Dirty Legacy

[Cyril Kingsley]

It had been yet another normal day down at the stables with Cyril getting through his chores at the midday mark. Summer was around the corner so he was trying to make the stables and all the horses look their best since many of the students were going to have to stay on campus over the summer. What was better than going horseback riding over the summer? Nothing, well there were a few things, but Cyril was pretty sure that horseback riding in the summer or any weather was high up on the list of great things to do. Even more so since the location of the school meant that it didn't get super-hot most days and that meant that the horses and the riders then did not end up getting uncomfortable in the heat. "Just need to do Legacy..." Cyril said allowed to himself as he let out Heiress to the pastures. He had just finished giving her a wash along with all the other horses in the stables and now it was just Legacy left. The one horse that Cyril was pretty much used to not liking to well be washed. Well he enjoyed the actually washing process, but he was a pain in the neck when it came to getting him wet.

He made his way to Stall 4, the stall were Legacy, a male Kiger Mustang basically called his home and stall. It was almost as if he knew what was going on since he was already starting to kick up a fuss. Cyril already ready for action and moving to hook the horse up to his lead rope and take him to where he washed all the horses. Things were a bit difficult as Legacy put up a fuss but he was so close to getting the horse where he needed him, when his cat darted across their path chasing after something, and causing Cyril to almost trip and Legacy to get enough strength to get out of Cyril's grip and take off. "Oh...manetastic." Cyril said with a heavy sigh, picking up the spilled water and going after the horse. He was not really worried at first because Legacy had run into the pastures and he would be able to get him at one point in there.

However, Legacy jumped the electric fence that surrounded the pastures, and took off. Cyril noting that he was probably going to have to raise the fence a little bit more or take extra steps to make sure the Legacy didn't pull that off again. He made sure all the other horses were locked up in the pastures and ran after the horse, figuring he would not go too far before he would stop and other then mutant students being around, he had no worry about anything dangerous happening to the horse. Well minus the horse possibly falling into a hold or getting his lead rope caught on something. Thankfully Legacy had spotted a girl that smelled practically nice walking a little bit away from the stables and walked over to her, Nudging his head against her and he gave her a sniff. Cyril slowing down as he spotted the horse not yet seeing the girl and he caught his breath. "Now, don't move Legacy." He said, feeling like even still the horse was likely to take off because he seemed to enjoy making Cyril run around.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Steinbeck was still learning her way around the campus, unfortunately. Directions and maps and the like had never been her forte and Bellefonte Academy was just so big and sprawling and confusing and foreign to her that she was having an awfully hard time keeping track of her position relative to important and recognizable landmarks. Needless to say, what was meant to be a stroll around the grounds had become a hopeless, aimless wandering to who-knows-where. She was glad that she’d left Applesauce in his cage, because he certainly wouldn’t be pleased by all this walking around. As much as she liked carrying the rat around in her pocket, he wasn’t so appreciative of longer trips; and while this one was intended to be short, it certainly wasn’t ending up that way. She considered stopping and sitting down and reading, just to take a break, but the day wasn’t so hot and there was pleasant breeze and she kind of wanted to get the jitters out of her system. Adjusting to a new school was hard, after all, and Becky had always liked her alone time. Maybe she should take advantage of this bit of respite while she could.

One particularly strong breeze sent a somewhat familiar scent wafting over to her. Musty and a little bit sweet. She remembered visiting a petting zoo with her moms when she was younger, and the scent had been similar. She must be nearing the stables. She’d heard a little bit about the horseback riding that went on here, but it had never really interested her. But there was something about the scent that sent her back to that day, so many years ago, when she’d entered the little gate and sat on a Shetland pony and feed grain to some goats and pigs. Her mom had snapped so many pictures while her mother had scolded her and told her to just let Becky have some fun. The memory was so clear that she didn’t hear the pounding of galloping hoofsteps headed towards her until the beast was almost right in front of her.

Startled, Beck stumbled backwards a few paces as the horse slowed to a trot and then a walk and then boldly approached her. Weren’t these things supposed to be prey animals? She’d expect a little more fear, but she supposed that the horse knew that humans weren’t any threat. She stood still as the horse came right up to her and nudged her. She laughed a little bit and reached out to gently pet its face. At least it was friendly. She started to wonder if maybe she should grab it and head back towards the stables where it had obviously escaped from when she heard footsteps — and they were definitely human this time. She couldn’t see the person through the large body of the horse, but she thought she figured out what he was trying to do. She grabbed the horse’s halter, hoping that it wouldn’t flip out and rip her arm off or something. “I think I caught him,” Becky said, peeking around Legacy and hoping that her lisp was at least somewhat understandable to the man. “But if he wanth to move, I won’t be able to thtop him.”

