5097/Everything Is Better With Horses

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Everything Is Better With Horses
Date of Scene: 04 August 2018
Location: Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Phoenix, X-23, Cyclops, Rage




Phoenix has posed:
After giving Laura sometime to get used to her new environment, Jean finally gotten the time to clear some slot in her schedule to go check out on Laura. She went to meet with her, and lead her to the Mansion's Stables. "Laura...have you ever ridden a horse before?" She asks, "or seen one for that matter?" After all, most don't really get the chance these days.

She also sent Scott a message, asking if he'd like to meet a new student with a very special circumstance. The fact she hadn't had time to even see much of Scott since he returned might have had something to do with the invitation as well.

X-23 has posed:
She hasn't. Laura moves along with Jean. "I have not." The short girl moves along with Jean, seeming almost pleased. She's not really an emotional girl, but she's as close as it gets.

Cyclops has posed:
Jean isn't the only one who has been rather busy over the past couple of weeks. Since his return, he's done his best to fall back into his usual routine of patrolling the institute and checking in on all of the students as well as getting mauled by Illyana in demon form. The usual. So when he received word from Jean about meeting a new student, he decidedly agreed. He had only really seen Jean for a few minutes and appreciated any opportunity. A 'special circumstance' student was also icing on the cake.

Lagging behind Jean by a few moments is Scott Summers. He had caught sight of her across the mansion grounds walking alongside the young woman but kept his distance. He'll let them chat until he catches up to them at the stables. His hands are stuffed into his pockets and he glances around the grounds, seeming to enjoy the nice afternoon weather. Once they arrive and he has a chance to catch up, Scott will nods between them with a polite smile, "Afternoon Jean," before turning his attention to Laura, "Scott Summers. Pleased to meet you."

Rage has posed:
Having bumped into Scott herself, Andrea tags along with him closely behind. Being that she owns a few horses, she is excited to see what type the school currently has. Dressed in a sundress, jeggings and black boots, she looks trendy and comfortable for the weather. She peeks around him and waves to her teammate with the claws, then nods her head to Miss Grey as well.

Phoenix has posed:
"Then this is a great opportunity, horses are wonderful animals," Jean starts, moving along with Laura, closer to a pristine white horse. Only to stop when Scott arrives, and turning to face him, "Scott!" She smiles warmly, "glad you could join us," and then she points Laura his way, "this is Scott Summers, a good friend, and a wonderful teacher. If you listen to him, you can learn quite a lot. But his best quality, he's a wonderful friend, and if you need anything, or anything is bothering you, he will be at your side. You can feel at ease asking him for anything, just as you can ask anything of me." Looking from Scott to Laura, she asks very solemnly, "Laura...would you care to tell Scott about your life experience? I don't feel it's my place to say anything, if you're comfortable, you can do it...you can make your own decisions."

Noting Andrea along, she waves at the girl, and tells Laura, "that's Andrea, she's a student at the school," and then to Andrea adds, "this is Laura, the special student I was informing everyone about a while back..."

X-23 has posed:
Laura is examining the horse, curious, when Scott arrives. She looks over at the man in the red sunglasses, considering him. Andrea gets a simple one-arm-movement wave in return, but there's something /almost/ approaching a smile when she sees her teammate. Jean's endorsement of Scott stands in high measure with her, clearly; Jean's the only person at the school that Laura's been remotely "warm" with.

At the offer to talk about her life story, she nods. By this point, she's had to explain it to some of her teammates, as well as some of the teachers. She knows the high points. "My name is Laura, designation X-23. I was created from the Weapon X project as a clone of one of the teachers here. I have spent my life being trained within the facility there until my mother died and sent me here." Full of bombshells, but that's her in a nutshell.

Cyclops has posed:
The smile on Scott's face shifts every so slightly at Jean's reaction to his arrival. What was a formal, polite smile now seems to be a bit more genuine. His eyes follow Jean's gaze as she looks to Laura and he nods at her once more. The smile shifts back as Laura begins to explain her life story. Not wanting to appear to be confused, or perhaps more concerned, about what he's hearing, Scott maintains the friendly expression as he listens. Weapon X project and a clone of one of the teachers here. Doesn't exactly leave many options, does it.

At the mention of her mother dying and then her being sent here, his smile does fade away when he purses his lips and furrows his brows, "I'm very sorry to hear that about your mother, Laura." He briefly looks to Jean and then back again, "As Jean said, I'm always available if you need anything. And I hope you're finding it comfortable here."

