{SCE} Sólo Un Paseo a Caballo

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina grinned at Nico and pet the mare. When the man offered to help her up, she grimaced, but allowed it for the sake of practicality. Sure she probably could have gotten up on her own, but she was still vastly unfamiliar with the creatures, and she just figured it would save time and trouble if she wasn’t stubbornly prideful… no matter how tempting the option was.


    She flinched slightly when he got close but allowed him to help her up onto the horse without lashing out at him, so that was good. Selina settled into the seat of her saddle and ran her hand gently down the mare’s neck. She looked over to Nico with a smile, “I haven’t done this in ages,” she admitted. Something felt secure and right about being up there, and she greatly liked the horse she’d chosen.


    “Thanks for the invite,” she said to him as she looked outside the stable and found herself eager to get away from the helpful, yet slightly obnoxious staffer. She knew how to control a horse’s reins from back when her friend had let her ride in her youth, as Selina had always remembered that moment as a highlight.

[Nico Martell]

Nico thought he saw some stiffness in Selina when the guy helped her onto the horse. He couldn't really say he blamed her: he had much the same look when the man moved over and started working to get him up on his. it was slightly embarrassing, and Nico nearly clambered onto the horse. He winced as he threw his leg over, landing a little harder than he would have liked.

"I haven't done it period," he admitted, looking down at the animal. He took the reins, listening as the man gave a few last pointers: just hold on with your legs, use the reins only when necessary, the animals would know the path. Sounded simple enough.

Selina seemed to be fine with it: she'd already started moving. Nico squeezed the horse slightly, moving along. He also focused at least part of his brain on remaining solid. He didn't want to test the horse's resolve should it suddenly find itself with half a Nico sticking out of it. "De nada," he offered, shrugging slightly as he adjusted himself again. At least the horse was moving forward: that had to count for something. Now he just needed to hope that it...

it was totally following Selina's horse.

Well, at least that gave Nico a nice view.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina listened absently to the stable hand, but was already out of the stable by the time he’d finished. She gently led her horse to where the man had said the easy trail to the lake was. She perked up as she found it and glanced back to see Nico behind her. Selina tossed him a quick smile before turning forward and letting the reins slack completely. The horse didn’t really need her to direct it at all at this point. Selina was so focused on the surrounding scenery and being up on a horse again, that she almost forgot there was somebody else with her.


    Selina figured he was as comfortable with silence as she was since he hadn't seemed to mind the first time they'd met. They honestly didn’t even know that much about each other when she thought about it... but if he suddenly fell through his horse, she assumed she’d be alerted by either him or the horse. Selina kept quiet and enjoyed the ride for now, assuming that if Nico wanted to talk, he would. Selina absently let her thoughts wander and they eventually rested on Charity and her assertions that the both of them had been sent here to have a good experience… whatever the hell that meant.


    Selina still wasn’t sure what to believe, but her intense dislike for the woman still stood.

[Nico Martell]

The horses definitely seemed to know what they were doing. Nico actually found it relaxing, after the first few minutes of terror and tension. He just had to sort of let the horse do its work and mostly keep on with his legs and all. He held the reins mostly just for something for his hands to do: the horse wanted to clomp along behind the mare and didn't seem all that fussed in stopping.

It did occur to Nico that he could and maybe should bring up conversation. He wasn't much for small talk, in fact he preferred to be relatively quiet on the whole. But he did realize there were social rules. Though right now, well, Nico kind of liked the quiet. No authority figures were hovering about to tell them off, no idiot rednecks around to jeer and toss out racial slurs like they knew what the hell they were talking about, no outside noises. The place looked pretty quiet too, and kind of impressive. Nico could understand, on some level, why people liked coming out here.

