OOM: Ticket To Ride... A Horse

[luvs_yogurt]

Meeting Miss Kate was a bit of a surprise, not that he didn't expect to meet a woman from another century in Milliways... far from it - he just didn't expect to meet a lady with a sharp tongue and a knack for horses. Which is precisely how he's found himself dressed down in a pair of worn jeans and a white t-shirt swiped from his grease stained 'working on the car' collection.

He spent the first night in Room 15 since the apocalypse... and it wasn't so bad, really. More quiet than the loft and with a far smaller chance of being woken up by gunshots in the middle of the night. When he woke just past eight o'clock - in whatever passed for local time - he felt refreshed, and dare he say it, enthusiastic about his upcoming lesson.

***

With a slightly cocky gait, he slips on his shades and procures a small picnic breakfast from the kitchen before making his way to the stables. He takes the long way around, enjoying the strange morning chill on his arms as it's warmed by the sun - such a different world from Miami where he'd be choking on smog and applying sunscreen this time of morning.

As he approaches the stable, he keeps his eyes open behind the brown lenses for first sight of his apparent instructor. "Kate?" He calls out with a gentle smile as he approaches the building; "It's Michael..."

Comments

[ikissdhimbck]

"Yep," she murmurs ruefully. "They call it bein' Bound. Sometimes your door jus' up an' leaves."

Brush crackles under hoof. Suddenly, she turns to fix him with wide, apologetic eyes.

"Not that y'have anythin' t'worry 'bout. I've had my door disappear a time or two, but it always comes back again. The folk who can't ever leave are mostly dead. They step outta here longer'n three days, an' they fade off."

[luvs_yogurt]

The concept sounds a bit strange, and he can't help but feel a tug of possible fear at the thought of not being able to go back. As much as he hates Miami, it's still home.

When he catches the woman's steely gaze, he stills - nodding calmly.

He's not yet met the dead, he's met people that exist only as fictional characters in his world (not that he'd ever tell them that) and people that by all means should not be alive... but not the truly dead.

"I guess I could think of worse places to go when I die." Much worse, in fact. Not that he really ever thinks about when that will be.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate thinks about it all the time.

She laughs dryly.

"I know I could. I don't much like the thought of bein' stuck any one place, but given the likely options Milliways is pro'ly the closest t'heaven I'll get."

Duncan whinnies, catching sight of a pair of demon bunnies along the treeline. They dart across the road, but don't bother the riders. It's a little early for hunting time.

"Anyhow, Miss Bar's reasonable enough."

[luvs_yogurt]

It's an occupational hazard - when you're acutely aware that any minute could be your last, dwelling on it seems to be a waste of time.

The bunnies catch his eye, they're bigger than he had expected them to be, and he looks back to Kate - gauging her lax reaction."

"Mostly, though she seems to have a bit of a strange sense of humor."

He lets the quiet fall between them, content to let the horse do his duty and carry them wherever it is that they're going - as if he already knew the way.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate also knows better than to shoot at a demon bunny with the horses nearby.

Them suckers explode.

"Has she already gotten you into trouble?"

There's laughter in her voice. She does agree, but mostly she's grown used to Miss Bar's shenanigans.

[luvs_yogurt]

He chuckles under his breath and shakes his head; "No, not yet... but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time."

He's seen what happens when someone is on the other end of her jokes - it's funny, but not exactly the sort of thing he'd know how to deal with right off the bat.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate taps the end of her nose playfully.

"I'd call that a safe bet."

If the ominous way she utters the words gives Michael cause to worry, well. He'll just be that much more prepared when things happen.

"D'you think you're comfortable enough t'try a canter?"

[luvs_yogurt]

He nods easily enough, shifting forward in the saddle until he can feel the pressure against his back - bracing himself for the change.

"Sure thing..." He gaives the whistle, a short and simple copy of what Kate had done herself, hand gripped tightly on the horn.