[Cyril Kingsley]

All the horse at the stables were more or less pretty good at being around people and not having too many fears of them. After all this was a school for mutants, so the horses had to be ready to see a kid possibly on fire, flying by on wings, or changing into some other animal. Still there were things that would scare them since they were prey animals, but people were the least of their fears. Cyril had made sure to train them and teach them to not fear people after all. It was a bit tough, but for the most part all of the horses would be fine with walking up to some person so long as said person didn't look like they planned to hurt them or do anything bad. So Legacy going up to the girl was not odd, but Cyril did not see the girl as he made his slow approach. Running up to the horse for sure would have caused him to run, so taking things slow was the best plan at the moment.

"Ea-" Cyril was going to start his whole talking to the horse as he moved to get closer to it, but hearing someone else voice made him stop. It was a female’s voice, and sounded young. His concerned look, replaced by one of eager and chipperness at the thought of seeing who the voice belong to. It took a moment for him to understand what was being said, but he more or less got it. Legacy not really moving anywhere when the lead rope was grabbed and started to munch on the grass. Apparently fine with giving Cyril a hard time but would not do it to some girl holding onto his lead rope. "Thank you very much. He seems to be alright with you, so do you mind if I ask you a big favor?" Cyril asked, his British accent always there, but he was making sure to stick with using mostly all the American words and terms that he knew. Not like there were like a ton of different words and they were both still speaking English.

He moved to get closer to the girl, to get a better look at her and also to not be behind the horse when he was getting closer. He almost had a heart attack over how cute she was. Not able to hold back the small little squee that left the back of his throat. She is so cute! Red hair too! Oh my great stars! Cyril was practically screaming in his head as he just smiled at the girl, may have gotten lost in his thoughts for a moment, and then realized it probably was a little creepy for her to have an adult smiling at her with such a bright and friendly smile. "Oh, I'm Cyril Kingsley. I'm the Stable Hand here at the academy. What is your name if I may ask?" Cyril quickly asked, to more or less try and make up for well what might have come off as a tad bit creepy, but he really was not a bad guy. At least not to little girls.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Beck kept a hold of the horse’s lead rope as it leaned down to graze. She looked down at the horse’s head as he happily munched at the longer blades of grass near her feet. It didn’t look like it would take off any time soon, at least, so maybe her shoulder would remain in its socket. It looked like the light haired man who’d been chasing after him had been following him for a good bit. Maybe the horse was just finally tired and decided to give up. She blinked at the man, wondering if maybe she should be a little more wary about catching strange horses and talking to strange men. It was pretty clear that he worked for the school, though, so she decided not to worry about it. “What kind of big favor?” she asked. As much as she was willing to help people, she didn’t have any experience with these animals. She didn’t want to get in over her head.

Becky was expecting some sort of explanation as the man stepped forward and around the horse. When instead it seemed like he was having some sort of aneurysm, she became a little bit concerned. That little high pitched noise didn’t sound like a noise made from pain, but it was definitely concerning. What was wrong with him? Did she have some sort of awful stain on her shirt or something? A quick glance downwards revealed that she was fine, except for maybe a spot or two of horse snot where the beast had nudged her. Nothing to look that aghast about. By the time she looked up again, the man was beaming at her like she’d solved world hunger. She awkwardly returned the smile for a few moments, expecting him to restart their conversation. When he didn’t, her smile faltered a little bit and she shifted on her feet awkwardly. "Um, you okay? Thorry," she said, not really knowing what she was apologizing for but feeling like it might be appropriate. The horse gave a little snort.

She was relieved when the man — Cyril Kingsley — finally snapped out of his trance and introduced himself. Well, even if he came off as a bit odd, he worked at the school, so he couldn’t be that bad, right? She shifted the lead rope to her other hand nervously. “Thteinbeck Dunn. But Becky ith fine,” she added. How cruel of her mothers to give a girl with a lisp a name starting with S? She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear as another breeze came through the pasture. “I’m new here. Well, relatively new. Um. What ith it that you want me to do? I’m not really experienthed with hortheth." She shifted the lead rope to her other hand again. It didn't seem like a wild bucking bronco or anything, but you never knew. "I'll help if I can though!"

