7802/Horsing Around

Horsing Around
Date of Scene:	09 June 2019
Location:	Stables - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Rogue, Rachel and Kitty go for a horseback ride at the school.
Cast of Characters:	Shadowcat, Rogue, Marvel Girl

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Shadowcat has posed:
It's still daylight, and enough time for a ride. Kitty hasn't been on any of the horses the months that she has been back, so had suggested heading down to the stables and saddling up a couple of the horses. Kitty walks into the stables, wearing a pair of boots and having grabbed a western hat from her room, the brim curled up on either side so it is more about style than about keeping the sun off.

She walks along the stalls, looking at the horses. Kitty stops by one, a chestnut mare with a blaze of white on her nose. "Hello there, Sundance, how are you today?" she tells the horse, reaching out to let the horse get used to her before finally patting her on the nose once she knows the horse is ok with it. Lockheed is back at the mansion in case some of the horses might be spooked by him.

Rogue has posed:
This had been one of Rogue's favorite places in the mansion when she'd first gotten to the school two and a half years ago. She'd felt very isolated back then and had come to this quiet part of the grounds to spend time with the animals. She can touch animals too and she hadn't been around horses since she'd ran away from her aunt's place when she was 14. She'd enjoyed coming here to brush their hair, take care of them and just lay her face against the side of one of theirs, it felt calming and helped her center her troubled mind.

Now? Things are different for Anna-Marie. She's in her 20s, she's 'well adjusted' into a bit of a crazy young woman and is more open, flaunting herself and looking to have fun.

Now, Rogue is walking into the stables in a pair of cut off jeans shorts, a flannel shirt tied up overtop of a white tank top and her own straw cowgirl hat ontop of her head, her hair laying down either sides of her face loose and free in the winds around them.

Rogue saunters into the stables and she leans against one of the stalls to smile at HER favorite horse. Shadowstride. All black. "So pretty." Rogue says to the horsey.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel had needed a break. A chance to get her head on straight, figure out where she was meant to be in this time, what she was meant to do. Realistically, that would have taken far longer than the few weeks she's been away from the school, which is probably why she doesn't look like all that much of a changed person when she wanders into the stables, hands deep in the pockets of her leather pants, boots clunking along the ground.

The sullen introspection fades, though, at the sound of a familiar voice, replaced by a small, crooked smile. "Heya, Ka- Kitty," she calls over, steps picking up just a little bit.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty glances up as the first arrival makes it to the stables. "Hey Rogue," she says warmly. She grins as Rogue goes straight to her favorite horse. Kitty looks back to Sundance, rubbing her hand over the horse's face and then moving over to stroke her neck. "You feel like going for a run today, girl?" she asks the horse.

The sound of someone else coming into the stables causes Kitty to look over. Her face lights up appropriate for not having seen Rachel in a couple of weeks. "There you are!" she says, grinning and hurrying over to sweep up Rachel into a tight hug if allowed. "How've you been, haven't seen you in a bit," Kitty will say before she lets Rachel go. "And you can call me Kate. Everyone has a different name for me, anyway," she says, laughing warmly.

Kitty goes to get a saddle and asks, "Do you want to come riding with Rogue and I?" She carries the saddle over to Sundance's stall, then gets a blanket to spread over the horse's back. "I didn't know if you'd rode before or not, actually," Kitty says, glancing over to the young woman who is still somewhat new to the here and now.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue glances over to see Rachel, she smiles to her but doesn't know her that well, not as well as Kitty seems to--but then again, Kitty knows everyone! "I got whole boxes'a names for ya, Kitty." Rogue quips to her friend as she opens the door to Shadow's stall and doesn't bother with a saddle as she doesn't need one anyway. She takes hold of the horse by his bridle and starts to lead him out of the stall then. "Come on, fella. We gonna do a run around."

She steps out into the central lane of the stables--which is an extension of the large multi-car garage on one side, and the doors out to the riding fields on the other. She aims toward the fields, obviously, and starts to lead the black horse out toward them at a slow walking pace. "It'll be fuuuun." Rogue tells Rachel on her way past the Grey offspring.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel allows the hug, though she's still stiff about it, not quite leaning in and not quite letting go. Hugs are hard. But she does let out a breath when it's over, and that faint smile stays. "Kate," she repeats, sounding more reassured by that than by any physical contact. "I'm...I'm good. Okay. Good. Good enough?" Still figuring it out, then. "I've thought some things through," she finally decides, nodding once as if to say that's her final answer.

She looks over at the greeting to Rogue, raising one hand in an awkward wave. "Hey," she greets, before the question of riding is back on the table. "Do I need to know how?" she asks, looking between the pair. "It's basically steer and try not to fall off, right?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde lets out a warm laugh at Rogue's box of names. "And how many of them would warrant another towel-snap?" Kitty asks, flashing her friend a grin. "Hopefully only a few?" The brunette grins and then turns back to finish saddling her horse. She says to Rachel, "It's not too hard. Especially if you can fly if you were going to fall off," she says.

