On the Open Trail

[Wilbur Robinson]

(ooc: date is june 30th, open to Wilbur and Polka for now and then others can come in, like Rapunzel and others. Mami is just here for a little bit, since she knows about horses.)

Wilbur had been trying to think of the best thing to do for Polka to have her first real adventure. The idea hit him when he was walking along the town and found a sign about horse-back riding. "Come on Polka, we're almost there. I think you will really like this." He, himself, had never been horseback riding but what better way then to learn.

[Polka]

"Are... are you sure?" Polka asked. She guessed it was time that she start adventuring around the island, but horseback riding? There hadn't even been horses in Tenuto. How did she even know if a horse was going to like her or not? She'd been following Wilbur despite that, though. She trusted his judgment on the matter, though did want confirmation that he really was certain she would enjoy herself. After all, it was just the pair of them. Surely that meant she and he would enjoy themselves.

"I've never even done anything like this before. What if I'm no good?" Polka asked. That was another thing that was holding her back. Not having any knowledge on the activity made her nervous. What if she wasn't even good enough to stay on whatever horse she was meant to ride?

[Wilbur Robinson]

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure that you'll do fine, if not well, we can take it nice and slow. Besides I heard that one of the girl's who lives at the mansion is a natural. She can teach you." Wilbur replied. "Besides, we have to at least try one of these things once."

[Polka]

...That was true. Surely whoever was going to help them had to know what she was doing. Besides, he did have a point. Sooner or later Polka was going to have to do something on the island besides stay in the mansion and occasionally take herself out to the shopping center. It was a wonder that that fact hadn't already started to drive anyone insane. Then again, Polka had only been on the island a short while. No one probably knew that she was such a hesitant little thing other than Wilbur and the other people she had actually bothered to interact with. At length, Polka did finally acknowledge what he had said as being correct with a little nod. She still was a tiny bit uncertain, but that probably wouldn't be the case for long.

"All right... I suppose you have a good point there. I'm sorry, Wilbur. My uncertainty shouldn't be holding us back." she said. There she went again. Apologizing. That was another thing that just happened to come out of her mouth frequently, even if something wasn't really her fault. She chalked it up as another thing she would have to work on while staying at the mansion and being on the island.

[Wilbur Robinson]

"No worries, i don't really mind that you're nervous, I get nervous too. Besides, who knows, you might be really good at it. Like cowgirl good." he said with a smile. Not that it was possible for him not to smile, it was probably contagious. "Just think of it, as a start to your new adventure." the raven haired teen said putting his hands behind his head as he walked. "It's never too late to start an adventure. "

[Polka]

"I think you should say my first adventure. Don't forget, it's my first time being able to do anything like this." Polka said. Not that she was entirely proud of that fact, what with being so afraid to embrace the world outside her home for so long, but it was something. Her first real adventure. Being taken around the shopping center had been fun, but nothing that would really qualify as a true adventure. Now she was outside and really getting to see the world that was around the island. Now Polka felt truly safe to say she was beginning some grand adventure with Wilbur at her side. That thought made her giggle a little bit. Apparently, somehow, what he had said seemed to have lightened her mood significantly.

"Well, there's only one way to see if I really have what it takes to be a... cowgirl, as you said. Lead on, Wilbur. I'd like to get started soon." Polka said. Maybe things weren't as bad as she had always made them out to be. One good friend at her side seemed to be improving her outlook on life, and that was a big step up from being the timid little girl from Tenuto that she had been before. Granted, she still was that same timid girl for the most part. But Wilbur was instilling some kind of confidence in her little by little. It was time to see how much she had.

[Wilbur Robinson]

Wilbur smiled brightly. "The first adventure is always the best." he replied as he finally found the stables with the horses in them. "This is it...just gotta find the instructor.." his brown eyes scaled the area for the person to help them out.

"Hey Ya'll." Curly blonde girl came out from the stables. "I'm Mami, Mami Tomoe, nice to meet ya, I take it ya'll are here for the trail?"

[Polka]

Upon arriving at the stables, Polka felt as though she was in an entirely different realm. Having never been to a stable before, it was quite the experience just seeing it. Then the new blonde approached and introduced herself before asking if they were looking to ride on the trails. Although she was still a bit nervous to be entirely open to new people, Polka could at least reply since it seemed that Wilbur had left that up to her. At last, she gave a nod in response to the question. The first step of adventuring, at least in Polka's mind, was accepting that an adventure was about to take place at all. That was done by acknowledging the question that had been presented to them.

"Yes, we've come to try horseback riding. Can you help us?" Polka asked. It might have sounded silly, but Polka felt the need to ask. She couldn't just out right say that she'd never ridden a horse before. She would have rather been spared the embarrassment of admitting that much right away unless Mami actually asked about it.

[Wilbur Robinson]

"Of course i could help you." Mami said with a smile. "Let me guess suga' never ridden a horse before?" the blonde asked Polka with a giggle before turning to Wilbur. "And i bet you don't know how to ride one either."