[Cyril Kingsley]

Yes, Cyril worked for the school, not that he was wearing anything that would give that away. Well he did have a black and yellow bandana sticking out of his pocket and they were the school colors. So that might have given it away, but at least he was wearing a shirt at the moment. Often when he didn't have club and it was going to be more or less him down at the stables he took off his shirt, even more so if he was going to be washing the horses because walking around in wet clothing was not all that fun, even more so since jeans seemed to sag down a little more and would try to take his boxers down with them. Thankfully his jeans were more or less dry, but he did pull up on them a little bit to be on the safe side. Not wanting an innocent girl to see his boxers after all, he was much more classy then that when it came to that sort of thing, especially around little sister figure like girls. "A favor involving helping me with Legacy. The horse." Cyril said pointing to Legacy who didn't really pay him any mind as Cyril still took a moment to catch his breath.

Yes, the sounds he made should not really come from a man, but they came from him and he was very much a man. He just could not help the excited sounds that would slip out of his body when he more or less got excited in a cute way. If he was excited over something that was not really cute or something then he would make a different sound. Plus he thought his squees came out like they had come from a sexy man, but he was free to think his sounds sounded like whatever he wanted them to sound like. She had asked if he was okay and said thorry. Thorry? What is that? Oh...sorry maybe? Aww does she have a whittle lisps? How cute!? Cyril thought to himself, thankfully these thoughts were all going on while he was having his cute blank out for a moment, but quickly broke out of it. Feeling a little bad that he probably creeped her out enough that she felt the need to say sorry. "No need to be sorry. Sorry about getting weird there. I got a wee bit too excited there." Cyril said with a small chuckle, listening closely as she introduced herself.

He was pretty sure her name was Thteinbeck Dunn, considering the fact how she said sorry and how he assume she had a lips, he assumed that it was probably something that started with an S. Thankfully she said to call her Becky and he would not have to deal with embarrassing messing up her name or making her feel insulted in anyway when he didn't want that at all. "Nice to meet you Becky. How are you liking the school so far?" Cyril asked when she pointed out that she was new here and then got himself back on track when she asked him again what it was he wanted her to do. Pointing out that she didn't really have much experience....with horses? Right, he was pretty sure that was what she was getting at. He was still pleased to hear that she was still willing to help him out either way. "It's not a hard task at all. I would just like you to lead Legacy there back to the stables so I can hook him up to give him a quick wash. He is gentle with girls and does not give them a hard time like he does for me. So if you could help me get him back, that would be great." Cyril said as he clasped his hands together, almost like he was begging and he sort of way.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Now that Mr. Kingsley — was the the most appropriate address? He worked at the school and was older than her, but something about him didn’t look too formal — seemed to have his mind back on earth, Becky could relax a little bit. Even if her quiet walk had been ruined, she had a chance to figure out where she was and even get directions back to the school. She hadn’t seen the stables before, anyway, so perhaps it would be a worthwhile adventure. She wondered what had made the stablehand so excited. Was he just pleased that his horse had been caught? Or was he happy to see her for some reason? It didn’t really make any sense to her, but she was distracted from sussing it out as he answered her questions.

“It’th okay, no problem,” she said, not wanting to make his weird squealing pause into a big deal. She made things awkward enough. “Um, the thchool ith kind of big,” she said, and then immediately felt stupid. That was probably the lamest thing she could say about the amazing school. And she was sure that the man probably felt pretty proud of the establishment if he worked here. She really had to work on her people skills. “But the people seem nice. I’m glad I got to come here in the summer, when it is less busy. I have a feeling it can be a little overwhelming when school is truly in session.” She kept her eyes on Legacy, watching him continue to graze near her feet. She knew that the man was probably struggling to understand her, but it wasn’t like she could politely stop talking. She tried to speak as slowly and clearly as possible, anyway.

Figuring that the stables were in the direction that the horse had come running from, she tugged gently at his lead rope to get his attention. She was relieved the horse obediently lifted his head for her. Good. Maybe this would be easy like the man had said. It was actually pretty amusing that this seemingly gentle animal had apparently ran away from the stable hand. He was so relaxed now. “I can do that for you, Mr. Kingthley,” she agreed. She glanced up to see him almost begging for her help, hands clasped and everything. She gave him a shy smile and started walking forward with the lead rope in hand. Legacy strode along beside her, luckily enough, without her even having to tug at the rope. “I wouldn’t believe he’d run away if I hadn’t seen it myself. He seems so nice now.”

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril did like the sound of Mr. Kingsley, but he also liked to be called by his first name by the cute little girls that he saw as sisters. He would let her know that she could call him by her first name so long as there were no other adults around, but it would be her call. He was honestly fine with being called by first or last name by students and staff. As long as a person did give him respect, he didn’t really feel the need for ‘titles’ or things to be one hundred percent proper. If he was a mind reader or if Steinbeck said what she was thinking, Cyril would have been happy to give her answers to her questions. Yes he was happy/excited that the horse had been caught and to see her. She had red hair, she was tiny, and she was just so cute? What was there not to be excited about? Sure some might have thought it might have been creepy for him to be happy over seeing little girls, but it was in the most innocent way. He loved being a big brother and someday he did hope to be a father with a little girl of his own.

