You and Me We Got This

[Charity Croft]

Charity walked carefully around the stable, paying close attention to where she put her feet. She definitely didn't want to accidentally step in something that would make this even more awkward than it was going to be. Charity had, at least, rehearsed why she was here so she could effectively prattle it off without thinking: Hi, I'm Charity Legrange, a trainer at the school. I heard that you're one of the people responsible for the stables here. I was hoping that I could find out more about any programs you have in place to help with students that may need some more emotional support? I have a few students I may recommend.

Yes, she definitely had the whole speech prepared and ready and totally set to go. She just had to avoid stepping in anything embarrassing. At least she'd worn jeans and a pair of boots. She'd actually changed into an outfit that would work well for a trip to the stable. At least she didn't look woefully out of place, though she wagered that the glasses wouldn't help much. She couldn't really opt for contacts though, and she needed to be ready to read anything.

"Hello?" she called, looking around the stable and blinking. "Is a..." she looked down at her clipboard, "Cyril Kingsley here? I made an appointment?" Well, she had, though it had seemed a little odd to make an appointment at a stable.

[Cyril Kingsley]

It was nice and warm inside the stables compared to the winter air outside. All of the horses were in their stall for something to eat. Cyril had already finished up making sure every horse had what they needed to eat and was not focused on fixing on of the stall doors. During the fire one of the horses got particularly worked up and ended up damaging the door to the point that it was not on track anymore and was causing issue opening and closing it.

The horse that had been in the stall was being kept in a spar stall since there had always seemed to be at least one stall just open and ready to be filled up by another horse or what have you. Sphinx already knew there was someone else in the stables before her owner did. Cyril was too distracted and humming out loud to himself as he worked on fixing the stall door. He had worked up a little bit of a sweat since the barn was warm and he was working but he was still dressed at the moment. His name being called was enough to capture his attention and make him pause in his humming and fixing of the stall door.

"I'm here. You made an appointment?" Cyril asked after doing a wave to get her attention. He was had to move a little to actually show that he had been inside a stall a moment ago and that was why she had not seen him. It was possibly that she made an appointment but Cyril had no clue about it. His 'boss' might have but it was not like he even really talked to the guy. "What can I do for you?" Cyril asked as he set down the hammer he had been holding.

[Charity Croft]

So clearly the rumors that the stables only hired cute guys was definitely true. Charity tried not to oogle, seeing as she was definitely there to do something important for her students, and her students needed to come first. She wasn't a twitter-pated teenage girl any more. All business.

Business-Charity nodded in affirmation. "That's right!" she said, raising a hand and gesturing. "I called and talked to the people in charge, wanting to get--" she paused though, mostly looking at the guy. She'd expected him to have a power related to animals, like horse shifting or talking to someone or something like that. Instead, she was getting a very different gut sensation, one that had her actually blurting it out before she could really stop and process it properly:

"Gravity manipulation? You... control gravity somehow?" Charity's brow furrowed, and she stared, wondering. Soon she realized what she was doing and she shook her head. "uh, sorry, that's what I do: identify powers and sort of know what they do and how they work and stuff. I'm Charity," she extended a hand, "Charity Legrange. I'm a trainer, and I wanted to know about the program here to help students? Especially, ah, emotionally troubled ones?"

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril was unaware of any rumors going around about who worked at the stables. He just did his job and it was not like he saw that many people. Well, that was a lie. He saw a lot of people but most of them ended up being students or club members around to ride or take care of their horses. Charity might have been down here for all business, but Cyril was certainty giving her a look over. He did it in a polite and appropriate way, not staring her down like she was some pile of scones ready to be dunked into tea and consumed.

It was a more subtle gaze over her form, taking in, and appreciating the view before refocusing when she spoke. He was a gentleman after all. The woman started to talk about how she had called someone and talked to them. She ended up pausing in her sentence and was just looking at him, which made Cyril start to look over himself. Did he rip his shirt on a nail, had he forgotten to put on one, or did he have some dust on him? He noticed none of the above so then rubbed at his face, wondering if he had some scone on his face from when he snuck on in before tea time. He was about to say something but then she brought up his power.

He chuckled at how she was then apologizing and then trying to refocus on what she had come down here for. It was absolutely adorable and if she had been a little girl she would have been little sister material for sure. Yet she was a woman, so she was in the whole 'I shall flirt with you and get to know you' category. "Gravity manipulation is indeed my power, and I figured that was the case when you blurted out my power when I have not displayed it." Cyril said, still keeping his beaming smile as he looked at her. He dusted his hands off as he moved closer towards her as she gave her name.

