splendid (splendid) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-14 21:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, splendid angharad, virgil hawkins (static) |
Who: Splendid and Virgil
What: Meeting at the ranch
When: Early August
Where: The Ranch
Rating/Warnings: Low/None really
Status: Complete/Partner Thread
Volunteering at the ranch was something that Splendid enjoyed. Working with the girls that were there helped her work through some of her own issues, and she was thankful that Neal had given her the chance to work with the girls. She was basically finished for the day, she was just cleaning up the space where she'd been working with the girls.
Splendid was wiping down one of the tables, putting away the paper and pencils that they'd been using. The supplies went into their respective places, and she wiped her hands off on her jeans before checking her watch. She thought that maybe she might make her way out to the barn to see the horses, and maybe help out there if they needed anything.
Going out of the room she'd been in, Splendid made her way outside, sunglasses coming down to cover her eyes. She spotted a new face on her way out to the barn, and she gave him a smile. "Hello," she greeted him, "Don't think I've seen you around before, I'm Splendid Angharad."
Virgil had seen horses before. He’d just… seen them from afar. He’d never actually been close enough to touch him. And while Hazel had said that she would teach him how to ride, he still thought it might be a good idea to acquaint himself with some of them beforehand. Become pals. Impress Hazel with how well he handled them.
He’d just finished helping one of the kids with their homework, and was heading out toward the barn when a woman spoke to him. He turned to her, and then gave her a friendly smile. “Virgil Hawkins,” he said. “I’m brand new. First shift,” he said, extending a hand toward her. “You work here too?”
Reaching out, Splendid shook Virgil's hand. "Nice to meet you, Virgil." She flashed him a smile, and then shook her head. "No, I only volunteer here on the weekends, and weekdays that I can. I'm a clinical social worker for Orange County full time." She loved her job, but she'd wanted to do something more to help out with the young women in the community, especially some of the groups that found themselves there.
Splendid could understand all too well about the harsh realities of abuse, and she hoped that she could help these girls along the way. "So how's your first day going?"
“Cool. My pops is a social worker. My older sister too. Though neither of them are clinical. My dad runs a community centre back home though. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to volunteer here.” Well, maybe the whole reason. Virgil loved to help the kids, but he might not have found that passion if he hadn’t practically been raised at the Freeman Community Centre. “My first day’s great. Pops’ community centre don’t have nearly as many services as this place does. I’m still trying to keep myself from getting lost. This is the way to the horses, right?” The last was partially a joke. After all, the barn was in plain view.
"Very nice." Splendid replied, her smile never wavering as he talked about his reasoning for wanting to volunteer at the ranch. Every single person there had their reasons, and she enjoyed hearing them. She wasn't about to voice hers considering she didn't know if this guy was part of the Network or not, and well, she didn't want to sound like a crazy person explaining her dreams. "Great! It's always good when things go smoothly." She laughed, and gave a small tip of her head. "I'm sure that you'll learn the layout in no time. Even as little as I'm here I've got it figured out." Of course, Splendid had been volunteering there for awhile now. "Yes, this is the way." She glanced over at the barn, and then back at him. "I was going to go brush down a few of them if you'd like to join me."
“No doubt,” Virgil said. “And people seem a whole lot friendlier than back home too. Really helps things run smooth.” It was kind of refreshing, really. A little unexpected too, though maybe it shouldn’t have been.
“I’d love to join you. Little secret,” not such a secret, “I never actually seen a horse up close. It’d be nice to have someone show me the ropes. You know, stop me from running screaming through the barn and spooking ‘em all.”
A light smile still danced on the edges of Splendid's lips, "That does make things a lot easier." Splendid too had been surprised at how nice everyone had been to her, especially when she first joined the network. Of course, she understood why that was now. While they all might not get along, they understood one thing that the outside world never would; the dreams.
Raising a brow, Splendid chuckled softly. "Well, yes, that's not a smart thing to do. Horses don't take too kindly to things like that." Laughing softly, she gave a small jerk of her head toward the barn. "Come on, I'll show you the ropes. It's not that hard, promise." Splendid made her way toward the barn, and entered in through the side door. The barn smelled of hay, and well, horses. A light smile tugged up the corners of her lips as she heard a couple of the horses softly wickering. "We'll start off with a gentle one." Down the stalls she went until she came to one marked Lady. She was an older dapple gray mare, and she stuck her head out of her stall door, with a whinny. "This is Lady, obviously, but she's one of the sweetest horses here in my opinion." Splendid reached out to stroke her hand gently over her nose.
