Wanna See My Castle? (Wendy)

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

Phillip was a little bored today, in all honesty. Merida was at school and he'd cared for all the horses. He thought about going on a ride, but couldn't yet. It was too early in the day and he needed to make sure he was here just in case someone needed his services for something. It made his day a bit more boring than he cared for, but Phillip was determined to find some way to pass the time. He pulled out an old book he found at home a short while ago. It was old and missing some of the pages, but he thought that he might as well flip through it when he had nothing else to do, see if he could figure out what it was about. He sat on a stool just inside the open doors to his stable, a place where he could see if someone was approaching. He didn't want to ignore any possible customers. Sitting here he should notice if any were to approach him. 

WENDY LILAH DARLING

[WENDY LILAH DARLING]

The parents of the family that Wendy was currently employed by had encouraged her to take the kids out for the day and left it up to her what to have them do. The kids were bored on the weekend and wanted to do something fun and adventurous. An older little girl and her two little brothers followed Wendy as she stepped out of her car once they pulled up to the stables. She didn't call in advance, the idea to bring them to ride horses had just popped into her head. She figured she'd ask and if they were booked or couldn't accommodate the kids, it was no big deal and they could return another day.

Wendy had never been here before and wasn't exactly sure where to go, however, she saw a man sitting and reading nearby and walked up to him, the kids saw a horse grazing in a gated pasture nearby and all ran up to the gate to get a better look. "Excuse me, so sorry to bother you, but do you know who around here I'd talk to about letting those 3 ride horses for a little while? Do you do that kind of thing here?" she asked, hoping not to be bothering him on his break or something.

PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

When he heard a car stopping nearby, Phillip looked up from his book. He assumed the car was full of people going to one of the other nearby shops, but instead it was parked right in front of his stable. He watched curiously as three kids and a young woman got out of the car, the little ones running immediately to the fence, pointing to the horses that were grazing on the other side. They chattered excitedly and Phillip couldn't help but smile a little. It was nice to see young ones interested in horses. 

The woman made her way over to him and Phillip put his book down, standing and extending a hand to her. "You want to talk to me," he answered easily. "Phillip Westbrook. I run Briar Rose Stables, and I think we can get you all taken care of. I have plenty of horses, and a few that could use a ride. Let me show you some of them and if you think they'll work we can get those kids all situated. Have they ever ridden before?" He asked as he started to walk into the stables. He made his way over to the right, where he kept his gentler horses. They were older and more experienced, which made him think they were more appropriate for the young ones. 

"This here is Star, Danny, and Twinkletoes," he pointed to the horses in turn, chuckling when he said the name of the last one. "Go ahead and pet them or whatever you want. They're all pretty gentle and easygoing, so I think they'd probably work well with your little ones." Phillip smiled, waiting to see what she thought about the horses he was showing her.

WENDY LILAH DARLING

[WENDY LILAH DARLING]

"Oh." Wendy said with a smile when he extended his hand and told her that she could talk to him. She accepted his hand. She hadn't excepted him to be the one, she wasn't sure why, but he just looked too young to run the ranch. Assumptions were bad, she knew, but that didn't mean she never assumed. "Nice to meet you, Phillip. I'm Wendy." she introduced herself also so he had a name to address her by while they were at the stables. He offered to show her some horses that the kids could ride and she nodded and followed him, with a quick glance back to the kids to make sure they weren't going to go crazy with her walking slightly further away. They hadn't even noticed and were still watching the other horses. "Yeah lets take a look." she agreed. 

"I don't think they've ever rode. I'm not sure though, they're not mine." she told him. She wasn't sure that he had thought that they were hers, since she didn't really look old enough to have a 10 year old, as the young girl was, but some people didn't think about that. "I didn't think to ask their parents, this was kind of a spur of the moment thing." she admitted. Wendy reached a hand cautiously out to the one he called Danny, the horse rubbed its nose on her hand, probably expecting it to contain food. "Sure! Can we try them?" she asked. 

PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

Phillip couldn't help but smirk at the surprised look that crossed her face when he said that he owned the place. Not a ton of people came to the stables, so it wasn't like it was common knowledge that she was unaware of, but he still found it amusing. He nodded as she introduced you. "Nice to meet you as well, Wendy." She seemed excited about the idea, well ... maybe not excited, but at least she didn't seem apprehensive. Some people were afraid of horses, which was something that Phillip didn't understand at all. He smiled when she agreed to look at the horses with him, noticing how she glanced at the children before coming with him. 

He nodded when she explained that she didn't think the children had ever ridden horses before, but that they weren't hers. All right, then using calm horses for them was definitely a good idea. "Well, these horses aren't easily excitable, so I think they'll do just fine with the children." He shrugged, "I don't normally have kids coming in though so I can't be entirely sure." If there were any issues ... well, Phillip should go along with them just in case. He smiled when she said it was spur of the moment before reaching out to touch Danny. "Of course! Just give me a few minutes to get the horses saddled and ready." He agreed enthusiastically. "Would you mind me coming with you, just to make sure everything goes smoothly?" He expected it to, but he also wanted to make sure it did. If anything happened with the horses he could calm them down. He didn't want the parents of these children getting angry should one of the horses spook or something, and he also didn't want the children developing a fear of horses from something silly. He started pulling out a few saddles and bridles, preparing the horses for the children to ride on them. "Or I could give the children lessons in the pasture before leaving to do anything ..." he trailed off, not really knowing what she expected.

WENDY LILAH DARLING

[WENDY LILAH DARLING]

He agreed, saying that he just needed a bit of time to get the horses ready, which Wendy had expected of course, everything took time and she knew that animals were particular finicky and something that normally took 5 minutes could easily take longer if the animals wasn't cooperating."Absolutely! Take as much time as you need, they're happy just looking at horses right now." she admitted with a laugh. Her kids were pretty calm and easy.

"What sort of things do you normally do here?" she asked when he admitted that he didn't normally get kids in here, she didn't want to disrupt his normal work, she genuinely didn't know what to expect when she pulled up at the stables. "Yes, please come with, or teach them, whatever you think. You're the expert, i put all of the decision making onto you." she said with a smirk. It was true though, while she had been on a horse before, she was far from an expert, she had no idea what was normal or how to go about teaching anyone. 

PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

Phillip exhaled softly when she told him to take as much time as he needed. It might be silly, but there were some people who always assumed that you were ready to do exactly as they wanted, on their own time table. Not everyone was ready to wait, even if it was just for a few minutes. "Perfect. It shouldn't take long," he told her, pulling Danny out of the stall and starting to put his saddle and bridle on. These horses weren't too spirited. "Do you want to choose a horse for yourself, or do you want me to choose one? You could ride any horse in here." He had a few spirited horses, but she seemed to know what she was doing, and he could help her if need be. He started pulling the other horses out and getting them ready as they talked, actually enjoying the chance to talk with someone. Not many people came to the stables for longer than just a few minutes. 

At her question, Phillip shrugged a little, "It's nothing fancy. I take care of people's horses for them. I breed and sell horses as well as train them too.  If anyone needs to rent horses for something, they normally come to me also." It was a lot of work, but normally things didn't happen at the same time, so it got spread out quite well. He smiled when she agreed to let him come along. "Well then ... maybe I'll teach them what to do in the pasture and then we can go for a ride? It's pretty straightforward, but if the children have never ridden before, I should tell them some of the basics." He'd finished preparing the horses for the children and moved to Samson, his horse. Granted, most of the horses here were his, but Samson was special to him. "Have you chosen a horse you'd like to rise yet?" He'd prepare her horse before Samson. That was the polite thing to do, after all.