Though he also remembered that they'd talked about stopping at the lake. There had been mention of... activities, which he definitely would've enjoyed but didn't want to push for. Still: Nico coughed a little to get Selina's attention before saying: "You want to stop by the lake?" He jerked his head that direction, as if she couldn't see the shimmering waters in the middle-distance.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina glanced up at the foliage in the trees and was rather captivated at the beauty of the mountain in spring. The dogwoods and spring flowers were in bloom so she found herself easily distracted. Selina grinned as she heard Nico and nodded, gently nudging her horse over to the water. “So long as the horses don’t run off on us,” she said playfully. She hadn’t forgotten, and the lake was so clear in the sunlight that she would have stopped regardless just to admire.


    Selina actually liked nature quite a bit, and had it not been for the academy’s forcing her here, she would have gladly volunteered to go on the trip had it merely been offered as some sort of elective. Selina got down off of her horse when they got close to the water and paused to look for something she could tie the horse’s reins to. Selina remembered quite well losing the llama with Frank, and she didn’t want a repeat to happen here in the mountains. Of course, these horses seemed tame enough to merely walk back home, so she supposed the worst that could happen would be being forced to walk back and find their own way to the stables.


    Selina just dropped the reins and stared at the horse, waiting to see if it moved away. The mare sort of glanced at her before going off to munch some nearby grass and Selina shrugged. It worked for her. Selina glanced up to Nico to see if he needed any help getting off.

[Nico Martell]

{oh Nico so needs help getting off }

Nico followed Selina's gaze for a moment, just long enough to realize she was looking at nature before lowering his own eyes toward the lake. There was some nudging and moving and they were definitely heading that direction. Not that Nico could really say he was all that surprised by the direction: that had been what they'd agreed upon before setting out. His horse didn't seem to mind either. The old clopper just kept moving forward, one hoof in front of the other.

Selina didn't seem to have any troubles getting down from the horse. Nico attempted to dismount himself, only to get stuck in the stirrups for a few moments. He wasted a second or two attempting to untangle everything before realizing that he sort of had a power that worked toward stopping stuff precisely like this from holding him up.

So he focused for a moment and felt his foot falling through the stirrup just as Selina looked over. Nico also heard his shoe drop. Letting out a sigh, he bent down to pick it up, having to dance around the horse for a few moments before finally snagging it. He held the shoe up as he skipped away, nodding to Selina and hopping a few feet in her direction.

"It's always the shoes," he offered before attempting to balance on one leg and shove his socked foot into the shoe.

{and post 100, whoop, whoop}

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina started to make her way towards Nico to help him with the stirrups when he seemed to figure it out. She watched him phase with a slightly amused smile and let out a gentle laugh when he started struggling to get his shoe back on. “And here I thought you’d wanted to take your clothes off,” she teased before slipping out of her own socks and shoes once she saw he was fine and making her way over to the water.


    She stepped into the water to get her feet wet and glanced at Nico out of the corner of her eye, “Unless of course, you had a different idea?” she asked with an innocent tone. The water was cold, and Selina loved it. If he had changed his mind, she certainly wouldn’t push him. Besides, she would be just as happy either way… as she could easily take care of herself once she was alone if she wanted to.


    Selina looked out over the water then, sincerely content to just be for a bit. Something about water had always been calming for her, as even before her power had manifested she’d loved being surrounded by the element. Selina wasn’t unaware of her surroundings, but she wasn’t on guard either. She didn’t necessarily trust Nico, as she didn’t really know him, but she certainly didn’t view him as a threat.

[Nico Martell]

The tease had Nico raising his brows. And then he froze in place, watching as Selina began working her way out of her own clothes. Nothing major, just shoes and socks, but Nico's mind jumped ahead a few rungs. They had talked about enjoying the lake, and it wasn't as though they'd doubled back and grabbed bathing suits at some point. And there was Selina, walking forward, heading toward the water in a way that made Nico wonder. It almost felt as though she were drawn to it.

"Not especially," Nico offered along with a slight shrug. He then focused for a moment, took a step, and left his shoes behind. Then it was a matter of bending over and working the socks off. It felt a little odd, putting bared feet to the grass. It wasn't a feeling that Nico had grown up knowing after all: he vaguely recalled it from sports fields and things of that nature. Even those weren't quite as natural as this.