[ikissdhimbck]

She watches his posture, nodding in approval.

"Most important thing is t'stay relaxed. You're gonna wanna tense up t'feel more firm in the saddle, but the more y'trust Rachat the easier it'll feel. Keep a light hand on the reins, stay forward, an' stick with his rhythm."

It's just precautionary; the real lesson comes when she urges Duncan to pick up the pace, and the two animals take the last stretch of road through the forest, where the air still holds a bite thanks to the shade. They burst from the trees, out into a wide open field thawing under the sun's reach. The grasses are tall, mingling with a variety of wildflowers.

It may, in fact, be Kate's favorite place in the whole bar.

[luvs_yogurt]

Michael nods to himself as she speaks, and then follows Rachat's lead - forcing himself to loosen up and shift with the large animal's instinctual movements.

Milliways never fails to to amaze him, and the forest is no disappointment. When the slashes of light through the trees gives way to the wide openness of the field he feels Rachat straining to break free underneath him, the flex of the animal's muscles under his thighs as he readied to run.

"This is amazing..." he breathed, a wide grin stretched across his lips.

[ikissdhimbck]

She catches that grin, Michael. It makes her practically glow in response.

"I come out here t'clear my head."

There's plenty of room for a horse to work up to a full gallop, but Michael probably isn't ready for that. They take the breadth of the field at an easy clip, aiming toward a lane just barely visible across the way.

"It stays quiet. One'a the few places that don't have somethin' strange at all times. Bar's got her charms, but this reminds me the most of my simple world. Jus' greener."

[luvs_yogurt]

He's honestly not used to this much green open space - for him solitude has always been where he makes it. The open expanse of his warehouse-loft, a tent in Afghanistan, the stool at the end of the bar.

"I'm used to quiet meaning something bad's about to happen." Which is the honest truth, and for all he knows the ground could explode at any time with one of those delightful monsters Milliways seems to have just to keep people on their toes.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Is that right?"

She looks at him sideways, a teasing 'city-boy' muttered under her breath.

"I reckon it'd depend on the time an' place. I need quiet, now an' again. I love the adventure, but it's hard t'read poetry through the report of gunshots."

[luvs_yogurt]

If the shoe fits... he won't complain too much, though he's pretty sure he could make it pretty much anywhere.

"I can't say that I'd disagree with you there, Miss Kate. Probably a good deal more solitude here too - it seems... calm."

[ikissdhimbck]

"In my line of work, calm is a good thing."

She figures Michael might be able to say the same, but she won't go nosing about with him as reserved as he is. Not just yet, anyhow.

The trail picks up on the other side of the field, taking them back through the woods and up an incline. Brooks can be heard through the trees, along with the rustling of birds and other wildlife. She won't take him all the way up the mountain, but a little ways off there's a particularly nice vista.

"The mountains here get snow. I hear tell there's a cabin up at the top, but I've never been there myself. Winter sport ain't somethin' y'see much in Texas."

[luvs_yogurt]

Calm is always good, but rarely there for long.

He follows Kate's lead without question, watching the easy sway of her as she leads him toward the mountain.

"I haven't seen snow since I left Russia." Which to be honest, left him fairly burnt out on the stuff for a while, but after a few years of year round humidity and heat a crisp, cold winter is starting to sound like a good idea.

[ikissdhimbck]

"You've been t'Russia?"

She turns in the saddle and beams at him.

"One of my closest friends is Russian. I dunno much 'bout what it's like there, but I do like vodka. An' I can speak a few words of it."

[luvs_yogurt]

A warm flush colors his face slightly, he's sort of gotten used to people here not knowing anything about the places he's been - you mention a tour of duty in Afghanistan back home you're a damn hero... Milliways, it's just another place they've never heard of.

"I spent a while there, for work." Looking sidelong at her, he smiles and utters a choice phrase that might get him in trouble in English.

"It's not bad if you're into heavy food and heavy drinking and talking like you're about to spit something up."