ikissdhimbck | OOM: Down in the East Texas Town of Galveston... -- 1888 -- for X-23

The demonstrator starts the engine to the appropriate gasps from the rapt audience.

"I'm sure y'can look all y'want."

Kate chuckles.

"They might even let y'touch."

Sure enough, one particularly curious gentleman has approached, and he and the demonstrator hold a jovial conversation about how the two machines will differ.

X slips in behind the curious gentleman, gaze intent.

She's listening to their conversation, too, of course.

But it will be better not to ask questions until she is sure which are the wrong ones.

The past is a different country, after all.

And this is Kate's world.

" ... has what they're calling the 'Otto Cycle Engine'. It's a Four-Stroke Internal-Combustion Engine. It's small, lightweight, fast; it uses a gasoline-injected carburetor, and has this vertical cylinder. Let me tell you, brother, the size, speed, and efficiency of this engine's gonna change the world. Have you heard of what it's done to carriages as we know 'em?"

"It sounds mighty fancy, and no mistake," the gentleman chuckles. "And judgin' by the pictures will look smarter than this steam-driven velocipede. I just ain't convinced it's a safe way to travel."

The 'motorcycle' hisses. Nearby, there's a sandwich board advertisement for the machine they've got on display, as well as several pictures of the gas-driven contraption, which looks a little something like this.

"Couldn't be safer, my friend! Couldn't be safer. This little beauty can take you up to sixty-four kilometers per hour! Imagine what this new 'Otto Cycle Engine' can do. Imagine the time you'll save!"

Steam drizzles from the pipe off the back end of the 'velocipede'.

X studies the vehicle as the man continues his spiel. She moves away a few steps, giving herself a better vantage point, then presses back in.

"It is very heavy?"

Call a girl curious.

He could at that, not to mention that a lady wearing britches catches the eye. Along with that duster, that hat, and them boots.

At least it gives him the good sense not to make any remarks on how it'd be far too heavy for a lady to handle on her own, but only as the absence of skirts usually tells tale of an abundance of spirit.

(And nobody wants to get shot today.)

"She's gonna be heavier than your average bicycle, yes ma'am. But even this old gal's been made for comfort; this here steam engine is lightweight, precision design distributin' her weight just right so she ain't gonna be unwieldy."

X tilts her head, considering the contraption in front of her.

"It would not be rideable?"

Beat.

"If the engine were heavier."

"Oh-ho, surely, Little Miss! Just take a gander here."

He motions to the drawings and blueprints for the modern velocipede, the boiler replaced with a real engine. It's thicker than what they have on the showroom floor, sturdier, and that engine is heavier.

"You can ride both of these gals just fine, miss, but if you're hopin' for speed then you're not gonna want to be weighted down, now are you?"

X leans over to better view the blueprints, frowning a little as she looks them over.

But at last --

"No. That is accurate."

Beat.

"I like maneuverability."

"And maneuverability you'll get! She's smaller'n a horse, and less stubborn."

A few people in the audience chuckle.

"Best thing is, you ain't gotta feed her an' you ain't gotta stable her, and if she breaks, you can fix her!"

Kate's mingling with the crowd a few paces off. She wouldn't toss over one of her animals for that thing if she were paid to do it, but she hasn't quite made the leap into the future of the 19th century just yet.

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"I like taking care of animals, too."

This is true.

"But repair on mechanical equipment is easier."

You know. For people without access to magical healers. And mutants.

It's a curious statement for a young woman to make, thus eliciting a response from the gentleman customer who had been engaging the barker's time prior to X.

"Woman after my own heart."

He looks enchanted.

Kate knew she'd fit in just fine. Still, she doesn't want her to fit in too well. That is to say, the gentleman is getting the stink-eye.

"Miss Talbot?"

She nods to the next booth, if X is finished here.

X appears oblivious to the gentleman's enchantment.

There are multiple reasons for that.

Her head turns, gaze flicking toward Kate as the other woman says her (assumed) name.

"We can go. Now."

Then she turns back to the man with the velocipede.

"Thank you."

Okay, now they can really go.

The men all tip their hats and grin.

They keep on grinning, long after X has turned away.

Kate smirks, offering her the taffy as they walk past a cotton gin and a 'dish washer', pausing at the booth where they're selling bottles of root beer for two cents.

"I'm guessin' y'have a vehicle like that in your world, only better?"

Such is often the case.

She gestures to the bottles of soda, silently asking if X would like one.

"It is lighter," X allows, nodding once.

"And it is yellow."

She flicks a look toward the soda bottles, nostrils flaring as she catches the scent of root beer.

Does she smile?

Maybe. At the very least she nods.

"You could see it. Sometime. If you want."

"Yellow? Honestly?"

Kate smiles brightly, exchanging coin with the vendor for a couple of sodas. They're warm, but they're tasty.

"Such a lovely color. I'd like t'see it sometime. I've really only seen automobiles from the future up close. An' aeroplanes, but they was in a museum. Never been up in one."

"I could teach you," X offers, as she reaches over to take her soda.

"To drive it. If you want."

You know.

When they are no longer in Texas.

Her eyes widen.

"Really? How different is it from an automobile?"

Oh, she certainly would like that. Very much.

"It is simpler," X offers, after thinking it over for a few moments.

"Except that it requires balance."

Kate grins.

"Balance I got aplenty. I ain't too bad drivin' a 'motor', so — sure! Why not."

Someday, she'll have a license to drive every contraption known to man and then some. Someday.

She continues along the exhibition hall at a leisurely pace, giving X plenty of time to spy booths or demonstrations she might be particularly interested in. All manner of folk pass by as they mosey along, heading nearer the coastline where more of the games are set up.

"Here I've got you out in Texas, an' we ain't even ridin' horses. Y'must think those ridin' lessons were a waste of time."

"No," X says promptly, looking a little startled.

"I do not think that."

Beat.

"We could do that? Here. Later."

If Kate wants.

X would not say no!

Her eyebrows brush her hairline.

"I was teasin'."

She bumps X's shoulder, and takes another swig of root beer.

"Sure. I know a horse y'could borrow. We could take a ride up Main Street."

There's a Colt shooting gallery to their right, with a line of eager young men waiting to try their luck. A little ways further, a strongman game sports a similar line, but there's a girl of about eleven holding the hammer while her older brothers snicker beside her. And beyond that, accompanied by the sound of an accordion, turns a merry-go-round.

Kate nods toward it.

"Or we could always ride that."

X's gaze flicks immediately toward what Kate is gesturing at, head tilting as she studies the ride.

"You like them?"

Beat.

"I have seen one. Before. But we did not -- use it."

If 'use' is the right word.

"I do not know why."

"I've only seen one once before, at a fair my daddy took me to when I was young. Never been on one."

It's an elegant contraption at every angle: trimmings in gold and ivory, finely carved; a colorfully painted polyptych at its crown; gold leaf etched horses, baskets, and poles of every color merrily circling its base. It's drawn a sizable number of children and couples, women riding sidesaddle with their gloved hands clutching their hats while their beaus stand by and smile.

(Behind them, the bell dings on the strongman game to the delighted crowing of the young girl.)

"I think they're beautiful, though."

X flicks a quick glance at Kate, then --

"We can try."

Beat.

"The children like it."

And X is often for many things that children like. Blame her Little League team.

Kate grins.

"If there's one thing I learned from teachin', it's t'follow the children's lead."

Maypoles, lake swimming, and hide-and-go-seek are just a few of the thrills one learns from being surrounded by the young.

"All right, let's go."

She slips among the onlookers, drinking down the last of her root beer while they wait for the ride to stop.

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