Generation: Black Air 1
Horse Sense
JBMcDragon

"Hey, Logan," said a nine-year-old voice from over a bowl of dry cereal. "Those horses just sit there?"

Logan looked up at the brown haired, brown eyed young lady. She was an exact replica of Kitty Pryde. It had been only days since he, Domino, Kitty, Pete Wisdom, Cable, Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton had rescued Kurt's, Kitty's and Amanda's clones, along with Domino's, Pete's, Shrine's and Logan's genetically engineered offspring. The "children," as they were referred to, though the oldest was twenty three, had grown up without sunlight or air, and very little tolerance, much less love. The group that had saved them, with the exception of Domino and Cable, who had a team to run, had gone to Colorado to live in Logan's ranch house in the hopes that they could teach the children how to live in a world less violent then the one they had been trained for. With only five days out of Black Air, none of them were very acclimated yet, but there were a few who were already showing signs of change.*

"I suppose," Logan said slowly, watching the young clone, "that they just sit around all day. Why?"

***

Lynx eyed the animal before her as it chewed contentedly on grass. She could still remember her conversation, only a scant hour before. It had been at the breakfast table, as she shoved cereal in her mouth.

"What's a horse for, anyway?"

"It's for ridin'," Logan had answered in that raspy voice of his. "You get a saddle and bridle, put them on the horses and ride 'em around."

Well, Lynx had neither saddle nor bridle with her--truth be told, she wasn't sure what they were--but she was certain that she could ride the creature without them. After all, it didn't look very smart.

"Okay, horse," she said to the gelding, brushing a stray lock of short brown hair out of her brown eyes. "I'm going to ride you, and you're going to behave."

As expected, it didn't answer.

Lynx ducked through the bars of the fence and walked purposefully up to it, her hands fisted on her hips. As she reached its shoulder she paused. Her head wasn't even on a level with its back, and she had no idea how to go about climbing up on the rather scruffy looking creature.

The horse ignored her as she stood there, contemplating. Finally, she grabbed a fistful of mane, reaching as far over its back as she could with her other hand, and tried to scramble up. Young muscles flexed furiously, pulling hard on the horse's mane while her other hand clutched at his hip. The horse turned to look at her, but didn't seem to otherwise mind. At least not until her sneakered foot crashed into his knee, at which point he snorted and moved away.

Lynx lost her balance and flopped back onto her feet, glaring at the horse from very serious nine-year-old eyes.

"Let's try that again," she said, marching up to the still walking beast. The horse sped up.

Lynx walked faster.

The horse started to trot away.

Lynx ran.

The horse snorted and broke into a canter, quickly out-running the girl.

Lynx stopped and glared at it. The horse slowed to a trot once it realized it was no longer being chased, then stopped altogether and went back to grazing.

Lynx marched up to it stiffly, grabbed some mane and tried to jump up. Her young body slapped against its ribs, and the horse grunted and looked up at her mournfully.

Lynx didn't jump high enough.

After three more jumps and twice more having to wait until the horse stopped running away, Lynx stopped and re-thought her strategy.

Having re-thought all she was going to, she marched up to the horse and grabbed its forelock, pulling it toward the fence.

The horse held its ground and just looked at her.

Lynx turned back and glared at it again.

The horse started grazing.

Lynx sighed heavily and went around, putting her shoulder against the horse's and pushing.

The horse took a step.

Thus encouraged, Lynx started pushing harder.

***

Logan walked easily up to where Amanda sat in the windowseat of the living room, reading. He glanced out of the window behind her, lips quirking when he saw Lynx furiously trying to make one of the two bays move. He turned, going to stop her, when a word from Amanda held him.

"Don't."

Logan looked down at the woman, eyebrows raised.

She looked up from her book and smiled slightly. "I already called the owners. They don't mind. And it might teach Lynx something." Amanda lifed a delicate shoulder in a shrug. "It's worth a try. I'm keeping an eye on her to be sure she isn't hurt."

Logan chuckled and, nodding, walked away.

***

Finally, Lynx had gotten the gelding to the fence, and she cautiously crawled up on the rails. The horse didn't move away, like it had the last time. Slowly, she slipped a long leg over its back.

One foot on a rail, her hand clutching the fence to keep from falling, the other foot over the horse and her balance precarious, Lynx wondered what to do now. At last, giving up all hope, she threw herself in the direction of the horse.

Her chest slapped painfully down on its shoulders, hitting a rather prominent bone there. Lynx clutched frantically for its mane, managed to grab a handful and then steadied herself. Slowly, she sat up.

Lynx grinned. She'd done it. She'd gotten on the horse.