Nico rose back up, looking forward to see Selina still standing there. He blinked for a moment, then silently walked up. The water soon touched his feet, making him feel the slight chill. It wasn't completely unbearable, but Nico wasn't sure he really wanted to jump into it any time soon. It didn't seem as though Selina was in much of a rush either: she just stood on the edge. So Nico stood with her, hands in his pockets, eyes looking over the lake, enjoying the silence and the comfortable presence of someone he found appealing.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina stared out over the water, content with merely taking it in. After a while, she glanced up at the man next to her, absently wondering what he thought of her. Of course, they were just using each other at this point, so it didn’t matter. They hadn't been on equal footing when she'd been emotionally compromised, but now that they were both using each other on equal terms and for the same reasons, she was fine with it. Or at least, she assumed that that was what they were doing, but she honestly had no idea what he hoped for from her. She’d thought that what he desired was what most men wanted, but she could always be wrong. And if she was wrong, then the easiest way to find out would be to be straightforward.

    “What is it that you wanted from this, Nico?” she asked quietly. She’d been the one talking and joking about sex, and he’d just sort of gone with it. He hadn’t protested at all, but she wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with sex either. He was the one who invited her and she’d just sort of ran with it as bold as ever. Not that she was the type to apologize for just being herself, but at the same time he could have merely been looking for a platonic ride through the woods, which she would be perfectly fine with. She just wanted to know what he expected.

    Selina studied him in curiosity, taking interest in his deep brown eyes. She’d never had much trouble maintaining eye contact with people, as there was so much information that you could gain from it that wouldn’t come through in mere body language or even expression. Although right now, she wasn’t sure what type of information she was looking for. He was almost a complete mystery to her and she wasn’t sure whether or not attempting to figure him out was something she should be doing.

[Nico Martell]

What is is that you wanted from this? Nico looked over at Selina. Yes, there had been the joking about sex, quite a lot, actually. He wasn't exactly one to verbally respond. Even before Nico had gone through what he had, he hadn't been all that talkative of a person. The world had enough noise in it without his adding to it. Though he could definitely see why Selina would be concerned: he'd turned her down at least one time already. He also knew that she had a few years on him, and generally older girls didn't want younger guys (at least, not in their age range).

Nico maintained eye contact, watching her, observing her, letting the lake hit against him for a while. She clearly wanted an answer, and he felt almost bad for not immediately giving her one. What did he want from her? Friendship? Sex? A relationship? Something else? Something more? Something... less?

Yeah, it was probably meant to be an easy question, but it had Nico thinking. It also had him deciding that there was at least one thing he did want, and that didn't require any words to communicate. He just leaned in, still watching her, waiting to see if there was any hint she'd be uncomfortable. If all signals were a go, his lips would be touching hers in a few moments. If not, well, Nico could handle awkward silences as much as comfortable ones.

[Selina Taylor]

    She waited patiently for his answer, not one to push or rush anything. She didn’t mind waiting for as long as he needed… But she got the feeling her question had come to weigh more than she’d thought it would. Selina absently wondered if he saw this differently than she did. The gap in years didn’t really bother her as much as she’d thought it would… but then he’d been through more than most his age had, and she had a feeling he was emotionally more mature than quite a few boys her own age.


    But sometimes, younger people held unrealistic expectations for relationships, and she wondered if she would eventually be letting him down. Selina wasn’t often one for self-doubt, but she also didn’t want to give Nico hopes she couldn’t possibly fulfill. Her own thoughts studded to a halt when she noticed him moving towards her.


    Selina didn’t react at first, unsure if she should. Would he consider her to have led him on, if she acquiesced to this without knowing what he expected from her? Selina glanced up at him, and then decided what harm could come from a mere kiss? She leaned forward, meeting him halfway and pressing her lips to his, if with slight hesitation. She wasn’t sure how far he wanted this to go or not.

[Nico Martell]

No initial reaction. Nico wasn't sure what to do with that. Maybe she was just as confused about the situation and what she wanted as he was. He did know one thing: no harm could really come from this, surely. At least that was the agreement that Nico's head and groin had come to. Wasn't like he often got the opportunity to kiss beautiful, fun girls.

