Diversions

[Pippi]

Chase nodded at Lydia's words, glad to see that she didn't seem to be annoyed at all at his sudden motivational speech. He'd stopped awkwardly playing with the blades of grass, and his attention was now back on Lydia. The little motto she'd said was, basically, what he'd been going by in terms of his art and stuff all his life. Every little mistake he made was just a lesson to help him improve next time.

He could easily have become fed up at the constant failures, or projects that didn't quite turn out right, but Chase honestly didn't. He enjoyed doing it, and although he couldn't deny getting annoyed sometimes at his work, it just made everything even better when he produced something he was actually proud of. Same with working at dad's garage, or anything really.

"I first started off using good old pencil and paper" Chase said, a smile on his face as he thought back about his art escapades. "Usual kid stuff; mostly just drawing characters from cartoons or comics, really. The whole thing just stuck, I guess. At school during art lessons, I was pretty wary about picking anything up that wasn't a pencil at first. But I guess I realised that I couldn't do everything I wanted using just pencil and paper, so that's when I broadened my horizons to look at other mediums." Chase chuckled a little before speaking again. "Even now, though, it's still my go-to pick of what I want to create art with. Next to, like, clay and stuff like that."

Chase sighed, but it wasn't one out of frustration or disappointment; more out of a sense of nostalgia and whimsy. Even after all this time, it was rather nice to realise that he'd lost none of his passion for art.

"Well, that's a little about my art and stuff. But what about you?" Chase asked Lydia after a brief pause. "You do horse riding, right? How'd you first get into that?"

[MurderWeasel]

As Chase spoke, Lydia shifted side to side a little bit. She'd been sitting pretty still, and her rear was getting a bit sore. At least it seemed that she'd been correct in assuming the grass here to be pretty dry. Going the rest of the day with a big muddy wet patch on the back of her clothes would've been a catastrophe.

And then, before she really knew it was coming, Lydia was faced with a tough situation. Chase was asking about her, trying to figure out things about her interests and hobbies. It was only natural for the conversation to shift this way. He was being polite, inquiring after her interests since she'd listened to him talk about his. He'd picked probably the most unique thing she did, probably because it was what he'd heard about her. She couldn't really guess how much of his interest was legitimate and how much was just indulgence. Horses weren't really all that interesting to a lot of the kids she knew. Who could say with Chase?

She figured she'd just take the safe route and tell him a bit, then see if he wanted to know more or if he was content to let things lie. Besides, that was easier than being the focus of attention.

"I like animals," Lydia said, "but dad's allergic to pets, so we couldn't have any. I knew some girls who did it, and it sounded so fun, so I figured I'd try it. Rory... you know Rory?"—Lydia didn't know at all if Chase would know Rory; the boy wasn't exactly a prime social butterfly—"He works with horses, and he gives some lessons, so I started going there. His sister teaches too. It's great."

Her explanation had gotten a little bit rambling. Maybe she'd gone off the rails there. She hoped Chase had been able to follow it all, because she didn't really want things to turn awkward.

[Pippi]

Chase rolled his neck a little and looked up to the sky as Lydia spoke. Despite it being rather crisp and cold, it was quite a striking day. Chase actually preferred these sorts of days. There was something more... expressive, so to speak, in the clouds that allowed him to draw them better, if he was so inclined. Plus, there was just something about the atmosphere that appealed to Chase, even if he wasn't sure what.

Lydia's reasoning for doing horse riding was, in essence, because she liked animals, which was a perfectly fine reason in Chase's eyes. Chase had indeed heard of Rory, and that he also owned horses. Aside from that, Chase didn't know much about him. He seemed like a nice guy, though.

"Oh, hey, that's cool." Chase said, genuine interest in his voice. "Y'know, having lessons with someone you know, someone from school. That's neat."

Chase stifled a yawn again. He still felt utterly exhausted, but didn't want to make Lydia feel as though she was boring him. It was always cool to know more about people.

"We've never been able to afford pets, or anything to do with animals," Chase said. "But I think I'd like to go horse riding, some day. What exactly do you do at Rory's lessons? Is it, like, how to control your horse better, or jumping and stuff?" Chase smiled rather embarrassedly. "Sorry if those are stupid questions, but i really don't know much about horses."

[MurderWeasel]

Lydia tried not to read too much into Chase's yawn, and pretty much succeeded, aside from a brief flash of doubt. She herself yawned a good deal, especially if she hadn't been sleeping too well.

She shivered a little bit as a particularly chill breeze slid past. Since the conversation seemed like it wouldn't be ending anytime soon, she packed her book into her pack as she replied to Chase.

"They're not stupid questions," Lydia said. She wouldn't exactly say that there was no such thing as a stupid question, but learning more about someone else or something new was usually a good thing for people who were into it. Besides, Lydia was having some fun talking about herself.

"I'm still getting the hang of things," she said. "You don't start with the tough stuff, 'cause then someone could get hurt. You learn how to be around horses, how to relax with them and talk to them and treat them, and some very basic riding at the start."

