Make yer-furry-selves at home

[D'mnchyld]

As Colossus pulled the van off the paved road to bring it alongside the stables k'8 got excited. She liked the idea of off-roading and doing stuff that wasn't supposed to be done usually, 'sorta breaking the rules', but not. She grinned back at the others when they turned off onto the rough of the grass and dirt. Her smile drooped when she saw the look in the eyes of the cat. The dog seemed to be a bit oblivious or maybe he was just being politely indifferent, but that damn cat was giving her the hairy eyeball of that she was sure.

"Cool, here we are" she said to warm up to the animals a bit more, or try to at least, as they came to a stop. She had gone inside the petstore, but all at once the birds and the rest of the animals went bonkers so she turned right back around with a shrug and went back to wait in the van. She had a lot to think about though so she didn't mind having those few minutes to herself while the others shopped.

As she sat there smiling back at the cat and the dog and her friends all she could think of was what that demon mean when he said someone was gonna see her soon. It bothered her more than she wanted to show, so she hoped her smile hid her concern. A flutter of her eyelids broke her from the drifting memories she had been dwelling in and she opened her door bouncing out to pop open the side door for the rest of them and giggled as naturally as she could "Home sweet home."

[Rhetoric]

“I’m just sayin,” Liv spilled out of the backseat of the van still chatting with Sean. Chief helped her along and shoved past her legs so that he could run about and get the cramped feeling out of his joints. He wasn’t a car dog, after all. He was a worker and if he could avoid being shut in again, he would. Liv continued unperturbed. “You aren’t a cowboy per say. I mean, Wyatt Earp was a cowboy. Jesse James. Billy the kid. Marty McFly in the third Back to the Future… he was a cowboy. You don’t have the grit, Sean, you’re too… sweet.” She said the word with a wrinkled nose like it wasn’t one of her favorite qualities but smiled at him all the same. She liked Sean. He was just about the kindest soul she’d met yet even if he was painfully vanilla. She winked at him, her smile morphing into something of a smirk. “Although, I don’t think there’s a gun slinger alive that could beat your trick with the metal. That was so incredibly— Oof!”

A small, feathery projectile hit Liv in the face and she staggered back into the van totally caught unawares. The entire flock swarmed her, landing on whatever surface was available be it hair, t-shirt, or sneaker top. Liv saw Chief eye the birds with interest and remembered the cat just in time. “Don’t even think about it,” she warned. Moxie just gave her a bored look and went back to purring in Jenny’s arms as though she couldn’t be bothered. “Cuil, you have to be careful! Occasionally there are going to be other animals around me and I don’t want you eaten!” She held out her hand and her little friend settled in her palm happily.

Shall I tell yeh what happened while yeh were gone? Cuil asked fluffing his feathers so they would settle more comfortably. Yer two-leggers are out of their minds. Liv listened carefully a moment before letting out a laugh that shook the birds off of her.

“Dante did WHAT?” She was laughing so hard that she had actually stopped making sound. “Oh— oh, man! We miss—we missed everything!” Liv was bent in half, tears streaming down her face while Cuil told her the story in detail. Wiping a tear away, Liv tried to choke back her chuckles, aware that she probably looked ridiculous. “Aw, f*ck that’s hilarious. Honestly, I wish you guys could understand them, too.” Liv threw careless smiles to k’8 and Sean… and Jenny. Finally settled, she gestured for Chief to follow her and threw her arms around k’8 and Sean’s shoulders while Cuil caught a ride on Sean’s hat. “Come on, short stack. Bring the hell cat and let’s get them settled.”

Liv grinned knowing perfectly well that the nickname was not appreciated by either Jenny nor Moxie and she smirked to herself. She was going to make sure that the animals were comfortable, knew the rules, and had everything they needed. Then she was going to get cleaned up and find RAM. She had some laughing in his face to do.

[Taffy]

Ricki'd been chilling in the courtyard- which was when she spotted... animals? coming out of the van, accompnied by students and her team-leader.

Well that confused Ricki Day. She thought Miss Frost had made it clear that there was a no pet policy- and yet she was pretty sure she saw a big fluffy dog and a cat move towards the stables with students: one of who she recognized to be K'8 - the purple in her hair made it easy for Ricki to spot her from miles away. Curious as always, Ricki stood up from her leaning-against-the-memorial-statue position and skipped gracefully in the direction of the garage, in order to follow the animals who she was sure she'd seen along with her fellow students and teacher towards the stables.

