Exhaustion!

[morganknight]

After fighting in a massive planetary battle -- well, less 'fighting' and more 'healing people, occasionally from literal death' -- the Akashic was, in a word, exhausted.

Not necessarily physically; regardless of how grueling shifts in Medbay might be at the moment, he made a point to stick to his schedule, sleep plenty, eat (ugh) enough gruel, and keep his body in shape. Not necessarily mentally either; good health and self-care, along with meditation and discipline, helped in that matter as well.

There was just a certain level of core, deep, ground-in exhaustion that couldn't be banished that easily, though. So that left only one thing to do for the best relaxation:

Snowboard in the sensorium.

Who wants in on this?

Comments

[morganknight]

"That's the safest way. You'll be steering by shifting your weight to one side or the other. The bindings will keep your legs and ankles safe, but if you fall over they'll release so the board doesn't run any risk of hurting you."

He hadn't been using bindings, but he could use magic to keep his feet to the board.

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Rarity stepped onto the board and used her magic to fiddle with the straps. "So I just have to move and the board will follow the direction?"

[morganknight]

He knelt down to test the bindings, making sure that there was no motion at all in the bindings or her hooves. "Yep, but let's make sure you're comfortable with just straight boarding, first! I'll release the gate, and then you'll just slide slowly down the hill, okay? I'll be there to catch you if you start to fall."

This was just the bunny slope, so she shouldn't get moving so fast he couldn't keep up!

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"Alright." Rarity was still a little hesitant but he was her friend and it did look like a rather gentle slope after all.

[morganknight]

"Here we go!"

He tugged the little lever that released the gate and left Rarity to the mercy of gravity, physics, and her own balance. Then he hopped off onto the snow himself, running lightly on its surface to keep pace with the unicorn.

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Rarity stood gracefully tall and proud, allowing the wind to lightly tousle her hair. The speed was not Rainbow Dash quick but gentle enough for her to see where she was going.

[morganknight]

He came to a stop as she did at the bottom of the hill, not breathing hard from the run but definitely grinning.

"You made that look good," he said as he knelt down to undo the bindings. "Fun at all?"

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Rarity nodded and stepped out of the bindings. "It was gentle, serene and a beautiful descent down the slope. I can see why you enjoy it so much."

[morganknight]

Morgan pressed the back of his wrist against his mouth to stifle laughter.

"I think you may be more of a skiiing person in the long run, Rarity, but I have to confess I'm not really certain how to adapt that sport for a quadruped. But I appreciate you trying it nonetheless!" He sat back on his haunches to look up at her, smiling. "It's hard to think four-leggedly."

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"Did I not fair well? I certainly do not want Applejack to get hurt when she learns from you."

Rarity looked at him mock sternly.

[morganknight]

"Oh no, you did excellent, don't get me wrong!" he said, easing himself back to his feet. "But if you enjoyed that, well, it only gets faster and wilder from here. Nothing gentle or serene about it." He pointed to the hill behind them, which, at its top, certainly was nothing like the gentle slope she'd just gone down.

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

She looked at the hill and her eyebrow twitched a bit. "Perhaps another time, Morgan. I'm sure Applejack would enjoy it though." Rarity looked at him and gave Morgan a smile.

[morganknight]

"That's about what I thought," he said with a wink. "It's a thrillseeker's sport..." God help them all if he ever met Rainbow Dash.

"Out of curiosity, how do you generally relax?" He implicitly gave her permission to reshape the sensorium with that question.

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"I relax at the spa in Ponyville." The surroundings changed (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110816121703/mlp/images/5/5f/HornFilingWithASideOfFail.png) and the wallpaper was a nice serene blue with a couple of massage tables in the middle. The spa ponies trotted towards her with delight.

[morganknight]

Morgan chuckled. "This one may not be an option for me, I have to admit."

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You do look like you take care of your appearance very well though." She waved the spa ponies away and they proceeded to fold some towels.

[morganknight]

Oh, Morgan was grinning and suppressing a laugh at that. How many times had someone told him that in the past? "I might be a little vain," he admitted, idly reaching back to trap a lock of his waist-length hair between his fingers. He tugged it forward, putting on an air of terrible sheepishness. "Just a little. No, I was more thinking that beauty treatments for ponies might not be quite the same as beauty treatments for humans?"

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"Oh, right. How silly of me." Rarity then changed the scene back to the snowy slope they were on earlier. "I suppose this is how you relax?"

[morganknight]

"One way!" he said. "I like to swim, meditate, play video games, train, read... I picked snowboarding because before I woke up on the ship, it was summer, and I hadn't been in quite a while."

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"You have a vast range of relaxation techniques, I am envious of you." Rarity replied as she walked around the fake snow.


(OOC: I have no idea what else I should say. *sweatdrop*)

[morganknight]

[I don't mind short tags, don't worry!]

"I'm the sort of guy who doesn't do 'sitting around doing nothing' very well. No matter what meditation might look like. So I end up doing all sorts of different things. Learning new things and perfecting the old!"

He kicked up snow just to watch it scatter, playfully.

"But I get the feeling what you really love most, or at least is pretty high up there, is designing clothes!"

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"Of course, being a fashionista is my passion! I would not have earned my cutie mark without my interest in it. I never told you my story, didn't I?" Without waiting for a reply, Rarity then began to explain the purpose of cutie marks, how it reflect each pony's specialty and she then recalled her rather dramatic story of being dragged around by her horn.

"Much to my dismay, I arrived at this huge rock but a sonic rainboom appeared across the sky and cracked it open in half, revealing numerous precious gems! I brought them back with me and added them to the costumes. Everyone at the play was absolutely dazzled by my work and that's how I earned my cutie mark."

[morganknight]

"A sonic rainboom?" he repeated. His mental image was not too far off from reality (because, really, what else could it be?), but what a concept! "Is that a common occurrence where you come from?"

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

"It is quite rare. Only pegasus ponies are able to do so and they must fly really fast. My friend Rainbow Dash accomplished this feat twice." Rarity then found a nice spot in the snow and sat down regally.

[morganknight]

"Fast indeed." There had to be some sort of pony magic involved to make it possible -- how could a simple flying pony go at supersonic speeds otherwise? The more he saw or heard of these ponies, the more impressed he was.

"I wish you had the chance to meet one of my best friends," he said, drifting back to why he'd brought up fashion design anyway. "She had talent in so many things, but she loved to design clothing."