Cyril paid close attention to her speaking, making sure to keep the note in his mind that she had a lisp. It was not really all that hard to understand her if he was actually paying attention and the words were more or less pretty close either way. He could even tell that she was speaking slowly for his sake, which just made him just want to pick her up and hug her all the more. Yet, he could not do that. He had to maintain his professional nature; well at least try, and not end up scaring her away or something along those lines. Plus she was with Legacy at the moment who was pretty much calm and behaving as if he had not even ran away from Cyril to avoid a bath. He was going to get a bath either way no matter how nice he acted or was. “I have to agree with you on this school being big for sure. I have gotten lost a few times on the way back to my room.” Cyril said with a small chuckle, but he was never that good with getting the lay of the land without some help.

As for the people being nice, well he supposed they were. Most of the nice people he meat where students and while the few female staff he had met were smoking hot they seemed to enjoy keeping him from acting like a big brother. Well not all of them. He met a lot of them by now, but not like anything past knowing names and what they looked like. He needed to make more adult friends among the staff that was going to be his new goal. “Really? Thank you so much Becky. I owe you one.” Cyril said, pleased that she agreed to help him out. Messing with his spiky hair and chuckling as Becky pointed out how she would not have believed Legacy would have run off if she had not seen it herself. “He seems to like to only give me a hard time during bath time.” Cyril said already started to head back towards the stables, of course waiting to make sure Steinbeck was following him and that she was not having any trouble at all with the horse. Not that he expected her to have any trouble since all of the horses were pretty well trained, they all just had things they liked to rebel against. Unless they were Ivy, cause she liked to rebel against everything.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one who had trouble with the layout of the school. She hadn't been here too long, after all, and unfortunately, she didn't have a navigating-strange-places-perfectly power. That would be a very useful one, rather than just being able to make things float or sink. She couldn't wait for the day she mastered it and could make her books light as a feather when she tried to carry them around with her. But that day was a ways off yet. She still had very little control over what and when things started to disobey the laws of gravity. So far, nothing too embarrassing had happened due to her power. She hoped it would stay that way.

She could tell that Mr. Kingsley was paying very close attention to her speech, which she appreciated. Nothing annoyed her more than those people who only half listened and then said "what?" about a million times before finally giving her their full attention. If someone wanted to talk to her, they had to understand that it took a little bit more attention and effort than it did to talk to other people. She was glad that Cyril was one of the people who understood that. Still, it was a bit worrying that even a teacher still got lost sometimes. She was hoping that she'd grow out of it as she continued to explore the school, but maybe she'd be cursed to wander aimlessly forever. "Oh well," she said quietly, smiling at their surroundings. "At leatht it ith a pretty atmothphere to get lotht in."

And honestly, Beck was happy to help. She'd get to see the stables (possibly another quiet place where she could retreat to read in peace) and maybe make friends with one of the staff here. That would be helpful. Even if he couldn't give her directions, he could at least provide a good resource on the other aspects of the school. She let the horse follow behind her as they headed back towards the stables. She patted his neck when Cyril insisted that he liked to mess with him. He wasn't messing with her, and for that she was very, very grateful. She was a lot smaller than this beast and she didn't want to end up trampled on the ground or wrenched in the air by the lead rope. She wanted to be the only one in charge of her gravity, thank you very much.

"No animals like getting baths," she lisped, thinking back to the last time that Applesauce had got himself caught behind the refrigerator. He'd come out so covered in dust and mold that he couldn't groom it all off himself. She'd had to give him a bath with soap in the sink and that did not go over well. She still had a few bite marks on her fingers. She imagined that horses could do a lot worse than bite marks, though. "It's hard enough getting smaller animals to take a bath. How do you manage it with an obstinate horse?" she asked. It seemed to her that if a horse didn't want to do something, no one was really big or strong enough to say otherwise. She looked up and gave him a little smile. She felt like she had to defend her new friend Legacy at least a little bit. "He doesn't seem too dirty."