It didn't take Ricki long to confirm the fact that it was indeed animals that she'd seen. Her reaction was immidiate- her expression shifted between shock, slight fear and finally a big beam. "Oh my god! Wow!" Now that Ricki was closer, she realized Sean, Liv and little Jenny were the other members of the group. Ricki grinned at the group before carefully moving towards the animals- truth was, that even though Ricki found animals awfully cute, she had a bit of fear in her and she wasn't all that great with them. She was more comfortable around dogs though- considering her cousins in England had a German Shepherd, and he was massive. Playful though. "They're gorgeous!" Ricki exclaimed, moving carefully towards the big dog to scratch his neck and pet him on the head. "Hey you," Ricki greeted playfully smiling at the dog.

Her expression shifted back to confused though as she looked between the humans present. "I thought we weren't allowed pets?" Ricki looked from Liv, to Jenny, to Colossus. Now that Ricki noticed Liv looked seriously amused by something- while the others looked quite confused. "Whaat's up?" she asked, her question mainly directed at Liv- it seemed like Liv'd just cracked a joke which no one but her found amusing- but no sooner did Ricki think that did she feel quite bad. That was mean. "Ermmm.. did I miss a joke?"

[TuneUP]

Sean grinned at Ricki when she came in, looking like a kid on Christmas at the site of the animals. "Ya didn't miss much Ricki, Liv here was just tellin' me how I'm too nice to be a cowboy," he said with a slight smirk to his smile as he glanced at the small Paragon. "Now I never claimed to be no John Wayne, but I can rope cattle, ride a horse, and shoot a pistol like the best of 'em missy." There was a twinkle in his eyes through it all though, mainly cause he found himself liking Liv. She was a real pistol, and she sure as hell didn't hold back. He could appreciate that, cause even in that rough and tumble way she held herself, there was still an element of respect to her. Sean liked that, and didn't mind dishing some right back her way.

"Just call it an exception to another rule, just like animals flock to you like if you were a Princess right outta a Disney movie, but well... I don't think I ever seen a Princess look like ya do," he said looking her up and down pointedly with a teasing smile on his face. "Never seen a Princess smell like a swamp, ain't ya'll supposed to be perfect in every way? Guess ya missed that part in the manual huh?" Sean nudged her slightly and laughed as he set down all the bags they took from the car of all the pet supplies.

"We better get these guys settled in though, c'mon Chief," Sean whistled to the dog to follow as he took the bag with all the dog's items and set them down in a small stall with a big pile of hay at the front of the stables. The whole stable was really warm, so he knew that Chief wouldn't be cold on the blistering cold nights that came with living in the countryside, but he was at the very front of the stables so he could be on watch for any intruders. Sean took the thick blanket they got him and settled it over the hay bale, making a bed for him. "Where are his bowls? He's probably mighty hungry by now."

[Rhetoric]

Food? FOOD! He has food! Foodfoodfoodfoodfood! Chief happily circled Sean, tail held high like a banner and tongue lolling out of his mouth in a silly grin. In seconds the regal collie had reverted into an excited pup, delighted at the thought of supper time. Liv half expected him to do a dance like Snoopy, but Chief just stuck close to Sean, making happy, little doggie sounds. Where's my bowl? I need my bowl for the FOOD! Liff? My bowl? He darted back to Liv with a whine sitting back on his haunches and begging, front paws up on her hip. Liv couldn't suppress a laugh as the dog ran back to the bags Sean had put down and started to nose through them. This bag! It's in this bag with my FOOD!

"I think you said the magic words." Liv smirked and greeted Ricki with a small nod. Chief’s head came out of the bag with his bowl in his teeth. "And I am as much of a princess as you are... cowboy. But you're right." She pulled at the collar of her t-shirt and sniffed it, making a face. "I smell like warm garbage. I need to shower before my new power is knocking people out."

That cat is already out of the bag, Moxie purred. She went limp in Jenny’s arms as though she had just fainted from the stench before she opened one green eye. Reek.