If there was one thing barns always smelled of, it was manure. People who liked and were used to horses tended to actually enjoy the smell. Virgil was anything but used to it. He’d never smelled anything quite like it. He wrinkled his nose and waved a hand in front of it. “Pyoo,” he breathed. “This place could use an air freshener.”
But seeing a horse up close was a trip. Her eyes were huge and liquid brown. Like he would, Virgil placed his hand under her nose so she could give him a sniff before he stroked her, and unexpectedly she ran her lips over his hand, searching for a treat. He let out an unexpected laugh, and deciding that probably meant she was okay with him touching her, he stroked her nose like Splendid had. “It’s like velvet!” he exclaimed in surprise.
Laughing, Splendid lifted a shoulder. "I'm sure they could try, but I doubt anything could ever mask the smell in here." She shot him a look, and the reached up to push her sunglasses up on top of her head. Splendid watched Virgil as he interacted with Lady, a light smile tipping up the corners of her lips. "It is!" She laughed softly, and then patted Lady on the neck. "I think she wants a treat, but that'll come after her brushing."
Splendid moved down to where the halters, lead ropes and brushes were stored, it didn't take her long to grab both things and she slipped the halter onto Lady's head. A few moments later she had the lead rope hooked up, and she pulled the gate to Lady's stall open. "It'll be easier, and safer to do it outside. Not that I think she'd kick, but sometimes horses can be unpredictable." She knew that sometimes even the most gentle of horses could get spooked enough to kick someone they liked, and she didn't want that to happen. Leading Lady outside, she held onto the lead rope and held the brush out to Virgil. "You want the honors? All you have to do is just gently go over her with the brush, she loves it. When you're going around from one side to the other, make sure to leave a hand on her rear and walk close to her body."
“Sure!” Virgil said, excited and a little nervous. She had looked big inside, but outside it was fairly obvious that she was 1000 pounds of pure horsey muscle. She was really kind of majestic, and he could see why Hazel liked them so much. He took the brush from Splendid and started to brush her, marvelling at the muscles that twitched under his hands. “Close to her body?” he said, glancing at those back legs and the powerful hocks. “You sure about that? Seems kinda counterintuitive,” he said. If anything, he thought he should maybe cross behind her far, far away.
"You can walk outside the kick range." Splendid replied, her hand still stroking over Lady's neck as she watched Virgil brushing her out. "That's entirely up to you though, but if you're closer to her body and she does decide to kick? She won't get up enough momentum for it to hurt you as badly as a full kick would." She smiled over at Virgil, "I know, it sounds crazy." She could understand his nervousness about walking around the backside of a horse, she too had felt much the same way when she'd been told that. "And talk to her, that way she knows where you're at while you're moving around her."
Virgil nodded. It was simple physics, but from a look at those legs he suspected that even without momentum, a kick would leave a nasty bruise. Still, he didn’t want to look chicken in front of Splendid. “Hey girl. That’s a good horse,” he said soothingly as he walked behind the horse, keeping a hand on her rump until he made his way to the other side of the horse. When she didn’t kick him, he grinned and patted her lightly, taking the brush to her coat again. “You do a lot with the horses too?” he asked. She sure seemed to know what she was talking about at least.
"I enjoy spending time out here with them after I'm done for the day. I don't ride, but I do like to groom them. There's something very calming about it." Even now as she was standing there talking to another person, Splendid felt a sense of calm as she stroked her hand over the horse's neck. Lady was definitely enjoying the brush down she was getting from Virgil and the attention she was getting from Splendid. "I did ride when I was younger. My parents paid for riding lessons, but I stopped after a while. I wanted to focus on my studies, and besides, I was much better at playing the piano than I was at riding." She laughed softly, "At least, I enjoyed it more."
“You play piano? That’s tight. I don’t play anything, but I rap.” Well, he thought he was a pretty dope rapper. His sister had other views, and he was sure he’d never sign a recording deal, but he had fun and even more fun when his friends would shoot him embarrassed looks at his tight freestyling.
But he could see where she was coming from, as far as horses being calming went. There was something soothing in the big placid animal, just calmly standing there while he ran the brush over her, occasionally looking at him with those giant, brown eyes. “Well hey, once Hazel shows me how to sit on one of these bad boys, maybe you and me can go for a ride sometime?”
