Ryder arrived at the freshly built girls school, and checked his directions again.
"Oh, knock that off," he thought to himself. "You know this is the right place."
Nervously, he headed towards admin. He had read that this new school had stables. For housing horses, no less. There had been an ad in the paper, and, eager to avoid having to go to another state to get work with the horses, had decided to take this risk.
He stepped inside and looked around. There didn't apear to be anyone at the front desk, and he seriously considered leaving.
"You've come this far, you are not leaving now," he told himself sternly.
Willow
Willow smiled as the teenaged boy looked around.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
Ryder
Ryder pulled himself up and made an attempt to at least sound confident.
"I understand you have some vacancies open." he said. "I was after a job as a stable hand."
Willow
Willow smiled. "Do you have a resume?" She telepathically asked Giles to come down and check out the applicant.
Ryder
"Uhh, umm, yeah sure," Ryder replied, and fumbled around in his backpack for it.
"Oh yeah, brilliant, Ryder. Great first impression."
He pulled out the resume, which fortunately had been carefully prepared in a folder. Else it would have ended crumpled by now.
Willow and Giles
Willow smiled. "it's okay, calm down. I used to get nervous all the time too." She took the resume and looked it over. "Ryder, is it? Nice layout," she said, smiling. "It looks like you have a lot of experience with horses."
"Willow?" Giles asked, walking down the stairs. "So where is this young boy?"
'Right here, here's his resume," she handed it to Giles, who also looked it over.
"This looks pretty good. Why don't you take him down to the stables to see how the horses react to him. Obviously it won't do us much good to have a stableboy who spooks the horses," he said with a smile, cleaning his glasses.
//willow, is he human?//
//Yeah, and he has no knowledge of the supernatural, although his aura is open.//
//Hire him, but keep him out of the far paddock. If he tries to enter, use your judgement. if you think he can handle it, let him in, otherwise, sheild it for the time being.//
//All right,// she asnwered telepathically.
"This way," she said to Ryder.
Ryder
Ryder followed Willow, very much relieved he hadn't messed things up.
"How many horses do you have?" he asked, all the while looking around the school.
This was some place. But then you'd expect that from a rich private school.
Willow
"The school itselfr has about twenty horses. But many of the girls have their own that we stable for them," Willow explained. "This is Thor. He doesn't like most people. Let's see how he reacts to you," Willow said, pointing to a brown horse eating oats in the far stall.
Ryder
The always-prepared-for-anything-involing-horses Ryder, unzipped his bag and pulled out a carrot. He then approached Thor.
"Hey boy," he said softly, holding the carrot out to him. "How are you today? Bet those oats are nice. Would you like a carrot for dessert?"
Thor snorted warily, then sniffed at the carrot. He pawed at the ground for a moment, then decided to have the carrot.
Willow
Willow grinned.
"You;re hired. Do you live nearby, or are you going to be needing a room in the staff quarters?" Willow inquired. If he moved in, she hoped he was ready to handle the supernatural.
Ryder
"If I got the job, I was planning on finding a place nearby. I didn't realise you had staff quarters here," Ryder admitted. "Whichever is more convient for you."
He stepped quietly away from Thor, so as to let him enjoy his food. It was then that he noticed the other horses.
Willow
"Well, we'll figure that out after we fill out paperwork, everybody;s favourite pasttime. While we head back, why don't you tell me about yourself?" Willow asked.
Ryder
"Not much to say," Ryder replied. "Grew up with horses. My parents are happily married. I have a little brother. A number of girlfriends in the past but they never really worked out. More interested in the horses than me. Pretty average at school."
He shrugged.
"I'm pretty much all about horses."
Willow
"Do you like to read?" Willow asked.
Ryder
Ryder shrugged.
"Not very much. If I pick up a book it'll take me a few months. I'll pick up horse mags though. Hey you wanna ask me about horse races, I'm your man."
Willow
"What do you think about movies? Are you a Lord of the Rings fan?" Willow asked, trying to get a sense of the boy, to see how he'd react to the school.
Ryder
"Well, I enjoyed the movies," Ryder said slowly. "But I wouldn't neccesarily say I'm a fan... Like I wouldn't go out and buy any merchandise or anything. I liked Black Beauty."
He refrained from mentioning his secret: he also liked a cartoon movie called "The Last Unicorn".
