A Day Out

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea clipped on one of her many helmets. This one had a chevron pattern in turquoises and purples with an orange accent. She hoped Kitty would like it, though she was pretty sure she would. Andrea had heard about an unfortunate thing that happened, and she wanted to... try and be there. Now, she wasn't great with things like this, but it was worth a try.

With her helmet in place, she scratched RJ at the base of his long ears. She loved his ears! "Ready to go be good friends?" she asked him. A few moments later she was in the saddle and on the way to the trails. Hopefully she and Kitty would meet there. Well, there was no reason for her to have canceled. Wait. Was she nervous? Why? Well, whatever the reason, she'd have to relax. RJ would get nervous if she didn't relax.

By the time they reached the Green Hill Trail, she was considerably less tense. "Alright, RJ. Let's wait here for a little bit." she said as he halted. He stomped a hind leg and swished his tail, but complied. "What's with the attitude?" she asked, grinning at the back of his head. "We shouldn't have to wait too long." she assured the mule. She patted his shoulder.


Katherine Lorelia <3

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty took a deep breath as she opened the door of Pride's stall and considered the gelding speculatively. He didn't look so bad, she supposed, although, as a grey, he was never going to be completely immaculate. But that suited Kitty just fine, because she was never immaculate either, and so they complemented one another nicely enough. "Come on, lad." she murmured, scratching the base of the gelding's neck as she walked past and slipped the saddle over his back with an ease born of long practise. "We're going to go for a little stroll."

The Irish Sporthorse nosed interestedly at her, which was perhaps understandable considering her vivid pink jodhpurs and matching jacket, as she worked the bridle up over his nose, fastened the buckles with deft fingers, took a second to check over her handiwork and then, finally satisfied, she led the gelding out into the sunshine. Her hat was no less vivid; it was liberally sprinkled with glitter and sequins. There was no way that anyone could miss Kitty, unless they were really trying. The blonde clipped on the helmet, took a second to straighten it up and then neatly vaulted into the saddle.

God, she was nervous. Why was she nervous? Andrea was lovely; she'd really no reason to be. Pull yourself together, girl, the Irish rider told herself firmly as she spotted a figure in the distance and passed both reins into her left hand in order to wave enthusiastically with her right.

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea saw Kitty a mile away. That was something she really liked about her quirky roommate; she wore what she wanted and it didn't matter how bright it was! The brighter the better! It was brave, and it was lovely. She returned the wave with the same amount of enthusiasm. She even nudged RJ toward Kitty and her gray. They met at last and she had a wide grin on her face.

"Hiya, Kitty! I love your helmet." she greeted. RJ snorted and turned his big ol' ears toward Pride. He craned his neck to sniff at Pride's nose, but Andrea gently pulled him away. In fact, she turned him around so the equines were facing the same way. "RJ has a tendency to nibble on horse's faces if I don't keep an eye on him." she said with a giggle. "Anyway, how's it going?" she asked as she nudged RJ into a walk.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty knew that she was different from everyone else- but then everyone was different from everyone else, because they were all individuals. That was sort of the point. But the chief difference between herself and others was that she realised she was different, and she embraced the fact because, as she saw it, there was no way that she would ever hide it, so she might as well have fun while she was at it.

"Hey, Drea!" she responded brightly to the girl's greeting. The blonde had experimented with a number of nicknames for the brunette, but Andy was confusing because of the cheer coach, and Rea sounded like a kind of ostrich, so Drea was what she had settled on. "Thank you, yours is lovely too!" For a moment or two, she considered going with the 'everything's fine' option, but she doubted Andrea would fall for that. The news was all over the school in any case. "I expect you've heard." she compromised with a rueful grin. "And you?"

[Andrea Valentine]

She thanked Kitty for the compliment with a warm smile. The smile faded, but her expression was still gentle and sympathetic when she nodded. "Well, I'm fine. Just a little worried about you, to be honest." She frowned. She'd always been straightforward - there was no point in mincing words or pretending things weren't the way they were. But maybe she shouldn't have said that she was worried. Too late to take it back, she supposed.

