honest_johns | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's a pretty day. Cold, but clear. Coming on fall; Alain's acquired a heavier shirt and a coat. Brown -- it's hardwearing and hides dirt, and also Bar has a sense of humor. Lilly's got her own brown coat, the gift from Mal. "We totally match, sai," she told him earlier, with something of her usual teasing. "You'll, like, have to call me captain again now."

Alain's response to that was a silent, amused look that set her grinning again. Not giggling, but it was a start.

He's saddling Mithros. Lilly is helping by perching on the fence and watching.

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Well, she's staying out of the way. That counts for something.

"What'd you say Alanna named her horse again?"

"Mithros."

He tightens the cinch.

"For a god on her world -- I think a friend of hers did the naming."

"Shiny."

Lilly smiles a little.

"I named Pete's horse, you know. After my brother."

"Oh?" He glances over Mithros's back at her.

"I'd marked the name, aye. But I'd not realized it was you who chose it."

Lilly nods.

"Yeah, it was me. Pete had just gotten him around the time I got here, and he let me name him."

Her first thought had been Mr. Ed, but luckily she'd changed her mind.

"Is Mithros ready yet?"

One last tug on the cinch, and a pat to the gelding's neck. Mithros is a good horse, and well-trained; he didn't squirm, nor try to loosen the straps by sucking in air.

"Yar, just now."

He takes the reins, to lead Mithros over.

"You want the mounting block or the fence? Or a leg up?"

"Fence works," Lilly says.

"I'm already here, and all."

"Aye."

He leads Mithros to the fence and halts him before Lilly, idly rubbing the gelding's nose.

Lilly swings her leg over without much difficulty, having done this a few times since arriving at Milliways. Once on, she smiles at Alain.

"Kay, I'm set."

She glances down.

"Oh, Mithros. Hon, who does your hair?"

Drily, "Susan, mostly."

He steers Mithros a few steps away from the fence, tossing the reins over his head, and deftly swings up behind Lilly. His arms settle around her waist, one hand holding the reins.

Lilly smiles at him over her shoulder.

"Shiny. Susan can probably be talked into ribbons."

Alain clucks to Mithros sidemouth, and nudges him lightly with a heel. He picks up a slow walk, and at another nudge speeds to a decent pace for a ramble down the forest trails.

A wry look at Lilly. "Can Alanna? --No, never mind. Poor lad's doomed, isn't he?"

Lilly half-turns in the saddle to give Alain the full effect of the pouting before she leans forward a little.

"Don't listen to him, Mithros. He's just jealous that I don't braid his hair."

Alain is wise enough to not answer this except with a faint snort.

He's glad to hear the joking, though. Very glad.

Mithros snorts, too, and tosses his head.

Lilly leans back against Alain again. It's easier to joke out here but even she's quiet for a bit as they head deeper into the forest. It's a comfortable silence.

"This was a good idea, 'lain. It's nice out here, away from the bar. All peaceful."

A faint smile.

He's not thinking about the deeper implications of her words. That might be deliberate.

"It is."

"Pretty, too," Lilly adds, looking up at the trees.

"California wasn't so much with the season."

"No?"

Chill in the air, and coloring leaves -- Reap-tide's coming.

He remembers Neptune, sunny and warm even when it was autumn here at Milliways.

"No," Lilly says softly.

"We had sun almost all year round, you could go to the beach in December if you wanted to. I did. God, I was at the ocean almost every day, really."

His free arm tightens around her, slightly.

He remembers her sitting by the ocean, in dreams.

Quietly, "Not too different from this, in Gilead. Didn't get cold quite so fast, but it was similar. Different elsewhere, of course."

Lilly nods, her gaze fixed between Mithros' ears.

"Do you... do you miss Gilead a lot?"

He's silent, for a minute.

Then, "Sometimes. But... four years and more, I've been missing it. It's nothing new. Nothing sharp."

