InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Oh, chavtastic"

zaria (bravely) wrote in labyrinth_rpg,
@ 2009-07-06 21:34:00

Entry tags:

active, day 14, rose tyler, xena

Day 14
Who: Xena and Rose
What: Labyrinth Chat and General Awesomeness
When: Mid-Morning
Where: Horse Stables
Rating: PGish
Status: Incomplete

When Xena woke that morning, she found that the city had changed back to a setting she was more comfortable with. It had been that way when she had arrived and she liked it that way. She could relate to it a little better, even if it was more advanced than her world had been. She hadn't seen Argo in a few days and she knew the horse would probably be a little upset at being neglected.

Dressed in her usual garb, Xena walked through the door that magically led back to her room in the other city and then walked outside toward the stables. She whistled lightly, not exactly cheerfully, but somewhat carefree. The stables were open and she stepped inside to a chorus of whickers and neighs. Smiling, she headed for Argo's stall.

The horse had her hindquarters in Xena's direction and didn't seem to be inclined to turn around to face her. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't been here in a day or two." It might have been more than that, but she wasn't going to own up to it. "C'mon, girl. I have an apple! Don't you want a big juicy apple?" She cooed and clucked, sounding much too soft for a warrior princess.

After a long session of cajoling and encouragement, the horse finally turned around and snatched the apple from Xena's hand. Xena grinned and stroked the horse's nose. "I promise I'll visit you more regularly. Do you want to go for a ride today?" The dun colored horse whinnied and nudged Xena's shoulder with her nose. "Good, me too."

(Post a new comment)

plusone
2009-07-07 05:13 am UTC (link)

Growing up a poor girl in a London flat, Rose hadn't had much experience with nature and wildlife or animals in general, save cats and dogs. However, like many little girls, she'd always been fascinated with horses. Large animals but domesticated and completely useful. She didn't have much experience with the creatures, but it wasn't as if she had anything better to do here than learn.

She found the large animals comforting. Like being around someone without them actually talking back. Rose had never had a pet as a child, with the exception of a fish one of her mum's boyfriends had killed by overfeeding it. She wasn't used to something with such presence that didn't talk back, but she knew she could grow to love it. Gently, she patted a few of the noses sticking over stall doors until she found a beautiful red and black horse, a mare from the look of her though Rose wasn't getting too terribly close to examine. "Hello, girl," she said softly, taking comfort in just being around the animal.

A few stalls down, she heard a voice, and when Rose glanced up, she blinked to find a woman rather scantily clad and amazingly well muscled. The sort of body she and Shareen used to spend hours in the gym for. "Oh, sorry," she said quickly, recovering from her start fast enough. "Are...are these all yours? I didn't mean to trespass or anything."

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-07 04:46 pm UTC (link)

Xena had her sword strapped to her back and her chakram at her hip. Her hand went immediately down to the chakram when she heard the footsteps crunching on the hay that lined the barn's floor. When she heard the voice to accompany it, she relaxed a little and turned to see a blond girl speaking to her. "What, these?" She gestured around the barn. "No, just this one is mine." She patted Argo's nose again and then looked back to Rose.

"I don't think you're trespassing. I'm pretty sure it's open like everything else around here." She glanced over the girl and raised a brow. She wore strange clothes, but so did everyone else around here except herself and Gabrielle. She was dressed as normal, battle leathers with a fringed skirt that stopped just above her knee and provided motility needed for her acrobatics and fighting techniques. She also wore knee high boots. Really, the only skin visible was the small amount of thigh and her arms and shoulders. Eh, her chest was probably a little more visible that strictly necessary too, but she covered up more than Gabrielle did.

"My name is Xena, and this is Argo." She pulled the stall door open and stepped inside, pulling the saddle and reigns down from the hook on the wall so she could saddle the mare and take her out for a ride. "I can help you saddle that horse if you want to take her out." She slipped the saddle on, and tightened the buckles, then slipped the harness over the horse's head and flicked the reigns over the saddle horn. She glanced back at Rose, waiting for her answer.