[Katherine Lorelia]

The blonde returned her friend's smile with just as much warmth, sweeping a stray hair off her face and nudging the grey forwards into a brisk walk, keeping pace with the brunette's mount. "Oh, that's so sweet of you!" she exclaimed, touched. "Please, don't worry yourself about me. There's nothing that can be done, so I'll just have to put up with it." As she had been doing for years. She supposed that it was only a matter of time before someone found out. After all, it was not something which was easy to conceal, especially not when one shared a building with tens of other people.

[Andrea Valentine]

She offered another smile. "I do worry, though. It kind of runs in the family." she shrugged, "But if you say you're alright, I have to believe you. I'm always around if you need a friend." Didn't seem fair, the way people liked to hurt other people. That was just the way it was, she guessed.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty smiled. "Thank you." she replied sincerely. And she really was thankful. It was wonderful to know that whatever other people might say about her, she would still have friends. She would still have Teddy and she would still have Andrea, which was great, because being on poor terms with your roommate was never a good thing. "I'm not exactly OK, and you probably know that, but there's nothing I can do about it. So I guess I'll have to get on with it."

[Andrea Valentine]

"I admire that. If something like this happened to me, I'd probably spend at least a week bawling." she paused, "Maybe that's why I was so concerned." She stopped to think about how lucky she was to have Kitty as a roommate. She was fun to hang out with and she had a positive attitude.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty offered the other girl a smile which was not perhaps quite as genuine as those which had preceded it. "Sometimes it's good to cry." she pointed out. "I spent an hour, at least, doing that when it first happened." And she might quite well still have been crouching in Pride's stall if it hadn't been for dear Teddy. A note of bitterness came into her melodic Irish voice as she continued "Everyone thinks I'm a baby anyway, so crying isn't going to help matters."

[Andrea Valentine]

"Well, I can't blame you for that." She said, then quieted to let Kitty finish talking. "Well... I don't think you're a baby." Her face had been somber, but a smile appeared and she looked more like herself. "I mean, you have so many great qualities!" She fell quiet again. It seemed she'd finally run out of things to say. Truth be told, she wasn't sure what else she could say about it.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty smiled softly at her roommate. "Thanks, Andrea." she responded quietly, closing her eyes momentarily against a sudden stinging sensation. "You're amazing." It was wonderful to know that she could rely on someone to have her back in any kind of situation that might arise, and she could tell without a shadow of a doubt that Andrea was exactly that person. "And... I'm so glad we ended up in the same room, because this wouldn't have been the same without you."

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea blushed. "Oh, thanks," she said, "You are, too." However self-confident she pretended to be, it was always great to be reassured that she was doing something right. Besides, if Andrea was to find herself in a similar situation to Kitty's, she had a strong feeling that Kitty would be there for her, too. "Me too! It's really lucky that we get along so well." She glanced over at Kitty, up on her quite-a-bit-taller-than-RJ-horse.

[Katherine Lorelia]

Kitty grinned as she saw the other girl's cheeks flush, happy to note that at least she was not the only one who broke out in a blush at the slightest provocation. "No." she corrected with a smile. "I fall to pieces far too easily." Which was something that she'd been trying to get over since she was about eleven; thus far, things had not changed perceptibly.
"Isn't it? Just think, I could have ended up with Liana Mars." the blonde agreed lightheartedly. And God, that would have been an ordeal, as recent events had proved.

[Andrea Valentine]

She waved her hand. "Oh, me too, believe me." She was just lucky enough to have brothers that she could talk to about pretty much everything. Her father was there, too, but he was an adult. A full-grown adult. It was different.

Andrea smiled a bit nervously, but nodded along with what Kitty said. "Yeah, I think we're both better of with things the way they are."