Log [Alison, Paige] A surprise visit...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Paige and Alison take a moment away from the mansion, in the late afternoon. There is a balance found, in some moments.

How calm, how beautiful comes on
The stilly hour, when storms are gone!
When warring winds have died away,
And clouds, beneath the glancing ray,
Melt off, and leave the land and sea
Sleeping in bright tranquillity.
  ~ Thomas Moore

The smell of hay was near overwhelming as they crossed the threshold of the barn, oddly soothing at the same time, too, or so Alison thought. Pushing the wheelchair carefully, she moved it in a straight line towards a stall in particular, the top door of which had been opened earlier on her first stop by the stable, just for this moment. It sort of went along with the cotton bag she'd stuffed with carrots as treats, too, well within Paige's reach.

And the wicker basket settled on a nearby bale of hay was kinda hard to miss, too.

Maybe doing the whole picnic thing in a barn sounded silly, but Alison suspected that as such things went, Paige wouldn’t mind the setting overmuch, really. And Haroun's sight was doing better today, near to fully returned and he'd firmly sent her off even though she'd offered to stay, telling that going ahead according to plan was a good idea. She didn't think their brief absence would really be noted from the festivities at the mansion in honor of Rahne's birthday and a moment of calm company was most certainly craved on her part just now, anyway.

Paige managed to surprise even herself when she had agreed to a kidnapping of sorts by wheelchair.  Perhaps it was the person who would be doing the kidnapping, or maybe even, if she allowed herself a small moment of pride, it was that leaning thing she'd been working so hard on, but either way, sitting and letting someone else push her along didn't seem so bad.  In fact, Alison's request - more of a pounce and demand, but who was staring at the obvious - had been met only with grins wide enough to split her face.
 
So, when Paige realised where they were going, it was nearly impossible to be, well, more excited, really.  Alison always did have a way of knowing exactly what she needed and when, and it seemed that even now that deduction skill hadn't gone anywhere.
 
"This all for me?" she asked innocently, leaning back and turning her head to look up at her companion.

"Yeah." Leaning forward on the chair, chin resting near Paige's shoulder, Alison nodded. It was for the both of them really, she admitted at least to herself, and somehow it felt safe to be here, she realized. Or not so much here as far away from so many people all gathered in one place, who might ask… questions. Questions she really didn't want to answer.

Carefully, Alison set the break on Paige's chair even as Nemesis stuck his head out of his stall, whickering in greeting at Paige. "Horse treats are in the side bag," she said calmly, smiling a bit as they were ignored by the horse in favor of the girl, and she double checked the break again, just because.

Giggling easily, not even bothering to try to hide the little girl sound, Paige reached for her boy, letting him whuff at her fingers before butting against her hand.  Without taking her eyes off of Nemesis, she grabbed hold of a carrot, holding it tight in her fist, before pushing herself up and out of the chair with little more than a quick twist of pain across her face, replaced instantly by another smile.  The carrot was offered as an apology that Nem clearly didn't need - he understood - before she wrapped herself around his neck, cheek in his hair.
 
"Thank you," Paige said, eyes now firmly planted on Alison, even as she stood tangled with her animal.  "I needed this."

A slow smile greeted Paige's words, Alison nodding firmly once in response. She reached up to tug at the edge of her short sleeved blouse idly, while moving away from the chair to go claim the picnic basket. One look at Paige was all she needed to decide to drag a bale of hay nearby to be used as a 'table' for the picnic, another then fetched for a chair of her own. She'd followed the list of foods allowed for Paige medical had given her, the snacks that were safe for her to make on her own being the ones she'd selected for this. And a few items selected specifically because Alison knew they were Paige's favorites. No help from anyone, other than cookies Miles had asked to be added to the mix, happy faces in green icing drawn upon them.

I did too. A measure of something she could do without question or doubt, something that was safe and simple and good.

"Yeah. I did too." Settling down, Alison opened the wicker basket, humming to herself as she laid out plates and food, chuckling as Gorgeous let out a squeal of protest at not receiving similar attention, a few stalls down. Two women in the barn, no less, and none of them fawning over him.

Paige allowed herself the simpler task of watching Alison work, not bothering to feel guilty as she didn't immediately come over to help.  She was allowed to be taken care of.  Gorgeous's complaints were met with an amused glance over, coupled with an almost smug head bob from Nem, which she answered with a playful little swat.  Oh, boys.
 
"I do believe someone might be upset," Paige calmly observed, making her way back over to Alison with little more than a wobble.  That earned a grin, certainly.  She continued past, and over to the grumpy Gorgeous.  "I will try my ancient horse calming techniques.  They are also known as shove a carrot in his mouth and walk away, but that sounds less cool."

"Watch the hem of your shirt," Alison laughed quietly, as Gorgeous' first gambit was indeed to make a nose dive for the shirt to tug at it playfully, ignoring the carrot entirely at first. Alison's eyes narrowed at that and she watched both girl and horse sharply for a moment, before relaxing slowly once she was sure the latter would not topple over from the former's demonstrations of affection.

She smoothed out the napkins carefully as Gorgeous did his best to claim Paige's entire attention, setting out the food  - of which there was an overabundance of, not that she minded - precisely about so that nothing might topple over. The bottles of juices were then set on the top of the wicker basket as the bale was just too  uneven for that, along with a thermos of hot tea and two mugs.

"I think we're ready here," she said, then looked up and smiled a bit. "Whenever your adoring equine public is inclined to let you go."

"Sadly, that would be all of never, so pulling myself away with promises of returning will have to do," Paige quipped back, giving the horse an affectionate snuggle that most people would certainly not be allowed to get away with, before making her way back, hand up cautiously towards the wall like half of a highwire act

Watching like a hawk the entire time, Alison nonetheless made no move at all to help - Paige was managing fine on her own, as shows by the very deliberate way she moved and the lack of obvious worry, and Alison wasn't about to try and step in when Paige finally was achieving motion all on her own.

If there was anything she understood just now, it was the desire to be able to do that much, really.

Still, the bottle of juice was handed to Paige uncapped once she finally wobbled her way back to the chair, the caps of both bottles having been removed earlier while Alison set things up. "I think we're set then. Did I forget anything?" She was rather certain she hadn't, but well, asking couldn't hurt.

"Of course not," Paige answered calmly, offering Alison a warm smile as she settled into her chair, this time without even a flutter of eyelashes.  It was easier as long as she kept moving, but then she got tired; it was one of those vicious circles that would hopefully lose its grip on her soon.  "You're worried.  But I can manage to get around, short distances at least, and I have really nice minions for the longer distances.  Or really pretty good friends," Paige mentioned casually, not chastising, but hopefully easing a little of the concern, before taking a sip of juice.  Apple.  She grinned, toasting in Alison's direction.

Well, Alison wasn't about to argue with the "really good friends" description, as it applied to her or anyone else was she? Instead she let out a small breath as she settled in herself, a squeal of displeasure from Gorgeous drawing a startled look from her, followed by laughter as the horse whirled in it stall to kick at the door before settling in a sulk.

"Cheers!" Raising her own bottle in salute, Alison then leaned back on the bale, to enjoy the sight of Nemesis starting to beg for a piece of oatmeal cookie while Paige sternly informed him to wait until dessert.