"I do. I have a baby grand piano at home." That had been one of the nicer gifts from her dreams, and she was grateful for it. Valerian also seemed to be thankful for it too, he loved sitting in Splendid's lap while she played. "Do you though? You'll have to rap for me one day." Not when they were around the horses obviously, but she was more than happy to hear him spit some rhymes, or whatever it was the cool kids said.
Splendid smiled over at Virgil with a nod, "Of course. I wouldn't mind going out for a ride." She wasn't opposed to riding, not in the slightest, but Splendid just hadn't been in a long time. "Is Hazel a friend of yours?" She peered around Lady's side to look over at Virgil, a light smile on her face.
“Baby grand piano? Sounds like an oxymoron,” Virgil said, smiling at his own almost-joke. “You lay down the beats, and I’ll lay down the rhymes, my friend.” Well, maybe. Virgil didn’t normally rap to musical accompaniment, but how hard could it really be?
“I hope so,” Virgil said, shrugging. “I mean, we don’t really know each other to well, but she told me about this place. She seems pretty dope.”
"I'm just full of them today apparently." Splendid replied with a grin and a wink over at him. Canting her head to the side, she gave a small nod. "I think I might be able to come up with something for you to rap to." Classical was her forte, but Splendid thought that she might be able to work with it.
Giving a nod, Splendid ran her hand over the side of Lady's neck. "I hope so too, and that's good that she told you about this place. I learned about it on the Network actually." She shifted slightly on her feet. "I think we're done with her, and now it's time for a treat right?" Lady snorted softly, and Splendid couldn't help but laugh at her timing. "The container of sugar cubes is by the rack where the brushes are. I'll go ahead and get her back into her stall if you don't mind grabbing one?"
“Yeah? That’ll be bangin’,” Virgil said. He was actually kind of excited about it. And a little nervous. He rapped more for fun than for skill, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to embarass himself in front of someone he saw all the time.
“Oh yeah, the Network. What up with that?” he asked. He’d actually picked up a bit. Realistic dreams of another life, dream gifts, and powers. Virgil himself had already had a dream where he was a superhero, and he was bursting at the seams for them to come through. “You get any whacked out powers from it?” he asked. He headed toward the container and grabbed a couple of sugar cubes. He definitely wanted to give Lady her treat, but he thought that Splendid might want to as well.
"I'll let you know when I've come up with something, and we can go from there, yeah?" Splendid was all for it, it would be nice to see what the two of them could come up with. Even if it happened to not be perfect that wouldn't matter to her, the process of working on something with someone would be fun.
With a laugh, Splendid shook her head as she put Lady back into her stall. "It's a very strange place is what it is." That was the only conclusion that Splendid could come up with. After unhooking Lady from the lead, she moved out of the stall carefully and then glanced over at Virgil. "No," she replied with a shake of her head, "my dreams were…" she took in a deep breath, "of a post-apocalyptic wasteland with normal people. Some had been affected by the nukes that had been used, but there aren't any with any superpowers." She smiled softly over at him, "When you give her a treat, make sure it's in the middle of your hand and hold your hand out flat."
“Yeah!” Virgil agreed.
A post-apocalyptic wasteland didn’t sound particularly great, but more than that was the way she spoke of it. “Not easy, huh?” he asked sympathetically. His own dreams hadn’t been too bad. He’d been beaten up, and someone had attempted to recruit him into a gang, but aside from the fact that Moms was dead, he’d managed to acquire some dope superpowers, and the fact that they took place in a city called Dakota instead of Detroit, they really weren’t all that different from how his real life had gone. But the sympathetic look didn’t stay in his eyes for long. Not once Lady found the sugar cube in his hand and gobbled it up wetly, making him laugh with both pleasure and a bit of disgust at the horse slobber.
"Nothing is ever easy." Splendid replied with a sad smile over at Virgil, "But that's okay. It makes a person who they are, and I would not change the person that I became in the dreams, or the person I am here because of the things that have happened in my life." Splendid didn't enjoy talking about her life here, but she was somewhat fine talking about her dream life. It was easier in some way, knowing that they were dreams and that here things could be different. Splendid couldn't help but smile as he laughed, "I know, it feels weird." She wiped her own hand off on her jeans, "I'll hit you up on the network soon about that collab. For now, I have to go pick up my son and get dinner ready for him and myself." She smiled as she thought about Valerian.
"It was very nice to meet you, Virgil. I'll talk to you soon." Splendid gave a small wave, and then turned to walk to her car. It was nice to meet others there at the ranch, those kind souls that wanted nothing more than to help those in need, and it left Splendid feeling a little bit better about the world around her.