Now what?

Beneath her, the horse snorted. Its head and neck suddenly disappeared, skin sliding over muscle and bone as it shifted position. Lynx stifled a squeal and didn't quite fall off.

The horse started to graze.

"Horse!" Lynx ordered.

The horse continued to graze.

"Horse, listen to me. You're going to walk now. Over there."

The horse munched happily on grass.

"Horse! Walk!"

Its tail whished at a fly.

"Now!"

It raised its head, turning to snap at a pest with its teeth.

Frustrated and uncertain, Lynx bounced on the horse's back.

The horse grunted.

Lynx frowned and licked her lips. "Come on, horse. Let's go."

It kept eating.

"Horse!" Irritated, she kicked its sides with her heels. Hard.

The gelding grunted as its head came up. It started forward at a slow trot, head swaying from side to side.

Lynx clutched at its mane as she jounced painfully on its back, losing her balance. Frantically, she pulled at its mane.

The horse ignored her and kept trotting.

Lynx squealed and started to slip, grabbing larger amounts of mane. She had just succeeded in not falling when the horse stopped suddenly, ducking its head to itch against its foreleg.

Lynx squealed and toppled over.

***

Kitty sat in the windowseat with Amanda, watching the progress of her little clone with interest. Both women giggled, only somewhat sympathetic, as Lynx slid sidewards off the horse. It was almost slow motion, and for a moment Kitty thought that her little clone might not fall.

Then she slipped all the way and flopped on the ground. A moment later she was up, furiously glaring at the horse, who was once more grazing. She placed her hands against his ribs and shoved, pushing him back over to the fence.

"Tenacious, isn't she?" Kitty said, grinning.

Amanda nodded, a sparkle in her eye. "Reminds me of you."

Kitty laughed.

***

"Okay," Lynx panted as she sat for the forth time on the back of the bay horse. "Now let's try this again." She kicked--lightly--and the horse moved forward. She thought was starting to get the hang of this. Still holding tightly to the long mane, she kicked the horse again.

It started to trot. Holding ever tighter, she kicked the horse some more, until the trot became unbearable and suddenly the animal started to canter. Lynx grinned hugely, finding this gait far easier than the trot, and held on.

Then, suddenly, there was a rustling in the leaves nearby and the horse was no longer going forward. He'd leapt to the side faster than Lynx could keep up, and she spilled painfully onto the ground. She laid there for a long time, looking up as clouds floated by through an indigo sky. "That," she said finally to herself, "is a stupid horse."

The adults were studiously quiet that night about her bumps and bruises, though Pete almost lost it when he saw the grass stains on her clothes and the clover in her hair. Kitty walked him, laughing, out of the room.

Lynx didn't hear a word about her horseback riding experiences.

But the next day, when she went out to try some more (sore though she was) she found a funny looking contraption hanging on one of the posts. She lifted the leather and rope thing up, looking at it from different views. There wasn't too much there, and after several hours of working with it she realized that the small loop would go over the horse's nose, the middle loop would fit over his ears, and the last loop was long enough to flip over his neck and use to steer. Lynx grinned and got to work.

***

"That's an odd bridle, Logan," Amanda commented as she watched the proceedings from inside.

"It's a bosal. No bit. Few straps. I figured if I gave her something with more straps, she'd never figure out how to use it."

Amanda chuckled and watched as Lynx once more climbed up onto the horse.

***

Lynx kicked.

The horse trotted.

Lynx kicked again.

The horse snorted and ignored her.

She kicked harder.

The gelding ducked its head, having figured out that much of the time she'd fall off.

Lynx fell.

"You are the stupidest horse!" she snarled, pulling herself up from the ground and stomping after the animal.

"And yet you're the one who's falling," a voice commented dryly from the rail of the pasture.

"Shut up, 'Stole," Lynx snarled, never turning.

The air seemed to grow anxious between the two people.

Lynx's steps slowed, and she came to a hesitant stop. She turned on her heel, brown eyes flitting up to meet golden, slit-pupil ones. "Am I in trouble?"

***

"Oh shit," Amanda said, dropping her book and standing. "Logan!"

Wolverine was in the room in a moment, steel gray eyes roving the pasture for two of the refugee clones and children they had taken in days before. The children's "family" was closely-knit, and cutthroat. Killing was not uncommon. Only five days before Pistol had attacked Constance because, as it was later explained, Constance had defied him, and to defy Pistol was to break rank and allow the guards to come in. None of the children would say why that was bad.

