"I guess it's just my own immaturity burning through me internally." she spoke to the young animal, a smile on her face. "But I've rarely been this excited."

She had been spending a lot of time here this past year, raising the little guy. But today she had other business. Long awaited business. It was all over the net - Britain committing political suicide and seeming to be racing America in a stupid contest, or at least that's what all the news pages were saying. She was worried about Tori, more than anything, but it was still okay to catch a quick laugh here and there at some of the dumb posts that came out of this. Brexit, they called it. How cute, that they named it.

Of course, she knew Tori would be all high and mighty about it. That was also going to be cu--FUNNY. She honestly knew nothing of the story itself, aside from the bare basics, and a rough idea of what that meant. No, her attention was entirely on hoping a certain mentioned-severel-times person would be along soon, safe and sound. Away from political bull. Back to a simpler lifestyle, maybe one with less lack of hugging. Yes, that sounded nice.

But she had to get the mindset ready. She had to challenge the girl again, and bring out the old fire. If not for Tori than for herself. Nobody else was even close to a fit challenge.

Victoria Miller's life had been infinitely more complicated in the past few months than she would ever have imagined it could become.  Here she'd had a perfectly wonderful thing going with a very amazing young woman whose heart she had captured in return for letting her own fall to the redhead.  A fiery lady who had soared to ever greater heights within the domain of Spica since their first meeting.  Too long had it been since she'd been able to enjoy the sweet company of Raion, her.. girlfriend?  It was complicated of late since Tori had been forced to leave school at Spica for a couple of months due to family troubles back in Britain.  Some business over whether leaving the EU would make Britain great again had erupted and become such a big thing that her family needed to be back in England to cast their votes.  For her it was all rather ridiculous and infuriating to be pulled away from her beloved school and beloved Lion d'icendie.  Though they'd been able to communicate over the internet it wasn't the same if she wasn't able to be with the girl.  No hugging, no indiscretions which one couldn't speak in the company of certain family members about.  

For her the most devastating part of the whole problem had been the realization that her father was born English but his parents had not been.  In fact that whole side of her family was in fact very, very Scottish.  Which made the whole political thing that much more aggravating for her since she wasn't even able to keep a stiff English upper lip at the whole thing.  No, it was a fat, annoyingly plaid Scottish upper lip instead!  They'd spent the time in Britain with her Scottish relatives, and the sooner she got back to Raion the better!  Finally she was back at Spica, and she knew just where she'd have to go first - the corral.  That would be just where Raion would in fact be waiting for her - probably because she'd sent a text asking the redhead to do so.  Riding atop Evvy, Tori was sure that she looked splendidly regal for her triumphant return.

The blonde Englishwoman (she refused to accept reality) was dressed in a red riding jacket with a lacy white blouse underneath it and a pleated black skirt with stockings and riding boots to complete her look.  As she rode toward the corral a small Union Jack waved from the pole she'd attached to the back of her saddle.  All dramatically British, just as she had to have it.  That said she was nervous about seeing Raion again - would she still want to be with Tori?  The British girl had been hurt in the past by a girl who was now the uke Etoile no less.  Well, if you were going to be rejected it might as well have been by a princess!  Soon she caught sight of the person she had come back across the world to be with once more.  Changing her expression to one of quiet satisfaction Tori got Evvy into a trot and approached Raion, ready to engage the girl once more in whatever challenges or events they saw fit after the reunion.

"Greetings, my lovely lion d'icendie.  'Tis been far, far too long since last we met," Tori announced dramatically, sliding off of her saddle and not noticing that her Japanese had a strong hint of a Scottish accent now.  Letting her smile take over, she offered her hand, "I missed you so much!"

Ah, and there was a sound approaching. She let her ears play with it while it grew closer, and decided to take the few moments she could to ponder over her first words to the girl. Maybe she should just continue her usual. The stiffness, the cold, and the challenge. or perhaps she could let that barrier down and just hug the crap out of her. If only for a moment. But then, those sounds weren't human. That was a horse. She had limited options at this height against an animal, and especially at greeting her love upon said animal. In all honesty, combating any nonhuman opponent was foreign to her, even if she could take on most humans in her weight class easily. Beasts were new territory entirely.

Ah, but then was the voice. The voice she had waited so long for. She had heard it, certainly, but in person was very welcome. Now, she was moving on her own at this stage, and her body and mind seemed disjointed. She wanted to do both of her ideas, but the problem with that was that her body did one and her mind the other. She immediately took the hand that was offered and became as red as her hair, which contrasted her pure white uniform. However...