Looking over his shoulder at Andrea after Laura shows some signs of light on her face, Scott nods to the pop star. Either Laura here is another fan or they're friends. Something tells him that any clone of Logan's likely isn't a big pop music fanatic but the day is full of surprises. Both brows rise above his sunglasses as he takes in a long, slow breath and looks back over to Jean. 'Interesting,' he thinks to himself.

Rage has posed:
"Laura and I are friends, and Miss Frost assigned her to the New Mutants project. She and I have been in combat together. We really held it down that one day." Andrea says with a wide smile to Laura, giving her a nod. "I've been helping her out with buying clothes, and eating s'mores and just hanging out in general. She's cool." See, the popstar princess approves of Claws 2.0. She heads over to one of the horses, holding out a hand carefully, then rubs his muzzle once he bumps it against her palm.

Phoenix has posed:
"As you might surmise, Scott, Laura doesn't react or behaves the way one would expect a kid her age. That's why she's a special student, we're not going to change what she's been through, what's been done to her, but we can teach her what it's like to fit in. And how she can be around people who are not just seeking to harm her or use her. She's family, Scott, so keep an eyes out for her more than you would for students in general...I don't want her to get in trouble. But I'm more worried about some of the students who could set themselves up for trouble with Laura, without realizing it." Jean explains her concerns to Scott, and essentially why it was important for her to have him meet Laura in person.

She already tried Logan, and she's going to force him into a one on one meeting. No matter what he expressed in their private conversation of the matter. But Scott she knows she can fully trust in that regard.

Jean looks a bit surprised at the tidbit about Frost, but nods nevertheless, "that so...? That's wonderful news, Andrea." Turning to look at Laura, Jean asks, "have you made more friends at the school, Laura?" She wonders if the feeling is even mutual, she would expect Laura doesn't have the same understanding that most do of the idea of 'friend'. "You bought clothes?" Jean asks Laura curiously, "did you choose them yourself?"

As Andrea approaches the horses, Jean points at the pristine white horse in one of the stalls, "Andrea, can you let Cloud out of his stall? I wanted Laura to meet him."

X-23 has posed:
If Jean trusts them, so does Laura. She gives Scott that small smile that she's started to use every now and again, and then replies to Andrea's statement. "The other students have not been trained in combat enough." Her expert evaluation.

As for Jean's questions..."I have teammates, and they have said they are friends." She really doesn't get the whole "friend" thing yet. "I needed clothes. My training jumpsuit blew up." All the best out-of-context quotes. "Andrea bought me some clothes." She let the pop princess choose them; she has zero fashion sense.

Cyclops has posed:
As Jean explains the sensitive situation with Laura, Scott watches her intently and nods, "Absolutely." He glances back at Laura and his thoughts mimic Jean's concerns at the idea that, given her background, things could quickly go south if any of her classmates rub her the wrong way. Knowing what Logan went through with the Weapon X program as an adult, it's beyond his imagination to understand how it could be done to anyone else. Much less someone so young.

Laura's comment about her teammates not being trained enough in combat, Scott clears his throat. "I'm sure you know that combat is not the priority of the things we do here at the Institute." His hands clasp behind his back as he launches into a spiel he's likely given hundreds of times in the past, "That being said, and it sounds like you have already experienced it first hand, the ability to defend yourself and your fellow students from danger is an important part of what we do here and I will be personally assisting with the training of you and your teammates moving forward." He remembers what it was like to work as a team when Logan first came around. At least this time he may be a little more prepared.

Phoenix has posed:
"That is correct, Laura, do you know why?" Jean asks the new student, amused by her harsh assessment of the students. She nods when the loss of the jumpsuit is related, "that is unfortunate, what exactly happened for your jumpsuit to blow up, if you don't mind?" Jean asks, wondering if perhaps approving the whole New Mutant thing might have been a mistake. They're getting into far too many explosions already.

Rage has posed:
Heading over to Cloud, Andrea lets the horse out after giving him a few strokes along the neck, then glances over towards the others. "The day that Laura and I fought, we had no choice. The Reavers attacked us, cornered us into an alley and they were going to kill us, Mason and my driver. They had all of these guns and .. cybernetics." She trails off, then looks over to Laura. "But we worked well together. We did what we had to do to survive and to save the others. I owe her my life."