Now Logan looked out the window, seeing his genetically engineered "son," Pistol, leaning ever so casually against the rail while Lynx stood only twenty feet away, looking uncertain. Logan reached over with quick fingers, opening the window slightly so he could hear what was said.

"--ut Constance--"

"Refused a command. You didn't. Besides, I'm letting Logan try and deal with all of you. It's a vacation for me."

A pause. "What's a vacation?"

Pistol frowned, thinking. "It's like a break. Like being suspended, only fun."

"Oh." She looked down, at the grass beneath her feet. "You don't want to deal with us anymore?"

"Nah, that's not it. I'll always watch over all of you. But I'm letting Logan help. He knows how to work in this world better than I do."

"Oh." She looked back up at him. "I'm going to go ride my horse now."

Pistol nodded.

Lynx turned away and marched stoically to "her" horse.

***

"So what did you do today, Lynx?" Amanda Sefton asked as they sat at the dinner table. All the adults knew exactly what she'd been doing for the past two days, but she wasn't aware of that.

"Nothing."

Amanda reached forward, taking the potato away from the girl. Amanda watched her steadily until rebellious brown eyes flashed up to meet her blue calm ones. "Eat with your fork," Amanda said quietly. It amazed her time and again that not one of the children seemed to have any manners, though Lynx was the worst about learning them. She was rebellious, stubborn, opinionated and hot headed. And the others had left Amanda to deal with her, since they seemed to at least understand each other. Lynx ignored everyone else.

Amanda sat back, handing Lynx a fork. "What did you do today?" she asked as if she'd simply not heard.

". . . Stuff."

"What sort of stuff?"

". . . . "

"She was riding that . . . um . . . what do you cal--Horse. She was riding the horse," Pistol interjected, stabbing at steak with his knife and eating the meat off the blade. Kitty glared at the twenty-three-year-old, the undisputed leader of the group, and phased the knife away from him. She ignored the low, rumbling growl emitting from his chest. On Pistol's other side, another resounding growl bubbled up from Logan's throat. Pistol's yellowed eyes flicked toward the older man, the man he'd given up leadership to, and he slowly relaxed in his chair.

"You rode the horse?" Kurt was asking Lynx.

". . . Maybe. What if I did?"

"I'm impressed," Kurt responded to her rather suspicious question. "I used to ride the horses at the carnival I grew up in. But, really, I was little and just led around."

"What's a 'carnival'?" Kurt's clone, Azul, asked as he sat forward eagerly. His tail twitched behind him, above his head.

"It's like a circus," Kurt answered.

"What's that?"

Kurt looked helplessly at Amanda.

"How about we take you to one next time there's one around? And in the meantime, we'll find something about carnivals you can read or watch," Amanda suggested.

Azul nodded happily.

"Did you have a good time riding the horse?" Kitty asked Lynx.

Lynx shrugged, eyes fastened on her plate. "Sure."

"Lynx?" Enchantment asked softly, blue eyes looking up at her friend. "Could I ride the horse after dinner?"

Lynx's chest puffed out as she looked down at the short haired, young Amanda clone. "Yeah. I'll let you ride it."

***

Dinner was over, the "children" gone. Most of them were upstairs in their rooms--or, rather, gathered in Pistol's room--except for Azul, who was with Amanda and Kurt listening to stories about carnivals while they tried to find a book with one in it, and Lynx and Enchantment, who were out riding the horse.

"We need to find a way to get the others out of their rooms," Kitty said, sighing as she looked up the stairs. "They lock themselves up there and refuse to come out at all. I hardly ever see them during the day."

"They aren't used to being around people," Pete said, pouring himself brandy.

"Especially not people who're nice," Logan growled. "Lynx is starting to come out a bit. Amanda was right, letting her ride the horse. Azul is so curious he's willing to try things. Enchantment just watches television all day, but maybe she'll become involved in the horses and get out a bit."

"What if we get the rest of them interested in things?" Kitty asked, making room for Pete to sit behind her on the couch. The wood floor creaked under his weight slightly, even through the thick throw rug.

"That's a good idea. We'll have to start work on that tomorrow," Logan said, nodding. "See if they have any interests."

Kitty nodded and settled back against Pete's slender chest. "Good. Tomorrow we get them out of that room."

"You stupid horse!" came Lynx's voice from the window.

Pete twisted around, looking to see out the window. He grinned wryly. "She got thrown again."

*************************

* For the whole story, check out "Growing Up A Superhero: Generation: Black Air" by going to Due West of Nowhere, Fonts of Wisdom, or writing to me. :)

Feedback will be placed on a pedestal and worshipped for years. Flames will be laughed at and utterly humiliated. JBMcDragon

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