back onto the recent threads

The sudden brightness as the stable door opened and consequent noises pulled Robert out of his drunken slumber. He lay sprawled in the hay with a bottle of gin on his left and a polished wooden box on the other. He was well dressed, but disheveled and there was a bruise on his cheek. As soon as he was awake enough to be somewhat conscious, he felt his stomach churn, sat up, and expelled its contents on the floor in front of him.

"Jesus fucking Christ. Get out of here, man, or I'll shoot you!" he shouted at whatever obnoxious stable hand had decided to interrupt his sleep.

Anne rolled her eyes when she heard the voice. It was her brother Robert and by the sounds of it he was hungover. She shook her head as she walked over to where he was hiding "and who are you going to shoot you cardboard gangster? These are my stables!"

Cardboard...?! His nostrils would have flared if he hadn't been allergic to oxygen in that moment. Every breath made him want to vomit again. "Nothing here belongs to you, dear sister," he pointed out instead, for lack of an adequate comeback. "It's all father's." He looked up at her gloomily.

Alice glared at him as he lay in his drunken stuper. "On paper, the money that bought this stable block. The stable cottages etc, were bought from the winnings of my team. Which father sponsors but the buildings here and around here belong to me! They are only in father's name because it is not acceptable in current society for a woman to own property!"

He smiled when she ranted, for it told him he had gotten to her. "Paper is the only thing that matters," he pointed out. He took a swig from his bottle to wash down the lingering taste of vomit. "What time is it?"

Alice smirked "time you got a grip of yourself and stopped being an immature little shit! Your a Carrington for christ sake and yet you wallow around hungover in the stables like a commoner" she glanced at her watch before replying to her brother once more "Its half seven to he exact"

Robert scowled at her. "Yes, mother," he answered. "For your information, the Carrington name is nothing to be proud of nowadays. First Magnus, then Pearl, and now father is openly parading his whore. I'd get up your high horse and gallop out of here if I were you," he took another swig of his bottle.

Alice looked at him "you leave pearl out of this!" She crossed her arms. "Just because a few of the family has disgrace ls our name. Some of us hold our heads high!"