Wilbur's eyes went wide. "OF course i can ride a horse, what do you think i did. Just come over here with a pretty girl without knowing how to ride one?" Crap. He just said that out loud with Polka around. "I mean, uh.."

[Polka]

Blue eyes grew wide at Mami's guess. She was, of course, correct in assuming Polka had never ridden before. How she had been able to determine that so quickly was beyond her knowledge, though. Maybe she just had a sort of... 'tenderfoot' vibe to her. Polka could only assume that was it. Before she could answer, though, Wilbur blurted out his own statement that caught her attention. It almost sounded as though her friend was trying to cover up something he didn't want found out, and Polka was keen to guess that maybe he wasn't as skilled as he was trying to make himself sound. Polka almost felt hypocritical thinking that, what with how she had her own things to hide, but she did think Wilbur shouldn't try to hide what he wasn't good at just to impress her. ...Assuming that was what he was doing at all.

"It's okay if you don't know how to ride either, Wilbur. We could learn together. That would make it more of an adventure, right?" Polka asked. She was trying to make things sound better, but in truth she had no idea if she was helping the situation at all. She'd already admitted to him that she didn't know how to ride. Why was it so hard for Wilbur to own up to his own lack or presence of knowledge?

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami smiled as her golden eyes scaled both of the kids. "I'm from the west, its really obvious to me who doesn't and who does know how to ride a horse and you two are the don'ts." she replied as kindly as possible. She thought it was kind of cute the way Wilbur was trying to impress Polka. "This girl is right, you shouldn't hide it, horse back ridin' aint as easy as it sounds." she sighed. "Come on then, let's go pick out some horses."

she said turning to the stables.

[Polka]

Polka suspected as much, and so she didn't comment on how Mami had been able to tell that neither she nor Wilbur looked like they knew what they were meant to be doing. Instead, she giggled softly and reached out a hand to pat Wilbur's shoulder, only to pull it away at the last second as though she had had second thoughts about the action. It was clear, at least to her, that she still didn't feel quite comfortable with the idea of touching her friend until she knew for certain that he felt comfortable with it himself. She decided not to explain herself in case Wilbur hadn't noticed, though, and instead went on to say something she hoped was encouraging. "It's okay, Wilbur. Just think of this as... an adventure. Besides, you need to know how to crawl before you can run. We probably should take Mami's advice on this." Polka said.

At last, it was time for them to get acquainted with the horses. Polka could feel the excitement beginning to bubble up within her at that mere thought. Even if she was unfamiliar with horses, surely they were friendly. They had to be willing to let her touch them, unlike some other animals she had come across in the past that had merely run off before she had the opportunity to befriend them. "Come on, Wilbur. This will be fun." she said. How odd, she thought, that she was the seemingly outgoing of the pair at that given moment. Maybe it was just the prospect of having fun for once that was putting a sort of spring in her step and a smile on her face. Whatever the case, it didn't seem like Polka's mood could be dampened easily at that time.

"These horses are friendly, aren't they? They won't try to hurt us?" Polka asked as she followed after Mami. Caution was best around unfamiliar animals, at least until it was confirmed whether or not she could fully put her trust in them. She didn't think it would be possible for the horses to willingly try to hurt her or Wilbur, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

[Mami Tomoe]

"Of course they're friendly." Mami replied. "Well, the majority of them are. A few of them are a bit more...for advanced users. But as you two are beginners, i would suggest one of these four." she said heading over to a pair of horses. They weren't too big or too small, but all were different colors, from black, to beige to even black and white, "Take your pick, they are all sweeties."

[Polka]

Well, that was an obvious weight off of Polka's shoulders. She had been afraid that whatever horse she ended up with would be a tempermental thing that wouldn't be able to cooperate. Now all she had to do was pick which of the aforementioned sweeties she would go with. Blue eyes scanned up and down the row of horses, stopping every once in a while to look at one in particular, before finally settling on a black and white colored horse. This one, Polka thought, was different. He had a white blotch in the middle of his forehead and his chest appeared mostly white with two black blotches right in front, while his backside was black with a big white blotch on the top of his back.

"Hello, boy..." Polka greeted softly. She approached slowly, holding her hand out to touch his snout, and came to a stop when she was close enough for a small gap to be between her hand and the horse's nose. To her surprise, he closed the gap and pressed his nose against her hand. It was like a jolt had gone through Polka's system. An animal willing to touch her was like something she had never dreamed would come true unfolding before her. It was difficult to keep herself from smiling giddily. What was his name? She had to know. A quick glance to the side answered that question. 'Wisp' was what the nameplate on his stable read. "I... I think I'd like to ride this horse." Polka finally said.

[Mami Tomoe]

"Ah, Wisp. He's a sweetie." Mami said approaching Polka. "He's a good one for you, he's really gentle and he takes it real slow with beginners. So i think you will get along just fine.." the blonde girl turned to see Wilbur looking at another horse, however, it was more out of distain since the horse was pulling on his shirt.

"Mami, how can i get to let go?" he asked struggling to get his shirt free causing Mami to burst into laughter