(Reply to this)

plusone
2009-07-08 04:17 am UTC (link)

For a moment, Rose simply watched, fascinated. Not only with the ease in which the woman handled her horse, though that was sort of brilliant in itself. No, she couldn't help admiring the presence this Xena carried herself with. She was a tall woman, and perhaps a little too masculine to be considered 'pretty', but she really was gorgeous. And it was always refreshing seeing a woman who knew herself and was completely at ease.

And though Rose didn't have much experience with the creatures in the stable, she knew she wasn't about to turn down this offer. Learning anything from the beautiful brunette would clearly prove useful. "Would you?" she asked, a hint of interest coloring her voice for the first time in days. "I admit, I don't have much riding experience. Did you see the ride with the multi-colored horses going around in circles when the amusement park was here?" 'Carousel' would probably prove a useless term, considering it was pretty obvious this woman wasn't from Rose's own time, if even from her planet. "That's the majority of the riding I've done." She laughed a bit sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm Rose, by the way. And this..." She glanced around, finally finding the horse's name on a plate on the stable wall. "Okay, this is Annabelle. Odd name for a horse..." Then again, she'd once met a horse named Arthur. Her spirits dropped for a moment at the reminder, but that horse was from long ago, and this one was here and now. And Rose had resolved to only focus on the here and now. She rubbed her fingers together, and the mare pressed her head as far over the stall door as she could get it. "You want to go out, girl?" she asked gently, her voice taking on an entirely different tone in the animal's presence. "I'll bet you do. Wouldn't want to be cooped up in here, either." She looked back at Xena and smiled. "I'd definitely appreciate your help. If you have time, that is."

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-09 05:10 pm UTC (link)

Xena turned to Rose when there was a silence and found her staring. She was used to people staring by now. She wasn't what most people expected. In her time, she was one of only a handful of women who considered themselves warriors. She smirked and turned back to Argo, putting the finishing touches on her before hooking her reigns on the stall door. She nodded at Rose, even giving her a hint of a genuine smile.

"Sure, here..." She scooted past Rose and into the stall of one mare called Annabelle. "Riding's not difficult. Once you get the hang of it. It did take my best friend, Gabrielle, a while to get it. But she was also a little intimidated. Things changed once she got her own horse. She and Argo were never especially good friends." She glanced over at Rose again and gave her a quizzical look until she finally got the gist of what she was trying to say. "Oh yeah, weird machine. Why sit on something like that when you can ride a real horse?" She didn't get it.

"Well, Rose, we'll get you in that saddle and it'll be second nature to you before you know it." She winked and pulled the saddle from the wall. She put a blanket down and then put the saddle over it, cinching the buckles tightly and pulling the stirrups down. The harness was next, and she pulled the bridle over the horse's head, giving her the bit and pulling the buckles closed. "There. The most important thing is to make sure the saddle is on tight. If you ever lose your hold on the reigns you can grip her mane or the saddle horn, but if the saddle slips..." She trailed off and made a face to let her know it was not good.

She took Annabelle's reigns in one hand and Argo's in the other and led both horses out of the barn. "Need a hand up? Just put your foot in there and I'll help you up and over."

(Reply to this)

plusone
2009-07-09 10:08 pm UTC (link)

There'd been a time when Rose would've been anxious about this. Riding a horse, which she'd never done, with a strange woman who she'd never met helping her out? It was probably on the list of things mothers were supposed to tell their children to avoid. But Rose wasn't exactly a shy sort, and had faced much greater challenges than horseback riding. At least, she assumed she had. The horse was rather large, and all the equipment Xena placed on her added up quickly.

Still, she was looking forward to that 'second nature' that Xena had sworn would come, and she accepted the offered help into the saddle. Though it wasn't her most graceful move, Rose managed to get her leg over the horse, who'd obviously been used by other inexperienced riders, as she stood patiently while Rose worked her way into the saddle. The stirrups she could manage from reading the occasional horse book as a child, and knew to balance the ball of her foot in them. It was the reins that were weird and would take a bit of getting used to.

"Thank you," Rose said to the brunette, her voice a bit shy. "I honestly wouldn't have managed any of that on my own." She felt so high up, but she wasn't exactly scared by it. It just took some time to get used to it. "How long have you been riding?" she asked conversationally. "Would you be referring to the Gabrielle who's here? From Greece? I've spoken to her before, I think. In the books." One of the friendlier people around, that much she remembered.