Liv glared and pointed a finger at Moxie. “Watch it, cat.” She opened her mouth to say more but caught another whiff of herself and winced. “Ok, they’re right. Colossus, I think Sean’s got things pretty well covered here and I pretty much just threw up in my mouth a little so… can I go shower? I think the grass is wilting.” She grinned up at the teacher, hoping he understood. It was only her first day and she really didn’t want to be known as the smelly kid. “Sean? You and Jenny have this right? You don’t need me do…get off his hat!” She pointed to the sparrow that was still comfortably perched on Sean’s head. She opened her hand for him to return to her but with a peep Cuil clutched the brim of the cowboy hat all the tighter.

No offense, Livi, but yeh stink.

Liv pinched her eyes shut. “Yeah, ok. I’m going to go shower before some other animal that eats its own crap starts telling me that I stink.” She threw an irritated wave over her shoulder and bailed out of the barn with Cuil fluttering after her, maintaining a good distance so as not to suffer the smell.

[Jenny]

Jenny watched Liv walk off as she smirked slightly to herself, holding a purring Moxie in her arms. "I sthills don't thinks I like her," she announced, though not with as much conviction as she did before. Okay, so she'll admit that it was kind of cool that she could talk to animals and maybe she wasn't as dumb as some of the other big kids, but she was still annoying and called her 'Short Stack.' That and she smelled like a dirty trash can full of poop.

"Come on Moxie, leths gets you nice and comfortable," she said rubbing her chin gently against the cat's head. She walked in the opposite direction of the others to the end of the barn, where there was the ladder to the hayloft. "I knows you like beings high up, and the hayloft is REALLY warm," Jenny babbled to the cat, gently moving her so she could still hold her in one of her small pudgy arms as Moxie's head looked over her shoulder. She climbed up the ladder steadily with one hand, the way she usually did when she was at home.

The hayloft was a good deal warmer than the ground floor, since it was insulated with tons of hay and had no windows. "You'll loveths it up here Moxie, its high up and look how warm it iths!" She exclaimed setting Moxie on the ground and letting her explore. Jenny watched happily as the cat walked around, the hayloft, exploring it and looking around. "It'ths nithce huh? Hold on, I'll go gets you your sthuff!" She climbed down from the hayloft and ran to grab the bags that had all of Moxie's stuff. Jenny made sure to pick out a lot of nice things for her, and everything to make her comfortable. She insisted to Pete that she needed at least several different toys and got her the best litter box in the store, the self cleaning kind.

"Okay Moxie," Jenny said climbing up to the hayloft. "Let'hs sthart with the mostht importants sthuff first." She dug through one of the bags and came up with a pretty purple collar. They got the tags and licenses for the animals done on the spot and Jenny didn't have a chance to put the collar on Moxie yet. "Sthee you gets a nicthe shiny collar," She said with her cute lisp as she held up the collar for Moxie to see. "Oh sthorry, here you can have the last piece." Jenny pulled out the last of the string cheese from her pocket and offered it to Moxie, getting her to climb down from the hay bale. "There ya go! Now holds sthill," she said softly getting the collar around Moxie's neck. "There! You're officially oursth!" Jenny beamed and stroked the pretty Havana Brown's soft fur for a moment before getting up and setting up Moxie's little area as nicely as she could.

[D'mnchyld]

"Hey Ricki" she smiled her greeting "and wow, she was gone quick." k'8 said, her head bobbing as her eyes followed Liv running away until she couldn't see her anymore. "I'm sorry," she said looking over at Sean "I know it's like she and I have this sorta hometown thing goin and all, but I don't agree with her. I think she's way off base. You are the best cowboy I've ever seen and, well, not that I've seen many but neither has she, so who's she to judge right? S'cuse us please Ricki."

Her 'I love you to pieces' grin lit up her face as she walked up to wrap an arm through Sean's and lead him off a little bit to take a look back at where they had been. "Let me ask you Sean. Do you see what I'm lookin at?" She looked up at him then back at the stables. "I mean really, look at that. That barn thingy right there was a mess yesterday morning and today, TODAY? I think only a real cowboy could have pulled off something like that. Sure you had help, but nobody else knew how to do what you did, and is able to rally the troops like you can. You make me proud to be with you, just to think of you in the night when I'm drifting off to sleep gives me this warm fuzzy-safe felling. You're not just my boyfriend ya know- you're my hero too."

