Sounds like a plan (Katherine)

[daine6]

Chris whistled softly as he walked into the White Oak barn, sticking close to the left side of the barn aisle and trailing a hand along the tops of the stall doors as he made his way towards the office. He was a few minutes late for his meeting with Ms. Carr, the barn manager, but he'd lost track of time while exploring the campus with his sister and had only remembered his meeting with the woman when his watch had beeped, indicating that it was half-past.

The boy paused momentarily to greet his horse, Steele, who stuck his head out over the stall door as his owner came into sight. "Hey big boy." Chris grinned and scratched the horses neck affectionately. "No carrots yet, sorry. I forgot." He gave the large horse another pat and pushed his head away, moving on down the barn aisle and taking a moment to look at each and every horse in the barn, finding all the different colors and breeds a little overwhelming, but fun to look at.

Upon finally making it to the office door, and wincing upon realizing that he was more than fifteen minutes late, the teen knocked on the door before cracking it open enough to peek inside."Er, hello?" He called.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine sat in her office, drinking a cup of coffee and nursing a bruised thigh. She had been leading her young gelding out to the pastures when the Appaloosa got excited and kicked out when he saw the horses who were already in the pasture, the only problem had been that the barn manager's knee had been in the way of the gelding's hoof.

She looked at her daily planner and noticed that the appointment time for the latest student barn-hand had come and gone. She just put it down to the boy having arrived the day before and he was getting to know the place. She had in fact already met Christopher, as she had helped him settle in the student's large Warmblood, she just hadn't introduced herself and just worked alongside the boy as though she were one of the barnhands.

She looked up when she heard a knock on the door, which announced that it was the arrival of the boy she was waiting for. "Come on in, Mr Saito." She said warmly as she tossed the ice she had been holding on her leg into the bin and rose to her feet. "Come and have a seat so we can talk about why you want to punish yourself any more than you have to." Her eyes sparkled and her smiled showed that the last part was a joke.

[daine6]

Chris wasn't too worried about being in trouble, as he had just arrived and could easily put it off to his exploring, which was the truth, but still, he relaxed upon hearing thewarm, yet slightly familiar voice come from within the office. The woman didn't sound upset at all by his tardiness. He pushed the door on open and walked in, not looking at her at first, but instead glancing around the office.

"Hey, yeah, sorry about my lat- Hey!" He finally had taken a good look at the barn manager and surprise was evident in his features. "You're the woman who helped me settle Steele in!" He exclaimed without thinking, "You're the mana- err... I didn't know you were the manager here..." He cut his words short as he realized that she may not take too kindly to his disbelief, though it was plainly obvious that he wasn't embarassed in the slightest by his outburst.

Chris gave the woman a lazy smile. He and she had talked a little when she helped him settle Steele, and he knew that she was nice, so he wasn't worried at all. "Steele seems to have settled in well." He said to her while taking a seat opposite her and leaning back in the chair, flopping over to one side gracelessly and slouching enough top rest his elbow on the arm of the chair, his head propped up by his hand. "Do you already have which barn I'll be working at down? Or is it something you have to talk to me about and then choose which barn I'll be better suited to?" He questioned, interested in how she was going to assign him to a barn and just making conversation in general, though keeping it focused on his reason for being here.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine laughed gently as the boy recognised her from the day before. "That's quite alright, Christopher." She replied. "I never told you that I was the barn manger." She gestured around her office. "Just because I over-see everything, don't mean I'm above manual labour. We are a team here, including all of the students who don't offer their free time to the barn."

When he was seated, she sat down again too, wincing slightly but ignoring her leg other than that. "I have a good idea of where I want to place you, but before we get to that, I want to hear a bot about you and why you want to work as a barn hand when you could be playing video games." She remembered that not having any free time was her son's biggest gripe about helping out in the barns. "It'll give me a chance to get to know you a little better."

[daine6]

"Call me Chris." He said as soon as she'd finished speaking, "It makes me feel like I'm in trouble when I'm called by my complete name. Everyone calls me Chris." He gave the woman a genuine smile, though the lingering mischevious look in his eyes never faded. It never did. "So, you really don't just sit in here and boss people around? That's cool. The barn manager where I rode a few years ago was like that. Mean old man, he was. I was glad when dad decided to leave that barn... oops, I guess I'm talking too much..." The boy was quite talkative. "Are you alright?" He asked, seeing her wince and leaning forwards slightly, eyeing his possible future 'boss' in concern. Just because he was classified as a dare-devil and risk-taker didn't mean he didn't have a caring side.

Chris bit his lip upon her comment of getting to know him a little better. There were so many comments he could have replied with, sarcastic and joking comments that wouldn't quite be appropriate... and he smirked for a moment before settling back in his chair and staying quiet, choosing to not open hs mouth for a few minutes until the urge to let loose with a smart answer had left him.

He shrugged slightly, thinking, "It's relaxing, working in a barn. Even if it's hard work, it's calming and it helps me focus and think. I'll do whatever you want me to, as long as it doesn't cut into my riding time with Steele, and when I have spare time, I'll even exercise some of the lesson horses if you need me to. Contraire to what my sister thinks, I can be responsible. I can feed, turn out and bring in, and even check in on the horses in the middle of the night if you need me to, for any reason... and I can be available at all hours that I'm not in school or in a lesson, if you need me to be... well, as long as it doesn't run into an of my other extra-curricular activities... but if there's an emergency, I can definately make myself available!" He said honestly. Chris really wanted to work as a student barn hand.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine smiled and shook her head. "I believe in leading by example." She told him. "And I'd feel horribly guilty if I sat up from start to finish while everyone else ran around doing real work. Picking up the telephone receiver isn't exactly hard work. Although, it is good for toning the arms." She smiled at his concern. "It's nothing. I just happened to get in the way of Picasso, my youngest, when I was leading him out to the pastures."

The manager watched the boy's face. He once again made her think of Dylan. As serious as he was about his riding, the boy was a horrid practical joker, and more often than not, Katherine had wanted to wash the boy's mouth out every time he opened his mouth.

She sat forward as she listened to him, nodding every now and then. She sat up straight when he finished and she looked him over again. "Well, Chris, I would love to have you on the team of barn hands. I already have a student working in this barn, but Red Willow is in need of extra helpers." She rose to her feet. "If you come with me, I'll go and introduce you to the head barn hand in Red Willow." She let the way of of her office and walked across to the other large barn.

I'll continue this in Red Willow