That was easier than going into a technical explanation, and provided a good summary of the basics. She figured if Chase wanted to know much more, she'd probably see if Rory would be willing to talk to him. It'd be better. Lydia wasn't a teacher. She wasn't much for taking the lead in general, and she didn't want to sell her hobby short with someone who could be legitimately interested in it.

[Pippi]

Okay, no matter how striking the sky was to look at on days like these, the cold could still get real inconvenient real quickly. Although he didn't react, Chase still felt the same breeze that had caused Lydia to shiver. His jacket was still slung over his shoulder, and as Lydia packed her book away, he slid it off, and, slightly awkwardly due to his seated position, put it on, managing to hide a yawn in the process.

Chase adjusted the jacket slightly before zipping it up, just as Lydia spoke up again. He smiled a little as she assured him that they weren't totally stupid questions. It was always best to make sure, though. At least it seemed he hadn't asked anything completely obvious.

Chase nodded his head as Lydia mentioned that you didn't start off with the tough things. Okay, that part probably should have been more obvious. Starting off with jumping and things like that sounded like a recipe for a broken limb to Chase, even with his limited knowledge. No point in trying to run until you could walk, after all. It seemed that, to start off with at least, there was very little actual horse riding involved. Which, yeah, fair enough. Chase stroke his chin before responding.

"So basically getting to know the horses, and learning how to be around them, then?" Chase asked, a growing smile on his face. "Well, I think talking to horses would provide a better response than certain members of this school. But horses startle easily, right? I'd probably have to be especially careful, then. Make sure I don't drop anything around them, huh?" Chase paused for a moment, before speaking again, rather inquisitively.

"... D'you think Rory would be, I dunno... willing to talk more about this, or something? I'm kinda interested now."

[MurderWeasel]

Lydia chuckled a bit at Chase's statements.

"I bet he'd be willing to talk," she said. She hoped that was true. Rory wasn't super social, but he loved the horses. He eased up a lot at lessons, so it'd be the same when telling someone stuff about riding, right? She'd have to warn him, for sure. It wouldn't be any good if Chase just bumped into him and started up a conversation without Rory having any idea where it was coming from.

She hoped that Chase might find something he liked in the hobby. Lydia knew that horses were not everyone's cup of tea. A lot of people she knew actually became a little bit nervous around big animals. She supposed she could see their point; it would, after all, be easy to get hurt if something went wrong. Lydia just had confidence in the horses. She knew that they only were dangerous when they got scared, and that they wanted someone to calm them down more than anything else.

"It's kind of chilly," she said, more to keep polite conversation going than anything else. She wondered how long was left in this period. Being late to class wouldn't do.

[Pippi]

((Sorry for being slow with this. Nothing but general laziness to excuse it.))

"Awesome. Dunno when I'll see him, but yeah, that'd be cool." Chase said, smiling at Lydia when she spoke. It would be good to know some more about her hobby. Horses were pretty cool from what he knew, so long as you didn't stand behind them or do anything stupid. They were, however, possibly the trickiest animal in the world to draw. Chase had attempted it one time, and after the tenth attempt at drawing the head, had given it up as a lost cause.

Chase knew, however, that the main issue with this whole thing was how expensive it could be. Even with his limited knowledge of horses and horse riding, Chase was pretty confident that any sort of lessons would probably cost quite a bit. He highly doubted that his parents would be enthusiastic in the least about the idea. Still, there was no harm in just asking Rory, was there? It'd let him know a little more about the whole horse thing, anyway.

Chase had a feeling that there wasn't much more to say about horse riding, and this feeling was soon proven correct when Lydia mentioned how cold it was getting. Chase wasn't sure how good Lydia was with conversation, but it was nice to see she was trying to keep their conversation alive, even if it was about the weather.

"That it is, yeah." Chase said, looking up to the skies again. "I think I'd like snow, rain and wind a lot more if it wasn't so, y'know, cold. I mean, it's really atmospheric like, and great for drawing just... yeah. Cold. I seem to be the only one in my family really affected by it, though. My sis in particular seems to thrive in cold weather, 'specially the snow."

[MurderWeasel]

Lydia laughed when Chase explained that his biggest issue with the weather was the cold. She'd never really thought of snow and rain and wind as something that could be considered outside the context of chill. It was a strange thought, one that took a little work to wrap her head around. What would warm snow be like? Would people play in it in bathing suits? Would skiing be considered a sexy sport, like beach volleyball? Of course, they might not get snow days anymore. Well, no, the ice would still be a driving hazard.

It was impressive to her that Chase could come up with such a thought seemingly offhandedly. That spoke well to his creativity, which was really what being an artist was all about, wasn't it? Then again, if snow didn't have the same connotations, would it still be as good for art? Had Chase even meant what she'd jumped to in her interpretation?

Just in case he hadn't, Lydia didn't go into it. No need to embarrass either or both of them.

'It can be really pretty," Lydia said. "Maybe being inside is the best way to appreciate it, though. But, it might be hard to get into the right mood without feeling at least a little of the cold, huh?"

Then again, maybe the artist's mood didn't matter. The piece itself could hold a totally different meaning if the artist was skillful enough, she imagined, just like she could sometimes fake being happy even when she wasn't.

She shivered a little. All this talk of cold wasn't doing much to keep her in a warm and toasty state of mind.