Willow
"Black Beauty was a wonderful movie. Are horses the only animals you're interested in?" Willow asked.
Ryder
"Pretty much," Ryder said. "Well, the only real ones. I like the Greek Myth about Pegasus, who was a flying horse... I mean, you have to admit, it would be pretty cool if flying horses were real."
Willow
"How do you know that they're not?" Willow asked, her eyes twinkling.
Ryder
Ryder laughed.
"Well, they say that myths and legends have some strain of truth in them," he smiled. "Maybe once there really was a Pegasus."
Willow
"Well, how do you know that they aren't around here and now?" Willow baited him. He seemed to have an open mind. After a while of being there, he'd start to notice things.
Ryder
Ryder blinked.
"Well... I guess I don't know... But you'd think someone would have noticed."
Willow
"Sometimes we see things the way we expect them to be as opposed to how they really are," Willow said sagely. They made it back to the office. "Here's the paperwork. Fill this out and then we can find a room for you."
Ryder
Ryder nodded, took pen and paper in hand and started filling out the forms. He was in the middle of it when it just twigged that she said they were going to find a room for him.
Cool, he wouldn't waste time finding a place nearby and he could be closer to the horses here.
"Okay, done," Ryder said, giving Willow the form back when he was done.
Willow
Willow took the paperwork and led Ryder to the staff quarters.
"If you need any help moving in or gathering your stuff, just let us know." On the way. she waved to Maura, who flitted above their heads.
Ryder
"Okay, thanks," Ryder said. "The rest of my things are at a hotel downtown. I'll need to go back there and check out and everything."
Willow
Willow giggled. This was going to be fun. She couldn't wait to see just how long it took him to notice that he was at a magical school. She saw a scruffy-looking man walk through, his wif on his arm.
"Oh, Ryder, here are a couple of of your co-workers, John and Kate Connor." Kate glared at John.
"Don't even think about it, Johnny."
"Think about what?"
"You were going to frisk the poor boy."
"Was not."
"Were to."
"Was not"
"Were too."
Ryder
"Uhh, hi," Ryder said tentatively.
Who were these people, exactly, that would required 'no frisking' warnings?
John Connor
John sighed. "Just answer me one question Ryder. Are you armed?"
Ryder
Ryder blinked.
"Armed?" he repeated. "No, of course not. I'd never carry anything that might hurt my horses. Oh! That reminds me, Willow, there is one other thing... I told my parents I'd let them know what I was doing, and if it was possible, they'd send my horse Valiant. He's a black gelding. Would this be okay? I hated having to leave him behind, but if you don't mind... I'll pay for all his maintenance costs, of course."
Willow
"Not a problem, we have more than enough money to support another horse. Don't worry about paying for him," Willow said.
"ALso," Kate interjected. "If you do, at any point, decide to carry weapons, just let us know." Willow telepathically asked the Connors to please not scare the boy away, since he had no idea what kind of school he was now working for.
Ryder
"That's very good of you," Ryder said to Willow.
This was turning out better than he hoped. He had a job, a place to live, and could bring Valiant up.
"No," he said to Kate and John. "I'm not interested in weapons. I mean, I suppose there are a lot of movie where people ride around on horses with weapons and stuff... but too often in those movies they kill the poor horses instead of the humans on them. I mean, I know that the horses aren't really getting hurt, but that's not the point."
Willow
Willow walked Ryder to his room, bidding the couple adieu, creating a phantom wind to blow shut the doors that exposed weapons cabinets and non-human faculty members. Ryder would figure it out when he was ready to handle it and not before.
Ryder
Ryder followed Willow.
"Who's currently in charge of the horses?" Ryder asked. "I'd like to know who my supervisor is."
Willow
"Christophe is currently in charge of the horses, but Tygeth is his superior. You may not meet Tygeth for a while, so, I suppose Christophe will be your boss," Willow said.
Ryder
"Okay," Ryder nodded. "When will I meet Christophe?"
They stopped outside of a door.
"Is this it?"
Willow
"Yep, this is it. Report to the stables at 8 am tomorrow morning, and Christophe will give you your duties. All I'll need from you next is a bank account you'd like your pay to be deposited to." Willow said.
Ryder
"Oh, of course... umm..." Ryder looked around and shifted his weight a bit. "I'll just unpack and bring the details down later?"
Willow
"Sounds good to me," Willow said, and she went off to do some work she had to do.