She stretched up on her tippiest tippy toes to peck a kiss on his cheek. She was scared after what happened with her blood today, and then.. TA-DAA.. there He was. "You know, I don't know what that demon meant, it was kinda scary, but if you don't mind bein my hero some more and keeping an eye on me I would be- what's the term..? Much obliged?" She smiled up at him some more wanting to kiss him more too but Colossus was near and so she just let him know with her eyes that she would like some snuggles and kisses.

[Taffy]

"Aaand, that will be my cue to... leave?" Ricki turned 180 on her heels, her expression half way between shock and humour. It wasn't exactly PDA, but it still felt like a private moment for the two of them, and Ricki felt like she was intruding- hence instead, she pushed the thought away, leaving the two New Mutants for some space of their own and walking forwards- or rather away from the Stables and towards the Van.

"Collossus? D'you need any help around here?" Ricki volunteered, craning her neck around to catch a glimpse of her Team Leader. She had nothing better to do at the moment; she could skip over to go see Ivy in a bit, try yet again to draaaag that girl away from books and enter reality; however breifly. Ricki respected that Ivy was a quiet, closed kinda girl, but Ricki also believed that there was another side to her beneath the shell, one that didn't mind the whole people thing that much; and Ricki was keen to get to that side.

[TuneUP]

Sean smiled softly at Kate and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Katie girl, I'm gonna look out for ya whether ya want me to or not. Don't ever forget that." She was too adorable sometimes and he couldn't imagine her ever thinking otherwise. Their relationship was actually comfortable, probably more mature than most couples their age, yet at the same time much more innocent. He just enjoyed spending time with her and getting to know her, she was really an amazing person. "And don't you take what Liv said seriously either, I knew she was joking. I didn't mind it either, I can take some good natured ribbing as well as the next fella. You forget that I been in the garage a lot the past few months with Mason, so I'm more than used to it all."

As far as Sean was concerned, there was nothing wrong with teasing between friends. He liked Liv, she was indeed a pistol and he knew that this wouldn't be the last of the teasing between the two of them, which he didn't mind one bit. "Don't you worry Katie girl, I feel right proud of this here stable, but we better get the animals settled in before Ms. Frost comes down. She wanted to inspect the animals and you know she knows we're here by now." With that, Sean kissed Kate on the forehead and walked back over to Colossus and Ricki.

"Alright Ricki, you wanna help me feed Chief here?" The large collie sat down and was wagging his tail furiously at the thought of food and holding the food bowl in his mouth, making Sean laugh. "He's really ready, poor guy. How 'bout I get the food and you go get him some fresh water? Just get some from the automatic water fountain, they're working today," he said pointing to a nearby stall. Meanwhile Sean went over and took out the huge bag of Kibble, laughing as Chief came right up to him with the bowl. "Alright boy, alright, I got your supper right here," he said with a laugh as he picked up the bag and brought it to the feed room, Chief right on his heels the whole time. He placed the bag in the corner and opened it up, scooping a big helping into the bowl that Chief set down. "Jenny! You better get Moxie settled all nice and bring her food in here, Ms. Frost will be here soon!" Sean yelled as he watched Chief gobble up the food. "Katie girl, you think you can help put away the other things we bought for them?

[D'mnchyld]

"Oh sure" Katie called out and hop-skipped her way over to the back of the van where Colossus was unloading the many bags of things they had gotten at the store. It didn't seem to k'8 like they were in the store long enough to have gotten all the weird stuff they got, but she didn't really have a clue how long they shopped since her thoughts had her more than occupied enough to distract her. "Sean was callin for ya Ricki, to help feed the dog I think. Get him water?" She said in an asking sort of a way.

"Wow, yous guys got like everything huh?" She said to the big guy. He was one of her favorite teachers, not only because he was an awesome artist and real sweet guy, but he was the love of her own team's leader and she really liked the way Kitty's face lit up when he would arrive on the scene. Any guy that could do that for his sweetheart was aces in her book, so that meant there weren't many here in this school. She counted herself lucky again since her Sean did that for her.