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-17 04:14 am UTC (link)

Xena helped the blond into the saddle and then went to Argo, who was waiting patiently and wickering at the other horse, and leaped into the saddle. She adjusted herself until she was comfortable and then nodded at Rose. "You just need practice. You'll get the hang of it." She brushed her long dark hair over her shoulder and then glanced back at Rose as she asked her question. "Since I was a child. I used to ride with my father." There was a tight smile after that and she turned Argo slightly.

She leaned down to adjust something on Rose's saddle and then leaned up as Gabrielle was mentioned. She tried to hide an amused smile, but she really shouldn't have been surprised to know that Gabrielle had met Rose already. She'd probably met everyone in the city by now. "That would be Gabrielle."

"Alright. I'll give you a basic lesson to get you started, but the biggest thing is to trust your horse. She's been ridden before, it seems, so she knows how to handle riders. You shouldn't have any trouble with her." She sat up and then moved back alongside Rose so she could see what she was going to demonstrate. "If you want her to go left, pull the reigns to the right. If you want her to go right, pull the reigns to the left. The harder you pull, the sharper the turn. If you want her to stop, pull back on the reigns. If you want her to go, give her slack. To get her into a walk, nudge her in the belly. To go faster, lean forward and kick harder. Let's just walk for now."

She demonstrated how to make the horse walk on Argo, and nudged her in the belly and made a soft clicking noise in her mouth. Argo started to walk, and Annabelle waited patiently for her own instructions.

(Reply to this)

plusone
2009-07-17 04:38 am UTC (link)

Rose was certainly no natural, but she enjoyed the feeling of being up so high and having such a trusting animal beneath her. Had it been some stubborn, less than willing creature, she might've been much more uneasy. But Annabelle watched Xena and Argo as attentively as Rose did, and Rose patted the horse's neck reassuringly before she made her first gentle nudge to the horse's stomach with her foot. "Come on girl." She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as an added incentive, following Xena's lead.

To her surprise and pleasure, the mare took a few hesitant steps at first, then fell assuredly into step with Argo. "This isn't so bad," Rose said with a grin. It was exactly what she needed. The rocking motion of her body with the horse's step became easy after a couple of minutes of walking and she looked up at her instructor with a smile. "You make it look so effortless," she said simply, nodding her head towards Xena and her place in the saddle. "You two sort of look like one. I used to read about horses and riders and their bond, but I've never actually seen it till now."

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-17 04:26 pm UTC (link)

Xena smiled when Rose seemed to get the hang of it, and she nodded her head in approval. "Good." She was happy just to walk for now, and so was Argo. She let the horse take the lead and Annabelle seemed to follow suit. "I had to fall off a lot of horses to get to this point." She looked down fondly at the horse beneath her and stroked her white mane. "She definitely has a mind of her own, but I completely trust her, and she knows that. It probably helps that I rescued her from a pretty disgusting warlord who didn't treat any of his horses properly."

She glanced back up at Rose and motioned forward with her chin. "Ready for a trot?" She nudged Argo into a trot and pulled out ahead of her. "C'mon, you can keep up." Xena wondered how rose would do in an all out sprint, but that might have to come later. It was exhilerating and terrifying, especially for anyone not familiar with horseback riding.

(Reply to this)

plusone
2009-07-18 07:02 am UTC (link)

Rose was always up for a challenge. She'd faced a lot in the last three years, and riding a horse should've been the least of it. And yet, she took comfort in it. It wasn't nearly as deadly as some of the situations she'd found herself in, facing aliens and other species, not to mention the dangers of meddling with time and the boundaries between dimensions as she had. And Annabelle was bright and well behaved and seemed to listen to Xena as closely as Rose was.

Carefully, she gave the horse another nudge to the belly and gripped the reins just a bit tighter as the horse's gait picked up to the bouncy rhythm of a trot. She'd read about posting and uncertainly allowed her body to pick up the swaying motion. It was almost instinctive. If she didn't, her teeth chattered, and her body seemed to know it had to not let that part happen.

As soon as she was settled into the trot, her thighs already screaming at an unaccustomed workout, she looked at the riding warrior with a curious expression. "Argo. What does it mean? Her name, obviously. Do you know?" Annabelle was pretty obvious. Could be anything. But Argo was unique. Probably Greek in nature, considering what Rose had learned from Gabrielle. It sounded like it should've been a male name, but it seemed to work for the powerful horse who seemed to know her rider as well as Xena knew her.