Phoenix has posed:
"I'm sure you worked great together, you're here," Jean says in all seriousness to Andrea and Laura, but looks a bit displeased at the mention of the Reavers, "you know," she quips at Scott, "seems like people no longer keep their promises these days...it's a shame really, people could get hurt for no reason." She then points Laura at Cloud, "that's Cloud, he's beautiful, and very friendly...go on...touch him, like this," she shows Laura how to gently pet the horse, "Andrea, I saw how well you do with the horses, you feel like showing Laura how to care for them? I think it might be fun to teach Laura how to ride them."

X-23 has posed:
Laura shakes her head. "I do not know. But several froze when we were attacked. It was dangerous for them." And then, as if it were nothing, she adds "I jumped on a grenade. It blew my clothes up." She nods in agreement to Andrea's assessment. "We were attacked. There was no choice. Andrea handled things correctly.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott glances from Laura to Andrea and nods. As the only student Scott has had any real formal time around so far he can attest to her prowess when it comes to danger. They've only had a short time in the Danger Room but she handled herself well. Looking back to Laura, Scott furrows his brows again at the thought of the Reavers, "I'm glad to know the students had you two there to keep them safe."

He can't count the number of times he's seen Logan throw himself in harm's way to protect others and it does bring him a small amount of comfort knowing that Laura's teammates will know the feeling of having someone like that around who can bounce back from practically anything. "The point of our training is that you'll hopefully never have to jump on anymore grenades. Everyone should be able to work together as a single unit." Of course that isn't always the case. But if you know how your teammates operate, it opens up so many more options and makes working together more effortless. That's enough shop talk, though. They'll have plenty of time for that, "Is there anything you need in the meantime?"

Rage has posed:
"Laura was pretty badass when she did that. She could regenerate through that damage where I woulda been blown up. I can heal some wounds but not to that extent." Andrea trots Cloud out towards the other and smiles to Laura. "So, this is Cloud. He's a handsome fellow, huh? Reach out your hand slowly towards his nose and let him smell you. Then you can pet him along the snout real gently. He loves the attention."

Phoenix has posed:
Jean listens carefully to Laura relating the encounter with the Reavers, certainly a good thing Laura was there. She then takes a step back, letting Andrea instruct Laura on interaction with Cloud, smiling encouragingly at the girls.

X-23 has posed:
Laura looks at the horse. Unlike most, she doesn't see "awww, cute horsey." She sees an animal 20 times her mass with dangerous hooves. She frowns a little, and says "What is it for?"

Cyclops has posed:
Not exactly a big horse person himself, Scott steps aside as Andrea takes Cloud out of the stall and shows the steed to Laura. He claps the back of one hand into the palm of the other, still held behind his back as he watches the two students interact with one another. Andrea is a very sociable person and thinks that she'll be a good friend for Laura to spend some time with. While he doesn't know much about her abilities, if she's anything like Logan she will be able to return the favor by helping Andrea out with her abilities.

As Andrea leads the horse past him, he reaches out and gently slides the palm of his hand along Cloud's side before stepping next to Jean. Watching the students still, he softly bumps her with his hip as a grin crosses his face. He does so as subtly as possible so the students don't catch sight of him showing signs of being casual.

Rage has posed:
"Horses are great for riding or just companions. Like big dogs." Andrea says as she reaches out to take a brush off the wall, then begins to run it through Cloud's mane. "I own a few horses at my parent's ranch in California. I always enjoyed riding them when I was younger. I can teach you if you want. You can touch him. Stroke his muzzle. He'll like it." She says as she gives a grin to Laura across the broad shoulders of the stallion.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean reaches to brush her hand against Scott's back when he moves near her, "good to have you back, Scott," she whispers to him. Her eyes hang momentarily on Scott, before shifting to Andrea and Laura, "companionship, transportation...though mostly recreational, think of it as meeting a non-human friend." She nods at Andrea's words, and adds, "I really enjoy horse riding, it's fun, calming..."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott leans against Jean when he feels her hand against his back and mutters, "Glad to be back." He smiles at her as he casts her a quick glimpse and nods. He missed her while he was gone. And still does, considering their busy schedules. When she replies to Laura, he straightens away from her once more and assumes his more professional posture, watching Laura interact with the horse with a bit of interest. He's only ridden a horse once or twice and calming isn't really how he would describe the experience. Maybe he'll have to give it another try sometime so he can get more comfortable with it.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean can't help herself, and when Scott has this surface thoughts about horse riding she giggles. "It just takes more experience...it really is calming, trust me. You probably was just nervous."