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril was not really a teacher; he was just a member of the school staff. Okay, well he was a teacher but that involved teaching things related to horses and he spent most of his time down at the stables. As such he didn't really get out much, meet new people, or have actually any friends at the moment. Well unless you counted the members of the equestrian club. To him they were more so a little sister then friends, wellbeing friends with you little sisters was sort of a thing. So yes he did have friends but not many in his age group and he knew that he needed to get out some more. He didn't even talk to his own roommate back in the staff dorms, so there was that. Making him feel like he didn't really have a chance to make friends with any of the staff on the campus. He was not going to give up on it of course. "It is indeed very nice. I enjoy being here, a lot different from the academy I went to." Cyril admitted, thinking back to his old school for a moment.

The stables were in site but they still had a bit before they would get there with how they were walking and not running. Not that Cyril was in any rush. He just had to get Legacy cleaned up and then he was more or less done with work for a few hours. Then he would just have to bring the horses in from the pastures, lock them up, and close the stables down for the night. Then likely to return to his room and just drink a little while watching some footba-soccor over here. If Cyril knew about Becky's power he would have been more than happy to give her some help with it if he could. Having the same power he could relate, but he did not know what her mutation was and didn't really ask since the topic was not around mutations at the moment. "I have met a few that like it, but my cat does not." Cyril said with a chuckle, remembering how the first time he tried to give his cat a bath went. Now he would just sneak attack his cat with a bucket of soapy water and his cat would come to him to get dried up and he would end up washing her.

There was the question then about how he managed to get the horse washed with how Becky pointed out washing a small animal was difficult. "I have this sort of stand that allows me to hook their halter up with a lead rope on each side. Then I just take it slow and hope they don't fuss too much. Keeping them tied to something that won’t move works out so long as they don't kick up a fuss." Cyril said, doing his best to explain it, but preferred to just show it to her when they would get back to the stables. Legacy might have run off but that did not mean he was getting out of a bath. Cyril chuckled at Becky pointing out that Legacy didn't look to dirty and how Legacy seemed to nod his head as if he understood and agreed. Cyril was no animal speaking mutant so he was not sure if Legacy really did understand or not, he just knew that the horse was more than likely warming up to the girl.

"That is because I bath them before they look to dirty." Cyril pointed out with a smile to the girl. Walking with a bit of spring in his step as he hummed a little as they started to get closer to the stables. The horses in the pastures could be seen clearly grazing.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky hadn't really thought much about what the older mutants would have went through as they grew up and what other kinds of schools there were. The recruiter that had come to find her had been brief and to the point. And honestly, she'd been far too worried about the whole suddenly-things-are-floating thing to pay much attention to all other explanations. She quietly wondered what exactly Cyril's power even was, but it was probably rude to ask. Maybe it was some cool horse telepathy thing. Or maybe not, because then his horses probably wouldn't run away.

When Becky looked up from Legacy -- she liked checking to make sure he wasn't about to gallop off with her in tow -- she saw that they were nearing the stables. Having never been to this section of the school before, she was pretty amazed at how picturesque it was. She'd read a lot of novels about horses in her lifetime that featured beautiful barns, but it was one thing to read about green pastures filled with majestic, powerful steeds and another to see it. "Wow, this is really nice," she thought aloud. Maybe she would visit now that she had seen it. She didn't know if she would get on a horse, but it would be nice to sit and look at them. Like sitting in the middle of a painting or something. She wondered what the place looked like in winter, with snow-dusted horses with fluffy coats and snow banks piled all around.

If bathing a rat was bad, Beck couldn't imagine what bathing a cat was like, what with their fabled hatred of water. She couldn't remember ever hearing about a horse hating water, so maybe that was a little bit easier. And somehow getting kicked with a hoof didn't sound as bad as getting scratched all up the arms and on the face by a drenched and hissing cat maniac. "You're a braver soul than me if you tried to bathe a cat," she informed him, shaking her head. "I've only ever tried with my rat, and that was enough to scare me off the business."

The rig for baths sounded kind of complicated, but she could almost picture it. Maybe after she got Legacy back where he needed to go, Mr. Kingsley would let her stick around to watch him get his bath. Maybe she could even help. It couldn't be too hard, right? Once the horse was attached to a wall, running away would be pretty damn hard. Even for a huge beast like Legacy. "That sounds really neat," she said as they neared the stable. She was a bit too distracted taking in her surroundings to make proper conversation, but she did her best. "How often do you have to bathe them?" she asked, before realizing that her ignorance was probably getting on his nerves. "Sorry. Sometimes I'm too nosy for my own good," she lisped, watching the horses graze in the distance. They did all look pretty clean. But how dirty could they get in those nice, grassy fields?