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-25 03:47 am UTC (link)

"It's the name of a ship. Are you familiar with the tale of Jason and the Argonauts? They sailed the ship Argo from Iolcus to find the Golden Fleece. The ship was said to have a special piece of timber in its prow that could speak and prophesy." She shrugged and looked down at the blond mare with the white mane. "And I liked the name." She looked up and over at Rose.

"You're doing well for someone who had only ridden plastic horses before. A natural, I think. Most people have fallen off by now." She smirked, thinking of how many times Gabrielle had fallen off the horse just trying to get ON her.

She rode next to Rose, ready to stop should she look to be losing her balance. But Annabelle was a good mare and she was used to being ridden, it appeared. Both horses seemed to appreciate the exercise and before long they were in a large meadow. "Since no one seems to be from this place originally, I assume you aren't either. You have a strange lilt to your voice, too. Where do you come from?"

(Reply to this)

plusone
2009-07-28 02:31 am UTC (link)

Rose tried not to giggle. The plastic horses of carousel life seemed terribly far away. They also held less than pleasant memories, as Rose remembered the time the carnival or fair or amusement park...thing had been there in their little world. The last time she'd genuinely been happy, really.

But she shook that thought off. The mare beneath her seemed to sense her sudden unease, and Rose felt confident enough to carefully reach down to pat the horse's neck before sitting back up before she lost her balance. Falling in front of the graceful rider by her side would be humiliating. "I've always had pretty good balance," she said with a shrug. "I took gymnastics for a few years when I was younger. The beam was one of my best, actually." Though from the woman's appearance, she might not have any idea what, exactly, a balance beam was.

"I'm not," she agreed as the woman asked where she was from. "I'm from England, though that feels forever ago by now." She shifted back in the saddle some, mostly to ease the ache in her legs but also because it felt a bit more natural. "Gabrielle mentioned she was from Greece. Were the two of you there together?"

(Reply to this)

bravely
2009-07-29 04:22 pm UTC (link)

Xena nodded as if she knew exactly what gymnastics and the beam were. But she didn't comment further on it, instead choosing to focus on Rose's comment about having good balance. "That definitely comes in handy. No matter how tight you cinch the saddle, it still moves slightly, and if you start moving with it, you can go over the side."

"England, as in Britannia?" She knew a woman from Britannia. One Bodicea. A truly intidmidating woman if you weren't Xena. They had been rivals at one point, but had teamed up against Caesar's forces. It was the last time she had seen the woman. Her blue eyes refocused as she came out of her rememberances.

"Yes, we were. I'm from a place called Amphipolis, and Gabrielle is from a small town called Potidea. I found her there when she and some of the other girls in the village were being taken captive to be sold as slaves." She didn't remark about what had led her there, or the circumstances of Gabrielle's subsequent stalking of the Warrior Princess. Xena eyed Rose's clothes and knew that she came from another time. "You are from a time in my future, judging by your clothing." Of course, if Xena had been reincarnated, as it was promised she would, she might have experienced Rose's time at some point.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

plusone
2009-08-04 02:20 pm UTC (link)

Rose's eyebrows lifted. "Yes, I imagine. Since no one's called it Britannia in...a seriously long time where I'm from. But it's basically the same place." In fact, she didn't even know when. Her history lessons hadn't exactly been high on her list of things to do. Then, neither were maths or English.

Glancing down at her denims and t-shirt, then quickly back in front of her out of fear of losing her balance, Rose tried to smile. "I'm from the year two-thousand and five. I imagine many, many years have gone by from my time to yours, haven't they?" It was the only thing that would explain Xena's appearance versus Rose's own. Unless Greeks all ran around dressed that way. But, despite not having visited there--yet--she didn't imagine they would.

She'd found Gabrielle. And other captives? This woman was obviously someone not to be fought with. The thing she'd reached for when Rose had first entered the stables had to be a weapon. On one hand, it was fascinating. She'd never met anyone like her. On the other...well, we'd just say Rose had no intention of angering the beautiful, exotic looking woman.

(Reply to this) (Parent)