Lilly nods, thinking of Neptune for a moment longer. And then... she just stops. There's been more than enough of that, of sad thoughts and sadder moments, and right now she's riding with her boyfriend on a path that's beautiful no matter where you come from.

She twists around, stretches up, and kisses Alain briefly. Just because.

He's surprised into a smile, and as she settles back he pulls her a little closer against him.

Mithros flicks an ear, slowing a little in mild confusion at the way the humans' weight is shifting on his back.

Lilly pats his neck, smiling.

"S'okay, boy. I'm not going anywhere."

Mithros snorts, and flips his ear forward again, as Alain steers him around a fallen log and turns right at a fork in the path.

He's more content than he's been in a while, here with Lilly on horseback, swaying slightly with Mithros's motion. Old and familiar, and companionable.

"So," Lilly asks idly, "are we headed somewhere in particular or just riding along?"

She doesn't care that much, either way.

Alain shrugs bonelessly. "Little of each. Some pretty coves up this way, and a good wide field if you want to stretch his legs a bit."

"Up to you," Lilly says cheerfully.

"After all, you're the one driving."

He grins faintly, resting his cheek against the side of her head.

"Well, you could take a turn at it if you wanted. But the lake's always nice."

"Lake it is," Lilly says.

"And I'm fine with you driving," she says, smiling. "I get to relax and just look at the scenery then."

"It's not driving without a bucka," he points out absently.

Mithros eyes some clumps of grass longingly, but is too well-trained to make a try for them.

"A what-a?"

Lilly tilts her head back to look at Alain, intrigued by the prospect of new slang.

Alain blinks at her. It's a standard term to him.

"A bucka. Do you not ken -- with wheels, and it's pulled by horses? Or oxen, either one."

"Oh, a cart or whatever?"

Lilly shrugs.

"I've never heard it called that before, but we're not so much with the carts anymore in my time."

"Aye, that sort. Sturdier, though."

The trees are thinning around them, now, and the lake glitters in the afternoon sun. Mithros tosses his head at one of the last flies of the season.

"Might be a change between worlds."

"Maybe," Lilly agrees, looking towards the lake.

"Are we stopping along here?"

"Sure." He grins. "Let this cully stuff his face a bit."

They pick their way over to a sheltered spot in the lee of a hill, near a small copse of trees, and Alain dismounts with the smooth ease of long, long practice.

Lilly has made a mental note of cully. She likes the sound of it.

"Okay, well, this cully is kinda tall and there are no fences around. Little help?"

Alain suspects a transparent ploy, here. Not that he minds.

"Aye, one moment."

He loops Mithros's reins over a low branch, hitching him loosely, and then reaches up to set his hands on her hips and help her down.

Does it matter if it's transparent as long as it works? Lilly puts her hands on his shoulders and lets him help her slide off Mithros.

"Thanks, 'lain."

He leaves his arms looped loosely around her waist, as he turns a little to look out over the lake.

The back of the bar is hidden behind a stretch of trees, from here, and the stable is shrunken with distance.

Lilly leans her forehead against his chest.

"It's quiet out here. I... kinda like that, actually."

She sounds mildly surprised.

"See? There's value to it after all." He's grinning.

More thoughtfully, "Nice to get out here, away. The bar's fine, but... the same building, it is, and always full of people. It's good to see the sky."

"Some value," Lilly allows.

"But it wouldn't hurt you to talk more, like you just did there. Multiple sentences, even."

She smirks a little.

"Is this a special occasion?"

He bends his neck, putting his head closer to hers. "Riding out with my girl doesn't count?"

Lilly smiles happily.

"Yeah, that counts," she says before stretching up the last little bit to kiss him.

He pulls her closer against him, tilting his head into the kiss, letting it deepen.

Lilly wraps her arms around his neck, kissing back as she relaxes against him.

She's not thinking about bus crashes or friends dying or anything but the feeling of his arms around her and his mouth on hers. It's a moment of peace, and she'll happily take it.

Besides, peacefulness that comes with bonus makeouts is totally Lilly's kind of thing.

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