milliways_bar | (no subject)

He puts down his cup and nods.

"Certainly. It's been a while since I've been outside, it'll be nice to get some fresh air. And I miss horses."

"Now's fine, then? Good. I've not had a chance to check on Rachât today, myself."

He leaves his cup on Alex's table as well, and leads the way out to the stables.

"Go ahead and look around, then? I'll be in his stall." And he suits action to words.

He nods and starts to move around the stables, offering the horses his palm to get his scent.

And then, after a few moments, he stops in front of one stall, and is silent, staring.

And Faith drops down from the rafters, standing next to him.

"Hello, Gluestick," she greets the horse, with perhaps a little more fondness than she would usually address a horse with.

This is followed by a much warmer "Hey, Alex," and she leans against the horse's stall, swatting absently at Ghost as he starts sniffing her. "Interesting horse you've got here."

Alex is still staaaaaaaaaaaaring.

Devil's own temper, that one. *Alanna pokes her head out of a nearby stall and folds both arms on top of the door. She is positively beaming.* Beautiful, though. You always did have good taste in horses.

Alex.... is still staring.

Ghost is displeased at the lack of attention, and pushes his head at Alex's shoulder. Hard.

Edmund wanders back over, absently tossing an apple from hand to hand, and then holds it out to Alex.

"Found one you like, then? He's lovely, really. New addition to the stables, just the other day, from what I hear. Bit of a trip to get him here."

Faith looks the horse over, casually. "He's all right, I s'pose. Horses...not generally my thing. And he bit me, didn't you, you monster?"

But it's said, once again, almost affectionately. Faith appreciates violence.

"And the trip wasn't bad at all. Getting him through the door...that was the hard part."

"You..."

...he appears to be mostly speechless.

*Eyes shining, Alanna simply smiles and winks at Edmund. The apple looks good.*

He chuckles, and tosses Alanna the apple, as Alex seems... distracted, somehow.

"The door, Faith? From what you said, it was the stairs that caused the problem."

Faith snorts.

"Only 'cause he's so wide. I mean, have you ever tried to fit a horse through a door? Carrying his weight wasn't the problem, it was making him fit without hurting either of us."

Then she grins, pointing at Alex. "Worth it for that expression though."

Alex is still staring. And has a Ghost pushing at his shoulder, since it has been several months since he saw his master.

...Nick?

Blur...

And there's a Nick by his side, suddenly blinking at the utter lack of danger, darkness, or other things he'd expect from sush a shocked call.

"Ale--"

And then he's looking at the fine piece of horseflesh.

"Ghost, I presume?"

He's smiling.

*Chewing quietly on the apple Edmund so thoughtfully provided for her, Alanna lets her gaze run over Nick. She hasn't seen him since Faith explained what had happened, and she finds herself infuriated at his tormentors all over again. Swallowing with some difficulty, she smiles at both of them.*

Hello, Nick.

*Annoyed that she's not sharing, Mithros snorts in Alanna's ear.*

Shhh! So greedy. Here, have the rest. Faith, don't be so modest. You carried them down the stairs. That was much more impressive than squeezing them through the door. I swear the thieves at the Dove will never recover.

Faith blushes and looks down with a slight shrug.

"Doesn't weigh that much..."

She smiles, faintly, at Nick. "Hey, Nick...yes, this is Ghost, as I'm sure Alex will confirm when he, uhm, remembers to speak aloud?"

He blinks, shaking his head and looking at Faith.

"Uh? Um. Yes. It's... it's Ghost. My horse. How..."

He strokes Ghost's nose, receiving a pleased whicker in return.

Nick smiles at Alex and reaches his hand out slowly to stroke down his hair and neck before wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Lovely steed. Reminds me of my own. So long ago."

Edmund steps back, having nodded a hello to Nick, and returns to Rachât's stall briefly, returning with another couple of apples, absently taking a bite of one of them himself.

"Alanna took me to Tortall," Faith says, smiling at Alex. "And after we were done terrorizing the dagger seller and the teeny-tiny knights-in-training, we took a little trip by the palace stables and hey! A horse, that was yours. And we figured, you own him, he should be with you. So...horse."

Faith and Alanna are in turn glomped by a happy knight who has decided they need to be hugged.

Nick watches and grins before leaning the door of Ghost's stable. Ghost takes this opportunity to nudge his shoulder, to which Nick turns. The two share a moment of silent communication before the horse watches Alex...and so does Nick.

Hm.

*Laughing happily, Alanna hugs him back, her eyes suspiciously bright. It means a lot to her to see that smile on his face again. Grinning, she retreats to stand by Edmund, absently snagging another apple and bumping her shoulder against his.*

*Chewing, she whispers to him.* That's my horse. Mithros.

Faith is quite taken aback by the Alex-hug, actually.

The last time he hugged her like this was the 'Sunlight for Nick yey' thing, after all.

She is not, however, too surprised to hug him back.

There are no tears in her eyes, but she is smiling, if a bit bewildered.

"...'s just a horse..."