[Cyril Kingsley]

"Right? I love it down here, and it’s more or less all mine. Only problem is a spend so much time down here that I don't run into many people." Cyril pointed out, but didn't sound down about it at all. How could he? He was with horses, his all-time favorite animals. Sure he liked to be around people too but he had his club members and he did go to the bar into town from time to time. Cyril would greatly appreciate having Becky come back to visit more often. Even if she didn't want to be a member of the club, there were no rules that said she could not just come down here to enjoy the peace and the wonderful sights. Cyril might have gotten her to at least try ridding ones, but that for now was things he would just day dream about along with his other day dreams about having all the little sisters down here having fun with the horses. The main six were half his after all and Legacy was one of them. If Becky was up for it, Cyril would have been happy for her to look after him.

Yes, his first time trying to bathe his cat was a ballet for the ages. It was only thanks to his power that he was able to escape sort of to get a safe distance before his cat tried to kill him. He was bleeding a lot and had a ton of scratches. Even as a vet he went in to get a few shots to be on the safe side so he did not get sick from his injuries. He smiled brightly at her calling him a braver soul then she was with the whole bathing a cat. "I think you are the smart on here while I'm git for trying to wash my cat. I still do it, but with a different tactic." Cyril said, using a bit of British slag in there but felt that it was better that way since it was an insult to himself. "You own a rat. Is that an interesting pet to take care of?" Cyril asked never owning one because he had a cat, but he did take care of them, but just never really saw the appeal to owning a pet such as something so low on the food chain. Plus they were huge compared to mice. Either way it was important to give every animal that had human contact a good bath every so often. Human did have different chemical and oils on their skins after all that could get an animal sick as well the same applied to an animal in captivity with the whole artificial environments, plus who licked a smelly pet?

The rig was not as complicated as she was picturing it, but Cyril probably didn't explain it in the best way possible. He for sure was going to ask for her to stick around if she had the time. The three of them getting back to the stables now as Cyril lead the way over to the rig and motioned for Becky to walk right on through the rig so Cyril could hook the horse up on the sides. There was the question then how often he washed the horses that had him scratching at his stubbles. "I try once a week but really I just do it when it looks like they need one. Or when they have been being ridden a lot." Cyril said, since there was not real sure proof answer to how often you should wash your horse. It was different for everyone really and just depended on how dirty the horse was. He shook his head no and chuckled a little at her apology to him for asking the questions. "No, I'm not bothered at all love. I like answering questions." Cyril said with a pleased smile, waiting for her to get Legacy into the rig so he could hook the horse up.

"Care to help me wash him?" Cyril asked, figuring that maybe if Becky did it, Legacy would be a little more behaved.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky didn't see the solitude that came with the farm as so much of a problem, but she was pretty introverted. She enjoyed the company of her friends, of course, but she thought that having a nice place with peaceful sights to retreat to now and then would be really nice. Cyril didn't even really sound that upset about it though. So perhaps he was the same. "The horses must make good enough company," she lisped, thinking out loud. Well, as long as they weren't running away from their baths. She hoped that they were a little bit quieter when not being forced to do things that they didn't like. She wouldn't mind coming back and visiting Legacy. He seemed like an agreeable enough fellow when what he was doing was more his idea than yours. She could appreciate the independence.

She couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of Mr. Kingsley attempting to wash his cat. "Oh, I'm sure he needed it!" she assured him. After all, no one in their right mind would attempt to wash their cat without good reason. Unless they got off on danger, or something. Becky would rather jump out of a plane and go skydiving than bathe an angry cat. She felt like there was less risk for horrible injury with the former. Sometimes she forgot that it was unusual to own a rat as a pet. Dogs and cats and things were the normal end of the spectrum and having a rat was a bit more eccentric, she supposed. But really, it wasn't as different as everyone thought it would be and she was happy to talk about Applesauce with Cyril.

"It can be very interesting, yeah," she explained quietly, smiling at the fond memories she had with her little rat so far. "I have to clean his bedding and everything every so often, which I guess is comparable to cleaning out a litter box for a cat. But rats are very intelligent. He knows a lot of tricks, like a dog does. They are smarter than people give them credit for." She laughed a little at the memory. "It was very funny. When I first figured out the whole mutant thing, Applesauce ended up floating about two feet in the air and he glared at me like he knew it was my fault." He was a pretty good sport about it, though. Didn't bite her or anything when she tried to get him down. The poor fellow.

Becky led Legacy in through the rig and made him stop so that his halter was level with the cross-ties on either side. She thought she understood how it worked now and it really was pretty simple. Just a tie on each side that could clip to the halter and force Legacy to stay in one spot. She wondered how many horses he had, if he had enough time to bathe them once a week. Especially considering how fussy they were about it. She stroked down Legacy's neck as Cyril hooked him up to the cross-ties, hoping that he wouldn't start freaking out again. He had to know what was about to happen now that he was hooked up. He didn't look very pleased.