"Y-you've got some nerve calling me out here like this!" she tried to say with intimidation and wound up saying in stutters. "And just what do you plan on doing now, hm?"

Accusations. My God Raion, follow up at least.

"If you expect to just strut up in here all beautiful and play with my heart you better at least kiss me."

It finally happened once again.  Tori Miller was holding hands with the redhead who'd initially been a person she sought only to challenge.  All of that concern over proving the supremacy of English things over French things had gone by the wayside since that initial meeting; as their hearts grew fonder the competitive nationalism diminished.  Even though Raion was Japanese she had come from a very French seeming school before enrolling at Spica, which had been what captured Tori's attention.  Now that their hands were joined once more her heart raced, her face growing rosy even as she tried to maintain her outwardly calm and collected bearing.  How long that would stand up in the fave of her lover she didn't know, but it seemed that the lioness was not about to  simply show her own fondness without a challenge.  When the redhead tried to act tough, Tori merely bowed apologetically without letting her grin dissipate one bit.

"My greatest apologies for causing your heart distress, my lady.  It was not something that even an Englishwoman had control over," Tori verbally apologized as well, trying her best to keep up appearances to the best of her ability, "But here I am now, prepared to do whatever your heart desires."

In response to the demand, Tori laughed, "My lady, thou doth protest too much!  Either that or you are psychic, because you have predicted my next move."

Without further warning she pulled Raion into a tight embrace, feeling the warmth of the girl she'd been pulled away from for too long.  Looking intensely into Raion's eyes Tori betrayed her calm exterior with fiery dsire and loneliness at last ended, though she trembled a little as well.  This was their reunion and already she was going for a very dramatic move in  answering the redhead's challenge.  The British girl grew closer to Raion, working up the courage that would be needed to not simply let her joy overtake her.  Tori closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then pressed her lips to the redhead's gently in their first kiss in months.  After holding it for probably a bit too long Tori pulled back and winked at her lover.

"Now was that everything you wished it to be, Lion d'Icendie?" she asked, her tone half-teasing and half very Scottish.

Truly, it was difficult to fathom this moment despite thinking of it many times. Here they were, everything was back as it should have been. Those lonely months spent caring for the young horse seemed to have all been worth it in the end. Now, how could she properly react to this moment? She could only think to relax herself into it, and maybe since they were so close she could let her stiff expression wane. A hand wrapping around the woman was also called for, and the other was free to play with her hair. It was so rare for something so worthwhile to actually happen.

When everything stopped and she had that momentary depression because of it, she had to be real with herself and admit that she had been missing that more than she anticipated. She wasn't usually physically romantic due to certain exes making her dislike that sort of affection, but this, she deeply missed. A solitary irony she filed away for later review in her mind. More notably, the way Tori was speaking seemed either forced, or new. Surely, they had kept in touch and some things had been exchanged, but was it right for her to say anything about the accent change? Would that rile her up?

Eh, screw it.

"It was." she began first, then tilting her head. "But you sound like you've had a long trip away, are you sure you shouldn't be resting it off? Maybe sipping some tea at a fancy table to relax?"

It may be cruel, it may not be, she wasn't entirely sure which one this would be taken as. The fun of it was seeing the reaction, and she would surely have a pleasant one regardless of it it was angry or giddy. Anything Tori related was good news to her. And, should the matter of Scotland come up down the road, Raion would have some very promising information for the girl.

A dramatically romantic moment signaled the reunion of what gossip around the schools might refer to as a power couple.  Tori wouldn't admit it but she knew that she wouldn't be considered powerful at all beyond her reputation as a classy Englishwoman.   That was about it.  Given that reality she was especially sensitive about acquiring knowledge of her Scottish ancestry, since it detracted from her veneer of classiness.  Kissing Raion allowed her to forget all about tartans, haggis, lochs and anything else north of Hadrian's Wall for a bit.  She'd missed this kind of display of affection even more than she'd realized too.  With the energy between the two of them she realized how much of a piece of her the redhead was, how much of her being had been missing while she was away.  When her love responded with the question, Tori ruefully glared at her for a moment before attempting to just laugh off the fact that her new accent had been caught.

"Very perceptive of you, Lion d'Icendie, but I believe I have the stamina to keep going for quite a while.  Your presence fuels me no matter how arduous the trip was!"  Tori responded with a wink before she took  Raion's hand in her own, "Some tea would of course be lovely, but we should first put these two steeds away.  Or perhaps take them for a ride.  The decision is yours.."

Then she shuddered, "I can not believe I'm speaking with this... backwoods accent."