2011-07-12: Comfort Of Horses

Players:

Connor_icon.jpg Sage_icon.jpg

Summary: Sage meets Connor for the first time, Connor provides some words of comfort

Date: July 12, 2011

Log Title: Comfort Of Horses

Rating: PG


Xavier Mansion - Stables

The smell of horse and hay immediately hit the sense for anyone who step in here. There are empty stalls for students with horses, and school owned horses for those who wish to ride. Tackle, saddles (English and Western), helmets, and grooming supplies are found neatly tucked away in a supply closet.


Where most students would probably be turned off by the smell of horses in the stables, Sage almost welcomes it. The familar scents remind him of home making him feel comfortable and homesick at the same time. He's dressed in a pair of jeans with a purple collared t-shirt tucked into his pants and is only wearing a pair of sandals. He stands in front of one of the stalls as he brushes the main of a chestnut coloured horse. Occasionally Sage reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sugar cube to feed the horse.

From behind you comes a voice with an accent that sounds part Boston, but mostly Londoner that says, "Beautiful animal, that is… but you'll spoil them if you keep that up. Here… I brought some apple and carrot. Just as sweet, but a touch better for the old girl." And grinning, the replacement Connor steps into the light interrupted by the doors and walls of the stables, dressed in what could best be called a boy's winter school uniform from Japan. Only instead of the standard navy blue, this one is a deep emerald. With one hand behind his back, he approaches, the other holding a small basket.

Jumping slightly from the sound of a voice, Sage turns to look at Connor. "Good afternoon. I actually gave her a carrot earlier and am now spoiling her a bit." His accent sounds more like he's from Northern England than from London. There's a content smile on his face as he moves his hand to stroke the soft fur on the horses nose. "I'm actually quite good with animals, we had a few horses back home."

Setting the basket to one side again, he stops in front of the horse in question, watching her for several moments before smiling and then shaking his head, "Never had the talent for equestrian myself… not enough patience, and I've never been much for dirt and grime. Pity that… it doesn't stop you from admiring them. You must be one of the newcomers to the school. Hope you're settling well." He does reach out to touch, but you might notice for the first time he's wearing leather gloves.

"I'm new here. I'm Sage, Sage Windsong Chipmunk Holbrook the Fourth." Sage says offering a hand to Connor. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He says before his hand goes back to pat the horse lightly before steping aside so Connor can get closer if he wants. "I don't mind dirt and grime and horses aren't that much dirt and grime. Chickens, they can be quite dirty I feel. Pigs as well but that mostly because they need the mud to stay cool. My home is a farm back in England." He explains.

Connor accepts the hand graciously but cautiously, gloved hand touching flesh before saying with a nervous chuckle, "That's quite a mouthful your parents saddled you with, you're about a Sir away from knighthood, or god forbid, Parlaiment." He pauses then before responding as he steps closer to the horse in question, touching the top of her nose with one hand, "I am a touch more complicated, so you'll apologize if I cannot answer you without explaining myself first. I am not actually the student who's supposed to be here. I'm… ahh… filling in while he's indisposed. The name is question is Connor Blake, but simply Connor will suffice."

Sage furries his brown in a bit of confusion. "My brothers and sisters all have names like mine. I don't find it a mouthful or anything like that." He says with a shake his head. "No, I'm not cut out to be a knight." Then Connor gets another strange look from Sage as he looks him up and down before taking a cautious step back. "Are you a Changling? No…you look to old to be a Changling and to big."

Connor replies with a soft chuckle, "No, friend Sage… I am from a parallel Earth. One where instead of your various and wonderful gifts, we have magic. Some of what comes around remains the same… but some things are different." And as if to demonstrate, he holds his hand out, and a glow blue-green ball of light appears there, shifting and swirling until it becomes the image of a dancer, and then vanishes, "No, I'm not Fae, but we do have some of the Summer Court at our version of this school… very well-behaved for their kind too."

Well that explaination is completely logical and makes sense to Sage and he accepts it easily. "Magic exists here as well. We get our powers from creatues called Dunlalaps, they bless select people in give them powers. But I must say I'm quite jealous that you've met some faries. I've usually fall asleep when I go fairy watching. My sister's caught glimpses of flower fairies before."

Connor pauses briefly, tilting his head a bit in a rather cattish fashion, "I've never heard of a Dunlalap before… it must not be something within our standard education of supernatural creatures. But I was given to understand that this was a matter of genetic expression." But with a chuckle he waves it off once more, "I still cannot get over your television myself… the most advanced technologies we have on my Earth is the radio. Radio dramas are quite the thing… and at the end of the season, they release the records for purchase. Quite fun."

"I don't watch much television. Not since I've come here anyway. We used to have movie nights back home watching cartoons and other fun films." Sage says. "As for radio, we listened to it sometimes but I always liked the record player. I had to leave all my records back home cause they weren't really mine. They belonged to the family so it wasn't fair. It seems most people here look at me strange when I talk about records as they have these magic boxes that play music and pictures with the music."