Cyclops has posed:
The sound of Jean giggling draws the smile back across Scott's face and he shifts his stance a bit so he can glance at her from the corner of his eye without making it too obvious. 'Perhaps I just need a good teacher,' he thinks so Jean can pick up his thoughts. He'll readily admit, not that he needs to when she can read his mind, that he'd of course be willing to give it another shot if she wanted to accompany him. He'd be terrible, but he doesn't really mind embarassing himself in front of her.

He peeks back over towards Laura who appears to be petting the horse and getting familiar with him. Inclining his head in Laura's direction subconciously, he thinks, 'Think she'll be alright?'

X-23 has posed:
Laura spends a couple minutes bonding with the horse. Well, "bonding" with the horse. In her case, this is more of a non-verbal sort of "if you don't kick me, I won't stab you". Finally, still a little uneasy around it, she retreats to safe harbours. Which in this case is NewMom, aka Jean. She returns back over nearer to the redhead. "It is large. But not aggressive." she says.

Phoenix has posed:
"Maybe you do," Jean grins at Scott, and turns her attention back to Laura. <<I certainly hope so...might be surprising to you, but I can very well relate to her. When you have a chance, have words with Logan, okay?>> She moves closer to Laura, adding her own hand to the mix, petting the horse a bit herself. "That it is," Jean agrees with Laura, sneaking one arm around Laura, brushing at her back before trying to guide her back closer to the horse, with just a little bit of a push against the small of her back. "Do you want to try and get on it, Laura? I can go with you if you like."

Cyclops has posed:
Having a word with Logan about his clone should be interesting. Although there's no doubt he's already aware of her presence at the mansion, so there have probably been attempts at talking to him about her already. He looks back towards Jean and watches her with Laura, the furrow returning to his brow as he considers her thoughts about relating to the young girl. It makes him consider the diversity of backgrounds between everyone here and the struggles they've all had to deal with in their own ways. While Laura isn't quite the same as everyone else, there is still plenty of hope for her here.

Scott remains where he stands and seems content watching Jean do her thing with Laura.

X-23 has posed:
Laura shakes her head. "No. I think if it leaves me alone, I will leave it alone." The girl looks about at Scott and Jean, apparently trying to get a read on the two of them. "I am...not sure what to do now." She admits. "My mother sent me here. But...I already know how to use my abilities. And..." She hesitates a moment. "There has only been one person at all like her." Namely, Jean.

Phoenix has posed:
<<In case you were wondering, I approached him already, he is being an idiot about it...just relate how important it is on my behalf...I hadn't the chance to restress it yet,>> Jean telepathically tells Scott while having her attention set on Laura and Cloud. "There's nothing to it, Laura, really...Cloud will not try and harm you. He's a friend." With that, Jean goes about mounting Cloud, who moves a bit after she's settled on his back, but Jean moves to lean against him, brushing his neck. For a moment her gaze is set on the horse, and it almost appears as if she's communicating with him without words. "She sent you here for a reason, there's much you must learn, that has nothing to do with your abilities."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott nods without realizing it even though no words are being spoken and Jean is clearly busy with Laura. Logan being an idiot about something important? What is the world coming to. Laura isn't a cigar or whiskey, after all.

He clears his head of those thoughts and nods again to nothing in particular, <<I'll track him down later today an have a chat with him, see if I can talk some sense into him.>>

Rage has posed:
Having taken a phone call, Andrea heads back over and stands next to Scott as she rocks back and forth upon her sneakers. Watching Jean and Laura for a few moments, she gives a smile.

X-23 has posed:
Laura looks up to Jean. "I suppose." She sighs. "Thank you for showing me the animal." Some disillusionment is present in her tone; more in her thoughts. "I do not think I want to try it, though." She'll give a nod, and then turn, as if to start to leave.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean isn't about to force Laura, that's the last thing she would want to do, but she does smile warmly after her. "You don't have to try it if you don't want to...but I'll do it with you if you care to try. Are there other things you'd like to see, Laura? Or would you like to take a bit of a break and do whatever you want for now?"