"Nice to meet you Charity. Or would you prefer Miss Legrange?" Cyril asked, wanting to be sure he called her by what she preferred. They both might have been adults but some adults still liked to be talked to in a very formal way. "I have an equestrian club for those who want to join and the stables are open for a period of time every day in where students and staff can come down to ride and tend to the horses." Cyril informed her.

[Charity Croft]

Charity nodded, putting that slightly nervous smile on her face as he confirmed her guess. Not that she was all that surprised: her power very rarely got that wrong, and she did have a lot of experience in reading both it and other people. She just added a little laugh, figuring her best bet was to just treat the whole thing like a joke.

"Oh, either is fine, really," she said, waving a hand. "Charity's my name, and you''re not one of my students, so you don't have to call me Miss Legrange or anything. Not that most of them actually call me that," she laughed again, before trying to settle herself, once more reminding herself of the whole professional display bit. She nodded as Cyril explained about the club and the stables and whatnot.

"That sounds great. I don't think we had that club when I was a student. The stables are kinda newish, or I just didn't know about them," Charity looked around, wondering how she could have missed this. Maybe it had just been a rich thing? "So, uh, is there any specific program or anything? I've a few students that could definitely use something to help with their emotional health and all, and I know stables do that," she looked back at Cyril, nodding. Yes, totally professional. She could so do that. Go her.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril noticed the nervous smile and how she started to laugh. He did not think he had said anything particularly funny; or else he would have laughed. Perhaps she was nervous for some reason? He was not really sure but he hoped that she was not worried about being hurt by a horse or was allergic to anything down here. He wanted people to enjoy their moment at the stables and he actually kept them pretty clean. The most Charity had the chance to step on was perhaps some straw, hay, or maybe something his cat killed.

He smiled when she gave him permission to call her by her first name. She added that fact that he was also not a student and that even her students seemed to call her by her first name. "Well, it is indeed a very lovely name. It suits you well, Charity." Cyril said, putting on a tad bit of his charm in his smile now. Cyril was keeping it professional, but in a more relaxed professional manner, not seeing the point in needing to be uptight down at the stables. He explained to her what he had to offer down at the stables and she seemed to be pleased.

"They have been around, they were just not in the best of condition until relatively a little before I joined on working at the school." Cyril said, knowing a bit about the history of the stables. They had been around, just not staffed very well or maintained so the horses had been sent away for a while until before Cyril had shown up and shaped things up. Along with his boss(?) who he didn't really see that often either way but it mattered little to him. "Not really. Kids can just sort of sign up for the club or sign up for a time to come down and ride so long as it’s during the appropriate hours. Most of the horses here are here for just that and are pretty good at even dealing with kids who don't have a lot of control of their power." Cyril informed her.

There was a meow then from his cat who had decided to make herself know. The Bombay feline stood near Charity's leg, looking at the woman and letting out another meow. She obviously wanted attention, to be petted, and well for this woman to know that she was here.

[Charity Croft]

Charity beamed as he complimented her on her name. "Well, you don't know how charitable I am just yet. You should wait and get to know me first," she added another nervous laugh. Though she did suppose that she did a decent enough job living up to her name. It was either be optimistic or joking about it or grouse, and Charity wasn't a fan of grousing.

At least she'd been right about the stables. She nodded as he explained, actually interested and glad to hear that. The nodding stopped as she focused in on the rest, explaining how they arranged things. The club, and the rides, and all things like that. Charity paused for a moment, frowning as she looked around.

"Oh, I thought... I guess I'd heard somewhere that maybe you used the horse rides or something to help students. It's just," she let out a little sigh, "I've some students that have some... emotional issues and all. I was sort of hoping that maybe I could get them invested in this, and maybe that would help?" Charity couldn't help but make the last bit a question. She wasn't even sure herself. Though before she could get an answer, she heard a meow.

Cats. It did seem as though Charity was doing a decent job attracting them. She smiled and bent to pet the animal, scratching at its chin and cooing a little, though she also looked up at Cyril, wanting to hear suggestions and all. That was what she was there for, after all.

[Cyril Kingsley]

"I would love to get to know you better. I'm already looking forward to it." Cyril said, still smiling as he leaned against one of the stall doors now. He was relaxing all the way now, not really feeling nervous or like he needed to put on the professional act. He was fine if Charity wished to remain that way but he didn't see the point in him doing it as well. He of course was still going to have his manner and be a polite man but he was not going to stand rigid and keeping everything on business.

He would of course talk about business but he was going to slip in complements and other subject matter here and there. Cyril did look confused for a moment when Charity started to bring up about having horse rides for something to help out student. Didn't he just say that was what they were for? Perhaps he didn't make it very clear or she didn't catch that was what he meant and he just explaining further. "That is what we use them for. That is the main reasons why the horses are here. What I said is just the kind of specific things done down here." Cyril explained, hoping he made it a bit clearer now.