Kitty gets another saddle to prepare a horse for Rachel as she explains how the stirrups and the reins work. Soon both horses are ready to go, and Kitty brings Rachel's over. "His name is Morning Star," she says of the painted horse. She gives him a pat and says, "He's a nice mellow horse." Kitty pulls out a lump of sugar and gives to Rachel. "Let him take it from your flat palm so he doesn't bite a finger by accident," she says. Kitty demonstrates with her own horse, before then walking Sundance over to Rogue. "Too bad Storm couldn't make it," she says in disappointment. "So how did your line dancing competition go anyway? When do I got to see the trophy!?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel watches the process, keeping a hand on the horse's shoulder and stroking slowly as she absorbs it all. Sure, she could cheat and use her powers. But she's working on accepting that this is something of a normal life, and using her powers wouldn't exactly fit in with that. When the horse's lips brush over her hand to take the sugar cube, she even breaks a small, warmer smile.

"Line dancing competition?" she echoes as she leads the horse out behind Kitty, leaving a long trail of reins between her and it. Luckily, Morning Star knows the routine well enough to follow along.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue offers a smile to Rachel as Kitty preps her a horse. "Thats the jist'a it, sugah." She says back to the girl before she glances over to Kitty and just grins at her. "Like, all've'em? All'a the names?" She reponds to the first question before she pauses her walking at the mouth of the doorway to the outside and the fields beyond. "Oh, I ended up not competin'." She explains about the dance. "I forgit my jacket, and well... I didn't wanna brush shoulders with anyone. So I just stood off t'the side and flirted drinks outta guys." She holds a grin then for a moment before her eyes go why!

"Hey!" She says to both of them then. "Check this out!" She exclaims all excited-like.

Rogue turns to face Shadowstride for a moment, whispers soemthing to him and then points off to the distance out into the sunny fields. "They're takin' the Hobbits t'Isengard!" And with that shouted out, Rogue's arm hooks up around the horse's neck and... in a perfect simulation of Legolas from the Two Towers movie, she spins herself up and around onto the Horse's back, effortlessly, and without putting any undo pressure on the horse due to her flight power.

And with that silly bit of showing off, Rogue rides out into the fields without a saddle on the horse who's black coat gleams in the sunlight.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives Rachel an encouraging smile as she feeds the horse the sugar cube. Though Kitty is about the same age as Rachel, she has seemed to settle comfortably into the way she sometimes is like a sister to Rachel, and other times it feels almost maternal. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, and moments like this where she can help Rachel experience something new are a treasure for Kitty.

She looks back to Rogue in time to watch the display of horsemanship. Or maybe it's just flying. Kitty lets out a sharp laugh. "I think you cheated on that, Anna-Marie!" she calls out in a laughing tone. "Come on, let's catch up," Kitty says to Rachel. She puts a foot in the stirrup, going slow and exaggerating her motions a bit so Rachel can see how she just steps up into the saddle from that foothold. Kitty gets settled in the saddle and will wait for Rachel to get ready before trotting her horse out to join Rogue. "Hey, which students had you drop the ball, anyway? I wanted to mention them to John," she says, speaking of the science teacher who is actually J'onn. "They should have been able to figure out after a certain height the ball wouldn't fall any faster thanks to wind resistance. Might make a good lab or something."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Taking the who to where?" The horrors of the far future: no Lord of the Rings. Rachel quirks a brow, but she at least seems to appreciate the horsemanship involved! Even if, in her mind, it has something to do with horses taking people somewhere very exciting.

She watches Kitty get up, then carefully hoists herself up into the saddle as well. Frankly, it's more of a vault, but luckily once again Morning Star is hip to the dangers of untrained riders. Even those with a tendency to get explosive. 'Bomb-proof' takes on a whole new meaning at Xavier's School.

Once she's settled in, she gives a little kick, bouncing a bit in the saddle to start out with. She's athletic and she's trained, but this is still new.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is a bit of the ways out there into the main field beside the stables. But when the two of them catch up to her and Kitty posses that question at her, Rogue just flashes her a grin. "The what?" She asks, her straw hat leaving a nice shadowy blanket over Rogue's eyes and down toward her nose's tip, but her hair is blowing in the wind, the white strands of her bangs crossing over her face from the right to the left as her hand reaches up to pull them down off of her smile.

"The bouncey ball?" She then asks. "Oh, shit... Uh..." Rogue has to think about it for a moment while she keeps one hand on Shadow's neck and the two of them ride around in a circle in-place. "It was... Phase, Hambone and Recluse." She then recalls, which translates to student names that Kitty would likely know. Everyone here likes to pick a super hero name after all, most kids in this world do these days really.

Rogue rides around Kitty and Rachel at a basic trotting speed then, bounding about atop of Shadow. "You're gettin' it, Rachel." Rogue tries to offer encouragement.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty sits up straighter in her saddle. She says to Rachel, "Oh, it's from a book. Three books. And they made them into movies. They are really good. We'll have to have a marathon watching session some night." She flashes a smile over to Rachel as they arrive over with Rogue.

Kitty gives a soft laugh. She snatches her own hat off of her head, fanning herself with it against the warm summer day before putting it back on. "Figures Hambone would be part of it," she says. Rachel would know him as the somewhat chubby, somewhat loud kid who people enjoy picking on but he just keeps on chugging ahead without caring. Kitty pauses for a moment and says, "Rogue? What /is/ his super power either? And don't say making soup." She chuckles and tries to think of any other power that a hambone might play into.

Kitty watches Rogue riding a little faster and she tells Rachel, "You don't have to squeeze with your legs as hard as people think. The trick is to kind of stand in the stirrups a little bit, use your legs," she says, "Rather than squeezing to keep your balance." She gives Sundance a little tap in the sides then, speeding him up to match.