Her toothy grin was more than taxed as she thought about trying to heft everything in one trip. Not having enough hands wasn't a common problem, she couldn't remember ever having it before at least, but she knew a way she could get help. Not that she would do it, but the thought did cross her mind. Then, abruptly she pushed it aside as she remembered the connection she had to Colossus.. through LIMBO itself. His very own sister had been the plaything of her recently realized Father, so out of respect for that she didn't even consider the thought again. "I'll be back, hehee, not enough hands."

How could she have enough hands, Petey had been unloading the van for a couple of minutes and when she left him there he was still pulling stuff out of the back of it. Passing by Ricki she puffed out her cheeks as if to say how heavy it was, whatever it was, that she was carrying and pressed onward to the inside of the stables.

"Anywhere? Or do you want me to put this stuff someplace special?" she called out to Sean. In the quiet moment that followed she noticed something that she hadn't noticed the day before. Maybe it was because she had used her power, or maybe it was that the hard work and love that everyone had put in to cleaning up the place had re-energized something, but she felt a strange kind of something pushing against her. The closest thing she could describe it as was ...

Magic.

Hurrying back to Colossus she tugged at the back of his shirt. "Hey, um Pete? I was just wondering," she tried to catch her breath "ya know, about the rumor with the winged horse of the Valkyrie? Is that for real?" She tried again to catch her breath. "You know, the protection spell or whatever..? I mean did we really have a magical horse living here, like really with wings? C'mon.." she tried to play it cool, but she wasn't fooling anyone "and like what do you think that would do to somebody like me? You know, if um, if that was like real and all?" Her voice was a bit tense, maybe anxious would have been a better way to describe it, but her eyes were pools of innocent, curious, sincerity.

[Taffy]

Ricki giggled at K'8 as she passed her with the stuff which looked like it was probably heavy- or that was the message Ricki'd gotten anyway. Ricki would've helped K'8 but Sean'd given her another job and Ricki could see just how hungry the doggy was, and she'd hate to keep the poor thing waiting. Ricki knew this much about dogs- they needed water after food, and this Dog right here looked like he was hungry enough to gobble up the whole bag Sean was taking in within a minute or so.

"You gottit Seaaan." Ricki grabbed the water bowl and skip-danced over her way towards the automatic water fountain and let the water run into the bowl until it was full, before she followed Sean and Cheif. "So, we call him Cheif?" Ricki asked, rather rhetorically as she set the water bowl down besides the rather hungry huge doggie. Ricki couldn't help but giggle at how adorable he looked and at how hungry the poor thing was. Aww, bless'im. "Awww, he's sooo cuteee!" Ricki giggled as she looked over at Sean, her face lit up like she were probably a four year old on Christmas. She sighed, her eyes glued to the dog.

"What breed is he?" she asked Sean, curious. She didn't know a lot about dogs; she wasn't exactly the best animals person- but she knew a bit about dogs. Her cousin Karin, who'd gotten married recently in England had a dog; a German Shepherd, so Ricki was used to big dogs, but she was still un peu afraid.

[Black Knight]

Dane laughed under his breath at the antics of the students as he and Scott headed over toward the stables. "So, wow.. quite a crop of kids you have here and I know, as usual I bet that's only the tip of the iceberg." He didn't need to lead Strider, the great winged white stallion followed the pair of men across the grass as they cut their way from the garage to the stables.

"It's funny, the world has a way of makin what it needs for the time it finds itself in. Magic used to be everywhere, but not anymore.. man saw to that. So the Earth, in her great wisdom, has made magic out of man in the form of mutants. You have a lot to live up to, and so do those young ones." He knew Scott knew how much weight he had on his shoulders, at least when it came to the here and now, but Dane was speaking of something beyond the immediate, a generational and global thing that was beyond either of them knowing the fullness of. They could only hope to open their minds to the mysteries of the world. With open minds came open possibilities.

"So, how's married life treatin you THIS time around slugger?" He said laughingly, changing the subject to lighter fare. "I gotta say it, I know it's bad manners but I gotta.. just because, well, I never met a stuffed shit who ever did as well as you, DAMN, you pull some fine tail." The grin on Danes face at the cherry red complexion Cyclops turned as he blushed quickly degenerated into a snicker. "Yeah you take the prize. I don't get it, it must be the appeal of trying to make you loosen up or something."