"Thanks," she said with a small smile, happy that she wasn't annoying Cyril too much with all her questions. "It's just really interesting, all this horse stuff. Kind of like a separate world I didn't know about." That was probably a stupid way to put it, but it was really interesting to think about. People who loved horses lived in a different world than her. A world with horses running away and saddles and cross-ties and bathing the beasts. It was fun to get a glimpse into the lifestyle.

"Really?" Becky said, perking up. She really could like to help wash him. She didn't have anything to do or anywhere better to be, so this would be a fun distraction. "I mean, I'd really like that. I don't know much about it, but I could at least help make sure he doesn't get away again."

[Cyril Kingsley]

"They are. Plus I have a Bombay cat named Sphinx who is running around here somewhere." Cyril said in response to Becky pointing out that the horses must have been good company. Cyril loved horses a lot after all so of course he loved to be around them. Even if one of them didn't like to be given a bath and while another wanted to do nothing more than to rebel against everything that he did. They were his however; well six of them were half his in a way, but there was more than six horses down at the stables. He was pretty sure there was like a total of ten all together, or maybe more since the school sometimes was adding in more without telling him right away. That did upset him a little because he wanted to have good records, but would roll with it in the end and just make sure to be more or less ready to take in new horses when and if they arrived. Becky was laughing then to what Cyril figured was her thinking about him trying to wash his cat.

"She needed it indeed. Fell into a muddy hole and was covered in dirt." Cyril said, and while it had been a battle and he ended up hurt, it was all for the best for the sake of his cat. He could not have allowed her to remain like that and end up getting six. It would look bad on him as a vet to neglect something such as that when there was a simple fix to it. a simple fix that hurt, but a simple fix either way and as an animal lover he felt like it was important to take care of them like he would ask someone else to. Still, Cyril would for sure put a cat on his least favorite to wash and washing a horse was nothing compared to trying to give his cat a bath. Funny how she didn't like to get a bath but would run out in the rain with Cyril. His focus was on Becky once more as she spoke about how it was to own a rat. She had to clean his cage, making Cyril think more so hamster then cat, but they could still be related. As for how smart a rat was, he never knew too much about rats other than how to take care of them.

He was trying to even picture Becky with a rat, and was actually having a hard time. It was a rat after all, but he figured once he met it then he would not be feeling like it was an odd pet to have. "Will you show him to me sometime?" Cyril asked, figuring he better ask now before he forgot and that way also Becky would pay him another visit in the future and he would get to see her adorable self again. Then there was talk about what Cyril could only assume was her power, but he was not sure if she had a power like his or was a TK. "What is your power if you don't mind me asking?" Cyril went ahead and asked since the topic was brought up and he had no problem talking powers so long as someone else was fine with talking about them. Becky was being a great help with lining Legacy up while Cyril worked to hook the ropes to his halter. Legacy was not pleased, but he didn't seem like he was going to flip out now that Becky was here. Maybe he just didn't act out when there was a witness that would see him do something that Cyril said he would do instead of making Cyril look like he was just crazy.

Cyril gave a nod to her thanks as he moved to refill the bucket that hand been knocked over with the special soap for horses. Cyril mostly did a rinse, then used the special brush to run over the horse’s body and then would rinse them again. He also dried them off a little bit, to prevent them from getting cold or hot. "I think I know what you mean. It’s like something that is always there, but you never really know about it." Cyril said, as he scratched at his chin. Getting the bucket all full and moving it closer to Legacy and Becky. Cyril was smiling brightly again and nodding his head at her question to his question about asking her for some help. "Thank you Becky. Can you rinse him down for me?" Cyril asked as he held out the hose to her, showing her how she needed to hold it down and make it spray just a little. Keeping it faced down while she would rinse down the horse and to make sure to not get his face wet.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky couldn't imagine ever getting bored in a place like this where there were always horses to visit (and apparently a cat to look after). She could see why Cyril rarely left the farm. Surely the place kept him hard at work, keeping the horses clean and their stalls clean and feeding them and everything else. It was amazing he had time for anything at all, especially if his cat had a habit of falling into muddy holes. She could only imagine how gross a cat would look after that. And then how hard it would be to grip them while they flailed around in the water. Cyril must really love his animals, if he took care of them that carefully.