WENDY LILAH DARLING

[WENDY LILAH DARLING]

Wendy was told to find a horse for herself to ride and she began to walk around the barn, looking at the various horses in their stables, checking them out. She had ridden before, she knew what she was doing, at least for the most part, but like she said, she was far from the expert. She finally landed on a brown horse and reached her hand cautiously out to it. He seemed to like her and nuzzled her fingers with his lips. While she was with the horse, he explained what sort of things he normally did. "Oh so this is a boarding stable. Well I'm sure some of these horses will be glad to get a ride in then." she wondered how often their owners came to see them. It must be lonely, she pondered. She'd hate being left with strangers and only visited sometimes. "Sure, a lesson sounds good." she agreed. He then asked if she picked a horse and she nodded, "Yeah I like this one... Bullseye." she said, reading the name above the stable door. "he seems sweet, quite animated." she smiled.

PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

Phil watched Wendy out of the corner of his eye as she looked at the horses, trying to decide which one she wanted to ride. She was very gentle, which was definitely a good quality for anyone who wanted to ride a horse. He was fairly certain that she could probably ride any of the horses here and they would get along quite well. Then again, he did pride himself on having the best horses on the Island. He nodded, "Yes, some of these are boarding horses. Quite a few of them are mine, but I do try and get all of them the exercise they need. It's not always easy ... so any time you want to come here and ride is fine with me." He smiled at her and shrugged a little as he added, "With or without the kids, honestly." He nodded when she agreed to a lesson for the children. Then he came over to where she was standing, his smile widening as he saw the horse she chose. "Bullseye is a good horse," he answered. "I think you'll really enjoy riding him." Then, with the skill of someone who'd done this many times, he saddled Bullseye and led the horses out to the pasture where the children were staring at horses. "All right kids, come on over here," he encouraged. Once they were all where he wanted, he proceeded to tell them safety precautions when dealing with horses, how to treat them and guide them as you rode. He answered questions and then turned to Wendy. "So do you think you all have some time to ride now? I could take you on a small trail that way?" he pointed to a trail that began just outside his pasture gate. It led into the forest a little, but not enough to be worrisome.

WENDY LILAH DARLING

[WENDY LILAH DARLING]

As he explained to her the nature of his stables, Wendy couldn’t help but wonder if he was flirting with her when he insisted that she could come and ride whenever she wanted to, with or without the children. Of course, there wasn’t much time that she had to herself without the children, they were a full time job. But, she would enjoy going on a ride on her own, she thought, something a little faster paced. Perhaps he was just being friendly, or trying to drum up more business for himself. “Bullseye it is, then.” she agreed and stepped aside as he began to saddle the horse. She left him and went back out to check on her charges, who were still happily watching the horses in the pasture graze the grass. The kids listened and asked question of Philip as he explained how to act around a horse and when he turned to Wendy, asking if they wanted a ride now. Both children erupted in pleads to their nanny, insisting they very much wanted to ride the horses. “Yes, I think we have the time.” of course they did, she had expected exactly this sort of thing and they didn’t have anywhere else that they needed to be. “Let’s do it!” she smirked, which cued excitement from the children again.

PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK

[PHILLIP HUNTER WESTBROOK]

She was a good listener, that much was obvious, but Phillip still felt a little strange. He didn't normally have a lot of people come to look at his horses, and while this was a welcome interruption, it still felt slightly odd. She was cute, though, and the kids were extremely enthusiastic, so it couldn't be a bad thing, especially if he made sure everything went smoothly. Then maybe she'd come back again. Maybe ... he wouldn't have to always do his work alone. It'd be nice to have another friend. 

He knew that once he suggested them going for a ride, the kids would be all over the idea, but he was interested to see how she responded. When she agreed, Phillip grinned. "All right kids, here are some horses." He paired them up, helped them mount and walked around with each of them a little in the pasture, showing them how to steer and get the horse to move, moving from one child to the next. He walked back over to Wendy. "You ready to go?" he asked with a smile. 

WENDY LILAH DARLING