"Oh yes… those eye-things? Quite remarkable actually. I've been told the small phones you have do quite amazing things. To match it, I'd need a year of study and another five's in salary to design something to match magically." Connor muses as once more he touches the horse's nose, and then offers her a piece of apple, floating it from the basket to his hand, "It… might not be my play to say, friend… but do not sell all these marvels short. There are good ones, and bad ones. But without the experience to judge, you find yourself forever lacking the frame of reference. It's like ice cream." Turning his head to look at Sage, "When you go to the parlour, there are so many in the bins, you don't know what you'd like, so you have to try them. And often you return for your favorites, but you always wonder about the ones you missed."

"Eye…things?" Sage is quite clueless about that. "I don't know much about telephones. We never had one growing up, we didn't have a need for it." He watches the apple as it floats up with a sort of amazement. "I've never been to a parlour for ice cream. For that matter what is a Parlour for Ice Cream? We always made it at home and added real fruit to it. I'm just not used to things here in America I guess. I think someone called it country boy?"

Connor repeats the gesture to offer another to the mare as she attempts to bump him and beg for treats, putting it under he mouth, and then taking out a hanky to dry off his hand, a slightly pensive look on his face, "And what they fail to comprehend is there is nothing wrong with how you've lived. You lived simply and in self-reliance. It is far too easy to scorn something that one cannot comprehend for themselves. I can guarantee you however if things were to go south… and all their marvels fail them? You would go from being the aahhh… country boy… to suddenly becoming quite important." But after another moment of consideration, he adds, "There is a parlour in Salem… a place called Cold Stone Cremery… a decent walk from the school… if you wished to try?"

"It's just different. We had everything we needed at the farm for the most part. Here..it seems just different." Sage says as he looks to another of the horses and pats her snout before feeding her a sugar cube from his pocket. "It's also my first time away from home." He then looks to Connor with a nod. "Sure, I haven't left the school grounds yet. Maybe it would be nice to go see the city not to far from here." To him Salem Center is a city.

"Believe me when I tell you I understand how you feel… I have so many things I am used to from my own world, and so many things that are different that I feel just as displaced. I miss my own home as well, but I have a job to complete… one that requires my off and on attention." Connor says, a slightly sad look crossing his face as he moves off, and removes the glove, replacing it with a fresh one, "The people here judge me based on their own Connor… and not myself. But, it's always been the experience of the young to judge only based on what they know, and not be open to the broader perspective that your ideal life is just as valid as their own."

"I don't know this other Connor so I have nothing to judge on." Sage says with a shrug. "I don't really have a job here, well I guess I do. To learn how to control my hair." He says chuckling at how foolish that sounds. "I have prehensile hair they call it. I can use my hair as if it's another appendage." He leans in to give the Horse a quick kiss on it's nose as it shows just how comfortable around animals Sage is. "I don't mind if people think one way, it's who they are but I find they are hard to accept who I am sometimes. I don't understand why they cannot accept that I do not like fighting, in any form."

Connor sighs softly, "Take a moment to watch any news program and you'll see. Wars, violence, murder… and much more awful things. It seems that this culture inundates their children with it. Even their entertainment is violent. I walked into the rec room and watched two children playing a game where they were having the characters on the screen beating up each other, and were laughing about it." Moving around to look at the horse, he then shakes his head again, and frowns as he looks down and away, "I will admit… there is a point where one must defend themselves… and I was well-trained to handle such. It doesn't mean I like doing it… but that's neither here nor there. Your opinions and your wishes are just as valid as their's… but it will only take time for the understanding, and the respect that should come from it to grow."

"I don't watch that sort of stuff." Sage says as he grew up where it was inteionally kept away and for four generations it has been successfully kept away. "How do you play a game on a screen? You mean like a television screen?" It's quite foreign to him. "I prefer games like football or horseshoes and sometimes we used to play cricket back home. Anyway, you were mentioning about heading out somewhere to get some ice cream? I just have to make sure it's organic because I have been getting sick if it isn't."

Connor makes an apologetic face, "Unfortunately… I cannot guarantee if their goods are organic or not…" Shaking his head once more and looking back outside, "There is actually a medicine you can take for that problem. Or perhaps a visit to a physician would help you discover why your body rejects other foods? I unfortunately know very little about healing magics… otherwise I could assist. A pity. Most of what I know is how to move people and things. It seems so important some days, but then becomes trivial in the face of others."

"It was explained to me a bit over the weekend when I got quite ill. There is so much stuff put into food here in America to make it…not attract bugs in the fields and the animals with extra stuff added in my body is not used to it. Everything we ate back home we made ourseleves. We great most things, something we couldn't but most were grown. I hate having to kill the animals for food but it's necessary. The food is just very different I was told." Sage says. "As long as I'm making my own food here I'm okay. As for healing, I don't know much. I know how to bandage a wound and I know what teas, roots and herbs can be used to help with certain things. Like chewing on ginger root can help with a sour stomach."

Connor's head tilts suddenly, and he frowns, "No rest for the wicked… pardon… something is attempting to break through the barrier I've placed in Salem. I need to discourage it. Perhaps when I am done, and if I am not exhausted from it, we might find you a means of enjoying these things more easily. But until then…" With a smile and a polite wave, swirling blue-green smoke comes up from around his feet, and enfolds him before collapsing in on itself, and vanishing with the young man in tow.

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