As for bringing Applesauce around sometime, well. She was a little bit nervous about that, now that she knew that there was a cat lurking around somewhere. Applesauce was pretty good about being carried around outside. He usually stayed right on her shoulder and hid in the curtain of her hair or curled himself up inside her pockets. But she didn't want him falling and then being eaten by a mouser. "As long as you promise that your cat will be elsewhere, he'd love to come on an adventure," she said, thinking about how excited he would be. He loved going outside where he could smell all the different things. And now that she knew where she was going, the trip wouldn't take as long. It was a little overwhelming for the indoor pet, but she knew he appreciated it anyway. "Oh, gravity manipulation," she told him offhandedly. "Not as fun as everyone seems to think, especially when you wake up in the middle of the night glued to the ceiling."

Now that she'd spent a bit of time with the stable hand, she felt a little more comfortable with him. Even if their meeting had been awkward, he was definitely a nice guy and she was kind of excited to learn a bit more about the horses. And he understood what she was talking about most of the time, even if he had a hard time understanding her lisp.

Becky stood in front of Legacy and petted his nose with her finger, hoping to keep him a little bit distracted from the preparations that were going on around him. She was sure that it made him nervous or at least a bit angry. Horses weren't stupid creatures. She bet that he knew exactly what a bucket of soapy water meant for him. Still, she was happy to do something a bit more useful than petting the horse's face. She watched carefully as Cyril demonstrated the proper technique and then took the hose with a nod. She held off the hose like he showed her and was very careful around his face and all the other parts that might be sensitive.

Legacy didn't look pleased and he took a step or two away from the water stream, but there wasn't any wild bucking or rearing or tugging at the straps that held him to the barn. "Am I doing it right?" she asked when she was about halfway done rinsing off his body. "This is going to take a little bit longer than bathing a rat, huh? There's a bit more ground to cover," she joked quietly.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Yes, Cyril was indeed a very busy man with all the work that he had to do down at the stables in order to take good care of the horses. He had a club that helped out a lot so it made things a lot easier and since he was used to the various kinds of labor it was not all that difficult for him to do. Sure some days he did miss working inside and being a vet, but even then he found he enjoyed his job more when he went out to take care of animals instead of staying in a stuffy building with plain painted walls. So sure he was not outright doing his full vet job that he was capable of, but he was the horses own personal vet which no doubt allowed the school to save money and use it in other places. He chuckled at Becky pointing out that she would be fine bringing down her pet rat so long as Cyril’s cat was not around when she did so.

“I’ll make sure to put him away somewhere for the time you bring your pet down then. Not too worried that he would go after a rat sitting on your should, but better to be on the safe side.” Cyril said with a friendly smile, and could very well do that for her at the very least. Then she told him of her power, almost in a casual way like it was no big deal. Cyril’s face immediately lighting up because he had actually never met someone with his ability, close but never the actual manipulation of gravity. Most of the people he met were TKs and Cyril could not help but to let out something of a little squee at hearing how she too had the problem of hitting the ceiling in the middle of the night. “My power is gravity manipulation too. I also have to deal with hitting my ceiling or being pushed into my bed whenever I get into a deep sleep.” Cyril said, all the pleased to find out that this little girl not only was super cute in every way but she also had his power. She really could be his little sister, oh how he wanted that to be true. He even looked at a hoof pick on the floor; that should been in a tack box, and snapped his left hand once and immediately the object started to defy gravity.

Since the object was so light it only took one snap for him to have it already up in the air and hovering in the air more or less at his waist line. He liked to show what he could do specifically after sharing with someone what he could do. He did walk over and put his hand below the floating hoof pick and snapped his right hand. Causing it to be put back under the effects of normal gravity and falling into Cyril’s hand for him to slip into his back pocket and put away later. Now with that out of the way he went back to focusing on getting Legacy washed up. Waiting for Becky to horse down an area before he would start to wash him. This way things were getting done at the same time and would go along a lot faster. It was therefore great that he had an extra set of hands so he could multitask and get Legacy all done. The sooner they got done with the horse the better and less likely Legacy would start to put up a big fuss.

“You’re doing a manetastic job.” Cyril said, and yes the pun was intended because this was Cyril she was dealing with. Pun, jokes, little sisters, and more or less things he found fun was his life after all. He was not just saying it for the sake of the pun either. Becky really was doing a good job in doing everything that Cyril asked her to do and even doing it how he had showed her. He chuckled and then nodded to her second question about how long it would take to get Legacy all washed down. “Yes; longer then a rat, but faster than it normally would with the two of us. I owe you big time. What kind of things do you like?” Cyril asked in attempt to get to know the little girl better and also so that he could get her something of a gift in return for all of her help since she did not have to help him at all but she had been kind enough too.