"Wow, the last time I was here the place was shut up tight." He said as the stables came into view, with their newly renovated look. "What was that three years ago?" He tried to think, but for him time had a 'cut and paste' feel to it. He would never know exactly how it felt for others who hadn't traveled the slips of the ethereal and had the temporal flow bent around them. For him in his life, time was as much a where as a when. "Looks good. Looks, right.. ya know?" He hear Strider huffing out some air in agreement and shaking his head. "I know fella.." he said over his shoulder to his mount, then to Scott said "Strider says you couldn'ta pulled this off without help. Ahh That answers the question." He pointed to Colossus. "Pete, the good old farm boy himself help ya out?"

[Cyclops]

"Oh, heh.. yea- Actually, the whole thing was supervised by one of the students. Young cowboy with an amazing ability to manipulate metal and this uncanny mechanical aptitude. His power reminds me of Madison Jeffries, from Alpha Flight, remember him?" Scott himself didn't really wish to recall the one time hero turned 'pawn redeemed' yet it was true that Sean had a similar ability to the man.

"So, we call him TuneUp and the kid's, well let's say I've been looking seriously at him with considerations for the future." When Scott spoke about the future he was oft times speaking of the future of the X-Men and the school in particular, so he left it to Dane to figure out for himself what exactly he meant and trusted when he met the boy that it would become clearer to the Knight. "Level headed and respectful, still real young but that's a good thing."

"As for the ladies? Well, hey" he popped his collar in the fashion he'd seen done by the children "what can I say? When you got it.. you got it." He grinned back sarcastically at the Avenger. "Apparently I must have it, whatever 'it' is my friend." He finished saying as they walked up to Colossus.

"Pete, hey! Look who's here." He said pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the Black Knight and his steed. "Is there a stall we could set Strider up in? I'd love for the kids to be able to see him but I don't want to make it uncomfortable and have him feel crowded. Plus I thought I smelled something cooking, so I think Dane might, well if you want to that is Dane.." he said turning to the Knight "stay for dinner?"

[Colossus]

Piotr looked up from adjusting the stall doors when he saw Scott and a face that he hadn't seen in quite awhile. "Scott! Dane!' he exclaimed with a big smile on his face at the sight of his old friends. He had come to appreciate the people from the past all that much more, because it reminded him that not all was always lost. After everything they had all been through together, the fact that they were still alive was enough of a reason to not give up the fight they've all been fighting for a long time.

"You came at a good time, we just got the stable all fixed up." Piotr used his hand to gestured to the newly cleaned and renovated stable. "The horses are coming tomorrow, and I am not sure how many though." He smiled as he walked up to Strider, holding out his hand when the horse nickered a greeting. "It's been awhile hasn't it Strider?" He said softly and patted the magnificent horse's neck gently. He noted how sweaty the large animal was and glanced at Dane. "You rode him far I see, we could hose him down after he gets something to eat. The big guy here might have to take the double stall to be comfortable." Piotr stroked the horse's ears gently and took pity on the long road that he must have taken.

"What brings you here Dane? Everything is well I hope," he asked turning to their long time friend. He hoped that there wouldn't be anything perilous or dangerous coming their way for a visit from the Black Knight. He would help in any way needed, but it was still a concern for him when important guests showed up unannounced.

[D'mnchyld]

"Holy shnikeys!?!" k'8 exclaimed as she looked beyond Colossus to see the answer to her question in the flesh. Right then she didn't care that she had been ignored.. LIKE FIVE TIMES IN THE PAST TEN MINUTES ..or that any animal that saw her had a conniption fit, or that demons from her blood were leaving her with cryptic messages. Standing right before her was a PURE... WHITE.... PEGASUS!

"IS THAT? That thing is? Is it real, can I touch it?" She could hardly contain herself as she stepped forward to reach a hand out toward the winged horse. It was HUGE, as horses go, at least in her imagination since she'd never seen an actual horse up close and in person.

With each step closer the horse took more careful notice of the little girlchild until she was about to touch him. Then instinct took over and he stepped to the side huffing out through his snout at the girl and starling her. "Oh!" She stiffened in her stance drawing her hand back quickly. "Uh, I guess that's a no? Sorry, but you're so pretty and so totally unbelievable I just wanted to pet ya."