Cyril fully knew about the students that needed a bit something more to help them through tough times, but he could not very well force them down here. He just worked down here, taking care of mainly the horses and making sure neither horse nor student got hurt. Cyril grinned to see that she was fine with his cat, but he kept his eye on the feline. He knew sometimes Sphinx could get jealous over someone who was taking attention from Cyril. Yet, Charity was giving her attention so it seemed liked that would be fine. "Are you specifically asking me to put an event together for these said students or were you asking for permission?" Cyril asked, now trying to understand was the purpose behind this meeting was.

If it was just to figure out why the stables where here, he figured she could have been told that over the phone. Then again he was happy she was down here because it got kind of people lonely down at the stables a lot and he was happy for the human interaction.

[Charity Croft]

Oh great, now he was, like, flirting with her or something. Or maybe Charity was misreading it. yeah, that made a lot more sense. Because who would flirt with her just after meeting her? Especially when she was being all stiff and formal and doing her job and stuff like that. Yeah, she totally had to be imagining it.

Though now he was apparently going back and saying that the horses were actually for helping students with some troubles, when before he'd been talking about clubs and trail rides and now Charity was all sorts of confused and trying to figure out how they kept talking in circles. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, trying to figure out how to untangle things. It didn't help that the stable kept distracting her: it was a place where there were horses after all, and nothing distracted quite like horses.

"I don't think I need an event," she said, glad that she could at least latch onto the question. Charity frowned. "Well, the thing is that I have a lot of students that I'm worried about, like I said," she fidgeted, looking around the stable for a moment before settling back on Cyril. "I'm just... I need to know how this all works, so I can maybe suggest some students come and get involved. You know: maybe," she gestured as if trying to pull answers from the air, "maybe they could bond with the horse and get to like it here or something? Like... rehab, maybe? Kinda?" Was that what she should be suggesting? Charity wasn't sure, and she flushed, feeling like she'd yet again muddled things further.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Yes, he was flirting with her and he was going to do a bit more flirting with her so long as she didn't seem to give off that vibe. That vibe that came off a woman when she was really not interested or if flirting made them rally uncomfortable. He didn't want to do something that a person did not want or was not comfortable with. That would not be very gentlemen like of him and he prided himself on how he treated the woman around him. She didn't seem ‘put off’ by it but it did seem that she was not completely certain that he was in fact flirting with her. Which meant that he was going to have to do it again so she understood.

There was confusion between them; to the point that Cyril really was not sure what it was he was supposed to be saying or what she wanted. He just took care of the horses and ran the club, everything past that was not his area. He was the jock type, only having done good in school so he could stay on the team and then when he took an interest in animals, that was pretty much the only field he was good at when it came to intelligence. So he was in fact having a hard time understand what it was that Charity wanted. He figured the way he said it made it clear that the horses were here to help the students and that included all aspects that she was bringing up.

"Alright, no event." Cyril said when she said she didn't think she needed one. He resumed leaning against a stall as she started to speak up what she wanted and what it was she was looking for answer for. Cyril was still confused but it seemed like he was not the only one trying to figure out answers. "We are having a hard time communicating with one another, love." Cyril pointed out as he chuckled a little. "If you want a student to get involved down here you can just tell them to come sigh up or email me or the other guy that works down here. There is no real way things work down here other than contact one of the stable staff, sign up for it, and just come down here during the hours its open." Cyril explained to the best of his ability.

"I just take care of the horses and run the club; I'm not really in charge down here so you would have better luck asking someone else if you are wanting details of how things works down here out of what I just said." Cyril added after a moment. He was pouting a little bit, feeling bad that he didn't feel particularly helpful. He didn't really know what else to say to her. People just had to sign up and show up. That was all there was to it, really.

[Charity Croft]

No event, though now, yet again, Charity was thinking about something else, about maybe giving an event a shot. It almost sounded tempting, though she wasn't sure what she'd do. Her initial thought went to some kind of rodeo, but that really didn't seem like the kind of thing she should be planning. She'd put a pin in it, think about something else.

instead, she had to deal with his calling her love, which had her blinking rather owlishly. Before she could say anything in response, he continued, more or less saying that people could just come on down and sign up for it or whatever.

Well, Charity could definitely respond to that, and to the next comment. She was already waving a hand. "Really, you don't need to be all humble. You work with horses and probably help students with caring for them! That's very important," Charity nodded and took a few steps forward, already knowing that she was essentially doing what she did with her students: encouraging them.

"I'll probably sign up a few of my students to come down and do some riding and such together," she said, nodding again. "I think it would do them good. Is there some way I could, like, set that up with you and get an idea? Like, they could care for the horses," she paused, looking around, "maybe shovel out the stables or something," which sounded like just a brilliant way of handling Lucy James.