Players:
Summary: Nicholas and Heather have a bit of horse talk.
Date: March 6, 2012
Log Title: Joy 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.
Room and board doesn't come easy when you aren't actually a student anymore. Not that Heather seems to particularly mind, at present cleaning out the stables. She tries to make sure her motions are not quite as twitchy as they usually are, so not to scare the horses, but that does not rid her of all her natural twitchiness. At present, she is wearing what seems to be her painting clothes, a pair of khakis and a white shirt with paint all over them in little dots and spatters.
Lucky for Heather she'd find that most of the stables in decent condition and don't require much mucking as Nicholas tends to do it occasionally. One stall that doesn't need any attention is Orion's and walking into the stable he walks right over to that one and produces an apple to feed the horse. "Hey there Orion." He says as he speaks to the horse in soft soothing tones. It's a while of him muttering to the animal before he even notices Heather. "Hey, uh, if you need help I'm kinda an expert at this stuff."
Heather pauses for a moment upon hearing Nicholas addressing her, and she turns towards him, nodding her head quickly, "Help would be appreciated." The speaker on her shoulder seems to be doing speaking for her, and the girl wears a headset. "I am having a hard time moving in a way that will not spook the animals. I hear that horses can be spooked."
"They can be but if you make your presense known and they're used to you it's different. A lot of times they react to fear as well." Nichoals says as he contines to feed Orion the the apple. "This horse is Orion, he's been mine…well as much as an animal can belong to someone, I probably belong to him just as much. Anyway, the best way to clean a stall is to get all the horses outside first but there really isn't a good area for that here is there…"
"Fear is not among my standard repertoire of emotions," notes Heather, rather absently as she continues her work a bit. At the introduction to Orion, Heather takes a few steps forward, careful not to be too sudden. "It is a pleasure," offers the girl to the horse, before remarking to Nicholas, "He is very big. And has nice teeth." The young woman considers and says, "You're right, there isn't a good area outside to put them, unfortunately. This is not a duty I've performed much."
Nicholas walks away from Orion and goes and grabs a harness and reigns before putting it on one of the school horses. "Before I came here, I did this a lot. My Mom and Dad ran a stable and so I grew up working on one. Before and after school and weekends and stuff." He says leading the one horse out of the stable and tying the reigns to something outside. "Now that he's..sorry she's, out of the stable you can easily clean out the stall, hose it down if you need to, put down new hay and new feed and not have to worry about spooking them."
Heather tilts her head slightly and says, "Thank you very much," there is a pause, "you." She gets to work in the stall and says, "Do you enjoy working with horses? They seem to be okay to work with, so long as they are not spooked." She adjusts the mouthpiece to her headset and continues working, adding, "I am picking up some of the work around here, as I am no longer a student here. In case you wondered about why I am present."
Nicholas didn't wonder but he accepts her explaination with a nod. "Yeah, I love working with horses. I always figured that I'd grow up to take over the stable back home when my Mom and Dad retried. It's what my Mom did when her parents retired." He says walking back over to Orion to set him up with a bridle. "Horses are amazing creatures and can be great friends."
Heather nods at Nicholas and says, while she works quickly to make the stall nice and clean, "I was once friends with a horse, but it was imaginary. We were not that close anyways." The young woman glances towards Nicholas and continue, "It sounds like you are passionate about horses, though. And if running a stable is something that you would like to do, then I hope that you do it. If you enjoy it so much, you are optimally suited to it."
Nicholas looks away from Heather and shakes his head. "I doubt it'll happen now. The Stable is gone and noone is going to want to put up their horse with a mutant, let alone one whose been accused of murder." He walks Orion out of the stable and ties him up outside on the other end so he can clean out his stall. "I am passionate about them just…everythings changed."
Heather headshakes at Nicholas and says, "Many mutants want to ride horses, and therefore I suspect that there is the possibility of a mutant running a stable having some moderate success." She tilts her head slightly in consideration an then says, "Were you accused of murder?"
"Yeah." Nichoals says. "But I didn't do it." He adds quick enough. "They killed my parents and put the blame on me. I don't know if I'm still wanted or anything but in the paper it said that I killed them, so…yeah..it sucks." He says bitterly.
Heather frowns for a few moments and she says, "That does suck. I am sorry to hear that…" The young woman says, "I believe you when you say you didn't do it. People often try to use mutants as a scapegoat because we represent a threat."
Nicholas just shrugs. "I guess." He says as he focuses on mucking out the stall. "Why are you staying here if you graduated? Don't you have anywhere you want to go or things you want to do instead of just shoveling horse crap?"
Heather tilts her head lightly at the question and she says, "There are certainly things that I would prefer to do rather than shoveling horse crap, as you say. However, I am not in a position where gainful employment is likely, both due to my mutation and for mental health reasons." There is a brief pause before Heather decides, "I ought to be going, I will return to this task later."
Nicholas nods to Heather and gives a wave. "Sure, see you around." He says as he looks around the place. He figures once she leaves he'll continue the task for as long as he can before his next class starts.
Heather nods her head rapidly and says, "Yes, I will see you around again, I am sure." With that, she carefully exits the stable, but then, once out, zips back towards the school.