She leaned. Their lips met. Nico kissed, nothing too demanding, but definite enough to demonstrate that yes, he did have affection for her. He didn't move it further, didn't start opening mouths or demand that they do anything more. He did kiss her though: pressed slightly, moved forward to cup her head in his hands for a few moments. Not to hold her: knowing his luck he'd phase through her the moment she pushed back, but more for him to hold himself in place.

Nico pulled back, looking into her eyes. "Not sure," he admitted, adding a slight shrug, "but that felt right to me. I don't think... I don't think I'm looking for anything?" he raised a brow. "You're sexy as fuck, and I'm amazed I haven't phased out of my pants right now..." Nico wasn't sure what to say, or if that was even the right thing. He wasn't good at words. He tried leaning forward again, figuring that if nothing else, he definitely liked the kissing thing. And he could stop if she wanted to.

Oh, how pretty well every part of him did not want them to stop.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina pressed closer to him returning the kiss with an equally soft touch, her hand then coming to rest at his waist. He almost seemed… tender and maybe affectionate? She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about that. If the kiss was purely sexual, it would be so much easier to compartmentalize him and move on… but it certainly didn’t seem that way. Selina wouldn’t lie to herself though, she enjoyed it and his gentle touch felt so good to her. Even if she wasn’t sure how to deal with it, she kept it as simple as he did and was simultaneously mildly relieved and disappointed when he pulled back.


    When he said he wasn’t looking for anything, she smiled. That was much more familiar territory for her and she could work with that. Maybe he was typically this gentle with women, in which case, it was a nice change. Selina kept eye contact with him and laughed lightly at his second comment, “I could always help you with that,” she offered as the hand she’d rested at his waist gently pulled him closer to her as she leaned up into his second kiss, more confident now that she thought she knew what he wanted.


    Selina didn’t want to stop either right now, even though there was a small whisper in the back of her mind that warned her to slow down, it was easily ignored.

[Nico Martell]

Well, at least Nico was most definitely certain that he did, in fact, have boy parts, and that they did, in fact, like girls. Or at the very least, they certainly liked Selina and what she was doing to him. There was that eye contact, some help, which had Nico letting out a dry little laugh.

Then a hand on his waist. A gentle pull. And then lips were on his. Nico didn't see why they shouldn't move a little deeper, so he pressed just a bit harder, almost testing his ground. He got the feeling that this didn't matter to Selina on some level, that she just sort of wanted to have sex because it felt damn good. Empty sex worked well enough for him, though he supposed that he should feel more guilty about that.

But his hand went to her waist, not quite insisting. He just wasn't sure. He could remember how she'd balked earlier, remember her fighting those guys. He couldn't help but feel like he should stop. But something in his pants was getting all kinds of uncomfortable. It had been too long. Selina was attractive; he liked her on some level; and she was quite obviously willing.

So about now, Nico was really tempted to try and literally phase out of his pants. He settled for holding onto Selina and deepening that kiss a little further.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smirked against him when she felt his hand on her waist. She then pulled his hips flush against hers and placed her hand on his, gently guiding him further up her waist and underneath her shirt. The familiar rush of adrenaline and a tight pull low in her gut had her feeling much better about this whole camping trip. At least it wouldn’t all be bad.


    Her attention was soon focused back on the boy in front of her, as she couldn’t find it within herself to remain distracted long. Besides, he was a hell of a lot more interesting than her own thoughts right now. Forgetting everything and focusing only on the present was something she wasn’t unfamiliar with, and she closed her eyes focusing almost solely on the aspect of touch. She’d needed this.


    If he needed encouragement, she could easily give it. Besides, from the feel of it, he certainly didn’t mind her actions. Her mouth opened against his, as her tongue flicked across his bottom lip seeking to further deepen their kiss. Her hand then slipped to edge of his shirt and underneath, her fingers running against his skin and pulling up on his shirt slightly, indicating that she wouldn’t mind so much if it came off. He felt so good to the touch and it had been quite some time for her.